Seize the Moment – Day 567
A Living Sacrifice!
Numbers 8
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, October 5.
Do you understand what this would have meant to Paul and a Jewish audience?
The precedent for a group of people being a living sacrifice to God is found in Numbers 8:9-11:
So you shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. You shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites. Aaron then shall present the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the sons of Israel, that they may qualify to perform the service of the Lord.
A “wave offering” is a technical term in the sacrificial system for an offering presented to God but not put on the altar for consumption; it was, instead, given to the priest (Leviticus 7:30-34). In today’s chapter, this term is being used in a peculiar way—a group of people are being offered to God, not for destruction, but for consecration and given to the priests for the work of the tabernacle.
Therefore, when Paul calls you, a Christ follower, to present yourself as a living sacrifice to God, he is calling you to participate in the ancient consecration rite of being a “wave offering.” God is inviting you to live a set apart (holy) life for His purpose of redeeming you—“to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5b).
Seize the moment and find your life by giving it as a living sacrifice to God.
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Seize the Moment – Day 566
Unity in Giving!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, October 4.
Numbers 7 records each of the twelve tribes of Israel giving the same dedicatory offerings. The leader of each tribe, on his prescribed day, over a twelve-day period, brought an identical offering to the priests. This demonstrated the unity of the twelve tribes as the one people of God and their common commitment to the Levites and the functioning of the tabernacle system.
Interestingly, the offerings given to God were then disseminated based on a division of labor between the clans of Levites. Numbers 7:4-9 describes how the gifts of God’s people were used to equip the religious workers to do their specific work in the tabernacle system:
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Accept these things from them, that they may be used in the service of the tent of meeting, and you shall give them to the Levites, to each man according to his service.” So Moses took the carts and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. Two carts and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service, and four carts and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. But he did not give any to the sons of Kohath because theirs was the service of the holy objects, which they carried on the shoulder.
Seize the moment and give generously to the work of God knowing that the resources you give will go where they are needed to do God’s work.
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Live Like a Champion – Week 40
The Promise of Silence!
Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
Jakob to read Psalm 46.
Today’s promise comes with hard practice and one that is counter-cultural, not just with the broader culture, but with most church cultures. The practice is to be still—to cease and intend your attentions to the Lord’s presence! This is often called the practice of silence and solitude but allow me to be clear in the Christian faith it is silence and solitude with a focus.
Personally, I have had seasons of glory walking in this promise, but I have also had many seasons of drought because of my struggle to use my set aside times and places of silence and solitude for the intent of attending to the presence of God.
Ultimately, as you may relate, I find it difficult to do the things I know I should do. There is an enemy of our soul who has animated our culture to be against times of experiencing our union with the eternal godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Silence and solitude sound like torture to our souls, not the promised liberation of our souls that God promises them to be!
Here is the hard truth of this promise in today’s frenetic 24/7 culture: The promise of silence requires of us to disconnect from the feeds and all else that has captured our attentions and intentions to experience the rhythm of being still by intending our attention to the presence of God during times of silence and solitude!
We are hyper-connected, yet many of us are lonely; we are over-committed, yet many of us are bored. We love our activism (religious, political, economic, entertainment, etc.), yet our souls languish from the drought and exhaustion of not being still before the Lord. We are too focused on our own important plans and activities to prioritize and protect intentional times of tending to our souls through the promise of being still and knowing that He is God, and that He will be exalted among the nations. We are too busy exalting ourselves and our opinions to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to His own, so we end up tired and burned out (Luke 10:38-42).
Be still = cease striving = practice living in the unforced rhythms of grace found in the easy yoke of Jesus Christ! Listen again to what Pastor Ken reminded us of last week when he taught us the promise of waiting: Jesus’ words from Matthew 11:28-30 (this time from the Message):
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Is there a greater sanctifying opportunity for a productive people than to wait upon the Lord?
The purpose of the promise of stillness is to remember that God’s will cannot be thwarted—“I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10b).
God makes Himself known in places of silence and solitude because it is in these times and places that God reveals to us the truth about ourselves and how worried and bothered we are by so many things that we cannot simply rest in His loving embrace and be accepted for who we are and not have to consume or produce, perform or prod, control or manipulate.
Because most of us are in the full time of job of making life work out for ourselves based on our own desires, here is a great experiment: sit in silence for twenty minutes and see what happens to you and where your mind goes. No radio or TV, no background noise, no active study or message, no scheming or planning, just you intending your attention on the presence of God.
Step out of the social media, network news, and talk show “traffic” and stop being seduced by the unceasing discontentment—these are the birth pangs of the Lord’s return so stay focused while there is still time; the Day of His return is imminent so please stop wasting time on lesser things that will fade away with the next news feed or next political agenda item!
Practicing the promise of stillness disciplines your worship of the Sovereign God!
With this promise and its practice set before us in our current historical context, I want to help you by inviting you to take times to be still, just like Jesus did. When you look at the bookends of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus intended His attention on the presence of God: Jesus prayed at His baptism (Luke 3:21) and then immediately went off for a prolonged forty days of silence and solitude in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-2). Jesus gave Himself to the Cross after a time of being still before the Lord, as was His custom, in the Garden of Gethsemane. Listen to Luke 22:39-42,
And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
Here are 4 practical steps to putting into action the promise of silence so that you, too, can pray with Jesus and mean it, “not my will, but Yours be done”:
- PRACTICE INTENTIONAL STILLNESS AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF YOUR DAY!
The practical invitation is for you to begin and end your day with an intentional time of silence and solitude—to be still and know that He is God. This will require of you to plan and protect, to fight against temptation with work, food, and entertainment, and to be wise with your goals for how much you can do in your days and nights, including protecting your sleep patterns.
- PRIORITIZE BEING STILL BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY BIG DECISIONS BY PRACTICING WEEKLY DISCERNMENT!
Praying, which, shockingly for some of us, includes listening for the Lord’s answer, is key to making godly decisions. Don’t ask God to bless your plans; rather, ask God to bless you to be a part of His plans. To discern God’s next steps for your life requires of you to be still before Him and wait upon His will and timeline (Romans 12:1-2).
I encourage you to prioritize a set apart time of silence and solitude once per week (sabbath day exercise) to ask God to reveal to you His good and acceptable and perfect plans for your life for the coming week. This disciplines your flesh to be able to do this at the exciting and scary moments of decision making, because you’ve already made discernment a weekly habit of grace.
- BE STILL AFTER BIG EVENTS BY LEARNING TO RETREAT!
The higher the experience, the more dangerous the fall! The insidious danger for most people is the pride that may unwittingly creep into a person’s heart after the excitement of being used by God to do something big, especially if it is a repeated event. I believe this is one of the reasons we see good and godly people making bad and unbiblical decisions and blowing up marriages, families, and churches. People are burning out on life and godliness; they forget the solution!
It is not enough to give lip service to humility; we must practice and cultivate it through the discipline of silence and solitude. When you believe you are so important or that your work is so important that you are unwilling to cease and be still before God, then the pride has already captured an enemy foothold in your heart and life. Create a rhythm of once per month or once per quarter where you take a day away to cease striving by taking a spiritual retreat day.
- BE STILL WHEN YOU NEED GOD’S MINISTRY IN YOUR OWN LIFE BY CULTIVATING AN AWARENESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!
While we know the importance of community and fellowship; let’s never forget that Jesus modeled for us the ministry of the Holy Spirit in comforting us in times of need. While people are wonderful instruments of God’s grace in our lives, they cannot and should never replace the direct ministry of the Holy Spirit, who is always available to us.
The final practice of silence and solitude is to cultivate your intention to attend to the Holy Spirit by learning to quiet the noise of your heart (emotions and desires) and mind (thoughts and ideas). This yokes with the promise of peace of God which promises to guard your heart and mind with the peace of God that transcends all understanding.
The good news is that I will be taking the next three weeks (October 10, 17, and 24) to teach you about the promise of peace and how to experience it as a follow-up to this message.
In conclusion, as you do these things, you will learn that the practice of silence and solitude helps you cultivate a greater awareness of the Lord’s presence and His peace that is yours through union with Him. Intentionally go to a secluded place and be alone with God and allow Him to heal your soul of loneliness and boredom!
Learn to rest in His presence and then bring His peace into every moment of your life. You will find solitude in a crowded room and silence in the cacophony of culture. You will find rest for your soul, not from the circumstances of your life, but as you walk with Jesus through the circumstances of your life (Isaiah 40:31).
You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message by clicking below:
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
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Seize the Moment – Day 564
Today’s modern hymn focus will be
“10,000 Reasons”
This modern-day hymn was written in 2012 by Matt Redman & Jonas Myrin, with whom he had collaborated with on a number of other occasions. Jonas played an idea for a chorus melody, and Matt felt it fit perfectly for a song based on the opening verse of Psalm 103. In fact, the song came together rather quickly in a spontaneous moment and they knew it was under the leading of the Holy Spirit!
He explained “The point behind this song is this: If you wake up one morning and you cannot think of a reason to bring God some kind of offering of thanks or praise, then you can be sure there’s something wrong on your end of the pipeline, and not His. We live beneath an unceasing flow of goodness, kindness, greatness and holiness, and every day we’re given reason after reason why Jesus is so completely and utterly worthy of our highest and best devotion.”*
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name
Sing like never, O my soul, I’ll worship His holy name
We need to wake up every morning with praise and thanksgiving upon our lips. He has given us a new day to live for Him. If nothing else, praise Him for waking you up and giving you air to breathe!
YOUTUBE:
10,000 Reasons
Chorus
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul, worship His holy Name.
Sing like never before, O my soul.
I’ll worship Your holy Name.
Verse 1
The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning;
It’s time to sing Your song again.
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me,
Let me be singing when the evening comes.
Chorus
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul, worship His holy Name.
Sing like never before, O my soul.
I’ll worship Your holy Name.
Verse 2
You’re rich in love and You’re slow to anger,
Your Name is great and Your heart is kind;
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing,
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.
Chorus
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul, worship His holy Name.
Sing like never before, O my soul.
I’ll worship Your holy Name.
Verse 3
And on that day when my strength is failing,
The end draws near and my time has come;
Still my soul sings Your praise unending,
Ten thousand years and then forevermore.
Chorus
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul, worship His holy Name.
Sing like never before, O my soul.
I’ll worship Your holy Name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul, worship His holy Name.
Sing like never before, O my soul.
I’ll worship Your holy Name.
*Woship Leader Magazine/songfacts
www.songfacts.com/facts/famtt-redman/10000-reasons-bless-the-lord
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Seize the Moment – Day 563
The Priestly Blessing!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, October 1.
In Numbers 6:23-27, God gives Moses the priestly blessing for His people:
“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: The Lord bless you, and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.’ So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”
When God’s people do what He commands them to do, God responds with His presence and power. Today, we do this formally with the giving of the benediction at the end of a service. It is not simply a sending-out prayer; rather, it is the giving of God’s “priestly blessing.”
Never forget that God is the one who blesses, we simply mediate the blessing to one another. In the same way, God is the only One who can save a single soul, we are commanded to mediate the gospel to people in loving word and generous deed, one person at a time.
God is the active agent of every blessing. That is what it means for God to “make His face shine on you” and “lift up His countenance on you.” That is God giving you His attention and pouring out His blessings of grace and peace!
Seize the moment and seek the face of God in your life. Call upon the name of Jesus Christ through whom every promise of God is a “yes and amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
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Seize the Moment – Day 562
The Importance of Restitution!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, September 30.
What happens when saying sorry is not enough?
Numbers 5:6-8 explains the command of paying restitution as part of a person’s confession of sin:
When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the Lord, and that person is guilty, then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged. But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him.
Restitution is important because it is a sign of true brokenness over sin and a sincere desire to get right with the person from whom you are seeking forgiveness. The root of the Hebrew word for restitution means “to turn back, return.”
Restitution is yoked with our call to repent—the act of turning away from sin and to turning back (returning) to God!
How do we know when a person is truly returning to faithfulness to God and sincerely desiring to reconcile with the community of God’s people?
Is it enough to confess? Confession is the beginning, but it must be followed by life transformation—the active steps which demonstrate repentance!
Paying restitution, which requires you to go above and beyond the original offense, demonstrates that you are being transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). It is a sign and wonder of the Holy Spirit to will and to work in you (Philippians 2:13).
Restitution invites the offended party to take the critical next step of offering forgiveness by accepting the restitution. This opens the door to future reconciliation!
Seize the moment and be a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).
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Seize the Moment – Day 561
God’s Division of Labor!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, September 29.
Have you ever wished you had someone else’s job or life?
In God’s economy, every person has a purpose—good works to carry out! The earlier you learn what this is for your life, the sooner you will be content and happy in this life.
For example, while Aaron and his sons were designated as the priests and were allowed to touch and see the holy objects (5-14), it was the Kohathites who had the responsibility to transport them (15-20). God established a division of labor on purpose!
Even though both groups were working in the tabernacle system, they had very different jobs, which required each group to do their work precisely as commanded. Just like Aaron’s two sons—Nadab and Abihu—were killed for offering “strange fire” upon the altar in Leviticus 10:1-2, so the Kohathites’ job came with the death penalty if they were to touch or see the sacred things (e.g. 1 Samuel 6:19 and 2 Samuel 6:6-7).
Just as each clan of Levites had their own unique responsibilities, so do each of us. All for the glory of God and the orderliness of our worship! Don’t want someone else’s job or life, do what God has called you to do!
Seize the moment and walk in the good works of your unique life.
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Seize the Moment – Day 560
The Cost of Redemption!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, September 28.
Do you know what it means that you are redeemed?
The firstborns should have died during the tenth plague, but instead were saved by the blood of the Passover Lamb and set apart as belonging to God.
God made a way for them to be redeemed and that is why the Levites weren’t counted in the census. Listen to God explain the cost of redemption in Numbers 3:12-13,
Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the Lord.
There were 22,000 Levites (39), which was only 273 people shy of redeeming every firstborn male in Israel, which was 22,273 souls (41-43). What did God do about those additional 273 firstborns? He set a redemption price of five shekels per head (46-51). Redemption is never free!
Seize the moment and glorify God with your life! It’s His anyways, surrender control!
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Seize the Moment – Day 559
My God Provides!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, September 27.
How do you provide for an army of 603,550 warriors?
Both Numbers 1:46 and 2:32 state the census as yielding an army of 603,550 warriors, which excludes all the Levites, and all the women, children, and elderly who would be unable to go to battle. The Israelite camp has been estimated to be over two million people. That’s a lot of people traveling together through the desert!
This gives us the perspective we need to appreciate the miracle of God’s provision. Listen to Exodus 16:12-13, when Jehovah Jireh responded to the food insecurity of His people:
“I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
Now that we know how big the camp was, all we can say is, “Wow! Jehovah Jireh—My God provides!”
Seize the moment and trust Jehovah Jireh for your daily bread!
YOUTUBE:
[1] Michael S. Heiser, “Large Numbers in the Exodus and Wilderness Journey,” in Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
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Live Like a Champion – Week 39
The Promise of Waiting
Testimony by Cindy Sheffer
Scripture reading:
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Let’s face it, being told to wait tends to automatically set us up for a negative attitude. We don’t like to wait in the drive thru line (which is happening a lot more lately). We don’t like to have to wait in the doctor’s office (don’t you find it funny they call us ‘patients’, especially since it tests our patience most of the time.) And we don’t like to have to wait on someone to show up when we said we were meeting at a certain time, and they are late…again!
In these cases, the wait (W A I T) becomes a weight (W E I G H T) that weighs us down, causing us to be more concerned about how we feel and missing out on what God has for us. (REPEAT) We all know that God wants only the best for us. So why are we settling for something good or better when we can have the best.
First, did you realize that God wants to prosper you while you wait?
Don’t we have that backwards? We heard a few weeks ago that we are to serve one another in love; that the world will know we are Christians by our love for one another in how we serve one another; and that we are to do everything for the glory of the One we serve …GOD! Rather than being impulsive in our actions, we need to learn to be mindful of what God is leading us to do. Love comes first in all of these. Don’t believe me? Look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…”
Love must be the center of all we do. We are to Love God with all our heart, soul, mind & strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We see in the above verses what love is and what love is not. And the first thing it says is that love is patient and kind. That means willing to wait.
Our memory verse tells us the benefit of those who wait, Isaiah 40:31:
“but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
When we do things under our own strength, we find we will ‘run out of gas’ sooner. In the previous verse, it reminds us that even the youth will grow tired (how many of us have seen a child play and wish we could bottle up some of that energy?) And the young adults will eventually fail. (For us “older folks”, we tell others to ‘enjoy it while you are still young’). But not so for those who wait on the Lord. Why? Because He is the everlasting God, Creator of all things and promises to provide all of our needs. Our God is the everlasting source! He never grows tired or weary. He gives power to those who are struggling and strength to the weak! And this is not just a one-time thing. Last week, we were reminded that we need to fully trust and fully obey. This includes when we are told to wait! In the waiting, He wants to prosper you, recharge you, rejuvenate you!
Waiting requires us to rest.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Pastor Jerry preached a whole series on these verses. But how many of us truly listened and have put this into practice? That is why the Lord had me put this verse back in front of us. There is a benefit in waiting! Not only do you get to rest, but you also get to dump off the heavy load that is causing you to grow tired! It is wonderful when you have a friend or family member who helps you carry or move heavy items (many hands make a load light). But all too often, we are bull headed like me, thinking that we can get it done by myself. And that may have been true when we were younger, but not so much anymore. The body reminds us of just how much we have abused it, when we should have been asking for help all along.
My Life Lesson: Moving dirt
We need to wait upon God with an expectation.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
When we choose to wait on God, we’re assured that what we are waiting for will surely come. Remember, hope is when we truly trust in God. While we may not be able to visibly see it, God is at work, working all things together for our good! Our faith in God is demonstrated as we cooperate and depend on Him, waiting for His timing, and letting Him do things according to His will. Too many times, we do something and then ask God to bless it. In reality, we need to ask God first what He would have us do, follow His lead and then see Him bless it. We will find that God will strengthen us in the waiting and make us grow according to His plans for us.
Yes, we may be waiting for an answer to prayer, or for renewed strength, or for spiritual healing, but the question is HOW are you waiting? Are you patiently waiting in His presence to hear His voice? Or are you growing impatient and trying to do things on your own, like a hungry person who is angry as well? We need to calm the hangry feelings and rest in the waiting. We are told to wait on the Lord! This includes tarrying in His presence AND serving our Lord and Savior.
Did you also realize that we, all Christians, are waiting for something? The Day of His return! He promised that He would return some day to take us all home to the place He has prepared for us. So, while we are waiting, how are we doing this? Are we spending daily time with God? When we come and gather together as a church, are we encouraging each other with our testimonies and our worship? Finally, are we giving God time to talk to us in response to the worship service, which includes the songs and the message?
I kept this message short today because I wanted to allow time for you to respond. I grew up in church and there was always a time to call people to the altar. There were always certain songs that were sung and the pastor would pray and the Holy Spirit revealed to him special needs. I remember hearing people say that someone must have told him or that the songs were just done to play with their emotions. But I always knew that it was God, calling and wanting His children to know that He loved us and He was waiting on us to spend some time with Him. That same God is here today and wants to spend some time with those He loves.
You can listen to Pastor Ken’s message by clicking below:
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
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