The Hospitality Effect | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Um that you guys are here with us.

Before we jump into the service, we want to go ahead and dismiss our middle and high school students at this time.

We have an amazing service that takes place just for them with amazing leaders and with um their community that takes place.

So you can go ahead and head out.

Our leaders are in the back.

They would love to usher you back into a space that's dedicated just um for you.

But for us that are going to be here, would you guys help me to welcome our online family, those who are listening to the podcast?

We're so glad that you all are with us today.

And while we're at it, let's shout out the family lounge.

We know that there's some people over there in the family lounge.

So thank you guys so much for getting up, coming to church, and sitting in the family lounge with your little ones and just being a part of our amazing community.

We're so thankful for every one of you.

If you are joining us online on a podcast or in some other digital space, I just want to invite you that if you're ever in the Orlando area, we would love for you to come um and join us in person.

We truly believe that these transformational moments are impactful when we can share them together.

Today we're we're going into week two um of our series of at the table.

And as you guys can see, the the table is is literally being set um by the amazing team.

And really, this this is really meant to just kind of reinforce the intimacy um and the impact of what can happen at the table.

Now, the premise of this series is is really founded um on the foundation of Jesus and the way that he interacted with people, the conversations and teachable lessons that he had while sitting at the table with people that were different than him, that were filled with sin, but that he didn't allow that to be a barrier.

So there's something powerful and transformational that can take place at the table.

And so last week we we looked at the story of the prodigal son and how he went off and lived a wild life, but he was welcomed back into his father's house with open arms.

And so I would say the theme for this series is pretty much what we shared last week, and we'll continue to reinforce it is this simple statement.

You're always welcome at the table because grace is on the menu.

That that no matter where you are, what you've done, that that we're in the season, the dispensation of grace, where you're always welcome because grace is on the menu.

Today we're gonna continue um in that same school of thought.

I do want to reinforce our theme scripture just to give us a little bit of levity um and a sense of what we're talking about and why is it so significant.

Um, you can turn to Luke chapter 19, but I want to read um Luke 15 to us just to frame up um the series a little bit.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Um but for Luke 15 it says this tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.

This made the Pharisees and the teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such senseful people, and watch this, and even eating with them.

Even eating with them.

Why is that such a significant thing?

It's because in that Middle Eastern culture, um, it it was very intimate when you sat down and had a meal with someone.

Meg and I had the incredible privilege of going to Greece um a few months ago.

And one of the things that was very eye-opening for us while we were there is that we were with a large group of people.

We were there with our with our cohort for our our master's program that we're in.

But one of the things that we found our professor would say is, hey, when you guys go to restaurants, when we're sitting together and we're having meals, you don't look at an individual menu.

We order for the table and then we share everything that comes to the table.

And and as simple as that is, it changes the dynamics of everyone who's sitting at the table.

When I'm like, hey, can you can you pass me the fish?

And oh, do you want me to give you some water?

Oh, can you pass me the pepper?

Because I'm not so isolated looking at my menu.

We're all eating from the same thing, so it creates a different level of intimacy and connection.

So when Jesus was going into people's homes and he's having these conversations with people that were viewed as sinners and outsiders, the reason why the religious people had something to say about it is because you're in this intimate space, sharing space, having conversations and interacting with people that we've taught were, oh, those are those people.

Those people.

We need to distance ourselves from that.

So that's why they had something to say.

So Jesus continuously is reinforcing that man, how did we lose sight that we all are on the other side of the table when it comes to the presence of God?

Turning now to Luke 19, the Bible says this, starting at verse number one.

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.

There was a man there named Zacchaeus.

He was the chief tax collector in the region.

He had become very rich.

He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd.

So he ran ahead and climbed the sycamore tree beside the road.

For Jesus was going to pass.

He looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name.

Zacchaeus, he said, Quick, come down.

I must be a guest at your home today.

Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house with great excitement and joy.

But the people were displeased.

He's going to be a guest of this notorious sinner, they grumbled.

Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I've cheated people of their taxes, I will give them back four times as much.

Jesus responded, Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.

Today, as we continue on our series, I want to speak on the transformational impact that can take place through simple acts of hospitality.

So if you're taking notes, and of course I pray that you are, I simply want you to write this message title down, The Hospitality Effect.

Let's pray and let's get into it.

Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for your presence.

We thank you for our incredible uh community.

Whether they're joining us here in person, they're they're with us online, listening to the podcast, family lounge, however they find themselves with us, we just pray um that we can quiet our minds and still our hearts to receive what you have for us.

So, Father, we pray for open eyes to see you, we pray for open ears to hear you and open hearts to receive and be transformed by what it is you want to do in us today.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen and amen.

You know, church family, today is uh is a little bit different in the sense of what our service experience is is going to be.

Uh the message is gonna be a little bit shorter and the and the flow of service is a little bit different because um this Sunday is our family talk Sunday, which means at the end of our service, we're gonna also be sharing some updates on what God is doing um in our community.

We've often wondered how we can best update you guys on what God's doing in our church.

And so this Sunday is gonna be a little bit different in a sense of us providing some updates on what God's doing with our provisions, what God is doing in regards to direction for our building and all of that.

So just stay tuned.

We're gonna get to that in a moment.

So because our service flow is a little bit different, I only have one single point for you guys, and I'm gonna give it to you right at the top.

Ordinarily, I wait until the end and make you guys listen to the whole message.

I'm about to give you the first point, and you can check out until we get to the end.

So I want you all to write this down.

This is the main thought.

I'm presenting it to you now.

I'm giving you the the big the ending and the beginning, um, and then we're gonna go back like a good movie director and see how we get there.

But here is the main thought for today an invitation can lead to life transformation.

An invitation can lead to life transformation.

Let's rewind and see how we can arrive at that conclusion.

And in 2019, Megan and I had um the incredible privilege of being able to go to Zimbabwe.

Um, celebration has a location over there.

In fact, it's about 25.

It's hard to keep up with um different churches that are over um in Zimbabwe.

So I've longed to want to go over to Zimbabwe and spend time with Pastor Dixon and the team.

And so in 2019, we had an opportunity uh to do that.

And so while we were there, there's a couple of things that we did that really that really marked us.

I brought some photos just to show you um the experiences that we had.

The first thing that we got a chance to do was go out and visit um some different churches that were there, just seeing the authenticity of worship in these environments were really powerful.

The other thing that was so impactful for us is that we got a chance to go to some of the feeding centers.

And when we're at the feeding center, these are the places where, because of our generosity in our church, we partner um with the organization that provides resources and meals for about 80,000 kids per day.

And so we're a part of making sure that these kids are fed every single day.

So we got a chance to go there.

Meg and I are there, we're all in the people's way because we don't know what we're doing, but they still let us get the photo out.

So we were there um for that moment.

And then we even got a chance to meet um the child that we sponsor through One Child.

That was the whole point of us wanting to sponsor him many years ago because one of our sponsorship, it pays for his uniform, his school fees.

And so the beautiful thing is if you go to Zimbabwe, you can go you can go and see him.

So we got to go and see Obino in person.

We sent interchanges with him, but we got a chance to go and see him, spend some time with him, play soccer with him.

I learned that I cannot play soccer.

That's not that's not my sport.

I can do it on FIFA.

If you give me a game, if you give me controls, I got you.

But but uh we got a chance to do that for a little bit.

Um, but I think one of my favorite things that that really marked me beyond all of that was when we got a chance to walk through the villages.

Because now we got a chance to truly see the life of the individuals that were living um in Zimbabwe in the literal villages.

So we would walk through the villages, we're going to see people, um, we would talk with them, we would pray with them, and these were just impactful, just God-ordained moments.

But but one of the things that I thought was the most transformational for me is that when we did this this one day, we did a lot of things, and I just wasn't feeling well, I was feeling fatigue, and it was hot outside, and so I was just kind of a little bit drained.

But when we went into the villages, house after house, or hut after hut, we had gone to, we were met with such radical hospitality.

It was mind-blowing to me that me and my my privileged Western perspective of coming in and let me show you how well we got it, that I walked away feeling more blessed than probably we made them feel.

Because when we walked into their spaces, they were so grateful that we were there.

And there was this one precious couple that when we got there, they met us outside and they said, Oh, please, please come in.

And there was not enough room for all of us inside of their little small space.

So they went outside, they found these little buckets, and they asked us to sit down.

And you could see the sense of pride and the excitement that they had.

We sat there with them for probably about 20 minutes, just talking with them, hearing their story, and and and they asked us to they asked us to pray for them.

But then I said, Man, can can y'all can y'all pray for me?

Because they had like this fervency and this passion and this trust in God.

Living outside, no electricity, no running water, but they're literally quoting more scriptures than I was in that moment.

It's amazing how when I was in that space, their generosity and their hospitality became the thin veil that brought heaven and earth together.

I left there feeling as if I had just came from the altar because I was at a space not where a sermon was preached, not where a song was sung, but because of where hospitality was extended.

It became very clear to me that God uses a multitude of different things, but he uses this gift of hospitality as a space that he can invite people into and demonstrate his true love for other people.

And even as I say these words to you, I feel a little bit conflicted and convicted because as I stand here before you right now, I it occurs to me that the neighbor to the right of me, I don't even know his name.

Because you know what ends up happening?

I leave out of my garage and I go to wherever I'm going.

I come back home, I pull into my garage, the garage goes down, and what can happen, the busyness of life, the activities of all the things we got going on, you could be so busy that we're missing opportunities to connect with people that are literally next door to us.

I feel this sense of us getting off of our busy schedules because I don't believe that God has ever called us to be busy, he wants us to be fruitful.

And maybe the best fruit that we could possibly be producing would be investing in the people that are in immediate proximity to us.

See, when I look at this idea of hospitality and how it can ultimately bring transformation, I believe it's because hospitality creates this space where heaven and earth can overlap, that hospitality demonstrates the love of God.

Simple definition of hospitality is this generous, gracious treatment to others without any expectation of receiving something in return.

For many of us, we we thought that hospitality started with Disney.

Be my guest, be my guest.

It didn't start there.

It started with God.

God is a God who is incredibly hospitable.

When I look in Genesis 18, and I remember that narrative of when the three strangers who turned out to be angels are passing through, and and Abraham and Sarah are there and they see them and they're like, hey, hey, would you guys come in and sit with us?

Do you want anything to drink?

Let's get you something to eat.

Now, I realize that this is a Middle Eastern context and we're going back in time, but can you imagine seeing three strangers walking down the street of your house and you're going out of your way to invite them in?

I'm at a space right now that if you pull up my house and didn't let me know you were coming, I'm looking at the ring doorbell.

I'm like, nah, bro, you should have told me first.

Like, that's that's where I'm at.

They didn't anticipate them at all, and they saw them and they invited them in.

They were just extending hospitality.

Now I get it.

We live in Florida, you gotta be careful.

Florida man's out there.

So I'm not saying for you to open your door and start letting everybody in, use discernment and wisdom, but I think it's a lot less to do with what you do with your hands, but it's a posture of the heart.

I think it's about being a person who's open, who's welcoming and inviting to others so that they can experience the love of God through us.

One of the most beautiful moments of hospitality is found in Exodus 24.

Because what you see in Exodus 24, the children of Israel are, they've been they've been liberated from bondage.

They've been about three months into their journey while they're in the wilderness, and now there's this moment where God comes down and he begins to interact with man at a very intimate level.

He's no longer this distant God, he's no longer the one they don't have any real relationship with.

But this is God coming down the mountain, and in Exodus 24, it describes this moment where Moses and the elders go up the mountain and it says this.

It's so beautiful.

It says, it says that God came down, they saw God, and they ate in his presence.

They sat at the table and had a meal with God, and it goes out of its way to say, and he did not judge them.

These were men who were filled with sin.

They had gotten out of Egypt, but Egypt was still in them, if you know what I'm saying.

These were people that were still struggling and trying to understand what their identity was inside of God, but God invited them to a divine table, and it says, He did not judge them.

He made it very clear that the only way that you can ever truly be transformed into the image that I have for you is through relationship and through an open invitation, not through condemnation.

It's amazing how God uses this.

And so when we look at this narrative of Zacchaeus, I believe we get a lot of things that we can pull from it and principles that we can identify.

Let me let me give us some context as to how we arrived at this point in the text.

The Bible tells us in in Luke 18, the chapter right before it, that Jesus has just healed a blind man.

His name was Bartimaeus.

After he heals this man, the crowd goes crazy.

They're excited.

This man had been blind his entire life, so the community is all aware of blind Barnabas.

People would have had to go through those gates and walk by him and listen to him beg for money.

And now this man has received his sight.

The crowd is going crazy, and Jesus is walking through the town, walking through the village, a singular road of him walking down.

So there's a massive crowd that's all following Jesus as a result of seeing this incredible miracle.

Inside of this town is this man named Zacchaeus, this extremely rich man, this man who was not liked in the community at all, because he was a Jewish man, but he was working for the Roman government.

So in the eyes of a person who was connected to God, in the eyes of a person who observed the law, they they would have looked at him and seen that he was compromised.

They would have looked at him and seen that he had integrated, watch this, his politics and his faith together.

Because even back then they understood it is impossible for a political structure to exhibit the character of God.

We'll talk about that next year during the election cycle.

They knew that then.

So whenever they saw someone who had compromised the moral character of God in the Word so that they can integrate perfectly inside of a political system, they saw them as outsiders.

So this man Zacchaeus, who would compromise his beliefs in order to get wealth from the Roman government, the empire, they saw him in that way.

In addition to that, we also know that he was a short man.

Back then, the average height for people was about five foot six, I would say.

Which I would guess to say that Jesus is about five, six, five, seven.

I'm about five'eight.

So I'm saying that I'm like the same height as Jesus.

I'm not saying that tall people are outside of the will of God, I'm just saying we see what happens to giants in scripture.

Anyway, what we see is this this man who was short.

And this man who was small, and what they believe is he was probably about four feet tall.

Little hobbit.

So he's in this community, he's a small guy, and and not only is he a small guy in stature, but they would have looked down on him because of his profession.

So they're looking at Zacchaeus and they they got negative things to say about Zacchaeus.

Nobody wants to be around Zacchaeus, he's a he's extorting wealth from the people in the community.

He is not a liked man.

But but the Bible says that when Jesus is coming through, he he wants to see Jesus.

There's something inside of him that compels him to want to have an encounter with the divine, but it says that he couldn't because the crowd was blocking his view.

This this small man who was riddled with sin and affliction and brokenness, he wanted to see Jesus for himself, but the crowd was blocking his view.

He he was trying to work through the crowd, and nobody wanted to make space for this small man to have an encounter with Jesus because the crowd was blocking his view.

Who was the crowd?

The crowd was the religious people.

That the crowd were the people who were followers of Jesus.

So there you have a man who's away from God, a man who's filled with sin, who simply wants to have an encounter with God, and religion was blocking his view.

What happens when people come in with affliction?

When people come in and sin, when people are are riddled with struggle, and we allow the labels that we place on them to do humanize them so that they can never have an encounter with God because we're standing in the way.

This man desired to see Jesus, but but he couldn't but he couldn't see him.

So what the Bible says that he did is he saw the direction that Jesus was going, so he broke from the crowd so that he could have an encounter with Jesus.

He broke from the crowd because he understood if I stay in this crowd, I'll never see Jesus.

If I if I stay here, I'll never see Jesus.

This sounds a lot like a person that's going through deconstruction.

I need to break away from this crowd if I'm ever going to see Jesus, because if I keep going here, I'm never going to see Jesus for who he really is.

This person breaks away so that he can get outside of the crowd so he can truly have an authentic encounter with Jesus.

And what we know about this man is that his small stature is something that he literally has no control over.

His biggest barrier, his biggest burden, his biggest affliction, his height.

He was probably mocked as a young man.

He was probably made fun of.

He probably didn't fit in.

Watch this.

And so, as a result of the upbringing and the life and the context and culture, it brought him to a place where he didn't feel like he fits in.

But the Roman government accepted him.

So he began to gravitate towards them because that's where he got acceptance, and then he got authority, and then he got influence, and now he's at a place where he's broken in away from God.

Here's what I want us to understand as Christians.

You never know what people have gone through that got them to where they are.

Will we stop being so judgmental?

You don't know their story, you don't know their trauma.

So let us stop placing labels on them.

He elevates his perspective and he sees Jesus.

But more importantly, Jesus sees him.

He sees him and he says, Zacchaeus, come down, man.

I need to go to your house.

The reason why he am calling him by his name is so significant because people called Zacchaeus a lot of different things.

There were a lot of different names that was out in the streets regarding Zacchaeus.

But Jesus called him by his name.

The word Zacchaeus literally means pure and clean.

When the world was looking at him and saw him as small and insignificant and invaluable, when Jesus saw him, he saw him as pure and clean.

He looked past the pain and saw a deeper purpose.

My stepfather, he's um he's my hero.

He he really is.

He he's a man of incredible wisdom and amazing work ethic.

And what I've observed in him over the years is his vision for things.

One of the things that he started doing probably about 30, 35 years ago, um, is he started purchasing homes and he would renovate them basically himself, and then he would either rent them out or or he would turn around and sell them.

It's something that he was doing.

This is way before HGTV, this is way before Chip and Joanna.

They got that from him.

He's been doing this for years and years and years.

He's been in this game.

And every time I would go and see these transformational processes, I'm just blown away.

Well, well, a couple of weeks ago, I had a chance to go and see my parents.

We were we were up in the Philadelphia area, and so I went and saw them just for one night, and I asked my pop, I said, Hey, I said, What are you working on right now?

He said, Oh, you gotta see this.

It's so fascinating to see him with an iPhone, it's just ridiculous.

But I love seeing him.

I love you, Pops.

So he shows me a before and after.

He's like, Oh, look at this.

So he shows me the backyard that he currently is working on, and it legitimately looks like a jungle.

Like it's it's it's like one of those things where it's like, man, just throw it away and start over.

Like it was, it was it was a hot mess.

And then he swipes over, but look at it now.

And it It looked like a tropical, beautiful environment.

There were pavers back there, the grass was cut, trees were knocked down, plants were there.

It looked absolutely beautiful.

And I remember looking at that, and I'm thinking to myself, like, looking at that before picture and seeing the after picture, there's no way you can come to that conclusion if you don't have vision.

I said to him, I said, How how did you go from that to that?

He said, Man, I looked past what it was and I saw what it could become.

Somebody's gonna get it, and more than four people are gonna clap.

We're getting there.

We're getting there.

Nine o'clock got there before y'all, but I still love y'all.

He said, I look past what it is and I see what it can become.

What if I were to tell you that when God looked at Zacchaeus, he looked past what he was and saw what he could become?

Let me make this more personal.

When God looked at you, he looked past what you were and saw what you could become.

See, see, sometimes we forget that we were Zacchaeus.

Some of us forget that we are Zacchaeus, but I'm here to remind us that there's no condemnation in Christ Jesus.

But let us not forget where we came from.

I'm so thankful that when Jesus looked at me, he didn't see me for what I was and discarded me.

But what he saw in me was purpose.

What he saw in me was value.

What he saw in me was anointing.

What he saw in me was calling.

And he said, Keith, if you will surrender it to me, I will use it for my glory.

What God sees in you is something that's deeper than what's on the outside of you.

He saw, he saw Zacchaeus and he said, I see something deeper.

And so he said, Man, I need to spend some more time with you.

And so what he did is he said, I want to go to your home.

Now, I know for some of us, when we hear that, that sounds a little out of character.

Because ordinarily, it's up to the person to invite you to their home.

You don't just pull up and people be like, hey man, what's going on?

I'm coming over tonight.

Like, unless you have a great relationship and that's the dynamics and the nuances of your situation, you just can't say I'm pulling up tonight without it's being some kind of weird, awkward moment.

So, so, but in that culture at that time, Jesus was a very prominent man.

He was very influential.

People knew him.

So when Jesus shows up and he says, Hey, I'm coming to your home, that's actually him extending hospitality to you.

I I want you to know that I have such value for you that I want to enter into your world and I just want to talk with you.

So Jesus extends hospitality to this man by saying, I want to go to your home.

So Zacchaeus comes down and then he's like, Man, yes, let's like let's let's go.

And naturally, as you would imagine, the religious people have something to say about it.

Can you believe that?

Jesus is going over that.

That dude's a notorious sinner.

Like, let me know what they do.

Does he know what they do?

Does he really understand what kind of stuff they're into?

Does he does he know that he's a liberal?

Does he know that he's a conservative?

Do you know that he's a Trump supporter?

Do you know that he's for Bernie?

I feel a little uncomfortable now that we're talking real life, right?

This would have been the nuance of people's commentary.

Do you know who this person is?

Do you do you know that they they believe in abortion?

This would have been the context of the people's disdain and trying to understand why Jesus would put himself in a position that they had come to a conclusion that they were opposed to.

But it's fascinating that none of those things were barriers for Jesus.

It's fascinating that Jesus didn't allow any of those things to keep him from showing kindness to anyone.

Jesus goes into this man's home and he would have encountered some beautiful customs.

And the custom would have been here's here's some water to wash your hands and to wash your feet and to wash your hair, and then we're gonna go and have a seat and have this beautiful, intimate meal where we're gonna sit and we're gonna talk.

And so they're sitting and they're talking, they're spending time together.

They made room for Jesus and the disciples.

Jesus spends the night there, and at some point during all of this, Zacchaeus has this moment where his heart begins to flutter.

He he has this moment where he's not met with a condemning sermon or or a post that tells him that he's not good enough.

He he's met with this love and invitation, and he's he's met with this this grace of God that begins to transform his life.

And in that moment, he says, Listen, I don't know what's going on on the inside of me, but there's something about you and the way that you've treated me that has brought me to a place of self-reflection.

So, so so here's here's what I want to do.

Look, listen, I've realize that I've made some mistakes.

I've realized that I'm rich, I've realized that I've compromised so many things in my life, and I know it's time for me um to make a change.

So here's what I want to do, Lord.

I I will take half of everything that I have, and I want to give it, I want to give it to the poor.

In addition to that, I'm gonna reevaluate my books.

And if I have robbed or cheated anyone, I'm gonna give them four times as much as I took for them.

I'm realizing after sitting in your presence and realizing how gracious you've been to me, how off the mark I have been, and now I want to shift some things in my life to match up with the calling and the purpose and the value that you see in me.

It's amazing that Zacchaeus came to this place of conversion, not through a sermon, but through hospitality.

He didn't get it from condemnation, it was through hospitality.

It wasn't through a message post on social media and debating with people in the comments that brought him to a place of repentance, it was through kindness and hospitality.

It's fascinating to me that the easiest thing for us to have access to is the hardest thing for us to actually do.

Jesus extends hospitality to this man and it brings radical transformation.

So now we get to the main point an invitation can lead to life transformation.

That when he was invited into the world of Christ, it brought him to a place of radical transformation.

Jesus says to him, Man, it's amazing that you've come to this conclusion.

I don't know if during the course of their conversation Jesus alluded to what he said in Luke 18.

We're we're we're camping out in Luke 19, but let me back up to Luke 18 on something that Jesus said.

Jesus said, It is easier for a rich man to enter through the eye of a needle than for them to go into heaven.

So Jesus is saying this.

Zacchaeus is a rich man, and at some point, because we can see the evidence of his repentance, he came to the conclusion that man, I don't have money, money has me.

And because of this encounter that I have with the living God and my awareness of knowing that if I continue to hold on to this, it's going to prevent me from entering into the kingdom of heaven.

I'm going to have to surrender the very thing that I've accumulated and placed my value in and find value in Christ.

He surrendered what had a hold of him and it allowed him to change his identity.

There's a difference between saying to yourself, I am made in the image of God versus I am rich.

It's interesting how some of our sins can sometimes become the identifying markers for us.

But when we can recognize that, is this who I am, or is this how I am?

Who I am is a child of God.

How I am is a result of the sin and brokenness in the world.

The world seeks to just make sure that those things come together.

Jesus wants to make a distinction.

That's not who you are, that's how you are.

But when we enter into fellowship and relationship, you can recognize that you are my son, and then I can change the way that you function.

Jesus says salvation has entered into this house.

You're saved, you're set free, you're delivered, you are welcomed to the family.

And all of this happened at the table.

There's a book that I've been reading thanks to Rachel.

Thank you, Rachel.

Um, that's just been food for my soul.

It's a it's a book written by Rosaria Butterfield.

And and she she shares her testimony in this book.

And the book is called The Gospel Comes with House Keys.

This is a woman who was away from God.

Not only was she away from God, she was anti-God.

She was in the process of doing research and writing a book on why Christianity is fundamentally wrong, racist, sexist, and why anyone who truly contributes to this way of life is perpetuating the demise of humanity.

That was going to be her first book.

But she understood that the only way for me to really, really write this book and have a healthy perspective the way that a scientist would, I need to actually spend time with Christians so that I can be able to write from the perspective of conversation.

So she finds a beautiful couple, husband and wife pastors, and they agree to have dinner with her.

So she goes and she's prepared to argue her points, debate with them, write down some notes and use that to quote in her book.

But when she gets there, she's met with love and grace and kindness.

She's like, okay, well, man, they they they dressed up for this dinner.

I'll come back another time.

And and and that'll be the one when I see the true face of Christianity.

She comes back and she meets with them again, and once again they treat her with kindness and love.

And she's like, okay, I'll do it a third time, then a fourth time, and then a month later, and then six months later, and for two years, she's meeting with this couple and spending time with them.

They go from people that are standing on opposite aisles, aisles of issues to being intimate friends.

And what the she tells us is that it brought her to a place of conversion and she placed her faith in the Jesus that she once despised, never stepping a foot inside of the church's doors.

It wasn't a sermon that was preached, it was a gospel that was lived through God's people.

It wasn't a sermon, it wasn't yelling, it wasn't debating, it wasn't telling them that they're wrong, it was legitimately just spending time with them and showing her kindness.

She says this.

She says, radical ordinary hospitality is not only about inviting people into your home, but inviting them into your life.

And it takes time.

It means serving them when it's not convenient, it means believing that God uses regular and mundane to transform us in the world that we live in.

Hospitality.

The Bible says a lot about it.

1 Peter 4 9.

Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or place to say.

Hebrews 13 2.

Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels and didn't even realize it.

Romans 12, 13.

When God's people are in need, be ready to help them, always eager to practice hospitality.

Leviticus 19, 33 and 34.

Listen to me, church.

Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land.

Treat them as native-born Israelites and love them as you yourself have been loved.

Remember that you once were foreigners that were living in the land of Egypt.

I am your God.

God is saying, don't forget where you came from.

Don't forget that you were Zacchaeus.

Don't forget that you were the foreigner.

Don't forget what I've delivered you from.

The reason why this is so passionate for me is because when I look at the landscape of the world and I can only look at my context and critique it with any objectional perspective, it breaks my heart because have you noticed that it seems as if people who are away from God seem to be doing a better job of being kind to people than those who're supposed to say that they know God?

If you don't know that, then go to a comment section on Facebook or Instagram, and you'd be amazed at how people can weaponize scripture to justify their distance that they place and disdain that they place in other people.

But when Jesus gives us the illustration of the good Samaritan, it was so revolutionary, it's because Samaritans were considered to be the outsiders.

The religious people distanced themselves from this man who was broken, and it was the man who was an outsider who actually showed kindness.

What if we could do a better job at being Christians in the world?

Can we try that?

You're not a Christian because of the scriptures you quote.

You're a Christian because of the gospel that you live.

And what Jesus wants to see from us in these moments of learning how to be a person that can demonstrate the love of God, that can demonstrate the grace of God, and invite people into a space where a simple invitation can lead to life transformation.

Lord, I thank you so much for the fact that you've invited all of us to come and sit at your table.

And that when you see us, you see past our flaws, you see past our sin, you see past our brokenness.

You don't ignore it, you don't overlook it, but you invite us into a relationship and then you walk it out with us.

Father, I pray that as a community of faith, that as believers, that we can be people that can remind ourselves that we have benefited from your grace.

So let us be graceful in how we interact with other people.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood.

People are not our enemies, their sin is not our enemies.

We don't have to be afraid of the world, God.

We are a city on a hill, that we are assault, we are light.

And I pray, Father, for conviction and confidence for us to walk in authority and in freedom, knowing, God, that you are with us, you are our God, and you've given us an assignment to be where we are, to demonstrate who you are and invite people into what you're calling them to do.

I realize that in this room that we're all at varying stages of our journey.

And for some of us, we're Zacchaeus.

We are in the crowd and we can't see Jesus for ourselves.

For others of us, we we've broke away from the crowd and and we we're getting a glimpse of Jesus, but we're not in community.

Regardless of where you are, I believe it's moments like this where we can just go into a brief moment of worship, where we can just engage the presence of God, break free from the crowd, see Jesus, let him see us, and let's bring him back to our homes.

So let's stand on our feet.

We're gonna go into worship just really briefly, just to kind of seal this moment in, and then we're gonna come up and give you some further instructions and then update you on some things in the church.

So please don't leave just yet.

But but let us seal in this moment with an expectation that God is gonna meet us where we are.

With every hand lifted up, let me pray for us.

Lord, I thank you.

I thank you that you're speaking to us.

I thank you that you're shaking up our worlds and that you reveal to us that you see who we are beyond what we've done.

So as we engage this moment in worship, Father, I pray that we're encouraged, that our heads are lifted high, and that we recognize that you love us, we love you, and that we're continuing to be molded in your image.

In Jesus' name.

Come on, family, let's worship.

Thanks again for listening.

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