Seize the Moment – Day 856
Act in Faith!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, July 21.
God invites His children to take steps of faith. When we act in faith, God does more than we can ever imagine or dare to ask.
In 2 Kings 13:14, Elisha the prophet was on his death bed when Joash, the king of Israel, travelled to him and wept over him saying, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” This was a reference to the famous story of Elijah’s ascension, found in 2 Kings 2:12, when Elisha received a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. On his death bed, as recorded in 2 Kings 13:15-19, Elisha invited the king to act in faith with a prophetic sign-act:
Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. He said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.”
Elisha’s final act was to invite the king into greater faith – to believe God for the victory! Amazingly, God responded in like-kind to the king’s measure of faith. With even greater faith, God would have done more than the king could have imagined. The same principle is at work today in our lives.
Seize the moment and act according to your faith in Jesus, “who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Ephesians 3:20).
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Seize the Moment – Day 855
Keeping up with Building Repairs!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, July 20.
Do you own a house or does your house own you? It takes significant planning, financial resources, and a large group of talented people to keep up with building repairs, whether at home or at church. This was true of the temple. In 2 Kings 12:4-5, the king calls for a significant financial campaign for building repairs:
Then Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the sacred things which is brought into the house of the Lord, in current money, both the money of each man’s assessment and all the money which any man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priests take it for themselves, each from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the damages of the house wherever any damage may be found.”
Then, in verses 11-12, Jehoiada, the Chief Priest, allocated those resources to the skilled workers:
They gave the money which was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of the Lord; and to the masons and the stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the damages to the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.
Then, after all that effort to make the building repairs, the enemy threatened to tear it all down. The king had to use an abundance of their allocated resources to protect Jerusalem from Hazael, king of Aram (17-18). In Matthew 6:20-21, Jesus calls us to wisdom in all our work, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Seize the moment and invest your time, talents, and treasures into the work of the Lord.
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Seize the Moment – Day 854
The Hope of a Baby!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, July 19.
King Jehu of the northern tribes of Israel brought great religious reform through the destruction of the house of Baal and the deaths of the royal family of Ahab and Jezebel. Seemingly caught up in Jehu’s reformation was Ahaziah, the king of Judah. But the political intrigue deepened in 2 Kings 11:1-2, when we learned that Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab:
When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death.
This is a family feud as Jehosheba defied her family of origin to rescue the last of the royal offspring, the remnant of the line of David. Her husband, Jehoiada, the Chief Priest, protected the baby by hiding him for six years and then led a rebellion against the wicked queen to return the rightful ruler to the throne of David (6-12). Just like Jehu had done in the northern tribes, Jehoiada, in the name of a baby, destroyed the house of Baal and its wicked priest in the southern tribes (13-18).
Their hope for a better future was placed in a child! Just like our hope is found in the coming of a baby. The angel proclaimed in Luke 2:10-11, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Seize the moment and put your hope in Jesus, our Immanuel – God is with us (Matthew 1:23)!
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Seize the Moment – Day 853
Finish the Task!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, July 18.
How would you respond if squatters moved into your back yard? Even though you had legal rights to your house and land, how would you react if they worked to influence your family and take possession of what belongs to you?
God was actively working through His people to eradicate Baal from His promised land. It was King Ahab, and his wife Jezebel, who introduced Baal into Israel. They even built him a house with an altar in the back yard of Samaria (1 Kings 16:31-32). God was provoked (1 Kings 16:33) and He called forth Elijah to declare a drought (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah was tasked with destroying the cult of Baal worship (1 Kings 18:17-40). He had a great victory, but he didn’t complete the job (1 Kings 19:1-8).
God passed Elijah’s task to remove Baal from His back yard to the next generation of prophets and kings, to Elisha, Hazael, and Jehu (1 Kings 19:15-16). What God began with Elijah, in response to the abomination of Ahab building a house of Baal in Samaria, was completed by Jehu with the destruction of that house and the eradication of Baal from the northern ten tribes of Israel.
Seize the moment and remove anything that is not pleasing to God from your life. As a Christian, God has legal rights of ownership to your heart, mind, body, and soul (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30). Invite the Holy Spirit to finish the task Christ began in you (Galatians 3:1-14; Philippians 1:6).
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Train to Live on Mission – Week 21
Battle Drill #21:
Slow to Anger!
Proverbs 14:26-30 (NAS95)
Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the next battle drill – “Slow to Anger!”
Soldiers must be emotionally healthy. Emotional health doesn’t mean you will experience your emotions less, it is the ability to be aware of your emotions so that they don’t hijack your thoughts, words, or actions. The military trains soldiers in a difficult school so that they can learn to make good and right decisions, regardless of their circumstances or emotions. Soldiers are pushed emotionally, mentally, and physically to be able to do the harder right instead of the easier wrong. As soldiers for Jesus Christ, we must train ourselves in the same way.
Today we are learning the battle drill, “Slow to Anger” because anger is a real emotion that every single person must learn to bring into submission, otherwise, it has the potential of causing a wildfire. For example, the thought of a trained soldier with a gun on mission doesn’t bother most people, because that is a soldier’s life. But what does bother us, is when a trained soldier with a gun has lost control because of their anger. In the same way that this is a scary reality, so are Christians who use the Word of God in anger.
It is my calling to equip you to use the Word of God effectively, so that you may bear the good fruit of a disciple of Jesus, but it’s not enough for me to teach you the Word of God, I must disciple you to use it with emotional health, under submission to the Holy Spirit, not in your flesh. We will now look at the first action 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 14:26-30:
In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and his children will have refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death. In a multitude of people is a king’s glory, but in the dearth of people is a prince’s ruin. He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion [jealousy, envy, rivalry, zeal] is rottenness to the bones.
To better understand how I am applying this Scripture, you need to hear these verses in their context, as a part of the whole of Proverbs 14. (Read from the Bible). This is what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal [same Hebrew word “passion” in Proverbs 14:30] of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Who will accomplish bringing righteousness and justice to the nations? God will through His Messiah! God has a plan; trust Him. He reminds us of this in Psalm 46:10, “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Is it your zeal or striving that exalts God? No! It is “the zeal of the LORD of hosts [who] will accomplish this.” Don’t take on the offenses of God; He is fully capable of exalting Himself! God accomplished this through the coming of Jesus Christ and we are His body, the Church. We must remember that God will establish the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and uphold it with justice and righteousness. As Psalm 100:3 proclaims, “Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
Paul reminded the Church in Galatia with his rhetorical questions in Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” In other words, if the zeal of the Lord is to establish the Kingdom, will your flesh now uphold it with your anger at people’s mockery of God, fueled by your self-righteousness religious zeal?
No, absolutely not! That is an arrogant, prideful, and blasphemous thought! One, which has fueled churches for way too long! We must keep reminding ourselves of this if we are going to train ourselves to be slow to anger. Anger is often fueled by discouragement and disappointment, in ourselves and others; when expectations are not met and ideals are not realized. We hate it when our plans, or, even worse, God’s plans seem to be thwarted every which way we turn by evil and sin. And when I’m angry about something, I feel powerful and when I act upon it, I can do mighty things. In the past, as a teenager and young military man, I fueled my anger, thinking that I could harness it for greater accomplishment, only to learn the hard way that anger was a wildfire that while powerful, yes, it was destructive as it spread into areas of my life that I did not want fueled by it, such as my relationships. I made hurtful and bad decisions because I was trying to harness the power of a wildfire. A popular culture illustration of this is the transformation process of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader in the Star Wars universe.
Anger is very real, but it must not be allowed to be in control of your faculties. God does not desire for your life to be fueled by wildfires, such as anger. Rather, God desires your life to be fueled by His holy fire, the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus desires that our lives be fully submitted to His yoke – His ruling authority of peace! Paul taught in Ephesians 4:17-27:
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.
What are the first two examples Paul used in applying this teaching to our everyday Christian walks? First, you are to give an honest report (see my sermon from July 3, 2022) – “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another” (25). Second, you are to not sin in your anger (26-27), which means, when you are experiencing the very real emotion of anger, you are not to give it lordship of your life. Nor are you to use anger as a motivation or fuel source in your life. Your Lord is Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and coming again. Your fuel source is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you to give you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Your motivation is the glory of God alone! That takes us to the third action step to training yourself to being slow to anger.
Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.
How? By becoming like Him! God is “Slow to Anger.” That is one of Yahweh’s first descriptions of Himself, as God revealed His character to us in Exodus 34:6, “Then the Lord passed by in front of [Moses] and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.” This is one of the most repeated verses in the Bible because God wants you to know who He is. He has revealed this truth to us on purpose.[1] The following passages repeat that God is “slow to anger”:
- Numbers 14:18, “The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression.”
- Nehemiah 9:17b, “But You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; and You did not forsake them.”
- Psalm 86:15, “But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.”
Who will give you this great understanding? The answer to that is found in the axiomatic battle drill of the book of Proverbs, found in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” When you fear God, then you will have knowledge. When you are slow to anger, then you will have great understanding. Only fools, who despise God’s wisdom, are quick tempered! James taught in James 1:19-20, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” Those who fear God will please God by being like Him (that is righteousness). That brings us to the final action step.
Action Step #4) Live on mission.
There are things worth getting angry about, even when you are slow to do it, but, and this is a big but, we are not permitted to sin in that anger, no matter how righteous the cause or holy the crusade may be to you or others. We conclude today’s sermon by learning from Jesus’ example when He was on mission and got angry in the face of injustice and corruption in the temple courts, from John 2:13-17:
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”
Jesus’ anger is righteous because it flows out of love and is focused on the real and legitimate enemy. Imitation is the greatest complement you can give someone! Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:16). Here are three practical observations you can apply to your life about anger, gleaned from Jesus’ displays of anger in the Bible:
- Jesus had pure motives with His anger. He did not seek selfish gain but desired the best for the other person in why He was angry and how He expressed His anger. Because He loves the person and hates the sin!
- Jesus focused His anger on the sinful behavior or corrupted activity. His anger was fueled by love and bound by the Word. Jesus’ response to His emotions was always for the will of God to be accomplished in and through His life, words, and actions. Anger that does not flow out of godly love is focused on the wrong target.
- Jesus was in control while He was angry. He did not “see red” and lose control. He did not hold on to his anger. Jesus controlled His emotions; His emotions did not control Him.[2]
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] For an easily accessible study on “slow to anger,” watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeQ1nq_YJD0.
[2] “Was Jesus ever angry?” https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-angry.html. Accessed July 14, 2022.
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Seize the Moment – Day 851
Where He Leads I’ll Follow
Matthew 4:19-20(NLT)
“Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him.”
William Ogden was a gifted musician and songwriter. By the age of 10 he was able to read music and listen to a song and write out the melody, and at the age of 18, he became the choir director for his church. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted and then organized a male choir that was known throughout the Army of the Cumberlands.
After the war, he resumed his study of music under some of the most prominent musicians of the day. He would go on to teach in the US and in Canada. He wrote and published this hymn in 1885.
Where He leads I’ll follow, follow all the way.
Where He leads I’ll follow, follow Jesus every day.
We need to wake up with this mindset, declaring our confidence in the One who saved us! His promises are sweet, and His message is one of hope, grace and love. So follow Jesus with everything you’ve got.
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Where He Leads I’ll Follow
Kind is the word,
Dearer far than any message man ever heard;
Pure was the mind of Christ,
Sinless I see;
He the great example is, and pattern for me.
Where He leads I’ll follow,
Follow all the way.
Where He leads I’ll follow,
Follow Jesus ev’ry day.
Jesus hath shown,
Sweeter far than any love that mortals have known;
Kind to the erring one,
Faithful is He;
He the great example is, and pattern for me. (Chorus)
“Come unto Me;”
Weary, heavy-laden, there is sweet rest for thee;
Trust in His promises,
Faithful and sure;
Lean upon the Savior, and thy soul is secure. (Chorus)
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Seize the Moment – Day 850
Wait on God’s Justice!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, July 15.
Is there a justice that you are waiting to see fulfilled?
The last unfulfilled task of Elijah’s tripartite commission on Mount Horeb was to anoint Jehu king over Israel (1 Kings 19:16). That task was done by one of Elisha’s disciples, a son of the prophets. In 2 Kings 9:3, Elisha gave him the message he was to deliver to Jehu upon anointing him with oil, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I have anointed you king over Israel.’” Strikingly, Elisha’s disciple said so much more at Jehu’s anointing in verses 6-10:
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male person both bond and free in Israel. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.”
He seems to have exceeded his marching orders. Did Elisha’s disciple become overzealous in his desire to see God’s justice fulfilled? No, God used this man to pass to Jehu the original prophecy of Elijah, found in 1 Kings 21:17-29. It took three generations to see God’s justice fulfilled, but not a single Word of the Lord fell to the ground void (1 Samuel 3:19; Isaiah 55:11).
Seize the moment and walk faithfully, trusting that no matter how many generations it takes to see God’s justice fulfilled, “God’s Words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
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Seize the Moment – Dat 849
Trust God for the Big Picture!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, July 14.
Have you ever been asked to do something that you didn’t understand, but you knew it had to be done? That’s the situation Elisha found himself in when he visited Damascus. King Ben-hadad was sick and sent his servant Hazael to inquire of Elisha if he would live. After telling Hazael that his master would recover, but still die, he gazed at Hazael and wept. Their conversation, recorded in 2 Kings 8:12-13, illuminates the difficult life of a prophet:
Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” Then he answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up.” Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” And Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
In verse 15, Hazael murdered Ben-hadad and seized the throne for himself. Elisha was obedient to fulfill Elijah’s mandate from 1 Kings 19:15, “you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram.” While Hazael would go on to do grave evil against the people of Israel, he was also used by God to bring judgment against His people for their disobedience and idolatry, as recorded in 2 Kings 13:3, “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Aram.” Elisha may have been conflicted with this turn of events, but He trusted God’s sovereignty and obeyed the Lord, regardless.
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Seize the Moment – Day 848
Pray to the God who Keeps His Promises!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, July 13.
Are you concerned with the increased costs of living?
The king of Aram besieged Samaria, causing a great famine. The costs of living skyrocketed and the people became desperate, so much so that they turned to cannibalism (2 Kings 6:24-30). The stage was set for another conflict between an evil king and a faithful prophet.
The king was so distraught that like his father Ahab who had blamed Elijah for the drought previously, Jehoram blamed Elisha for this famine and ordered his death. Neither king could see God’s judgment upon the nation for their sins, but in 2 Kings 7:1, Elisha prophesied to the king’s messenger,
“Listen to the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord, ‘Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” The king’s official responded with disbelief, so Elisha told him personally, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it” (2).
God kept both promises! God vanquished the enemy in a single night, which not only ceased the Aramean’s siege of Samaria, but left behind their food stores for the city’s people to consume (3-9). By God’s direct activity, Elisha’s prophecy was fulfilled in verse 16,
“So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.”
God was faithful to provide for His people, and to judge the evil in the land (2 Kings 7:17-20; 9:19-26).
Seize the moment and don’t look for someone to blame for the rising costs of living, rather trust God for judgement and faithfully pray that He will provide your daily bread (Matthew 6:11).
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Seize the Moment – Day 847
The Eyes of Faith to See!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, July 12.
In a recent article, Dr. Karan Raj explained, “humans are capable of seeing only 0.0035% of reality.” The normal person sees a very tiny portion of the vast electromagnetic (EM) spectrum, a specific range of wavelengths approximately 380 to 750 nanometers. The science is fascinating. Today’s famous Old Testament story has me thinking that faith and science are best when they are in dialogue with one another.
In 2 Kings 6:8-10, Elisha the prophet has been feeding inside information to Jehoram, the king of Israel, about Ben-hadad’s military movements. It’s not because he was a spy, but because he had ears to hear what God was revealing to him about the secret council meetings of Israel’s enemy. Never forget that what is hidden to man is laid open to God (Hebrews 4:13). Because of his accurate reports, Ben-hadad sent an army to take Elisha and surrounded his city with horses and chariots. Open your eyes to Elisha’s response to his servant’s report of what he saw as overwhelming odds in 2 Kings 6:16-17:
“Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
What appeared to be a disaster, was just an opportunity for the eyes of faith to be opened to God’s power and provision for His people (Hebrews 11). God is not surprised by the overwhelming odds of our circumstances; in fact, He plans on using them for His glory and our good.
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