NORTH LIVERMORE — At the September 4 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 “Since I Have Been Redeemed”, “Jesus Loves Even Me” and “He Touched Me”. The service ended with communion. Linda Lyman is the organist each week. Janet Diaz is the pianist each week. Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.

The sermon, titled “Did Jesus Really Come to Save the World?” and reading the scripture from Mark 2:13-17. Pastor Bonnie began how Jesus came into this world as a baby because the world was so full of sin, that God needed to do something about it. John 3:16-17 tells us that God sent His only Son to this world to save it but not condemn it. God didn’t want anyone to perish in this world to hell, so Jesus was sent to earth to save people from hell. This world will be destroyed in the end times, Jesus came to save the people. We, the people, having souls that are eternal, are the ones that need to be saved. Jesus came to save the world, the people, not the world itself. In the scripture in Mark 2, it tells us that Jesus said He came to save the sinners not the righteous.

Jesus had proven Himself as God, when He healed the paralyzed man, raised the dead, fed the hungry, etc. By doing all this and more, He also has proven He can forgive sin. In John, we also learned that Jesus is the only way to the Father and the only way to Heaven. To know Jesus, is to know God.

How does Jesus call the sinner? Working with the Holy Spirit, each person is invited to know Jesus in a personal way. No matter what you think you have done wrong, Jesus will forgive and accept you into His family if you repent. Jesus calls people to follow Him and to do the work He has left for us to do. In our scripture of Mark, Jesus went to the house where sinners would be and ate a meal with them. The only way for believers to show unbelievers the way to Jesus, is to have a relationship with them so they can tell them about who Jesus is and what He can do for them. Jesus needed the sinners to know that they needed Him to save them from their own sin. We know that when we are sick, we go to the doctors to get better. Jesus came into this world to heal the sick, the sinners of this world, so we can live with Him in Heaven, pain free.

What does that mean to us? Jesus came to save us so we won’t rely on our own selves for righteousness. We can’t be righteousness without Jesus. We cannot rely on the religions of this world to get us to Heaven. Clearly, Jesus has told us that He is the only way to Heaven. Even though Jesus was sinless, he pursued sinners, like us. Though we must avoid sin in our own lives, we must not avoid sinners who need salvation. We too, must pursue them to tell of the wonderful news of Jesus. Jesus promised that all who believe and repent in Him will be saved. Jesus will then transform each of His believers into new beings in Him.

Jesus is telling us all that His arms are open for everyone and that He accepts us just as we are. No one is too bad to be saved. Jesus died on a cross and was resurrected three days later for all people. Jesus is calling all people to follow Him, follow Him right into eternity with Him.

Jesus is about having a relationship with Him. He wants us to give everything up to Him, our burdens, sadness, financial situations, broken relationships, etc. He wants it all because He cares about us. Jesus is about being pure. He wants us to have a pure heart for Him, have pure thoughts, pure love, and pure motives. We are to live like Him. Jesus is all about love, He wants us to love God above all, love our neighbors, family, friends, and even our enemies. Jesus is all about being sincere. And He wants us to be humble, comforting, merciful, peaceful, generous, forgiving, and loving without judgement. Jesus is about forgiveness, forgiveness of our sins. Are you ready to repent to spend eternity with Jesus?

Announcements listed in the bulletin were that the congregation will be collecting canned corn for the Food Pantry in the month of September. Bible Study is Tuesday at 1 p.m. Coming Events: September 18th – Church Barbecue. 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 not be in the office on Monday, September 5th because of the Labor Day holiday.