September 23

⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

¹¹ Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5: 9 -11

Do you sometimes wonder what your gifts are? Do you, like me, sometimes wish you could do something someone else can? We are not alone in thinking like this. If we look back in the bible times even though Saul was a fearsome warrior, he was jealous of David because he was more popular than him (1 Samuel 18:7-9). Joseph’s brother hated him because he was his father’s favourite son (Genesis 37:3-4) and there are numerous other examples in the old and new testament.

Well, last Sabbath our church in Netherfield took a harvest festival program to a local old people homes than we visit twice a year. In planning what we should say we decided that the best method to accomplish this was in the giving of personal testimonies. As usual we had a blessed time and delivered a short but punchy program, but it was the power of the testimonies that was the real winner that day. Afterwards a Christian lady came up to us and admitted that she was surprised at how much she had gained from our presentation, because she had heard lots of negative things about our faith without knowing an Adventist. She left our company with a smile, encouraging us to continue in likewise manner and asked us to pray for her congregation.

Recently more than ever I have been convicted to recognise that our part in Gods kingdom is to serve as nothing we can do can save a soul. We cannot save, only Jesus can. But what we can do is continue to encourage and uplift each other with the giving and sharing of testimonies and spiritual songs.

Why don’t you ask someone if you can send this to them? Be bold for God – I will, for he has done so much for us.

The song for today is by Babbie Mason and is simpy called "Each one reach one".  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