NO. LIVERMORE — At the August 20 North Livermore Baptist Church 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 “My Savior’s Love”, “A Shelter in the Time of Storm” and “Footsteps of Jesus”.  The service ended 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 “A Storm is Coming” the scripture from Matthew 8:23-27. Pastor Bonnie began by saying that many times we hear from the weather people that a storm is coming and to get prepared for it.  Many will take it as a warning and get prepared, but many will believe that it won’t be a big deal and go on with their lives.  Then the storm hits and people are caught off guard.  Why were they caught unprepared? Everyone was warned, but some didn’t take it seriously.

What is a person to do to be prepared? God tells us that we will have trials and tribulations. Even as Christians, we will have storms in our lives. Broken relationships, financial troubles, health issues, etc. will cause us to step back.  Many times, we are not prepared to handle any storm that comes our way. Even though we aren’t, God is.

Going to our scriptures, the disciples are in a boat with Jesus and the waters are calm as they set sail.  As the night progresses, the waters began to get rougher and the winds begin to blow aggressively. The disciples began to get uncomfortable with the way the boat is swaying in the waters and believe that they are going to die, not thinking who was in the boat with them. Jesus is sound asleep and the disciples wake Him up, yelling to Him to save them, as they feel they will be drowning soon. Don’t we feel like we are drowning and no way out when we are going through the storms in our lives? What does Jesus do? He answers them back, saying where is your faith, why are you afraid? Jesus is quickly telling the disciples that with Him they will always be safe and secure.  As Jesus stood up in the boat and rebuked the winds and the waves and they calmed down immediately.  Jesus tells us that no matter what is happening in our lives, He can always calm the storms as we go through them.  Sometimes, Jesus will take the storm away, and other times He will walk with us through the storms.

God’s Word tells us that one day there will be a great storm, that no one will be able to avoid. That storm will be the judgment of God. On that day, there will be destruction, the world will be judged and destroyed. For those who do not believe in Jesus, eternity in hell will be waiting for them. Those who believe in Jesus, their new home will be in the new Heaven, here on earth. It doesn’t matter if you a rich or poor, good or bad, moral and immoral, or young and old, all will be judged according to the Word of God.

As Christians, we know that God is bigger than any storm we will go through.  God has a plan for us, through knowing His Son, Jesus Christ. God uses our storms to grow our faith in Him, He wants us to turn to Him during them, giving Him control of our trials and resting in His arms, like Jesus was resting in the boat. God wants us to call out to Him, for the rescue, as He helps us through our trials.  God wants us to know that He is bigger than this world and everything that happens in it. God wants us to have complete faith in Him.

Announcements listed in the bulletin are that the congregation will be collecting Canned Carrots for the Food Pantry in the month of August.  Bible Study at 1:00 p.m.  The congregation is collecting for a mission project for missionary Ann Clemmer. 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.