DECEMBER 23

“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” Luke 2:20

Yesterday I mentioned that I had been to a Christian retreat. It was organized by Zimbabwe-UK Adventist Fellowship (ZUSDAF).  It was the first time that I had attended such a retreat and it won’t be the last. Because of my job I am not able to attend camp meeting anymore as it falls in the middle of exams when students need all the help they can. I had forgotten how good it feels to get away from the everyday rituals and find yourself in a place where your task each day is to feast on God’s word – not make money from your job.

Those who know me recognise that I would rather send a text or an email than call someone. But after this weekend I just had to talk to people about how good God had been, I was/ am on a spiritual high and just have to share it. Rather like the shepherds. Once they had seen the new born babe they,

“… returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen…"

What stories are you going to be telling over and after the festive period? Is Jesus still going to be alive or is he going to be confined to the manger?

Please don’t be an embarrassed Christian who is ashamed to tell of the real Christ and the reason for the season. 'Go tell it on the mountains, over the hills and everywhere!'

Are you going to be a shepherd or a sheep?

The song today was sung this past Sabbath by Bryn and Chad at our Christmas service at the old peoples home near our church in Netherfield. “Mary, did you know?” – sung here by Pentatonix.

       

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here