Seize the Moment – Day 696
The Power of Story!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, February 11.
We are shaped by the stories we tell! Stories reveal our worldview – what we believe about God, the world we live in, people, and the purpose of our existence. What do the stories you tell reveal about your worldview?
The book of Judges explains what happened in the Promised Land so that future generations would be warned and learn from their mistakes. God rescued Israel from Egypt, then under Moses’ leadership they forged a new national identity through forty years in the wilderness, until Joshua assumed command and led them into their inheritance.
God commanded them to conquer all the nations of the Promised Land and to make no treaties with them so that they could continue to build their own national and religious identity around God and His Law. God warned them of the consequences of not obeying His command.
Seize the moment and obey God’s commands – proclaim the better story of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings!
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Seize the Moment – Day 695
As for Me and My House!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, February 10.
Every generation comes to an end, but how will they finish their race, and what will their legacy be to the next generation?
Joshua’s farewell address contains a very famous challenge, found in Joshua 24:14-15:
Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Joshua lived 110 years and served God faithfully throughout his life. He experienced God’s rescue from Egypt, including the ten plagues, the miracles of the Exodus, and God’s miraculous provision through the forty years of wilderness wanderings. Having personally witnessed the power of God and been mentored by Moses, he was charged with leading the conquest of the Promised Land.
Joshua 24:31 concludes of Joshua’s life, “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel.” He accomplished the purpose of his life, and before he died, Joshua challenged the next generation to be faithful to God, just as Moses had done in Deuteronomy, and just as every faithful leader of every generation must do. Joshua did all that was expected of him. The rest was now up to the next generation!
Have you fulfilled your purpose in your generation?
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Seize the Moment – Day 694
Cling to God!
Is your relationship with God like a sticky note, that can be attached and reattached with ease, or like a piece of wood glued to the wall with gorilla glue, where separation is difficult and damaging?
Joshua, as he begins his farewell address, uses the phrase, “cling to” twice. In the positive, Joshua commands the people in Joshua 23:8, “But you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.” In the negative, Joshua warns the people in verses 12-13:
For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
It is in this second usage that we get the full extent of this word’s meaning, and Joshua’s intent for using it, because its earliest connotations are of marriage, from Genesis 2:24: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” [italics added to emphasize same Hebrew word]. Both Jesus and Paul quote this, that a husband and wife are to leave their family of origin and cleave [cling!] to one another to make something new (Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:7; 1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31).
God designed us to become permanently affixed to him and to our spouse – to be blessed by our life of faith and devotion! To be destroyed by the breaking of our vows!
Seize the moment and cling to God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:37).
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Seize the Moment – Day 693
Go to the Person!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, February 8.
How do you respond when someone does something you don’t like or don’t agree with? Do you seek clarification from them?
Joshua knew that the unity of Israel would be quickly tested. Not only because the tribes would be spread out throughout the Promised Land, and separated by such landmarks as the Jordan River, but because they were going to have to trust one another to remain faithful to God and His Law. He was right! Even before the departing tribes crossed the Jordan they built a large altar, which caused chaos back in the camp (10-34). Even though the situation was quickly resolved because the leaders went to them and sought clarification for their actions, the congregation had been ready to go to war. They judged them before they knew their motivations!
Have you ever done that to someone?
Seize the moment and go to the person to seek clarification on what they did and why they did it (Matthew 18:15). Fill the gap with trust until you know for sure.
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Seize the Moment – Day 692
God is a Promise Keeper!
Joshua 21:41-43 summarizes the fulfillment of an old promise:
All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasture lands. These cities each had its surrounding pasture lands; thus it was with all these cities. So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it.
The Levites did not receive an allocation of the Promised Land, like the rest of the tribes of Israel, but these priests and temple workers still needed homes to live in, places to raise their children, and pastureland to feed their animals (Numbers 18:20). So, God spoke to Moses promising the Levites cities in Numbers 35:1-8.
It was up to Joshua to ensure that the promise was kept. Under his leadership, all the tribes had their land allocated to them, the six refuge cities have been declared, the forty-eight Levites cities have been selected, and the tabernacle was centralized at Shiloh. Joshua 21:44-45 captures this crowing moment’s significance to the nation of Israel:
And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.
God is a promise keeper! While there was much work to do to settle the land, and, we know, there is much about their future that is not to be envied, God’s people stopped at this moment in time, and this place in their history, to celebrate God’s faithfulness to keep His promises!
Seize the moment and celebrate God’s faithfulness to keep His promises to you! God will never fail you!
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Train to Live on Mission – Week 1
Battle Drill #1:
Resist the Enemy!
Proverbs 1:8-19 (NAS95)
The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is Proverbs 1:15: “My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path.”
The first battle drill is to resist the enemy! The context of today’s battle drill comes from Proverb 1:8-19:
Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching; indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head and ornaments about your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause; let us swallow them alive like Sheol, even whole, as those who go down to the pit; we will find all kinds of precious wealth, we will fill our houses with spoil; throw in your lot with us, we shall all have one purse,” my son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, for their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed blood. Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net in the sight of any bird; but they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; it takes away the life of its possessors.
Every good soldier of Jesus Christ must learn that if you want to maintain your life, then you must follow this first battle drill! Just as we see in Proverbs 1:8-19, there are forces of evil who seek to entice you away from the wisdom of God and His ways for your life. As Proverbs 1:10 directs, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” It’s that simple!
There are thieves who seek to rob you of your life by getting you to throw in your lot with them and believe their counterfeit promises about how to have a happier and more fulfilling life, seducing you with the promise of pleasures to walk away from the fundamentals of your faith and God’s reward for your faithfulness. That is the warning of Proverbs 1:19, “So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; it takes away the life of its possessors.” Jesus Christ affirmed this by teaching His followers in John 10:10-12:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
Just like sheep cannot be left alone because they are dumb animals that will follow their animal instincts to their own destruction, God, the Good Shepherd, gathers us, together, as His one people under His rightful rule, so that we can train to live on mission today.
As a cadet, in both Cadet Basic Training (CBT) and Cadet Field Training (CFT) at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, NY, I was taught the fundamentals of being a soldier, what we call battle drills. As a brand-new Second Lieutenant, attending the US Army’s Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC) at Fort Benning, GA, I was taught how to train soldiers to work as a unit and execute the fundamentals without a deliberate decision-making process. Both the soldier skills and leadership training were further drilled into me through the arduous training regimen of the US Army’s Ranger School. The goal is to make the training instinctual, habitual, and reflexive, regardless of personal or situational stress. Today, we are going to look at one of the most basic battle drills every soldier must learn, and every unit must master as one collective body; it is how to “react to contact.”
The soldiers of Jesus Christ have an enemy – the devil! The battle drill we are to learn, and master is simple, but not easy. Army doctrine teaches us that when a soldier reacts to contact, she is to immediately take cover and return fire in the direction of enemy contact. Not surprisingly, the following New Testament Scriptures make the point clear of what we are to do when we come under enemy attack:
1) James 4:7. “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
2) 1 Peter 5:8-9. “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”
3) Ephesians 6:11-12. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Good soldiers of Christ Jesus don’t just remain hunkered down returning fire, they are to seek the Commander’s approval by carrying on with the mission. It’s great to not be taken out of the battle, but staying alive is not the mission, pleasing the Father and doing His will is the point! Just like in the 82nd Airborne Division, jumping out of airplanes was how we got to work, so we needed to train how to execute a variety of airborne operations, under different circumstances, so that we could get to work safely and do the job we were delivered to execute. Our job was to arrive safely to fulfill the Commander’s plan for sending us behind enemy lines in the first place. The same is true with surviving an enemy attack! Resisting the enemy allows you to continue the mission, it’s not the mission itself, but you must train this into your mind and heart so that it is reflexive, instinctual, and habitual! That takes us to action step #3.
An interesting detail about the wisdom literature is that a bulk of it was written by a father and son team – King David wrote much of the Psalms and King Solomon, his son, wrote much of the rest, to include Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.[1] With that understanding, both David and Solomon, began their works, Psalms and Proverbs, respectively, with a similar understanding of wisdom. Just as Proverbs 1:15, today’s battle drill, stresses the fear of the Lord as a fidelity to God’s commands as contrasted with the ways of the wicked, “my son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path,” so Psalm 1 makes a similar comparison:
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
When each individual soldier responds to the enemy’s attacks in this way – reflexively, instinctually, and habitually submitting to God and His ways when under stress to live life differently, then we can have the courageous confidence to carry on the mission of God, as a unit. That takes us to action step #4.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
We learn this from the example of Jesus Christ in how He conducted today’s battle drill against the temptations of the devil in His forty days in the wilderness from Matthew 4:1-11:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you’; and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
As we conclude today’s message, I want you to learn two things from how Jesus reacted to enemy contact:
1) Jesus took cover in the will of His Father for his forty days in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit led Him there to be tempted by the devil, according to Scripture, so Jesus faced the will of God through forty days and nights of fasting in preparation for God’s will to be done. In His ministry, Jesus never evaded the will of His Father, even unto death on the Cross. That’s because Jesus’ purpose of coming was His Father’s glory – His good pleasure!
2) Jesus not only took cover in His Father’s will, but He returned fire on the enemy’s attack against Him. Three times Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy to thwart the enemy. When Jesus came under direct attack, He was ready to return fire with the Word of God.
This is the battle drill, and this is how you “react to contact” – the battle drill of resist the enemy! Jesus conducted the battle drill so that He could carry on the mission of God. Jesus submitted Himself to His Father’s will through His baptism in Matthew 3:13-17, then He resisted the enemy in Matthew 4:1-11, then He lived on mission Matthew 4:12 – 28:20!
In the same way, you are commanded to demonstrate your allegiance to the Commander by being baptized in the name of the One who enlisted you – the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. As a good soldier of Christ Jesus, you will come under attack, do not be naïve that there is an enemy seeking to destroy you, but train your battle drill – resist the enemy! Make this a reflexive, instinctual, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Persevere unto the end and you will receive the reward from the One who enlisted you for this very purpose. Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God.
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Seize the Moment – Day 690
Today’s hymn focus will be
“In the Sweet By and By”
In the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore
In the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore.
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In the Sweet By and By
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there.
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
The melodious songs of the blessed;
And our spirits shall sorrow no more,
Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.
We will offer our tribute of praise
For the glorious gift of His love
And the blessings that hallow our days.
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Seize the Moment – Day 689
God is Our Refuge!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, February 4.
Is your home a safe place? Are you a sanctuary for people to find peace and rest?
Interestingly, and to the confusion of modern-day scholars, there are no biblical accounts of this system of refuge cities being utilized, either in those initial days, which quickly devolved into the chaos of the time of the Judges, or in the years of order under the monarchy, or even during the dark days of the divided kingdom. The closest allusion we have is from King David’s words about God, not any specific city, in Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
It is speculated that the system either worked so well, or so completely fell apart, that there was no reason to highlight it in the biblical account. Either way, it is widely agreed upon that the system foreshadowed God’s grace granted to God’s people in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 6:18b states of a believer’s relationship with God through Jesus Christ, “we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.” In Romans 8:1, Paul declares for all who have found their refuge in Jesus Christ, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Seize the moment and flee from sin and death, into the everlasting arms of Jesus Christ!
God bless you!
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Seize the Moment – Day 688
The Position of Honor!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, February 3.
Please be safe and stay warm in today’s winter storm. The church office is closed, and the men’s breakfast has been rescheduled for next Saturday, February 12. Be safe and see you Sunday morning. Please reach out to serve someone today, even if through a phone call or by checking on your neighbor.
Joshua was a humble man – a servant leader! We see this clearly demonstrated in Joshua 19:49-50:
When they finished apportioning the land for inheritance by its borders, the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua the son of Nun. In accordance with the command of the Lord they gave him the city for which he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and settled in it.
It is important to point out that Caleb’s inheritance of land was the first to be given in Canaan (Joshua 14:6-15); whereas, Joshua’s inheritance was the last to be apportioned. The two faithful spies, the only remaining men of their generation allowed to enter the Promised Land, bookended the dividing of the Promised Land. Joshua could easily have taken the choice of the land for himself, but that was not the way he was taught by Moses (Numbers 12:3). Instead, Joshua chose to give the honored position to Caleb instead of demanding it for himself.
Jesus taught His disciples this lesson about humility in Luke 14:8-11:
When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, “Give your place to this man,” and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Seize the moment and put another person before yourself today. Be a servant leader.
God bless you!
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Seize the Moment – Day 687
Fulfill your Responsibilities!
Procrastination is not the best strategy to getting a job done! Do you struggle with putting off a job because it requires time, energy, or money to get it accomplished? Is there a promise you need to keep or a responsibility you need to fulfill, but keep putting it off?
Caleb is facing giants while the tribe of Judah settles its allotment of land. The two tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim are mustering up the courage to deal with the Canaanites and their chariots of iron. With the two and a half tribes settling on the east side of the Jordan River, there are seven tribes left to settle the Promised Land. We will watch them do so in Joshua 18 and 19, with Joshua 18:1-3 setting the stage:
Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them. There remained among the sons of Israel seven tribes who had not divided their inheritance. So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?
Joshua knew that every day these seven tribes delayed in occupying the land, the people of the land would fortify their cities and prepare their defenses. As a military leader, his people’s procrastination was slowly spelling disaster for all of them. As a spiritual leader, Joshua knew the people’s procrastination was nothing short of disobedience to God. He had to act immediately to motivate a recalcitrant people to fulfill their responsibilities to God and to one another. God’s promises call His people to action!
Seize the moment and fulfill your responsibilities! You will feel better, everyone around you will be blessed by your faithfulness, and God will be glorified.
God bless you!
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