Meeting Someone's Needs

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First  John 3:16-17 says, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

     Our  last couple of moves were not due to the ministries, but seeking a place to retire after having a heart bypass, heart attack, cancer and a few other things going on.  So, we then needed to find a place to worship.  I looked in the phone book and found that in 2005, there were 144 baptist churches in the Roanoke area.  I continued my search in the phone book and found one with an AWANA logo on it and so figured it was close to the same doctrine we had left in our former place of ministry.  I called up the church and asked a few questions about their programs and their missions emphasis and we ended up going to Grace Baptist Church.  At the time we went, they had no pastor but a man of God was filling the pulpit.  Upon arriving the first day, we were met by three ladies, Jewel, May and Virginia.  We have found that there are many churches that are not friendly, or at least not as friendly as the people that made up Grace Baptist Church.  So, we joined them and became involved in the ministry when our Sunday School teacher asked me to fill in for two weeks while he went on vacation.  The two weeks turned into nine years.

     What is it that makes a church friendly?  It seems to be that love for one another that is so often mentioned in the Scriptures.  Obviously, the finest example if the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as He laid down His life for us.  As Romans 5:8 reminds us, even while we were yet sinners.  We didn’t look good, we probably didn’t smell good and we didn’t know what to say until that day that we met the Savior in a personal way.  John then goes on to say that there needs to be a special bond between believers or as he calls them, the “brethren.”  The New Testament is spotted with verses that remind us of the one another commands.  Loving one another is just one of those commands as is praying for one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to exhort one another and so on.  We all find that we are both on the receiving end and the sending end of these commands.  It’s not always the big things, although there might be plenty of them, but also the small things, like the hugs, the hand shakes, the glass of water and a few apples here and there.  We shouldn’t have to be reminded about the needs or concerns of others, but just look around you.  Why, we don’t even have to cross an ocean to find places to serve others, but maybe just across the hall, or across the street.  Praise God today for sending His Son to meet our needs by dying on the cross and paying for a sin debt that we coujld never pay.