This episode of the Hard Man Podcast is brought to by Joe Garrison with

backwards planning financial by our friends at Alpine Gold, by Max D Trailers,

Salt and Strings Butchery, Premier Body Armour, and finally by Reformation Heritage Books. The nature of hospitality.

Many of us who are older recall times when these were ordinary and expected virtues that could be observed in nearly the entire country, at least outside of the large cities which seem to have difficulties with them in every age.

We once expected kind Christian treatment as a matter of course, and we usually got it.

We would have been shocked not to receive it. Today the world is very different, and whenever someone happens to receive kindness from a stranger,

he is amazed and writes a letter to the local newspaper,

to tell everyone how wonderful it was actually to meet a

considerate and truthful person. This is a symptom of cultural disintegration

and if we as Christians fail to understand and apply the commands of hospitality in the covenant

community, our churches, like our culture, will eventually die.

As the Christian memory is lost and as respect for Christian moral standards erodes.

We will continue to see with increasing darkness what we have witnessed the last 25 to 30 years.

Having shown the scriptural commands in the last chapter, I'd now like to discuss the characteristics of hospitality.

In a world like ours, anyone who wishes to talk about hospitality will probably sound rather outdated and obsolete, as if he wants to return

to the Little House on the Prairie or perhaps Mayberry. We do not have time for that sort of thing,

too many important things to do. Who can be hospitable in for that minds of unbelievers. But it is evident that the vast majority of churchgoers think in the same way,

because the surrounding culture has so successfully infected us with their philosophy of time.

One of the most common complaints against churches is that they are unfriendly,

and it is the most common complaint because it is true.

We have lost the sense and the spirit of the scriptures on this topic.

The problem can be traced back to the simple neglect of hospitality.

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