Luke 4
As Was His Custom!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, May 12.
The officers meeting went great last night and your leaders are working to ensure our 5-stage reopening plan goes smoothly. Thank you for trusting us to take the right steps for your safety and the well-being of our communities. Please prioritize 5 minutes to read through Stage 2 guidelines on our webpage. If you have any questions or concerns, please call the elder on call. (Phone number at bottom of this page)
Over my first decade serving at FBC, I have heard many people say that they are lost without gathering for church on Sunday morning. Why? Because it is such an engrained habit that it has become their custom.
Customs are good, Jesus had customs. Listen to Luke 4:16, “On the sabbath day [Jesus] went into the synagogue, as was His custom…” We see this in verse 44, “And [Jesus] kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.” But we must assess and know what motivates and shapes our customs.
Jesus’ customs were motivated and shaped by His mission to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God—the gospel. Going to the Jewish meeting place was His custom because that is what God’s plan for His life required of Him. For Jesus, his life mission shaped His custom—to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10) and Jewish synagogues was where His target audience met (Matthew 15:24).
As a pastor-teacher, I have continued to enter the Christian meeting place multiple times every week because my mission shapes my customs—to get the word out about Jesus by whatever means necessary to empower and equip you, the church, to trust and obey Jesus with your entire life (Ephesians 4:11-16). God’s call upon my life shapes and directs my customs. Which is to not draw a crowd, but to mobilize the church into the community!
What shapes and directs your customs?
Seize the moment: “Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus.”
FBC wants to help you in practical ways, so please dial the phone number below if you would like someone to call you today. We are praying for you!