NORTH LIVERMORE — At the North Livermore Baptist Church July 24 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 were “Love Lifted Me”, “Take Time to Be Holy” and “Revive Us Again”. The service ended with “Go Now in Peace”. Linda Lyman is the organist each week. Janet Diaz is the pianist each week. Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.

The sermon, titled “Are You Ready for a Revival?” and reading the scriptures from 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, Psalm 85:6. Pastor Bonnie started out talking about how when she was younger, the church she attended had Revival meetings twice a year in the spring and in the fall. It would be a week-long event, where there were guest speakers, music and prayers. It was an uplifting experience while you were there. But were those really revivals? Did they change your life completely? Usually, no, people would feel good for a bit and then everything would go back to normal. So, what is a revival?

To understand what it is, you need to know what it isn’t. It isn’t something that you can buy, your offering and tithes cannot bring on revival. People cannot bring it to others if they aren’t willing to hear it. It also can’t be taught. So, what is it? Revival is up to each of us, it is an individual choice. To have revival in your life, you need to get right with God. Revival means to get alive in Him and the only way for that is having the right relationship with God.

When do we need a revival in our lives? We need a revival in our lives when we stopped loving God the way we first did when we accepted Jesus as our personal Savior. We need revival when we let this world become more important than our eternal life, when we would rather watch television than read God’s Word, when we are too busy to pray, when we would rather make money than give money, when our Christianity is passionless and joyless, when we aren’t living our lives as God would intend us to, when we don’t witness to the unbelievers, when we have more time for sports, recreations, and entertainment than worshiping God, when we tolerate lies, even the small ones over the truth, when we are more concerned with others think than what God thinks about us, and when the fire of reaching out to others in need is not in important in our lives anymore. But the important one is when we lose that loving feeling that God wants from us to Him and to others.

So, what is revival? It is when God lifts us out of the sinful lives and places we are in and keeps us in His arms. We need to make a full commitment to God and to live our lives the way He intends us to. We need to look eternally and not for the moment here on earth. We need to pray for God to bring a revival in each of us individually. We need to let God lead us and not this world, we need to really start devoting time to worshiping God.

What do we need to bring on true revival in our lives? We need to humble ourselves before God, be humble here on earth, just be the person in the background that doesn’t need to take any credit. We need to pray more; we need more conversations with God. We need to seek God in all things, we need to recognize all that God has done for us. And most importantly, we need to repent of our sins. If we don’t repent of our sins, accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, Heaven will not be your final destination when you leave this world. We are broken people, but God can revive us. Are you ready for a revival in your life?

Announcements listed in the bulletin were that the congregation will be collecting canned pasta for the Food Pantry in the month of July. Bible Study is Tuesday at 1 p.m. Coming Events: August 21 – Church Barbecue. 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 nlbcmaine@gmail.com. Pastor Bonnie’s office hours are Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon.

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