"Using Hospitality" By Jesse Rairdon April 10th,
2016
Amen,
amen, amen. Remain
standing; I’m going to ask Brother Ken
A. to lead us in prayer. Ken:
Lord,
today we’re so thankful that You walked this earth, and You know
exactly what
we’re going through. You
know all our trials
and tribulations. You
said, “Fear God,
and keep His commandments.” And,
God, we
thank You for the messenger today, that has prepared, and sought Your
face,
God. Lay an
anointing upon him, this
morning, God. And,
God, for us, if we
could just be open, God, our hearts, God, if you would just pour it
out, so
that we would hear the message. There’s
something here for everybody today, God, if we would just open our
hearts and
minds, God. We
thank You for our love,
for Your truth, God, and for the freedom to worship and to serve Your
Holy
name. Amen. Amen. Give the Lord a praise. You may be seated. I tell you what, that
feels like a Minnesota
spring out there, doesn’t it? Who’s
from
Minnesota? Brent
and Gerry. Feels
like a Minnesota spring, right? Waiting
for some warmer weather, amen? But,
these flowers can make it seem like
spring. Thank you
for bringing these
flowers. And
they’re real. Oh,
they’re not. They
look real. I can
never tell; I’m a guy. Except
when I get flowers for my wife, thy
better be real. Amen. But, thank you, that
definitely makes it look
like spring, whoever takes the time to make this place look beautiful. So,
we’re talking about, this
month: 1 Peter 4:8-10 And
above all things have fervent charity among yourselves:
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to
another
without grudging. As
every man hath received the gift, even
so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of
the manifold
grace of God. Last
week, Parrish talked about,
“A Lesson in Fervent Charity.” A
few
points we’re going to cover: He
talked
about fervent charity is intentional, something I always want to make
sure is
there. It’s not
going to come by
accident, you’ve got to really work at fervent charity.
Fervent charity brings a pathway for God’s
understanding and God’s love to come in.
Fervent charity brings a pathway for God’s
understanding and God’s love
to come in. Fervent
charity separates
those who love God and those who don’t, and it also separates a little
love
from a great love. Then,
he talked about
the Good Samaritan and how Jesus was that first Good Samaritan to us. How He took us in, He
bound up our wounds, He
healed us, He made sure that we were taken care of.
Amen?
And, the message of God is a love story.
Fervent charity.
Amen? Today’s
message is going to be
basically on verse number nine, “Using Hospitality.”
Using hospitality.
Using hospitality, without grudging, it
says. Let’s talk
about that a little
bit. The definition
comes from Strong’s:
That’s
just one instance. Most
of the other instances, it talks about
love of the stranger in the definition, but, this particular instance,
this
particular Scripture, talks about hospitality, our love, one to another. We’re going to talk about
the stranger a
little, today, too. So,
my three main points are going
to be: 1.
Using
hospitality provides encouragement. 2.
Using
hospitality creates unity. 3.
sin
hospitality fosters growth, it cares for the stranger. Our
main Scripture verse for the
day is from Acts, right after three thousand souls were baptized, right
after
the first message—the day of Pentecost—baptism in Jesus’ name was first
laid
out, and said, everybody’s got to repent and be baptized. But, what happens after
that? Do we just
get baptized and then go our own merry
ways? There’s
something that has to
happen beyond the baptism. That’s
what
we’re talking about this month we’re talking about that charity that
leads into
hospitality. Amen? Acts 2:45-47
And
sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every
man had
need. [That’s
that
fervent charity] And they, continuing
daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to
house, [So,
there’s two different places: One
where
we gather together for worship and fellowship, and one where we kind of
go
house to house] did eat their meat with
gladness [encouragement] and
singleness of heart [that’s that unity],
Praising God, and having favour with
all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should
be saved. That’s
that growth; that’s that
bringing in the stranger. Everybody’s
going to see that love you have for one another, amen?
Hospitality naturally comes from having
fervent charity. You
can’t have one
without the other. If
you just have
hospitality, without any love, it’s just a meal, right?
It’s just a social gathering.
Just sit around and talk about anything. But, when you have the
love of God and God’s
people, you just want to have guests and you want to show Hospitality. One good example of
that—when I was I the
military, and the military ministry does that today—is, always, after a
worship
or Bible study, go out to eat, or get together for hospitality. Kind of create an
atmosphere where we could
ask questions of one another, and learn about what we learned about
that day. It has
created hospitality, and they still do
that faithfully, today, Phil and Alex, and those of you who go to the
base, t
others who work with them, and minister to sailors, amen? I’m so thankful that that
hospitality was
shown to me. I’m so
thankful. And many
of us, here, too, we understand
that. And, maybe
you weren’t in the
military, but someone went over to your house, or invited you over to
their
house and they had some hospitality, amen? 1.
Using
Hospitality Provides
Encouragement Have
you ever felt like you just
wanted someone just to hear your heart? You
don’t want to hear a Bible study or a sermon, or have Scriptures thrown
at you,
you just want someone to sit and listen to your heart.
Encouragement from a trusted friend.
Somebody who’s not going to go tell everybody
else, “Hey, you know what Parrish just told me?”
No, it’s confidence, it’s trusting.
That’s where hospitality brings
encouragement. It’s
like a refreshing;
it’s like a watering in a desert place.
Proverbs
11:25 The
liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered
also
himself. Did
you ever go to try to encourage
somebody, or show some hospitality, and left, feeling like, “Well, I’m
more
encouraged than they were.” That’s
how
it works. That’s
how God works. He
really uses that water to refresh; that living
water, that springing up, that Holy Ghost to kind of encourage us both,
amen? You see,
church, we were meant to show
hospitality one to another. We
were
meant, we were designed, from the very beginning, from the very first
day, to
show love for one another, care for one another, to take time out for
one
another, to call one another and say—not just on the phone, but we get
together
face-to-face. Take
time for one
another. And
it’s not all about just the
food, either. Is
Ashley here today? Oh,
she’s back with Phoenix. But
I remember when Jimmy and Kenneth and
myself just took her out—before she even was coming out to church—we
took her
out and shared the simple love of God, in a Bible study. We didn’t share baptism in
Jesus’ name; we
talked about the love of God, and we took time…
At that time, she wasn’t ready to accept it, but,
you know what that did
for me? It showed
me that I was once in
those shoes. And I
could still very well
be back in those shoes, you know? Hospitality. Mary and Martha are going
to have a
house-guest. They’re
going to show some
hospitality. Luke
10:38-41 Now it came to pass, as they went,
that he entered
into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him
into her
house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet,
and
heard his word. But Martha was cumbered
about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care
that my
sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful
and
troubled about many things: It’s
not all about the work, and
getting ready for hospitality. See,
Martha just kind of lost track of what hospitality was all about. It’s all about the growth,
it’s all about the
listening to God, it’s all about the encouragement one to another. Yes, it’s important to
have a clean house. Yes,
yes, yes. And I’m
sure if I’m inviting somebody over,
and I’m just kind of hanging out, my wife is going to be like, “Are you
going
to help me at all?” If
she’s doing all
the load, and I’m just kind of hanging out, and being a good host,
well, women
do that, too, but there’s some things you can do to kind of pitch in
together,
and help out. But
don’t lose sight,
don’t do it grudgingly because of the work you’ve got to do. Do it with a pure heart,
and you’re sincere
in what you’re doing, inviting people into your home, and encouraging
people,
because it’s a place of hospitality.
It’s going to provide some encouragement. There’s family here that
do that very, very
well. The Orelups
do that very
well. One after the
other, it seems like
they have hospitality; they’re bringing people over to their homes. Myself have been a part of
that, I’ve been
over to their house; hey showed me hospitality.
The Gieblers. Many
others. We can’t
lose sight—we’ve got to create a
culture of hospitality, so that when people come, we already know that
there’s
going to be people ready to receive them. Amen? So,
talking about how it is
encouragement: Proverbs 27:17 Iron
sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the
countenance of his friend. You
ever been down, and feeling
low, and you just get around a brother or sister, and, or, just call
them, and
it shows on your countenance. The
very
look on your face says, “Wow, I’m encouraged now.”
That’s what true hospitality brings.
It encourages us who sharpen one another’s
iron. It gives us
the strength to go
through the next battle. That’s
what the
sword is for, it’s for the battle.
But,
if it’s dull and just weary and tired and weak, show some hospitality
with
another. Amen? 2.
Hospitality
Creates Unity. “They
ate their meet with
singleness of heart.” Sometimes,1
you
don’t see eye to eye with somebody, you think there’s a little friction. I imagine Andy and Parrish
don’t always get
along so well. Maybe
they don’t agree on
every little thing, but maybe take some time to go out for dinner, or
go to
each other’s homes and just iron out their differences, and hear one
another’s
heart. Hear one
another’s heart; those
things create unity. Amen?
and there is
some contention between you two, try reaching out with hospitality. Proverbs
27:19 As in water face answereth
to face, so the heart of
man to man. Some
things are better done
face-to-face. You
can’t just do it over
the phone, or have a text, or shoot somebody a Facebook message. Facebook is so surreal, so
superficial. Everybody
seems so happy and so encouraged
all the time. “Oh,
let me put this on
Facebook! Everything’s
so great!” but
they’re miserable. Miserable
and poor
and naked and don’t want to admit what they are.
But, hospitality—don’t let Facebook replace
fellowship. Don’t
let Facebook replace
fellowship and hospitality. Amen? How
I treat someone, how I show
respect to somebody creates unity.
That’s all part of the hospitality.
Division just kind of goes away.
Misunderstandings get cleared up, just from simple
hospitality. Get in
the habit of being a good listener.
One of the points that Steven Covey wrote
about in “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” he says, “Seek
first to
understand, then to be understood.”
Sometimes we try to force our opinion, we force
our—and we may very well
be right, but take some time—I learned this employed in Human
resources,
sometimes you’ve got to take time to hear people out.
Sometimes people just want to hear the words,
“I understand.” That’s
all they want to
hear. They don’t
want to hear how right
or wrong they are, they want to hear the words, “I understand.” So, how do we go to the
next step? How do
we go further? That’s
good in a marriage, too. Some
of you, I know Brent and Amy are getting
married soon. Take
this and put it in
your tool box. You’ve
got to take time
to understand each other before you go to prove who’s right. Amen.
Amen. I
didn’t always do that, I
didn’t always do that. My
wife can say,
“Amen,” that I’ve probably failed on that a few times, but, you know,
it will
go better if you work through those things.
That’s why I think, like Andy was saying, it’s
important; I know it’s
important to go to these kind of conferences that are coming up,
because you
learn to work together as a couple.
Those things are taught.
I wasn’t
taught these things by my parents about marriage.
I fact, I wasn’t taught hardly anything about
marriage by my parents. So,
I either
gleaned from people who’ve been around, how to understand those things,
so that
I could work together, so that I could show hospitality to couples—one
to
another, first. If
me and my wife are
fighting about how to squeeze the toothpaste right out of the tube, all
the
time, over little things in life, how are we going to be able to really
minister to anybody else? Amen? Those are just thoughts. 3.
Hospitality
Fosters Growth,
Cares For The Stranger. I’m
going to spend a little more
time in this area, today, because I think we do well with hospitality
one to
another in the church, but, sometimes I think we lack in this third
part with
the stranger, or adding to the church.
So, I put myself in the same boat.
I’ve got a home.
I’ve got a wife
who can cook really good. Me,
not so
much, but my wife can cook really good.
So, I let her do that part of the hospitality, most
of the time,
amen? “I’m never
coming back there,
again. He burned
the steak.” Hospitality
fosters growth: “and
the Lord added to the church daily such
as should be saved.” God’s
good at
adding, when there’s an environment for growth.
If there’s not an environment for growth, and you
don’t have
hospitality, God’s not going to bring new people to a church where
there’s not
an environment for it. So,
the next step
is, we’ve got to be prepared for that. Jesus
is another guest, at another
house: Luke 14:12-14 Then
said he also to him
that bade him [so
He’s
talking to those that showed hospitality to Him],
When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy
brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy
rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be
made thee. [“Well,
they invited me over, so I’ve got
to invite them over,” And it’s like a back-and-forth.
Maybe one time they forget, and you feel bad
that you were forgotten, or you forget to invite them back over… But, no, this what He said
true hospitality
is, when you invite the stranger.] But when thou makest a
feast, call the poor,
the maimed, the lame, the blind: And
thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt
be
recompensed at the resurrection of the just. So,
this is taking hospitality
from us, and giving it to everybody else.
To the lost; to the stranger.
I
was a stranger; someone took me in.
If
we only show hospitality with one another, we won’t grow. If we just keep going to
each other to have
hospitality, and keep having hospitality amongst us, this is all we’re
going to
see. We’ll all get
old and gray
together. We won’t
any growth. Nothing
wrong with getting gray, I’m getting
there myself. I’m
losing a few more
hairs, as I get up there. But
when you
have a stranger over, it’s different; nothing is returned, and nothing
is
expected. You’re
just doing out of love,
out of generosity. You’re
just doing it
because you love God and you love your fellow man.
You want to see that next soul be in the
truth. Amen? Our focus is totally on
that stranger,
too. Our focus is
totally on that
stranger. Maybe
you’re a teenager, and
you’re thinking, “How can I do this?”
Maybe you can invite one of your friends into your
home, and have your
family share with them. Let
that light
shine. Let them see
what a godly home is
like, and desire to seek after God. We’re
going to go back over the
Good Samaritan, here, again, because I think there’s some points—you
did a
great job; I’m not trying to re-preach your message, Parrish, but I
think
there’s some great points about hospitality, here. Luke 10:30-35 And
Jesus answering said, A certain man
went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and
wounded
him, and departed,
leaving him half dead. [Pretty sad situation. Pretty rough
situation.]
And by chance there came down a certain
priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. [This was his
brother; he didn’t even
show kindness to his brother.]
And likewise a Levite, when he was at the
place, came and looked on him,
and passed by on the other side. [I’m
not even going to make excuses for him, he just didn’t see the need.] But a certain Samaritan [who was a
stranger to the Jews, but also a stranger to this man],
as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had
compassion
on him, [that
fervent
charity]
And went to him,
and
bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own
beast, and
brought him to an inn, and took care of him. [Before there
was a
hospital—hospitality—he took him to a hospital, met his needs,
ministered to
him, took care of him] And
on the morrow when
he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them
to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and
whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. So,
there’s more work to be done
besides that initial contact. So,
we are
a hospital, and we have to show hospitality to the lost. We have people that are
coming; they’re
wounded, they’re burnt… We
don’t know
what situation they’re in. I
worked in a
hospital where I saw people come in the Emergency Room; you never know
what’s
going to come in the Emergency Room.
There’s people with all kinds of cases, all kinds of
situations. We’ve
got to be ready to minister to those
people and show them love. But
you see where
that charity—where we saw the need, first; we show love, we show
compassion
—naturally went to that hospitality, where he took him and put him on
his own
beast, bound up his wounds, stayed with him that night, made sure his
needs
were met. He didn’t
just dump him off in
front of the hospital and run off.
He
took some time to minister to him; make sure all his needs were met. Even had a follow-up plan. Sometimes we just say,
“Oh, okay, I’ve done
my job; I invited someone out to church.
That’s it.” Or,
“They came over
to my house one time. That’s
it. Let’s move on,
now. Pt myself on
the back; good to go.” No,
there’s more; there’s always more when
you give hospitality. The
church is a
Hospital for the lame, the blind, the halt and them that are out of the
way. We’re
accountable for hospitality. It’s
not just about coming to church. We—everyone
that’s hearing this message
today, you are now accountable. Believe
it or not, God will hold you accountable to the words of this message. So, it’s not just a few of
us that should
show hospitality, that some know well, but all of us should have a part
in
that. Amen? Every single one of us. Matthew 25:31-40
When the Son of man shall come in
his
glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the
throne of
his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall
separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his
right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right
hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from
the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat:
I was
thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and
ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye
came unto
me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee
an
hungred, and fed thee? or
thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee
in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the
King shall
answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least
of these my
brethren, ye have done it
unto
me. Amen! Close your Bibles; let’s
go home. We’ve done
our job; life is good! We’ve
done hospitality. But
that’s not the end of the story; there’s
some that didn’t, right? So,
let’s read
on. Matthew 35:41-46
Then shall he say also unto them
on the
left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the
devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I
was
thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not
in:
naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me
not. Then
shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred,
or
athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not
minister
unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch
as ye did it not to one of
the
least of these, ye did it not
to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the
righteous
into life eternal. It
was almost as if the ones who
did it were just doing it out of habit; that’s just what they always
did. But they both
asked the same question, “When
did we do it?” Don’t
you think that if
the people who didn’t do it, knew it was the Lord, they would have done
it? Don’t you think
they would have went
out of their way, “Oh, Jesus is… I’ve
got to take care of Jesus!” But
they
didn’t do it to their fellow-man, who would have become their brother,
and that
is where we really need to reach out to the stranger.
Amen?
They’re held accountable for that.
I’m held accountable for that.
It
adds to the church. Otherwise,
He would
have said, “You wouldn’t have done it to Me, you’ve done it to the
least of
these.” At one
point they’re a stranger,
and then they become part of us. You
see, God always provided a place for the strangers.
Hospitality was commanded.
Yeah, He chose Israel.
Called them by name, gave them the Law, gave
them everything they needed, He fed them when they needed to be fed,
watered
them when they needed to be watered, but He also left a place for those
who
were on the outside looking in. Leviticus 19:9-10
And when ye reap the harvest of
your land,
thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou
gather
the gleanings of thy harvest. And
thou
shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou
shalt leave them for the poor
and stranger: I am the LORD
your God. God
always had a plan; you’ve
always got to have a plan to prepare for the stranger. Leviticus 19:33-34
And if a stranger sojourn with
thee in
your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with
you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as
thyself
[love
thy neighbor as
thyself… So, who is
the stranger? Who
is the neighbor?]; for ye were strangers in
the land of Egypt: I am the
LORD your God. Don’t
forget, you were a stranger,
too. Sometimes, in
this country, we get
things a little wrong. We
think that, as
Americans, we have all these rights, and no one else should have them. How does God see that? How does God see that we
should minister to
every soul? See, in
politics, they want
to put us on one side of the issue or the other, they try to divide us
from
each other, but God sees through all that.
He called you to minister to the stranger. How do you so meet the
needs of the stranger? How
is our heart toward the stranger?
“I was born here.”
Israel could have said the same thing, but
God said, “No, you were a stranger, too.”
We weren’t all born in this country, or our
ancestors weren’t all born
in this country. I’m
not going to get
into the politics of this, but, let’s talk about whose side do you want
to be
on when it says, “You go to this side, and you go to that side?” Whose side do you want to
be on at the end of
time? God sees the
bigger picture; he
looks at souls, He doesn’t look at words and walls.
He looks at souls and meeting the needs of
the stranger. That’s
more important to
God than what we think is right or wrong. There’s
a Scripture passage in the
Old Testament—you can look this up on your own time—but, the captain of
the Host
of the Army of God came to the man of God, and there was a battle set
in array;
the army of Israel on one side, and the enemy on the other side, and
they were
getting ready to do battle, and the man of God asked the captain of the
Host of
the Army of God, “Whose side are you on? Are you on our side or on
their side?”
He said
“Neither; I’m on God’s side.”
(Joshua 5:13-15). Make
sure you’re on
God’s side in every age. Pray,
look out,
seek to meet the needs of the stranger.
There
is risk in taking in a stranger. But,
it’s like any investment. You’re
investing in the Kingdom; there’s a
risk in any kind of investment. There’s
a risk in taking people in your life, in your home, in your heart, and,
sometimes,
people are going to take advantage of you.
Sometimes people are going to be downright cruel,
and stomp all over
your charity, stomp all over your hospitality.
Do you just stop?
Maybe you
minister to a hundred people, and one person, one soul says, “Okay, I
want to
have what you have.” Don’t
get worried
about the risk; worry about the Kingdom and hospitality. Yeah, I get that; I have a
family; I’m not
going to just bring anybody into my house.
I have a daughter, a young daughter.
I’ve got to be careful who I bring into my home, and
let stay in my
home, and let eat my food. Yes,
I understand
that, but you have got to have some faith.
You can’t let something that happened to somebody
else, or happened to
you in your past, stop you from showing hospitality and love to the
stranger,
amen? God
invested in all of us; paid for
it in blood. Paid
for it in blood. In
fact, he invested in the whole world.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son… He
invested in
everybody, even the stranger. Hospitality. My
grandfather had passed, years
ago, and I went home, and before the funeral on Sunday, they had like a
little
memorial. A chance
where all the uncles
and aunts got to stand up and share stories about their dad, my
grandfather. And I
was listening to
these and, really, he was a man that was given to hospitality. He would—there was no
stranger to him. He
would stop alongside the road, and fix a
car, give someone a ride, maybe scare them—there were some very strange
people. In fact,
one time, one of my
uncles was talking about how there were teen-agers working at the farm,
and a
group of—a motorcycle gang came down to the farm.
And, it was the Hell’s Angels.
It wasn’t the nicest people that you would
want to deal with, the people that you would want to come over and show
hospitality to, right? So,
one of them
is like, “I wonder how close to the house is where I have to get the
shotgun?” And I
think thinking things
like that are, but the leader of the gang motioned to the rest of them,
“Stop
there,” and he got off his bike, and he had a big tear in his eye, and
he went
and hugged my grandfather, exchanged some words, and then he got back
on his
bike, and then they left. Somehow,
some
way in his life, my grandpa had showed hospitality to that man, and he
felt—he
was in that state, that he needed to come and pay respect to my
grandfather. So,
we’ve got to leave a
legacy of hospitality, for people to say, “I remember that church. I remember those people. I’m here in Virginia,
maybe I’ve got to look
up, where I can get some fellowship with them now, or, over in Japan,
or San
Diego, who do I go talk to? Or,
I’m in
Florida. Especially
in the Navy; if
you’re in the Navy, you’re going to travel a lot, and we’ve got places
where we
can get together for that type of hospitality.
People, even years down the road, right, Bob? People
will call us, from
the school. Many,
many years ago, and
say, “You know, I’m down in this area.
Do you know of anybody I can get together with? My
Uncle Jim also shared with me—he
spent some time in Israel, probably three or four years. He worked on the oil rigs,
and, so, he got to
learn a lot of the language, and spend time in Israel, and one of the
customs, even
today, is you can knock on the door of a total stranger—not even know
them—and say,
“What’s for dinner?” and they will invite you in and have dinner with
you. Pastor Ulysse
shared with, his family in
Haiti, they always had enough food for everybody else, but they always
had an
extra place for the stranger, just in case somebody would come by in
that house
that night. They
never knew if someone was
going to come in; they always had an extra plate in their house. So,
as we get ready to close, and
Andy gets ready to close us, let’s go back to that first Scripture,
showing
hospitality: Acts 2:45-47 And
sold their possessions and goods, and parted
them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with
one
accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat
their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising
God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added
to the church daily such as should be saved. Amen. Give the Lord a praise.
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