June 26

    These words of confirmation were given to inspire faith in those who witnessed the scene, and to strengthen the Saviour for His mission. Notwithstanding that the sins of a guilty world were laid upon Christ, notwithstanding the humiliation of taking upon Himself our fallen nature, the voice from heaven declared Him to be the Son of the Eternal.

     John had been deeply moved as he saw Jesus bowed as a suppliant, pleading with tears for the approval of the Father. As the glory of God encircled Him, and the voice from heaven was heard, John recognized the token which God had promised. He knew that it was the world's Redeemer whom he had baptized. The Holy Spirit rested upon him, and with outstretched hand pointing to Jesus, he cried, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

          Desire of Ages, page 113 from the chapter, 'The baptism'

     I was watching a programme about life in an Accident and Emergency ward and saw a man having a problem with his eyes investigated. The man did not have a positive view of life.

     Was it Eric Idle who sang, ‘Always look on the bright side of life’? I prefer this version. How do you generate a positive attitude? It is possible that some try alcohol, but that simply anaesthetizes pain. A positive mental attitude helps, but what happens when you get ‘flu?

     We learn here that God’s voice from heaven was to give hope to all those who could hear in that remote river valley. How did John recognise the hope? He understood the presence of the Holy Spirit, even if he himself was unable to give accurate teaching to others about the Holy Spirit.

     Do you recognise the importance of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life to give you courage and strength?  

     It might be that Bryn is following a theme this week again. Yesterday we heard a brother and two sisters, today a husband and wife duo. Joey and Rory sing,  ‘Leave it there’. It has to be bluegrass, or is it country?


  

     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