Blown Away!

0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:07.320 Hey, did you hear the news. Elevation Nights Spring twenty 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:13.400 twenty two tour April twenty sixth through May fifth. Oh 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:17.840 you gotta come. I mean, you really gotta come. I'm 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:22.880 going to be preaching, Holly's going to be sharing elevation worship. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:28.640 Your favorite songs, old songs, new songs, kind of old 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:33.239 new ish songs. I want to see you if you 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:37.400 are anywhere near these cities, I want to see you. 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:42.519 No excuses, no delay. Get your ticket right now. Let 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:44.320 me know in the comments what night I'm going to 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.360 see you, and what's your name? So I can try 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:51.120 to shout you out, but I'll probably forget. But this 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:57.400 is going to be amazing, the best night of our year. 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:02.400 Go to Elevation Nights dot com right now, get your ticket, 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.240 leave a comment. Let's go to the Word of God. 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.720 I'm excited. I'm excited. Tell somebody it's not a sin 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:16.240 to have a good time in church. You don't have 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.720 to just endure it. God gave it to us to 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:24.480 enjoy it, and I intend to do that. I intend 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.479 to do it, and I'm gonna have a good time. 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.319 If I got to do it every seven days, I'm 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:34.200 gonna have a good time. And the truth of the 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.560 matter is, I believe you are too. I believe I 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:40.760 don't know what you're expecting today. I think God is 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:45.399 gonna beat it. And I know that's bold. I'm not 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:50.040 talking about me. I'm saying what he said for me 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.360 to tell you. It's just so meaningful. And I want 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:55.960 you to find that little book called Ruth in your 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:02.720 Bible one more time, this accidental sermon series from the 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.520 Book of Ruth. The Lord tricked me into preaching a 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.000 sermon series on Ruth. I mean, I used to plan 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.760 my series in advance, and now I call them series 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:18.520 in reverse. So but I know this will at least 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:20.480 be the end of the series for now, because we've 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.840 got Easter on Sunday, and I'm sure I could preach 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.760 Ruth for Easter, but the Lord gave me another message 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.240 for Easter, and then we'll see. I don't know, but 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.840 one thing I know about God. He's taking us from 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:39.920 glory to glory, I mean, from good to better, and 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:45.919 the best is yet ahead in your life. Amen, Amen, 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:51.040 get your expectation up, all right, get your expectation. Oh 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.680 you know, I say, don't get your hopes up? Do it? 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:57.880 Get them up, get them up, get them as high. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.520 Lift your hands right now and say, Lord, reaching for 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.440 you today. I want to experience you today. Amen. That's 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.200 the spirit of faith God wants. Okay, y'all be mad 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:11.360 if I read twenty verses, do your feet hurt? Because 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:15.639 you've been running through my mind all day? Ruth, Chapter two, 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.200 verse one. Now, they only had a relative on her 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.960 husband's side, a man of standing from the clan of Alimelech, 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:27.480 whose name was all the single people shout bow ass, 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:35.080 shout to the Lord, bring me my bow ass. Uh huh. 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.640 But we've been learning about this, okay, because she did not. Ruth, 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.120 who the book is named after, she does not go 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.280 into the field looking for bow ass. She's just looking 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:47.240 for barley right food, just doing what she has to 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.880 do to survive. She's not even on a dating app, 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.360 and she really the story is not about marriage at all. 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.440 It's not so much a romantic story. It's a redemption story. 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.000 And the theme of it. What is so refreshing to 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:04.160 me about Ruth? I don't know for you. Her sense 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:08.040 of responsibility is refreshing for me because I live in 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:13.480 a time of such entitlement, so to watch her stay 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.080 with her mother in law, although she had the option 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:20.239 to go back to her people and to choose something 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.280 new that God was leading her into. Really just blows 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.000 my mind because I look around and I see so 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:32.039 many people who are celebrated only when they step out 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:37.440 in faith. Ruth impressed me because she stayed in a 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:42.080 situation that was hard. And I think every year you live, 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:46.440 what impresses you is a little different. What impresses you 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.719 is a little different. And I've gone, you know, e'ven 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.760 pastoring a church from being impressed when somebody can sing, well, 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.560 well that's cool, and it can be a blessing, and 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:58.400 I want the people that sing here to be able 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.760 to do it skillful. But that in many ways is 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.479 a gift from God. Now what you do with that 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:09.680 gift is your active worship. And so I'm I'm equally, 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.039 if not more impressed by somebody who takes two talents 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:15.760 and turns it into four as somebody who takes five 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:19.080 and turns it into ten. It's just amazing, as you 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.400 how many how many know that's true that sometimes the 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:26.800 most impressive people that that you you don't you don't 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:31.039 even notice them at first. Yeah, So that's who Ruth 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.440 is in this passage and verse two. I will not 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.080 stop after every single one and talk that much. I'll 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:41.320 promise you, and Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.120 me go to the fields and pick up the leftover 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.880 grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor. I 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.240 just want to pick up grain behind anyone in whose 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.600 eyes I find favor. And one note I wrote was, 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.840 don't be too picky about who God can bless you through. 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.680 Don't be too picky about who God can bless you through. 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.240 All right, that's good because we get to a picky 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:10.039 we forget. God is our provider, whoever he chooses to 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.719 use in whatever season. That's good with me. Right. I 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:17.520 don't care if the door dasher has blonde hair and 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.920 blue eyes. I just want to know did you get 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.760 in the bag what I'm supposed to have to eat? 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.680 And some of us want to treat God's will like 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.800 a la cart, like I want this and I want that, 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.040 but not that. But I know this comes with that, 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.320 but I don't want that. God, can you customize my 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:43.719 calling to be meaningful and convenient? Verse to be Naomi 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.920 said to her, go ahead, my daughter, So she went out, 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.480 entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.960 As it turned out, she was working in a field 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.560 belonging to Boaz. The narrator is winking at us. As 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:01.680 it turned out, just so happened that the field belonged 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:05.560 to Boas, who was from the clan of Alimelech. Just then, 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:12.000 wink wwin. Boas arrived coincidental from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.200 The Lord be with you, The Lord bless you, they answered. 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.360 Boas asked the overseer of his harvesters, who is that? 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:22.280 Who does that young woman belong to? And the overseer replied, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.680 She's the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.480 She said, please let me glean and gather among the 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.960 sheaves behind the harvesters. She came into the field and 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.320 has remained here from morning till now, except for a 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.240 short rest in the shelter. So Boas said to Ruth, 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.440 my daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:44.560 another field. Imagine how shocked Ruth was when the man 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.480 who owned the field spoke to her. She must have 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.040 been absolutely she must have been scared. That is something wrong. 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.280 Are you about to kick me out? Please? I promise, 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.480 I promise, I won't take too much grain. Just let 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.320 me glean behind the harvesters. But he called her daughter. 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.640 Doesn't even know her name, but he speaks to her 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:07.760 with affection. Must have shocked her, must have blown her mind. 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:11.880 Stay with the women who work for me. Watch the 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.920 field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.600 the women. I have told the men not to lay 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.160 a hand on you, And whenever you are thirsty, go 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.320 get a drink from the water jars the men have filled. 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.400 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground, 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:31.480 and she asked him, why have I found such favor 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:36.040 in your eyes that you notice me a foreigner? And 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.640 Boaz replied, I've been told all about what you have 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.560 done for your mother in law since the death of 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.360 your husband, how you left your father and mother and 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:49.120 your homeland and came to live with the people you 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:53.679 did not know before. May the Lord repay you. May 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.560 the Lord repay you for what you have done. I 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:00.440 hear the spirit saying to somebody has payback time. You 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.040 thought nobody saw the sacrifices you made. You thought nobody 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:07.600 saw the treasure that you invested into the Kingdom of God. 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.120 You thought nobody heard your cry, but God saved your 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:17.520 tears in a jar and his payback time. Wow. May 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:21.160 you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.560 under whose wings you have come to take refuge. May 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.120 I continue to find favor in your eyes, my Lord, 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.600 She said, you have put me at ease by speaking 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.960 kindly to your servant, though I do not have the 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.800 standing of one of your servants. She can't believe it. 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.599 At meal time, now it gets crazier. It gets crazier 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.240 at meal time. Boas said to her, Come over here, 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.920 have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar. 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.720 I mean, she's just coming to survive, and now she's 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.160 invited to lunch and watch what happens next. When she 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.760 sat down with the harvesters, Huh, she's sitting down with 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:08.199 the same harvesters that she needed permission to even stand 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.320 behind just a few hours ago. God can do amazing 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:16.280 things quickly in your life. Quickly in your life, suddenly 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:21.160 in your life. He offered her some roasted grain. You 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.120 don't even have to cook it, girl, I'll roast it 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.560 for you and dip it in this vinegar. She ate 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.920 all she wanted and had some left over. Wow, she 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.360 got up to glean. Bow As gave orders to his men. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.000 Let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimand her. 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:40.040 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.040 and leave them for her to pick up, and don't 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:49.080 review her. Spill some extra for her. So Rude gleaned 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.360 in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.679 she had gathered, and it amounted to about an epha. 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.360 She carried it back to town and her mother in 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:04.560 law saw how much she had gathered. Oh my god. 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.200 Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:12.080 left over. After she had eaten it up. Her mother 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:16.480 in law asked her, where did you glean today? Where 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:20.160 did you work? This is ridiculous, blessed me the man 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.200 who took notice of you. Then Ruth told her mother 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.400 in law about the one at whose place she had 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:28.760 been working, and she keeps her in suspense. The name 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:36.120 of the man I worked with today is Boass, she 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.320 said verse twenty, and I'll quit. The Lord bless him, 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.560 Naomi said to her daughter in law, he has not stopped. 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:48.440 I can't believe he's still showing his kindness to the 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:52.280 living and the dead. And she added, what you didn't know, Ruth, 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:57.760 that man is our close relative. He is one of 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:02.080 our guardian redeemer. Here's what the Lord told me to 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.120 preach to you today. He told me to preach to 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:12.000 you and call the message blown away, Oh, blown away, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:18.640 blown away, blown away. Do it God in Jesus name, Amen, 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:31.959 blown away, blown away. You know what the hardest thing 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:34.720 for us reading the Book of Ruth is we read 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:41.679 it wrong. Not only do we not understand the context 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:46.720 of this little book wedged between the Book of Judges 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:50.240 in the Book of First Samuel, which only serves in 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:54.760 the broader schemata of scripture as a bridge between the 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.280 time of the Judges and the time of the kings, 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.320 as an apologetic almost to let the nation of Israel 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:04.160 know that David has the right to the throne, because see, 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:08.680 Ruth would be the great great, great great grandmother of 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:13.200 King David. But I want to step out on a 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:18.640 limb theologically and speculate for a moment. I know it's dangerous, 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:20.880 and they might clip this and put it on a 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:23.320 social media blog or something. But I'm gonna speculate for 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:28.920 a moment, just a speculation that I don't think Ruth 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:37.360 read Ruth chapter two, Verse twenty. It's just a speculation. 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:44.080 I don't think Ruth knew. You know, Hey, Ruth, it's 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.520 going to be all right. I know you're hungry, I 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.000 know your heart broken because you lost your husband. But 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:56.760 just turn to the Book of You chapter four. She 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:01.280 would be shocked most of all to know that there 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.400 would be a Bible book bearing her name, because she's 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:10.680 a Mobite Yahweh wasn't even her God when her story started. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:17.120 Her background and ancestry suggested nothing that she would be 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:20.400 a part of the lineage of our Savior Jesus Christ. 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.280 So we read the Book of Ruth through the lens 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:30.840 of our knowledge, But she had to live the Book 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:36.440 of Ruth through the pain of her present situation. And 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:38.800 the challenge is that I have to live my own 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:44.480 scriptures out not knowing what's in Ruth chapter Like you 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:48.640 never read the Book of You chapter two. So when 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.960 her husband Maelon dies in chapter one, she doesn't even 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.520 know there is a chapter two. Now, if she knew 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:58.640 about chapter two, perhaps chapter one wouldn't have hurt so much. 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:00.920 But you don't get to read the Book of You 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:05.040 chapter two. You don't get to know that it won't 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.960 hurt like this forever. You don't get to read the 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:12.280 part of the scripture where you flip to the back 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.360 of the thing and Joseph all the way in Genesis 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:20.080 fifty says you meant it for evil, but God meant 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:25.000 it for good. We get to shout over now what 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.400 he had to doubt about then? Did he really know 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:32.920 it would turn out this way? And so invariably when 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.640 Holly and I speak to people about dating or marriage, 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.280 which I don't do it too much. The reason for 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.920 it is I feel like most of what I did 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:46.840 right in marriage was in the selection process. I'm like, 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:52.040 just pray, pray that. I mean, because if you were 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.760 married to Holly, you probably do pretty good too. She 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.480 is not hard to be married too. And I mean that, Okay, 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.480 you're like, ah, you're just sucking up so she can 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.120 kiss you day after lunch and all that, and you 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:04.400 just want to look good. No, I'm serious about it. 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.120 That's really how I feel about it. But I think 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:15.200 she kind of feels that way about me too. Did 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.560 you say that for the cameras. We were talking the 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:19.920 other day, I said, I know it's hard. I know 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.080 it's hard to have me for a husband. Sometimes I 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.640 know it's hard, and not because I'm abusive or mean 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.520 or don't love you or anything like that, but I mean, like, 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:29.160 there's so much you didn't know about me when you 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.000 said you marry me. And she says this thing a 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.640 lot of times. She said, I love everything that there 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.880 is to know about you. That makes me feel good. 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.480 So I always teach. And I know it's an unusual 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:47.160 scripture to teach about dating. From Matthew thirteen forty four, 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:50.200 to bring a New Testament verse right alongside this Old 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.840 Testament story about Ruth and your current situation. In Matthew 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:58.120 thirteen forty four, it says, the Kingdom of Heaven is 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:03.680 like treasure in a field. When a man found it, 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:07.360 he hit it again, and then in his joy when 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:12.560 sold all he had and bought that treasure. No, he 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:17.840 bought the field that the treasure was in. Jesus said, 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.399 the kingdom is like that. And I would say that 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:24.080 being married is like that. You don't just buy the 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.399 shiny stuff. You don't oh oh oh oh oh oh 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:32.840 oh oh no no, you buy the whole patch a field. 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:39.040 I'm not marrying their family. I'm marrying them. But on Christmas, 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:50.119 guess who you get to kick it with every Christmas? Yeah, 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.399 they'll ask, colleague, how did you know that, Pastor STEVEM 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.159 I remember when I'm an internet teaching this, How did 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:59.760 you know that he was the one? And I was 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.639 hereated that day about something, so I said, she didn't 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:11.960 She didn't know. She hoped in the moment of candor. 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.400 Probably the interns couldn't handle that. That was probably malpractice 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.560 on these young hearts, just thinking it's gonna, you know, 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.879 have this total Jerry Maguire moment. If y'all remember that movie. 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:30.639 I'm just imagining, like Holly going, I think, I think, 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.200 I think he's probably the one. I think, I think, 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:37.520 I think you know? How does she know? You don't know? 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:43.000 She hoped, and then she held herself to a standard 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:49.000 that she would be the kind of woman that would 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:52.119 find the man that she wanted God to bring in 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:58.040 her life. That's very important. How did you know? You 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:02.280 don't know? Ruth? How did you know when you got 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.320 up that morning that you were going to be in 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.879 the field of boass? Did you just sense it. Did 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.040 you wake up that morning, Ruth and say, I have 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.040 a good feeling that today I am going to bump 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:19.320 into my boass. Ruth said, no, I was just hungry. 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:25.240 It was do or die. I had no husband. My 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.520 mother in law was depressed. My mother in law was 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:33.240 so depressed she started saying, call me Mara. She changed 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:38.800 her name to reflect her situation. She has a conflated 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:44.840 identity that is informed now by her experiences. I've been 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:52.080 thinking a lot lately about how our experiences affect our identity. 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.760 I've been thinking about the entanglement that happens when you 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.480 can no longer know the difference between who you are 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.800 and what you've been through, or who you are and 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:07.879 where you come from. Ruth the moa Bie was a 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:11.359 part of the lineage of Jesus the Messiah that makes 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:17.239 no sense, and Ruth knew none of it. Why are 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:19.760 you slowing down to tell us all of this instead 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.320 of just preaching the verses? Because I want you to 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:26.680 realize that you've been reading the book of Ruth wrong, 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.720 as if she had some great faith, and as if 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:34.520 you have to have some great faith that knows I'm 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:36.800 exactly where God wants me to be doing exactly what 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:38.520 God's called me to do, and this is going to 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:42.879 turn out okay for his glory. No, you don't know, 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:47.439 but you just had to know, right, No, I hoped, 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:53.840 I worked. I know. You had to know that Jiro 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:56.320 was going to be nominated for a Grammy right after 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:00.800 you wrote it. No, I loved it, and I thought, 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:02.919 if they don't give us a Grammy for this album, 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:08.639 they're stupid. I did. I thought that, but I didn't know. 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.280 You don't know. And in a matter of fact, in 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:14.399 the middle of trying to process that particular album, have 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.439 y'all heard this song Gyra. Yeah, after we wrote it, 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:18.840 I loved it so much and I sent it to 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:20.560 my friend and he didn't say anything back about it. 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:27.560 You know who you are. And I was hanging out 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:29.680 with my friend and my son and me and Elijah 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.040 really loved Gyra and we thought it was the greatest 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.040 song and we just loved it. And I was talking 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:36.400 to my friend and he said something about Gyra, which 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.600 he never responded to on the text message. And look, 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.760 I was so scared that maybe I liked it more 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:44.560 than other people would, because when you put something out there, 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:46.159 you never really know if they're gonna judge it or not. 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.080 That goes from everything from an outfit to an opportunity 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:51.919 that you try to seize, to an encouraging word that 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:54.760 you try to give. That potential of rejection can be 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.320 a really difficult thing. So I said to him, I 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:01.920 know Gira isn't a banger. I like it. And afterwards 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:05.720 Elijah said, what was that crap about Gira is not 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.600 a banger? I thought we liked Gira. I thought we 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:11.040 loved Gira. I thought we felt the presence of God 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:14.120 in your truck when we listened to Gira. I said, 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.159 you caught me red handed. I was so scared that 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:24.640 he didn't like it that I brought myself down so 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:27.320 that he couldn't do it to me. I did it 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:34.360 to myself. You had to know that song was special, No, 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:38.320 I knew it was special to me. And so all 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:40.400 of these little things do you see it in the scripture, 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:43.919 all of these little things that whoever wrote down ruthed 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:47.320 wrote down way after it happened. You know that, right, 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:52.760 this is not a live feed. So even when it 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:54.920 says in verse one, I love stuff like this, even 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:56.359 in verse one, when it says it was the field 0:22:56.400 --> 0:23:01.680 belonging to bo Ass that was added after years after 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:08.919 Ruth did not know Boass was Boass, even after she Madams, 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:13.360 she didn't know who he was. So it sets me 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:17.680 free to know that certainty is not a prerequisite for fate, 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:27.399 that understanding is not a prerequisite for blessing. That knowing because, okay, 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:30.080 let me do a poll. How many of you believe 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:32.840 this is for online too? Okay, you can participate in 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:36.640 the chat. How many of you believe that God is 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:44.199 guiding your life? Raise your hand? How many of you 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:46.440 believe that from time to time you get off trap? 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:52.960 How can both be true? If God is guiding your 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:56.160 life and he's good at what he does, how can 0:23:56.240 --> 0:23:59.920 you be better than God at your job? This willbe 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:04.840 because that is what you do. Because the Bible says, 0:24:04.880 --> 0:24:07.560 we all like sheep, have gone astray because sheep are 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:21.440 bad at following directions. Y'all like that. But the question 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:23.480 really is God is guiding my life? Yes, trust in 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:24.600 the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:26.920 own understanding all your ways. Acknowledge Him and He will 0:24:26.960 --> 0:24:28.879 direct your past. The steps of a good man are 0:24:28.960 --> 0:24:31.000 ordered by the Lord. All these scriptures that I love. 0:24:31.080 --> 0:24:33.280 I love those verses. I need God to lead me. 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:36.280 I need God to lead me. I need God. What 0:24:36.400 --> 0:24:40.080 else am I gonna let lead me? My feelings? My friends? 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:44.600 Sometimes I think they're dumber than I am. I love them, 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:47.439 but they're just as dumb as I am, if not dumber. 0:24:47.480 --> 0:24:51.560 I can't follow them. I'm sorry, I can't follow another 0:24:51.600 --> 0:24:55.359 frail of human. I need the Lord to leave me. 0:24:55.520 --> 0:25:00.560 But the question I have deep beneath the veneer of 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:04.160 that verbalization of a theological belief that God is leading 0:25:04.200 --> 0:25:14.480 me is how detailed will he be? How involved will 0:25:14.520 --> 0:25:18.719 he get? Right? When you say God leads me? Some 0:25:18.760 --> 0:25:21.560 people say that in fact, from a scale of one 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:24.320 to ten, how much do you believe God is leading 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:27.280 your life? Where would you fall on a scale of 0:25:27.320 --> 0:25:31.080 one to ten, how much would you believe it? So 0:25:31.320 --> 0:25:34.040 watch out for the people who shout ten real quick, 0:25:35.240 --> 0:25:42.720 because they think God speaks to them about everything everything. 0:25:44.520 --> 0:25:46.800 They put God in stuff that I don't think God 0:25:46.840 --> 0:25:49.840 cares about very much. Do you know what I'm saying? 0:25:51.280 --> 0:25:53.800 I mean, they really do. They just put God in 0:25:53.880 --> 0:25:57.720 the craziest stuff. And the Lord told me to wear pink, 0:26:02.240 --> 0:26:04.200 But pink does not look good on your skin tone? 0:26:04.240 --> 0:26:12.040 That wasn't the Lord? Be careful When people say ten 0:26:12.240 --> 0:26:15.119 like that, it's just a sign they're over compensating a 0:26:15.119 --> 0:26:18.400 little bit, because probably if they're saying ten, they don't 0:26:18.440 --> 0:26:22.960 want to have to make decisions. Right. Oh, I believe 0:26:22.960 --> 0:26:25.680 the Lord is leading me. And uh, you know that's 0:26:25.720 --> 0:26:28.760 why I've been fired four times in the last eighteen months. 0:26:32.040 --> 0:26:34.439 Because the Lord was leading you to another place to 0:26:34.480 --> 0:26:38.400 get fired from because you're irresponsible. That's what it was. Oh, 0:26:38.480 --> 0:26:41.480 it was the Lord that made you late to work 0:26:43.040 --> 0:26:48.639 fourteen times? That was the Lord? How much can I 0:26:48.680 --> 0:26:51.200 trust God to lead me? You know what I'm saying? Like, well, 0:26:51.240 --> 0:26:54.680 he step in, you know, like Jonah. Will he send 0:26:54.680 --> 0:26:58.800 a fish to spit me out in Eneva? Maybe when 0:26:58.800 --> 0:27:01.520 he send a wind trying to go to Tarshish and 0:27:01.560 --> 0:27:03.439 I'm supposed to be an m Maybe he did that 0:27:03.480 --> 0:27:07.119 in the scripture. Sometimes will he completely redirect me? Is 0:27:07.200 --> 0:27:11.359 God like a GPS who will reroute me with a 0:27:11.400 --> 0:27:15.199 polite British accent? What does he sound like? When? Well, 0:27:15.240 --> 0:27:18.600 how does God leave me? Now? Remember, in the Book 0:27:18.640 --> 0:27:23.840 of Ruth, we started with eight main characters, and now 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:29.000 we're down to four. We started with a man named 0:27:29.000 --> 0:27:32.880 a Limelech. He died ten years ago in Moab during 0:27:32.920 --> 0:27:35.560 the famine, at the very beginning of the relocation of 0:27:35.600 --> 0:27:39.360 the family. We started with his sons, Killian and Maelan. 0:27:39.680 --> 0:27:44.119 They're dead too. All we're left with now is Ruth 0:27:44.840 --> 0:27:47.399 and Naomi, and there is no record of whether or 0:27:47.480 --> 0:27:51.800 not they even like each other. There is no record. 0:27:51.960 --> 0:27:54.640 And I guarantee you both of them would have rather 0:27:54.680 --> 0:27:57.040 had Maylan back than to have to live with each other, 0:27:58.040 --> 0:28:03.119 Naomi's son, Ruth's husband. But now they're making do with 0:28:03.200 --> 0:28:07.240 what's left. And the tension of the text is that 0:28:07.359 --> 0:28:11.160 God is doing something that will result in a king 0:28:11.280 --> 0:28:15.400 named David and a king named Jesus. And they don't 0:28:15.440 --> 0:28:18.280 get to read that part, and you don't get to 0:28:18.320 --> 0:28:21.280 read that part. And that's why it's not easy for 0:28:21.320 --> 0:28:24.560 you to raise kids. And that's why other people who 0:28:24.560 --> 0:28:27.359 have sent their kids far, far away and only have 0:28:27.440 --> 0:28:29.840 to see them three times a year can tell you 0:28:30.119 --> 0:28:33.280 how to raise your kids, because they got to read 0:28:33.359 --> 0:28:36.480 the last sentence of the book where the kids left 0:28:36.480 --> 0:28:39.440 the house, but yours are still here. You don't get 0:28:39.440 --> 0:28:41.040 to read how it is. You don't get to know 0:28:41.080 --> 0:28:42.560 how it is. You don't get to know as it's 0:28:42.560 --> 0:28:44.000 the end. You don't get to know what's my best 0:28:44.040 --> 0:28:46.240 behind me. You don't get to know any of that. 0:28:47.840 --> 0:28:54.400 You have to live in the tension. That's hard to do. 0:28:56.240 --> 0:29:00.600 And yet there is this note of grace. It's almost 0:29:00.680 --> 0:29:09.080 implied that Naomi and Ruth are walking along together back 0:29:09.120 --> 0:29:12.920 in Bethlehem, Ruth away from everything that she knew. You 0:29:12.960 --> 0:29:17.760 know that God Kimash that she grew up serving, demanded 0:29:17.840 --> 0:29:22.320 human sacrifices according to their mindset, and now she's learning 0:29:22.360 --> 0:29:24.440 how to worship a God that she's only heard about 0:29:24.960 --> 0:29:27.719 through the lens of Naomi, who is bitter about what 0:29:27.760 --> 0:29:32.400 God has allowed to happen in her life. And she 0:29:32.600 --> 0:29:35.520 just makes a decision one day in the scripture. I 0:29:35.560 --> 0:29:39.560 love this scripture. It really got my attention to know 0:29:40.280 --> 0:29:43.920 that the Bible doesn't say the Lord led Ruth to 0:29:44.000 --> 0:29:50.000 the field, It just says she went to work. Now, 0:29:50.040 --> 0:29:52.760 if you are not a ten person, the Lord is 0:29:52.840 --> 0:29:55.480 leading me every step I take, every breath I take. 0:29:56.200 --> 0:30:05.120 What's the song every sep? So creepy? It's such such 0:30:05.120 --> 0:30:13.080 a stalker song. If you're not a ten on that 0:30:13.080 --> 0:30:16.080 it's okay if you want to believe that the Lord 0:30:16.120 --> 0:30:18.000 is leading me, but it doesn't feel like it or 0:30:18.000 --> 0:30:21.600 seem like it right now. If you want to believe 0:30:21.600 --> 0:30:23.640 that the Lord is leading you, but you know it's 0:30:23.680 --> 0:30:26.080 your own stupidity that got you in the storm to 0:30:26.160 --> 0:30:33.120 begin with. If you are somewhere in the six I 0:30:33.240 --> 0:30:37.680 think God is leading me here. I think I'm going 0:30:37.760 --> 0:30:39.520 to go out today and I'm going to see if 0:30:39.520 --> 0:30:41.600 I can glean in the field. That's all Ruth said. 0:30:42.240 --> 0:30:44.360 And that's what we talked about last week. Were you 0:30:44.440 --> 0:30:48.840 here last week? When Ruth was going through the field, 0:30:49.080 --> 0:30:52.760 it was so powerful she had to look for what 0:30:52.960 --> 0:30:56.240 other people left behind. When the reapers would go through 0:30:56.240 --> 0:30:58.840 the field, they had to leave what they dropped for 0:30:58.920 --> 0:31:01.720 the foreigners, for the for the people who couldn't have 0:31:01.760 --> 0:31:04.920 their own field. And so Ruth is just gleaning behind them. 0:31:05.040 --> 0:31:07.600 And we talked about how sometimes in our life we 0:31:08.040 --> 0:31:12.920 need to learn to glean in our own field, in 0:31:12.960 --> 0:31:15.560 our own life, in our own situation, to be able 0:31:15.600 --> 0:31:19.560 to say, you know what, I walked my own body 0:31:19.640 --> 0:31:23.880 into church today. Somebody else didn't do that. They would 0:31:24.000 --> 0:31:27.920 love to have walked into church today, and I did. 0:31:28.880 --> 0:31:32.200 That's gleaning that's when you're like, put my back hurts 0:31:32.480 --> 0:31:35.240 and my hipside of socket. And I got these bills. 0:31:35.400 --> 0:31:40.160 But I walked into church today and somebody else is 0:31:40.200 --> 0:31:43.240 in a wheelchair. And while that doesn't mean I'm better 0:31:43.280 --> 0:31:46.120 than them. I have got to learn to go through 0:31:46.160 --> 0:31:51.080 my own field and glean things. You gotta do it 0:31:51.120 --> 0:31:54.200 for yourself. Nobody is gonna do this for you. You 0:31:54.400 --> 0:31:56.760 will never reach a moment in time where you go, 0:31:56.920 --> 0:32:00.000 I've arrived. God is good, and I'm blessed and highly faith. 0:32:00.560 --> 0:32:03.160 That is a statement of faith you have to make. 0:32:04.960 --> 0:32:08.720 You have to make it daily. Somebody shout I'm blessed. 0:32:10.200 --> 0:32:13.560 You call that a shout. Let me tell you something. 0:32:13.840 --> 0:32:16.400 A lot of people died because they couldn't breathe in 0:32:16.440 --> 0:32:19.040 the last two years. And I told you to shout 0:32:19.280 --> 0:32:22.920 I'm blessed. And the Bible says, let everything that has 0:32:23.240 --> 0:32:27.040 bread praise the Lord. Now breathe deep and say I'm blessed. 0:32:28.440 --> 0:32:31.040 That's how you glean. And that's what you gotta do 0:32:31.120 --> 0:32:33.360 to the devil, not only when I tell you to 0:32:33.400 --> 0:32:36.240 do it, but you gotta shout. Now I'm crazy because 0:32:36.280 --> 0:32:38.400 I'll be sitting there having a panic attack almost and 0:32:38.440 --> 0:32:42.360 I'll just start shouting I have peace. I'm not sure 0:32:42.400 --> 0:32:46.880 who I'm trying to convince, but watch, I'm trying to 0:32:47.040 --> 0:32:51.640 glean peace. Glean doesn't mean it just pops up. Ruth 0:32:51.640 --> 0:32:54.800 didn't wake up and pray for bread. Ruth didn't wake 0:32:54.880 --> 0:32:58.480 up and pray for colonels. Ruth didn't pray for seeds. 0:32:58.640 --> 0:33:03.160 She went in a stray feel to find it. Are 0:33:03.200 --> 0:33:06.480 you in a strange field trying to figure out what 0:33:06.600 --> 0:33:10.239 am I doing? And nobody knows that? You don't know 0:33:10.280 --> 0:33:15.720 what you're doing either. They got you making budgets for 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:21.320 the department, and if they saw your bank account, Oh 0:33:21.400 --> 0:33:30.200 my god, oh ma, show me in the scripture where 0:33:30.320 --> 0:33:35.440 Ruth went to Gleaning University. She had to do it. 0:33:36.920 --> 0:33:40.480 You have to do it. Some of you won't rejoice 0:33:40.520 --> 0:33:43.800 over simple stuff because you haven't been low enough yet. 0:33:44.960 --> 0:33:48.440 You haven't been low enough yet. You don't know how 0:33:48.520 --> 0:33:52.640 good sunshine feels because you haven't been closed up yet 0:33:52.640 --> 0:33:55.360 where you couldn't get to it. You look at people 0:33:55.360 --> 0:33:58.280 in church. Some of you are so judgmental of how 0:33:58.320 --> 0:34:01.400 other people praise God. I don't like how they say 0:34:01.680 --> 0:34:06.040 wow every time Pastor Stephen says something Wow. Oh Wow, 0:34:06.240 --> 0:34:08.880 what's going on down there. I don't think it takes 0:34:08.880 --> 0:34:12.040 all that. I don't think they asked you. Maybe they 0:34:12.040 --> 0:34:16.000 were so hungry when they came that they can survive 0:34:16.320 --> 0:34:20.080 off of a syllable every work that bro I'll lift 0:34:20.160 --> 0:34:24.080 my brother alone. I needn't work. Wud you get hungry enough, 0:34:29.320 --> 0:34:33.960 you won't be so picky, You won't be so picky. 0:34:34.239 --> 0:34:41.640 I don't like that song interpetitive. Oh, Ruth again, Ruth 0:34:41.840 --> 0:34:50.720 rus and RUMs. I'm a bad parent. I told Holly 0:34:50.960 --> 0:34:53.560 quit fighting with Abby, telling her she needs to eat 0:34:53.560 --> 0:35:00.120 her dinner and starve her. Put a padlock on. I'm 0:35:00.160 --> 0:35:04.919 the pantry, and then when she says down, she will 0:35:04.960 --> 0:35:08.320 not be able to wait to see what mom made 0:35:08.480 --> 0:35:11.279 All this arguing back and forth. That's not gonna get it. 0:35:11.440 --> 0:35:18.400 She's not hungry enough. She's not hungry enough. Ruth was 0:35:18.480 --> 0:35:25.399 hungry enough. Oh. Oh, desperation looks just like faith. Oh, 0:35:25.480 --> 0:35:29.040 you have so much faith. No, I'm just that desperate. 0:35:32.480 --> 0:35:45.920 I've been depressed, so I know the value of joy. 0:35:46.760 --> 0:35:51.480 I've been broke, so I know the value of when 0:35:51.560 --> 0:35:56.960 God provides for my needs physically. My dad was a barber. 0:35:57.600 --> 0:35:59.640 When we would go to the Chinese restaurant. He would 0:35:59.719 --> 0:36:02.520 count how much the meal costs and say, that's seven 0:36:02.560 --> 0:36:04.040 heads of hair. I got a cut to pay for 0:36:04.080 --> 0:36:11.120 this meal. I can't eat with that guilt of me. 0:36:11.239 --> 0:36:20.440 I'm sorry. When they showed me my first job, they said, 0:36:20.560 --> 0:36:26.279 here's your salary, here's the benefits. I said to what. 0:36:26.440 --> 0:36:29.480 Now I know it makes me sound stupid. I was 0:36:29.480 --> 0:36:33.120 twenty two. I didn't know my dad was self employee, 0:36:34.560 --> 0:36:37.280 so I didn't know that somebody else would pay your benefits. 0:36:38.000 --> 0:36:40.080 I had already done all of the division and the 0:36:42.360 --> 0:36:45.480 calculations on this much per month, and we could do this, 0:36:45.560 --> 0:36:47.920 and the apartment is four to ten. And the internet, now, 0:36:47.920 --> 0:36:51.560 I gotta have high speed internet. Lord, that's a necessity. 0:36:51.880 --> 0:36:53.840 I can't be serving Jesus out here and shall be 0:36:53.880 --> 0:37:01.120 on a modem, a dial up. But then I was 0:37:01.160 --> 0:37:04.160 buying my own insurance, and when Rick Bowling said, and that, 0:37:04.280 --> 0:37:06.440 of course doesn't include your benefits, I said, my what? 0:37:08.320 --> 0:37:11.400 And I had to pretend like I expected it, you know, 0:37:11.440 --> 0:37:13.239 because I didn't want to look as dumb as I was. 0:37:13.920 --> 0:37:18.440 I'm like, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, the benefits. But I 0:37:18.480 --> 0:37:22.919 got out to my car, I picked up my car 0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:28.160 phone don't know about the car phone. I picked up 0:37:28.200 --> 0:37:35.160 my Zach Morris Motorola car phone. I called chunks. I said, 0:37:35.960 --> 0:37:39.200 they got benefits on this job. I don't have to 0:37:39.239 --> 0:37:41.319 pay the health insurance to any of that out of 0:37:41.320 --> 0:37:47.560 my pocket anymore. I wish I could feel the way 0:37:47.600 --> 0:37:54.040 I felt that day again about benefits. Now, I've been 0:37:54.080 --> 0:38:00.040 getting benefits so many years, so many benefits. Why that 0:38:00.120 --> 0:38:01.360 the Bible saying Let me ask you this, Why does 0:38:01.400 --> 0:38:04.080 the Bible saying Psalms, bless the Lord O my soul, 0:38:04.239 --> 0:38:10.239 and forget not all his benefits. It's like he already 0:38:10.320 --> 0:38:15.719 knows that the longer we stay in a field, the 0:38:15.840 --> 0:38:23.240 less we will respect the treasure and get more focused 0:38:23.239 --> 0:38:33.120 on the dirt that's around it. I have to practice gratitude. 0:38:33.360 --> 0:38:36.399 I am not naturally good at it, because I am 0:38:37.520 --> 0:38:43.719 naturally good at catastrophizing, so I can imagine everything that 0:38:43.719 --> 0:38:47.200 could possibly go wrong. And I told you about this 0:38:47.239 --> 0:38:50.040 a little bit last week. But that's why gleaning was 0:38:50.040 --> 0:38:55.839 so meaningful to me, Because I realized that the five 0:38:55.920 --> 0:38:58.920 hundred dollars bonus that they gave me that year, the 0:38:59.000 --> 0:39:02.040 five hundred dollars that they gave me that year, same job. 0:39:02.320 --> 0:39:05.239 He said, Oh, and here's your Christmas bonus. I said, 0:39:05.239 --> 0:39:10.040 my what he said, your Christmas bonus is five hundred dollars. 0:39:10.920 --> 0:39:12.759 I wish I could tell you how five hundred dollars 0:39:12.800 --> 0:39:18.200 felt that day. I didn't expect it. This is where Ruth, 0:39:19.080 --> 0:39:25.000 a widow and a foreigner, had an advantage over everybody 0:39:25.000 --> 0:39:29.759 else in Boaz's field, because as she walked through what 0:39:29.880 --> 0:39:34.359 they were used to, it was new to her as 0:39:34.400 --> 0:39:37.960 she so, Lord, show me how to walk through my 0:39:38.120 --> 0:39:43.640 salvation and my relationship with Jesus, and my relationship with 0:39:43.760 --> 0:39:46.399 that woman on the front row, and show me how 0:39:46.440 --> 0:39:50.279 to walk through that field again, and focus more on 0:39:50.320 --> 0:39:55.239 the treasure than the dirt. You follow me, life will 0:39:55.320 --> 0:39:59.600 layer you with dirt. Life will layer you like Naomi, 0:39:59.760 --> 0:40:03.719 with bitterness, with experiences that all of a sudden become 0:40:03.800 --> 0:40:06.800 the focus. The Bible does not say that the treasure 0:40:06.920 --> 0:40:09.960 was sitting in the field waiting to be discovered. The 0:40:10.040 --> 0:40:13.600 treasure was actually hidden beneath something that had to be 0:40:13.719 --> 0:40:20.040 dug through to recognize what was there all along. And this, yeah, yeah, 0:40:20.080 --> 0:40:24.440 this is a message for somebody who is guilty as charged. Lord, 0:40:24.600 --> 0:40:28.120 I have gotten more focused on the field. The work, 0:40:28.719 --> 0:40:32.560 the stress than I am, the blessings and the treasure. 0:40:32.960 --> 0:40:36.200 I have gotten more focused in my relationships on what 0:40:36.440 --> 0:40:40.000 annoys me about that person. May I remind you that's 0:40:40.040 --> 0:40:42.600 what attracted you to them in the first place, and 0:40:42.640 --> 0:40:45.399 now you want to be annoyed by what you were 0:40:45.440 --> 0:40:49.600 attracted to, because, like the country preacher said, before marriage, 0:40:49.760 --> 0:40:58.640 opposite its attract After marriage, opposites attack you loved he 0:40:58.719 --> 0:41:06.480 was quiet. Oh he's mysterious. Ah, ten years in that field, 0:41:07.560 --> 0:41:13.200 tell about I can't get him to talk. He's mysterious. 0:41:14.680 --> 0:41:23.160 Now you're miserable. Now you're magnified everything that makes you miserable. 0:41:24.719 --> 0:41:26.600 I wish I could do a Bible study on this. 0:41:27.040 --> 0:41:30.520 Sometimes I hate this format. I wish I could have 0:41:30.560 --> 0:41:33.879 the ten people who are the hungriest, and I wish 0:41:33.880 --> 0:41:36.240 I could just come over to the house and Holly 0:41:36.239 --> 0:41:39.160 could cook something for you, and then I would serve 0:41:39.239 --> 0:41:43.000 up the dessert of the Word of God, and I 0:41:43.000 --> 0:41:45.239 would say, did you save room for dessert? And you 0:41:45.239 --> 0:41:47.320 feel like, yeah, yeah, I was hungry today. I was 0:41:47.400 --> 0:41:49.879 hungry today. I went through a breakup last month. I've 0:41:49.880 --> 0:41:52.040 been asking God why I've been wondering, is there anybody 0:41:52.080 --> 0:41:54.960 for me, I'm hungry today. I'm hungry today. I don't 0:41:55.000 --> 0:41:57.200 have the money that my neighbor has. They think I do. 0:41:57.360 --> 0:41:59.640 I'm driving a car. What they don't know is every 0:41:59.640 --> 0:42:02.600 time I stop and think about the payments, I almost wreck. 0:42:02.760 --> 0:42:04.960 And they're impressed with my car, but they don't know 0:42:05.000 --> 0:42:07.880 I can't even afford what I'm driving in I'm hungry today. 0:42:08.040 --> 0:42:10.560 Tell me something I made some mistakes. Tell me something 0:42:10.640 --> 0:42:12.400 I passed up the best thing that could have happened. 0:42:12.440 --> 0:42:14.439 Tell me something I could have bought Apple for three 0:42:14.480 --> 0:42:16.960 dollars a share and I didn't. All these regrets in here. 0:42:17.040 --> 0:42:20.120 I'm hungry today. I'm hungry today. Give me something. If 0:42:20.120 --> 0:42:22.399 I could talk to the ten hungriest people in the room, 0:42:22.560 --> 0:42:24.960 here's what I would tell you. When Ruth said, why 0:42:24.960 --> 0:42:30.279 would you notice me a foreigner? It's a wordplay. The 0:42:30.320 --> 0:42:37.200 Hebrew word for a foreigner means notice. Don't you see 0:42:37.200 --> 0:42:45.360 what's happening? She's blown away, she's blown away. When's the 0:42:45.440 --> 0:42:53.200 last time you were blown away by God? When's the 0:42:53.280 --> 0:42:57.680 last time you were blown away by his benefits? I'm 0:42:57.719 --> 0:43:04.840 not talking about a BMW, I'm talking about forgiveness. When's 0:43:04.840 --> 0:43:10.759 the last time you thought about, Oh my you, Lord, 0:43:12.120 --> 0:43:15.400 you didn't have to love me. You ain't even have 0:43:15.440 --> 0:43:18.640 to give me the chance to live. I'm not even 0:43:18.680 --> 0:43:22.719 supposed to be here. When's the last time you thank 0:43:22.760 --> 0:43:25.520 God for your church? Just slipping that in? When's lesson 0:43:27.640 --> 0:43:31.480 and you've been here a minute? What used to blow 0:43:31.520 --> 0:43:38.239 me away is now just benefits. I think we got 0:43:38.280 --> 0:43:43.399 to walk through our field and glean Right, Lord, I'm 0:43:43.440 --> 0:43:49.000 thanking you for this. Lord, I am thanking you for that. Lord. 0:43:49.160 --> 0:43:51.279 I'm thanking you for the thing that I don't like 0:43:51.360 --> 0:43:54.640 right now, trusting that you are going to use it 0:43:54.680 --> 0:43:58.440 in my future. Because that's the beauty of this text. 0:43:59.400 --> 0:44:01.719 You can walk walk through your own field, your own 0:44:01.719 --> 0:44:03.719 What would it look like for you? This is my 0:44:03.800 --> 0:44:06.000 challenge to you. What would it look like for you 0:44:06.800 --> 0:44:09.799 to walk through your own life like a foreigner in 0:44:09.840 --> 0:44:13.080 the field. What would it look like for you to 0:44:13.440 --> 0:44:15.840 go back through the things God has done for you 0:44:15.960 --> 0:44:18.240 and the things He is doing. Because here's the trick. 0:44:18.760 --> 0:44:24.200 It is easy to see what God did after you're 0:44:24.239 --> 0:44:27.160 on the other side of it. And that's when we 0:44:27.200 --> 0:44:29.239 say things like it was the best thing in the 0:44:29.239 --> 0:44:31.520 world that they broke my heart, It was the best 0:44:31.520 --> 0:44:33.120 thing in the world that I had to move. It 0:44:33.160 --> 0:44:34.759 was the best thing in the world. If I hadn't 0:44:34.760 --> 0:44:37.520 have gone through that, I wouldn't have this. The trick 0:44:37.600 --> 0:44:43.719 is not recognizing God's guidance later. The trick is can 0:44:43.800 --> 0:44:49.800 you recognize God's guidance in real time, to say, like Jacob, 0:44:50.160 --> 0:44:52.960 the Lord was in this place and I was not 0:44:53.080 --> 0:44:58.840 aware of it, To say, Oh, God must be here too. Oh, 0:44:59.200 --> 0:45:02.759 God must be you using this too. Oh. God has 0:45:02.800 --> 0:45:05.920 a plan for this too. Oh, I can't wait to 0:45:05.960 --> 0:45:09.440 see how God works this sin. Oh, I can't believe 0:45:09.560 --> 0:45:13.800 God let me be in this field at this time. 0:45:15.600 --> 0:45:20.560 She gleaned and gathered and gleaned and gathered and gleaned 0:45:20.600 --> 0:45:24.480 and gathered, not knowing that Boaz was gonna end up 0:45:24.520 --> 0:45:28.279 being her husband, not knowing that Naomi knew who he was, 0:45:29.320 --> 0:45:32.000 not knowing that God would put her in a position 0:45:32.239 --> 0:45:34.560 to be a part of the lineage. Can you stand 0:45:34.600 --> 0:45:39.279 there in the field surrounded by dirt or you're gonna say, God, 0:45:39.280 --> 0:45:42.040 I don't want the dirt. I want the treasure. God, 0:45:42.080 --> 0:45:44.160 I don't want the pain. I want the progress. I 0:45:44.280 --> 0:45:46.920 used to always say, God, I don't want the v ups. 0:45:47.000 --> 0:45:50.439 I want the six pack. God, you know what I'm saying. 0:45:50.440 --> 0:45:53.719 I don't want the discipline, but God, I do want 0:45:53.800 --> 0:45:59.040 the benefits of commitment. You have to You have to 0:45:59.160 --> 0:46:05.160 glean and gather in those moments when you don't even 0:46:05.440 --> 0:46:10.120 know why you're here or how this is going to 0:46:10.120 --> 0:46:18.400 turn out. Wow. The most delicious verse in the text 0:46:18.440 --> 0:46:25.640 to me is verse seventeen. After Ruth got done gleaning 0:46:25.680 --> 0:46:29.480 in the fields and gathering, the Bible says something is 0:46:29.880 --> 0:46:36.360 almost something you would skip over. It said that after 0:46:36.440 --> 0:46:40.040 she gleaned in the field until evening, then she threshed 0:46:40.040 --> 0:46:44.760 the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about 0:46:44.800 --> 0:46:48.840 an epha. See what I'm saying. That is the least 0:46:48.880 --> 0:46:53.400 sexy verse in the whole passage, but it talks about 0:46:54.480 --> 0:46:57.200 the next thing that Ruth had to do and that 0:46:57.239 --> 0:46:59.880 you and I have to understand too. It said that 0:47:00.040 --> 0:47:02.560 after she gleaned in a field where she didn't even 0:47:02.560 --> 0:47:05.880 have the right to be, after she gathered everything that 0:47:05.920 --> 0:47:12.640 she could, she threshed the wheat before she took it home. 0:47:13.960 --> 0:47:17.680 And when she finished threshing it, they measured it and 0:47:17.719 --> 0:47:23.360 it was an epha, which means nothing to us, but 0:47:24.640 --> 0:47:27.440 if you look it up and search the word epha 0:47:27.880 --> 0:47:31.920 in the Bible. Do it later, not right now. Do 0:47:32.040 --> 0:47:38.440 it you'll find it again. In First Samuel seventeen, verse seventeen, 0:47:39.840 --> 0:47:43.680 the chapter where David fought Goliath, it said the day 0:47:43.719 --> 0:47:45.960 he went down there, his dad sent him to his 0:47:46.000 --> 0:47:50.640 brothers with an epha of grain, So it's a measurement. 0:47:51.360 --> 0:47:53.680 And he had three brothers that were down at the battle, 0:47:54.360 --> 0:47:57.680 and his father sent him with an epha of grain. 0:47:57.960 --> 0:48:00.160 So we still don't know how much it is, but 0:48:00.239 --> 0:48:03.040 that must be a lot of grain if it fed 0:48:03.480 --> 0:48:08.719 three teenage soldiers in the heat of battle. And now 0:48:08.960 --> 0:48:12.279 remember we're down to just Ruth and Naomi. They are 0:48:12.320 --> 0:48:15.120 the only two left. They don't know about bo as yet. 0:48:15.440 --> 0:48:17.320 They don't know who he is yet, what he's gonna 0:48:17.320 --> 0:48:20.239 do yet. Oh and there's God, the character who is 0:48:20.360 --> 0:48:24.240 not named by the other characters, but is implied because 0:48:24.239 --> 0:48:28.000 he's always working, even when he's not named, even when 0:48:28.000 --> 0:48:30.879 he's not seen, even when he's not felt, even when 0:48:30.880 --> 0:48:33.960 he's not speaking, he's still speaking, even if you're not 0:48:34.080 --> 0:48:39.920 hearing it, he's still speaking. And she gleaned an epha 0:48:40.080 --> 0:48:44.560 enough for three teenage soldiers, for just her and her 0:48:44.680 --> 0:48:47.880 mother in law. So that made me wonder, can we 0:48:47.960 --> 0:48:51.480 find out about how much grain is in an epha? 0:48:51.960 --> 0:48:54.520 And when I found out how much an efa was, 0:48:55.040 --> 0:48:58.600 I was blown away. It turned out that an epha 0:48:58.800 --> 0:49:07.680 is somewhere between thirty and fifty pounds in a day, 0:49:09.560 --> 0:49:14.040 in a day. She's only been in this field one day, 0:49:14.840 --> 0:49:19.760 and she's not even an experienced laborer, and she's one woman. 0:49:20.560 --> 0:49:23.440 And when she measured it after she threshed it, it 0:49:23.560 --> 0:49:31.080 was thirty pounds. Thirty pounds of grain after she threshed it, 0:49:34.320 --> 0:49:37.600 after she threshed it. See, you can't really measure it 0:49:37.960 --> 0:49:44.480 until after it's been threshed. You can't really measure You 0:49:44.520 --> 0:49:48.200 don't really know what you have until it's been threshed. 0:49:49.200 --> 0:49:52.320 You think you know what you have, but you don't 0:49:52.360 --> 0:49:55.840 really know what you have. Helped me, Jesus, you don't 0:49:55.920 --> 0:49:59.359 really know what you have. Until Naomi turns to Ruth 0:49:59.360 --> 0:50:03.719 and orphans as y'all leave, an Orpha says okay, and 0:50:03.800 --> 0:50:09.280 Ruth says, I'll stay because she was being threshed. Naomi 0:50:09.360 --> 0:50:12.880 was being threshed. She lost her husband, she lost her boys. 0:50:13.080 --> 0:50:17.600 She's being freshed, she's being threshed. That word doesn't even 0:50:18.040 --> 0:50:23.919 sound appealing. Thresh it sounds violent. It is violent. It's 0:50:23.920 --> 0:50:27.640 a violent process. The process of threshing is not nice 0:50:27.760 --> 0:50:30.600 like gleaning. It's not taking a journal and writing to 0:50:30.719 --> 0:50:33.680 Jesus a love note for all of the beautiful sunsets. 0:50:33.840 --> 0:50:36.680 Oh Lord, I saw that sunset today. I'm just so 0:50:36.800 --> 0:50:39.120 proud that you did that. It's just for me. Lord, 0:50:39.200 --> 0:50:42.600 you are such a great artist. I saw the sunset 0:50:42.719 --> 0:50:45.600 and I saw your eyes, and I'm so thankful. Threshing 0:50:45.680 --> 0:50:48.719 is different than that. When they threshed the grain, they 0:50:48.760 --> 0:50:51.920 would have the cattle to beat the grain out until 0:50:51.920 --> 0:50:55.280 the stalks and the seeds were separate, until the grain 0:50:55.560 --> 0:50:58.400 and the husk were separate. The threshing. When it says 0:50:58.400 --> 0:51:03.960 that Ruth threshed, it was a process of separation. It 0:51:04.000 --> 0:51:08.520 was a process of separating the grain from the husk 0:51:09.200 --> 0:51:13.840 or what they call the chaff. Everybody say chaff. And 0:51:13.920 --> 0:51:15.960 the way they would do it is that after it 0:51:16.040 --> 0:51:19.120 was beaten, after it was trodden, after it had been 0:51:19.320 --> 0:51:21.880 after it had been laid out on the threshing floor. 0:51:22.000 --> 0:51:24.719 Now all a threshing floor is. It's not fancy. It's 0:51:24.760 --> 0:51:28.880 just a solid surface in a high place. And the 0:51:28.960 --> 0:51:31.720 reason it's in a high place is because you would 0:51:31.760 --> 0:51:36.680 thresh at evening, and the process of threshing was very simple. 0:51:36.880 --> 0:51:39.760 After it had been beaten, you would take the grain 0:51:39.800 --> 0:51:41.960 that was left on the floor, you would sweep it 0:51:42.040 --> 0:51:44.520 up and gather it from the clean surface. You would 0:51:44.680 --> 0:51:48.520 throw it up into the Mediterranean wind, and the grain 0:51:48.600 --> 0:51:52.240 would fall back down to the ground. But the chaff, 0:51:54.360 --> 0:51:57.680 the chaff wouldn't fall back to the ground. The chaff 0:51:57.719 --> 0:52:14.680 would be blown away. The chaff, the stuff that couldn't 0:52:14.760 --> 0:52:22.800 stay on the threshing floor, would be blown away into 0:52:22.840 --> 0:52:27.200 the evening wind that came off the Mediterranean Sea. And 0:52:27.239 --> 0:52:31.200 so I see a lot of you on the threshing 0:52:31.239 --> 0:52:35.640 floor of life right now. I hear from you, I 0:52:35.680 --> 0:52:38.920 meet you, and even when I study, it's like the 0:52:38.960 --> 0:52:41.799 spirit of God brings you to my mind. And I 0:52:41.840 --> 0:52:44.080 see the things that you're going through in your life 0:52:44.120 --> 0:52:48.520 right now, not as a process of destruction, but as 0:52:48.560 --> 0:52:55.799 a process of threshing. See, you don't know what you 0:52:56.000 --> 0:53:00.440 have until it's been threshed. You don't know what's real 0:53:01.120 --> 0:53:05.480 until it's been threshed. You don't know what's edible, you 0:53:05.520 --> 0:53:09.319 don't know what's sustainable. You don't know what is substance 0:53:09.600 --> 0:53:12.360 until it has been threshed. And a lot of us 0:53:12.440 --> 0:53:15.680 have been in a big wind lately. All the winds 0:53:15.719 --> 0:53:19.200 will blow and beat against every house. Whether you build 0:53:19.200 --> 0:53:21.319 it on the rock of Jesus or whether you build 0:53:21.360 --> 0:53:23.800 it on the shaky foundations of the world, the wind 0:53:23.880 --> 0:53:26.719 will blow. And the wind has been blowing. But you 0:53:26.840 --> 0:53:31.120 have been misinterpreting the wind. You have been thinking that 0:53:31.239 --> 0:53:34.920 the wind was sent by the enemy to destroy you. 0:53:35.320 --> 0:53:39.200 But it wasn't. But it wasn't, But it wasn't, But 0:53:39.360 --> 0:53:42.800 it wasn't. It was sin so that all the chaff 0:53:42.920 --> 0:53:50.200 could be blown away, blown away, blown away. See, God 0:53:50.320 --> 0:53:53.759 is dealing with your insecurities right now, and he's got 0:53:53.800 --> 0:53:57.000 you on the threshing floor, and you're watching people walk 0:53:57.040 --> 0:54:01.239 away and opportunities evaporate. You used to know that you're 0:54:01.280 --> 0:54:04.600 now separated from But this wind is not sent by 0:54:04.640 --> 0:54:08.120 the enemy. This wind is under the control of the 0:54:08.239 --> 0:54:14.240 mighty hand of it all, seeing God, and the grain 0:54:14.320 --> 0:54:17.680 that falls back to the ground is all you need 0:54:17.719 --> 0:54:23.720 to live on, and the rest will be blown away, 0:54:24.360 --> 0:54:28.640 blown away, blown away, blown away. The Lord told me 0:54:28.680 --> 0:54:31.480 to preach to you, blown away, and he said to 0:54:31.560 --> 0:54:34.560 tell you, when you see what I'm going to do 0:54:34.920 --> 0:54:38.200 after you get done going through what you're going through, 0:54:38.400 --> 0:54:42.120 if you will keep gleaning and stay in my hands 0:54:42.120 --> 0:54:46.680 through this process. When you see what I'm gonna do 0:54:47.160 --> 0:54:49.959 through my life, I wish I had an organist. When 0:54:50.000 --> 0:54:53.520 you see what I'm about to do, your eyes have 0:54:53.600 --> 0:54:57.400 not seen, your ears have not heard. Lord has it 0:54:57.480 --> 0:55:00.439 in and into your heart? What I have a pair? 0:55:02.400 --> 0:55:07.120 But when you pumping the boy ass, you're gonna be 0:55:08.400 --> 0:55:15.360 blown away? Now what good hell? Who is able to do? Indaderably? 0:55:18.120 --> 0:55:24.239 Blown away? High five at least six people and tell 0:55:24.280 --> 0:55:27.800 them you're gonna be blown away. You're gonna be blown away. 0:55:28.920 --> 0:55:34.839 You're gonna be blown away. Hey, it's a promise. It's 0:55:34.880 --> 0:55:38.360 not a problem. It's a promise. Everything that you're going 0:55:38.400 --> 0:55:41.160 through is going to serve the purpose. Pump the blood 0:55:41.239 --> 0:55:52.719 you've belonged to. You're gonna be threshing. Hurts like hell, 0:55:56.120 --> 0:56:03.120 but sometimes it comes from heaven. You can't even really 0:56:03.200 --> 0:56:13.600 measure the blessing until after it's been threshed. No, my 0:56:13.719 --> 0:56:21.239 advice is your brother in Christ, let it blow. Don't 0:56:21.239 --> 0:56:24.080 try to control it so much, don't even try to 0:56:24.160 --> 0:56:32.360 understand it. Too much. The grain will stay you hear me, 0:56:33.400 --> 0:56:36.640 That's what I know about God. The grain will stay. 0:56:37.040 --> 0:56:39.480 Thirty pounds is not a day's worth of food, y'all. 0:56:40.760 --> 0:56:45.439 They lived off of this for weeks. When Rabbi said 0:56:45.480 --> 0:56:48.719 that would have been four months of wages in a day. 0:56:50.320 --> 0:56:56.640 That's why Naomi was like, whoa, I'm blown away, and 0:56:56.760 --> 0:57:00.880 Ruth was like me too, I'm blown away. And Boaz 0:57:00.960 --> 0:57:03.680 when he saw Ruth, he was like, I'm blown away, 0:57:04.280 --> 0:57:13.359 and everybody is blown away. Accept God. Accept God. He 0:57:13.440 --> 0:57:19.920 knew exactly where to put Ruth, exactly where to put Boas, 0:57:21.320 --> 0:57:25.400 exactly who to let her glean behind, and exactly who 0:57:25.440 --> 0:57:30.760 to send her home to. When you see what you 0:57:30.840 --> 0:57:35.840 cannot see with your spirit, instead of judging what you're 0:57:35.880 --> 0:57:39.200 going through with your eyes by the spirit of God, 0:57:39.200 --> 0:57:41.280 I prophetically declare, if it's not your word, get out 0:57:41.280 --> 0:57:43.320 of the way so somebody else can receive it. You 0:57:43.440 --> 0:57:54.160 will be blown away. You will be blown away. My 0:57:54.200 --> 0:57:58.840 prayer lately is God, I'm assuming that it's either you 0:57:58.920 --> 0:58:02.400 doing this or is something that you will use If 0:58:02.440 --> 0:58:07.160 it's not. Don't you love that prayer? It's really just 0:58:07.240 --> 0:58:11.080 a threshing floor prayer. It's really just a threshing floor prayer. 0:58:11.120 --> 0:58:15.000 It's going here. It is godsh whatever is not meant 0:58:15.000 --> 0:58:27.400 to stay, Blow it away, Blow it away, God, I 0:58:27.440 --> 0:58:30.240 don't want it. If it's chaff. I don't want the 0:58:30.240 --> 0:58:33.600 attitudes I clung to. Like I saw the whole story 0:58:33.640 --> 0:58:35.400 of Ruth through a different lens. When I read it 0:58:35.480 --> 0:58:38.400 like that, I said, of course she had to thresh 0:58:38.440 --> 0:58:43.520 the grain because she herself was being threshed, a mo 0:58:43.760 --> 0:58:50.720 bie leaving her gods, a mobie leaving her family, a 0:58:50.800 --> 0:58:56.360 Moabie leaving her customs. And that's been you lately, and 0:58:56.400 --> 0:58:58.560 it's been windy. Just lift your right hand if it's 0:58:58.560 --> 0:59:01.000 been windy in your life. We don't have to talk 0:59:01.000 --> 0:59:03.200 about why. We don't have to talk about who, we 0:59:03.240 --> 0:59:05.280 don't have to talk about what. Just it's been Wendy. 0:59:05.440 --> 0:59:09.600 Raise your hand if it's been wendy. All right, catch 0:59:09.680 --> 0:59:14.000 the wind of the Holy Spirit in this moment and 0:59:14.080 --> 0:59:18.000 allow it to carry you forward in the field that 0:59:18.040 --> 0:59:22.320 you're in until you find the treasure from it. Because 0:59:22.360 --> 0:59:26.040 that's what the kingdom is like. It's like a man 0:59:26.720 --> 0:59:30.720 who found a treasure in a field. It is like 0:59:30.840 --> 0:59:36.040 the grain that stayed after the wind blew. So in 0:59:36.120 --> 0:59:40.120 this season of my life, God, on the threshing floor 0:59:40.120 --> 0:59:45.600 of failure, on the threshing floor of frustration. For whoever 0:59:45.640 --> 0:59:50.520 this word is for today, I declare prophetically that they 0:59:50.560 --> 0:59:54.960 will stand here a year from now and be blown 0:59:55.000 --> 1:00:02.280 away by what you did through an epha. I declare 1:00:02.320 --> 1:00:07.000 over them that their epha is enough. Come on, let's minister, 1:00:07.160 --> 1:00:12.560 let's minister together, your epha is enough. I want you 1:00:12.600 --> 1:00:16.880 to begin to believe again in the enoughness of God. Yeah, 1:00:16.880 --> 1:00:20.640 I made the word up, the enoughness of God. I 1:00:20.640 --> 1:00:23.000 want you to begin to believe that whatever has left 1:00:23.040 --> 1:00:25.680 your life, that you still have something to live for. 1:00:27.120 --> 1:00:29.280 Come on, shout it, Shout it for the devil to hear. 1:00:29.520 --> 1:00:33.440 I still have something to live for. I still have 1:00:33.560 --> 1:00:37.480 something to live for. I will not die in Moab. 1:00:38.320 --> 1:00:41.880 I will not die in bitterness. I have something to 1:00:41.960 --> 1:00:48.160 live for. I have something to live for. And God, 1:00:48.200 --> 1:00:50.680 by your eternal word, would you sanctify those who you 1:00:50.720 --> 1:00:54.520 are calling to yourself, because we don't want to be 1:00:54.560 --> 1:00:56.640 in Bethlehem in our body, but be in Moab in 1:00:56.680 --> 1:01:01.760 our mind, living in the thing that you did. God, 1:01:02.480 --> 1:01:08.800 your word said that you could do exceeding abundantly above 1:01:08.840 --> 1:01:12.320 what we ask her imagine. So I don't want to 1:01:12.320 --> 1:01:15.680 hold so tightly to what I thought you'd do that 1:01:15.800 --> 1:01:19.440 I can't be blown away by what you have in store. 1:01:20.920 --> 1:01:24.480 Your eyes have not seen, your ears have not heard, 1:01:25.680 --> 1:01:28.840 neither has it even entered into your heart. You don't 1:01:28.960 --> 1:01:34.000 even have the capacity to imagine what God is going 1:01:34.040 --> 1:01:37.880 to do through your life. And Ruth knew none of that. 1:01:40.320 --> 1:01:41.960 If we would have told her that we're going to 1:01:42.040 --> 1:01:45.920 turn to the Book of You at Elevation Church in 1:01:46.000 --> 1:01:49.360 April of twenty twenty two, she would have said who, 1:01:50.800 --> 1:01:55.040 And we would have said you, Ruth, see if you 1:01:55.120 --> 1:01:59.280 only knew the glory that God is going to get. 1:02:00.960 --> 1:02:04.080 I can feel that your faith is weak. I can 1:02:04.160 --> 1:02:07.680 feel that your faith is worn. I can feel that 1:02:07.720 --> 1:02:13.280 your mind is weary. But I'm calling you back to 1:02:13.320 --> 1:02:18.760 that place of surrendering God to let the wind of 1:02:18.800 --> 1:02:23.120 His spirit blow on your situation. If it's something with 1:02:23.160 --> 1:02:26.560 your kids, if it's something in your body, do everything 1:02:26.560 --> 1:02:30.080 you can do. Don't say it's God's plan but you 1:02:30.240 --> 1:02:36.200 ate sugar. Go on the diet. Well, when the Lord 1:02:36.200 --> 1:02:37.920 wants to take me out, he's going to take me. No, 1:02:38.600 --> 1:02:41.480 you can eat some broccoli and stay another ten years. 1:02:41.800 --> 1:02:48.520 So don't do that. But sometimes we get separated from 1:02:48.520 --> 1:02:51.000 everything we knew, and everything we planned, and everything we thought. 1:02:51.680 --> 1:02:55.960 And that's the threshing floor. God. After that, we have 1:02:56.000 --> 1:03:00.000 gleaned your word. Today we accept the process of your threshold, 1:03:03.200 --> 1:03:08.760 giving it up to you. Let you blow away whatever 1:03:08.840 --> 1:03:16.040 doesn't belong. I got something to live for. I've got 1:03:16.160 --> 1:03:19.720 something to live for. And I'll tell you something else. 1:03:19.960 --> 1:03:22.600 I've lost a lot, but I've got a lot left. 1:03:25.880 --> 1:03:29.520 Do it real quick, look in the eyes, look in 1:03:29.560 --> 1:03:32.240 the eyes of the person your next to, and say 1:03:32.280 --> 1:03:39.640 you've got a lot left. You do, You've got a 1:03:39.680 --> 1:03:44.360 lot left. Now bow your head, say it to yourself. 1:03:44.400 --> 1:03:49.880 You've got a lot left. You said that softer. Why 1:03:49.920 --> 1:03:55.960 can you encourage them? But you can't encourage you. Close 1:03:56.120 --> 1:04:02.120 your eyes and say to yourself, you've got a lot left. 1:04:04.600 --> 1:04:08.320 So bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not 1:04:08.440 --> 1:04:12.360 all his benefits, who redeems your life from the pit, 1:04:13.280 --> 1:04:16.560 and who crowns you with love and compassion. You've got 1:04:16.600 --> 1:04:20.720 a lot left. You've got a whole Epha. You got 1:04:20.760 --> 1:04:23.920 thirty pounds to take back to Naomi. You got a 1:04:23.960 --> 1:04:26.960 basketful to take home. You can live off of this 1:04:27.080 --> 1:04:29.520 word for a week. You can live off of this 1:04:29.560 --> 1:04:35.640 word for a month, and you will be blown away. 1:04:37.040 --> 1:04:40.080 Come on, let's lift up a sound of anticipatory praise. 1:04:41.920 --> 1:04:45.320 Praise me for what I haven't seen. I praise you 1:04:45.440 --> 1:04:49.640 in the unknown. Hot five. Everybody you can read say, 1:04:49.680 --> 1:04:56.400 you're gonna be blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away, 1:04:57.680 --> 1:05:05.000 You're gonna be blown away. Boom, mind blowing blessings, boom, 1:05:05.120 --> 1:05:10.480 pot seeking blessings, boom, basket full, pressed out, check it together, 1:05:10.800 --> 1:05:16.520 better run it over well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, 1:05:16.560 --> 1:05:18.320 there are a couple of things I'd love for you 1:05:18.400 --> 1:05:22.720 to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. 1:05:23.080 --> 1:05:25.440 You can also help us reach others by investing today 1:05:25.440 --> 1:05:29.200 at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give and thanks again for 1:05:29.280 --> 1:05:31.240 joining us on the Elevation Podcast.