Becoming Lovers of Strangers:
The Gift of Hospitality
Brad Holliman

Hello Church Family!

This Sunday, we had the honor of hosting Brad Holliman! Brad shared an impactful message about how we need to reach people with the Gospel and carry the presence and fragrance of God everywhere we go.

Brad showed us how in the Gospels there are at least five times that Jesus was "moved with compassion" and that compassion led him to do miracles, signs, and wonders. But, before the verse "Jesus was moved with compassion," the line "when He saw the people" preceded it. We need to get close to people! There is something profoundly significant about the act of getting close to people, looking into their eyes, hearing them, and truly knowing them.

With that being said, did you know that God actually wants to give you people? There are people that God wants to entrust you with right now, that we may love and disciple them. But in order to do that, we need to give ourselves the gift of hospitality. Not meaning just coffee and cookies, but the Greek word for hospitality actually means you will become a lover of strangers! We need to learn how to recognize and love the Samaritans in our lives! Yes, we need to love our neighbors, but that's just the beginning. In Jesus's words, "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." So yes, it starts in Jerusalem. It starts in our hometown, but then we have to go farther and farther, until the whole world knows Jesus.

The sharing of the Gospel is not reserved just for the evangelists or the extroverts, but it is a necessary requirement of the Christian walk. It's going to take all of us to reach the lost, and we don't have any time to waste. And it starts by becoming lovers of strangers, and becoming a good steward of the people that God has already placed in your life. You never know who might just be waiting for an invitation. It's our co-workers, our neighbors, our teachers, our students; we have the opportunity every day to tell them the good news that there's a God who loves them! Brad reminded us that your life might be the closest thing that someone gets to reading the Bible. You have been given influence in a dark world that needs Jesus, and there's no time to waste!

To listen to the whole sermon, click here! Have an amazing week, and we hope to see you this Wednesday or coming Sunday.