Seize the Moment – Day 660
The Two Blessings of the Twelve Tribes!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, January 6, 2022.
How often do you pray a blessing over your family and loved ones?
It’s been approximately 450-500 years between the two blessings over the twelve tribes of Israel!
Jacob’s blessing was prior to the exodus, and the over 400 years the Israelites would spend in Egypt. Moses led them out of slavery at the age of 80, then led them through their 40 years of wilderness wanderings, until this very moment when he blessed them, as recorded in Deuteronomy 33. Moses blessed the tribes, starting in verse 6 with Reuben, and ending with a beautiful blessing over all of Israel in verses 26-29:
There is none like the God of Jeshurun [Israel], Who rides the heavens to your help, and through the skies in His majesty. The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and He drove out the enemy from before you, and said, “Destroy!” So Israel dwells in security, the fountain of Jacob secluded, in a land of grain and new wine; His heavens also drop down dew. Blessed are you, O Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread upon their high places.
What a beautiful tradition that we should carry into our families and churches: the blessing of the generations!
Seize the moment and say a blessing over your family and the next generation today! There is no reason to wait 50 years, nevertheless, 500 years!
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Seize the Moment – Day 659
God is the Rock!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 5, 2022.
What is the most important part of a house? The foundation! If you don’t lay a strong foundation, then, no matter what else you do, it is still unstable and insecure. The same is true for our lives.
Any nation that is not built on God will collapse under the weight of its people’s instabilities and insecurities. Do not forsake God because in doing so you weaken the foundation of your life and your society. Moses explicitly stated this in verses 15-18:
But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked — You are grown fat, thick, and sleek — Then he forsook God who made him, and scorned the Rock of his salvation. They made Him jealous with strange gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread. You neglected the Rock who begot you, and forgot the God who gave you birth.
Seize the moment and build your life upon the Rock. Jesus is the only sure foundation for your life (Matthew 7:24-27)!
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Seize the Moment – Day 658
Confidence in God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 4, 2022.
As a military officer, I learned the importance of being confident and instilling it in my soldiers. Confidence is critical to completing the mission.
Moses was 120 years old, he could no longer get around, and he was about to die. What does Moses do? In Deuteronomy 31:3-6, Moses seizes the moment to instill confidence in his people:
It is the Lord your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken. The Lord will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. The Lord will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.
Confidence is a powerful motivator, but we must be wise and discerning about whom or what we place our confidence. Moses was correct to put all his confidence in God. Yes, he called forth Joshua to lead in his place, and charged the priests and elders with their responsibilities, but it was God who was worthy of his confidence.
While I strive to be faithful as a pastor and call forth people to faithfully fulfill their callings in life, it is my ambition that people would put their confidence in Jesus. May you be strong and courageous in the face of your circumstances because God is with you. He will not fail your or forsake you.
Seize the moment and put your confidence in Jesus! He alone is faithful and true!
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Seize the Moment – Day 657
The Closeness of the Word!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, January 3, 2022.
Ignorance is not an excuse! This was drilled into me as a cadet at West Point and as an officer in the US Army.
God, in His mercy and grace, according to Deuteronomy 30:11-14, has come close to us so that we may know Him and live to please Him:
For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?” But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
Jesus came from Heaven to Earth to come close and invite us to follow Him. Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. God made Himself and His salvation visible and accessible so that people would come to Him. It is not for a lack of access that people are not saved, but people’s refusal to accept Jesus Christ as the Savior.
Seize the moment and draw near to God by putting your faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Living Word, who has come close to you.
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The Victorious Life
THE VICTORIOUS LIFE FOR TODAY!
My prayer for you in 2022 is that you will live the victorious life today. It is the living out of your faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ in your everyday activities, in your comings and goings, your personal and professional life! Today, we start the new year with a proclamation of our faith through the reading of God’s Word and the partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
The Word of God for the Church of Jesus Christ from Paul’s 1 Corinthians 15:50-58:
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
Beloved Church of Jesus Christ, my brethren, we come to the Lord’s Table on this first Sunday of 2022 to declare that God has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. The victory of God is the defeat over the evil forces of hell, of sin, and of the final enemy, death. Paul declared in Colossians 3:12-15 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-26:
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
- Do you believe in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, who took your death on the Cross of Calvary, which every person deserves as the wages for sin, so that you may experience forgiveness for sin through the sufficiency of God’s grace?
- Do you believe that Jesus Christ, defeated death, experiencing the resurrection from the dead after three days in the grave, revealed himself in His resurrected body to His followers for forty days, and is now ascended to the right hand of God where He intercedes for you today?
- Do you believe that God loves you and has chosen to make His dwelling place in you through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who has sealed you for the day of redemption?
- Do you believe that even now you have eternal life through the precious blood of Jesus Christ and that nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing?
- Do you believe that Jesus Christ will come again, soon, to bring His people to Himself and restore justice to the nations through His iron rod of judgment?
- Do you believe that on the Day of the Lord, Jesus Christ will make all things new and restore on the earth the dwelling place of God with humanity, in the New Heaven and New Earth?
This is our faith, and this is our victory, bestowed upon us through the love of God in Jesus Christ! The answer to Jesus’ question about belief is the key to your partaking in the victory that God graciously given you through faith in Jesus Christ. As 1 John 5:4 states, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
Faith, according to Hebrews 11:1 is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It is our faith in the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and imminent return of Jesus Christ that is our victory because it is through faith that we take on the life of God through the forgiveness of our sins and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.
As a regular practice of our faith and as a proclamation of our unity as the people of God, we declare the victory of God through the partaking of the elements of the Lord’s Supper—the bread represents His body and the juice His blood. Our participation in this supper causes us to yearn for the abundance of the great wedding feast we will enjoy together in the very presence of Jesus Christ in Heaven—our union with Him and reunion with those who are in Him throughout all time.
After a moment of silence, I will read the words of institution over the elements of this ancient ordinance of the Church, as given to us by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23-33:
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
Prayer of preparation
Let us, the one body of Christ, in concert with the Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world and throughout time, partake of the elements together:
- His body broken for you… Partake of the bread
- His blood shed for the forgiveness of your sin… Partake of the cup.
This is the eternal covenant of God with humanity, which is for the forgiveness of your sin and the eternal union of your soul with God. May God have mercy on His people and may you find rest for your soul. Let this service today and this partaking of the Lord’s Supper remind you of your baptismal vows to God and your forsaking of the devil and of the world. The Cross before you, the world behind you, no turning back!
We now dedicate ourselves to Jesus Christ and His righteousness, and our days left upon this earth to the service of the King of kings and His eternal kingdom. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I now declare over you the words of the Apostle Paul from Ephesians 4:1-6 & 1 Corinthians 15:58:
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. … Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
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Seize the Moment – Day 655
Good Fruit in the New Year!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Saturday, January 1, 2022. Happy New Year! May the Lord bless you in 2022!
It is my deepest prayer for you in 2022 that you will manifest the good fruit of your relationship with Jesus Christ! This has always been God’s hope for His people. We are His image bearers! Deuteronomy 29:14-18 taught His people about the importance of staying rooted in God’s covenant:
Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today …; so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.
The evidence of your relationship with God is found in either the peaceful fruit of righteousness or the poisonous fruit of a bitter root. As Jesus Christ said in Matthew 7:20, “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
Seize the moment and bear the good fruit of abiding in the vine of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (John 15:1-16). May your life make evidence the fruit of the Holy Spirit in 2022: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)!
Happy New Year and God bless you!
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Seize the Moment – Day 654
The Curse of an Iron Yoke!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, December 31.
Happy New Year’s Eve! May the Lord bless you in 2022!
The Lord has given each of us a choice—blessings or curses! Moses gave us the promises of the covenant in Deuteronomy 27-28 as He closed out his second giving of the Law. After a litany of covenant curses in Deuteronomy 27:15-26 and 28:15-68, you can feel the heavy burden of disobedience to the covenant of God. To capture the consequences of disobedience, God gave His people the image of an iron yoke in Deuteronomy 28:47-48:
Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
The yoke is an agricultural image that depicts a choice: God’s people are either in the easy yoke of covenant blessings where they have peace and find rest for their soul through a faithful relationship with God (Matthew 11:28-30) or they are in the hard yoke of covenant curses where they find weariness and despair because of their rebellion against God (Jeremiah 28:13-14). The choice comes down to submission to God and His ways.
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Seize the Moment – Day 653
Take Responsibility!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, December 30.
I was recently in a meeting, when someone suggested that we put a name next to each action item. If you want something to get done, then someone must take responsibility to bring the good idea to fulfillment.
Moses completed the second giving of the Law (12-26) and was about to lay out the blessings and curses of the Law (27-28). But first, a command was given by Moses and the elders, in Deuteronomy 27:1-3, that the people must publicly commit themselves to obeying the Law in a covenant renewal ceremony upon their entrance to the Promised land:
Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying, “Keep all the commandments which I command you today. So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime and write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.”
It is important that “the elders of Israel” were included in the giving of this charge with Moses, whereas, it had been only Moses speaking prior to this. The answer for this addition was simple, Moses would not be with them when they entered the Promised Land so, just like with the pronouncement of Joshua as the next leader (Deuteronomy 3:28), the elders were put in a position of responsibility to ensure the covenant renewal ceremony happened upon their entrance.
Seize the moment and take responsibility for what needs to get done around your home, church, and community. Don’t expect others to do what God lays on your heart to be done. Jesus is calling you to do great things for Him (Ephesians 2:10)!
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Seize the Moment – Day 652
A Farmer’s Liturgy!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, December 29.
What are your rhythms of giving thanks to God? To demonstrate your dependency upon God as the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17), what words do you say and what practical gestures of gratitude do you make?
My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders; and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O Lord have given me (5-10).
God required rhythms of formal worship (liturgies) to remind them of His mighty deeds and to call them to a shared life of faith and purpose as His “treasured possession” (16-19).
Seize the moment and build rhythms of formal worship into your life! You are shaped by your life of devotion!
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Seize the Moment – Day 651
Good Stewardship!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, December 28.
Some people treat their animals better than they treat people. Not so with the people of God! We are to treat our animals well and people even better!
This was not only a stewardship practice, but part of a larger stewardship principle that God’s people were supposed to live as His partners in caring for the creation. As image bearers of God, we are fellow stewards of creation (Genesis 1:27-29; 9:1-3). We read in Proverbs 12:10a, “A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal.” Loving care of animals is an important part of being a good steward of God’s creation!
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