The Call to the Great Community 3
Communion Celebrates Christ While Declaring our Unity as His Church!
Our current sermon series, “The Call to the Great Community,” is a series of discipleship teachings about the body of Christ and our call to be fellow members of the body of Christ. This is an important call to answer for us individually and corporately for the sake of the mission of Jesus Christ (why He came!) for the glory of God. You have a purpose for belonging!
The church is God’s idea; not mine nor yours! The church is the body of Christ because we exist to embody the mission of Jesus to the glory of the Father. The mission of Jesus is the great rescue mission; He came from Heaven to Earth to show us the way to the Father; this has always been God’s Plan A; therefore, the church exists for the mission – to walk in the way of Jesus as His body, making Him known and continuing His mission for the glory of God. We have a purpose for belonging!
We are to be one in Christ as His church! In order to express our oneness in Christ we must have unity within our diverse functionality. Just like how God designed and intended men and women to complement, and not compete with, one another. We must treat one another with humility and gentleness, and we must pray for the the Spirit to give us a true John 17 unity. We must practice our belonging on purpose!
+ Read Luke 22:14-20
+ Watch educational video: https://www.gotquestions.org/communion-Christian.html
+ Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-34
- It is an ordinance of remembrance, commemorating the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
- It is a sign and signifier of the New Covenant, which was sealed through the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
- It is a proclamation of your statement of faith – Christ crucified, risen, and coming again.
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” (v. 26)
How Do I Prepare Myself for the Lord’s Supper? Through faith, confessing, and repenting of all known sin. It is ONLY by God’s grace you can be worthy.
Who Should Take the Lord’s Supper?
Only those who are believers/disciples of Jesus Christ.
“For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.” (v. 29)
RESOURCES:
In order to watch the message click HERE. (This will appear early this week.)
In order to watch the entire service with music, click HERE.
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Jeremiah 37
Prioritize Time to Listen!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, May 3.
The key to good communication is the ability to listen. If you are always talking and never listening, then you will never know another person. We must listen to the one we seek to understand, which is why God gave us two ears and one mouth. As James 1:19 teaches, “But everyone must be quick to hear.” In our spiritual disciplines, we must listen to God’s Word because He desires for us to know Him. That happens primarily through Bible intake through a daily reading or listening plan, but it also comes through the life of following Jesus, called Christian discipleship. If you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus, you must prioritize listening to Him!
Often people treat God like a cosmic vending machine. They really don’t want to get to know Him; they just want something from Him. Such people are always asking, but never listening. Their religion is yet another way to cope with or control their world. We see an example of this in Jeremiah 37:1-3:
Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah, reigned as king in place of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord which He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf.”
Zedekiah was willing to ask the prophet to pray on their behalf, but he was not willing to listen to God’s Word. There was no relationship, only his ambition to use God, and no one likes to be used!
Seize the moment and prioritize listening to God today! Mark your calendar with the times of your daily transformative practices of Christian discipleship.
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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Jeremiah 36
Invest in Intentional Relationships!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, May 2.
Moses had Joshua. Elijah had Elisha. Jesus had the Twelve. Paul had Timothy, and he exhorted him in 2 Timothy 2:2, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Life is hard and it’s not meant to be done alone. We are better together because the Kingdom of God is a relational kingdom. Who are the intentional people in your life who are strengthening your spiritual vitality and focusing your resolve to live on mission for Jesus?
Jeremiah had Baruch, and today’s chapter demonstrates what an important relationship it was to the prophet and his ministry. Although we caught a glimpse of Baruch previously in Jeremiah 32:12, it was not until Jeremiah 36:4-8 that we see his essential role as the prophet’s scribe and partner in the ministry:
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted; I cannot go into the house of the Lord. So you go and read from the scroll which you have written at my dictation the words of the Lord to the people in the Lord’s house on a fast day. And also you shall read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities. ….” Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.
We learn from Jeremiah’s ministry that none of us were designed to do life alone. You can’t accomplish the ministry God has for you all be yourself.
Seize the moment and do life together – invest in intentional relationships with people who strengthen your spiritual vitality and focus your resolve to live on mission for 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.
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Jeremiah 35
Give Your Family a Faith Legacy!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, May 1.
Have you ever used a well-known example from history to make your point? Of course you have, we all do this, and that is what the prophet was doing in Jeremiah 35. He contrasted the people’s duplicity from the previous chapter, with the faithfulness of the Rechabites, who refused to violate their founding father’s commands. To understand the zeal of the Rechabites, you need to understand the origin story of their founder, Jehonadab the son of Rechab, from 2 Kings 10:15-17:
Now when [Jehu, king of Israel] had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. He said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.” So he made him ride in his chariot. When he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to Elijah.
Jehonadab continued with Jehu to destroy the temple of Baal and massacre all the priests. This would have been a formative experience for him, one which set the course of his house forever, so much so that they remained faithful to God even under tremendous pressure for generations to come. His house remained tried and true, and God promised that they would never “lack a man to stand before Me always” (Jeremiah 35:18-19). How do you help your household remain faithful for generations to come?
Seize the moment and give your family a legacy worth preserving by showing them your faith in how you handle the difficult circumstances 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.
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Jeremiah 34
Stand Firm in your Freedom!
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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Jeremiah 33
Day 1504
As Reliable as the Sunrise!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 29.
If the sun didn’t rise, life would come to an end. God has put signs in the sky to demonstrate His faithfulness. Twice God referenced this truth to His people in Jeremiah 33, at a time when His people were on the verge of destruction:
1. Verses 20-22,
2. Verses 25-26,
Do you trust that the sun will rise tomorrow just as it has every other day of your life? I do because I trust God’s faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23-24). Not only are sunrises beautiful daily reminders of the precious gift of life, but they are also powerful daily reminders of God’s faithfulness to keep His promises. What God was saying to His people is that His faithfulness is greater than their rebellion;therefore, in the same way that they are not powerful enough to stop the established rhythms of day and night in creation, they cannot cause Him to break His covenant promises.
Seize the moment and put your faith in God’s faithfulness and not your own (Romans 8:37-39).
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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Hymn: Build My Life
Today’s worship song focus :
Build My Life
Luke 6:47-48 (NASB95)
“Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show
you whom he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a
foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that\
house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.”
I will build my life upon Your love, it is a firm foundation.
I will put my trust in You alone, and I will not be shaken.
We need to wake up to the fact that God is deserving of all our praise and adoration. When we humble ourselves to His plans and His ways, we will find that we are truly living a life of service to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
I Will Build My Life
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Jeremiah 32
Pray for Israel!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 26.
The land of Israel is intertwined with the ancient covenant between God and the Jews, His chosen people. At a time in Israel’s history, when Babylon had the siege works at the walls of Jerusalem, and Jeremiah had already prophesied God’s Word to surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar, God commanded the prophet to purchase a family plot from his uncle’s son; to redeem it as a prophetic sign of His covenant faithfulness to preserve the Promised Land. Economically, this made no sense, especially when it was the man who was prophesying the fall of Jerusalem who was being asked to purchase a land contract and seal it in clay pot for future posterity. In Jeremiah 32:13-15 & 42-44, God made it clear that He was using this as an illustration of His lasting covenant to maintain the boundaries of the Promised Land:
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time. … Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them. Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes,’ declares the Lord.”
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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Jeremiah 31
Herald the New Covenant!
In Jeremiah 31:31-33, the prophet heralded the New Covenant between God and His people:
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “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.”
What makes the New Covenant different is that it was to be written on the hearts of the people. When God gave the Mosaic Law, He wrote it upon stone tablets. This time He was going to do it differently. When God gave the Abrahamic Covenant, He commanded all the men to be physically circumcised as a sign of the covenant. This time He was going to do it differently. The Holy Spirit would circumcise their hearts, causing them to be sensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the One who seals the New Covenant by establishing God’s rule from within their hearts, leading them into His rest. Different from King David’s kingdom, it was no longer a nation to be ruled, because Jesus’ Kingdom transcends all geographical boundaries and human constructs. And His banner over us is love!
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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