Latest / Marriage Life and More and Bible Study / Hospitality as Ministry (Marriage as a Mission) Pt 1 - 339

Transcript

Hospitality as Ministry (Marriage as a Mission) Pt 1 - 339 · Marriage Life and More and Bible Study

• 0:06
  Daniel Moore: This week we're diving into something that most couples probably don't think about very often.
• 0:11
  Daniel Moore: The idea that your marriage and your home might actually be one of the greatest ministry tools that God has ever placed in your hands.
• 0:18
  Daniel Moore: That's right, your living room, your kitchen table, your front porch, and yes, even that pile of laundry currently judging you from across the room.
• 0:26
  Daniel Moore: They can all become part of kingdom work.
• 0:28
  Daniel Moore: Because at the end of the day, a Christian home was never meant to simply be a place where we eat, sleep, pay bills, and occasionally debate whose turn it is to take out the trash.
• 0:37
  Daniel Moore: God designed marriage to reflect something far bigger, something eternal.
• 0:42
  Daniel Moore: Ephesians 5 tells us that marriage reflects Christ and the church, which means every act of grace, forgiveness, patience, and love in our homes becomes a visible picture of the gospel to those around us.
• 0:54
  Daniel Moore: But honestly, that's what makes this conversation so important and so relatable.
• 0:59
  Daniel Moore: Ministry doesn't just happen on church stages with microphones and spotlights, it happens in ordinary homes with ordinary couples learning how to love each other well while keeping Jesus at the center.
• 1:11
  Daniel Moore: So this week, we want to encourage you to believe that your home can become holy ground, your marriage can become ministry, and your everyday life can become part of God's greater mission because when a husband and wife choose to build their home around Christ, even ordinary moments can carry an eternal impact.
• 1:28
  Daniel Moore: Welcome to Marriage Life and More.
• 1:34
  Daniel Moore: This is a podcast about marriage, Bible, and book studies.
• 1:36
  Daniel Moore: We interview people that have inspiring stories.
• 1:38
  Daniel Moore: I'm Daniel Moore, your host.
• 1:40
  Daniel Moore: And over next to me is my beautiful co-host, my wife Michelle.
• 1:43
  Michelle Moore: Hey, hey!
• 1:44
  Daniel Moore: Thank you guys for joining us this week.
• 1:45
  Daniel Moore: Not me with our show.
• 1:46
  Daniel Moore: Check out our website at marriagelifeandmore.com.
• 1:49
  Daniel Moore: Our links to our platforms are there, YouTube and Rumble.
• 1:52
  Daniel Moore: We're also in the Christian Podcasting app Edifi.
• 1:54
  Daniel Moore: We're also on your Alexa and Google Smart Devices.
• 1:57
  Daniel Moore: You can also visit us on social, on Facebook, Instagram, and X at CTGAPOnline.
• 2:02
  Daniel Moore: If you're a fan of our show, please subscribe and feel free to leave a comment on our platforms.
• 2:06
  Daniel Moore: Give us a thumbs up or a five-star review on Apple Podcast, and we'd be thankful to you for doing that.
• 2:12
  Daniel Moore: Well, this week we're continuing our series, Marriage as a Mission, as we continue to work through the first book that we've released here at the Ministry.
• 2:21
  Daniel Moore: You can pick that up anywhere at Amazon, Walmart, Barnes Noble, anywhere pretty much you can get books, you can purchase that online.
• 2:28
  Daniel Moore: And there is a six-session study guide that goes with it as well.
• 2:32
  Daniel Moore: That's also just available at Amazon only.
• 2:35
  Daniel Moore: But if you'd like to pick that up, we're in episode eight this week.
• 2:38
  Daniel Moore: So we still got several weeks left as we finish up this series.
• 2:42
  Daniel Moore: Have plenty of time to purchase that and jump in and go ahead and go through this series together with us as we continue this week here on Marriage Life and More.
• 2:51
  Daniel Moore: Well, this week we're going to go ahead, as I said, we're going to kick off episode eight.
• 2:56
  Daniel Moore: And this will be part one of that episode.
• 2:59
  Daniel Moore: And this week we're going to be talking about hospitality as ministry.
• 3:04
  Daniel Moore: But biblical hospitality?
• 3:35
  Daniel Moore: That's a whole different ball game.
• 3:37
  Daniel Moore: Less about matching tableware and more about opening your life, your home, and sometimes your last loaf of bread to someone who might just be an angel in disguise.
• 3:47
  Daniel Moore: One of the most striking and frankly slightly awkward examples of hospitality as ministry comes from none other than Father Abraham.
• 3:55
  Daniel Moore: You know the story, Abraham is chilling out by his tent, probably enjoying a quiet afternoon in the shade when three travelers stroll up.
• 4:03
  Daniel Moore: Does he send them away because he's still in his bathrobe?
• 4:06
  Daniel Moore: Nope.
• 4:07
  Daniel Moore: Instead, he springs into action like an ancient Near Eastern Martha Stewart rushes around to prepare a feast and offer rest.
• 4:14
  Daniel Moore: What he doesn't realize at that moment is that one of those guests is the Lord himself, and the other two are heavenly companions, possibly packing serious angelic credentials.
• 4:25
  Daniel Moore: That dusty roadside lunch became a divine appointment.
• 4:29
  Daniel Moore: Abraham didn't just host guests, he hosted God.
• 4:32
  Daniel Moore: I mean, no pressure or anything.
• 4:35
  Daniel Moore: Well this episode explores how even in our cluttered homes and cluttered schedules, hospitality can become a powerful ministry.
• 4:43
  Daniel Moore: Whether it's sharing a meal or simply making someone feel like they belong, the sacred act of welcoming others can open doors not just to your home, but to the heart of God.
• 4:53
  Daniel Moore: And who knows, the person drinking your last cup of coffee might just be sent straight from heaven.
• 4:59
  Daniel Moore: So maybe keep that bathroom clean just in case.
• 5:03
  Daniel Moore: And Michelle and I can definitely resignate with that.
• 5:08
  Daniel Moore: Yes.
• 5:08
  Daniel Moore: We've uh hosted life groups at our house.
• 5:11
  Daniel Moore: Yes.
• 5:12
  Daniel Moore: And we know that coming with that, you know, when you have dogs in the house and just living day to day in your house, you know, it's like, well, the group's coming over.
• 5:22
  Daniel Moore: We gotta start picking up, gotta do cleaning again.
• 5:25
  Daniel Moore: And sometimes it seems like it's just a never-ending chore uh whenever you do that.
• 5:30
  Daniel Moore: But I don't think there's anything more rewarding sometimes, though, than having just a group of good believers that are friends come over, share a meal, um, you know, share the word.
• 5:42
  Daniel Moore: And as we were kind of discussing before this started, this actually is kind of your wheelhouse to an extent because you love to host.
• 5:51
  Daniel Moore: I do, I do, you love to serve others and and all that kind of thing.
• 5:55
  Daniel Moore: So we actually don't host the life group right at the moment.
• 5:58
  Daniel Moore: We did that for about a year, a little over a year, I think it was.
• 6:01
  Daniel Moore: Two years maybe.
• 6:02
  Michelle Moore: Two years, yeah.
• 6:03
  Daniel Moore: And we loved every minute of it.
• 6:05
  Daniel Moore: But, you know, there's a season for everything.
• 6:08
  Daniel Moore: And as we were doing the hosting thing, we kept getting busier with different things in the church, taking on more responsibilities, and then our ministry here, um, everything that we do with it, uh, we had to start trimming a little bit here and there.
• 6:24
  Michelle Moore: So well, it was more like me like, okay, something has to give.
• 6:28
  Daniel Moore: That's right.
• 6:29
  Michelle Moore: Because I can't go all the time like he can.
• 6:31
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 6:32
  Daniel Moore: And so we ended up uh going ahead and stopping our life group at that point, but there's still things that happen at our house where you get to host pretty regularly and and you love doing that, and I love watching you do that.
• 6:44
  Daniel Moore: That's and we're gonna talk about this.
• 6:46
  Daniel Moore: That's a ministry.
• 6:47
  Daniel Moore: Um, that's something that I think you have to have a really a calling on you uh to do something like that.
• 6:54
  Daniel Moore: And, you know, I don't think everybody can actually be a good host and and pull it off like they should.
• 7:00
  Daniel Moore: I think it takes a a special person that has that calling on their life um to make that happen.
• 7:05
  Daniel Moore: So we're gonna go ahead and get started this week.
• 7:07
  Daniel Moore: And Michelle, if you want to go ahead and and get us started there with using your home as a place of mission.
• 7:13
  Michelle Moore: Yeah, our homes are meant to be more than just places where we crash after a long day, hunt for missing socks, and stare into the fridge hoping food magically appears since the last time we checked it 30 seconds ago.
• 7:26
  Michelle Moore: According to God's design, our homes are supposed to be mission outposts, a little embassies of kingdom where grace is lived out, where people feel seen, and where the love of Jesus becomes tangible.
• 7:41
  Michelle Moore: A godly home is not measured by your square footage, but by the size of the welcome inside it.
• 7:48
  Michelle Moore: Some couples think ministry only happens on church platforms, behind pulpits, or on mission trips overseas.
• 7:56
  Michelle Moore: But throughout Scripture, some of the most powerful ministry moments happen around dinner tables, in living rooms, and through ordinary acts of hospitality.
• 8:05
  Michelle Moore: Romans 12 13 tells believers to share with the Lord's people who are in need.
• 8:10
  Michelle Moore: Practice hospitality.
• 8:12
  Michelle Moore: Notice Paul didn't say practice hospitality if your house is spotless.
• 8:19
  Michelle Moore: He didn't say only invite people over once your marriage is perfect, your kids behave, and your decorative throw pillows all match.
• 8:27
  Michelle Moore: Honestly, if that were the requirement, most of us would never invite anybody over.
• 8:34
  Michelle Moore: Hospitality is not about performance, it's about presence.
• 8:39
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, as we get started here, that's there's some very good points that you've just crossed there.
• 8:45
  Daniel Moore: And you know, probably the main takeaway from there was when you were talking about a godly home is not m measured by square footage, but the size of the welcome inside of it.
• 8:57
  Michelle Moore: I like that.
• 8:58
  Daniel Moore: With the heart of a servant like you have, what what does that mean to you when you read a statement like that?
• 9:04
  Daniel Moore: What does that make you think of when you think of a home that actually measures itself in that way?
• 9:10
  Michelle Moore: Well, I was sitting there thinking about as I was reading some of this, you know, it's not about that being the house being spotless, it's about people coming in and feeling welcome and about being genuine and letting them know that, hey, this house is your house.
• 9:26
  Michelle Moore: Like, you know, it it's not to me about what's inside of it, it's about who they are and how you know God flows out of me to make them feel so welcome.
• 9:38
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 9:38
  Daniel Moore: And you know, back in the day, you know, several years back, we were leading that the other life group that we used to lead.
• 9:45
  Daniel Moore: It was college age and young adult.
• 9:48
  Daniel Moore: And you know, that's a whole different ball game when you're in that age group.
• 9:54
  Daniel Moore: The the life group that we just had was more adults, up into senior adults.
• 9:59
  Daniel Moore: But when you have the younger group especially, you always kind of have that open door policy.
• 10:05
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 10:05
  Daniel Moore: You know, you always tell them, you know, if you guys just want to come hang out sometime, you know, if you're bored or if you want to come over, just need to talk about something.
• 10:12
  Daniel Moore: You know, we always our door was always open.
• 10:15
  Daniel Moore: And I think and they did come.
• 10:17
  Daniel Moore: They did.
• 10:18
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, and you and I think when you look at using your home as hospitality, as using it as a mission, uh, with you know, when you're a married couple and you're just able to pour into people like that, then you almost have to be like a 24-7 type of thing to an extent.
• 10:35
  Daniel Moore: Because there are people there that are going to look to you for their their times that they may need something or need some prayer.
• 10:42
  Daniel Moore: Uh, maybe they just feel lonely for a little bit and they just need somebody to hang out with, you know.
• 10:47
  Daniel Moore: It's just amazing what happens when people get together and start having some conversation and just, you know, start filling each other's void with your presence.
• 10:58
  Daniel Moore: And I like I know with us we are really picky and we do.
• 11:04
  Michelle Moore: I'm not as near as picky as you are because I'm like, this is life.
• 11:10
  Michelle Moore: They need to see our life, you know.
• 11:12
  Michelle Moore: To me, it's not always about cleaning the house and you know, we we always tease each other because it's like if you see tumbleweeds, we're sorry, you know.
• 11:21
  Michelle Moore: That would be our dog's rolling hair, right?
• 11:24
  Michelle Moore: You know, golden doodle.
• 11:25
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 11:26
  Michelle Moore: We vacuum every single day.
• 11:28
  Michelle Moore: I mean like it's still, but it's still there.
• 11:31
  Michelle Moore: But the thing is I don't want people to come over and think my life is made.
• 11:36
  Michelle Moore: Right.
• 11:37
  Michelle Moore: You know, it it needs to show this is my daily life.
• 11:40
  Michelle Moore: I live this way, I humbly go to other people's houses and show up un uninvited sometimes.
• 11:49
  Michelle Moore: And I know how I feel, it doesn't bother me as much, but it bothers you quite a bit.
• 11:54
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 11:55
  Michelle Moore: So we try not to do that.
• 11:57
  Michelle Moore: And so, but the thing is God wants people to be able to stop by at any time, and our homes should be welcome and it should be open to where anybody feels like they're welcome.
• 12:10
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 12:10
  Daniel Moore: And regardless of how either of us feels about it, that's how our door is.
• 12:15
  Michelle Moore: Um, we anybody knows that our door has doggy sn uh smudges on it from their noses, just FYI.
• 12:22
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, but it's always open.
• 12:23
  Michelle Moore: Yes.
• 12:24
  Daniel Moore: You know, if if we've already we've told anybody that knows us well, they know that if they need to come by at any time and talk to us or whatever it may be, that our door is always open.
• 12:35
  Daniel Moore: And you're the type of person, and anybody that knows us well knows this about Michelle.
• 12:40
  Daniel Moore: She is a seasoned decorator.
• 12:43
  Daniel Moore: So she decorates for every season uh in the year and practic and it's a bunch of them.
• 12:52
  Daniel Moore: I'm constantly hauling totes out of the attic and up and down the stairs.
• 12:55
  Michelle Moore: I know.
• 12:56
  Michelle Moore: Easy, easy.
• 12:58
  Daniel Moore: But I have to give her credit because I do think it looks awesome.
• 13:01
  Daniel Moore: She's really, really good at decorating, and she keeps our home home very, very nice, very homey.
• 13:07
  Daniel Moore: We always get comments about how homey our home feels, and people come in, they just feel relaxed, they feel welcome.
• 13:13
  Daniel Moore: And that's the kind of an atmosphere, you know, that you do want.
• 13:16
  Daniel Moore: And so we're so thankful that God's given, for one thing, I'm thankful He's given you the capability to decorate like you do.
• 13:24
  Daniel Moore: He's given us a beautiful home.
• 13:25
  Daniel Moore: And so I think that you know, God wants us to use that for his glory.
• 13:30
  Daniel Moore: And it kind of leads into this next point.
• 13:33
  Daniel Moore: You know, people may forget your decorations, but they'll never forget how your home made them feel.
• 13:38
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 13:38
  Daniel Moore: You know, some of the sweetest moments of ministry happen in imperfect environments.
• 13:43
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 13:44
  Daniel Moore: A crock pot meal.
• 13:45
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 13:45
  Daniel Moore: Kids running through the hallway screaming like tiny caffeinated missionaries.
• 13:50
  Michelle Moore: I love that.
• 13:51
  Daniel Moore: Husband trying to help clean up, but somehow loading the dishwasher like he's solving a Ruby's cube blindfolded.
• 13:56
  Daniel Moore: You know, it's real life, it's real people, and it's real love.
• 13:59
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 14:00
  Daniel Moore: And that's exactly the kind of environment where Jesus loves to move.
• 14:03
  Michelle Moore: Yes.
• 14:03
  Daniel Moore: Hospitality is deeply woven into the story of scripture because hospitality reflects the heart of God Himself.
• 14:10
  Daniel Moore: If you get the Bible and you look from Genesis all the way to Revelation, we see a God who welcomes people in.
• 14:16
  Daniel Moore: You know, in Psalms 23, there's a very popular scripture.
• 14:20
  Daniel Moore: It says, You prepare a table before me.
• 14:22
  Daniel Moore: Jesus constantly sat at tables with sinners, outsiders, and hurting people.
• 14:26
  Daniel Moore: The gospel itself is an invitation into the family of God.
• 14:30
  Michelle Moore: I'm going to say something right there.
• 14:32
  Michelle Moore: When you just said that, you know, I I in my mind, I think a lot of people think about, you know, well, I don't want people to come over because look at my house.
• 14:41
  Michelle Moore: Or I I don't, you know, my house is not this nice.
• 14:45
  Michelle Moore: Or, you know, I just feel like a lot of times we forget the whole purpose that God has provided our home for us.
• 14:52
  Michelle Moore: And when you said that, you know, I was just thinking about real life, real people.
• 14:58
  Michelle Moore: You know, he said with people, the hurting people, the outsiders, you know, if we tend to get caught up within ourselves, we're gonna miss that.
• 15:10
  Michelle Moore: Yes.
• 15:11
  Michelle Moore: We're gonna miss that opportunity that the father has for us.
• 15:14
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 15:15
  Michelle Moore: And a lot of people are really worried about that, or I'm too busy, or anything like that.
• 15:20
  Michelle Moore: We have to remember why we're here.
• 15:22
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 15:23
  Daniel Moore: And the reason for that is when we as a couple cultivate a welcoming home, what are we doing?
• 15:29
  Michelle Moore: We're reflecting the character of the Christ together.
• 15:32
  Daniel Moore: Exactly right.
• 15:32
  Daniel Moore: That's right.
• 15:33
  Daniel Moore: Now there's another example in the Bible in 1 Kings 17 about the widow at Zarephath.
• 15:37
  Daniel Moore: Yes.
• 15:38
  Daniel Moore: This woman was down to her final handful of flour and a tiny bit of oil.
• 15:42
  Daniel Moore: She was literally preparing what she believed would be her last meal before death.
• 15:47
  Daniel Moore: But then Elijah shows up and asks her to feed him first.
• 15:51
  Daniel Moore: And you can imagine that moment for a second.
• 15:54
  Daniel Moore: You know, she had to be thinking, you know, sir, read the room.
• 15:57
  Daniel Moore: You know, yet in faith and obedience, she gave what little she had and God multiplied it.
• 16:02
  Daniel Moore: That story reminds us the hospitality has never been about abundance, it's always been about obedience.
• 16:08
  Daniel Moore: And I actually did an episode on that story several years ago.
• 16:14
  Daniel Moore: Um, it's called Living from a Deficit.
• 16:16
  Daniel Moore: Can't remember exactly what episode that was, but the whole point that I drew out of that episode was she was looking at what she didn't have.
• 16:23
  Daniel Moore: That's all that she was focused on was the little bit that she had left.
• 16:28
  Daniel Moore: So in essence, when you kind of flip that over into life, there's times that we feel like we're nothing.
• 16:36
  Daniel Moore: We feel like we have very little to offer.
• 16:39
  Daniel Moore: And we get negative on ourselves.
• 16:42
  Daniel Moore: Satan likes to speak that over us.
• 16:44
  Daniel Moore: You know, he he's always wanting us to uh feel like that, you know, we're who he says we are, that we're defined by our our failures and things that are negative about ourselves.
• 16:56
  Daniel Moore: When God wants us to look at no, you have this little bit left, but how much can you do with that little bit with me involved?
• 17:04
  Daniel Moore: You know?
• 17:04
  Daniel Moore: And when God's involved in that, that what we look at as a little bit, God's looking at it as a beginning of something huge.
• 17:12
  Michelle Moore: That's good.
• 17:13
  Daniel Moore: And it's all in our perspective, and that's why Elijah here was trying to get, you know, to the widow whenever, especially when he told her to feed him first, she's probably thinking, Well, man, he's kind of selfish, you know.
• 17:25
  Daniel Moore: Guys are always, you know, it's kind of common for a man to be nice to a woman and let them go first.
• 17:32
  Daniel Moore: You know, I remember family dinners we'd always let the girls go first and get their food, and the, you know, the kids and men would eat last.
• 17:38
  Daniel Moore: You know, you think of a lot of different cultures like that around the world, that happens a lot in different scenarios where the men, you know, they stay back and let the women go first or whatever.
• 17:49
  Daniel Moore: Well, here we got Elijah.
• 17:50
  Daniel Moore: He's like, I want to eat first.
• 17:51
  Daniel Moore: You know, I'm gonna eat before you and the kid.
• 17:53
  Michelle Moore: Well, and what makes me also think about is because we live in such a different world now, if you had nothing but one little thing left and someone knocked on your door and said, Do you have this?
• 18:07
  Michelle Moore: How many people would actually give that?
• 18:10
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 18:10
  Daniel Moore: It's a very heart-searching question.
• 18:13
  Michelle Moore: I mean, I'm sitting here asking myself, like, you know, I it just it blows my mind to think that, you know, but here she did.
• 18:21
  Michelle Moore: She did it.
• 18:23
  Daniel Moore: Yep.
• 18:23
  Daniel Moore: And look what God did.
• 18:25
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 18:25
  Daniel Moore: He multiplied, she she couldn't get enough jars to hold all the oil.
• 18:29
  Daniel Moore: And that just goes to show that if we put ourselves and what we have in God's hands and say, God, you gave me all of this, if it wasn't for you, I would not be here.
• 18:42
  Daniel Moore: I wouldn't have what I have.
• 18:44
  Daniel Moore: Use it for what you will.
• 18:46
  Daniel Moore: It's amazing the things and the and the lives that can be touched by that.
• 18:51
  Michelle Moore: Well, even with our gifts and our talents.
• 18:53
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, there's so many things that goes into that scenario.
• 18:56
  Daniel Moore: And so I think that just a little message out of that little portion there, you know, is if maybe you in your mind, maybe you've been approached here recently to utilize something you own, whether it fit your house, your car, whatever it may be, maybe you've been uh convicted in your heart to do something, but you feel like, you know, you're on the lower end of the spectrum.
• 19:20
  Daniel Moore: You don't have much.
• 19:22
  Daniel Moore: And you're afraid to jump into that because what little you have, you're afraid of losing it.
• 19:26
  Daniel Moore: Just remember with God on your side, if he's truly in it, you're going to be able to succeed.
• 19:33
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 19:33
  Daniel Moore: He will make sure of that.
• 19:34
  Daniel Moore: And you'll probably actually get blessed even more beyond what you had to begin with.
• 19:39
  Daniel Moore: We're blessed to be a blessing.
• 19:41
  Daniel Moore: That's what the Bible tells us.
• 19:42
  Michelle Moore: Right.
• 19:57
  Daniel Moore: So go ahead and go with the next point there.
• 19:59
  Michelle Moore: God does not ask us to give from overflow alone.
• 20:02
  Michelle Moore: Sometimes he asks us to trust him with the little we think we have left.
• 20:08
  Michelle Moore: There are married couples listening right now who feel like they don't have enough to offer.
• 20:13
  Michelle Moore: Maybe money is tight, maybe the house is small, maybe life feels chaotic, maybe you've got laundry piles stacked high enough to qualify as a hiking trap.
• 20:24
  Michelle Moore: Been there before.
• 20:26
  Michelle Moore: But hospitality was never about impressing people.
• 20:30
  Michelle Moore: It was about loving people.
• 20:32
  Michelle Moore: And sometimes the most impactful ministry comes from the couples who simply say, Come on in anyway.
• 20:40
  Michelle Moore: Around the world, this kind of open-hearted living is normal.
• 20:44
  Michelle Moore: In places like Ethiopia, Pakistan, and the Philippines, families where very little materially will still welcome strangers with incredible generosity.
• 20:56
  Michelle Moore: They may not have guest bedrooms or fancy dining tables, but they make room.
• 21:02
  Michelle Moore: They share the meals together, they offer rest.
• 21:05
  Michelle Moore: They understand something we often forget in a Western culture.
• 21:10
  Michelle Moore: A home is meant to be shared.
• 21:13
  Michelle Moore: Meanwhile, many of us in America treat our homes like high security compounds.
• 21:19
  Michelle Moore: We've got privacy fences, security cameras, video doorbells, and enough caution around unexpected visitors to make it feel like regarding classified government files.
• 21:31
  Michelle Moore: And I'm pretty sure he just pretty much told on himself.
• 21:35
  Michelle Moore: Every bit of it, people.
• 21:39
  Michelle Moore: Every bit of it.
• 21:40
  Michelle Moore: I'm like, he just told on himself.
• 21:45
  Michelle Moore: So let's be honest.
• 21:46
  Michelle Moore: If somebody rings a doorbell unexpectedly, half of us hit the floor like we're in an action movie.
• 21:52
  Michelle Moore: But Hebrews 13 2 says, Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by By so doing, some people may have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
• 22:05
  Michelle Moore: That verse changes their perspective completely.
• 22:08
  Michelle Moore: What if that interruption isn't actually an interruption?
• 22:13
  Michelle Moore: What if the person needing encouragement, conversation, or refuge is someone God intentionally brought across your path?
• 22:22
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, this section's a little convicting.
• 22:24
  Daniel Moore: I'm not gonna lie.
• 22:26
  Daniel Moore: And honestly, I think all of us, especially here in the States, now I know these episodes get listened to all over the world.
• 22:34
  Daniel Moore: So some and some of you that are listening right now may be in that culture where you do share a lot.
• 22:40
  Daniel Moore: Your how your home has an open door to whoever may come.
• 22:45
  Daniel Moore: And that's awesome.
• 22:46
  Daniel Moore: That's how God wants us to be.
• 22:48
  Daniel Moore: But anybody that's familiar with the Western culture where we live in the United States, it's a whole different ball game here.
• 22:56
  Daniel Moore: And there's a mixture of a lot of different kinds of people, is probably the best way to put it in our country.
• 23:02
  Daniel Moore: You've got the people that will give you the shirt off their back.
• 23:06
  Daniel Moore: I mean, anything that's theirs is yours.
• 23:08
  Daniel Moore: And you know that they'll flat they'll make it known.
• 23:12
  Daniel Moore: But then there's other people that are just a little bit more not quite as open with it all.
• 23:18
  Daniel Moore: They're, you know, they're okay if they know you, or you know, they've if there's a little bit of security there and what they know, they might be willing to do that.
• 23:28
  Daniel Moore: And then you got the people that it's an absolute no.
• 23:31
  Daniel Moore: I mean, it it would be like uh a huge miracle, you know, if they ever helped anybody.
• 23:38
  Daniel Moore: It's amazing all the different kinds that you run into here in our country.
• 23:43
  Daniel Moore: And, you know, as Christians, we have to remember that, you know, yes, security is a thing.
• 23:50
  Daniel Moore: I totally get that.
• 23:51
  Daniel Moore: We live in a world now that's not like it used to be.
• 23:53
  Daniel Moore: There's a lot of dangerous people walking around, and we are very wary of people walking up in the dark to our front doors knocking that we don't know who they are, where they came from.
• 24:04
  Daniel Moore: So there is a little bit of discretion and some safety issues there that you got to be aware of.
• 24:08
  Michelle Moore: Right, right.
• 24:09
  Daniel Moore: Um, but at the same time, if you do get to the point where you realize this person just needs something, you know, and if you have that to offer, then we're being God's hands and feet at that point.
• 24:20
  Daniel Moore: Right.
• 24:21
  Daniel Moore: And so, and we can discern that through through pair.
• 24:24
  Daniel Moore: I think God will show us in those moments, you know, what it is that we need to do.
• 24:30
  Daniel Moore: And, you know, it's it's just something that I think we don't see as often today as what we used to.
• 24:36
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 24:37
  Daniel Moore: And, you know, it's it's kind of disturbing, really.
• 24:40
  Daniel Moore: It's it's just not a good thing.
• 24:42
  Daniel Moore: And so that's one thing that I've you know, I've learned even as we've done life group.
• 24:46
  Daniel Moore: Uh it's it's kind of put me out of my comfort zone a little bit to share what I've got, you know.
• 24:51
  Daniel Moore: Uh, we work hard for what we have.
• 24:53
  Daniel Moore: I mean, we're in the best place we've ever been in our whole life since we've been married, and you know, God's really blessed us.
• 25:00
  Daniel Moore: And it's real easy sometimes to just say, you know, I'm gonna keep that all to myself.
• 25:03
  Daniel Moore: I'm not gonna let anybody else get involved.
• 25:06
  Michelle Moore: And I'm totally opposite.
• 25:07
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, you are.
• 25:08
  Daniel Moore: And so, and I think that's partially why, you know, I have changed my views on a lot of things.
• 25:14
  Daniel Moore: I think, you know, I have you to thank for a lot of that because you do, anybody that knows you, you're a host.
• 25:20
  Daniel Moore: You love to serve people.
• 25:23
  Daniel Moore: And people closest to us know that.
• 25:25
  Daniel Moore: So, so your table, it may become the altar where someone encounters a love of God.
• 25:31
  Daniel Moore: So let's bring this into marriage practically for a moment.
• 25:36
  Daniel Moore: Hospitality is not just about opening your home to outsiders, it's also about how you treat each other inside the home.
• 25:42
  Daniel Moore: Preach it.
• 25:43
  Daniel Moore: Preach it.
• 25:43
  Daniel Moore: Some couples are excellent at being kind to guests while being short-tempered with each other behind closed doors.
• 25:50
  Daniel Moore: You know, we'll smile at company while silently arguing with our spouse through eye contact from across the kitchen.
• 25:56
  Daniel Moore: You know, you know the look.
• 25:57
  Daniel Moore: Every married couple knows that look.
• 26:00
  Daniel Moore: But a truly Christ-centered home starts with how husband and wife serve one another daily.
• 26:05
  Daniel Moore: Ephesians 5 reminds us that marriage itself is meant to reflect Christ in the church.
• 26:10
  Daniel Moore: That means hospitality begins with honor, patience, gentleness, and sacrifice toward your spouse first.
• 26:16
  Daniel Moore: Sometimes hospitality looks like welcoming guests over for dinner.
• 26:20
  Daniel Moore: Sometimes it looks like welcoming your exhausted spouse with grace after a hard day.
• 26:25
  Daniel Moore: Sometimes the holiest thing that you can do is put down your phone, listen well, and make your spouse feel emotionally safe again.
• 26:32
  Michelle Moore: That's really good.
• 26:33
  Daniel Moore: And I think there's a lot of truth to this here because, you know, we've talked about this a little bit here just even recently.
• 26:41
  Daniel Moore: If couples aren't in a position to be able to pour into other couples because they're already having those same problems, they don't need to be putting themselves into a spot pouring into other couples, you know.
• 26:53
  Michelle Moore: That is exactly right.
• 26:54
  Daniel Moore: You need to take care of home first.
• 26:55
  Daniel Moore: Because if you can't be at home and exemplify the, you know, exhibit this servant's heart and between each other and you know, have a good, cohesive relationship behind closed doors, then what are we gonna do when we let people come over?
• 27:13
  Daniel Moore: Just fake it, you know?
• 27:15
  Daniel Moore: It's like I think God holds us to a little bit higher level than that.
• 27:19
  Daniel Moore: And as we've been going through this marriage series and we've done other series before already, we've talked about this a lot about how we treat each other.
• 27:27
  Daniel Moore: And I think God expects us as you're really a leader.
• 27:32
  Daniel Moore: If you're gonna host people and host a life group or that kind of thing, that does kind of put you in a leadership position.
• 27:38
  Daniel Moore: And when that happens, I think God expects more out of us.
• 27:41
  Daniel Moore: You know, that's just how kind of how I look at that.
• 27:44
  Daniel Moore: So we need to make sure that if we feel like we have this calling on our life and this calling on our heart to open our doors to let people come in so that we can disciple them or pour into them, show them Christ's love.
• 27:57
  Daniel Moore: We really need to make sure home base is taken care of also before we even attempt that.
• 28:03
  Daniel Moore: God blesses that.
• 28:05
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, He will bless that tremendously.
• 28:07
  Daniel Moore: Go to the next one there.
• 28:08
  Michelle Moore: Um, before your home can become a refuge for others, it must first become a refuge for one another.
• 28:15
  Michelle Moore: One of the most powerful modern examples of hospitality changing history is the story of Millie Deanert and her husband Carl.
• 28:26
  Michelle Moore: They were an ordinary young couple in Pennsylvania when they met a relatively unknown evangelist named Billy Graham.
• 28:33
  Michelle Moore: Billy Graham wasn't yet filling stadiums or preaching to millions.
• 28:38
  Michelle Moore: He was just a young preacher traveling with a small ministry team, exhausted and operating on a shoestring budget.
• 28:46
  Michelle Moore: Millie and Carl opened their home to him repeatedly.
• 28:50
  Michelle Moore: They provided mills, rest, encouragement, and a Christ-centered atmosphere where weary ministers could breathe again.
• 28:57
  Michelle Moore: And here's what's incredible.
• 28:59
  Michelle Moore: Millie didn't know she was helping support one of the most influential evangelistic ministries in modern history.
• 29:07
  Michelle Moore: She simply made room at her table.
• 29:10
  Michelle Moore: That's the beauty of the kingdom hospitality.
• 29:13
  Michelle Moore: You often never realize the internal impact of ordinary obedience.
• 29:18
  Michelle Moore: One meal, one open door, one conversation, and one night of encouragement.
• 29:26
  Michelle Moore: God can use simple acts of faithfulness to create ripple effects that outlive us.
• 29:32
  Daniel Moore: And could you imagine being her and then seeing where Billy Graham would end up?
• 29:37
  Daniel Moore: He literally, if if you research this, and I work at a radio station, and at our radio station we play what we call Billy Graham Minutes.
• 29:48
  Daniel Moore: Uh they're a 60-second snippet from his sermons, and they made a little radio program out of them.
• 29:53
  Daniel Moore: But if you research into Billy Graham, he is actually one of the most popular, most influential preachers that's ever lived.
• 30:04
  Daniel Moore: He has met with the most presidents, he's been to the most countries, he's spoken to the most people.
• 30:10
  Daniel Moore: Honestly, there's really nobody else in history that's ever had an impact like Billy Graham did.
• 30:16
  Daniel Moore: And you know, how I wonder how that would have w happened if she had said no.
• 30:22
  Michelle Moore: It's very inert.
• 30:23
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 30:25
  Daniel Moore: You just never know, you know, just like we talked a little bit earlier about how you never know if you're serving an angel, you know, like the story of Abraham and what happened to him.
• 30:36
  Daniel Moore: Now we know Billy Graham wasn't an angel, but he was definitely called by God.
• 30:41
  Michelle Moore: Right, right.
• 30:41
  Daniel Moore: You know, God had a huge calling on his life, and he had Millie right in the middle of that story.
• 30:47
  Michelle Moore: So awesome.
• 30:48
  Daniel Moore: You know, she did not realize at the time what she was instigating and uh the discipleship that was going on there in her home as Billy Graham was, you know, getting older and starting to be more influential and starting to, you know, move into that calling that God put him in.
• 31:03
  Daniel Moore: So we never know.
• 31:05
  Daniel Moore: You know, it's some of the smallest things that we may really think that, you know, I'm gonna say no this time, it's not that big a deal.
• 31:12
  Daniel Moore: Uh, maybe, you know, there'll be another time.
• 31:14
  Daniel Moore: Well, you might be saying no to what's in the future could be one of the biggest influences in Christianity in the world that there ever will be.
• 31:25
  Daniel Moore: And you know, when you think of it that way, it really just makes you rethink a lot of things and how we respond in a lot of different cases.
• 31:34
  Michelle Moore: And and hopefully when you're thinking of saying no, you've been prayed up on it.
• 31:39
  Daniel Moore: Right.
• 31:40
  Michelle Moore: You know, you're you're not personally um what's where uh uh the human flesh saying no.
• 31:47
  Michelle Moore: You know, that's we have to be careful with that.
• 31:50
  Daniel Moore: Yes, we do.
• 31:51
  Daniel Moore: And you know, as we continue here, uh there's a little bit more here about Billy.
• 31:55
  Daniel Moore: It says you may never preach to a stadium, but your kitchen table can still change eternity.
• 32:00
  Daniel Moore: And this is exactly what happened in that story you just shared.
• 32:04
  Daniel Moore: The fact that she let him stay with them, eat at their table, that made a huge difference in where Billy Graham ended up later.
• 32:13
  Daniel Moore: And as I was just saying, he would eventually preach the gospel to over 215 million people worldwide.
• 32:20
  Daniel Moore: Millie herself became a respected Bible teacher and speaker.
• 32:24
  Daniel Moore: But part of that story started in an humble home where someone chose generosity over convenience.
• 32:30
  Daniel Moore: And honestly, that should encourage every married couple listening.
• 32:34
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 32:35
  Daniel Moore: You do not need perfection for God to use your home.
• 32:38
  Daniel Moore: You need willingness.
• 32:39
  Daniel Moore: Your couch may be worn out, your house may be small, your kids may be loud, your meals may occasionally resemble a science experiment gone wrong.
• 32:48
  Daniel Moore: But God specializes in using ordinary people with open hearts.
• 32:53
  Daniel Moore: So good.
• 32:54
  Daniel Moore: And you know, I could never even imagine talking to that many people about Jesus.
• 32:59
  Michelle Moore: Wow.
• 33:00
  Daniel Moore: And just and what I don't have here in this, because I didn't put it in there, I'm sure the if we research researched it, we could probably get a pretty good number on it.
• 33:09
  Daniel Moore: But I would say that out of that 215 million people that he spoke to, the ones that actually gave their life to Christ is probably a pretty huge number, also.
• 33:18
  Michelle Moore: Oh, I would agree with that.
• 33:19
  Daniel Moore: And honestly, I think he's still reaching, he's Billy's not even here now.
• 33:23
  Daniel Moore: He's died and went on to heaven, he's with our savior, but I guarantee you, somewhere some today, probably, or recently, somebody's probably given their life to Christ because of hearing Billy Graham something that he said.
• 33:37
  Daniel Moore: And you know, it's I think that's a legacy, is what that is.
• 33:41
  Daniel Moore: Absolutely.
• 33:41
  Daniel Moore: You know, whenever you can have that kind of impact and continue to have that even after you're gone, that speaks volumes.
• 33:50
  Daniel Moore: And, you know, I just I know that myself, I don't ever see myself being that impactful as far as he was concerned, but I do pray that whatever God has instilled inside of me, you know, you and I both, whenever we do our episodes together and everything, we always ask God in our prayers to, you know, open the borders, open the the doors that this podcast will reach whoever needs to hear it.
• 34:16
  Daniel Moore: You know, it's like there's so many hurting people in this world, and God's put that calling upon us to try to help, you know, fill some of those voids.
• 34:25
  Daniel Moore: And that's a prayer that that you and I have, yeah, you know, all the time is God just wherever this needs to go, and we umbly sit here at this microphone and record all of this and you know, put our life out there on the table, um, hoping that somewhere somebody's life will be changed.
• 34:41
  Michelle Moore: Yes, yes.
• 34:41
  Daniel Moore: And and all of everybody out there that's listening, all of you that are listeners, that should be your desire.
• 34:47
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 34:47
  Daniel Moore: You know, everybody has a testimony.
• 34:49
  Michelle Moore: Absolutely.
• 34:50
  Daniel Moore: It may not be a crazy messed up story like yours and mine.
• 34:53
  Daniel Moore: I think everybody has a messed up story.
• 34:55
  Michelle Moore: Yeah, but let's just keep thinking that.
• 34:57
  Michelle Moore: Yeah, exactly.
• 34:58
  Michelle Moore: Makes me feel better.
• 35:00
  Daniel Moore: Um, but regardless, everybody has a story.
• 35:03
  Michelle Moore: Yes, that's all right.
• 35:04
  Daniel Moore: You know, everybody has that moment that they just about gave up, but something happened and God came in and intervened somehow, and their life was changed forever.
• 35:13
  Daniel Moore: And you never know if you share that story with someone, you know, who who that can touch and who that will make a difference in their life.
• 35:22
  Daniel Moore: So, do you have anything else to add to this week's episode?
• 35:26
  Michelle Moore: No, this this is good.
• 35:28
  Michelle Moore: It's so good.
• 35:29
  Daniel Moore: And next week we're gonna dig into a little bit deeper.
• 35:31
  Daniel Moore: And so, you know, I I think that you know, when it comes to being a servant, there's so many things that fall underneath that category.
• 35:42
  Daniel Moore: And this is one of those that I think is overlooked a lot of times.
• 35:46
  Daniel Moore: Uh, you know, just opening our homes so that people can come in and just feel the love of Jesus, you know?
• 35:53
  Daniel Moore: Um, so you know, hospitality is not about creating an impressive environment, it's about creating a Christ-filled atmosphere.
• 35:59
  Daniel Moore: I mean, this is pretty much the essence of what we've been talking about this whole week.
• 36:03
  Daniel Moore: There's something deeply healing about entering a home where peace lives, a place where people laugh together, pray together, and make room for others.
• 36:12
  Daniel Moore: So, in a culture filled with loneliness, anxiety, division, and isolation, Christian homes have an opportunity to shine brighter than ever.
• 36:19
  Daniel Moore: And there's a huge truth in that because how many people nowadays hurt and have issues.
• 36:26
  Daniel Moore: There's so much going on.
• 36:28
  Daniel Moore: Satan is on such a rampant attack on so many people.
• 36:31
  Daniel Moore: And so I think today more than ever, I think Christian homes are needed for people to just be able to come in and just feel the love of Jesus, you know.
• 36:40
  Daniel Moore: And the positive thing about that is married couples, we all have a unique opportunity to model this together.
• 36:47
  Daniel Moore: You know, when a husband and wife intentionally cultivate warmth, generosity, and grace in their home, they preach a sermon without every stepping behind a pulpit.
• 36:55
  Daniel Moore: That's why some of the greatest ministry moments in history didn't happen on conference stages, they happened around kitchen tables.
• 37:02
  Daniel Moore: So keep the coffee warm, keep your heart soft, and keep your home available to God because kingdom work often walks through the front door disguised as an ordinary moment.
• 37:11
  Daniel Moore: And who knows, the next person sitting at your dinner table may desperately need to encounter the love of Jesus through your simple act of welcome, or at the very least, through your famous casserole recipe that somehow fixes everyone's problems.
• 37:26
  Daniel Moore: Well, that's gonna about wrap it up for this week.
• 37:40
  Daniel Moore: Don't forget that you can visit our website at marriagelifeandmore.com and find anything that you need to know about our ministry.
• 37:47
  Daniel Moore: Everything is there, all the platforms that we're on.
• 37:50
  Daniel Moore: Next week we come back, we'll go ahead and do part two of this episode and we will finish this up.
• 37:56
  Daniel Moore: I think this has been a really good one.
• 37:58
  Daniel Moore: And so I'm excited to get back into this with you next week.
• 38:02
  Daniel Moore: Me too.
• 38:03
  Daniel Moore: And we'll finish this up.
• 38:04
  Daniel Moore: So as we close this episode, remember this hospitality's never been about having the perfect home.
• 38:10
  Daniel Moore: It's always been about having an available heart.
• 38:13
  Daniel Moore: God has never been impressed by spotless kitchens, designer furniture, or magazine-worthy dining rooms, but he is deeply moved by open doors, willing hands, and hearts that make room for people.
• 38:24
  Daniel Moore: The beauty of biblical hospitality is that it transforms ordinary spaces into places where extraordinary things can happen.
• 38:32
  Daniel Moore: Abraham simply offered a meal and a place to rest.
• 38:36
  Daniel Moore: The widow of Zarepheth shared her last portion of food.
• 38:39
  Daniel Moore: Millie and Carl, they opened their home to a young preacher.
• 38:43
  Daniel Moore: None of them fully understood what God was doing in the moment.
• 38:47
  Daniel Moore: They were simply faithful with what they had.
• 38:50
  Daniel Moore: And that's often how God works.
• 38:52
  Daniel Moore: Most ministry doesn't happen under spotlights, it happens around dinner tables, in living rooms, on front porches, across kitchen counters.
• 39:00
  Daniel Moore: It happens when couples choose generosity over convenience, people over schedules, and service over comfort.
• 39:07
  Daniel Moore: Your home may never appear in a magazine, but it may appear in someone's testimony.
• 39:12
  Daniel Moore: Years from now, someone may not remember what you served for dinner, but they may remember that your home was the place where they felt loved, encouraged, prayed for, accepted, and seen.
• 39:23
  Daniel Moore: And that's kingdom work.
• 39:25
  Daniel Moore: So keep making room, keep setting an extra place at the table, keep offering that cup of coffee, keep creating a home where grace is felt, laughter is heard, and Jesus is welcome.
• 39:37
  Daniel Moore: Because every open door becomes an opportunity for God to do something eternal.
• 39:42
  Daniel Moore: And remember, hospitality isn't inviting people into your perfect life, it's inviting people into the imperfect place where God is actively working.
• 39:51
  Daniel Moore: Well, that's going to do it for this week.
• 39:54
  Daniel Moore: We pray that your marriage is stronger and your walk with God is closer after this episode.
• 39:58
  Daniel Moore: This episode is recorded in the upper room at our Connecting the Gap Studios.
• 40:02
  Daniel Moore: This is an extension of Connecting the Gap Ministries, and we pray that you have a blessed week.