If you have been with me long, or in any of my classes, you know that I do my best to make my lessons practical. Too many sermons end up short of the mark. They are all theory, all concept, all theology, and fail to tell the listener how to apply those ideas to their lives in a concrete way. “It’s up to the listener to apply it,” I heard one preacher say, which misses the most obvious point in the world: if that were easy to do, surely good people would have done it already. And then there is the big stumbling block for us all: Applying the scriptures to my life means I must examine myself for faults that need correcting, and who is eager to do that!?
Read the prophets sometime. They were specific in their catalog of sins.
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. Amos 2:6-8.
Do you think that was specific enough? Read Micah, Hosea, and Malachi. They are all that way, and they were not the first. “Thou art the man,” Nathan told David, leaving no room for doubt in David’s mind. Concrete applications should be part of every lesson if for no other reason than to help people learn how to make those applications to themselves.
I recently sat in a hospitality “workshop” given by a wonderful sister in the Lord named Patricia Miozza, the very ideal of hospitality herself. Yes, we studied the scriptures and talked about the sacred obligation that hospitality is and always has been. But after that we put feet to the lesson, learning exactly how to offer warm hospitality. We talked about excuses and how to overcome them. We talked about the various methods of showing hospitality. Then we even talked about making guests comfortable in our homes in an extremely practical way. Patricia called it “The Hospitality Challenge,” and since I will be using her material, far be it from me to change the title. Besides, it fits because for many of us it is a challenge, but one I hope you will take.
For the rest of this week I will share with you my take on Patricia’s eminently practical suggestions for us as we all do our best to practice this God-given duty.
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Heb 13:1-2
Dene Ward
Read the prophets sometime. They were specific in their catalog of sins.
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. Amos 2:6-8.
Do you think that was specific enough? Read Micah, Hosea, and Malachi. They are all that way, and they were not the first. “Thou art the man,” Nathan told David, leaving no room for doubt in David’s mind. Concrete applications should be part of every lesson if for no other reason than to help people learn how to make those applications to themselves.
I recently sat in a hospitality “workshop” given by a wonderful sister in the Lord named Patricia Miozza, the very ideal of hospitality herself. Yes, we studied the scriptures and talked about the sacred obligation that hospitality is and always has been. But after that we put feet to the lesson, learning exactly how to offer warm hospitality. We talked about excuses and how to overcome them. We talked about the various methods of showing hospitality. Then we even talked about making guests comfortable in our homes in an extremely practical way. Patricia called it “The Hospitality Challenge,” and since I will be using her material, far be it from me to change the title. Besides, it fits because for many of us it is a challenge, but one I hope you will take.
For the rest of this week I will share with you my take on Patricia’s eminently practical suggestions for us as we all do our best to practice this God-given duty.
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Heb 13:1-2
Dene Ward
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