Seize the Moment – Day 647
A Season of Generosity!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, December 24.
It’s Christmas Eve and you are invited to join us at our 6:30 PM Christmas Eve Service. Please join us for the wonderful time of singing Christmas carols, lighting the Christ Candle on the Advent wreath, and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.
There are seasons of generosity! The Christmas season is a great example of this as it is a time when people give gifts and make large donations to their churches and charities. Christmas is a time to remember Jesus Christ. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” This season reminds us to be generous as God first gave to us (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:19).
There are seasons of generosity built into the rhythms of creation! There are seasons of harvesting, both in the farmers’ crops and out in the wild. I love it when I am out on a hike and come across wild berries. It is majestic to come across wild berries on the Appalachian Trail. There is no desire to hoard them because you just eat as you walk and leave the rest for other hikers, with whom you are sharing the trail.
Like the hiking community on the AT, God’s people are to share their harvest as a gift from God, remembering that all good gifts from Him (James 1:17). In Deuteronomy 23:24-25, God commanded His people to be generous with their harvests, both those who raised the crop and those who were allowed to graze or glean from it:
When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket. When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.
Seize the moment and be generous in season and out so that the world may know of God’s great gift of Jesus Christ to the world; to you and me (1 John 3:16-18; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15)!
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Seize the Moment – Day 646
The Danger of Being Unequally Yoked!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, December 23.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “unequally yoked” and wondered what it meant?
The unequally yoked relationship is not only a dangerous partnership, but also an unproductive union. Just as the animals would not work together for the common reason they were yoked, unequally yoked people spend most of their time fighting against the yoke that seeks to bind them together, rather than working in harmony for the reason they were brought in union (2 Corinthians 6:14)!
The yoke of Jesus is what transforms us into His image and unites us to His mission. His yoke is custom-made, so that you do not suffer under His teachings and commandments. His yoke unites us with one another as the one body of Christ and empowers our life together. All other yokes cause suffering and lead to divisions between people.
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Seize the Moment – Day 645
An Unsolved Murder!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, December 22.
What happens to a community when there is an unsolved murder?
Deuteronomy 21:1-9 teaches the Israelite people how to deal with an unsolved murder. The elders of the city were to set apart an unworked heifer and take it to an unplowed valley, with running water, and offer it as a sacrifice. Then, the priests, who were responsible for settling disputes and administering justice, blessed the sacrifice, followed by the elders washing their hands over the dead heifer, saying, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel” (7-8).
God made a way for the land to be liberated and the community to be set free of their bloodguilt. God did not want His people polluted in their hearts because justice could not be fulfilled.
Seize the moment and ask God to cleanse our land and heal out hearts of any bloodguilt caused by unsolved murders or thwarted justice in our communities.
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Seize the Moment – Day 644
The Battle Belongs to God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, December 21.
The victory belongs to God! We join in His victory when we live our lives according to the promises of God. No matter your circumstances, the battle belongs to God! Moses commanded the religious leaders of Israel to remind God’s people of this truth in Deuteronomy 20:2-4:
When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. He shall say to them, “Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
You may not be facing a literal battle today, but whatever you are facing have courage and trust God for His victory! The Bible teaches us that the victory we have and the victory we live is a vicarious one. That means it is a victory that is not of our own making or doing, but rather a victory that has been given to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Living the victorious life is, and will always be, God’s work of grace in us and through us for His glory! Let us be clear about this from the forefront: the battle belongs to God!
Seize the moment and live the victorious life! Be an overcomer because “in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
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Seize the Moment – Day 643
You are Set Free to Love!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, December 20.
In Christ, you are set free to love! Jesus proclaims it in John 8:36, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Paul reinforced it in Galatians 5:1a, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free.” Jesus did not come to abolish the Law; rather, Jesus came to fulfill the Law and set you free from sin so that you may live the commandments of God by grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 5:17-18; Romans 6:14-15).
While the Ten Commandments cannot save you, they have not ceased to be God’s standard for living as His people. Deuteronomy 19:18-20 details how the ninth commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Deuteronomy 5:20; cf. Exodus 20:16), protects against miscarriages of justice:
The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you.
Does Jesus free you to lie or give false testimony against your neighbor? Absolutely not! Does grace allow you to falsely accuse someone without bearing the responsibility for the damage you can do for perjury? May it never be!
As New Covenant believers, we are set free from sin to live God’s way! That means we are to uphold the moral commandments of God because they demonstrate His character and desire for us to reflect Him to the world as His Image Bearers. The Law is not bondage, but your fleshly efforts to live according to it apart from grace are!
Seize the moment and walk in the Spirit today! You are set free to love (Galatians 5:1-26)!
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Advent 2021 Peace – Week 4
The Prince of Prophets Points to the Prince of Peace!
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NAS95)
Isaiah’s ministry happened during the time of the decimation of the northern ten tribes of Israel by the Assyrian Empire, culminating in the late 8th century BC, and the coming power of Babylon who would ultimately destroy Jerusalem in 586 BC, and bring the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the remnant of Israel, into captivity for 70 years, until released by the Persian Empire. These were darks days, indeed, with great political upheaval caused by shifts of political power, warfare on multiple fronts, and the internal disease of religious chaos, caused by Israel’s generational rebellion against God and His Law.
Isaiah was a bold voice for God! He called both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah to repentance, back to covenant faithfulness to the Law of God. Isaiah prophesied against foreign nations who were invading God’s people in the Promised Land. Finally, Isaiah was a voice of hope for God’s rescue and deliverance from their current darkness—there was hope if the people would return to God!
Jerusalem, the City of Peace, was being threatened and coming under judgment! God’s people were living in apostasy and their repentance was coming too late to stop what had been set in play for their judgment. But God… God who is merciful would relent and send a future Messiah who would redeem God’s people from their transgressions, and from judgment. Listen to one such prophecy, one that we celebrate every year at Christmas, found in Isaiah 9:6-7:
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Jesus defeated the power of death and the forces of evil to restore us back into right relationship with the Father; it is only “in Christ” that we can have “peace with” or “access to” God. When we talk about having peace with God, we must remember first and foremost that peace is the very essence of God—He is Jehovah Shalom (Judges 6:34-34). It is nothing we do; it is 100% His zeal that accomplishes this!
Peace is God’s presence—the miracle of Immanuel—His wholeness in a situation! That is what shalom means and this is God’s desire for His covenanted people, as the Prince of the Prophets declared in the following prophecies:
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- Isaiah 26:3-4, “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.”
- Isaiah 26:12, “Lord, You will establish peace for us, since You have also performed for us all our works.”
- Isaiah 54:10, “‘For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,’ says the Lord who has compassion on you.”
- Isaiah 66:12-13, “For thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and fondled on the knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.’”
Jesus is the “Prince of Peace” foretold in Isaiah 9:6. Listen to how Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecies:
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- John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
- John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
- Colossians 1:19-22, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
- Romans 5:1-10, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
It is the promise of Immanuel: God is with us! God gives you peace by giving you Himself! Listen to the Christmas story as the fulfillment of God’s promise of Immanuel. From the Gospel of Jesus according to Luke 2:8-14,
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Why was the Christmas miracle of Immanuel necessary to fulfill God’s promise of peace? Because of sin, which is rebellion against God! Sin separates us from God (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Therefore, God acted in love to give us the solution, which in a solitary word is Immanuel! God with us! God gives you peace by giving you Himself!
The Prince of Prophets pointed to how the Prince of Peace would bring about our peace. Listen to one of the suffering servant songs, found in Isaiah 53:1-12:
Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.
It was in fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Prince of Prophets that Jesus Christ came that Christmas morning over 2,000 years ago. Once and for all—to fulfill the good pleasure of His Father in Heaven. Jesus came to make a way for our sins to be forgiven so that there is no longer a separation between God and humanity, He took our enmity and gave us His peace! Through His birth in a Jewish manger and His death on a Roman cross, Jesus was exalted above all and given authority over death as witnessed by His resurrection. His shed blood covers the wrath of God for humanity’s sin (propitiation) and forever restores peace between people and God in a redeemed relationship through the forgiveness of sins. This is the work of the Prince of Peace who came so that God may dwell in us and us in Him!
Jesus is our peace, and His peace is to rule our lives. Listen to Colossians 3:12–17:
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
May the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, not just in this Christmas week, but in each and every day that we are blessed to live in the light of His love and grace.
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Seize the Moment – Day 641
“Away in a Manger”
While it is unclear about the origin of this Christmas carol, it has appeared in many children’s books in poem form as a lullaby prayer. It is usually one of the first Christmas carols taught to children with a pleasing melody and a gentle message of the gift that God gave us.
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed.
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky look down where He lay.
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.
Did you know that the shepherds used the practice of protecting the male lamb that was born without spot or blemish by wrapping them in cloths and placing them in a manger? These lambs were used for the sacrifice of sin offerings. Jesus is the Lamb of God, and He was wrapped in the same manner, foretelling the fact that He would be the final sin offering for all mankind.
YOUTUBE:
Away in a Manger
No crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus
Laid down His sweet head
Looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep on the hay
The Baby awakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes
Look down from the sky
And stay by my side
Until morning is nigh
I ask You to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray
In Your tender care
And fit us for heaven
To live with You there
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Seize the Moment – Day 640
The Word of the Prophet!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, December 17. Please join me in wishing a happy birthday to Vicki Thomson, Richard Kinnaird, and Pam Frazee.
How can we know God’s will for our lives?
This was a significant question for the nation of Israel, as it is for us today. Israel had been rescued from Egypt and were now surrounded by the Canaanites. The people of the ancient Near East used a variety of illegitimate sources, from which Yahweh strictly forbade His people, as in Deuteronomy 18:9-11:
When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
In direct contrast to these practices, God speaks through His chosen people, called prophets, such as He did with Moses. Moses prophesied of the coming Messiah, and His office of Prophet, in Deuteronomy 18:15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.” The early church quoted this promise twice, in Acts 3:22 and Acts 7:37.
Jesus is the new Moses and the fulfillment of the office of prophet. The first disciples of Jesus Christ declared it so in the Gospel of John 1:45: “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” More than a prophet, Jesus is the Living Word: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
Seize the moment and know God’s will for your life through Jesus Christ and His Word!
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Seize the Moment – Day 639
The Rule of a King!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, December 16.
What rules over your life?
There is a short section in Deuteronomy 17 that has caused Bible students of the Old Testament to wonder about its timing: Were these seven verses about the establishment of a king original to Moses’ second giving of the Law or added later during the time of the monarchy in response to Solomon’s sins, which led to the kingdom’s division?
At the end of the time of Judges, in 1 Samuel 8:5, the great prophet Samuel was confronted by the people because they wanted a king, “like all the nations.” In verse 7, God responded to Samuel about their request: “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”
God was not surprised! Likely, the people were invoking God’s promise of Deuteronomy 17:14-15a when they made their request:
When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,” you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves.
The passage continued by establishing protections against a king’s pride, self-reliance, and corruption (16-17), and the right administration of the kingdom by the king, as according to the Law of God (18-20). Regardless of the form of human government, it has always been God’s will that His Word would rule over His people, from the inside out.
Seize the moment and meditate upon God’s Word, day and night, and all that you do will be pleasing to God and prosper in His sight.
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Seize the Moment – Day 638
Tell God’s Story on the Holidays!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, December 15.
What are the stories that define you as a part of a larger group of people to which you belong? Within our American culture, we commemorate Thanksgiving and Memorial Day. Additionally, as Christians, we celebrate Christmas and Easter. We are shaped by the stories we tell on these days!
Deuteronomy, like Exodus and Numbers, teaches the importance of the feasts, with Deuteronomy 16 prescribing, once again, the three pilgrimage feasts. Listen to verses 16-17:
Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread, in conjunction with the Passover, commemorates the exodus when God delivered His people from Egyptian slavery. The Feast of Weeks, also known as the Feast of Harvest or Pentecost, happens seven weeks after Passover, and not only celebrates the grain harvest, but has come to remember the receiving of the Law at Mount Sinai and the people’s entrance into the Promised Land. The Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, memorializes Israel’s forty years of wilderness wanderings.
These national festivals required the nation to come together, and for the men of each family to bring a tribute. Like Christmas and Easter are designed to do, these festivals anchored the Israelite people in their common heritage and shared faith. By retelling the miraculous stories of God’s direct activity in history, our corporate identity becomes deeply rooted in our shared faith.
Seize the moment and tell the God story in our holidays! Children, families, and communities are shaped by the stories we tell at the holidays we celebrate!
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