Hebrews 10:32-34; 13:1-6, 13-16
September 7, 2025
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Hospitality is not so much a task, as a way of living our lives and of sharing ourselves…Hospitality is not first a duty and responsibility; it is first a response of love and gratitude of God’s love and welcome to us.”

~ Christine D. Pohl (1950-2023), American professor and author

“The religion of the Greeks does not yet prosper…. Why do we not observe how the charity of Christians to strangers…has done the most to advance their cause? For it is disgraceful that…the impious Galileans [aka Christians] support our poor in addition to their own, while everyone is able to see that our coreligionists lack aid from us!”

~ Roman Emperor Julian (332-363), Letter to Arsacius, 360 AD

“Christian hospitality takes the ordinary and commits its resources to extraordinary use. It takes our possessions that will one day break down and uses them for the Spirit-enabled enjoyment of Christ.”

“For those who have not yet embraced Christ, our homes can be a safe place for expressing doubts, asking questions, and winsomely sharing the gospel.”

“In Christian hospitality, our homes are outposts of God’s kingdom—spaces and places where God tugs at our hearts toward his glory.”

~ John Rakshith Prabhakar, contemporary minister and church planter in Bangalore, India

“A custom existed among the first generations of Christians, when faith was a bright fire that warmed more than those who kept it burning. In every house then a room was kept ready for any stranger who might ask for shelter; it was even called ‘the stranger’s room.’ Not because these people thought they could trace something of someone they loved in the stranger who used it, not because the man or woman to whom they gave shelter reminded them of Christ, but because—plain and simple and stupendous fact—he or she was Christ.”

~ Dorothy Day (1897-1980), American journalist and social activist

Sermon Passage

Hebrews 10:32-34; 13:1-6, 13-16 (ESV)

Hebrews 10

³² But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, ³³ sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. ³⁴ For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

Hebrews 13

¹ Let brotherly love continue. ² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. ³ Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. ⁴ Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. ⁵ Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ⁶ So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”

…¹³ Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. ¹⁴ For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. ¹⁵ Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. ¹⁶ Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.