NORTH LIVERMORE – At the Oct. 2 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 “Trust and Obey,” “Whiter than Snow,” and “O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee.” The service concluded 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 “Are You Committed to God?” and reading the scripture from 1 Kings 8:56-61. Pastor Bonnie began speaking about how we live in a very confusing world. Not just morally confusing, but also spiritually confusing. In our lives, we hear so many voices telling us what to do, that we don’t know where to go anymore. We think we are on the right path and then we look up, only to see that we took a wrong turn and are heading in the wrong direction. We hear the voices from the radio, television, government, and we are even reading more self-help books than we ever had. We are all searching for the right ways in our lives in a fallen world. We ask ourselves over and over, who do we listen to?

Aaron Tippin had a song out many years ago, “You got to stand for something”. The words to it, “you’ve got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything. You’ve got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string. Never compromise what’s right and uphold your family name…” If you take those words, it tells us to take a stand on what we believe in. If you believe in Jesus, and follow Him, you need to take a stand for Him and not stand on the empty promises of this world. The lyrics tells us never compromise what is right (our believe in Jesus) and to uphold your family name. If you are part of God’s family, then you need to uphold yourself in this world as a child of God because it is His name too.

What do we need to do in this fallen world, to stand up and be committed to God? We can’t abandon God’s Word. We need to stand on the solid rock foundation of Jesus Christ in this world and not on the foundation of sand. Sand will fall apart and if you are not on God’s rock foundation, you too will fall apart in this world. We don’t want to give into peer pressure. Too many times, we will give into our friends or co-workers just to fit in this world. We need to remember that we are in this world, but not part of it. This world is a temporary place, we belong in the eternal Heaven with our Savior. We shouldn’t be listening to false teachings. We need to stay focused on the Word of God and what He has to say. This world where Satan is an influencer, will only take us down the wrong path.

As this world continues to go down the wrong path, we need to have complete commitment to God. We need to follow and serve Jesus because it is what we individually have decided. We should serve Jesus because we want to out of obedience to Jesus and not because others are watching and patting us on the back. There is a cost to being totally committed to God. We sometimes need to make sacrifices in our lives, instead of heading to the beach on Sunday morning with your friends, you attend church with other believers to worship God, or you give up time to volunteer somewhere there is a need, or take time out from watching television and read God’s Word. Some people might ridicule you for putting God first, but He is the one we need to be obedient too. We need to be content in our sacrifice to God. We shouldn’t feel that we lost out on something because we put God first. We need to be completely committed to Him because through our lives, He blesses us more than we ever give.

There were people in scriptures that were fully committed to God. We know of Abraham, Moses, Noah, Elijah, Daniel, David, Job, Paul, and many more, but no one more than Jesus. He was so committed to God’s plan of salvation for us, that He laid His own life down for us. In this world, are you committed to God for eternity or in this temporary place with Satan?

Announcements listed in the bulletin were that the congregation will be collecting pie crusts for the Food Pantry in the month of October. Bible Study is at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Coming events in October: October 2- Adult Sunday School begins at 8 a.m. October 8 – Deacons/Trustees meetings. October 16 – Quarterly business meeting. October 21-22 – ABCOM Annual Convention at Baptist Church of Greene. October 30 – West Association Fall Meeting at Moose Hill Baptist Church. 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 a.m. to noon.