NO. LIVERMORE — At the North Livermore Baptist Church Feb. 14 service the congregation was welcome in by Pastor Bonnie Higgins at 9:30 a.m. to begin the service.
The Call to Worship was read and the Invocation/Lord’s Prayer was recited. The hymns that were sung was “Since Jesus Came into My Heart”, “The Love of God”, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” with “Go Now in Peace” to complete the service. Linda Lyman is the organist each week.
The sermon, titled “God is asking, ‘Be My Valentine’” reading the scripture from Romans 5:8. Pastor Bonnie began with statistics about Valentine’s Day. Over a billion cards will be given, over $2 billion worth of jewelry will be sold, 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be given to someone. Couples will eat out; I love you will be spoken many times over. These are all ways to show someone you love them. Some will show their love by their words, some by their actions. Who wouldn’t want someone to give them a back rub, or do the dishes? These are fine ways to show you love someone, though God showed us how much He loved us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to die for us on a cross. That was true love!
Pastor Bonnie went on to say how we should love God in our own lives. We need to love Him more than our spouses, children, parents, families, friends, and even ourselves, God should always be loved above everyone and everything in our lives. Our thoughts should never be if we are loved by people here on earth, our thoughts should be that our Father in Heaven loves us. God should never wonder if we love Him, in scripture Peter said he loved Jesus more than anyone. Then he denied knowing Jesus three times. And Peter couldn’t understand why later Jesus asked him if he loved Him. If you can’t proclaim Jesus in public that you follow and live your life for Him, do you really love Jesus? There shouldn’t be a doubt in anyone’s mind who you follow on this earth. It should be Jesus!
People have died standing up for their faith and love for God. We think of Matthew, Mark, Luke, Peter, Andrew, Thomas, Paul and many more from the Bible. Even in our world people have died for their faith in Jesus, we can think of the men and women who died at the hands of ISIS who, when asked if they believed in God, when they said yes, they were killed. The girl that died because of her faith in God during the Columbine High School killings and others who have proclaimed their faith in God.
Pastor Bonnie went on to say that God proved His love for us through Jesus and his death and resurrection. Christ died for us, as we are all born sinners and He went willingly to save us and to give us eternal life. Jesus died a horrible death on a cross, through the pain, He cried out to His Father God, to forgive them for they know not what they are doing. (Luke 23:34) That is love, to forgive those who are putting Him to death.
God asks us in Matthew 5:44 to love one another, even our enemies. One of the greatest commandments in Mark 12:30 is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” God gave us the greatest Valentine ever, His Son, Jesus Christ. Why did He do it? 1 John 4:19 tells us – “Because He first loved us.”
Announcements listed in the bulletin was that the congregation will be collecting canned fruit for the food pantry in February. Pastor Bonnie will be out of the office on Monday, Feb. 15 because of the holiday. February 28, we will be having another Free Drive-thru meal. This meal will consist of a generous helping of chicken noodle soup, crackers, roll, and a dessert. Pick up will be from 11 a.m. -12:30 p.m. Pre-ordering is welcome by calling the church at 897-5377 and leaving a message with your name, phone number, address, how many meals and if you need your meal(s) delivered. The AA meetings are held on Friday nights at the church.
For information, check out the new website at northlivermorebaptistchurch.org. Also, on the North Livermore Baptist Church’s Facebook page the sermon is posted and on their website is a link to YouTube for the sermon. You can email the church at nlbcmaine@gmail.com. Pastor Bonnie’s office hours are Monday and Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to noon. (If there is a no school day in the school district, Pastor Bonnie will not be in the church’s office that day.)
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