LIVERMORE — At the North Livermore Baptist Church Oct. 31 service 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 “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”, “There Is Power in the Blood”, “A Child of the King”. The service was concluded with “Go Now in Peace”. Linda Lyman is the organist and Janet Diaz is the pianist each week. Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.
The sermon, titled “What are you doing for the Kingdom” and reading the scripture from Matthew 25:31-46. Pastor Bonnie began the service telling the congregation that what we do on earth, tells of the rewards we will acquire in Heaven. We should concentrate on the outcome through what we do now for the God’s Kingdom. Our faith in Jesus secures our place in Heaven and our faithfulness to Jesus secures our rewards in Heaven. There is only one way to secure our place in Heaven, that is accepting and serving our risen Savior, Jesus Christ. We all want to hear from Jesus when we meet Him, “well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21a) We should all be living with the end in mind.
As Christmas is approaching, many will do acts of kindness to others. Unfortunately, many people only do these acts during Christmas time. Our scriptures that were read in the beginning of the sermon, tells us that there are many acts of kindness to be done throughout the year and not just at Christmas time.
The first thing Jesus says is when He was hungry, we gave Him something to eat. We feed the homeless, we donate to the food cupboard, we bring a meal to a shut in or a sick person. As Christians we also feed those who need His Word, that is also feeding those who are hungry. We give to those who are thirsty for a better world by speaking and living the life Jesus has meant for us all. We help those who need help. We invite them into our world and let them see who Jesus is and what He can do for them. The second thing is we clothed Him when He needed clothes. We donate our clothes to homeless shelters, we donate to Good Will, Salvation Army, to those in need of warm clothing during the cold months. We make winter hats and mittens/gloves for elementary students, etc. Many people are spiritually without Jesus. We speak in love of who and what Jesus can do for their lives. How Jesus can clothe them in His righteousness. Thirdly, we spread the Good News to our neighbors, family, friends, co-workers, and even our enemies who are imprisoned by sin. We step out of our comfort zones and go to others that need Jesus. Our missionaries are around the world spreading the Good News of Jesus and eternal life. We ourselves are missionaries in our own neighbors. When we do any of these things to others, we do for Jesus.
We were created by God to be the salt and light of the world. If we don’t go out into our communities, workplaces, the world, how will we be able to do the things Jesus has asked us to do. As God’s Church, we work together to bring more people to the Kingdom. On Pentecost, there were 120 disciples that went out into the world to spread the Good News, and today, we are writing the next chapter as we continue to do what Jesus asks us to do until He returns for His Church and there is more of us today.
Jesus isn’t asking us to do anything hard, it is quite simple really, He is asking us to feed the hungry, give water to those who are thirsty, show strangers His love through you, clothe those who need it, care for those who are sick, and visit those who are imprisoned. All these things need to be done both by literal and spiritual. Feed those who need Jesus – His Word, show those who are unbelievers how the living water can save them, for all of us to be kind and loving to everyone, to tell others about salvation in Jesus, care for those who don’t know Him, and visit those who need Him.
We know that God’s love is active, our love should also be active. One day, we will all stand in front of Jesus to be judged. I want to hear that I was a good and faithful servant, don’t you?
Announcements listed in the bulletin was that the congregation will be collecting Peanut Butter for the Food Pantry in the month of November. Bible Study begins at 1:00 p.m. every Tuesday. Coming Events: November 7 – Change clocks, November 13 – Deacons/Trustees Meeting, November 14th – West Association Fall Meeting at East Otisfield Baptist Church. Pastor Bonnie will not be in the pulpit on November 7 as she will be away at a board meeting. Roger Labbe will be filling in for her. The AA meetings are held on Friday nights at the church.
For information, check out our website at northlivermorebaptistchurch.org. You can email the church at [email protected]. Pastor Bonnie’s office hours are Monday and Tuesday’s from 9:00 a.m. to noon.