In an article by the Cripplegate “for a new generation of non-conformists”, quoting ROMANS 12:1-2 (speaking of being a living sacrifice), Writer Jordan Standridge, opens his article published August 14, 2018, titled, THE LOST OF OF HOSPITALITY with this one all important question, “WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD SOMEONE OVER TOYOUR HOME?”

Jordan writes that so many Christians rarely, if ever, have people in their homes. If they do, it is just family or a few select friends. Some people don’t even know their neighbor’s name, let along have them over for a meal. 

Jordan notes that the practice of hospitality is one of the greatest tools that God can use in our personal sanctification. It shows the art of giving and giving to our children and demonstrates the love of Christ to them and those you welcome into your home. Perhaps, more than anything or anyone else, we ourselves are blessed beyond measure through the act of giving of ourselves.  After all, in the words of Jesus himself, "It is more blessed to give than to recieve" (Acts 20:35). This doesn’t mean that spend a lot of money feeding others, but rather that we facilitate gathering friends and family in our homes as one community; which entails giving of ourselves in the process".

HOSPITALITY HELPS THE HEART OF COMMUNICATION
We live in an era of technology that has raised up a generation of young people who have not the skilss to verbally talk with the person sitting right next to them; opting to text them instead. Jordan writes that after talking with hundreds of college students, that it is quite obvious that for the most part, they don’t know how to hold a conversation due to technology and the lack of hospitality shown/demonstrated in their own home. 

HOSPITALITY HELPS AGAINST SELFISHNESS
Lastly, hospitality is a small way to say “I want to love you without expecting anything in return.” Especially if we invite people who seriously can’t return the gift. Whether they are the orphans, the widows, the poor, the young singles, or even reaching out to people of other ethnicities than us, we should be in the business of selflessly having people into ur home for the purpose of helping ourselves and this we host to grow more in love for and with Christ. Paul tells us to “contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (Romans 12:13). Sacrificial giving without expecting anything in return is at the heart of the Gospel, so it is a great picture of what Christ has done for us.

Lastly, hospitality helps with evangelism. Having people over on a consistent basis helps you and me with greater opportunities togo deeper in conversation with others we have over. This in turn opens the door to see how our guests are doing spiritually. With unbelievers, it provides an opportunity to talk to and about their soul. Paul says that he didn’t just share the Gospel with people but his life as well.

"So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us" (1Thess. 2:8).

The alternative is that we can keep to ourselves. We can sit in front of the television or computer screen…or simply keep to ourselves altogether. This amounts to hording our most precious commodity-OURSELVES. And that my friends is a net loss, a travesty, a sin, and a waste of the wonderful gift(s) God has given us as believers in Jesus Christ-the opportunity to share ourselves and the love of Jesus Christ through our hospitality.

WHAT IS TRUE HOSPITALITY? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GIVE?

God’s people are called to practice “HOSPITALITY”, for at any time we may be entertaining angels. We are going to address that subject in PART2. For today, on the flip side, I want to define wise generosity-meaning how are we as Christians to give? I have seen my fair share of Christians abuse this verse and other parts of God’s Word by selfishly taking from other Christians when they are not in need-failing to give back in return (when they are fully able), saying not to expect anything in return. So which is true?

I have witnessed a steady stream of Christians who give in a way in which they please, if at all in an effort to extract favors from other Christians-knowing that the rule is to give without expecting anything in return. I would submit that we are called give with our heads before we give SOLEY from our hearts. My cousin calls this “wise-generosity”, and Christians ware wise to practice wise generosity.

WHAT ABOUT GIVING WITHOUT ANYTHING IN RETURN? Perhaps the most cited Scripture is Luke found in Luke 6, whereby Jesus says, “GIVE TO EVERYONE WHO ASKS YOU…JESUS SAID…AND WHAT IS YOURS DO NOT DEMAND IT BACK” (Luke 6:30).

As Christians, we must recognize that all blessings in life come from God, including material blessings. God gives them to us and He can take them away. This verse and the Bible in whole tells us that we are to have a kind attitude that leads Christians to become less stingy, greedy and possessive and more generous and compassionate in the process. Throughout Scripture, God reminds us that we are to give and give often (Malachi 3:10, Proverbs 3:9). We are to pay our taxes (Matthew 22:20-21), and take care of those in the church  and community  who need it (Acts 4:32). 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GIVE? In terms of giving, Christians should never make it a point to show others they give (Matthew 6:1-4). Generosity is not measured in dollar amount. God calls us to give in secret, because, unlike man, God looks at the heart.

That being said, keep in mind that many people misunderstand what the Bible says about giving to others. For example, when Jesus tells the rich young man to go and sell all his possessions, he was not being literal, but figurative in that one must be “willing” to give all he or she has  in this temporal world to follow Jesus Christ. 

So, how do we balance this with giving everything away and being poor? 2 Thessalonians 3:10-13 says: “FOR EVEN WHEN WE WERE WITH YOU, WE WOULD GIVE YOU THIS COMMAND: IF ANYONE IS NOT WILLING TO WORK, LET HIM NOT EAT. FOR WE HEAR THAT SOME AMONG YOU WALK IN IDLENESS, NOT BUSY AT WORK, BUT BUSYBODIES.NOW SUCH PERSONS WE COMMAND AND ENCOURAGE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO DO THEIR WORK QUIETLY AND TO EARN THEIR OWN LIVING. AS FOR YOU, BROTHERS, DO NOT GROW WEARY OF DOING GOOD”.(2 THESS. 3:10-13 ESV).

Paul here is citing his own example of working so as not to be a burden to others (although he had the right to do so as a n apostle). In ADDITION to NOT working, some were “busybodies”-the two often go hand in hand. Simply put, those WHO ARE ABLE to provide for themselves, should and are expected biblically to pay for what they spend or consume-period. If one DESIRES to give as a gift to another, that is great, but there is no biblical mandate to give to everyone and anyone who simply asks for your money or material items. It's human sin nature to get others do do things for your and spend their money, eat their food, have you drive them and consume another person's resources so as to store up their own for self-pleasure. This is very much overlooked in the church and we must address it and be aware of what God's Word is truly telling us. If we don't all Christians would have no resources to do great things such as build churches, send out missionaries, feed the poor, etc. Why? Because all their money would be given to those who ask-including those outside the body of Christ. 

In conclusion, we are to give wisely-exercising wise generosity. If we fail to do so, anyone and everyone who doesn’t necessarily have an authentic need could and would ask for all we have-and we would be left with nothing more to give those those in true need. Let’s be careful not to take a single Bible verse, but consider all the Bible has to say in proper context regarding our "giving". God’s perfect Word speaks clearly if we will listen clearly. Let's make sure to read, pray for God's wisdom and act biblically literate before  making decisions about money and all other areas of life.

Human beings tend to see God’s grace, patients and forgiveness as either being limitless, or having some arbitrary pre-set limit that we tend to assign or define personally.Today, I am going to show you that when it comes to God’s desire for all to come to repent of their sin and authentically follow Jesus as Lord and Savior-that even the worst of the worst sinners find NO limit to God’s forgiveness and acceptance. Let’s jump right in.

I was recently asked by an old friend, "Do you still keep in touch with that serial killer David Berkowitz (Son of Sam)?" I replied, yes, of course I do. He is authentically saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. My friend’s response was to push back in that it’s a psychosocial issue and that David is mentally crazy and dangerous. I explained to him that David personally wrote to me in the past that it’s frustrating that the prison system wants to categorize his past sinful behavior as a past-Satanic follower as psychological and not spiritual. My old friend has not surrendered his life and eternal salvation to Christ so his response was not surprising to me.

My friend went onto say that David is crazy and dangerous-so why would you keep in touch with him? I explained that David was saved by the blood of Jesus Christ decades ago and has been a baffling example of one of the best behaved prisoners in the country for many decades now. Furthermore, David has a wonderful ministry behind bars in prison. This gentleman could not accept that answer.  Again, my friend has not accepted God's grace as sufficient means for his own salvation in his own life so it makes sense that he cannot accept God’s grace and forgivenesses for a man who was once a serial killer, turned “Son of Sam” to “Son of God” decades ago.

In order to make sense of this, I turned to the Bible for wisdom and an answer, and quickly thought of the Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15 which addresses this exact thing. Let’s read the parable found in Luke 15, verses one through seven.

 THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SHEEP: (Luke 15:1-7)

“15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

The parable speaks to God’s answer to our question as it was given by Jesus himself. That being said, I want to point out FIVE simple observational truths found within these seven verses that will answer the question as to the limitless forgiveness of God’s grace. Let’s start by looking at verse one:

FIRST: Notice that Jesus came to hang out with sinners who "were all drawing near to him" (v.1). Jesus has a way about Him that draws sinners (which includes all of us by the way). The greater the sinner the greater the draw. Jesus came to save the lost not entertain the self-righteous.

SECOND: The MORE one is forgiven, the more appreciation they have for the forgiveness and grace God has given them through Jesus Christ. Rewinding to Luke chapter 7, Jesus said this:

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred Denali, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more? Simon replied, “”I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven””. (Jesus replied) “You have judged correctly, “ Jesus said” (Luke 7:41-43 NIV). The bottom line is that the more one is forgiven, the more appreciation that person has for the new person they become in Christ through God’s forgivenesses.

THIRD: Many people today, including many Christians cannot believe that God could or would save a serial killer. But He does and always has. Remember verse four whereby Jesus literally states that God goes after the "THE ONE THAT IS LOST, UNTIL HE FINDS IT" (v.4). God doesn’t arbitrarily choose to cast anyone into hell-but allows those who reject Him to choose their own eternal road to hell should they choose. We often think of God casting sinners into hell. This is not true in that God simply gives people what they want and what they asked for. If they reject God, they choose hell on their own and not against their will.

FOURTH: When God finally connects with the lost, just as He did with you and I, He picks us up and puts us on His shoulders, burdening Himself with our sin as we are forgiven and covered by God’s forgiveness through the blood of Christ. After walking with the Lord for many decades, I can tell you that God’s forgiveness is literal in that the days that I don’t go before God and ask His forgiveness are heavy while the days that I spend time with him and ask His daily forgiveness-while challenging, are filled with God’s grace and favor. God put’s the sinner on His shoulders and literally “shoulders his or her sin”.  VERSE GIVE says, “5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”

FIFTH AND LASTLY: In heaven, I think that we will be surprised by some of the people that made it into the kingdom of God and those who didn’t. IN HEAVEN, "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no reptence" (v.7). In truth the 99 who need no repentance are those of us who THINK we need no repentance. We ALL need repentence and to repent daily.

IN CONCLUSION: In Heaven, there is a massive celebration with each and every person who authentically comes to trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. VERSE SIX SAYS: “AND WHEN HE COMES HOME, HE CALLS TOGETHER HIS FRIENDS AND HIS NEIGHBORS, SAYING TO THEM, ‘REJOICE WITH ME, FOR I HAVE FOUND MY SHEEP THAT WAS LOST” (v.6). And this includes my friend David Berkowitz, AKA “Son of Sam Serial Killer before being saved by God’s grace through the blood of Jesus Christ.

David Berkowitz, AKA Son of Sam or now "Son of God" authentically reptended and is a new creation in Christ-just as you and I are in Christ. The truth about God's grace is that it shatters our idea of how much grace and forgiveness that God would and does extend to human beings. If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we demand justice upon others but God’s limitless grace and forgiveness upon our own lives from God. Before I close, I want to note that actions have consequences and David Berkowitz is in prison for the rest of his life without any chance of parole. In many cases, the death penalty is given to serial killers. In both cases, God’s grace and forgiveness are no less prevalent-but so are the real CONSEQUENCES of our sin. In the end, God’s grace and forgiveness are real. And the great news is that God’s grace, and forgiveness are dispensed at God's pleasure to those who would receive it; even to a serial killer.