NO. LIVERMORE — At the May 14 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 “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”, “Sunshine in My Soul”, and “Joy to the World!”. The service ended 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 women of the church, each received a gift.

The sermon, titled “Joy in Today’s World” reading the scripture from John 15:10-12. Pastor Bonnie began by explaining the differences between being happy and being joyful. Happiness depends on our circumstances and what is happening around us and joy is depended on Jesus. We may not have control over our happiness, but we do have control over our joy. In Nehemiah 8:10 it says “…For the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  One reason we have Christians today that say they find no joy in this world, is because they are letting Satan take it away from them. Jesus tells us there is joy everywhere we are with Him. We just need to experience it.

Scriptures tells us that Jesus brought joy to the wise men as an angel of the Lord came to them, that Jesus’ joy gives hope to those who seek Him, and He gives His joy to those who are following Him during their trials, to name a few. Joy came to Jesus through His communion with God, as He obeyed, served, and followed God’s commandments.

As we meditate on God’s Word and share it with others, the joy from Jesus will fill our hearts to overflowing. In the New Testament, it tells us that joy is of Jesus because He is the promised Messiah, it is also one of the Fruits of the Spirit, given to those who love and follow Jesus. We can have joy even in the hardest of times in our lives because we can find joy here on earth because Heaven awaits those who love and follow Jesus. We can find joy also during our trials because we don’t go through them alone, Jesus is always with us and brings us His blessings along the way. We should be joyful as we gather to worship God, that God is in control and that we are saved by Jesus’ shedding His blood for each of us. We know that things will not always be the way they are today, Jesus will be coming back for His Church and we will live with Him eternally. You should find joy in that!

If you want true joy, you can only find it in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You will find joy by reading His Word, you won’t find true joy unless you are seeking Him. A person can be joyful even when things aren’t all lined up in order.

To have true joy, we need to be God centered and not circumstance centered, to know that the source of joy is to believe in Jesus and have a relationship with Him and that joy only comes from God Himself. Don’t settle for just being happy, settle on the joy God has for you.

Announcements listed in the bulletin are that the congregation will be collecting cereal for the Food Pantry in the month of May. Bible Study is at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays. 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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