Is God Kind?

Amen. Thank you, John, Thank you,

Praise team. Also want to say just a big

thank you to Steve Hawkins and Danny Barker, who both stepped

in for John and I last week. If you were here and while we

were away and served the body so well, I'm so grateful for so

many, so many faithful leaders in our church that that just

allow a ministry to continue on. So without a pause and so

grateful for y'all. If you have your copy of God's

word, go and make your way to Ruth chapter 2.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

We resume our series through this Old Testament book that we

titled When God writes your story.

Ruth chapter 2. We left off, I think after verse

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

seven couple weeks ago. We're going to pick up in verse

8 and following and finish Ruth chapter 2 This morning, though,

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

I want to begin like this just about asking a couple questions

to set the stage. I don't want you to answer out

loud. Normally I'd love for you to

answer out loud, but I want you to just answer these personally

for yourself. The first question I want to ask

you is, is God kind? I really want you to ask that

and answer that yourself. Is God kind and haven't thought

about that and answered that question.

I'd I'd like to ask you a second question.

Do you believe God wants to be kind to you?

First, you believe God is kind and 2nd you believe God wants to

be kind to you. Now, the first question may have

been easy to answer because you might just have immediately kind

of from your gut said yes. But if you're probably being

honest, many in the room probably had a harder time,

maybe couldn't say the same answer to the second question

that they said to the first question.

Because maybe there's some doubt, maybe there's some

struggle, maybe there's some disbelief or really lack of

belief that God wants to be kind to you personally.

Let me just ask it through the lens of a couple different

Christians to try to help you make a comparison.

First Christian, I'll tell you about to see who you most

identify with. Christian number one or

Christian #2 really Christians, plural number 2 when we get to

that one. But the first one is a man who

is a well known Christian man that lived in the 20th century

and later on in life, he was known for walking the beach on a

pretty daily basis that was close to his home.

Other people would walk the beach.

They knew him, they were locals. And one man asked this Christian

man one day, friend. And he said, he put it like,

this is not the way we ask each other this, but it's the way

they did it in this day, in this place.

Friend, how are you keeping? That's like saying, how are you?

How are you keeping? And the response of this

Christian man back was, oh, friend, I'm not keeping.

I'm being kept. Friend, I'm I'm not doing good.

God is doing me good. Friend.

I don't have any goodness in me, but God in his kindness is being

good and kind to me. That's Christian number one.

Number two, there was a pastor who invited and LED a number of

the men in his church on a retreat, a man's retreat, and

pretty soon into the retreat he felt led to ask the men, How

many of you men feel like God just barely tolerate you?

Half the men in the room stood up.

I believe God may be kind. I just struggled to believe God

really wants to be kind to me. This sermon is for those of you

that struggle to believe God wants to be kind to you.

And I hope from Ruth chapter 2 you're convinced.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

And not only is God kind, but he deep down with all of his heart

wants to be kind to you. I want you to listen and follow

along as we read beginning in verse 8 of chapter 2.

The Bible says this. Then Boaz said to Ruth, Now

listen my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave

this one, but keep close to my young women.

Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go

after them. Have I not charged the young men

not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to

the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.

Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said

to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should

take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?

But Boaz said to her, All that you have done for your

mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told

to me, and how you left your father and mother and your

native land then came to a people that you did not know

before the Lord. Don't miss this, The Lord repay

you for what you have done, and a full reward be given to you by

the Lord the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come

to take refuge. And then she said, I have found

favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoken

kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.

And at meal time Boaz said to her, Come here and eat some

bread, and dip your morsel in the wine.

So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted

grain, and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some

leftover. And when she rose to glean, Boaz

instructed his young men, saying, Let her glean even among

the sheaves, and do not reproach her.

And also to pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it

for her to glean. And do not rebuke her.

If you've not been with us this first part of Ruth, it'd be

helpful to get just a little bit of review if you remember that

during the entrance to the promised Land, God led his

people with the clarity of understanding.

You obey me and follow me and I'm going to bless you, but if

you turn your back on me, I'm going to do some things that are

going to make life be hard to get your attention, to turn your

heart back to me. And what's happened is the

people were not faithful to God. God has done those hard things

to get his people's attention to turn their eyes of their heart

back to him. That one particular thing in

this case was a famine. There's no food, everybody's

hungry. What God didn't want him to do

when they are these hard things came was leave and run off to

some other land that was not promised to them.

But one man by the name of Elimelech and his two boys and

wife decide to leave. That was not a not a good

decision. They go to the land called Moab.

They worship false gods and Moabs gods, not promised to

dwell with this people in Moab. But that's where they go.

And 10 years later, after some bad decisions, you have both the

husband and his two boys have both passed.

The two boys had married Moabite women.

That was not a decision that God had told his people to do, but

they did while there. And one of those daughters in

law now of Naomi decides to go back to her home, her family and

worshipping her little G gods. But Ruth, on the other hand,

that this book is named after a Moabite widow says no, I'm not

going back to my people, to my family, to my home or my gods.

I'm turning to the one true big G God.

I'm giving him my whole heart life and not full surrender.

She vows herself to him and seeks to live for his glory and

for his name and to follow him the rest of her life here.

And so here's what happening. When they move back, when Naomi

and Ruth go back to the promised land, they're two destitute

widows. Somebody's got to get up and go

to the grocery store, which was in the field.

Somebody's got to go reap the the poorest of the people in the

land could reap the edges because the harvesters were

supposed to leave enough behind. Ruth didn't know which field she

would go to, but the Bible says she just so happened.

We talked about that. Do you remember?

But nothing just so happens, does it?

She ends up in a field by the name owned by a man by the name

of Boaz that we just read about. And if you remember a couple

weeks ago, when Boaz shows up to survey the business and what's

going on, the first question out of his mouth was not how's

business house profits, How's the harvest?

How much money we're going to make today?

The first question out of his mouth was, whose young woman is

this? There's somebody there he

doesn't recognize. He knows his people.

He doesn't know this person. He's never seen her before and

he's caring about, wondering about, curious about the people

around him. Whose young woman is this?

I don't recognize her. Whose daughter is she?

Whose wife is she? He's told she's the widow.

She's the she's the daughter-in-law of Naomi who's

come back in return and notice what Boaz called her as soon as

we read verse 8. Then Boaz said to Ruth, Now

listen, my what? My daughter.

That's not what you would expect Boaz to say upon meeting this

stranger. By the way, he's already heard

about her every the the whole town's talking about Naomi and

Ruth and what God had done and how God's brought them back.

But their situation and, and now here's Ruth and they've heard

about her kindness to, to Naomi. And Boaz, of course, was not

just any person, but part of the Limelux family.

He would have been a relative of the Limelux.

He's heard how Ruth, this Moabite daughter-in-law of the

Limelux, has been so kind to a member of his family, a Limelux

wife, Naomi, and he's now treating her immediately,

immediately like what? A foreigner or like family.

Immediately like family. All of a sudden, the kindness of

Boaz is expressed as he's treating Ruth like family.

Boaz's kindness continues when he invites Ruth to remain in his

field. And so he's treating her like

family. And now his kindness, he's

promising her secondly, provision.

And then his kindness picks up more speed when he informs Ruth

he's instructed his men not to touch her.

I think perhaps you could say Boaz was the first employer to

implement a no harassment, anti harassment policy in his

workplace. Say, why was that necessary?

For the same reason it's necessary today, looking out for

her, not just treating her as family, promising her provision,

but also promising protection. Boaz isn't done yet.

He then tells her to drink the water his young men have drawn.

Now, if you don't live in the 1st century, you'd read right

past that. Who was supposed to draw the

water to drink, the men or the women?

The women, He didn't say, hey, go draw the water for my men.

He said drink the water my men are drawing.

All of a sudden, he's treating her as an equal.

He's elevating her status, if you will.

He is recognizing her worth. He's treating her like family.

He's promised her provision. He's promised her protection.

Now he's using his power to prosper her.

This becomes even more clear in verses 14 through 16.

Now he invites Ruth to eat with him and his workers again.

If he lived in the 1st century, but you wouldn't read right past

that. For the Moabite widow to come

and eat with the Israelites and be treated as an equal with them

would have been culturally outside the norm.

This is something that's breaking all the rules.

And she eats not only till she's satisfied but has leftovers

she's able to take back to Naomi.

And then he provides her with a bonus and says to his workers,

leave extra behind. Let her glean not just from the

edges, but from the best parts of the field.

The kindness of Boaz sounds a lot like the kindness of who.

Let me ask you like this. Is Boaz being kind to Ruth or is

God being kind to Ruth? Yes, both right and what he's

doing. You see the kindness of God

coming through the kindness of Boaz here.

Yahweh does not God does not owe mercy to Ruth the Moabite us no

Moabite in fact was to enter the assembly of Yahweh to the 10th

generation. But if you're remembering if

you've kept up from what we've covered so far, what did Naomi

pray would be true for Ruth. It's in chapter 1 verse 8.

You can look back at it if you want to look at listen to this

prayer. May the Lord deal kindly with

you as you you have dealt with the dead and with me.

But Naomi prays for her daughter.

May the Lord deal kindly with you.

May God be kind to you as you've been kind to the dead and with

me. How does Ruth respond to the

kindness of God? Through Boaz verse 10, it says.

Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to

him, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you, that you

should take notice of me since I'm a foreigner, Why would you

be kind to me? Boaz, who am I?

I don't deserve this. I haven't done anything to to to

to earn this. I don't understand why.

Here's why. Verse 11 and 12 we'll read it

again. But Boaz answered her.

All that you've done for your mother-in-law since the death of

your husband has been fully told to me how you left your father

and mother and your native land and came to a people you did not

know before the Lord. The Lord repay you for what

you've done and a full reward be given to you by the Lord the God

of Israel under and don't miss that phrase under his wings.

You have come to take refuge. He says Ruth, you've been kind

to your mother-in-law when you could have walked away from her.

Ruth, you walked away from your family.

You left your home. You left your land to come to

the promised land. You left to commit yourself to

God's people. Most of all, Ruth, you committed

yourself to God. You gave yourself and said I'm

going to look to him and him alone for my protection and

provision and peace and prosperity.

Ruth, how did you think God was going to respond to you?

Now he doesn't say that literally, but that's what he's

asking, right? Ruth, how did you think?

Did you believe God was kind? Ruth, did you not believe God

was going going to be and wanted to be kind to?

How did you think God was going to respond, Ruth to you when you

committed your life wholeheartedly to Him?

Did you think God would hold out on you?

Did you not think He would draw you close as His own and hold

you as precious in His sight and provide for you as He's

promised? Did you think God did not would

not be kind? Ruth, do you believe God is

kind? Do you believe God wants to be

kind to you? Ruth, you trusted God to write

your story. What did you think God was going

to write? Just like a mother eagle, a

mother bird holds and protects, refuges her young under her

wings. Ruth, God does the same for

those who seek refuge under His. The first thing I want you to

write down is when God writes your story, He rewards those who

take refuge under His wings. He rewards those who take refuge

under his wings. Y'all, the reward of

wholehearted commitment to God is God's wholehearted commitment

and kindness to you. It's not because we deserve it.

It's the result of simply entrusting ourselves to Him by

faith. I love Psalm 91 one through 2.

I think it's on the screen. Listen to what it says here.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the

shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my

refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.

Can I just ask you a few simple questions here?

Where are you dwelling? Where are you seeking refuge?

Whom are you trusting in? To whom have you entrusted

yourself? I want to ask it like this.

Remember Boaz's original question when he first saw Ruth,

but he didn't know who she was? Remember what he asked?

Whose young woman is this? That that, that question is

really the question of the entire book.

Whose young woman is Ruth? Can I?

Can I ask it personally? Whose man or woman are you?

Ruth was one who now belonged to Yahweh because she had entrusted

himself and taken refuge under his wings.

Is that who you are? The question of your life,

bigger than the question of the book of Ruth, is, Whose man are

you? Whose woman are you?

To whom do you belong? Whom have you entrusted

yourself? Where have you sought refuge?

Where have you sought your identity?

To whom have you committed yourself?

And how do you believe? If you've committed yourself to

Him, how do you believe He's going to respond to you?

Whose are you? Are you his because you believed

He's kind and He wants to be kind to you?

God is not only kind, He is supremely kind.

And when God writes your story, He rewards those who take refuge

under His wings. Listen to verses 17 through the

end of the chapter. So she gleaned in the field

until evening, and then she beat out what she had gleaned.

And it was about an IFA of barley.

And she took it up and went into the city.

And her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.

And she also brought out and gave her what food she had

leftover when she had eaten with Boaz and his reapers, and after

being satisfied and brought it to her mother-in-law.

And said, and her mother-in-law said to her, where did you glean

today and where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took

notice of you. And she told her mother-in-law

with whom she had worked, and said the man's name with whom I

work today is Boaz. And Naomi said to her

daughter-in-law, may he now she's praying a blessing, asking

a blessing upon him, may he be blessed by the Lord, whose

kindness there's that word again, has not forsaken the

living or the dead. Naomi also said to her, the man

is a close relative of ours, one of our Redeemers.

And Ruth the Moabite said, besides, he said to me, you

shall keep close by my young men until they finished all my

harvest. And Naomi said to Ruth, her

daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that you go out with

his young women, lest in another field you'd be assaulted.

She kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning into the

end of the barley and wheat harvest, and she lived with her

mother-in-law. Ruth worked all day long.

By the time she was done, she'd worked so hard and been so

productive. Basically it says she had the

equivalent of what is almost 6 gallons of barley, which is not

just like the, the, the, the, the stalk and the chaff and all

that. No, that's after reaping it and

gleaning it, and then after separating the stalk and the

chaff from the grain. She'd have had about 30 to 50

lbs of barley to carry home. That's a day's work right there,

and quite a productive one at that.

She not only carries the barley back, but she also carries the

leftover roasted grain she had from Boaz the night before the

day or earlier that day. And remember what Naomi had said

back at end of Chapter 1. Listen again to it.

Ruth, 120 through 21, says do not call me.

When she showed up in Bethlehem and saw all her friends, and her

friends saw her, and they called her Naomi.

That's her name. And it means pleasantness or

sweetness. But what did she say?

Don't call me pleasantness or sweetness, call me Mara.

That means bitter, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly

with me. I went away full.

Here's the phrase, don't miss it.

I went away full, but God brought me back.

The Lord brought me back. Whose fault is it?

God's brought me back. Empty and yet now here Naomi is

seeing 6 gallons of barley. Day one I didn't know where

Ruth, her daughter-in-law, would show up to reap.

And now leftover roasted grain ready to eat that she can eat

now. No longer empty, being full.

Naomi asked where did you glean? Where have you worked?

And blessed be the man who took notice of you.

His name was Boaz, Ruth says, and Naomi asked that he be

blessed by God. She had prayed earlier and asked

for Ruth to be blessed with kindness and rest.

Is God answering that prayer? Yes.

Now she's praying for Boaz to be blessed with God.

Will God answer that prayer? Yes.

Then did you see what Naomi said about God?

Notice this statement here. His kindness has not forsaken

the living or the dead. You know that biblical word for

God's kindness? It is a word that is hard to put

into human language all that it means, but it is in essence

God's promised desire and plan to give you all of His goodness,

all of His loyalty, all of His faithfulness, all of His love,

all of His care, no matter what it cost him to provide it to

you. I'm not talking about when he

feels like it. I'm not talking about when you

feel like you've earned it or been good enough.

God's kindness to us in the covenant we have through his

Son, and even in kindness in the old covenant, looking forward to

Jesus now in the new covenant, looking back to when Jesus came

in forward to when he came. God's kindness He's promised us

is His wholehearted, all of God commitment to be God for us no

matter what it cost him kind of kindness.

May God's kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead.

Who's still living? That's Naomi and Ruth.

God's kindness has not forsaken them.

Who's dead? That's Elimelech, Maelon and

Killian, his sons, even though they've paid a high price for

their consequences of their sins.

So it seems by their choices, at least from the outside looking

in, God's kindness has even not forsaken them.

How so? Because God's kindness is

preparing A Redeemer to continue their name and their family line

and inheritance. And despite the consequences of

their sin, God and His kindness is still not cutting them off.

He's aligning a future for their family.

We see that verse 20, Naomi says this man is a close relative of

ours, one of our redeemers. Now again, you got to be

thinking, what does that mean to be a Redeemer?

There's 22 ancient practices overlapping here to understand.

One is Leverett marriage, right? When a woman would lose her

husband, they had the the closest male relative would have

the right responsibility to marry that widow to raise up

descendants and carry on the inheritance and the family name.

All right, that's a little weird sound of the day, but it worked

real well back then. All right, so that's Leverett

marriage and then this idea of a Redeemer, someone when there was

great loss or tragedy in the family, one again, a close male

relative that had the right and responsibility and the means of

doing it could step in and buy back, purchase back what would

have been lost for the family if they did not redeem or provide

for or take care of themselves. Naomi's saying Boaz is one of

our close kinsmen. This is why he's got a kinsman

Redeemer. He's one who can be a son-in-law

to me, Ruth. He could be a husband to you,

Ruth, redeeming you, redeeming me again.

Who is Boaz sounding a lot like again?

As a Redeemer? Sounding a lot like God, right?

You see, number 2, when God writes your story, he doesn't

just I want you to listen closely to this.

When God writes your story, He doesn't.

He doesn't rewrite our past, but He does redeem it.

When God writes your story, he does not rewrite your past, but

he does redeem it. What do we mean by that?

You know, this reality of God is one of the most amazing things

about the power, goodness, and greatness of God.

God does not rewind the past and let us relive it.

God does not remove all the consequences of our past sin.

God does not rewrite our past, but in his power and in his

crazy and in his goodness, he redeems it.

And the truth is, God can redeem anyone from anything.

Anyone from anything. In fact I read a story this week

I want to tell you about that just again blew me away about

the power and goodness of God to redeem.

When you go to the beach, I recommend you take a good book.

I took one with me given by one of our church members.

If y'all have other good ones you want to share with me, just

let me know. I'll give it back to you.

So this one is titled Defying Jihad.

It's the story of Esther Ahmad. Esther Ahmad was born in

Pakistan to a Muslim family. She was the 3rd in the line of

three daughters. All those daughters were

unwanted by their father who only wanted sons.

By the time the 3rd girl came along, he would not even look at

his newborn daughter. He wouldn't even recognize that

she belong to him. In fact, it was so tragic that

she became known as the daughter that would not be looked upon by

her father. You can imagine the hole in the

heart of this girl as she grew up despised and unwanted and

loved by her father. They were a Muslim family.

The mother was devout, the father was not so much devout

until a very militant radical group moved in and began to

influence their neighborhood. And under that influence, her

father became more and more radicalized and militant.

And it infected not only the father but the whole family.

And it affected Esther Ahmad, whose name wasn't Esther at the

time, as an 18 year old girl. She was so affected that at the

age of 18 she volunteered herself for jihad.

She figured it. She found out that in the

teachings of this militant group that according to their teaching

that if she would wage war in jihad, taking out as many

infidels as possible with her life, she would secure heaven

for her family and for herself. And finally, she thought, find a

way into her father's love and into Allah's approval.

So she volunteered herself. She would do it as an 18 year

old girl. Two days before she was to leave

to be trained in jihad, she had a dream.

I want to ask you again, is God kind?

Does God want to be kind to you? Does God want to be kind to an

18 year old girl? Two days before shipping off to

Train for Jihad, she had a dream about Jesus.

In the days that followed the dream, she was able to tell the

people that were supposed to come pick her up.

She needed more time to process because all the sudden her eyes

and her heart were being opened to something she'd never never

considered. She started reading the Quran

like she had never read and begin picking it apart and

seeing holes in the arguments and in the the logic.

And then she had a mother who had a heart condition and at the

hospital in the lab there was a man she met by the name of John

and she found out this man's was a Christian.

It was the first Christian she'd ever met.

And John had a Bible. He wouldn't let her have the

Bible, but he'd let her come to the lab and act like she was

waiting on a patient so she could read the Bible.

Long story short, Esther Ahmad becomes a Christian, marries

that Christian named John has to flee for her life from her

family. Her father put a price on her

head. After many years from 1 country

to the next, she finally made it to America and God did not

change her past. She signed up for jihad, but God

redeemed it and this is the story of that redemption.

Is God kind? Does God want to be kind to you?

Does God want to be kind to an 18 year old who's going to take

out as many people she thought were infidels as possible?

Friends, God is not only kind, he is supremely kind.

I want to, I want to finish like this.

How could it be? This is where sometimes we lack

some clarity and we just can't understand.

But this is this is this is, this is the beauty of the power

of God. How can it be?

Back to Ruth, how could it be that it was a mistake to move to

mow out that we're pretty clear on that for Elimelech and his

family. How could it be that that was a

mistake? And how could it be a mistake

for the boys to marry outside the revealed will of God?

And at the same time God take all those mistakes and the

people involved in them and by the power of heaven work

redemption. How is it?

And how is it to the degree that God redeems?

He doesn't just he doesn't just do it to some degree, but the

very woman God said was forbidden to marry, He takes and

redeems to such a degree. Y'all you turn to your New

Testament and her name is in the line of the ultimate Redeemer,

the King of kings and Lord of Lords, the Son of God, King

Jesus. God didn't change your past, but

He did redeem it. Do you believe God is kind and

He wants to be kind to you? God's not going to rewrite your

past. He's not going to write.

He's not going to remove all the past mistakes.

But if you trust Him and believe He's kind and wants to be kind

to you and take refuge under His wings, He can redeem anything,

anyone from anywhere, and write the story for His glory and your

good. Do you believe that?

Why should you trust God to write your story?

Why should you? Because God wants to be kind to

you. That's why you should trust Him.

Because he wants to be kind to you.

Can I ask you this question? Who's man?

Who's woman are you? Where have you taken refuge?

Listen to this. Like Ruth.

Like Ruth, we were outcast, despised and children of

disobedience in our sin. Like Ruth, we've been left poor,

defiled by our sin, disgraced and spiritually starving.

Just like Elimelech's family, we've left God's will.

We've all disobeyed and moved to the land of Moab at some point

in some way in our own lives. And yet, just like Elimelech,

we've all died in our sins. And yet, like Ruth, God did not

leave us without a Redeemer. Not one named Boaz, but a much

better one by the name of Jesus. And by taking on human flesh,

living among us, Jesus gained the right to redeem us.

And Jesus didn't just leave us a little extra barley.

You know what Jesus did? He took on human flesh so he

could be for us the bread of life.

The bread of life. Have you trusted Jesus to be the

bread of life for you? Have you given yourself to God

and taken refuge under His wings, knowing He's kind and

wants to be kind to you? Do you need to ask God not to

rewrite something? Because He's not going to

rewrite it. He'll do something better if He

lets you rewrite it. You'd get the glory.

But if He redeems it, who gets the glory?

He'll do something better than rewrite.

He'll redeem if you only come and trust Him.

John and praised Him are going to come out.

I want to ask you right before we stand and sing, do you need

to trust the Redeemer to redeem you, to save you, to commit

yourself wholeheartedly, to come and take refuge under his wings

through Jesus Christ? If you'd never made that

decision, you may not have had a dream like Esther Ahmad had.

You don't have to have a dream. The Word of God tells you

plainly and clearly. For God so loved the world that

he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever would believe in

him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Do you just need to come and say, Kyle, I believe, I believe.

Do you want to come and just get on your knees or stand here at

the altar and say God, I got a part of my past I've been

ashamed of and I dare would not put it in the book, but maybe I

haven't believed you're willing to redeem it.

I just want to ask you to redeem it today.

Maybe you just want to come ask God to help you believe that he

wants to be kind to you, to say Lord I, I believe, but help my

unbelief, help me trust you. Heavenly Father, I want to pray

that as we respond to your kindness today, that you would

show it to us, that you would help us full wholeheartedly to

believe it, To put our self in it.

Father, not to run from our past, but to run to you.

Not to run from our mistakes, but to hand them to you, not to

be ashamed of them, but to be unashamed of You and your power

to redeem even that which we could never change.

You can use even our mistakes, not that it makes them right,

but you can make right out of them.

Father, it's an amazing thing. And we prayed that we would do

just that and be ambassadors of that truth to those who need to

hear it. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Church, would you stand with me? We're going to sing together.

We're going to respond. Encouragers will be close to the

front. Some are in yellow shirts.

Here you come. We'll pray and talk with you.

You come.