Hospitality, Evangelism and The Great Commission

We'll dive in together.

Our Father in Heaven, we come to you, Lord, and we pray that your Spirit would be with us, Lord.

Father, that we would begin to resemble you and your love for us, welcoming us,

and Lord, that you would make us a people that would resemble your own character

as we increasingly model Jesus' love for others.

Help us do that, Lord, in our time together.

We pray that this would be just an encouraging, edifying discussion together

where we can sort of bear each other's burdens and we can talk together and be transparent.

And I pray this to your honor and glory in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm Kirsten Walker.

There's a couple of you I don't know.

I am in supervisory role.

I hate saying in charge of.

There's many people, but I oversee the fellowship ministry of this church.

I want you to take a look, if you can, if you have to stand up, at what's on this table up here.

And this is not a trick question.

Volunteer, tell me what you see.

There's some dishes here.

There's some paper goods here.

Granola bar and a water bottle.

And there's a watch right here.

Tell me what you see.

What do you think this is?

What's your guess?

No wrong answers.

It could be a simple...

Preparation for eating.

Right.

Preparation for eating.

Right.

Fellowshiping together.

Sharing a meal.

What else do you see?

Formal versus informal.

Formal versus informal.

You've got a very formal place setting here with China dishes.

You've got a paper plate.

A granola bar and a water bottle.

And a watch.

Over the next four weeks, we're going to talk a lot about different elements of hospitality and what it means.

It could mean entertaining in your home with your best dishes.

By the way, these are from Norway and they are my best dishes.

There are some...

I didn't bring the antique antiques, but these are very, very special dishes.

Including silver.

It all matches.

It's called bundemunster, which means farmer's rose.

Believe it or not, a place setting when my grandmother started collecting them cost $5.

for a complete place setting.

It was considered everyday dishes.

Then you have what we do here at church.

Paper goods.

Right.

Well, that could also be...

We do this often, right?

We share meals and we use paper goods.

Also, fellowship or hospitality can mean something as simple as giving someone a bottle of water in a granola bar

when they're a little bit hungry.

But what's this one all about?

I'm not giving away my watch.

All right?

Somebody might need to tell the time.

What could this have to do with hospitality or fellowship?

Hospitality.

What's a watch?

It takes a lot of time.

It takes time.

It can take a lot of time.

It can also take five minutes to say hello to someone and give them your time to listen,

to extend a welcome, to greet someone at church on a Sunday morning.

That's what we're going to be talking about over the next four weeks.

Yes.

And this is our class, Hospitality, Evangelism, and the Great Commission.

And Christians are to be witnesses.

From the beginning of Acts, Jesus said to his disciples,

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

And the Great Commission is you will go make disciples,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,

baptizing them in the one name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So as a question for us to consider together,

what do you think will be the key to fulfilling the Great Commission in the 21st century?

Here are some ideas.

We're not going to lecture to you.

This is interactive.

You have the right to say whatever comes up on your mind.

A sleek website.

How about that?

Anything else?

Nothing.

I don't know.

I would say developing relationships with people.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Relationships.

Thanks, Amanda.

Mm-hmm.

Friendly conversation.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Friendly conversation.

Being friendly to others.

I think going off of what you said with the internet,

a huge portion of the things that I do are completely through social media.

Okay.

So I think...

with our culture,

we're at that with...

Mm-hmm.

social media and various...

It's a huge tool.

It is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think it's Christians practicing the virtues of transparency,

honesty, genuineness, and hospitality.

Hmm.

Thanks, brother.

All right.

Class is done.

Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, that hits the nail on the head.

It does.

Yes.

It does.

Exactly.

It does.

It does.

And our contention in this class is the key to 21st century evangelism is going to be the

church showing hospitality.

That's an overstatement.

I mean, that's a big, large statement that we're making.

But that is our conviction, is that hospitality will be the key to evangelism in the 21st century

in a post-Christian culture of ours.

So, Kirsten, you were the one that, and Kathy and Jess, you were the ones that came to the

elders and said, we need to have this class.

So, why are we teaching this course?

Why now?

I started coming here in 2007.

I came from a big church that was very family-oriented, that had multi-generations.

Everything that we did intergenerationally was usually revolving around food.

There's nothing like breaking bread together, sharing a meal with someone.

It's a common denominator.

We all need to eat.

It doesn't matter whether we agree on anything.

We need to eat to survive.

And I felt like this church was struggling in some ways with practicing hospitality and

showing that we can fellowship among various different ethnic groups, social groups, people

from different religious and denominational backgrounds.

And so, it really started coming with this conversation with Kathy Abbott when I met her.

A pastor's wife, Jess Serbo, who is a little bit younger than me, but also grew up in a church with a lot of hospitality.

And we were struggling, like, how do we express to people, we really need to do this?

Because people respond when they're welcomed in the Lord's name, in fellowship, within this new church that they might be coming to for the first time

or they've been coming to for 10 years.

But there's one key difference, and this is a question for you.

What's the difference between hospitality and entertaining?

She raised her hand.

Hospitality comes from the heart.

Entertaining is an event you structure and make happen.

Hospitality happens.

Yeah.

And that's a misconception a lot of people even in this culture have.

That they, well, I can't entertain.

Well, I'm not a clown up on stage.

I'm not a full production.

That's different.

And it doesn't mean you don't do entertaining.

It doesn't mean that you can't ever use that word.

But what we're striving for here at Trinity, and I hope many of you do in your own homes,

is to offer hospitality and not be hung up on entertaining.

Because there's a whole different connotation to that word.

Kirsten, what would you say to someone who might be thinking,

well, it's obvious that you're gifted in hospitality.

As for me, I'm hospitality challenged.

And not only that, it's like you're asking me to fly.

It's not that I, it's hard, it's just impossible.

Like, I can't be hospitable.

I can't do it.

I think, I think people have said that to me before.

I can't do what you do.

Well, thank God you can't.

When the music team comes down during one of the events and they say,

oh, we're so glad that you've got the hot coffee or the tea or the cold water or the Tylenol at times.

I'm like, you know what?

I'm glad you do music.

I make coffee.

I can't do that.

God's given us specific talents and gifts.

I am not gifted in music.

I love it.

But don't ask me a B from a C to, you know, it just, I don't know.

I know in grades what A, B, C, D is.

And that's, that's something, you know, God made us all different.

I'm glad you're not like me.

We don't need another me.

We really don't.

We don't need another you or you or you because it would be really, really boring.

And we'd probably never had a good cup of coffee.

So, Kirsten, just to be clear, you're saying you don't need to be an expert at cooking to be hospitable?

No.

That's where social media comes in, Jamie.

Okay.

All right.

Let's make it short.

Because we follow now in the 21st century too much.

Martha Stewart, Pinterest, Marie Kondo, Tyler Florence, Food Network, British Baking Show.

And they show you.

Just look at all the magazines.

There are still magazines at the checkout counters.

They all cost an arm and a leg to buy now.

Look at the spreads that they put out there.

Did anybody on their magazine put this for Thanksgiving?

It's almost like, uh-oh, you better not do that.

So, there is a difference in the culture where social media plays a role in sometimes misrepresenting to us as Christians.

If we're always trying to keep up with Martha Stewart or any other celebrity that you say, we're never going to make it.

Because there's always the next thing that comes around.

Or the next, I don't know, what is it right now?

It was kale for how many years, right?

And now it's like, you know, you have to have the right kind of truffles or you have to have the right kind of coffee or you have to have the right whatever, turmeric and everything right now.

And none of those things are bad.

But when you're trying to keep up with all of that, you're not offering hospitality anymore.

And it becomes hard.

And that's why people quit.

I'm not doing this anymore.

I'm going out to eat.

Yeah.

Which is okay too.

So, it seems like one of the challenges is that when we think of hospitality and when we do hospitality, we're aiming to impress rather than to bless others.

And we often fall back into that category of entertainment that you're describing.

And that kind of, that makes sense because if you think about the popular definitions of hospitality in our culture, well, the hospitality industry is what?

It's hotels.

It's restaurants.

It's Six Flags and theme parks and tourism, right?

Merriam-Webster defines hospitality as the activity or business of providing services to guests in hotels, restaurants, bars, et cetera, right?

So, you're offering a service to others.

And it's entertaining, special occasions.

But the Bible seems to have a different view of what hospitality involves.

And that's where we want to dig into this class together.

You know, elders are called to be hospitable.

That's one of the qualifications for being an elder.

So, maybe what that means is, okay, each elder needs to have all the church members over for dinner at least once a year.

Maybe that's one of the qualifications for being an elder.

And, you know, there's an element of truth there, right, that an elder is meant to be welcoming.

But these are truncated views of what the Bible means by hospitality.

And so, the early church meant in homes, so it meant welcoming others.

And before we go to the scriptures together, how would you describe the biblical meaning of hospitality?

We kind of heard it already.

It comes from the heart, right?

Anything else?

Like, how would you put contours around biblical hospitality?

What are we talking about here?

So, I think the word welcome and hospitable go together very nicely.

So, a hospitable elder is a welcoming elder.

Or any other churchman.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think of Pastor Greg.

He was like a bird dog looking for people to welcome in the church.

And that's him being hospitable.

And he was really wonderful at that and an example to us.

So, yeah, welcoming is definitely one aspect of hospitality.

So, I grew up in a home where we never had company in, except for my mother's sister, who she fought with.

And there was a big, lots of tears and arguing every holiday.

Mm-hmm.

So, my experience of having people into my home was from the stress.

Because I just needed to tell her what was going to happen.

Now, the Lord has brought me a long way since those days.

But, I think that Greg and Jane were one of the people who kind of showed me.

They pull napkins out of the drawer, none of them match.

Throw them on the table.

But, what they were doing was setting aside time to get to know you.

Mm-hmm.

Making room for you.

Mm-hmm.

Learning who you are.

And then seeing where the conversation could go in terms of the gospel.

So, I just really am grateful for them and for all the experiences of hospitality that I've had since I've come to the Lord.

Amen.

Thank you.

I think one of the sub-definitions in the dictionary is welcoming to strangers and guests.

Mm-hmm.

And that's what many of us do.

But, what Susan just said is a very viable point of why some people shy away from hospitality.

Whereas, Greg and Jane, like I said, she said, pull out.

It didn't matter.

You just grabbed something and it didn't matter whether it matched or not.

Mm-hmm.

You know, when Zacchaeus was up in the tree, you all know the song from when you were kids.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, right?

And Jesus said, I'm going to your house today.

Was Zacchaeus ready for Jesus' visit?

No.

He just welcomed him.

And that is one of the biblical examples.

But, oftentimes, we also think that hospitality or practicing hospitality has to be in our homes.

That's not totally what hospitality means.

Mm-hmm.

You know, some people can do it.

Some people can do it in different stages of their life.

Some people will never do it because of whatever.

Mm-hmm.

And that's important to keep in your mind when we talk about hospitality.

Yeah.

John.

I think welcome is so important because I think that there's often an apprehension on the part of the guess that I'm going to be a burden.

And that fear is an obstacle that needs to be overcome.

One of the great examples, I think, of creating this welcome is the rule of St. Benedict.

So, you know, it's a treat.

When anyone would show up at the monastery at any hour.

It could be two in the morning.

It could be two in the morning.

It could be two in the morning.

In the rules of St. Benedict, as soon as they rang the bell, even two in the morning.

the doorman was supposed to say

as loud as he could, thanks be to God.

Even if he were weary of all.

Because you can imagine the reluctance.

Oh no, oh this is going to be so big.

I believe such a burden.

And to immediately relieve that anxiety.

Thanks be to God, I guess.

Captures of the spirit of love.

Yeah, that's great.

Yeah, this idea of welcoming

is, it kind of captures it.

Let's look at some text together.

Because actually nowhere

does the Old Testament use the word hospitality.

And our word hospitality,

as we're going to see,

I don't know if you guys can see that,

is this Greek word

phylozenia.

And you'll see why that makes sense

in a second.

So let's look at the New Testament

and see what the New Testament

has to say about hospitality.

And it only mentions

the word in a few places.

1 Peter 4.9

Be hospitable to one another

without complaint.

Hebrews 13.1 and 2

say,

Let brotherly love continue.

Do not neglect

to show hospitality

to strangers.

For thereby,

some have entertained

angels unawares.

And that word,

hospitality to strangers,

you begin to see

what that word means.

Because in this word,

it's comprised of two different words.

Philo,

what does that sound like?

Philo.

Brotherly love.

And xenia is,

where we get xenophobia,

is stranger.

So loving the stranger.

So hospitality,

as Hebrew says,

is love the stranger among you.

And it makes clear,

he says,

Look,

yes,

love the brothers and sisters.

Don't forget this.

But then he says,

But do not neglect

to show hospitality

to those outside the church too.

So,

while hospitality

starts within the church,

it shouldn't stop there.

It should extend

to strangers.

And the extent of kindness

goes further.

It says,

Some have even

entertained angels.

1 Timothy 5,

1 Timothy 5:10

verse 10.

Another verse here.

It says,

And having a reputation

for good works,

speaking of those

who are on the widow's list,

if she has brought up children,

has shown hospitality,

has washed the feet of saints,

has cared for the afflicted,

and has devoted herself

to every good work.

So,

Paul is talking about

the widows.

And it highlights

the importance of hospitality

in the early church,

that this woman

could not be put on

the widow's list

unless she had shown hospitality.

And that was one

of the qualifications.

And so,

how does hospitality

show itself

in 1 Timothy 5,

1 Timothy 5:10

verse 10?

Does someone have that

flipped open?

What are some of the ways

that this person

has shown hospitality?

It's not hosting snacks

during the Super Bowl,

there...

What does it say?

Yeah,

1 Timothy 5,

10.

She has shown hospitality,

has washed the feet

of the saints,

has cared for the afflicted,

and has devoted herself

to every good work.

Yeah,

exactly.

So,

it's through this selfless

and sacrificial serving

of the saints

that is being shown.

So,

this hospitality,

again,

you're beginning to see

it's much broader

than just entertaining people

for dinner.

It's serving them

sacrificially.

And Romans 12,

Romans 12:12–14

verses 12 to 14.

Paul writes

to the church in Rome...

Before we leave...

Oh yeah,

sure,

go ahead.

I think it's important

to know,

such as bringing up

children.

I take it to mean

not her own blood children,

but children

who have no one.

I mean,

that would certainly

align with

serving those,

the afflicted.

So,

you know,

caring for the orphans.

I mean,

that would be

in line with

what Paul is saying there.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

Romans 12,

12 to 14.

Paul writes

to the church in Rome,

be joyful in hope,

patient in affliction,

faithful in prayer.

Share with the Lord's people

who are in need.

Practice hospitality.

Bless those

who persecute you.

Bless and do not curse.

And later on,

Paul asks the church in Rome

to show hospitality

specifically to Phoebe.

He writes,

welcome her in the Lord

in a way worthy

of the saints

and help her

and whatever she may need

from you.

For she has been

a patron of many

and of myself as well.

So,

Paul is specifically

singling out

gospel workers

who the church

was to welcome

and show hospitality to.

And we'll see next week

how gospel workers

depended upon hospitality

to do gospel ministry

in the early church.

Second and third John

really kind of highlight that.

We'll get into

the kind of missions

and gospel workers

next week.

So,

we can say,

in summary,

the concept of hospitality

is to love strangers.

Practicing selfless,

sacrificial service

and meeting practical

and spiritual needs

of those around you.

So,

if we understand

hospitality

in that respect

as love for outsiders,

then this is no

minor biblical theme.

Right?

And,

you know,

you could even think

of hospitality

in the Old Testament.

How does,

rooted in who God is himself,

of welcoming those

who are outsiders.

You know,

what are some places

that just come to mind

when you think about

God welcoming the outcast

in the Old Testament?

I mean,

it's a pretty thick theme.

Think of a historical context.

Even before,

I think I,

Tyler and I have been

battling back and forth,

not battling in a bad sense,

but like,

what should we say,

what we shouldn't,

because there's four weeks

and there's a lot to cover.

Think,

before you think back

to all the biblical examples

that you might be able

to pull from your

Sunday school days

or from your present

Bible reading,

think about historically

in the United States

how people welcomed

each other.

Before World War II,

before welfare

became available,

before orphanages

went out of fashion,

how did people welcome

guests and strangers

into their community?

Think about it

in the broader sense.

Who's good on their history?

Like,

what happened

to orphanages?

What happened

to poor homes

or poor houses?

In the early 1900s,

every community

in the state

of Connecticut

was required

to have a poor house

for widows

or orphans.

The church

used to take care

of all that.

Well then,

the welfare state

became available.

Widows were provided for.

By the government.

Poor houses

went out of fashion.

Brooksville Park

out in Hamden

where I used to work,

the building

that is there,

the ranger's home,

used to be a poor house

for a time period.

It was the one

that any widows

or orphans

went to

out in Haven.

There used to be

a big orphanage

right on

Prospect Street

that housed orphans.

So what has changed

in our culture,

which also changed

in biblical times

as to

welcoming

these guests

and strangers?

You know,

think back to

when you were

welcomed here.

Do you remember

the person

that welcomed you

for the first time

in true

welcoming sincerity?

or when you

joined a club

like a gym?

Who welcomed you?

And why did they do it?

I mean,

there's a lot of

questions here,

but we can go back

right away

and I can say

it was Zacchaeus.

You know,

he welcomed the Lord.

Well,

I hope if the Lord

said I'm coming

to your house

that I'd be ready

to welcome him too.

You know,

but think back

to what our society

has done

as far as

welcoming

strangers and guests.

Yeah.

And how discouraging

it would be

if you came

to this church

for three or four weeks

and no one

welcomed you.

Nobody.

You know,

I've heard stories

where,

so like,

if no one welcomed,

it's a fourth week

coming to Trinity,

if no one welcomes us

today,

we're not going

to stay here.

And then,

by God's grace,

somebody welcomed them

and they're,

ten years later,

they're still here.

So,

it is important

that we welcome

those who are

outsiders.

But,

to your question,

you know,

it's changed.

It's changed.

And,

we don't think

about those terms

anymore.

So,

if you're thinking

about something

that we've learned

about in the Bible

that happened

during biblical days,

like Tyler asked,

if you're going

to think about it,

it's probably

because it's going

to trigger something

in your memory

of something

that happened to you

in the modern

centuries.

So,

think about it.

For me,

it truly was

just being welcomed

as a somewhat

of an outsider.

My mother

kind of came

to church

and then kind

of didn't

and was in

and out

and other adults

in the church

welcomed me.

It didn't matter

whether my entire

family wasn't there

or my absent father,

you know.

So,

that was,

so I love

reading Bible stories

where somebody's

just welcomed

into community

with warmth.

It didn't matter,

we didn't say,

oh,

well,

first of all,

did you have

Christian parents?

Oh,

wait a minute,

did you go to

Sunday school

when you were a kid?

Oh,

you know,

when did you

get baptized?

You know,

was it when you

were an infant

or when you were,

there were no

precursors to

whether I qualified

or not.

I was just welcomed.

So,

yeah.

How many people

desire and long

for a place

where they feel

like they're truly

welcomed in community?

Everyone desires that.

And the church

has something to offer.

And this is a place

where all sinners

are welcomed

because God

has welcomed us

when we didn't

deserve it.

I think you kind of

touched on it

right now,

Tyler.

I think listening

to what you're

sharing,

Kirsten,

makes so much sense.

And the part of

the welcome

is you're welcoming

into.

And I think

what we have

as Christians

and as a church

is an actual

space

that we were

welcomed into

that now we

extend welcome

into because

of our conversion,

because of our

salvation in Christ.

You know,

Christ has gone

to prepare a place

for us,

right?

And I think

that has so much

our understanding

of

the love of

Jesus

in our own

hearts.

is what

then

is the

space,

right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And the love

of Jesus

for us,

you know,

Ephesians 2.12

comes to mind.

Remember that

you,

at that time,

separated from

Christ,

alienated from

the commonwealth

of Israel

and strangers

to the covenants

of promise,

having no hope

and without God

in the world.

That was us,

right?

But then,

at great cost

to himself,

he welcomes us in.

So,

I think welcoming

others

begins with

us understanding

that God

is the one

who has welcomed

us in,

and it's our

love for Christ

that propels us

and is a fuel

that allows us

to love strangers

because it's hard.

Anita?

Yeah,

Anita.

I wonder if

it's worth bringing

up,

like,

so we love

and serve

the God

who sees,

and before we

can walk

and we have

to see people,

which also

gets back

to the time

question,

and also

gets to your

question,

Tyler,

about,

like,

what if I

can't do

this,

if I can't,

I can't imagine

myself hosting

in this way,

but I think

it starts with

the cultivation

of our hearts

and the eyes

of our hearts

to see as

Jesus sees

and to be

clothed

in compassion

and to make

room,

to make space,

which takes

time and attention

and intention.

Yeah,

yeah,

and getting to

know people

well enough

where,

to know that,

you know,

if someone is

struggling,

that there's a,

we know each

other well enough

that we can

meet the needs

that we're

experiencing,

that some of us

are experiencing

practically,

spiritually,

so there is

a sense of

the outsider,

but even within

our own church,

like,

we need to

know one

other well

enough to

be transparent

so we can

be hospitable

toward one

other.

Sharon and

Susan both

have their

hands up.

Sharon.

Yeah,

can I stand up?

Yes,

please.

Yes,

I find that

I wanted to

touch up your

topic about

talking about

a lot of

new people

coming to our

church,

you know,

that they've

been coming

for so long

that not

really realized

because the

church is so

big,

you know,

and then

we have

a new

thing.

This is

what I

actually had

this thought

in my

mind for

a while

that I

remember

the one

I just

had to share

with my

experience

and how

God

lead me

to this

direction.

One day

I had

on the last

three months

ago,

I was

talking to

Michael,

I said,

I always

sit beside

John

Hinson,

they always

sit in

the same

place,

okay?

And then,

it's crazy

because we

don't meet

new people.

Maybe it

serves

the same.

I thought

this is a

very common

topic that

we didn't

realize that

we missed

up a lot

of people

in our

lives.

So when

I got

up,

my girl

picked me

up the

time,

I told

my girl,

hmm,

yeah,

I just

only find

that I

don't have

opportunity

to meet

up in

the new

people.

And

after

some

weeks,

I

just

talk

to the

people

around

me,

I

just

go off.

So my

girl

told me,

Mom,

change

your

face.

Change

your

face.

I

go to

the

right.

Change

move anywhere

you go.

So I

take a word,

you know,

I start

doing that.

The next

week I

came,

I

changed

my

face.

Now you

found out

I sit

in the

right

hand.

And

as I

go through,

my heart

wanted to

see that.

Because I

realize a lot

of new

faces.

How are we

going to

reach out

in these

people's

life?

How are we

going to

find interest

about them?

When people

come to the

church,

they want,

they came

with a

difference,

reason.

They might

come with

a lot,

they might

come with

finding

relationships.

They might

come with

love.

They might

find out

about

church,

you know,

what

curious,

curiosity

to come

in,

you know,

some people

come in.

I remember

one man

just walked

into a

church,

you know,

he just

came to

study here.

He just

walked in.

Then I

saw him,

I came

out,

and he

said,

I just

passed

by,

and I

saw

the church

is so

beautiful,

I walked

in.

I

actually

will

come

in,

I

just

come

in

any

time

you

pass

by.

So I

realized

that

this

thing

happened

in

our

church.

And

then I

managed

I

found

a

young

man

behind

me.

And

I

knew

I

just

didn't

know

what

to do.

But I

thought,

I just

couldn't

hide

in

him.

I

just

did not

say

whether

I

knew

or

what,

I

don't

want

to

say

that

because

I

feel

so

bad.

It

was

here

for

a few

years.

I

don't

know

why

they

put

my

face.

So I

really

had

this

struggle

with me

when I

talked

to

the

people.

And I

found

that

he

came

there

for

two

years.

And

he

didn't

get

to

know

people.

And I

put him

down

and I

introduced

a lot

of

people.

And

this

young

man,

I

found

him

that

he

came

from

a

Catholic

background.

And

someone

brought

me

to

a

church.

He

came

about

two

months

already.

So

I

asked

him

do

you

know

anyone?

He

said

no

I

don't

know

.

Someone

brought

me

I

know

he

said.

Also

after

that

I

know

that

I

had

to

do

something

or

I

just

talked

to

him

and

then

I

started

catching him

and then

he

brought

his

brother

in.

I

got

to

text him

and

he

brought

his

brother

I

saw

new

places

I

said

yeah

I

went

to

my

house

I

got

them

last

week

to

my

house

with

another

group

of

people.

I

tried

to

do

I

thought

something

that

we

can

do

because

we

do

have

a lot

of

new

places

to

speak.

I

think

sometimes

we

miss

people.

So

why

I

think

that

I

like

to

touch

the

topic

that

sometimes

we

have

to

put

a

little

more

energy

to

see

the

new

places.

To

welcome

them

to

make

them

feel

at

home.

I

think

that

is

a

very

important

part

that

we

need

to

do.

The

first

experience

is so

important

for

the

new

people

actually.

You

know

that

I

did

repeat

the

study

and

I

talked

to

these

people

and

realized

that

people

tell

me

oh

yeah

the

first

time

I

came

that

you

introduced

I

mean

you

know

me

and

you

welcome

me

and

I

learned

along

the

way

to

see

how

this

hospitality

can

help

the

church

to

build

up

this

community

this

is

what

I

think

is

important

Thank you

Sharon

Thank you

Second

thought

the one

that you

mentioned

about

sorry

I

have

to

go

through

the

second

one

The

hospitality

meal

inviting

them

didn't

have

to be

doing

a

very

grand

important

is

your

heart

and

you

want

to

have

a

relationship

with

them

you

want

to

listen

to

their

needs

and

they

are

maybe

can

pray

together

with

them

there's

something

we

can

do

for

them

Susan

do you

still want

to

share

I

don't

know

as

we're

talking

I'm

reminded

of

the

messengers

that

were sent

to

Abraham

and

quickly

ran

it

come

on

let's

make

an

occasion

because

we have

these

people

and how

we miss

out

if we don't

make room

for people

because we don't know

who the Lord

is something else

to be

and Sharon

said that

so well

you know

I'd like to

add one

thing here

though

is we're

talking a lot

about

hospitality

in the

church

now

people

come in

and we

are called

to welcome

strangers

and guests

but we

kind of

figure that

well they're

here for

some reason

right

they either

got invited

or they're

looking for

the Lord

or they're

lost

or they're

seeking

or they're

discerning

whether they

like their

old denomination

or a new

one

or they're

coming from

a bad

situation

at another

church

or they've

never been

in a

church

what about

when it's

out in your

community

your neighborhood

it's a whole

different

ball of wax

because you've

got a lot

of unknowns

out there

at least

here after

you've met

me and you

talk you

know I like

to drink

coffee and

you know

I'm comfortable

having people

in my home

and it doesn't

matter whether

there's 10

or 25

at the last

minute

you know

you know

those kind

of things

about me

and you know

I'm a

Christian

or hopefully

that my

profession of

being a

Christian

and being

here

and being

elected

into a

position

is reason

enough

what about

your neighborhood

what about

your community

all of a

sudden

there's some

real scary

stuff in

there

I mean

have you

thought about

that in

the biblical

context of

what some

of these

people were

doing

they weren't

all like

they didn't

all know

each other

in their

small group

and then say

hey let's

have you know

a meal

together

or you

know oh

John and

Anita you

don't mind

if I bring

10 friends

over with

me do

you

you know

I mean

well who

are they

I don't

know

they were

those former

zealots

from way

back when

or you

know

I mean

you have

to make

a decision

about it

we will

talk about

in a future

class

about safety

and your

personal safety

and those

of your

family

by welcoming

guests

and strangers

that's a

whole nother

that could be

a whole nother

comment

but I'd

like to ask

right now

what's

I think

with what

Sharon was

saying about

change your

seat

it's change

your perception

change your

viewpoint

of what you're

looking for

we all keep

saying it has

to come from

the heart

and that is

true

if it doesn't

come from

your heart

it's no

different than

somebody being

excited

I'm so glad

you're here

and you

paid $160

to be a part

of my gym

because it

just made

money in my

pocket

that's not

a selfless

welcoming

I'm glad

you're here

they have to

reach their

quota

right

car dealership

when you go

in and they

reach their

quota

right now

by the way

is the best

time to buy

a car

end of

November

end of

December

my son

works for

executive auto

group

because they

have to

meet quotas

by the end

of the year

that's a

different kind

of excited

you're here

so what

we're going

to say

anyway

what enrages

you

what gets

your temperature

up