NORTH LIVERMORE — At the August 14 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 “The Comforter Has Come”, “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” and “Spirit Song”. 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 “God, The Holy Spirit” and reading the scriptures from 2 Corinthians 13:14. Pastor Bonnie began by saying that if you don’t have a personal relationship with God, you won’t understand the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person in the Trinity. God, the Father, God the Son, Jesus, and God, the Holy Spirit makes the Trinity, three persons in one true God. Many of us know about God and about Jesus, but many don’t understand the role of the Holy Spirit.

Who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is fully God, just like Jesus is. The Holy Spirit is equal to God and Jesus. The Holy Spirit has the same attributes as God. As the third part of the Trinity, He is a person, who is eternal, righteous, loving, generous, compassionate, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and He is Holy. These are the same words to describe God and Jesus. In scriptures, Genesis 1:2 tells us that the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. The Holy Spirit was there in the beginning when the world was created. We learned from scriptures that the Holy Spirit was there in the Old Testament, again in the New Testament when Jesus ascended back to His Father in Heaven, the Holy Spirit came to earth to dwell in the believers’ souls.

We know that Jesus came to save the world, but why did the Holy Spirit come? He came to move Biblical prophecy through this world, He inspired scriptures, brings convictions into the believers lives as knowing the right things to do, He convicts the world of the sin that is in it, it is the Holy Spirit that is involved in inviting people to come to Jesus, to accepted Him and ask for forgiveness of their sins, He also transforms believers – makes us new in Jesus. He also lives inside of believers, helping them along in this fallen world. The Holy Spirit shows us the truth and helps believers to understand God’s Word, He teaches us what God wants us to know. The Holy Spirit helps believers sort out our prayers, just as He brings unity to God’s people. The Holy Spirit will empower Christians to do the work that God has called them to do. He equips Christians with their spiritual gifts.

How should we react to the Holy Spirit? We should be in fellowship with Him, if we are walking with God, we should also be walking with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings us the presence of God to us. We should feel His presence in each of us. We should listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit; we should actively listen for Him and do what He says. He will not steer us wrong. We should surrender our lives to Him, just as we did with God and Jesus. The Spirit of God should fill our lives fully. We should produce the same fruit that the Holy Spirit does, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

What does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit is the source of personal testimony. He will guide us in all our decisions and will protect us from and danger, both physical and spiritual. He is the one that calms our fears and will fill us with hope.

When does the Holy Spirit come to a person? He only comes when a person accepts Jesus as their personal Savior. He comes immediately to dwell within the person. Jesus gives the Spirit to all believers. Jesus gives the Spirit but we need to feed the Holy Spirit. We do that by reading the Bible, God’s Word, praying to God, being God’s servant, tithing, sharing the Good News of Jesus, worshiping with other believers, and doing God’s mission here on earth. Is the Holy Spirit living in you?

Announcements listed in the bulletin were that the congregation will be collecting peanut butter for the Food Pantry in the month of August. Bible Study is Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. Coming Events: September 18h – 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 9:00 a.m. to noon.

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