“Rogelio served as our waiter during our weeklong vacation. In one conversation, he credited Jesus for blessing him with Kaly, a compassionate wife with strong faith. After they had their first baby, God gave them the opportunity to help care for their niece who had Down syndrome. Soon after, Rogelio’s mother-in-law needed live-in care.

Rogelio works with joy, often taking on double shifts to ensure his wife can stay home to care for the people God entrusted to them. When I shared how the couple inspired me to love better because of the way they opened their hearts and home to serve their family members, he said, “It is my pleasure to serve them . . . and you.”

Rogelio’s life affirms the power of living with generosity and trusting God to provide as we serve one another selflessly. The apostle Paul urged God’s people to be “devoted to one another in love . . . joyful in hope, patient in affliction, [and] faithful in prayer” as we “share with the Lord’s people who are in need [and] practice hospitality” (Romans 12:10–13).

Our life can change in an instant, leaving us or those we love in circumstances that feel impossible to bear. But when we’re willing to share all God has given us while we wait on Him, we can cling to His enduring love . . . together.”

This was not posted on Monday like usual.  I knew this going into this week because I had much on my calendar the first part of the week and was not in the office long enough to write this devotional.  The idea for this week that has been crossing my mind a lot over these last days in that God is with you in whatever circumstances that you face.  In the good times and in the bad, God is concerned and caring for you.  He loves you no matter what you are going through.  I have seen this time and time again.  And it gives me great encouragement especially in rough times.  You can trust that he will always be with you.

The holy kiss does not have a lot of information or scholarship behind it.  And I wish I could be definitive about it’s meaning.  But I think the message behind this command is that we need to show camaraderie among believers.  We need to let everyone who comes into our fellowship to have a warm and welcoming greeting.  That no one should feel unwelcomed or shunned.  This is based on many of the previous one another commands that we have already looked at and is an extension the love we have received from our heavenly Father.  We are all a part of his family and so a friendly kiss or hug or handshake or pat on the back, or high five or other greetings should reflect this.  It is not just another handshake or hello.  It is a warm, loving embrace whether literal or implied.  So allow your greetings to display how much you care for each other.

I hope every mother had a good Mother’s day.  And even if you did not have a great mother or she may have passed away, I hope you have someone in your life who demonstrates God’s love to you in a motherly way.

  Prayer is a conversation with God, not a formula. Yet sometimes we might need to use a “method” to freshen up our prayer time. We can pray the Psalms or other Scriptures (such as The Lord’s Prayer), or use the ACTS method (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication). I recently came across this “Five-Finger Prayer” to use as a guide when praying for others:

Whatever method you use, just talk with your Father. He wants to hear what’s on your heart.

When we have unity and harmony in the church, we are demonstrating who God is in our lives.  When we agree together, we are showing the world that God is more powerful than anything in this world.  Because all the world knows is self.  It does not look out for or respect the opinions of others.  Jesus was the kind of person (as seen in Philippians) who laid himself aside and died so we might have an example of humility to follow.  So let’s try to understand and respect those around us (especially those in the church) so that we too can agree with one another in love.

I am writing this later on in the week because of a couple of things here at the church that have taken my time and attention.  But I wanted to get back to what I talked about on Sunday about teaching one another.  We sometimes think that we have to be called to be a teacher in order to teach or that we need a special education or training to teach.  But that is not what the Bible says.  There is a difference between teaching as a teacher and teaching as a believer.  The teaching talked about in the passages we looked at Sunday (Rom 15:14 and Col 3:16) might be better translated sharing of ourselves in order to teach and admonish and to rebuke others.  Bringing something back to their minds, something they already know but may have forgotten in the moment.  And we all can do that without special training or extra knowledge.  So teach them what you have learned.  You never know, they may help teach you something down the road that you need to learn in return.

Well I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.  Here at Groveland Missionary Church we had a great Easter egg hunt on Saturday with many boys and girls from the area searching high and low for candy and prizes.  And our worship service yesterday was also great.  I just love the hymns about the cross and the resurrection.  We do serve a mighty Savior who is alive forever more and who we will see one day face to face.  I hope that Jesus’ resurrection and the celebration we were able to have this year will fill your soul with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.  While I did not include this in my sermon the wonderful verse from Romans 8:11, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”  We have life in these moral bodies because of the resurrection of Christ.  So let’s us go live for him!