March 20

They could not but see that their expectation in regard to the Messiah was not sustained by prophecy; but they would not renounce the theories that had flattered their ambition. They would not admit that they had misapprehended the Scriptures they claimed to teach. From one to another passed the enquiry, How hath this youth knowledge, having never learned? The light was shining in darkness; but "the darkness apprehended it not." John 1:5, R. V.

         Desire of Ages, page 80 from the chapter, 'The Passover visit'

     There are some people who are free spirits. They think their own thoughts. You can often find them taking a different view on a passage they are reading. Now before anyone points a finger at me a free spirit takes a completely different view. Their point may well be out of this world.

     Jesus was not a free spirit. If anything the teachers in that room were the free spirits. They had freed themselves from God’s Word and tied themselves to the word of man.

     You see, there was an enormous difference between Jesus and the teachers. The light that was shining was Jesus, but the teachers were not able to see the light. That made them the free spirits.

     Jesus, of course, had His knowledge from two sources. The first element of the knowledge was the foundation created for Him by Mum and Dad in Nazareth. The second element of the knowledge that Jesus was revealing was that special knowledge He had just begun to gain access to, as the Holy Spirit opened His eyes to the wonders of God all around him.

     He was now a man. A man with the Holy Spirit present – and a man responding to all of this after the special Bar Mitzvah ceremony. Set a date now for your special ceremony.

     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