GOCC Network

hey and we're humbling our hearts to god save from the chest the chastise pilgrims tried [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] and when the signs the trumpets will sound [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] telling this world world by [Music] bite jesus is [Music] is [Music] hey good evening good evening i pray i pray that it is a good evening for you sometimes we use those terms good morning good afternoon good evening and there's no thought behind it but but somehow i hope you hear me say right now that i pray it is a good evening for you uh here in houston the weather has changed and it is so nice and so i pray that there is a heart right now that says i'm blessed anybody in here anybody here feel like you're blessed you feel like you're blessed you know sometimes sometimes we miss our joy and we miss our joy because we miss the thought of how blessed we are i was listening to the news today and they were saying that some countries are upset with america because america now is discussing giving the third shout out which is the booster that we've had first second and now a third shot coming and then it mentions so many countries have not even received one shot and i had never thought about it like anybody ever thought about that that that we're just blessed to be able to be in a country that affords us whether you decide you want it or you don't want it it affords us the opportunity to get the shot and so let's kind of blessings uh let's let let's be people who walk around and as we walk around people know that there is something about us that's different and that something about us is thankfulness and as we talk about thankfulness i want to eyeball each of you each of you each of you and i want to say thank you i thank you for uh spending your gas i i don't guess anybody walked here today yeah you spent your gas are you spending your time and i just believe that somehow god knows exactly what's going on that that that you reap what you saw that in heaven there's a big computer and and and somewhere in the software program there's your name and it's checking that today september 22nd is today the 22nd wednesday night uh you're in bible class and i pray the same is for you i know you're not physically here but but i know that you're joining us tonight and i pray that as you join us tonight you will be blessed and i pray not only that you will be blessed but i pray that heaven will record the fact that you are engaged in a bible study hey listen before we uh before we get to our bible study tonight i want to mention a couple of things and i want you to pray with me about this and i want to ask brother powell's one of our elders to lead us in prayer as i was listening to the news this afternoon at the cashmere gardens high school cashmere gardens high school where one of our deacons and the education minister brother brandon dickerson is the principal right outside a shooting occurred it was between a student and a former student and if i'm not mistaken the 16 year old uh is in in the hospital in critical condition and and so my heart immediately yes went out to those young men who were engaged in the shooting but it also went out to brother brandon dickerson uh such a good man just got the job of being principal at cashmere we prayed about it and and somehow i want the lord to bless him and and i know when you start this the school semester off and there's a shooting and don't let that young man die that that just that just takes your joy and so i want to ask brother powell's in just a moment to to pray for the young men the news says that three young people three teenagers have been shot this week houston is going crazy uh they play those crazy video games and blood is gushing and going everywhere and and and i don't know if there's a disconnect between a video game and the reality of shooting somebody and so i i want i want us to pray about that and then secondly because i want you to pray about um those immigrants at the border um you got you got the email i got the email we both got emails saturday morning saying i want the garden oaks church of christ to do something and i immediately wanted to pick up the phone and ask the sister now what exactly would you like for us to do um and and people are on both sides of this people are saying ship them back to haiti uh they haven't had the shots they don't have the skill of ship them out of here and then other people are saying no there are people who are looking for a better life and and and so i don't know where you are but but but i know what wherever you are we need to pray about it and we need to pray for them and then and then uh lastly thirdly brother powers i want to ask you to pray for those who are affected by the hurricane in louisiana if you have some words you want to say about any of those three if you'll do that and then lead us in prayer uh i would appreciate it i guess my first thought is uh you when you mentioned cashmere high school both you and i john grew up i guess within three or four five miles from that school and you are a graduate um we need to pray for the school for the efforts because cashman high school has had some difficult days in fact the community has had some difficult days over the last 15 20 years and so uh as they're striving to come back and let's keep them in prayer and let's pray that we still have family and children in the area that they can say stay safe and the community can be a safe place for for all of us as you did i received that a text about the haiti and in fact if you saw the on the news like i saw i was i was very disturbed by the video with our police officers and the guards using whips to try to keep them away and it's a frightening thought and it's very frightening knowing that these people are coming here for they just want a better life they want some of the things that you have they want to roof over their head they want food and they want to work and where they're coming from they don't and they want safety they don't have those opportunities so uh the uh as we got the information as soon as we heard uh the garden oaks church is in business of doing something about it even before the weekend we're trying to re put some resources together to do something already and in addition to that we wanted to do it before sunday but on sunday we are planning to have a uh offering a special offering for the haiti families and as well uh we had not talked about hurricane item uh we're got worried that there are people that are still struggling with no lights some of the community churches that we've communicated with this week have been supplying hotel expense food expense gas generators and we're teaming up with them as uh the church here at garden oaks wants to help uh get transportation to take goods to louisiana so we we've heard your crime and we've heard the cry of those who are in need and this church who really wants to take part of it because that is our responsibility truly as god's children to be there so garden oaks is trying to do its part and on sunday if you'd like to contribute even more to enhance the uh the effort the more we want to have a special offering to do that and i'm hoping that's answered your question that's good that's good man i am what a blessing it's a blessing to be a member of the garden oak church of christ somebody ought to say amen yeah yeah i am so excited to be on the part that you can give you know there are there are folks on the other side of the border who wish they had wish they had a little extra i'm excited there was folks here in louisiana they cannot afford even the gas to run the generators and they have no lights they're struggling and i i think it's a blessing if you're able to give even if it's a little bit that you give something to try to make their lives a little bit easier let's pray all right and let's pray please mention brother brandon please our father our god god we're so thankful for life itself we're thankful that you've given us you've given us an opportunity to be your child god we thank you for all of your blessings even being able to get up on our own and breathe see a day which we've never seen before lord so many of us don't have to worry about food being on the table and roofs over our head and safety but dear father there's a still a portion of us that are struggling and these basic necessities of life or things that they they could only dream of so we ask you the father to be with all of your children the father as we spoke of cashmere high school and we asked you to be with brandon and we ask you to give him strength the wisdom to handle situations such as this help him to father to be the leader that you need him to be during these difficult times not only him we asked you to be with all the teachers and police other students the whole community of kashmir that they could band together that they could use this opportunity to make them stronger not to tear them apart their father we need a word from you we need a spiritual blessing to put a hedge around that school around brandon around that community to help them to be what you want them to be the father we ask that we know you see the people at the border we know you see there and you could hear their cry their father we are in this country but they're so sometimes it seems it's so little we can do to change the situation so we ask you dear father to intervene help these people find safety and security find the peace that they so richly desire therefore they help our efforts and allow them to know that their cries are not going unnoticed but we he we hear their cry and we are trying to do something about it their father we understand that hurricanes are an act of life around here but sometimes their father that's difficult to to live with the aftermath of the hurricanes the father we ask you to be with them the people your children that were affected by hurricane ida we ask you the father to bless them to be able to get back to normal the father we also ask you to help us to be able to give to them to and the funds be used wisely and properly to help them get back to where they were so god be with us this day we thank you for an opportunity to sit down steal our spirits for a few moments and listen to a word from you dear father we pray that your word will find a place in our hearts and help us to meditate and see how good you are to us and it would encourage us to be better christians better soldiers for you so god be with us and watch over us in jesus name we pray amen well thank you so much for that prayer and then thank you for the update and for those of you that perhaps tuned in just a little bit later brother brandon dickerson is a deacon here at the garden oaks church of christ he is the education director here at the garden oaks church of christ and he is the principal of the cashmere gardens high school and right there on the outskirts of the cashmere gardens high school trinity gardens park there was a shooting today of two teenagers and so we're praying for those teenagers we're praying for him also and then secondly if you did not hear it we're trying our best to help those people in haiti and then we're trying our best to help those people at the border what is help what does it look like i can't tell you but i know it is more blessed to give than to receive i know i would love to be in a position to give and hate to be in a position to be needy and so since god has blessed us uh i i love the fact brother pals that that that you're leading us in a direction so that we can help them how much how how can we i don't know but it's better to do something than nothing at all somebody ought to say amen and then secondly or thirdly to to help those people in louisiana uh that so many people helped us when hurricane harvey hit and so uh i like the fact that we're trying to help ladies and gentlemen rush with me um brothers sisters rush with me to the book of ruth book of ruth please the book of ruth i i need you to locate the book of rule and and and for those of you that are just tuning in tonight we started a series last week and ruth is a four chapter book ruth and esther are the only two ladies that are named or book named in the old testament and so when you when you flip open the bible 66 books you're going to find two names of women that stand out ruth and esther and so we have decided to go on a journey and study the book of ruth when we get to matthew chapter one we see ruth's name again and ruth is in the lineage that leads to the messiah isn't that something ruth is in the city of bethlehem where she will give birth to a son and that son will will later be the grandfather of king david who is also born in bethlehem and then we know the messiah was born in what city bethlehem and so and so i i'm excited as we step into this we're going to get the back story many times you don't get the back story and so we're going to get the back story of the book of ruth and i pray it's helpful to you we have entitled this series the best is what the best is yet to come uh i i i i i'm excited as we step into this because the truth of the matter is we're all going through something right now that we have never ever been through uh i i i said last week and i said again i thought that after the the the vast vasey vaccines were released that we would be in a period now that we were going back to normal can i tell you that who knows when we're going back to normal we are in a time where it is difficult it's rough and and and and and maybe maybe for you the pandemic is not the rough area maybe you have lost a loved one maybe you're going through a divorce maybe you are ill i i want to suggest to you that the best is yet to come i don't care what situation you're in if in fact you are god's child and you are aligned with god i believe all things work together and and and so step into this story with me step into this series with me and and and i hope you will see though it occurs in a very dark time that god eats is working in this dark time sometimes when we're going through difficult places and difficult times we ask ourselves why is god permitting this we ask ourselves where is god we say god now how could me losing my job be good how could me be losing my grandmother my mother how could make me losing my house i suggest to you that we have a sovereign god and nothing surprises him and he has already assured us whatever it is i got it and so i need you in this study with me i want to back up somebody please access the big book of bruce i want to review the first five verses which we uh read on last week and studied uh but i want someone to read it again can i get a reader read reader read or read a reader reader right right here right here ruth the first chapter and and and we're going to just back up for a second and get the first five verses again please and and as you as you are there the writer does something interesting to us he's gonna cover a 10-year period of time and as he covers that 10-year period of time no one's going to talk but him he's going to be outside showing you a narrative and it is a bitter narrative not bittersweet it's bitter come on read for us rule chapter one beginning at verse number one concluding with verse number five in the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land and a man from bethlehem in judah together with his wife and two sons went to live for a while in the country of moab the man's name was elimelech his wife's name naomi and the names of his two sons were maelon and kilian they were ephratites from bethlehem judah and they went to moab and lived there now limitless naomi's husband died and she was left with her two sons they married more bite women one named orba and the other ruth after they had lived there about 10 years both maryland and kylian also died and naomi was left without her two sons and her husband sad story sad story if you if you didn't um get last week um you ought to get it uh we we did the background sometimes when we re we read so fast and and and sometimes we end up calling words and we really don't get the intent that the author wanted us to have as he wrote the book and so last week we went for a deep dive and we were trying to put ideas together that the author of the text wanted us to see hear and feel as we stepped into this book let me just take a moment i'm not going to do it as extensive as i did last week if you want to extensive go back to last week but let's do it the bible says in verse 1 in the days when the judges rule this this is a time when there was no law and order the judge's rule everybody did whatever they wanted to there was no official government there was no official morality laws people did whatever they wanted to whenever they wanted to um and and it was a cycle uh people would come close to god god would give them a judge and they would get close to god and then that judge would die and they would go back to their own old ways and god would punish them again and then god would give them a judge and they'd come close to him and so it's a cycle it's a cycle sometimes people never figure out i'm best when i serve god and so people step in and step back they step in and step back and that's exactly what they're doing here it is the time of the judges most scholars will tell you this is the darkest period in the history of the israelites no king no official government no real prophets we had judges and so people if it was it was okay correa go for whatever and so it's in the time of judges the bible says and then the bible says there was a famine in the land when we talk about famine most of us have never seen what a famine looks like we've never seen what an animal going through a famine looks like we've never seen what crops look like in a family this is a very difficult time and and i suggested last week that that the best picture you could put in your head is the picture that they would put when they were showing us what people were going through in ethiopia of africa anybody remember those pictures the babies had bulging eyes the the they were very male nutrition three years four-year-olds looking like they are a six-month-old baby because they couldn't eat animals in in destitute condition and so it's a famine we got the judges it's it's crazy then we got a famine and then the bible says the place is in bethlehem bethlehem is the word for house of bread it is the place where people of god had a relationship with god and so here we are in bethlehem judea house of bread prays there is no bread people are hungry it's bad it's bad the the writer then switches and he shows us the characters elimelech elimelech the husband of naomi the father of the two sons decides i am going to leave bethlehem the house bread i'm going to leave the place where i know israel and god is supreme and i'm going to a country called moab if you remember last week we went to genesis 19 right anybody remember what happened in genesis 19 somebody gave me a quick statement right here genesis 19. what happened lawyer mass tell us what happened in genesis 19. in genesis 19 a lot had left sodom gamora and his daughters with him and and they decided that they needed to make sure that their seed would continue so they actually slept with their dad and uh the oldest one's child was named moab that's right so this is how this this this this this country started it's it it started through incest lot is the daddy lot is the grandfather and moab is the son very painful i i mentioned last week that though they are related to the jews they were always the enemies of the jews the jews would not allow them to pass through their country when they were coming from egypt the jews got seduced by moabite women moabite women seduced them and as the punishment god killed 25 000 of the israelites for having a sexual relationship and going and being uh servant of their god bad situation elimelech looks and the limitless says you know what i'm taking my family across over here to moab right um i mentioned and i want to say it again and i want the men to hear me our job is more than to be the provider i praise the lord i give god thanks he has provided me with means to support my wife i'm i'm proud that that that i'm a provider um i'm glad that that i get a chance uh to bring home the bacon i'm not saying that my wife never worked but i'm just saying i'm glad as a provider but but i'm perhaps even more happy that i'm the priest of the family i'm the one that that that brought the kids to bible class uh i i'm i'm the one that that that taught the kids the word of god and so we we have an obligation as a man to be the provider to be the priest and to be the protector and when we when we when we neglect the responsibility any of one of those three then then we put our family on the upside down we messed them up and so here's elimelech and and i suppose the bible doesn't tell us i suppose elimelech looks over into moab and he says the grass is green on the other side and he left his jewish heritage he left his jewish god he left his jewish friends and he goes over into a country that is a heathen country that god has told them don't enter america he takes his family there i need to run because i want to finish this chapter tonight but can i suggest when we take matters into our own hands we mess up things when when we decide you know what god said this but i know better we mess up things elimelech took things into his own hands and ladies and gentlemen brothers and sisters bad got worse come back to the text elimelech dies after he takes his wife and his two sons that that's that's bad i don't know how old those two boys were when their dead died maybe they were young kids and maybe naomi thought then you know what i need to go home elimelech's gone this is a foreign country i got these boys to raise but for some reason naomi stays there the next thing the author tells us is these boys are men and these men take two moabite women for their wives can i can i can i just tell you that that they are intermarrying with people who do not serve jehovah god yahweh when you put your family together and you're not worshiping in the same place and the same god you asking for trouble you're asking for trouble they they they they are at a point where they decide it's time for me to get married they got married and they married moabite women the author then tells us without any detail without any detail that both sons die i wonder was it a pandemic like we're going through right now i wonder did they die on the same day i wonder was it years apart we we don't know that but what we know is we got three women huh all dressed in black in the graveyard mourning their loss naomi didn't have any more children and the two girls didn't have any more children so we've got three widows with nobody to protect them it's bad it's a bad scene there there is no federal government that will speak to their needs they're in a bad place things have gotten worse can i say and worser is that all right when when when when we when we when we go on it and go after it on our own without god's assistance we mess up things i i i don't want you to miss the story the story is dark at this point but all of a sudden now when we hit this next verse we begin to get light they are 50 miles from bethlehem they're in moab and all of a sudden now in verse number six something changes i need everybody to see it come with me somebody read verse number six for me she might she might return from the country of mo but she had heard in the country of moab how that the lord had visited his people in giving them bread wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters in law with her all right can you can you stop right there thank you for reading thank you for reading okay so so focus please don't don't miss it laser light focus on verse number six cause number six all of a sudden though it's been really dark all of a sudden you get a ray of hope and i need you to see it verse number six the bible says when she heard somebody say heard when she heard in moab that the lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them naomi and her daughter-in-laws prepare to return home from there i want you to see it i want you to miss it at least 10 years earlier naomi her husband and her two boys traveled on a road from bethlehem to moab all of a sudden now naomi decides i need to leave my way and i need to go back to bethlehem anybody see that there was a road from bethlehem to moab they're in moab and ruth hears god is taking care of his people ruth naomi and ofer or in moab naomi decides i need to go back to bethlehem somebody said where are you going where are you going yeah i i don't i don't i don't know how you see repentance i don't know how you see repentance it is a complete term i am going in one direction and i've been going in that direction but then all of a sudden i get a word from the lord i i i get a word from the lord and i decide i no longer want to be in this place what i want to do is i want to go back down that same road and i want to go back home if you if you if you can't see this then you need to see luke chapter 15. luke chapter 15 that young man has left home he told his father give me what is mine i'm going to the far country he went to the far country he left home he went to the far country when he got to the far country he ended up in a picnic the bible says that in that pig pen he came to his senses critical verse in the pig pen he came to his senses he says in my father's house there is bread enough to spare where you going i'm going back to the bread i'm going back to the father i i'm i'm repenting i am leaving the far country i'm going back home can i can i suggest to you that this is the platform in which god can work when a child of god recognizes i'm at a distance from god and then turns around and says i repent i never understood people would walk down front and they would say brothers and sisters i sin i repent of my sin i confess my sin and and and all of those words i'm a little boy i'm trying to understand now what does that mean i repent i confess my sin what what is that what that really means is exactly what ruth does i am in moab but now i heard that the lord is working i repent can can can can i suggest to you as long as you are in the far country you minimize your blessings oh yeah god sends the rain he sends the sunshine on the good and the bad he he he he blesses both good and bad but but but when you are in the far country you limit your blessings i i i don't want you to walk away from this story and not see repentance she is setting the stage for repentance she is setting the stage for blessings as she decides i'm going to step on the platform of repentance i'm going to make this is a 360 degree turn no it's 180 what is it which one is it it's a 180. she i'm going this way but then i'm deciding i'm go i'm going back home i don't know sometimes sometimes people get um so comfortable on fool's heel i i don't i don't i don't know about you but and i'm not gonna testify cuz some of y'all out there might tell maybe these guys won't tell but some of y'all would i've been on fools here i've been on food and i didn't just spend a night on fools here huh if the truth be told i got an apartment on fools here huh uh i'm luke chapter 15. i'm the prodigal son but thank god i came to my senses i i recognized that that you know what i don't care how nice this is it could be wall to wall carpet it could be air conditioned it's still a pig pen i'm a child of god i'm better than this and and i don't know what snapped in bruce head but some snap i mean they only said something snapped in my nail on his head said listen it's time to get out of here she could have made that statement when her husband died but she did but thank god she made the i don't decision about y'all maybe maybe all y'all always had your halo and never got a dent in your halo uh never walked on the wild side but because you don't look like you walked on the wild side i i put the w in wow uh and so uh she she makes a decision i'm going back now now stay with the story because in a minute we're going to see a total conversion i know many times we are excited when we see a baptism in this story we're going to see something that looks just like a baptism we got repentance we're going to see a conversion in a second but before we see the conversion i i need you to see the dialogue come back come back um verse 7 verse 8 verse 10 verse 11. verse 12. verse 13 verse 14 verse 15. and then stop there at 15. so and then then then like where paul said we're going to jump into 16 but but but but can you give me the dialogue wait give me the dollar repentance we're on the road back now come on come on somebody start with verse seven and take us all the way uh to uh verse 15. wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her and they went on their way to return unto the land of judah and naomi said to her two daughters-in-law go return each of to her mother's house the lord dear kindly with you as ye have dealt with the dead and with me the lord grant you that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband then she kissed them and they lifted up their voice and wept and they said unto her surely we will return with thee unto thy people and nail me said turn again my daughters why will you go with me are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands turn again my daughters go your way for i am too old to have a husband if i should say i have hope if i shall have a husband also tonight and should also bear sons would you tarry for them till they are grown would you stay for them from having would you stay for them from having husbands nay my daughters for it grieveth me much for your faith that the hand of the lord is going out against me and they lifted up their voice and wept again and offer kissed her mother-in-law but ruth clave to her and she said behold thy sister-in-law is going back unto her people and into her gold excuse me to her gods return thou after thy sister-in-law all right stop i know you want to get to verse 16. well so ladies and gentlemen brothers and sisters we're on the road um in just a second i need somebody anybody somebody to tell me what you feel in this text they're on the road got three with them one did they still have the black on wonder how much money they had in their bag how much food did they have in that saddlebag they got to go 50 miles they got to walk they're walking on this road i've been on that road i've been between bethlehem and moab they're on that road there's a conversation on that road somebody somebody tell me don't don't get to verse 16 i know you want to get to verse 16. no oh don't go to verse 16. tell me tell me tell me what you're feeling now tell me what you're feeling tell me what you're hearing what i'm feeling right here uh naomi you know you she went through that city went to all the trials and tribulations you've got that epiphany i'm following god i see me in this i'm following god uh i'm going my way i'm i'm going closer to god you go your way i'm going to god there's nothing going to get in my way from turning back to god all right all right all right and then uh sister naomi appears to be broken it appears that everything is fallen apart that even at this point i believe she's saying i can't take care of my daughter in laws and so she's got to go home and she's telling her daughter's in-laws i can't take care of you anymore and her daughter-in-law's didn't want to go and she becomes she gets logical with them i'm too old to get married and the law was at that time from if i remember that if the uh if you're the older child dies you are to marry the younger and she's saying i'm too old to get married way too old to have children and even if i had children would you wait to marry them and so she said the only logical thing that a poor broken person could say go back home maybe you go back to your mother's house maybe your mother could take care of you and and maybe you could be safe because i cannot help you at this point and they're very brokenhearted because apparently there was a lot of love in that family that even with the lovers was not even with the love in that family was not enough to uh support them financially and so this is the place they were seeing how they love one another and how they've got to do what's best for them good sister deborah sister deborah sister david come on quick quick i'm running out of time i got out of it we have to learn how to love each other all over again at some point of our lives and i think they had to learn it all over you know god had to forgive us on some of our sins and he forgiven her so she had to go back and forgiven them as well as let them go so so so stay with me for a second stay with me i need you on this road with me i need you on the road with i know we want to go somewhere but be on the road with me right now what what what what wha what are you hearing are you hearing weeping are you hearing it do do you see people so emotional that they're falling down i'm clinging we're going to get that word in just a second you see tears you see kisses ah come on now i don't know how to explain what they have in a second everybody wants to talk about all of the love that ruth has for naomi oh ruth love naomi but these three ladies are through thick and thin together we do need to learn how to love each other we got a cold world right now y'all we got a cold world um i i had the joy this church allowed me to have a month off and [Music] i went to martha's vineyard and martha's vineyard is way up in the north and we're way down in the south and one of the things that was so interesting about martha's vineyard is people spoke to each other hi how you doing how you feeling today good to see oh i like that shirt i kept asking myself is this real i i i don't mean to sound racial but white folks were speaking to me all of a sudden the invisible person became this it's like wait a minute these people are treating people like people are people somehow we are getting colder and colder and colder um i was up in my office early and i was talking to patrick and we were patrick mentioned you know it might be the video games that that our young people are so accustomed to and they see all the blood and so they they really have no respect for something something is broken y'all i i see three women they are down they're at the bottom of the bottom they don't have any money they don't have any friends they don't have any children they don't have any protection they are in trouble but they are cleaving clinging to each other boy it's a story about love i could i could just take that segment right there and preach a sermon about love we are such a cold society we even called our own kinfolk you i remember what you did to me 10 years ago and i haven't spoken to you since then but but with blood brothers and sisters something's wrong with that i i've spoken to my daddy something's wrong with that can i can i just say to you that we are bigger than whatever we have experienced and we're bigger because we are attached to god but i know i know we need to hurry i i need to let you see oprah she kissed her mother-in-law and and she said you know what that all sounds rational i i do have a mom and dad back here i i do have somebody that let's say i went to high school with somebody i went to prom with maybe i can interest that person into remarrying me uh you know i'm going back but then now as ofer leaves naomi says now look what your sister just did you need to go too and now naomi must be complimented because she is stripping herself of all her support huh she's already lost her husband she's already lost her two sons now she's saying to her daughter-in-law y'all go back she's a big person she's selfless right but then i need you to see ruth now come on well let's put the spotlight on ruth uh now somebody wants to read ruth sister sister piles you you want to read you want to read don't you you you want to read verse 16 and and and and and verse 17 and in verse 18. that's what you want to read come on stop right there read that okay and i'm gonna read this from the king james version because it just i like the king james version better and ruth said and treat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee for whether thou goest i will go and whether thou largest i will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy god my god where thou diest i will die and there i will be buried the lord do so to me and more also if odd but death parted but death part thee in me when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her then she left speaking unto her so stop so uh let me calm down i'm not too excited i'm i am excited ladies and gentlemen we just read one of the most known passages in the entire bible we just read one of the most quoted passages in the bible you see it on wedding invitations you hear it at weddings it's interesting that this is not on a wedding invitation this is not between two people that are getting ready to be married no this is between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law it's a total conversion it's a total commitment somebody says well i don't i don't understand commitment let me help you understand commitment come to breakfast with me for a moment come to breakfast i want to show you what commitment looks like now when i have breakfast i've got some scrambled eggs that's a contribution but now if i have some bacon that's a total commitment because in order to get the bacon the pig had to die in order to get the eggs well that's just the contribution the chicken keeps going what god wants from us is a total commitment he does he doesn't want one foot in the world and one foot in the church he doesn't want you obeying some of his commandments and some not no he wants a total commitment ruth says now listen don't bother me about this i have made up my mind where you go i'll go your people will be my people your god will be my god and if anything separates us from death may god hold me to that if we had more people who understood commitment this is a total conversion i am not going back to moab i don't care if my mom's there i don't care if my dad's there i don't care my brother's there i don't care about the god that's there i don't care about the people that no i want to go with you back to bethlehem i want to go with you back with you to yoga to your people because your god your people when we walk away from the world we're not trying to hold on to the world we're saying god i want you and i want all of you and and i want you to lead me ruth had no idea what she was stepping into but i need to hurry because we're out of time and and maybe we'll touch it next week but let me just say to you that when naomi heard what ruth said the rest of the trip from moab to bethlehem was silent for some reason another naomi got it for some reason another ruth and naomi had a solitude i got it i know where you are i'm not going to bother you anymore that's your commitment we need people who have that kind of commitment for the lord well lord i'm i'm not going to touch this culvert thing but because i i know people's health but but but somewhere somehow somebody ought to be saying but god's too good to me for me to back up on god now he said he's too good to me if he brought me this far why commitment so if you see naomi repenting then i need you to see ruth converting it is is is i want your god i want the way you worship i want the people you worship with i want to live where you it's a total conversion now come back to the text oh the text really gets good come back to the text we are out of time let me let me let me let me let me let me let me touch it would you please verse 19. so the women went on their way until they came to bethlehem when they arrived in bethlehem the whole town was stirred because of them and the women exclaimed can this be near on me don't he here we have no naomi talking don't call me naomi she told them call me mara because the almighty now she got god in here el-shadda the almighty has made my life very bitter oh we could talk about that when you walk away from god you run into a storm the almighty has made my life been a bitter i went away full but the lord has brought me back empty now this had to be painful naomi's talking to the people that they they say no no that looks like they owe me she says don't call me naomi naomi means pleasant call me mara i'm bitter she says i went away full and i came back now stepping the story again uh his roof standing there real standing there her mom-in-law just said i don't have nothing you you mean you you mean you you know pick the translation you're going to get nothing out of that if you you you saying ruth is a nobody who's got to stand there listen to that i'm i'm empty i i had something but i got nothing now this had to be in my opinion a slap in the face for ruth naomi didn't mean have you ever said something and you slapped somebody in the face and you really didn't mean it don't don't don't don't don't don't call me pleasant call me bitter come back to the passage let's finish this would you the lord has afflicted me the almighty has brought misfortune upon me so naomi returned from moab accompanied by ruth the moabitess her daughter-in-law arriving in bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning see see if you read too fast you you miss your shout out naomi has repented ruth has had a conversion and they arrived in bethlehem as the barley harvest was starting ah song leader i almost want to ask you to sing that song what when what i got to quit this thing but but now you're beginning to see the best is yet to come you don't have to wait to chapter four when when when we turn around when we leave the far country when we come back to god when we convert to god god's got blessings waiting on us this was not just something that happened no the sovereign god planned when they got back it's harvest time can i can i okay i need to end i need to end i need to end but i need to tell somebody that's out there and and you're not walking close to god you're missing all of the blessings that god has for you i'm not telling you you're not blessed but i'm telling you there are blessings that god has in store for you that when he sees your heart whether it's a heart of repentance whether it's a heart of conversion god says i got something for you oh the best is you have to come i could shout right there i've been in that child i better not shout out i bet not you but this shouting stuff y'all where are you you need to come home tonight you need to rededicate your life tonight you need to say you know what i'm coming closer to god that i have ever been because i know my god knows what's going on in my life i got some stuff going on in my life i got some stuff like naomi going on in my life but when i come back home i got some stuff going on in my life like ruth but when i leave the world and decide that i'm making god jehovah god my god god has some stuff planned for you i love that jeremiah passage i know the plans i have for you parents to prosper you and not to harm you god bless you uh we have finished chapter one we got chapter two chapter three chapter four and if you think chapter one is good you wait till we step into the love story chapter two i mean this is it's like wow what are y'all doing up in here chapter two chapter three chapter four uh we're gonna see the kinsmen redeemer and if you're not careful when you look at the kinsmen redeemer you might see jesus christ doesn't care if you're from moab doesn't care where you've been all he wants to do is to bless your life okay all right um let's see final words final words propose you want the final words again come on take the final words take the final words verse 16 says but ruth replied don't urge me to leave you or return from following you where you go i will go and there you stay i will stay and your people will be my people and your god will be my god i love that and can you imagine if you are a child of god if you're a person to say that to god that could be so awesome to say i'm going to turn i'm going to follow after god regardless of what he what comes my way that i want to be with god we're praying that you can make that commitment in your life we're praying that that can be in a this as roof saw it that it could be an epiphany for you if you want things to go perfect in your life to be be right with god you want to turn and follow after him and be confident that he will take care of his children let's pray oh god we thank you for this day god we thank you for the lesson we thank you for your manservant for john to bring this to us the father we it's our prayer that we were able to see and feel the how naomi had to have felt that we were able to see the love that ruth had for naomi and somehow their father that the two of them had a relationship with you that was like none other so help us their father to strive to have a relationship with you to follow you as far as we can go dear father for those of us who are not where we are to be in relationship with you that we will make a commitment at this very moment to follow after you even to the very end god we thank you for your son that died upon the cross and we thank you that for the fact that he led way for us to follow we thank you for the promise that if we're able to follow after your son that we can see your face in peace so god be with us thank you for all you do bless our lives allow us to let your word dwell on our hearts these are so many other blessings we ask of you in jesus name we pray amen [Music] and i know the train is on time because the lord is [Music] and for those of you that are out there listening in the audience you need to know that this facility that we worship in is a facility that has the capacity of roughly 2 000 people and so if you say 25 occupancy i believe you're in the neighborhood of four to five hundred people and so as i glimpsed the audience today there are roughly 100 or so people so that means 400 more of you 300 more of you could come and we'd have plenty enough space to worship god [Music] i want to break off my friends to experience heaven's fees singing breaking always praising things we can't comprehend because i got all i need and i'm on a mission to bring people oh yes i'll pack your bags [Music] dream

Channel: The Blessings Connection

Views: 82

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: BB9oTfCzatE

Length: 70min 42sec (4242 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 23 2021