OCTOBER 17-18
“....A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready’ - Luke 16,17
A story's told about a cookie swap party held for church office staff. Simple idea. Price of admission? a tray of cookies - that tray entitled everyone to pick as many cookies as they wanted from other plates. Sounds simple, except, the minister - single - didn't know a baking tray from his elbow! He said he was about as comfortable in an apron as an all-in wrestler in a tutu. He had a problem - no cookies - no place at the party.
Right now, God is planning a party for us, The guest list is impressive as guest lists go, but there'll be no rank pulling - no egos - no jostling for position – all are equal. Bags will be finally handed over at the gates - bags we have filled over the years with the Black Plague of past mistakes and failures....never to be lifted again. Entry to the party isn't just a plate of cookies....it's our confessed belief in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Redeemer, because Jesus has already paid the price in advance. 
Did the minister get into the cookie party? He did, thanks to a female church member. Hearing about his dilemma, and just a few minutes before the party, she handed him a plate of 12 cookies - he went to the party - he could stand tall. So can we. God saw us making a mess of our lives, and gave us much more than a plate of cookies - "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Pet.3:18NIV) - He "leads us in the paths of righteousness."
The path's narrow, and the trail winds up a steep hill. At the top you'll find a cross, and at the base of the cross, piled high, are bags - countless bags, full of innumerable sins, needless weights carried by us all.
I don't know about you, but I've had enough of carting mine around! Let's go to the cross right now, and leave them there.
A great home-coming song today, “I've Never Been This Homesick Before” - Selah. Thank you Bryn.
Click on the picture to listen.
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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
