Psalm 42
Pray through Your Depression!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, May 3.
Have you ever felt a separation from God, like you were far from Him even though you knew He was as close as your next breath? Psalm 42:1-2 illuminates the desperate need of every human soul, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?” The psalmist felt a separation from God caused by his circumstances and the emotions that naturally arose from it. Such an experience has been named the dark night of the soul; it is also called spiritual depression. It can be a dangerous and dark place to find yourself, as the following verses describe:
- 3a, “My tears have been my food day and night.”
- 4b, “For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God.”
- 5a & 11a, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?”
- 6a, “O my God, my soul is in despair within me.”
The psalmist is depressed; he’s always crying and feeling like the glory days are in the past, never to get any better. Many people experience spiritual depression, which is why psalms such as Psalm 42 are so helpful – the psalms normalize our struggle, validating our human experience, all the while offering us the solution. Our hope is in the presence of God, longing for Him as a deer pants for streams of water. God is the light that pierces the darkness, the sunrise after a dark night, and the promise of spring after a long winter.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 42, meditating upon the hope we have in Jesus Christ – “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God” (11b).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Psalm 41
Be Steadfast and Immovable!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, May 2.
How do you handle times of betrayal and bitterness? Psalm 41:4-9 describes David’s plight when writing today’s psalm, yet out of the ashes of his sufferings arose the beauty of his compassionate care of the helpless. He set a beautiful example for us to follow, as Spurgeon wrote of David, “What was bitterness to him has proved to be a fountain of unfailing sweetness to many generations of the faithful.”[1] From his despair, David started Psalm 41 with a benediction in verses 1-3:
How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble. The Lord will protect him and keep him alive, and he shall be called blessed upon the earth; and do not give him over to the desire of his enemies. The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed; In his illness, You restore him to health.
Jesus succinctly restated this opening stanza in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” He further elaborated upon it in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 25:34-36 – we will be eternally rewarded for the mercies we extend to others in this life. What makes showing mercy to others difficult is the distraction of our own suffering. Amid his own suffering, David gave us the solution – do what is right and trust God with the results. In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul taught us to do the right thing because of the hope we have through the victory of 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.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 41, meditating upon the mercies of God in your life to bring beauty from ashes. Serve the helpless of your community today.
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Psalm 40
Discern a Right Relationship with God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, May 1.
Do you have a right relationship with God, or are you just acknowledging Him with your religious observances? David discerned the distinction in Psalm 40:6-8:
Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; my ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”
These words might be familiar to you because they are applied to Jesus Christ in Hebrews 10:5-10. It was Jesus’ obedience on the cross which “once for all” fulfilled the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant. Today’s psalm highlighted the biblical principle that obedience takes priority over sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 1:10-17; Jeremiah 7:21-26; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8). This principle was made visible through the obedience of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross (Philippians 2:5-11). Paul stated in Romans 5:19, “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
God desires for His people to have a right relationship with Him. He wants you to know Him intimately, walking with Him in His way, not acknowledge Him through your religious activity as you walk in your own way. Today’s psalm prophesied of how we would have a right relationship with God. Jeremiah 31:33 makes the way clear, “‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’” (cf. Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 40, meditating upon the promise of a right relationship with God, written on your heart by the “Spirit of the living God” (2 Corinthians 3:1-4).
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Grow Strong in God’s Grace – Wk 10
Grow Strong in God’s Grace: Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!
The Faith that Gives Substance to your Life
God is in the business of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to grow strong in God’s grace as active participants in the world He created. God has entrusted His creation to His people to work as His Harvest workers – “All the world’s a field, and all the disciples of Jesus Christ merely farmers!” Therefore, let’s be faithful farmers by following the four-step strategy of a faith farmer: 1) cultivate people with faith; 2) sow the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds; 3) care for them as their stories are transformed into fruit-bearing plants; and 4) reap a harvest of praise as the church of Jesus Christ.
This strategy must be empowered by the Holy Spirit! Therefore, harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace. Let’s take the first step by walking through the Hall of Faith, learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11.
STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH
Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1-2, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men [and women] of old gained approval.” Today’s passage from Hebrews 11:7 illustrates the life of faith with the third transforming story in the Hall of Faith, from which we are going to learn how to grow strong in God’s grace:
By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Just like you and me, today, Noah was a real man, with real faith, in real history, and his story began with a faith that pleased God. Noah’s faith brought substance through things not yet seen! His story is told in Genesis 5:28-9:29. Listen to what Noah’s father prophesied over him at his birth in Genesis 5:29, “Now he called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.’” Noah was born for such a time at this! In Genesis 6:5-8, after hearing that the Nephilim were upon the Earth at this time, we learn God’s verdict:
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Today, we are going to learn what it was that gave Noah favor in God’s eyes. In those evil days, Noah had faith, and when God called upon him to act, Noah’s obedience put substance on his faith. Here’s the principle I want you to learn today: If your faith has no substance, it will not provide your life with sustenance!
STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE
We use words like faith, grace, and good works a lot in the church. One of my favorite passages that combines all three is from Ephesians 2:8-10:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
These words give your life value, meaning, and purpose, but what happens when those words become empty to you? What happens when the promises of God ring hollow in your heart and mind? Has faith become an empty word to you? Have good works become an exhausting tread mill of fleshly striving to you?
Allow me to illustrate with this empty jar: this empty jar is our cruise fund and I hope that if I put enough change into it, we will be able to go on a cruise. Let’s be honest, this empty jar has as much potential to get us on a cruise, as an empty word can lead us to live a life that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). The comparison is obviously not perfect, but I think you get the point: we use the word faith all the time, but the word must have substance to transform anything. As James said in James 2:26, “faith without works is dead.”
Today, God is going to put some substance in our potentially empty jars through the story of Noah, the man of God, through whom God judged the world for sin, but preserved a righteous root through faith. Listen to God call Noah to substantiate his faith in Genesis 6:17-21:
Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.
Faith gives substance to that which is not yet visible! Noah responded to the Word of God in Genesis 6:22, “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.” In building the ark, God preserved humanity through Noah’s seed of faith – through his three sons and their wives, whom God commanded to be put on the ark with all the animals and birds of His beloved creation. God made a way through faith – that is God’s grace at work through a person of faith!
STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT
Whether it took Noah 55-75 years[1] or over a century to build the Ark, the reality is that Noah was called by God to build an ark at a time when God’s command would not have made sense to either Noah, anyone in his family, and definitely not anyone in his community.
What motivated Noah to persevere in the building of the ark? The answer is found in Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household.” The key concept is “in reverence,” or as it is translated in the NIV, “holy fear,” in the ESV, “reverent fear,” and in the CSB, “godly fear.” Eugene Peterson described it this way in The Message, “His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world.”
The same Greek root word translated “reverence” is applied to Jesus in Hebrews 5:7-8, “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” [emphasis added] Jesus was heard by the Father because of “His piety” – His reverence or holy fear!
We must have the same “reverence” or “piety” if we want to be like Noah; if we want to be like Jesus; if we want to have the same kind of faith that would compel a man to be seen as crazy for his God in a world that does not accept faith as adequate reasoning for doing anything, nevertheless counter-cultural things. Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Is your life bearing the good fruit of faith? Jesus taught in Matthew 7:16-20:
“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Noah’s faith is proven true by the substance of the fruit of his obedience when the flood came in Genesis 7. The conclusion of the matter is found in Genesis 7:23, “Thus [God] blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.”
The proof was in the pudding! Noah’s faith was substantiated because for 55-75 years, Noah was ridiculed for acting upon the promise of God and nurturing the faith of his wife and three sons, and their wives. Noah and his family acted out their faith by building an ark, every day for 55-75 years (a lifetime of faith for us by today’s adult life spans), and through their faith God preserved the righteous root of humanity. That is why Hebrews 11:7 stated of Noah, he “became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
In the same way, God has planted a good seed of faith into your life so that you will mature into a life that bears fruit, testifying to who you are (a disciple) – a witness of God’s grace bestowed upon you by Jesus Christ. In the same way that Noah’s faith brought substance to the way of salvation, so can yours. That takes us to the last action step.
STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE
The life of growing strong in God’s grace leads to a harvest of praise! Jesus said in John 15:8, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” The author of Hebrews concluded that Noah became “an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” Noah’s life reaped a harvest of praise! Watch Noah’s first activity after he and his family got off the ark in Genesis 8:20-22:
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
Noah’s life reaped a harvest a praise – He offered God a right sacrifice of praise! Then, in Genesis 9:1, 12-13 God restored onto Noah and his sons the Genesis Commission He had originally given Adam, and then God gave a sign of His covenant with humanity through Noah:
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” … God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.”
What next steps of faith will allow you to be like Noah – an heir of righteousness?
Noah’s transforming story teaches us to live with a reverence that seizes the moment.[2] The faith that brings substance to your life is your belief in an unchanging holy and sovereign God, which allows you to live by faith day by day, situation by situation, moment by moment. John described such belief in 1 John 5:4-5, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
Hold up the empty jar: The first step to having substance in your faith is to know God and what He has already put inside of you – the victory of His faith through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit! Inside of you is the priceless treasure of God’s presence. God willingly and lovingly has put into your jar of clay the gift of eternal life through which you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, according to Ephesians 1:13-14:
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
When God Himself is the substance of your faith, your faith will give you the sustenance necessary to face your everyday life circumstances like Noah.
As you grow strong in God’s grace, you will embrace the Noah moments of your life and seize the moment. The pressure is not on you to perform or add substance to your own faith; this substance is the work of God in you – it is the sustenance of God’s grace at work in you through the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit!
Allow me to pray over you a disciple’s holy ambition, from the testimony of Paul in Philippians 3:7-11:
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Noah’s transforming story of faith strengthens our faith, gives us hope, and gives us the courage to tell a better story with our stories. To make visible that which is invisible – the kingdom of God on Earth as it is in Heaven! May we reap a harvest of praise as our stories are transformed through the gospel of Jesus Christ!
You can watch this message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Bodie Hodge, “How Long Did It Take for Noah to Build the Ark?” Answers in Genesis https://answersingenesis.org/bible-timeline/how-long-did-it-take-for-noah-to-build-the-ark/ (Accessed April 28, 2023).
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Hymn: All Creatures of Our God and King
Seize the Moment – Day 1138
Today’s hymn focus will be
All Creatures of Our God and King
Luke 19:40 (NASB95)
“ But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”
This hymn is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi written just before his death in 1225 AD, exhorting all creation to worship God. Born in Italy to a rich merchant in 1182 AD, he came to Christ in his early 20’s after being released from the prisoner of war camp. Renouncing his inheritance, he began traveling the countryside, preaching the gospel to everyone he met, seeking to make Christ real, while living simply and loving nature.
It wasn’t until 1919 that an English version appeared when Rev. William H Draper used it for a children’s worship festival in Leeds, England.
All creature of our God and King,
Lift up your voice and with us sing
Alleluia, Alleluia
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
All Creatures of Our God and King
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Psalm 39
Praying with the Perspective of Eternity!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 28.
I watched the preacher stretch a long rope from end to end of the sanctuary. The white rope was very long, and there was a single red spot on it. The rope represented eternity, and the little red dot was the length of a life lived on Earth. His illustration was unforgettable, and I have pondered the shortness of my life in perspective to the immensity of eternity ever since. What is the purpose of the life we have been granted?
David asked for perspective in the midst of his suffering in Psalm 39:4-5, “Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.”
When we pray this psalm, we are invited to ponder the shortness of our own lives. This is not a morbid exercise designed to depress you, but a joyful one purposed to give you hope. As David expressed in verses 6-7, “Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.” It is important to live with the perspective of eternity in mind, like looking out over the immensity of the Grand Canyon and having your breath taken away by its sheer majesty. The suffering experienced in this life, and just as easily as the pleasures, can cause a person to lose focus on what it is God has given us life for in the first place – to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 39, meditating upon the perspective of eternity (Hebrews 11:13-16).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Psalm 38
How to Pray When You Feel Like Job!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, April 27.
What do you do when you feel like Job? How are you to pray when going through intense times of pain and suffering? David lamented of his sickness and suffering in Psalm 38:6-11:
I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long. For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am benumbed and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You. My heart throbs, my strength fails me; and the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me. My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
Doesn’t David sound like Job in this Psalm? He was miserable in his suffering, but, like Job, he suffered with faith (Job 1:21-11). In Palm 38:15, David proclaimed his faith, “For I hope in You, O Lord; You will answer, O Lord my God.” He concluded in verses 20-21, “Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, do not be far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!” Both David and Job had to wait upon the Lord to rescue them through their period of pain and suffering. Within their testimonies, we find the key to our suffering – securing our hope in God. Pray with faith through the dark nights of torment and the cold winters of suffering. Fight for hope with every ounce of your being. Faith brings light to dark places!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 38, meditating upon the mercy of God – “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Psalm 37
Hand in Hand with God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 26.
I don’t know about you, but I am feeling exhausted right now. The more tired I get, the harder I push myself to keep up with my normal workflow and productivity goals. It feels like I have strapped myself into an unceasing tread mill. What happens to you when the pace and expectations you have set for yourself, or others have set for you, are too much to maintain?
The Holy Spirit spoke into this place of my exhaustion with Psalm 37:7-9:
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
This passage called me to get off the treadmill. I have been guilty, once again, of going for weeks in the hard yoke of success, and I am weary! I find myself simply wanting to take a break from it all, in hopes of finding relief, instead of seizing the moment on the promise of finding rest for my soul (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus calls us to walk with Him in His easy yoke – to learn from Him how to be gentle and humble in heart. Psalm 37:23-24 promises, “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.” God does not call you to work for Him, but to walk with Him, hand in hand!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 37, meditating upon the invitation of God to find rest in Him. Take a nap. Take a day off. Cancel a meeting. Go for a walk. Rest in Jesus’ easy yoke!
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Psalm 36
Pray for your Heart’s Desire!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 25.
People often ask me if it is okay for them to pray for what they want. I think so; in fact, we are invited to come to God as our heavenly Father. A good father wants to know what’s on his children’s hearts and minds. Jesus emphasized this in His teaching on prayer in Matthew 7:9-11:
Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
God wants you to pray for your heart’s desire, and in asking Him, He (and you) will hear what it is you are seeking (Matthew 7:7-8). One of my favorite blessings to pray over someone is, “May God give you the desires of your heart, may all that you desire be found in Christ alone.” While it names the inclination of every human heart to come to God to have their desires met, it simultaneously prescribes that God is all that we need. God is our sufficiency! He is the wellspring of life and blessing, the Source of all good gifts, as David expressed in Psalm 36:8-9, “They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light” (cf. Psalm 37:4).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 36, meditating upon God as the fountain of life – “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Psalm 35
Pray for Your Enemies!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 24.
Have you ever been upset at a person because he was causing pain and suffering in your life? Of course you have; haven’t we all gotten upset at the malicious or callous behavior of others? Psalm 35 is one of the imprecatory psalms, one in which the author invoked God’s anger and judgment upon his enemies. Verses 4-8 capture David’s imprecation:
Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life; let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me. Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them on. Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my soul. Let destruction come upon him unawares, and let the net which he hid catch himself; into that very destruction let him fall.
How are we to deal with our anger and frustration at people as New Covenant believers? How can we pray Psalm 35 as followers of Jesus, when Jesus commanded us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-46; Luke 6:27-38)? The key is to remember that there is only one enemy, and it’s never another person – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). See the person, or group of people, who you see as evil, or doing evil, and pray for God to rescue and deliver them.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 35, meditating upon the love of God that covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8) – don’t repay evil for evil, but do good by praying for your enemies (1 Peter 3:8-17).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Grow Strong in God’s Grace – Wk 9
Grow Strong in God’s Grace: Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!
The Faith that Pleases God
Hebrews 11:4-6 (NAS95)
God is in the business of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to grow strong in God’s grace as active participants in the world He created and entrusted us to work in as His Harvest workers! All the world’s a field, and all the disciples of Jesus Christ merely farmers. Therefore, let’s be faithful farmers by cultivating people with faith, sowing the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds, caring for them as their stories are transformed into fruit-bearing plants, and reaping a harvest of praise as the church of Jesus Christ. This is the strategy of a faithful farmer for God’s harvest, powered by the Holy Spirit!
Harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace by walking through these four steps of this strategy. Let’s take the first step by walking through the Hall of Faith, learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11.
STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH
Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1-2, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men [and women] of old gained approval.” Today’s passage from Hebrews 11:4-6 builds upon this definition, while illustrating it with the first two transforming stories from which we are going to learn how to grow strong in God’s grace:
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Just like you and me, today, the “men [and women] of old” were real people – Abel and Enoch were real men, with real faith, in real history, and even their stories began with faith. But just like with them, we can’t remain at the starting point of our story, we must take the next step of faith. Faith is what made these men’s great; they are not great in and of themselves! The Bible never exalts men and women; rather, the Bible glorifies the God who uplifts men and women through the gift of faith to be used for His divine purposes. Today, you are invited to have faith like Abel and Enoch, so that you, too, can take the next steps in your faith life “to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is rewarder of those who seek Him.”
STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE
Faith gives substance to that which is not yet visible – the kingdom of Heaven on Earth! God’s grace at work in our lives sows the assurance that God can and will do that which God promises to do! Let’s see how that worked with Abel. Hebrews 11:4 teaches, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” I love this testimony: “Through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” Wow! Abel’s transforming story continues to proclaim the importance of offering God right sacrifices, as seen in Genesis 4:1-8:
Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Both his life and testimony were cut short, literally, by his older brother Cain. Abel did nothing to deserve death. Cain became jealous because Abel’s offering was accepted by God, and his was not. From the beginning of the human saga, we see the curse of sin deeply rooted in the human condition, but we also find the seed of faith to choose a different path – God’s grace illuminates the way of faith that is counted to us as righteousness. Abel set apart the first fruits of his life for God and God accepted his sacrifice. We are called to be living sacrifices, as Paul urges us in Romans 12:1, “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.”
Abel’s story calls you to live differently – to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). While it appears that Abel was rewarded for his faith by being murdered, there is more to the story, much more! The story of those with faith lives on and continues to tell the better story of God, well beyond what appears to be the end of our stories here on earth. Just as Hebrews 12:1 communicates of these people from the Hall of Faith, “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.” The same will be true for our lives, as we grow strong in God’s grace.
You are invited to be like Abel, a living sacrifice to God’s glory that allows your story to speak even when you feel like your story is being cut short by injury, injustice, heartache, hardship, disease, or death. When we sow with the good seed of God’s grace, then our stories tell a better story! Never forget that God loves to create something from nothing – trust Him to do so with your life. Faith gives substance to that which is not yet visible – the kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We will now turn to the third action step of a farmer’s strategy and learn from the transforming story of Enoch.
STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT
God has planted a good seed of faith into your life so that you will mature and bear fruit, testifying to what you are (a disciple) and to whom you belong – to be a witness of God’s grace bestowed upon you by Jesus Christ. When you first believe and put your trust in Jesus your life is forever changed because you are made new – born again as a new kind of plant because the good seed has been planted into your heart and mind. Paul expressed this in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
We are to mature into ambassadors for Christ! Our maturing faith causes us to become witnesses of God’s grace. Hebrews 11:5 teaches us the transforming story of Enoch, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” The Enoch being referred to here is the one found in the generations leading up to Noah in Genesis 5:19-24 (as opposed to Cain’s son in Genesis 4:17):
Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died. Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
We learn more about Enoch from our New Testament passage than we do from the Genesis account. Genesis 5:24 stated with finality, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” That’s it! There are many traditions built round Enoch and multiple books written in his name, but no authoritative knowledge about him beyond this. We find only one historical parallel to Enoch’s story: the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11,“As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.” He went to be with the Lord without dying just like Enoch. While we don’t see Enoch again, Elijah had the honor of being chosen to stand next to Jesus in the Transfiguration, alongside of Moses (Matthew 17:1-9). That places Enoch in a very prestigious position of notoriety – Enoch is a witness to a life that pleases God, the life of faith.
Followers of Jesus Christ are given the promise to be like Enoch when Jesus raptures His church, to bring those who please Him home to Heaven without having to taste of death. This promise is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
You are invited to be like Enoch, a wholehearted person to God’s promises whose trust in God allows you to be a hope-bearer in a world that so desperately needs the grace of God. Choose faith, hope, and love – the currencies of Heaven – even when confronted with the evil in this world, including the ever-intimidating reality of death and dying. Never forget, that as an ambassador of Christ you are not a doomsdayer, but a hope-bearer!
STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE
The life of growing strong in God’s grace leads to a harvest of praise! Praise God for Jesus Christ who has defeated death and given us the promise of the resurrection and life. Jesus said in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
The author of Hebrews concluded about Abel and Enoch’s transforming stories, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” What next steps of faith will allow you to be like Enoch – a wholehearted person to God’s promises? What next steps in faith will allow you to be like Abel – a living sacrifice to God’s glory?
You can watch this video by clicking HERE.
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Hymn: Christ Our Hope in Life and Death
Seize the Moment – Day 1131
Today’s modern hymn focus will be
Christ Our Hope in Life and Death
1 Corinthians 15:20 (NASB95)
Hymn 143
“ But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.”
This modern-day hymn was written in 2020 by a group of songwriters from the Getty Music group. In a time where things in life appeared to be dark and grim, they wanted to create a song that reminds us of the hope of the resurrection. Our hope comes from putting our trust in the One who took on death, then crushed its power by His resurrection. We as Christians can sing hallelujah because we have the hope and promise of a glorious future.
What is our hope in life and death? Christ alone, Christ alone.
What is our only confidence? That our souls to Him belong
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
Christ Our Hope in Life and Death
What is our hope in life and death?
Christ alone, Christ alone.
What is our only confidence?
That our souls to him belong.
Who holds our days within his hand?
What comes, apart from his command?
And what will keep us to the end?
The love of Christ, in which we stand.
Our hope springs eternal;
O sing hallelujah!
Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death.
God is good, God is good.
Where is his grace and goodness known?
In our great Redeemer’s blood.
Who holds our faith when fears arise?
Who stands above the stormy trial?
Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
Unto the shore, the rock of Christ?
Unto the grave, what shall we sing?
“Christ, he lives; Christ, he lives!”
And what reward will heaven bring?
Everlasting life with him.
There we will rise to meet the Lord,
Then sin and death will be destroyed,
And we will feast in endless joy,
When Christ is ours forevermore.
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Psalm 34
Taste of the Lord’s Goodness!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 21.
Psalm 34 is another of the acrostic poems based on the twenty-two characters of the Hebrew alphabet. David carefully structured this tribute to God, after he was rescued from certain death at the hands of “Abimelech,” who was Achish king of Gath from 1 Samuel 21:10-15.
In Psalm 34:8, David invited you to trust God, as he had learned to trust Him, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” There is only one way to know that the Lord is good, and that is by trying Him. I love this verse because it challenges us to pray today’s psalm and then put it into practice – “to walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). How will you ever learn to trust God if you don’t ever take refuge in Him?
David was being pursued by King Saul when he wrote this psalm. He had been betrayed by his own king and was now in the hands of a foreign king. In Psalm 34:18, David declared that his hope was in God, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” This is one of the most comforting verses in the Bible. Whether you are at a funeral service surrounded by grief, or at a coffee shop with a friend experiencing heartbreak, God sees and is present to the pain! Do you press into the Lord when you are brokenhearted?
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 34, meditating upon the goodness of God. The ultimate proof of God’s goodness is found in Psalm 34:20, “He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.” Jesus Christ fulfilled this prophecy on the cross, according to John 19:36. Jesus died so that you can live and taste of God’s goodness eternally. Got Jesus?
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Psalm 33
Trust God’s Loyal Love!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, April 20.
The conclusion of the matter is to trust the Lord for His lovingkindness – to wait upon Him and to put your hope in His loyal love. Psalm 33:18-22 declares David’s faith in God’s character:
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in You. [emphasis added]
Twice in this conclusion, David used the Hebrew word hesed to describe God’s character. Hesed is difficult to translate into a single word because it “combines the ideas of unconditional love, generosity, and enduring commitment.”[1] God revealed Himself to His chosen people through His loyal love, His covenant faithfulness, which is His hesed (Exodus 34:6). When we see God for who He is – the God of loyal love, we can wait upon Him to keep His promises. We can hope in Him because we trust His covenant faithfulness. God keeps His promises, every time on time! God’s hesed was revealed to us through His Son Jesus Christ, as Paul described in Titus 3:4-7:
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 33, meditating upon the loyal love of God made known to us through Jesus Christ (John 3:16).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
FOOTNOTE:
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Psalm 32
Confession of Sin!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 19.
Psalm 32 was Saint Augustine’s favorite psalm. Before he died, he had it inscribed on the wall next to his bed, so that he could meditate on it better. He testified about it, “the beginning of knowledge is to know oneself to be a sinner.”[1] Psalm 32 is a song of instruction, as the title suggests, “A Psalm of David. A Maskil.” David’s desire was to teach God’s people the importance of confessing their sins to God. In verses 3-4, David started with his own testimony, “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.” Can you relate to these damaging effects of sin from your life experience?
Often, as a stubborn and stiff-necked people, we must learn these things the hard way! I don’t know about you, but experiencing the heavy hand of God was the necessary first step of my walk with God. As Psalm 110:10 explains, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Until we are convinced of the consequences of sin in our lives, and the eternal judgment that is to come for sin, we will not confess and repent of our sin. David gave us the right response in Psalm 32:5b, “‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.” Bring all your sin and suffering to God’s throne of grace – confess your sin and be set free (Galatians 5:1).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 32, meditating upon the open arms of Jesus Christ, who invites you to come and receive the forgiveness of your sin; He promises to remove it from you, “as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12-14).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
FOOTNOTE:
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Psalm 31
Commit Your Spirit!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 18.
At the time of His death on the cross, Jesus quoted from Psalm 31:5, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth.” We find this in the Gospel of Luke 23:46, “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into Your hands, I commit my spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last.”
The Bible teaches that our bodies are only a temporary dwelling place, so while our bodies are committed to their resting place in the ground, our spirits are committed to God. Paul explained this in 2 Corinthians 5:4-8:
For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight – we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
With your spirit in the hand of God through faith in Jesus Christ, you will be immediately ushered into the presence of the Lord upon taking your last breath in this body. Jesus explained in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jesus Christ is the “first fruits” of all who will be raised (1 Corinthians 15:20-26; Colossians 1:18).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 31, meditating upon the hope you have through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:50-58). He is risen!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Psalm 30
Pray for Healing!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 17.
When you are sick, pray for God to heal you. Persevere in prayer because God is our Jehovah-Rapha (Exodus 15:26; Psalm 103:3; Jeremiah 30:17). When you get better, thank God for healing you. Praise God for He is worthy! Psalm 30 captures a time when David was sick and in need of God’s healing touch, so David prayed for healing and then rejoiced in God for healing him, as witnessed in verses 2-5:
O Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones, and give thanks to His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.
I have been with people when they wished for death in a moment of great suffering. Not everyone who wishes for death truly wants to die. Often, they just want relief, so, when they are healed from their acute crisis or receive relief from their chronic pain, they are filled with a great joy for life and a profound thankfulness to God for their healing. Trust God for your healing by asking in the name of Jesus who, according to Isaiah 53:5, “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.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 30, meditating upon the power of God’s healing presence in your life – “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever” (11-12).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Grow Strong in God’s Grace Wk 8
The Transforming Power of Faith
Hebrews 1:1-3 (NAS95)
We have learned the strategy of a hard-working farmer. If the faithful farmer hopes to harvest a large crop yield, he must diligently work the following four steps:
- Cultivate the soil.
- Sow the good seed.
- Care for the maturing plant.
- Reap a harvest.
As God’s faithful farmers, let’s apply what we have learned from the natural and apply it to the supernatural – the life of faith! We cultivate the soil of a person through love and prayer; we work the ground in preparation of sowing the good seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do so with the hope that we will produce in like-kind, that the faith we sow into a person will transform their stories and they will grow into a Christian, a person who lives according to their faith in Jesus Christ. In the same way that farmers cultivate the soil, plant good seeds, and care for the maturing plants with the expectation of having good crop yields, we do the same, trusting the grace of God to do what only God can do through the power of His Holy Spirit.
While a farmer does these things, he works hard to do his part, but he knows he’s not the one who makes the seed grow into a plant or causes the plant to bear good fruit. The miracle of life does that – God does it! God’s grace is the power to bring something from nothing! All a farmer can do is use good seed, provide the right environment for growth, and trust in the miracle of life. In other words, trust God who is the giver of life! We do the same thing in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed, we build healthy relationships defined by love and prayer, and we trust the Holy Spirit to do what only God can do through His grace.
We are now going to move into the next phase of this sermon series. We spent seven weeks laying a firm foundation for it and we are now going to walk through Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith to learn the great stories of faith. This will teach us how to grow strong in God’s grace; we will learn how to apply what we have learned from the faithful farmer to transform stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11:1-3 starts with a clear definition of faith:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
God started the story of all things with three big words, “In the beginning…”:
- Genesis 1:1-3, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”
- John 1:1-5, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
If you can believe Genesis 1:1, everything else in the Bible is easy because it all points back to one word – Faith! This is exactly what the author of Hebrews is communicating to us: If you can believe there is a God that can speak all things into existence from nothing, then everything else that God does falls within His scope of power to do. In fact, nothing falls outside of God’s scope because “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” When God creates all things form no things, then nothing is outside of the boundaries of what God can do!
If God created all life, then why couldn’t God be able to impregnate the Virgin Mary with the good seed of the incarnate Word, or why couldn’t God raise Jesus from the dead after three days? In the same way that those are perfectly logical to assume of an all-powerful God, so is transforming our stories through the grace of God – God heals the sick! God gives sight to the blind! God casts out demons! God sets the captives free! God forgive sins! God reconciles broken marriages! God restores rebellious children to their parents! God bears good fruit in the lives of ordinary people!
God is in the business of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to grow strong in God’s grace as active participants in the world He created and entrusted us to work as His Harvest workers! William Shakespeare famously wrote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,”[1] but I say to you, “All the world’s a field, and all the men and women merely farmers”! We are called to cultivate people with faith, sow the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds, care for them as the seed of faith takes root in their lives, and reap a harvest of praise through the church of Jesus Christ. As a harvest worker of God’s kingdom, every time you walk through this farmer’s strategy you will grow stronger in God’s grace, and help others do the same.
CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH
What is faith? Hebrews 11:1-2 defines faith for us and its importance to our lives, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.” Why is this important to us as New Covenant believers? Ephesians 2:8-10 clearly explains:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Who cultivated your soil with faith, hope, and love? Whose soil are you cultivating?
SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE
When did you first “experience” faith?
Faith is a resolute conviction, a wholehearted trust, that God can and will do that which God promised – “It is done” in Jesus’ name!
God loves to make something out of nothing! He enjoys this so much that God anticipates, looks forward to, doing it in and through us! When we tell the stories of our something, that which we have done by our best efforts, the only one who gets glory for that is us, but when we tell the stories of how God took our nothing and made it into something, then that brings glory to God and amplifies the quality of the good seed of faith! That proclaims the Gospel! We see this in Ephesians 2:4-7
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Faith gives substance to that which is not yet visible – the kingdom of Heaven on Earth! God’s grace at work in our lives proclaims (SOWS!) the assurance that God can and will do that which God promises to do!
When does the Gospel start working its transforming power? When you first believed and put your trust in Jesus Christ; that is the efficacy (power) of the good seed of faith! Paul expressed this in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” The new has come, a new life of faith has been formed, now we move to the second step of the farmer’s strategy.
CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT
Where are you experiencing transformation through the renewal of your mind? Paul taught in Romans 12:1-3 that once we have become new in Christ, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we must respond:
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.
God has planted a good seed of faith into your life, now you are to grow strong in God’s grace. The gospel changes things: it transforms the landscape of hearts, minds, souls, lifestyles, and relationships… It transforms your story to point to the best story ever told – the gospel!
Next week, we will start learning from the stories of the great people of faith who are named starting in the very next verse of Hebrews 11 – “By faith Abel…” (4). We will learn that our names can be mentioned alongside their names. We must begin to realize that each of our stories has the power to glorify God, proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, and manifest the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our midst! That is what Paul called us to in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, in response to becoming a new creation through the good seed of faith:
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
This is God’s grace at work in each of our lives! As an ambassador of Christ, you no longer represent yourself. Through your reconciliation with God, your life now bears the good fruit of the Spirit for people to taste and see that the Lord is good! That takes us to the last step to realize that every transforming story is intended to bring God glory. We exist to reap a harvest of praise!
REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE
You can watch this message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTE:
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Hymn: How Firm a Foundation
Seize the Moment – Day 1124
Today’s hymn focus will be
How Firm a Foundation
Hebrews 13:6(NASB95)
“so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
In 1787 Dr. John Rippon and his Minister of Music, Robert Keene, developed a church hymnal for Carter’s Lane Baptist Church in Bristol, England. While the author of the hymn only bears the letter “K”, many hymnologists and scholars attribute the song to Keene.
The power of this hymn is because the verses are based on biblical promises, starting with the first stanza of the sufficiency of God’s Word for our faith. It goes on to personalize more promises from His Word for each and every one of us.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
We need to wake up each and every day by standing on the promises that God has given us. And you can only know what those promises are when you make it a habit of reading His Word to start your day. What is the best vitamin for a healthy Christian life? B -1!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
How Firm a Foundation
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word
What more can He say than to you He hath said
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress
My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine
I will not, I will not desert to its foes
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake
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Psalm 29
Praise God in the Storm!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 14.
I write today’s devotion during the spring storm season in Indiana, a time of frequent and powerful storms rolling across the Midwest. Whether it is the roaring sound of thunder, the electrifying display of lightening, or the sheer terror of a tornado, storms are powerful reminders of just how little control we have in our lives. Psalm 29 captures the power of God through the imagery of a storm, as verses 3-5 describe:
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
Today’s psalm is considered one of the finest poems in the Bible. The imagery is exquisite; it captures the majesty of God in the power of a storm. Spurgeon described the beauty of Psalm 29:
Just as the eighth Psalm is to be read by moonlight, when the stars are bright, as the nineteenth needs the rays of the rising sun to bring out its beauty, so this can be best rehearsed beneath the black wing of tempest, by the glare of the lightning, or amid that dubious dusk which heralds the war of elements. The verses march to the tune of thunderbolts. God is everywhere conspicuous, and all the earth is hushed by the majesty of his presence.[1]
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 29, meditating upon the power of praising God in your storms – “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in holy array” (2). The next time you are experiencing a storm, read this psalm out loud to yourself and to your family.
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
FOOTNOTE:
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Psalm 28
Persevere in Prayer!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, April 13.
Have you ever felt discouraged in your prayer life? I want to encourage you to never give up, no matter what, keep praying with a faith that can move mountains (Matthew 17:20). Jesus illustrated this point with a parable in Luke 18, which started with this introduction in verse 1, “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” In the parable, Jesus shared about a persistent widow who was able to move a wicked judge to give her legal protection through her tenacity. Jesus summarized the point in verse 7, “will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?” Jesus’ parable instructs us to pray at “all times … day and night.” As Paul commands in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”
It requires faith in God to persevere in prayer. As Hebrews 11:6 teaches, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” If you don’t believe God will respond to your prayer, you will falter in your resolve and quit asking. Your faith in Him compels your perseverance! David learned this through personal experience with God, as he testified in Psalm 28:6-7, “Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 28, meditating upon David’s perseverance in prayer. “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Psalm 27
This One Thing is Necessary!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 12.
One of the greatest disciplines a person can learn is to prioritize the important over the urgent – to remain focused on what matters most. Do you know the difference between what is urgent and what is important? An easy example of this is lived out every morning of your life. Do you choose to pray, and read your Bible, before you check your emails, scan the social media feeds, or search the news headlines? How do you guard your heart and mind from all that has been designed to capture your attention?
David learned how to prioritize the important over the urgent. He petitioned God accordingly in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” This is not only something David asked of God, but as we learn in verse 8, it was what God asked of him, “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.’”
This was a lesson two sisters had to learn from an encounter with Jesus. After welcoming Jesus into their home, Martha scurried about to make sure everything was just right; she was the ideal hostess. Mary was the opposite; she sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to His teachings. Martha grew impatient with her sister, so she sought support from Jesus; surprisingly, He responded in Luke 10:41-42, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 27, meditating upon the one thing that is necessary – “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33a).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Psalm 26
Pray for Stability in All Your Ways!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 11.
Are you stable in all your ways? Praying Psalm 26 will help you strengthen your mental health and emotional well-being. God’s desire for your stability is expressed in the first and last verses of today’s psalm. Verse 1 begins, “Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.” Verse 12 concludes, “My foot stands on a level place; in the congregations I shall bless the Lord.” Pastor James Montgomery Boice explained of these bookends, “they unify the psalm, teaching that the one who trusts God will have a level foundation on which to build a life, while the one who does not trust God is on steep, slippery terrain.”[1]
Elsewhere in the Scriptures, we read about the stability found through obeying God’s Word. Habakkuk 3:19 portrays the life of faith, “The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places” (cf. Psalm 18:33). This is the imagery of standing firm upon the rock, as found in Psalm 40:2, “He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.” Jesus used this language in Matthew 7:24, for those who build their lives on obedience to His teachings, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” This is how you find stability in all your ways – by listening to and obeying Jesus’ commands! Your mental health and emotional well-being are intimately yoked to your spiritual vitality (Matthew 11:28-30).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 26, meditating upon the firm foundation of your faith, “which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
FOOTNOTE:
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Psalm 25
Pray through the Alphabet!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 10.
Psalm 25 is a twenty-two-verse acrostic poem, just like Psalm 119 is a twenty-two-stanza acrostic, both walk us through the twenty-two characters of the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 25:4-5 emphasizes David’s purpose in doing so, “Make me know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day.” He said it twice – “teach me.” The acrostic formatting was intended to be a learning device to assist in the memorization of this psalm.
God is our teacher, and His Word is the primary text from which He teaches us how to follow His ways. God desires for us to learn how to be in a relationship with Him – to learn from Him and to trust Him in every situation of our lives. David expressed this in verses 8-9, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in justice, and He teaches the humble His way.”
This is why Jesus Christ came from Heaven to Earth – to show us the way to the Father (John 14:6) and to teach us how to walk in His ways (1 John 2:5-6). Jesus not only provides access to God through the forgiveness of our sins, but He lived before us the ways of God. Jesus’ life is a teaching tool greater than any acrostic poem; in fact, Jesus is the alpha and the omega (Revelation 22:13), the A to Z of what it looks like to live a life that pleases God. We must study His life and learn to walk in His ways.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 25, meditating upon God’s goodness through every letter of the alphabet. Pray from A to Z, thank God for all the people, places, and things that come to your mind.
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Easter Sunday 2023
The Easter Proclamation!
Luke 24:1-7 & John 11:25-26 (NAS95)
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
Let us pray.
Before Easter Sunday, Jesus promised in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” The resurrection of Jesus Christ is our hope, not only for eternal life, but for today. In Romans 5:1-5, Paul taught us that this hope comes from Jesus’ death and resurrection:
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.
I don’t know about you, but I have had periods of hopelessness in my life, and those seasons have been dark and dangerous at times. I have found it to be a critical part of my faith to train the hope of the resurrection into my bones. It’s not enough to know about it and affirm it once a year on Easter Sunday; to experience its victory in your everyday life, you must believe and trust it with every ounce of your being, as if your very life depended on it. I invite you today, on Easter Sunday, to anchor yourself – heart, mind, body, and soul – to the hope we have from Jesus Christ’s victory. As Hebrews 6:19 teaches us to do, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil.”
Hope is not wishful thinking – Christian hope is the certainty of the resurrection and life of Jesus Christ, which provides you stability during the trials and tribulations of today. It is an anchor when storms come, and they will come when we you least expect them to come! We need to find stability in something greater than ourselves – the victory of Jesus Christ who has overcome death! John stated this in 1 John 5:4-5, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” You can have hope in your most difficult circumstances, moments filled with hopelessness and situations marked by despair because Jesus lives – He has overcome! Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians 15:20-26:
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.
While there is still sickness and death in this world, Jesus says that this sin-sick world will not end in death, but all things will be made new for the glory of God. He proclaimed this in Revelation 21:3-5:
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
We must believe our own Easter story in our everyday lives – Jesus is making all things new! Don’t forget – grip tight to that which we believe! God commands us to live out the implications of the promise of the resurrection and life in our everyday lives: to unbind the captives, set free the oppressed, give sight to the blind, and preach the gospel in word and deed. We see this in Jesus’ miracle of resuscitating Lazarus in in John 11:39-44:
Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
This is our work to do today: to “unbind [them], and let [them] go,” just as God, in Christ Jesus, has set each of us free! Jesus said in John 8:36, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” We must encourage and embolden one another with the hope of the resurrection! Paul taught us this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15:
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.”
We all need courage and comfort in these dark days. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, just like the final victory revealed to us in the New Heaven and New Earth, is given to us to give us hope when hope feels forlorn. Have courage, and face your day, knowing the victory is won – there is hope! There is a certainty of that which cannot be seen – there is the promise of resurrection and life!
To solidify today’s message, we are going to do two things in response: 1) we are going to make a declaration of our faith. 2) We are going to participate in communion together a sign of our unity in Christ’s Victory!
Therefore, hear the Word of God for the church of Jesus Christ from 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 Easter Sunday as a declaration 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:
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.
Jesus declared in Revelation 1:17-18, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”
- 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! 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 cup of the New Covenant symbolizes His blood. Our participation in this commemoration meal 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.
Hear now 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 examen
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 as a sign of our unity:
- His body broken for you…
- His blood shed for the forgiveness of your sin…
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 in the easy yoke of Jesus Christ. May this partaking of the Lord’s Supper remind you of your baptismal vows to God and your forsaking of the devil, the flesh, and of the world. The Cross before you, the world behind you, no turning back! Empowered by the Holy Spirit, through the grace of God, may you live the life of faith – to declare the victory of Jesus Christ through His resurrection from the dead!
Allow me to pray 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.
I dedicate you to Jesus Christ and His righteousness and may all your days left upon this earth be in the service to the King of kings and His eternal kingdom. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You can watch this message by clicking HERE.
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