LIVERMORE — At the North Livermore Baptist Church August 18 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 “Wonderful Words of Life”, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”, and “Cleanse Me”. 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 “We Want More and More” and scriptures from Luke 12-13-21. Pastor Bonnie began by saying that we have heard that money is the root of all evil. But according to God, this statement is false. What God tells us is that the love of money is the root of all evil. There is nothing evil about money, it is our relationship with money that is the problem.

It is the same way with our possessions, it doesn’t matter what we have as long as our possessions don’t take the place of God in our lives. Even Jesus said that you cannot serve God and money, either one or the other is who you follow. Jesus is telling us, He is the one that will get us to Heaven, not money.

We see it in our world, greed. People seem to always want more and more of everything. They are never satisfied with what God has blessed them with. What does greed do? It will divide a family as a will is read, it will cause problems at work when someone gets a promotion that others want, it can ruin a marriage when one spouse is not satisfied with what they have, etc.

There are many examples where greed can destroy. We know that greed is not from God, as it is from Satan because of the destruction it can do in our lives. God brings us harmony, love, peace, etc. to our world. Greed is about being rich for yourself and not towards God. Scriptures tell us not to store wealth up for ourselves as all the wealth in this world will not get you into Heaven or will it go with you when you die.

What can a person do? Jesus tells us to send up treasures to Heaven now. Don’t hoard it here, it won’t do you any good. Jesus tells us that we need to look toward the future in Him and not of this world. We need to keep our faith in Jesus, and keep it front and center in our lives. Store up the things of Jesus has for us and not this world.

How do you defeat greed in your life? Jesus tells us not to worry. He tells us not to be anxious about our lives, about what we will eat, about our bodies, and about what we will put on. He tells us that life is more than food and the body are more than clothing. He supplies us with everything we need, so we don’t have to be greedy. When we need things, He will supply.

We shouldn’t worry about anything, keeping our faith is the best thing to do. Next, Jesus tells us to put God first in our finances. Jesus even tells us to seek the Kingdom of God first, and these things will be given to us as well. We have experienced God in our past when things got tight, and God came through for us. Why do we not trust Him now?

Lastly, we need to live generously. Jesus tells us not to fear but be of faith. Scriptures tell us that God has given us the kingdom, He is so generous, shouldn’t we be too. We can never accumulate enough in this world to even begin to compare it to the Kingdom of Heaven. Trust Him to supply all your needs. Don’t let greed be the god of your life.

Announcements: we will be collecting Crackers for the Food Pantry in August. Bible Study – Tuesday at 1 p.m.