Video Transcript: Hospitality People Smart
Henry - Welcome back to the fellowship and hospitality ministry class. Today we're going to talk about hospitality people smart. I guess there's something important to know about when you're gonna do hospitality. These are like soft skills that help you do hospitality and fellowship. Okay, the first one
Pam – Pray about who you will meet today,
Henry - Okay, this one's a real one, especially for hospitality.
Pam - tie into God's plan for meeting people. Colossians 4:6, Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer every one.
Henry - I find it interesting, the power of prayer. And when you actually start praying, that God will put people in your life and more people will show up in your life. And I know we pray for you to be in our lives. And we pray on a regular basis that the gospel reaching more and more people go forward into the world that you as leaders will reach more and more people that we pray for that. We want a lot more strangers to come in to hear about the gospel to get trained as Christian leaders and to exercise their calling and reconsider a prayerful journey. Notice a Stranger in a positive light,
Pam - what plan may God have for you to meet new people Colossians 4:5, be wise in the way you act toward outsiders make the most of every opportunity.
Henry - This goes directly in contrast to the Roman and Greek view, having a positive regard for people that you don't know. But Christianity has a positive regard for people. And I reflect on this, even people who are enemies of the gospel, we have a hopeful and positive regard that they will become friends of Jesus Christ. We know Paul often says, once you were enemies of the gospel. And now you are friends, you've been transformed, like we always know that all of us in our sinful nature are far from God. Thank God, he's redeemed us. And we are born again into a new and living hope to the resurrection of the dead of Jesus Christ from the dead. So in a lot of ways, people who don't know, why would we have a negative attitude toward them, we want them to be part of it. Now. I do know that God has a plan, you might have a positive connection with someone who ultimately hurts you. That is true, right? And we've experienced that. But it does not take away our passion to be warm and opening to people and what happens is still in God's hands.
Pam - Absolutely. Do not have an angle. Meet people motivated by knowing God has a purpose, be as transparent as appropriate.
Henry - Philippians 2:13, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. In people smart thinking, ultimately, there's a lot of dependency on God and His purposes. I'm gonna meet somebody and then get something out of it. Right? You ultimately love your neighbor. You want them to do well in Jesus Christ. And God has a purpose that we're gonna get into I notice too the walls that we could go down and we have gone down where we're trying to figure out what God's purpose is, and how frustrating that can be. Sometimes we're obedient, loving people, obedient people obedient and fellowship, and then things don't happen exactly how we think they should go and how we take it upon ourselves.
Pam - Or whatever it is, yeah, it's true, but we ultimately know God is at work. And he's working in that situation and those people and then it was something we needed to grow in or something they're growing and we just, we let ,
Henry - we let the Lord trust and then it makes us even more people smart aware such as
Pam – Be a listener. Be curious when meeting new people
Henry - James 1:19 My dear brothers take note of this, everyone should be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to become angry in hospitality and fellowship there's nothing hardly that compares to being slow to speak to listen and we have a whole people smart class that deals extensively with how to become an activator. We have the influence smart class, thef course, that deal with such principles of
Pam - be careful, keep safe boundaries. Before
Henry - Luke 15:27, your brother has come he replied and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound. I put that passage in there because I love the concept that safe is good. Sometimes I feel like we can sort of downplay that. And I've learned from you that I remember once upon a time, in my hospitality moment, I actually asked a intoxicated man to come into the car and I gave him a ride. You were driving me to work.
Pam - Right, and we just believe the Lord would keep us safe.
Henry - But at first, I felt so self righteous. I did. As I look back now, and even other things that I did feel to be hospitable. And sometimes I put our family in
danger, and I dont want to theologize that a way as well. God has a purpose and all that other, you know that
Pam - your heart is protected.
Henry - But more appreciation now for safe boundaries, while still
Pam - being daring. Be daring. March 6:7, calling the twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.
Henry - And I believe that more now than I've ever believed in my whole life. And I guess with a line that I go to today is be daring, where there's teachable hearts where there's opportunity, don't have been daring with people who just are so uninterested in talking to them, to some, we are the fragrence of life in II Corinthians and others where the wisdom, the other stench of death and the fragrance of life, but be daring, where it's appropriate to be daring. Be safe, where it's appropriate to be safe, are some of the things as I am now sitting here with you. I'm 60 years young because you learn the people smart thing. Very, very important.
Pam - Open your network to include others seek to include the new person or persons in your circle. Acts 9:27, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey has seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus
Henry - need to say more but I will tell you some of my most intense and powerful networkers. mentors. People who advanced the gospel would be so willing like Barnabas to open the network and I know that to open my network to people who I deemed were sincere and had something to offer for the for the advance of the gospel. When you share Christian leaders Institute, you're opening your network to ministry training, and the incredible open us to someone else you're opening to them and who knows what can happen by that ultimate sharing, I am so amazed to think about all of these things. You know, we can talk about a lot more people, smart types of things. And each of them you know, we did a whole course on this. But the thing about people smart is to get your boundaries down into be a listener, and to love people and to grow into learn how to be more and more strong in some of those areas. I know I gotta say, to a shy girl like you when I married you today. I mean, you are as people smart as ever, and is fun to watch. When people come over, feel comfortable when they're really, really scared and your faithfulness and obedience. And in wherever you are, if you're too much of a talker, ask the Holy Spirit to make you
a better listener, if you're not as much of a talker need to talk more than you know more. If you're one who have certain hygiene, people smart things that hurt your ministry. So you're out how to wear clothes that serve the gospel, in some ways, developing people smart common sense, asking the Lord to help you figure that out appropriate for your family, calling your ministry there, the goal is not to try to change you, but to make you more effective and that's really what people smart types are all about. So I'm looking forward to our next one where we're going to talk about how to receive the gift of hospitality. So not only can you share it, what happens if you are the receiver? Are there some things that can help you receive the gift of hospitality