The Book of Ruth | Session 1 | Bianca Olthoff

test test good evening I'm so glad that you're here come on in and make your way find a seat thank you guys so much for being here this has been a process of a long time of planning and preparing and so I hope that if your day has been if it's been a long day and you've had a full day it was beautiful earlier and then the rain just kind of let loose I hope that you can just take a moment and just take a deep breath and just inhale and exhale somehow that just always makes me feel better so I just want you to know we are so glad that you are here tonight we actually have some friends that are spanish-speaking only and so I want to recognize them and just welcome them as well and so I'm gonna ask Rebecca to to welcome them in Spanish so this evening and tomorrow the whole time will be simultaneously translated in Spanish as well so thank you so much for being here in another let Rebecca welcome our spanish-speaking friends thank you buenas tardes mis amigas hermanos Latinas bienvenidos I say conferencia de dos mil DAC nueva es un placer para middle nos bienvenida su steadiness necesito UD phonos necesito interpretation puede pasar al frente tenemos Abdi Funes para las que se sienta más comida en espanol yo SE que Dios Vassar Casas Grandes esta noche este fin de semana ce que le in veto quebra su Corazon su mente I receive a lo que Dios tiene para ustedes de fin de semana bienvenida I wish I could do that thank you I wish I could've taco it's all I have I really have tried no I actually can say no Oh shoes when no no no bueno yes I don't even do that well but so I just say taco so I have to tell you guys last night my I was I wasn't able to have dinner with my family and so my husband and daughter and her boyfriend went to El Cerro Grande over by home goods it's one of our favorite places to go and the manager there is such a dear dear dear man but he missed me he's like looking around he's like you're missing someone and he sent home some chicken soup for me that was so sweet so I had chicken soup this afternoon for lunch but just so thankful for you guys and for our Spanish speaking only the Ministry here that allows the teaching to be broadcaster to be shared on so that they can hear it in their their native tongue so I'm so thankful for that I'm gonna ask you guys I know it's been a long day you probably for some of you you've been sitting all day if you have in a desk job or you've been on your feet home with the kids I'm gonna ask you guys just to stand up for a moment and I'm gonna ask you guys to just take a moment if you've come with some friends that's awesome but I want you to mingle around now I'm gonna give you guys just a couple of minutes to mingle around I want you to meet some people that you don't know so will you guys go ahead and do that [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] we ready to lift our voices tonight daughters of the high king [Music] we lifted our praises and unity this evening proclaiming the greatness of God you sing with us [Music] we agents his pride [Music] he's careful and they hold us safe with it is brothers call me sing that again we're treasure is careful Oh [Music] and we will say [Music] all you've done [Music] [Applause] [Music] and [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Oh [Music] [Music] together [Music] and the singers together and I will sing Oh [Music] how far [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and it became of my heart be the mouth see where I found a tree from oh he isn't Liza and let the key of my be the chef oh oh he isn't right let this be your song tonight and you are [Music] you are good you are good [Music] you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] drats move I don't know about you but I needed that that's promise that's promised that's God's word that says he'll never leave us nor forsake us he is good to those who love him he is good to those who seek Him and so I am so glad that you're here tonight I want to go ahead and have a seat I'm gonna introduce to you someone who really doesn't need an introduction she's been with us before but we're so happy to have Bianca Juarez altough back with us and she's going to be leading us for the study of Ruth from the Book of Ruth and I've been studying the Book of Ruth a little bit in preparation for this weekend and oh I forgot how rich the Old Testament can be but there is if you were here tonight I hope that these songs just if you didn't believe if you come in tonight and you didn't believe that that God is good that he's never gonna let you down you're in for a treat because Bianca has a message she has a word for us from God's Word oh shoot I can't talk and cry I thought I had gotten this out earlier so I want you to know though if you're here and that's you if you're we've been praying for so many so many of you have been praying for me and my family with my dad [Music] there's many of you that wrote prayers that you pinned to the cross during the worship and wait time at our last conference and I've been praying over those cards and so if you're here and God hasn't answered that prayer yet I'm right there with you he hasn't answered mine either but I believe he's the God who says he will split the Red Sea he can do that he can split the Red Sea the fate that we're facing so that we can walk right through it but even if he doesn't even if he doesn't move the mountain or he doesn't split that sea I still will trust him and so I hope that tonight that you've come ready to hear a word from God through Bianca she teaches in such a way she has such a gift to teach God's Word understandably and relatedly and so I just hope that tonight you've come ready to receive a blessing and maybe a word a word from the Lord that just says you can trust him that he will not let you down he will never leave you nor forsake you he is good our circumstances might not change but he is faithful and he is with you and so Bianca thank you for being here thank you thank you before before you step off if it's your first time to a Women's Conference if it's your first time to a woman's ministry event you might see tears and it's not because women are hyper emotional I am going to take a moment and honor Polly because I think the emotion that's welled up in her heart is the fact that she has been praying for us and over us and for your thinking like I just randomly came we're gonna discover tonight there is no happenstance in the economy of God and so Polly's emotion is because even in the midst of trial and trauma and persecution and pain we declare that God is good and so we I mean we just got warmed up to worship look you know like oh no I need me some more worship so I asked them in give us a little bit more now if it's your first time here you can stay seated you can stand up if y'all need to get on your knees guess what it's Friday night we're about to get turned up in the house of God so you worship how you need to worship in the band will you please just sing over us thank you miss Polly thank you so much come on worship team you are Whitney Houston tonight you are Christina Aguilera tonight you are gonna sing like you can so raise your voice so that doesn't happen can hear you that God Almighty it takes your pray then what is this all Roman hitting my nostrils it is the praises of his name let's go church come on there you go yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you see miss out you are [Music] and you are [Music] thank you guys God your Word says that you inhabits the praises of your people that means that your presence is here when we praise you so we thank you God that you are here and that you are good and that you see us and you hear us and you know us even the midst of our pain and tribulation trial and trauma I pray Lord God that you meet us here today do a work in this 24-hour span that only you can do I am believing I am declaring that you can do more in 24 hours than we have done in five years of therapy and trying to have all these conversations I believe the power of God that chains are gonna be broken that faith is gonna be found that healing is gonna be found we thank you God that we get to open up your word tonight and let you speak to us in the mighty name of Jesus can we all say amen and amen ah y'all can be seated thank you it's Friday night ladies it's Friday and I I need a little bit more excitement after that okay and listen you're not doing that for me I firmly believe that what you put in is what you get out all right see if you came here you're like tired or so frustrated and I just want to be here I lost a bet my friend dragged me like we're gonna discover tonight that there is no coincidence in the economy of God and if you're sitting here like who is this crazy Mex Rican chick hi I'm your new BFF this weekend here okay my name is Bianca wadis Altaf and I hail from the promised land also known as Southern California yes but it is I'm excited to be here this is my second time how many were not here at last year's conference I just want to record my gosh this is awesome you have no clue who I am oh all right Oh friends oh now I feel insecure okay so let me think okay so this is what we're gonna do when Miss Pauline and then Rhonda told me about the vision for this weekend the vision for this year I got really excited and then I got really nervous now I have been told that y'all are like Bible loving women I know that you guys can hang in there and we can go deep but then the insecure part of me it was just like you want me to do what you want me to go through an entire book of the Bible in three sessions Oh buckle up your safety belts friends because I'm doing all my Puerto Rican fast-talking goodness I up in here okay and says more than happy y'all have not gone through a Bible study with me I'm just really excited because this gives me an opportunity to how shall I say I love when the Bible comes to life I love when my Bible becomes like a scratch-and-sniff and I could just smell the the Sea of Galilee I want characters to pop out of the Bible when Jesus is preaching in the New Testament I wanted to fill the spit of his passion and preaching on my face and so I know that some of you guys are like well I just don't get I don't understand well let me just bring everyone up to speed on like how I interpret the Bible I was raised I'm Mexican which means I'm half Mexican half Puerto Rican a again the best of both worlds and by the way in the introduction I knew everything she was saying all right so that one crazy person that was movement in the corner that was me so I would go to my grandmother's house my Puerto Rican grandmother's house and I loved it because she let me do two things that my mom never let me do drink coffee and watch soap operas at the age of six all right and my love for narrative storytelling came in these very formative years of like passionate character analysis and coming together and when I say soap operas I'm sure many of you guys are thinking of like young and the restless' One Life to Live you know General Hospital but when I say soap operas you need to know that I'm talking about something called novellas okay and they're very different they're very very different an American Western concept of soap opera a woman who's tall spelt waist long legs with thighs that do not touch will have perfect amount of makeup ever so light in her hair will be neatly pressed and she looks languidly at her forlorn lover who has just broken up with her and says he wants nothing to do with her and she says very saintly but John I love you I don't understand please don't go and then a novella someone comes in running in like a bat out of hell she's wearing a Dukey booty dress ten pounds of makeup four inch high heels eyelashes so long which you she blinks you feel it through the screen and she comes in shouting better Juanita knows about me about what again on the end or nose ever nothing uh and then you find out that one either was our secret baby daddy and you're looking at this like oh my gosh that's the way I want us to read the Word of God all right and people are like I don't want to go to a whole weekend of reading the Bible that's boring no boo boo you boring all right so put on your safety belt I want you to pull out the Word of God if you brought your Bible want you to raise it up be real proud and allowed to say word good good good and some of your pages light up that's cool mine do too if it's your first time here you don't have a Bible I'm gonna say that Pali the women's ministry is gonna gift you a Bible in the name of Jesus and I also put the scriptures on the screen here's the thing I am a preacher by nature I'm a teacher by practice my hope today is that we could to bring those two together so listen there is a lot of content and the insecurities insecure part of me is like how can I deliver this in a way that it's gonna be easy to digest powerful and insightful but more than that revelational we've prayed over this we've prayed over y'all so let's go ahead and dive in now most fairy tales begin with this epic line once upon a time in a land far far away and those are beautiful words that conjure up immediately a castle a fair maiden a prince some sort of drama but as we're going to read in the pages of Ruth this is not a fairy tale and there is no fairy godmother in the pages of Scripture that in Scripture we are gonna discover these amazing characters that love God were passionate and kind and gentle and sincere and then we're gonna need some characters that were the complete opposite of that and they're gonna serve as learning lessons for us even today so welcome to the land of the down-and-out where dreams are dashed and lives have been lost this is the place where no one wants to be and yet that's where the Book of Ruth starts how awesome is that so tonight wherever you're at maybe you feel like you are in a completely depressed state maybe you feel like you have lost so much I know many of people many of our sisters in the room lost so much in the storm a year ago that are still reeling with bitterness anger resentment maybe you've had a really rough year since the last time that we were all together maybe you've lost loved one maybe we're dealing with mental health or physical health I just wanna let you know tonight you are not alone turn with me to Ruth chapter 1 verse 1 in the days of the judge when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land so a woman from Bethlehem and Judah together with his wife and two sons went to live for a while in a country of Moab the man's name was a Lim elec his wife's name was Naomi and the names of his two sons were Malin and Killian they were effort tights from Bethlehem Judah and they went to Moab till and live there now Elimelech Naomi's husband died and she left left with her two sons they've married Moabite women one name or PHA and the other name Ruth after they had lived there about 10 years both Malin and Killian also died and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband house that debbie downer that's how the books starting are you for real but here's the thing if I were to have an honest conversation with you right now many of you would have very very similar introductions but see we never talk about that they come to church with our church basis we say how are you hush tag blessed God is good I'm so tired of faking the funk I hope that we can be honest because this is where the book starts the stage is set and automatically we meet the characters in the first chapter and then the first five verses of chapter two we meet all the characters that we need to know about the story begins with a man by the name of Elimelech and his wife naomi and they were from Bible scholars it's in the Bible what city were they from Bethlehem yes Xtra kredit pastor's wife did you say that Oh Polly of course extra-credit Polly yes they were from a city called Bethlehem if you're taking note tonight Bethlehem means House of bread oh yes they're the bread factory now it's symbolic not like they like made Wonder Bread it was symbolic of fruitfulness and faithfulness like God was a this was a city of provision and so Elimelech and Iommi lived in Bethlehem and they had Tucson so two sons Mei Lan and Killian now this is the irony that the book starts off with there is a Chaman in the house of red see we're gonna see all these ironic things that happen in this book and it's so fun so we're gonna be like bible detectives some of you note-takers are gonna find this interesting so to stop the family from experiencing the famine a limo like travels to moab now this might not be a big deal because you're like moab who cares about moab well listen moab is a place that you do not want to be it is I mean this is where it is full of tension and it's not for God's people we'll get into that in a second but the author of Ruth doesn't mention the drama that's associated with his Moab why because the original readers they would have known when you say Moab oh that's like the ghetto that's like not the place you want to be Moab is no bueno okay that's you do not want to be there and some from other accounts in the Old Testament we are told now the city was founded out of an incestuous relationship so already it was birthed into drama a father and a daughter coming together and they had a son named Moab I mean it was an illicit relationship and illicit affair and this was just again not good and what we see here in fact in songs and another Old Testament reference it is referred to as gods washbasin and footstool if you were a child of God that's the place that you were not supposed to be so to make sure that we understand what this place is think of like Las Vegas and Bangkok at New Year's that's a Moab I mean this is a crazy place and this is where this family went and this is the place that we meet our characters now I'm obsessed with people's the definitions and the meanings of people's names why is that this is a recent discovery that I didn't know and I don't have a whole lot of time to get into this but just let me just tell you this exciting news for those that were here last time you met my mother my Puerto Rican mother with the red hair she's crazy survived cancer god bless I mean it was a really great story and what we what my mom discovered in the past year is she submitted her DNA to ancestry.com now if you read play with fire you know I had a wild fascination with Jewish people like my life I wanted to be chosen so I would pray please God please God let me marry a Jew I might be a Jew and then I found I didn't work like that so that I prayed please let me marry a Jew so my children will be chosen well mom got her DNA results back sisters let me tell you how good my god is okay in addition to her being 16 percent sudanese so what up what Conda my mom is also 1% Jew I was like what I found out in the airport and I turned to my husband and I'm like but haba b'shem adonai baby i'm half a percent Jew I'm Jewish all right so let me tell you about my Hebrew history us Jews we care a lot about names but for real names bear great significance in the in the Bible nays were either a prophetic foretelling of the destiny that awaited you or a situation surrounding your birth so let me back this up Moses means pulled from water where was he pulled some of you said water the extra credit bonus homeschool kids said denial Amen great the name Isaac means laughter because his mom was 80 something years old and she was buying the pens and diapers at the same time and as y'all laughed his name meant laughter okay so names were very important so again as Bible detectives I want to discover who we're working with no takers the name Allah molec means my God is king hmm okay the name Naomi means sweet and pleasant so mister my God is king mary's miss sweetie and they have two sons and their names are Mei Lan and Killian now it sounds like star trek names but you want to know what their names mean sick and dying like how sad it's like naming your kids heart disease and tuberculosis like why would you do that well I know that super stars are naming their children fruit and navigational directions but uh it's just you probably don't want to name your children that but if names were prophetic for tellings or names surrounded your birth situation it's highly probable that these kids were sick from birth and the subtle irony another ironic thing that's here is a little X name means my God is king and yet he didn't trust that God would provide for his family in Bethlehem so he took them to Moab the place that God did not want his people to be and this is what happens male on and killing on true to their name sick and dying they end up getting sick and dying so we are told and we just read that Allah Malec dies and she had her two sons and her two sons married Moabite women that is a no-no you're not supposed to do that good Jewish boy knows you don't marry Moabite women they're like Vegas showgirls complete with the jewelry in all like in my mind they're like a character from Jersey Shore you know like gym tan laundry yeah how you doing okay like that's not the woman that you want to invite to your Thanksgiving dinner and yet that's who they married so all the men elimi like mail on Kilian two three men left the three women as widows matriarch of the family Naomi she decides to take her family back to Bethlehem all hope is gone everything is lost financially emotionally relationally everything is gone so let's pick this up in verse 11 so on this journey before we go there they leave Moab and they're enroute they're on route to Israel to Bethlehem the house of what yes so every time you read Bethlehem you know it's a house of bread so they're on their way to the House of bread and then she's just in the middle of the desert sing no way Yahweh I'm out of here I can't do it anymore my husband's gone my sons are gone she's like Yiddish in my head okay is she saying hey don't be a schmuck I can't do this anymore girls just go back to Moab I got nothing for you and then look it pick it up in verse 11 but no he said return home my daughters why would you come with me I'm going am I going to have more Sun so you could be who can become your husband's return home my daughters I'm too old to have another husband and even if I thought there was still hope for me even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons would you wait until they grew up would you remain unmarried for them no my daughters it is more bitter for me than for you because the Lord's hand has turned against me at this they wept out loud then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye but Ruth Ruth clung to her god bless you see that's a Jewish blessing right there verse 15 looked said Naomi your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods go back with her so in tears and weeping these woman had done life together they all lost their husbands their brother-in-law their father-in-law it's a sad moment I mean the moms crying the daughters are crying the dogs crying it's just a sad moment and she says what do I have nothing to give you in that culture when she says even if I were to get married and have sons tonight would you wait so what she's saying is and what usually happens if a daughter is widowed then then she could have rights to marry the younger son during that time women had no intellectual capita property rights educational rights they had nothing so their association their livelihood was under that of a man there was no men what do we do again wave a Yahweh what do we do so she tells or she tells the daughters go just go now note-takers the name Orpah means back of neck the name Ruth means friendly or companion and this is amazing because Orpah walks away but Ruth becomes a friendly companion for the journey and look at verse 16 somebody said Wow thank you cuz I thought like dang that was revelation when I read that I was like oh how amazing it is gonna get better level up level up level up look at 16 when Ruth were platon but Ruth replied don't urge me to leave you or turn back from you where you go I will go where you stay I will stay your people will be my people and your God my God where you go I will go where you stay I will say your people will be my people your God my God where you die I will die and there I will be buried may the Lord deal with me ever but be it ever so severely if even death separates you from me now this is some information that what I read I just keep doubt about here's the thing the women were Moabites but yet they had Hebrew names that's interesting because if they were born in Moab they wouldn't have Hebrew names but scholars believe that these names were given to them after they had come out of Moab so with that lens with that filter do you see the subtle irony the nuances of scripture that Ruth's name means friends or companion and Orpah snai means back of neck is that because as or / turned around and walked back to Moab the last thing they saw was the back of her yeah I told you level up sister I just like you you guys stay here tomorrow okay I know who you are but I like you in the most hopeless of situations we have the possibility of finding hope in community and here's the thing they're about to walk into Bethlehem their hometown and I believe that as Ruth as exceeding as Naomi found healing in a company of Ruth and has she found healing in the company of her people I believe that this weekend you are gonna find healing and community here so welcome home welcome to Bethlehem the house of bread and yes this is port city Community Church but you want to know something Jesus says he is the bread of life you have come to the right place and I'm believing that you're gonna experience a healing here so these women roll up they finally make it to Bethlehem they're stinky and sweaty and single like Pringles they ain't got two pennies to rub together in their pocket thank God nothing and in verse 19 in her community as she walks in the girls are all chattering oh my gosh hey girl hey Naomi is that you you came back no way this is amazing miss sweetie sweetheart you're back in town and look at verse 19 I'm verse 20 she says boy hey don't call me Naomi which means sweet and pleasant no call me Mara which means bitter because the Lord has dealt with me very bitterly very bitterly I've lost everything I've lost my husband I lost my sons I lost my tent I have nothing do you hear it because sometimes when we read the pages of Scripture we read it like it's a textbook like the Lord has felt dealt with me very bitterly no I want us to go in there and thank her for being real because here's the thing most commentators when they kind of exegete this passage which means pull it apart they say oh naomi was bitter and bitter is bad all throughout the Bible with says bitter is bad you can go to your concordance the last couple pages of your Bible if you have a boozy Bible and you look up bitter and there's gonna be a ton of verses that say bitter is bad Ephesians says bitterness is bad Hebrew says bitters is bad just two sis Naomi bitterness is bad she was bad you want to know what I wanted to I want to dive into the pages of Scripture and thank her because sometimes I need to know that I'm not going crazy because there's gonna be moments ladies if you haven't already experienced being bitter with God it might happen when God doesn't act like our Butler or our genie or do what we want him to do when he wants when we want him to do it she's honest with her situation and tonight I pray that we too can can be honest with where we're at today we're gonna do some inventory some soul-searching later I'm gonna ask you to do something afterwards and I'm before I ask you to do that task I'm just gonna ask you that you'd be be honest about where you are and I like that in this season she wasn't speaking Christianese she wasn't just trying to give the great stop Pat answer but she really just wanted to be honest and if you're here welcome home and in the midst of this utter hopelessness we're gonna see hope arise in the midst of maybe you're quite possibly utter hopelessness when is this gonna change am I ever gonna get my wayward child back am I ever gonna experience healing am I ever gonna get a breakthrough and if we're gonna get a man do I have to stay with this man wherever you are at in that spectrum I hope that we experience some breakthrough because bitter Niomi and friendly Ruth roll up to Bethlehem naomi has no money no husband no home no sons no land but she did in heret a Moabite women okay remember the Vegas showgirl she walks in everyone was just like who is that crazy girl she's got bangles she's got jewelry she her eyes are lined she's got fake eyelashes I mean this is the girl out of the novella okay but just because life or even this text looks hopeless don't believe it because hope is on the horizon in verse 22 the chapter ends so beautifully with this phrase and it was barley harvest season if if harvest was coming what does that let us know that the famine had lifted and that food was on the horizon and just as food is on the horizon hope is on the horizon okay part of the underlying theme out of this book is this concept of Providence that God is good and that God provides he's in control of all so throughout the pages of this story I hope that you read this book during the week it's only four chapters I believe you can get through it tonight if you wants you to prepare for tomorrow but the underlying theme of this book is that God is good that's God calling right now he's saying pay attention he's saying that is providential I couldn't even cue that yes Lord okay preaching your word bye all right I love Florence and the Machine have this lyric from this song it's always darkest before the dawn and as a light piercing the darkness there's a character that we're about to discover at the beginning of chapter 2 where we see that all of a sudden a man comes running into the scene like David Hasselhoff out of Baywatch like yes the protector mister Boaz okay every time that you read Boaz you need to think in your head all right oh yes rare you can't do her you can say Aurora okay so I'm gonna test you guys can you go I'm gonna say and Boaz comes onto the scene Oh half-and-half okay yes the head I love this man look at chapter 2 verse 1 then I only had a relative on her husband's side a man of standing from the clan of a limb alack from the clan of Allah Moloch whose name was Boaz that was your cue yah I'm gonna pray that the spirit of espresso just cover you all tonight he wasn't from the clan of who uh who was a lemon lick the why the husband of Naomi did y'all catch that whoa yes there's some foreshadowing in here right now listen you guys are Bible scholars and don't even know it you are gonna talk about Ruth inside and out because you know it he's from the clan of alumina lek but what does that mean he's related to Boaz oh yes you got it that time you don't have to do it for the rest of the study but in your head I want you to hear that okay like Boaz yes so many of the women in the community probably were about Boaz and we're gonna find out that this man means his name Boaz means strength he was described in Scripture as a man a worthy man or a man of standing depending on your translations now when we read the phrase worthy man that is phraseology it's used elsewhere in the Old Testament that will sometimes referred to as a man of war so he's strong upstanding man who was a warrior yes it's like Russell Crowe in Gladiator that's who I want you to think of okay here he comes in and the best part of all of this for all the single ladies in the house he was single all right yes how many single ladies are up in here yeah oh wow a lot okay so my purity talk in one sentence because uh yes Bible scholar that's right the last time I was here we were talking about I ate addthis guy for three years thought I was gonna marry him I affectionately referred to him as Satan and we broke up thank you Jesus and so my life lesson especially in youth ministry is talking to girls and like them making really dumb decisions and I asked them well why are you dating him or you so hot but he doesn't love Jesus so is he'll like get that out of your life but purity talk in one sentence thank you sister no ringy no dingy okay and if you don't know what dingy is ask Pauly at the ends all right there you go I love you Foley okay so the man of strengths the man of honor the man of war Boaz the stark chapter chapter comparison chapter one you got sick and dying compared to mister strength come on he's like guests on from Beauty and the Beast you know no one spits like I saw no one thinks like a star no one's incredibly defined as my sex as a son I remember that song out of Beauty and the Beast and this is this is the Gaston Boas version of the Old Testament except with like a man of worthy of respect who was incredibly kind let me pick this up in verse 2 of chapter two let me go to the fields ah excuse me side note so they roll into town everyone's like I'm so excited that you're here the women come back Ruth and Naomi they have nothing so what do they do the only hope on the horizon was the fact that the harvest was near that means blessing was coming and I'm gonna believe and stand with you in this season that even if you're coming out of a spiritual famine that the Lord brought you to the house of bread and so the women are there and what do they do what do they have during the brink of hunger and starvation there's no one to protect them they are homeless they're helpless they have nothing so they're in need Ruth asked Naomi to go glean the heads of grain this is where we pick it up in verse two let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor I only said to her go ahead my daughter so in a hot sunny day the Sun is blazing down it's barley harvest which means it's somewhere in the summer it could be May June or July it is very very hot and in the midst of the heat and the mists of the harvest Ruth doesn't realize it but hope is on the horizon not just for money but for a honey to a little foreshadowing right there I mean isn't that great when they have both price Jesus a man who loves Jesus and has a job that's the only standard single ladies okay and not like he carries a 10-pound Bible he's got to love Jesus like come to church be baptized be in Scripture pray with you have his teeth flossed to the glory of God all right the standards are low friends now I love this because we see that in the midst of their hunger Ruth is like hey yo what do we do I'm gonna go work Ruth wasn't gonna sit back and wait from bread to fall from heaven no way she got busy and she went to work for people in here who were experiencing maybe you graduated college and you couldn't find a job and now you're throwing a hissy fit with God you move back in with your parents and you're just angry your wedding - just let God bring everything to you right now I'm just gonna tell you that it might not work that way you might have to get a J Oh be all right you know what I'd love for Naomi her healing came from community after being honest about her grieving but for Ruth her healing came when she got to work and I don't know where you're at right now but if one mode of like working yourself to death has not brought healing or you being community your talk about the same issue for the last nine years and he left you but you know what you deserve better praise God move on all right I'm tired of women going around Mount Horeb again and again I'm waiting for my freedom land I'm waiting for my freedom then go the opposite direction okay so wherever you experience healing I love that Ruth got busy we are told in Leviticus 19 verses 9 through 10 that God set up the original welfare system you know I love about the Word of God the Word of God is the only book in antiquity that has given the poor the marginalized and the immigrant a fair shake at life right that's that's our God that's our faith and that's our belief and I don't say that pontificating because I care about social justice I say this because I'm a first-generation American I say this because my dad came to this country at the age of 10 and he was brought with my grandmother who was physically abused who was abandoned who was marginalized and before juice shops and hipsters made juicing cool my grandmother became an entrepreneur out of necessity on the streets of Los Angeles pouring fresh squeezed juices from cucumber juice to orange juice and lemonade for businessmen and entrepreneurs down in Los Angeles and I say this as someone who is so grateful for this country my dad fought in Vietnam to gain his citizenship to this country I'm so in love with this country and I'm grateful for people who are naturally born here to think of the immigrant the marginalized and the outcast because that is God that's the heart of our Father and that's the fourth that's that's our history as America so Ruth wasn't just given a handout they didn't give her food or barley as a pity or benevolence this woman went to work she's both the foreigner and she's poor and she was a Moabite which means she was marginalized like people looked at her like oh she's a Moabite but you want to know something her dignity and her character showed that she was willing to do any menial tasks I love that in Proverbs 31 and when we speak about the proverbs 31 woman it says that she's unafraid to work with her hands and here that's what she does she said hey let me just see who can provide who whose eyes I can find favoring who well let me work in their field because I just we have to survive and this is what happens in the heat of the field she pulls her hair up in a messy bun she gets her skirt and ties it in a knot and she said I did not come this far to only come this far I'm gonna go in the field and I'm gonna get barley and we ain't gonna die at least not today don't you love her resolved now I don't know how you see her in your mind but I want you to put her face on her body I do because I believe that we can be women who are ready to go into the field and fight for our families fight for our dream fight for our destiny fight for our harvest fight for our abundance fight for our breakthrough fight for our health fight for our kids fight for our marriages fight for our education fight for our homes we're not gonna let walk by and be like well this was my lot in life pick yo head up all right you ain't dead God ain't done go to your fields look at verse 3 look at verse 3 so she went out entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters as it turned out she was working in a field belonging to Boaz who's from the clan of a limo lek wait a hot second the author notes something here that I don't want to miss he says as it turns out you know what I love in some translations it says it just so happened now in in Hebrew um irony in literature and writing these phrases like it just so happened or as it turned out this is irony this is it just so happened wink wink this is a tongue-in-cheek reference in the original Hebrew context and what the author does here this is a pivot point pivot point in writing is when you're going in a direction and all of a sudden you pivot to highlight something new this is a pivot point in the text it shows the invisible hand of God and the daily affairs of ordinary people the word God is used 26 times in this book but only twice by the author and where are they in the beginning and at the end they're bookends to this book why I believe that the characters speak the utterance of who God is and we see God in their daily affairs I love that Ruth Ruth is an average woman Ruth is just like you and me Ruth is not a superstar Ruth doesn't have an Instagram following Ruth is not married Ruth is barren which means that she's infertile she cannot have kids which during that time was viewed to be curse from God and if family and child children were legacy the fact that you had none meant you had nothing for your future you had no insurance plan for your life here is a woman that has lost absolutely everything and what I love Ruth did not have a parting fee Ruth didn't have a burning bush like Moses you know what she got nothing and you know I resonate with that I pray dear God give me a burning bush give me a sign of what you want me to do silence but this book gives me so much hope because it's the invisible hand of God that is guiding us and this is the beautiful undercurrent of this entire story so she's hungry and homeless and husbandless and she randomly ends up in a field of a rich single handsome kind landowner who loves Jesus and happens to be her relative come on God come on that's Providence right there this isn't luck or chance or happenstance as a Providence I like to rap okay the first words out of Boaz's mouth I love this it is a prayer this man is biblical he kicks it old-school he quotes a prayer out of numbers chapter 6 verse 24 and it is the first line says the Lord be with you so here's a man with air with resources and wherewithal he's rollin up in his Escalade with 16 inch rims the spinners you know he's bumping some Hillsong and he gets out with his a pack and biceps and the first thing he says isn't isn't how's my fields how's my money how's my numbers the first thing he does is the Lord bless you a man who cares about his people you imagine if your boss rolls up into your cubicle it's like god bless you how are you today and that's exactly what Boaz does he cares about those who are under his care and this beautiful intricate blending of work and worship Boaz appears as a man of great godliness who blesses every single character in this book but in addition to him blessing characters in this book everyone speaks well of Boaz in the next session tomorrow morning we're going to talk a little bit about Boaz but as we kind of like kind of dovetail towards the end for this evening I want to talk about this huge concept throughout the entire book stay with me because this is super important we're gonna focus on the idea of blessed kindness blessed kindness we see these blessings all throughout the Book of Ruth but they come and they come in in different characters but I love that the story is peppered throughout the pages of this story with this concept of loving kindness and blessing the word for this in Hebrew is I said can you say has said can you say it like a good Jew has said I said yes yes I'm actually going to the motherland tomorrow I'm going to Israel so I will bring those seriously I am and so I'm gonna bring all of your prayers and all wear our intercessions I'm gonna take them across the ocean I'm gonna deposit them in the Holy Land and I my prayer for you is a prayer of has said what is his set his set is loving compassionate the kindness and the goodness of God and the first time that we see this word has said was in chapter 1 but verse 8 and we said we read this we didn't catch a sir there because I do want to go there don't want to pause there but Naomi said it over the girls in Ruth chapter 1 verse 8 may the Lord show you kindness that word is his said Ruth if see me Naomi is basically telling the girls in that passage I have nothing to give you but I pray that my God would give you his said that he would be loving and kind and gracious and overflow you and bless you there's two people in this entire book that are referred to with his said the first one is God and the second one is Ruth I was so moved when I was studying this book because this is a woman who models the kind of the character of kindness and compassion and goodness and she carries the attributes of God she is spoken about as a woman of his said we see a couple verses later that Boaz publicly praises the character of Ruth and how she treats her mother-in-law so here's this woman that everyone would have looked down upon think of her as an immigrant that might look a little skanky low hoochie that comes into Wilmington and she wants to come and be part of this community and she's willing to work she's willing to throw out the trash she's willing to watch her kids and volunteer in kids ministry and you're always a little suspect cuz you know she a Moabite you know them oh yeah but I love that Boaz is a man who sees beyond the reputation sees beyond maybe the exterior and looks at this woman and not only does he look at her but he prays for her and asked that God reward her and praised her look at chapter 2 verse 12 chapter 2 verse 12 may the Lord repay you for what you have done what has she done she's taking care of her mother-in-law she's working hard may you be richly rewarded by the Lord the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge and this would be one of many prayers that Boaz praised in the book but he always prays for someone else never do we see Boaz praying for himself he's always praying for someone else and you want to know the irony this book is so ironic it really is you want to know the I read about this everything that Boaz praise for Boaz answers everything that beau has praised for Boaz is the one to answer it know he prays that God would be a wing of her protection over Ruth and overnigh oh me and guess what he does ah spoiler alert you got to come back tomorrow for the juicy details but guess what he becomes the wing of protection over this woman as we walk away from this session I wanted to do some inventory tonight I want us to to ask and think of ourselves that are we the women that are praying for someone that we can do something for dear lord I pray for Jackie I pray that you surround her with a sense of community ha here's a concept once you call Jackie and invite her to tomorrow session dear God please help Mike make his rent you know why he said he's experiencing some fun tough financial situation you got money that you can bless him with do you see the connection here and here's what I absolutely love is that there's a lot of reasons for prayer lots of reasons for prayer and we'll get into this tomorrow but two great reasons is one so that prayer can move the heart of God but to that prayer moves our heart and sometimes we can answer our very prayers for those in our community and as Niomi prayed for his said over Ruth as Boaz pray a prayer of his said over Ruth as the woman of the town prayed a prayer of has said over Niomi I want to pray a prayer of a said over us and I will utter the words of Naomi over us in this room tonight I may not have anything to give you but I pray that my God would give you his said and that his loving and gracious and merciful kindness would overflow and bless you in your life I utter these words because I feel like Naomi what can I give you I'm not gonna go home with you I'm not going to have a magical touch to fix your marriage I'm not gonna woo your wayward child back I am not the one to heal you but I'm gonna pray has said over this room today that God's loving merciful gracious kindness will fall upon us and that he will bless you abundantly maybe tonight you feel like you are stumbling out of Moab maybe you are bitter and angry like Naomi maybe you are overwhelming with abundance like Boaz maybe you are just lost in a new community and you're a hustler like Ruth in the pages of this story we see the importance of names and so the question want us to ask second fold is what is your name not the name that was given to you at birth the name that you've chosen for yourself maybe that name tonight is loser stupid rejected bankrupt divorce insignificant child to God I want you to hold on to the name that God is whispering to you because you could be like Ruth and it doesn't matter what anyone thinks about you it remembers is that you are a chosen child of God and his Ruth declared who her God was on that road to Bethlehem I firmly believe the moment you declare God as your God your identity changes so what name are you gonna hold on here tonight I'm gonna take a moment of silence for us to do two things if you have a notebook or the notebook that was given to us we walk through the the conference pamphlet have a pen I want you to first pull out who is someone that you've been praying for and if you haven't been praying for him that's okay you can catch up who is someone then maybe the Lord is bringing to mind right now and part two of that question is can you be the answer to that person's prayer can you be the solution to that person's issue and the second thing I want you to do as we wrap up is I want you to identify your name God we come before you we ask that your presence fall in this moment in the stillness in the quiet we know that you're here so may your spirit speak to us in this moment amen if you haven't begin to address question two what is your name will you go ahead and move to that question how many of you wrote down a name we raise your hand how many wrote down a name that was negative a name that was spoken over you a label that was put on you you just raised your hand yeah and there's a little bit of emotion in the room and that's totally okay or emotional because we wear our baggage in our scars of deep wounds of words that have affected us but tonight we get to claim a new name child of God Boas will become the great Redeemer for Ruth and Naomi but there is a redeemer that is much greater one to come that we will discuss tomorrow but Charles H Spurgeon says that Jesus is our great and glorious Boaz he is the one that sees a sweaty stinky and single ready to mingle like a Pringle in a field broker than a joke and begging like Regan and chooses us so for those that wrote down a negative name I'm gonna give you another minute to write down the name that you want to be called and whoever had a mediocre name like you're like me I'm a provider what do you want to be called if you put down mom what do you want to be called if you don't have children and you put down barren or I'm fertile what do you want to be called just side no if there is someone in here who is named Scarface whether through an accident or acne that has really wounded you I'm gonna let you know daughter of the Most High King that he finds you absolutely stunningly beautiful and the lies the enemy that has marred you not just on the outside but on the inside can be broken today I'm here to stand with you and I'll be praying for you during worship I just felt that in my heart that someone here has been called Scarface or something like a negative word because of something on your face you've tried getting maybe makeup to cover maybe even surgery to cover I don't know but I know that God sees you as stunningly beautiful so let's take one more minute I want you to identify the name that you want to have if Ruth got a new name so can we God have you come before you I thank you for your word I ask that you just use the words that were spoken tonight this is just straight teaching your word is so rich and your word are so full and so we walk away with these three concepts tonight God that you are a God of Providence you are good and you are in control of all we thank you for the invisible hand that is guiding us even here tonight - we are a child of God and you have renamed us and you have fashioned us and three God we are believing that harvest is near we ask God that you seal this message tonight that you seal our hearts they make us hungry and thirsty for your word tomorrow and the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen thank you hello I was sitting having such a good time I realized I don't have a microphone that's why I went running okay the second part of our program you can go take a little break for five or eight minutes if you want Bianca and then head on back we're going to have a Q&A session in just a little bit so when you came in tonight there was a little white card on everyone's chair if there's a question you want to ask about Bianca's teaching last time Bianca was here we had a Q&A we had a lot of fun people asked deep spiritual questions other people asked how she got her eyelashes so long other how her jeans fit people asked all kinds of questions last time but now if you have some question our ladies are going to pick up we'll give you about five minutes I'm going to give you some more information but get about five minutes write something down and then our team here in the front if you pass all your cards to the middle so you guys pass that way and you guys pass through the middle you know you get the idea and then we'll collect them and we'll get to try and get some of your questions answered some logistical things tonight Bianca will be doing a book signing out in the atrium not tomorrow just tonight I don't know if any of you Fred play with fire that's Bianca's book that she taught from last time she was here so heard that book is out there her new book on Ruth will be entitled what is it how to make your life not suck that's name so it's based on the book of Ruth but it's one of those books that you're gonna be reading it and not realizing it's a Bible study but it's all in there it's it's an awesome book but it doesn't come out until August so we'll be waiting for that one but her other book is out there so you can go meet her say hey get a book signed if you buy one out there or just go say hey merchandise table is out there also so have a look at that and we have a discreet little photo booth so I don't know if you noticed it right across from guest services with a pretty chair that looks like this so if you want to have a photo op with your friends feel free to do that and if any of you Instagram Facebook whatever hashtag it and on the inside of your our program books you could share it with us we'd love to have your photos whatever what are our hashtags here what do we have a hashtag PC three women or hashtag PC three WM 2019 so again please share your photos that would be lots of fun for us to get to see your program books bring them back tomorrow we do not have a lot of extras so bring bring it back tomorrow I think that's it logistically I know one other thing last first time we had a Women's Conference here we always have an exit survey as you leave and one comment that a lot of women made was a lot of women attended together in groups and if people are here on their own they felt you know a little bit left out and tomorrow morning we will have about a 30 minute break in the morning where we'll have coffee and cookies and water and also it's complimentary stuff out there and women who are attending alone felt you know a little I would I don't mind getting up talking to you here but if I'd stand out there alone for half an hour I would feel very awkward so in the gallery which is right next to our cafe out there tomorrow morning there will be a place for women if you're here alone we have recruited about 16 of our most extroverted women at port city and they're gonna be in there dying to meet you and die to make you feel at home in our community so please join us in the gallery tomorrow morning if you here on your own you don't need to feel awkward like I would totally feel alright so anyone have any cards filled out team if you want to you know just pass them all to the end of your row to the center and otherwise they're going to our little team here our conference planning team all of these ladies have worked so hard to pull this off it really does take I think there were maybe 59 greeters signed up for today and for tomorrow and then all the production people I mean must be a hundred volunteers to pull this off so we thank everybody so much for all of their hard work alright our panel can come on Chelsea Bianca Polly if you guys want to make your way up to your chairs oh you hate looking at myself on the camera you look really does add 45 pounds it's true I did tell her to take an eight minute break didn't I oh here they come hey are you see here eventually maybe I'll wander a little bit so let me make some introductions well Bianca needs no introduction I know that about half third of the people who are here this evening don't actually attend port city so welcome Polly Clausen is our women's coordinator at port city for those of you who don't know her and we have sweet Chelsey and Chelsey works with Bianca what is your role and I help along side of the church that pastors Matt and Bianca just heard her husband just launched five months ago cool all right well thank you well I have a question I have a question to start our panel off I had a lot of time to think about my question but just to get going while we're waiting all of our ladies are going to go through the questions and see if we can find some extra good ones all right so you've introduced yourselves yes I've done that Rhonda thank you Bianca yesterday a few of us got together with Bianca and you made a comment about how there have been so many dramatic changes that you're seeing in women's ministry across the country can you expand on that a little bit for us what are some of the changes you're seeing and like they're women of all ages that you meet across the country so what trends are you noticing in women's ministry what do you think women need out of women's ministry in your opinion or women in general yeah so I'm noticing this interesting trend the fact that port cities has a women's ministry is very rare women's ministry are being beginning to be cut from the evangelical church at large and trying to pull women in to the general church population which I totally understand and I get however Matthew Arnold has this fabulous quote about and I'm gonna butcher it but essentially he is saying that there is no stronger force than when women to get together we had a great move of God and we take a look at church history and women are the undercurrent out of Luke chapter 5 there's a group of women that funded the ministry of jesus and supported jesus woman worth across women a woman was the first person to hear the message of the resurrected Jesus the Old Testament the first worship leader was a woman I mean there's women are valuable and when I see the landscape of the American churches just fascinating I was talking to miss Paul yesterday about it that because when his ministry are being cut women are now looking for a sense of community from the outside and so what y'all don't know if this is your home church or you're like visiting in the fact that a church is going to take staff and time and resources to put together a day-and-a-half conference for us is insane in fact I didn't even realize what the price point was most conferences nowadays for women's conferences are anywhere from 50 to 200 dollars and this was $20 if you all signed up early $20 the late bucks I'd pay 25 like I just want us to be mindful of a couple things if you don't have community our walk is gonna be really hard it's just gonna be really hard and then when God's women come together things can happen power is there like life change can happen and then also just affirm palling in the women out here of this church you put the conference on just thank you thank you for caring for women and seeing valuing women if you're part of this house if you're part of this church mow it look like just to say thank you to pass through the staff and the pastoral staff and the worship team for giving of their time which is really cool thank you thank you it's good Chelsea you're a millennial Hey which means she's in her early 20s I have a question for you Chelsea as a young woman in your early 20s freshly out of college but someone with an amazing life opportunity getting to work with Bianca right out of the gate a big score that's the bhojas you're also exposed to all sorts of women's ministries across the country traveling with Bianca so as a millennial do you see yourself fitting in in women's ministries the way that they're designed now you see this age gap one night when we travel the globe that there's a lack of Millennials in the church period not just women but Millennials and so I don't see a lot of my peers at these conferences and I don't see a lot of them and I think a lot of that plays into intimidation and and it's also a age thing but you go in and we want to get fed we want to get poured into by the older generation but Millennials do have this stigma and this stereotype and I get it but there are also Millennials there are not a lot but it's very rare but there are a lot of Millennials who are hungry for the word who want to do things differently who want to change the narrative of our generation we just want a chance we just want a yes we just want to be around the older generation and to hear and so you pour it into so it only takes a yes I'll come alongside of me as Bianca was saying and and come do life it's a community thing a community-based thing and I believe Millennials are lacking that and we if we don't find community in the church we will go find it somewhere else which is why there is this stigma and stereotypes so I'd like to see more of us in the church and the way that the older generation can help and play along is just to say come alongside of me yes come with me yeah okay so there's an invite Polly Thank You Chelsea pauley can you tell us about your vision for women's ministry at port city one I think one of the things that you know when we were talking about this last night you know I I've been on staff for a little over three years now and I knew that without a question that when God invited me I actually didn't want this position I I argued with God and I just like I told Lisa cycle out there when she said you need to apply for this position I'm like nope not interested thank you I love being a part of the church I've mentored women for a number of years and I just I loved port city I didn't want any reason not to love port city and so I wasn't interested to be really honest but I God changed god had a whole different plan in mind and he basically just spoke to me that he was in but he's doing something and he was inviting me into it and so for three years now it's not about my position is actually called women's coordinator it's not called women's ministry I believe that women's ministry is something that is it's a result it's something that happens it's women that love Jesus and just want to and I love what Chelsea what you're saying it's it's our desire to just come alongside one another older women it's it's biblical it's what's God God's Word tells us in Titus is that the older women they come alongside and they teach they speak into they encourage but we all need each other and so women's ministry here at Port City is just it's the Ronda is the Christian's Michelle's the Ashley's so many of you you are women's ministry because you are you're growing in your walk with the Lord we can't give to others what we don't have and so as we it was as we are growing in our walk with God we're compelled to pour it out to someone else to come along someone else to share it with or to encourage them to love on them I love to pray to pray for one another to uphold there's ninety six one anothers we're to be one another een one another and so the NASB has 96:1 in other passages their commands in the New Testament and so that's what women's ministry at Port City is really all about it's just it's if you belong if you regularly attend here at Port City that's the women that are coming alongside and wanting to come alongside our overflow young women our refuge our different ministries the different opportunities are so many different ways to be able to live out our faith every day right where you are Thank You Polly we're so grateful to have Polly here at Port City we really are you're such a blessing Polly about a year and I know she she would never tell you this so about a year and a half ago Polly decided to start trying to have quarterly women's organized activities about every three months so the first one you know I helped a little tiny bit organize it and 90 women came out and we were psyched without 90 women that's great women really are hungry for everything that you're saying a number of months later next quarter 240 women came out last I guess the end of January we had one that had been postponed it was supposed to happen in September but we all know about Florence came to town so we had it in January 550 women showed up for that event we didn't have any splashy radio ads or any I mean it was just grassroots you know as you said relational relational evangelism really were just we invited we did what Chelsea said we just ask somebody all right first question how do we break the cycle of being bitter promising to go gather God's harvest then going right back to being bitter sounds like it might be for you to add into it so we're living out like healing and community by all having different perspectives and so to break the cycle of bitterness is something that's very it's difficult it's a process and sometimes we want the instantaneous fix and we want to hold on to the promise of God harvest is coming but we don't want to go through process we want the promise without the process it's going to be a daily discipline some real practical things I mean there's a lot that we can go into this and there are some great resources even if you just look on Christian resources on bitterness you're gonna find some great resources I know that a couple off that my head I'll bring them in for tomorrow at all same right the beginning but just for starters I think the power of the word of God and speaking the Word of God over our hearts memorizing the word of God getting on our knees and praying Hebrews tells us not to have a root of bitterness because bitterness is like a weed it's like you plucked the top out and then it grows deeper and then it comes up higher so it's almost like an uprooting of bitterness to make sure that we like proverbs says not like a dog to our vomit that just returns back to that and laps it up what does it look like to have bitterness broken off of us I believe it's in community it's honesty it's the Word of God it's prayer and in some cases it's godly counseling that might be medical therapy of meeting with a therapist or a counselor someone license to help you process of the pain and hurt or trauma that you've experienced I love what you said about Scripture and I think you know bitterness is something that if we're really honest there are things that that there's cut deep it cut deep into our heart and so to first just to be honest and to recognize it to be able to to acknowledge that you have those emotions I think sometimes as women we put on the happy face or we have to pretend that we've got it all together or that we're not feeling the feelings that we are and so one just to acknowledge it and to have a trusted friend a trusted confident that you can talk to to say hey this is what's going on and then to know and and I just really encourage you the power of God's Word I think sometimes we one of my favorites is is Romans 15:13 and it just simply says that he is the god of Hope may he fill you with all joy and peace in the middle of heartache in the middle of a hardship joy and peace seem like the most elusive things ever but I think sometimes just speaking those words the power of God's word that says he may he fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit it's what God desires for us and so to be able to speak that and hold on to it and trust him there is something little by little by little that he does Molly thank you all right this is a deep spiritual question what's your spirit animal I love the lioness I really do like you've seen Lion King Nala I love that there are the hunters they go out and find food and I feel like what would it look like to be like a lioness you know the mane oh thank you Miss Molly so now I want to be an eagle I want to fly I'm afraid of heights those would be a bad eagle I think mine will be the eagle as well I want to be aligned but I'm just not like that okay I like unicorns I really she's a rare one I want to be Winnie the Pooh he's always like just a little overweight everyone loves them he's real happy and eats all the time all right you're gonna have to read this one Estacado you know motorcycle news I'm I'm not too sure um is there is there a Spanish speaker that can translate I just want to make sure I don't want para see can you come forward really quick and let's move to the other one the writing's a little bit difficult for me and I didn't wear my contacts Oh bless my heart can you okay go to the next one that's right we'll have alright somebody is asking will you do a Song of Solomon study next oh yes oh my gosh we just did SOS because I call it SOS we did ask the West at church for a relationship series that I've also done an eight series through the book but I teach it literally I don't know if y'all people in the South can handle a literal translation is hot and heavy but it's so good the answer is yes it's coming thank you oh okay sorry okay great question is it a sin to be mad at God great question so um we have a God of mercy we have a God of kindness on a God who is very patient and we can back that up with Scripture we don't have time but just trust me and if you don't believe me then google it so I believe I believe that God gives us space to come to him and I don't think that it is a sin to be upset maybe angry but I think it's a sin to stay there we could feel it and get back up and we could feel it and get back up God is okay with the wrestle and I'm gonna go as far I think there's many women in here that are wrestling with different things it could be anger it could be bitterness it could be hatred it could be a bunch of different things but don't lose the wrestle and the wrestle is God is in control of all and God is good that is the underlying theme of Ruth it's Providence that God is good and God is in control great question I don't think it's a sin but I think it's a sin to stay there can you go backwards with purity ie my bf and I might not have wanted like we should oh waited whoops might not have waited like we should have but I think we both want to wait till marriage did we already ruin it can we be redeemed it's a great question such a great question I'm going to say if you've crossed the line as far as like that physical act of sexuality it is what it is but here's the thing scripture tells us that God makes everything new and I believe that he can even renew a sense of purity in your hearts I'm gonna say congratulations sister for making that decision not to sleep with your boyfriend before you're married like I think that is a great decision and I'm gonna go as far as saying as God is gonna bless you for this he is gonna bless you ten times over I promise I promise mark my word and I feel like sometimes it feels like it's like I love purity I really am I was a virgin when I got married I'm like about it I was like the really old virgin when I got married but whatever and I waited you know and it's not cool I mean it's cool when you're 16 to feel like I'm a virgin it's not going 25 26 27 28 then people just think that you're weird you know but I firmly believe so I will say the best choice is abstinence 100% but here's the thing I believe it the community and the story you get to tell of we did this it was not how we wanted it to go down but look at what God did is an amazing testimony I think that's one of the things just to remember that the car the character of God is forgiveness and and and what God is redeemed it's done God's forgiven sin sin is sin should we recognize it we confess it but then we receive the free gift of salvation and with that comes forgiveness and so to know that don't stay in that place of of guilt and shame god that's not God's heart for you we are beloved daughters of the Living God and he says you were forgiven yeah and so to receive God's grace and forgiveness and to not stay there but to make a choice - it's a new day his mercies his faithfulness is so good his mercies are new each and every morning it's a new day that's what I tell myself when I'm dieting today it's the same thing though guys would sin with sin habits we've got today's a new day okay God you know my heart so today's a new day and I love Jesus in John chapter 4 the woman that was caught in the act of adultery like she was in sin like not like she had sinned she was currently back to sin she was thrown at the feet of Jesus John chapter 8 John chapter 4 is a Samaritan woman John chapter 8 is the woman that was in an affair caught in the act and then Jesus said you're free where are your accusers and she said there are none and Jesus said neither do I accuse you but go and sin no more you get a do-over thank you Chelsea what for you tell us about your experience with women in prison Wow the crazy thing is I see more people free in prison than I do outside and what I mean by that is that our very first time going in they were singing of songs that said I am set free oh I am set free it is for freedom that I am set free I've never seen a group of people so desperate and maybe it's because that's the only thing they have to cling on to you in that moment but these women are so desperate just for the presence of God they're so desperate to be loved they're so desperate to be seen and so that has kind of checked me because I go out and I question I do have physical freedom but do I live in such a way that is free and do I live in such a way of just desperation for God's presence and desperation for that so um it's just been crazy to see how like on fire they are for God how passionate they are during worship we just did a conference a couple months ago and we're going back in next month but during the conference we we just preached love on them brought them food just it was a great day and we went around around and we were asking some of their testimonies and why they were there and how they liked the conference and a lot of them said I'm so glad I didn't get released because had I not got released I wouldn't have found Jesus today so I've seen so many people find Jesus within the prison system so it's been pretty great experience thank you they can't run from you okay another deep spiritual question for you Bianca what curling iron do you use you know it okay so this is like legit my hairstylist taught me okay so you can use the wand but I don't feel like I'm coordinated enough for the wand you have to use the glove then it's hot I use a one and a half inch barrel I just curl it like so it's like ringlets and then you get a circle brush and you just brush it out and then spray it that's it it works alright somebody wants to know if Matt is here tonight my Matt I know he's your chips and salsa yeah but he sends his regards Matt is my husband we've been married eight and a half years we have a third child which is our church that we launched five months ago I have two stepkids he sends his regards and that man is he really is my right hand and so many things we don't have an assistant and he stepped in and filled the gap as well as pastoring the church and taking care of all this crazy and so he's not here but sends his regards how old are your kids now 15 and 13 I came into the life at 3 and 5 busy house very busy okay we've got time for a couple more Paulie yeah okay number one piece of advice for single ladies PS you're amazing actually just why don't you good answers because you are technically single and very ready to mingle so if you have a coots um that's where the hassle drops we thought they're willing to relocate to California beat harder amazing okay let me answer this question I think my main piece of advice and and Bianca talked about this today like Boaz found Ruth while she was working and I think a lot of things I think a lot of single women me especially Millennials our eyes are always open which is fine with who's the next guy or is he single is we all do the metal check in church where people the guy will walk does he have a ring on his finger we all do it and so I think I though the desire is great that if your mind is being consumed by that I think I check your motives but also um get with of her single women but I also get counsel from people who are married in in relationships because you realize number do you really want that right now and number two how to go about it the correct way so I would say like back to the Ruth thing Ruth found boys found Ruth while she was working she wasn't seeking him he found her so if you're in the state where you feel like you're constantly seeking that's probably not the one for you he will find you God will bring the right guy in the right time so I'd say wait word sister word [Applause] the misnomer in dating is that you're looking for your other half this actually came from Socratic philosophy Socrates wrote a treatise of philosophy in early Athens that said that the soul was cut in half the gods couldn't handle humanity cut the soul in half and you're wondering you're wandering wandering other half is out there and then you go find them well this is permeated even our philosophy today thinking that we're gonna have this Jerry Maguire moment you complete me two halves make a hole in mathematics but they do not make a hole in our lives Colossians 1:20 says that the only person that Christ is what makes us complete and so if you're constantly looking for someone to complete you you're just gonna mess so if you are single what does it look like to fight for your health and then I always say go to your friends and your family your loved one and have an eval check have them evaluate you have them rate you on your spiritual depth on your emotional responsibility your emotional quotient make sure that you're not crazy rate you on your responsibility can you keep your room clean if you can't keep your room clean you're not gonna keep your house clean you know it's like you can't keep your car clean are you ready to take care of another human being being a child I mean and then there's also like the hygiene check y'all I'm gonna get into that tomorrow okay do you shower regularly if you're on day seven a dry shampoo that's not a good look you know like do you have halitosis from hell that's not a good look you know ask your friends and then take care of find healing for yourself before you try to join with the relationship all right one more question I can't hear the voice of God I feel like all my friends can how can I get there do you want answer that first I love that question you too I love that question because you know at first it's just the heart's desire the you wanna hear there's a longing to hear God's voice to discern his voice so I just want to encourage you one comparison is the kiss of death don't compare yourself don't compare other things you will always come out on the short end of the stick so don't compare yourself to your friends if if you're if others are hearing the voice of God that's your perception they may have a whole different perception but if you are if you're longing to hear from the Lord be still be still look for him and and ask him open your eyes oftentimes when I'm wanting to just to hear God I find that God speaks to me in so many different ways I the other morning I'm was working out I had to be at the gym at 5:00 a.m. it's dark at 5:00 a.m. the sky was absolutely magnificent it was a pitch black but the stars were so brilliant and I just I've been praying for this event I've been praying for Bianca and her children and God just spoke to me and I and I always asked to see a shooting star I don't often see them but I saw a shooting star and so I just felt like that was God speaking to me it wasn't a voice but it was God speaking to me just affirming that this moment that I could have jumped in the car and sped off to the gym but I had this moment to take in the beauty of his creation the magnificence of the morning sky and just to take it in and just to be still yeah so want to encourage you just if you desire to hear God's voice he desires to speak to you he may be speaking and you just haven't tuned in quite - to his voice so be still be still listen open your eyes ask him to open your eyes to see him and he you will hear him and it'll be your own special love language I think it's also important to figure out when people would say things like I heard God say or God told me I always felt like they were on an FM station and I was on the AM station like I don't hear God and then I felt like less spiritual and then I felt like I had a lie but that I'm lying about hearing the voice of God which is counterintuitive anyway and it wasn't until I began to search the ways that we hear God and became very very clear to me and every time I every time I hear someone saying like how do you hear God I realized in study we can back this up later but there's usually four personality types and we we we use language of I hear God or I heard God but some people are here's some people are seers some people are feelers and some people are no errs I didn't realize that God was speaking to me when I felt something I just thought I was hyper emotional but I hear God when I feel something so I can be talking to someone and I feel empathetic pain that's God they can be very sensitive to them some people are dreamers Joseph was a dreamer Paul had dreams Peter had dreams Paul had dreams yeah Paul had dreams and Peter want to be a heretic all right and so some people they will hear God speak or they will know that God's speaking to them through a vision or a dream and we kind of dismissed that but no that's God speaking to you some people are no where's my husband it's so annoying he just knows that God has called him to do something and that's how God speaks to him he knew we had to start a church he didn't know how but he knew that we had to start a church those people the downfall of knowers is that when they know they are annoyed with people that don't understand no God told us to do this the problem with people with feelers like myself were so emotional that if we don't feel it we just don't want to do it you know the problem with visionaries the people that you see dreams or visions is that they're frustrated with people who don't see what they saw and there's hears and those are people that whether the Word of God or just a still quiet voice I love what miss Polly said about being still sometimes we're running so fast that we don't have time to see or know or hear or fill but maybe you have been having dreams maybe you've been hearing God maybe you've been feeling God or knowing God trust that write it down I always have a rule of threes if I feel like God is speaking to me I write it down and I document it then I line it up with the what the Word of God says is it in alignment with the Word of God and then I take it to my community God speaks line it up a scripture taken by my community do you think this about me do you think that this coincide is what I feel what I felt and I thought I was most marry this guy I remember sayin I thought of supposed to marry him I took it to my community and everyone said run he's not the one for you I didn't listen but I think sometimes we're prone in our emotions to like take Scripture and try to move it to what we want and so always vetting it through God and the word and our community thank you so much ladies Pali will you close us in prayer okay father thank you so much for just an amazing evening a time rich in your word father we've learned so much and I father I thank you for the opportunity to just be able to sit and think about assess God who is it that you have laid on our hearts father we I just I thank you so much for the opportunity to meet Melanie tonight that was brave to just hear about this on the radio and just come and just show up father for so many that have come this evening with an expectant hearts Oh God we are just thankful for how you have met us father we ask now that you would just go with us carry us safely to our homes I pray father I claim your word of Zephaniah 3:17 would you sing over us through the watches of this night father as we just soak in and as we let your word resonate in our hearts prepare us father for tomorrow to return to hear father this amazing story the redemption of hope of provision God we love you we just pray this in the name of Jesus amen guys there is don't forget that we are gonna have a time of book signing out in the atrium so I'm gonna let you go ahead and go get in place but if you'll give Bianca just a moment we're gonna have book signing the photo booth will out there please remember to bring your booklets back we didn't have we don't have a lot of extras for tomorrow but if you will make sure that you come back tomorrow for a great morning we love you guys thank you

Channel: Port City Community Church

Views: 20,324

Rating: 4.8620691 out of 5

Keywords: PC3, Port City, Port City Community Church, Church, Wilmington, Worship, Music, Jesus, God, Production, Women's Conference, Bianca, Olthoff, Ruth, Book of Ruth, PC3 Women

Id: 72QfCuzYwSU

Length: 110min 42sec (6642 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 07 2019