Live Out Love! Series

Live Out Love!

Be hospitable to strangers

Serve the Suffering

Honor my spouse

Be Content with your stuff

Slide

ARTICLE IV:

OUR VISION

We believe that ALL people matter to God and that God wants ALL people in relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, we at Hickory Creek Community Church desire…

…..to be a church where people at every stage of life can come and be ministered to so that they can minister to others.

..…to be a church where we minister to those who are younger and older, in school and out of school, those with kids and without kids, those who work and those who are retired.

…..to be a church where “being” the church is more important than “doing” church.

..…to be a church that glorifies God and exalts the name of Christ in everything we do.

…..to be a church that is more interested in where people are heading than in where they have been.

…..to be a church that encourages people to take the “next step” of faith and maturity from whatever point they are at.

…..to be a church where the healthy help the hurting and the hurting are becoming healthy.

…..to be a church where the words “Love God…Love People…Live it Out!” is more than just a motto, it is a way of life.

Our vision gives some sort of idea of how it will look in our church if we are living out our motto.

It helps us to know if we are teaching appropriately and applying that teaching, then we should becoming closer to looking like a church that is stated in our vision.

In our study of Hebrews, the author has been laying out the case that Christianity is better than Judaism, or for our purposes, better than any other way of life that we can think of as a choice to live.

And, with that being the case, experiencing the power of the risen Christ in you, you should now live in a way that shows the truth of your beliefs and one of the main things that should get expressed is love and he gives some practical ways for these Hebrews and for us to Live Out Love!

Slide

Turn with me to Hebrews 13:1-6 and let’s read what the author has to tell us.

Hebrews 13:1-6

13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

6 So we say with confidence,

"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?"

The author of Hebrews begins his final thoughts to this church with this.

Keep on loving your brothers.

He knows already that they have been loving others.

He told them that in Hebrews 6

Hebrews 6:10

10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

They have been showing love, but he encourages them to keep on living it out.

And he gives them practical advice on how that love is going to look.

The first way he tells these Hebrews that they can Live out Love is to

Be Hospitable to Strangers

Slide

Hebrews 13:2

2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

NASU

Hebrews 13:2

2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

There is an allusion to the story of Abraham in Genesis 18 when he welcomed in the Lord and 2 angels who were strangers and he did not know it and showed them hospitality. Abraham was a man of God and of hospitality.

In fact, throughout the Old Testament, we see that God wants his people to be hospitable to foreigners and strangers.

Leviticus 19:33-34

33 "’When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. 34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 24:17-18

17 Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.