March 11

    The Passover was followed by the seven days' feast of unleavened bread. On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year's harvest, a sheaf of barley, was presented before the Lord. All the ceremonies of the feast were types of the work of Christ. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was an object lesson of redemption, which the Passover was intended to keep in memory. The slain lamb, the unleavened bread, the sheaf of first fruits, represented the Saviour. .

         Desire of Ages, page 77 from the chapter, 'The Passover visit'

       There are Christians, some of them observe the Sabbath as we do, who keep all of the festivals of the Old Testament. We could go on the defensive and show the rights and wrongs of their position. That might end up with us taking a rather high-handed and judgemental stance.

     Let’s just take note of the way that Ellen White deals with the festivals of the Old Testament. They had meaning, they were good festivals. There were things to learn from the festivals then, and there are things we can learn today.

     We ought to remember that behind the whole Passover looms the wonderful presence of Jesus. When I walked out on Sunday, in that beautiful spring sunshine, I chose to look behind the most obvious glory of the day and set out to worship God for being a wonderful, caring Creator.

     When we think of the Passover, and Jesus going up to Jerusalem, we can see a simple story. Mother and Father take the son, of whom they are enormously proud, to see him celebrate the transition to manhood. Behind the obvious story there is the idea that Jesus was obedient to and observant of the Old Testament festivals. He knew the meanings and that He was at the heart of the festivals. Then there is the application of all of this.

     I’m asking you to construct a simple festival to help you celebrate you coming to a closer walk with God. However behind your festival the idea is that I would love you to recognise God at work in your life – and memorialise God in your life. Can you do that?

     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