NO. LIVERMORE — At North Livermore Baptist Church, a special music program began at 9 a.m. with pianist Janet Diaz. It was a great way to start off July 4th.
The congregation was welcomed by Pastor Bonnie Higgins at 9:30 a.m. to begin the service. The Call to Worship was read and the Invocation/Lord’s Prayer was recited. The hymns that were sung was “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “Eternal Father Strong to Save”, “Nothing but the Blood”. The service was concluded with Communion. Linda Lyman is the organist each week.
The sermon, titled “God has the Final Say”, and reading the scripture from Hebrews 1:1-3. Pastor Bonnie began the sermon saying that the last days began 2000 years ago when Jesus was born, because with the birth of Jesus, salvation by grace was given to all who accepted this free gift brought in the last days. She went on and read a poem by William L. Stidger, “I saw God wash the world”. She explained that the poem meant that he was longing for God to forgive himself and cleanse him from the sin he had. She went on to say how it was Jesus at Calvary, dying as a sacrifice to cleanse us of our sins. It is only through Jesus can we be forgiven and cleansed from sin. God knew that a sacrifice was needed to forgive us of sins, so He sent His Son, Jesus, to be the ultimate sacrifice once and for all. Jesus paid it all with His blood for all of us and all we need to do is accept Him as our personal Savior and ask for forgiveness.
Pastor Bonnie went on to say that even though things change in life, God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Because of this, we know that God had the first say in the world and will have the last word in this world. So, what was God’s last word in this world? It was Jesus! Jesus is God’s last word to the world. Because of Calvary, and all that God had transpired there, God was saying to us that through Jesus, He would talk to us. As scripture says in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus tells us that He is the final word of God to the world. God would speak through Him to us. We know in Genesis, that Jesus was there with God when He spoke the world into existence. In Colossians, it says that Jesus holds everything together. In other words, Jesus made and will maintain everything created in this world.
Because Jesus and God are one, Jesus reflects who God is and is the perfect representation of God. Many wonder how Jesus could be seen but not God. God is Spirit, so He is invisible to the human eye, but because He needed a sacrifice, God became man by putting on flesh and coming to earth. As the Pharisees wanted to see God, Jesus told them, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). God could see that sacrificing animals was not the answer overall for atonement of our sins. That is why Jesus was sacrificed on a cross for our sins, buried, and resurrected on the third day. There came a time when Jesus left this world, ascended in Heaven and took His place at the right hand of His Father. What is interesting about this is that when the priests in the temples worked, there were no chairs in the temple for them to sit down on. They were always working. They were busy with their duties that they didn’t have time to sit and relax. But to know that when Jesus ascended into the Heavens, He sat down next to His Father, like saying, I’m finished, my job is done. Jesus is now waiting for His Father to say, go claim your bride and bring her home. Jesus sits with His Father to let us know that He reigns over the world. He and His Father are one.
Over two thousand years ago, Jesus died on a cross at Calvary just to save us from Hell, God’s final Word to the world.
Announcements listed in the bulletin was that the congregation will be collecting Cereal for the Food Pantry in the month of July. NLBC Quarterly meeting on July 18th after morning service. Pastor Bonnie will not be in the office on Monday, July 5 because of the holiday. The AA meetings are held on Friday nights at the church.
For information, check out the new website at northlivermorebaptistchurch.org. You can email the church at nlbcmaine@gmail.com. Pastor Bonnie’s office hours are Monday and Tuesday’s from 9 a.m. to noon.
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