Latest / REZ CHURCH Podcast / When Everything Falls Apart And It's Your Fault - November 30, 2025

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When Everything Falls Apart And It's Your Fault - November 30, 2025 · REZ CHURCH Podcast

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Good morning. My name is Daniel.
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I'm the lead pastor here a welcome to Res church.
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We are going to start a a Christmas series today.
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You know, our culture loves redemption stories.
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We, we, we've kind of built the culture, in fact, of, of media
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and story culture around this idea of people that have lost it
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all, sometimes through choices of their own, sometimes because
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of things that are done against them or to them.
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And then they, they come back and they rise above it all back
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in to do something great again. The, the Robert Downey juniors
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who make it all the way to the bottom and then kind of come
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back and rebound. Or there's a guy named Luis
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Zamperini, who's an Olympic runner, but you know, he
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survived torture in a World War 2 prisoner camp, came back, had
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to overcome alcoholism and PTSD. But these types of stories
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resonate with us for some reason.
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It's, it's almost as if there's something deep down inside of us
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that longs to see that happen, to see people redeemed and to
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come back. If you're new to the Christian
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faith, or if, if maybe you're a skeptic and you wouldn't even
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call yourself a Christian just yet and you're just hanging out
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here today or you're, you're watching.
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First of all, welcome. And, and 2nd is one thing you
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should know about the Bible is it, it's, it's actually one
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giant story of redemption, one huge redemption story.
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And you and I are absolutely the underdogs, but we are not the
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heroes in this story. And in this one big story, there
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are dozens, maybe hundreds of, of smaller redemptive stories
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that all contribute to the big one.
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They all kind of connect together.
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And so we're going to start our Christmas series today in the
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book of Ruth, the book of Ruth, We're calling this Christmas
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roots. And the reason we're teaching
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the Christmas story from the book of Ruth, it's kind of
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interesting. You see, Ruth did not occur
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around the Christmas time at all.
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It took place about 1100 years or so before Jesus was ever
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born. And you're going, that's quite
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the prequel. You're right, we are going way
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back. And so over the course of the
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next four or five weeks, we're going to take a look at this
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little town called Bethlehem where Jesus is later born.
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God will eventually send his Son Christ, Jesus Christ as the
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great, great, great, great, great, great grandson of the
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family in this story. In fact, it will be 28
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generations later in the same exact town.
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Jesus will come. And so we're going to have the
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ultimate Christmas prequel. Now here's why I want to start
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here, why I want to preach Christmas to you from the book
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of Ruth, something that happened over a millennia earlier,
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because I want you to see that nothing that God did was
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accidental. Nothing about the Christmas
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story was accidental. All of this was planned.
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God does not make mistakes. We make mistakes.
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God fixes those mistakes. We did not catch God off guard.
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And so not only did he plan to send his Son, He planned for so
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long that over 1000 years earlier he was already planning
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this. He is already laying a way in a
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foundation for Jesus here in Bethlehem.
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So I want you to see how good God is, how intentional he is in
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our redemption. So today, if you if you leave
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today with only one thing, if you only remember a single thing
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about today's sermon, I want you to remember this.
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God beckons the broken to bless them.
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God beckons the broken to bless him.
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God is the God of the broken hearted.
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We're going to start today in Ruth chapter one, verse 1.
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So if you have your texts, go ahead and turn there and join me
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in reading God's word. Ruth 11 Here we go.
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In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the
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land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn or travel
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and live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two
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sons. The name of the man was
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Elimelech, the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two
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sons were Meilan and Chilion. They were a path rights from
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Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of
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Moab and remained there. Now in the days the judges ruled
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the land. That was around 1500 BC to about
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1050 BC or so. For about 400 years judges ruled
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the the nation of Israel and then after that the people
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demanded that they get a king so they could be like every other
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country. It didn't work out real well.
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And this man, Elimelech, who lives in Bethlehem, is in a very
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established family. We know that because he was
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called in a path, right? And that the town of Bethlehem
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back in the day before was called, that was called a path,
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right? And so or Epreath.
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And that means that his family had been in this city for a
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long, long, long time. But there's a famine in the
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land. It's not producing.
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And so Elimelech and his wife Naomi and, and, and their two
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sons leave and go to Moab. Now, it doesn't seem like a lot
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of information in this story, but it's actually kind of packed
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with information that you should understand in context.
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This is a really big deal for a couple reasons.
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You see, Elimelech in this established family in this town
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of, of Bethlehem is an Israelite.
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That just means he's one of God's people.
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God has taken a people. He said, I'm going to call you
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my own people. I'm going to take you out of
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slavery, out of Egypt. I'm going to lead you to a
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promised land. They're living in this promise
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of, of, of God as God's people. He has set them apart from all
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other nations. He has told them, hey, wherever
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I am is protection is provision is satisfaction.
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Now, even though we don't get a lot of detail, we know that he
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left Bethlehem and he goes to Moab.
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We don't know if if Naomi, his wife, was for this move or
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against this move. Maybe there were other factors.
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Let me tell you what's not happening in the story.
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Pretty much a guarantee. God is not telling him to move
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to Moab. In fact, God has said the
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opposite. God has said I'm I'm setting the
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Israelites, you as my people. I'm setting you apart from every
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other nation, and wherever I am, you should go.
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And he's Lee, and he leaves. And if you were going to leave
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Israel, if you're going to leave Bethlehem, of all the places you
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could travel, the last place that an Israelite would go is
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Moab. Because the land of Moab, not
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only do they not follow the God of the Bible, they looked down
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on and frequently mistreated Israelites.
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They worshipped idols particularly.
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One of the false gods that they worshipped in Moab was a God,
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Chimosh, who who part of worship to him was was human sacrifice
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and child sacrifice. He was called the savage God of
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War. And so there had been so much
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enmity between these two nations that God had actually said to
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exclude the Moabites from the community of Israel.
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Don't allow them to mix into your nation.
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Don't allow them to be part of the people of God.
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In fact, he said don't allow them to participate until the
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10th generation. Like you're done messed up a a
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Ron. That's the problem.
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And so if you're going to go anywhere, Elimelech bro, don't
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go to Moab. So he goes to Moab.
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Why would he do that? Because let me tell you what's
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not happening. God's not telling him to go.
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I can almost guarantee you his family that is established there
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in Bethlehem is not telling him to go.
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He doesn't have wise counsel telling him to go.
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Why would he go? Well, here's what happened.
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He looks at his circumstances. There's a famine.
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It's not going well. He looks at his idiot.
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Things are tough, and he decides to run to the very place that
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God has forbidden. So, so, so circumstances are
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difficult. He rejects God's promise, he
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rejects God's commands, and he runs to what the world can offer
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him. What a loser.
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Wow, Can you believe that guy? Glad I never do that.
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I mean this week much look around at the difficult
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circumstances, a bad economy or a tough job market, maybe a
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relationship status that doesn't feel very good.
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Maybe a little bit lonely, maybe kind of copping my emotions of
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the difficulty or the grief or wounds of a particular season.
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And then reject all that God is doing and has said and will say
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and and and and and being to buy into the promises of a world
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that is far from God. Yeah.
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Yeah. You've never done right.
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None of you guys. No, no, not us.
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Elimelech, this guy. OK.
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I've done this a lot. I've done this.
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You've done this. You got caught up in the in the
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moment of the situation in your life and you're looking around,
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you're going. I don't know if God's really
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going to come through. And so I'm going to run after
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blank and it was like 3 weeks ago.
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I'm looking at my life and I'm looking at my bills and I'm God.
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I don't know if we can we can pay these bills and I you know,
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and it so so things thoughts that that are not of God begin
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to flash through my mind, right? Maybe I need to go get a job
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that pays better than this man. Is it really fair that my wife
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had to go back to work? Am I really being a good dad or
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a good husband if I can't actually provide for them?
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You ever let Satan get a couple thoughts into your mind, right?
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Get a little foothold in there. Don't take very long.
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It's a dangerous moment. You see over and over and over
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again in the Bible, God asks people the same, the same
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question that I'm sure Elimelech was answering with his life.
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And you and I have to answer this.
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Here's what he asks. Hey, will you believe in my
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promises and my character even when you can't see it in the
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moment? Will you still have faith?
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Will you trust my promises? My goodness, my character Alumni
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clearly did not. I have this conversation with
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people all the time when they're making bad decisions.
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They tell me they're about to do something really unwise.
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Oh, I'm just going to up my whole family.
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I'm going to move to Kentucky bro.
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They don't actually make the fried chicken there.
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I'm going to marry a non Christian, I'm going to divorce
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my spouse. I'm going to take a job that's
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going to kill my marriage. I'm going to be gone all the
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time, whatever they some dumped And listen, I'm going and I
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always ask them the same series of questions.
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Always I go, hey, OK, who's been praying with you about this?
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Crickets. Oh, well, you know, I've been
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praying about it. Great.
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Who else? Well, what have you read in
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Scripture recently that leads you to this decision?
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Usually a blank stare or here's a question.
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Hey, what is your close accountability?
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People that love God and love you say about this.
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I haven't really told anyone. Why do you, what do you think
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God is trying to do as he leads you into this decision?
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You ever ask someone who's about to go get a divorce that they're
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just like? Here, let me tell you the real
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reason that questions like that don't have good answers.
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OK, I can tell you this from my own personal life, because the,
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the, the actual real motivation behind a lot of these decisions
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when we begin to run from God is that we're actually rejecting
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the sovereignty of God. And what I mean by that is this
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God has said that he will provide.
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God has said that he will protect.
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God has said that he will lead. And the moment I don't see it,
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I'm like, Nope, going to Moab. I'll just come up with
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justifications along the way as to why it's probably OK.
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Well, there was a famine. Did you let God know that there
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was a famine? Like he probably can't handle
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that. Well, I just didn't feel like
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it. This is why I need the Bible in
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my life. This is why I need close
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accountability of people that love God and love me in my life.
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This is why not only do I need to pray about circumstances and
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things, I need people around me to pray about them too.
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To remain faithful in the midst of difficulty.
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So our story starts with a moral failure.
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Limeluk, a weak man making a fearful decision to reject God.
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Man, that is my story all too often too.
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Now it gets worse before it gets better.
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Elimelech can hit Naomi and their sons are there for some
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time. In fact, the sons marry and
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Elimelech dies, and then both sons die, leaving these two
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Moabite wives as widows, leaving Naomi the mother as a widow in a
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foreign land. By the way, that again,
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rejecting God's commands, nobody was supposed to marry Moabite
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into the Moabite a nation at all.
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So that was strictly forbidden. They both marry Moabite wives
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completely, absolutely against God's will.
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They all die. You now have 3 widows as the
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main characters of our story. Merry Christmas.
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Welcome to Rest Church. What a joyful, encouraging
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story. Pastor, thank you.
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Feel so good. Let's pray.
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Oh, now understand though, because we'll get to there's
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some beautiful redemptive things in here, but understand the
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context of three widows in that time.
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There's no Social Security, there's no safety net.
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They've moved away from family. Naomi doesn't have any family in
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Moab. There's there's no one to care
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for them. This is a patriarchal culture.
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These ladies cannot survive. They can't protect themselves.
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They can't just go get a job. They can't provide.
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The situation is dark and bleak and looks hopeless.
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And here's what Naomi finds out. She says, hey, I hear there's
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food back in Bethlehem. The famine's over.
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I'm going home. I'm going home.
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And we don't know if she was against leaving originally or
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not. Maybe maybe the the choice to
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leave was a mistake that she actively participated in.
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Maybe she was the one nudging Illinois elect to go.
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I don't know, maybe not. Maybe it was something that was
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done to her. And some of you here can relate.
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You see, some of the disaster of my past in my life was a result
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of my own poor decisions. Amen.
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And sometimes it was things that were done to me that I had no
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control over. It can be a blend of both.
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But most of us can relate to at least some of the feelings that
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she's feeling far from home in a situation she doesn't want to be
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in. We don't know if it's because of
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others decisions or hers. Most often in my life because of
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mine, following my own emotion, my own logic.
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And it feels pretty hopeless. So she heads home and, and as we
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look at her choice to go home, you might say, you might say, if
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you're really reading this story, you might say, what
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choice did she really have? She's out of options at this
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point. Is that even a choice when
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there's nothing else to choose? If you've run out of every
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option other than turning back to God, is it really a choice?
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Hey, guess what, I've been here. When you get to the very bottom
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of the hole you've been digging, the first step is to put down
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the shovel and ask God for help. You see, the thing I don't want
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you to miss and I don't want you to forget is that God beckons
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the broken to bless them. He often allows us to run out
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there and get broken of our own accord, of our own bad choices,
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so that he can welcome us home. So in our story, Naomi decides
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I'm going to go home. And so she goes to her daughter,
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daughters in law, and she tells them both one's name, Ruth, one
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is name Orpa. She says, I'm going home.
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Y'all should go back to your families.
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At least you could have a chance.
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You have a support structure. You could get remarried.
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There's a future for you. There's none for me.
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I'm going home. So Orpa goes back to her
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parents, but Ruth chooses something different.
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I'm going to show you that in verse 14.
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Let's pick it up. Our story says they lifted up
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their voices and their wept their grieving and Orpa kissed
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her mother-in-law. But Ruth clung to her and she
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said, See your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to
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her gods return after your sister-in-law.
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But Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or to return from
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following you, for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I
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will lodge. Your people shall be my people
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and your God, my God. Where you die I will die, and
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there I will be buried. May the God, may the Lord do so
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to me, and more also if anything but death parts me from you.
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And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she
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said no more. This is actually, this is a 5
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chapter book. This is the turning point of the
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whole story right here in chapter 1.
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Because the the story starts with a person rejecting God and
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choosing what he thinks is going to be easier and better.
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But in this moment, we see the contrast from Naomi.
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Naomi has no more options, but Ruth has options.
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See, Ruth can go back to her family.
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She could go back to her parents who live in Moab.
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She didn't have to go to back to Bethlehem.
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She goes to Bethlehem. She can have a culture change.
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She's going to be a foreigner. She's going to be looked down
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upon. She's got no system or support
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there. She doesn't understand the
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faith. She doesn't understand the
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customs. And yet Ruth chooses God because
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of Naomi. What a choice.
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What a choice. I don't want you to miss God at
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work in the darkest of circumstances.
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This, this story starts out so hopeless and yet right here you
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see God at work. What would cause Ruth to choose
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God? Let's read a little bit more.
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You'll see a few more things pick up at verse 19.
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So the two of them, Ruth and Naomi, went on until it came to
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Bethlehem. It's a long trip.
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We'll talk about that in a minute.
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And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred
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because of them. And the women said, is this
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Naomi? So they remember her.
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And she said to them, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for
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the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
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I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty.
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Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the
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Almighty has brought calamity upon me?
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Drama queen. Wow.
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So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law
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with her, who returned from the country of Moab and they came to
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Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
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That's kind of an interesting little note in our chapter like
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that. Timing is going to be
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interested. Why?
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Because the word Bethlehem, the name of the town, the word
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Bethlehem actually means House of bread.
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And they're going to come back seeking bread, seeking
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sustenance, seeking some sort of provision.
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And it's going to be about about 1000 to 1100 years later in this
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town called the House of bread that they're coming back to
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while they're seeking bread, that God's going to send the
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bread of life. His name is Jesus, the bread
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that actually satisfies. But look at, look at, look at
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Naomi. I want you to see how distorted
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her pers. We talk about how trauma
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oftentimes distorts the way we see the world.
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Look at this. She said to them, do not call me
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Naomi, call me Mara, which means bitter, for the Almighty has
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dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full.
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That's not true and the Lord has brought me back empty.
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Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the
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Almighty has brought calamity upon me?
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Wait, God brought calamity upon her?
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Really. Because I'm pretty sure it was
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Elimelech and maybe Naomi that chose to leave.
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God didn't tell him. Go to my worst enemy and live
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there. Go to the place they worship
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false gods and live there. Go marry your sons to Moabite
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women that I commanded you not to do.
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No, no, none of that was God's choice.
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They chose that. Oh, if it isn't the consequences
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of my own choices. It was a limo that rejected God,
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rejected his commands, rejected his faith, rejected his family,
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abandoned his family, rejected his faith.
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God would be certainly within his right to punish this
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rebellion with death. The fact that he spared Naomi's
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life at all is a gift. But she's caught up in grief,
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caught up in those wounds, caught up in the emotions, and
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she, she, she can't see it. We can we get to read the story
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and go how do you not see how much God is doing for you?
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But think about it. God has not only spared Naomi's
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life, but God just converted her daughter-in-law Ruth to the
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faith. From what she's only seen the
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testimony of rebellious cowards, and for some reason God has
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drawn Ruth and saved her soul because of Naomi.
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I think about this. The first point you have
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influence. God will use you to reach people
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even when you're being stupid. Naomi's not doing anything
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amazing. There's no phenomenal testimony
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of God and said yet somehow God has used Naomi and Elimelech to
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save a Moabite woman and bring her to faith.
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God uses Naomi, a depressed, embittered widow to convert, by
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the way, the great, great, great great grandmother of Jesus.
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Now why would he do that? Why would God say the Moabites
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are excluded? Don't don't participate with the
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don't even have any association with the Moabites.
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And then take a Moabite and make that the grandma of Jesus so
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that you and I 3000 years later, you'd realize that no matter how
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rebellious and how dumb and how emotional how disastrous your
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past is, God will still use you for his glory to save people.
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So you can have a horrible past and God's like come home, come
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home church. I've watched God use me in times
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of my life where I was running from God and I was rebellious to
24:29
God and and he's saving people through my life and I'm looking
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at them going, I don't even want anything to do with God.
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How in the world is this working?
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And the answer is because he's God and he does what he wants to
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do. You can do that when you're God.
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And I just want to remind you, regardless of the past,
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regardless of what you're coming from or through that you have a
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voice, you have a story, you have influence.
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You know, we're, we're headed into the Christmas season.
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It is statistically the season that the the month or so in
25:13
which people are most probable to say yes to your invite to go
25:18
to church, to talk about Jesus, to hear the gospel.
25:24
We printed up a couple 1000 or so of these cards for you and we
25:27
left them out in the lobby so you could grab some and begin
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inviting people to come with you.
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Because you have influence and you may not realize what a
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single invite might do. In the same way that no one
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would have expected a Moabite widow to change the course of
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history. So don't miss an opportunity
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this season to just ask to invite someone to come with you.
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Second thing, when you are angry at God, you'll miss how much
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he's actually doing for you. Here's Naomi saying, oh, God's,
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God's reached out his hand against me and he's testified
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against me and he and he's treated me poorly.
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You know, Naomi and Ruth, two widowed women by themselves,
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just made a 75 mile journey on foot between two enemy nations.
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Going from a 4500 foot elevation in Moab all the way down through
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a valley back up 3700 feet takes 10 days.
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And if you had a caravan with guards it would be dangerous.
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What do you think two single women are going to do?
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How do you think that's supposed to go?
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Somehow they make it all the way.
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They're unaccosted. You think it's because they
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looked pretty tough? Like you could listen.
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You could you could tattoo a teardrop next to your eye.
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It ain't going to matter. It could be like, only God's
27:02
going to judge me, man. You going to get enslaved?
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You're lucky you're not dead. How did they get all the way
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back to Bethlehem without being hurt?
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If only there could be an answer.
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Could be the sovereignty and protection of God.
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A couple years ago I drove my daughter back from Orlando and I
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picked her up in this little rental van, 2 wheel drive and
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we're driving back and we get stuck in a Blizzard.
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It's January by the way. It snows in Florida.
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Did you know that? It was super weird.
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I was like, I don't know how crocodiles deal with anyways, so
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I'm driving and all I'm doing because I've packed this, this
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rental van with all the stuff and I'm driving that you can't
27:48
see and I'm, you know, I can't see anything.
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I'm just complaining the whole way.
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I make it all the way back. And it was only after I got back
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that I, I realized we counted something like 17 overturned big
27:59
rigs on the road out of DFW because the snow was so fierce.
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Things were running off the road and flipping everywhere.
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And we made it fine. And so in the in the moment when
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I'm full of emotion, all I had was complaint.
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But when it's done and I look back ago, you know, that
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probably took an army of angels to get us here safely get rid of
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this. How easily this could have been
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a very different story if God had not been protecting these
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two ladies as they, you know, 1 does not simply walk into
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Mordor. They didn't even have a ring and
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they were little hobbits. But somehow they make this whole
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trip and they're fine and they don't even she didn't even
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realize in the moment, right? She didn't even thankful at all.
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She doesn't see it. But what about you?
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You who has has run from God, has rebelled against God, angry
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that you didn't get your way? How much of God's goodness and
29:01
kindness are you completely ignoring in your life right now?
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You get so caught up in our feelings and in our emotions.
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You may miss the providential and sovereign hand of God all
29:14
around you. You don't see it right now.
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But listen, from my experience, what was what's going to happen
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is in the months or years after, as you begin to realize, you're
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going to look in the rearview mirror of your car, except this
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will be the rearview mirror of your life.
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And you're going to look back and go.
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And God was so good to me. God was so gracious to me in
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that moment. Not only did He not punish me
29:45
for what I deserved, for what I earned, not only did He not
29:50
punish me, but He lavished His grace and mercy upon me.
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Where are you blaming God for something instead of realizing
29:59
the grace and mercy that He is extending you?
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Here's the Third Point from our, our first chapter, this story,
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you can always come home. You know, there's a lot of us
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here that we have wayward kids that are off doing whatever
30:19
they're doing. And, and the I think you'd love
30:21
to be able to really communicate is to look them in the eyes so
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you can always come home. Jesus would tell us of a similar
30:30
story about 1000 years after this story about a son who
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demands his inheritance while his dad is still alive, which is
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incredibly offensive, and then abandons his family and runs
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away to squander everything in a foreign country with rich
30:42
living, only to fall into poverty, starvation, and finally
30:47
decides I'm going to go home. And as he's walking back with
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his head hung in shame, his father sees him from a a long
30:59
way off because he's there waiting, watching, hoping.
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And he runs them and he puts his arms around him and he welcomes
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him home. Naomi goes home.
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This is the message of Christmas.
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Christmas didn't start with trees and ornaments and hot
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cocoa. It started with broken people
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who'd gotten themselves into a mess that they couldn't fix.
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Every generation since Adam and Eve were the first humans.
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Every generation has been born under the curse of sin because
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of that first rebellion against God, and every generation,
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including yours and mine, has rebelled against God.
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The Bible says that you and I were born into sin, born into
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rebellion, born spiritually dead and out of options, just like
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Naomi sitting in Moab. No other choices.
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But God in his graciousness sent Jesus, his only Son, to save the
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world. Christmas is about God reaching
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into broken humanity to offer us a chance to come home, come
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home. The great irony is that God
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gives us the greatest gift ever given, His Son, the Savior of
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the world. And yet, how many people reject
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Christ in this world? How many people reject His
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Lordship over their lives? He came to save us, and we still
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choose our own control and our own preference over the King of
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Kings and the Lord of Lords. So many of the things that have
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happened in my life, it was not God's hand against me, it was
32:50
not God treating me bitterly. It was a God allowing me to
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suffer the consequences of my own choices and my own decisions
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so that I would see how good He is compared to this world.
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How about you? Where do you need to come home
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from today? Where have you been chasing your
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own logic, your own reason, your own emotion, your own feelings
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and as a result running from what God has for you?
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Where is Christ calling you to come home?
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Have you been allowing doubt and fear about the your
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circumstances and, and your future to consume your thought
33:38
life and, and, and your choices instead of resting in what God
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has promised, living in a way that dependent on God?
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Have you been prioritizing the things of this world?
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This is exactly what Elimelech did.
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Prioritizing your job or, or, or money or success or
33:58
relationships or comfort and, and you will realize at some
34:01
point you are worshipping idols. Have you fallen in love with
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this world, the things that it offers, and now find yourself
34:12
dissatisfied with it all? Have you sat in the pain or the
34:18
hurt of what someone did to you and allowed that to change your
34:20
perspective of God and others and yourself?
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You see, oftentimes God will let us get to the point where we're
34:27
ready to throw our hands up in frustration and scream at God.
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And that's a wonderful place because you're at a point where
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you might actually listen to what he's saying.
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And he's saying, come home. He's been waiting.
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God beckons the broken to bless them.
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He's calling Naomi home. For the Christian who who finds
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themselves where I found myself plenty of times.
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There's a formula in in scripture.
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Every time we come back to God after we've run from him.
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It's very simple. It's not easy, but it's very
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simple. Confess in prayer and and to
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someone else. Confess what we've done where
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we've rebelled against God. Confess.
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Maybe that's in accountability. Maybe that's in a group that
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you're in. Maybe that's with a close
35:19
brother or sister in Christ. Maybe you don't have anybody and
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our per team will be up here in a little bit and you can come up
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and just just I need to confess. I've been running from God.
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Secondly, repent. Turn away from whatever you've
35:35
been chasing. Turn toward God.
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This is what Naomi does. She turns away from Moab.
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She turns toward Bethlehem. Turn away from what you've been
35:46
chasing, turn toward God. And 3rd recommit to pursuing
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Christ and his community. Just ask for help.
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Join a group, jump in the team, begin to pursue God with others.
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Last week we had an opportunity to pray together, and I had
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person after person after person come up and go.
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I thought that was going to be boring.
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No, it's powerful. You need other people.
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We don't like to admit we need other people, but we need other
36:26
people. It's a very simple formula.
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Confess, repent, pursue. It's not easy to do.
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You know why it's not easy to do?
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Because to to do that, we actually have to admit that
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we're wrong. We have to admit that we need
36:43
others. We have to admit that God was
36:45
right. And oh, does our pride not like
36:48
that? Let me just encourage you as a
36:50
lifelong failure to pride, repentance, confession.
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It is worth it. Maybe the most liberating thing
36:59
in life is to confess and cry out to God.
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Come home, Christian, come home. Maybe you're not a Christian.
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Maybe you're not Naomi in the story today.
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Maybe you're Ruth. Maybe you spent your entire life
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worshipping other gods, other things, and for some
37:20
inexplicable reason you have found yourself here today or or
37:24
watching online and you're not even sure why.
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Let me explain why the God of Naomi, the God of Ruth, the God
37:34
of Daniel, the God of the Bible, desires to be your God.
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Jesus Christ is calling you home.
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No matter your background, no matter your past, your
37:47
decisions, your pain, you can have relationship with the God
37:52
of this universe. He is calling you.
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That's why you're even paying attention right now.
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You didn't choose this. God has been wooing you to come
38:01
home. The one who created you, who
38:04
knit you together in your mother's womb, who knows the
38:06
number of hairs on your head. He's calling you to come home.
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And I'll just tell you personally, from experience,
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Jesus is worth it. He is so worth it.
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Jesus who did not consider himself when he went to the
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cross to die for us. He is good, He is wise, He is
38:30
powerful, He is God, He is King, and He is the only one that can
38:34
actually sit on the throne of my heart and create life and
38:37
future. So maybe that's you today.
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You've never let God be the Lord of your life.
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No one else can decide that for you.
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No one else can give control of your heart over to God.
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Only you can do that. No one else can declare Christ's
39:05
king for you. Only you can do that.
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Will you do that today? Will you come home?
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If you want to surrender your life to Christ today, I want to
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give you an opportunity to do that before we finish our
39:19
service. Will you bow with me for just a
39:20
brief moment as we pray? If you're willing to ask God for
39:24
forgiveness and salvation with every eye closed, every head
39:28
bowed, I just want you to quietly or or silently repeat
39:31
this prayer after me. If you're a Christian who feels
39:34
like you've been running from God, I want you to use this as
39:37
an opportunity to confess and repent.
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Turn toward God. All right.
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You want to give your life to Christ.
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Repeat after me. Jesus, I know I'm a Sinner and I
39:49
can't save myself. I want you to save me.
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I surrender everything to you. Be my Lord.
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Please, Jesus, you said that prayer for the very first time.
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You've given your life to Christ.
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Would you be brave and raise your hand for me to see?
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Awesome. Thank you.
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Thank you. Put chance now in Jesus name,
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Amen. Real quick, Real quick.
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If you just ask God to save you, welcome to the family.
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The Bible says that when a single person turns to God,
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gives a life to the Lord that all of heaven celebrates and
40:46
they are partying right now. In just a minute, when you
40:51
stand, we're going to sing a song.
40:52
In just a minute, we're going to close just a second In the back
40:58
there are tables. It says I raised my hand if, if,
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if today or recently you've given your life to Christ and
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you haven't told anybody. I want you to make your way back
41:06
there as we respond to this service and tell somebody we
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we'd love to celebrate with you. We have a gift for you.
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We're excited. I'm going to talk about what
41:14
this journey looks like, but maybe, maybe today what you
41:17
needed was confession and you don't know where you're going to
41:19
turn for that. Well, our prayer team is about
41:20
to be up here. We love praying with you,
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praying for you. Amen.
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If you just want to come and get prayed for, prayed over.
41:27
If you need somebody to confess with, we'd love to do that with
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you too. You move as the Lord leads you.
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We love you. Merry Christmas.