LIVERMORE — At the June 19, North Livermore Baptist Church service, the congregation was welcomed 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 were “Come, Christians, Join to Sing”, “Faith of Our Fathers” and “The Wonder of it All”. The service ended with “Go Now in Peace.” Linda Lyman is the organist each week. Janet Diaz is the pianist each week. Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.

All the men in the church were given a gift for Father’s Day.

The sermon, titled “Intimate with God” and reading the scripture from Psalm 27:4-14. Pastor Bonnie began the sermon by asking a question to the congregation…What is the most important thing in their live? She responded with that if it is anything or anyone other than God, they don’t have an intimate relationship with Him. They might have a casual one, but not an intimate one. She explained that God wants an intimate relationship with each of His children. She explained there are three types of relationships. One is an acquaintance, like a neighbor, or a friend of a friend type of relationship. The second type is companionship relationship. This is when you have a bonding relationship with others like when you play on a team or involved in clubs. The last type of relationship is an intimate one. The is when a person can be themselves around someone, they are close to. Like a best friend, a spouse, or a family member. An intimate relationship is when you put a lot into the relationship, where you spend time getting to really know them, trust them, feeling very close to them.

Having an intimate relationship with God means spending time with Him on every level. God wants us to have this relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. God wants to spend time with us and He wants us to spend time with Him, to get to know Him better. We can’t have a relationship with someone that we hardly know. We need to choose to have an intimate relationship with God. We are the ones who must make time to spend with Him, getting to know Him better. God already knows us intimately.

There are four ways to build an intimate relationship with God from scriptures. The first one is that we must learn from God. We need to continue to expand our understanding of who God is and to know His ways. The second way is to worship God. We worship God through music, sacrificing, dancing, lifting our hands, reading His Word, fellowshipping with other believers, praising Him, and talking with God every day. Talking with God brings us to the third way. God wants to hear from us daily. He wants that one-on-one conversation. The last way is to obey Him. God has given us the Holy Spirit to keep us doing right things and not the wrong things in this world. God’s Word tell us how to obey Him. We must put God’s thoughts in our lives and act on them and not the acts of the world.

We can all be closer to God, He has moved close to us, we need to move closer to Him. We need to make God the focus of our lives and not this world. We need to desire to be closer to Him. God has that desire for each of us. God sent Jesus to die on a cross and resurrected so we can be closer to Him. We need to choose to be closer to God. We can’t let other things get in our way, to keep us from Him. We need to put God first.

God wants us to want a relationship with Him that we feel comfortable to go to Him with all our concerns, burdens, and praises. He wants us so close to Him that nothing in this world can draw us away from Him. How close do you choose to have your relationship with God?

Announcements listed in the bulletin were that the congregation will be collecting canned fruit for the Food Pantry in the month of June. Pastor Bonnie will be out of the office from June 20 for the holiday. Bible Study on Tuesday at 1 p.m. We are collecting for One Great Hour of Sharing in the month of June. Vacation Bible School begins July 11 – 15 from 6 – 8 p.m. This year’s VBS theme is “The Big Fish Bay” for ages 4 – 12 years old. There will be a meeting after church for VBS on June 26th. The AA meetings are held on Friday nights at the church.

For information, check out our website at northlivermorebaptistchurch.org. You can email the church at nlbcmaine@gmail.com. Pastor Bonnie’s office hours are Monday and Tuesday’s from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

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