NO. LIVERMORE — At the Jan. 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 “Revive Us Again”, “Why Do I Sing About Jesus?”, and “Grace Greater than Our Sin”. The service ended with Communion. Linda Lyman is the organist each week. Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.
The sermon, titled “Are You Comfortable with Sin?” and scriptures from 1 John 1:1-8, 2:1-2. Pastor Bonnie started out by saying that too many people are comfortable with sin in this world, even Christians. As Christians, we know what God feels about sin, but too many times, Christians are okay overlooking sin so they don’t have to be confronted with it or as many say, “I don’t want to offend anyone if I bring it up”. The problem with this way of thinking is that Satan wins.
So, how did Christians become comfortable with sin? The first thing is they emphasize other people’s sins and not their own. They feel that other people’s sins are worse than theirs is. Some Christians feel that if they think about sin but not do it, it isn’t a sin. It is still a sin, since our thoughts are supposed to be pure in Christ.
Sometimes, Christians will play near the big sins without committing them. They will plan them, think about them, but don’t go through with them. It is still a sin; your thoughts were not of Christ. Christians will see others commit a sin and laugh at it instead of condemning the sin.
Too many times, Christians will follow worldly false teachers because it sounds good to them and it is easier to live with their actions. Christians will also give into the worldly habits because you feel you can’t fight against them even though they are against God’s Word. Sin creeps in when we allow the world into our lives, instead of God.
Too many times we hear people say that they are not a bad person, so their good things outweigh their bad things in their life. Sin is not based on how big or little it is, murder verses a little white lie, it is still a sin. Many times, Christians will sin and then think, ‘well, I have already sinned today, today is gone, I’ll start over tomorrow”.
That is the wrong way to think about it. We should immediately ask for forgiveness and do better the rest of the day. We are all born sinners and the only way out is a relationship with Jesus Christ. All sin separates us from God and the worse sin of all is rejecting Jesus in our lifetime on earth. God has given us an instruction book, His Word, the Bible, to help us to be obedient to Him so we will want to live for Him and not for this world.
Sin changes a person, if you don’t do your best or give your best to God, sin will be at your door. The punishment for sin is death, we are grateful that God sent Jesus to die for us on a cross to pay our debt of our sin. God gives us protection against sin by hiding His Word in our hearts.
Having Christ in our lives, we don’t want to live in sin. You want that freedom that Christ has offered you through accepting Him in your life. Next Sunday, we will be discussing the sins we have in our lives and how we think it is no big deal because everyone is doing them. God tells us differently.
The announcements listed in the bulletin are that the congregation will be collecting canned soup for the Food Pantry in January. Bible Study: Tuesdays at 1 p.m.
You can email the church at nlbcmaine@gmail.com. Pastor Bonnie’s office hours are Tuesday’s from 9 a.m. to noon.
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