NO. LIVERMORE — At the May 7 North Livermore Baptist Church service, the congregation was welcomed by Pastor Bonnie Higgins at 9:30 a.m. to begin the service.  The Invocation/Lord’s Prayer were recited. The hymns that were sung were “Since I Have Been Redeemed”, “I Am Thine, O Lord”, and “No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus”. The service ended with Communion.  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 “Faith vs. Works” reading the scripture from James 2:14-26. Pastor Bonnie began by saying that in today’s society, there is faith that is genuine and then there is faith that is false.  Many people claim that they have faith in Jesus but don’t show it in their lives. Even Jesus has said in Matthew 7:21a “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of Heaven…because He knows some people are only pretending to be a Christian.  Others should be able to tell where your heart is by not only your actions, but your words too and how you live your life during the week and not only on Sunday.

There are too many people who believe that just saying they are a Christian and being good, will get them into Heaven when they die. Even though, in our scripture, it says faith alone without works, is dead.  Then there are others who say they believe in God.  That is great, even Satan and his demons believe in God. Jesus tells us the only way to Heaven is in Him, and the only way to God is through Him. Every person who wants to go to Heaven must repent and know that Jesus is Lord of their lives and must live it.

To make it into the Kingdom of Heaven, we must not only have the faith, but must also back it up with good works. Jesus throughout scriptures showed us to help and love others. To be “alive” in our faith, we must obey God’s commandments and show them to others.  God wants His people to be in ministry, His ministry. If we can’t help our neighbors out, where is our faith? In our scriptures today, James is saying that faith without works is dead, because we know that God has called us to do good works in Jesus’ name. Jesus has called His people to be the light of the world, and for our light to shine, we must be visible to others to see us.

At one time, there was a big divide between God and mankind.  Because of the cross, Jesus died and rose from the grave so we could have open dialogue with God at any time and having the opportunity for God’s saving grace. God tore the curtain in two, so it would no longer be a barrier for us to Him. Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we want to do good works to enhance the Kingdom of God.

God is asking us to show genuine faith in Him, by being like Jesus now.

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