ASSIGNMENTS

1. Daily read over this material and read or sing the song.

2. Place the scripture where you will see it each day.

3. Think of how you have helped some stranger or someone helped you as a stranger.

4. Pray for God's help in helping strangers.

5. Write down the opportunities you had to help a stranger.

H H H H H H H H

DAILY BIBLE VERSES AND PRAYER THOUGHTS

MONDAY - VERSES: Job 31:32	PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask for strength to help the traveler and offer thanksgiving for the times you have been helped.

TUESDAY - VERSES: Malachi 3:5 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask forgiveness for the times you have turned aside a stranger you could have helped.

WEDNESDAY - VERSES: Ephesians 2:12-13, 19 PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank God for taking us in when we were strangers.

THURSDAY - VERSES: 1 Timothy 5:9-10 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask for help to be like these widows who overcame their fear to help strangers.

FRIDAY - VERSES: Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Leviticus 19:33-34 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask for courage to treat others as they should be treated, as we would want them to treat us.

SATURDAY - VERSES: Matthew 25:31-46 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask God for opportunities to help Jesus through others, vision to recognize them, and courage to follow through.

H H H H H H H H
Do you remember the country song about the man who stopped to help a woman whose car had broken down on the side of the road? She offered to pay him for the help and he told her to pass it on to someone else. She went a little farther down the road and stopped at a restaurant where she was waited on by a very pregnant waitress. She left the waitress a $100 tip and went on her way. The waitress went home to her husband who was out of work and just happened to be the man who had helped the woman with her car. Jesus said "Give and it shall be given to you. . ."

SPIRITUAL HEALTH REGIMEN - WEEK 70

HOSPITALITY - 12-1-13 to 12-7-13

SCRIPTURE - Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

COMMENT – We never know when we practice hospitality to strangers (people we do not know) that we may be practicing hospitality to a messenger (angel) of God.

SONG – HEART OF A SERVANT & SERVANT SONG

Give me the heart of a servant,

Tender and faithful and true.

Fill me with love, then use me, O Lord,

So that the world can see You.

Lord, make me a servant, Lord, make me like You;

For You are a servant, make me one, too.

Lord, make me a servant, do what You must do

To make me a servant make me like You.

THOUGHTS

One day while walking with some children, Queen Mary was caught in a sudden shower. Quickly taking shelter on the porch of a home, she knocked at the door and asked to borrow an umbrella. "I'll send it back tomorrow," she said. The queen had deliberately disguised her appearance by putting on a hat that partly covered her face and by wearing some very plain clothes. The householder, reluctant to give a stranger her best umbrella, offered her a castoff she found in the attic. One rib was broken and there were several holes in it. Apologizing, she turned it over to the monarch, whom she did not recognize. The next day she had another visitor -- a man with gold braid on his uniform and an envelope in his hand. "The queen sent me with this letter," he said, "and also asked me to thank you personally for the loan of your umbrella." Stunned, the woman burst into tears. "Oh, what an opportunity I missed that I did not give her my very best," she cried. Many, I fear, will have to make the same confession when they face the Lord at the end of life's road.

H H H H H H H H
Don't think of others as strangers, only as friends that we have not met yet.

H H H H H H H H
A minister in the pulpit saw a man in a back pew with his hat on. He beckoned to a deacon, who went to the man and asked him whether he was aware that his hat was on.

"Praise be offered!" said the man, "I thought that would do it. I have attended this church for six months, and you are the first person who has spoken to me."

H H H H H H H H
The Lonely Traveler's Church Visit

Many years ago a lonely traveler stopped one Sunday morning for the worship service at the Andersonville Methodist Church in Georgia. After the service he was warmly greeted by the people. He was never seen there again.

Not long ago, in Washington, New Jersey, Robert B. Brown, age ninety, died. Someone commented, "He was a thrifty man who kept to himself."

Mr. Brown bequeathed his entire estate to the Andersonville Methodist Church. His estate consisted of 2,100 shares in American Telephone and Telegraph Company and 740 shares of Continental Can Company stock. At the time of Mr. Brown's death, the stocks were worth $178,302.50.

The deceased's attorney, Martin B. Bry-Nildsen, in informing the church of the bequest, wrote: "My client told me that on a Sunday morning years ago, when he was traveling through Georgia, he felt sad and lonely. He stopped at your church. A friendly welcome was accorded him. He never forgot the kindness you showed him. He did not have any church affiliation and said, 'I want to give what I have to that little church."

How surprised were W. J. Stanford and the members of the Andersonville Methodist Church! No one could recall Mr. Brown's visit to the church.

If this man had stopped to visit our congregation would he have received as warm a welcome? We must show the love of Christ to all that we meet for we never know when we may miss blessings if we don't.

H H H H H H H H

Mayor's Kind Word

A convict from Darlington, England, just released from jail, happened to pass Mayor John Morel on the street. Three long years had been spent by the convict in prison for embezzlement and he was sensitive about the social ostracism he expected to get from the people in his hometown.

"Hello," greeted the mayor in a cheery tone, "I'm glad to see you! How are you?" The man appeared ill at ease and the discussion stopped.

Years later, according to the story told by J. H. Jowett, Mr. Morel, the mayor, and the released man accidentally met in another town, and the latter said, "I want to thank you for what you did for me when I came out of prison."

"What did I do?" asked the mayor.

"You spoke a kind word to me and changed my life," replied the grateful man.

H H H H H H H H
John Ruskin once said that when we fail to praise someone that deserves praise, two sad things happen—we run a chance of driving him from the right road for want of encouragement, and we deprive ourselves of the happiest privilege of being rewarder to him who deserves reward.

H H H H H H H H
HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS

INTRODUCTION - HEBREWS 12:28-13:3

H________________ - 3 JOHN 1:4-8

O________________ - 1 PETER 4:8-10

S______________ - LUKE 14:12-14

P______________ - LUKE 16:19-25

I_______________ - HEBREWS 13:1-3

T______________ - ROMANS 12:9-21

A___________ - HEBREWS 6:9-12

L____________ - 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-3

I________________ - MATTHEW 25:31-46

T________________ - LUKE 10:30-37

Y______________ - JOB 31:31-32

HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS

SCRIPTURE - (Heb 12:28-13:3) Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. {29} For our God is a consuming fire. Let brotherly love continue. {2} Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. {3} Remember the prisoners as if chained with them; those who are mistreated; since you yourselves are in the body also.

ILLUSTRATION - Philanthropic "Common" Man

In a popular TV show of the '50s, The Millionaire, a vigilant philanthropist would single out deserving citizens and then stun them with a big check.

Philanthropist Thomas Cannon, 53, is no multimillionaire, however. He is a postal worker in Richmond earning $16,000 a year, who in the past five years has somehow managed to give away more than $33,000 of his own money. Most of it has gone, in $1,000 checks, to strangers whose misfortunes or good deeds he has read about.

Some of his beneficiaries: a Columbian orphan who needed heart surgery; a couple who have been foster parents to 40 children; a civic-minded, wealthy businessman who quickly returned the gift.

Why does he do it? Cannon believes that "the quest for money and acquisitions can be very self-destructive." So he and his wife Princetta give away as much as they can, while living in a house with a leaky roof and driving a battered Chevy. - Time

INTRODUCTION

DEFINITION - HOSPITALITY (PHILO = LOVE & XENIA = STRANGER - To entertain or receive a stranger (sojourner) into one's home as an honored guest and to provide the guest with food, shelter, and protection. This was not merely an oriental custom or good manners but a sacred duty that everyone was expected to observe. Only the depraved would violate this obligation.

Hospitality probably grew out of the needs of nomadic life. Since public inns were rare, a traveler had to depend on the kindness of others and had a right to expect it. This practice was extended to every sojourner, even a runaway slave (Deut. 23:16-17) or one's arch enemy.

The word is not used in the Old Testament, but its elements are recognizable: Abraham and the three visitors (Gen. 18:1-8), Lot and the two angels (Gen. 19:1-8), Abraham's servant at Nahor (Gen. 24:17-33), Reuel and Moses (Ex. 2:20), Manoah and the angel (Judg. 13:15), Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:10-11), and Elisha and the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:8-11).

The Pentateuch contains specific commands for the Israelites to love the strangers as themselves (Lev. 19:33-34; Deut. 10:18-19), and to look after their welfare (Deut. 24:17-22). The reason for practicing hospitality was that the Israelites themselves were once strangers in the land of Egypt.

Some acts of hospitality were rewarded, the most notable of which was Rahab's (Josh. 6:22-25; Heb. 11:31; James 2:25). Breaches of hospitality were condemned and punished, such as those of Sodom (Gen. 19:1-11) and Gibeah (Judg. 19:10-25).

Hospitality seemed to form the background of many details in the life of Jesus and the early church (Matt. 8:20; Luke 7:36; 9:2-5; 10:4-11). It was to be a characteristic of bishops and widows (1 Tim. 3:2; 5:10; Titus 1:8) and a duty of Christians (Rom. 12:13; 1 Pet. 4:9). It was a natural expression of brotherly love (Heb. 13:1-2; 1 Pet. 4:8-9) and a necessary tool of evangelism. Furthermore, one might even entertain angels or the Lord unawares (Heb. 13:2; Matt. 25:31-46).

HELPFULNESS – GAIUS (3 John 1:4-8) I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. {5} Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, {6} who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, {7} because they went forth for His name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. {8} We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth.

OBEDIENCE - (1 Pet 4:8-10) And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." {9} Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. {10} As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

SYMPATHY - (Luke 14:12-14) Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. {13} "But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. {14} "And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

PERCEPTION - (Luke 16:19-25) "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. {20} "But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, {21} "desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. {22} "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. {23} "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. {24} "Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' {25} "But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.

IMPORTANCE - (Heb 13:1-3) Let brotherly love continue. {2} Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. {3} Remember the prisoners as if chained with them; those who are mistreated; since you yourselves are in the body also.

TENDERNESS - (Rom 12:9-21) Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. {10} Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; {11} not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; {12} rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; {13} distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. {14} Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. {15} Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. {16} Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. {17} Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. {18} If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. {19} Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. {20} Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." {21} Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

ACTIVE - (Heb 6:9-12) But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. {10} For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. {11} And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, {12} that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

LOVING - (1 Cor 13:1-3) Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. {2} And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. {3} And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

IMPRESSIVE - (Mat 25:31-46) "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. {32} "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. {33} "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. {34} "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: {35} 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; {36} 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' {37} "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? {38} 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? {39} 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' {40} "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' {41} "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: {42} 'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; {43} 'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' {44} "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' {45} "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' {46} "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

THOUGHTFUL - (Luke 10:30-37) Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. {31} "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. {32} "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. {33} "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. {34} "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. {35} "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'

YIELDING - (Job 31:31-32) If the men of my tent have not said, 'Who is there that has not been satisfied with his meat?' {32} (But no sojourner had to lodge in the street, For I have opened my doors to the traveler);

CONCLUSION – THE SOLDIER'S CALL

A soldier called his mother from San Francisco Bay,

Said, "Mother, I'll be coming home, but hear me what I say.

I want to bring a buddy, please, Mom, if you don't mind,

He has one leg, one arm, one eye, and he needs your love so kind."

The mother told her soldier with a harsh and bitter tone,

No, don't bring your buddy here; find him another home.

We just don't have a place for him, and if it's how you say,

We sure don't need a handicap to be here in the way.

Then later came a telegram; the soldier boy was dead.

He took his life; they found a note, and this is what it said,

"No, don't bring your buddy here," his mother's words were they,

"We sure don't need a handicap to be here in the way."

At last the wheels stopped turning, as the mother met the train.

She came to get her only son with tears that fell like rain.

She stared into the cold steel box to kiss her boy goodbye,

And there he was, a handicap…one leg, one arm, one eye.

A. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU HAVE MISSED OPPORTUNITIES TO SHOW LOVING KINDNESS TO STRANGERS?

B. HAVE YOU MISSED AN OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE JESUS BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T SERVE THE LEAST OF HIS BRETHREN?

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.