Ruth

Hi. How are you guys? I was listening to and talk about

all the babies that are being born here and the ministries we

get to have an opportunity to be a part of and the

children we're watching grow up. Guys, there's so much

fruit in the house. There's so much fruit, God is doing

things and I'm so encouraged

by what I see all around us. So we're gonna

press into the word today because I think it is the word that changes us.

I believe it is the truth of the word that gives us a foundation

to stand on and allows us to move forward, and I find it

very much like God that this particular

Sunday, I would have the opportunity to share about

Ruth, and that I would have the opportunity to talk with you

guys about how we navigate things when

seasons change in our life. Anybody been going through

anything lately? Let's just start over here

with the first row. Life happens,

doesn't it? Things happen, disappointment happens,

our hearts get broken, relationships change,

we have to navigate hard places sometimes. Have any of

you ever had to navigate a place that you didn't really know? Well

number one, you didn't want to be there in the first place, and number two,

you're like what am I going to do now? Anybody, what am I going to

do now? I seem to spend a perpetual amount of

time asking the Lord, okay, what do I do now? Well He had taken

me in the book of Ruth some time ago, taken me through some

steps, some life lessons that have

really served me well. I feel like when the Lord implants

something in your spirit through his word, that's not just for

now. It's one of those things that you use over and over and

over again as the Lord changes your seasons.

Have the leaves fallen off of anyone's trees lately?

Because that's how I feel a lot of times when the seasons change in my

life, and I'm watching Ruth walk through

some seasons, and I watch to see

how the Lord helps her navigate those places. And I just want to

share it with you and see what the Lord would do with these things in

your life as you navigate the hard seasons

or the changing seasons or fields that you didn't even

want to be in in the first place? How do we navigate those

places in a way that brings glory to God,

brings wholeness to us, and strengthens us and we can

learn as we go. So we're gonna stand and read a passage

in a minute. Let me set it up. How many of you know the story

of Ruth? Okay. Tell your neighbor

about it. Just a brief

synopsis. Ruth, Elimelech

and his family, Elimelech and Naomi, are living

in Judah, and it says there is a famine in the land. And

so Elimelech decides to take his family to

Moab, and so Elimelech takes Naomi.

They leave the homeland, and while they are there, their sons,

Mahlon and Killian, marry two daughters, Ruth and

Orpah. Well, in the course of events, they're living in a strange

land. It isn't where it isn't their homeland. They've been forced to go there

by circumstances. Have circumstances ever taken you

somewhere that you really wish you didn't have to go? Yeah,

me too. Me too. And so there they are

in a strange land, but they've been there for a while, actually

about ten years, and Elimelech

passes, then Mahlon and Kilion both

pass, and so not only has this woman,

Naomi, lost her husband and lost both of her

sons, she now is charged with caring for two

daughters who she loves dearly. And

this is where we pick up the particular passage, if you would stand with

me for a moment. The Lord, she has made the

decision. She has heard. Naomi has heard. Help

has come to her homeland. People are being

blessed. It's not in famine anymore. Things are being taken care of.

So she makes a decision to go home, and this is

where we are. Look, said Naomi,

your sister-in-law is going back to her people and

her gods. Go back with her. But Ruth

replied, don't urge me to leave you or to

turn back from you. Where you go, I will

go, and where you stay, I will stay.

Your people will be my people, and your God,

my God. Father, thank you for the decisions, Lord, that we

make that put us right in the center of your hand. I pray, Father

God, that today you would teach us. Lord that we could glean from these

fields things that would serve us well, Lord, as we

traverse these pathways, Lord that are unexpected and sometimes

hard. Give us wisdom today, Father. I pray for

teachable hearts, for soft spirits today, Lord Jesus.

And I pray that my stuff would fall, and Your stand in Jesus'

name, amen. Amen. I think it's

kind of one of those cool things. There are four chapters in the book

of Ruth, and each chapter shares a

season that she has walked through. A couple of interesting things

about the book of Ruth, it is the only book in the Bible that is

named after a non Jew. Ruth was a

Moabite. And so I love that

this story is shared with someone who didn't have

original covenant. I love that the path that he is

getting ready to walk with Ruth is one that we

are invited into. So I also think

it was interesting that it actually most people think that it was a part of

the book of Judges, but this particular part got

told so many times, the story of Ruth and Boaz was

told so many times that it kind of got separated as a

separate story, so we went from Deborah in the book of Judges

into this story with Ruth. But here's the thing.

So often when we read about Ruth, what do we think about?

Boaz. We think about I mean, come on. Come on. Now

women, we have all seen the conferences finding

your Boaz. You know, the search for

Boaz. Do you have my Boaz? Preparing

for Boaz. And I was like, oh, come on. Give me a

break. Anyway, that's what we see.

That's what we see somehow. It's always the story of Ruth and Boaz,

and Ruth and Boaz are absolutely pivotal

in the story. But here's the thing. We so

love to jump to the good part, don't we? We don't like to go through

the messy part. Just tell us the outcome. Just tell us

the good part. Don't make us suffer with you.

Don't make us grieve with you. Don't ask us

to mourn with you or walk through hard places with

you. No. Jump to the ending. You will ruin

a book that way. You miss so much when you

just want to jump to the end because it's the story that makes

the ending so powerful. It is the

story that makes the ending so rich. I was

riding in the car with Nora June the other day. She's three, and

it had been cloudy all day. I mean, just clouds everywhere.

And all of a sudden, she yells from the back seat, Nana,

look. The sky is blue. It's peeping

right there. It's peeping right there and the rays of sun were coming through.

And she went, it is so blue.

Guys, the clouds are what show us how blue

the sky really is. When they begin to part, when these

things begin to happen, and the Lord just starts showing

up, and all of a sudden everything is more beautiful

because of what you've walked through, because of what you've come

through. See sometimes we don't want to know

the bad stuff. Here's the thing.

So often I've heard teachers pretty much most of my

life say, God can heal you without scars.

I pray not. I pray not because

every scar that I carry is a testimony of

his healing if I just let somebody touch it long enough

to hear the story. The scars that you carry

have purpose. They have meaning. The hard things that

you have walked through, your testimonies are right there

etched on your skin, etched on your heart, etched on those

places because God has brought you through those

clouds. These are the rays of sun

peeping through that we're supposed to be using to tell the

body of Christ you can make it. You can do it. This

is my mom's favorite thing, this too shall pass. And I'll be

like, no, it ain't. Yes, it will. No, it

won't. It doesn't feel like it sometimes, does it?

Sometimes those seasons feel like forever. Well, in our desire

to not deal with the scars and the broken places, we

miss the hand of God and so much. And we make it small.

We make the suffering and the wounds and the pains and the isolation

of people so small because we just want to hear the good stuff.

Ruth was a widow.

Yeah, you've heard that a thousand times. No. Ruth was a

widow. She had been married to Killian for ten

years. Anybody in here been married for ten years?

Is your life just a little bit entwined with that person's?

You love them a little bit? You invested?

Is your heart there? So was Ruth.

So was Ruth. Malin had been her husband for

ten years. She loved this family that God had placed her

in the middle of. You know that she did. I mean, Naomi's calling

them daughters. Daughters. And they're weeping because they

don't want to leave her. That is not normally the the message that mother

in laws have. Guys, I

am so blessed. I have two of the best

daughter in laws in the world. In the world and God

so matched them to my sons. So I

understand that love that you have for

daughters that weren't born of you, but were sent to

you. And I'm so grateful for Kate. And I'm so grateful

for Rachel, because my sons needed

them. They complete our family. This is

what I see with Ruth and Orpah. This is her family. These are her

girls. And she tells them, she says, I don't have anything to offer you.

I don't have anything. I've lost my husband and I've lost my

sons. I don't have anything for you. Go

home. Go home to your parents. And they cry and they say,

we're not gonna leave. And eventually Orpah decides to go and be

with her family. And Ruth says, I will not leave you.

I will not leave you. And that's where we see that passage of scripture where

you go, I will go. Your people will be my people and

your God will be my God. And in that

moment, in that moment, in this first chapter,

this first season that we are learning about Ruth, I

believe what we see is she walks through pain and suffering

and loss and mourning. And God

sends her an ally. God places an ally in

her life. God will send you an unexpected

ally in those moments when you need them the

most, when you just need them. But I believe the whole

thing shifts with the words, your God

shall be my God. Because from that moment

forward, it went Ruth was no longer a Moabite.

She was a follower of Jehovah. And let me tell you something.

When you invite Jehovah onto the scene in your hard

places, when you decide to trust him in those

moments, everything changes. Everything

changes, but you've got to go, God, you will be my

God. Even in this hardest of place. Even in this

field that I don't want to be in. In my grief, in my mourning,

in my suffering, in my pain, with these wounds,

with these scars. You are still God.

You are God. And that is the season

so often we find ourselves in. Places that are hard and

unexpected and that we don't want to walk in. And I'll begin to go, Lord,

show me how she walked this out. Coming out of those

hard fields, out of those hard places. Lord, teach me so

that I know how to do this. And I think it is so

key that in that moment, the most wounded of them all, the one who

had lost her husband, lost her sons, makes

a decision to go home. Makes a decision

to go home.

Some of us have stayed in the field of

wounds too long. Some of us have stayed in the

lands of loss for too long, and it's

time to turn our heart toward home. Now I'm not talking

about Coalfield, because I ain't going back there. But I'm

talking about I'll drive by and

wave, but, I'm talking about a hard

place, a hard position, a community

that God has surrounded you with. See, because she had

community, Naomi had community back home. We know

that because when she goes back, she's got more than one relative. She's got

people, And we're going to see that unfold a little bit later. So she decides

to go home. Some of us need to decide to go home

and stop isolating. You know, you can be in the room, but

not of the room. You can be in the space and not

participate. If your heart is wounded and hard and hurt,

let your guard down. Let healing start. And so what we see,

which I think is wonderful, God starts a process

in Ruth's life. They move back to Bethlehem and

Judah and she begins to listen to

Naomi, this heart friend in this season.

You know, I just said God will send you allies, he will send friendships into

your life, and they are in your life for seasons.

I didn't understand that when I was young. I had friends and

close heart friends when I was young, or over

time. And I just knew, man, that Jan was going

to be my best friend until the day that I passed, and we would sit

on our front porch and we would watch our grandchildren grow up. Well that wasn't

the case. God sends people into your life with purpose,

and most of the time it's for a season.

In my life, in school season, Jan was

it. Jan kept me grounded. She made me

study. She made straight As and I couldn't let her beat

me. And so she challenged me academically, she

challenged me as a friend and grounded me. And in

that season that was wonderful, that season ended,

but I still love her. She's still a great friend. When

I was a young mom and was really, really, really, really, and

I should say that again, scattered, the Lord gave me Christine lockets.

And I tell you what, I don't know that my children would be here without

Christine. They she fed them. She took care of them,

she taught me how to be a better mother. In that

season, I needed to know how to navigate motherhood. And let me tell

you something, if you think your hands are full, go be with a

mom who's got three times the kids that you do. And you're like,

thank you God for three children. And she had

nine. She had nine. And she

was the most amazing mom, and she mommed my kids, and she

loved my kids, and she taught me about

parenting in that season. And I thought it would be forever.

But then God moved her to the other side of the country

for other purposes. And then the Lord brought someone into my

life named Dawn Montgomery. And Dawn Montgomery hit my life

at exactly the moment that I needed Dawn Montgomery in my life. She

was nurturing me in I was writing and I was

singing and I was creating music and working in Nashville.

And Dawn, I don't know if you've ever heard her sing, but the girl can

sing. And she is anointed and she

would sit with me at the piano and she'd go, you know, well, have you

thought about this word? Have you thought about that? Or she would encourage me or

she would sing the harmony to it and I would get it. And in that

season of my life, I cannot imagine that season

of my life without Dawn Montgomery. She taught me

so much. And then the Lord brought Anna

Urias into my life. And Anna Urias is like

trying to run next to a thoroughbred. I have never

felt more donkeyish in my life

When trying to run by Anna, you know, and it wasn't

purposeful. She wasn't that's just who she was and God went in

my spirit went, you know, you can run like that. You know, you can

study like that. You know you can serve like that.

And man, she taught me so much in that season of my

life. And I pray that I blessed her in

that season.

And then the Lord brought Sue Cole into my life.

In the season where I needed an Aaron and a her and a

whole army, I needed somebody in

ministry just to encourage and to do the things that I couldn't

do and to tell me that it was gonna be okay. Anyway,

and so it's my desire. It's my hope.

And I mean my here's the thing, guys. Every

single one of those women who have ministered to me and walked

alongside me in my life, I could call them in a heartbeat and they

would be there. They would be there and I would be there for them.

It isn't that the love goes away. It's that the purpose of the season

has changed. And understand, God is going to

bring people in and out of your life with purpose for a season,

and respect that season. Love them the way that they deserve to

be loved. Allow them to pour into you and to teach you.

That's what Naomi did. Now listen, it's my prayer

that Sue Cole and I get to sit on the beach and watch the kids

play. Because there ain't a whole lot more seasons, you

know? And I I really don't have time to train another friend.

Actually, I think God is going, no. This is the last one you're getting. You

have worn the rest of them out. And but I'm just so

grateful. I'm so grateful for that. And Naomi

was that in this season for Ruth, and she began to

speak wisdom to her. And one of the things that she did, now listen, let

me tell you something. After a painful season, after

a suffering season, just like spring

follows winter, you will enter a season

of gleaning. You will enter a season of gleaning

just like she did. Naomi says, I want you to

go and glean in the fields of Boaz.

See, all it means to glean is to go and see what's left

over. When you come through a hard place, a broken place,

a a place that you did not even think you would survive,

sometimes, most of the time, it's time

to glean the field. See, when you glean a field, you really

are going, okay, this is devastated, Lord.

What's left? What's left? And when you glean a field, to

glean literally means to collect

information, to

extract knowledge, and

to obtain wisdom. To

collect, to extract, and to obtain

wisdom. When you've gone through a hard season that you don't really

understand and you're like, why, God? The best thing you can

do in that moment is is to begin to look at your situation

and go, okay, Lord. What is the

information, Lord, of this moment? What are you trying to teach me

in this moment, Lord? What can I extract?

What goodness can I extract from this? What can

I pull from this soil of of tears

that I've walked through? What can I obtain?

What is in my hands now that I didn't have before? What have

I obtained through this season of

pain? If you will collect information, if you

will extract the knowledge of the moment, and if you will take what you

have learned and what you've experienced and allow God to

turn it into wisdom, It will give you something

when you leave a hard season. It will put something in your hands that

you didn't have when you went in. See, so often we get so focused on

what was taken out of our hand that we can't see what he has put

in it as we've taken this journey.

So, from wounded places to places

of gleaning, Lord, what can you teach me here? What can you show me

here? What can I carry forward in this moment?

And the next thing we see her do, she does. She goes and she gleans

the field. And then Naomi tells her, I

want you to be provided for. I want you to be

taken care of. So I'm going to give you some wisdom here. I want

you to go to the threshing floor. She says, I want you to go wash

your face. Go wash your face.

Put on your best clothes, and then I want you to go to the threshing

floor. Boaz is going to be at the threshing floor tonight,

and he is I want you to watch where he is, and

after he goes and he lays down, I want you to go and I want

you to lay at his feet, lift the blanket, lay at his

feet, get up and wash your face. What does that remind

you of? Didn't David have to get up and go wash his

face? Didn't he have to get up when things didn't go the way

he had prayed, the way he had wanted, and his son dies?

There comes a point in time where he had to get up and go wash

his face and move forward. And that is exactly what

Ruth does out of this season of loss and lack and hurt and

wounds. But here's the cool thing, guys. Do you know

that when she goes and she lays down at the feet

of Boaz, she is calling for the kinsman

redeemer. She is calling for the kinsman

redeemer. And you know what's cool about that? For all reasonable purposes

according to this culture, Ruth just asked Boaz to marry her.

So there you go, women. Don't do it. Anyway.

No. God will send him you you are to be pursued. Let

me back up a minute, women. God will send one that will

pursue you and love you with your whole heart, and if they win

you, then go. But, I'm just gonna put

that out there.

The kinsman redeemer. You know that that's the type and shadow

of Jesus. Right? The kinsman redeemer is the closest

relative, and that's who Boaz wasn't the closest relative. There

was one that was closer, but Naomi had said go and do

this, and Boaz will take care of it. He will see that the

matter is settled. He goes to the gate and he invites the the gate

of the city. The man comes who is the other that's closest, and he's like,

I really want the field. And Boaz says, I really want the

woman. In other words, he says, I want

what she has. And Boaz says, I want her and

everything that has to do with her. Everything.

You have a kinsman redeemer who loves you, who

wants everything that you are,

everything that you possess. You know what's wonderful about that? A kinsman

redeemer couldn't be a true kinsman redeemer if he could only afford

half of her. If he could only afford to redeem a part of her

debt, if he could only afford to do a little bit, he was

it was invalid. He couldn't do it. The kinsman redeemer

had to buy it all. The kinsman

redeemer had to redeem it all.

It all. Every debt, every

loss, everything returning her name to her, her

reputation, everything came through the

kinsman redeemer. Guys, you have a

kinsman redeemer. You have a kinsman

redeemer. And it could have stopped there. Guys, come on out if the

worship people. Come on out.

Worship people. That's the technical term.

Musicians and minstrels. Levitical

priesthood, come forth.

Better? Better? Oh, thou that art anointed by the

Lord.

It's getting more and more difficult to call them out.

Sheesh. I'm so

grateful for them. So we watch Ruth go through three seasons.

We watch her go through brokenness, through pain, through tears, through

mourning, through loss. Then we watch her go into a gleaning

season where she makes the decision to place

herself in a field that is in right proximity to the

master of the field. And she begins to glean, she

begins to gather information, she begins to gather

wisdom, and she begins to move in those things. And

in her third season, guys, when you have been through this,

find you a place at His feet. Male or female, this isn't a

male or female thing, this is a heart posture. Find a

place. When the Lord is revealing things to you about what you just went

through, go sit at His feet and go, God, show

me what to do with this. I'm still broken and I'm still wounded and

I'm still healing. But God, I know that you can change this.

Find some time at his feet. And he will show

you what to do with what you've been through. And see,

not only does Boaz redeem this, not only does God

redeem this time, that would have been enough. It would

have been enough for him to redeem Ruth and to redeem,

Naomi. But God always does exceedingly abundantly

above, doesn't he? He always adds more. And so you wanna

see something beautiful here.

Boaz marries Ruth. And

then God gives Ruth and Boaz

a son. And this son,

the whole community rejoices. Because

Naomi went away broken and she came back full.

And this community, these people that God took her

back to, helped her name her son. Name this

grandson, and they named him Obed. And

Obed means worship. Obed means worship.

When you've been through the fields, when you've been through the gleaning, when you've

been at his feet, it just might be time to worship. It

just might be time to go thank you God for what you brought me

through in this. And that would have been enough, right?

Obed is born. But then there's God. And so you know what

happens next? Obed gives birth to

Jesse. He and his wife have a son. They name him

Jesse. And then Jesse and his wife have a

son and they name him David. And we

are singing the songs of worship

that the grandson of Ruth, the grandson

was birthed into this place. You serve

a God who does exceedingly, abundantly above

what you can think or ask. If you will take those hard places,

those changing seasons that you do not understand. If you will glean

and learn the wisdom of those moments and then take them and

lay them at His feet and entrust Him to do what only He can

do. Worship Him. And

generations, generations,

generations will be changed, will be

affected. That's the opportunity

we have when our seasons are in

the hand of our kinsman redeemer.

Amen? You wanna hear a really cool little fact?

David, this grandson, because of the

Bibles that have been published, the hymns that have been written, all

of these things. He is the top selling

musician and artist of all time.

Still today. So we're we're gonna take an opportunity if you would

stand. I'm gonna

invite some elders and leaders to come down and

be available for prayer. But even more than

that, if you are one of the ones in this room

that I know are in here. And the beginning of this song

says, this is where I lay it down. This is where I lay it

down. Can you come lay it down?

The season you're in, the place you've been stuck,

the hope that you're waiting for. Your time is

now. It's time to worship. Father, give us wisdom.

Encourage in Jesus name. Amen.