NO. LIVERMORE — At the North Livermore Baptist Church Sep. 3 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 “Make Me a Blessing”, “Who is on the Lord’s Side?” and “Work, for the Night is Coming”. 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 “Working for God” the scripture from 1 Thessalonians 1:3. Pastor Bonnie began by asking the congregation how they viewed Labor Day. Is it a day of rest from work or is it just a three-day weekend? As a Christian, how does work fall in place with God?
First, we must realize when we are doing the work that God has laid out it will bring us eternal rewards when we reach Heaven. We must realize that in this life, we are working for God, He is our “boss” and His benefit package is the best around. We need to be ready when the trumpet sounds when Jesus comes back for His Church. We need to be working continually until the trumpet sounds. We can’t be lazy in our work for God’s Kingdom. The work of the Lord will be easy if we stay focused on our Heavenly rewards and not on the treasures of this world. We need to remember that we take nothing from this world, not our money, trinkets, cars, houses, etc. into our eternal home in Heaven. The only thing taken will be our love for Jesus and our works that was done for Him.
Secondly, our goal here on this earth, is to be busy working for the Kingdom. We need to be working on behalf of Jesus and doing the missions work He began when He was on this earth. God has told us that we should repent and accept His Son, Jesus and do what Jesus did. We need to feed the people that are hungry, we need to clothe them, visit them, and we need to let them know about Jesus and what He did for them. No matter where we are, at work, a ballgame, the grocery store, we should be working on behalf of Jesus.
Next, God also calls us to be confident in the work we do in His name. If we do it in His name, it is not done for nothing, even if the person you are ministering to rejects your works. God tells us that we can know everything He says is true and that He will one day be back for His Church. Our lives do matter to God and how we live them for Him. He takes everything in account and knows our heart.
God wants us to be good examples to the world. He wants us to imitate Jesus in every aspect of our lives. Some say it is hard to do, but remember all things are possible through Jesus Christ. If we are doing the Will of God, nothing is impossible.
To live a life for Christ, we need to build our lives on the right foundation. That foundation is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Once you have that relationship, you must work with others, remember we are all on the same team, God’s team. We can get a lot accomplished if we work together for God’s glory. We must keep our motives pure. We need to remember that we do God’s work with God’s planning and not our own. As we walk through this world, we need to be walking with God, by praying, studying His Word, gathering with other believers, and by being the hands and feet of Christ.
Announcements listed in the bulletin are that the congregation will be collecting Peanut Butter for the Food Pantry in the month of September. Bible Study at 1 p.m. Deacons and Trustees meetings on September 9. 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 from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Pastor Bonnie will be out of the office on September 4th for the Labor Day holiday.
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