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!
YOUTUBE:
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Seize the Moment – Day 686
Courageous Confidence!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, February 1.
Where does the confidence to act courageously come from? Hebrews 11:1-2 gives us the answer, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.”
Courage is not an absence of fear, but a trained mindset to act according to your faith in the face of fear. Joshua 17:16-18 spotlights Joshua’s leadership skills as he directly dealt with the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, who complained after they received their allotments of the Promised Land:
The sons of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the valley land have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth-shean and its towns and those who are in the valley of Jezreel.” Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, “You are a numerous people and have great power; you shall not have one lot only, but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it, and to its farthest borders it shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong.”
What was the difference between Caleb, of the tribe of Judah, whose allotment of land included giants, the sons of Anak, and these two tribes whose land included Canaanites with iron chariots? Caleb had cultivated an instinctual confidence trained by his faith in God!
Joshua’s task as the leader of the people was to lead the people to live with this same kind of courageous confidence in God – “Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
Seize the moment and cultivate a courageous confidence by training yourself to respond to your fears with faith.
God bless you!
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Seize the Moment – Day 685
Destroy Sin!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, January 31.
Is there something in your life that you are toying with or tolerating that you know you should remove or destroy today?
Ephraim’s disobedience to God may have seemed good at first, but it proved to be a fatal mistake for their future generations. Whether the Israelites had battle fatigue and simply could not remove them, or they were greedy and wanted a local workforce, there disobedience led to future compromise, as God warned, and conflict throughout the land.
Paul explained of spiritual warfare in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” We cannot toy with or tolerate any sin because, in time, it will become a stronghold for our destruction. While it may seem to be adding value or pleasure to your life at first, I promise you that it is not for your good in the long run.
Seize the moment and deal a decisive blow to sin in your life today!
God bless you!
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Train to Live on Mission Today! (Overview Week 4)
The Battle Drills of a Christian Soldier!
2 Timothy 2:1-4 & Proverbs 1:1-7 (NAS95)
The Scripture lesson for today and the theme verse for the 2022 sermon series is found in 2 Timothy 2:1-4:
You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
In the first three weeks, I covered the first three verses of this passage to learn how we are called to grow strong in the grace of God, live with a missional focus, and commit ourselves to the training routine of a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Today, I finish the framework for our study of the book of Proverbs by examining the fourth and final verse of our theme passage: “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” Let’s look at the first half of this verse.
“NO SOLDIER IN ACTIVE SERVICE ENTANGLES HIMSELF IN THE AFFAIRS OF EVERYDAY LIFE”
As we learned from out study of 2 Timothy 2:3, the soldier imagery was a favorite of the Apostle Paul. Here are three other usages of it from Paul’s writings in the New Testament:
1) 1 Corinthians 9:7. “Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?”
2) Philippians 2:25. “But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need.”
3) Philemon 1b-2. “To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house.”
As a follower of Jesus Christ, you are not a part-time employee; rather, you are an active-duty soldier. You are not a National Guard soldier, who works a civilian job during the week and trains as a soldier one weekend per month and two weeks out of the year just in case you are called up to serve in a time of need. You are on “active service” to Jesus Christ, meaning, this is your priority, and nothing can be allowed to compete against it as your top priority. Therefore, I am called to train you as a member of an elite rapid-deployment unit who must be ready in season and out of season to go on mission for God. This is exactly what Paul had in mind as you hear his exhortation to his protégé in 2 Timothy 4:1-8:
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Those days have arrived, the return of the Lord is imminent. Are you trained and ready to be deployed as a good soldier of Christ Jesus to fulfill your ministry, or are you entangled in the affairs of everyday life, distracted, and discouraged by the circumstances of these last days? God has enlisted you to be His hope-bearer in the despair, His light in the darkness, and His peace in times of division! This is the mission of God for His Church, for such a time as this!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus does not allow himself to get entangled with anything that would distract him from pleasing the Commander, the One who enlisted him, and the accomplishment of the mission. Hebrews 12:1-3 is a clarion call to such a focused life:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
The way to remain unencumbered and disentangled from that which would distract you from your active service as a soldier, is to remain focused on your allegiance to the commander. Let us now look at the second half of 2 Timothy 2:4.
“SO THAT HE MAY PLEASE THE ONE WHO ENLISTED HIM AS A SOLDIER.”
Jesus modeled the life of a good soldier of God by submitting His life, and His death, to His Father’s will. Jesus came from Heaven to Earth to show us the way of a life of full submission and complete allegiance to God! As Paul’s Christ Hymn of Philippians 2:5-11 proclaims:
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
From Matthew 26:38-42, we see that Jesus knew what it meant to be a good soldier, which is why we highlight and exemplify His faithful prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night Jesus sweat blood as He knowingly anticipated the plan of His Father to be the propitiation of sin, which required of Him to follow the prescribed path of suffering – His betrayal leading unto death, even death on a cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world:
Then [Jesus] said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
Do you have this same attitude of Christ Jesus? Are you motivated to glorify God with every area of your life? Are you confident that you will be able to say that you have accomplished the good works that God enlisted you to walk in with your life? How are you actively and intentionally training yourself to live on mission today to the glory of God?
We must train this same attitude of Christ Jesus into our own lives! To do this training routine effectively and to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, we must know what it is we are to put into practice. I am calling these the battle drills of a Christian soldier. Last week, I taught you that Army doctrine defines battle drills as “the ‘fundamentals’ that must be constantly rehearsed until they are second nature for all Soldiers. … [They are] a collective action executed by a platoon or smaller element without the application of a deliberate decision-making process.”[1] In other words, the action of both the individual soldier, and his or her fellow soldiers, must be vigorously trained into every soldier as a collective unit until the unit functions as one mature body; it’s reflexive, instinctual, and habitual behavior for this one purpose – God’s glory! Every soldier in the unity must commit to these four action steps of the training routine:
1) Know the manual – the Bible.
2) Train together as one unit – the Church.
3) Seek the Commander’s approval – Jesus Christ, the head of the His Church.
4) Live on mission – the Great Commission.
Hence, next week we embark upon our year-long study of the book of Proverbs. We will learn how to apply God’s wisdom as the battle drills of a good soldier of Christ Jesus, according to these four action steps of the training routine. Listen to Proverbs 1:1-7 as King Solomon gives us the purpose of Proverbs as God’s book of wisdom, and, in doing so, gives us the overarching motive of every soldier’s training routine and mission success:
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding, to receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice and equity; to give prudence to the naive, to the youth knowledge and discretion, a wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The overarching motive of a good soldier is the fear of God! Apart from this respect, reverence, and awe of God as the Sovereign King, the Ruler of all creation, the Supreme Commander of Heaven’s armies, then there can be no training of wisdom, or instruction in righteousness, for us as the good soldiers of Christ Jesus. We must know who it is we are seeking to please with our lives; therefore, we must train into our minds and hearts a complete submission to the one who saved us, called us to be His, and chose us to be a part of His plans.
Being a soldier in active service means that everything you do is submitted to the Commander – “the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Colossians 3:24). It is Christ you seek to please, not a job description, or a volunteer’s expectations, or prescribed hours, or a designated amount of money. Those are misleading goals and heavy burdens, but in your wholehearted allegiance to Jesus, you learn how to seize the moment for God by living out what Paul prescribed as a right response to the gospel of Jesus Christ in Romans 12:1-5:
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
For example, in my pastoral ministry, the day after my dear sister Carole Hiatt passed away, Beorn, my fifteen-year-old son, and I spent all day, from breakfast straight through to dinner, moving all her possessions out of the local senior living facility to over an hour away in Ohio. As we were driving, my son asked me if this was considered a workday for me. I told him that everything I did was part of my calling and that while technically this day of service was not a “workday,” as defined by our culture, it was an integral part of my calling. Together, Beorn and I were learning how to live and love like Jesus modeled for us and commands us to train to live on mission today, it just so happened to look like us being “Two Men and a Truck” on that day.
You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:
You can watch the video by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “The Importance of Battle Drills” by Risk Management Magazine on January 25, 2019. https://www.army.mil/article/216557/the_importance_of_battle_drills (accessed December 16, 2021).
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Seize the Moment – Day 683
Today’s hymn focus will be
“Because He Lives”
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world
will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”
This hymn, written by one of the longest lasting performing couples in Christian music, Bill and Gloria Gaither, was published in 1971. It came from a season in their lives that was not the easiest of times. With social upheaval, betrayals of personal and national trust, threats of war, and even personal illness, they found themselves preparing to bring a third child into this world. It was in the midst of this time that they felt the calming cool breeze of the Lord blow across their troubled minds, bringing them peace and assurance. While holding their newborn son, they wrote these words:
How sweet to hold a newborn baby, and feel the pride, and joy he gives;
But greater still the calm assurance, this child can face uncertain days
because He lives.”
We need to wake up and grab hold of the promises of the words of this hymn. It is not through anything that we can work for or buy or manipulate. It is only because He lives that we are able to face tomorrow without fear, knowing that He holds our future in His mighty hands.
YOUTUBE:
He Set Me Free
No freedom from my sorrow i felt
But Jesus came and listened to me
And glory to God, He set me free
And, He broke the bonds of prison for me
I’m glory bound my Jesus to see
For glory to God, He set me free
Darkness of night has drifted away
My feet are planted on higher ground
Glory to God, I’m home-ward bound
And, He broke the bonds of prison for me
I’m glory bound my Jesus to see
For glory to God, He set me free
Naught of this world shall turn me around
Daily I’m praying, I’m working too
And glory to God, I’m going thru
And, He broke the bonds of prison for me
I’m glory bound my Jesus to see
For glory to God, He set me free
And, He broke the bonds of prison for me
I’m glory bound my Jesus to see
For glory to God, He set me free
Glory to God, He set free
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Seize the Moment – Day 682
Caleb, an 85-year-old Champion for God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, January 28.
Caleb’s story continued in Joshua 15 as Judah claimed their portion of the Promised Land. Not surprisingly, the land that Caleb was given required him to demonstrate, once again, the same faith that allowed him to give a faithful report forty-five years previously. Pay special attention to an important detail about the land Joshua entrusted to Caleb in Joshua 15:13-14:
Now he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the sons of Judah, according to the command of the Lord to Joshua, namely, Kiriath-arba, Arba being the father of Anak (that is, Hebron). Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the children of Anak.
Caleb was a rock star – an 85-year-old champion for God! But I want you to see one last detail, Caleb inspired the next generation with his faith. Othniel, who would become the first judge of Israel (Judges 3:9), took up Caleb’s challenge to continue the conquest (15-17; cf. Judges 1:11-13). Caleb’s faith and life of faithfulness was contagious and was passed on to Othniel (2 Timothy 2:2).
Seize the moment and walk faithfully with God! You never know who you will inspire to live like a champion for God.
God bless you!
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Seize the Moment – Day 681
Caleb, a Wholehearted Man!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, January 27.
Are you willing to live wholeheartedly for God even if you must wait a long time to receive God’s reward for your faithfulness?
Now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. … Now then, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day.
Seize the moment and be a wholehearted person!
God bless you!
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Seize the Moment – Day 680
A Better Investment!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 26.
Are you investing?
In Joshua 13:14 and 33, it was emphasized that the Levites did not receive an inheritance of land:
Only to the tribe of Levi he did not give an inheritance; the offerings by fire to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as He spoke to him. … But to the tribe of Levi, Moses did not give an inheritance; the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as He had promised to them.
History would prove that the inheritance of Levi, who did not receive land, was far better, and more secure, than that of the firstborn Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (7-32). Like Lot had done in Genesis 13:11, they chose as their own what appeared to be the best of the land, and like Lot before them, there were consequences to their choice:
Their territories had no natural boundaries to the east and were therefore constantly exposed to invasion by the Moabites, Canaanites, Arameans, Midianites, Amalekites, and others. And when the king of Assyria looked covetously toward Canaan, Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh were the first to be carried into captivity by the Assyrian armies (1 Chron. 5:26).[1]
While the Levites had no inheritance of land, their inheritance of the God of Israel could not be taken from them and would ultimately be the only source of hope for the nation of Israel.
In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus teaches His followers to make better investments:
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 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.
God bless you!
YOUTUBE:
FOOTNOTES
[1] Donald K. Campbell, “Joshua,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 356.
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Seize the Moment – Day 679
Get a Lay of the Land!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 25.
Do you like maps? I do and, still, I get overwhelmed by all the locations in the Bible. Keeping it straight is like trying to remember the location of the 92 counties in Indiana, and I still get lost in Henry County!
Joshua 12 gives you a lay of the Promised Land. While verses 1-6 reviewed the land that Moses conquered to the east of the Jordan River, verses 7-24 cataloged the conquest of the western side of the Promised Land:
Now these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel defeated beyond the Jordan toward the west, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even as far as Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir; and Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions (7).
Now, pull out a biblical map because verses 9-24 list the 31 cities and their kings that were defeated: 16 in the southern portion and 15 in the northern portion.[1] Surprisingly, to us today, these kings were more like a group of disjointed mayors who reigned over city-states with only local authority. In all, these 31 kings ruled over a land approximately 150 miles for north to south and 50 miles from east to west, which averages about 252 square miles per king. By comparison, Indiana has a maximum dimension of 250 miles north to south and 145 miles east to west with 92 counties in it with Henry County being 392 square miles.
Imagine how much harder it would have been on Israel had these 31 kings forged an alliance and worked together, instead of only protecting their own local self-interest.
God bless you!
YOUTUBE:
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Reference the map adjacent to this blog (“Extent of the Conquest,” Biblical Places Map. Logos Bible Software, 2009).
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