LIVERMORE — July 14, 2024 Service. The congregation was welcomed by Pastor Bonnie Higgins at 9:30 a.m. to begin the service. The Call to Worship, Invocation/Lord’s Prayer were recited. The hymns that were sung were “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us”, and “Day by Day”. 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 “How to Beat Anger” and scriptures from James 1:19-20. Pastor Bonnie began by saying that we are angry people. We get angry at umpires/refs at sporting games, when someone cuts us off when we are driving, long lines at the grocery store, our bosses, and even in family relationships. Do we have an anger problem today?

What is anger? It is an emotion that we all struggle with. When things don’t go our way, we get angry and upset. Is all anger a sin? No, it isn’t. In Ephesians 4, it says “In your anger, do not sin, do not let the sun go down while you are still angry”. What does that mean? It means there is a time to be angry. A righteous anger, when we get angry over things that we know that God doesn’t allow. If it goes against what God has said in His Word, we cannot tolerate it. We must be able to stand up and say we are angry about it. Even Jesus was angry in the Bible. The story about Jesus going to the temple and he saw the moneychangers turning His Father’s house, a house of prayer, into a place that sold merchandise. Jesus was angry and took a whip and cracked it and overturned the tables of the moneychangers. Did Jesus sin with His anger? No, it was considered righteous anger because what was happening was against His Father’s house. Anger comes from the heart. Anger is murder in the heart, it is unrighteous and will lead a person to do or say things that they normally wouldn’t do or say. Anger hurts others and yourself with your relationship with God.

The most common anger is having a quick temper. We get upset and say things we don’t mean to hurt someone else. People will get so upset and start yelling at another and it will escalate to something out of control. When we are angry with someone and decide to plot against them, that is when we bring in the word wrath. We know one day, because of God’s anger against those who have rejected His Son, Jesus Christ, God will show His wrath. Being angry also shows the bitterness in us, when God says to love everyone even our enemies.

How do we defeat anger in our lives? God tells us to reconcile with those we have anger with. If God can forgive us for our sins of rejection, we had for Him before coming to Him, why couldn’t we forgive others? God also tells us to resolve our anger quickly. We become bitter towards others if we don’t resolve the anger quickly. It is a sin to be angry at someone else, if you want to have no barriers between you and God, you must resolve the anger quickly to have a full relationship with God. And lastly, we must clothe ourselves with patience, a Godly patience. God has been patient with us as we made our way to Him, we need to have patience with our anger (slow to anger) to others. Don’t let anger drag you down, let God’s grace win over it.

Announcements listed in the bulletin are that the congregation will be collecting canned green beans for the Food Pantry in July.

Bible Study – Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Coming Events: Vacation Bible School “Breaker Rock Beach” – July 22 – 26 from 6 – 8 p.m., Ages 4-12.

You can email the church at nlbcmaine@gmail.com. Pastor Bonnie’s office hours are on Tuesday’s 9:00 a.m. to noon.