LIVERMORE — At the Dec. 4 North Livermore Baptist Church 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 “Angels We Have Heard on High”, “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” and “What Child is This?”. The service concluded with Communion. Linda Lyman is the organist each week. Janet Diaz is the pianist each week. Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.
Before the sermon, Pastor Bonnie explained the Advent wreath and with the help of the congregation, lit the candle of hope and the peace candle.
The sermon, titled “Peace is at the Heart of Christmas” and reading the scripture from Luke 2:8-14. Pastor Bonnie began by saying that when people are asked what they want this Christmas, many have said peace in the world, no more wars, everyone gets along, etc. Why is it that everyone wants peace, but no one seems to find it. Well, there is only one way to get true peace, even when this world doesn’t seem to have it. Even the Bible talks about peace, over 420 times it talks about peace. So where is the peace that the Bible talks about? True peace is found in Jesus Christ.
When the angels appeared to the shepherds in our scripture, the angel tells them that a baby is born, and saying He is the Messiah, the Lord. Then angels appear saying “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Doesn’t this sound like a world peace offering? That through this baby, peace is finally at hand. When you look around, where is the peace that this baby brought to this world?
So, let’s look at the meaning of the scripture. The scripture doesn’t promise a world-wide peace, it didn’t promise peace between nations or even between man and man, it promises an individual peace to those who accept the baby, Jesus. It tells us that only real peace in our lives comes from Jesus, the peace He brought through His birth for us. But to get that peace, you must accept His birth, His death, and His resurrection. As we spoke of hope last week, that Jesus brought us in His birth, death, and resurrection of a better future with Him in eternity, He also brought us peace that we can count on when things in our lives go awry. As Christians, we have His peace that He is always with us.
To find the true peace in our lives, we must be reconciled with God and the only way to do that is to find Jesus and to live our lives for Him. Our lives may be upside down sometimes and it doesn’t seem that life is going our way, but Jesus wants us to know, with Him we don’t go alone and that He can bring us peace from within so we can give it to Him to take care of and we can sleep in peace knowing it isn’t our problem anymore, God has it and will take care of it.
But we know that all things are possible with God and learn to give it up to Him. When we are in peace with God, He gives us love, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. These are also the fruit of the spirit listed in the Bible. Why wouldn’t you want these things in your life? We need to have peace with God and then you will be experiencing the peace of God.
Announcements listed in the bulletin are the congregation will be collecting Cereal for the Food Pantry in the month of December. Bible Study is at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Please contribute to the Christmas project for the community. Coming Events: December 9 – China Lake Christmas Service at 7 p.m., December 10 – Deacons/Trustees meetings, December 18 – Christmas program with choir, December 24 – Christmas Eve service at 6 p.m., December 25 – Christmas Day service. 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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