DAVID JEREMIAH OVERCOMING THE STORY OF RUTH AND NAIOMI

look at this we have to realize that the book starts on a negative note Ruth 1 1 & 2 says it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to dwell in the country of Moab he and his wife and his two sons for the name of the man was a liver Lac and the name of his wife was Naomi and the names of his two sons were Malin and Killian Ephraimites of Bethlehem Judah and they went to the country of Moab and they remained there you see many women these were brutal times the story of Ruth takes place in the days of the judges and when you read the book of Judges you encounter a lot of backsliding and a lot of brutality Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the promised land but when he died there was no unifying leader to consolidate the 12 tribes and they went through a long period of time known as the days of the judges and the most important thing about those days is in a phrase that occurs in the book and that they were days when everyone did what was right in their own eyes not in the eyes of God sounds sort of familiar doesn't it but you read through the book of Judges it's easy to see a cynical pattern the people would backslide and become corrupt God would punish them with famine or conflict or with their enemies and the people would repent and turn back to God over and over the Lord raised up leaders to come in and try to lead his people back to himself some of these leaders are famous people that you and I know people not did Ian and Deborah and Sansa and these judges would lead them to some victory or another but when the people began backsliding again here we go back to the issues of the stories of the Bible that tell us what happens when we walk away from God and these breakdowns and this time of total disregard for the rule of God in their lives that's the time when the Book of Ruth was taking place and it's interesting is it not that that's what's going on in our nation today the more our nation declines spiritually the bar we deteriorate politically and socially and even financially and militarily and it's likely the famine in Bethlehem was a time when God was applying discipline to his people seeking their repentance and the word Bethlehem means House of bread because of sin there was no bread in the house of bread there was a famine what should we do when we recognize that our sins have gotten us in a bad place well don't use the Book of Ruth as an illustration because what happened to them which should never happen to us there's no indication that a little anchor Naomi or their boys did the right thing instead they made a series of really bad decisions they packed their bags and they went down to Moab which was about 50 miles away just like the prodigal son did when he left home and went into the far country the text doesn't tell us they look to God or praying or trusted they just decided on their own to flee to Moab leaning on their own understanding the Israelites were to have nothing to do with the Moabitess and they knew it but they went there anyway these were the people who hired Balaam to curse Israel remember and they they were people that the Israelites were told not to have any association with but there goes a little act and his family to Moab they didn't wait to trust God they decided to take things into their own hands you know sometimes you and I are tempted to run away from trouble isn't that the truth maybe you're in the middle of some situation that seems hopeless to you tonight you can't get your arms around it you don't know how to fix it you might want to run away but that is when we have to be careful that we don't make mistakes and take wrong turns it's always of a state to distrust God it's always a mistake to make decisions without taking time to pray them through and ironically the name of the little egg means my God is king but in that situation God was not his king he didn't live up to his name in a time of pressure he chose his own pathway instead of God's way let me say to you tonight men and women you cannot end up where you want to be by making decisions God does not want you to make wrong decisions don't lead to good outcomes wrong decisions take us further away from God's plan sometimes the Lord will exert pressure on us so we'll correct the behavior and attitude in our lives and maybe there's some kind of famine going on in your life right now financial or relational or in some other way and you can't turn to the master or you can head down the road to Moab the safest place even when you don't understand it is always hang on to the will of God don't run away from what God is doing a limb elect forgot that the house of bread and a famine is better than the land Moab in the time boat 20 who went to the wrong place and he made the wrong decision story didn't turn out very well as the woman who got lost gets lost her way like I got lost that night who did turn out well for them Ruth 1 3 & 4 says then eliminate Naomi's husband time they've gone through the foreign country of Moab and now they all miss husband died and her two sons and she were left alone and they took wives of the women of Moab the name of the one was Orpha and the name of the other was Ruth here they are in the sport country away from where they should be and in the process of being there these two red-blooded Jewish boys fell in love with a couple of local mall buy girls and we're told that these boys didn't read or heed the promise and of God that he would take care of them if they followed his will they went out of God's will and now they're married to two women who are not Jewish they are totally outside everyone in this family made bad decisions alumalite and they only decided to leave the land of God and go to the mole mines and their two sons buried women outside of the Covenant of God so now we've got all these bad decisions ganging up at once now here comes some of the bitter outcomes we have want that decision after another and look how it turns out as you read verses 4 and 5 it it says this not only did eliminate die the Bible says after they got into Moab and got married the two boys died and now this woman is survived for two sons and she survived her husband and she's all alone they only had taken a wrong turn and now all she had were three tombstones in the sense of the leaven and she was a bitter broken bereaved woman left with two that were not part of her family to qualified women than her sons of Mary in a foreign country so far away from Garcia she was getting in really bad place brutal times and bad decisions often go together that's the principle of life you simply can't escape and Fornaio me it led to emptiness and ruin in verse 6 of chapter one I'm glad to tell you the story doesn't end where we are right now that's the beginning of the story this is a story of repentance Ruth 1:6 says and she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab a good point for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread these were some first steps back in the right direction maybe you walked away from the Lord and you think there's no way back there's always a way back and are always first steps on the way back there in Moab they only took those steps there are literal steps toward getting yourself back to where she needed to be it was a process it took quite a while for it overcome the bitterness of her families bad decisions you know sometimes God can fix things overnight but mostly I'll discover you to do that he wants us to learn our lessons well overnight decisions sometimes we tweak we we do we love those overnight decisions because the pain goes away but usually when the pain goes away the learning cycle goes way down and we don't learn what God wants us to learn often it takes time for wounds to heal the consequences to fade and the deeper the wound the longer the healing for instance if you get a paper cut on your finger it'll probably be better by tomorrow but if you slice your finger down to the bottom of the kitchen knife that's going to take a little while for it to heal nothing is more important for you today then taking the first step back to God watch what happened they went to the wrong place for the wrong reasons they didn't ask God they got themselves in a tough situation everything starts going south people are dying and all here's this woman with these two girls who are not of her descent and she's in a foreign place but she's starting to come back she realizes that there's hope and hope is back where she left it in the first place so she goes back the amazing thing is that her determination to return had a huge effect on her daughters-in-law and especially on Ruth verse 14 says that Ruth said if you're going back to Bethlehem if you're going back to Judith I'm going with you Ruth had grown up and the corruption in idolatry of Moab she didn't know anything about where they only wanted to go except that she'd heard all the good things that were there before she had left and that brings us to verses 16 and 17 some of the most beautiful works of commitment you'll ever see in fact as I read these words some of you remember these words are often used in weddings and I don't have the heart to tell them these words were not originally spoken by a couple getting married they were spoken by a woman speaking through her mother-in-law look here's what the words are entreat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you for wherever you go I will go and wherever you Lodge I will Lodge your people will be my people and your God my God and where you die I will die and there will I be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts you and me this amounts to what we would call Ruth's conversion this is where Ruth got right with God this was her declaration of faith Naomi's desire to return had an immediate impact her off daughter-in-law who Ruth was the firstfruits of now this decision to return home how many of you know when we do right we also encourage others right when we make the right decision oftentimes others who are struggling will see that we have the courage to make a right decision to turn back toward God and they will turn back toward God as well I've had many people that I've watched walk away from God and because someone in their family got right with God they got right with God as well who whenever you start making good decisions men and women it will always influence the people around you you cannot take a step toward the Lord without somehow influencing someone else to do the same we have an invitation someone will come and by their coming they encourage others to make the decisions that maybe they're a little bit too bachelor to make whenever you start making good decisions it will always influence people around you Ruth and Naomi are getting ready to do the right thing their decisions have moved off of the negative part of the Ledger's amount to the positive notice what happens in chapter 2 the decisions made by Naomi and Ruth led to a revival that's the third aspect of the Book of Ruth it's the story of revival and it's not limited to the omean Ruth I believe the entire town of Bethlehem was in the process of returning to God and experiencing revival the last verse of chapter 1 says so Naomi returned and Ruth the mob - her daughter-in-law with her who returned from the country of Moab now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the harvest revival brings harvest it is a fascinating thing to compare the first words of this chapter and the last words verse 1 says that came to pass in the days when the judges ruled and there was a famine in the land but now they're coming back and there's a feast and there's a harvest ten years later this is what has happened they come back to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest and the first chapter of Ruth begins with a famine and it ends with a feast which indicates God had been moving among the people of Bethlehem not only was the Lord working in the hearts of Naomi and Ruth God was working in the hearts of the people of Bethlehem and they repented and the Lord returned and their family went away and now we have a harvest in the Bible the harvest is a sign of God's blessing and when we turn our footsteps back toward God he has a way of blessing us and filling our lives with his good and perfect gifts he begins to produce a harvest of righteousness just over ten years ago a man named Jermaine Wilson was convicted of possession of narcotics sentenced to three years in prison until his arrest he said I lived the fast life changed after fast money thought I was really somebody but he said while I was in prison I decided to give my life to Christ I knew that if I didn't change my life I would probably spend the rest of my days in prison after he was released his record was expunged he got a job at Fort Leavenworth eventually he became a city commissioner and now get ready for this Jermaine Wilson was sworn in earlier this year as mayor of the town of leather whoo-hoo he said just know that if you continue to move forward and don't dwell on your past mistakes you can become anything that you want to become in the plan of God [Music] and if your out of with God and you come back into fellowship with God you get to be the mayor of someplace I'm not saying that but what I am saying is that God knows how to restore the years that the locusts have eaten and when you come back to God he wants to restore your life back to you and that's what's happening here in this story revival brings harvest and revival brings happiness as we continue reading through the Book of Ruth were struck by the joyful atmosphere that seemed to pervade the entire city of Bethlehem listen to these words from Ruth chapter 2 there was a relative of Naomi's husband a man of great wealth of the family of Elimelech his name was Boaz so ruth the moabite is said to Naomi please let me go to the field and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor and she said to her go my daughter and she left it went and gleaned in the field after the Reapers and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz who was of the family of Elimelech now behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the Reapers the Lord be with you and they answered him the Lord bless you this is why I believe Bethlehem was in the midst of a revival notice how the people greeted each other I mean the wealthy landowner showed up to inspect the harvest and he didn't say hello or how's it going how he reaping today he said no the Lord be with you very unusual for that particular culture and they responded with and the Lord bless you the kind of greeting occurs throughout the entire Book of Ruth I don't know any book in the Bible where people are invoking God's blessings upon each other like the four chapters of The Book of Ruth these people invest they have continually praying down blessings from God on each other and throughout the remainder of the book I think you'll see there is joy in Bethlehem you'll think to yourself like the people weren't blessing each other in the name of the Lord throughout the whole book because they'd experienced a revival from God and I'm sure Bethlehem wasn't a perfect place but as you read through Ruth two three and four you find yourself in one of the most idyllic settings of the entire Word of God it's a remarkable thing during the times of Judges but it shows what a spiritual awakening will do to a person or a family or to a churchgoer or to a church or to a nation every great religious righteous revival has started with one person and the Lord has the ability to send the Holy Spirit to bring about a spiritual awakening among his people when they began the process of repentance and they returned to him I have people ask me all the time do you think human in the United States will ever again turn back to God it's easy to become so discouraged today we almost give up on our nation I don't know about you but I've said too sometimes I think we've crossed the Rubicon I think wouldn't gone past the place of a return but I know better than that you know I know because as you study the history Christianity spiritual awakenings have almost always come during the worst times and in the most needed hours many people don't know that during the American Civil War during the American Civil War great revivals broke out among the soldiers both in the Union and the Confederate armies it was remarkable at the time although many history books today never mentioned it here was a nation tearing itself apart for the evils of slavery and young men by the thousands were drenching the battlefields with their blood in those terrible times soldiers had nowhere to look but huh and there were spiritual awakenings that swept through the armies I read recently that it is estimated that between a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand Union soldiers turned to Christ in the [Applause] [Music] we have in the days of the judges if it happened in America during the days of the Civil War it can happen today in the situation in which we find ourselves and when they only had Ruth and the people of Bethlehem turned to God he said an awakening and there was joy in the city and he can send me a personal revival to any of us it will just come back on his terms there can be happiness in your life when you turn in your trucks and head back toward God he knows how to send refreshing into your heart and by the way what I just said is the most biblical definition of repentance do you know what repentance means that means that do a 180 you're going this way you're going away from God you're not honoring God and God in turn intervenes in your life maybe in a message like the one tonight or some of you earn at your church and the Holy Spirit intersects with your lightning I mean you know you're going the wrong direction and repentance means stop dead in your tracks and go back toward the right way that's what repentance beats and that's what happened in Bethlehem and that's what happened when Ruth and they don't mean when that revival also brings harmony we think we have racial problems in our day the Lord knows we certainly do but they had similar problems in those days the Jews and the Moabites hated each other and the tension between two people became an epic struggle in the Old Testament but notice how wonderfully groovy the mall - was accepted then Boaz said to Ruth you will listen my daughter will you not do not go to glean in another field did not go there from here but stay close by by young women let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them have I not commanded the young men not touch your Ruth was very beautiful Boz was smart he went to his crew and he said leave her alone and when you're thirsty go to the vessels and drink from the young man and drawn and she fell on her face and bowed to the ground and said to him why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner and Boas answered and said there it has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband and how you have left your father and your mother in the land of your birth that have come to a people who you did not know before may the Lord repay your work and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you have come for refuge she's just found herself boas and his workers and the people of Bethlehem opened their arms to this woman from another culture from another race from another nation and throughout this whole book even when the people had to deal with the challenging legal issue there's nothing the bikes and the Jews and when we get ourselves right with the Lord we're more likely to be right with one another did you know that I've heard of one man who said when I get into a fight with my wife I usually realize my problem is it really with her it's with the Lord I've gotten away from him and in the result I get selfish and irritable and angry when they get close to the Lord again my problems with my wife go away little marriage counseling just for free tonight [Applause] we need harmony in our marriages and our homes and our churches and our nation but that requires that we break our lives into harmony with the Lord I love it said two people two pianos two to the same tuning fork will be in tune with each other you want to stay in tune with your wife your husband your Christian is in your home the best thing you can do to Mandy's dad to stay in harmony with God you know it's like a triangle no matter where you are here's husband here's the wife you want to get close together here's how you do it here's God at the top the closer you get to God what happens the closer you're getting each other isn't that true and the further you get away from God the further you get away from each other a little more marriage counseling that revival brings hope revival break so in our story ruth the moabite us gleans in the field of boa as you know the story and he instructs his workers to leave a little extra for her and she returns on that night with a bushel a bushel of grain and the omen is amazed and in verse 19 she says where have you bleed today and where did you work blessed be the one who took notice of you like she didn't know so she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said the man's name with whom I have work today as full house and they OMA said to her daughter mom blessed be he of the Lord who is not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead these are the first positive words I almost speaks in the whole Book of Ruth she has been bitter and oppressed in her spirit but now suddenly she cries out blessed be the Lord Naomi has even herself for taken in the revival Nellie was a shrewd woman and she knew a lot about what was going on in the life of Ruth instantly it wasn't an accident that Ruth ended up in a field belonging to this man the mother and the mother-in-law was at work remember the word specially have meant house of bread it was a surround by harvest fields but God's invisible hand led Ruth to this particular field owned by this particular man and they only instantly recognized the name and began sensing what God was doing and when you come back to the Lord he takes over he directs your steps you can get your rerouted the cause in the right direction and your footsteps going in the right way and the right harvest fields and God knows how to put hope back in your heart maybe you're here tonight and you've kind of lost hope I know a lot of Christians they get away from God they're living in the world's they don't know whether they're a Christian sometimes or whether they're paintin sometimes they live it on the fence and when you live on the fence there's no hope let me tell you what I know if you're a backslidden Christian tonight you're more miserable than you ever were before you came to Christ and the reason is because before you came to Christ you didn't know how good it was when you go when you become a Christian you experience the joy of the Lord and when you walk away from your faith and you start living on the fence and living for the devil instead of for Christ you not only are miserable because of what you're doing you're miserable because you're remembered in the back of your mind what you're missing out on so don't live that way don't live in a miserable way [Applause] you need to overcome some bad decisions here tonight turn toward the Lord and get back to him as fast as you can he will revive your soul he will bring you a harvest of righteousness a sense of joy and happiness he will bring harmony back into your relationships and hope in your heart and you begin to realize there is a God and it's the god I serve and His Son Jesus Christ is in my heart now we come to a little bit of a parenthesis in this story and I'm going to cover this quickly but it's too good to leave out and it's part of the book so this is a story of romance now we come to chapter three and we find this is not just a story of ruined repentance and revival it's a story of romance with Naomi playing the part she has done this and I can tell you some people that are married that are in our ministry that she was the one who put them together so if you need some help you can see Donna after the service tonight it says it Ruth chapter three then they all know her mother-in-law said to her my daughter shall I not seek security for you that it may be well with you no words can I get on your team and help you get this right and she came up with a plan in other words the OMA had a plan for getting her daughter established and she was asking for permission to implement the plan will you let me help you the OMA said in effect do you want me to help you find a husband I have somebody in mind Ruth must have nodded yes because mail went right on in verses two through four weeks later woman here's the plan now Boaz whose young women you were with is he not a relative in fact he is wintering barley tonight at the threshing floor therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor but do not make yourself known to the man until he is finished eating and drinking then it shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies and you shall go in uncovered his feet and lie now and he will tell you what you should do explaining [Laughter] I'm sorry I hear all the time when I go to work this is in the Bible every that's it verse five all that you say to me imma do this this is interesting this has to do with the Hebrew law of redemption which was seen just a moment this is a strange custom to us as it was to Ruth who being from Moab didn't know what the Jewish culture was all about so her mother not told her to step-by-step what to do in keeping with Jewish cultural patterns she was to go down and present herself humbly at the feet of Boaz letting him know the birdie and openness for his home what nyama suggested was not immoral it was simply a culturally accepted way in those days of Ruth's letting Boaz know she needed him to redeem her that she wanted to marry him from the very beginning of chapter 2 we've since the love developing between these two and now Ruth has been to express her need for Boaz is love and this turns out to be a proposal in the Old Testament way she does exactly what her mother-in-law tells her to do verses 6 to 9 continues the story so she went down to the threshing floor and then according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her and after boa is an evening drunk and his heart was cheerful he went to lie down at the end of the heathen brain she came softly uncovered his feet and lay down now it happened at midnight that the man was startled and turn I better speak and he said who are you and she answered I arose your maidservant take your maidservant under you're waiting for you are a close relative now with those words Ruth as we would put it today proposed to bow and most of us proposed to our lives and we're all nervous wrecks when we do it one of the reasons most guys who get down on their knees to propose is because they're praying furiously that their girlfriend will say yes but sometimes the group proposes I haven't seen that much and it didn't happen to me I want to report that it would be interesting to know in this crowd how many wives were the ones who proposed to the numbers don't raise your hands but what Ruth said take your mate sir under your wing that was ten about two asking Boaz to marry I'm happy to report there was a positive response then he said blessed are you of the Lord my daughter for you have shown more kindness at the end and at the beginning in that you did not go after young man whether poor or rich and now my daughter do not fear I will do for you all the new requests for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman in other words Boaz said yes to Ruth's proposal and there was one hitch that brings us to the great theme and thought that runs through this whole book and we're almost done and that is the story Ruth is a story of run of repentance of revival and romance but above all Ruth is a story of redemption I'm sure you've noticed the phrase close relative take your maidservant under your wing for you are a close relative the law of the Redeemer was this it is true that I have a close relative there is a relative closest and I stay the night and in the morning it shall be if that key will perform the duty becomes relevant for you good let it do it but if he does not want to perform the duty for you then I will perform the duty for you as the Lord lives now listen carefully this will put this all together in the Mosaic law God made some special provisions for widows whose husbands died without leaving their children or whose properties and wealth were lost under relative could redeem the situation he could step in and make sure the relative was redeemed from slavery or her public property was restored and in a similar way provide a way for a man to marry the wife of his deceased relative to carry on the family name and the chain of inheritance in other words if you were a close relative you could come in let's take Boaz in this situation and you could come in and you could redeem that person because they had lost their father they had lost their husband and so this entire process is complicated to explain but in simple terms a kinsman redeemer could restore what was lost that's really the theme of the Book of Ruth biblical experts tell us that the word redeem occurs over 20 times before chapter book bullets was among those who could serve as Ruth's kinsman-redeemer but he wasn't the first divine that's where it gets a little interesting he wasn't the first in line for the job and that brings you to chapter four and what happens is eventually Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there and behold the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken in other words Boaz said I redeem you Ruth I'd redeem you but there's somebody in between you and me who is closer to you than I am a closer relative to you the night and I can't do this it's his job to do it so I have to go present this to him and see if he's willing so beau has said come aside friend and sit down here so he came side and sat down and he said to the close relative Noma who has come back from the country of Moab sold a piece of land which belonged to our brother a little back and I thought to inform you say by back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people if you will redeem it redeem it but if you will not redeem it then tell me that I may know for there is no one but you to redeem it and I am next after you and the man said I will redeem it and the next verse is priceless because Bowen says by the way there's something else I should tell you the day you buy the field from the head of you might have divided from Ruth the wildlife and the wife to the death to the dead to perpetuate the name of death in other words you're not gonna just get a field you're gonna get a wife oh I'm not sure about that he was ready to get some property but neither know if we wanted another wife in other words if you buy the land you have to marry the widow Andrew for six as the close relative said we can't wait diamond for myself list I wrote my own inheritance you redeem my right redemption for yourself for I cannot redeem it and I can hear a big sigh of relief from Boaz his competition has been eliminated Ruth now can become his wife only he could marry Ruth give her love give her a home giver and instead we're bringing joy now this all is really so exciting and it's a wonderful short story and I'm sure I could have told it better than I've been in a hurry because I wanted to give it a little but let me tell you where this all ends up because this is the most precious part of the Ophir verse 13 of the fourth chapter says boaz took ruth and she became his wife and he went into her and the Lord gave her conception and she bought of son then the woman said to they only blessed be the Lord who has not birth to this day without a voice relative and may his name be famous in Israel and may he be to you a restorer of life and a nurture of your old age for your daughter-in-law who loves you who is better you than seven sons has borne him now here's the important PostScript of his story and they called the baby's name Obed he is the father of Jesse and the father of Ruth and Boaz became parents of a little boy who would later be the grandfather of King David and the line of promise that led to the birth in that same little town of Bethlehem of Jesus Christ the Son of David the Redeemer in the same town later on in the story [Music] those hard to read passages in Matthew 1 beginning at the beginning of the book you will see the name of Boaz and Ruth Boaz begat obed by roof open begat jesse and just david from home came our redeemer so almighty God and his timeless wisdom slipped these four little chapters into the early books of the Old Testament because he knew the story was critical to the coming of our kinsman redeemer he has come to redeem us even as low as to redeem Ruth and restore to her future when I was growing up at the church we used to sing a lot of songs on the subject of redemption remember the old song redeemed how I love to proclaim it and I know that my Redeemer liveth I don't know if this word shows up as often now but it's a critical concept that we should love to proclaim the word redeem is confusing to many people we think of it like redeeming frequent flyer miles or redeeming trips for vacations or a long time but the Bible says that is really important and I'm almost done so hang with me in simple terms it's the idea of recovering something that has been lost the kids win Redeemer of the Old Testament had the power and the obligation to redeem a family member out of slavery out of destitution out of hopelessness that's what Boaz did for Ruth that's what Jesus did for me and what he's done for cable automobiles go home without price were without hope the Bible says we're ruined what we repent and we come to him we find the theatres of our Redeemer he is God who became man and shared our humanity and he wants to restore to us what we've lost he wants us to be his bride the Bride of Christ he wants us to share his wealth the story of Ruth is really the story of redemption and it points to Jesus Galatians 3:13 says that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law my question you tonight is this have you been redeemed God has done all the work Christ has paid all the penalty but he's not going to force his redemption upon you he asks you to come and receive what he has done let me tell you what that means that means if you're not a Christian if you have never accepted Christ as your Savior as your Redeemer you are your legitimate candidate to become a Christian and Almighty God loves you so much that he said Christ into this world to be the person who would save you from your sin he is the only one jesus said he said I'm the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me so if you haven't come to Jesus if you haven't been redeemed you can't go to the father's house when you die if you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior and ask him to forgive you of your sin then why not do it tonight why not make this night the night of your Redemption don't leave here with all of that hanging loose with all of that undecided in just a moment we're going to sing and give an invitation and I'm going to ask you to come from all over this place wherever you are wherever you are doesn't really matter if God has pulled into your heart I want you to come maybe there's some of your tonight who are like like the two boys for what to Moab and got away from God you know a lot of Christians leave Bethlehem we go to Baal I have no faith you walk away from the baby you're not walking with the Lord tonight tonight I want you to come back to the place where it all started for you to the altar and renew your commitment to Jesus Christ and begin to walk with him again as God would have you do we're going to stand together and pray and then we're going to sing amazing grace and from wherever you are in this place if you have never put your trust in Christ come tonight and get your Redemption and if you're a Christian and you've gone down to Moab want you to come back home tonight come back and get your life back before God father we've covered a lot of territory how to fold a long story in a short period of time I'm sure we've got to remember everything that we've learned and everything that we've heard with the one thing we need to you love us you love all of us you love everyone in this room is this fact one was the only one to love and there's nothing you could have done to prove it more than you did and that is to give your only begotten son to take our place so that we could be redeemed Lord redemption is recovering something that is lost tonight there's some people here who are lost and I pray that they will come and give their hearts to Christ and that this will be a great night of rejoicing and redemption for them for those who are here who do not know their their joy Lord in the Old Testament David cried out that he would receive again the joy of his salvation yet lost his salvation and just lost the joy of it that's what happens when we don't walk in fellowship with you someone here tonight needs to come back and restore the joy of their salvation we pray that you will bring them as we say Lord this is a big crowd it takes a lot of courage to step out the midst of a crowd like this I pray that you will work in the hearts of people by your Holy Spirit years and bring people in this invitation to a decision we pray this in Jesus name and for his sake he's gonna get to say if God has spoken you do that I want you to just come come down here and did it right with God [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I know many of you are up on the side and there's a way down to the floor for you to come but you need to come right away wherever you are I've got is for you don't leave here tonight with unfinished business in your heart I'm not coming back here probably for a while there may not be another being in this place tonight you've heard the gospel that God loves you and then Christ died for you and he just simply want you to come and say yes will you do that come down we're not going to go along we're not gonna sing a hundred verses here tonight we're gonna go all pretty soon so don't wait until it's over an event wish [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] cigarettes [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] we're going to sing praise God praise God a couple of times through and then we're gonna pray some of you're still coming and coming from the back come on now this is the last moment and we want you to go while the opportunities extended [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] now together we're trying to get to everyone with counselors but so many people here and I don't want to I don't want to miss anybody so we're gonna pray together I'm going to lead you to prayer and you can pray out loud all you are down in front whether you breathe it before or not let's just do it in unity that way we'll make sure everybody hears and prays to receive Christ can we pray that I'll pray and you follow after me dear God we come to you tonight we ask you to forgive our sin we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior we believe that his blood was sufficient for our sin and we invite him into our hearts to live thank you for hearing our prayer father thank you for all these who've come tonight and I pray that as they talk with their counselors they will find what you will always provide that is forgiveness and peace and lord I pray that no one will leave here tonight without knowing that God loves them so much and I want to thank you Father for giving us the privilege of holding forth in this place for giving us the opportunity to come to Rochester and preach the gospel from the Old Testament and I prayed that this message which we have heard which is a wonderful story of your love for us will ring in our ears for days to come we give you the praise and the honor and the glory for what's happened here tonight as we close our services throughout the country we usually sing the doxology together but tonight I've asked the they sing the doxology like you've never heard it before and let's listen and when we're finished we will be dismissed in the markets [Music] [Music] sing to the Lord she sir please come before him and reach Mars enter his gates [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] raise daughters [Music] crazy [Music] [Music] Oh father [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thanks for coming we'll see you in our great night

Channel: Michele D'Addario Moser

Views: 10,406

Rating: 4.8068967 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: EJEnX-nUlrE

Length: 56min 6sec (3366 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2019