NO. LIVERMORE — At the July 2, North Livermore Baptist Church service, Pastor Bonnie Higgins welcomed the congregation at 9:30 a.m. to begin the service. The Invocation/Lord’s Prayer were recited. The hymns that were sung were “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “God of Our Fathers” and “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”. 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 “Freedom” the scripture from Galatians 5:1. Pastor Bonnie began by asking “what does freedom mean to each of us?” In 1776, freedom meant that America was not under the influence of England anymore. They could do what they wanted. People rejoiced in knowing that they were now free.

Did our freedom start in 1776? No, our freedom started thousands of years before when a man called Jesus went to a cross to give us freedom. Because of that time in our history, the world found eternal freedom in Jesus, not just from one country, Jesus gave us freedom from this world full of sin. When Jesus died on that cross, freedom was declared from sin and Satan was defeated, giving each of us the opportunity to reach out to Jesus and accept the freedom from this world that only He could do. Jesus’ purpose of His life was to bring freedom to sinners and to proclaim freedom in Him.

There are many scriptures in God’s Word that talks about the freedom that Jesus gives His children. 1 John 4:4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world”, 1 Corinthians 15:57 “but thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”, and there are many more that shows us that because of Jesus we have victory in this world. If a person is living without Jesus as their personal Savior, they are living their lives as a slave to sin, not free from it.

So, what does freedom in Jesus give us? It gives us freedom from the punishment of sin, freedom from eternal death in hell, freedom from our past, and freedom from fear for the future to name a few. Even though Jesus brought us freedom through His death and resurrection, it does not give us freedom from consequences when we go against God’s Word, we aren’t free to continue to sin, we aren’t free not to love and help others, and we aren’t free to live our lives the way we want, but rather live it in the name of Jesus.

John 8:32 says “Jesus said, ‘And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” Real freedom in Jesus, gives His children the knowledge that death has been overcome and should not be feared. We can live knowing that this world is only temporary and we have a home waiting for us with our Savior that will be a world without pain, sorrow, fear, death, but will be a world with love, peace, and harmony. When you have freedom in Jesus, He changed your eternal destination from hell to Heaven with Him.

We are thankful for all the men and women who have fought for our freedom in this world, but we need to give thanks to God for giving us eternal freedom through His Son, Jesus. Are you experiencing total freedom through knowing Jesus Christ?

Announcements listed in the bulletin are that the congregation will be collecting Dry Pasta for the Food Pantry in the month of July. Bible Study will resume on July 11. Coming Events: July 10-14: Vacation Bible School from 6 – 8 p.m. July 16: Quarterly Business Meeting and the church’s BBQ. 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 July 4th.