LIVERMORE — At the North Livermore Baptist Church March 13 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 “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”, “I Am Thine, O Lord” and “Lead Me to Calvary”. The service was concluded with “Go Now in Peace”. Linda Lyman is the organist each week. Lew Lyman leads the music for the congregation each week.

The sermon, titled “Death Through Jesus’ Eyes” and reading the scriptures from Matthew 26:1-2. Pastor Bonnie started out saying that we all talk a lot about what Jesus’ death means to us, but don’t usually ask what Jesus’ death meant to Him. We know as Christians, that Jesus was born, lived, died, and resurrected to conquer sin and to give us eternal life. All we need to do is to believe in Him and repent of our sins.

How did Jesus feel about His own death? Jesus felt betrayed. Before the foundation of this world was created, Jesus knew he would be betrayed by someone very close to Him. He knew it would be Judas and not just Judas, but by generations of people who have rejected the salvation He died for. But Jesus still went to the cross for all.

Jesus felt hurt. Think of the punishment He went through during the mock trial, the beatings by the Roman soldiers. They took leather straps and sticks and a flagellum and whipped Him. His skin was raw from these beatings. They placed a crown of thorns on His head and it dug into His head and He bled down His face.

They took Him and nailed Him to a cross to hang like a common criminal. And yet, Jesus says “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The people insulted Him. They taunted and mocked Him. Yet, Jesus said not a word. Jesus felt rejected.

Not just by people there, but also from future generations that have rejected Him. But the hardest rejection was from God, His Father. God needed to turn His back to Jesus as Jesus took the sins of the world upon Himself. Jesus cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). God cannot be in the sight of sin, and for a time, He needed to look away. He did it out of love for all of us.

How did Jesus feel about His own burial? As Jesus cried out “It is finished!” (John 19:30), He gave up His spirit. We wonder why He needed to be buried. Why didn’t God just bring Him home? Jesus died as 100% God and 100% man.

He felt the pain that we feel today. Jesus needed to be buried because He needed to show us that with Him, we can be raised from the dead and have eternal life. That when we repent of our sins, we are freed from the power of Satan. And on that third day, Jesus came out of the grave 100% God.

How did Jesus see His resurrection from the grave? Jesus wanted us to see that when He came out of the grave, He had a new body through the Spirit of God, showing us that we too, will have new bodies when we meet Him.

Jesus wanted to show us that before His death, He had pain, He suffered, He cried, all the things we have today, but when He died and came back to life, He showed us that our new life begins in Him. Jesus tells us that He is the resurrection and the life, and that began on that third day after His death. He wants us to know that He conquered death and Satan.

The one thing Jesus wants us to understand that everything He did, He did for the love He had for each of us. All this happened so we may believe in Him. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to be a ransom for many.

He came to pay the debt that we all had in sin. We couldn’t do it ourselves, God sent Himself to earth, as a baby, named Jesus, to pay that debt. The actions came on a cross where He died, buried for three days and resurrected for the world to see, that Jesus was truly the Messiah, God’s Son, the one who came to save the world.

Jesus came to pay the ransom, to pay the debt of our sins, but He also came to show us that He was being obedient to His Father. Jesus said to His Father, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42), God said no. Jesus stood up and faced the people who came to arrest Him. Jesus did all this because He was being obedient to God, to save us when we couldn’t.

Jesus said “No one takes my life away from me. I give my own life freely” (John 10:18). We can see when Jesus was arrested, the mob wasn’t in control, He was. When He went to trial, the courts weren’t in control, He was, when He was crucified, the Roman soldiers weren’t in control, Jesus still was in control. Through all this, God was on the throne and in control, today God is still on the throne and still in control.

Announcements listed in the bulletin was that the congregation will be collecting any kind of dry pasta for the Food Pantry in the month of March. We are collecting for America for Christ offering for the month of March. If there is snow on the roof, do not park by the side of the 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 [email protected]. Pastor Bonnie’s office hours are Monday and Tuesday’s from 9 a.m. to noon. When there is no school due to the weather, Pastor Bonnie will not be in the office and all events of that day will be cancelled.