The Valley of the Shadow!

1 Kings 19

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, June 29.

Did you know that the “valley of the shadow of death,” a famous phrase coined by King David in Psalm 23:4, is not exclusively death, but includes any experience of peril? Have you ever experienced the valley of the shadow? How did you handle it?

Elijah was experiencing the valley of the shadow, which led him to suicidal ideation. This is one of the primary Bible stories that Christian counselors use when researching a biblical understanding of depression and like issues. Elijah, in this low moment, did the most important thing that any of us can do when we are low, he did a 9-1-1 call to God. In his dark shadow, he didn’t turn inwards to find help, he cried out to God with an honest prayer. Like King David before him, he learned that God’s presence with him overcomes the worst things he can face in his life.

God responded to Elijah’s prayer by giving him sleep and nourishment, two essential ingredients to survive any valley experience. God then gave him a journey to travel, to Mount Horeb, where he would learn that there was still a purpose for his life (9-21).

Seize the moment by calling out to God with an honest prayer; no matter how deep the shadow, God’s light will pierce the darkness.

YOUTUBE:

Mountain Top Experiences!

1 Kings 18

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, June 28.

Have you ever had a mountain top experience? This is an experience where you encounter the power of God; it is a moment of clarity and exaltation. Elijah experienced the mountain top, literally and spiritually, on Mount Carmel, where he defeated 850 pagan prophets for the glory of God and the devotion of His people.

The purpose of mountain top experiences is to return us to a life of wholehearted devotion to the one true God. God grants them for His glory and our good, but we can’t be dependent on them for our daily walk with Jesus. No one is intended to live on the mountain top itself, but the mountain top experience is intended to embolden how you live. This was true of Jesus, who even after His Transfiguration, which happened on a high mountain, even He, just like Elijah, had to come down and face the reality of everyday life (Matthew 17).

Seize the moment and live with a wholehearted devotion to Jesus today by remembering the clarity and exaltation of your mountain top experiences.

YOUTUBE:

The Miracle of Multiplication!

1 Kings 17

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, June 27.

Dire circumstances can turn the smallest request into a great act of faith. During a time of drought, a judgment of God against Israel, Elijah the prophet asked a widow for some water and a piece of bread. Normally, that request would have been nothing memorable, but, as seen in 1 Kings 17:12-16, the widow’s dire circumstances turned a simple act of hospitality into a great act of faith:

But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’ ” So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.

The widow’s obedience led to her experiencing God’s revelation of power and provision. Her willingness to give the last of what she had, in faith, led to a miracle of multiplication that transformed her little into an abundance. This was a foretaste of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who took five loaves and two fish and fed a multitude (Matthew 14:15-21).

Seize the moment and trust God to multiply whatever He asks of you in faith, whether it is the giving of your time, talents, or treasures.

YOUTUBE:

Today’s hymn focus will be 

He Keeps Me Singing

John 15:10-11(NLT)

“When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.  I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”

Luther B. Bridges wrote this hymn in 1910. He was asked to be the guest speaker at a revival conference in Kentucky. He had wife and three sons stay with his father-in-law while he was away. The services lasted for two weeks with a wonderful time of ministry.  The last service closed with great joy and he couldn’t wait to share his excitement and all the blessings with his family. 

So he called his wife. But it wasn’t his wife’s voice on the long distance line. He was told the news that his wife and three boys had perished in a fire that  had destroyed the  farmhouse. Leaning heavily on His Savior and expressing his faith in God, he penned the words to this hymn:

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know

          Fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go

YOUTUBE:

He Keeps Me Singing

There’s within my heart a melody;
Jesus whispers sweet and low,
“Fear not, I am with you, peace, be still,”
in all of life’s ebb and flow.

Refrain:
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
sweetest name I know,
fills my every longing,
keeps me singing as I go.

Count the Cost of your Ambition!

1 Kings 16

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, June 24.

What is the price tag on your ambition?

At the end of 1 Kings 16, an overview of six successive evil kings of Israel, there is a one-verse description of the cost of rebuilding Jericho in verse 34, “In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.”

Whereas the material and labor costs would have been substantial to Hiel, those would have paled in comparison to the value of his two sons, who died in fulfillment of the ancient curse against the rebuilding of this city, recorded in Joshua 6:26, “Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, ‘Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates.’”

While most industrious people, today, would laugh off the concept of ancient curses, there are blessings and curses built into the Law of God, which, like gravity, are at work regardless of whether you believe in the Creator of those laws. Like gravity, there is a consequence upon those who teeter on the cliff of their own ambition. In Mark 8:36, Jesus gave us a principle to sober us in our ambitions, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”

What is the price tag on your ambition: your marriage, your children, your health, or your soul?

Seize the moment and count the cost of your ambition today. Step back from the cliff and discover contentment in Jesus (Philippians 4:12).

YOUTUBE:

The Way of Kings!

1 Kings 15

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, June 23.

What is the way of kings? According to 1 Kings 15, it is war. Listen to three passages that demonstrate how three different sets of kings spent their kingships waging a civil war between the northern ten tribes of Israel and the southern two tribes of Judah:

God’s people were divided after the death of Solomon, and, from that time forward, the way of kings was the sword. Jesus warned Peter in Matthew 26:52, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” So, while the way of kings is war, the way of the King of Kings is peace.

Just as violence breeds violence, so love begets love! Jesus gave Himself over to violent men as the eternal solution to the way of kings. He invites us to follow Him (Mark 1:17). You must choose for yourself: the way of kings or the way of the King of Kings.

Seize the moment and walk in the way of Jesus – the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7)!

YOUTUBE:

Remain Faithful to God!

1 Kings 14

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, June 22.

In our secular-humanist culture, with the wall between religion and state, it is hard for us to imagine how religion and politics were yoked in Israel. God’s prophets would foretell the rise and fall of kings and kingdoms. We see this in the prophetic ministry of Ahijah the Shilonite and the rise and fall of King Jeroboam.

Ahijah was introduced during the reign of Solomon, immediately after Jeroboam was first introduced in 1 Kings 11:28 as a “valiant warrior” and “industrious.” In verses 30-40, Ahijah, reminiscent of the prophet Samuel’s anointing of David during Saul’s reign, endorsed Jeroboam as the next king and spoke of him tearing away ten of the tribes from David’s household. Just like when Saul ripped Samuel’s cloak, Ahijah ripped his own cloak into twelve pieces to symbolize the tearing of the kingdom (30-31). Additionally, he used dynastic language, similar to Nathan’s prophecy to David (38).

Ahijah remained faithful in his role as God’s prophet, but can you imagine how he must have felt since his ministry was intimately yoked with the rise and fall of Jeroboam? His ministry was filled with moments of hope and exaltation when Jeroboam was coronated king, then with grave disappointments as he watched God’s man rebel against the very one who put him into office. Yet, Ahijah himself remained faithful to God regardless of these circumstances, and Jeroboam’s bad choices.

Seize the moment and be faithful to God regardless of your circumstances, and the bad choices of others.

YOUTUBE:

The Call to Radical Obedience!

1 Kings 13

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, June 21.

Has God ever asked you to fast from food for a prolonged time? There was a time when I was in the US Army, faced with a difficult challenge, when the Lord asked me to fast from food for three days in preparation for a significant meeting. I didn’t understand why at the time, but in retrospect, I see that God has always had a better plan than any of my plans.

In 1 Kings 13, an unnamed man of God from Judah traveled to Bethel to confront Jeroboam, the king of Israel, and to prophesy God’s judgment against the altar he had built at Bethel (1-10). The prophet spoke with authority, and gave a sign, but Jeroboam didn’t repent, and Israel remained in its apostasy (33-34).

The prophet walked in submission to God, until, along on his way home to Judah, he ate in the home of a deceptive old man. It was his last meal. Shortly after, God struck him down by a lion proving that he was a prophet, his calling authenticated by God’s immediate judgment of his disobedience (11-32). One hundred years later, the prophet’s words were proven true by King Josiah, as recorded in 2 Kings 23:15-20, as this prophet was remembered as the harbinger of God’s judgment of the altar at Bethel.

Seize the moment and obey God’s call because you never know the impact of one act of radical obedience. You may not know why God asks you to do certain things, but trust that God’s Word never returns void (Isaiah 55:11).

YOUTUBE:

The Importance of Wise Counselors!

1 Kings 12

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, June 20.

How do you approach making big decisions? Do you make your big decisions all by yourself, or do you seek the counsel of others?

Proverbs 15:22 teaches, “Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.” The Bible emphasizes the importance of having a trusted community of wise counselors in your life. These people don’t have to be professional therapists, but they do need to be trusted friends and family members who will give you biblical and timely wisdom. They should neither make your decisions for you, nor serve as your rubber-stamp committee, but be brothers and sisters who love you enough to ask the hard questions to ensure you are living for Jesus in every area of your life.

A great example of the need for such a community comes from 1 Kings 12:1-15. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, and successor to the throne of Israel, was ambivalent on how to respond to the plee of his people in verse 4, “Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” The elders counseled him to lessen the people’s burden, whereas his contemporaries counseled him to increase their burden (6-11). In fulfillment of God’s judgment, Rehoboam forsook the wise counsel of the elders to follow the foolish counsel of the young men he grew up with. Henceforth, the people rebelled, forsook him as king, and the kingdom was divided from that day forward (13-33).

From this story, we learn that we must choose our counselors wisely. It takes time and effort to find them but surround yourself with people who will walk in the way of Jesus with you to the glory of God.

Seize the moment and build a community of wise counselors for your life.

YOUTUBE: