Ruth: Our Redeemer (1- He Redeems our Suffering)

Well, if you have your Bibles, you want to open up with me.

We are in the first part of a brand new series entitled Redeemer and that's going to be a study through the book of Ruth.

And so if you want to get out your Bibles, turn to the book of Ruth.

Also, get out your Bible journals with you.

And while you were doing that, if you're a first time guest, I want to say welcome to you and, if you wouldn't mind, at some point in the service, love for you to fill out the connect card and at the end of the service you can take it to our welcome center.

We have a free gift for you, but also I would love to give you a free Bible.

We'd love to give you a Bible journal and so you can start taking notes with us, because around here, man, we love God's word and we love learning from God's word, and we're gonna jump into a series that, to be honest with you, I've not ever really heard an entire series on the book of Ruth.

So we're going to jump into this together and as we do this, we're going to kind of cover the basics today.

But even before that, I want to start with a question, and that is this what is the most valuable skill?

Like, have you ever been to a job interview?

And they ask you that question?

They say why should we hire you?

You know, the truth is you want to say cause I'm broke, that's the main reason why you ought to hire me.

But they'll say that and then you try to think of like the most valuable skill.

Well, they've done studies on this and people have said the most valuable skill they think is communication, teamwork, work ethic, flexibility, have an energetic personality or creativity.

These are some of the things that people have said is the most valuable skill that employers are looking for.

But actually that was who they like.

They surveyed all the people looking for a job and then they surveyed the people who were trying to find someone to work and the most valuable skill they said was dependability or faithfulness.

Because a lot of people have said listen, I don't care how good you are at those things, you don't need to show up at work in order to do those things.

You know what I mean.

It's like I can teach you these things, but you got to be there in order for that to work right.

Faithfulness is one of the most valuable employable skills in the workforce today and, as I was thinking about this series, it turns out it's not just the most valuable skill when it comes to getting a job or keeping a job, but it's also one of the most valuable but most underrated skills when it comes to the kingdom of God.

And we're going to talk about this.

And we talk so much about God's faithfulness to us and he is but maybe every once in a while we should talk about our faithfulness to God and what that actually looks like.

And so, hopefully, over the course of this entire series, we're going to talk about this often overlooked spiritual trait, and here's like the big idea of the whole series, and that is this that God uses the faithfulness of ordinary people.

So, of course, I'm not talking about you, okay, but I am talking about your neighbor, okay.

God uses the faithfulness of your neighbor to redeem people in extraordinary ways.

God uses the faithfulness of ordinary people to redeem people in extraordinary ways.

Another way of saying this is God uses ordinary faithfulness to do extraordinary things.

And over the course of this series, my hope for you is that the book of Ruth is a challenge, and the challenge is is if we will just obey God, if we'll just be faithful in the things that we know to do, it is amazing what God will do in the other areas that we need him to move in our lives the most.

It's a small book with a really big challenge, and my hope for us is that, as we see this man, god is just going to continue to just excite us that we can make a difference in our world.

But many times the biggest difference we can make is in the small things we don't always recognize, and so today we're gonna get started with this.

We're gonna lay the groundwork that we're gonna build on throughout the series.

So, if you're ready.

Ruth, chapter one, verse one, says this In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land.

So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him.

The man's name was Elimelech, which it's actually Elimelech, but that's hard to say.

So we're going to forget the snot, okay, and we're just going to go with Lech Elimelech.

And his wife's name was Naomi Somebody say Naomi, okay and their two sons, mahalon and Kilion.

These guys were Ephraites and they were from Bethlehem in the land of Judah.

When they reached Moab, they settled there.

Then Elimelech died and Naomi was left with her two sons, and the two sons married Moabite women.

One married a woman named Orpah.

Now, pause for a second.

I'm going to get this out of the way, because I'm going to make this mistake at some point.

Once upon a time somebody was reading this and they mispronounced Orpah and they said Okra.

Now it's stuck in my head Okra.

So over the course of this series, if I say Okra, I do mean Orpah, okay.

And I am also apt to say Oprah, as in Oprah Winfrey.

But the poor lady's name was Orpah, okay, all right, so Orpah.

And the other woman's name was Ruth Somebody say Ruth, the lady who this is written about.

But about 10 years later both Mahalon and Kilion died and they left Naomi alone without her two sons or her husband.

Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again.

So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab and return to their homeland.

Wow, that's a whole lot of bad in just a few verses.

And what the Holy Spirit did when he inspired, probably, samuel to write this is he takes these first six verses and he lays the groundwork that we're going to build on throughout this series.

This was the whole backstory, the groundwork that we're going to build on throughout this series.

This was the whole backstory, and then he's going to build from there, as he helps us to understand that God can do extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness.

And one of the most extraordinary things that God can do and we're going to see how it starts today and how it's going to build from there, if you're taking notes and that is that our God can redeem our suffering.

Our God can redeem the worst days of our life.

God can redeem the bad things over a long period of time.

God can redeem our suffering.

Can I just tell you this, if you don't hear anything else, I say nothing's too hard for God.

As a matter of fact, the worse it is, the more glory he gets, and I'm not saying he puts you in the worst situations just for that.

I'm just saying that God can do anything and that the narrator is showing us that this was a bad season, not just a bad day, but it shows, even more so, what God is able to do.

So let's define a couple of terms.

What is this word?

We've named it redeemer.

We've talked about how he can redeem our suffering.

What does the word redemption mean?

If you're taking notes, here's redemption, and that is redemption means to restore something that was lost, broken or in need.

Redemption is to restore something.

So something has to be broken, lost or in need, or it doesn't need to be restored, it doesn't need to be redeemed, and so it's after it has been broken, lost or in need that then God comes and he restores it.

And we're going to talk about how God redeems Naomi's suffering.

It would be very easy to have named the book of Ruth the book of Naomi, because it really has a lot to do with her story and her suffering.

Now let's also define suffering.

This is not the like the Webster's definition.

This is my definition.

The definition of suffering that I have is a lot of pain for a long time.

That is my definition of suffering.

In other words, I'm not saying that we're not talking to you today if you have a recent need.

I'm not minimizing that, but I'm talking to people who have got some bad situations that have been lasting for a while.

Let me give you an example.

There is the worst pain in the world that all of us can identify with, and that is in the morning early.

You're walking up from your bed in the morning and the lights are off and you stub your toe on the edge of your bed.

Is there a worse pain than that?

I don't know what that is, but all of a sudden you wonder where was God?

Why would a loving God do that to you?

Right, that's not suffering.

Suffering is if you hit your toe on that same side of the bed for a year in a row, to where you don't even have a toe anymore.

That's suffering, okay.

Suffering is owning a cat.

Okay, there we go.

I had to get my one cat joke out.

All right, there it was.

So suffering is something that happens over a long period of time, and when it happens, we all agree.

Everybody's experienced suffering.

But the thing is is that God can restore suffering, and here's the thing that we need to understand about this as we move on and, by the way, there's an opportunity for a lot of extra notes, but not a lot of time.

So you have a camera phone.

Let that be your blessing today.

Okay, you take pictures, because here's the first one, and that is did you realize?

Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how we respond.

So life is 10% of what happens and 90%.

So in other words, we're all gonna have seasons of suffering in our life, and the thing is is that with Naomi, she's having this season of suffering and God can redeem it by doing extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness.

But here's the thing that we've gotta understand is there's three ways that we can respond to suffering, and if you're taking notes, the three ways is we can either endure it, we can escape it or we can enlist it.

When it comes to the suffering we experience in our life and I don't know what that suffering would be for you we can endure it and if we're not careful, that enduring of suffering can make us bitter, like we go through it but we're worse for it.

We go through the situation, but now we're jaded and now we're angry at the world and now we don't trust people and now we are just bitter at the world because of the suffering we went through.

Another one is that we escape it, and the thing is is that every time we start to experience suffering, we jump ship.

I've seen people do this in a relationship with God and it breaks my heart so bad, and that is that they experience suffering, so they turn to God, and then, when they turn to God and they start experiencing suffering, they turn away from God and they go back and forth and all it does is make us brittle because, instead of standing under it and watching what God can do and do extraordinary things to ordinary faithfulness, they just constantly are moving back and forth and, unfortunately, sometimes the only way to grow resilience is to stand under difficult times, but then the other one is is to enlist it, and if we allow God to use and to redeem our suffering, it can make us better.

There's only some things that you can stand under and survive, because you've experienced it before and you know that God is able, and there's some things that you can't learn from other people's stories.

You can only learn it because of what you have seen God do in your life, and so what we're going to talk about is that how God can enlist our suffering and he can redeem it, and he does it by doing extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness.

Which begs the question then how can the book of Ruth or we could have said the book of Naomi help us when facing suffering.

How can it help these four little chapters with this really big idea?

And that is because it testifies of how God can do extraordinary things through ordinary suffering.

I want you to look at your neighbor and say ordinary suffering.

It was weird because I meant to say ordinary faithfulness, okay.

So now look at your neighbor and say my bad, ordinary faithfulness.

You know, I'm so glad we're a church family and I can just say I just messed that up.

All right, so here we go.

But here's the thing.

There's four ways, just like rewind the whole thing and start over again.

And you know, what was great is that you said it.

Man, what a church family that is.

That was great.

You're just like sure he must mean something by that.

Thank you for your trust.

Don't trust me again, apparently.

Okay, yes, okay.

There are four ways that God can enlist our suffering that we're going to learn over the course of this series.

Okay, here it is.

Here's how God will do that, and that is that God is at work, redeeming us when it seems like the world is in chaos.

Can I tell you that God is at work even when it seems like the world is in chaos, and that he can redeem every suffering we go through and often he does extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness.

Look at what happens.

The Bible says this.

It says in the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine not a weekend famine, not a slight famine folks be starving, kind of famine came upon the land, and so a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and his two sons with him.

Now, why is that a big deal?

So Samuel if that's who the author was is telling us this was during the time of the judges, which is when everybody who was reading this would have went.

Oh, so it was that bad right, because the Bible said that.

The book of Judges.

It said at the very beginning, in the very end.

It says in those days Israel had no king.

All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

So in other words, it was like that great classical ballad Welcome to the Jungle.

You know what I mean.

That song when it was just pretty much whoever's the strongest is in charge.

That's what it was.

The nation of Israel.

This was the deepest, darkest time in their history.

Have you ever read the book of Judges?

It is a dumpster fire that won't stop burning.

It is horrible, horrible, horrible.

And so I wanna show you where Ruth actually happens.

And so, if you kinda remember, the Bible said that God blessed Abraham and he called him out, and then he blessed his family, and then eventually, they went down to Egypt to escape a famine.

And then, while they were down there, they ended up becoming slaves, and for 400 years they were slaves.

Well then the Bible tells us that Israel was delivered from Egypt.

So they were delivered, and then they went to a place called Mount Sinai where they were given the law of God, and then they spent the next 40 years in the wilderness, figuring it out, writing the book of Leviticus and numbers and all of this.

And at the very end of those 40 years, god rose, raised up Joshua to be the new commander of the army, and they went into the promised land to reclaim the land that God had for them.

So that was the next thing that happened.

We've got the entire book of Joshua where they did that.

And then the Bible says they separated the land and were told to honor God and be free.

Just honor God and just go and live long and prosper.

Just go, be free.

It's all you had to do.

And so then, during the lifetime of Joshua, they did.

And then, pretty quickly after the life of Joshua, they go Crazy, which is the very beginning of the book of Judges.

Because what happened is is after that they got into what we call the cycle of sin.

And what the cycle of sin looked like for the nation of Israel over 350 years is they would turn their back on God.

They would get overrun by enemies.

God would raise up a leader or a judge.

That's really what a judge was was a military leader.

They would be delivered.

Then they would start over again.

And here's the thing about this cycle of sin that they would get into, and that is, every cycle of sin would get worse and worse, and worse and worse.

And the book of Ruth is right there on the end of it, like when it got as bad as it possibly could.

Go read the end of the book of Judges.

It's about as bad as it possibly can get.

And right in the middle of all of that, if you zoom in, there is this wonderful little family of Elimelech and Naomi and their two sons who are just trying to get by in a world that has gone crazy.

Can I tell you that there are some people that would say that's not that dissimilar from the world we live in today, that we live in a world that has gone crazy.

I don't know what trigger word would maybe make you upset right now, but let's just use all of them, okay.

So everybody's upset.

So for some people, just say the word Trump and you just see their face turn red.

It's like you know.

Then you get the word tariff.

Some of us didn't even know what that was until about four months ago.

And then you've got Republicans, democrats, russia, china, culture wars, and even Netflix canceled your series.

Okay, everybody's got problems.

The world has gone crazy.

In the eyes of some people, whatever your word is right, but isn't it amazing, though, that even in a world of chaos, god's still moving through people?

God's still doing amazing things through ordinary moments of faithfulness, like?

It reminds me of a lady in the Bible whose name was Hadassah, aka Queen Esther, and one day we're going to get to her story, but she is a perfect example about how God does amazing things through ordinary faithfulness.

If you don't know the story of Esther, it's a situation where she did not want to be where she was.

It was after the time of Ezekiel and whenever the nation had been destroyed.

And now they're in captivity and she's living in the capital city.

She don't want to be there, she wants to be back in Jerusalem.

But she's there and then she's minding her own business and the king decides to have a beauty contest.

I don't want to be in a beauty contest.

Well, you're going to be in a beauty contest.

She was voluntold, she was going to be in this beauty contest and the winner, ta-da, gets to be the queen.

I don't want to be the queen or die.

Okay, I'll be the queen if I win, right?

And so this crazy set of circumstances she won and she becomes the queen.

Well, in this crazy world, she's like okay, fine, I'm the queen.

But then what starts to happen is there was an evil man named Haman who decided he wanted to kill all the Jewish people and he started to make a plot and he convinced the king to have that happen.

And it was just, all of a sudden you started to look and go, wait a minute.

So you're telling me that the kingdom is about to release an edict to kill all the Jewish people.

But I have a crazy set of circumstances, you have a Jewish lady who is now one of the few people that has the ear of the king.

That looks like in the middle of chaos, god might be doing something and, through a crazy set of circumstances, she's talking to her uncle one day and he's trying to tell her I know all of this is just chaos, but God's positioned you in the middle of chaos and he says this to her.

He says if you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die.

In other words, you don't waste your opportunity.

Who knows if perhaps you have been made a queen just for such a time as this?

Is it possible there's a reason why you're alive right now?

Is it possible that God has a purpose and a plan for your life?

And is it possible that God enlisted Esther's suffering in a world of chaos to position her to make a difference?

What if God can enlist our suffering to position us for his ultimate good?

That's what we're going to learn in the book of Ruth.

Is that when we just have this ordinary faithfulness, it's amazing the extraordinary things that God can do.

And what we're going to see is that, even when we are suffering, god is working, even in that suffering, and he can enlist it to work and to do what only he can do in a world full of chaos.

Now, say it right this time.

Look at somebody and say ordinary faithfulness.

That's what God's asking you to do.

He's asking you to have ordinary faithfulness, and when we do, we realize that God will enlist it and he will be at work even when the world is in chaos.

Well, here's the second one, and that is that God is at work, redeeming us when it seems like our world is in chaos.

Because, can I be honest with you, I know people right now and maybe some of you would agree with this they would love to be worried about tariffs and China and Russia and Netflix series.

They would love to be worried about that.

You know why?

Because their world is in chaos.

They've got some things and some stuff that's going on and they say well, of course God can move the nations, but I don't know if he cares about me.

Can I tell you he does.

He cares about you and even in the middle of all of this chaos, god was still looking at this family who is just trying to make it happen.

Look, the Bible says this man's name was Elimelech and his wife's name was Naomi.

Their two sons was Mahalon and Kilion, and they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah, and when they reached Moab they settled there.

One married a girl named Orpah and the other a woman named Ruth, and so, in other words, that was probably not their plan, because most likely a lot of scholars think that Elimelech probably didn't intend to move to Moab forever.

He was just trying to get out of the famine for a while and since there was a massive famine, they moved there for a while but it took longer than they expected.

And now they got to figure something out, because now their boys are getting older and they have to try to marry them and there's just chaos everywhere, like you can just tell in the names and what these names mean, that the chaos that's going on in their world.

Let me give you an example.

The name Bethlehem means house of bread.

It's already crazy.

They're leaving bread to go find bread.

But there's, that's another one Elimelech.

His name means my God is king.

Naomi's name means sweetie.

In the South we would say sweetie, pie, sweetness.

Mahalon means sickly.

Kilion means frail.

That's awesome, okay.

And then Ruth's name means friendly and Orpah's name means stubborn Good choices, guys.

So notice what happens.

Okay, they're serving God.

My God is king.

Trust the Lord until there's a famine.

And then he doesn't trust the Lord, apparently because nobody else moved away, just Elimelech did.

He moves away from the house of bread, going to look for bread.

But the good news is is he takes his sweetie pie and then Mr Sickly and Mr Frail you can see the train already coming right and then they move there and they marry.

Friendly and stubborn.

That's called just trying to make it work as best as you possibly can.

All right, that's just trying to figure it out and trying to figure out what to make work.

And the thing is is if you ever experienced that in your life, where where, like, life gives you lemons and you try to make lemonade but it still tastes better, you're just trying to figure it out and world is crazy.

It reminds me of a place in the new Testament where there was someone trying to do that, and I love what Jesus told him.

It's a guy by the name of Jairus.

Jairus was a leader of one of the local synagogues who mostly did not accept Jesus.

But it's amazing how pliable we become when suffering starts to happen.

And the Bible said that, as Jesus was coming into their area, jairus, who might have very well been one of the lead outspoken people against Jesus, runs to Jesus and he says my little daughter is dying.

Please come and lay your hands on her, heal her so she can live.

And I love this.

The Bible said Jesus went with him.

In other words, jesus didn't argue, he didn't say oh, now you love me.

Oh, now you know what he did.

He said where's she at?

Let's go.

He cared about the chaos going on in this man's world and all the people followed, crowding around him.

But while they were on their way, messengers from the home of Jairus said your daughter is dead.

There's no use troubling the teacher.

Now, you ever been there when things start to go south and you trust God the best that you can and you thought maybe God could and you thought maybe God should.

And then you find out it didn't work out the way you thought and now your life is in chaos.

I love what Jesus said.

The Bible said that Jesus overheard them and said don't be afraid, just have faith.

In other words, don't let this overwhelm you.

Instead, trust me.

Trust me, you know what God says to us.

When our world is in chaos, don't let it defeat you, trust me.

Trust me that I'm doing more than you can understand.

The Bible said that when they got there, they were all these mourners and everybody who was already making a show.

And Jesus said she's not dead, don't give up, she's just asleep.

And so they started laughing at him.

And so he said go away.

And he got all them to go away.

And he went in there and he said baby girl, get up, not time for you to be dead yet.

And the Bible, the Bible, said that the girl, who was 12 years old, immediately stood up and walked around, and they were overwhelmed and totally amazed.

You know what Jesus didn't say?

Go figure it out by yourself.

Just go and leave me alone.

In other words, he said don't give up, don't be afraid.

Trust me, be faithful.

You know why?

Because God can do extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness, and sometimes the greatest act of faith is faithfulness.

Jesus is going this way, I'm going to follow him too, but she's dead, I know.

But Jesus is going this way and I'm going to follow him too, and wherever he leads me is exactly where I want to be.

Peter said I know Jesus is out on the water and I know that I should probably die if I get out of the boat, but if that's where Jesus is, I'd rather die getting to Jesus than stay in here and die all by myself.

Sometimes the greatest act of faith is faithfulness and it is amazing what God can do through ordinary faithfulness.

As a matter of fact, god's word says this, says we are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.

We are perplexed but not driven to despair.

We are hunted down but never abandoned by God.

We get knocked down but we are not destroyed.

In other words, god's word tells us we will be oppressed from time to time.

We will be pressed on every side From time to time.

We will be perplexed From time to time.

We're gonna be hunted down From time to time.

We may get knocked down, but the thing is is that God isn't finished with us yet, and what we're gonna learn in the book of Ruth is God can do extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness, and you know what he can do Is that he can enlist it and that God can enlist our suffering and redeem it and God can be at work when the world around us seems like it's crazy, that God can redeem it and that God can be at work when our world is crazy.

Then here's another one, and that is that God is at work redeeming it even when it seems like our dreams are gone.

Even when it seems like our dreams, the ideas that we had, the ideas we thought were maybe God ideas, the ideas that we've had since we were children, the only thing we've ever wanted.

When those things seem like they were gone, even God can do something amazing through ordinary faithfulness.

Look at what God's word says.

It says when they reached Moab, they settled there and Elimelech died and Naomi was left with her two sons, sickly and almost dead.

Okay, that was great, all right.

And then the two sons married Moabite women and about 10 years, mehalon and Kilion died which, yeah, they were sickly Okay, so they did.

And then that left Naomi alone with stubborn and friendly.

That's not a good day, okay, but that's what they had to work with.

And you know what was amazing about that is that that was probably their dream, because they didn't escape the famine because they were bored.

They escaped the famine because they wanted to preserve their family.

Mom and dad wanted to see their boys grow up.

They wanted to see their boys get married.

They wanted to see grandkids.

That's what they were trying to escape, trying to get to that place, and then Elimelech dies.

So, okay, well, at least I got my two boys frail and sickly and now they died.

I'm left with friendly and stubborn.

That is not the dream that I had, but you know what's amazing?

God doesn't tell us to just get over it.

Instead, he says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

God is burdened by the things that burden our heart, and God is able to redeem even the deepest hurt in our life.

I'm not saying that God brought it on you.

I'm saying that he is so powerful and that he is so strong that he can use it and he can redeem it, and he can enlist it to do something amazing through ordinary, daily faithfulness.

We can see that in the book of Ezekiel and if you're reading God's word with us, thank you so much for can see that in the book of Ezekiel and if you're reading God's word with us, thank you so much for staying with us in the book of Ezekiel, if you would like to read God's word with us, you can text RLCBIBLE to 94000 or you can scan that QR code.

And I say that because so far I do look like a liar, because we titled it God's promise of renewal.

And I heard someone tell me the other day he said I don't see no renewal happening, pastor, I just see it getting worse and worse and worse.

I'm starting to feel sorry for the poor Israelites and everybody else.

I know that, but the tide is starting to turn, trust me.

Okay, it's starting to turn, and one of the things I love about what God does is in this time of chaos.

There's chaos in the world.

You know the Babylonian empire is taking over everything.

There's chaos within their world.

The Israelites have just had their homeland destroyed.

The dream of the nation is now gone.

But right in that lowest spot, god says okay, it's time to start renewing you.

And the first thing that he does.

The Bible says I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you.

I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

Can I tell you that God doesn't waste anything and before he starts to work on everything outside, he starts to heal you on the inside first and he says I'm going to fix what's on the inside, I'm going to heal this, and then I'm going to do such a work in your life that then I'm going to fix what's on the inside, I'm going to heal this, and then I'm going to do such a work in your life that then I'm going to be able to start using you to make a difference in ways you would have never known before.

Sometimes it's the suffering in our life that actually creates the platforms that we stand on to do some of the most amazing things for God, because we wouldn't have noticed people going through those things before.

But now that we have gone through them, we have eyes to see and we're able to see the suffering of others and go.

I know what that feels like.

I know what they need.

They don't need someone to yell at them.

They need a friend.

They need someone that will stand with them.

They need someone who will cry with them, someone who will tell them there are better days coming, because God is faithful.

And is it true that we may think our dreams are dead?

But we can trust God's dreams are alive and right on schedule, that God knows what he's doing.

And I would tell you it's one of the reasons why I'm so excited.

I've been waiting for a year.

We were still in the book of Matthew when I was thinking about the book of Ruth, and I was so excited about it because the book of Ruth is a small book with a really big idea, and that is that God can do amazing things If we will just have ordinary faithfulness, just enough, just stubbornness to say I'm not going to give up because I know that my God is alive and he's able to do exceedingly and abundantly.

Above all, we could ask or think, because life is 10% what happens to us and it's 90% about what we do with it.

And if we give it back to God, he will enlist it.

And he'll enlist it to work in our lives and redeem our suffering, even when it seems like the world has gone crazy.

He'll enlist it to work in our lives.

When it seems like our world has gone crazy, when it seems like our dreams are dead, that's the time for his dreams, for us, to come alive.

And then the last one is is that God is working and redeeming us.

So it's time to come home.

It's time to trust the Lord again.

It's time to come home.

God's word says it like this.

It says so.

Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again.

So Naomi and her daughter's in-law stubborn and friendly were ready to leave Moab and return to their homeland.

Now, this is not in today's time.

When she would have read it on Facebook, she wouldn't have saw a YouTube video about shocking news God is back in Judah.

None of that.

It would have taken months and it would have taken her going out to the caravans, going through the King's Highway over and over again and saying is there any news from Judah?

Is there any news from Judah?

It would have been something she would have had to have sought out.

But one day, after wondering, they said yes, god is back again.

I'm going home.

I'm going home.

If that's where God is, that's where I want to be.

Can I tell you?

I don't know what suffering you may be dealing with in your life, but can I tell you God's looking for you and he wants you to come home to him.

It reminds me of a passage in Psalm 73.

It says truly, god is good, but as for me, I almost lost my footing.

My feet were slipping and I was almost gone, for I envy the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.

You ever been there?

You ever wondered, god, why is it just me that's suffering?

Why am I the one that's that things are not going right?

But then the Bible says then I went into your sanctuary, o God, and I finally understood.

It was when I got back in your presence that you fixed my perspective and I was able to see, oh God, you can do extraordinary things.

My job is the ordinary, daily faithfulness, and when I can be faithful to you, it is amazing what you can do in my suffering and in every other thing I deal with.

And that means that God is able to work through the chaos in the world.

He's able to work through the chaos in our world.

He's able to restore any broken dream.

And his promise to us is this, and that is that, in his kindness, god has called you and me to share in his eternal glory by Christ Jesus and listen to this, it says so.

Then, after you have suffered a little while, he will restore.

It's the same word for redeem.

He will restore, but then he'll also support and he will strengthen you and you will be placed on a firm foundation.

Can I tell you, that's what God wants to do with your suffering.

He wants to restore it.

He wants to support you.

He wants to restore it, he wants to support you, he wants to strengthen you and he wants to put you on a firm foundation.

Can I tell you, one of the firmest foundations in the world is when you've been through something before and you saw the faithfulness of God, because whenever you go through anything, ever again, you can stand right there.

When people say, how in the world are you standing strong, you go oh no, you don't know.

If you only knew what I had been through.

This is nothing compared to that.

And I thought I was gone and God worked a miracle and he restored that season of suffering in my life.

And so now, yeah, this is bad and this is hard, but, man, I trust the Lord.

What do you trust him to do?

I trust that he can do extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness.

I can't change the world, but I can choose joy.

Every single day, I can choose to reach out to my neighbors.

Every single day, I can choose to trust him and to have faithfulness one more day, and can I tell you I'm going to give you a spoiler alert and that is this that the faithfulness of Naomi to come back home, it does change the world.

It was through her faithfulness that, eventually, jesus Christ was born.

It was through her faithfulness that, eventually, jesus Christ was born and she was a nobody from nowhere, with nothing to.

She lost everything.

She became the very bottom of the social status because of what happened in her life, but by the time her story is over with, it was the spark that changed the time of the judges to the time of kings, and in that lineage came the Messiah.

Don't tell me that ordinary faithfulness can't change the world.

Naomi would disagree with you, and one of the reasons why is because she chose to come home when everything was bad and suffering was happening.

Instead of letting it make her bitter, instead of letting it cause her to just escape, she decided okay, I'm going to enlist it and I'm going to go back home.

It reminds me of the story Jesus told, and I can't help but wonder.

Of course I don't know, but I can't help but wonder if some of this was maybe him thinking back to the story of Ruth.

But in the book of Luke, jesus told a story that we all call the story of the prodigal son.

And the story is is that there was a time when there was a dad who had two sons I wonder if their names were Sickly and Frail but one of them we'll call him Mr Sickly.

He said, dad, I want my part of the inheritance.

I'm out.

And dad gave him his inheritance and the Bible said he went off and for a season everything was good, until the money ran out, and then his world was in chaos.

And then his dream died.

Bible said he lost everything, even to the point that the only job he could get was feeding pigs, and for a Jewish person that was the worst job you could possibly have.

And he said that he longed to eat the slop that the pigs ate, because he was so hungry and nobody gave him anything.

That's suffering.

But in the middle of his suffering he said I remember my father, that in his house everyone was taken care of.

And so he went back to his father's house and he wasn't going to reclaim any kind of rights, he was going to be a servant.

He just, he just didn't know what else to do.

The Bible said as he started back to his father's house.

I love the fact that Jesus said that the father saw him afar off, which means to me he was looking for him.

One day my son's gonna come home.

No, man, he's gone.

No, one day my son's gonna come home.

You're being foolish.

Oh man, I don't care.

One day my son is going to come home.

And the Bible said that he saw his son from a distance and he ran to meet him.

And the son is so embarrassed and so ashamed and he says father, I'm so sorry, I've sinned against you.

I'm not worthy to be your son.

Let me be a servant.

And you know what the dad didn't do.

He didn't say do I smell pig?

Son?

Do you have any receipts for all the fun you just had?

Son, do you have anything to show for it?

Bible didn't say that.

He said he ran to him.

He put his own robe around him, put a ring on his finger and he said son, that's enough of that.

We're going to have a feast tonight because my son is home again.

Jewish culture tells us the reason possibly why the father ran to the son was because, in the culture of the time, what that son did was so bad that he could have been stoned to death for leaving.

So it's possible the father went running, not just because of his love but also because of his mercy, to say don't kill him.

That's my boy.

Can I tell you that Heavenly Father has that kind of love for you.

Whatever suffering is going on in your life I'm not minimizing it all.

I'm not saying that it's not a big deal.

I just want to make bigger who God is.

And then, no matter what it is, no matter what it looks like, no matter what it smells like, if you come to Jesus he's not going to ask you what that smell is.

He's not going to ask you where your receipts are.

He's going to say I'm so glad you're home, come on and let's feast, because my son was dead.

Now he's alive.

I don't know, maybe you're in here and you don't know Jesus.

Can I tell you you've never been more loved than you are right now and that God can do extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness.

And your next step of faithfulness is to come to Jesus.

Inside your worship, god, on the back of your connect card is the plan of salvation, and in just a moment the band's going to lead us in a song of worship and your next step of faithfulness is to give your life to Jesus.

Pastor, if you knew what I did, you wouldn't accept me.

You're right.

I don't know, but Jesus knows, and God's word says he had demonstrated his great love toward us in that, while we were still sinners, on your worst day, jesus loved you the most, and you've never been more loved than you are right now.

It's time to stop running.

It's time to stop isolating in your suffering and bring it to Jesus.

Let him wash away your sins.

It's one thing to know about the love of God is quite another to experience him for yourself.

And today is your day of salvation, and as we get through, we start worshiping.

What we'd love for you to do is to step out of your seat, go back to the prayer table and tell them I want to know this Jesus, so we can celebrate with you as you come into the kingdom of God.

Jesus himself said it's called being born again.

Maybe that's not you.

Maybe you know Jesus, but you also know trouble.

You also know suffering.

Maybe the world has you scared to death.

Maybe your world has you weary and broken.

Maybe your dreams have you one second away from giving up.

Can I tell you I'm not minimizing them at all.

I'm saying Jesus is greater and that he can redeem your suffering and that God can do amazing things through ordinary faithfulness.

Just like he said to Jairus don't give up, don't be afraid.

Trust me, trust me.

Maybe what you need to do while we sing these songs of worship is for you just to lift your hands and say Jesus, I don't know, I don't understand, but I trust you.

Give me the strength to be faithful one more day.

And can I tell you, a legacy is made out of daily faithfulness in God.

Let's pray together right now.

God, thank you so much for today.

Thank you, god, that you are with us and that you are for us in every way.

Thankful, god, that you see us in this moment and that, lord, as many people that are here, are the many different miracles you want to work in our life.

God, for some of us, today is a day of our salvation.

In the name of Jesus.

I just bind in the name of Jesus any demonic spirit that would try to whisper lies from the enemy into their ear, trying to put any kind of evil imagination in them or try to tell them they're not worthy?

Of course we're not.

That's why you came, jesus.

It's because of you that you can make all things new and I pray, holy Spirit, that you whisper in their ear that you love them, you are for them and that you are with them even in this moment.

I pray you'll give them the courage to give their life to you, and every day after that, lord, I to give their life to you.

And every day after that, lord, I pray for everyone else that is in here, god, and there's 99 different things that could be going on, but I'm so thankful that, jesus, you are the one answer that we need For everyone who is suffering because of just fear of what's going on in the world.

I pray, lord, that you'll increase our trust in you.

For those, lord, who are experiencing chaos in their own life they'll experience your joy and for those, lord, who are dealing with broken dreams and broken what-ifs and what should have been pray, you'll remind us that your plan is still on track and on schedule and that you can redeem any suffering, because you do extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness.

We celebrate you in this place and we're thankful, god, for this series and we're thankful for your word.

In Jesus' name we pray Amen, amen.

Would you stand with me all over the house this morning?

The band's going to lead us in one more song of worship.

I don't know exactly how you need to connect with this.

Maybe you want to take that connect card.

You want to go back to our prayer team and say I want to know more about Jesus.

I have questions.

I want someone to pray with me about this.

We would love to pray with you and be with you as you enter into the kingdom of God.

Maybe, maybe it's not about salvation.

You just need someone to pray with you.

Sometimes you just want someone to agree with you.

We'd love to pray with you back there, maybe right where you are.

You just want to lift your hands and say God, I don't understand when, I don't understand how, but I trust you.

God increase my faith and he will, because God can do extraordinary things through ordinary faithfulness.

Let's worship the Lord together.