2025 NHPBC Women's Conference - Session 3

We could just keep doing that, right?

That's beautiful, beautiful.

Thank you, ladies.

Well, thank you again.

This is my last time.

You'll have another uh small group time, which I know is always beneficial.

I hope you all had a a lovely time with those.

Thank you again for the lunch and just the the warm hospitality, which is what we're about to talk to, that we have been shown today.

So, can we give the team a thank a big round of applause for thank you?

Amen.

Much goes on behind the scenes for many months leading up to this.

And so thank you, ladies.

It has been delightful.

So I want to show you a picture of my family.

Do we have that?

Almost.

There we go.

There it is.

So we uh celebrated 40 years of wedded bliss, July 20th of 85.

I mean July 20th of this past year.

We got married in July 20th uh of 85.

But this is the first time we'd all been together in about a year and a half.

This was in August.

We all met down in Georgia and uh thankfully had a weekend together.

Um so Ed and I are in the middle, our oldest son Parker on the right with his wife and their five.

Uh right, right there, Millie.

Where are you, Millie?

Is Millie there?

Millie, that's Millie right there, right, right there.

So the little baby in her arms is Millie.

Yes.

So I loved Millie from the moment I met her last night.

And then our son Charlie and his um wife and their five kids.

Charlie and Molly actually had their wedding reception right over in that room where we were back, oh, I don't know, 10, 12, 15 years ago, however long that's been.

And then uh Savannah and Drew and their little boy Callahan, my daughter Savannah, and my daughter Madison, right there by me.

So thankful for my family.

I wanted you to see that because I love my family.

Plus, I wanted you to see the people that both endured and benefited from our showing hospitality over the years.

So let me pray one more time for us.

Father, thank you for uh just a delightful day.

Thank you, God, for your word.

Thank you for the already the work of your spirit, and I pray that you would continue working in us uh this hour.

Lord, help me in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So there's so many areas that we could have looked at that deal with obedience from a changed heart, but again, we chose the tongue and hospitality.

And this subject is near and dear to my heart, the subject of hospitality.

And it is one big area that should grow and flow from a heart of flesh, from a changed heart, from a Christian's heart, the area of hospitality.

So I'm excited to end this conference with this topic.

I hope you are alert.

I hope you had enough coffee and sweets that you're not on that sugar low, but you're still on that sugar high.

Um, so we have again been the recipients of much good food, much hospitality, but stick with me on this one.

I think it'll be a fun one as well as convicting.

So try to try to hang in there.

So, Roman numeral one, hospitality in the gospel.

I had a lady ask me, go slower, repeat the things for the for the uh the blanks.

And I looked at this handout just now.

There are no blanks, so I think you'll be okay.

Hospitality and the gospel.

The gospel is of first importance.

Everything we do in our Christian walk should be done through the lens of the gospel, not through legalism or guilt, but keeping the gospel in focus.

Now, these verses are not on the screen.

I decided uh it later on that I wanted to look at these in the Bible.

Actually, I wanted you to read them.

So I'm gonna ask you to turn in your Bibles or the Pew Bible, the phone app, whatever.

Actually look at them.

1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 through 4.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4

1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 4, and then we're gonna move over to Colossians.

But I want to read 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 4 for you, remembering the gospel, hospitality and the gospel.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

So, ladies, that's what we mean when we say the gospel is of first importance.

You'll hear that phrase.

That's where that comes from.

Paul is saying to the church at Corinth, this is of utmost, of first importance, the gospel.

And he spells out what that gospel is.

And then I love these verses in Colossians 1.

Go to Colossians chapter 1, verses 3 through 6.

Colossians 1:3–6

Colossians 1, 3 through 6.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth.

I I think I didn't know until about, I don't know, 20 years ago that these verses actually were in the Bible.

Ladies, I did not understand that the gospel was for believers as well as unbelievers.

And it was life-changing when I discovered that as a Christian.

We should never relegate the gospel to lost people only.

In Jerry Bridges' book, The Gospel for Real Life, he says we put the gospel on a shelf.

We relegate the gospel to a shelf, and then we pull it down when we need it for a lost person.

Oh, you're having some company over and you know that you need to share the gospel around the dinner table, you pull it down.

You're going out on, you know, evangelism with your church.

Let me get the gospel off the shelf and take it with me.

Ladies, we don't need to relegate the gospel just for the to the shelf, just for non-believers.

We need it to be the driving force behind everything we do as Christians.

So we must hold it close.

We must keep it in front of us.

We must use the gospel as our motivation.

Again, I didn't learn that until many years into my Christian walk.

So just like I always want to make the gospel clear for unbelievers, I also want to encourage you believers with the gospel as well.

Those believers in Colossae, they, he says to them, it came to you, it came to you.

The gospel came to you, came to the whole world, bearing fruit, increasing, as it also does among you, still does among you.

They're still walking in that same gospel.

They were saved by it and they're walking in it.

I don't want you to miss it like I did.

So here's what I mean, and here's a way to apply it right now.

Here's how you look for it in scripture.

Where do you see the gospel in relation to us living out various arenas of our Christian walk?

How do we tie hospitality to the gospel?

And that is found in Ephesians 2, verses 12 and 13, and verse 19.

Ephesians 2:12

Ephesians 2.

Remember that you were 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.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

What is that, ladies?

The greatest hospitality that was ever shown.

Bringing us as from strangers and aliens to be members of the household of God.

If you are born again, if you are saved, if you are a child of God, you should be practicing hospitality because of the gospel, because the blood of Christ has brought us near.

Jesus Himself used homes to teach and preach, as did the disciples in the early church.

We see it throughout Scripture.

We're just going to look at one scripture here, Acts 5, 42.

And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

And we see in John, 3rd John, that the believers are housing and being hospitable to those who are workers in the kingdom of God.

3 John verses 7 and 8, for they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.

Therefore we ought to support people like these that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

Now we're going to talk more about practical ways we can use our homes and use our hospitality for the sake of the gospel later on.

But now I want to move on to Roman numeral 2, which is biblical examples of hospitality.

Let's go to the Old Testament, 2 Kings 4, 8 through 10.

And remember the Shunammite woman.

What did she do?

Built a room for Elisha.

One day Elisha went on to Shunam, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food.

So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food.

And she said to her husband, Behold, now I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way.

Let's make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.

Let's just let's just build Elisha his own little suite.

That's what we're gonna do.

That's hospitality.

That's really sweet.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

I'm not gonna read these, but in Luke 10 you find it, Luke, John 12, other places, they were close friends of Jesus.

They often fed and and loved practically Jesus and the disciples.

They showed great hospitality to them.

Simon the Tanner, we read about in Acts 9:43.

Acts 9:43

He housed Peter in Joppa for many days.

And then we get to Acts chapter 16 with so many examples.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Think about Lydia, Acts 16, verses 14 and 15.

Acts 16:14

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.

The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

There's that heart change, right?

The Lord opened her heart.

And after she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.

And she prevailed upon us.

God opened Lydia's heart and she opened her home.

That was the first thing she did after she had her heart of stone removed and changed to a heart of flesh.

And this verse is why my lesson is named the hospitable heart.

I just love this.

In that same chapter, you see the Philippian jailer in Acts 16, 32 through 34.

And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.

Then he brought them where?

Up into his house, and he set food before them, and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

He could have just as easily said, Wow, thank you, thank you, thank you, washed their wounds, bandaged.

That's that's hospitable, that's kind, but sent them on their way.

You you're free from prison now.

Uh God has done a great miracle here.

Thank you so much.

Here's a band-aid, and hope to see you again.

But that's not what he did.

He bandaged their wounds and then he brought them to his house.

And Gaius in Romans chapter 16, 23.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

Paul is talking about this man, Gaius, who's a host to me and to the whole church, greets you.

Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, Quartus greets you.

Gaius, who is a host to me.

Hospitality shown to Paul.

3 John 5 and 6, back to 3 John.

Beloved, it's a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church, you will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.

Going back to their home church, saying, I gotta tell you about these faithful brothers.

They're being very hospitable and kind to us, they have cared well for us.

There's a negative example.

I'm not sure if this is gonna be on the screen.

I'm sorry, I can't remember, but of Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7, and I'll read 44 through 46.

Then turning toward the woman, there it is, he said to Simon, let me just say this, first of all, let me explain this.

Simon the Pharisee is having a big throwing a big old bash, like a dinner party, big bash, and he's invited Jesus.

And then a sinful woman from the town comes in, and uh this is what Jesus says about what she did and about what Simon did.

Jesus says, then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman?

I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not to cease kissing my feet.

You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

And then Jesus goes on to say, She has been forgiven.

She has loved much, and she has been forgiven much.

Simon, you are a pathetic example of hospitality.

You don't get it, but this woman has been very hospitable to me.

Simon was simply entertaining, Simon was not welcoming, Simon was not polite, the woman was.

She showed great love to Jesus.

Now, let's look at what the Bible says to us about hospitality.

And this is where you're like, this is all well and good.

This is great.

I love these biblical examples of hospitality.

But guess what else the Bible tells us?

Many times we have commands about hospitality.

So this is where the rubber meets the road.

Romans 12, 13.

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Be looking for ways to do it, is what Paul is saying to the Romans, and we are seeing for ourselves here.

Don't wait till it comes to you, but seek to show hospitality.

And then 1 Peter 4 and 9, show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Ladies, the verse does not stop with show hospitality to one another.

That's a command, and it's there.

But you know the last part of the command, without grumbling.

I always say that I need this particular verse engraved on the inside of my glasses so I can just see it all the time, or post it on every mirror, every closet door in my home as I'm changing sheets, like a hotel room, you know, cleaner does.

I mean, it's just, it's like I need to see that verse and remind myself of that verse all the time.

But you know what I know?

I'm probably not the only one that needs it because Peter would not have written it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit if it was not needed.

He knows it's easy for us to grumble, and he says, be hospitable without grumbling.

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Hebrews 13, too, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Now, we're not thankfully doing a conference on angels because I don't have to now talk about this.

I don't know if this is actual angels.

That's up for debate.

But I will say that I think of this verse a lot when someone new pops up, someone just pops into my door that I don't know.

And sometimes you just think, Lord, are you are you testing me on this?

But whatever the case, I think the point, and I'm that I believe the point is the first part of that verse.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.

In those days, there were not hotels or Airbnbs.

Christians had to show hospitality to each other and to others, even if they did not know them.

That was the what they had to do, just like when the Shunammite woman said, Oh, let me just build a room for him.

She had the money to do that.

But they would make room and they would crowd into homes and they would be hospitable to each other even if they didn't know them, because they're traveling hard, long distances.

And you just you just did that.

I want to share with you now, could have done it later, but I think this is a good spot to share some of my struggles and how easy it can be for me to grumble after we've just talked about this verse.

First of all, I want to say we do a lot of hospitality.

Now I'm not bragging.

You say you didn't listen to your you didn't listen to your talk on taming the tongue, so you're showing your very proud heart.

No, I'm not saying in a proud way.

Matter of fact, we do a lot of hospitality in our house.

Our house has a revolving door on it.

We love doing it.

Lots of people are in and out.

Some are planned, some are unplanned.

And we do love it most of the time.

You see, with hospitality, it's all fun and games until stuff breaks, or people won't leave so you can go to bed, or they don't help you clean up the kitchen, or they show up with no warning.

It's all great till that happens.

I remember years ago, we went through just a little spell in our marriage where after church, a few times, you know, within a few months period, all of a sudden I'd be, we have two services, and I would usually go to the early service, maybe get the kids home or whatever.

And I would be kind of fumbling around, like, I don't know what we're gonna eat for lunch today, whatever, you know.

And the doorbell would ring about 12:40, 1245 after the second service would have been over.

And there are these nicely dressed people from church that I didn't know, or they're new people to the church.

They say, Hey, I say, Well, hello.

Hey, yeah, Ed told us to come over and have lunch.

He'll be here after he finishes greeting everybody on the lawn.

Well, he did that to me a few times, and then very nicely, I don't think it's wrong.

It not wasn't grumbling.

I just kind of had to nicely say to him, do not ever do that to me again.

Please give me warning.

Give me, just shoot me a text at least, something.

Give me some warning.

But that's what I mean, ladies.

Are we prepared for these things?

But that's a real reason to grumble, let me tell you.

We got that worked out, don't worry.

So he's he's very good about not doing that anymore.

But there's the grape juice and the cranberry juice and the red Kool-Aid that's all over your white carpet.

And why anyone would have white carpet, I do not know, but we did.

We picked it when we first moved to New York of all places, living on the Clearview Expressway with the soot and the dirt.

And we chose white carpet.

So, ladies, get vinyl, get hardwood, get something.

Don't get white carpet.

But when that juice spills on there, there's nothing you can do about that.

When there are pen marks on your sheets and your tablecloth that won't come out in the wash, when there's a broken rocker leg on your family, heirloom, ants, rocking chair.

These are all real things if you couldn't tell by now, okay.

Now I want to show you a couple of photos, so we'll go one at a time.

So we've got some.

I just I thought you needed to see these things.

This is on my end table at home, the first end table I see when I walk into my living room area.

And it's a constant reminder to me that someone I was hospitable to doesn't have any more sense than to put a wet cup on a on a wood.

So if you don't know that, ladies, please do not ever put a cup that will sweat onto real wood.

And the the ironic thing is now those fall coasters weren't there, but there are always three or four coasters sitting on that thing.

But no, this person chose to put it on the wood, it's been there for years.

But you know what it is?

It's a reminder to me that I gotta get over it and it's okay.

And so I could just find a nice doily and cover it up, but I don't because I want to remind myself that I can't grumble and be hospitable.

Next one.

Oh, yeah.

This happened, this happened this summer.

If you knew our interns this summer, they were delightful, but somehow the girls decided to have a slumber party in my basement, and this is what transpired.

The bed broke.

So, and then God bless them.

Although we asked them to, I don't think they knew quite how to fix it.

So, Ed and I, the way we fix everything, we duct taped that back together.

It works now, and next picture, when you come to my house, you will never ever know because that's what it looks like.

So you can just yet no company, and it's on the side of the wall.

Nobody's ever gonna know.

But I know that it's broken, but I can't grumble.

All right.

The next one's wait, just one second.

So is anybody a dishwasher snob?

If you have a dishwasher, raise your hand, hi, be proud.

Do you know what I mean?

Some of you are like, I wish I had a dishwasher.

Some of you throw your dishes in.

I am a dishwasher snob.

My kids would say, Why should we help you with this when you're going to rearrange every single thing in it?

So you will approach, thank you.

Yes, she says, Amen.

I'm with you, sister.

Yes.

So uh 20, I don't know, three years ago.

Sorry, 2023, not 23 years ago.

Now you can look back and see who our interns were that year.

But the sweet girls that lived at our house, they would load the dishwasher.

So the next three pictures are just, I just was absolutely go dogs.

You see my Georgia cup right there.

But the thing about those Georgia cups, if you can tell, they're two together and they're laying sideways.

And I sent these to my son, my daughter and son-in-law, because he's very meticulous.

And I just thought, you're the only people that I know will appreciate this, but I've kept them forever because next one.

Okay, I know this is all kind of the foods.

Not only, not only how are those gonna get clean, how did they get them to stay like that?

Okay, next one.

Just the just the whatever is down there, just everything, just whatever is down there.

I I I you know, I I know that it's comical, but I really need you to know that those are the kinds of things that make me grumble when I'm showing hospitality.

But I shouldn't.

I should be thankful that those girls loaded my dishwasher and didn't leave all of those dishes in the sink for me.

I should be thankful that I have a dishwasher that did them.

So I take pictures and I try to remind myself, and I keep the duct tape on the bed and don't buy a new one because number one, I can't afford it.

But number two, I'd want to be reminded that it's okay.

It works still, and that's part of hospitality, is stuff is gonna break.

Um, now, my all-time favorite thing.

So, you know, you've read, I'm I'm sure a lot of you, I heard one of you m mention it.

You may have read the Rosario Butterfield book, uh, The Gospel Comes with a House Key.

And I read that and I thought, I'm hospitable, but boy, she is taking it next level.

I mean, it is, it's like, yeah, way, way past me.

The one thing that was a really stretch for us is one year, my uh I am 20, I don't know, 16, 17, 18, somewhere in there, my son who lives in Georgia called and said, Hey, mom and dad, this really sweet couple that I knew at Georgia, I went to school with, they're going to be missionaries and they're moving for, you know, they're moving, I don't know, for months to go to this some country.

And their plane just got canceled or delayed at JFK.

Now you all know living in, you get a lot of calls like that, living in New York, I would assume.

You know, people get stranded, and that that's understandable.

And they said, Can you fit them in?

Yeah, we've got a few people here, but we'll fit them in, no problem.

Well, it's just, yeah, they're they're well, actually, yeah, that's great.

If you can, fine.

They'll get an Uber.

Great.

Okay.

Well, we get another call just a few minutes later, and it's our son again, and he goes, I made a really big mistake.

I didn't realize these people have a dog and they have the dog with them.

And you may say, So?

Well, so we have never had an inside pet, nor would we ever allow one.

We had outside dogs when we lived in South Carolina, but dogs in our house?

Absolutely not.

And we just, my husband looked at me and we were giving him on the speakerphone and we're like, uh, he goes, Yeah, I'm sorry about that.

He said, but I do need an answer because they're sitting outside your house in the Uber right now.

And I said, Okay.

What to do?

So the couple and their very sweet dog came in our house, and there they are.

That's you can tell I'm much younger than, so it was a long time ago.

But this, it was such a treat.

They kept the dog in their room.

The dog didn't tear anything up, but it stretched us.

And and there actually has been another dog, and I can't remember exactly when it was, but it's like the Lord was testing us, thinking, You think you're good at this?

You think you've got this down?

I'm gonna show you that you don't, and I'm gonna test you in a way that you are so uncomfortable.

And so these dear people stayed with their dog.

They were able to catch the flight the next day.

Thank you for indulging me with those photos.

I just wanted you to see real life as it happens with hospitality.

And that's okay, because we as Christians with new hearts, with soft hearts, with hearts of flesh, with changed hearts, must show hospitality without grumbling.

First Timothy 3, 1 and 2 says, This saying is trustworthy.

If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectful, hospitable, able to teach.

Now, remember what we're doing.

We're going through scriptures that list hospitality commands.

And this is the, these are the qualifications for an elder or a pastor.

And so I understand that none of us in here fit that, but some of you may be married to an elder or a pastor.

And so I want to say, especially to you, yes, it's a qualification for your husband, but by the fact that you now, the two have become one flesh, this is also for you.

So you need to be hospitable in your homes and with your husband in his ministry.

I met a pastor's wife on vacation one year.

We were they were vacationing at the same spot we were many years ago.

And I I we just were chatting, and I don't even know why we came onto this, you know, topic, but she said, Oh, yeah, we used to live near the church, or maybe in a parsonage near the church.

I don't know.

She said, but we've moved several miles out, and it has been the most wonderful thing.

We go home at night and we close all the blinds and we turn our phones off and we just seclude ourselves.

I mean, she just went on and on.

And I'm thinking, lady, you and your husband are in the wrong profession because the Bible says you need to be bent toward hospitality.

Now, please do not hear me saying that we should never have family time.

I am not saying that you have to volunteer your house for everyone, and this goes for all of you, not just pastors' wives in here, to volunteer to house everyone or host everything.

I'm not saying that, but I am saying, ladies, the bent of our lives should be toward showing.

We should be leaning in to hospitality and not pulling back from it and not shutting our blinds figuratively or literally.

Romans 16, 1 and 2.

I commend to you, Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in Centria, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of you.

For indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.

Paul was great about this.

He would commend people like back then, he would send a letter, and you would have to get that letter to know somebody was coming if you're going to get any warning at all that they were visiting.

And he's sending this to the Romans saying, I commend Phoebe to you.

She is a servant of the church.

I want you to receive her in a manner, I want you to be hospitable to her in a manner that is worthy of the saints.

Luke 14, 12 through 14, he also said to the man who had invited him, When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends.

Friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

Don't ever be guilty of saying things like, Well, they never had us over.

Well, I'm done having them over.

I I've had her over for coffee three times, and she's never invited me into her house.

Don't do it to be reciprocated or repaid.

That's why we must remain gospel focused.

Ladies, we can never outgive God.

We're giving nothing back to him.

I mean, we hope we serve him well.

We are due, we did nothing to get in his good graces.

It was his grace alone.

So let's remember that we are not trying to outgive God and could never if we if we tried.

And we do not need to be reciprocated in our hospitality.

Now, number four, practicing hospitality.

A reminder to you of those pictures.

Those, your home and your stuff is not really yours.

It belongs to the Lord.

He's the one that gave it to you.

He's the one that gave you the strength to work for the money to buy the stuff.

It's not yours.

You're not taking it with you.

You need to hold on loosely to stuff.

Our culture's mentality is that our lives and our homes are private, and we must live counter to our culture as Christians.

Now, I'm not suggesting that we all move in a commune and share everything, but the Christian life and walk is personal for sure, but it's not private.

And there's a big difference.

The Christian life and walk is personal, not private.

So don't buy into the lies of our society.

We must be willing to open our hearts and our homes and our lives to others.

I want to tell you the background in my own life, why Ed and I love hospitality so much, other than the gospel motivating us, it was modeled in front of us, and we have been the recipients of it.

Our parents both showed it when we were growing up.

Also, uh the first year uh that Ed was working a church job out of college, we were not yet married.

And um, for one year, these two families in the church, six months and six months, let Ed live in their homes for free, in their basement, in their spare room, and showed great hospitality to him.

So we've seen it modeled.

How do we do it?

Where do we do it?

When do you do it?

So you may be sitting here saying, Look, I don't even have a home.

I live in New York City, I rent a room, or I live in a studio, or I still live with my parents, or we live with our in-laws.

There's a lot of scenarios where you don't have your own private space to do this, and I understand that.

But there are creative ways.

You don't have to have your own home to do this.

We had a gentleman named Wally in our church many years ago.

He's retired from the postal service, went on to be a missionary in Jamaica.

He went up and lived in Massachusetts and was involved in a church there.

But when Wally was at North Shore, he lived in like a basement room someplace, and he wanted to be hospitable.

And so, you know what he would do?

He would just take the people to the diners.

He would just say, Okay, we're gonna meet at the diner.

I can't have you in my home, but I'm gonna meet you at the diner.

So we started calling him Wally the Diner Guy.

I mean, that was his nickname.

You can be the diner lady, you can be the Starbucks lady, you can be whatever.

But think of creative ways to show hospitality to people.

How about meal trains or whatever you call them at your church, the meal ministry?

For the church to take meals during a time of uh suffering or joy, a new baby or surgery or a death in the family, whatever it is, for a church to show up with meals at the door is a huge act of hospitality.

And you know what else it does?

For those unsaved family members, I've seen that over the years.

They have been so impressed by that as unsaved spouses or children open the doors to accept those meals.

It is a great testimony to them of the love of Christ.

So, meal ministries get involved in that.

Meet other ladies for coffee or tea to study the word together or just to say, hey, what's going on in your life and how can I pray for you?

The holidays are coming up.

I was searching for my college football channels on the XM radio on the way, driving here this morning, and happened to turn over one and it said holiday already.

And I thought, what is this, November 15th?

And we've already started the Christmas music, which makes me happy.

I left that station on so it would bother my husband because he thinks that you know December 24th, you start playing the Christmas music.

So I'm gonna let him get in that car and turn it up really loud and be shocked.

But it just was a great reminder to me that the holidays are around the corner.

What about Thanksgiving and Christmas?

You say, well, you know, I've got a big family here in New York.

We always just do our own thing.

And it's just we it wouldn't be appropriate to ask other people.

You may have unsaved uh parents or spouse you live with, and it's not appropriate.

But, ladies, I would say if you are Christians, I would say invite if you're both Christians and you can do this.

There's no reason you should not be inviting someone in your home that's not a family member for the holidays.

It's a perfect way to show hospitality.

We love in our church finding people that do not have family close and inviting them for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter.

You know why?

We don't have any family close.

So our church is our family.

So invite people, invite people maybe that come from different countries whose custom it is not to celebrate Thanksgiving and say, hey, come join us for fellowship on Thanksgiving Day.

We have had so many wonderful meals around our table for holidays.

Include them in your festivities.

Maybe there's a meal over which you're gonna share the gospel and you just invite, you know, a newcomer to your church and say, I want you to know what we believe.

Come over to my house and I'm gonna share from the Bible with you.

Host a Bible study or a small group at your house.

Have just a dessert fellowship.

Get those recipes or just hire those women who made those tiny desserts and ask them to make it for your dessert fellowship.

You would be, you'd have to like lock the door.

Everybody would want to be coming to that dessert fellowship.

Come up with recipes you can trust.

Remember, we're we're talking about how do we do hospitality.

We're getting really practical here.

Ladies, you know the rule.

Do not ever, ever, ever, ever try out a new recipe on company because it will 100 times out of 100 fail.

Use the tried and true.

It doesn't matter.

You know, my husband and I are sick of this one or two, these one or two dishes that I do for all the company.

It's okay because it works.

Just do what you know and trust.

Do the simple, do the inexpensive, grill out, make sandwiches.

Crockpot is my very best friend in my kitchen.

Use it.

It it is so helpful.

Be budget conscious.

Buy reduced meat when it's you know on sale and freeze it.

Now let's look at the benefits to other people.

Those receiving your hospitality.

What are some of them?

Just call them out.

What are benefits to people receiving your hospitality?

A cooked meal.

Absolutely.

Feeling loved.

Remember my broken bed?

Place to lay their head.

You can meet those physical needs, and you can meet the spiritual needs.

Feeling loved, hearing the gospel, experiencing the love of Christ, seeing a family operate, a godly family operate as a godly family.

And I want to tell you the benefits to us, to our family personally, the joy it has brought us.

Many missionaries have come through and stayed in our house.

For our children to have the privilege of hearing those stories and to meet these very special people has been such a blessing over the years.

We have our intern program, as I mentioned.

And every year for 20 years, we've had four or five college-age interns living in our house every summer.

And other people in our church do it as well.

And they they have to house them.

We'll have, you know, a dozen or 15 interns.

So a lot of homes have to be used for that.

And we've had godly college-aged men and women living in our house, working in our church, and they've been wonderful role models for our children, great examples.

And quite frankly, not every one of them were as good.

But they served a great purpose as well because our children saw the drastic difference in work ethic, in their attitudes, and their demeanors and demeanors and their passion for the Lord.

They have been great help to us.

It was a great teaching tool dropped in our laps as parents.

You live with somebody three months, you're pretty much gonna see it all.

And here it is, all laid out there.

Plus, we got two lovely daughters-in-law out of it and a son-in-law out of it, the intern program.

So we kind of like it.

But you know what one of my greatest joys is?

It's to see my children carrying on hospitality and doing it in their homes.

I had a fear, you know, when I don't know, a lot of you in here have adult children, and they don't ever, you know, mind.

They that our children are great.

They love us very much, but they now they're out of the house, they're safe to say this.

They can tell us the things that we did wrong as parents, and they can they can say things, you know, when they were getting married and they would say, you know, we're not gonna do this like you guys did, mom and dad.

We just want you to know that.

That's okay.

You're your own family.

You you do what the Lord wants you to do.

Yeah, we're not gonna do this, mom and dad, you know.

And and I begin to have this fear that they had been exposed to so much, you know, so many people in their home all their lives, and so much hospitality that they were not going to do that.

They were going to kind of rebel, if you will, against that and just be turned against it.

And praise God, it was quite the contrary.

As soon as they moved away, even in college before they were married, they were showing hospitality.

When they got apartments, they were showing hospitality.

My daughter will cook a crock pot of chicken chili, and she will just go down the church roll and say, I just want to do people I don't know well, and she'll have these people one week and next month she'll do these people.

And I have watched them be so kind and hospitable.

And that, other than their salvation, that is the greatest joy for me as a mom to see that they understand the hospitality commands of scripture.

But, ladies, ultimately, all that we do, we do it unto Christ.

One last portion of Scripture, Matthew 25, 34 through 36, and then verse 40.

Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.

And the king will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.

Ladies, ultimately, we're doing it for the glory of God.

So the question is simple Are you practicing hospitality without grumbling?

If you aren't, then take your reasons, take your excuses, and work through them, work around them, and figure out a way to do it to the glory of God.

And if you are, ladies, keep it up.

Praise God.

I encourage you, always be striving to improve and do more.

Ladies, a soft heart, a changed heart, a heart of flesh is one that does when it hears.

And I challenge you this day to be doers of the word, and not only in this one area of hospitality, but to be obedient in all.

And why?

What's of first importance?

The gospel.

Never lose sight of that.

We were strangers and aliens, enemies of God in our sin, and he brought us near by the blood of Christ.

He made us alive, he made us his family, he has delivered us from darkness to light, from death to life.

Praise him, serve him, obey him.

It's been a great privilege to be with you.

Thank you for being attentive, for hanging in there, for uh being so uh just so kind yourselves.

And I appreciate all of you being here this weekend.

So let's close in prayer and then we'll get further instruction.

Is that right?

Okay, Father, thank you again for these dear ladies.

Oh Lord, let us never lose sight of the hospitality that has been shown to us, God, uh, for myself, as I am so, so uh tempted and and to grumble and grumble so easily.

Lord, help me forgive me.

I pray, Lord, that we would serve you in all areas with gladness, that we would have hearts that are soft and pliable and teachable.

And I pray, God, that you would be pleased to save someone as a result of this conference.

Lord, the word they have heard.

I pray you would penetrate their heart, pray you would convict them of their sin and show them their great need for a savior.

Lord, bless us now as we go into our group time.

I pray it would be beneficial as we open up and share with others.

And Lord, uh thank you.

Thank you for saving us.

Thank you for the gospel in Jesus' name.

Amen.