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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Seize the Moment – Day 930
Pray for Wisdom!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, October 3.
What do you ask God for when you are facing a hard decision?
As a pastor, I pray regularly for God’s wisdom and knowledge. Apart from God’s Spirit at work in me, I cannot properly shepherd God’s people, effectively discern situations or counsel others, rightly study God’s Word, or accurately communicate God’s timeless truths through my teaching, preaching, and writing ministry (1 Corinthians 2:12-14).
In the beginning of his kingship, Solomon feared God. The story of his rule in 2 Chronicles 1 began with him sacrificing one thousand burnt offerings to God at the tent of meeting, and God responded to his act of faithfulness with an opportunity, “Ask what I shall give you?” (6-7). In 2 Chronicles 1:10, Solomon seized the moment by answering, “Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this great people of Yours?” It was this decision which gave Solomon such great success as the king of Israel. God honored his humility and poured out riches, fame, and favor upon him (11-17).
In today’s world, we are bombarded by a mixed bag of information and a hodgepodge of ideas that can easily lead us astray. We need wisdom and knowledge to build our lives upon a firm foundation, discern right from wrong, and to act with justice and righteousness.
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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Train to Live on Mission – Week 31
Battle Drill #31:
Build a Good Reputation!
Proverbs 22:1 (NAS95)
Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the next battle drill – “Build a Good Reputation!” In the military, your reputation means everything, not only within the unit you serve, but also in determining your future opportunities. While there are professional qualifications that do set you apart by their mere presence on your uniform and in your personnel file because,let’s be honest, the military loves their uniforms and bureaucracy, what really matters is the character and conduct of the person who is wearing the uniform. Whether you are a private or a captain, and whether you have badges and tabs on your uniform, at the end of the day, it is your reputation that will determine your success. Yes, making the next rank, earning special qualifications, and graduating from elite schools are indicative of your potential, ultimately, it is what you do with your potential that matters.
In the same way, you can dress the part in the church, you can learn the language of Christianese, and you can even hold important positions in the congregation, but what matters is your character and conduct. Just like in the military, it is what you do and how you do it that shapes your reputation amongst the congregation and the community. While appearances, positions, and education can make a positive impression up front, it is your character and conduct in the everyday situations of real life that builds your reputation. God’s Word speaks clearly to the importance of this in today’s battle drill. Let’s turn to the Field Manual and take the first step of a soldier’s training routine to live on mission.
Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.
The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, favor is better than silver and gold.”
Ecclesiastes 7:1a states it this way, “A good name is better than a good ointment.” This is what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply it to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.
Your name, which is your reputation, is more valuable than any measurement of wealth (silver, gold, or ointment); in fact, it has eternal value.
To learn how to properly train this, we are going to learn to do two things:
Let’s start by training ourselves to live life backwards by cultivating an eternal perspective of our reputations. Watch Jesus train His disciples to live on mission in Luke 10:17-20:
The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
The disciples’ names were written on the roll call of the Commander – they had been chosen by God to be enlisted as good soldiers of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3-4)! Here’s the point: You don’t deploy yourself to become a soldier or because you want people to think you are a soldier; soldiers train to live on mission so they can deploy at their Commander’s direction, according to His authority for the fulfillment of His mission.
Jesus emphasized this kind of thinking in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” You have been chosen, now bear the good fruit of eternity. Paul emphasizes this in Ephesians 2:8-10:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
God chose you by grace (remember Proverbs 22:1 stated, “favor is better than silver and gold”), so now walk in the good works He prepared for you ahead of time. God gave you good works to shine His light and to proclaim His Kingdom. There is a backwards feel to this because in the world your works determine your reputation, but in the Kingdom, you don’t earn Heaven with your works. In direct opposition to that, you proclaim that you belong to Heaven by your good works! You do the works of the Commander because you are being a good soldier whose name is on the rolls of His army. Jesus explained such thinking with the fruit-bearing imagery of the Christian life in Matthew 7:15-23:
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”
Pointedly, this haunting passage teaches us that we could do the same kinds of things as those people – claim ourselves to be people who can cast out demons, be prophets, or perform miracles, but if we are not doing so as good soldiers, in accordance with God’s will, then we are equated with the lawless one. Church, let us not be so easily impressed with personality, charisma, or self-righteous proclamations of faith,let’s watch the consistency of conduct and character, the good fruit that demonstrates whether we are good trees. There are charlatans out there, wolves in sheep clothing, who can dress it up and talk the talk, but only those who belong to Heaven will persevere to the end. In Revelation 3:5, Jesus challenges us with the truth of having an eternal perspective on our name, “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” This is the backwards way of living – it is an eternal perspective on your name which allows you to persevere until the end because you know it is what God says that matters. This brings us to the third action step of a good soldier of Jesus.
Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.
Today’s battle drill exposes our heart issue of hypocrisy.
This is a significant issue, especially seen in social media, where people present a false front of what is true. To the point that many people have multiple social media accounts – one that is for their teachers, employers, or family to see their crafted identity, and the other, often under a different name, so that those same people do not know who they really are.
Allow me to give you a piercing but liberating truth so that we can eradicate the issue of hypocrisy from our own lives. Hebrews 4:13-16 gives us the treatment plan:
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Praise God that He knows the truth about us! We don’t have to hide from Him, but rather we can find rest for our souls in surrendering our lives to His lordship and working out our salvation with fear and trembling so that God has full access to bring about His good works through our lives. This is what Paul promised in Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
God wants to build our reputations from the inside-out! The heart of Jesus’ invitation to become His disciple is take on His easy yoke and find rest for our souls – in relationship with Him we become like Him, gentle and humble in heart, so that the world may see and hear Christ through us (Matthew 11:28-30). We are called by God to be His image bearers and our reputation, our name, is shaped by His Spirit in us. We are to shine brightly, just as Jesus said in Matthew 5:14-16:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
My name is designed by God to point to His Name – my reputation to His gospel proclamation because “there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)! This leads us to the final action step of our soldier’s training regime.
Action Step #4) Live on mission.
Paul spoke of those who served in the mission alongside of him in a special way in Philippians 4:1-3:
Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion [yokefellow], I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Paul was saying that those who are His true companions are those in the yoke of Jesus Christ. The mission is to make Christ visible through us, so that people will repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ. Our reputations make visible which kingdom we belong. I have tried to make it clear that we will persevere until the end when our names are written in the book of life because God does His work from the inside-out through His Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul speaks of it in terms of our inheritance of the Kingdom of God:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
It is not that you have struggled or once were a partaker of these sins. No, haven’t we all sinned and struggled?! It is that you are not defined by your sin – such things are not the pattern of your life nor definer of your name. Quite the opposite, your name, your reputation, are washed through the blood of Jesus Christ to shine Christ alone. John admonished us in 1 John 1:5-10:
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
We conclude with a glimpse of the New Heaven and New Earth from Revelation 21:23-27:
And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
If your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life, your name will point to the eternal name of Jesus Christ! That is the work of the Holy Spirit in you because the Spirit causes you to persevere until the end – to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ through the good works He appointed you to do. This is God’s will.
Make this battle drill a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God. Let us pray.
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Seize the Moment – Day 928
Today’s hymn focus will be
“Glorious Day”
“ and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
In 2009, Mark Hall, the frontman and songwriter for Casting Crowns, wrote the music for a glorious old hymn. He took the strong lyrics of this hymn that depicted the life of Christ, a hymn he grew up on and rearranged it because people were not singing it much anymore.
The original hymn, ‘One Day’ was written by John Wilbur Chapman who was born in Richmond, Indiana. Written about 1908, he was a passionate evangelist, he wrote this hymn to provide a memorable way to share the gospel.
Both of these men wanted this message to be declared loud and clear:
Living He loved me, dying He saved me, buried He carried my sin far away
Rising He justified freely forever; One day He’s coming, O glorious day!1 Peter 2:24dkl
O glorious day!
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:
Glorious Day
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