Do Good by Showing Hospitality!

Judges 19

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, March 9.

What are your expectations of other Christians?

Judges 19:11-13 sets up the final story of the book of Judges, with a Levite, his concubine, and his servant traveling home after she had visited with her father for four months:

When they were near Jebus, the day was almost gone; and the servant said to his master, “Please come, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.” However, his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners who are not of the sons of Israel; but we will go on as far as Gibeah.” He said to his servant, “Come and let us approach one of these places; and we will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”

This is a story of great heart ache and pain. The Levite did not want to stay in or near Jebus, which was Jerusalem, because it was not yet under Israel control. The Levite did not like or trust the Jebusites and did not want to have to depend upon them for hospitality. Instead, they pushed on to a town of Israel, hoping God’s people would care for them by showing them hospitality. But, as Judges 19:1 foreshadowed about this sad story, “Now it came about in those days, when there was no king in Israel.”

When you read for yourself the horror of what happened in verses 14-30, your heart will break remembering that the last time there was such brutality of a guest was Sodom, which led to its destruction at God’s hand (Genesis 19:1-28). Hebrews 13:2 commands all believers, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Seize the moment and do good by showing hospitality (1 Peter 4:9; Romans 12:13).

YOUTUBE:

Not Every Promotion is Good!

Judges 18

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, March 8.

There are times in a person’s career and working life where a decision must be made – to accept or decline a promotion, to stay or to go. For some, it is the right thing to do; it is the natural professional progression of experience and responsibility, but for others it is not. Not every promotion is good!

The story of Israel’s apostasy grows as 600 men from the tribe of Dan seek to settle in the land near Micah’s home, taking his household gods and the Levite priest while they are at it. Judges 18:18-20 captures the tragic scene of what happened in Micah’s household as Dan’s men are confronted by the priest during the burglary:

When these went into Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod and household idols and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” They said to him, “Be silent, put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod and household idols and the graven image and went among the people.

If you are invited to take a new opportunity outside of your current workplace or receive a promotion within the organization, then I encourage you to be wise and discerning. Cry out to God whether you should take it or leave it. Because not every promotion should be accepted and not every attractive job opportunity is the right thing to do.

Seize the moment and walk in the spirit of “power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). Don’t allow yourself to be intimated into making a bad decision. Trust God and do good!

YOUTUBE:

Offering Right Worship!

Judges 17

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, March 7.

As the book of Judges starts to come to an end with its final two stories, the situation has worsened for Israel. To explain the setting for the story of the Ephraimite Micah and his Levite priest, Judges 17:6 reminded the reader, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” The absence of a strong central leader in Israel was responsible for not only the anarchy of the tribes, culminating in civil war by the end of the book, but also to the widespread religious apostasy, which is the focus of this chapter.

Apostasy is not necessarily a walking away from being religious or spiritual, but, rather, it is the decision to step off the prescribed way of one’s faith. Plainly speaking, it is a breaking of the covenant as established by God for our good. It’s offering a form of worship that God does not accept. That is what is described in Judges 17:5, “And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest.”

Clearly Micah was a religious person, but the making of a house shrine, with the worship of household idols, and the consecration of his son as a priest, was not an acceptable form of worship to God. Micah was an ambiguous character, and while he does not seem to be filled with evil intent, he was simply doing what was right in his own eyes and wandered out of the way. It was this sort of misguided behavior that went unchecked by strong leadership, that ultimately led to the corruption of the priesthood and the people, ending in the nation’s destruction.

Seize the moment and walk in the way of God! Follow the way of Jesus and worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

YOUTUBE:

Today’s hymn focus will be

Thank You, Lord

2 Corinthians 9:15 (ESV)             

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”

Seth and Bessie Sykes wrote this hymn in 1940 to allow believers to give thanks and offer praise to God for their wonderful gift of salvation. They knew that this gift of salvation was an indescribable gift. It defines that a personal relationship with the Almighty God is something that we should be thankful for each and every day. We should not be like the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, with only to have one come back to say “Thank You”.

     Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole.

    Thank you, Lord, for giving to me Thy great salvation so rich and free.

YOUTUBE:

Thank You Lord

Delilah!

Judges 16

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, March 4.

What is your Delilah? Judges 16:4-6 introduces us to the woman that would be Samson’s downfall, and yes, her name was Delilah:

After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you.”

Samson fell in love with a seedy woman and while the Bible gives us Delilah’s motivation from the get-go, Samson seemed to be unaware of her intentions, or at least blinded to them by his infatuation with her. His romantic involvement prevented him from seeing straight. They do say love is blind, but in this case, it wasn’t love; rather, it was lust, and lust is a counterfeit, an enemy smoke screen to obscure the battlefield.

Delilah is not subtle about her efforts to sell Samson to his enemies, the Philistines, for riches beyond anything she would ever be able to earn in her normal nighttime activities. In fact, when you read Judges 16:6-20 you just want to pull Samson aside and talk some sense into him. Every time she asked him how to bind his strength, the very next scene his enemies were doing it to him. Yet, Samson, in all his pride, kept returning to Delilah.

What is your Delilah? What do you keep returning to even though you know it is seeking to steel, kill, or destroy you (John 10:10a)?

Seize the moment and break up with your Delilah today – “Flee immorality” and “pursue righteousness” (1 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Timothy 2:22)!

YOUTUBE:

The Revolving Door of Revenge!

Judges 15

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, March 3.

The Hatfield-McCoy family feud is an infamous story. It started at the end of the American Civil War and escalated into a massacre, demonstrating the revolving door of revenge. This vicious cycle of violence will continue until either the offenders are dead or there is forgiveness.

We watch the revolving door of revenge in the Samson story in Judges 15. After being denied his wife, Samson stated in verse 3, “This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.” Obviously looking for justification for his violence, Samson used the personal offense between him and his father-in-law to burn the crops of the Philistines with torches bound to the tails of 300 foxes (4-5). The revolving door of revenge commenced and escalated to a great massacre in verses 6-8, just like with the Hatfield-McCoy family feud:

Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. Samson said to them, “Since you act like this, I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will quit.” He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

The Philistines responded by marching to war against Judah until Samson was bound and brought to them, only to have Samson escape his bindings to kill 1,000 Philistines using the jawbone of a donkey (9-16). While this was considered a great victory, it was not the end of the revolving door of revenge, which ended in Samson’s death (Judges 16:28-31).

Seize the moment and put down your offense! A feud can only end in death unless you choose to close the revolving door of revenge through forgiveness.

YOUTUBE:

The Power of the Spirit!

Judges 14

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, March 2.

Sampson’s amazing feats of strength were possible only because of God’s anointing. We see this twice in Judges 14. First, in verses 5-6, we see him defeat a lion:

Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, so that he tore him as one tears a young goat though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

Sampson is not a likeable character nor are his behaviors anything more than that of a man-child who wants what he wants and wants it now. He is certainly strong and courageous, but beyond that he is self-centered and disrespectful.

Judges 14:4 is the key to the Sampson story and this entire fiasco, “However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.” God empowered Sampson for His purposes to deliver and rescue Israel, and not because of Sampson’s worthiness.

Seize the moment and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit not by carrying out the desires of your flesh, but rather to do the will of your Heavenly Father (Galatians 5:16-26). God empowers you to live and work for His glory!

YOUTUBE:

The Birth of a Hero!

Judges 13

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, March 1.

It is an age-old question: Are heroes born or are heroes made? The Sampson story, which is told over the next four chapters of Judges, either confirms or denies your opinion based on whether you see this Judge of Israel as a hero. Judges 13:3-5 begins Sampson’s story with his birth narrative:

Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. Now therefore, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

This is the only such birth narrative in the book of Judges. What made Sampson different from the other biblical Judges was that he was mandated to live in a life-long Nazirite vow, which was prescribed by God in Numbers 6:1-21, to be a voluntary and temporary vow to consecrate oneself from the world. The Nazarite vow was a choice to be made by a person who was responding to God’s grace upon his life.

Without hesitation and with great fervor, Sampson broke every regulation of the Nazirite vow. His life was a tragedy! He was born to be a hero, but he could have been so much more if he had committed his life to the pathway of becoming a hero – to being a living sacrifice for God’s glory (Romans 12:1-2)!

Seize the moment and respond to the grace of Jesus Christ by willingly dedicating yourself to God as holy and pleasing sacrifice unto Him. Walk in the way of a hero of faith today!

YOUTUBE:

Civil War!

Judges 12

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

Judges 12 appears to be a replay of the Gideon story (Judges 8:1), as the tribe of Ephraim confronted Jephthah with why he went to battle without them. But, unlike Gideon (Judges 8:3), Jephthah didn’t have the diplomacy skills to satisfy their angry inquiry. The consequences are a senseless and bloody civil war, described in Judges 12:4-6:

Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, O Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” then they would say to him, “Say now, ‘Shibboleth.’ ” But he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. Thus there fell at that time 42,000 of Ephraim.

Can you imagine this catastrophic loss? That would be like us losing nearly every person in Henry County over an offense our mayor had with someone in Kentucky. They had become a divided people who would kill each other because of their regional accents. The loss of 42,000 people was not worth the offense that Ephraim took on themselves for Jephthah’s victory apart from them. And 42,000 was too steep a price for Jephthah’s hot-headed inability to come to the table and find a common ground that united them rather than feed the fire of that which divided them. Are we any better today?

Seize the moment and be a minister of reconciliation in the situations of your own life. Don’t take on the offenses of others, but rather seek that which unites us.

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