NORTH LIVERMORE — At the North Livermore Baptist Church October 24, 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 was “Praise Him! Praise Him!”, “What a Wonderful Savior!”, “I’d Rather Have Jesus”. The service was concluded with “Go Now in Peace”.  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 “Love Your Enemy” and reading the scripture from Luke 6:27-36.  Pastor Bonnie started telling the congregation how easily it is to love others that we like and have things in common with.  The people we hang out with, our families, and others who have the same interests, like sports, our kids, etc. are better to get along with.  We have been told, that as Christians we are supposed to love everyone, even though it is sometimes hard to.  Especially, those who we don’t agree with.  As Christians, are we supposed to love non-Christians?  The answer to that is in God’s Word and it is yes, we are supposed to love the unbelievers too.  God, who is love, created us to love each other, no matter our differences.  Jesus even told us to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, bless the ones you curse us and pray for those who hurt us.

We wonder why Jesus would tell us to love our enemies.  First, Jesus didn’t save us because we were good, He saved us because we were sinners, just like they are.  He wants us to show others His love through us, so the unbelievers will seek Jesus out and to be saved.  Secondly, Jesus commands us to love everyone, including our enemies.  God loved us when we were enemies to Him because we are all created by God.  If God, could love a sinner like me, I should be able to love my enemy.  Jesus showed us this kind of love when He went to die on the cross for all of us.  It didn’t matter to Jesus, He died for everyone.

So, how do we love our enemies, as God wants us to?  We need to let go of all grudges against them.  Even though they might have hurt us in some way, we need to let it go.  We can’t be who we need to be in Christ for others, if we don’t let go of the grudges we have for others. We need to count it as a learning experience with them and move on.  We shouldn’t keep score against another.  God forgets the sins we do when we ask for forgiveness, we need to do the same when someone says they are sorry to us.  We should also respond to others in faith and not our feelings.  We should remember that even though we may not like someone, God has commanded us to love them.  God loves us even when we make mistakes in our lives.  He is forgiving towards us, and God has asked us to do the same to our enemies.

The highlight of what God asks us to do is, is to pray for our enemies.  Sometimes it is hard to pray for someone who has hurt you, but God has asked us to do just that.  We should not go for revenge against someone who has hurt us, we need to pray to God for that person.  We are not to seek revenge, we are to love and pray for others, even our enemies.  We have that responsibility to love one another as a child of God, to bless those who are our enemy, and pray for them.  This is how we can show God’s love through ourselves, and God will reward those who do.

Announcements listed in the bulletin was that the congregation will be collecting Pie Crusts for the Food Pantry in the month of October towards the Thanksgiving baskets. Bible Study begins at 1:00 p.m. every Tuesday. 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.