The Lessons of Ruth

what's up zion church hello zion woodbridge greenbelt landover fort washington and zion anywhere and everywhere and designed to come john you you some of y'all got a design going on it ain't even a real one it's just you got a design at your house and we don't even know but praise the lord for your location amen we appreciate you amen yeah we we support all the locations even the ones we haven't identified just send us a notice and we'll put you on the list amen amen so this is a great we've reached another month this is a new month and yeah it's may it's may it's may and you know what it doesn't really feel like a new season to me until the weather starts to change so that's what's happening now so yeah i'm so excited about the new season and then the warmer weather i'm excited but speaking of new i'd like to welcome all of our new official members across all of our campuses at zion welcome uncle welcome yes great they those are people who can they completed the virtual under the hood class the new membership pre-regulated class and that's so great so we applaud you we welcome you so honored to have they made it official they made it you know people go to zion church for like eight years yes and never join us so because we're gonna be pressing them to join so after eight years of shacking up with us we'd be legit now we married yes that probably wasn't the right way to say it but it's okay we're good we're good we're legitimate yes but welcome and if there are any of you out there who do want to become official members there should be a link on the screen that will guide you through that process so you too can make it official make it official be official amen why don't you officially pray for our time in god's word amen amen lord we thank you for may and the new month and warmer weather and health and strength and just bringing us bringing us through the winter and whatever we went through lord we are here today listening to your word and we are attentive and we are ready to hear what you're saying to us through your your preacher you're our pastor and we're excited and what's the word i'm looking for expectant thank you god for speaking to us through your vessel and i pray for just open ears and an open heart in jesus name amen amen amen thank you hon yeah that's good that's good great service today great praise and worship everything the hosting and all of that just done with such excellence and we're now going to get into this word if you have a bible or access to the bible go to the old testament book of ruth ruth yeah ruth old testament book of ruth and i'm going to be in the first chapter if you have access to the bible or if you can you can follow along on the screen if you want the verses that we'll be covering today uh this is this is not going to be an exhaustive list look at the book of ruth it's going to be more of a teaser the book of ruth is just four chapters just the whole story is told in four chapters you can read it probably in 12 minutes you can read the whole book and capture the story it's an amazing story it's like a movie almost and uh if you if you have time i want i want this to be a teaser i want this to be to to make you want to go deeper into the book and learn more because i'm just going to cover just a few highlights from the first half of the story uh in our time together today but in ruth chapter 1 i want to look at the first five verses reading from the new living translation and then we'll get into what god would what god would show us today it says in verse one in the days when the judges ruled in israel a severe famine came upon the land so a man from bethlehem in judah left his home and went to live in the country of moab taking his wife and two sons with him the man's name was elimelech and his wife was naomi verse 2 says their sons were maelon and killian they were epithets that's a hard word right there from bethlehem in the land of judah and when they reached moab they settled there first three then elimelech died naomi was left with her two sons two sons married moabite women one married a woman named orpah and the other a woman named ruth but about 10 years later both maelon and killian died this left naomi alone without her two sons or her husband i'm gonna stop right there i know it's somber but i want to use the subject today lessons from ruth lessons from ruth again this will not be exhaustive this is more of a teaser but the first thing that jumped out at me that i think has practical implications is verse 1 gives us the timing of this story it says it was in those days in the days when judges ruled in israel that's a very important thing because if you go back if you have a physical copy of the bible if you go back to the verse right in front of ruth chapter 1 verse 1 the verse right before that is in the book right before that called the book of judges and if you look at judges chapter 21 verse 25 it gives you the timing of the story of ruth it says in those days israel had no king all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes now i want you to hear that in in those days israel had no king and so all the people did what was right in their own eyes that is the context that is the period of time in which this story takes place is taking place during a time when people are doing their own thing they're doing whatever seems right in their own eyes that's the time of the book of ruth it is important to understand that and the first thing it makes me think of is what is it like to live a kingless life a life without authority a life without a king a life in a culture when we do whatever we want to do whatever feels good you do it to each his own have it your way don't knock my thing i won't knock yours relative moral relativism is what it's called where where people just basically do whatever they want to do that's what is going on in israel now here's the deal it's not that israel didn't have a king god was their king he was the king of kings and rightly so they they wanted they didn't have a democracy they didn't have and they didn't have a theocracy which is what god intended for them god had delivered them time after time after time after time he loved on them he provided for him he made ways for him over and over and over again but though god was in position to be king he was prepared to be king he was willing to be their king their philosophy was we have no king we do whatever we want to do whatever seems right to us i wonder i want to ask a question i don't want to get way into your business but i want to ask you a question are you living a kingless life you know what that means that means you that means you run the show in your life you are your own boss you you you you use god you know we talk about god use me a lot of people god use me you use god when when you're a kingless you live a kingdom's life you use god uh you kind of hire guard god is like hired part-time he don't get paid but he's like on your staff part-time and he's there for protection and provision as needed not not he's not there to be providential and in control he's dead little watch my back look out for me make a way for me bring me just give me this job give me this give me that like like like like that's not a king now that doesn't mean you're not even saying that doesn't mean you're not saved doesn't mean you haven't accepted jesus christ your savior but there's a big difference between being him being your savior and him being lord uh who's your king because see see when you when you have a king see we can sing he's my king and we can say he's my king but his kingship shows up in your decisions and in your behavior if he's truly my king then i don't get to do whatever i want to do if he's truly my king then i tr i tend to acquiesce my will and submit my will and even my flesh and my desires and my wishes to him because he's king he's king and i'm asking you today have you lived the kingdom's life and what's it like to do that because see this is very significant because you have to understand when the bible says there was a severe famine that hit this land the man who moved his family y'all his name is elimelech do you know what elimelech means the name elimelech means god is king that's what his name mean it means god is king and so here he is his name means god is king but he's living in an environment in a context where they say we have no king so his name should have been a reminder to them that we live under a theocracy that god is our as our king he's our ruler he's sovereign over us but it didn't work he lived it he had that name but he wasn't living in a culture like that and it seemed like it was impacting his behavior and his decision making because when famine hit the land in verse 1 there is not one single indication that he sought god about to move he's about to relocate his whole family from a place called bethlehem to put verse one up bethlehem is where they live they live in a place called bethlehem see in order to understand the book of ruth you've got to understand the meaning of terms in the book of ruth it's very very rich in this literary literary form and so the word bethlehem means the house of bread and bethlehem in judea in in judah the word judah means the place of praise and so they lived in the house of bread in the place of praise and the man leading the family's name was god is king now how about that what's that up his name is god is king his wife's name means pleasant they live in the house of bread in the place of praise and famine hit that land i'm telling you you can be saved and you can be under the authority of god and you can be under the blessing of god but famine will come to all of us everybody's got to face a famine famine is just a part of life it's a part of our existence it's a struggle that we all must face famine is a time when difficulty comes when hardship comes into our life and famine came into their life and he decided elimelech god is king decided to make a move and there's no reference to him checking in with god about it he just grabbed his family and said we're going to moab now moab by definition means away from the father that's interesting right there it means away from the father how about that so he's living his name means god is king he lives in the house of bread bethlehem in the place of praise judah his name means god is king his wife means name's pleasant but as soon as hardship comes he moves away from the father that's ooh that's good right there it reminds me of luke chapter 15. i believe it's luke chapter 15 where there was a son who went to his father called the prodigal son he went to his father and he says i want my inheritance now before you even die and the father distributes his inheritance to both sons of the son that wanted to leave and the son that didn't even want to leave and the younger son left his father and went to the bible calls a distant place and there he wasted all of his money living wildly and what is interesting to me is not where he went is who he left he left the father he left the father that's what's happening right here in the story they're moving to moab away from the father and i don't care my brother my sister how great an opportunity is it's not worth it if it moves you away from the father if it moves your family away from the father i don't care if you can become the president of the united states if you have to compromise to do it if you have to negotiate your principles and your values if it moves you away from the father no money no amount of money no matter no amount of prestige no amount of success or a claim is worth moving away from the father it's dangerous to move away from the father so eliminate takes his family and they make this move in a famine how do you handle a famine everybody has famines what is your what is your famine protocol because you're going to have one what is your famine protocol be you know you know a lot of people everybody has famine but everybody doesn't handle famine the same way because some people have a famine plan see the way you handle famine which is lacking your life the way you handle periods in your life where there's not enough is you handle that by preparing for it by saving up your resources to throw up against your family so during a feast you don't eat all your feasts you store it away so when famine comes you have something left to eat that's why when there's a furlough in the government there are people standing all around church filling up the church standing in the altar where they can't do it and covet but they you know everybody's all stressed out but the people who are experiencing the same furlough who are not stressed out are people who save their money see the best way to handle a famine is to prepare for it before it comes what are you doing pre-famine that prepares you for the famine that's going to come that's the best way of handling it and maybe elimelech wasn't prepared for difficult times or maybe he just was the kind of person that whenever difficulty would come he would try to move away from it and people who like being comfortable have no interest in being committed you see sometimes god doesn't want you to escape something he wants you to endure it and he wants you to be educated by it because the lesson that the famine came to teach you is more valuable than the pain you'll have to endure to get it but if you leave the famine and miss the lesson you walk away from the pain but you're still immature because you didn't get matured by what by the pain and the lesson that the famine came to teach so now here's a man whose name means god is king who is living in a place called the house of bread in the place of praise who moves his family away from the father to a place called moab let me ask you a question do you have a relocation strategy what should go into a relocation strategy like when when you're thinking about relocating we think about moving your family taking your family because you're not going to be able to live through this life without possibilities and probabilities and opportunities to say and i don't mean because you're in the military and you get deployed i mean like life happens and you find opportunities or greener pastures and opportunities what what goes into that decision we don't we don't have any record that he prayed so we know he didn't pray well maybe he did but he's not on record and and the the move was a disaster i mean the move was a complete disaster think about it from this standpoint his name means god is king wife's name means pleasant they had two sons y'all look at verse two i think it's in verse two the first son's name was maelon you know what his name means it means infirmity the second son's name was killian it means destruction now i'm telling you the truth that's what these boys names mean what kind of family is this where the father's name means god is king the mother's name means pleasant and they name their children sickness infirmity and destruction what kind of mess is this let me tell you something what you call your children is important what you name them is important in the world with all that is up against our children already the last thing they need is from their household to be negatively identified by how we name them names matter words matter and maybe it's not a coincidence that the fact that they named him this that in less than three verses elimelech maelon and kilian were all dead i don't know i don't i don't know i know this sounds harsh this sounds like probably a harsh sermon to some of you because but but it may be maybe you know sometimes even when you make the right decision it doesn't mean you're not going to have hard times it doesn't mean things won't be difficult even you make the right decision but but i'm saying we have to look at what consequences was this decision did this decision have on his family when he left the house of bread in the place of praise in a place where he had been planted to go away from the father to a place moab was full of idolatry it may have had opportunities it may have careers and you know what it reminds me and i know some people gonna get mad at me for saying this but but but somebody i think it needs to be said i look at our people as an african-american people and i remember my grandparents being people of faith and people who went to church and people who were praying people and their parents like that and i and i started wondering when did it when watch this when did we leave the father what generation left the father what generation went to moab and got government jobs and we got the house and we we got the cars and we got the two-car garages and we got our kids in private schools and what generation but we got all of that but we left the father and we're still we got to moab and we got the money and we got the opportunity but we're still recovering from being away from the father it matters relocations matter and it's not so much it's not so much you could you could be close to god in moab you can be close to god in bethlehem you can be close to god in in in judah god is ubiquitous he's everywhere so if i'm standing right here on this stage i'm the same distance from god as if i'm standing right here it's it's not geography it's alignment it's alignment it's alignment it's your you you if you make a move that takes you out of line that's why in genesis chapter 3 when when adam has sinned and god says where are you it wasn't a geographical question it was an alignment question where are you i know i can tell by the way you're acting you're not you're not aligned with me when i when a few minutes ago we were in alignment you were clear you were obedient to me but now you've moved the move wasn't just physical it's an alignment move do y'all understand what i'm saying it's an alignment movement and i'm asking you have you made moves have you here's the word here's the word compromise compromise put that in the chat compromise compromise compromise have you compromised have you negotiated have you you just just a little white lie just just a little just a little adjustment of the numbers it's a move it's a move it's a move it's a moab move and what should go into it this man takes his wife and his sons and when you lead a family you are responsible for every move your family is impacted by your move he takes his family they go to a place called moab away from the father and the bible says when they reach moab watch this y'all when they reach moab at the end of verse 2 the bible says they didn't just visit there they settled there they lived there they parked there they settled there they settled there they didn't just they didn't they weren't just passing through until things got better back in the house of bread and in the place of praise the bible says they settled there look at the last three words of verse two they settled there and look at the first three words of verse three and eliminate died they settled there then elimelech died cause you always die where you settle you always die where you settle wherever you settle in your finances that's where you die wherever you settle in your fitness that's where you die wherever you settle in your marriage that's where you die you always die when you settle let me ask you a question today have you settled wherever your life have you settled in and where area of your life of your life are you kingly sin maybe he's king over your money but he's not king over your marriage and whatever your life where famine is hit that is exposed lack of preparation see famine will expose lack of preparation that's why the best thing to do with a famine is prepare for it so if financial famine is coming that means i'm making less money less resources going to be coming in did i prepare for it if i was saving money i can fight the famine when a physical famine a medical famine comes into our life the more physically fit we are the faster we can recover from a physical famine but if i'm already out of shape and i'm not taking care of myself at all and i never work out i never eat right i never do anything to take care of my body then the famine will have an even greater impact on me are you all following me if you're following me put in the chat we following you pastor we follow you we follow you so my question right now is from a practical standpoint if you're in a situation where you're thinking about relocating what goes into your decision you're saying there's a place we can go or we can stay here how do you decide that just put in the chat if you don't mind sharing that what are you what goes into your decision what do you what do you look for in a new location what do you look for you look you look i mean i mean i would think you know some piper said we look for schools i think that's important if you got school-aged children what kind of schools do they have some of us don't even think about that we just like i like the house but that's a bad house we don't care the school system is like the bottom of the whole county i like that house right so so now you're gonna have to pay for school because or you're gonna have to deal you're gonna have to pay one way or another you're gonna pay for your kid being in a bad school or you're gonna pay for your kid to be in a good one but you're gonna pay so so in school how about prayer does that go into the process god what do you want if it's not what you want close the door please don't let us move if it's not what you want make it clear to us what about what about spousal agreement i can't tell you how many moves i wanted to make and vicky and i didn't agree on how many moves she want to make we didn't agree on so we don't move we don't move we ain't on the same page about it we ain't gonna move we're just gonna stay right here like there's gotta be some kind of agreement what what how about a family meeting where everybody in the family gets to contribute to their concerns like i don't want to move i don't want to lose my friends i don't want to try to make new friends like like how can we hear all of the concerns and allay those concerns i mean everybody have a voice in the move you don't know because you don't know the cost emotional costs and psychological costs and domestic costs sometimes you got to count up all the costs when you go make a move every move has costs associated how about this one how about this this is a big one family support when elimelech moved from bethlehem and judah they left they went to a place they knew nothing about they had nobody there that they knew i see people taking opportunities and you're going away with a young family and you have no you're going to a place where there's no support not having family support is hard you can't babysit through zoom you can't watch kids through facetime you need support that's why generational housing is so important it's like a big fan now generational housing because they're not just saying we want our grandparents and parents and grandchildren to be in the same community or the same state we're going to be in the same roof that's the support we're trying to get like that's that's a big deal where's your family how about a spiritual family have you considered the fact that having a church family is important in your life if that's important to you in your move like we're gonna go to church like i know a lot everybody's church virtually right now but but that's just because we're in a pandemic when we open up again like like you can go to zion woodbridge you go to zion for watching you can go zion green bro you can design land over you have relationships you can be in small groups you can be in community like like but what if you relocate do you is that is that going to be important to you like all of these things matter all these things should be taken into consideration your career opportunities you are they ascending career opportunities are there attainable career opportunities with this move are they affordable career opportunities when i say affordable see some jobs pay a lot but they cost a lot can you pay the cost of working 18 hours now to be in charge can your family handle that is there quality medical care there when there's a chronic illness in the family is the cost of living proportionate to the income you're going to receive so that you're not upside down all of these things are for us we talk about all the time is there a quality grocery store around there like that matters to us at this stage and all like we need we can't eat at chick-fil-a all the time like like it's gonna become important that you have like like food that that's that's healthy research research research google uh analysis and and and how people rate communities and rate the schools and rate the environment all of that should go into your decision and none of that seemed to happen so you see what happened it left there's a family of four and in a matter of years all that was left was three widows naomi ruth norman maelon killian infirmity and destruction dead elimelech god is king is dead ooh listen to that god is king died god is king died what a picture of israel when elimelech died what a pitcher god is king is dead around here that's the environment that this family is now in one decision one decision so i'm gonna let y'all read the story on your own i'm gonna go to a little bit more to happen so verse six they get word that things are better back in judah and so naomi ruth and oprah start heading back to naomi's hometown and while they're on the way back naomi says you know what let's stop hold her y'all go back to your mother's hearing moab go back and maybe you can find the security of having a husband um i i have nothing to give you ain't no need y'all i ain't i don't have any kids and y'all been good to me i want the best for y'all and they were like no we going with you we want to be with you she said no this don't make sense listen are y'all gonna wait for me to have another baby in my old age and then wait for that child to grow up so you can marry him going back home so when orp heard that she's like that's a good point right there that's i mean that's not gonna work the oprah kissed her and went home but ruth clung to her and ruth said i ain't gonna let you go what she says in verses 16 and 17 are so powerful that it's used and it's used in in marriage vows she says wherever you go i'm going your people will be my people your god will be my god where you die will die may nothing but death separate them that's commitment right there and so here's by the way this is what blew me away about it was was naomi says in verse 13 that god has put his fist against and then when she gets down when they get back to judah they walk in town and people recognize that they said is that naomi is that sister pleasant and she scrunched her face and said don't call me pleasant call me mara i'm bitter for the lord has dealt bitterly with me don't call me pleasant i left here full and i've come back empty she's saying this by the way and ruth's standing right there with her somebody's willing to give their life for it she said not only she's not only cranky but she's insensitive and it made me think of something that i call i would call this circumstantial character it's character based on circumstance because naomi's dame meant pleasant so they would call her hey sister pleasant how you doing but that's because when she had all them she had all that she had everything she had a husband she had sons she had means she had resources life was good she was pleasant but as soon as she lost everything she was modest i don't come and call me pleasant no i'm better see you got you got to be careful how you define people when you haven't let life hit them hard enough you you can't call anybody anything that they've suffered struggled and succeeded and then when you weigh it all up and you shake it all up now what do you call them see see she was she they had to be circumstantial because when you were doing well you were pleasant now you're doing bad and you're blaming god look she says she says in verse 20 god has done this to me god is blaming god like it ain't it ain't some bad decision-making that y'all made god is shaking his face with me god has done bitterly god is against me god's given me that's circumstantial character this is a person who's cool when everything's going well and and mean when things go bad it takes a whole life of ups and downs when life lifts you and life tries to drown you who are you through it all that's what we call you don't call a person pleasant when they're not suffering you got to see them through it all so the next chapter the first chapter ends i'm almost done first chapter ends and it ends with hope it says they happen they happen they happen to come back to judah and it was harvest time whoo that means it's time for a change there's a breakthrough coming it's harvest time and if anybody needed a breakthrough and needed harvest it was naomi and ruth think about it being women during this time women still have a rough time but during this time how vulnerable two widows are in the bible the two most vulnerable people in the scriptures are widows and orphans they couldn't just go up there was no diversity equity and inclusion programs there where they could just get executive jobs and run companies like that they were vulnerable they needed a breakthrough so they show up in this harvest time so right when we first get into chapter two i'm gonna say a few words about chapter we get into chapter two and the bible introduces us to a wealthy influential man named boaz and boaz owns a field and the bible says that ruth tells naomi he says listen i'm gonna go out in verse two and i'm gonna go work the field i'm gonna do something that was was basically their welfare program at the time and the way they had a welfare program during that time was if you were poor and you were needy you could go out into the fields and do what was called glean you could clean and and when when harvesters were collecting grain if you catch some grain that fell that they didn't capture you were allowed to have it so it was sort of like a poverty program but it gave you a sense of dignity because you had to work to get the crumbs and so she that's what she said i'm going out in the field and do that and the bible says and it so happened that she ended up in boaz's field it just so happened that she ended up in beau athensville that's god's game plan god's setting them up and so she goes out there and the bible says she's working and she's gleaning and versus when when boaz shows up he says who's that lady out there verse five and his foreman says uh that's that's the lady that came from moab with naomi and she's been working all day she only took one break she's been working hard she has a work ethic let me say word about work ethic that's important let's say a word about work ethic sometimes you got to do something you don't want to do till you can do what you want to do i'm concerned about a generation of people who don't want to work you don't always get to work in your passion and your sweet spot in your purpose sometimes you got to do work that you have to do to take care of your family and to take care of your needs and you have to keep that in mind sometimes you're doing something you don't like to do to take care of someone you love which might be yourself or your loved one so you got to keep that in mind and sometimes it's important to learn what you need to learn when you're doing work you don't like sometimes you learn habits that you need but but sometimes people are working jobs they don't want to work because you squandered an opportunity that you did like and it's okay if you squandered an opportunity you like as long as you learn to overcome devices and the shortcomings that cause you to squander it so that when the opportunity comes up again you'll be ready the next time because the worst thing that can happen when you blow something because of who you are is to be the same person that you were when the opportunity comes up again it's just a matter of time before you blow it again the worst thing that you can do when you suffer loss because of who you are is to be the same anyway ruth works hard she works so hard that boaz walks up on her and says around verse eight nine he says i tell you what come back here tomorrow stay with us we want you here don't go to any other fields just work for us stay with us i'll make sure nobody bothers you nobody harasses you stay with us there are three ways that people will talk to you when you work for them when you're a hard worker they say please stay with us if you're going to do this work anywhere work for us that's what they say the hard work if you're a okay worker they'd be like you can come back tomorrow if you want if you want that means they really it really don't matter if you come back in that because you really didn't make a difference at all if you're a poor worker here's what they'll say to you um you know this kind of work ain't for everybody you know and i just just as you continue to seek you know look around for what you might really do you know you enjoy doing you know we wish you the best you know what they're saying right there after you punch out do not come back what kind of worker are you and does it matter i just i just had this mindset that i don't i just want to be unfireable if i'm going to work somewhere i want to be so valuable to everybody if they run out of money they're going to find a way to keep do you have that attitude do you have that attitude or you just do whatever you can to get over her work ethic was phenomenal i'm gonna make one more observation i think and then i'm i'm gonna wrap this up down in verse 12 it's a blessing that boaz knew everything that ruth did i'm going to share a few weeks or so about the favor that was on ruth talk about that favor in another and another at another time but boaz saw something in verse 12 he said something in verse 12 that stood out to me he says this to ruth he says may the lord the god of israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge rewards you fully for what you've done i'm gonna read that again may the lord the god of israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge reward you fully for what you've done when i read that right there can you imagine a sense of relief to ruth she gave it all up to make sure her mother-in-law was good she lost her husband she lost her dream she had no children the head of their family the patriarch of their family had died you know so much loss and she she gave up going back to live her own life to sacrifice for her mother-in-law was willing to work for and somebody saw it and i want to tell you i don't even know who you are i but when i say this to you you're going to know i'm talking to you god sees what you did he knows with sacrifice he knows all you gave up for somebody else to make sure they were okay and i pray for you just like boaz pray for root may the lord god of israel under whose wings you have come to be protected under whose wings you abide may he fully reward you for everything you've done may he give you bountiful blood for everything you've done may he give you a good measure press down shaken together running over blessing for what you've done may he open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you don't have room enough to receive because of what you did that's my prayer for you so i'm gonna leave you with this cliffhanger you can read the story yourself and find out what else happened i'm gonna park right there at the end of the day when you think of the book of ruth and you were to summarize it with one word the word would be redemption it's the word that would describe this amazing book redemption that boaz paid the price to redeem ruth and naomi he paid the price to make ruth his bride you read the story you find out what he had to do to redeem her to make her his bride why do i say that i say it because jesus did the same thing he paid a price to make you and i his bride when jesus proposed to us it was a little different he didn't get down on one knee and off a ring to us he got up on a cross and offered his life for us and he proposed he proposed in blood and he says will you let me love you will you let me be your savior and lord and our answer should simply be yes i will when he says will you let me love you from this day forward for better or forward for richer or for poorer in sickness and in health would you let me love you for the rest of your life and forever your answer is simply be yes i will if that's you today and you want to say that again to him because you've got no way or you want to say it to him for the first time lord i accept your love in my life i don't know a love like that well if you need to do it again saying i've got what i i've gotten so far away i want to i want to recommit to you i want to renew my vows to you today i just want to lead you in a moment of prayer to do just that if you would just open up your hands and open up your heart and look to god i want to pray with you right now you can say these words with me if you want if they reflect your heart know that god is listening to your heart and your words he's there to love you he's there he's available for you just say this your god i thank you for your love for me and i accept your proposal i want your love in my life i want you to be my king i don't just want you in my life please take over my life thank you for forgiving me thank you lord for being merciful to me thank you jesus for paying sins penalty for me and for redeeming me and right now i accept your redemption in my life and i thank you for that now and father for everybody who's recommitting their life to you seal their relationship with you bring them closer to you may they walk with you now this time like ruth walk with naomi i'm in until i die now for better for worse i'm yours in jesus name and everybody to greet said amen amen and amen hey if you made any kind of decision to move closer to your relationship with god connect with us let us know reach out to us click one of those buttons in online or go punch a link or or email me i'll reach out i'll help you whatever we can do to help you keep going forward in your relationship with god we're not trying to go backwards we're not trying to be stagnant we want to go forward so you can email me if you have to that's your option you can do that it's keith battle at zionchurch.org that's keith battle zionchurch.org i want to see you flourish in your relationship with god love y'all hope you got something out of today's word and we'll see you again next time right here design church

Channel: Keith Battle

Views: 3,106

Rating: 4.9389315 out of 5

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Id: ViNZk11WGEc

Length: 44min 18sec (2658 seconds)

Published: Wed May 05 2021