SPIRITUAL FREEDOM RUSSIA
Bible correspondence studies to the prison population

Romans 12:13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

Paul speaking to believers gives two ways to express brotherly love one to another by practicing generosity and hospitality.

Both generosity and hospitality does not require any special theological training. They don’t require the understanding of Greek or Hebrew. What generosity and hospitality does require is just being aware of your surroundings and recognizing a need that may exist in the life of another and respond accordingly. Every believer has the opportunity to exercise them. You can follow in the foot steps of Jesus Christ and be generous and hospitable in your Christian walk. God gives the true believer many opportunities to be generous and to be hospitable. One of the many reasons why is so that we can express our faith in Christ Jesus. If we really believe in the words of Jesus we are free to be generous and hospitable to others. Remember what Jesus said to his followers

Mt 6:31-32 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

The promise of Jesus to those who belong to Him is that our heavenly Father knows what all our daily needs are. And so the Lord gives us opportunity to express generosity and hospitality because our needs are already looked after by God Himself.

We are to supply the legitimate needs of others by giving. However hospitably sometimes is much more of a sacrifice. It sometimes is much easier to just open up our wallets and give. Where as expressing hospitality in many cases requires a greater sacrifice, as you open up your home to bless another. Paul declares that both giving and hospitality is to be the behavior of His follows among each other. This behavior was never meant to be confined to the church It first must begin in the house of the Lord, and then it is to be exercised among the non believers in this world with the sole purpose of bringing a person to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself declared as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 16:26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” Generosity and hospitality towards others is to show the love of Jesus Christ that was shown towards us.

Ro 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” The love of Jesus was directed towards us the sinner so that we would repent and believe in Him to be saved from the judgment to come. It is with generosity and hospitality that God blesses so that the heart of the lost may be open to know about His greatest act of generosity, the giving of His Son for all of mankind.

Jesus gave His life for ours so that we could be saved, and restored to fellowship with our creator for all of eternity. Not only did Jesus and the Father express their Generosity towards us with the ultimate price, Jesus ascended into heaven where He will one day show every believer His eternal Hospitality

As Jesus promised every believer with a place to dwell with Him for all of eternity. Generosity and hospitality is for one purpose and that is to bring glory to God, to bring attention to the Son of God, so that man would put his faith in Jesus Christ. If generosity and hospitality are not rooted in  Jesus Christ and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, they are just good works at best making life a little better for others on this earth Generosity and hospitality without the Gospel of Christ is dead.

Unfortunately among the Body of Christ it is becoming the fashion to be generous and hospitable at the expense of the truth of Jesus Christ! Generosity and hospitality can never be separated from the truth of Jesus Christ. Joh 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Generosity and hospitality are from our creator, everything about Christ was manifested in generosity and hospitality, God is the source of all good! Every one of us at one time or another will have the opportunity to be generous and hospitable towards one another in the house of the Lord, and also towards the unsaved so that through our good works they may see and find Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Jesus exhorts all who follow in His footsteps Matthew  5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.