It Will Come Together

0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:03.760 All right, we're not holding hands. I don't know how 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:08.039 we are on the spectrum of being able to, but 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.080 can we at least touch the shoulder of the person 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:15.240 on either side of you? That'll work? Baby steps, Baby steps, 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:21.960 baby steps. Pray this out loud. Lord. The person I'm 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:28.560 touching needs you more than I do because they're a mess, 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.520 So bless them today in Jesus' name. Come on, give 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:45.320 God praise. How y'all doing? Welcome? Welcome? Just kidding. You're 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:49.320 a mess and you know it too. How many of 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.800 you think that you are the least spiritual person on 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.120 your row? Raise your hand? How many of y'all think 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.560 there's nobody in this room that read the Bible less 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:02.600 than I do this week? Raise your head? All right? 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:09.000 Oh man, such a weird icebreaker for me to say that, 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.319 isn't it. I'm just excited to be here. I told 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.319 the Lord after we weren't able to have public meetings 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.280 that I wouldn't take it for granted when we could 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:28.200 get back together. So if you'll notice, maybe you don't 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.440 like this, but I go longer now. I take my time, 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:38.200 and there's multiple reasons for that. One thing. I think 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:40.360 if you're going to spend three hundred and fifty dollars 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:45.760 filling your tank with gas to drive to church. I 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:49.040 ought to at least give you more than a little dabba, 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:53.320 do you? And the other reason for that is that 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.240 the Holy Spirit has really been doing a work in 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:01.800 my heart. And the natural overflow of that is I 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.520 just find myself less and less thinking of preaching like 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.880 a performance. And what I think now more is that 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.840 the Lord would make me a vessel. Tell him you'll 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:20.640 call him back that in about three hours when I 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:22.799 finish with this message, tell him you'll call him back 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:28.920 for me. Hey, won't take that long. But now I 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:33.320 think about myself, Lord, make me a vessel for what 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.360 you want to give your people. And I love that 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.520 because it's not up to the box how good the 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.400 pizza tastes. So if I can just be a box 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.799 to get you what God wants you to eat today, 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.920 that'll be great. And yes, I just called the Bible 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.600 pizza because Jesus said I am the Bread of life, 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:56.000 and he didn't say what kind of bread. So anyway, 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.359 y'all remember book It used to get the personal pan 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:04.440 pizza for book It. It's gonna be a personal word 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.520 for you today. All right, I'm in a good mood. 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.919 That's bad news for the devil. I'm happy and ready 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:17.680 to drink. Hey, real quick check if you would and 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.799 see if we're coming to a city near you. Elevation 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.920 Nights dot com. It'll be cities such ass but not 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:32.959 limited to, Indianapolis, Chicago, Boston, Newark, Columbus, Grand Rapids. Why 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.080 did you say that so loud? Grand Rapids? You're from there, 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:38.840 You're coming over in a couple of weeks. Good, you 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.520 got your ticket. It's not free. You can't just show up. 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.880 It's not like just regular church night because the arena's 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:46.480 not free, so we got to pay for it. So 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:49.560 but you'll be there all right. Great, and you're here 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:58.200 today from Michigan, God bless you Michigan. All right, that's 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:02.720 gonna be that's going to be awesome. I loved it 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.520 so much last year. I really needed it after ministering 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.600 in an empty room for so long through COVID, to 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.000 get out and see the way that people have been 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:16.320 impacted by our church and see it firsthand. I needed it. 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.840 I felt like it. I was like something just came 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.000 alive inside of me, like it needed to be watered 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.039 and after we came back, I was just fired up 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.440 and full of life. So that's why I'm going back 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.200 selfishly just to do ministry because I get more out 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.120 of it than I could ever give. And I wish 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.840 you could all come, but anyway, you get to come 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:41.760 every week. So what are you worried about? And I 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.760 wish we could have this conversation just one on one 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.040 from the Word of God today. That would be ideal 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:50.599 because I could walk you through it a little different. 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:52.920 But we'll have to do the best we can with 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:54.680 just all of us. And I want to take you 0:04:54.760 --> 0:05:05.280 to the Book of Ruth, chapter four, verse nine through seventeen. 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.480 I want to say what's up to Taylor Shidel at 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.599 Elevation Columbia. He texted me before I got up that 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.080 he was praying for me while I was preaching, And 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:20.919 that's why I'm shouting him out. I'm reciprocating. I appreciate 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.599 your prayers too, as I preached today that I would 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:27.000 be effective, that I would be effective for who God 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:34.520 wants me to reach. Never preached a sermon from Ruth before. 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:36.640 Hollywalked by the other day and saw my Bible open 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:45.240 to Ruth. She said Ooh, Ruth. And my reluctance to 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.880 preach on Ruth isn't just because it's a book about 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:54.760 a woman. I'm not a sexist. I think it's one 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.360 of those stories that just to give you a sliver 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.320 or one scene of the story, like it doesn't do 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.760 justice to the beauty of the whole thing. But still 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.279 God directed me here and just sucked me in. And 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.880 so I'm going to do my best today just from 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:14.360 not trying to be cute. But I just want to 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:23.159 show you one truth from the book of Ruth. I guess, 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.000 but let's look at this together. Ruth Chapter four, verse nine. 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:32.680 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people today, 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.800 you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:43.600 the property of Alimelech, Killion and Maylon. I have also 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:49.240 acquired Ruth the Moabi Meylon's widow as my wife, in 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.720 order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.600 so that his name will not disappear from among his 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.640 family or from his hometown. Today, you are witnesses verse eleven. 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.679 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:10.160 we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:15.440 is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:21.120 together built up the family of Israel. May you have 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:26.080 standing in Ephratha and be famous in Bethlehem through the 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.640 offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman. May 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:33.160 your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:37.480 to Judah. That's a blessing right there. That's a blessing 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.400 right here. Tell somebody next to you, I'm stepping into 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.840 a blessing. I'm stepping into a blessing. I'm stepping in. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.440 Tell them give me some room because I'm stepping into 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:50.800 a blessing. I need six feet because I'm stepping all right, 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.120 all right, But that's not the word. That's not the 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:58.200 word today, because we need to read the next verses. 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:04.160 So Boas took Ruth, and she became his wife. When 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.440 he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.640 and she gave birth to a son. The women said 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:15.080 to Naomi, Praise be to the Lord, who this day 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:20.320 has not left you without a guardian redeemer. May he 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:26.040 become famous throughout Israel. He will renew your life and 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.120 sustain you in your old age. For your daughter in law, 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.679 who loves you, and who is better to you than 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.440 seven sons has given him birth. Then Naomi took the 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:40.679 child in her arms and cared for him. The women 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:45.720 living there said, Naomi has a son. Naomi has a son. 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.400 You're never gonna believe it. But she who was gone 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.400 for over ten years because of the famine and came 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:57.720 back bitter, is holding a son. And they named him Obed. 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:03.000 And who's the father of Jesse see the father of David. 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:05.199 And this is what the Lord told me to tell 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:14.880 you today as our message, it will come together. Who 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:19.280 felt that when I said it? It might be online? 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:21.920 Put it in the chat, put it in the comments 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.600 right now. Or tell your six foot three neighbor it 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:30.240 will come together. Tell your five foot four whoever's standing 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.880 next to you. I'm trying to say, just make the declaration. 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:37.319 It will come together. In Jesus' name. You may be seated. 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:44.080 It will come together. Kind of one of those cliches 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:46.040 that I don't like when people say stuff like that 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:50.280 to me, it'll come together. I'll be stressed about a 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:56.280 sermon and Hollio say it'll come together. I'll be like, yeah, 0:09:56.600 --> 0:10:01.760 that sounds good. I mean, that's that's that's just a 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:06.800 millimeter better than when life gives you lemons or lemon Yeah, 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:12.839 how does it go? Make lemonade? Cliches? Cliches? And yet 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.959 I don't mean it in that trite way because it 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.000 could sound like that, I know you lost your job. 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.680 It'll come together. Could you tell the power company that 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:29.960 for me? Oh, I know you're single. Their friends are married. 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.800 Don't worry. The Lord has a bow as for you. 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:41.760 I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it. 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:43.959 I'm not gonna do I'm not gonna do it. I'm 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:45.960 not gonna do it. She wants me to do it, 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:49.559 I'm not gonna do it. There's an old thing online 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:53.000 that says, while you're waiting for your bow, ass, don't 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:58.520 settle for brogue as poor as all that. I'm not 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:06.079 gonna do it. Temptresses. It's the whole thing. It's a 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.720 whole thing. In Christianity, the Book of Ruth is usually 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.560 identified by chapter one, verse sixteen, and it's always into 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:16.760 King James at a wedding. This is the famous verse 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:18.439 of Ruth. All right, you're gonna know it. When I 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.160 say it, You're like, huh, what's it about? You'll know 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:21.520 when you see it. Put it on screen. This the 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:26.040 King James, where it says whither thou goest I will go? 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:28.800 You got to get the wether in there for the 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:32.920 marriage vows. Then that sounded like a wedding. Whither thou goest? 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:35.280 You never said whither in your life. But now you're 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.320 about to commit your whole self to somebody, and you 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.840 breaking out words you never use, whether thou goest I 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.640 will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge? People 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:47.840 shall be my people, By God, my God, I'm not 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:51.920 making fun of that verse. That verse in itself is 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:57.400 a sermon in itself. It is a sermon in itself. 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:02.960 That one verse shows you that when you decide who, 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:08.560 you decide where, when you decide, Now, this is not 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.160 how we think we think I need to decide where 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.839 I'm going to college. No, no, no, that's not as 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.880 important as who you hang out with when you get 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:23.000 to college, wherever you go to college, right. I teach 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:28.320 that all the time, that because who will ultimately identify 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:32.840 not only where you end up physically, Like Holly wouldn't 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:34.480 be in Charlotte if she had married me, because she 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:36.199 wouldn't have been a pastor's wife, or if she had 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.559 maybe the guy JJ she was talking to, he ends 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:48.760 up somewhere else. And when when you say yes to someone, 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:52.760 you say yes to something that you don't know about 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:54.880 at the time. I'm the same with God. When you 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.520 say yes to God, He'll take you places that you 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:00.439 never thought you would go when you say yes to Him. 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:03.320 Who you say yes to who you say no to 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:11.000 is very important, really important. Tell somebody it will come together. Now. 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:12.960 I want you to get that in your mind so 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.280 we can get it passed your mind into your spirit 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:18.120 so that you hear it differently. When I finish in 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.800 a few minutes, then you hear it right now. Because 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:26.360 we are all standing in a space in our life 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:32.680 where we are needing clarity on some things. And maybe 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.640 you're not in the same situation as Naomi and Ruth, 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.760 both of them being widows, were completely dependent on the 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.560 kindness of someone else. And maybe it's not that bad 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:48.000 in your life. Ruth not only lost her husband when 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:54.640 she lost her Maelon, but Naomi lost her son. Naomi 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.959 had already lost her husband, a Limelech, and they were 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.319 already in a strange place. Now I want to talk 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:06.000 to you about this, because when you read a Bible 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:11.000 verse in isolation, it's almost impossible to really make sense 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:14.400 out of it. And I want you to have that 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:16.680 app on your phone where they give you the verse 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.880 every day. But I don't want you to always read 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:24.240 the scriptures in isolation, because if you just take it 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.280 in isolation, sometimes we don't even read the whole verson 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.520 we quote it, and then we think that it didn't work. 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.600 It's not that Romans eight twenty eight isn't true. All 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.640 things work together for the good. You just stopped in 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:44.120 the middle of the verse. Is said all things work 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:48.120 together for the good of them that love God and 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:52.360 are called according to His purpose. Means that God doesn't 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:56.160 decide what is good in your life based on your preference, 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.200 but his purpose. So then you go through something and 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.880 this isn't good. This isn't good. How can this be good? 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:06.680 God isn't God is good, and this isn't good. What's 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:10.640 going on? I thought it was all good? God didn't 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.760 say that. In the Bible. God didn't say that. He 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:22.200 said all things work together for the good of those 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:25.080 who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:32.520 So his purpose comes first, not my preference, go ready. 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:38.920 His purpose comes first, not my plan. What happens to 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:43.600 us is we get addicted to a plan, and if 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:45.960 it doesn't fit the plan, we want to throw it 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:50.600 back to God and say fix this. But God doesn't 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.640 start with the picture called your plan when he is 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:59.960 building the pieces of your life. He's God. He's God. 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.160 And the truth of the matter is, you can't really 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:10.320 judge your life in isolation. You can't really know when 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:16.920 you're going through something, whether it's good or not. Don't 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:22.760 judge it just yet. One scripture says, judge nothing before 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:28.400 the appointed time. Judge nothing before the appointed time, when 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:30.800 God will reveal hidden things and bring them to life, 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.160 and the secret things will be laid bare. Judge nothing, 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:41.280 no thing. All things work together for the good of 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.040 them that love the Lord. Now, if you love something 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.760 else more than you love the Lord Romans eight twenty eight, 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.400 is going to be hard for you, because if you 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:55.520 love popularity more than you love God, when people leave you, 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:59.040 you will think that's not good. But if you love 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:03.880 the Lord's purpose more than you love popularity, sometimes you 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:08.400 will praise God not for who stays with you, but 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:13.840 for who leaves you. Because you believe that the Lord 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:22.320 is leading my life. Wow, wow, Wow, it will come together. 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.439 We make the mistake of thinking that everyone who starts 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:29.800 with us will stay with us, and it doesn't happen 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:33.040 that way. This is not a sermon about abandonment or divorce, 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.960 but I do want to talk about those issues because well, 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:40.160 in the Book of Ruth, you have this woman named 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:45.520 Naomi who goes to a place called Moab where there 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:48.520 is something to eat for her family, and through no 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:53.200 fault of her own, she watches her husband and her 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.920 sons ten years later die in front of her eyes. 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:02.320 Her two daughters in law are committed to stay with her, 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:08.399 Ruth and Orpah. And there's a reason that this is 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:15.880 not called the Book of Orpa because she left. There 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.600 is a reason that I said turn in your bible 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:26.960 to the Book of Ruth, because Ruth stay. Put this 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:34.320 in your heart. Whoever left you in your life, whoever 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:38.680 walked away from you in your life, was not part 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:44.120 of God's purpose for your current season. It doesn't mean 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.840 they're bad, it doesn't mean they're evil. It doesn't mean 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.320 you need to make a voodoo dollins stick a pin 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:52.480 in they're left ear trying to get them to have 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:54.800 an earache. It doesn't mean anything. I don't mean you 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:56.920 need to talk crap about them. It doesn't mean that 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:58.960 you have to want them to fail. It doesn't mean 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:00.600 you have to go out and buy new car to 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:02.480 show him you made it and drive by their house 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.320 and they're not even home. It doesn't mean any of that. 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:11.960 It just means, can I preach. God doesn't build my 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:19.480 life on people who left. So one thing I'm learning 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:21.400 to appreciate at the stage of my life is the 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:26.160 providence of God. The providence of God. The providence of God. 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:30.439 The plans of man and the providence of God are 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:35.199 two totally different things. The man directs his steps in 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:41.280 his mind, God orders his steps in real life. And 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:45.840 so maybe I'm preaching to somebody today who is like Naomi. 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.840 You know, when we walked into Ruth chapter four, it 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.680 looked like everything was going good, and on the surface, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:57.840 it sounds like this is a moment to be happy, 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:01.879 and it is. It is if you look at it 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:06.879 in isolation. But understanding what led up to this moment, 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.520 I think gives me a greater appreciation for who God 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:14.080 is and what he is able to do. Let's look 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:15.920 at it a little deeper, because even the Book of 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:22.920 Ruth is an interesting book. You have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:29.080 and then Ruth first Samuel, second Samuel, first King's second Kings. 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:36.800 What's Ruth doing between all those big books? Why is 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:41.399 there a book in the Bible about one woman from Moab? 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:48.720 Moab is not Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not Moab. 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:53.320 Moab was not even seen. I could do this real quick. 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:56.880 Moab was like you went to school in Chapel Hill 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:01.480 and you are cheering in four coach. K You see 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:05.320 what I've said, That level of hatred right there. You 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:07.199 felt it coming through the room. And this is a 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:09.879 local illustration. Okay, I could use another one somewhere else. 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:20.480 What is a woman from Moab doing between the five 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:22.919 covenants in the Bible? Write down the word covenant in 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.040 your notes, please. Covenant is a concept we would do 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:29.040 well to understand in our current contemporary society. We don't 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:31.720 understand it at all. We don't understand commitment at all. 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:35.040 We just understand convenience. Even when we say marriage vows, 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:37.440 we don't really mean half of what we're saying. We're saying, 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:39.439 as long as you make me happy, I'll be with you, 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:41.760 And we don't really mean what we're saying. And I'm 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:44.560 not saying that to shame anybody. I'm just saying sometimes 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:49.800 we would do well to understand these verses in their context. 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:54.359 Because God made a covenant with Noah. He said, I 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:56.520 never fled the earth again. That's the first covenant. There 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:00.880 are five covenants. The Bible is structured around five covenants. Covenant, 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:03.080 I will never flood the earth again. It means there's 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:06.880 going to be a limit on human evil. The Abrahamic Covenant, 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:09.080 which God said, I'm gonna make a nation out of you. 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:11.800 Count the stars if you can, count the sand if 0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:14.960 you can, and Abraham goes one, two, three, four, five 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:17.159 to seven, eight nine. This is going to take a 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:20.080 long time, God, And God said, exactly, it's going to 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:22.240 take a long time for me to show you what 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:24.800 I'm going to do through you, and your descendants will 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:27.600 be as numerous as the sand on the sea shore, 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:30.400 if you can believe it and receive it, even though 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.600 you are past child bearing years. I am gonna bring 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:36.560 forth a life out of your wife's dead wound. That 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:39.639 will bless the whole world, and I will bless you 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:42.960 and you will be a blessing. That's the Abrahamic Covenant. 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:47.679 Then you've got the Davidic Covenant, which God made with David, 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:51.040 the second King israel head. You remember Saul, the one 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:53.520 that the people wanted, and then David, and he's like, 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:56.879 this is my guy right here, He's after my heart 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:00.160 and he said, I'm going to establish a throne from you. 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:03.280 Now you forgot about the Mosaic Covenant where God had 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:05.879 to bring his people out of Egypt, and then the 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:09.280 New Covenant. How many thank God for the blood of 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:15.920 Jesus that lets me know that I can't keep the law, 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:19.080 and what the law was powerless to do in that 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:23.600 it was weakened by my flesh. God did by sending 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:27.639 his son Jesus, the son of David, to be a 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:32.240 sin offering in my place, and upon Jesus was placed 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:35.960 all of my transgression and all of my shame. So 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:39.719 whatever shame I carried into church today as a child 0:23:39.720 --> 0:23:43.760 of the New Covenant, I carried it illegally because Jesus 0:23:43.800 --> 0:23:46.920 took it. And whatever he took he intends to keep 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:49.400 and deal with. So I've got to give it back 0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:55.600 to him over and over and over. Because God has 0:23:55.840 --> 0:24:02.200 already made up his mind about me. He already made 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:06.960 up his mind about me. He's not looking to see 0:24:07.040 --> 0:24:09.840 if I get it right or if I get it wrong. 0:24:10.720 --> 0:24:16.399 He made a purpose for my life, and it will 0:24:16.440 --> 0:24:22.560 come together. Say it, it will come together. I feel 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:24.919 like preaching this like this cod Orange revival. But you 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:28.320 won't help me touch three people. Tell them it will 0:24:28.640 --> 0:24:32.359 come together. It will, it will. I know it's taken 0:24:32.400 --> 0:24:35.400 a while. I know it's been on layaway and delay, 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:37.960 and there's a shipping thing, and I know they can't 0:24:38.000 --> 0:24:40.159 get it to you like they were supposed to. And 0:24:40.240 --> 0:24:42.760 I know your three years past the due date of 0:24:42.800 --> 0:24:46.399 when you expected God to do it. But if Naomi 0:24:46.560 --> 0:24:51.359 encourages me about one thing, it's that after she lost 0:24:51.600 --> 0:25:01.320 everything she held, dear God still had something for I'm 0:25:01.320 --> 0:25:09.200 glad about it. I love that verse that they said 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:15.600 in the blessing. They said in verse eleven, Ruth four eleven, 0:25:16.480 --> 0:25:19.440 this is the one that got me. We are witnesses. 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:22.080 May the Lord make the woman who is coming into 0:25:22.119 --> 0:25:25.919 your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up 0:25:25.960 --> 0:25:32.440 the family of Israel, that sounds so nice. Rachel and Leah, 0:25:33.040 --> 0:25:39.720 who together teamwork makes the dream work. They together built 0:25:39.800 --> 0:25:43.159 up the House of Israel. And I remember they're saying 0:25:43.200 --> 0:25:48.440 this hundreds of years after it happened. They're saying this 0:25:50.119 --> 0:25:54.520 after they have the benefit of seeing the blessing fully matured. 0:25:55.920 --> 0:26:00.119 They are saying this like a parent who is ninety's 0:26:00.160 --> 0:26:03.400 one years old and all their kids have kids now, 0:26:03.680 --> 0:26:06.080 and they have lived long enough to know, don't stress 0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:11.359 about that. It's all right. Please, please don't worry yourself 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:15.720 that much about that. It's all right. See, we don't 0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:20.320 get to live through that lens. We don't get to 0:26:20.359 --> 0:26:22.960 live through the lens of knowing that Rachel and Leah 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:25.600 built up the House of Israel together. We don't get 0:26:25.600 --> 0:26:28.760 to live through the lens of Naomi knowing I'm gonna 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:32.199 hold a baby named Obed in my arms, even though 0:26:32.240 --> 0:26:36.960 I'm gonna cry for years about my husband, only to 0:26:37.040 --> 0:26:42.080 lose my sons. Because see, we don't taste life as 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:50.920 a meal. We experience the ingredients in isolation. In God's mind, 0:26:51.000 --> 0:26:57.360 your life is a meal. In God's life, your God's mind, 0:26:57.520 --> 0:27:02.200 your life is Thanksgiving Day. What the y'all el on Thanksgiving. 0:27:02.240 --> 0:27:04.240 I might come over put it in the chat. What 0:27:04.359 --> 0:27:07.960 y'all got at Thanksgiving? Is? What do you like at Thanksgiving? 0:27:07.960 --> 0:27:10.439 What do you have at Thanksgiving? Mac and cheese? I 0:27:10.520 --> 0:27:14.000 might come? Can somebody do better than that? Mac and 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:17.000 cheese and sweet potatoes? Now? Like sweet potatoes or a 0:27:17.000 --> 0:27:20.439 sweet potato thing with marshmallows in it? Yeah? Because I 0:27:20.520 --> 0:27:22.679 really just had the sweet potatoes are the middleman for me. 0:27:22.720 --> 0:27:25.720 I just want the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes, honestly. 0:27:25.760 --> 0:27:27.840 So yeah, that's good. That's good. I might come. What else? 0:27:27.880 --> 0:27:30.960 What do y'all have at Thanksgiving? See? I don't know. 0:27:31.119 --> 0:27:33.399 I'm making everybody hungry. I'm losing my audience. This is 0:27:33.480 --> 0:27:39.199 really bad public speaking. What am I doing? You? You 0:27:39.320 --> 0:27:44.440 gotta understand the moment that Naomi is in her life 0:27:44.520 --> 0:27:50.360 right now is a blessing. But it's a mixed blessing. 0:27:52.440 --> 0:27:56.760 It's a mixed blessing. I noticed the room got happy 0:27:57.000 --> 0:28:00.880 when I said you're stepping into a blessing. It's like, yes, 0:28:01.080 --> 0:28:05.240 I forgot to tell you it's a mixed blessing. I 0:28:05.320 --> 0:28:08.600 forgot to tell you it is a mixed blessing. So 0:28:08.720 --> 0:28:11.880 that means you need to prepare for the blessing as 0:28:11.920 --> 0:28:15.040 it is actually going to be, or you might miss 0:28:15.160 --> 0:28:21.600 the blessing because it's going to be mixed when you 0:28:21.680 --> 0:28:26.520 get it. In fact, Naomi was in so much pain 0:28:26.560 --> 0:28:30.440 there in Moab where she went to escape from Bethlehem, 0:28:30.480 --> 0:28:34.719 where there was a famine. It seems like she did 0:28:34.720 --> 0:28:36.600 all right when she lost her husband, but when she 0:28:36.760 --> 0:28:44.480 lost her sons two, she said, don't call me Naomi anymore. 0:28:45.800 --> 0:28:51.320 Call me Mara. Because Naomi has the connotation of pleasant, 0:28:52.480 --> 0:28:58.480 Mara means bitter. And after what she's been through, can 0:28:58.480 --> 0:29:03.240 you blame her? When somebody has been through something like this, 0:29:03.360 --> 0:29:07.800 you don't tell them it'll come together. What will come together? 0:29:08.400 --> 0:29:11.280 How can you replace those boys? Even if God gave 0:29:11.320 --> 0:29:17.320 me twenty more, it wouldn't replace them. That's how it 0:29:17.360 --> 0:29:20.080 is sometimes in your life. Don't try to tell me 0:29:20.440 --> 0:29:25.000 it's gonna get better. Call me bitter. When that kind 0:29:25.040 --> 0:29:28.479 of bitterness hits your heart, you don't even want to 0:29:28.560 --> 0:29:35.400 hear about better from anybody, not from preachers, not from teachers, 0:29:35.440 --> 0:29:42.400 not from pinterest. Don't tell me all things work together 0:29:42.480 --> 0:29:47.360 for the good of those that love God, because when 0:29:47.400 --> 0:29:52.640 you taste the ingredient in isolation. It would be lying 0:29:52.760 --> 0:29:58.480 to say that's delicious. It would be lying. I was 0:29:58.480 --> 0:30:01.479 talking to a god in I think I think he 0:30:01.520 --> 0:30:03.720 was in London. Yeah, he was in London. He said 0:30:03.720 --> 0:30:06.560 he had to lay off forty of his two hundred employees. 0:30:07.520 --> 0:30:10.080 He said, but you know what, it's a good thing. 0:30:11.040 --> 0:30:14.000 I said, I understand what you're saying. But for them, 0:30:15.800 --> 0:30:18.360 I hope you didn't tell them that. He said, no, 0:30:18.440 --> 0:30:20.320 I'm not telling them that. I'm just telling you that. 0:30:20.400 --> 0:30:22.479 I said, well, make sure you don't tell them you 0:30:22.520 --> 0:30:25.160 feel that way, because they probably don't see it like 0:30:25.200 --> 0:30:28.200 that right now from your perspective. He said, you got 0:30:28.240 --> 0:30:30.040 a good point. You got a good point, and it 0:30:30.080 --> 0:30:33.000 is a good point when you are tasting it. Have 0:30:33.120 --> 0:30:36.600 you ever walked in the kitchen and just use an example, 0:30:36.680 --> 0:30:38.840 I'm not a cook. Take a scoop of baking powder 0:30:39.880 --> 0:30:47.920 and just down it. Did you ever do it? So? 0:30:48.040 --> 0:30:58.040 Baking powder is bad? Anybody want a big heep in 0:30:58.360 --> 0:31:02.040 pile a baking powder for lunch today? Raise your hand? 0:31:03.320 --> 0:31:11.200 Why are you messing up my illustration? Bro? Now this 0:31:11.280 --> 0:31:13.360 is the message. You want the whole message in a moment. 0:31:14.120 --> 0:31:16.040 This is a whole message. Is a whole message. This 0:31:16.120 --> 0:31:18.760 is why you came from Michigan so God could tell you, 0:31:18.960 --> 0:31:21.920 this is why you tuned in online. Just because it 0:31:22.080 --> 0:31:27.880 tastes bad in isolation doesn't mean it won't serve a 0:31:28.120 --> 0:31:38.320 purpose in the finished product. I'm not saying that the 0:31:38.360 --> 0:31:44.280 Bible said that after Naomi had gone so low that 0:31:44.440 --> 0:31:49.520 she said, this doesn't taste good. This doesn't taste good. 0:31:49.560 --> 0:31:53.200 And honestly, I figured out why people in church often 0:31:53.280 --> 0:31:57.360 look so sour when they're in church, because what you 0:31:57.400 --> 0:32:01.680 went through this week didn't taste good, and you are 0:32:01.720 --> 0:32:04.800 trying to praise God with a taste in your mouth 0:32:05.400 --> 0:32:12.040 of disappointment and fear? Am I preaching? Yet? I mean 0:32:12.160 --> 0:32:18.040 it's hard to say Hallelujah when your mouth taste like hurt. 0:32:19.680 --> 0:32:27.000 WHOA call me bitter? You might as well? You might 0:32:27.000 --> 0:32:35.960 as well. You might as well and taste good. And 0:32:36.040 --> 0:32:40.960 yet what a strange blessing that they gave. Let me 0:32:41.000 --> 0:32:42.600 give you a little bit more background so I can 0:32:42.640 --> 0:32:46.440 make sure I'm not confusing. Graham's Graham's my guy. You know. 0:32:46.520 --> 0:32:49.440 He told me the other day he was like, Dad, 0:32:49.480 --> 0:32:52.120 sometimes you got to slow down with these scriptures. You've 0:32:52.120 --> 0:32:54.160 been looking at them all week and we're just waking up. 0:32:54.200 --> 0:33:00.760 You got to slow down and break it down. So 0:33:01.360 --> 0:33:03.920 even though I can't do it justice, the Book of 0:33:04.000 --> 0:33:05.920 Ruth is beautiful and you could read it in the 0:33:05.960 --> 0:33:08.520 time that you could watch half an episode of Ozark. 0:33:14.720 --> 0:33:19.040 And when we moved through it, we see Naomi a 0:33:19.120 --> 0:33:27.080 Limelech Killion and Maelon Meylan's Ruth's husband orpa is married 0:33:27.080 --> 0:33:31.280 to Killion, And both of those baby names are available, 0:33:31.280 --> 0:33:32.960 by the way, if you want to have an original 0:33:33.000 --> 0:33:38.800 name for your kid. But when they went to Moab, 0:33:38.880 --> 0:33:41.240 they went to a place that they didn't This is 0:33:41.280 --> 0:33:46.560 important planned to go. This message is for somebody who 0:33:46.640 --> 0:33:51.080 is in a place you didn't plan to go. And 0:33:51.120 --> 0:33:53.880 I'm gonna take it further. Sometimes it's a place you 0:33:53.920 --> 0:33:59.120 hate being there because they're from Bethlehem and they're in Moab. 0:33:59.560 --> 0:34:01.720 Kind of like when they went to Egypt. I mentioned 0:34:01.760 --> 0:34:04.280 it earlier, when the Israelites went to Egypt. They didn't 0:34:04.320 --> 0:34:07.400 go to Egypt because it was their dream to go 0:34:07.440 --> 0:34:10.160 to Egypt. It wasn't on their bucket list to go 0:34:10.200 --> 0:34:13.080 to Egypt. They went to Egypt to survive. And we've 0:34:13.120 --> 0:34:15.399 talked about that a lot because I think a lot 0:34:15.440 --> 0:34:17.359 of the sin cycles we get sucked into in our 0:34:17.400 --> 0:34:21.319 life are out of survival mechanisms, and if we don't 0:34:21.360 --> 0:34:23.040 deal with it that way, we just put so much 0:34:23.120 --> 0:34:26.160 shame on it. We can't help anybody get healed because 0:34:26.200 --> 0:34:28.880 people won't come to Jesus because you don't understand the 0:34:28.920 --> 0:34:33.640 power of his covenant with you. You think Jesus is 0:34:33.760 --> 0:34:36.040 like other people and that there come a point where 0:34:36.040 --> 0:34:38.160 he'll be ashamed of you, and he'll go, oh, well, 0:34:38.840 --> 0:34:40.719 that's too far there. I was going to use you, 0:34:40.800 --> 0:34:44.480 But really you did that. You don't understand the power 0:34:44.480 --> 0:34:49.240 of a covenant. But Ruth did because when Naomi said, 0:34:49.520 --> 0:34:52.600 leave me, I've lost my husband's I've lost my boys. 0:34:52.760 --> 0:34:55.720 I've heard there's bred in Bethlehem. We've been here ten years. 0:34:56.080 --> 0:35:01.080 Naomi said, I'm not leaving. Make a covenant with you. 0:35:02.719 --> 0:35:08.600 Whither thou goest I go. Your God become my god, 0:35:08.640 --> 0:35:12.560 and your God will often become the same god as 0:35:12.600 --> 0:35:18.200 your friends. If you are around people who worship status 0:35:18.200 --> 0:35:21.120 and stuff, it won't be long till you'll shear shackle 0:35:21.239 --> 0:35:26.359 to the same things they are. But now to touch 0:35:26.400 --> 0:35:27.799 somebody next to you and say you ought to hang 0:35:27.800 --> 0:35:30.840 out with me a little while. You hang out with me, 0:35:31.320 --> 0:35:34.560 You're gonna have strong faith. You hang out with me. 0:35:36.040 --> 0:35:38.400 Come on, death leopard if you hang out with me. 0:35:42.160 --> 0:35:46.080 So they go back together, and Naomi, in this this 0:35:46.200 --> 0:35:50.640 honest moment, she says, call me bitter. I still got 0:35:50.680 --> 0:35:53.440 the taste in my mouth. I'm going back to Bethlehem, 0:35:53.560 --> 0:35:56.719 which means house of bread, which makes it that much 0:35:56.760 --> 0:36:01.600 more depressing when there's a famine in Bethlehem, when there's 0:36:01.640 --> 0:36:04.640 a famine in the place that is named after bread, 0:36:05.480 --> 0:36:07.759 when the joy of the Lord is supposed to be 0:36:07.840 --> 0:36:11.759 your strength, and you are a Christian and you're depressed, 0:36:12.040 --> 0:36:15.399 and you are a Christian and you can't sleep, and 0:36:15.440 --> 0:36:18.799 you are a Christian and you have addictions, and you 0:36:18.840 --> 0:36:22.000 are a I am a C I am ah, I 0:36:22.080 --> 0:36:24.240 am a c h R I S T I aad. 0:36:24.480 --> 0:36:26.799 But I got a A D D A d hd 0:36:27.280 --> 0:36:30.000 hey d D I C t I. Oh, I'm in 0:36:30.080 --> 0:36:33.840 the house of bread, but a hawk grief. Call me Mara, 0:36:34.480 --> 0:36:47.560 she said, real said, I was with you when I 0:36:47.640 --> 0:36:52.360 wanted your son. Now you don't have a son to 0:36:52.400 --> 0:36:57.120 give me, but I'm still with you. I wonder who 0:36:57.120 --> 0:37:00.000 the Lord is saying that to you. I'm still with you. 0:37:00.560 --> 0:37:06.799 I don't sell low and by high. God is not 0:37:06.960 --> 0:37:12.279 Warren Buffett. God doesn't trade like that. God said, I'm 0:37:12.360 --> 0:37:15.480 still with you because I made a covenant with you. 0:37:16.600 --> 0:37:18.520 It's not the kind of covenant I made with Noah 0:37:18.680 --> 0:37:21.000 that was limited. It's not the kind of covenant I 0:37:21.040 --> 0:37:24.000 made with Abraham that was limited. It's not the covenant 0:37:24.040 --> 0:37:26.640 I made with Moses that was limited. It's not the 0:37:26.680 --> 0:37:29.759 covenant I made with David that was limited. This is 0:37:29.800 --> 0:37:33.160 the covenant of my blood, made with the life of 0:37:33.239 --> 0:37:44.359 my son. And I am worth you in your bitterness, 0:37:45.520 --> 0:37:53.960 in your brokenness. God said, I'm with you, but I'm bitter. 0:37:55.640 --> 0:38:00.440 But I'm with you, and I love the Lord because 0:38:00.480 --> 0:38:07.720 he wrote the Bible, and he knew that the woman 0:38:07.760 --> 0:38:11.560 who said I'm bitter and it's over in chapter one 0:38:11.840 --> 0:38:16.880 would be holding a baby in chapter four. So he 0:38:16.920 --> 0:38:22.239 gave her someone named Ruth the Moabide. He gave her 0:38:22.239 --> 0:38:28.560 a Moabike, not somebody from Bethlehem, somebody from a place 0:38:29.239 --> 0:38:36.160 that she never wanted to be. Remember, it's God's kitchen. 0:38:40.920 --> 0:38:44.000 So if you walk around God's kitchen tasting stuff, I 0:38:44.000 --> 0:38:56.040 don't like that. I don't like that you know how 0:38:56.080 --> 0:39:04.279 you are some of y'all our faith footies you walk around. Hmmm, No, 0:39:04.400 --> 0:39:06.960 I don't like that. See now, listen, you get to 0:39:07.000 --> 0:39:10.080 tell God certain things that you want him to do. God, 0:39:10.120 --> 0:39:12.840 I want you to grow me, mature me, bless me. 0:39:12.880 --> 0:39:14.719 You can say all that to God is good. You 0:39:14.760 --> 0:39:20.439 don't get to tell him how to do it. I'll 0:39:20.440 --> 0:39:23.400 go step further. You get to tell God what you want. 0:39:24.440 --> 0:39:26.520 You know. That's the first thing Jesus asked in the 0:39:26.560 --> 0:39:28.919 New Testament. He turned around and people followed me. He said, 0:39:28.920 --> 0:39:32.319 what do you want? Let's just get right to it, 0:39:32.440 --> 0:39:34.759 cut to the chase, cut through all the niceties. I 0:39:34.760 --> 0:39:37.000 don't need us a little equick. What do you want? 0:39:37.600 --> 0:39:42.200 And so we want to see where you're staying. See, 0:39:42.200 --> 0:39:47.040 you got to follow me to know me. And that 0:39:47.080 --> 0:39:52.799 means that if you judge stuff while it's happening, you'll 0:39:52.800 --> 0:39:59.400 call yourself by what you've been through. Are you with me? 0:40:01.640 --> 0:40:04.240 I was in the kitchen the other day and Holly 0:40:04.360 --> 0:40:07.440 was making breakfast, and I was trying to be helpful, 0:40:10.000 --> 0:40:12.919 but I can't cook, but I wanted to help out 0:40:14.360 --> 0:40:17.319 and she had just finished the sausage. So I was 0:40:17.360 --> 0:40:21.799 taking the pan to pour out the grease from the sausage. 0:40:23.800 --> 0:40:25.480 And I can tell who cooks in the room by 0:40:25.480 --> 0:40:29.279 your reaction, because she said two things to me that 0:40:29.320 --> 0:40:32.720 I'm going to preach to you. She said, leave the grease. 0:40:34.640 --> 0:40:38.880 I'm about to use it. That's the first thing she said. 0:40:39.920 --> 0:40:44.360 I'm out of the book of Ruth. I'm in. Second, Holly, 0:40:45.080 --> 0:40:49.560 she said, leave the grease. She said, because I'm about 0:40:49.600 --> 0:40:54.520 to make your eggs. And when I make your eggs, 0:40:55.400 --> 0:40:58.759 I'm going to take these eggs and I'm gonna all 0:40:59.760 --> 0:41:07.040 things work together. Now, the grease on its own is 0:41:07.080 --> 0:41:10.440 not something that you want to eat. But if you'll 0:41:10.520 --> 0:41:17.160 let me leave the right amount of grease for this recipe, 0:41:17.480 --> 0:41:21.640 that I know, see, because if I make your eggs 0:41:21.719 --> 0:41:24.200 without grease. She looked at me and said. The second thing, 0:41:24.280 --> 0:41:27.320 she said, you need to get out of my kitchen. 0:41:29.000 --> 0:41:33.480 And I hear God saying to somebody who's been telling 0:41:33.560 --> 0:41:38.040 him what he can't do, what he shouldn't do. I 0:41:38.239 --> 0:41:41.200 heard the voice of the Lord. I was praying about it, 0:41:41.440 --> 0:41:45.400 and God said, hit your neighbors, say get out of 0:41:45.440 --> 0:41:50.600 God's kitchen. Get out of God's kitchen. Get out of 0:41:50.640 --> 0:41:55.479 God's kitchen. Stop asking God to bring people back who 0:41:55.480 --> 0:41:59.920 were supposed to go. Get out the kitchen, stop at 0:42:00.120 --> 0:42:03.040 to God to take thorns away that he left. So 0:42:03.200 --> 0:42:09.799 you've been knowing, get out of the kitchen, Get out 0:42:09.840 --> 0:42:14.920 of my kitchen. Let me mix this, because when I 0:42:14.960 --> 0:42:19.239 get done mixing these eggs with this grease, when I 0:42:19.320 --> 0:42:23.480 get finished mixing your pain with my charge, when I 0:42:23.600 --> 0:42:27.520 get finished mixing your kit with your offer, get out 0:42:27.560 --> 0:42:35.640 of my kitchen. What in my weakness? He is strong. 0:42:36.000 --> 0:42:42.280 That's grease. That's grease. That weakness is grease. Stop trying 0:42:42.320 --> 0:42:47.360 to get rid of it and let God mix it. 0:42:54.719 --> 0:42:58.120 So I put something in a song two years ago. 0:42:58.320 --> 0:43:00.680 It's gonna come out in the radio a couple of weeks, 0:43:00.680 --> 0:43:02.919 and you might hear, well, not some of y'all, because 0:43:02.960 --> 0:43:05.120 y'll want to listen to the Christian station. But it's 0:43:05.120 --> 0:43:07.480 the rest of the song and it says, if it's 0:43:07.640 --> 0:43:15.680 not good, then he's not done. Let me break it 0:43:15.719 --> 0:43:20.440 all the way down. He hasn't mixed it yet. And 0:43:20.480 --> 0:43:25.719 you keep walking over to the grease, going, mmm, God 0:43:25.760 --> 0:43:36.680 can't cook judge no thing before the appointed time? Why 0:43:36.840 --> 0:43:42.560 because all things work together? Did he say everything was good? 0:43:43.480 --> 0:43:49.520 Or did he say that when Ruth meets Boass. When 0:43:49.560 --> 0:43:51.480 the thing, because this is what had to happen for Ruth, 0:43:52.080 --> 0:43:55.440 she goes back to Bethlehem. She's gleaning in a field. 0:43:55.840 --> 0:44:00.640 A man sees her named Boass. This is not a 0:44:00.680 --> 0:44:03.839 singles conference. Do not get a are you my bow 0:44:03.880 --> 0:44:08.680 Ass t shirt made after this message. That's honestly quite 0:44:08.719 --> 0:44:13.680 off putting, it really is. It attracts the crazy guys. 0:44:13.680 --> 0:44:17.120 All right, don't wear that shirt be my bow ass. 0:44:17.320 --> 0:44:19.520 Don't do it. I'm telling you, don't do it. It's 0:44:19.600 --> 0:44:25.879 a bad idea. But he sees her while she's gleaning. Now, 0:44:25.960 --> 0:44:28.040 you had to leave a certain portion of your feel 0:44:28.360 --> 0:44:31.600 by biblical law for the foreigners and for the orphans, 0:44:31.640 --> 0:44:37.080 of which Ruth was both. And because she made a 0:44:37.120 --> 0:44:41.759 commitment to Naomi, she met a man named bos It's 0:44:41.760 --> 0:44:47.680 called a kinsman redeemer, a kinsman redeemer, which ultimately, of 0:44:47.719 --> 0:44:53.640 course points to Jesus. But in this situation it is 0:44:53.680 --> 0:44:57.280 a real legal obligation because he is a relative of Naomi, 0:44:57.920 --> 0:44:59.839 which makes him here's a word we don't hear much 0:45:00.080 --> 0:45:09.000 today in today's society, responsible responsible to redeem this widow 0:45:09.040 --> 0:45:12.200 named Naomi, who is this relative and along with her 0:45:12.280 --> 0:45:16.400 comes Ruth and that is what helped me to understand 0:45:16.440 --> 0:45:20.080 why they said, may the Lord make her like Rachel 0:45:20.120 --> 0:45:23.640 and Leah, because that goes all the way back to Jacob. 0:45:24.840 --> 0:45:29.360 Remember the covenant God made with Abraham, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David. 0:45:29.560 --> 0:45:33.719 You you're in good company and you got a better 0:45:33.760 --> 0:45:37.360 covenant because all theirs had conditions to it. All you 0:45:37.360 --> 0:45:40.360 got to do is believe and receive and then obey 0:45:40.400 --> 0:45:42.640 to be blessed. But you don't have to obey to 0:45:42.719 --> 0:45:50.560 be his child. Amazing. I mean, you think Boaz is 0:45:50.560 --> 0:45:55.480 something you have any idea what kind of acceptance and 0:45:55.560 --> 0:46:01.040 resource you have in Christ? It is a picture right 0:46:01.920 --> 0:46:05.239 why they said they give a blessing and this is 0:46:05.560 --> 0:46:08.799 obviously something that they've said in this situation before. As 0:46:08.920 --> 0:46:12.600 Boaz goes to redeem, take Ruthus his wife, take Naomi 0:46:12.640 --> 0:46:15.520 in to purchase Alimelex's land, to care for the family 0:46:15.560 --> 0:46:17.359 so that his name will not be blotted out. All 0:46:17.400 --> 0:46:19.200 the stuff that I really don't have time to break 0:46:19.239 --> 0:46:21.560 down for you, but maybe it'll wet your appetite to 0:46:21.600 --> 0:46:25.520 read it this week, and that'd be awesome. All that 0:46:25.560 --> 0:46:29.160 stuff leads up to this moment where they say, may 0:46:29.200 --> 0:46:35.000 the Lord make this woman like Leah and Rachel. Now, 0:46:36.600 --> 0:46:42.279 Leah and Rachel are not not exactly teammates, even though 0:46:42.320 --> 0:46:47.120 they're sisters, because right here it makes it sound like 0:46:47.160 --> 0:46:50.400 they just they just agree. Put the verse back up, 0:46:50.400 --> 0:46:53.200 because this was really the verse that drew me to 0:46:53.200 --> 0:46:57.520 the message. Can I go a little bit longer today? 0:46:58.239 --> 0:47:01.239 I really want to, But I promise you I can 0:47:01.280 --> 0:47:04.200 dismiss you right now. And we already heard a word 0:47:04.280 --> 0:47:06.120 from God, but I would like to give you this 0:47:06.200 --> 0:47:12.239 before we leave. Okay, all right, all right, May the 0:47:12.239 --> 0:47:20.400 Lord make you like Rachel and Leah Ruth. Now the 0:47:20.480 --> 0:47:26.320 reason that was strange to me was one when Jacob 0:47:26.440 --> 0:47:30.160 was running talk about mixed blessings. He tricked his father 0:47:30.239 --> 0:47:32.040 into blessing him, but then he had to run from 0:47:32.080 --> 0:47:34.759 his brother. Is it really a blessing if you have 0:47:34.760 --> 0:47:40.399 to run from it? Talk about mixed blessings. God called 0:47:40.480 --> 0:47:43.600 him Israel, which means prince are prevalent with God, but 0:47:43.680 --> 0:47:46.480 his name was Jacob, which meant deceiver. Don't we all 0:47:46.520 --> 0:47:48.560 know what that feels like to wrestle with both sides 0:47:48.600 --> 0:47:50.760 of ourselves? And he came out of the woomb wrestling. 0:47:52.280 --> 0:47:54.960 Then when he gets to his uncle Laban's house. He 0:47:55.000 --> 0:47:58.840 wants to marry this daughter named Rachel, and Rachel this 0:47:59.000 --> 0:48:03.160 is not in the Hebrew. But she's hot, and then 0:48:04.600 --> 0:48:11.959 her sister Leah is not hot. And the Bible says 0:48:12.000 --> 0:48:14.600 that Laban tricked Jacob because it all catches up with 0:48:14.640 --> 0:48:19.040 you eventually. The way you get blessed is the way 0:48:19.080 --> 0:48:23.360 you have to stay blessed. So if you get stuff 0:48:23.440 --> 0:48:26.520 by manipulating, don't be surprised when you're stressed out about 0:48:26.600 --> 0:48:28.919 keeping it. But if you get it from God, it'll 0:48:28.920 --> 0:48:33.120 be a whole different thing. Yet, yet these are the 0:48:33.120 --> 0:48:35.120 two names that were mentioned in the blessing. So what's 0:48:35.160 --> 0:48:38.080 what Laban did? He said, Okay, work for me seven years, 0:48:38.120 --> 0:48:40.799 I'll give you Rachel. Jacob worked seven years on his 0:48:40.920 --> 0:48:43.920 wedding night. He wakes up the next morning, and the 0:48:43.960 --> 0:48:52.520 Bible says, something so crazy, there was Leah. Oh Lord, 0:48:56.800 --> 0:48:59.480 just for a side Bible study, did you ever think 0:48:59.520 --> 0:49:01.840 it was Rachel? But it turned out Leah. I'm not 0:49:01.920 --> 0:49:07.120 talking about women, I'm talking about opportunities. Did you ever 0:49:07.160 --> 0:49:10.440 wake up next to Leah went to bed with Rachel? 0:49:10.480 --> 0:49:12.799 You thought that was such a good idea, such a 0:49:12.840 --> 0:49:16.359 good investment. We've all had those moments. We have all 0:49:16.440 --> 0:49:26.319 had those moments. Anyway, Laban said, oh no, no, no, no, no, 0:49:26.320 --> 0:49:29.560 no no. The way it works here in our custom, 0:49:30.200 --> 0:49:33.759 if you want Rachel, you've got to first marry her 0:49:33.800 --> 0:49:37.640 older sister Leah. So if you give me seven more years, 0:49:37.680 --> 0:49:41.959 you can have Rachel, but you still got to keep Leah. 0:49:42.040 --> 0:49:48.480 And Jacob is like, oh God, And that's how I 0:49:48.520 --> 0:49:53.520 know that Rachel was indeed attractive, because he did another 0:49:53.600 --> 0:49:57.520 seven years for him. So she is not average by 0:49:57.560 --> 0:50:05.160 my reason deductions or whatever like that. But she was beautiful. 0:50:06.040 --> 0:50:10.200 But watch this. She was barren. She couldn't have kids. 0:50:11.640 --> 0:50:15.040 Leah on the other hand, Leah the one that the 0:50:15.080 --> 0:50:18.880 Bible said had weak eyes. I don't even know what 0:50:18.920 --> 0:50:26.320 that means, y'all, but that doesn't sound good. The picture 0:50:26.360 --> 0:50:30.799 that comes in my mind is not attractive. And but 0:50:30.920 --> 0:50:34.480 she she wasn't attractive. Watch this, but she was productive. 0:50:37.239 --> 0:50:43.600 She started having babies so quick. Boom Reuben boom, Simeon boom, 0:50:43.680 --> 0:50:49.200 Levi boom. Judah is four to nothing. Rachel is not 0:50:49.320 --> 0:50:55.960 even on the board. And Rachel's like, I gotta do 0:50:56.040 --> 0:50:59.240 something about this. I heard what my grandma did Jacob, 0:50:59.280 --> 0:51:01.640 you need to sleep with my maid servant, bill Ha. 0:51:02.080 --> 0:51:05.520 So she gives bill Haw to Jacob to seem jacob'slake. Okay, 0:51:05.680 --> 0:51:09.400 and so they got two more babies by the servant. 0:51:09.640 --> 0:51:11.799 Now Leah, all of a sudden hits a period she 0:51:11.840 --> 0:51:14.799 can't produce. Here's her servant, Zilpah. Now we're up to 0:51:14.840 --> 0:51:17.840 eight kids. Here comes a daughter, here comes it's a car, 0:51:18.040 --> 0:51:21.880 baby after baby after baby. And finally Rachel has Joseph. 0:51:21.920 --> 0:51:25.680 And while she's dying, she has Benjamin. Why Stephen Ferdick, 0:51:25.880 --> 0:51:28.680 did you slow down to tell us all of that? 0:51:30.680 --> 0:51:36.920 Because it helped me to understand that number one, Every 0:51:37.080 --> 0:51:44.680 Rachel comes with a Leah. Take it out of the 0:51:44.680 --> 0:51:48.000 realm of people for a moment. Rachel was what Jacob 0:51:48.080 --> 0:51:53.520 loved and what he wanted. What do you want? What 0:51:53.640 --> 0:51:58.360 do you love? Everything you love is going to come 0:51:58.400 --> 0:52:03.319 with something that you don't let that sink in You 0:52:03.360 --> 0:52:10.600 got it everything you love? God? I want success cool. 0:52:11.400 --> 0:52:20.640 It comes with stress, sleeplessness, and sacrifice. And just the 0:52:20.719 --> 0:52:26.360 other day my family rekindled the campaign for a dog. 0:52:26.800 --> 0:52:29.400 I thought we were through it. I thought I stood 0:52:29.480 --> 0:52:35.800 my ground. Y'all think I'm lying The pressure they're putting 0:52:35.800 --> 0:52:38.879 on me about this dog. It's been years. How many 0:52:38.920 --> 0:52:41.480 of y'all have been in elevation long enough you've watched 0:52:41.480 --> 0:52:44.399 this whole thing go down. Graham made the song about Look, 0:52:44.440 --> 0:52:47.399 I brought something on my garage on my way out 0:52:47.440 --> 0:52:49.120 of the garage. I don't even know why I left 0:52:49.160 --> 0:52:53.200 this up. Graham made this sign years ago. So every 0:52:53.239 --> 0:52:55.840 time I leave my garage, I gotta look at this 0:52:56.000 --> 0:53:06.680 sign that says I want I've been looking at that 0:53:06.960 --> 0:53:11.240 on my door for years now and standing strong too. 0:53:12.360 --> 0:53:14.959 I't even remember this. At the same time, Abby made 0:53:14.960 --> 0:53:20.919 one too. You can't really see it. That didn't even 0:53:20.960 --> 0:53:25.279 spelled ride in his heartbreaking I wish you could see it. 0:53:25.320 --> 0:53:29.160 Can y'all make it where you see it? No? Huh? 0:53:29.280 --> 0:53:33.280 It says I w a g O D d og, 0:53:33.920 --> 0:53:36.240 she wants God, she wants a dog, she wants everything. 0:53:36.440 --> 0:53:40.239 And what happened? What happened? I watched this. I promise you. 0:53:40.280 --> 0:53:43.080 I've got a point to this because they caught me 0:53:43.680 --> 0:53:47.680 the other night. Elijah was out and I was all alone, 0:53:47.840 --> 0:53:51.239 and it was three on one, and they took the opportunity. 0:53:51.480 --> 0:53:55.960 Graham said, I'm a good kid, I'm a good kid. 0:53:56.800 --> 0:54:00.399 I've never wanted anything but a dog to get here. 0:54:00.560 --> 0:54:10.240 And if I died, If I died, you would spend 0:54:10.280 --> 0:54:13.759 the rest of your life thinking why did not get 0:54:13.760 --> 0:54:21.520 the boy a doll? I said, I know you want 0:54:21.520 --> 0:54:31.520 to talk. You don't want what comes with it. Abby said, 0:54:31.560 --> 0:54:40.440 but Dad, but Dad, but Dad, and you love us, 0:54:43.880 --> 0:54:46.920 You love us. I know you give it to us 0:54:46.960 --> 0:54:51.319 because you love us. You give us everything that we want. 0:54:54.880 --> 0:54:58.040 I looked at Holly. I looked at Holly. I look 0:54:58.080 --> 0:55:00.120 gave her a look too, I'll give didn't I? I 0:55:00.160 --> 0:55:01.759 gave her a look. She said, what is that look? 0:55:02.040 --> 0:55:04.960 I said, this is the look of me imagining the 0:55:05.080 --> 0:55:11.560 reality because they don't. Graham said, it's different. I said, 0:55:11.600 --> 0:55:14.160 you can't even clean your room, Graham, he said, he said, 0:55:14.320 --> 0:55:19.799 that's different. My socks are not living things, which if 0:55:19.800 --> 0:55:23.960 you check them fu fungal composition on those socks, you 0:55:24.040 --> 0:55:29.960 might be wrong about that. But he said, he said 0:55:29.960 --> 0:55:33.480 that the dog is a living thing, and there's no 0:55:33.480 --> 0:55:35.160 way I would let a living thing suffer. You know, 0:55:35.160 --> 0:55:36.719 I'll take care of a living thing. Dad. I'm a 0:55:36.719 --> 0:55:41.360 good kid. And I said, but what about what comes 0:55:41.400 --> 0:55:44.240 out of the living thing? But this is the point, 0:55:45.440 --> 0:55:50.279 do you want what comes with it? Yeah? No, what 0:55:50.360 --> 0:55:53.400 comes with it? And this is a good question to ask. 0:55:54.360 --> 0:55:58.760 If you knew Leah came with it, would you still 0:55:58.800 --> 0:56:07.760 want Rachel? If you knew that the bitterness came with Naomi? 0:56:09.120 --> 0:56:10.600 Would you still want to be a part of a 0:56:10.600 --> 0:56:15.040 Limelex family? Would you still want it if you knew 0:56:15.040 --> 0:56:23.239 what came with it? So guess what. Nobody knows this, 0:56:24.719 --> 0:56:31.160 But I'm getting your dog. I'm gonna do it. I'm 0:56:31.160 --> 0:56:39.759 gonna do it. I know you're suspicious. Hey, hey, hey, hey, 0:56:42.400 --> 0:56:44.160 this is not a trick. This is not a game. 0:56:44.160 --> 0:56:46.600 Because they've been here many times before. I say I'm 0:56:46.600 --> 0:56:48.759 gonna get your dog, and they'll say really, and I'll say, yeah, 0:56:48.760 --> 0:56:54.040 you're a mustard relish. Catch up. I got jokes. I'm 0:56:54.040 --> 0:56:56.840 gonna get the dog because of something that he said 0:56:57.640 --> 0:57:01.759 that changed how I felt. He said, all right, I'm 0:57:01.800 --> 0:57:11.840 willing to say it'll be my job. So now you 0:57:11.920 --> 0:57:16.320 get a dog. You get a dog, and you get 0:57:16.360 --> 0:57:20.520 a dog, but it's not my dog, and it's not 0:57:20.840 --> 0:57:28.560 your dog. It's their dogs. Their stuff is your everybody. 0:57:28.560 --> 0:57:31.040 Stretch your hand towards my family and say it's y'all's 0:57:31.040 --> 0:57:34.439 dog toward these three right here, shad wrack me shaq, 0:57:34.640 --> 0:57:43.840 I bet a go. It's yall's dog. Sit out. But 0:57:43.960 --> 0:57:48.040 now we're gonna find out, Saints of God, do they 0:57:48.160 --> 0:57:51.560 want what comes with it? Because I will give it 0:57:51.600 --> 0:57:54.200 away a week from when we get it. If they doll, 0:57:54.560 --> 0:58:01.520 I'm not cleaning up nothing, because we are about to 0:58:01.720 --> 0:58:06.400 find out. Remember, Boas redeemed this family after another close 0:58:06.480 --> 0:58:10.040 relative had the opportunity to but the other relative didn't 0:58:10.040 --> 0:58:14.880 want it because it came with a mob bite. Boas said, 0:58:14.920 --> 0:58:18.160 not only do I want the land, I'll take what 0:58:18.280 --> 0:58:21.480 comes with it. And I got to show you this. 0:58:21.480 --> 0:58:24.720 It's beautiful that while Leah and Rachel were having all 0:58:24.760 --> 0:58:29.560 those babies really to compete with each other, really to 0:58:29.560 --> 0:58:33.320 compete with each other. From their perspective, they were trying 0:58:33.320 --> 0:58:36.920 to get Jacob to love them. But from God's perspective, 0:58:36.960 --> 0:58:43.280 it was all coming together to make a nation. So 0:58:43.320 --> 0:58:47.280 I need you to know, the dog comes with walking, 0:58:52.400 --> 0:59:00.360 the patience comes with pain. It will come together. It'll 0:59:00.400 --> 0:59:06.440 be a mixed blessing. It'll be Leah and Rachel, it 0:59:06.480 --> 0:59:10.919 will be Naomi and Boas, it will be both. Because 0:59:10.920 --> 0:59:13.680 I'm telling you this in case you are holding a 0:59:13.720 --> 0:59:18.520 blessing but you don't recognize it. That baby's name was Obed. 0:59:20.240 --> 0:59:24.000 His son's name was Jesse. His son's name was David. 0:59:25.400 --> 0:59:27.840 David was the king through which came forth to somebody 0:59:28.200 --> 0:59:33.840 that we're awfully fond of, name Jesus. But if you 0:59:33.880 --> 0:59:37.200 go all the way back, it came from ten generations, 0:59:37.240 --> 0:59:40.320 after ten years in Moab, from a man named Perez, 0:59:41.280 --> 0:59:45.200 who came from a man named Judah, and who was 0:59:45.240 --> 0:59:53.720 the mom of Judah. Leah, Leah, the one Jacob didn't 0:59:54.360 --> 1:00:07.880 even what. You have no idea what you're holding. And 1:00:07.920 --> 1:00:10.320 if you taste it in isolation, it might just be pain. 1:00:12.240 --> 1:00:14.640 If you taste it in isolation, it might just be failure. 1:00:16.320 --> 1:00:20.400 But let God mix it. Let God mix it. You 1:00:20.400 --> 1:00:25.000 don't know who you're gonna meet next year. You don't 1:00:25.000 --> 1:00:27.520 know what you're gonna learn. You don't know what God 1:00:27.600 --> 1:00:30.000 might be protecting you from by getting you out of there. 1:00:33.080 --> 1:00:38.680 Get out of the kitchen. You're a terrible cook. Get 1:00:38.680 --> 1:00:41.520 out of the kitchen. That grease is there for a reason. 1:00:42.520 --> 1:00:45.840 Get out of the kitchen. Leah is the one who 1:00:46.000 --> 1:00:51.360 gave Jacob the baby that produced the king, that produced 1:00:51.400 --> 1:01:03.520 your savior. So I want you to say this in 1:01:03.560 --> 1:01:08.880 your heart. God. I mean I meant, I meant say 1:01:08.880 --> 1:01:11.280 it out loud. I said it the opposite way. Say 1:01:11.320 --> 1:01:18.680 this out loud. God. I want your will and I 1:01:18.800 --> 1:01:32.120 want what comes with it, Because I'm gonna tell you 1:01:32.160 --> 1:01:34.160 what comes with it. If you go through a trial, 1:01:34.280 --> 1:01:37.880 you'll get grace with it. God will give you the 1:01:38.000 --> 1:01:40.080 grace to stand up under. How many of you went 1:01:40.120 --> 1:01:43.280 through something so dark you couldn't even explain how you 1:01:43.320 --> 1:01:46.880 got through. But there was a grace. There was a grace, 1:01:47.040 --> 1:01:49.560 wasn't there? And somebody would have told you could live 1:01:49.560 --> 1:01:51.760 through that. You said, call me bitter, I can't make it. 1:01:51.560 --> 1:01:53.320 It's over. You would have said that, But watch this. 1:01:54.600 --> 1:01:57.440 When she was holding the baby, it wasn't Marra holding 1:01:57.480 --> 1:02:02.200 the baby. That's the name she gave her, It said Naomi. 1:02:02.760 --> 1:02:10.920 God still knew her, Nay. As we close today, I 1:02:10.960 --> 1:02:13.600 want you to stand on every auditorium and in every 1:02:13.600 --> 1:02:17.280 living room, if you're in a hospital room with somebody, 1:02:17.280 --> 1:02:20.200 and you're standing next to somebody whose life has become 1:02:20.320 --> 1:02:23.280 very bitter, if you're standing in need right now of 1:02:23.360 --> 1:02:25.400 something that only God can give, or you're in a 1:02:25.440 --> 1:02:28.440 desperate place called Moab, where you never thought that you 1:02:28.480 --> 1:02:32.040 would be. This prayer is for you to just lift 1:02:32.080 --> 1:02:36.120 your hands like this to God. Just like this to God. 1:02:36.160 --> 1:02:40.120 Just like this to God, Just like this to God. 1:02:40.920 --> 1:02:46.200 Naomi said, I went out full and I went down 1:02:46.240 --> 1:02:49.680 the Moab and I went because I had to go, 1:02:51.080 --> 1:02:55.560 and I lost when I can't replace. So I went 1:02:56.280 --> 1:03:03.600 out full and I came back empty. And that would 1:03:03.600 --> 1:03:08.000 be a summary of how some of us feel today. God, 1:03:09.960 --> 1:03:11.800 But we want to see that reversed in our life, 1:03:11.800 --> 1:03:16.480 that we would say I came in empty, but I'm 1:03:16.520 --> 1:03:22.320 going out full believing that while Rachel and Leah were 1:03:22.320 --> 1:03:27.000 fighting themselves, disliking themselves and proving things to one another, 1:03:27.960 --> 1:03:30.880 that you were building a nation. Now, if that was 1:03:30.960 --> 1:03:34.280 true for their blessing, if that was true for Ruth 1:03:34.280 --> 1:03:41.840 and Naomi, maybe it's true for me too. For every 1:03:41.880 --> 1:03:49.480 blessing there's a burden. It'll come together, but our focus 1:03:49.520 --> 1:03:53.720 has chosen. So right now, Jesus in your name, I'm 1:03:53.760 --> 1:03:57.200 asking you that you would put a baby in Naomi's 1:03:57.280 --> 1:04:01.480 arms today, take the bitterness or the pain away, but 1:04:01.560 --> 1:04:09.880 it'll give us something to look forward to. I'm sorry, y'all, 1:04:09.880 --> 1:04:12.160 but I gotta obey the Lord. He said, you're holding 1:04:12.200 --> 1:04:16.480 O bed O bed never would have been here without Moab. 1:04:18.520 --> 1:04:22.880 Thank you what you're holding, what you're walking in, It 1:04:22.960 --> 1:04:32.720 will come saying together, it will come together, Say that 1:04:32.960 --> 1:04:38.080 it will come together. You gotta trust God in this part. 1:04:39.040 --> 1:04:41.680 You gotta trust God in this moment, knowing it will 1:04:42.160 --> 1:04:49.800 come together. Almighty God, Jehovah, Shah Loong, Prince of Peace, 1:04:51.880 --> 1:04:57.240 Jehovah Rathha, our healer, Jehovah. And see our banner and victory, 1:04:58.920 --> 1:05:03.760 Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, change 1:05:03.800 --> 1:05:10.840 our name today. We came in holding bitterness, but we 1:05:10.920 --> 1:05:15.280 believe that the baby held in Naomi's arms is representative 1:05:15.320 --> 1:05:17.120 of the purpose that we are holding. And God, if 1:05:17.160 --> 1:05:22.000 I preached it for one person today, then that's cool 1:05:22.040 --> 1:05:26.720 with me, because if they get this, great things are 1:05:26.760 --> 1:05:29.360 coming forth from their life that eyes have not seen 1:05:29.520 --> 1:05:32.400 and ears have not heard, and it hasn't even entered 1:05:32.400 --> 1:05:34.480 into their heart. But you know it and you spoke it, 1:05:35.080 --> 1:05:38.360 and you can do it. It'll come together. If you 1:05:38.360 --> 1:05:41.880 don't give up, it'll come together. If you don't mess 1:05:41.920 --> 1:05:47.320 it up and manipulate it, it it will come together. I 1:05:47.360 --> 1:05:50.360 speak the blessing of the Almighty over you today. May 1:05:50.440 --> 1:05:54.920 the Lord make you like Rachel and Leah who together 1:05:55.000 --> 1:06:02.800 built the house. All things work together. How many of 1:06:02.840 --> 1:06:13.080 you love the Lord? How many of you are called 1:06:13.720 --> 1:06:17.240 according to His purpose? Just if that's you, I'm called 1:06:17.280 --> 1:06:21.520 according I'm not called according to my experience. I'm called 1:06:21.560 --> 1:06:25.440 according to his purpose. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, 1:06:25.560 --> 1:06:27.280 there are a couple of things I'd love for you 1:06:27.360 --> 1:06:31.680 to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. 1:06:32.040 --> 1:06:34.400 You can also help us reach others by investing today 1:06:34.400 --> 1:06:38.080 at Elevation Church dot org, slash give and thanks again 1:06:38.080 --> 1:06:40.240 for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.