Seize the Moment – Day 814
The Heavy Burden of Forced Labor!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, June 9.
Have you ever been forced to do a job you didn’t like or want to do? Imagine being conscripted by the President to be a forced laborer for a grand national project in Washington DC.
First Kings 5:13-16 explained how Solomon conscripted 183,300 workers to do the hard labor of building the temple:
Now King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 men. He sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in relays; they were in Lebanon a month and two months at home. And Adoniram was over the forced laborers. Now Solomon had 70,000 transporters, and 80,000 hewers of stone in the mountains, besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief deputies who were over the project and who ruled over the people who were doing the work.
These men quarried and cut the stones for the foundation of the temple, as well as transported and prepared the necessary timber for this grand national project in Jerusalem. Unstated in this account are the countless farmers, laborers, and servants who would support this undertaking and provide for the terms of the purchase agreement with Hiram, the king of Tyre (1-12).
We read through all this way too quickly! We remain deaf and blind to the suffering of the people living under the heavy burden of Solomon’s aggressive agenda. In 1 Kings 12:4, after forty years of Solomon’s rule, the people petition Solomon’s son Rehoboam, “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.” When he refused, the people rebelled (1 Kings 12:13-19). People can only take the heavy burden of forced labor for so long!
Seize the moment and find rest for your soul from the oppressive regime of sin by breaking the world’s heavy yoke and getting in the easy yoke of Jesus, His burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).
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Seize the Moment – Day 813
God Keeps His Promises!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, June 8.
Are you waiting on God to fulfill a promise?
King Solomon’s reign was unique in the history of Israel. It was a time of rest for the nation as they experienced the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, according to 1 Kings 4:20-21, and 25:
Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance; they were eating and drinking and rejoicing. Now Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. … So Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
You may recognize the phrase “as numerous as the sand that is on the seashore” because it was a promise of God given to Abraham in Genesis 22:17, “indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.” God later reiterated this promise to Israel (Jacob) in Genesis 32:12.
God yoked the promise of abundance and the promise of rest with the giving of the Promised Land, which He covenanted to give to Abraham in Genesis 15:18. That was later affirmed by Moses to the twelve tribes of Israel in Deuteronomy 12:10, “He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security.”
Just as God’s promises of abundance and rest were fulfilled in the days of Solomon, so they are today in Christ Jesus (John 10:10; Matthew 11:28-30; 2 Corinthians 1:20).
Seize the moment and wait upon the Lord with faith, hope, and love; God never fails to keep His promises!
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Seize the Moment – Day 812
The Opportunity of a Lifetime!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, June 7.
If God gave you the opportunity to ask for anything you want, what would you ask for? Before you give a flippant response to this question, take time to think deeply upon this opportunity of a lifetime. Your answer reveals your heart and determines the way in which you will walk.
Solomon is the new king of Israel, and, in his great wealth, he offered a large sacrifice to God, after which the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Ask what you wish me to give you” (1 Kings 3:5). Solomon’s response, in 1 Kings 3:9, pleased God: “Give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
A thousand years later, in Mark 10:51-52, a blind beggar was crying out to Jesus from the side of the road when Jesus responded, “‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ And the blind man said to Him, ‘Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.”
Two men, one a rich ruler and the other a poor beggar, are given the opportunity of a lifetime. The first received the ability to hear with his heart and the second the ability to see with his eyes. Both, in response, are invited to follow in the way to demonstrate that they have received the true gift – a relationship with the Gift-Giver. Today, God is offering you the same opportunity of a lifetime.
Seize the moment and “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it” (Psalm 37:4-5).
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Seize the Moment – Day 811
Deal with the Enemy Within!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, June 6.
Have you ever felt like the greatest threat to your own happiness and well-being was not from the outside, but from the enemy within?
In his final charge to Solomon, King David commanded the new king, to deal with the enemies within his own gates; he started with these instructions recorded in 1 Kings 2:2-4:
I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that the Lord may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, “If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.”
Wisely, David gave Solomon God’s instructions for a king from Deuteronomy 17:18-20 and passed on to his son God’s covenantal promise from 2 Samuel 7:12-16. David believed the greatest threat to Solomon would be the enemies within the gate, including Joab and Shimei (1 Kings 2:5-9).
By the end of this chapter, it looked as if the enemies within the gate had been dealt with successfully. Except for one! Solomon seemingly didn’t deal with the worst of the enemies within the gate that David warned him of – himself! As we will see in the very next chapter, Solomon sowed the seeds of his own failure, not from a lack of wisdom, but from a lack of submission to God’s ways in the most intimate places of his life (Deuteronomy 17:17; 1 Kings 11:1-6).
Seize the moment and “watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23; Mark 7:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Romans 7:21-23).
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Seize the Moment – Day 809
Today’s hymn focus will be
Old-Time Power
Acts 1:8 (NLT)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
The youngest son of a Baptist preacher, Charles Tillman had a passion for church related music. With his eclectic collection of music, he had a knack for adopting material and flowing it into a mix that we know today as southern gospel. He was assisting his father with a tent meeting in South Carolina when he heard a spiritual “The Old Time Religion” and was inspired to write the words and rudiments for this hymn. While G.B. Pike was the first to publish part of this hymn in 1873, the full hymn was later published by Tillman and had a more mnemonic cadence that helped it to be the more popular style to sing this hymn.
O Lord, send the power just now, O Lord, send the power just now
O Lord, send the power just now and baptize every one.
Just like Tillman, we need to wake up and realize we are not able to do this on our own power. We need the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives each and every day. Surrender to His leading and guidance as you make each day a day the Lord can use you!
YOUTUBE:
Old-Time Power
They were all with one accord,
When the Holy Ghost descended,
As was promised by the Lord.
O Lord, send the pow’r just now,
O Lord, send the pow’r just now,
O Lord, send the pow’r just now,
And baptize ev’ry one.
With the sound of rushing wind;
Tongues of fire came down upon them,
As the Lord said He would send. [Refrain]
To our fathers who were true;
This is promised to believers,
And we all may have it too. [Refrain]
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Seize the Moment – Day 808
Men Plot and God Wills!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, June 3.
As we begin a new book of the Bible (1 Kings), we start with the same old story of people acting out of their fears, manipulating current events, and plotting to gain power. Not much has changed over the last three thousand years. As David laid on his death bed, Adonijah, like Absalom before him, took the initiative to make himself the next king of Israel. The heart of the drama is found in 1 Kings 1:13-14 where Nathan organized a plan with Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, to counter Adonijah’s conspiracy:
So now come, please let me give you counsel and save your life and the life of your son Solomon. Go at once to King David and say to him, “Have you not, my lord, O king, sworn to your maidservant, saying, ‘Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? Why then has Adonijah become king?” Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.
Nathan the prophet had access to David and used it to bring about God’s will for the building of His temple through Solomon, as foretold to David (1 Chronicles 22:9-10). This was of paramount importance to David, as it was on his heart to do this for God. In the 2 Samuel 7 account, Nathan had mistakenly given David permission to build the temple but was given a word from God that forbade David from building the temple but secured a dynastic succession. Adonijah, as the eldest living son of David, thought that he could put himself on the throne of Israel, but that was the way of men. God is the one who establishes authority (Romans 13:1). Men plot and God wills!
Seize the moment and stop your plotting, trust God’s sovereign rule over the nations (Psalm 22:28; 47:8; 1 Chronicles 16:31).
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Seize the Moment – Day 807
Costly Mistakes Require a Costly Sacrifice!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, June 2.
Have you ever made a costly mistake?
King David did! He ordered a census, which took over nine months to complete (2 Samuel 24:1-9). His costly mistake brought judgment upon the nation of Israel. God confronted David and offered him three options on how that judgment would unfold and David choose pestilence because he trusted that God’s mercy would prevail in the end (2 Samuel 24:10-14). As the king, he knew that the only way to reconcile the situation and see God relent from judgment was to bear the cost himself, as seen in 2 Samuel 24:24-25, the last verses of Samuel:
However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.
This foreshadows the ministry of Jesus, and what He did for all people; Jesus bore the cost of God’s judgment for humanity’s sin upon Himself, as expressed in 1 Peter 2:24, “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.” Jesus, who knew no sin, took on our sin, so that we might be reconciled to God and experience His healing. In response to this great act of mercy, are you willing to make a costly sacrifice to God?
Seize the moment and “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1).
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Seize the Moment – Day 806
The Hope of a Sunrise!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, June 1.
When was the last time you set apart time to enjoy the sunrise? As part of my rhythm of writing these daily devotions, I intentionally stop to watch the first light of the morning as the sun crests the horizon in the East. For me, it is a time of hope and awe – a daily promise of God’s faithfulness! As you may know about me, by now, I believe that every promise of God comes with a praxis for my daily life – the sun rise is a time of covenant renewal to live faithfully, with faith, hope, and love, once again, today.
The “last words of David” are recorded by Samuel as a song of praise to God for establishing a covenant with His house. In typical Davidic style, as evidenced by his writing of over half the psalms, David poetically expresses the validity of his own kingship and the security of God’s covenant in 2 Samuel 23:3-5:
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, “He who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through sunshine after rain.” Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and secured; for all my salvation and all my desire, will He not indeed make it grow?
Every day that the sun rises, you, too, can experience the reminder of God’s covenant faithfulness and rejoice in His promises (Lamentations 3:22-24). Additionally, like David, every day your life can shine like the rising sun, bringing life and flourishing to all that you touch. Like the sunrise, every day you are called to be a hope-bearer.
Seize the moment and embrace the covenant renewal opportunity that comes with each sunrise – live faithfully by shining God’s light!
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Seize the Moment – Day 805
Walk with Complete Dependence and Absolute Loyalty!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, May 31.
David pens a psalm of praise for God’s deliverance in his life, expressing his complete dependence and absolute loyalty to the God of Israel, starting with these words in 2 Samuel 22:2-4:
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my savior, You save me from violence. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
This song of David is virtually identical to Psalm 18, so why do we find it near the end of this book? The author of Samuel was bookending his work, which began with Hannah’s song of praise for God’s provision, starting with these words in 1 Samuel 2:1-2:
My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation. There is no one holy like the Lord, indeed, there is no one besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.
In the Hebrew Bible, Samuel was originally in the format of one book, not two. The author’s intent was to encourage the people of the divided kingdom to walk with the Lord in covenant faithfulness – with complete dependence and absolute loyalty to Him in all circumstances.
David and Hannah’s songs, the bookends of Samuel, emphasize the sovereignty of God, who is powerful to act, bringing about His purposes from their dire circumstances, for the good of God’s people and His glory. God, Israel’s rock, was the only hope in their time of dire need!
Seize the moment and praise God for His power and provision to bring about His purposes in all circumstances, put your hope in Him alone!
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