God of the Insignificant and Ordinary

0 (0s): Well, good morning. Welcome to Harvest. Church thanks for coming this morning. Hello to everyone. 1 (6s): And then the loft and up on the patio, it's everyone watching at home. 0 (10s): It's awesome to be together. All one big family. So welcome wherever you're watching from with those of you here with me on campus, I'd like to stand and we'll begin standing. If you're able and let's invite the Lord's presence and praise, we begin. Thank you, Lord, that when we gather in your name that you promise to be in our list. And so we welcome you. Holy spirit, just to come in this time is to minister to every heart. Let's pray, especially for anyone who's just hurting this morning. Maybe hurting physically, maybe hurting within the city. 1 (49s): How would you meet us? Right where we hurt, 0 (52s): Or how would you meet us in our and our need and our brokenness? God, I asked for healing and restoration just to wash over us. Just let your love just cast out all anxiety and fear this week And this how much you care for us. 1 (1m 13s): Thank you. 0 (1m 17s): And we're going to sing a new song this morning and the song talks a lot about how God makes away. And there seems to be no way. And he's the God who parts the seize for us. He's the God who moves mountains. Some of you might know this, and I hope she can. The chorus goes like this way, man. 1 (1m 39s): Promise keeper lied in the darkness by God. That is soon Tom is the guy in the dark and my God and when I feel it's work and can never stop, never stop. 1 (5m 41s): Never stop. Never stop. by God. 1 (8m 22s): Sometimes you just put a new song and you put words upon our lips. 0 (8m 27s): So God we just flipped our praises to you this morning. 1 (8m 35s): God in this crazy world. 1 (19m 4s): What? The world, the world needs more. You want more of you in our lives. We want to reflect you. Jesus. 0 (19m 16s): 1 (19m 31s): Yeah, just soak in his presence. Just a moment. If you want to shut your eyes and just welcome him renewed, just pray with Jesus. 1 (20m 15s): You continue to minister to our hearts is so easy to just grow weary. It's so easy to forget. So help us to remember your faithfulness. 0 (20m 38s): I just pray that you would open our hearts to receive your word this morning. Let's pray a blessing over Jeremy, as he brings the word today, and that you would flow mightily through him and God would you be in our fellowship as we lift each other up, you share each other's burdens. That's pretty the, you give us courage just to reach out to someone this morning, we're hurting and to ask for prayer where you give us courage to reach out to someone and say, can I pray for you, God, that you would be the body of Christ working together to see your kingdom come here in our city and on the earth we ask all of this beautiful negative. 0 (21m 28s): Amen. Good stuff. Church awesome. Yeah. And we're going to take time to greet some folks around you. So please take a minute to say hi to somebody and we'll be back in just a few minutes with some announcement. 2 (21m 44s): Hey everyone. Welcome. We're all having so much fun talking to each other. This is great. All right. I love how social everyone is. It's so fun. So fun to see a welcome, everyone. Welcome to all of you that are joining us online and joining us from the laughed from the patio, from the sanctuary. It's so fun to see all of your guys, the smiling faces. Okay. I have a lot of things to announce. So bear with me. Okay. If you are new or if you have a question or if you want to know about a group or need any sort of information about Harvest Church visit the info table. 2 (22m 29s): It is a, there's a big sign that says welcome across the front of it. There are big banners that show you where it is. It's halfway up the driveway, or if you're elsewhere, then halfway up from the sanctuary. Okay. Let's see. We would love to have you fill out a communication card. You can do that by filling out. There should be a card in front of you in a seat in front of you or at one of the tables by one of the venues, fill this out and turn it into a collection box or to the welcome booth table. And you will get weekly emails. People will reach out to you about a group. If you want to join a group, or if you want to volunteer for kid's ministry, I'm the kid's ministry director. 2 (23m 12s): I highly recommend it. I'm also a plug for that real fast. If you want to volunteer for kid's ministry, but you're like, I don't know enough about the Bible. I'm not smart. And whatever the case is, you don't have to know everything. Cause if you did, no one would be eligible. No one would be able to do it. And so if you go, if you're, if that's your concern or if you're worried about, if you're a man and you're like, I want to volunteer in kid's ministry. And you're like, but I can't because I'm a man, not the case. We have lots of guys, the volunteering kids ministry, my plug is over a visit the info booth. If you want to volunteer, okay. Murder, mystery night, the deadline for that is today. So if you haven't signed up for that yet, and then you have to do it today by the end of the day. 2 (23m 54s): Cause if you don't, then it's literally, it's cut off at the end of the day. So that's for ages 20 to 40. And it's going to be on October 30th in the loft from six to 9:00 PM. And it's $5 to be a part of that. So it's going to be a super fun, exciting night, baptism and bonfire. So the baptism and the bonfire are happening on the same night. It's a week from yesterday. So it's next Saturday, October 17th at 4:00 PM. At the end of Grande just on the beach, straight out from where Grande Avenue ends. They are doing a baptism class for that right now. So if you're interested in being baptized, they're meeting right now in the Church office, which is up the Hill. 2 (24m 34s): So if you guys, if any of you want to get baptized, just go ahead and run up the Hill right now. And you can be a part of that if you want to get baptized and you're decided tomorrow and the baptism classes over reach out to us and we will figure out a way to make it happen. Okay? Let's see. 3 (24m 52s): Oh, 2 (24m 52s): Baptism and bonfire. Sorry. One more thing. There will be hot dogs. There will be smores and there will be hot chocolate. So bring a beach chair, bring a blanket, bring beach toys, bring the whole family and come and enjoy. I'm so bad at this guys. I apologize. Okay. Growth track. Moving out. If you are new to Harvest Church or newer, and you've never been a part of the growth track, it is a great opportunity to learn about Harvest. Church learn about the history, learn what we're all about, learn about why we're non-genetic denominational, why we're Bible based. All of the things. It is a great thing to be a part of. It's a four week class. 2 (25m 33s): It meets on Sunday mornings during the 11:00 AM service starting on October 25th. So sign up for that at the info table. Okay. We are doing a celebration of life service for Mike on October 17th, this upcoming Saturday at 11:00 AM here at the Church we're in need of some, either strong men or strong women to help set up. We need, we need people who can lift chairs off of chair rocks, who can lift tables. If you're a man, you can do that. Great sign up, please. If you're a woman and you can do that. Awesome. Please sign up. We need help with that for the celebration of life specifically, it's at 11:00 AM this upcoming Saturday. 2 (26m 14s): So if you're sign up for that, you're only signing up for like an hour next Saturday and that's it so, really easy and it's fun. So yeah, sign up for that at the info table as well. Okay. We're done. All right. Thank you for bearing with me. All of you who actually did, and pastor Jeremy is going to be bringing us the word today. 3 (26m 37s): Thanks, Leslie. 5 (26m 45s): Awesome. Great, great announcements. Thank you. I heard it said past month or so that we need more precedent in times, right? We keep seeing all over the news that there's all these, this is unprecedented times and in our, with our health and economy and, and, and the presidential candidates and, and they keep saying, this is unprecedented. I think we need more precedent at times, right? Would you guys agree with me? 4 (27m 11s): And I'm so, cause I get to be a 5 (27m 15s): Getting do, bring the word these next two weeks, pastor Steve has been leading us through this, this COVID crisis. He has his, he's taking the brunt of a lot of, just a lot of things. And so we are just stoked that we were able to as a staff and, and just to be able to send them out and get some refreshment or encouragement vision. And so he's out there meeting with the Lord. And, and so we're, we're just going to, we're going to pray for him this morning and then we'll pray for the, the time and the word this morning. So pray with him please. Heavenly father. We thank you that, that pastor Steve has led from the front Lord. 5 (27m 55s): And during these times, Lord, we thank you for, for this church that the doors are open. That, that, that we are Church that we're meeting here, Lord, and, and that we're, we're meeting with each other, the fellowship that the lien hands on a prayer, all those things they'll worship Lord, that, that, that goes on Lord. We thank you for that Lord. And it's and it has what it has. It come at a cost for pastor Steve. So the Lord will you be with him, Lord, will you pour into him this next week or so? And just a refresh his spirit. We thank you, Lord, that he gets to go out Lord and, and, and do that Lord. So, but with us here, Lord, I believe that you just have a message. Lord, you just have a, you have a word for each of us this morning and, and, and next week as well or God. 5 (28m 37s): And when you speak to us, we speak to our hearts. We use just speaking to our condition, Jesus name, we pray. Amen. So we're going to be in the book of Ruth this next two weeks. I get two, I get two weeks and the book of Ruth, we're going to try to accomplish a Ruth chapters one and two this week. And, and we're gonna have three and four next week. And with that, Ruth is my, is one of my favorite books. The Bible we have Genesis, I think is like my, my, my ultimate favorite and Ruth would be a close second to that. You know, we, we, we see in the book of Ruth that it, I like to say it's Ruth is humanity. And four chapters, 85 verses just a little over, just a little under 2,700 words. 5 (29m 22s): Hebrew words is found the book of Ruth and each word is just skillfully crafted it's and it's not just a beautiful story, cause there's so much that's happening underneath the surface that you can just kind of floss over when you read through the book of Ruth in the matter of 15, 20 minutes. So I'm excited to kind of jump in. We're going to take a very distant approach and kind of just dive in a few spots, dive in where I think the Lord wants to reach us today. But what I would, I hope we will all walk out is that God is he's the God of the Insignificant and Ordinary he's the God of the and Insignificant Ordinary and why. And, and the current that we see under the book of Ruth is this Providence of God. 5 (30m 6s): God sovereignty mixes somehow matches with our freewill and God is working out things in our life and through our lives, you see just at face value, read it through the book of Ruth and the beautiful story that comes out. You have all these things that come up, you have grief, you have joy, you have sorrow friendship, family, betrayal, redemption, you have drama, you have loneliness, compassion, romance, scandal, bravery, faith, grace, love, you have weddings and you have death. That's just, it just all their humanity in four chapters. And so what I want to show is that there's no such thing as an insignificant detail to our Lord and our understanding of God is so framed by what we think of God is God just the God of the big things is God just the God of, of, of the important, the, the, the things that we might think, Oh, well, God only cares about those big, those important things or has God also so intimately acquainted our lives. 5 (31m 16s): There was a German theologian. He said this, tell me how lofty God is for you. And I will tell you how little he means to you. So often the bigger we think of God, Oh gosh, this is this big, he's this cosmic force, all the things, the less intimate, the less we think he has to do with us. Tell me how lofty God is for you. And I will tell you how little he means to you these two weeks. We're only going to scrape the surface and maybe, maybe you, Steve gave me the glimmer of hope. Maybe we can jump into some, some things later on down the road, go into depth, but let's jump into the book of Ruth chapter one. 5 (31m 57s): It answers one of the questions of this is in the darkest of times, how does a person live a life that makes a difference? And the darkest of times, how does one live a life that makes a difference? And, and Ruth is going to show us, and he's going to show us and the simple things and the way we treat others and our business dealings and preparing a meal for a family, for your family, washing dishes, doing the laundry. It's the simple day to day things Insignificant as the main thing to us aren't to God first one starts out. It says, now it came to pass. And the day's when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. And that's so that's, that's up the time period with which the book of Ruth was written. 5 (32m 37s): It was in the time of the judges and, and the book of judges ends with this verse. And it's it's it's right where we're at. It says in those days there was no King in Israel. Everyone did what was right in the eye, in his own eyes, there was no King and everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. I can relate to that. I think we can all relate to that. Remember the time when my parents left my brother and I home alone for the first time and ride, what no parents around this is awesome. What are we going to do? We're going to have a BB gun wore in the house. 3 (33m 13s): 5 (33m 16s): I don't, I don't, I don't suggest that I don't suggest cutting a Q-tip and half and putting it in your seven 60 pump master, and then pump it up a few times and shooting your brother and the leg. I don't, I don't remember that may or may not have happened may or may not have left a hole in my brother. And he may or may not have chased me around the house the next 20, 30 minutes. So the authority wasn't home. So we did what we wanted. And our times we, you know, we've taken God out of our government, out of our schools, out of the public spheres. And, and, and there's even the sense of trying to take God out of churches. And it feels, it's just, this is where we're at. And it's like, everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. 5 (33m 57s): Yeah. I grew up with the sane. My friend said over and over in junior high and high school, it says, if it feels good, do it. If it feels good doing, and I watched my friends who listened to that and who went down that path of, Hey, if it feels good, they did it. I believe there's a famine. There's a drought in our land now, too. It was a famine of, of, of truth, of common sense of compassion, of love for calling men. Those, the things that seem to be lacking in our time and this time that they were in the time of judges, there was a famine and there was a drought. 5 (34m 40s): And that led to the lack of food for the nation of Israel. See God him. And Deuteronomy 11 had promised that as long as the, the Israelites were obedient, there would always be plenty. And so it seems like this is a dark, dark time. And even in the book of judges, that there was a famine in that, that there was this lack of, of just doing what was right as a nation. And so as the book of Ruth narrows it down, it goes from the nation is how the nation was doing as a whole. Now it's going to go to a family because God uses individuals. He uses families. So verse one and two is the name of the man was Elimelech. And the name of his wife was Naomi. And the names of their two sons were may Hahn and Chilean and their from Bethlehem. 5 (35m 25s): And they went to the country of Moab and they remained there. So they leave the land of Israel, the leave, the land of promise. And they go to, to journey to this land of Moab, because they were trying to find food and find the bed. Now, Bethlehem, interestingly enough means house of bread. That's what Bethlehem means. The house of red. And Elimelech his name means my God is King. So my God is King D decides to uproot his family out of the land. And they go and they travel to Moab and he takes with him, his wife and her name is pleasant or pleasant. One. That's what Naomi means. And the significance of those names. She was pleasant. And maybe this shows the, the, the names of they gave their son the show's the times and the difficulties and the struggles they were having their family cause a male, a Hawn or Mohan. 5 (36m 14s): His name means SIC. And his brother chili on his, his name actually means pining or wasting away. So we have Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and their two sons pining and wasting away and show the condition, show the struggles that that family was going, going through. And so they think they come down two and they think the best thing to do is to leave the house of bread and to go Sojourn in another country. And that sojourning turned into the remaining and it turning into, into settling down. And so often I think people try to hit it. Elimelech why would you leave the land of promise? 5 (36m 54s): Why would you leave the house of bread? And yet, I think he's just a father trying to do what's best. As he's watching his two sons waste away and the drought and the family, and that's brought on and they go to the faraway land, Elimelech ends up dying and Naomi's husband died. And she was left with her two sons. That's a lot to happen in a far away land to lose a spouse, to lose the, the, the, the covering the head of the family. She was now widowed now. And we found herself in a place of, she was being witty. 5 (37m 35s): She was widowed in the foreign land, and they took two wives, or the other woman of Moab, the sons did. And the name of the first was Orpah. And the name of the other was Ruth. And they dwelt there about 10 years. So you have orphan and her name actually means neck or, or like gazelle. Something about her neck stood out and Ruth, her name means friend. And what I'll, what I'll dive into deeper next week is the picture that's going on here. You have the beautiful story, but there's a picture that God's weaving in. It was, it's actually prophetic because Naomi is a picture of the nation of Israel. And now we have Ruth and Ruth has a friend. 5 (38m 19s): Well, Jesus called us friends. He says, you are no longer slaves, but you're friends. And they, they, they, they went there dwelled there about 10 years. And so they're there for 10 years and they're in a foreign land. There's no father. So the two sons, and it says, and as it came to pass verse five, the both Mahan and chili on died. So the woman survived her two sons and her husband. I mean, just sit in that loss for a little bit. All of Naomi's hopes, all of her dreams, all of her protection have all now died. 5 (39m 2s): The hurt, the pain, no family there to support no, no, no comfort, no community of God to support her in this time. So we have left as a house with three widows in it. Naomi has no children left. They both passed away. And now we have two women who are bearing two women. Who've been married with their husbands for 10 years and, and not have had any offspring had any children to, to pass on that line of, of Elimelech. And not much has made her that, that Ruth is barren, but the end of the book, there's this glimmer. Cause, cause that's what the beauty of this narrative is that in the end, we're going to see Ruth. This is Barry woman in the beginning that we see Ruth as a, as a, as a barrier in the end, we're going to see that the Lord opens her womb and now it's going from the family. 5 (39m 52s): And now we're going to, we're going to even narrow it and close. And we're going to go from the family to the individuals. And so Naomi arises with her daughters in law that they might return from the country of Moab. And for she heard in the country of Moab, that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread, bread had returned to the house of bread. So she arises a Rose from her losses. She realizing all the pain and all the while she still has to move on, she still has to do something, just the travel and of 70 miles over, over a mountain, across the river dangers. I mean all that stuff there because God y'all way God had visited his people and theirs. 5 (40m 34s): Therefore, she went out from the place where she was and her two daughters went with her and, and she, she looks at her two times and she's like, you don't need to follow me. I am nothing. And she, she talks about the, that the Lord's hand had gone against her. She says, go return each to her mother's house. And verse eight, the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with me, dealt with the dead. And with me, those years of pain and grief and loss route, and Naomi had been milled down, she had been crushed. She feels like if there's nothing left, like there's no hope why you girls don't need to come with me. 5 (41m 16s): But verse nine, she says that she, that the Lord may grant you rest, that you may find arrest each in the house of her husband. And that is one of the designs of marriage. That marriage be a place of rest that is God's design. And so she desires that for her, her, her two daughter and loss go find rest and the house of her husband. So she kissed them and lift up. So the, so she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept. And surely we return with you as these people, you know, to your people. And it was a nice sentiment, but they weren't both willing to go there. And often in our grief and our loss, people try to reach out and people try to help. 5 (41m 58s): But when I, when I lost my dad to cancer, I remember a specific conversation and I, I understand the heart, but, but she's like, Oh, you know, trying to, trying to find words. And she's like, well, I understand what you're going through. Cause I just lost my dog. And there was two, there was like, I want to say some things. And the other was like, I just, I realized, I realized you're trying to empathize. And, and I just, you just have to take for face value. But I, I like how job's friends handled it. When Joe went through all of his losses, at least for the S the first part of it job, his friends came and sat with him in silence, in the midst of all of his lost for seven days. 5 (42m 43s): For seven days, they just sat there with Jobe and the friends that have, have comforted me and walked through my losses in my life. They were there. Just the ones that, Hey, I'm here for you. I don't know what to say. I don't have the right words, but I'm just here for you. If you need anything, just let me know. So you, after seven days, that's when job's friends opened their mouth and that's when it just went downhill, right? This went downhill. So Naomi says the second 10, and turn back my daughters, why don't you go with me? But there's still sons in my womb that they may be your husbands. And she's, she's talking about the law of the love, right. Marriage. And we'll leave that for later. So she views and she understands that God has come against her. 5 (43m 24s): She says, the hand of the Lord has come up, has come against her. And if she only knew we have, we I've redone as, as getting to overlook the whole book of Ruth and having read it. And haven't understood the gospel message and all that stuff. We know that God has awesome and amazing plans for new home. And she doesn't in that moment of grief and loss and pain and hurt all that stuff. She just thinks that the Lord has come against her. If somebody could just whisper into her ear, Jeremiah 29 11 for, I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and the future. Can you imagine that? 5 (44m 4s): And her daughter-in-laws, they lifted up their voice and they wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her or putt goes back off the pages of scripture and into, into oblivion. We never hear of her again. And they always seen an believe. She says to Ruth, now this is the third time she urges her. Go back, go back to your people. Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods return after your sister-in-law that's significant. You see back to she's saying, go back to your gods, go back to Chemosh. That was the God that the Moabites worshiped go back to the, the, the destroyer, the subdued. 5 (44m 47s): That's what, that's what she washed meant. She must was the God that accepted human sacrifice. She says, look, I have nothing left. And she washed, maybe Chemosh will be kinder than my God. Y'all the way the show's her, her, her just her hurt and her pain in Ruth hearing that will not turn back for. There's something that she's seen. And Naomi and Ruth said, and this is some of my fear versus the book of Ruth 16 and 17. 5 (45m 27s): But Ruth said, intrigued me not to leave you or to turn back from following you forever, where you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge your people shall be my people in my, and your God, my God, where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. This is her statement of faith and that it, they, they, they have stay this and colleges. It's just a beautiful, beautiful literary work. And it has that Adam and Eve ring to it as well from Genesis two, where Adam says, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Ruth is like, I will not leave you. 5 (46m 7s): I have clung to Ruth. She, where does she get this faith? She was raised in a gentle idol worshiping country. And now she's ready to abandon everything that she knew. Her family, her friends, her community, all of that is to follow after Naomi and to have Naomi's God be her God. How could that be? When Naomi had nothing but loss and pain and hurt. And I believe that it's because as Naomi was being crushed, there was something sweet that was still coming out of her. The way you create fragrance or perfume is you actually take the herb or the plant and you crush it. You grind it up so that it gives its full aroma. 5 (46m 50s): Paul would say later in the second Corinthians for, we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved. And among those who are perishing to the one, we are a realm of death, Lena death, and to other, the aroma of life leading the life we can in our times of crushing, still be that aroma to Christ that, that lead other the other say, I don't know what it is about you. You're going through some tough stuff, but there is something in you. There's something I desire. And that's what Ruth was doing. She was, she was like, despite the crushing, she was still said, your people are my people, your God, my God. So when they only saw ruse determination, she just moved on. 5 (47m 34s): And it says, as they came to Bethlehem and verse 19, all the city was excited because then they see two figures, two women returning from Moab. And it had been many years has been at least 10 years. And they look and they're looking, they're excited. And they said, Oh, is this Naomi life has been hard on her. Is this Naomi? And she says, I don't call me. Naomi, call me, Mara. See Naomi means pleasant, but she's now she's saying, call me, Mara for Mara means better. We can see where she's at. She's in a place of bitterness. She said, I went out full of verse 21. 5 (48m 15s): It and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Why do you call me pleasant? Since the Lord has testified against me? And the almighty almighty has afflicted me and I I'm, I'm thankful for it. Cause she, she has a way of speaking her mind. She has a way of going, Oh yeah, I lost everything, but I'm okay. I'm good. She doesn't do that. She's like, she's in this place of bitterness and God will still meet her there. And the people will meet her there. How often do we get asked? How are you doing? And we say, Oh, I'm good. I'm smiling when we're hurting inside the church. And I think our, this community should be a place of just authentic community. And it's my personal belief. 5 (48m 56s): And this, this, this is my understanding. As I've read through the story and traders say, I think that Naomi had a lot to do with them leaving Israel and the first place. I think I, my it's my personal belief that Naomi was like, Elimelech look at our sons. Why are we staying in this godforsaken place of Bethlehem? Why we need to leave this place? Look at our sons. They're dying. If we don't do something there, they're going to waste away. And so sh maybe she was positive. My thought she was the one, the impetus of pushing them out into the land of Moab. We have to go find food for our kids. We have to do something. And so now she's come back and she feels like she's just completely empty is because she, maybe it's my thought that she was the one who's pushing for that. 5 (49m 42s): And she's like, board's gone against me. I was the one who wanted this. Now the Lord is coming against me. Just think back to those evening conversations when the boys were in their beds and the husband and wife, a little luck, and now we're just talking. So I think, I think it's way. And it's obviously weighing heavy on Naomi. So Naomi returned in the us and Ruth and mobilize her Don law, went with her and verse 22, you and who returned from the country MOBE. And now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. This is, this is the season ender. This is the last episode like, Oh wait, why, why? There's like something's changing. 5 (50m 22s): The barley harvest has mentioned, food has not been mentioned this whole time, other than the lack of food. And now we have the barley harvest. The barley harvest has mentioned this. Okay. There's, there's a glimmer of hope. There's something happening. And it doesn't, God always give us those little glimmers of hope in the, in the loss and the hurt and the pain. And there's those little glimmers of hope that just get us, get us by just sometimes day by day, sometimes hour by hour, minute by minute, the loss of my dad was just at times unbearable. He was 51. 5 (51m 2s): I was, I had just turned 24 and I didn't know how I was going to make it. So we grew up in the central Valley and up in the, up in this year as there, there was this mountain that for whatever reason, I was always drawn to look at. This is Sawtooth peak and it's this diamond shape peak that just kind of stands out in the mountains. And, and it was like whenever there was a clear day, I could just see Sawtooth peak, whether it was snow on it or whether it was the evening sun and the setting on it. It was, it was just, it was, I loved looking at Sawtooth peak and it was like one day I woke up in that mountain was just gone. My dad was no longer there. And the, that loss that just hurt and every like the Lord has carried us through Florida's Curtis through the, it was like the little acts like our Church would come and help us out with little projects. 5 (51m 57s): My mom w with my dad had had in his, in God, given him foresight had, had had a life insurance policy that allowed my mom to buy it, the house over the fixer upper of her dreams. And there's like this little, like these little shimmers of, of, of God just, just so I'm here, I'm here. I'm still working. I'm not done. And that'd be the end of chapter one. We have this little glimmer, but let's quickly get into route two. Now. I don't know why verse one. I do not know why this has mentioned, but it says there was a relative. So we just go from the darkness the, the hard times, and there a glimmer of hope of the bar of the Harvest and now it mentions in verse one. 5 (52m 39s): Now there's a relative of Naomi's husband, a man of great wealth of the family of Elimelech and his name was Boaz. Well, full stop. Why is that in there? Why do you, why, why does that get added right there at the beginning of chapter two, right? And the narrative. Why does that get plucked in there? And we there's so many questions we should ask Bo ass. Who is Bo ass? Why was he mentioned? Well, he's a family of Elimelech. So he's a kinsmen to the family. He's the man of great wealth Boaz. His name is means in him, his strength in him, his strength, Solomon as he's building his temple later on would have two pillars at the front of the temple. 5 (53m 20s): One of those tent, one of those pillars, he named Boaz. And if you're single and the reason this maybe is say, is he married? Why isn't he married? I don't know. We'll get him. Maybe we will talk about that next week. So you've got it now. Okay. So Boaz, this guy, this guy that was introduced into the narrative. Okay. Put that aside. Let's continue on with Ruth and Naomi. Cause that's where we're at. Right? So Ruth inverse to the Ruth, the Moabite has said, and only please let me go out to the fields and glean heads of grain after him in whom site I may find favor. And she said, go, my daughter Russi Ruth. Didn't want to remain static. She wasn't just going to stay there. 5 (54m 0s): She just knew that she had to go do something. There was no welfare system to take care of them. There was no one God who was going to bring food to the door. She had to go out and do something. And this is where God in his, in his sovereignty. And his foresight had had put in the law of gleaning and allowed the reapers as they gleaned the harvest fields to only make one passed through. And they had to leave the corners and the reapers also, whatever they spilled or left was left was there for the widow's and the destitute. So if your bag, if you're lifting up your bag and it spills out the bottom, you had to leave that whole pile there. You couldn't take, you couldn't take it with you In verse three. 5 (54m 44s): And then she left. So Ruth goes out, she looks North, she looks South. She looks East, she looks West. Where's she going to go? There's fields surrounding Bethlehem. Where is she going to go? First three. And she left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And it says, and she just happened to come to the part of the field, belonging to Boaz, who was the family of Elimelech second mention. It says she happened. Or the King James says she just so happened. The Bible God's sovereignty. Things just don't just happen. But it also doesn't say anything about some light coming and shining on that field, like Ruth steps out. 5 (55m 28s): And it goes, where should I go? And there's like this spotlight from heaven, there was no, there was no like being pushed along by some unseen force. She just simply stepped out in faith and said, I need to, to say, I need to do something. And where do I go? And the sovereignty of God in the freewill of her to choose where she wanted to go. She just so happened that she ended up in this field and it was idleness that says, I can't just stay idle. I need to, I need to go out and provide, I need to do something. And then I mentioned Boaz and Boaz is brought into the story. He says, he comes to his Reaper's in the field and says the Lord be with you. And they said, in response, the Lord bless you. And that just shows Boaz his character, that he is the Lord of the harvest that he takes care of his workers. 5 (56m 14s): And his workers just love him in return. And Boaz said to his servant, who was in charge of the reapers whose young woman is this, this unnamed servant gives her, him the report that, Hey, yeah, that's, that's Ruth. She returned with the mobile. She's the mobile fetus she returned with Naomi. And that she asked, Hey, can I come glean in your field? After the reapers? She was plaintiff. She didn't just say, there's a law allows me to do this. She said, can I do this? So she's polite. She's hard working, not demanding. And also probably very tired from the 70 mile journey that she had just gone on. So Boaz goes and speak to her specifically. He says, Boaz. He says to Ruth in verse eight, you listen to my daughter. 5 (56m 57s): Will you not do not go glean in another field nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes beyond the field, which they reap and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And then if you're thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn. And so in response, Ruth falls on her face, first 10 bows down the ground and says, why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take? Notice of me since I am a foreigner, that Hebrew word for grace is Kaine. And it's a, it's a meany of grace or favor. See, grace is the basis by which she's given all these blessings, this unearned undeserved favor as a mobile just woman, the law would keep her out, but grace would bring her in the law, keeps out, but grace is brought, brought her in and Boaz, recounts, like it's been fully reported of all that you've done for your, for your mother-in-law, for your, for your, your, your deceased husband and, and how you've left everything to come here. 5 (58m 4s): Your, your reputation has preceded you. And he says, in verse 12, the Lord repay you and full reward. Be given by the Lord of the God of Israel under hoons wings, you shall come for refuge. She CA Ruth had left her father's protection. Ruth had left her husband, his protection. He had died. And after the loss of my dad, the loss of my mom, the Psalm 65 was my GoTo verse for a long time. And that says a father to the fatherless and a defender of the widow is God. And his Holy habitation. God is the protector. 5 (58m 44s): And Ruth, you have come under your way as God. And he will protect and provide for you. And she said, let me find favor in your sight. My Lord for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to me. And then at mealtime Boaz does something that was not in the law. You didn't have to invite people, the forerunner into your home to share a meal. And yet she does that at mealtime, at lunchtime, come here. He says, and eat the bread and dip your peace and joy and the tip of your piece of bread in the vinegar. And so she sat beside the reapers and he passed parched greens, her and she ate and was satisfied. One of those little details that we missed, that the Bible doesn't miss the Bible does the, there's no word he reword. 5 (59m 27s): That goes unspoken. That Hebrew word for vinegar is climates helmets. And that is a vinegar of wine. So here we have Boaz offering to Ruth, essentially wine and bread, the communion elements, amazing. And Ruth just takes, she, she, she accepts it and then she keeps them back thinking of her mother in law, back at home. So she Rose up to glean and, and it's like, you know, a 30 minute lunch break. 5 (1h 0m 8s): And she leaves a little bit early. She gets up to go to work and, and Boaz has the time to sit there at his, at the lunch break with his men in the, and the reapers. And he gives these, these commandments for her. And he says also, verse 16, let grains of the bundles fall purposely for her and leave it that she may glean and do not rebuke her. See, now grace has turned into gifts, letter, verse 15. I missed that. Let her even glean among the sheaves and do not reproach her. He is now just giving her gifts upon gifts. The new King, James ranch renders it handfuls on purpose or handfuls of purpose. 5 (1h 0m 48s): And I love this cause it w w what was Ruth thinking as she's began to glean out in the field and like, Oh, wow, they miss this whole stock. Oh, wow. There's a, there's a clump of, of, of a barley here. Wow. This is hardly. And those are good workers. Like, they're like, why are they leaving so much behind? This is amazing. And it seems like it just all goes right over her head. She's just picking what she has right there in front of her. Maybe she's a little ditzy, maybe not my sister. I love my sister. And I asked her for permission, but she took a, one of her classes in high school. There she was, and she walks into a classroom and she was like, mr. 5 (1h 1m 31s): Parker, the teacher, mr. Parker, that who's the teacher. And she's like, mr. Parker, I didn't realize there was a basement in this classroom. And he's like, Oh yeah. That's where we keep all the wine for school. And it's nice and cool down there. She's like, I didn't realize there's been a basement. So I've been coming to his classroom for a whole year. I didn't realize there's a basement. She sat down and like, everybody started chuckling. She's like what? It was a door that was just on the ground. She thought it was a she'd walked into class thinking it was a basement. It was just a door on the ground. And maybe Ruth was having them on those moments. Like, wow, I just don't understand all this grain on the screen. Well, Naomi's going to help her figure it out. Cause she what she ends up doing. She goes, she goes and beats it all out and takes all that. 5 (1h 2m 14s): She gleans, it. She has a whole barley and that was a good measure. And it says, then she took it up. What she, and she went into this city and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought out and gave it to her. What she'd kept back after she'd been satisfied. It was huge. This was not a gleaning you would normally get in one day. And her mother in law said to her, where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed to be the one who took notice of you. And so she took her mother-in-law. And so she told her mother-in-law who'd, she'd been working with that day. And she said the man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz in him. His strength is Boaz. See Ruth had been completely oblivious to what had happened all that day. 5 (1h 2m 55s): Naomi was not Naomi that knew that there was something going on the Lord. And then Naomi said in verse 20, the daughters in law blessed to be he of the Lord who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead. And Naomi said to her, this man is a relation of ours. One of our close relatives. He is our Goel, our kinsmen Redeemer. And all of a sudden the woman who'd went out full and come back empty is all of a sudden realizing the plan that she's in the middle of. Oh my goodness, this is incredible. This man is showing you great favor. We left full, but we came back empty, but really she came back full this go, and this is a kinsman Redeemer. 5 (1h 3m 44s): And she encourages Ruth don't don't don't don't go anywhere else. Go to that field, go to that, go to Boaz field, stay by those workers. There's protection in that. And as she says, it is good. My daughter that you go out with this young woman and that people do not meet you in any, any other fool field. So verse 23. So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz to glean until the end of barley Harvest and we'd Harvest. And she'd dwelt with her. Mother-in-law the barley harvest was the time of Passover. The weed harvest wen all the way through until the time of Pentecost. The first fruits of the wheat harvest were presented to God at CA the Pentecost. And now we begin to see the Providence of God unfolding, and we're not done. 5 (1h 4m 27s): This is just a glimmer of the hope. And now the thing is, things are in motion and things are gonna happen in the book of Ruth and what, what it goes to shows that being faithful to the very little things that God puts in front of, you got a reward that in those Insignificant details that we just floss over and think, Ugh, that's not much. No. See Jesus said, the very hairs on your head are numbered. That's incredible. That shows how intimate it's not, he's not some big, all powerful way out there got his intimate God that would know each and every hair on my head, each and every hair on your head. There's nothing missed. 5 (1h 5m 14s): I had a chance this a couple of couple weeks ago, and a couple came into the church for prayer and the, the guy that I was my friend that we were praying with for this couple, he he's just said, I believe the Lord has a few things that he wants to speak to you. And, and, and to, especially for her. And he began just speaking little things. I don't think you've told anybody about this, but, and he just started going into some really minutiae details. The God had revealed to my friend for her, and she just started bright. She broke down crying, and I've never told anyone this stuff. 5 (1h 5m 59s): She had come as a partner to help to help her, her, her guy, fiance, tail, her fiance. She come as like, Oh, I'm just, he's, he's here to help. But then God began revealing and speaking things into her life. And she just melted because all of a sudden she realized God knew every little thought and intended for heart. And how incredible is that? That God, there's no detail too small for our, for our God. Tell me how lofty God is for you. And I will tell you how little he means to you. How about tell me how, how much God knows how God knows the hairs on our head and how much he loves you. 5 (1h 6m 46s): I think when we simply obey the Lord and inner faithful to the task, bigger, small, that brought to pass before us, God will lead and guide our way. Even in these, even in these darkest of times, let me pray. 3 (1h 6m 59s): 5 (1h 7m 13s): Lord. As we sing in that first set, the shoe or the way maker that even when we don't see it, we know that you're still working. Lord God, I believe that's a song Ruth and Naomi might've been able to sing at this moment. The thought you turned your hand was against them. And yet your hand was not. Your hand was for them. You were going before them Lord. And how, how often are you going before us? And we just miss it. Lord, God help us to see Lord speak, speak words of life into us. Lord God, as the darkest of times, start to encroach around and give us that faith. Just to simply take it step by step. 5 (1h 7m 54s): This, this walk of faith that you've given us Lord to be obedient and the little things as well as the big, the big things Lord God or do you are working in our midst. Thank you, Lord Jesus name. We pray 3 (1h 8m 10s): 1 (1h 8m 41s): magnify and exalt your name, 0 (1h 18m 49s): Our affection, and our devotion. We bring to you very live 1 (1h 18m 54s): Because he laid down 0 (1h 18m 59s): And maybe be forever changed because we've been in your presence because words 17 deeply into our hearts, God, and took root. We pray that a bit. Bear good fruit this year, 1 (1h 19m 12s): Help us 0 (1h 19m 12s): The love of those. We come in contact with your kind of 1 (1h 19m 19s): Low from our hearts. 0 (1h 19m 23s): I thank you for our church family. We just lift up everyone who's watching right now. And who's here on this campus. How would you strengthen us? Would you give us wisdom and discernment to walk out this crazy time of life? There's so much going on in the world. And so many distractions. God, we look to you and we listen for your voice, your leading your team. 1 (1h 19m 48s): So we welcome you 0 (1h 19m 50s): To work in our lives all this week and pray the chief, keep us all safe and healthy until we gathered together again. The precious name of Jesus. Somebody say, amen. Amen. Oh, it's so good. Church yeah. 1 (1h 20m 6s): Awesome. 0 (1h 20m 8s): Well, if anyone would like some prayer this morning, there'll be staff and other volunteers. We'd love to pray for you. Come right on up. Otherwise, have a great week. We'll see you next Sunday.