NO. LIVERMORE — At the Oct. 1 North Livermore Baptist Church service, the congregation was welcomed by Pastor Bonnie Higgins at 9:30 a.m. to begin the service. The Invocation/Lord’s Prayer were recited. The hymns that were sung were “Standing on the Promises”, “Are You Washed in the Blood?” and “Jesus Is Lord of All”. The service ended with Communion. Linda Lyman is the organist and Janet Diaz is the pianist each week. Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.
The sermon, titled “Our Rewards in Heaven” scripture from Matthew 6:19-24. Pastor Bonnie began by talking about how in today’s society it seems that everyone gets a ribbon or a trophy for just participating in an event, either sporting, or academics etc. Is that how God works? Does His children get a crown (trophy) for just being saved?
God has told us that only the things in our lives that we did for Him would last through to Heaven. Everything else will pass away in this world. God has told His children to work for Heavenly rewards and not earthly rewards. Our cars, homes, money, toys, etc. will pass away in this world, so why give up on what God has for us?
God wants our hearts/souls, He wants our time in a relationship by praying, reaching others, reading God’s Word, serving Him. God wants us to be close to Him. If our heart follows the treasures of this world, our heart is not with God. God wants our heart, He sent His Son, Jesus to pay the price for our heart with His life, all we need to do is to give it to God.
God is not telling us not to have things in this world, we need cars to get places, He provides us with work to collect a paycheck to pay for our bills, food, clothes, etc. God just doesn’t want us to put any of these things over Him. God should still get the glory for all we have.
One day, Christians will stand in front of God and be judged on how we lived on earth. Did we put God first in our lives or did we put this world first? Our rewards will come from the way we lived our lives. A person who has followed God, might get a crown for staying faithful to God by staying on the path that God has for them.
Another crown that can be earned is the crown that a person lived a holy and righteous life, they are the ones who removed anything that does not belong in them, by forsaking the world and lived for Jesus. Yet, another crown would be for those who suffered through the hardships and never wandered from Jesus, those who stayed devoted to Him.
A crown would be given to those who served Jesus by taking care of His people, by feeding, clothing, visiting, witnessing, and reaching out to others. God has many crowns to give to those who remain in Him. Each person who stands in front of God to be judged, will receive different crowns, they will receive the crowns they earned. Some will earn more than others. What will we do with these crowns?
We will take our crown or crowns and place them at the feet of Christ. We will say, Jesus, this is all I have to give to you, my devotion and gratitude for the life I lived on earth for you. It is all I have and it represents all I am. How many crowns will you lay at the feet of Jesus?
Announcements listed in the bulletin are that the congregation will be collecting pie crusts for the Food Pantry. Bible Study on Tuesday at 1 p.m.
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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