SPEAKER_03: Hello, my name is Benji Wilson, and I am the worship pastor here at CCW.
SPEAKER_03: Whether this is your first time here, regular attender or a covenant member, we want you to feel welcome and at home.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you for choosing to worship with us.
SPEAKER_03: We would love for you to connect with us, and there are several ways to do so.
SPEAKER_03: You can learn more about us by going to thechurch at CW.com or by downloading our CCW app.
SPEAKER_03: In your mobile device app store, simply search for The Church at CW and you can download the CCW app for free.
SPEAKER_03: Search for us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram by searching for at TheChurch at CW.
SPEAKER_03: Can't make it to service on Sunday?
SPEAKER_03: Watch us live on Facebook, the app, or on thechurch at CW.com.
SPEAKER_03: The countdown begins exactly five minutes prior to 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_03: On Facebook, don't forget to click the notify button so you can be alerted when we go live.
SPEAKER_03: Forgot your checkbook today for giving?
SPEAKER_03: No worries because giving is now easier than ever.
SPEAKER_03: You can give online by going to thechurch at CW.com and click on the Connect with Us tab and then give online.
SPEAKER_03: On the app, simply click on the give icon.
SPEAKER_03: You can also now use our Text to Give feature by texting Church at CW to 206-859-9405.
SPEAKER_03: Besides Sunday service, there are other ways to get plugged in.
SPEAKER_03: Sunday School meets prior to service on Sunday starting at 8 45.
SPEAKER_03: You can find out more information about these classes online at thechurch at CW.com or by stopping at the Welcome Center in the FOIA.
SPEAKER_03: On Wednesday evenings, our One Way Student Ministry meets from 6.30 to 8.
SPEAKER_03: All students, 7th grade and up, are welcome.
SPEAKER_03: Our IWANA program meets on Wednesday evenings from 6.30 to 8.
SPEAKER_03: Children of all ages welcome up to fifth grade.
SPEAKER_03: Learn more about both of these ministries.
SPEAKER_03: Go to thechurch at CW.com under the Ministries tab.
SPEAKER_03: If this is your first time here, please take a moment and fill out our Connect card.
SPEAKER_03: You can do this by filling out the information in the worship guide and placing it in the basket at the end of our service.
SPEAKER_03: Or you can fill out the info inside of your CCW app by simply choosing the Connect card and fill out the requested info.
SPEAKER_03: You may have a prayer need or just want to know more about us.
SPEAKER_03: It takes just a few minutes to fill out the information.
SPEAKER_03: Also, if you'd like to be added to our weekly blog sent out by Pastor Danny, just place your email in the space provided.
SPEAKER_03: Here at CCW are many areas for you to share the talents and abilities God has given you.
SPEAKER_03: Don't feel you have the abilities or talents to share?
SPEAKER_03: Of course you do.
SPEAKER_03: And we need you off the bench in the game.
SPEAKER_03: Philippians 3.14 says, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: We are steadily pressing on toward the goal and would love to have you join one of our CCW teams.
SPEAKER_03: In your worship guide is a commitment card.
SPEAKER_03: Please look over all the opportunities available here at CCW and check off the team or teams you would like to plug into and place your card in the offering plate or by contacting the church office.
SPEAKER_03: We look forward to having you on the team.
SPEAKER_03: Me?
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you.
SPEAKER_03: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_04: I'm plugging in.
SPEAKER_03: Christ asks us to serve one another.
SPEAKER_03: If we can serve just one Sunday a month on average, what a great opportunity to help our young children each Sunday.
SPEAKER_03: There are several options which are bed babies, preschool, and elementary education.
SPEAKER_03: It doesn't take much to help out.
SPEAKER_03: Get plugged in today by contacting children at the church at CW.com or visit the welcome desk in the foyer or contact the church office.
SPEAKER_03: Again, my name is Benji Wilson.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you for choosing to worship with us, and worship begins now.
SPEAKER_03: Good morning.
SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the church at Chelsea Westover.
SPEAKER_03: Come on, let's stand together this morning.
SPEAKER_03: We want to get closer to you this morning, Father.
SPEAKER_04: There is no life without you.
SPEAKER_04: Reach it now.
SPEAKER_04: Here is the presence we want to go deeper into the light.
SPEAKER_04: Come along.
SPEAKER_04: Come on, for dance together's sport.
SPEAKER_04: There is no one decided.
SPEAKER_04: You are longer enough.
SPEAKER_04: You fling the doors of your heart, why don't you?
SPEAKER_04: We are lost in love.
SPEAKER_04: Come on, closer.
SPEAKER_04: Closer and closer, we want to know you.
SPEAKER_04: Come on.
SPEAKER_04: Closer and closer.
SPEAKER_04: We want to know you.
SPEAKER_04: Come on, lie.
SPEAKER_04: Come running to you.
SPEAKER_04: We will come running in you.
SPEAKER_04: We find belonging your love.
SPEAKER_04: It's all that can satisfy.
SPEAKER_04: His love is all that can satisfy to you.
SPEAKER_04: We will come running you.
SPEAKER_04: We find belonging your love.
SPEAKER_04: It's all that can satisfy.
SPEAKER_04: Come on, say to you.
SPEAKER_04: To you.
SPEAKER_04: We will come from enemy.
SPEAKER_04: We find the long in your love.
SPEAKER_04: It's all that can start to.
SPEAKER_04: We will come on enemy.
SPEAKER_04: We find the long in all love.
SPEAKER_04: It's all that it's done.
SPEAKER_04: It's by the time, put the sun, we want to be down, we took the doubt.
SPEAKER_04: We want to go deeper.
SPEAKER_04: If we want to die, come to my stuff.
SPEAKER_04: We want to be the night.
SPEAKER_04: We stick to that.
SPEAKER_04: We want to go deeper.
SPEAKER_04: It'll be on the light.
SPEAKER_04: Father, we want to get closer to you today.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: Come on, let's turn around and welcome each other to the house of the Lord this morning.
SPEAKER_04: We believe, we believe in this broken generation all is dark, you help us see there is only one salvation.
SPEAKER_04: We believe, we believe, we believe in God Father.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_04: And He's gonna live us to life.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in fiction.
SPEAKER_04: We believe that He's conquered.
SPEAKER_04: We believe it's a fiction And He's all back again.
SPEAKER_04: We believe So let our faith be more than ever Greater than the songs we see our weakness and temptations.
SPEAKER_04: We believe We believe We believe in God the Father.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in the Holy Spirit, and He's giving us new life.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in the crucifixion, we believe that he comes there.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in the resurrection, and he's coming back again.
SPEAKER_04: Let the Lord be found, let me raise in the hidden now.
SPEAKER_04: Beloved faith, let the church live loud.
SPEAKER_04: I got to say we believe, we believe, that the gates of hell will not be failed from the power of God.
SPEAKER_04: We'll never fail.
SPEAKER_04: We believe, we believe, we believe in God the Father, we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in the Holy Spirit, and He's giving us new life.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in the crucifixion, we believe that He conquered the death, we believe in the Resurrection, and He's coming back, He's coming back again.
SPEAKER_05: He's coming back again.
unknown: We believe we believe.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all give him a clap offering if that's what you believe this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Man, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02: Praise Dean.
SPEAKER_02: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: You guys can be seated for just a few moments.
SPEAKER_02: And uh welcome this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We're so glad that you're here with us, and it has been an awesome, awesome week.
SPEAKER_02: It's easier for somebody to start brand new than to go in and reconstruct while people are shopping and bothering.
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, they had a voice count and pulling the flag.
SPEAKER_02: They sung the national anthem and Hallmark.
SPEAKER_04: Hunger and food.
SPEAKER_04: Hunger and stress me.
SPEAKER_04: Speak to me.
SPEAKER_04: As friends.
SPEAKER_04: I want to know you.
SPEAKER_04: I want to know you both.
SPEAKER_04: I want to know you more.
SPEAKER_04: Lord, we want to know you more this morning.
SPEAKER_03: More than we did yesterday, Lord.
SPEAKER_04: Lord, like a rushing wind, just take over our lives this morning, Father.
SPEAKER_04: Like a rushing wind.
SPEAKER_04: Jesus breathed with it.
SPEAKER_04: Lord have your way.
SPEAKER_04: Like a stone.
SPEAKER_04: Stir with my stone.
SPEAKER_04: Lord have you.
SPEAKER_04: One with God and the Lord most high.
SPEAKER_04: Your hidden glory and creation.
SPEAKER_04: Now revealed in you are Christ.
SPEAKER_04: What a beautiful name it is.
SPEAKER_04: The name of Jesus Christ my King.
SPEAKER_04: What a beautiful name it is.
SPEAKER_04: And nothing compares to this.
SPEAKER_04: What a beautiful name it is.
SPEAKER_04: The name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: So Jesus you brought heaven down.
SPEAKER_04: And what could seem us now?
SPEAKER_04: What a wonderful name it is.
SPEAKER_04: Nothing compares to this.
SPEAKER_04: What a wonderful name it is.
SPEAKER_04: Such a sweet, sweet name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: There's just something about saying the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: We thank you for your love this morning, Lord.
SPEAKER_03: We're thankful that over 2,000 years ago, Christ went to the cross so that we could be free.
SPEAKER_03: But it didn't end there.
SPEAKER_03: Three days later, he arose from the grave.
SPEAKER_03: And for that we are ever thankful for that death couldn't hold him down.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: Death could not hold you, the veil torn before you.
SPEAKER_04: You have no rival.
SPEAKER_04: It's nothing but the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: Say nothing.
SPEAKER_04: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Father, this morning we're thankful for the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: For the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Name that is above every name.
SPEAKER_02: And one day your word says every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that you are lost.
SPEAKER_02: We're thankful for the cleansing power of that blood.
SPEAKER_02: For the freedom we have the forgiveness of our sins.
SPEAKER_02: God use your word to show us where we are and what we need.
SPEAKER_02: God, I pray today as we leave this place that we can say, we've been released by the power of your blood.
SPEAKER_02: We love you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all can be seated this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, praise team.
SPEAKER_02: Man, that was awesome.
SPEAKER_02: Great praise this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Great worship.
SPEAKER_02: If you got your Bible, turn it to the book of Ruth, chapter four.
SPEAKER_02: No more cliffhangers, no more waiting.
SPEAKER_02: The conclusion of the book this morning, and uh, I'm excited to be uh preaching through it as we looked.
SPEAKER_02: If you hadn't been here for the past few weeks, in Ruth chapter one, we saw devastation of magnificent proportions as Ruth and Naomi were there, and Naomi uh they left the land because they had famine, then they had a funeral of Naomi's husband, and then her two sons, leaving her with two widowed daughter-in-laws.
SPEAKER_02: They left that land to go back to Bethlehem because they heard the Lord was at work there.
SPEAKER_02: They went back in chapter two with Naomi being a bitter, upset woman, saying, I left here with everything I loved.
SPEAKER_02: I've come back completely empty.
SPEAKER_02: I have nothing.
SPEAKER_02: And we saw Ruth begin to glean in the field as she was directed by the steps of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: She did the biblical thing and went out to glean food, which was a law set up by God for people who were needy.
SPEAKER_02: And she went out gleaning, and as chance was would have it, we learned that she came upon Boaz's field.
SPEAKER_02: And she came back that evening with a load of food, and she told Naomi she was in Boaz's field, and the light bulb goes off for Naomi.
SPEAKER_02: She says, This is a good thing that you were in Boaz's field.
SPEAKER_02: He is a kinsman.
SPEAKER_02: And so we saw last week in chapter three where uh Ruth was getting some gentle nudging by her mother-in-law.
SPEAKER_02: You're single, Boaz is single, you went through this harvest season.
SPEAKER_02: Have you thought about Boaz?
SPEAKER_02: And so she goes on to give her some counsel, some which I would call shady, some smart.
SPEAKER_02: Uh she tells her to clean up, put on a new garment, freshen up, and uh that I would say is the smart part.
SPEAKER_02: Then she says, uncover him in the midnight hour, get in, lay with him, and then wait for his instructions.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, not what I would tell you to do if you have a single daughter and she's looking to find her a man.
SPEAKER_02: But that was Naomi's advice.
SPEAKER_02: She does it, and we see that funny moment where Boaz says, Who are you?
SPEAKER_02: And she says, I am Ruth.
SPEAKER_02: And she basically says to him, If you have me, I will be with you.
SPEAKER_02: And we're cliff hung there because Boaz is such a good man.
SPEAKER_02: We want him to say, Let's do it, let's elude, let's run off and make the country song, but he can't.
SPEAKER_02: Because he's a man who lives by the rules, he's a man who's godly, and he says, Well, I will do it.
SPEAKER_02: There's no doubt I will do it.
SPEAKER_02: But there is one who's closer.
SPEAKER_02: And if he will do it by law, he has to do it.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's where we catch up in Ruth chapter four today.
SPEAKER_02: We were left wondering as they lay there in the still of the night holding each other, what's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_02: Is Ruth gonna marry Boaz or is she gonna marry another man?
SPEAKER_02: And so we turn to Ruth chapter four there.
SPEAKER_02: And today's the title of the message is this Difficult Road to Beautiful Destination.
SPEAKER_02: And the first thing I want you to see, three things today.
SPEAKER_02: God answers requests.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's the first one.
SPEAKER_02: And then God advances.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, God uh acquires through redemption.
SPEAKER_02: And the third thing will be God advances with results.
SPEAKER_02: So God answers requests.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to understand, we talk about God being a God of order, that God is not a God of coincidence or happenstance, and so God answers our requests.
SPEAKER_02: In Matthew 7, we've had this uh picture actually in our restroom at home for a while, and okay, you go there, you look at it, you gotta learn it, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So but it says, seek and you should find.
SPEAKER_02: Ask ask and you shall hear, seek and you shall find and it shall be open unto you.
SPEAKER_02: So we see a plea that we should ask God, we should bring requests to God.
SPEAKER_02: James 4 to that doesn't mean the opposite.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean because you don't ask God, he's just gonna give things to you anyway.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean the opposite of that.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean what it says.
SPEAKER_02: You have not because you haven't requested it.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean because he's God and he has a plan that he'll just do it anyway.
SPEAKER_02: So we understand that prayer causes things to happen.
SPEAKER_02: That wouldn't happen if you had a prayer.
SPEAKER_02: God answers requests.
SPEAKER_02: And so what we see here as we open up chapter four is a request at the gate.
SPEAKER_02: That's letter A.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to read to you verses one through six from the request at the gate.
SPEAKER_02: Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by.
SPEAKER_02: So Boaz said, Come aside, friend.
SPEAKER_02: Sit down here.
SPEAKER_02: So he came aside and sat down, and he took the ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here.
SPEAKER_02: So they sat down.
SPEAKER_02: Then he said to the close relative, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech.
SPEAKER_02: And I thought to inform you, saying, Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people.
SPEAKER_02: If you will redeem it, you redeem it.
SPEAKER_02: But if you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, I will redeem it.
SPEAKER_02: And Boaz said, On the day you must buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth Moabite, who is the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: And the closest to his relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself unless I ruin my inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: You redeem my right unto redemption.
SPEAKER_02: So we see here a altercation here at the gate where the request is given, and of course, immediately Boaz starts issuing out the rights.
SPEAKER_02: He understands the rights.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to take you to a couple of scriptures so you can understand the picture here of the law.
SPEAKER_02: Go back with me to Leviticus chapter 25.
SPEAKER_02: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus.
SPEAKER_02: Chapter 25 in your Bible, verse 25.
SPEAKER_02: There was some law for the kinsman redeemer.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, for him to redeem, for a kinsman to redeem, in this situation, there was property laws and there was people laws.
SPEAKER_02: So look at the property laws, Leviticus 25, 25.
SPEAKER_02: It says this.
SPEAKER_02: Go back in verse 24.
SPEAKER_02: And in the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.
SPEAKER_02: If one of your brethren becomes poor and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may be redeemed what his brother sold.
SPEAKER_02: And so we see for land, okay, a kinsman could come and redeem it.
SPEAKER_02: Now go to Deuteronomy chapter 25.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to see a lot more to it on how to redeem a widow.
SPEAKER_02: It says brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family.
SPEAKER_02: Her husband's brother shall perform or shall go into her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.
SPEAKER_02: And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Stick with me, there's a couple more things.
SPEAKER_02: But if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate, remember where they're at, to the elders, who's there, and say, My husband's brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel.
SPEAKER_02: He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
SPEAKER_02: Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him.
SPEAKER_02: But if he stands firm and says, I do not want to take her, then his brother's wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot.
SPEAKER_02: Look at this, spit in his face, and say, So shall it be done to the man who would not build up his brother's house, and his name shall be called in Israel the house of him who his sandal is removed.
SPEAKER_02: So this is a big deal situation.
SPEAKER_02: This is not something taken lightly.
SPEAKER_02: And so these men meet together at this gate, and Boaz begins bringing out the rights.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, he goes through it.
SPEAKER_02: And it's funny in the wording again.
SPEAKER_02: Boaz comes, sits down, and it says, and lo and behold, as chance would have it, he sits down at the gate, and behold, there came the kingsman.
SPEAKER_02: So again, God working through this book's provision is shown from verse to verse in the chapter.
SPEAKER_02: But it's funny, as you read the name, there's a Hebrew idiom, and a lot of you will have it at the bottom of your Bible, um, for the close relative.
SPEAKER_02: He's never named.
SPEAKER_02: Boaz would have known his name, he would have known who he was, but he's never given a name.
SPEAKER_02: He is such insignificant to the author that he has known.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, the Hebrew word for it is called poloni alimony, which means so and so.
SPEAKER_02: It literally means and so and so showed up.
SPEAKER_02: Mr.
SPEAKER_02: So and so stops by and he says, and even in the the writing, uh, Boaz doesn't call him by name, he says friend to come sit down.
SPEAKER_02: It's like, y'all ever been to a store and you knew you knew somebody, but you didn't know their name when you were looking at them?
SPEAKER_02: You all have done, you know you have.
SPEAKER_02: And you look at the man, he's a lady say, hey, girl.
SPEAKER_02: The guys are like, hey, pal.
SPEAKER_02: It's good to see you, buddy, right?
SPEAKER_02: That's the significance this guy's given.
SPEAKER_02: Like, he's no name.
SPEAKER_02: He's Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Nobody.
SPEAKER_02: Boaz would have known him, but they didn't call him by his name.
SPEAKER_02: My grandpa used to call, this is funny.
SPEAKER_02: My grandpa used to call everyone he ever met Junior.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, guys, girls.
SPEAKER_02: He he covered it all because he could just look at him and say, hey Junior, your somebody is somebody, so we'll just call you Junior.
SPEAKER_02: He called everybody.
SPEAKER_02: He called me junior.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: I thought it was just because I was my dad's son for a while, but no, it was everybody.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: Junior.
SPEAKER_02: And so this guy is junior.
SPEAKER_02: He's nobody.
SPEAKER_02: Boaz goes sit here and so-and-so, very no-nonsense, Boaz goes into a business explanation of what's going on.
SPEAKER_02: Both men have the rights, okay?
SPEAKER_02: But it has to be settled, number two, underneath of that, by the rules.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Ten men was a quorum, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so Boaz, like normal throughout the book of Ruth, goes by the book every step of the way.
SPEAKER_02: There's a story within the story of Ruth of how Boaz is a man that goes by the book.
SPEAKER_02: It's not been preached, but he loves the law.
SPEAKER_02: There's something to be said about that.
SPEAKER_02: Ten times in Psalms 119, it says, and David delighted in the law of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: And David was called what?
SPEAKER_02: A man after God's own heart.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I delight in thy law.
SPEAKER_02: I love thy law.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: He loved the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: I think we need some people at CCW who love the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: We can talk about the team that we declare, but have you declared a favorite verse?
SPEAKER_02: A testament?
SPEAKER_02: A favorite portion, a book.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: We can talk about, we can get together, and once it starts, the score is going to be the first thing you walk through the door and say.
SPEAKER_02: But have you talked about some scripture?
SPEAKER_02: Just the same way.
SPEAKER_02: We need some people who love the word.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: And let me tell you about the word.
SPEAKER_02: It lights our path.
SPEAKER_02: The book has the power to change a life, it changes heart.
SPEAKER_02: It is stand the test of time.
SPEAKER_02: Boaz lived by the rule book and by the results of the book.
SPEAKER_02: He could have taken her and run off.
SPEAKER_02: Who would have known?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, Boaz had a lot of assets.
SPEAKER_02: Would we have ever really known?
SPEAKER_02: But he says there's another man, and there is a system within this book of right.
SPEAKER_02: There's a system for work, there's a system for finance, there's a system for family, there's a system for conflict, there's a system for love, there's a system for church.
SPEAKER_02: It's all in this book.
SPEAKER_02: There's a system for healing.
SPEAKER_02: And as chance would have it, Boaz is living by the book, and God is ordaining the steps of his life.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to understand, it says it's a lamp to our feet.
SPEAKER_02: It's not chance, really.
SPEAKER_02: If you will live by this book, God will illuminate your paths.
SPEAKER_02: It's real hard to make sense in the dark of my own mind.
SPEAKER_02: But if I got God providing that lamp, man, it starts making sense.
SPEAKER_02: He'll direct your steps.
SPEAKER_02: So again, look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_02: Boaz begins talking to him about the investment.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I thought to inform you, saying, Buy it back in the presence of these men, the elders.
SPEAKER_02: If you will redeem it, redeem it.
SPEAKER_02: But if you won't, then let me know because I will.
SPEAKER_02: So he says, So-and-so, this is the deal.
SPEAKER_02: This is what's going on.
SPEAKER_02: And so-and-so says, I will redeem it.
SPEAKER_02: There's only an upside to this investment.
SPEAKER_02: Mr.
SPEAKER_02: So-and-so is like, I get, let me get this straight.
SPEAKER_02: I get alimelex land, and everything that he had for produce, for farming, for building, I get all of that, and all I really got to take, now this is what he's thinking this far, is an aging widow woman?
SPEAKER_02: Talking about Naomi.
SPEAKER_02: This is this is all I've got to do.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, I'm in.
SPEAKER_02: There's only an upside to this.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to understand as I pictured this, if Naomi were nearby at this point, remember she was bitter a little bit ago.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: If she was here nearby listening to this, like, Boaz, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_02: Open it up like this.
SPEAKER_02: Why are you laying it out like this?
SPEAKER_02: Now she went from bitter to now, they call her fuming.
SPEAKER_02: Fuming, Naomi.
SPEAKER_02: What do you why are you just laying this out there?
SPEAKER_02: But Boaz is smarter than we think.
SPEAKER_02: He lays out a little bit, gets them in, and then look at letter B.
SPEAKER_02: There was a request at the gate, but then there's a request to be guardian.
SPEAKER_02: Then Boaz said, On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, there's just this one little tiny detail, also, another little thing.
SPEAKER_02: You must also buy it from Ruth.
SPEAKER_02: And uh another just a small detail is that she's a Moabitus, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: And so now the man begins to think.
SPEAKER_02: He begins to step back.
SPEAKER_02: And listen, I want you to understand men today.
SPEAKER_02: It is a place of honor to be called a guardian.
SPEAKER_02: It's a place of honor to be called a father.
SPEAKER_02: It's a placeman of honor to be called a husband.
SPEAKER_02: And you hear this said, but with great power, with great uh power comes great responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: It is a great honor to be in that place.
SPEAKER_02: And it takes a man.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: A boy can't do these things.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all understand?
SPEAKER_02: Boaz shrewdly sets this up.
SPEAKER_02: And so the first thing that comes to mind through the next part of the conversation is well, do I have the resources?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, there's this one more thing, and you're gonna need to have the resources to be the guardian of Ruth also.
SPEAKER_02: And not only Ruth, but her son, because there's this little stipulation, you've you've got to have a baby with her.
SPEAKER_02: And there's another thing about that son that you have a baby with her about is that the field that you actually get, now you'll get to have some part of it, but you actually have to give it to him when it's all said and done.
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna become his field.
SPEAKER_02: And so so-and-so is like, hmm, well, hmm.
SPEAKER_02: Um that doesn't sound the same.
SPEAKER_02: It's just a little detail, so-and-so.
SPEAKER_02: He probably has the resources to do this, but the next question comes up.
SPEAKER_02: He probably has the resources to even make that happen, but does he have the resolve to be a man, to be a guardian, to be a father, a husband?
SPEAKER_02: It takes resolve.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, we remember back to Elimelech, the husband who failed, because he wanted to set bread on the table, but he forgot about spiritual matters, he forgot about emotional matters, he forgot about other things that he needed to be, to be that guardian.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and so now we fast forward, now it's so-and-so.
SPEAKER_02: Another picture of this.
SPEAKER_02: And in this moment we've been waiting for, he has this big sigh.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Oh, I said I'll redeem it, but I can't redeem it.
SPEAKER_02: Because if I do, I'm gonna ruin my inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna ruin my family's inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: If I take that on, it's gonna, it's gonna pull me away.
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna, it's gonna actually end up being less for me.
SPEAKER_02: This is not as good of an upside as I thought.
SPEAKER_02: So, Mr.
SPEAKER_02: So-and-so in this back and forth is a picture of greed.
SPEAKER_02: And Boaz, generosity.
SPEAKER_02: So-and-so says, Me, mine, I, me, mine, ours.
SPEAKER_02: And Boaz says, give, give.
SPEAKER_02: It's a picture like this.
SPEAKER_02: Satan says, I'll take, I'll take, I'll take, and Jesus says, I'll give, I'll give, I'll give.
SPEAKER_02: And Mr.
SPEAKER_02: So-and-so, if I gain, if my inheritance and better, if me and mine, and Boaz said, The Lord repay you your work, the Lord be your refuge, your reward.
SPEAKER_02: And we saw that.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, I'll do all for you that I can to redeem you.
SPEAKER_02: And Satan says, I'll take all that you are, church, to build my kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus said, I'll give all that I am so that you can have my kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: You see that picture here?
SPEAKER_02: To be guardian.
SPEAKER_02: That leads us to number two.
SPEAKER_02: God acquires through redemption.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to look at verses 7 through 9.
SPEAKER_02: Wherever you look in scripture, redemption is married to acquisition.
SPEAKER_02: God acquires through redemption.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: It's like when I lived in Indiana, I acquired a gold soccer mom van.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it was.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: My van, I needed it.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, don't get me wrong, I needed it.
SPEAKER_02: And my brother-in-law moved in with us, and he needed a truck.
SPEAKER_02: So we had, I don't even remember how it worked, but the church owned the van.
SPEAKER_02: Our family had grown, and we needed something that was a backup safety thing.
SPEAKER_02: We couldn't fit the kids in my truck.
SPEAKER_02: And so my brother-in-law, I gave him my truck so he could have a truck, and he gave the church$500 and I got the soccer mom van.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: So, anyways, I loved the soccer mom van for a lot of reasons.
SPEAKER_02: None of them are really normal.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: But that thing, it had developed its own noises over time.
SPEAKER_02: Like if you got in, the lock would go off and make a really loud buzz at random.
SPEAKER_02: It would scare you'd be just running being like when new people got in, hadn't been written before.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, yeah, it's just part of it.
SPEAKER_02: Part of the fun.
SPEAKER_02: No, no cost for that.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: We got down there to the end.
SPEAKER_02: It had two hubcaps.
SPEAKER_02: We had um teens and we had these activities.
SPEAKER_02: We had I left a bottle of soda in it, and it froze and exploded.
SPEAKER_02: So on the ceiling was Pepsi covered the ceiling.
SPEAKER_02: It was missing a mirror.
SPEAKER_02: It just did certain things and made noise.
SPEAKER_02: The wipers never would work right.
SPEAKER_02: Heather was telling a story last night.
SPEAKER_02: One time I left her with it, which I tried to never do, and it was freezing cold.
SPEAKER_02: There was snow and to get to church, she had to roll down the window.
SPEAKER_02: She's riding with her head down, just mad at me because of this van.
SPEAKER_02: Well, when we had this van, uh one day I had forgotten, and the tags had expired.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't know if I forgot or if I just wanted God to take it away or what I wanted, but so the tags expired, and a policeman comes up on me, and it's on Central Avenue.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, if that makes sense to you.
SPEAKER_02: Connorsville is laid out with 24 streets.
SPEAKER_02: There was an eastern, western, central.
SPEAKER_02: I'm in the middle of town.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Before three minutes go by, somebody's texting me.
SPEAKER_02: I heard on the scanner.
SPEAKER_02: Like, they know if I got pulled over, somebody knew, and it was news in a small town.
SPEAKER_02: And so uh I'm out there with the cop and he's like, Did you know this?
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I, you know, I really didn't know.
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, okay.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, he's writing a ticket, you know, he's not gonna give me a warning.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I'm a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: I love kids, I love people.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I got three kids at home, I'm broke, you know, and it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: He's just writing it out.
SPEAKER_02: And so he comes back, he gives me a ticket, and he and I'm like, okay, I'm getting ready to get, he's like, You you can't get back in your van.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like four blocks from home, right?
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, I gotta have your van towed.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, what do you mean you gotta have it towed?
SPEAKER_02: Like, I live right here.
SPEAKER_02: I'll just drive it on, it's no big deal, officer.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want you to waste your time with that.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, no, I gotta have it towed.
SPEAKER_02: It's expired, and this is the law, and we gotta have it towed.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, and I'm just sitting there.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, but I'll give you a ride home.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, oh yes, that will be awesome.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm just lazy enough that I was like, okay.
SPEAKER_02: So I get in the back of a police car.
SPEAKER_02: And then people in Connorsville had seen me get in the car.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, the youth pastor done been arrested.
SPEAKER_02: So I pull around, get home, and I'm like, drop me off at the stop.
SPEAKER_02: So I don't want my wife to see me coming out of a police car.
SPEAKER_02: So he dropped me, I walk on home, and I'm like, I got bad news.
SPEAKER_02: So I get back to uh the towing shop and I try to explain everything to the guy.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't care.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, listen, I'll give you a deal, buddy.
SPEAKER_02: How's this sound?
SPEAKER_02: I normally charge this, he says,$150.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, oh,$150?
SPEAKER_02: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I can't even like so I go back and I was thinking it over.
SPEAKER_02: I'm standing there, I'm like,$150.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I could probably ride my mountain bike back and forth to work.
SPEAKER_02: It's only 12 blocks if I have to, I'll just walk, you know.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, and I'm just thinking, but I had to pay$150 to buy back my own car four blocks away from home because of that.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to understand it's a picture of redemption.
SPEAKER_02: God's not getting a whole lot out of this deal.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: It's because of the love of who he is.
SPEAKER_02: And God decided to redeem us.
SPEAKER_02: In the story of Ruth, there's so much more on the line.
SPEAKER_02: So look at verses 7 through 9.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to see what happens after so-and-so says he can't redeem it.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging.
SPEAKER_02: To confirm anything, one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, the close relative, so-and-so, said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself.
SPEAKER_02: So he took off his sandal, and Boaz said to the elders and all the people, You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelechs, and all that was Hillions and Malon's from the hand of Naomi.
SPEAKER_02: And so we see the letter A, a sandal confirmation.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: He takes off his sandal, and I want you to understand there was a couple of things about this that were significant.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: When you looked at a man in those days, and really even today, if you look at somebody, you can tell a lot about somebody by the shoes on their feet.
SPEAKER_02: And so in those days, it was it signified a preparing for a task.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: Just like today, if you see somebody wearing work boots, you think they're gonna go out and do this type of work.
SPEAKER_02: You see somebody wearing some flip-flops, you think they're gonna go to a beach.
SPEAKER_02: You see somebody wearing something, it signifies something.
SPEAKER_02: So this man was signifying his preparation for the task.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what his sandal looked like.
SPEAKER_02: That would have been interesting to know, but I just get an idea he wasn't that hard of a worker.
SPEAKER_02: They're probably pretty clean.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and he took off his sandal and he hands it to him and he backs off.
SPEAKER_02: Well, this was the significance of not only that, but the exchange.
SPEAKER_02: It was a transfer of ownership.
SPEAKER_02: This now is your land to have.
SPEAKER_02: And it denoted a loss of dignity.
SPEAKER_02: Nobody ever wanted to do this.
SPEAKER_02: If you remember back in Deuteronomy 25, the exchange, when a man took off his, it says that the woman then had to write to spit in his face.
SPEAKER_02: You won't raise me up.
SPEAKER_02: But if you remember Ruth and Boa's story, that doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_02: She's not that upset.
SPEAKER_02: She's not going to spit in his face.
SPEAKER_02: We don't see that happening.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, but she could have done that.
SPEAKER_02: So this was an exchange, a visual exchange that would show a loss of dignity.
SPEAKER_02: And so he's saying, This is your land to redeem.
SPEAKER_02: And so we see after that verses 10 and 13, the sandal confirmation, then we see a spousal ceremony.
SPEAKER_02: The moment that we have been waiting for since chapter 1.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, the wedding bells ring.
SPEAKER_02: Moreover, verse 10, Ruth, the Moabitus, the widow of Malon, I have acquired as my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead.
SPEAKER_02: And verse 13, it says, So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, this has happened.
SPEAKER_02: They are married.
SPEAKER_02: And so we see this ceremony.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to understand something about redemption.
SPEAKER_02: Redemption is about a purchase, an exchange out of hardship.
SPEAKER_02: And so Ruth is redeemed as a widow who went through this hardship, and now she is given these rights to be Boaz's wife.
SPEAKER_02: And now she is redeemed from the life she had.
SPEAKER_02: You remember when Naomi told her to get clean?
SPEAKER_02: She said, it's time for you to clean up, to anoint with oil, and to start new.
SPEAKER_02: And that was a picture of her.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that light, you can let go.
SPEAKER_02: My son, you were a good wife to him.
SPEAKER_02: You can let go of that.
SPEAKER_02: It's time.
SPEAKER_02: Boaz is available.
SPEAKER_02: It's time.
SPEAKER_02: And so now this happens.
SPEAKER_02: She's been redeemed.
SPEAKER_02: She's exchanged.
SPEAKER_02: She's had an exchange through a hardship.
SPEAKER_02: But not only is it about a purchase out of hardship, sometimes redeeming means a purchase through hardship.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to turn your Bible with me to Hosea for just a second.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to look in Hosea chapter 3.
SPEAKER_02: We see another story in the Bible where a man redeems a woman.
SPEAKER_02: Boaz has redeemed Ruth, but in Hosea chapter 3, we see the story of Hosea and Gomer.
SPEAKER_02: Look at Hosea chapter 3, verses 1 through 3.
SPEAKER_02: Then the Lord said to me, Go again, love a woman who is loved by her lover and is committing adultery.
SPEAKER_02: Just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who took other gods and loved the cakes of pagans.
SPEAKER_02: So, Hosea, he says, So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and one and a half homers of barley.
SPEAKER_02: And I said to her, You shall stay with me many days.
SPEAKER_02: You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man.
SPEAKER_02: So too will I be towards you.
SPEAKER_02: And so we see this picture, and it's a bigger picture of Israel and them running from God.
SPEAKER_02: And what we said at the beginning, there was this cycle where Israel would live for God, and then they would experience, where they begin to complain and murmur against God, and God would send them hardship, and then they would repent and God would give mercy, and that cycle continues.
SPEAKER_02: And so he calls it playing the harlot.
SPEAKER_02: And that's what happens in our Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: We play the harlot on God when we know that God is there and he loves us and we ought to be living for him, loving him, all out for him, and we walk the other direction.
SPEAKER_02: We go running.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's the bigger picture, and the smaller picture is this: God says, Hosea, go get your girl back.
SPEAKER_02: Go get your wife back.
SPEAKER_02: And just forgive.
SPEAKER_02: Be the man that has backbone.
SPEAKER_02: Be the guardian.
SPEAKER_02: You be the one.
SPEAKER_02: Don't worry about, we'll work on what she has to be, but you be that.
SPEAKER_02: You be worthy of being followed.
SPEAKER_02: You be a leader.
SPEAKER_02: And so he goes to the auction block.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, I'm coming to get my bride back.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to understand we've been created by God for his glory and for a relationship with him.
SPEAKER_02: And we walked.
SPEAKER_02: We chose to sin.
SPEAKER_02: We took our eyes off the Redeemer.
SPEAKER_02: We look at bread on the table or we look at some other.
SPEAKER_02: So this is what he did.
SPEAKER_02: God in all his glory said, Son, I want you to go get them.
SPEAKER_02: They're on the block.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to pay the highest price because that's what they're worth to me.
SPEAKER_02: Pay everything for them.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's the picture of redemption.
SPEAKER_02: It's like this.
SPEAKER_02: There was a little boy who made a model sailboat.
SPEAKER_02: And he crafted it and painted it and put his initials on it.
SPEAKER_02: And he loved that sailboat.
SPEAKER_02: He spent time with it, he played with it.
SPEAKER_02: Well, one day he went down to the river and he started pushing it on the water, and something grabbed his attention and he pushed it.
SPEAKER_02: And that sailboat worked too well.
SPEAKER_02: It went on down the river and kept on going, and he couldn't catch back up to it.
SPEAKER_02: And so he went home broken, just sobbing to mom and dad.
SPEAKER_02: My boat is gone.
SPEAKER_02: I spent all this time on this boat.
SPEAKER_02: I I made this boat and it's gone.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_02: Mom and Dad, help.
SPEAKER_02: And so he began to pray.
SPEAKER_02: As chance would have it, he went to a store, walked into that store, and up on the shelf was his sailboat.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I can't believe it.
SPEAKER_02: You're here.
SPEAKER_02: My boat, my boat.
SPEAKER_02: He grabbed it off the shelf.
SPEAKER_02: He hugged it.
SPEAKER_02: He said, My boat, I'm so happy, my boat.
SPEAKER_02: And he went to the man at the counter and he said, Sir, this is my boat.
SPEAKER_02: And the man at the counter said, Son, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02: That boat was sold to me.
SPEAKER_02: And if you want that boat, you're gonna have to buy it.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, I don't have any money.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have a way to buy it.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I'm sorry, son.
SPEAKER_02: The boy went home.
SPEAKER_02: He started working.
SPEAKER_02: He started doing every chore he could.
SPEAKER_02: He saved up money.
SPEAKER_02: He saved up pennies.
SPEAKER_02: And finally, after two weeks' time, he had saved up enough, done enough.
SPEAKER_02: He came back to that store, emptied it out of the counter, and he said, Can I have my boat?
SPEAKER_02: He grabbed up his boat and he looked at it and he said, Boat?
SPEAKER_02: You're my boat twice now.
SPEAKER_02: He said, You're my boat because I made you, and now you're my boat because I bought you back.
SPEAKER_02: That's the story of redemption, church.
SPEAKER_02: He made you for him.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe you'll walk away.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you'll get marred up.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I bought you back.
SPEAKER_02: I paid the price for your redemption.
SPEAKER_02: God paid the price for that.
SPEAKER_02: And that leads us to the third thing this morning.
SPEAKER_02: God advances with results.
SPEAKER_02: It didn't just stop there.
SPEAKER_02: There's a bigger picture within this story.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just about the love story of Ruth and Boaz.
SPEAKER_02: There's a much larger picture.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to look at verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: God advances with results.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 13 says, So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.
SPEAKER_02: And when he went into her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.
SPEAKER_02: Let her enter that is results by reproduction.
SPEAKER_02: Ruth now is pregnant.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: You remember back a few chapters ago, Naomi has no heir.
SPEAKER_02: Naomi has no grandson.
SPEAKER_02: Ruth and her husband could not produce a child.
SPEAKER_02: She was barren.
SPEAKER_02: And now God has put her in this place.
SPEAKER_02: She's married.
SPEAKER_02: Remember Ruth and Naomi's biggest needs when they left?
SPEAKER_02: Their biggest needs were two things.
SPEAKER_02: They needed food and they needed family.
SPEAKER_02: So they turned around and got back on that path.
SPEAKER_02: That was the two things that they wanted most, food and family.
SPEAKER_02: And now look at God and the redemptive process of their life.
SPEAKER_02: We see God working throughout all the pages of the book of Ruth.
SPEAKER_02: But there's twice, and I want to show them to you, where God directly intervenes.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 13 is one of them.
SPEAKER_02: And the word here where it says, and when he went into her, look at this, the Lord gave her.
SPEAKER_02: Where it says the Lord gave her, you can underline that, circle it.
SPEAKER_02: The word, the actual Hebrew wording there is Yahweh enables.
SPEAKER_02: It's like Jehovah Jirah.
SPEAKER_02: It means the Lord provides.
SPEAKER_02: Yahweh enables.
SPEAKER_02: And the Lord enabled her who was previously barren to conceive.
SPEAKER_02: God blessed her womb.
SPEAKER_02: God blessed that name, that heritage.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord enabled her.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to look back in chapter 1, verse 6.
SPEAKER_02: The second, the first time that it happened.
SPEAKER_02: Naomi has been mourning.
SPEAKER_02: She arose, verse 6, with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread.
SPEAKER_02: The same word the Lord had visited is Yahweh enables.
SPEAKER_02: He is enabling for food.
SPEAKER_02: They left.
SPEAKER_02: Elimelech took them because there was famine and they had no food.
SPEAKER_02: And God draws them back to his place, his promise because there's food.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to understand, God has a promise for your life.
SPEAKER_02: And when you start to wander and get away, he wants to draw you back to his place because he's got food for you there.
SPEAKER_02: And he's got family for you there.
SPEAKER_02: And he's got provisions for you there.
SPEAKER_02: And so God calls them.
SPEAKER_02: Yahweh enables him.
SPEAKER_02: Remember when we talked about the pizza box?
SPEAKER_02: Yahweh enables.
SPEAKER_02: God wants to work through a vessel.
SPEAKER_02: He wants to work through you in your life.
SPEAKER_02: He's working all things to his expected end.
SPEAKER_02: But he doesn't just want actors or extras in the game.
SPEAKER_02: He wants people that he can use.
SPEAKER_02: Yahweh enables.
SPEAKER_02: That takes us to verse 14.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 14.
SPEAKER_02: Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative.
SPEAKER_02: And may his name be famous in Israel.
SPEAKER_02: And so we see here that the results are by restoration.
SPEAKER_02: That's letter B.
SPEAKER_02: Results by restoration.
SPEAKER_02: The spotlight of the story leaves Ruth.
SPEAKER_02: It leaves Boaz.
SPEAKER_02: And now the spotlight at the end of the story comes back to Naomi and Obed.
SPEAKER_02: Well, who's Obed?
SPEAKER_02: We're going to see in a second.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what it says in verse 15.
SPEAKER_02: And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.
SPEAKER_02: For your daughter-in-law who loves you is better to you than seven sons has borne him.
SPEAKER_02: Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom.
SPEAKER_02: It says this Ruth is better than seven sons.
SPEAKER_02: When you came back, you had need of family.
SPEAKER_02: You lost your sons.
SPEAKER_02: Do you think this wasn't tender for her?
SPEAKER_02: That this wasn't an important moment?
SPEAKER_02: These ladies said, This Ruth is better to you than seven sons.
SPEAKER_02: The number of completion.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, I need you to hear something this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss while you're looking for the thing that you think you need, the thing that you need that is in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: That's better than what you were looking for.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss while you're looking for the thing that you think you need, the thing that is in front of you that is better than what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all hearing that?
SPEAKER_02: She has in Ruth a friend.
SPEAKER_02: She vowed, wherever you go, I'll go.
SPEAKER_02: Wherever your people are, that's my people.
SPEAKER_02: Your God, my God.
SPEAKER_02: Where you die, I will die.
SPEAKER_02: She had this in Ruth.
SPEAKER_02: She has stuck by her.
SPEAKER_02: She's a friend who brought her food.
SPEAKER_02: She's a friend who loves her, respects her, has stuck by her and thick and thin.
SPEAKER_02: This picture that she thought was her affliction is now her redemption.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody here, you got a friend.
SPEAKER_02: It's right in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: You got a child that's right in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: You got a blessing right in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss the good thing that you got.
SPEAKER_02: Looking for the thing that you think you need.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss it.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss a sunset.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss the next step.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what you've got left.
SPEAKER_02: It's not everything to be said.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss the people you have met.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss the rain.
SPEAKER_02: Just get wet.
SPEAKER_02: Don't waste your life in regret and big frets and false threats, upset, making missteps, living in debt, let go and forget.
SPEAKER_02: Just dig in and trip, sweat, being an asset, press your reset, you're here.
SPEAKER_02: God's not finished yet.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody tap somebody and say, God's not finished yet.
SPEAKER_02: I tapped somebody else and said, Preacher can rap.
SPEAKER_02: God's not finished yet.
SPEAKER_02: He's not finished yet.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss the real restoration here.
SPEAKER_02: From a funeral Naomi's attending.
SPEAKER_02: To a wedding.
SPEAKER_02: Chapter one, from curse to blessing.
SPEAKER_02: From no heir to now she's holding a baby.
SPEAKER_02: From bitterness, call me Mara, she said.
SPEAKER_02: She said, I got a new name now.
SPEAKER_02: You can call me Nana.
SPEAKER_02: You can call me Granny.
SPEAKER_02: You can call me Gigi.
SPEAKER_02: You can call me Graham.
SPEAKER_02: That's what you can call me, right?
SPEAKER_02: You can't even see Ruth anymore.
SPEAKER_02: She said, let me have that baby right now.
SPEAKER_02: And she grabbed up that baby, put them on my track.
SPEAKER_02: She said, Oh, you better get ready for some spoiling now.
SPEAKER_02: You want a popsickle?
SPEAKER_02: You want some ice cream?
SPEAKER_02: You want a lollipop?
SPEAKER_02: You want some gluten-free wheat cake or lamb sickle?
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what you want, baby, but it's all yours.
SPEAKER_02: From despair to hope.
SPEAKER_02: Now you see.
SPEAKER_02: Can you picture the way the story was going?
SPEAKER_02: I got nothing.
SPEAKER_02: What do I got?
SPEAKER_02: I don't have a house.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have food.
SPEAKER_02: I gotta send you out to get me some food.
SPEAKER_02: All I got is a the Moabiteus widow.
SPEAKER_02: I got nothing, nothing.
SPEAKER_02: And now she's sitting back with a grandbaby saying, Oh my God, would you look at this?
SPEAKER_02: Looking at that baby.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever held a newborn?
SPEAKER_02: Ain't nothing like it in the whole world.
SPEAKER_02: Just as sweet as it can be.
SPEAKER_02: You look at, oh my God, look at this miracle.
SPEAKER_02: Ah.
SPEAKER_02: And she's saying, look at you, baby.
SPEAKER_02: I'm nana, I'm nana.
SPEAKER_02: Anything you want.
SPEAKER_02: Anything ever.
SPEAKER_02: From despair to hope.
SPEAKER_02: Let her see we see results by a revolution.
SPEAKER_02: This is the bigger story.
SPEAKER_02: The grander story in this story.
SPEAKER_02: Verses 17 through 22.
SPEAKER_02: We left the spotlight of the love story of Ruth and Boaz.
SPEAKER_02: And now we're on the revolution that's going to change history as we know it.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 17 says, Also the neighbor woman gave him a name, saying, There's a son born to Naomi.
SPEAKER_02: See that?
SPEAKER_02: It's not Ruth.
SPEAKER_02: And they called his name Obed.
SPEAKER_02: He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
SPEAKER_02: And it goes down through the genealogy and it says, verse 20, Aminadab begot Nashan, and Nashan begat Salmon, and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat King David, who would become Israel's greatest king.
SPEAKER_02: But it doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to turn your Bible to Matthew chapter 1.
SPEAKER_02: You've got to see the bigger story and the grand story of history.
SPEAKER_02: Look at Matthew chapter 1, look at verse 5, and then we're going to skip all the way down to verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: It says, In the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Sammon begat Boaz by Rahab, Boaz Obed by Ruth, Obed begat Jesse and Jesse David, verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: It goes through all this other line of family.
SPEAKER_02: And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ.
SPEAKER_02: A Savior is born.
SPEAKER_02: The results is a revolution.
SPEAKER_02: How did this happen?
SPEAKER_02: This line that God has used through Ruth to birth the Savior of the world.
SPEAKER_02: When I got there, though, I got in Matthew chapter 1, and it hung me up for a second, and I want to show you why.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter 1, verse 5.
SPEAKER_02: I got I was asking questions and I got to this.
SPEAKER_02: Why through all of this is Boaz such a good man?
SPEAKER_02: I want to be like, when I read about Boaz, I want to be Boaz.
SPEAKER_02: I want to be a strong man, a wealthy man, a godly man, spiritual, I want to be Boaz.
SPEAKER_02: And you can't help as a man when you read the story to identify.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I don't want to be Noah Limelech.
SPEAKER_02: I certainly don't want to be so-and-so.
SPEAKER_02: I want to be Boaz.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, why was Boaz such a good man?
SPEAKER_02: Why was Boaz kind to the Moabites?
SPEAKER_02: The immoral people, the people who came.
SPEAKER_02: And if you read before, there was Moabites who fought against Israelites and took out thousands of their people.
SPEAKER_02: Why was he good to the Moabites?
SPEAKER_02: Infidelity and immorality and bad men and bad women.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: And God took me, and I want you to see in Joshua.
SPEAKER_02: You can hang there in Matthew.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to see in Joshua chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02: Why was Boaz so good?
SPEAKER_02: It says the angel of the Lord came upon him.
SPEAKER_02: Sorry, I'm in the judges.
SPEAKER_02: Joshua.
SPEAKER_02: Now Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out two men from the Achaeah grove to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, especially Jericho.
SPEAKER_02: So they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodge there.
SPEAKER_02: And as you go through Joshua chapter 2, the harlot, Rahab, takes the Israelite men, she hides them in, she lies for their sake, she sends out the scarlet cord, and she basically saves them from an oncoming onslaught under the promise of the enemy's word, we will keep you safe, we will keep you protected.
SPEAKER_02: Now I want you to imagine with me, okay, who Boaz is, and as we go back and look at his life, Boaz's mother, Rahab, was a harlot.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think Rahab wanted to be a harlot.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think Rahab, we know later on that she got out of it, she became an innkeeper.
SPEAKER_02: But for a time, as much as I can study and understand, Rahab did what a harlot does.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine with me for a second, God gave me this.
SPEAKER_02: And just to use your imagination, this is not in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: But imagine with me, Boaz, as a boy, finds a journal written by his mother from when she was younger.
SPEAKER_02: Journal entry, it says, It's been a really long night.
SPEAKER_02: I hate it when these men hit me.
SPEAKER_02: I never dreamed as a little girl that growing up it would be like this.
SPEAKER_02: God, if you're there, there's gotta be another way.
SPEAKER_02: Next journal entry.
SPEAKER_02: There's gotta be some help.
SPEAKER_02: Someday, as God is my witness, when I have a daughter, may she never have to go through these things.
SPEAKER_02: Next journal.
SPEAKER_02: God, if you are real, would you get me out of this life?
SPEAKER_02: Next journal.
SPEAKER_02: Today I met and helped some of God's chosen people.
SPEAKER_02: I could have been killed for what I did.
SPEAKER_02: But something in my heart just told me it was right.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe God will save me.
SPEAKER_02: It was a big chance, but it had to be better than the life I've been living.
SPEAKER_02: Next journal.
SPEAKER_02: I can't believe it.
SPEAKER_02: The Israelites kept their word, and I'm going to be safe.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to have a new home.
SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't know how to do this, but I've put my faith and trust in you, Jehovah.
SPEAKER_02: I believe.
SPEAKER_02: Not only that, but I met a young man today, an Israelite.
SPEAKER_02: His name was Salmon.
SPEAKER_02: He's royalty.
SPEAKER_02: I think he likes me.
SPEAKER_02: Journal entry.
SPEAKER_02: Boaz heard stories today about my past and asked, Mommy, why did men use to hurt you?
SPEAKER_02: What's a harlot?
SPEAKER_02: It was hard, but I told him about my past.
SPEAKER_02: He was heartbroken.
SPEAKER_02: I watched my little boy shed tears.
SPEAKER_02: I know he's gonna be a good man someday.
SPEAKER_02: Same night, Boaz, like his mother, takes out his journal and writes these words.
SPEAKER_02: If I can ever help a girl who has been mistreated, if I can ever stop evil like what happened to my mom, God is my witness.
SPEAKER_02: I will not be like these men.
SPEAKER_02: I will wait, Jehovah, for a girl someday that I can help.
SPEAKER_02: Later journal.
SPEAKER_02: Mom, you've been gone for a while.
SPEAKER_02: But I bet you would like this girl I met.
SPEAKER_02: You told me.
SPEAKER_02: Don't ever judge a book by its cover.
SPEAKER_02: She's from Moab, but this girl is beautiful.
SPEAKER_02: She's hardworking.
SPEAKER_02: She has a sparkle in her eye that reminds me of you.
SPEAKER_02: She seems like someone that I could help.
SPEAKER_02: Lord help me to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_02: Mom, today Ruth and I have had a baby.
SPEAKER_02: He is beautiful.
SPEAKER_02: His name is Obed.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't know if I'd ever have my own child.
SPEAKER_02: What a feeling.
SPEAKER_02: I promised to teach him well, Mom.
SPEAKER_02: He's got that same sparkle that you and Ruth have.
SPEAKER_02: I think he's gonna be special.
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna lead to something great.
SPEAKER_02: Listen.
SPEAKER_02: Obed, verse 16 said, led to David, who led to Jesus, a much greater king.
SPEAKER_02: The line of Ruth is not just a nice love story.
SPEAKER_02: We're pointed to a revolution.
SPEAKER_02: God in all his glory took on a robe of human flesh.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because he had to become our kinsman to redeem us.
SPEAKER_02: He had to take on human flesh to redeem us.
SPEAKER_02: He had to have the rights.
SPEAKER_02: And he humbled himself and became a man so he could have the rights to redeem sinful us.
SPEAKER_02: The kinsman and redeemer needed the rights.
SPEAKER_02: Well, he needed the resources.
SPEAKER_02: And you asked yourself, does he have the resources?
SPEAKER_02: He does have the resources.
SPEAKER_02: He came with all authority in heaven and in earth over sin and death.
SPEAKER_02: He spoke to wind and waves.
SPEAKER_02: He healed sick and blind and lame and he told the demons to flee and they fled.
SPEAKER_02: Does he have the resources?
SPEAKER_02: Of course, he came and he has the resources.
SPEAKER_02: But the last thing that the kinsman redeemer needed, did he have the resolve?
SPEAKER_02: So-and-so didn't have the resolve.
SPEAKER_02: Does Jesus have the resolve?
SPEAKER_02: Did he have the resolve?
SPEAKER_02: He took up a wooden cross.
SPEAKER_02: Not because he had to, but because he is determined to do the Father's will.
SPEAKER_02: The inheritance of every kinsman, of our inheritance was on his back.
SPEAKER_02: Our inheritance was a sin, death, and hell.
SPEAKER_02: He took on our field.
SPEAKER_02: He took every sin, every wrong, every evil.
SPEAKER_02: Does he have the resolve?
SPEAKER_02: Does he?
SPEAKER_02: He took large nails, he took the strap, he took humiliation.
SPEAKER_02: Does he have the resolve?
SPEAKER_02: He paid our price.
SPEAKER_02: He's our redeemer, our blessed redeemer.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Peter 1 says it this way: not with wood, silver, or gold, no, but he came with precious blood to redeem us.
SPEAKER_02: Ephesians 1 says, in him we have redemption, and the forgiveness of our sins is by his grace.
SPEAKER_02: We were alone in that field with nobody and nothing, and he pursued us.
SPEAKER_02: We had nothing to give him with the promise and guarantee of our redemption.
SPEAKER_02: That's the way he came.
SPEAKER_02: Church, if you're listening today and I've been praying for you, if you're lost, I've been praying that God would draw the hearts of those who don't know this Redeemer.
SPEAKER_02: He is for you.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care if you've been church for 50 years.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care if you prayed a prayer once.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, if God didn't come and invade your life, there's no such thing as a so-and-so Christian.
SPEAKER_02: We're all fanatics.
SPEAKER_02: You're either all in or you're not in.
SPEAKER_02: His blood was that serious.
SPEAKER_02: This is not a game.
SPEAKER_02: You will leave this life one day.
SPEAKER_02: And if you do not repent and ask Jesus to cover you with his blood and wash your sin away, you'll leave and go into an eternity without God.
SPEAKER_02: Today he's knocking at your heart's door.
SPEAKER_02: He's knocking and he's pleading.
SPEAKER_02: I want to redeem you.
SPEAKER_02: Just like Boaz wanted to redeem you.
SPEAKER_02: He so wanted Ruth.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I want to redeem you.
SPEAKER_02: I want to make you mine.
SPEAKER_02: But you have to surrender your life completely to me.
SPEAKER_02: You're going to have to give it all.
SPEAKER_02: Today, won't you meet with your Redeemer?
SPEAKER_02: With heads bowed and eyes closed, this is what I want to ask.
SPEAKER_02: If the Holy Spirit of God is moving in your heart, and you know it, you're sitting in your seat, and you know that God is wanting you, he's pursuing you, and he's knocking.
SPEAKER_02: And you've never been changed.
SPEAKER_02: That's the question.
SPEAKER_02: You've never been changed.
SPEAKER_02: If you've never been changed by God's love and his repentance, I wouldn't be.
SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't mess with that.
SPEAKER_02: There has to be change.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Corinthians 5.17 says that if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.
SPEAKER_02: Old things have passed away.
SPEAKER_02: All things are like new.
SPEAKER_02: That's what restoration is, brand new.
SPEAKER_02: If you hadn't had that happen in your life, and you're if you're not hungry for his word, if you're not telling people about him, if you're not living that life, I'd have to ask, do I know him?
SPEAKER_02: Have I been redeemed by that blood?
SPEAKER_02: It sets us free.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to live by what the world wants you to live.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to chase those empty dreams.
SPEAKER_02: So this morning, if you need to be redeemed by that blood, I'm telling you, he's standing there before you.
SPEAKER_02: He's the ultimate guardian.
SPEAKER_02: He's the ultimate one.
SPEAKER_02: His request is simple.
SPEAKER_02: If you'll believe in me and repent, you'll have eternal life with me.
SPEAKER_02: And so this morning in prayer, you can do that by praying a prayer like this.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to repeat these words in your heart.
SPEAKER_02: Just say, dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry for my sins.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that Jesus died.
SPEAKER_02: And he was buried and rose again to be my redeemer, to set me free.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to give my life to you right now.
SPEAKER_02: Heads bowed and eyes closed.
SPEAKER_02: There'd be anyone in this room that would say, Pastor Rick, with real and true honesty, I want you to lift your hand up.
SPEAKER_02: Nobody's looking.
SPEAKER_02: I just prayed that prayer and I asked him to be my redeemer, to redeem me.
SPEAKER_02: I accepted his blood that was shed for me.
SPEAKER_02: Today is my day.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to raise your hand up right now.
SPEAKER_02: Just raise it up.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: I see that.
SPEAKER_02: Anyone else?
SPEAKER_02: I receive his redemption on that cross.
SPEAKER_02: He bought me back.
SPEAKER_02: He paid a price.
SPEAKER_02: Anybody else?
SPEAKER_02: I prayed that prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Second part of the invitation is this.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to invite the church this morning to maybe do something.
SPEAKER_02: A little different than we've done in other churches, but I want to ask you this morning if God's been burdening your heart to come and speak to him at this altar, please come.
SPEAKER_02: If he's burdened your heart about where you're at with him, about how you've taken this relationship, if it's not been as serious as it should be, if there's some area that you just need to come pray over, I want to ask you, please, when I ask everyone to stand, you just step out and you come plead before God because he did everything for you.
SPEAKER_02: So you take a few steps for him as he's spoken in your heart.
SPEAKER_02: But the other part of the invitation that I want us to do, and God was speaking to me earlier this week.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a leader here, if you've been redeemed here, I'm gonna ask everybody that can to just come.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to link arms.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to come down to the altar.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to link arms.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to go up and down the aisles.
SPEAKER_02: If you can't get across an aisle, I want you to link arms with somebody near to you.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna sing a responsive song to him because he is our redeemer and set us free.
SPEAKER_02: I want us just to worship him.
SPEAKER_02: You can come and pray, you can come link arms, but I want us to spend this time in prayer and worship.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm gonna ask you guys to stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna pray.
SPEAKER_02: And when I'm finished, Benji's gonna lead us in a song of the redeemed.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm gonna ask you, leaders, if you'll help me, just come.
SPEAKER_02: Come, link up with somebody.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer warriors come, link up with somebody.
SPEAKER_02: Go across the pews, link up with somebody.
SPEAKER_02: Because the Bible says this let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna sing and let him know we are thankful for our redemption.
SPEAKER_02: We're not ashamed of it.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we pray that now you would bless this time of invitation.
SPEAKER_02: God, if there's other things on people's heart, they know that this altar is open.
SPEAKER_02: God, there's prayer warriors all through this church.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I pray they'd find a place to get their thing before you.
SPEAKER_02: But God, my heart this morning is that the words of our mouth, the meditation of our heart be acceptable unto you, our Redeemer, our King.
SPEAKER_02: Let this time of worship be heard in the heavens.
SPEAKER_02: May we exalt you to your place, lift you up where you belong, God, that you'd be lifted high, and God, that you would be honored this morning with our word of praise because you are our redeemer.
SPEAKER_02: God, thank you when you didn't have to for redeeming me.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you when I had nothing to offer that you redeemed me.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, God, when I had nothing to give that you gave your all for me when I'm greedy and I'm selfish, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: I'm so thankful for your blood.
SPEAKER_02: God, hear our cry this morning as we sing to you.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: Oh, let's sing like all I could see was a struggle haunted by ghosts that lived in my past bound up in shackles of all of my failures how long is this gonna last?
SPEAKER_04: Then you look at this prisoner and say to me, son, stop fighting a fight that's already been won.
SPEAKER_04: I am redeeming you set me free.
SPEAKER_04: So I'll shake off these heavy chains and wipe away every stain.
SPEAKER_04: Now I'm not who I used to be, I am rede All my life I have been called unworthy named by the voice of my shame and regret.
SPEAKER_04: But when I hear you whisper, child, lift up your head.
SPEAKER_04: Oh God, you're not done with me.
SPEAKER_04: Thank God I'm redeemed.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we thank you.
SPEAKER_02: We praise you, God.
SPEAKER_02: We are so unworthy.
SPEAKER_02: But we thank you for your redemption, for the blood that was shed.
SPEAKER_02: God, may it never become background noise in our Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: God, Lord, I pray that we would live a life that would be seen by your blood, that people would see us and know that we're redeemed.
SPEAKER_02: God, let us say so.
SPEAKER_02: Your word says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
SPEAKER_02: And so, God, let us live it, let us speak it, let it be a part of our life.
SPEAKER_02: And God, we thank you this morning for the big story inside of this love story.
SPEAKER_02: God, that you came not just to redeem your children of Israel, but to redeem your church.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you that you're the bridegroom.
SPEAKER_02: You're the ultimate picture of a man, you're the ultimate picture of a guardian, you're the ultimate picture.
SPEAKER_02: And God, help us to be a worthy bride.
SPEAKER_02: Help us to please you, God.
SPEAKER_02: Help CCW to be a place full of people who want to please their bridegrooms.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we love you and we thank you for this time in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: We pray.
SPEAKER_02: And all God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You give them a clap offering this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all can be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sweating.
SPEAKER_02: A little bit like Pastor Danny this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all be seated and let's have our guys come forward.
SPEAKER_02: Let's give like the redeemed this morning, alright?
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: God's given to us and He's been good to us.
SPEAKER_02: And I shared earlier some of the things going on and the grass being put down.
SPEAKER_02: And man, we want to see this gym go up really quick.
SPEAKER_02: And uh, we just want to reach out.
SPEAKER_02: It's been exciting.
SPEAKER_02: There's still through the summer we've had young couples visiting, and we don't take that lightly if you're visiting today.
SPEAKER_02: Man, that that's God.
SPEAKER_02: We always have visitors at this church.
SPEAKER_02: Why is that?
SPEAKER_02: Because God is here, God's working in it and through it, and you wouldn't know riding by, looking at a business.
SPEAKER_02: But God did even in here this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit abides in these people and works.
SPEAKER_02: So I would ask this morning as you give, give knowing that you cannot give God.
SPEAKER_02: Give knowing that He wants to bless you.
SPEAKER_02: He wants to take a portion of what you have and use it so that we can reach people with that message of His redemption.
SPEAKER_02: We pray over that offering.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we thank you for this morning.
SPEAKER_02: God, thank you for your presence.
SPEAKER_02: God, I know that I've been to some churches and it's just cold.
SPEAKER_02: Dry and God, a motivational speech that without you is nothing.
SPEAKER_02: So God, I pray and thank you and praise you for your presence this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, may you continue to fill this place.
SPEAKER_02: May CCW grounds be holy grounds.
SPEAKER_02: People continue to be saved, lives be changed.
SPEAKER_02: God help us to be a lighthouse all over this area.
SPEAKER_02: Proclaiming your goodness.
SPEAKER_02: I pray people go back rejuvenated about their faith this week, God, that they be in the workplace, in the workforce, in the marketplace, just looking for opportunities to share your goodness.
SPEAKER_02: Help us.
SPEAKER_02: We pray that you will bless this time of offering.
SPEAKER_02: Use it to further the gospel in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Forgot your checkbook today for giving?
SPEAKER_03: No worries, because giving is now easier than ever.
SPEAKER_03: You can give online by going to thechurch at CW.com and click on the Connect with Us tab and then give online.
SPEAKER_03: On the app, simply click on the give icon.
SPEAKER_03: You can also now use our text to give feature by texting Church at CW to 206-859-9405.
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
SPEAKER_03: 206-859-9405.
SPEAKER_00: I normally talk so loud I thought the mic was on.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, for announcements, if you have any gently used toys, please let Sonia Welch or Anita Hardy know, and you can drop them off at the church.
SPEAKER_00: The Mother's Day out is looking for teachers.
SPEAKER_00: I would imagine you would discuss that with Pastor Rick or perhaps Miss Anita as well.
SPEAKER_00: On July 31st, preschool is having terrific Tuesday fun farm day.
SPEAKER_00: And that says milking a cow and making butter.
SPEAKER_00: And that's going to be here at the church.
SPEAKER_00: So I might need to come see how all of that sorts out.
SPEAKER_00: It says bring$3 to milk a cow and make butter on Tuesday, July 31st.
SPEAKER_00: I do not have a time on that.
SPEAKER_00: Check with Anita Hardy.
SPEAKER_00: Youth Six Flags, we're leaving on August 2nd.
SPEAKER_00: That's this Thursday at 7 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: $40.
SPEAKER_00: We will be gone from 7 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be back at 9.
SPEAKER_00: August 12th, promotion Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: All children moving from kindergarten to first grade will receive a Bible at the end of service.
SPEAKER_00: That's two weeks from today.
SPEAKER_00: August 22nd and 29th, Awana Leader Training.
SPEAKER_00: Please plan to attend these activities for two nights for your Awana Leader certification.
SPEAKER_00: It's from 5:30 to 8.
SPEAKER_00: Dinner and child care are provided.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, this is not on the list of announcements, but we are starting experiencing God next week in my Sunday school class.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's going to be all the Sunday school classes.
SPEAKER_00: It's a the women's class, yes.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a dynamic study.
SPEAKER_00: We we kind of pitched it in my class this week.
SPEAKER_00: Amazing stories.
SPEAKER_00: The story today was a man who, his association of churches had a$16,000 budget.
SPEAKER_00: They believed God wanted them to reach a certain group of people at the World's Fair, and they set a budget of$200,000.
SPEAKER_00: And they made$265,000 because they they took on a work that God could do that they couldn't do.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're going to be talking about in Sunday school, knowing and doing the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: It's an old study, but still very relevant for you.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to see you next week as we kick that off in Sunday school.
SPEAKER_00: We have lunch, I don't know what it is, but um I guess I'll pray over the food and then we'll be dismissed.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this day.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for this good word about redemption from the book of Ruth, God, and thank you for making us.
SPEAKER_00: And then when when we messed it up for redeeming us back, that we can be part of your family.
SPEAKER_00: We ask that you will be with us.