Seize the Moment – Day 940
God keeps His Promises!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, October 13.
Solomon’s story has come to an end, just as each of our stories will come to an end one day. The Chronicler went to great lengths to demonstrate that God was faithful to keep His promises to Solomon, as given in 2 Chronicles 1:11-12. The final chapter on Solomon’s life emphasizes the omnipotence of God, not the power of God’s servant.
The Queen of Sheba served as a foreign witness to the truth about Solomon. After testing him with difficult questions and inspecting every aspect of his kingdom, she testified about Solomon in 2 Chronicles 9:5-8:
It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless I did not believe their reports until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You surpass the report that I heard. How blessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, setting you on His throne as king for the Lord your God; because your God loved Israel establishing them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”
God received glory by keeping his promises to Solomon, as commended in verses 22-23, “So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.” God was glorified through Solomon’s life just as He intends to be glorified through your life.
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Seize the Moment – Day 939
Protect the Purity of the Temple!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, October 12.
The Chronicler’s account of King Solomon’s concern for ritual purity is juxtaposed with the 1 King’s account of how his foreign wives led him into covenant unfaithfulness. This perspective was clearly stated in 1 Kings 11:1, 6-8:
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, … Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
The Chronicler’s account of Solomon’s life was told in a more positive light than that of the account told in 1 Kings. Regardless of the Chronicler’s intentions for how he told Solomon’s story it was always the temple that was the focus of his story. The temple, just like the tabernacle before it, was at the center of Israel’s worship because that is where the presence of God manifested in Israel. Whereas David and Solomon played their parts in the story, God was always the main character of Israel’s story!
In the same way, the church is at the center of worship in the New Covenant, but not a building made with human hands, like the temple. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit; therefore, we must protect the purity of God’s house (1 Corinthians 6:15-20).
Seize the moment and glorify God in your body. What do you need to deal with in your life today so that God’s story is declared without distraction through your story?
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Seize the Moment – Day 938
The Four Steps of Repentance!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, October 11.
To repent is to turn away from sin by turning back to God. It’s a change of mind! Just like when making a U-turn on the street, repenting in life requires both intentional deliberation and conscientious effort. It is a decision you make and an action you take! In 2 Chronicles 7:12-14, God was responding to Solomon’s dedicatory prayer with both a reaffirmation of the covenant and the provision for how His people could return to Him when they broke it:
I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
God would not be surprised by His people’s violation of His covenant. He provided a way of escape for them through the following four steps of repentance:
- Humble yourself (James 4:6-10).
- Pray to God (Matthew 6:9-13).
- Seek God’s face (John 14:13-14; 1 John 5:14-15).
- Turn from your wicked ways (Luke 3:8; Acts 3:19).
God assures His people in verse 14, “then I will hear from heaven, will forgive [your] sins and will heal [your] land.” This is still God’s desire for His people, according to 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Seize the Moment – Day 937
Pray Effective Prayers!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, October 10.
Does God answer prayer? That is a probing question that people ask in every generation. In fact, it was the deepest petition of Solomon’s dedicatory prayer of the temple found in 2 Chronicles 6:14-42. The heart of his prayer is bookended by verses 21 and 40:
Listen to the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven; hear and forgive. … Now, O my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
Solomon petitioned God to respond to the people’s prayers when they cried out to Him at the temple. To that end, his long prayer has seven conditional statements asking God to answer the prayers of His people:
- “If a man sins against his neighbor … then hear from heaven …” (22-23).
- “If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy … then hear from heaven …” (24-25).
- “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain … then hear in heaven …” (26-27).
- “If there is famine in the land … then hear from heaven …” (28-31).
- “Also concerning the foreigner … when they come and pray toward this house, then hear from heaven …” (32-33).
- “When Your people go out to battle against their enemies … then hear from heaven …” (34-35).
- “When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) … then hear from heaven …” (36-39).
Solomon petitioned God according to His hesed – His covenant lovingkindness to Israel (14). He did so because prayer is a privilege, and for it to be effective you must align yourself with the character of God (John 14:14; 16:24; 1 John 5:14; James 5:16b).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 935
Today’s hymn focus will be
Come People of the Risen King
Philippians 2:11 (NASB95)
“ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This song is a wonderful call to worship written by Keith & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townsend in 2008. Much like to hymns of the past, they took us through progressive steps as to why we are to express our praise, inviting us in the process with them, calling us to declare God’s grace and mercy and how we are to express our gratitude and consecration to Him.
Using a melody style that is reflective of the times is also something that the hymn writers of old used to do. It helps to make the song memorable so we can walk away with that song in our hearts. We are being invited to come and rejoice in the gospel, no matter where we are in this life.
Rejoice, rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice!
One heart, one voice, o Church of Christ, rejoice!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
Come People of the Risen King
Come, people of the risen King
Who delight to bring Him praise
Come all and tune your hearts to sing
To the morning star of grace
From the shifting shadows of the earth
We will lift our eyes to Him
Where steady arms of mercy reach
To gather children in
[Refrain]
Rejoice, rejoice
Let every tongue rejoice
One heart one voice
Oh, church of Christ rejoice
[Verse 2]
Come those whose joy is morning sun
And those weeping through the night
Come those who tell of battles won
And those struggling in the fight
For His perfect love will never change
And His mercies never cease
But follow us through all our days
With the certain hope of peace
[Verse 3]
Come, young and old from every land
Men and women of the faith
Come those with full or empty hands
Find the riches of His grace
Over all the world His people sing
Shore to shore we hear them call
The truth that cries through every age
Our God is all in all
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Seize the Moment – Day 934
The Assurance of God’s Presence!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, October 7.
With the temple completed, Solomon brought together the nation of Israel to witness the moving of the ark of God into its permanent home. It was quite the spectacle with a large assembly of people and a countless number of sacrifices offered in honor of God (2 Chronicles 5:1-6). Above it all, upon the placement of the ark of God under the wings of the cherubim in the holy of holies, God made His presence known in 2 Chronicles 5:11-14:
When the priests came forth from the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to divisions), and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord saying, “He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting,” then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. [emphasis added]
This is called a theophany – an appearance of God that people can discern with their senses. In response to their unity of praise (see emphasis through italics), God manifested His glory for all to know that He was with them. This would have been a comfort to Solomon and an assurance to the people because the building of the temple was a major transition in Israel’s worship. Interestingly, God had made His presence known to Israel in the same way that He had with Moses and the people in their desert wanderings (Exodus 40:34-38).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 933
Go for the Gold!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, October 6.
In the Olympic Games, the top three athletes are awarded medals – gold for first, silver for second, and bronze for third. The better the athlete’s performance, the higher the placement, the more precious the building material of the medal. You will often hear athletes encourage one another by saying, “Go for the gold!” They are not telling one another to go mining for precious building materials, they are saying, “Give it your best!”
This same mindset is found in the construction of the temple. They are using only the best of building materials with the most precious materials reserved for the inner chamber. One scholar explained the significance of this progression of the costliness of building materials, “They illustrate the principle of gradation, whereby the costlier metal represents a greater degree of holiness.”[1] There are two summaries of temple furnishings in 2 Chronicles 4, one for the works of bronze in verses 11-18, and one for that of gold in verses 19-22. Whereas bronze was used around the temple entrance, gold was prioritized for the interior.
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Martin J. Selman, 2 Chronicles: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 11, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 329.
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Seize the Moment – Day 932
The Power of Location!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, October 5.
In Solomon’s fourth year as king, he broke ground on that hallowed location to build the temple. The Chronicler makes two important connections about the significance of its location. First, it is located at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where the angel of the Lord instructed David to make sacrifices which would propitiate God’s wrath for his sin of conducting the census (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21).
Second, the temple was built on Mount Moriah, where God tested Abraham in Genesis 22. God commanded the patriarch in verse 2, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” The angel of the Lord appeared to Abraham and told him that God saw his faith and would provide a substitute for Isaac, establishing this location as a place of substitutionary atonement (11-18).
These two major events, from the lives of Abraham and David, give significance to the location God provided for the temple to be built. Interestingly, Genesis 22:14 defined the importance beforehand, “Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.’”
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 931
Worship God in all Places!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, October 4.
What is the purpose of your church building?
King Solomon wrote a letter to Huram the king of Tyre requesting timber from Lebanon, various building materials, and skilled workers. In 2 Chronicles 2:5-6, he gives the purpose behind his request:
The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods. But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?
Solomon knew why he was building the temple for God – to be a place of worship, atonement, and celebration of the appointed feasts (4). He knew that it could not contain God because God cannot be put into a box, no matter how ornate or grand it is. As big and as magnificent as Solomon’s Temple would be, it would never be able to contain the transcendent God, who is both sovereign and omnipresent – God cannot be bound nor should our worship of Him be limited to buildings dedicated for Him.
God is too powerful to be contained by our church buildings so let God burst forth by worshipping Him with your whole life (Psalm 103:1). Yes, a church building should be a place that invokes right worship of God, but if we limit our worship to that one place, then we compartmentalize our lives of devotion. Then our houses of worship become museums of past faith and mausoleums filled with dry bones.
Seize the moment and gather regularly in a church building to be reminded of who God is and how He invites you to be the Church, called to worship Him always and everywhere through your love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:23-25). Worship God in all places, until all worship God (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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