The One Who Seeks… Finds!

0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:14.760 Hey, clap those hands. If you love to Jesus, be 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:16.880 patient with the old boy today. I've been up a 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:25.400 long time. I want to also mention that Easter is 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:28.720 coming soon. Now we're not waiting for Easter to live 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:32.159 a resurrected life. But imagine how many people you might 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.920 be able to invite the church on Easter this year 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:40.280 that haven't been back yet. We should call it comeback Sunday. 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:46.320 Comeback Sunday, right right, right right. The Duke Blue Devils 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.120 couldn't do it last night, but a comeback. Tell somebody 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:53.320 a comeback is possible. House divided. I felt it when 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:57.520 I said it. Look at you, though, Look at you 0:00:57.640 --> 0:00:59.880 in the House of God today, look at you joining 0:00:59.920 --> 0:01:06.160 us US online. Look at you standing at attention, ready 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.920 to see what God will speak. Well, I want to 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:13.240 mobilize you in two weeks on April seventeenth, Easter Sunday, 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.959 Easter at Elevation dot com for all the times and locations, 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.400 and I would really really urge you to pray and say, God, 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.000 is there somebody I could bring with me. You'll know this, 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:26.800 the church comes last for a lot of people. It shouldn't. 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:31.560 Back at target, back at the ball Field back everywhere 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:33.919 else but church. But you don't have to condemn people. 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.960 You can just invite them. Just invite them, all right, 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.959 And so that's going to be awesome. And also Elevation 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:46.319 Nights is three weeks away. That's where we take our 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:51.760 ministry and we mobilize in arenas really all over the 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.080 United States, but this particular leg we're going to be 0:01:54.080 --> 0:02:01.320 in Chicago, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Columbus, Washington, d C. Reading Pennsylvania. 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:08.040 Shouts for reading Pennsylvania. Didn't expect it. But okay, Newark, 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:13.040 New Jersey, and Boston, Massachusetts. You need to go to 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.960 Elevation Nights dot com because tickets are going fast and 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.079 you can meet with Jesus anywhere, but if you want 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:21.960 to come into the arena, you got to have a 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.200 ticket for those nights. It will be amazing and we 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:27.919 can't wait to see you there. Tell somebody next to you, 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.520 I'm happy to be here today. I'm happy to be 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.840 here for part two of that sermon that Pastor Stephens 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:44.679 started last week. We're going back to Ruth. Back to Ruth. Now, 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.240 just to set your expectation, we are actually going to 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.360 go backwards. We were in the last chapter of the 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:51.600 Book of Ruth. Last week, we're going to go back 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.160 to chapter two. It was no sooner than I set 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.160 amen on the stage and sat down at my desk 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.880 back there, that the Lord started to show me what 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.799 to preach this week. So I've been waiting since then. 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.320 So you will forgive if I'm a little overheated. All right, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:12.480 my engine's been revin for seven days. Ay man, and 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:14.760 tell somebody online put it in the comments of the chat, 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.160 say I'm ready to I'm ready to ask them, are 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:25.600 you ready? Ask them? Are you ready? And if they 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:27.440 don't look ready, give them a little stretch or a 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:35.200 little shove or something. I'm so excited Ruth chapter two. Actually, Jared, 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:39.240 let's go to Let's go to chapter one so we 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:41.839 can get the context. I think that's important. This will 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:46.200 not be a Bible study on the whole Book of Ruth. 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:48.920 But what I hope to do, with the help of 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:54.160 the Holy Spirit today is lift a principle from this 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:58.880 Old Testament story as a picture that we can then 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:04.560 apply a practice New Testament principle for our lives. That's 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:06.960 what I hope to do today. So you might get 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:08.600 mixed up on some of the history and go, I 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:10.600 don't really know who that is or what that means. 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.480 Or he said a name there and it had seventeen syllables, 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.120 and I don't really know all these Bible names. That's okay, 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:19.680 because we're really going to lift one principle today from Ruth. 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:22.880 But I do want to read enough of the scripture 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.480 where you can get the context. So let's go to 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.120 Ruth chapter one, and let's do verse nineteen. So the 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.400 two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:37.000 they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:41.000 of them, and the women exclaimed, can this be Naomi? 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:48.119 Don't call me Naomi? She told them, call me Mara, 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:53.760 because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:57.960 went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:03.360 Why call me Naomi? Because Naomi means pleasant. And she's 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:08.919 carrying so much pain that she is changing her name, 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:15.400 and her identity is now being not spoken by God 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:23.400 but spoken by her experiences. Now she's lost two sons 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.120 and a husband. So she didn't just have a bad 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.440 day or get fired from a job she didn't really like. Anyway, 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.040 she has every reason to say this. Now, watch how 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:35.680 good God is. This is what I want you to 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:40.360 watch with that context. Verse twenty two says, so Naomi 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:45.919 returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the moabide, her daughter 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:50.000 in law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:56.039 Two Verse one, Now Naomi, and I love that word. Now, 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:58.600 I want somebody to shout at the top of your 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:03.480 lungs now man, that sounded good. You did that, just 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.679 like you were supposed to. After all she's been through. 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.760 The author wants us to know that this is not 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.200 chapter one anymore. This is chapter two of the Book 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.919 of Ruth, and it starts with one little three letter 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:21.560 word shouted again. Now, Naomi had a relative on her 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.279 husband's side, a man of standing from the clan of 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:31.960 Alimelech whose name was bo Ass, and Boas means the 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.400 Lord has made me strong. Isn't it good to have 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:40.160 somebody strong on your side? Oh? Yeah, be nice to me. 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:44.560 I got somebody strong on my side. Greater is he 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.640 that is in me than he that is in the world. 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:53.520 I've got God on my side. Wow wow, Wow, Martin 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.960 Luther said, did we and our own strength confide our 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.280 striving would be losing. We're not the right man on 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.960 our side. The man of God's choosing. Gust asks whom 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:06.359 that may be, Christ Jesus. It is he Lord Sabo, 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.840 with his name from age to age the same on 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:14.600 earth is not his equal, and he must win the battle. 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.840 That's for free. That's Martin Luther. Martin Luther said that 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.920 Ruth chapter two, verse two, and Ruth the moabide said 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.640 to Naomi, let me go to the fields and pick 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:29.960 up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.840 find favor. Naomi said to her, go ahead, my daughter. 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.880 So she went out, entered the field and began to 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:43.440 glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:49.160 working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:55.840 the clan of Alimelac. Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem. 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:58.880 Now imagine how God had to orchestrate all of this. 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.960 Had to get stuck behind a slow car with a 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.600 elevation sticker, or he would have been to Bethlehem too 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.440 early while Ruth was in the shelter. Just look, because 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.560 the narrator doesn't really say it was God, but it's implied. 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:17.280 And if you look for it. You can see the 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.240 hand of God, but it's not always named that. It 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.120 didn't say that God led Ruth to the field belonging 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:29.120 to Boas. It doesn't say that, but he did. It 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.440 didn't say that Boas got there when he got there 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:34.600 so that Ruth could be there when she was there, 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:36.640 so that they could meet at this moment. It doesn't 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:43.680 say that God wasmatch dot com, but he was, but 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:47.280 he was. You don't always know that it was God 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.400 that put a delay in your life so you wouldn't 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:59.360 get there too soon. You call it stuff like coincidence, 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:07.839 and that's just God's pseudonym coincidence. That's just a name 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.240 God goes by when he doesn't want you to know 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:18.400 it's him. Yet. Coincidence is just God in a costume. 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:24.600 I'll want to preach today, you'll let me preach today. 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:31.480 I'll let me preach today. So just then, okay. Boas 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:35.040 walks out in his field, greeted the harvesters, and he said, 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.520 the Lord be with you. They replied back, the Lord 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:44.120 bless you. And Boas asked the overseers of his harvesters, 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:49.920 who does that young woman belong to? And the overseer replied, 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.720 she's the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:59.120 Doesn't even know her name, God does She said, please 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.400 let me glean. Please let me glean and gather among 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.800 the sheaves behind the harvesters. She came into the field 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:09.560 and has remained here. She came and remained. You see that. 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.960 She came and remained here. You see it. She can't 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:15.839 put it in the in the chat, would you? She 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:22.560 came and remained. She came and remained from morning till now, 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:25.840 except the short rest in the shelter. So bo I 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.440 said to Ruth, my daughter, listen to me. Don't go 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.719 and glean in another field. Hey, baby, you're in the 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:38.880 right field, and don't go away from here. Stay here 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:40.920 with me. Try that for a pickup line this week. 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.840 Don't go glean in another field with Starbucks with me. 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.520 But then he told her something to do. Now, now, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.880 pay attention here, watch the field where the men are harvesting, 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.400 and follow along after the women. I have told the 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:01.160 men not to lay a hand on you whenever you're thirsty. 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:03.920 I know the women are supposed to fill the jars 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:05.520 for the men, but you go get a drink from 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:10.680 the water. Jars the men have filled. Okay, Holly, do 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:14.280 not underline that verse at this. I'm almost done with 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:16.679 reading the scripture. But it's so good. It's so good, y'all. 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.320 At this, she bowed down, with her face to the ground. 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:28.320 She asked him, Why have I found such favor in 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:35.320 your eyes that you noticed me a foreigner? Boas replied, 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.520 because you're cute. No, he didn't say that it was 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.480 more than an appearance. Watch this. I've been told all 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.280 about what you have done for your mother in law. 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.480 I heard about you since the death of your husband, 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:56.120 how you left your father and mother and your homeland 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:57.840 and came to live with the people you did not 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:02.880 know before. May the Lord repay you for what you 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:07.120 have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:12.200 the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:16.640 to take refuge. Now he answered the question, Ruth asked, 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:18.600 and that's what we want to do today with this principle, 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:22.280 Why have I found such favor in your eyes and 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:25.040 the word of the Lord today. This is the principle 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:32.040 that's in this chapter of Scripture. The one who seeks finds, 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:39.520 say that out loud. The one who seeks finds, and 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.760 just tell the person next to you, the one who 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:54.199 seeks finds you may be seated. The one who seeks 0:12:55.240 --> 0:13:02.320 finds in that the truth. The one who seeks fines. 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:05.720 And I need to point out something to you from 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:10.400 the background of the text that is not boring. Always 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.960 when I go let's get a little background, some people 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.839 check out. They wait till I tell a story or 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.560 talk about getting my kids a dog or something, and 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.080 then they perk up. Or when I say something that 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.680 rhymes or starts with all the same letters. I'm not 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:27.680 even going to put my points on the screen today. 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:31.480 You'll have to find them in the message. The moment 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.960 I tell you there's four points in this message, you 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.760 will only hear the four points in this message. What 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:41.720 are you ten? You are grown enough now to glean 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.920 the parts of this message that God has for you 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:47.360 and the part that's not for you. You You leave it, 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:49.960 but make sure you don't leave the thing that you 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:56.480 need the most because you don't like it. Well, I am, 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.760 he said, you better preach me. I am. This is 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:06.680 what I'm doing. But the important thing about me reading 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.800 chapter one, of course, was that we needed to continue 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:15.880 the conversation about what Naomi and Ruth lost because without 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:20.920 understanding what they lost, it'll have very little relevance to 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:26.040 our lives if we also feel like we're at a loss. Now. 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.160 You can be at a loss for words, you can 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:30.960 be at a loss for money, you can be at 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.960 a loss for knowledge, and so you know, it doesn't 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.480 necessarily have to be Oh, I lost my husband, I 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.800 lost my sons. But one thing about this lens you 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:44.360 have to admit is that it doesn't get much worse. 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.080 You already left your homeland because of a famine. That 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.040 was what happened in Chapter one, verses one through three, 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:55.480 where Naomi had to leave with her husband a limeleg 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.000 and they had to leave Bethlehem and they had to 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.200 go to Moab where they worshiped others gods, and then 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.920 her sons had to marry other women from Moab, and 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.160 they had to eat Moabiite food. They had to be 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.640 on a Moabiite diet when they have a Bethlehem appetite 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:16.240 and they are surrounded culturally by enigmatic idolatry that they 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:20.440 can't understand or process, but they ate there. The Bible 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.320 doesn't specify exactly when a limelete passed or from what 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:27.800 but he died, and perhaps Naomi at that point still 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:32.120 knew her name meant Naomi because she still had two sons. 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:39.200 Ten years pass and they leave to her, grief is 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:42.800 no longer concealable. I don't know if that's a word, 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.600 but it's definitely a state where you can't hide what 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:52.280 you're going through anymore. You know, you're smiling, but not 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:58.920 with your eyes, only with your teeth, and even the 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.600 things you say to try to counteract it sound empty. 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:05.120 So you might get to a point like Naomi, where 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:10.760 you begin to reject anything that contradicts the pain that 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.000 you have assimilated as a part of you. She said, 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:18.720 don't even call me by my real name anymore. We 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:21.840 don't typically tell people that, like right, like don't call 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:27.560 me Stephen, you know, call me Seth. It's just we 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:31.000 start answering to different stuff. Has said, another word that 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.800 started with us, And uh, it's really just that we 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:40.720 start responding internally to a different understanding of who we 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:42.800 are based on what we've been through. Now. I mentioned 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.120 that already, but I want to juxtapose it now and 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.040 go with me here, because the Bible says in verse 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.640 twenty two, something very good that it was the beginning 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.240 of the barley harvest. It was the beginning of the 0:16:56.280 --> 0:17:01.200 barley harvest. So they went back to Bethlehem. They went 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:05.040 back to where the bread was. And I could preach 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.320 Old Zerman on that, but I don't want to get distracted. 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.080 But going back to Bethlehem should be a happy moment 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.600 to go back to their homeland. It's been a decade. 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.760 They're going back to Bethlehem. Bethlehem means house of bread. 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:23.520 Of course, you know it best for its primary resident, 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.560 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who would be born 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.800 in Bethlehem later not yet. But it's the house of bread. 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.399 And they are going back to where the bread is. 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.560 And real quick, let's take just a moment and have 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.879 a commercial interruption and tell somebody next to you the 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:43.600 bread is back. The bread is back. The bread is back. 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:47.120 The bread is back. That's good news, Naomi. Here's at 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.280 some point the bread is back in Bethlehem. The famine 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.919 is over. God has answered the prayers of his people. 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.000 Is safe to go back. You can leave Moab, this 0:17:56.160 --> 0:18:00.000 horrible place where all these horrible things have happened to you, 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.879 because the bread is back. There's bread and Bethlehem. You 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:07.240 don't have to hide out in this foreign, strange place anymore. 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.800 The bread is bad. I want to say to everybody 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:11.960 watching online who hadn't come back to church since the 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:15.520 pandemic started. The bread is back. The bread is back. 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.200 The bread is back. God never left, but the bread 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.040 is back. There are seasons in your life where you 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.119 come into a reality that what you went through is 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:31.159 leaving you. But but Ruth still had to make a 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.960 decision once she got to Bethlahem right to go into 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:40.520 the fields and begin to glean. Did you see that 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:44.040 in chapter two, verse three, she went into the field 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:53.960 and began to glean. It says that she started gleaning, 0:18:54.760 --> 0:19:00.480 but it doesn't say that she ceased grieving. The first 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:02.040 thing I want to talk to you about that might 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:14.600 be like a point is gleaning in the grieving. Put 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:20.040 it right in the chat, gleaning in the grieving, because 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:23.080 what we think is going to happen is that when 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:25.920 our harvest comes of what we ask God for. How 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.200 many times do you think they prayed God bring bread 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.840 to Bethlehem. What they didn't know is that when the 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.640 bread came back to Bethlehem, they would also be bringing 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:45.120 their bitterness with them gleaning. In the grieving, we think 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.639 God's gonna bless me and I'm going to feel better. 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:55.080 That's how I'll know I'm blessed, because gleaning is like 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.680 I don't think any of us know that much about gleaning, 0:19:57.760 --> 0:19:59.960 so let me try to explain it. But my agriclate 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.600 cultural knowledge is very low. But from the biblical perspective, 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.840 they would go through the field, and it was actually 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.040 required by Levitical law. And you can check this out 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.320 in Leviticus nineteen. Because I know you've been looking for 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:14.840 an excuse to dive into the Book of Leviticus, so 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:16.920 you could go to the nineteenth chapter of the Book 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.000 of Leviticus and read about how they commanded them in 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:22.840 the law. They said, when you're gathering your crops, the 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.639 wealthy landowners, you have to leave a little on the edges. 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:30.160 And if you don't pick something through the first time, 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.320 you don't get to go back through and pick it 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:37.480 up again. That's for the gleaners. Who are these gleaners? 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:41.040 The gleaners consist of three categories. It's the destitute or 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.040 the poor, it is the widows, and it is the foreigners. 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:49.840 Ruth is all three. She is uniquely qualified through her 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:55.960 disadvantages to go through the field and glean. So we 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:59.160 keep thinking it takes stuff that it really doesn't take 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:03.240 for God provide for us. You know our educational level. 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:09.480 But but if you're good at gleaning, it doesn't mean 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:15.159 that you have stopped grieving. There is no indication. I 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:17.680 defy you to find it in the text. You can seek, 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:23.440 and you won't find where Ruth danced and Naomi high 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:27.800 fived her. You won't find anything in the text that 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:33.480 suggests that the sadness ceased. But the bread was there, 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:37.800 but so was the bitterness. That's why I told you 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:41.119 last week almost as a warning it will come together. 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.679 The biggest blessing of your life might come at the 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:50.919 worst time. You could have a great blessing at a 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:56.880 horrible time. Truly, surely you don't believe me. Have some kids, 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.120 I mean, they are a blame us from the Lord right, 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.800 but they will walk in and want to talk to 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:08.320 you at the worst times. They never come talk to you. 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:11.560 After you wrote in your journal this morning and prayed 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:14.280 to Jesus and ask the Lord God give me an 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:18.359 opportunity today to speak wisdom into the next generation. God, 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:20.359 I just want to train up my children in the 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:22.360 way that they should go. It's going to be when 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.640 you are tripping over something that was on your schedule 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:28.320 that day, that you are going to have the opportunity 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:31.679 to glean. Watch this. Glean doesn't mean the field is 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:36.439 full and you just go through picking. Glean means that 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:41.400 you notice what was left on the ground that somebody 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:47.720 else didn't even see. So, pop quiz, are you good 0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:52.520 at gleaning? On a scale of one to ten? How 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:56.520 good are you at gleaning? What do you mean, preacher? 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:03.840 I mean, how good are you at taking a regret 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:08.080 in your life and, by the spirit of God, turning 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:13.439 it into a lesson and recognizing it maybe as the 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:16.240 hand of God, even though you don't call it that. 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:23.280 Are you good at that? Because I am not a 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:28.359 graduate level gleaner, truth be told, God is teaching me 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:30.520 to glean every single day. And I just started back 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:34.080 two weeks ago doing my gratitude journal again. I stand 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:35.520 up here about once a year and I say, y'all, 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:37.399 keep a gratitude journal. I do it for two weeks 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:40.920 and then I forget to glean. And so it usually 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:42.680 has to happen to me. Is I have to get 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:44.600 to a point of so much anxiety in my life, 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:47.840 and so much worrying about stuff that's stupid, it doesn't matter, 0:23:48.160 --> 0:23:50.600 and so much of being mad about stuff that you know, 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:52.600 other people said or did or didn't say, or didn't 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:55.639 do or going to do maybe do hypothetically do in 0:23:55.680 --> 0:23:57.879 the future at some point that I'm trying to, you know, 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:01.800 sitting there all tied up in knots about things I'm 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:05.479 going through. And so I just started back to practice 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:07.919 a few weeks ago. I have got to start my 0:24:08.080 --> 0:24:19.199 day with caffeine because I can't glean without caffeine. It 0:24:19.240 --> 0:24:21.280 came to me on the spot. I just went with it. 0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:26.000 I love you so much. But the thing about that 0:24:26.200 --> 0:24:28.920 is it causes me to go back through my day 0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:34.399 and see what things I got to do that I 0:24:34.440 --> 0:24:39.439 thought I had to do. And I need that constant training. 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:41.280 I can't just do that once a week. Maybe you 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:43.399 get all you need of that on Sunday, you know, 0:24:43.440 --> 0:24:45.679 once a week I come and I worship God and 0:24:45.720 --> 0:24:48.960 I thank him for all he's done. I can't do 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:57.040 it six days without him. I can't because if I do, 0:24:57.560 --> 0:25:03.800 grief will overtake gleaning. You don't live to be forty 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:07.800 two and and not have tears in the fiber of 0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:11.560 your faith. You know, you don't pastor a church that 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:14.200 just grows and grows and not lose a lot along 0:25:14.240 --> 0:25:18.439 the way. You don't believe with faith and expectation. I 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:20.399 know you know what I'm talking about. You don't live 0:25:20.560 --> 0:25:25.080 this long and not have some grief. The thing that 0:25:25.280 --> 0:25:28.040 really arrested my attention, and I hope you see it. 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:30.960 I don't know if you look for it, you'll see 0:25:31.000 --> 0:25:35.560 it in the text that it doesn't say that they 0:25:35.600 --> 0:25:41.040 stop breathing in order to start gleaning. And I want 0:25:41.080 --> 0:25:46.159 to say you free that you might not feel better 0:25:46.440 --> 0:25:54.560 yet that has nothing to do with God's hand on 0:25:54.680 --> 0:26:00.679 you or not. When as I love this, I love this. 0:26:01.040 --> 0:26:04.040 It said there was a man named bo As on 0:26:04.160 --> 0:26:09.159 their side. They didn't know that yet. Read it in 0:26:09.200 --> 0:26:12.840 the text, it says they had a relative named Boas. 0:26:13.600 --> 0:26:16.080 Naomi knew about bo As, she didn't know he was 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:21.200 still around. They had no idea, and neither do you, 0:26:21.320 --> 0:26:27.240 my friend. So you cannot let the grief overtake the gleaning, 0:26:28.800 --> 0:26:32.640 because there is still something left on your life. There 0:26:32.720 --> 0:26:36.720 is still something left in your life. The process of gleaning. 0:26:36.840 --> 0:26:39.200 I mean you got to go through the field. You've 0:26:39.240 --> 0:26:41.720 got to learn how to not only go through somebody 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:45.640 else's field, but go through your own field and see 0:26:45.640 --> 0:26:47.639 what's on the ground. That's what the cleaners would do. 0:26:47.960 --> 0:26:51.720 They would follow behind. You could either follow at a distance, 0:26:52.320 --> 0:26:55.200 or if you got special permission, you could glean among 0:26:55.280 --> 0:26:58.480 the sheaves. That means you could get close. You could 0:26:58.520 --> 0:27:02.479 get more than sick feet close to the sheaves, and 0:27:02.520 --> 0:27:05.040 whatever fell out you could grab that too. And they 0:27:05.040 --> 0:27:07.600 didn't have the permission to lay a hand on you 0:27:07.800 --> 0:27:11.560 because you were gleaning among the sheaves. And that means 0:27:11.560 --> 0:27:13.680 you get to stay close to the reaper. And that's 0:27:13.720 --> 0:27:17.000 what Ruth wanted. She said, I want to glean behind 0:27:17.480 --> 0:27:22.040 the reapers, among the sheaves and just let me see 0:27:22.720 --> 0:27:27.800 what they miss, because I can live on what they miss. 0:27:32.800 --> 0:27:36.240 You will meet somebody every once in a while that 0:27:36.359 --> 0:27:39.280 is so good at gleaning it'll make you feel guilty 0:27:40.440 --> 0:27:46.919 over how grumpy and gripey and ridiculous you are. Speaking 0:27:46.920 --> 0:27:53.080 from personal experience. I meet people all the time going 0:27:53.119 --> 0:27:57.119 through things that would grieve me so much because I 0:27:57.160 --> 0:28:00.680 know how I know my tolerance level. You know, people 0:28:00.720 --> 0:28:03.120 say I have a high pain tolerance. That's a sign 0:28:03.240 --> 0:28:07.960 they don't right. True story. Jones used to be a 0:28:08.000 --> 0:28:10.080 physical therapist. He said, when you hear somebody come and 0:28:10.080 --> 0:28:13.479 say I have a high pain tolerance, they are a wimp. 0:28:13.840 --> 0:28:16.040 That is sign number one because they're deceived. They think 0:28:16.080 --> 0:28:19.120 they have a high pain tolerance. But when you meet 0:28:19.160 --> 0:28:29.040 somebody who truly gleans while grieving, Like when Layman texted 0:28:29.080 --> 0:28:32.679 me this week and he was like, oh, thank you 0:28:32.760 --> 0:28:37.440 for that word. How do you lose your son while 0:28:37.440 --> 0:28:44.959 you're in church? That's been how many years? About a decade, 0:28:46.760 --> 0:28:49.840 about ten years, about the same amount where Naomi had 0:28:49.880 --> 0:28:55.160 lost Alimelet I know he's still grieving. How can he 0:28:55.240 --> 0:29:00.960 be grateful to a god who let his son be 0:29:01.000 --> 0:29:08.200 taken so soon? He never stopped grieving, He just started gleaning. 0:29:10.520 --> 0:29:13.560 His son loved a fish, so he started a fishing 0:29:13.560 --> 0:29:16.720 club in his son's honor. The only people they bring 0:29:16.760 --> 0:29:19.120 to Christ through Riley's catch. Look it up, Riley's catch, 0:29:19.120 --> 0:29:21.600 you'll see it. Shout out free advertisement, Tom Layman, Thank 0:29:21.600 --> 0:29:26.640 you're welcome. I always text him. You're my favorite Layman, 0:29:27.520 --> 0:29:33.240 like the play on words Layman and clergy hahaha. Because 0:29:33.280 --> 0:29:37.000 he teaches me to glean going through my own life, 0:29:37.080 --> 0:29:40.800 just recognizing that's the thing about gleaning, okay, because I 0:29:40.840 --> 0:29:45.320 want you to know that somebody else could walk through 0:29:45.640 --> 0:29:50.480 the field of your life and find ten things to 0:29:50.560 --> 0:29:56.280 be grateful for that you take for granted. I'm not 0:29:56.400 --> 0:30:00.440 trying to make you feel bad. Trust me. God gave 0:30:00.440 --> 0:30:03.040 me this message early last week, and he whipped me 0:30:03.160 --> 0:30:07.280 with it all week, just over and over again. I 0:30:07.720 --> 0:30:10.920 was listing a bunch of things to Holly that I 0:30:10.960 --> 0:30:13.560 was stressed about this week. All of them were things 0:30:13.560 --> 0:30:16.880 that I put on my own schedule. All of them 0:30:16.880 --> 0:30:20.880 were decisions I made. Many of them were blessings that 0:30:20.960 --> 0:30:26.440 I prayed for, just full grown. They're not puppies anymore, 0:30:27.560 --> 0:30:31.160 because you know, a scheduling commitment is a puppy, But 0:30:31.200 --> 0:30:33.360 when the appointment comes, it's a full grown dog and 0:30:33.400 --> 0:30:37.400 it has to be walked by the way. Graham said 0:30:37.440 --> 0:30:41.880 he's naming his dog apparently, this Boston Terrior Boass. So 0:30:42.200 --> 0:30:46.040 that's good, that's good, that's good. It's gonna take a while. 0:30:46.560 --> 0:30:48.800 It's gonna take a while. Even when he was begging 0:30:48.840 --> 0:30:50.200 me for a dog. If you missed it last week, 0:30:50.200 --> 0:30:51.680 it was a whole thing don't worry about it. But 0:30:51.760 --> 0:30:53.760 even when he used to ask me for a dog, 0:30:53.880 --> 0:30:55.800 he said, all you do is bring up all the 0:30:55.840 --> 0:30:58.920 things about the dog that we're gonna hate. And I said, 0:30:58.920 --> 0:31:00.800 that's right. And all you do is think of all 0:31:00.840 --> 0:31:02.880 of the things with the dog that you're gonna love. 0:31:04.640 --> 0:31:12.120 And I'm accurate, and you're ignorant. But sometimes you can 0:31:12.160 --> 0:31:21.240 know too much. Sometimes you can know too much to 0:31:21.320 --> 0:31:24.840 where you get in a point where you stop looking 0:31:24.880 --> 0:31:29.720 for the Lord. Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara. 0:31:31.320 --> 0:31:37.120 Now when you name yourself bitter Marra, you become magnetic 0:31:38.320 --> 0:31:43.840 for Marra. So the second thing that's kind of like 0:31:43.880 --> 0:31:48.720 a point in this message is the mind on a mission, 0:31:50.120 --> 0:31:53.440 the mind on a mission, the mind on a mission. 0:31:53.480 --> 0:31:55.760 That's why I told Elijah the other day. He was 0:31:55.800 --> 0:31:59.120 going on and on and just complaining, and I said, Son, 0:31:59.680 --> 0:32:02.360 is your mind just on a mission trip to be 0:32:02.440 --> 0:32:06.560 miserable today? You just wake up this morning and say, here, 0:32:06.800 --> 0:32:08.520 dear mind, here's a I like for you to do 0:32:08.560 --> 0:32:11.480 to me for me today, you fascinating computer called the 0:32:11.560 --> 0:32:14.320 human brain. I want you to collect everything that I 0:32:14.360 --> 0:32:17.080 can be stressed about and sad about today and put 0:32:17.120 --> 0:32:20.320 it all in one big pile. I am gleaning everything 0:32:20.400 --> 0:32:22.840 today that I can feel terrible about. I don't want 0:32:22.840 --> 0:32:25.600 any good thoughts. I don't want any grateful thoughts. I'm 0:32:25.640 --> 0:32:29.040 going straight to misery Incorporated. Call me morrow and asked 0:32:29.080 --> 0:32:31.120 him that. I said, did you just wake up today 0:32:31.320 --> 0:32:33.480 and tell your mind. We're going on a mission today. 0:32:33.560 --> 0:32:36.600 We are going to find misery wherever we can find it. 0:32:36.720 --> 0:32:39.560 We will nurture it in its various forms. If we 0:32:39.600 --> 0:32:42.920 see potential misery, we will feed it. We will nurse 0:32:42.960 --> 0:32:46.640 it at our breast until it becomes full grown misery. 0:32:46.840 --> 0:32:48.920 We will look for a fence, and we will nurse 0:32:48.960 --> 0:32:52.120 it at our bosom until it becomes full grown resentment, 0:32:52.400 --> 0:32:54.720 until it takes over and we are depressed at the 0:32:54.800 --> 0:32:56.880 end of the day, praying for God to give us peace. 0:33:05.360 --> 0:33:11.840 He said, no, Dad, not on a mission trip. Just 0:33:11.880 --> 0:33:17.280 not a morning person. You gotta go through the field 0:33:17.280 --> 0:33:20.040 and glean in the morning. I'm not a morning person either. 0:33:20.240 --> 0:33:22.520 I don't think I'm a night person or an afternoon person. 0:33:22.520 --> 0:33:25.680 At this age of my life. I'm like a one 0:33:25.760 --> 0:33:30.000 thirty three pm person, like that one right after lunch, 0:33:30.480 --> 0:33:33.920 catch me then right right right. But you can't just 0:33:34.080 --> 0:33:39.680 you can't just give over to that. Bitter is not 0:33:39.760 --> 0:33:51.360 a personality type. It's a decision. Uh uh. She had 0:33:51.360 --> 0:33:53.000 no choice but to be better. Look what she went through. 0:33:54.120 --> 0:33:57.640 Ruth lost her husband too, and she said, go let 0:33:57.640 --> 0:34:03.880 me glean. Are you good at gleaning? You know, gleaning mentally? 0:34:04.560 --> 0:34:06.239 Let's break this down a little bit, okay, because if 0:34:06.240 --> 0:34:09.080 we keep this in the fields of Bethlehem, I really 0:34:09.120 --> 0:34:11.799 don't think it'll do you that much good at your job. 0:34:13.440 --> 0:34:16.560 If we could break this right down to where you live, 0:34:18.600 --> 0:34:22.359 I kind of want to know, what are you even 0:34:22.440 --> 0:34:24.880 looking for right now? While you're listening to me preach, 0:34:27.400 --> 0:34:34.359 some of you are just looking for the words in conclusion, right. 0:34:37.320 --> 0:34:41.719 It's the strangest thing. It's the strangest thing to me. 0:34:43.400 --> 0:34:48.799 Two people can come to the same church, the same church, 0:34:49.960 --> 0:34:52.960 and it's not like they're sitting even that far apart 0:34:53.160 --> 0:35:00.799 on the same road here the same sermon, and one 0:35:00.840 --> 0:35:06.279 of them six months later, say it was that day 0:35:06.960 --> 0:35:10.960 when pastors stood up there looking good in his suit. 0:35:13.120 --> 0:35:18.000 He's having fun, man, But I don't even remember what 0:35:18.040 --> 0:35:21.399 he was wearing. I remember he said that there's bread 0:35:21.440 --> 0:35:27.000 in Bethlehem, But he mentioned about bitterness and he talked 0:35:27.000 --> 0:35:29.839 about gleaning, and I put a practice in my life 0:35:29.840 --> 0:35:32.040 that day. I decided that I need to get good 0:35:32.040 --> 0:35:35.600 at gleaning because I'm good at grumbling. Naturally, nobody has 0:35:35.640 --> 0:35:37.600 to train me for that. How many of you are 0:35:37.640 --> 0:35:42.040 good at grumbling? How many of you are Olympic level grumblers? 0:35:42.080 --> 0:35:45.120 If we send a recruiter through this church seeking for 0:35:45.280 --> 0:35:48.759 the gold medal, grumbler, raise your hand right now? Oh, 0:35:48.840 --> 0:35:51.800 I mean I could turn anything into a gripe. Watch me. 0:35:52.040 --> 0:35:55.080 I'm real good at this. I can do joy judo. 0:35:56.719 --> 0:35:58.680 God can send something to bless me and I'll turn 0:35:58.719 --> 0:36:01.480 it into an attack. It's like this reverse gratitude thing. 0:36:01.640 --> 0:36:03.640 I got a knack for it. I got a knack 0:36:03.680 --> 0:36:07.359 for it. I got a knack for it. The church 0:36:07.440 --> 0:36:09.440 used to be full sometimes, and I would be like, 0:36:10.360 --> 0:36:13.680 this is unacceptable. Where are the first time guest's gonna sit? 0:36:13.920 --> 0:36:15.360 And the staff would be looking at me. This is 0:36:15.440 --> 0:36:19.360 years ago. I'm much better than this now, but they'd say, 0:36:19.520 --> 0:36:23.400 can we can? We can? We have five minutes to 0:36:23.440 --> 0:36:25.439 be happy that the church was full. No, we gotta 0:36:25.480 --> 0:36:27.440 fix it. We gotta fix it right now. Where's the 0:36:27.480 --> 0:36:29.280 guests gonna be? I told people to bring the differends 0:36:29.280 --> 0:36:30.719 to Easter, and the church is one. There's nowhere for 0:36:30.719 --> 0:36:38.040 them to sit. Because I am good at gleaning things 0:36:38.040 --> 0:36:43.560 to be anxious about. The dog's gonna poop, the dog's 0:36:43.600 --> 0:36:46.919 gonna pee, the dog's gonna whine, the dog's gonna yelp, 0:36:47.160 --> 0:36:49.840 or going on vacation, you're going to college and like 0:36:49.920 --> 0:36:52.279 seven years, who's gonna take care of the dog. Then 0:36:52.560 --> 0:36:57.560 I can do all of that naturally. But what I'm 0:36:57.600 --> 0:37:03.560 not good at it is gleaning. I don't even receive 0:37:03.680 --> 0:37:14.600 encouragement that well. I mean, I can glean insecurities like 0:37:14.640 --> 0:37:19.319 a boss. When people say I don't like elevation for 0:37:19.360 --> 0:37:21.480 all these reasons, I want to say, that's your whole list. 0:37:21.560 --> 0:37:25.719 Let me give you a few more. If you're just 0:37:25.800 --> 0:37:27.440 looking for a list of what not to like, let 0:37:27.440 --> 0:37:30.719 me save you the time. I'll put it online. You 0:37:30.760 --> 0:37:33.759 don't have to do a mission to find that already 0:37:33.800 --> 0:37:37.120 got things. But somebody else will sit in the same service, 0:37:39.719 --> 0:37:42.040 and they'll sit in the same service here, the same sermon, 0:37:44.040 --> 0:37:46.719 and they'll say, did he say he was getting a 0:37:46.719 --> 0:37:56.280 Boston Terrior. That's a stupid dog. She get a hyperdoodle. 0:37:58.160 --> 0:38:12.960 Never the one who seeks finds. I'm going through the field. 0:38:13.200 --> 0:38:15.720 I'm going through the field. I'm going through the field. 0:38:15.920 --> 0:38:18.239 I'm going through the field. I'm going Oh, I'm going 0:38:18.280 --> 0:38:23.440 through the field. It didn't say bo ass field. She 0:38:23.520 --> 0:38:28.800 had no idea whose field she was at. Pick a field, 0:38:29.640 --> 0:38:38.320 any field, pick a field, any field, pick a field, anything. God, 0:38:38.640 --> 0:38:43.120 Just show me what you want for my life and 0:38:43.200 --> 0:38:49.520 your will for my life, own Father, I am waiting 0:38:50.480 --> 0:38:56.680 for you to show me your will, show that may 0:38:56.840 --> 0:39:06.280 serve you with my whole heart. Ruth wasn't looking for Boass. 0:39:06.920 --> 0:39:16.959 She was just looking for Barley. Any field will do. Oh, 0:39:17.000 --> 0:39:20.759 that's easy for them to say, No, it's not. You 0:39:20.800 --> 0:39:24.120 can always find fruit in somebody else's field that you 0:39:24.160 --> 0:39:29.920 can't see in your own. Always. That's why the foreign 0:39:29.960 --> 0:39:32.279 nurse could see stuff that the people who were there 0:39:32.360 --> 0:39:37.399 every day couldn't see. That's why sometimes people who come 0:39:37.440 --> 0:39:39.800 to this church from somewhere else in the world, they'll 0:39:39.840 --> 0:39:42.440 cry through the whole service because they don't get it 0:39:42.480 --> 0:39:45.560 all the time. So they're walking through the field, going, 0:39:45.680 --> 0:39:49.360 my God, look at this beautiful expression of Christ in 0:39:49.440 --> 0:39:55.760 the church, and the one who seeks fies. But somebody 0:39:55.760 --> 0:39:58.880 else said this parking lot. If I was the pastor 0:39:58.920 --> 0:40:01.279 of this church, I have to parking figure it out 0:40:01.280 --> 0:40:07.800 by now. No, you wouldn't you just picking in somebody 0:40:07.840 --> 0:40:11.719 else's field. Now, oh if that was my kid. It's 0:40:11.880 --> 0:40:22.600 not your kid, you're mad at me. Now you could 0:40:22.600 --> 0:40:25.600 go through my feel and find stuff that I'm grumbling about. 0:40:25.640 --> 0:40:30.920 You'd be like, you serious, you're annoyed about that with Holly. 0:40:31.600 --> 0:40:35.960 Holly is amazing to you, you dummy, And I'd be like, 0:40:36.000 --> 0:40:38.040 that's pastor dummy to you? Who do you think you're 0:40:38.040 --> 0:40:43.239 talking to? I'd be same with yours. But when you 0:40:43.280 --> 0:40:47.879 put your mind on a mission to find misery, the 0:40:47.920 --> 0:40:55.000 devil will help you. Look, the devil is rubbing his hands. 0:40:55.360 --> 0:40:59.960 Oh you want to feel bad, Oh, I'll help you harvey. 0:41:01.760 --> 0:41:04.799 Oh you want your feelings hurt, I will help you 0:41:04.920 --> 0:41:09.640 harvest hurt feelings. Oh you want to be pissed off, 0:41:09.960 --> 0:41:12.719 I'll help you pick some of y'all got pissed off 0:41:12.719 --> 0:41:16.279 because I said the word pissed off. The one who 0:41:16.480 --> 0:41:20.759 seeks finds somebody else said, thank god he said it 0:41:20.840 --> 0:41:23.600 like that. That's real. That's real. I can relate to that. 0:41:23.600 --> 0:41:31.480 That's real. That's real. That's real, that's real. Your mind 0:41:31.560 --> 0:41:33.399 is magnetic. That's why the Bible says, you go you're 0:41:33.520 --> 0:41:37.120 be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and you 0:41:37.160 --> 0:41:39.279 have the sensitivity level set. You ever go through the 0:41:39.320 --> 0:41:42.239 airport and the thing has the sensitivity level set. So 0:41:42.520 --> 0:41:45.000 when you go through the detector and they start putting 0:41:45.000 --> 0:41:46.839 their hands all over you because I guess they have 0:41:46.920 --> 0:41:49.239 to see what I'm saying. I'm a complainer. And you're 0:41:49.239 --> 0:41:52.640 going through the metal detector and it goes off in 0:41:52.719 --> 0:41:55.880 one airport and not in another. You're like, I was 0:41:55.960 --> 0:41:58.000 just in Charlotte and I wore all this through the 0:41:58.000 --> 0:42:00.480 thing and nothing happened. Now I'm in Cincinnati and is 0:42:00.520 --> 0:42:03.239 beeping and buzzing and flashing and all of that's going on. 0:42:03.280 --> 0:42:05.720 There's strobe lights and there's people coming out the ceiling 0:42:05.800 --> 0:42:09.040 with handcuffs. What happened between Charlotte and Cincinnati. They had 0:42:09.040 --> 0:42:15.440 to detector on a different setting, right right? Because I 0:42:15.440 --> 0:42:19.719 didn't change anything. It's not what you go through that 0:42:19.760 --> 0:42:24.799 defines you. She went through the same field they had 0:42:24.840 --> 0:42:29.360 just picked over and found enough to live on. And 0:42:29.440 --> 0:42:33.000 I'll give you this, bumped into someone she wasn't even 0:42:33.040 --> 0:42:38.160 looking for because Here's the real beauty in the passage, 0:42:38.400 --> 0:42:40.280 not that she found the great pier and then olive 0:42:40.320 --> 0:42:51.920 there and the grain that the Bozo dropped Boass finds her. 0:42:54.400 --> 0:43:01.800 Isn't that awesome? How she was just doing her responsibility 0:43:03.120 --> 0:43:07.239 taking care of her mother in law, no less, making 0:43:07.320 --> 0:43:10.840 sure we have enough to eat, just gleaning for a 0:43:10.880 --> 0:43:15.200 purpose that was not only hers, she had to eat too. 0:43:15.600 --> 0:43:18.799 That she didn't only think of herself. And because she 0:43:18.800 --> 0:43:21.719 didn't only think of herself, and because she didn't sit 0:43:21.760 --> 0:43:24.439 in what she just went through, because she went out 0:43:25.480 --> 0:43:30.239 and remained in a field, because she didn't even know 0:43:30.239 --> 0:43:38.120 who belonged to Here comes Boas, and Boass noticed Ruth 0:43:39.160 --> 0:43:44.880 before Ruth ever noticed Boas. You ever wonder if we 0:43:44.920 --> 0:43:50.319 seek the wrong things, especially in this culture. Man, I 0:43:50.360 --> 0:43:54.040 just wonder, are we so busy trying to get somebody 0:43:54.040 --> 0:43:59.480 to notice us? Are we so busy trying to get 0:43:59.520 --> 0:44:06.080 somebody to like something that we posted, that we miss 0:44:06.239 --> 0:44:10.200 something that God has given And we spend our whole 0:44:10.280 --> 0:44:15.239 day going through somebody else's field on social media. To me, 0:44:16.520 --> 0:44:19.480 take it or leave it to me, social media is 0:44:19.520 --> 0:44:25.200 a minefield. To me, I have to use it sometimes 0:44:25.200 --> 0:44:27.399 I have to be on it. I am not critiquing it. 0:44:27.480 --> 0:44:30.600 I pay staff members to run it. There. That being said, 0:44:30.880 --> 0:44:33.799 I have to be very careful because even good things, right, 0:44:33.960 --> 0:44:36.360 you're going through the field and you're on social media 0:44:36.400 --> 0:44:38.799 and all of this. And I know Ruth isn't on 0:44:38.880 --> 0:44:41.759 Instagram in the passage, but I'm updating the passage to 0:44:41.760 --> 0:44:44.279 make sense to our life. As you go through the 0:44:44.280 --> 0:44:47.480 field of your life, you have to be very careful 0:44:47.560 --> 0:44:53.480 and selective about what you pick up. That's why I 0:44:53.520 --> 0:44:55.919 got so mad at the table, abby, because I don't 0:44:55.960 --> 0:44:58.640 like phones at the table for dinner. I don't. And 0:44:58.680 --> 0:45:02.120 it's a constant battle, okay, because sometimes I you know, 0:45:02.600 --> 0:45:05.000 I break my own rules, but I don't like it 0:45:05.120 --> 0:45:07.640 because it shifts the mood. It shifts the mood for 0:45:07.719 --> 0:45:10.359 our family. You know, even if we're just gonna fight, 0:45:10.680 --> 0:45:12.560 I want us to have a fully focused fight at 0:45:12.560 --> 0:45:17.920 the table. Let's put all our attention on beating the 0:45:17.920 --> 0:45:19.880 crap out of each other, all right, let's do this right. 0:45:19.880 --> 0:45:23.160 If we're gonna fight, let's fight right, right. But that's 0:45:23.160 --> 0:45:25.840 why I soa I'm mad last night because somebody was 0:45:25.840 --> 0:45:28.080 pulling up something on social media and then they were 0:45:28.080 --> 0:45:30.880 saying how stupid and how dumb, and they were complaining 0:45:30.920 --> 0:45:36.400 about what they just scrolled to. And I said, why 0:45:36.960 --> 0:45:40.800 are you crawling in a dumpster and complaining that it stinks? 0:45:42.640 --> 0:45:46.560 Did I say that? I said that I do it 0:45:46.600 --> 0:45:50.120 all the time. Now my version is more sophisticated. I 0:45:50.200 --> 0:45:54.040 go to the YouTube comments to see if people are 0:45:54.040 --> 0:46:01.040 responding positively to our messages through sermon and song. Least, 0:46:01.040 --> 0:46:04.040 that's why I tell myself my motive is, you know 0:46:04.080 --> 0:46:06.640 you write these songs. We wrote a song called this 0:46:06.680 --> 0:46:08.879 is the Kingdom. I had them sing it a minute ago, 0:46:08.920 --> 0:46:11.759 where it's just the scriptures right, And I wrote that 0:46:11.800 --> 0:46:15.320 with Pat Barrett, Jason Ingram, and our very own Chris Brown, 0:46:15.560 --> 0:46:19.600 not the real Chris Brown, the Elevation Worship Chris Brown. 0:46:19.960 --> 0:46:23.360 And when we started writing it, God just gave it 0:46:23.400 --> 0:46:26.640 to us as the Beatitudes Matthew five, the Sermon on 0:46:26.680 --> 0:46:28.600 the Mount, And I was so happy because it was 0:46:28.680 --> 0:46:32.600 word for word the scriptures. Blessed her the por and spirit, 0:46:32.600 --> 0:46:34.319 for there's this kingdom of heaven. Blessed those who mourn, 0:46:34.360 --> 0:46:36.359 for they'll be comforted, blessed to meet for their own hurt. 0:46:36.360 --> 0:46:38.640 They are a blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 0:46:38.640 --> 0:46:41.719 for they will be filled. And then we sing, this 0:46:41.800 --> 0:46:44.520 is the Kingdom of Heaven. And then we sang seek 0:46:44.560 --> 0:46:46.160 first the Kingdom and all will be add and we 0:46:46.239 --> 0:46:49.040 sing that over and over again, and we put out 0:46:49.040 --> 0:46:51.520 the song. Part of me was a little bit like, 0:46:52.239 --> 0:46:55.000 this is cool because nobody can say that this song 0:46:55.040 --> 0:47:05.759 isn't biblical. I thought till I went to the comments, 0:47:07.120 --> 0:47:12.520 the comments of YouTube where all happiness goes to die 0:47:13.160 --> 0:47:21.439 the Cemetery of Joy, and I saw this comment where 0:47:21.480 --> 0:47:26.080 this guy said this is not biblical. I'm like, it 0:47:26.160 --> 0:47:29.600 is nothing but biblical. When we wrote the song, we 0:47:29.680 --> 0:47:32.120 made a rule we can't put any words in the 0:47:32.200 --> 0:47:35.799 verse that is not from the NIB twenty eleven copyright 0:47:36.040 --> 0:47:38.719 in the thing that's it was a rule that it 0:47:38.800 --> 0:47:41.840 was the old Bible, nothing but the Bible. And that 0:47:42.000 --> 0:47:44.200 was my dad's favorite verses, the Sermon on the Mount 0:47:44.239 --> 0:47:46.000 before we went to Heaven. He would read that every 0:47:46.040 --> 0:47:48.000 single day. Every day he would read it. So I 0:47:48.040 --> 0:47:49.640 was so happy. I was like, I wrote a song 0:47:49.680 --> 0:47:51.879 for you, Dad, and none of the Pharisees can say 0:47:51.880 --> 0:47:54.160 anything about it because it's just the scriptures and they 0:47:54.200 --> 0:47:57.000 can't say nothing about this one because it's just the scriptures. 0:47:57.120 --> 0:47:59.200 They don't like Mike get loud. That's not a Bible 0:47:59.280 --> 0:48:01.920 verse that it actually is, make a joyful noise to 0:48:01.920 --> 0:48:03.319 the Lord all the earth, so that's in there too. 0:48:06.160 --> 0:48:08.799 But I thought, they can't say anything about this one. 0:48:08.880 --> 0:48:11.080 They can't pick on me this time because it's just 0:48:11.160 --> 0:48:13.960 the Bible. And I went to the comments and I 0:48:14.120 --> 0:48:22.320 found out that the one who seeks finds this dude 0:48:22.360 --> 0:48:27.120 Bogloo seventy four, whatever the username was, I wouldn't call 0:48:27.200 --> 0:48:30.719 him out even if I remembered it goes this is 0:48:30.760 --> 0:48:34.560 not biblical. It doesn't say seek first the kingdom and 0:48:34.640 --> 0:48:37.640 all will be at it. It says seek first the 0:48:37.719 --> 0:48:41.000 Kingdom and his righteousness, and all will be at it. 0:48:41.520 --> 0:48:43.279 You can't just seek God for whatever you want, for 0:48:43.320 --> 0:48:46.080 this will give way to temporal theology that results in 0:48:46.120 --> 0:48:54.400 fleshly carnal motivations, posing his worship and posturing is ah ah. 0:48:55.000 --> 0:48:59.200 So I got so mad. I got so mad. I 0:48:59.239 --> 0:49:04.560 had a harvest righteous indignation because I'm going dude, it's 0:49:04.680 --> 0:49:08.200 in the verse Blessed to those who hunger and thirst 0:49:08.320 --> 0:49:13.280 for righteousness. It's in the verse of the same song 0:49:14.239 --> 0:49:16.960 You just came here looking for something to be mad about. 0:49:18.160 --> 0:49:20.080 You didn't want to see it in the verse, so 0:49:20.160 --> 0:49:22.279 you didn't see it in the verse. You skipped the 0:49:22.360 --> 0:49:24.440 verse to get to the park because you were looking 0:49:24.440 --> 0:49:29.719 for a hole. And I was telling the Lord that 0:49:32.760 --> 0:49:39.919 these people, Lord stiff necked Israelites, Lord, your people, Lord, 0:49:41.400 --> 0:49:45.360 he just found something wrong. He was just looking for 0:49:45.440 --> 0:49:49.680 something wrong. And the spirit of the Lord said, you 0:49:49.719 --> 0:49:55.719 did the same thing, because how many good comments were 0:49:55.760 --> 0:50:05.040 there here that said I just love singing the scriptures. 0:50:05.040 --> 0:50:07.360 This really comforts my soul, reminds me of my grandmother, 0:50:07.480 --> 0:50:09.360 helps me through a hard time. Lord, thank you for 0:50:09.440 --> 0:50:15.080 your word. But you skipped those. You just had to 0:50:15.160 --> 0:50:20.960 glean the grossest thing on the whole comment section. Do 0:50:21.000 --> 0:50:25.680 you do this find the one thing? Well, they said 0:50:26.200 --> 0:50:28.640 love you, but they didn't say aye in front of it. 0:50:32.800 --> 0:50:34.560 They texted me back and said I can't wait to 0:50:34.560 --> 0:50:38.439 see you. But it didn't have three exclamation marks, only two. 0:50:38.840 --> 0:50:47.200 Are they really excited? They said, hi, but not a 0:50:47.200 --> 0:50:55.240 bunch of eyes. Just looking for something. You're good at gleaning. 0:50:56.280 --> 0:51:05.040 You just gleaned for garbage. You're doing it too. You 0:51:05.080 --> 0:51:08.319 went past dozens, if not hundreds, of comments saying this 0:51:08.400 --> 0:51:12.400 song bless me looking for a battle. You were picking 0:51:12.440 --> 0:51:15.319 a fight when you came to the comments. You were 0:51:15.360 --> 0:51:17.080 looking for it. You know you do that right, You 0:51:17.200 --> 0:51:22.200 look for rejection. I texted Holiday, who produced the album. 0:51:22.239 --> 0:51:25.400 I said, the rhythm album. I said, you're surprised people 0:51:25.480 --> 0:51:27.279 like it, aren't you. He said yeah, because I had 0:51:27.280 --> 0:51:31.919 been telling myself that people don't know good music. I said, 0:51:31.960 --> 0:51:35.040 I do that all the time. It's called prejection. It's 0:51:35.080 --> 0:51:39.600 when I reject something about myself before you get the 0:51:39.680 --> 0:51:45.400 chance to So now when you try to give me something, 0:51:45.760 --> 0:51:47.960 when you try to give me something, I can't even 0:51:48.000 --> 0:51:53.120 take it because I'm not looking for love. I'm looking 0:51:53.160 --> 0:52:00.840 for you to leave. And the devil will help me 0:52:00.960 --> 0:52:07.200 collect the evidence. You want to find evidence God has 0:52:07.239 --> 0:52:10.480 left you, you could probably find it the one who 0:52:10.520 --> 0:52:13.759 seeks fines. You want to find evidence that the world 0:52:13.800 --> 0:52:16.200 is falling apart and we're probably all on the brink 0:52:16.239 --> 0:52:19.719 of destruction. There are seventy three channels on your TV 0:52:20.480 --> 0:52:23.759 of evidence, and if you turn on those channels, you 0:52:23.800 --> 0:52:26.200 will find every reason to believe that if Jesus doesn't 0:52:26.239 --> 0:52:31.600 come in back, come back today, we're all screwed. But 0:52:31.640 --> 0:52:33.320 there's also still people doing a lot of good in 0:52:33.360 --> 0:52:41.960 the world. There is there's still mighty revivals happening in churches. 0:52:42.239 --> 0:52:45.600 There's still there's still the glory of God covering the 0:52:45.640 --> 0:52:48.399 earth like the waters cover the sea, and you can 0:52:48.440 --> 0:52:53.200 find that too in the field. Why was I in 0:52:53.280 --> 0:52:59.319 the comments anyway looking for validation? Why was I in 0:52:59.360 --> 0:53:04.200 the dumpster? Going through the comments section on YouTube to 0:53:04.239 --> 0:53:09.720 find creative validation is about like going in the dumpster 0:53:09.840 --> 0:53:14.360 behind cracker barrel looking for a biscuit. You could probably 0:53:14.400 --> 0:53:20.520 find some, but it's gonna be crumbs. It's gonna be crumbs. 0:53:21.719 --> 0:53:25.600 It's gonna be crumbs. But God didn't put your favor 0:53:26.480 --> 0:53:30.480 on a social media platform. He put it in the field. 0:53:34.640 --> 0:53:40.759 Favor is in the field. Ruth's responsibility positioned her for 0:53:40.920 --> 0:53:47.080 God's favor. Ruth's responsibility. We are a high entitlement generation. 0:53:48.520 --> 0:53:52.040 We pray for stuff and don't pick through anything. But 0:53:52.080 --> 0:53:58.200 the one who seeks finds, the one who seeks finds. 0:53:58.600 --> 0:54:01.320 Isn't it crazy that I was going through the comments 0:54:01.600 --> 0:54:05.000 looking for a song that says Matthew seven seven, Ask 0:54:05.680 --> 0:54:10.560 and you will receive, Seek and you will find. That's 0:54:10.600 --> 0:54:14.200 in the same song. I'm disobeying my same song, looking 0:54:14.280 --> 0:54:17.680 for something that contradicts what God has promised me. And 0:54:17.800 --> 0:54:20.360 he said it in the song seek and you will find. 0:54:20.520 --> 0:54:23.040 Give me the verse knocking the door will be open 0:54:23.120 --> 0:54:27.879 to you next verse for everyone who asks receives. Say 0:54:27.880 --> 0:54:34.680 it with me, the one who seeks finds. What are 0:54:34.719 --> 0:54:40.880 you looking for? You're looking for? Boass Oh, I just 0:54:40.960 --> 0:54:51.839 need an opportunity, You just need an obedience tunity mm hmm. 0:54:52.640 --> 0:54:57.759 Because the one who seeks finds. The one who put 0:54:57.760 --> 0:55:03.600 it back up seeks finds. You've been gleaning and gathering 0:55:04.200 --> 0:55:08.640 in the wrong fields. And God, you know what I 0:55:08.760 --> 0:55:14.640 really wanted to tell you today is that if you 0:55:14.680 --> 0:55:18.040 are not able to find God right now, that's all right, 0:55:19.880 --> 0:55:24.719 because the one who seeks has never really been you 0:55:24.800 --> 0:55:29.160 to begin with. The Bible says in Romans three ten 0:55:30.080 --> 0:55:35.520 that there is none righteous, not one. There is none 0:55:35.560 --> 0:55:39.239 who seeks after God. I'm really grateful for what the 0:55:39.280 --> 0:55:41.880 rest of that. Matthew seven says. In verse eight. It 0:55:41.920 --> 0:55:46.360 says to him who knocks, the door will be open. 0:55:46.760 --> 0:55:49.680 And you know, I read in Revelation that Jesus stands 0:55:49.719 --> 0:55:55.719 at the door and knocks, that he finds in the 0:55:55.719 --> 0:55:59.200 field the foreigner that somebody else has passed over. And 0:55:59.320 --> 0:56:03.920 if that's you and you are gleaning and grieving in 0:56:04.000 --> 0:56:07.520 the same season today, I want you to read verse 0:56:07.600 --> 0:56:10.280 nine so you really get this message in your spirit, 0:56:10.480 --> 0:56:12.839 like really get it. It says in verse nine, give 0:56:12.880 --> 0:56:16.640 me verse nine, which of you, if your son asks 0:56:16.680 --> 0:56:20.440 for bread, will give him a stone next verse. Or 0:56:20.440 --> 0:56:23.680 if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake. 0:56:24.200 --> 0:56:26.719 Or if he asks for a dog, we'll give him 0:56:26.719 --> 0:56:29.960 a cat. All right, I slip that in. It's not there. 0:56:30.239 --> 0:56:34.560 But he said, if you, then, though you are evil, 0:56:35.080 --> 0:56:37.279 know how to give good gifts to your children. How 0:56:37.360 --> 0:56:45.720 much more will your father give good gifts? Now Ruth 0:56:45.960 --> 0:56:50.480 wasn't looking for bo as she didn't have to. All 0:56:50.920 --> 0:56:55.160 she had to do. And all you have to do 0:56:56.080 --> 0:56:59.719 is get in the field. Get in the field, put 0:56:59.760 --> 0:57:03.040 your yourself in a place of the last thing God 0:57:03.080 --> 0:57:06.560 told you to do. That's where you gotta be. That's 0:57:06.600 --> 0:57:08.440 all you gotta do. You don't have to pick the 0:57:08.520 --> 0:57:11.480 right field, know the right field, predict the right field. 0:57:11.560 --> 0:57:13.160 You don't even have to be in the right city. 0:57:13.360 --> 0:57:19.360 God will find you in the wrong field because the 0:57:19.440 --> 0:57:24.640 eyes of the Lord scan the Earth second Chronicle sixteen 0:57:24.680 --> 0:57:28.640 to nine says, looking for someone to show himself strong 0:57:28.720 --> 0:57:34.080 on their behalf. He's looking for you. He's looking for you. 0:57:35.240 --> 0:57:37.600 He's looking for you. He's looking for you. He sees 0:57:37.640 --> 0:57:40.240 the big leaves you made to cover yourself up. Adam. 0:57:40.680 --> 0:57:43.720 He knows you're naked under there. He knows you're hurting 0:57:43.800 --> 0:57:47.640 under there. He knows you're addicted under there. He knows 0:57:47.680 --> 0:57:50.480 you're broken under there. He knows you're impotent under there. 0:57:51.280 --> 0:57:53.880 He knows you're disappointed. Under there, he knows you're frustrated. 0:57:53.920 --> 0:57:56.600 He's looking for you. And guess what, the one who 0:57:56.640 --> 0:58:04.520 seeks eyes and I know the Father found you. Has 0:58:04.560 --> 0:58:11.560 he brought you here? He found you just like the 0:58:11.600 --> 0:58:14.640 prodigal son's dead, where said he saw him a long 0:58:14.640 --> 0:58:18.720 way off, covered in mud. He knew that was his son, 0:58:20.040 --> 0:58:23.400 Smelling like pigs and dumpsters. He knew that was his son. 0:58:24.360 --> 0:58:27.360 He saw him a long way off. Because the eyes 0:58:27.400 --> 0:58:30.360 of the Lord have never been blind to your Christ. 0:58:31.920 --> 0:58:33.560 And the eyes of the Lord have seen how you 0:58:33.600 --> 0:58:35.959 have been mistreated. And boas said to Ruth, the Lord 0:58:36.000 --> 0:58:40.800 Almighty saw what you did, and he's come to reward you. 0:58:42.040 --> 0:58:43.920 Will he find you in the field when he comes, 0:58:46.400 --> 0:58:50.120 or will you be in your frustration, will you be 0:58:50.160 --> 0:58:56.880 in your failure? The heavenly Father is on a rescue 0:58:56.920 --> 0:59:03.680 mission today to find you, the real you, the one 0:59:03.720 --> 0:59:05.400 you try to hide, the one you try to bury, 0:59:06.080 --> 0:59:11.080 the you that knows better. Boh, I said, who is that? 0:59:12.560 --> 0:59:15.240 We don't know her name, but she came and remained. 0:59:16.360 --> 0:59:20.600 You know this woman ended up not behind the harvesters. 0:59:21.280 --> 0:59:23.360 By the time you get to the end of this passage, 0:59:24.040 --> 0:59:28.840 the foreigner has a position in the household. And you 0:59:28.880 --> 0:59:32.200 know that's exactly what the Lord wants to do for you, 0:59:33.640 --> 0:59:39.040 to take you from slave to son and daughter, and 0:59:39.160 --> 0:59:40.760 to raise you up and put a ring on you. 0:59:42.240 --> 0:59:46.360 The one who seeks finds God doesn't give up. If 0:59:46.360 --> 0:59:49.520 he doesn't see you in church, He'll send a YouTube link. 0:59:53.600 --> 0:59:56.280 He'll come through the minefield and put a fifteen second 0:59:56.720 --> 1:00:02.080 clip on Instagram so his word can find you. And 1:00:02.120 --> 1:00:03.680 I want you to know that there is treasure in 1:00:03.720 --> 1:00:10.600 your field. There is treasure in your field. Why would 1:00:10.640 --> 1:00:12.760 you dig through a dumpster for crumbs when there is 1:00:12.880 --> 1:00:21.600 treasure in your field? Lord, today, it is my prayer, 1:00:22.920 --> 1:00:28.840 my earnest desire, and really God, the only thing that 1:00:28.880 --> 1:00:33.880 matters that you would find Lord, who you're looking for. 1:00:35.440 --> 1:00:37.480 I have no way of knowing who you sent this 1:00:37.520 --> 1:00:45.480 word for, but I believe that you did. Everyone standing stillness, 1:00:45.720 --> 1:00:52.440 no one moving. Jesus said, I came to seek and 1:00:52.520 --> 1:00:55.800 save that which is lost. I want to give an 1:00:55.800 --> 1:01:01.520 invitation today. This is a significant sermon, but for somebody 1:01:01.560 --> 1:01:05.440 it's more than that. For somebody, this is going to 1:01:05.480 --> 1:01:12.960 be a saving word. He's been looking for you. Some 1:01:13.040 --> 1:01:14.880 of you been far away from God for a while, 1:01:16.720 --> 1:01:21.640 and he's been missing you. He never leaves you, but 1:01:21.720 --> 1:01:24.520 you've kind of left him, haven't you. You kind of 1:01:24.560 --> 1:01:27.600 left his love, haven't you? You kind of left the 1:01:27.640 --> 1:01:30.960 field where you put you? Haven't you? I got good news. 1:01:31.320 --> 1:01:35.320 Your Father is looking for you, and the one who 1:01:35.360 --> 1:01:41.640 seeks finds. That's why you're here, not because you found God. 1:01:42.640 --> 1:01:48.280 He found you. Father. Wherever you find us today, we 1:01:48.320 --> 1:01:49.840 know that you love us, and we know that your 1:01:51.480 --> 1:01:54.000 grace and your mercy have followed us to this point. 1:01:55.560 --> 1:01:57.280 I just thank you for what you showed us through 1:01:57.360 --> 1:02:01.840 Ruth today. For somebody, this is not just a principle. 1:02:01.880 --> 1:02:05.840 For somebody, this is an invitation, and I want to 1:02:05.840 --> 1:02:07.640 pray right now for those who need to give their 1:02:07.640 --> 1:02:11.200 lives to Jesus, you need to really really come out 1:02:11.240 --> 1:02:14.400 of your hiding and receive His love and his mercy 1:02:14.440 --> 1:02:18.280 in your life, Repent and turn from your sin, receive 1:02:18.320 --> 1:02:21.560 His righteousness as a free gift. Right now, If that's 1:02:21.600 --> 1:02:24.600 you and you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, 1:02:24.600 --> 1:02:26.560 you didn't know that was the Holy Spirit. You didn't 1:02:26.560 --> 1:02:28.280 know that was the hand of God drawing you, but 1:02:28.400 --> 1:02:31.080 it was. You didn't know to call it that, but 1:02:31.120 --> 1:02:33.840 that's what it was. And if that's you and you're 1:02:33.840 --> 1:02:36.480 coming to God for the first time today, or you're 1:02:36.480 --> 1:02:39.280 coming back to him, you've been in a far country 1:02:39.400 --> 1:02:41.880 and you're coming back to him, You're coming back to Bethlehem, 1:02:42.040 --> 1:02:45.520 You're coming to the place where God's presence is. Right now, 1:02:45.600 --> 1:02:47.560 I want to lead you in a prayer and you 1:02:47.600 --> 1:02:50.400 can repeat after me. And if you mean this in 1:02:50.440 --> 1:02:53.080 your heart, the Bible says that if you confess with 1:02:53.120 --> 1:02:55.840 your mouth that Jesus's Lord, believe in your heart God 1:02:55.880 --> 1:02:58.280 has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 1:02:58.880 --> 1:03:02.160 This is the promise. So right now we're praying out 1:03:02.160 --> 1:03:04.880 loud as a church family and online for all those 1:03:04.920 --> 1:03:07.240 who are receiving the grace of God. Repeat after me. 1:03:07.280 --> 1:03:10.400 If this is your moment, Heavenly Father. I am a 1:03:10.440 --> 1:03:15.800 sinner in need of a savior, and today I make 1:03:15.920 --> 1:03:21.480 Jesus the Lord and savior of my life. I believe 1:03:21.520 --> 1:03:25.720 he died that I would be forgiven and rose again 1:03:26.640 --> 1:03:31.200 to give me life. I receive your new life. This 1:03:31.480 --> 1:03:35.600 is my new beginning. I'm coming home to my Father. 1:03:36.440 --> 1:03:38.240 If you just prayed that, shoot your hand up on 1:03:38.240 --> 1:03:39.880 the count of three, one, two, three, I want to 1:03:39.880 --> 1:03:44.960 celebrate with you. Awesome. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, 1:03:45.000 --> 1:03:47.120 there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. 1:03:47.200 --> 1:03:51.560 Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You 1:03:51.600 --> 1:03:54.000 can also help us reach others by investing today at 1:03:54.040 --> 1:03:57.640 Elevation Church dot org. Slash give and thanks again for 1:03:57.720 --> 1:04:00.600 joining us on the Elevation Podcast inst