Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

June 06, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: ROMANS 16

1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:
2 That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.

Paul used this chapter to mention and commend some people that had been a blessing to him over the years. Many of these people had been a help to him in his ministry and in the churches, he had ministered to and helped to plant. It is a good reminder to always remember to thank those that have been a blessing to you. It’s good to mention them and take note of them and the ways they have been a blessing. It is always encouraging to others to let them know when they have been a blessing. Paul was very good at that. Paul was always grateful for the big and little things that people did for him, and for the Lord.

Phebe was not only one of these people, she was the first person he mentions. Paul says first that she was a “servant of the church”. What a complement. One of the ways to show God you love Him is to love His house, and to serve in His house. She was not an agitator of the church, she was not a criticizer of the church, and she was not a divider of the church. She was a servant of the church. May we all be like that!

Paul encouraged them to assist Phebe in any way that she needed, because he said that she had always been a person that assisted everyone else. That is what the word “succourer” means. It means to assist. She was the kind of person that was always helping others. She would be the person that was always showing up to help in whatever was going on at church. She would be the person helping to set up, and the person helping to clean up. She would be making food for the activity, and she would be making meals for those who were sick. Paul says that she had assisted “many”. Even more personally, Paul said that she had helped him. You get the feeling that she would have been one that would help whoever needed it. Be it one of the greatest Christians that ever lived in Paul or be it one of the poorest and most unknown person at church. May you and I be a “succourer of many”.