Latest / Gospel Talks Podcast / #89 - Why Your Home Is One Of Your Greatest Ministry Tools

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#89 - Why Your Home Is One Of Your Greatest Ministry Tools · Gospel Talks Podcast

• 0:00
  I don't know why, but our culture has changed a little bit around the idea of having people in your house.
• 0:04
  It seems like we come home from work, click the garage door button, drive right into the garage, click the garage door button again, and nobody ever sees us.
• 0:13
  We don't ever see them.
• 0:14
  We don't really know our neighbors.
• 0:16
  And there was a time where having people in your home was a mainstay of our culture.
• 0:22
  And I think we have our closest family and friends in our home, but we're not used to having strangers in our
• 0:27
  And the question is, can you do that?
• 0:30
  Is it weird?
• 0:31
  How do you do it in a good way?
• 0:33
  Does the Bible talk about this?
• 0:35
  If you've been wondering about the connection between hospitality and evangelism, this is the episode for you.
• 0:45
  Welcome everybody to Gospel Talks Podcast where we help Christians all over the world become more effective in relational evangelism and discipleship.
• 0:52
  My name is George Pinocchio.
• 0:54
  With me today is the author and founder of the exchange, Jeff Musgrave.
• 0:57
  Hey Jeff, how you doing?
• 0:59
  Doing good, good to see ya.
• 1:00
  Good to see you.
• 1:01
  Well, I've been wondering about this a long time and the other day we were texting and, you know, just kind of talking about this week's episode.
• 1:10
  So what I did here, I just wrote down a bunch of questions.
• 1:13
  I'm just going to ask you and just figured we'd talk about them and kind of work through them a little bit and get your take.
• 1:19
  And I almost wish we had our wives sitting next to us.
• 1:23
  But I think we'll both of us try to echo what our wives would add.
• 1:26
  to this as well and maybe they'll come a day when our wives can be honest with us.
• 1:31
  let me just start here.
• 1:33
  I mean, I've always kind of felt like this, especially because I grew up in poor situation.
• 1:38
  Do you have to have a fancy house, a big house or nice furniture or whatever?
• 1:45
  I mean, can you do this in a, can you be hospitable in an apartment complex?
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  Can you do it even if you're
• 1:53
  You don't have much.
• 1:54
  Yeah, well, I actually think that fancy can be a bit intimidating to some people.
• 1:59
  And so it may actually be a detriment to some extent.
• 2:04
  think simple and real is much more appealing, much more powerful that you were talking about apartment complex.
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  think that there's a built in community at an apartment complex that
• 2:16
  for the most part, the people you're talking to are gonna also have the same circumstances.
• 2:22
  It's not like it's gonna be problematic to you.
• 2:25
  I think the real key is our home reflects the real us.
• 2:30
  I mean, that's really why it is so inviting and so powerful, because it reflects us.
• 2:37
  does it have to be fancy?
• 2:39
  The answer is absolutely not.
• 2:41
  And in fact, it might not be as effective
• 2:44
  of if it is.
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  When I grew up, we had a family room and a living room and the living room, it was kind of fancy and we never went in there.
• 2:54
  I it was always into the family room.
• 2:56
  I think if you do have people to your home, finding the comfortable place in your home where you spend your time, let it reflect you.
• 3:04
  I actually have always felt like around a table.
• 3:07
  There's something that draws us to each other around the table.
• 3:11
  And if we're doing a Bible study, you you get books right on top of it.
• 3:15
  I don't know if you've ever thought about this, George, but you sit a lot closer to people around the table than you do, you know, around the room.
• 3:23
  So, yeah, does that have to be fancy?
• 3:26
  Absolutely not.
• 3:27
  Right.
• 3:27
  Yeah, I think that's well said.
• 3:30
  You know, it's funny you're talking about you have the living room and the family room and the living room is a little fancier.
• 3:35
  That's actually that's in the Middle Eastern culture, too.
• 3:38
  There's a room that nobody ever sits in.
• 3:40
  And you wonder, why do we have this room?
• 3:42
  but but anyway, I get that I get all that.
• 3:44
  But but I like that people as long as you're genuine, I believe, as long as you're genuine.
• 3:49
  people don't care, don't even think about that stuff.
• 3:51
  Most people don't.
• 3:52
  Does it, this is another one that comes up, which is, it have to be clean?
• 3:57
  Because there's some people that are like, I live a certain way.
• 4:01
  You know, and there have been some homes I've been in as a pastor, I'm like, you know, we can't do a small group here, but you know, I love you guys, but we can't do a small group
• 4:10
  here.
• 4:10
  But at the same time, like, you know, there's some people that,
• 4:14
  kind of kill themselves and go Martha Stewart on the house and feel like it needs to have a white glove treatment every week before their small group or Bible study or whatever.
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  What would you say to that?
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  You feel like it has to be cleaned or doesn't?
• 4:27
  clean?
• 4:28
  The answer is actually yes.
• 4:30
  Yeah, I mean, I think the key ingredient to all of this is we want our friend to feel comfortable.
• 4:37
  And uh if if your home is dirty, it's very possible your friend is going to be put off by that.
• 4:43
  uh At the very least, they may be embarrassed for you that that that you left your home this way.
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  It could be a distraction.
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  So yeah, I think having clean is important.
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  You know, there's a statement.
• 4:59
  It's not a Bible statement, but I do believe it's an axiom many people live by, and that is that cleanliness is next to godliness.
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  And I don't think that it's untrue.
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  I don't think that it's necessarily, you know, proverb-like.
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  But I do believe that clean and simple, everybody can do.
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  Fancy is not something everybody can do.
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  But everybody can be neat and clean.
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  And I think that it's about helping your friend feel comfortable.
• 5:29
  I also think that if our home is messy, and I don't know what you're like in a Middle Eastern culture, but I...
• 5:36
  I would think that a lot of people would see that as almost disrespectful that you didn't care enough to clean up a little bit.
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  So yeah, I think it's pretty important.
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  So yeah, I think if you clean and people come in and they look around, feels like I'm a special person that cleaned up for me.
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  There's just lots of respect issues that can come along with clean as well.
• 6:00
  Yeah, and I feel like that when God's given you a tool, but you've decided to allow it to become ineffective for ministry, it doesn't necessarily tell me that in your heart you
• 6:13
  don't desire to be used that way in ministry.
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  It just tells me that you're not so willing that...
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  that because of that unwillingness or whatever in that certain area, you've allowed this tool to become ineffective.
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  It's like, what's the point of a lawnmower whose blades are dull?
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  It becomes unhelpful at some point.
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  And um I do think, mean, when we were in Africa, the homes were not really fancy at all.
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  Some of them, even what would be considered the nicer homes compared to an American home would not be considered fancy.
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  but they were always clean.
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  And you always felt like these people want me here, they prepared for me to be here.
• 6:51
  They had somebody run and go to the corner store and grab a bottle of Coca-Cola and some bottled water, because Americans don't drink water from the tap in Africa and things like
• 7:01
  that.
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  I think that's that kind of hospitality that you're talking about.
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  And when I've come to your house, Jeff, I always feel like Anna, she's prepped all the towels and she's got a...
• 7:11
  basket of snacks next to the bed for nighttime and you guys do all this stuff that just makes me feel like, man, I think these people love me.
• 7:19
  You know, and it just, it's really cool.
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  It's a great feeling for somebody to have.
• 7:23
  Yeah, it shows you that we want you to be here and that's really what we want to do is help people see we want to spend time with you.
• 7:31
  Hmm.
• 7:32
  Yeah.
• 7:33
  Next question, I guess, would be, does it have to be perfect?
• 7:37
  There's a lot of flaws.
• 7:40
  Well, good, because I don't think there's a house that's perfect anywhere.
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  uh
• 7:44
  fact, I personally believe that perfection is an illusion that drives us crazy trying to find it.
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  I mean, it's kind of like that mirage.
• 7:52
  You're going to constantly be chasing after it and you're never going to get there.
• 7:56
  So, you know, if we're chasing perfection, we're never going to get there.
• 8:00
  And so here's part of the problem.
• 8:02
  If we want it to be perfect, then we're never going to invite anybody over because it's never going to be perfect.
• 8:07
  Yeah, you know, I guess I got a question about that, is why do you think some of us we desire like a perfect house?
• 8:13
  I mean, I'm sure you've met some perfectionists in your day as a pastor.
• 8:17
  any, ever wonder why, why people are some weird people are wired that way.
• 8:21
  Well, I think there's all kinds of things.
• 8:24
  Some people grew up in a home that was always perfect and they feel like they have to, they don't measure up.
• 8:29
  I think that sometimes there's a pride issue that I don't want people to see the real me.
• 8:35
  um I think that the other side of it is that
• 8:40
  Some of us have a bit of a, I don't really feel comfortable about myself, therefore I have to have my things be perfect.
• 8:48
  There's all kinds of pieces to that.
• 8:50
  And I think that people that we feel most comfortable with are the people that are just themselves and they're not trying to be anybody else.
• 8:57
  And so that's what we wanna try to become so that people can see, mean, you see is what you get.
• 9:04
  and I'm going to do my best to be the best I can for you.
• 9:08
  Yeah, yeah, you know, I think for some of us, our house can easily become an idol too.
• 9:14
  And so there can be a desire to, it's just for me and I want it such and so, and that kind of thing.
• 9:22
  And so I think that that's, that's an important thing to think through.
• 9:25
  Well, getting to that, you know, back to Africa, I remember when I was in your home and people in and out all the time and you made a specific decision and that was that I want
• 9:36
  my home to be open and I know it's going to wear and tear on my furniture.
• 9:40
  I know it's going to track dirt into my house and I mean, those are part of the cost that come with opening your home.
• 9:48
  Yeah, and I don't know.
• 9:50
  don't I'm not I'm trying to be a radical in this area of hospitality, but I will say that, God has always given me miraculously the couches that I've owned and I think he's done
• 10:01
  that so I can use them for him.
• 10:03
  Um, and I've never worried about wearing them out because I know just like the previous one showed up, the next one will show up.
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  And, and honestly, I could point out almost every
• 10:12
  piece of furniture in my house and tell you that I did not buy it.
• 10:15
  And we have nice furniture.
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  So it's just one of those things where you look at it you go, you know what, this is for God.
• 10:20
  Yes, it's for my family as well.
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  Because you've taught me this.
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  Ministry is your number one priority, but your family is your number one ministry.
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  So you never want to be so hospitable to the detriment of your family, where you're actually stealing from your family to serve others.
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  But I believe as a family, can all
• 10:35
  serve each other with the thing that you live in, which is a tool for ministry.
• 10:39
  That being said, in the Middle Eastern culture, I have a guilt every time I have people over, which is I feel like I have to put food on the table.
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  Would you be one of those?
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  Every time they come over, you got to make them a meal?
• 10:49
  No.
• 10:49
  And I think again, this is a by no means no, but you can always be hospitable, offer them a drink.
• 10:56
  We actually keep drinks in our, and I neither one drink sugar, but we always keep drinks with sugar in them in our refrigerator so that when people come over, we have something to
• 11:07
  offer them.
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  And I just think
• 11:09
  there's hospitality that can be done around food that isn't actually, you know, I'm prepared a meal or that sort of thing.
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  Having said that, and you kind of feel like that you have to always have a meal.
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  Food is a universal language of hospitality.
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  mean, the Filipino culture is the same way.
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  there's, certain homes that I go to that I know I am not going to be able to go there without eating something.
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  It's not, it's not enough to just go there and be offered.
• 11:40
  have to actually eat it.
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  and so just remembering that food is that, that universal language of hospitality and, doing our best to provide in some way, something that makes people feel hospitable.
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  I also think food is fun.
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  uh so, you know, fun food makes every environment fun.
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  And I, I would love for people to have enjoyed being at my house.
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  And so, I, I think that's a valuable thing.
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  My wife would say, if she were in this conversation, food is a gift and, uh you know, we're giving of ourselves when we give a food and it's, she wants it to be nice, not
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  because.
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  of anything except that she wants that person to recognize you're important to me and I want to give you something valuable.
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  Something from me.
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  and I love that.
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  And, um, and I've, I've experienced that firsthand in your home.
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  my wife with her health for us, hospitality has sometimes just had to look like we brewed coffee, good coffee for everybody.
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  Nice coffee.
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  and we got some packages of Oreos and it's just, it's what we can do on a Friday night.
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  Quick, easy.
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  It's not too expensive.
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  And, magically.
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  half the Oreos or all the Oreos get eaten by the end of the night.
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  And I mean, it's like, everybody leaves happy.
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  at least you get a good taste and use Oreos.
• 12:59
  uh
• 13:02
  we yeah.
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  Anyway, don't look in the ingredient lists on Oreos.
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  mean, this would not be.
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  uh Yeah, they're good.
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  People people love them.
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  I did a little bit of research in the Bible before before our episode.
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  There's over 1000 over 1000 references to food in the Bible.
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  And there's 100 different significant meals or banquets specifically described in the Bible.
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  And hospitality is a
• 13:24
  big deal to God.
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  He is hospitable with us.
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  And as a matter of fact, we commemorate an aspect of that hospitality every time we do the Lord's Supper.
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  Though the Lord's Supper at its core is not about hospitality, the setting of the Lord's Supper is hospitable.
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  And um whenever we do that in church, whenever we should think about how Jesus was even being hospitable to his disciples.
• 13:45
  yet there were times, many times they were sleeping in a fox's hole together.
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  And so he was never extravagant.
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  uh But he was hospitable everywhere he could afford to be.
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  And I think having that mentality and concerning meals and a lot of ministry is done over meals.
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  People just open up.
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  They feel more relaxed, okay.
• 14:05
  know, and it's a commonality we all share is we all have to eat.
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  Another question for you.
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  And this one I've experienced as a pastor.
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  Sometimes it's much easier to invite people to my house than it is to invite them to a church.
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  But what would you say in your 30 plus years of pastoral ministry, what were the advantages of meeting in a home over a church building?
• 14:24
  Is there any specific advantages or anything in particular that a home is good for meeting in?
• 14:28
  I think it kind of goes both ways, but the heart of that question is when I give people an invitation to my home, I literally am giving them a little piece of myself.
• 14:40
  And I feel like there's something very personal and it shows an accepting spirit.
• 14:48
  shows an open heart.
• 14:49
  It's kind of symbolic of, I've opened my home, I've opened my life to you.
• 14:55
  And so I think there's some real value to that.
• 14:57
  You might want to add to that because I'm going to say something good about meeting at church too, but I don't want to get off on that one before you say something about it.
• 15:05
  No, I would agree.
• 15:07
  I I'm eager to hear the pros of meeting at church.
• 15:10
  I just noticed that meeting, if the first meeting, we're going to do the first invitation and the first invitation to an unbeliever or a new person is to church, that sometimes can
• 15:21
  feel like a higher barrier than the home.
• 15:23
  The home is a little less threatening, if I can use that word, not that church is meant to be threatening, but just how people feel.
• 15:30
  Yeah, I think that that's really true.
• 15:32
  Some people go into church is kind of that.
• 15:35
  I don't know.
• 15:35
  I've never done that.
• 15:36
  Or I had a guy once asked me, so, you can I just come?
• 15:40
  mean, do I do I need like, I mean, he was thinking he needed a ticket or something, you know, and so I think there is that it's a lot more comfortable to accept that invitation.
• 15:52
  I actually think.
• 15:53
  doing a Bible study during a prescribed meeting time at church makes it a little bit more doable for some people.
• 16:03
  And so I think that most believers have that time set aside already.
• 16:09
  And so it makes it a little easier for them to make that happen.
• 16:12
  A lot of times if you're doing it in conjunction with a regular church meeting time,
• 16:18
  There's childcare already taken care of.
• 16:21
  And so there's some real benefits to that for both people, both the believer and the friend that's being invited because it may be their children that need the childcare.
• 16:32
  And so I think that it's not to say that it always has to be your home.
• 16:36
  uh A church can be a really good meeting place, especially when you're thinking in terms of using a prescribed meeting time.
• 16:46
  I love that it's one of the reasons I love talking with you is you just took the false dichotomy off the table where it's like it's One is hospitable one is not and that's
• 16:54
  really it's not what we're saying is that one is hospitable your home is hospitable at church can't be Church should be hospitable too.
• 17:00
  They're just hospitable in different ways and you're right There's a hospitality to having different services available at church that might not necessarily be available in a home
• 17:09
  and That is it.
• 17:10
  I've had 12 kids
• 17:13
  in my home with 14 adults and you can't get anything done because the noise is to a level that it's like we can't hear ourselves.
• 17:22
  So we gotta go to a park.
• 17:24
  if you were able to share childcare and set those up another room where the children can play, that may be a little bit better environment.
• 17:33
  So yeah, I think it depends on the circumstances in terms of the specific place.
• 17:38
  Yeah.
• 17:38
  So as you've dug into the Bible, you know, you've been preaching the word of God for 40, more than 40 years now.
• 17:46
  What verses would you go to in the Bible?
• 17:49
  Have you kind of seen a developed a theology of hospitality at all?
• 17:52
  Yeah, here's just a couple.
• 17:53
  This is just kind of scraping the surface kind of uh a look.
• 17:59
  ah Hebrews 13 uh teaches us not to neglect the hospitality to strangers.
• 18:05
  And the implication there is that, you know, opening your home to people you don't know, Jesus really took that a step further when he said, we need to show hospitality to the
• 18:17
  marginalized people in the world.
• 18:19
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:20
  These are specific teachings from the word of God that help us recognize this is part of the Christian life, part of Christian living.
• 18:29
  Interesting, in 1 uh Timothy chapter 3, part of the requirement for leadership in the church is that people are hospitable.
• 18:37
  uh So Jesus even said that using hospitality is seen by him as us
• 18:47
  opening our lives up to him.
• 18:49
  mean, when you've invited the least of these, you've invited me.
• 18:52
  So I just think just scratching the surface, recognizing really hospitality is a distinctly Christian thing.
• 19:00
  And that's having said that a lot of cultures have hospitality.
• 19:04
  I don't mean that.
• 19:05
  But we as Christians dare not forsake it.
• 19:08
  Hmm.
• 19:09
  You know, that's that is incredible because one of the reasons that's incredible is when Jesus makes a statement like that, you just go, well, I love Jesus, so therefore I should
• 19:19
  love hospitality.
• 19:21
  I should love loving these.
• 19:22
  And I don't know, it just warms my heart to think that he's he feels that way about that act.
• 19:28
  Cool.
• 19:28
  Cool.
• 19:29
  anything else on this the Bible has to say on hospitality
• 19:32
  Now, I thought your survey of food and hospitality almost go together in my brain was really helpful just to recognize how much the bi-wise to say about.
• 19:42
  So what is being hospitable as a personal quality inside a person, inside a human look like?
• 19:48
  Because it's not just the home that makes it hospitable, it's the person.
• 19:52
  Yeah, I wrote down five things.
• 19:54
  I mean, this is a big deal to Jeff.
• 19:55
  I think the very first thing is just being friendly everywhere we go.
• 19:59
  Literally looking for friends everywhere we go, being friendly.
• 20:04
  I have a new neighbor that I, he's not new and I'm not new, but we're new to each other that I just met a week ago and I was actually a little late.
• 20:13
  to our podcast because I ran into him on the sidewalk and being friendly to everyone everywhere we go, that's what that looks like, number one.
• 20:23
  Mmm.
• 20:24
  I love that.
• 20:24
  Yep, and and you embody that really well.
• 20:27
  Yep
• 20:28
  Well, frankly, that's a task that I have given myself.
• 20:32
  really feel like that's Jesus was friendly.
• 20:35
  And I think if I'm to be like him, I need to be like that.
• 20:38
  So, you know this, I love the concept of relentless encouragement, always looking for things that are good to be able to say about somebody else, to be able to say about an
• 20:49
  environment.
• 20:49
  I rarely leave.
• 20:51
  a restaurant without telling somebody there what a good time I had and how much, how, a good job they did.
• 20:57
  I just think ever where we go, we need to be looking for things that we genuinely appreciate and then verbalizing that and encouragement to people.
• 21:07
  Yeah, I, you actually gave me a book on this one time and on the plane ride back from Denver, I read the whole book on the plane ride.
• 21:15
  I couldn't put it down, but being an encourager is such an important deal.
• 21:19
  As a matter of fact, I'll tell you guys, behind the scenes, Jeff has really mentored me in a way that, you
• 21:25
  You can always say the same thing two ways, right?
• 21:27
  You can say it negatively, you can say it in an encouraging manner, positively.
• 21:32
  And I think it's important that, you know, the verse you quote is, how do you show that something is bent by showing the straight path, right?
• 21:40
  And so being an encourager is a really important deal to have as a quality when we're trying to be evangelistic.
• 21:48
  Yeah, yeah.
• 21:49
  In an environment where there are a lot of people, talking to guests before we talk to friends, I think that's what that looks like.
• 21:57
  In other words, if you have a guest in your home, you're going to be taking care of that guest first.
• 22:03
  the same thing is true everywhere you go.
• 22:05
  You are asking, what does it look like in a daily living?
• 22:08
  I just think always reaching out to people that
• 22:13
  that are not necessarily close to you.
• 22:16
  And you're thinking in terms of becoming close to them, making them feel at home, those sorts of things.
• 22:23
  Yeah, I love that.
• 22:24
  Yeah, I think that's true.
• 22:26
  I do that personally as a pastor in the church on Sundays.
• 22:29
  I try to get around and talk to every single person, but...
• 22:34
  I especially try to get to the guests right away.
• 22:36
  As a matter of fact, the people know to come get me and go, hey, there's a guest over there.
• 22:41
  You should go talk to them.
• 22:41
  Or there's four guests this Sunday and they're over here, here and here.
• 22:44
  I think in the home, that's the same thing, especially because they're new, it's unfamiliar.
• 22:49
  They could be a little insecure or feel just kind of like they're the outsider.
• 22:54
  And as soon as we can make them feel like the insider, the better.
• 22:57
  Yeah.
• 22:58
  And so this one, this next one kind of goes with that only it's in all kinds of environments.
• 23:04
  And that is that seeing the people on the fringes.
• 23:07
  In other words, every group you're in, there are people on the outside.
• 23:12
  They're just, maybe they're standing on the outside of the group and they're just kind of hanging out out there and seeing the people on the fringes and reaching to them and
• 23:22
  bringing them in, that's hospitable.
• 23:24
  Right, right.
• 23:25
  And nothing bothers me more than when you go to a church potluck and you see somebody sitting by themselves surrounded by hundreds of other people, but they're sitting, no one
• 23:33
  is sitting with them.
• 23:34
  And it's like, we failed.
• 23:36
  And so you can do the same thing in your home and just see somebody get on the fringes and not help them out.
• 23:41
  Yeah.
• 23:41
  And then I see Jesus doing this everywhere he went.
• 23:45
  walks slowly through crowds, so the people and you know, that's just living life that way everywhere we go.
• 23:51
  Yeah, I love that.
• 23:52
  love that.
• 23:53
  So that being said, you feel like.
• 23:56
  Do you feel like we have to be hospitable?
• 23:58
  Well, I wrote another question to this one, and that is, was Jesus hospitable?
• 24:05
  And I think the answer is, yeah, he was definitely hospitable.
• 24:10
  mean, you just look at him, allow the little children to come to me.
• 24:15
  He was embracing the outcasts, the sinners.
• 24:20
  And so I think
• 24:24
  We just have to think in terms of let's be like Jesus because that's what Jesus was.
• 24:29
  Mm-hmm.
• 24:30
  I love that.
• 24:30
  That's a great perfect answer so practically And I think we've touched on it here and there so I don't know if there's any other ways we can touch on it But what is house?
• 24:39
  What does being?
• 24:40
  inhospitable look like
• 24:42
  Yeah, so putting this in the negative, making life about myself.
• 24:46
  mean, when it's all about me, I'm going to behave selfishly.
• 24:54
  so I think talking only to the people that I'm comfortable with, that's inhospitable.
• 25:00
  Ignoring people in our conversations.
• 25:02
  I don't know if you've ever been like this, George, but
• 25:04
  you're in a conversation with someone and there's a third person standing here and the person you're talking to is talking to you about stuff that only you two know about
• 25:14
  leaving this person totally out of it.
• 25:16
  And it's like, I got to do something to reach over here and bring this person into the conversation.
• 25:22
  That's, that's inhospitable.
• 25:24
  So, you know, those are, those are some negatives in terms of what is inhospitable.
• 25:30
  I don't know if I can say it, in hospital bull look like.
• 25:35
  yeah.
• 25:35
  You got it, you got it.
• 25:36
  I love that.
• 25:37
  I think those are really key because what you're making about is not just the surface level stuff, it's the heart level stuff of, it's about me and being self-centered and that
• 25:46
  kind of thing.
• 25:47
  And just getting to the point where you can think about others.
• 25:50
  So why does in-home hospitality seem to be especially conducive to evangelism in your opinion?
• 25:57
  Because I've seen it be incredibly conducive to evangelism.
• 26:00
  Yeah.
• 26:00
  This, is the last question and it's appropriate that it is because this comes down to the very source of everything we're talking about.
• 26:08
  And I think the bottom line is it is, I mean, you know, why is it helpful?
• 26:15
  Because it is, I mean, I, I it it's experience.
• 26:19
  I have so many stories about people opening their homes.
• 26:22
  I have so many personal experiences about it.
• 26:25
  And I mean, bottom line is,
• 26:27
  It clearly is powerful.
• 26:30
  And so why?
• 26:31
  Because it works.
• 26:32
  It is.
• 26:33
  It's just part of who people are.
• 26:35
  Number two, though, it's actually giving a piece of yourself and people like that.
• 26:41
  And I really do believe that being hospitable is me making that person feel important because I'm giving them of myself.
• 26:51
  Hmm.
• 26:53
  love that.
• 26:54
  I love that.
• 26:54
  And I think you've got a third one in here that to me is pretty profound because a lot of people feel rejected nowadays and unloved.
• 27:06
  But I don't know if you want to state that one, that third one there.
• 27:09
  It is a powerful statement of acceptance, of even love, that I am reaching out to you in love.
• 27:19
  I accept you.
• 27:20
  I am in show that acceptance by inviting you into my life, into my home, into my space.
• 27:27
  And so I think people need to feel that sense of acceptance.
• 27:31
  That's one of the things that most people know about God is that God loves unconditionally.
• 27:36
  And you and I have to be able to demonstrate that.
• 27:39
  And we do that effectively through hospitality.
• 27:42
  Yeah, you know, I think in that way, hospitality is a little bit of a relationship hack in a good way.
• 27:48
  You're hacking the system and you know, because typically the homes of the people you go into are well known family and friends.
• 27:54
  And by bringing a stranger into your home, you get to kind of skip a few levels and go right into the same level of hospitality and acceptance that a family member or known
• 28:04
  friend would.
• 28:04
  um But by taking that.
• 28:08
  So
• 28:09
  That's why I love to say your home is your best evangelism tool.
• 28:13
  I mean, it just is.
• 28:14
  So don't let us forget that our best evangelism tool is our home.
• 28:19
  And I think on top of that, making it personal, making it open, not fancy and perfect.
• 28:25
  I love it.
• 28:26
  I love it.
• 28:27
  Well with that we will leave you guys Pray with us as we pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers part of the laborer being hospitable We don't have a
• 28:37
  harvest problem.
• 28:38
  We have a labor shortage And maybe you pray that God would make you willing to use your home because it is one of the most effective evangelism tools you have
• 28:48
  If you guys haven't subscribed, please subscribe to the podcast, subscribe to the YouTube channel.
• 28:52
  It really helps us out a lot as a ministry.
• 28:55
  And we just want to say a big thank you to our donors.
• 28:58
  And what Jeff and Anna have done in just helping churches, I mean, it is worth investing in.
• 29:03
  And so we do love you guys and we're praying for you and we will see you next week.