LIVERMORE — At the May 12 North Livermore Baptist Church service, the congregation was welcomed in 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 Jesus Came into My Heart”, “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing”, and “Now I Belong to Jesus”. 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 “The Answer is…” and scriptures from Romans 1:1-6. Pastor Bonnie began by saying that we have many questions in our lives. Either we ask them or we are being asked questions and we need to be ready with the answers. Sometimes it is okay to say “I don’t know” and go on from there. But there are other times when we know the answers but are afraid to say it so not to offend anyone.

Looking back at the disciples and their ministry, they didn’t have all the answers but they did have the answer when people asked them why they spoke. They all said Jesus. Some of the disciples were martyred, put in prison, stoned to death, etc. They were able to speak about Jesus because they knew Him. God wants us to know about Jesus so we can tell others, but you can’t tell others if you don’t know Him yourself.

Jesus came to earth from Heaven because God sent Him to save the world. God wanted people to experience the love He had for each of us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Sometimes, people say it is hard to tell others about who Jesus is. It is so easy to tell others about Jesus when you tell them who Jesus is to you. How He has saved you. You are not going to convince people to follow Jesus unless you can relate your understanding to them.

You don’t need to quote scripture, but you do need to tell them that Jesus was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He lives a perfect life, without sin. On earth He created many miracles. Jesus came to restore this fallen world full of sin, He died on a cross for all our sins. He then was raised by God on the third day and through His resurrection, he showed us that we too can have eternal life if we only believe in Him.

We shouldn’t be focusing on other people’s sins. Too many times, Christians get so wrapped up in the sins of others, that they forget to tell others about the saving grace that Jesus provides for them. As many people do, we invite people to attend church with us. Which is great, but Jesus wants us to remember the purpose of His ministry, and that is to enhance the Kingdom of God. Church is where we point people to Jesus, we have found the peace that only God can give us, and we want others to have it too.

So much is going on in our world right now, but we know that only through Jesus do we find the hope to know that there is something better coming. Jesus is our hope to get us through this world, but also brings us to Him in eternity in Heaven. Jesus has said in John 14:7, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through me”.

Without Jesus – His life, His teaching, His character, and His sacrifice, there is no salvation, no means of going to Heaven, no redemption, no sacrifice for our sins, no hope for a better tomorrow. The answer is always Jesus.

Announcements listed in the bulletin are that the congregation will be collecting canned fruit for the Food Pantry in May. Bible Study: Tuesday at 1 p.m.

You can email the church at [email protected]. Pastor Bonnie’s office hours are Tuesday’s from 9 a.m. to noon.