June 18

As Jesus asked for baptism, John drew back, exclaiming, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" With firm yet gentle authority, Jesus answered, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." And John, yielding, led the Saviour down into the Jordan, and buried Him beneath the water. "And straightway coming up out of the water," Jesus "saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him."

Desire of Ages, page 112 from the chapter, 'The baptism'

     Jesus was buried beneath the water. That not only defines the method, total immersion, but also illustrates the purpose. Baptism is, as a friend defines it, the watery grave. Jesus went into the watery grave, so should we.
   I managed to escape singing our song for today as a solo a few years ago. Rona from Newcastle may well be trying to encourage me to have a go again in a few weeks. The song is, ‘Have I told you lately?’ by Van Morrison. You can take the song as a love song – and see the words as a reminder of what you could do today for your loved ones. You could then remind yourself that it’s a good idea to tell God that you love Him. I chose this, because I lost the song Bryn chose. Please click on the picture to listen.

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