LIVERMORE — At the April 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 “He Lives” “Jesus Shall Reign” “Jesus is Lord of All”. The service ended with “Go Now in Peace”.  Linda Lyman is the organist, Janet Diaz is the pianist, and Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.

The sermon, titled “Confessions” and scriptures from Romans 10:9-11, Romans 14:10-12. Pastor Bonnie started out by saying that we have heard the old saying of “confession is good for the soul”, and it truly is. Why? Because when we confess our sins to God, it repairs our relationship with Him. Sin will put up barriers between God and us and it we want to be closer to God, we need to break down those barriers. God wants us to humble ourselves before Him and confess the sins we have done. He already knows them, but He wants us to be accountable for the wrong we have done.

There are reasons why we should be confessing to God. First and foremost, if you want to see Him and spend eternity in Heaven, you must confess your sins to Him and ask for forgiveness. We must acknowledge that we understand what Jesus did on the cross for us and that He is alive and waiting for us to accept Him as our personal Savior.

Jesus has said that one day that all will confess with their mouths and bow down to Him and declare He is Lord. Wouldn’t you rather claim Jesus is Lord of your life now and enjoy the blessings He has for you now, then to realize it when it is too late for you?

Secondly, we aren’t confessing Jesus to others. Jesus tells us that we are to be out there in our families, communities, and into the world spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ and what He has done and what He can offer others.  Matthew 10:32-33 it states – “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in Heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in Heaven.”

God tells us not to be ashamed of our relationship with Him, and if we tell others about Jesus, He will reward us in Heaven.  The plan of salvation is not just for certain people, it is for all people, Jesus died for us all. Children of God, we must be spreading that news. We need to be living our lives for Jesus and that means following His commands.

Lastly, people don’t confess their sins often enough.  1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  If we want to do the work of God, we need to get rid of the sins in our lives. We need to remember that when we sin, a barrier is put up between us and God. If there is a barrier, how can we hear rightly from God? Each and every day, we should be asking for forgiveness and getting a new start with our relationship with Him.

We need to confess and to repent because God wants us to be in an intimate relationship with Him. Sin separates us from God. We need to acknowledge our sin before God and to repent of it. God knows our sins and He wants us to take responsibility for it, by repenting and being open with Him. We need to keep the barriers of sin gone between God and ourselves.

Announcements listed in the bulletin are that the congregation will be collecting Cereal for the Food Pantry in April. Bible Study: Tuesday 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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