Close to Home | When the Lord Leaves a Lifeline — Forrest Coleman

Close to Home | When the Lord Leaves a Lifeline — Forrest Coleman | Ruth 2:1-3

Transcript

Forrest 0:06

Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest, and welcome to the Multiply Church Podcast. Each week we open God's word together to help you meet God and multiply good in your everyday life. We're so glad that you've taken time to join us for this week's sermon. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media so you never miss a message. Now, let's dive into this week's sermon. As we jump into this next installment of our series Close to Home. As if you missed a couple of weeks ago, we started off by talking about the lineage of Jesus and the five women who were in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, who are named in Matthew chapter 1, and we started off by talking about the legacy that we lead in our life, and our legacy that we leave and lead others. And then that flowed into last week as we talked about loss and how we deal with loss and how we walk in the pain and the grief when we lose things. And that's not just losing a family member, that's any grief and loss. And then today, as we hone in, and we started off really big at episode one of this series, talking about these five women, and then we've zoomed in on Ruth's story in particular and double-clicked on her name and this genealogy, and it's opened up this first episode of them in particular, and then we go into this episode today in the next installment of her story. I uh again I'm um I had some great fun with my family yesterday with a Memorial Day weekend. It reminded me of uh years ago, a weekend, that got to hang out with some friends when we were living at Lake Cumberland. We were living down in Somerset, and we would go get on the lake at times and had a friend who had a nice boat, like 15 passenger boat. The only thing better than having a boat is having a friend with a boat, right? And so us and some friends, we were hanging out, and we were in the lake, and in this nice boat, and we've been hanging out all day, and we have our life vests on, and we're swimming around in the lake, and then all of a sudden the guy who owns the boat he uh sees that there's water coming out of the boat somewhere where water's not supposed to be coming out of the boat. And all of a sudden, all this fun just takes quite a different turn as he's frantically trying to figure out how in the world he's going to get this water out of the boat, and this the bilge pump was pumping water out, and he's going crazy and trying to figure out and calling his dad for help, and we're just treading water in the lifeboat there or in the uh life vest, and we're just waiting for a lifeboat. And as we think about our spiritual life, there are often times where we may all of a sudden we're having a ton of fun, we're enjoying ourselves, and things change on a dime, and what we need is a lifeboat, what we need is a lifeline. The title of my message today is When the Lord Leaves a Lifeline. Some people don't recognize the fact that they need rescue, that there's rescue right in front of them, but they're not fully understanding or seeing the fact that it's God who's the one that they need rescue from. And you've heard this kind of thing before. I know I've heard it before. Somebody who doesn't recognize their need for God, they don't recognize the fact that they need rescue in their sin. You've heard it before. Somebody say, Well, you know, I'm a good person. Yeah, I, you know, I don't know, I don't need all that God stuff. I've got this. I've never needed God before in my life. Why do I need him now? Maybe I'm the only one who's heard these kinds of things. Well, you know, I I learned all that when I was a kid. I'm good. I went to Sunday school, vacation Bible school. I learned all about God when I was a kid. Well, you know, I'm I'm not really like a small group person. I don't want people in my business knowing what's going on in my life. Is there really anybody at church who can even really help me? Like, I I don't know. Is this really all that serious? You know, a lifeboat is no help to the person who keeps pretending that they're not drowning. And a lot of people miss the rescue of God, not because he hides it, they miss the rescue of God because they fail to recognize what God is doing in the everyday, ordinary, mundane parts of our lives. People just think, oh, well, you know, I'm just waiting on a sign, or I just need uh some dramatic thing to happen. I'm a miracle or a breakthrough, a voice from heaven in the sky opens up or the door flings open. But sometimes the rescue of the Lord comes in the everyday realities of our faithfulness to God in our workplace, in a conversation, among our church family, in a small group, being baptized, heeding a warning, and not delaying the thing that God's telling you to do. And so if we're going to receive the rescue that God has for us, not just at the beginning of salvation, yes, he rescues us and redeems us, but then he continues to redeem us day in and day out, doesn't he, church? And God often puts the rescue that he has for us right in front of us. We just have to learn to realize it and receive it. I I really during during Easter, I was thinking about why in the world would people not want to come to church on Easter? And what would keep somebody from that? Because people actively resist rescue. And a lot of times, I don't know if it's pride or maybe it's stubbornness or maybe it's just like ignorance, don't know what they're missing, maybe it's laziness, maybe it's idolatry of some kind. Maybe it's just feeling self-sufficient. You know, in a country where we have a full gas tank and a full refrigerator, sometimes it's hard to realize our need for God. And if we miss this, if we miss this rescue that God has for us, what what's gonna end up happening happening to us is that we're we're going to reject the people who God is sending into your life to be a blessing, people to help you and pray for you. You're gonna miss the signs of redemption that God is laying out before you just because you're not looking at looking for it, you're not seeing what God wants to do. And when God is handing you a lifeline, you can find yourself because of ignoring it or resisting rescue, stepping over top of that lifeline. Last week when we started in Ruth 1, we were introduced to Ruth and Naomi. Ruth, that means refreshment. Her name means refreshment. And Naomi, who her name means sweet delight. And we find them in a desperate place where they're in need of rescue. Naomi has lost her husband, Elimelech. Ruth has lost her husband. Naomi's lost her son, she's lost her security, she's lost her future, and we ended chapter one with Naomi and Ruth returning from a foreign land where they were forced there to find food for a famine. They find out that God has now blessed the promised land, his people, the Israelites, with food during the famine, and so they return back to where Naomi's from in Bethlehem. And as they show up to town, Naomi's friends see her and they say, Is that Naomi? And she says, Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara. Don't call me sweet delight, call me bitterness. Because I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. But at the end of chapter one, there's this little verse that we ended on last week of the fact that they came to Bethlehem during the time in the beginning of the barley harvest. And this is like the Bible, just like winking at us, telling us that the barley harvest is what starts around Passover, which is this famous redemption story that celebrates God bringing his people out of slavery in Egypt, and all the Israelites would have known this story. And Naomi, she says that she is coming home now empty, but she's forgetting the fact that she has Ruth, who has committed herself to her and to her God, standing right beside her. And she's coming home now during the harvest time. But the rescue's not happened just yet, but they're about to receive a lifeline. You know, in this in this world that they're in, for us to truly understand what's going on, Ruth and Naomi, the loss that they have received, they're not just like having a bad month, they're in real danger. In our world today, if somebody loses a spouse or income or hits financial hard times, it for us, we think about things like Social Security and life insurance and retirement and disability and government assistance and bank accounts, jobs, GoFundMe accounts, nonprofit help. And none of those things are perfect, but they at least exist. But Naomi and Ruth, they don't have these modern safety nets for them. They have no husband, there's no sons, there's no steady income, there's no life insurance, there's no social security, there's no modern legal system making sure that they land on their feet. And on top of that, now they're widows in this agrarian world, and Ruth is a foreigner, she's an outsider, she's a Moabite, and what what what I'm telling you is they are really vulnerable. They're vulnerable financially, they're vulnerable physically, they're vulnerable spiritually. But God, in his mercy, has built some laws into the Torah, into the Old Testament, into the instruction of his people that we're gonna see play out in their story. All the way back in Leviticus, God gives instructions to landowners that during the harvest time, that they're coming home in, that the landowners would not harvest the edges of their field or pick up the leftover pieces of what they harvest, but they would leave those pieces on the ground to be gleaned by the poor and the foreigner. And this is a specific provision for people who are in the situation that Ruth and Naomi are in. Because they're widowed. Ruth is a foreigner, and so as we see Ruth go to glean and pick up from the harvest field, she's not stealing, she's walking in God's mercy that God's built into the edge of the field. So let's jump in. Ruth chapter 2, starting in verse 1. You have your Bible turned there with me. Have it on your phone, pull it up. We would chapter 1 last week, chapter 2 this week. Here we go. Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth, the Moabite, said to Naomi, Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone who has uh in whose eyes I find favor. Naomi said to her, Go ahead, my daughter. And she went out and entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimaled. So Ruth says to Naomi, Hey, I'm gonna go out into the fields. And I'm gonna try to find some favor. I'm gonna try to find some favor with somebody, and I'm gonna go go begin to glean. I'm gonna pick up pick up the leftovers. They're in the situation, they're in the famine, they have no food. Ruth isn't just pretending that they're fine. Naomi's in her head and calling herself bitter, and Ruth's like, I'm actually gonna do something. There's some provision here. I'm not gonna wait on anybody else. I'm gonna step out and I'm gonna go find some food. And she basically tells Naomi, hey, I uh we don't have any food. I'm gonna go find the field. And God's law has already made a provision for her, for her in her vulnerable state, here on the margins of society as a foreigner, that God, in his mercy, let leaves her the margin or the edges of the field that Ruth is about to walk into. This provision in Leviticus 19 9 says this when to the landowners, this is the instruction. When you reap the harvest of your field, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. Naomi is bitter, she's upset, and Ruth says, I'm gonna actually do something. I'm gonna take a step of faith. I'm gonna walk in this mercy. I'm gonna find help. You know, sometimes it's tough to ask for help, even for me. I'm sure nobody in here struggles asking for help. Nobody has a hard time with that. Because most of the time we don't want to say the words, I need help, do we? We'd rather say, I'm fine. I'm good. I got this. It's not that bad. I can handle it. I just got a lot going on. Life's just really busy right now. We're tempted by the enemy to not recognize the fact that we are sinners in need of grace. And we know the truth of the scripture that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And that Jesus became sin for us. That we might not have new life that's in Christ. And so, starting from the very top here, if we're gonna receive it, if we're gonna recognize the rescue that God has for us, the first thing you got to do is you actually have to say, you know what, God, I need your help, and you've got to recognize your need for rescue. Because I know that there's people that think, well, you know, like I'm not that bad, like I'm a good person. I don't I don't gee that I'm I don't steal, like I'm I'm I'm a good person, but we know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of us are in need of a savior, but the enemy tries to trip us and tries to trip us up, and people who who don't want the rescue of God or don't realize the rescue of God, and they say, Well, you know what? I've never needed God before. I'm good. Yeah, the story of Jesus, yeah. I learned that. I learned that when I was a kid. I'm I I know I don't need to go to counseling. I I'm good. I don't need to get baptized yet. I I'll take all this, I'll take all this serious later. Again, a lifeline doesn't help somebody who's pretending they're not drowning. Listen to me. You cannot receive redemption while you're defending the life that's destroying you. There's this old joke about a man that's trapped on the roof of his house during a flood, and he he cries out to God and says, God save me. And then a boat comes and says, Get in the boat. And he says, No, God'll save me. And then another boat comes, same answer. Then a helicopter comes, same answer. Eventually he drowns and goes to heaven. And he's standing before God. He says, Why didn't you save me? And God said, I sent you two boats and a helicopter. That's a ridiculous joke, right? It's but it but it's uncomfortable because it's true at the same time. Because we ask God for help and for rescue and we want to have a better life, but then we reject the rescue that he actually sends us. It sounds like this. Well, I need I I need to save my marriage. And God says, okay, well, here's a community willing to help you. Not that. Well, I want to grow in my life. I want I want to grow. I'm gonna get better. Okay. God says, get baptized. Get in a group, open your life up, get in a relationship. No, not that. Man, I feel so alone. God, I I feel so alone. Okay, here's a church family for you. No, not that. In my years of ministry, I do not I can't say how many, how many not that people I have met and interacted with. That want a great life. They even want a great life with God, but they end up looking at him and saying, Yeah, not that. Not what you told me to do. Just to stop just short of obedience. Boaz. Who we see is gonna play this significant role in Ruth and Naomi's life. And verse 4. Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. Lord be with you. The Lord bless you, they answered. Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, Who does that young woman belong to? The overseer replied, She's a Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvester. She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter. Boaz notices Ruth. He takes note of her. And we're gonna see Boaz become this tangible representation of the redemption of God. Boaz's name, it means strength. His name means in strength with strength. And we're gonna see Boaz as this upstanding person in the community. People know him. He's got wealth, he's got prestige, he's got strength, he's got stability, he's got resources, he's got capacity, and he's about to become a lifeline in Ruth and Naomi's lives. And even his name speaks of the strength that God is gonna flow through him. Verse 8. So Boaz said to Ruth, my daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean it in another field, and don't go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting and follow along after the women. I have told the men, do not lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars that the men have filled. At this she bowed down with her face to the ground, and she asked him, Why have uh why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me a foreigner? Boaz replies, I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. How you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. Oh as notices, Ruth. Not only that, he knows what she has done and her faithfulness, not just to her mother in law, but to her mother-in-law's God, Yahweh. And he says to her, May you be richly rewarded. And take refuge under the wings of Yahweh. This word wings that he uses uses this Hebrew word kanaf, which means wings are like the outer edge, outer edge of a garment, outer edge of a house, outer edge of a field. We're gonna see this word play out over the next couple of weeks. Verse 13. May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my Lord, she said. You've put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant, though I do not have the standing of one of your servants. At mealtime, Boaz said to her, Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar. When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all that she wanted and had some left over. As she got up to leave, Boaz ordered to his men, let her gather from among the sheaves and don't reprimand her. Even pull out some of the stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up and don't rebuke her. Now I just want you to see this. All the way back in verse 3 of Ruth chapter 2, it says that Ruth goes to clean and she just happens to. It just turns out that she goes to Glean in a field, and this is Boaz's field. This is the Bible with little quote marks saying, as it turned out. Little wink wink. Happened to, she just happened to go into this field that belonged to this incredibly generous landowner. This is the this is the Bible giving you these little quote marks, this little wink wink, this little like this is a coincidence, but it's not a coincidence. And she can't yet see what God is doing. We don't yet see in the story what's about to come. A wedding, a baby, a king, a savior. But what she sees right in front of her is the mundane everything of life, the harvest that happens every year, a field where people are working, a landowner, protection, some extra grain. And here she is stepping into Boaz's field. And what we see from Boaz in his strength, he doesn't just do the minimum. He goes over and above in generosity towards her. Because with the law we saw in Leviticus, it just says, Hey, just let him glean. But that's not where, that's not where it stopped for him. What did Boaz do? He said, Hey, stay in my field. Don't go somewhere else. I'm not gonna let anybody touch you. I'm gonna protect you. You want some water? Go over here and get some water from the jars that are filled up. Oh, you want you want some food? Come to my table. I've got some more for you. I've got some more for you. Oh, you wanna take some home with you? Okay, take some home with you. Hey, hey, you guys working over there? Actually, don't just let her glean from what's left behind. Actually, let her pull from the bundles that have been harvested and don't reprimand her. What we see is that Boaz, he is, he is being obedient to God to the point of generosity. He's not just following law, he's embodying the heart of the law of God. He's embodying the generosity of God. And he's helping her and doing these small things and acts of generosity and kindness, and the whole story's not fixed yet, but you can already begin to see God's faithfulness. Isn't it so difficult when you can only see a small part of the story, you can't see how it's all fixed yet? I want to see how it's all fixed. I want to see God, God, why won't you just tell me how life is gonna turn out? Why won't you just help me? When God's saying, hey, be obedient. Receive what I'm giving to you right now. This whole story of redemption, it's gonna come, but it's gonna it's gonna come in small pieces. And maybe for you, maybe it's difficult for you to see the small pieces of redemption that God's doing for you. That text that somebody sends you to encourage you, or that invitation to be a part of a small group, or that conviction that you can't seem to shake off, or that sermon that feels like it was just for you, or when somebody notices something that's going on in your life, or a warning that you receive, a door that's opened up, you get an opportunity to tell the truth, and you think of these things as coincidences, like they're random, but they're actually pieces of God's rescue plan for you. And we see Ruth step into a field and allowed to glean from the edges of this field, and she begins to see these small pieces of redemption. And what you need to do is you need to recognize when you are on the edge of redemption. You're under the edge, you're under the kanaf of the refuge of God. You're gonna be able to glean on the edge of this field. And so oftentimes we're right on the edge of redemption in our life and we stop short of obedience. We stop short of what God wants us to do because we let the enemy say, oh, well, you know, that's just church stuff. I mean, that's not that important. Like I mean, it's just like a small group. It's just an event. That's just somebody being nice. We have to recognize the signs of rescue of rescue that God's doing and trying to get our attention. Any of y'all have a smoke alarm that's beeping at home? Even if you did, you let it go so long that now you don't hear it anymore. Just background noise. You know, a little interruption. It happens every so often, and it's like annoying until you just begin to ignore it. But heaven forbid that that uh battery actually runs out and then there's flames and you're not able to receive it. Recognize when you're on the edge of what God wants to do in your life, and and take the step of obedience that God's been leading you to do. And the fact that you can recognize the fact that you're under the wings of God, that he's surrounding you with his redemption. And don't let bitterness and don't let loss keep your eyes from seeing the redemption that God has for you. Naomi said, I'm I'm I'm I'm empty, but she came home during the harvest time. And Ruth just happens to show up in a field, and it happens to be Boaz's field. And Ruth is looking looking for some sustenance, and she's looking for some food in the middle of a famine, and what she's receiving, she's leaving with this lifeline. Look at what happens in verse 17. So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening, and then she threshed the barley that she gathered and it mounted about a ephah, and she carried it back to town to her mother-in-law, who saw who had uh uh who saw how much that she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. Verse 19. Then her mother-in-law asked her, Where did you clean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz. She said, The Lord bless him. Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, he has not shot stopped showing kindness to the living and the dead. And she added, That man is our close relative. He is one of our guardian redeemers. Then Ruth the Moabite said, He even said to me, Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain. Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else's field you might be harmed. So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished, and she lived with her mother-in-law. Naomi says, Where'd you glean today? And Ruth says, One name, Boaz. And immediately Naomi recognizes that name. And she begins to recognize the redemption that God is doing. That it's not just random, not just some random act of kindness, but that Boaz is one of their guardian redeemers. This is this Hebrew word Goel. It means a redeemer. That's why uh the writer says, This translation says a guardian redeemer. Some translates say a kinsman redeemer. Some translations say a close relative because the concept of this doesn't really exist in our society today. That there was there are people in your family who would be allowed to step in when you're in a destitute situation, when you're in a difficult situation, and redeem what was about to be lost. In Leviticus 25, 25, this law that God gives it says if one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold. There's this promise of God that within their families, where there's they don't have all of the safety nets that we have in modern life. There's this concept of a Goel, a family redeemer, a kinsman redeemer, a guardian redeemer who is this whole concept has just been in the background, humming in the background, beeping in the background, of the fact that Boaz is one of these people who could, as a landowner, as a as a as somebody who is related to Naomi's family by way of a limelech, that he's able to step in and he can be somebody who is close enough to them to actually help in a significant way. And not only that, he's strong enough to help. And he's already shown himself to be generous. God's been doing this all in the background. There's this whole thing that's been happening, and they don't even realize it yet. And it's just a coincidence that she ends up in the right field, and then what God's doing through this whole story that's being written. And I know for me, and maybe not for you, but for me, sometimes I find myself in a situation where I'm I prayer is the last thing I do instead of the first thing that I do. Instead of me recognizing that God knows what's going on and has me in the refuge of his wings, that after I'm exhausted and frustrated, then I finally say, God, help me. What are you doing? I know I'm the only one who does that. That you be surrounded by rescue. And there's times where we think that that rescue, instead of it being things that we need to step in in obedience, that's somehow optional. Oh, you know, church, that's optional. Small group, ah, optional. Baptism, ah, that's optional. Confession? Prayer? Optional until the crisis hits. And suddenly we realize that we're in urgent need. Can I tell you? Can I tell you to recognize the rescue of God before a crisis wrecks you? They're in a crisis. Can you recognize that God is redeeming, that he's doing work, that he's he's actively trying to rescue you and for you to actually recognize it before life falls apart? And because the enemy wants to tell you, hey, uh, well, I'll get to that later. You know, if things get worse, then maybe I'll ask for help. You know, it's not that bad. Don't wait until you're already drowning to grab the lifeline that God is giving you. And will you recognize that God has a rescue plan for you before the crisis that you're in becomes this catastrophe in your life? Naomi, she recognizes the rescue. She begins to see she hears the name Boaz and she realizes. In uh April of 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg. Don't know the story. They start to sound the alarm and the evacuation. But uh this ship was so massive and it was warm and it was lit and it was so nice that people didn't really, they didn't really realize it at first. Everything seems good. History tells us that the first lifeboat that left that had the capacity of 65 people, only 28 people were in that lifeboat. And then multiple lifeboats after that were half full. Because people didn't take it seriously. They didn't actually realize the danger that they were in. My buddy boatdy's boat was sinking in Lake Cumberland. We're in the water, we're like treading water with a life vest on, and he looks down on the boat and he realizes that there's no plug in the boat. He didn't put the plug in the boat before he took it out. And so we're just like treading water, it's starting to get dark, and he's driving the boat around in circles, trying to get water to drain out of the boat. And we're just sitting there treading water, it's getting dark, and it's getting dark. He's like frantically calling his dad for help. He's just driving in circles, and we're just wondering, like, I guess we're all at some point we were really far away from shore. And then here comes his dad and a little John boat. And we all piled into this little John boat, and he drove the boat, keep it uh keep continually letting the water drain out until he could get it up onto the landing. Thankfully he didn't run out of gas. An actual rescue boat came for us, an actual lifeboat came for us. And he was just running around circles. Do you know how many people that I have seen just running in circles in life instead of receiving the redemption and the lifeline that God's given them? Doing the same things over and over and over again. And can I be honest with you? When somebody is doing circles like that, and I'm as their pastor seeing what's going on and trying to help, and then and then a catastrophe happens, I feel like a failure. I feel like a failure. How could this person be in the church for this long and they're still going in circles and not taking hold of the redemption that God has for this story that God has for them, the life that he has for them, the rescue that he has for them, the obedience that he has for them, for them to be able to walk in his goodness and his mercy? In the real story that God has for us, that we would be people that know his rescue, and then we'd be the ones to get to carry the rescue of God to other people. I had a mentor this week ask me for how many people in your church right now who are disciple makers, who are making disciples, who are who are multiplying disciples, and he said it like this He said, How many people in your church right now have a strong relationship with Jesus? They have a context where they're making disciples, they know where people are spiritually that they're trying to disciple and they're leading them to the next step. And I had to think to myself and think. And I answered him, I just said, Not enough. But you know what? We have the rescue plan of God. It's never gonna be enough. There's never gonna be enough of people who are activated in Christ for them to step out because there's so many people who are in need of God's redemption. We need more and more and more and more and more and more and more people staying up, stay up and stay. Yeah, you know what? I know God's redemption in my life, and I'm willing to step out and help somebody else with it. Multiple people this week, through the course of this week that have been in serious crisis that I've talked to, and I just think to myself, God, would you please help us, God, to be people who are growing as disciples of you and then helping others to be disciples of you, that we know the rescue plan, that we can go and get more and more, and then more people be made disciples. Is anybody wanting to see that happen? I'm wanting to see that happen. I'm wanting to see God use this for his redemptive work. That we're gonna be a part of it. Could you just imagine with me, church? Could you have just imagined with me that we be a church that people stop ignoring the lifeline that God's throwing to them? That when people come here, that they actually get help with their marriage that's falling apart because there's people who know the rescue plan of God and are seen as redemption, they're willing to help. That we be a church for people who are step across the line and say, Yeah, I'm gonna be baptized, and not just like one day, one day, I'll do it. Imagine people say, you know what, I'm gonna stop being lonely, and I'm actually gonna take the step to join a group or to to begin to be a part of the team, and I'm gonna let God help me and rescue me. This sin that keeps holding me down. I'm gonna actually confess it. I'm gonna get out of the bondage that God has me in. Imagine with me, church, right now, students and and and adults who step into this community of believers, and they're walking after and walking in the redemption of God before crisis creates desperation in them. And you don't have to fix your whole life today, you just gotta grab a hold of the lifeline that God's putting right in front of you right now. What does that mean for you? What's the what's the step for you? Is it to mark baptism on your card? Is it is it to ask somebody to pray for you? Is it for you to actually finally tell the truth about what's going on? Is it for you to actually begin to go to counseling and make the investment in your marriage? Have that conversation, not just pretend that everything's fine. Boaz. He steps in as this guardian redeemer, and we're gonna see how that plays out more next week. But Boaz is not the final Redeemer. We have a final Redeemer who 2,000 years ago, in his perfection, walked this earth 33 years, showing us how we should live and ultimately going to the cross and dying in our place because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us to take our sin and brokenness and shame and put it on his back on the cross and die in our place so that the rescue plan of God can be made complete, so that Jesus could say it. And the God that created a good work in you to see it to completion, that you walk with him in obedience. Would you stand to your feet right now? God, all across this room, God, I pray right now over the people in this room who follow you, call themselves followers of you, that God, they would be disciples of you. God, that helped to make disciples of others. Father, thank you for your great rescue plan. That you pulled us up out of sin and death and shame. And God, you you you restored us to the right relationship with you. And God, right now, I want to pray over every single person in this room who calls themselves a Christian, a believer, that today, God, you would use them, help them, God, to begin to see the rescue that you have for them on the daily. And for them to be people who help others see the redemption that you've done in their life and what you want them to see in their life. Jesus, thank you for what you did on the cross for us. And right now, God, I pray over this room if there's anybody who has not received you as Savior, that today would be the day of salvation for them, that today they would receive you as Savior. That today would be the day they say, I'm gonna give my life to you, Jesus. I'm gonna ask for forgiveness, I'm gonna repent, I'm gonna change, I'm gonna walk a new direction in you. And so if that's you today, would you pray in your heart and mind right now, Jesus, save me? I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sin, that you walked out of the grave, that you're alive. Forgive me, redeem me, cleanse me so I can be in heaven with you one day. I give you my life as you gave yours for mine, now into eternity. I repent and follow you. Thank you for saving me.

Sallie 46:04

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