HOSPITALITY

Vol. 15 No. 5

                                                                                   

Dear Friend,

Hospitality is the practice of the open door. 

Whenever you welcome someone into your home for conversation, or a meal, or to stay overnight you are practicing hospitality. 

You are practicing hospitality whenever you include anyone with you in anything you are doing. Indeed, hospitality goes deeper than a welcome into your home or your activities, it is a welcome into your life.

Hospitality in its deepest and truest form offers a warm welcome to the stranger. Ask yourself, "When is the last time I shared a meal with someone outside my family or close circle of friends or co-workers?"

Hospitality is defined by the word in.  It includes, pulls in, welcomes in, and invites in.

Hospitality moves beyond friendliness. You can be friendly and warm to persons you meet in the church or supermarket and yet never intend to involve them in your life.

Hospitality for your church goes far beyond the openness of its services and meetings to guests.  Your church is hospitable when you are hospitable in your personal life.

Be alert to those people God brings to you with whom you may practice hospitality.

"Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling" (1 Peter 4:9).

 "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it "(Hebrews 13:2).

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott           

EASTER

Vol. 15 No. 4

Dear Friend,

Easter Sunday we celebrate the most significant event in all of history and eternity.

Something overwhelming, stupendous, and unexpected happened on that first Easter.

Jesus Christ, killed on a cross and truly dead, was raised to life.

Indeed, Jesus Christ truly is alive...

            not merely alive when we remember him,

                        not simply alive in the stories we tell of him,

                                    not only alive when we obey his teaching,

but literally really alive.

This Easter, confess aloud, "Jesus is Lord,

            believe in your heart God raised him from the dead,

                        and rejoice in the life and love of Jesus Christ that God has given you.

If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom.10:9 NIV).

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies (Rom. 8:11).

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott                                 

LENT

Vol. 15 No. 3

Dear Friend, 

Beginning with Ash Wednesday and lasting until Easter, Lent is the season of the year in which the follower of Jesus Christ is invited to review and renew the depth of his or her commitment to Jesus Christ.

A Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, one of the great devotional classics of our century was written by Hannah Whitall Smith. Her words of clear love for Jesus Christ and positive encouragement have stirred literally millions of Christians to reach more eagerly for a deep relationship with God.

Hannah Smith recommended a simple prayer for the Christian to be used as a means of growing deeper in God's love:

Lord, I am thine; I do yield myself up entirely to thee, and I believe that thou dost take me. I leave myself with thee. Work in me all the good pleasure of thy will and I will only lie still in Thy hands and trust Thee.

Hannah Smith suggested that this simple prayer of surrender and trust be prayed several times each day.

As part of my own spiritual disciplines during this season of Lent, I have enjoyed memorizing Hannah's prayer and using it three or four times each day, on waking, upon going to bed, and during the day.

I encourage you to carry this prayer with you this week or memorize it (it is fairly short).

If you prefer to substitute "yours" for "Thine" and "You" for "Thee", go right ahead.

Use this simple prayer several times a day each day this week as one way of growing in your love for Jesus Christ as we drawer nearer to Easter.

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott                                 

SPIRITUAL THIRST

Vol. 15 No. 2

Dear Friend,

On hot summer days, it is easy to find ourselves growing thirsty.

The psalmist wrote, "As the deer pants for streams of  water, so my soul pants for you O' God" (Psalm 42:1 NIV).

A growing thirstiness for  God, an increasing longing to know God, to enjoy His presence and His love, and to serve Him are evidences of a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is God's intent to make us spiritually thirsty and to satisfy that thirst with Christ and Christ alone.

Central to our life with Christ is that we discover in Him is life. A vacation may renew you for a couple of weeks.  Jesus Christ will sustain you for a lifetime.

During these summer days, I urge you to stir up that spiritual thirstiness in you and then quench that thirst with Jesus Christ by means of  worship and his Word.

Commit yourself to worship in church. Be there every Sunday you are physically able to attend.

God designed the Sabbath to be a weekly meeting with him all year round.  Don't take a vacation from the number one priority of your life.

Enjoy some special times of Bible reading and reflection during the summer.

The summer  is a good time to practice Psalm 23. Go to a park or scenic place where you can literally "lie down in a green pasture" or sit beside some still waters.  There you may read your Bible and allow God's Spirit to restore your soul.

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott                                 

US SEEKING GOD

Vol. 15 No. 1

Dear Friend,

Consider these wonderful words of God, "You will seek me, and you will find me, when you seek me with all your heart and I will be found by you" (Jeremiah 29:13-14).

The God we follow is a findable God -- not unapproachable, not impersonal.

Remember the wizard of  The Wizard of Oz? He set himself up to be terrifying and unapproachable. He invited people to stay away from him and made it difficult to gain a personal audience with him. His willingness to help came at a price.

That is the exact opposite of the God we worship.

Our God is approachable, findable, grace-full.

Jesus Christ invites us to actively seek Him, to pursue a deepening relationship with Himself.

Seek God! He has made himself findable and warmly offers you hospitality.

Connect with God. Allow Him to fill you with His Spirit and His cleansing power.

Connect with God. Trust Jesus Christ with every detail of your life.

Connect with God. Pray daily. Study and apply the truth of the Bible.

Seek to honor God, to affirm and thank Him, to love and to adore Him.

I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be in my lips.My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.                                                                                                      (Psalm 34: 1-4 NIV)

Joy to you - 
E. Stanley Ott