April 21 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”, “Living for Jesus”, and “Here I Am, Lord”. 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 “Live Like it is Your Last Day” and scriptures from Philippians 1:20-26. Pastor Bonnie began by asking how the congregation would feel if they found out they only had a short time to live. Pastor Bonnie referred to the song by Tim McGraw, “Live Like You Were Dying” and how that song had some good points that are found in the Bible through the life of Jesus.
First, Jesus lived His life with passion and that is how we should be living our lives. God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that He has a better life for us, more than we could ever image. We have the choice, we can either live out our life the way God intended us to and be truly blesses by God or we can fall for Satan’s lies and live in this world without God and miss out on everything God has for us. All God has asked us to do is to accept Jesus as our personal Savior and follow Jesus’ right into Heaven when the time comes.
Secondly, Jesus loved everyone completely. Jesus even loved Judas who betrayed Him and for those who nailed Him to the cross. Jesus told us that we should love God above all and to love our neighbors, and even our enemies. If Jesus could do it, we should be able to. He wants us to show others that they are loved, Jesus should us that example, knowing that He was about to die, He took the time and washed the disciples’ feet. Doing this we see that love is an action not just an emotion.
Thirdly, Jesus showed us how to be humble. Jesus should us how to humble ourselves through His death. Scriptures say that He humbled Himself and became obedient to death. If we are obedient, we should be humble. Jesus said He did not come to be served but to serve others. Being humble is one area that God wants all His children to be. God shapes us to match that of Jesus. One way to do that is to read His Word. His Word tells us how we should live out our lives for Him. Another way that God shapes us to be like Jesus is by our problems. Since we all have problems in our lives, God uses those problems to show us who He is. All God is asking us is to turn to Him and humble ourselves by giving them over to Him. God will walk with us through the tough times we have in life.
Lastly, Jesus left this world a legacy. What that means is that He came to this world for a mission, a mission to save the people of this world from their sins and when He left, He had completed the mission. He was the ransom for us sinners. Jesus left us with examples for us to live by, by the way He lived, dedicated to His Father’s plans. We shouldn’t care if we are liked by everyone, but only if we are loved by God and part of His family. Let that be your legacy, your life for God.
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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