August 02, 2026 (Growth Cycle of Influence -- Widening The Circle)

Devotional

Day 1: Feeding Strangers on Miscarriage Mountain

When a poor Filipino family interrupted their hunger to feed stranded foreigners, they embodied radical hospitality. True biblical hospitality isn’t about curated dinner parties but surrendering resources – even meager ones – to nourish those God places in our path. It means seeing strangers as recipients of grace already at work, trusting that sharing bread with outsiders aligns us with God’s redemptive story. This kind of giving requires vulnerability, disrupting our plans to participate in divine interruptions. [52:40]

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
(Romans 12:13, NIV)

Reflection: When has an unexpected guest or need disrupted your routine? How might you view such interruptions as holy invitations rather than inconveniences?

Day 2: Pursuing Outsiders Like Packing Peanuts

Hospitality isn’t passive politeness but active pursuit – chasing down outsiders like spilled packing peanuts. The Greek word "philosenia" means aggressively loving strangers, not just tolerating them. This contradicts our self-reliant culture that avoids dependence and judges those needing help. To practice hospitality like Christ means initiating costly friendship with those outside our circles, trusting God’s grace precedes our efforts. [54:02]

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
(Romans 12:14, NIV)

Reflection: Who in your life feels as hard to “gather up” as scattered packing peanuts? What first step could you take to pursue them without expecting repayment?

Day 3: Reversing the Curse with Lincoln’s Grace

Abraham Lincoln transformed a rival into a friend by speaking blessings over Edward Stanton’s insults. Every critical thought or gossipy impulse presents a choice: perpetuate curses or break chains with grace-filled words. Blessing enemies requires seeing them as God’s grace recipients first. Like Lincoln, we overcome evil by weaponizing kindness, trusting that well-placed blessings can rewrite relational narratives. [01:05:26]

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
(Romans 12:17-18, NIV)

Reflection: What relationship feels “stuck” in curse mode? What specific blessing could you speak or act upon this week to begin reversing the dynamic?

Day 4: Dropping Anchor in the God of Hope

Biblical hope isn’t wishful thinking but a defiant anchor in God’s character. When hospitality feels risky or blessing enemies seems foolish, hope remembers Christ’s resurrection power already at work. The Philippian family didn’t hoard food because they hoped in divine provision; Lincoln blessed Stanton because he hoped in redemption. Our capacity to love strangers grows when we’re moored to the One who hospitably pursued us first. [01:11:48]

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
(1 Peter 1:3-4, NIV)

Reflection: Where do you need to replace “finger-crossing hope” with “anchor-dropping hope” this week? How does Christ’s pursuit of you empower this shift?

Day 5: Your Porch as a Holy Interruption

The Filipino porch became sacred space when strangers were invited past the threshold. Our porches, kitchens, and coffee tables become altars when we welcome outsiders into the mess of real life. Hospitality isn’t about impressing guests but offering Christ’s presence through shared presence. Like Bonhoeffer’s call to embrace divine interruptions, every open door becomes a chance to widen circles and thin the veil between heaven and earth. [50:57]

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
(Hebrews 13:2, NIV)

Reflection: What “porch space” in your life (physical or metaphorical) needs rearranging to better welcome those God might send? What one barrier to accessibility could you remove?

Sermon Summary

Paul sets hospitality and blessing inside the next step of a life shaped by Jesus, calling it “widening the circle.” Romans 12 does not leave love as a nice feeling or a private virtue. The text says, “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.” Paul puts that right in the middle of a world that says winning matters most, that rights matter most, that getting the last word matters most.

Hospitality, in the biblical sense, goes much deeper than having friends over for dinner or working in hotels and restaurants. The word carries the idea of philoxenia, friendship with strangers, love for the foreigner, care for the outsider. The opposite is xenophobia, fear of the stranger. Paul calls for friendship over fear, not just tolerating people who are different, but actively reaching toward them.

Hospitality lets life be interrupted by God. The family in the Philippines, with very little in the house, put food on the table for unexpected guests and did it with grace. That picture shows what Romans 12 means by practicing hospitality. The word practice has the sense of pursuing, running after, making every effort. In other words, hospitality does not just happen. It has to be chased down.

God’s grace makes that pursuit possible because every person has an open door, even if it is only cracked. God’s grace is already at work in every stranger, outsider, critic, and difficult person. When God’s people pursue hospitality, they can become the next act of grace in that person’s life.

Paul also says to bless. Blessing means speaking well, using good words, not words that scatter like packing peanuts in the wind and can never be gathered back. Cursing may feel natural in a world bent by sin, but blessing “reverses the curse.” Lincoln’s choice to honor Stanton, the man who mocked him, shows what it can look like when an opponent becomes a friend.

Hope anchors the whole thing. Biblical hope is not crossing fingers; it is dropping an anchor in the character of God. Jesus pursued sinners first. God was hospitable first. Christ takes a person as they are, but never leaves them as they are, shaping life into a prayer, a testimony, a neon sign pointing to the reason for hope.

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Key Takeaways

1. Hospitality means friendship over fear. Hospitality in Romans 12 is not simply good manners, a meal with friends, or a warm welcome for familiar people. Philoxenia means love for the stranger, the outsider, the foreigner, the person who is not already easy to love. The Christian life becomes Christlike when fear of the other gives way to active friendship with the other. [49:45]
2. God’s grace opens every door. God’s grace has already been poured out on every person, even where the door seems barely cracked. Hospitality matters because a believer may become “the next thing that God is doing” in another person’s life. That makes ordinary kindness spiritually serious, because the smallest act of welcome can join the hidden work of God. [54:57]
3. Blessing reverses the curse. Words do not disappear once spoken; they scatter, travel, and shape what cannot easily be gathered back. Blessing refuses to use speech as a weapon for self-protection, revenge, or gossip. Speaking well can become an act of resistance against the curse, turning enemies into friends rather than feeding the old cycle of harm. [61:37]
4. Hope drops an anchor. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking or a nervous crossing of fingers. Hope rests on the known character of God, so hospitality and blessing can be practiced even when they feel hard, unfair, or unsafe for the ego. A life anchored in hope can act before feelings catch up, trusting that God can transform people and relationships. [70:51]
5. Jesus pursued first. God was hospitable before asking hospitality from anyone else. Jesus chased after sinners with new life, new peace, new joy, and new hope. The call to widen the circle begins with remembering that Christ first widened the circle enough to include the one now being changed by him.

## [73:56]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[37:58] - Prayer and Amen
[44:07] - The Growth Cycle of Influence
[44:28] - Widening the Circle
[46:45] - Romans 12 on Hospitality and Blessing
[49:45] - Philoxenia, Love of the Stranger
[50:57] - Hospitality Interrupts the Schedule
[53:43] - Pursuing Hospitality on Purpose
[54:57] - God’s Grace Already at Work
[57:18] - Acting Into Love
[60:25] - Blessing Means Speaking Well
[63:04] - Choosing to Reverse the Curse
[67:08] - Widening the Circle in Real Life
[70:35] - Hope as a Confident Anchor
[73:56] - God Pursued First
[81:27] - Final Blessing and Sending

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Romans 12:13-16, 18, 20
“Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.'” [46:52]

1 John 4:18
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

1 Peter 1:3-4
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,”

Observation questions

In Romans 12, what specific actions are believers told to take toward people in need, strangers, persecutors, and even enemies? [46:52]
What contrast is drawn between hospitality as people usually think of it and hospitality as friendship with the stranger or outsider? [49:45]
What details in the story of the family in the Philippines show that hospitality can interrupt a person’s plans, comfort, and resources? [52:26]
What pictures are used to describe the power of words and the difference between blessing and cursing? [01:01:37]

Interpretation questions

Paul says, “Practice hospitality,” and the word carries the sense of pursuing or chasing after it. What does that suggest about hospitality as a way of life rather than a personality trait or occasional act? [53:43]
If God’s grace is already at work in every person, even when the door seems only slightly open, how might that change the way believers view strangers, critics, or difficult people? [54:57]
“Bless those who persecute you” can sound unreasonable or unfair. How does this command challenge the usual instinct to defend, retaliate, or get the last word? [01:03:04]
Biblical hope is described as an anchor rather than wishful thinking. How does that kind of hope make it possible to practice hospitality and blessing when feelings are not there yet? [01:10:51]

Application questions

Who is just outside the usual circle right now—someone at church, work, school, or in the neighborhood—and what might a simple first step toward friendship look like this week? [01:08:30]
When has fear shaped the way a person responded to someone different, unfamiliar, or hard to understand? What would friendship over fear look like in that situation now? [50:23]
Hospitality often means letting life be interrupted. What kinds of interruptions are hardest to welcome—time, convenience, privacy, money, emotional energy—and why? [50:57]
Is there a relationship where the first instinct has become cursing, venting, sarcasm, gossip, or silent contempt? What would it look like to bless first without pretending the problem is not real? [01:09:35]
Words do not come back once they are spoken. Where is more care needed right now—in conversations at home, online posts, text messages, or talking about others behind their backs? [01:02:02]
“As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Where might peace require a phone call, an apology, a kind word, a meal, or a decision to stop keeping score?
Jesus pursued first and was hospitable first. How does remembering that change the way a person approaches someone who feels undeserving, unpleasant, or distant? [01:13:56]

Sermon Clips

71s

#HopeAnchored

“``Hope is not just I hope it doesn't rain or hope it does rain. You know, a desire but with some uncertainty. is an expectation grounded in what we know to be true about our heavenly father. That's hope. Casual hope crosses its fingers. Oh, I hope I hope this. I hope that. Biblical hope drops an anchor. I'm gonna drop my anchor in hospitality because I know what God will do. I know what God can do because I have the hope of what God will do when I pursue hospitality. I'm gonna drop my anchor into into being a person who blesses because I know what God can do. And I know the power of the Holy Spirit to transform people's lives. I'm going to drop my anchor in love and grace and humility and honor and sincerity and integrity and in the transformation that God is working in me because I know and I trust what God wants to do.”

63s

#LoveStrangers

“As we look at this word hospitality, it comes from two words, philo or philo and xenia. Philo means friendship or love. Zenos is stranger or or outsider or or a foreigner. And so the word hospitality in the Bible literally means friendship with strangers or the love of foreigner or care for those who are outside of your comfort zone, those who aren't like you. It's very different than xenophobia, which is another word we sometimes hear, which phobia, you know, means fear. Right? The fear of strangers, the fear of foreigners, the fear of those who aren't quite like you. Paul's talking about love of stranger, not fear of stranger. It's friendship over fear, he might say. It's actively befriending the outsider. It's not merely tolerating them.”

52s

#GraceInAction

“And when we pursue hospitality with them, when we pursue friendship, when we pursue them, we are coming face to face with a stranger perhaps, an outsider, a foreigner, someone not like us. But that person is a recipient of God's grace. And when we pursue hospitality, we become the next step in what God is doing in their life. You ever thought about that? We become the next thing that God is doing to draw them to him. We become the next word that is spoken. We become the next act of grace or mercy in that person's life. We become the next thing that God is doing in their life.”

35s

#BlessDontCurse

“But when we choose to bless, when we choose to bless, when we choose to speak well, when we choose to bless rather than curse, we literally reverse the curse. We reverse the curse. God, our Lord, tells us not to repay enemies in kind. And that's hard enough by itself, but then he tells us to seek friendship, to do well, to speak well. And that's hard.”

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