January 8, 2023 Service. The congregation was welcomed by Pastor Bonnie Higgins at 9:30 a.m. to begin the service. The Invocation/Lord’s Prayer was recited. The hymns that were sung was “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, “A Child of the King”, “Take the Name of Jesus with You”. The service ended with the congregation singing “Go Now in Peace”. Linda Lyman is the organist each week. Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.

The sermon, titled “Do You Still have the Christmas Spirit?” and reading the scripture from Luke 2:15-20. Pastor Bonnie began by talking about how everyone counts down the days to Christmas, with the decorating, shopping, baking/cooking, watching the Hallmark channel with excitement. It seems the very next day after Christmas, it is forgotten and everyone seems to have moved on. Even the stores are decorated with Valentine decorations/candy the day after Christmas. How quickly people forget what was just celebrated, the birth of the Savior.

He gave His life on a cross, so we could be saved from our sins, God raised Him from the dead, Jesus is the author of eternal life, His death gives us a seat at the table in His Kingdom, and He should have first place in our heart and in our life.

Notice in the scriptures, that after the shepherds had seen Jesus and worshipped Him at the manger, they went back praising and worshipping Him. They returned to their fields with great joy, giving glory to God, praising Him, and they came back with the peace that they all received by experiencing the Savior. They kept the joyful feeling they had experienced and told everyone along the way to the fields what happened. They were excited about the baby that was born. The shepherds may have gone back to their normal jobs, but they didn’t go back and forget what they saw and felt. Why do we celebrate the birth of our Savior, yet as soon as the decorations are down and put away, we forget and carry on like it didn’t happen?

In Matthew chapter 2, it tells us about the wise men who saw the star in the sky and rejoiced. We know from scriptures that this event didn’t happen on the night Jesus was born, but about 2 years later. They came to Mary and Joseph’s house and saw the child, the Messiah, that they, and many others had hoped for. They felled to their knees and worshipped the child. They brought gifts of gold-shows us who Jesus is, a King, frankincense – the deity of who Jesus is, 100% God and 100% man, and myrrh – to foretell us about Jesus’ death. As the wise men left Jesus, they left different than they came.

As we have packed away Christmas for this year, we shouldn’t pack away why we celebrate it and not just for one time of the year, but every day we should rejoice in Him. We just need to talk to Him in prayer. They didn’t hesitate to go to Him, why do we? We need to seek Him so we can be in a closer relationship with Him. We need to pray, read the Word of God-the Bible, and to spread the Good News to others. Just like the shepherds and the wise men, we need to follow Him. The shepherds heard from the angels and followed Him, the wise men saw a star in the sky and followed it to Him. We need to continue to rejoice in Him. We can be joyful, because we do not go through the bad times without Him, Jesus will always go with us. We come to church on Sundays to worship Him, why don’t we worship Him daily. God is worthy of our praise and worship. We need to remember to give ourselves to Him. Jesus gave up His life on a cross so we wouldn’t have to endure it. He was our sacrifice. He gave up His life for us, we should be able to give Him our time, devotion, worship, and praise. We need to keep the spirit of Christmas all year round.

Announcements listed in the bulletin are the congregation will be collecting Canned Soup for the Food Pantry in the month of January. Bible Study is at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Coming Events: Deacons/Trustees meeting on January 14th, Annual Business meeting on January 22th. The AA meetings are held on Friday nights at the church. Do not park around the church when there is snow on the roof and if School is canceled in the area, Pastor Bonnie will not be in the office and all events canceled.

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 from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

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