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Speaker 1: All right, we're not holding hands. I don't know how

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Speaker 1: we are on the spectrum of being able to, but

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Speaker 1: can we at least touch the shoulder of the person

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Speaker 1: on either side of you? That'll work? Baby steps, Baby steps,

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Speaker 1: baby steps. Pray this out loud. Lord. The person I'm

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Speaker 1: touching needs you more than I do because they're a mess,

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Speaker 1: So bless them today in Jesus' name. Come on, give

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Speaker 1: God praise. How y'all doing? Welcome? Welcome? Just kidding. You're

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Speaker 1: a mess and you know it too. How many of

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Speaker 1: you think that you are the least spiritual person on

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Speaker 1: your row? Raise your hand? How many of y'all think

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Speaker 1: there's nobody in this room that read the Bible less

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Speaker 1: than I do this week? Raise your head? All right?

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Speaker 1: Oh man, such a weird icebreaker for me to say that,

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Speaker 1: isn't it. I'm just excited to be here. I told

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Speaker 1: the Lord after we weren't able to have public meetings

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Speaker 1: that I wouldn't take it for granted when we could

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Speaker 1: get back together. So if you'll notice, maybe you don't

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Speaker 1: like this, but I go longer now. I take my time,

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Speaker 1: and there's multiple reasons for that. One thing. I think

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Speaker 1: if you're going to spend three hundred and fifty dollars

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Speaker 1: filling your tank with gas to drive to church. I

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Speaker 1: ought to at least give you more than a little dabba,

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Speaker 1: do you? And the other reason for that is that

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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit has really been doing a work in

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Speaker 1: my heart. And the natural overflow of that is I

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Speaker 1: just find myself less and less thinking of preaching like

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Speaker 1: a performance. And what I think now more is that

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Speaker 1: the Lord would make me a vessel. Tell him you'll

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Speaker 1: call him back that in about three hours when I

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Speaker 1: finish with this message, tell him you'll call him back

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Speaker 1: for me. Hey, won't take that long. But now I

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Speaker 1: think about myself, Lord, make me a vessel for what

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Speaker 1: you want to give your people. And I love that

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Speaker 1: because it's not up to the box how good the

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Speaker 1: pizza tastes. So if I can just be a box

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Speaker 1: to get you what God wants you to eat today,

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Speaker 1: that'll be great. And yes, I just called the Bible

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Speaker 1: pizza because Jesus said I am the Bread of life,

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Speaker 1: and he didn't say what kind of bread. So anyway,

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Speaker 1: y'all remember book It used to get the personal pan

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Speaker 1: pizza for book It. It's gonna be a personal word

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Speaker 1: for you today. All right, I'm in a good mood.

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Speaker 1: That's bad news for the devil. I'm happy and ready

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Speaker 1: to drink. Hey, real quick check if you would and

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Speaker 1: see if we're coming to a city near you. Elevation

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Speaker 1: Nights dot com. It'll be cities such ass but not

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Speaker 1: limited to, Indianapolis, Chicago, Boston, Newark, Columbus, Grand Rapids. Why

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Speaker 1: did you say that so loud? Grand Rapids? You're from there,

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Speaker 1: You're coming over in a couple of weeks. Good, you

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Speaker 1: got your ticket. It's not free. You can't just show up.

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Speaker 1: It's not like just regular church night because the arena's

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Speaker 1: not free, so we got to pay for it. So

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Speaker 1: but you'll be there all right. Great, and you're here

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Speaker 1: today from Michigan, God bless you Michigan. All right, that's

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Speaker 1: gonna be that's going to be awesome. I loved it

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Speaker 1: so much last year. I really needed it after ministering

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Speaker 1: in an empty room for so long through COVID, to

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Speaker 1: get out and see the way that people have been

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Speaker 1: impacted by our church and see it firsthand. I needed it.

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Speaker 1: I felt like it. I was like something just came

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Speaker 1: alive inside of me, like it needed to be watered

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Speaker 1: and after we came back, I was just fired up

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Speaker 1: and full of life. So that's why I'm going back

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Speaker 1: selfishly just to do ministry because I get more out

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Speaker 1: of it than I could ever give. And I wish

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Speaker 1: you could all come, but anyway, you get to come

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Speaker 1: every week. So what are you worried about? And I

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Speaker 1: wish we could have this conversation just one on one

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Speaker 1: from the Word of God today. That would be ideal

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Speaker 1: because I could walk you through it a little different.

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Speaker 1: But we'll have to do the best we can with

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Speaker 1: just all of us. And I want to take you

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Speaker 1: to the Book of Ruth, chapter four, verse nine through seventeen.

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Speaker 1: I want to say what's up to Taylor Shidel at

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Speaker 1: Elevation Columbia. He texted me before I got up that

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Speaker 1: he was praying for me while I was preaching, And

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Speaker 1: that's why I'm shouting him out. I'm reciprocating. I appreciate

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Speaker 1: your prayers too, as I preached today that I would

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Speaker 1: be effective, that I would be effective for who God

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Speaker 1: wants me to reach. Never preached a sermon from Ruth before.

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Speaker 1: Hollywalked by the other day and saw my Bible open

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Speaker 1: to Ruth. She said Ooh, Ruth. And my reluctance to

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Speaker 1: preach on Ruth isn't just because it's a book about

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Speaker 1: a woman. I'm not a sexist. I think it's one

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Speaker 1: of those stories that just to give you a sliver

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Speaker 1: or one scene of the story, like it doesn't do

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Speaker 1: justice to the beauty of the whole thing. But still

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Speaker 1: God directed me here and just sucked me in. And

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Speaker 1: so I'm going to do my best today just from

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Speaker 1: not trying to be cute. But I just want to

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Speaker 1: show you one truth from the book of Ruth. I guess,

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Speaker 1: but let's look at this together. Ruth Chapter four, verse nine.

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Speaker 1: Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people today,

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Speaker 1: you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all

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Speaker 1: the property of Alimelech, Killion and Maylon. I have also

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Speaker 1: acquired Ruth the Moabi Meylon's widow as my wife, in

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Speaker 1: order to maintain the name of the dead with his property,

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Speaker 1: so that his name will not disappear from among his

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Speaker 1: family or from his hometown. Today, you are witnesses verse eleven.

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Speaker 1: Then the elders and all the people at the gate said,

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Speaker 1: we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who

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Speaker 1: is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who

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Speaker 1: together built up the family of Israel. May you have

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Speaker 1: standing in Ephratha and be famous in Bethlehem through the

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Speaker 1: offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman. May

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Speaker 1: your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore

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Speaker 1: to Judah. That's a blessing right there. That's a blessing

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Speaker 1: right here. Tell somebody next to you, I'm stepping into

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Speaker 1: a blessing. I'm stepping into a blessing. I'm stepping in.

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Speaker 1: Tell them give me some room because I'm stepping into

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Speaker 1: a blessing. I need six feet because I'm stepping all right,

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Speaker 1: all right, But that's not the word. That's not the

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Speaker 1: word today, because we need to read the next verses.

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Speaker 1: So Boas took Ruth, and she became his wife. When

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Speaker 1: he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive,

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Speaker 1: and she gave birth to a son. The women said

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Speaker 1: to Naomi, Praise be to the Lord, who this day

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Speaker 1: has not left you without a guardian redeemer. May he

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Speaker 1: become famous throughout Israel. He will renew your life and

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Speaker 1: sustain you in your old age. For your daughter in law,

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Speaker 1: who loves you, and who is better to you than

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Speaker 1: seven sons has given him birth. Then Naomi took the

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Speaker 1: child in her arms and cared for him. The women

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Speaker 1: living there said, Naomi has a son. Naomi has a son.

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Speaker 1: You're never gonna believe it. But she who was gone

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Speaker 1: for over ten years because of the famine and came

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Speaker 1: back bitter, is holding a son. And they named him Obed.

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Speaker 1: And who's the father of Jesse see the father of David.

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Speaker 1: And this is what the Lord told me to tell

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Speaker 1: you today as our message, it will come together. Who

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Speaker 1: felt that when I said it? It might be online?

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Speaker 1: Put it in the chat, put it in the comments

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Speaker 1: right now. Or tell your six foot three neighbor it

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Speaker 1: will come together. Tell your five foot four whoever's standing

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Speaker 1: next to you. I'm trying to say, just make the declaration.

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Speaker 1: It will come together. In Jesus' name. You may be seated.

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Speaker 1: It will come together. Kind of one of those cliches

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Speaker 1: that I don't like when people say stuff like that

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Speaker 1: to me, it'll come together. I'll be stressed about a

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Speaker 1: sermon and Hollio say it'll come together. I'll be like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that sounds good. I mean, that's that's that's just a

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Speaker 1: millimeter better than when life gives you lemons or lemon Yeah,

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Speaker 1: how does it go? Make lemonade? Cliches? Cliches? And yet

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Speaker 1: I don't mean it in that trite way because it

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Speaker 1: could sound like that, I know you lost your job.

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Speaker 1: It'll come together. Could you tell the power company that

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Speaker 1: for me? Oh, I know you're single. Their friends are married.

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Speaker 1: Don't worry. The Lord has a bow as for you.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do I'm not gonna do it. I'm

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Speaker 1: not gonna do it. She wants me to do it,

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do it. There's an old thing online

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Speaker 1: that says, while you're waiting for your bow, ass, don't

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Speaker 1: settle for brogue as poor as all that. I'm not

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Speaker 1: gonna do it. Temptresses. It's the whole thing. It's a

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Speaker 1: whole thing. In Christianity, the Book of Ruth is usually

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Speaker 1: identified by chapter one, verse sixteen, and it's always into

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Speaker 1: King James at a wedding. This is the famous verse

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Speaker 1: of Ruth. All right, you're gonna know it. When I

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Speaker 1: say it, You're like, huh, what's it about? You'll know

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Speaker 1: when you see it. Put it on screen. This the

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Speaker 1: King James, where it says whither thou goest I will go?

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Speaker 1: You got to get the wether in there for the

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Speaker 1: marriage vows. Then that sounded like a wedding. Whither thou goest?

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Speaker 1: You never said whither in your life. But now you're

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Speaker 1: about to commit your whole self to somebody, and you

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Speaker 1: breaking out words you never use, whether thou goest I

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Speaker 1: will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge? People

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Speaker 1: shall be my people, By God, my God, I'm not

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Speaker 1: making fun of that verse. That verse in itself is

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Speaker 1: a sermon in itself. It is a sermon in itself.

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Speaker 1: That one verse shows you that when you decide who,

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Speaker 1: you decide where, when you decide, Now, this is not

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Speaker 1: how we think we think I need to decide where

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Speaker 1: I'm going to college. No, no, no, that's not as

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Speaker 1: important as who you hang out with when you get

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Speaker 1: to college, wherever you go to college, right. I teach

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Speaker 1: that all the time, that because who will ultimately identify

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Speaker 1: not only where you end up physically, Like Holly wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be in Charlotte if she had married me, because she

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Speaker 1: wouldn't have been a pastor's wife, or if she had

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Speaker 1: maybe the guy JJ she was talking to, he ends

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Speaker 1: up somewhere else. And when when you say yes to someone,

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Speaker 1: you say yes to something that you don't know about

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Speaker 1: at the time. I'm the same with God. When you

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Speaker 1: say yes to God, He'll take you places that you

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Speaker 1: never thought you would go when you say yes to Him.

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Speaker 1: Who you say yes to who you say no to

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Speaker 1: is very important, really important. Tell somebody it will come together. Now.

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Speaker 1: I want you to get that in your mind so

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Speaker 1: we can get it passed your mind into your spirit

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Speaker 1: so that you hear it differently. When I finish in

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Speaker 1: a few minutes, then you hear it right now. Because

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Speaker 1: we are all standing in a space in our life

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Speaker 1: where we are needing clarity on some things. And maybe

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Speaker 1: you're not in the same situation as Naomi and Ruth,

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Speaker 1: both of them being widows, were completely dependent on the

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Speaker 1: kindness of someone else. And maybe it's not that bad

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Speaker 1: in your life. Ruth not only lost her husband when

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Speaker 1: she lost her Maelon, but Naomi lost her son. Naomi

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Speaker 1: had already lost her husband, a Limelech, and they were

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Speaker 1: already in a strange place. Now I want to talk

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Speaker 1: to you about this, because when you read a Bible

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Speaker 1: verse in isolation, it's almost impossible to really make sense

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Speaker 1: out of it. And I want you to have that

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Speaker 1: app on your phone where they give you the verse

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Speaker 1: every day. But I don't want you to always read

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Speaker 1: the scriptures in isolation, because if you just take it

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Speaker 1: in isolation, sometimes we don't even read the whole verson

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Speaker 1: we quote it, and then we think that it didn't work.

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Speaker 1: It's not that Romans eight twenty eight isn't true. All

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Speaker 1: things work together for the good. You just stopped in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the verse. Is said all things work

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Speaker 1: together for the good of them that love God and

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Speaker 1: are called according to His purpose. Means that God doesn't

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Speaker 1: decide what is good in your life based on your preference,

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Speaker 1: but his purpose. So then you go through something and

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Speaker 1: this isn't good. This isn't good. How can this be good?

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Speaker 1: God isn't God is good, and this isn't good. What's

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Speaker 1: going on? I thought it was all good? God didn't

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Speaker 1: say that. In the Bible. God didn't say that. He

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Speaker 1: said all things work together for the good of those

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Speaker 1: who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.

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Speaker 1: So his purpose comes first, not my preference, go ready.

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Speaker 1: His purpose comes first, not my plan. What happens to

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Speaker 1: us is we get addicted to a plan, and if

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Speaker 1: it doesn't fit the plan, we want to throw it

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Speaker 1: back to God and say fix this. But God doesn't

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Speaker 1: start with the picture called your plan when he is

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Speaker 1: building the pieces of your life. He's God. He's God.

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Speaker 1: And the truth of the matter is, you can't really

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Speaker 1: judge your life in isolation. You can't really know when

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Speaker 1: you're going through something, whether it's good or not. Don't

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Speaker 1: judge it just yet. One scripture says, judge nothing before

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Speaker 1: the appointed time. Judge nothing before the appointed time, when

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Speaker 1: God will reveal hidden things and bring them to life,

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Speaker 1: and the secret things will be laid bare. Judge nothing,

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Speaker 1: no thing. All things work together for the good of

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Speaker 1: them that love the Lord. Now, if you love something

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Speaker 1: else more than you love the Lord Romans eight twenty eight,

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Speaker 1: is going to be hard for you, because if you

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Speaker 1: love popularity more than you love God, when people leave you,

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Speaker 1: you will think that's not good. But if you love

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Speaker 1: the Lord's purpose more than you love popularity, sometimes you

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Speaker 1: will praise God not for who stays with you, but

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Speaker 1: for who leaves you. Because you believe that the Lord

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Speaker 1: is leading my life. Wow, wow, Wow, it will come together.

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Speaker 1: We make the mistake of thinking that everyone who starts

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Speaker 1: with us will stay with us, and it doesn't happen

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Speaker 1: that way. This is not a sermon about abandonment or divorce,

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Speaker 1: but I do want to talk about those issues because well,

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Speaker 1: in the Book of Ruth, you have this woman named

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Speaker 1: Naomi who goes to a place called Moab where there

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Speaker 1: is something to eat for her family, and through no

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Speaker 1: fault of her own, she watches her husband and her

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Speaker 1: sons ten years later die in front of her eyes.

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Speaker 1: Her two daughters in law are committed to stay with her,

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Speaker 1: Ruth and Orpah. And there's a reason that this is

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Speaker 1: not called the Book of Orpa because she left. There

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Speaker 1: is a reason that I said turn in your bible

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Speaker 1: to the Book of Ruth, because Ruth stay. Put this

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Speaker 1: in your heart. Whoever left you in your life, whoever

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Speaker 1: walked away from you in your life, was not part

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Speaker 1: of God's purpose for your current season. It doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: they're bad, it doesn't mean they're evil. It doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: you need to make a voodoo dollins stick a pin

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Speaker 1: in they're left ear trying to get them to have

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Speaker 1: an earache. It doesn't mean anything. I don't mean you

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Speaker 1: need to talk crap about them. It doesn't mean that

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Speaker 1: you have to want them to fail. It doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: you have to go out and buy new car to

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Speaker 1: show him you made it and drive by their house

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Speaker 1: and they're not even home. It doesn't mean any of that.

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Speaker 1: It just means, can I preach. God doesn't build my

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Speaker 1: life on people who left. So one thing I'm learning

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Speaker 1: to appreciate at the stage of my life is the

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Speaker 1: providence of God. The providence of God. The providence of God.

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Speaker 1: The plans of man and the providence of God are

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Speaker 1: two totally different things. The man directs his steps in

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Speaker 1: his mind, God orders his steps in real life. And

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Speaker 1: so maybe I'm preaching to somebody today who is like Naomi.

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Speaker 1: You know, when we walked into Ruth chapter four, it

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Speaker 1: looked like everything was going good, and on the surface,

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Speaker 1: it sounds like this is a moment to be happy,

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Speaker 1: and it is. It is if you look at it

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Speaker 1: in isolation. But understanding what led up to this moment,

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Speaker 1: I think gives me a greater appreciation for who God

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Speaker 1: is and what he is able to do. Let's look

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Speaker 1: at it a little deeper, because even the Book of

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Speaker 1: Ruth is an interesting book. You have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges,

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Speaker 1: and then Ruth first Samuel, second Samuel, first King's second Kings.

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Speaker 1: What's Ruth doing between all those big books? Why is

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Speaker 1: there a book in the Bible about one woman from Moab?

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Speaker 1: Moab is not Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not Moab.

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Speaker 1: Moab was not even seen. I could do this real quick.

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Speaker 1: Moab was like you went to school in Chapel Hill

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Speaker 1: and you are cheering in four coach. K You see

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Speaker 1: what I've said, That level of hatred right there. You

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Speaker 1: felt it coming through the room. And this is a

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Speaker 1: local illustration. Okay, I could use another one somewhere else.

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Speaker 1: What is a woman from Moab doing between the five

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Speaker 1: covenants in the Bible? Write down the word covenant in

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Speaker 1: your notes, please. Covenant is a concept we would do

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Speaker 1: well to understand in our current contemporary society. We don't

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Speaker 1: understand it at all. We don't understand commitment at all.

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Speaker 1: We just understand convenience. Even when we say marriage vows,

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Speaker 1: we don't really mean half of what we're saying. We're saying,

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Speaker 1: as long as you make me happy, I'll be with you,

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Speaker 1: And we don't really mean what we're saying. And I'm

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Speaker 1: not saying that to shame anybody. I'm just saying sometimes

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Speaker 1: we would do well to understand these verses in their context.

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Speaker 1: Because God made a covenant with Noah. He said, I

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Speaker 1: never fled the earth again. That's the first covenant. There

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Speaker 1: are five covenants. The Bible is structured around five covenants. Covenant,

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Speaker 1: I will never flood the earth again. It means there's

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Speaker 1: going to be a limit on human evil. The Abrahamic Covenant,

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Speaker 1: which God said, I'm gonna make a nation out of you.

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Speaker 1: Count the stars if you can, count the sand if

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Speaker 1: you can, and Abraham goes one, two, three, four, five

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Speaker 1: to seven, eight nine. This is going to take a

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Speaker 1: long time, God, And God said, exactly, it's going to

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Speaker 1: take a long time for me to show you what

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Speaker 1: I'm going to do through you, and your descendants will

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Speaker 1: be as numerous as the sand on the sea shore,

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Speaker 1: if you can believe it and receive it, even though

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Speaker 1: you are past child bearing years. I am gonna bring

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Speaker 1: forth a life out of your wife's dead wound. That

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Speaker 1: will bless the whole world, and I will bless you

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Speaker 1: and you will be a blessing. That's the Abrahamic Covenant.

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Speaker 1: Then you've got the Davidic Covenant, which God made with David,

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Speaker 1: the second King israel head. You remember Saul, the one

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Speaker 1: that the people wanted, and then David, and he's like,

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Speaker 1: this is my guy right here, He's after my heart

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Speaker 1: and he said, I'm going to establish a throne from you.

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Speaker 1: Now you forgot about the Mosaic Covenant where God had

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Speaker 1: to bring his people out of Egypt, and then the

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Speaker 1: New Covenant. How many thank God for the blood of

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Speaker 1: Jesus that lets me know that I can't keep the law,

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Speaker 1: and what the law was powerless to do in that

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Speaker 1: it was weakened by my flesh. God did by sending

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Speaker 1: his son Jesus, the son of David, to be a

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Speaker 1: sin offering in my place, and upon Jesus was placed

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Speaker 1: all of my transgression and all of my shame. So

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Speaker 1: whatever shame I carried into church today as a child

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Speaker 1: of the New Covenant, I carried it illegally because Jesus

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Speaker 1: took it. And whatever he took he intends to keep

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Speaker 1: and deal with. So I've got to give it back

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Speaker 1: to him over and over and over. Because God has

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Speaker 1: already made up his mind about me. He already made

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Speaker 1: up his mind about me. He's not looking to see

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Speaker 1: if I get it right or if I get it wrong.

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Speaker 1: He made a purpose for my life, and it will

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Speaker 1: come together. Say it, it will come together. I feel

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Speaker 1: like preaching this like this cod Orange revival. But you

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Speaker 1: won't help me touch three people. Tell them it will

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Speaker 1: come together. It will, it will. I know it's taken

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Speaker 1: a while. I know it's been on layaway and delay,

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Speaker 1: and there's a shipping thing, and I know they can't

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Speaker 1: get it to you like they were supposed to. And

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Speaker 1: I know your three years past the due date of

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Speaker 1: when you expected God to do it. But if Naomi

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Speaker 1: encourages me about one thing, it's that after she lost

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Speaker 1: everything she held, dear God still had something for I'm

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Speaker 1: glad about it. I love that verse that they said

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Speaker 1: in the blessing. They said in verse eleven, Ruth four eleven,

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Speaker 1: this is the one that got me. We are witnesses.

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Speaker 1: May the Lord make the woman who is coming into

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Speaker 1: your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up

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Speaker 1: the family of Israel, that sounds so nice. Rachel and Leah,

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Speaker 1: who together teamwork makes the dream work. They together built

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Speaker 1: up the House of Israel. And I remember they're saying

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Speaker 1: this hundreds of years after it happened. They're saying this

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Speaker 1: after they have the benefit of seeing the blessing fully matured.

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Speaker 1: They are saying this like a parent who is ninety's

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Speaker 1: one years old and all their kids have kids now,

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Speaker 1: and they have lived long enough to know, don't stress

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Speaker 1: about that. It's all right. Please, please don't worry yourself

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Speaker 1: that much about that. It's all right. See, we don't

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Speaker 1: get to live through that lens. We don't get to

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Speaker 1: live through the lens of knowing that Rachel and Leah

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Speaker 1: built up the House of Israel together. We don't get

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Speaker 1: to live through the lens of Naomi knowing I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: hold a baby named Obed in my arms, even though

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna cry for years about my husband, only to

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Speaker 1: lose my sons. Because see, we don't taste life as

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Speaker 1: a meal. We experience the ingredients in isolation. In God's mind,

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Speaker 1: your life is a meal. In God's life, your God's mind,

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Speaker 1: your life is Thanksgiving Day. What the y'all el on Thanksgiving.

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Speaker 1: I might come over put it in the chat. What

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Speaker 1: y'all got at Thanksgiving? Is? What do you like at Thanksgiving?

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Speaker 1: What do you have at Thanksgiving? Mac and cheese? I

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Speaker 1: might come? Can somebody do better than that? Mac and

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Speaker 1: cheese and sweet potatoes? Now? Like sweet potatoes or a

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Speaker 1: sweet potato thing with marshmallows in it? Yeah? Because I

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Speaker 1: really just had the sweet potatoes are the middleman for me.

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Speaker 1: I just want the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes, honestly.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, that's good. That's good. I might come. What else?

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Speaker 1: What do y'all have at Thanksgiving? See? I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I'm making everybody hungry. I'm losing my audience. This is

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Speaker 1: really bad public speaking. What am I doing? You? You

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Speaker 1: gotta understand the moment that Naomi is in her life

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Speaker 1: right now is a blessing. But it's a mixed blessing.

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Speaker 1: It's a mixed blessing. I noticed the room got happy

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Speaker 1: when I said you're stepping into a blessing. It's like, yes,

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Speaker 1: I forgot to tell you it's a mixed blessing. I

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Speaker 1: forgot to tell you it is a mixed blessing. So

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Speaker 1: that means you need to prepare for the blessing as

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Speaker 1: it is actually going to be, or you might miss

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Speaker 1: the blessing because it's going to be mixed when you

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Speaker 1: get it. In fact, Naomi was in so much pain

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Speaker 1: there in Moab where she went to escape from Bethlehem,

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Speaker 1: where there was a famine. It seems like she did

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Speaker 1: all right when she lost her husband, but when she

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Speaker 1: lost her sons two, she said, don't call me Naomi anymore.

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Speaker 1: Call me Mara. Because Naomi has the connotation of pleasant,

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Speaker 1: Mara means bitter. And after what she's been through, can

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Speaker 1: you blame her? When somebody has been through something like this,

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Speaker 1: you don't tell them it'll come together. What will come together?

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Speaker 1: How can you replace those boys? Even if God gave

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Speaker 1: me twenty more, it wouldn't replace them. That's how it

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Speaker 1: is sometimes in your life. Don't try to tell me

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Speaker 1: it's gonna get better. Call me bitter. When that kind

424
00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:28,479
Speaker 1: of bitterness hits your heart, you don't even want to

425
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:35,400
Speaker 1: hear about better from anybody, not from preachers, not from teachers,

426
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:42,400
Speaker 1: not from pinterest. Don't tell me all things work together

427
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:47,360
Speaker 1: for the good of those that love God, because when

428
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 1: you taste the ingredient in isolation. It would be lying

429
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:58,480
Speaker 1: to say that's delicious. It would be lying. I was

430
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,479
Speaker 1: talking to a god in I think I think he

431
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:03,720
Speaker 1: was in London. Yeah, he was in London. He said

432
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,560
Speaker 1: he had to lay off forty of his two hundred employees.

433
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:10,080
Speaker 1: He said, but you know what, it's a good thing.

434
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 1: I said, I understand what you're saying. But for them,

435
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 1: I hope you didn't tell them that. He said, no,

436
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: I'm not telling them that. I'm just telling you that.

437
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,479
Speaker 1: I said, well, make sure you don't tell them you

438
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,160
Speaker 1: feel that way, because they probably don't see it like

439
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 1: that right now from your perspective. He said, you got

440
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 1: a good point. You got a good point, and it

441
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 1: is a good point when you are tasting it. Have

442
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: you ever walked in the kitchen and just use an example,

443
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 1: I'm not a cook. Take a scoop of baking powder

444
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:47,920
Speaker 1: and just down it. Did you ever do it? So?

445
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 1: Baking powder is bad? Anybody want a big heep in

446
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 1: pile a baking powder for lunch today? Raise your hand?

447
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 1: Why are you messing up my illustration? Bro? Now this

448
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 1: is the message. You want the whole message in a moment.

449
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 1: This is a whole message. Is a whole message. This

450
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 1: is why you came from Michigan so God could tell you,

451
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 1: this is why you tuned in online. Just because it

452
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 1: tastes bad in isolation doesn't mean it won't serve a

453
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:38,320
Speaker 1: purpose in the finished product. I'm not saying that the

454
00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:44,280
Speaker 1: Bible said that after Naomi had gone so low that

455
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 1: she said, this doesn't taste good. This doesn't taste good.

456
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: And honestly, I figured out why people in church often

457
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:57,360
Speaker 1: look so sour when they're in church, because what you

458
00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:01,680
Speaker 1: went through this week didn't taste good, and you are

459
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,800
Speaker 1: trying to praise God with a taste in your mouth

460
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:12,040
Speaker 1: of disappointment and fear? Am I preaching? Yet? I mean

461
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: it's hard to say Hallelujah when your mouth taste like hurt.

462
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:27,000
Speaker 1: WHOA call me bitter? You might as well? You might

463
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:35,960
Speaker 1: as well. You might as well and taste good. And

464
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:40,960
Speaker 1: yet what a strange blessing that they gave. Let me

465
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:42,600
Speaker 1: give you a little bit more background so I can

466
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: make sure I'm not confusing. Graham's Graham's my guy. You know.

467
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,440
Speaker 1: He told me the other day he was like, Dad,

468
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 1: sometimes you got to slow down with these scriptures. You've

469
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:54,160
Speaker 1: been looking at them all week and we're just waking up.

470
00:32:54,200 --> 00:33:00,760
Speaker 1: You got to slow down and break it down. So

471
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:03,920
Speaker 1: even though I can't do it justice, the Book of

472
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 1: Ruth is beautiful and you could read it in the

473
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:08,520
Speaker 1: time that you could watch half an episode of Ozark.

474
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:19,040
Speaker 1: And when we moved through it, we see Naomi a

475
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:27,080
Speaker 1: Limelech Killion and Maelon Meylan's Ruth's husband orpa is married

476
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:31,280
Speaker 1: to Killion, And both of those baby names are available,

477
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:32,960
Speaker 1: by the way, if you want to have an original

478
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:38,800
Speaker 1: name for your kid. But when they went to Moab,

479
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,240
Speaker 1: they went to a place that they didn't This is

480
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:46,560
Speaker 1: important planned to go. This message is for somebody who

481
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:51,080
Speaker 1: is in a place you didn't plan to go. And

482
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take it further. Sometimes it's a place you

483
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 1: hate being there because they're from Bethlehem and they're in Moab.

484
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 1: Kind of like when they went to Egypt. I mentioned

485
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: it earlier, when the Israelites went to Egypt. They didn't

486
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,400
Speaker 1: go to Egypt because it was their dream to go

487
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 1: to Egypt. It wasn't on their bucket list to go

488
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: to Egypt. They went to Egypt to survive. And we've

489
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,399
Speaker 1: talked about that a lot because I think a lot

490
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:17,359
Speaker 1: of the sin cycles we get sucked into in our

491
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:21,319
Speaker 1: life are out of survival mechanisms, and if we don't

492
00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 1: deal with it that way, we just put so much

493
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 1: shame on it. We can't help anybody get healed because

494
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,880
Speaker 1: people won't come to Jesus because you don't understand the

495
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 1: power of his covenant with you. You think Jesus is

496
00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:36,040
Speaker 1: like other people and that there come a point where

497
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 1: he'll be ashamed of you, and he'll go, oh, well,

498
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 1: that's too far there. I was going to use you,

499
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 1: But really you did that. You don't understand the power

500
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:49,240
Speaker 1: of a covenant. But Ruth did because when Naomi said,

501
00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:52,600
Speaker 1: leave me, I've lost my husband's I've lost my boys.

502
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,720
Speaker 1: I've heard there's bred in Bethlehem. We've been here ten years.

503
00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 1: Naomi said, I'm not leaving. Make a covenant with you.

504
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:08,600
Speaker 1: Whither thou goest I go. Your God become my god,

505
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 1: and your God will often become the same god as

506
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:18,200
Speaker 1: your friends. If you are around people who worship status

507
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 1: and stuff, it won't be long till you'll shear shackle

508
00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:26,359
Speaker 1: to the same things they are. But now to touch

509
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:27,799
Speaker 1: somebody next to you and say you ought to hang

510
00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:30,840
Speaker 1: out with me a little while. You hang out with me,

511
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,560
Speaker 1: You're gonna have strong faith. You hang out with me.

512
00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:38,400
Speaker 1: Come on, death leopard if you hang out with me.

513
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 1: So they go back together, and Naomi, in this this

514
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:50,640
Speaker 1: honest moment, she says, call me bitter. I still got

515
00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: the taste in my mouth. I'm going back to Bethlehem,

516
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:56,719
Speaker 1: which means house of bread, which makes it that much

517
00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:01,600
Speaker 1: more depressing when there's a famine in Bethlehem, when there's

518
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 1: a famine in the place that is named after bread,

519
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:07,759
Speaker 1: when the joy of the Lord is supposed to be

520
00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:11,759
Speaker 1: your strength, and you are a Christian and you're depressed,

521
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:15,399
Speaker 1: and you are a Christian and you can't sleep, and

522
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:18,799
Speaker 1: you are a Christian and you have addictions, and you

523
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,000
Speaker 1: are a I am a C I am ah, I

524
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:24,240
Speaker 1: am a c h R I S T I aad.

525
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:26,799
Speaker 1: But I got a A D D A d hd

526
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:30,000
Speaker 1: hey d D I C t I. Oh, I'm in

527
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:33,840
Speaker 1: the house of bread, but a hawk grief. Call me Mara,

528
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:47,560
Speaker 1: she said, real said, I was with you when I

529
00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:52,360
Speaker 1: wanted your son. Now you don't have a son to

530
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:57,120
Speaker 1: give me, but I'm still with you. I wonder who

531
00:36:57,120 --> 00:37:00,000
Speaker 1: the Lord is saying that to you. I'm still with you.

532
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:06,799
Speaker 1: I don't sell low and by high. God is not

533
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:12,279
Speaker 1: Warren Buffett. God doesn't trade like that. God said, I'm

534
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: still with you because I made a covenant with you.

535
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:18,520
Speaker 1: It's not the kind of covenant I made with Noah

536
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 1: that was limited. It's not the kind of covenant I

537
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 1: made with Abraham that was limited. It's not the covenant

538
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:26,640
Speaker 1: I made with Moses that was limited. It's not the

539
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:29,759
Speaker 1: covenant I made with David that was limited. This is

540
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,160
Speaker 1: the covenant of my blood, made with the life of

541
00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:44,359
Speaker 1: my son. And I am worth you in your bitterness,

542
00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:53,960
Speaker 1: in your brokenness. God said, I'm with you, but I'm bitter.

543
00:37:55,640 --> 00:38:00,440
Speaker 1: But I'm with you, and I love the Lord because

544
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:07,720
Speaker 1: he wrote the Bible, and he knew that the woman

545
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:11,560
Speaker 1: who said I'm bitter and it's over in chapter one

546
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:16,880
Speaker 1: would be holding a baby in chapter four. So he

547
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:22,239
Speaker 1: gave her someone named Ruth the Moabide. He gave her

548
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:28,560
Speaker 1: a Moabike, not somebody from Bethlehem, somebody from a place

549
00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:36,160
Speaker 1: that she never wanted to be. Remember, it's God's kitchen.

550
00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:44,000
Speaker 1: So if you walk around God's kitchen tasting stuff, I

551
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:56,040
Speaker 1: don't like that. I don't like that you know how

552
00:38:56,080 --> 00:39:04,279
Speaker 1: you are some of y'all our faith footies you walk around. Hmmm, No,

553
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:06,960
Speaker 1: I don't like that. See now, listen, you get to

554
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,080
Speaker 1: tell God certain things that you want him to do. God,

555
00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:12,840
Speaker 1: I want you to grow me, mature me, bless me.

556
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:14,719
Speaker 1: You can say all that to God is good. You

557
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:20,439
Speaker 1: don't get to tell him how to do it. I'll

558
00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:23,400
Speaker 1: go step further. You get to tell God what you want.

559
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,520
Speaker 1: You know. That's the first thing Jesus asked in the

560
00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:28,919
Speaker 1: New Testament. He turned around and people followed me. He said,

561
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:32,319
Speaker 1: what do you want? Let's just get right to it,

562
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 1: cut to the chase, cut through all the niceties. I

563
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: don't need us a little equick. What do you want?

564
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:42,200
Speaker 1: And so we want to see where you're staying. See,

565
00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:47,040
Speaker 1: you got to follow me to know me. And that

566
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:52,799
Speaker 1: means that if you judge stuff while it's happening, you'll

567
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:59,400
Speaker 1: call yourself by what you've been through. Are you with me?

568
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:04,240
Speaker 1: I was in the kitchen the other day and Holly

569
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,440
Speaker 1: was making breakfast, and I was trying to be helpful,

570
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,919
Speaker 1: but I can't cook, but I wanted to help out

571
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:17,319
Speaker 1: and she had just finished the sausage. So I was

572
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:21,799
Speaker 1: taking the pan to pour out the grease from the sausage.

573
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:25,480
Speaker 1: And I can tell who cooks in the room by

574
00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:29,279
Speaker 1: your reaction, because she said two things to me that

575
00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:32,720
Speaker 1: I'm going to preach to you. She said, leave the grease.

576
00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:38,880
Speaker 1: I'm about to use it. That's the first thing she said.

577
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:44,360
Speaker 1: I'm out of the book of Ruth. I'm in. Second, Holly,

578
00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 1: she said, leave the grease. She said, because I'm about

579
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 1: to make your eggs. And when I make your eggs,

580
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,759
Speaker 1: I'm going to take these eggs and I'm gonna all

581
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:07,040
Speaker 1: things work together. Now, the grease on its own is

582
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:10,440
Speaker 1: not something that you want to eat. But if you'll

583
00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:17,160
Speaker 1: let me leave the right amount of grease for this recipe,

584
00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:21,640
Speaker 1: that I know, see, because if I make your eggs

585
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:24,200
Speaker 1: without grease. She looked at me and said. The second thing,

586
00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:27,320
Speaker 1: she said, you need to get out of my kitchen.

587
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:33,480
Speaker 1: And I hear God saying to somebody who's been telling

588
00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 1: him what he can't do, what he shouldn't do. I

589
00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,200
Speaker 1: heard the voice of the Lord. I was praying about it,

590
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:45,400
Speaker 1: and God said, hit your neighbors, say get out of

591
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:50,600
Speaker 1: God's kitchen. Get out of God's kitchen. Get out of

592
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:55,479
Speaker 1: God's kitchen. Stop asking God to bring people back who

593
00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:59,920
Speaker 1: were supposed to go. Get out the kitchen, stop at

594
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:03,040
Speaker 1: to God to take thorns away that he left. So

595
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:09,799
Speaker 1: you've been knowing, get out of the kitchen, Get out

596
00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:14,920
Speaker 1: of my kitchen. Let me mix this, because when I

597
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:19,239
Speaker 1: get done mixing these eggs with this grease, when I

598
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:23,480
Speaker 1: get finished mixing your pain with my charge, when I

599
00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:27,520
Speaker 1: get finished mixing your kit with your offer, get out

600
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:35,640
Speaker 1: of my kitchen. What in my weakness? He is strong.

601
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:42,280
Speaker 1: That's grease. That's grease. That weakness is grease. Stop trying

602
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:47,360
Speaker 1: to get rid of it and let God mix it.

603
00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:58,120
Speaker 1: So I put something in a song two years ago.

604
00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:00,680
Speaker 1: It's gonna come out in the radio a couple of weeks,

605
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:02,919
Speaker 1: and you might hear, well, not some of y'all, because

606
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:05,120
Speaker 1: y'll want to listen to the Christian station. But it's

607
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 1: the rest of the song and it says, if it's

608
00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 1: not good, then he's not done. Let me break it

609
00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:20,440
Speaker 1: all the way down. He hasn't mixed it yet. And

610
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:25,719
Speaker 1: you keep walking over to the grease, going, mmm, God

611
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:36,680
Speaker 1: can't cook judge no thing before the appointed time? Why

612
00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 1: because all things work together? Did he say everything was good?

613
00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:49,520
Speaker 1: Or did he say that when Ruth meets Boass. When

614
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:51,480
Speaker 1: the thing, because this is what had to happen for Ruth,

615
00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:55,440
Speaker 1: she goes back to Bethlehem. She's gleaning in a field.

616
00:43:55,840 --> 00:44:00,640
Speaker 1: A man sees her named Boass. This is not a

617
00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:03,839
Speaker 1: singles conference. Do not get a are you my bow

618
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:08,680
Speaker 1: Ass t shirt made after this message. That's honestly quite

619
00:44:08,719 --> 00:44:13,680
Speaker 1: off putting, it really is. It attracts the crazy guys.

620
00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 1: All right, don't wear that shirt be my bow ass.

621
00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 1: Don't do it. I'm telling you, don't do it. It's

622
00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:25,879
Speaker 1: a bad idea. But he sees her while she's gleaning. Now,

623
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 1: you had to leave a certain portion of your feel

624
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:31,600
Speaker 1: by biblical law for the foreigners and for the orphans,

625
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:37,080
Speaker 1: of which Ruth was both. And because she made a

626
00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:41,759
Speaker 1: commitment to Naomi, she met a man named bos It's

627
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: called a kinsman redeemer, a kinsman redeemer, which ultimately, of

628
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:53,640
Speaker 1: course points to Jesus. But in this situation it is

629
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:57,280
Speaker 1: a real legal obligation because he is a relative of Naomi,

630
00:44:57,920 --> 00:44:59,839
Speaker 1: which makes him here's a word we don't hear much

631
00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:09,000
Speaker 1: today in today's society, responsible responsible to redeem this widow

632
00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:12,200
Speaker 1: named Naomi, who is this relative and along with her

633
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:16,400
Speaker 1: comes Ruth and that is what helped me to understand

634
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:20,080
Speaker 1: why they said, may the Lord make her like Rachel

635
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:23,640
Speaker 1: and Leah, because that goes all the way back to Jacob.

636
00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:29,360
Speaker 1: Remember the covenant God made with Abraham, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David.

637
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:33,719
Speaker 1: You you're in good company and you got a better

638
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:37,360
Speaker 1: covenant because all theirs had conditions to it. All you

639
00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:40,360
Speaker 1: got to do is believe and receive and then obey

640
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 1: to be blessed. But you don't have to obey to

641
00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:50,560
Speaker 1: be his child. Amazing. I mean, you think Boaz is

642
00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:55,480
Speaker 1: something you have any idea what kind of acceptance and

643
00:45:55,560 --> 00:46:01,040
Speaker 1: resource you have in Christ? It is a picture right

644
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:05,239
Speaker 1: why they said they give a blessing and this is

645
00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:08,799
Speaker 1: obviously something that they've said in this situation before. As

646
00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:12,600
Speaker 1: Boaz goes to redeem, take Ruthus his wife, take Naomi

647
00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:15,520
Speaker 1: in to purchase Alimelex's land, to care for the family

648
00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:17,359
Speaker 1: so that his name will not be blotted out. All

649
00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:19,200
Speaker 1: the stuff that I really don't have time to break

650
00:46:19,239 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 1: down for you, but maybe it'll wet your appetite to

651
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:25,520
Speaker 1: read it this week, and that'd be awesome. All that

652
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:29,160
Speaker 1: stuff leads up to this moment where they say, may

653
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:35,000
Speaker 1: the Lord make this woman like Leah and Rachel. Now,

654
00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:42,279
Speaker 1: Leah and Rachel are not not exactly teammates, even though

655
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:47,120
Speaker 1: they're sisters, because right here it makes it sound like

656
00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:50,400
Speaker 1: they just they just agree. Put the verse back up,

657
00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:53,200
Speaker 1: because this was really the verse that drew me to

658
00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:57,520
Speaker 1: the message. Can I go a little bit longer today?

659
00:46:58,239 --> 00:47:01,239
Speaker 1: I really want to, But I promise you I can

660
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:04,200
Speaker 1: dismiss you right now. And we already heard a word

661
00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:06,120
Speaker 1: from God, but I would like to give you this

662
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:12,239
Speaker 1: before we leave. Okay, all right, all right, May the

663
00:47:12,239 --> 00:47:20,400
Speaker 1: Lord make you like Rachel and Leah Ruth. Now the

664
00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:26,320
Speaker 1: reason that was strange to me was one when Jacob

665
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:30,160
Speaker 1: was running talk about mixed blessings. He tricked his father

666
00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:32,040
Speaker 1: into blessing him, but then he had to run from

667
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:34,759
Speaker 1: his brother. Is it really a blessing if you have

668
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:40,399
Speaker 1: to run from it? Talk about mixed blessings. God called

669
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:43,600
Speaker 1: him Israel, which means prince are prevalent with God, but

670
00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:46,480
Speaker 1: his name was Jacob, which meant deceiver. Don't we all

671
00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:48,560
Speaker 1: know what that feels like to wrestle with both sides

672
00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:50,760
Speaker 1: of ourselves? And he came out of the woomb wrestling.

673
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,960
Speaker 1: Then when he gets to his uncle Laban's house. He

674
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:58,840
Speaker 1: wants to marry this daughter named Rachel, and Rachel this

675
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:03,160
Speaker 1: is not in the Hebrew. But she's hot, and then

676
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:11,959
Speaker 1: her sister Leah is not hot. And the Bible says

677
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:14,600
Speaker 1: that Laban tricked Jacob because it all catches up with

678
00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:19,040
Speaker 1: you eventually. The way you get blessed is the way

679
00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:23,360
Speaker 1: you have to stay blessed. So if you get stuff

680
00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:26,520
Speaker 1: by manipulating, don't be surprised when you're stressed out about

681
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:28,919
Speaker 1: keeping it. But if you get it from God, it'll

682
00:48:28,920 --> 00:48:33,120
Speaker 1: be a whole different thing. Yet, yet these are the

683
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 1: two names that were mentioned in the blessing. So what's

684
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:38,080
Speaker 1: what Laban did? He said, Okay, work for me seven years,

685
00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:40,799
Speaker 1: I'll give you Rachel. Jacob worked seven years on his

686
00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:43,920
Speaker 1: wedding night. He wakes up the next morning, and the

687
00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:52,520
Speaker 1: Bible says, something so crazy, there was Leah. Oh Lord,

688
00:48:56,800 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 1: just for a side Bible study, did you ever think

689
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:01,840
Speaker 1: it was Rachel? But it turned out Leah. I'm not

690
00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:07,120
Speaker 1: talking about women, I'm talking about opportunities. Did you ever

691
00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:10,440
Speaker 1: wake up next to Leah went to bed with Rachel?

692
00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:12,799
Speaker 1: You thought that was such a good idea, such a

693
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:16,359
Speaker 1: good investment. We've all had those moments. We have all

694
00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:26,319
Speaker 1: had those moments. Anyway, Laban said, oh no, no, no, no, no,

695
00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:29,560
Speaker 1: no no. The way it works here in our custom,

696
00:49:30,200 --> 00:49:33,759
Speaker 1: if you want Rachel, you've got to first marry her

697
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:37,640
Speaker 1: older sister Leah. So if you give me seven more years,

698
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:41,959
Speaker 1: you can have Rachel, but you still got to keep Leah.

699
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:48,480
Speaker 1: And Jacob is like, oh God, And that's how I

700
00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:53,520
Speaker 1: know that Rachel was indeed attractive, because he did another

701
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:57,520
Speaker 1: seven years for him. So she is not average by

702
00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:05,160
Speaker 1: my reason deductions or whatever like that. But she was beautiful.

703
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:10,200
Speaker 1: But watch this. She was barren. She couldn't have kids.

704
00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:15,040
Speaker 1: Leah on the other hand, Leah the one that the

705
00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:18,880
Speaker 1: Bible said had weak eyes. I don't even know what

706
00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:26,320
Speaker 1: that means, y'all, but that doesn't sound good. The picture

707
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:30,799
Speaker 1: that comes in my mind is not attractive. And but

708
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:34,480
Speaker 1: she she wasn't attractive. Watch this, but she was productive.

709
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:43,600
Speaker 1: She started having babies so quick. Boom Reuben boom, Simeon boom,

710
00:50:43,680 --> 00:50:49,200
Speaker 1: Levi boom. Judah is four to nothing. Rachel is not

711
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:55,960
Speaker 1: even on the board. And Rachel's like, I gotta do

712
00:50:56,040 --> 00:50:59,240
Speaker 1: something about this. I heard what my grandma did Jacob,

713
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:01,640
Speaker 1: you need to sleep with my maid servant, bill Ha.

714
00:51:02,080 --> 00:51:05,520
Speaker 1: So she gives bill Haw to Jacob to seem jacob'slake. Okay,

715
00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:09,400
Speaker 1: and so they got two more babies by the servant.

716
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:11,799
Speaker 1: Now Leah, all of a sudden hits a period she

717
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:14,799
Speaker 1: can't produce. Here's her servant, Zilpah. Now we're up to

718
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:17,840
Speaker 1: eight kids. Here comes a daughter, here comes it's a car,

719
00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:21,880
Speaker 1: baby after baby after baby. And finally Rachel has Joseph.

720
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:25,680
Speaker 1: And while she's dying, she has Benjamin. Why Stephen Ferdick,

721
00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:28,680
Speaker 1: did you slow down to tell us all of that?

722
00:51:30,680 --> 00:51:36,920
Speaker 1: Because it helped me to understand that number one, Every

723
00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:44,680
Speaker 1: Rachel comes with a Leah. Take it out of the

724
00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:48,000
Speaker 1: realm of people for a moment. Rachel was what Jacob

725
00:51:48,080 --> 00:51:53,520
Speaker 1: loved and what he wanted. What do you want? What

726
00:51:53,640 --> 00:51:58,360
Speaker 1: do you love? Everything you love is going to come

727
00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:03,319
Speaker 1: with something that you don't let that sink in You

728
00:52:03,360 --> 00:52:10,600
Speaker 1: got it everything you love? God? I want success cool.

729
00:52:11,400 --> 00:52:20,640
Speaker 1: It comes with stress, sleeplessness, and sacrifice. And just the

730
00:52:20,719 --> 00:52:26,360
Speaker 1: other day my family rekindled the campaign for a dog.

731
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:29,400
Speaker 1: I thought we were through it. I thought I stood

732
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:35,800
Speaker 1: my ground. Y'all think I'm lying The pressure they're putting

733
00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:38,879
Speaker 1: on me about this dog. It's been years. How many

734
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:41,480
Speaker 1: of y'all have been in elevation long enough you've watched

735
00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:44,399
Speaker 1: this whole thing go down. Graham made the song about Look,

736
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:47,399
Speaker 1: I brought something on my garage on my way out

737
00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:49,120
Speaker 1: of the garage. I don't even know why I left

738
00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:53,200
Speaker 1: this up. Graham made this sign years ago. So every

739
00:52:53,239 --> 00:52:55,840
Speaker 1: time I leave my garage, I gotta look at this

740
00:52:56,000 --> 00:53:06,680
Speaker 1: sign that says I want I've been looking at that

741
00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:11,240
Speaker 1: on my door for years now and standing strong too.

742
00:53:12,360 --> 00:53:14,959
Speaker 1: I't even remember this. At the same time, Abby made

743
00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:20,919
Speaker 1: one too. You can't really see it. That didn't even

744
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:25,279
Speaker 1: spelled ride in his heartbreaking I wish you could see it.

745
00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:29,160
Speaker 1: Can y'all make it where you see it? No? Huh?

746
00:53:29,280 --> 00:53:33,280
Speaker 1: It says I w a g O D d og,

747
00:53:33,920 --> 00:53:36,240
Speaker 1: she wants God, she wants a dog, she wants everything.

748
00:53:36,440 --> 00:53:40,239
Speaker 1: And what happened? What happened? I watched this. I promise you.

749
00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:43,080
Speaker 1: I've got a point to this because they caught me

750
00:53:43,680 --> 00:53:47,680
Speaker 1: the other night. Elijah was out and I was all alone,

751
00:53:47,840 --> 00:53:51,239
Speaker 1: and it was three on one, and they took the opportunity.

752
00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:55,960
Speaker 1: Graham said, I'm a good kid, I'm a good kid.

753
00:53:56,800 --> 00:54:00,399
Speaker 1: I've never wanted anything but a dog to get here.

754
00:54:00,560 --> 00:54:10,240
Speaker 1: And if I died, If I died, you would spend

755
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:13,759
Speaker 1: the rest of your life thinking why did not get

756
00:54:13,760 --> 00:54:21,520
Speaker 1: the boy a doll? I said, I know you want

757
00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:31,520
Speaker 1: to talk. You don't want what comes with it. Abby said,

758
00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:40,440
Speaker 1: but Dad, but Dad, but Dad, and you love us,

759
00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:46,920
Speaker 1: You love us. I know you give it to us

760
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:51,319
Speaker 1: because you love us. You give us everything that we want.

761
00:54:54,880 --> 00:54:58,040
Speaker 1: I looked at Holly. I looked at Holly. I look

762
00:54:58,080 --> 00:55:00,120
Speaker 1: gave her a look too, I'll give didn't I? I

763
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:01,759
Speaker 1: gave her a look. She said, what is that look?

764
00:55:02,040 --> 00:55:04,960
Speaker 1: I said, this is the look of me imagining the

765
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:11,560
Speaker 1: reality because they don't. Graham said, it's different. I said,

766
00:55:11,600 --> 00:55:14,160
Speaker 1: you can't even clean your room, Graham, he said, he said,

767
00:55:14,320 --> 00:55:19,799
Speaker 1: that's different. My socks are not living things, which if

768
00:55:19,800 --> 00:55:23,960
Speaker 1: you check them fu fungal composition on those socks, you

769
00:55:24,040 --> 00:55:29,960
Speaker 1: might be wrong about that. But he said, he said

770
00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:33,480
Speaker 1: that the dog is a living thing, and there's no

771
00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:35,160
Speaker 1: way I would let a living thing suffer. You know,

772
00:55:35,160 --> 00:55:36,719
Speaker 1: I'll take care of a living thing. Dad. I'm a

773
00:55:36,719 --> 00:55:41,360
Speaker 1: good kid. And I said, but what about what comes

774
00:55:41,400 --> 00:55:44,240
Speaker 1: out of the living thing? But this is the point,

775
00:55:45,440 --> 00:55:50,279
Speaker 1: do you want what comes with it? Yeah? No, what

776
00:55:50,360 --> 00:55:53,400
Speaker 1: comes with it? And this is a good question to ask.

777
00:55:54,360 --> 00:55:58,760
Speaker 1: If you knew Leah came with it, would you still

778
00:55:58,800 --> 00:56:07,760
Speaker 1: want Rachel? If you knew that the bitterness came with Naomi?

779
00:56:09,120 --> 00:56:10,600
Speaker 1: Would you still want to be a part of a

780
00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:15,040
Speaker 1: Limelex family? Would you still want it if you knew

781
00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:23,239
Speaker 1: what came with it? So guess what. Nobody knows this,

782
00:56:24,719 --> 00:56:31,160
Speaker 1: But I'm getting your dog. I'm gonna do it. I'm

783
00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:39,759
Speaker 1: gonna do it. I know you're suspicious. Hey, hey, hey, hey,

784
00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:44,160
Speaker 1: this is not a trick. This is not a game.

785
00:56:44,160 --> 00:56:46,600
Speaker 1: Because they've been here many times before. I say I'm

786
00:56:46,600 --> 00:56:48,759
Speaker 1: gonna get your dog, and they'll say really, and I'll say, yeah,

787
00:56:48,760 --> 00:56:54,040
Speaker 1: you're a mustard relish. Catch up. I got jokes. I'm

788
00:56:54,040 --> 00:56:56,840
Speaker 1: gonna get the dog because of something that he said

789
00:56:57,640 --> 00:57:01,759
Speaker 1: that changed how I felt. He said, all right, I'm

790
00:57:01,800 --> 00:57:11,840
Speaker 1: willing to say it'll be my job. So now you

791
00:57:11,920 --> 00:57:16,320
Speaker 1: get a dog. You get a dog, and you get

792
00:57:16,360 --> 00:57:20,520
Speaker 1: a dog, but it's not my dog, and it's not

793
00:57:20,840 --> 00:57:28,560
Speaker 1: your dog. It's their dogs. Their stuff is your everybody.

794
00:57:28,560 --> 00:57:31,040
Speaker 1: Stretch your hand towards my family and say it's y'all's

795
00:57:31,040 --> 00:57:34,439
Speaker 1: dog toward these three right here, shad wrack me shaq,

796
00:57:34,640 --> 00:57:43,840
Speaker 1: I bet a go. It's yall's dog. Sit out. But

797
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:48,040
Speaker 1: now we're gonna find out, Saints of God, do they

798
00:57:48,160 --> 00:57:51,560
Speaker 1: want what comes with it? Because I will give it

799
00:57:51,600 --> 00:57:54,200
Speaker 1: away a week from when we get it. If they doll,

800
00:57:54,560 --> 00:58:01,520
Speaker 1: I'm not cleaning up nothing, because we are about to

801
00:58:01,720 --> 00:58:06,400
Speaker 1: find out. Remember, Boas redeemed this family after another close

802
00:58:06,480 --> 00:58:10,040
Speaker 1: relative had the opportunity to but the other relative didn't

803
00:58:10,040 --> 00:58:14,880
Speaker 1: want it because it came with a mob bite. Boas said,

804
00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:18,160
Speaker 1: not only do I want the land, I'll take what

805
00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:21,480
Speaker 1: comes with it. And I got to show you this.

806
00:58:21,480 --> 00:58:24,720
Speaker 1: It's beautiful that while Leah and Rachel were having all

807
00:58:24,760 --> 00:58:29,560
Speaker 1: those babies really to compete with each other, really to

808
00:58:29,560 --> 00:58:33,320
Speaker 1: compete with each other. From their perspective, they were trying

809
00:58:33,320 --> 00:58:36,920
Speaker 1: to get Jacob to love them. But from God's perspective,

810
00:58:36,960 --> 00:58:43,280
Speaker 1: it was all coming together to make a nation. So

811
00:58:43,320 --> 00:58:47,280
Speaker 1: I need you to know, the dog comes with walking,

812
00:58:52,400 --> 00:59:00,360
Speaker 1: the patience comes with pain. It will come together. It'll

813
00:59:00,400 --> 00:59:06,440
Speaker 1: be a mixed blessing. It'll be Leah and Rachel, it

814
00:59:06,480 --> 00:59:10,919
Speaker 1: will be Naomi and Boas, it will be both. Because

815
00:59:10,920 --> 00:59:13,680
Speaker 1: I'm telling you this in case you are holding a

816
00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:18,520
Speaker 1: blessing but you don't recognize it. That baby's name was Obed.

817
00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:24,000
Speaker 1: His son's name was Jesse. His son's name was David.

818
00:59:25,400 --> 00:59:27,840
Speaker 1: David was the king through which came forth to somebody

819
00:59:28,200 --> 00:59:33,840
Speaker 1: that we're awfully fond of, name Jesus. But if you

820
00:59:33,880 --> 00:59:37,200
Speaker 1: go all the way back, it came from ten generations,

821
00:59:37,240 --> 00:59:40,320
Speaker 1: after ten years in Moab, from a man named Perez,

822
00:59:41,280 --> 00:59:45,200
Speaker 1: who came from a man named Judah, and who was

823
00:59:45,240 --> 00:59:53,720
Speaker 1: the mom of Judah. Leah, Leah, the one Jacob didn't

824
00:59:54,360 --> 01:00:07,880
Speaker 1: even what. You have no idea what you're holding. And

825
01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:10,320
Speaker 1: if you taste it in isolation, it might just be pain.

826
01:00:12,240 --> 01:00:14,640
Speaker 1: If you taste it in isolation, it might just be failure.

827
01:00:16,320 --> 01:00:20,400
Speaker 1: But let God mix it. Let God mix it. You

828
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:25,000
Speaker 1: don't know who you're gonna meet next year. You don't

829
01:00:25,000 --> 01:00:27,520
Speaker 1: know what you're gonna learn. You don't know what God

830
01:00:27,600 --> 01:00:30,000
Speaker 1: might be protecting you from by getting you out of there.

831
01:00:33,080 --> 01:00:38,680
Speaker 1: Get out of the kitchen. You're a terrible cook. Get

832
01:00:38,680 --> 01:00:41,520
Speaker 1: out of the kitchen. That grease is there for a reason.

833
01:00:42,520 --> 01:00:45,840
Speaker 1: Get out of the kitchen. Leah is the one who

834
01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:51,360
Speaker 1: gave Jacob the baby that produced the king, that produced

835
01:00:51,400 --> 01:01:03,520
Speaker 1: your savior. So I want you to say this in

836
01:01:03,560 --> 01:01:08,880
Speaker 1: your heart. God. I mean I meant, I meant say

837
01:01:08,880 --> 01:01:11,280
Speaker 1: it out loud. I said it the opposite way. Say

838
01:01:11,320 --> 01:01:18,680
Speaker 1: this out loud. God. I want your will and I

839
01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:32,120
Speaker 1: want what comes with it, Because I'm gonna tell you

840
01:01:32,160 --> 01:01:34,160
Speaker 1: what comes with it. If you go through a trial,

841
01:01:34,280 --> 01:01:37,880
Speaker 1: you'll get grace with it. God will give you the

842
01:01:38,000 --> 01:01:40,080
Speaker 1: grace to stand up under. How many of you went

843
01:01:40,120 --> 01:01:43,280
Speaker 1: through something so dark you couldn't even explain how you

844
01:01:43,320 --> 01:01:46,880
Speaker 1: got through. But there was a grace. There was a grace,

845
01:01:47,040 --> 01:01:49,560
Speaker 1: wasn't there? And somebody would have told you could live

846
01:01:49,560 --> 01:01:51,760
Speaker 1: through that. You said, call me bitter, I can't make it.

847
01:01:51,560 --> 01:01:53,320
Speaker 1: It's over. You would have said that, But watch this.

848
01:01:54,600 --> 01:01:57,440
Speaker 1: When she was holding the baby, it wasn't Marra holding

849
01:01:57,480 --> 01:02:02,200
Speaker 1: the baby. That's the name she gave her, It said Naomi.

850
01:02:02,760 --> 01:02:10,920
Speaker 1: God still knew her, Nay. As we close today, I

851
01:02:10,960 --> 01:02:13,600
Speaker 1: want you to stand on every auditorium and in every

852
01:02:13,600 --> 01:02:17,280
Speaker 1: living room, if you're in a hospital room with somebody,

853
01:02:17,280 --> 01:02:20,200
Speaker 1: and you're standing next to somebody whose life has become

854
01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:23,280
Speaker 1: very bitter, if you're standing in need right now of

855
01:02:23,360 --> 01:02:25,400
Speaker 1: something that only God can give, or you're in a

856
01:02:25,440 --> 01:02:28,440
Speaker 1: desperate place called Moab, where you never thought that you

857
01:02:28,480 --> 01:02:32,040
Speaker 1: would be. This prayer is for you to just lift

858
01:02:32,080 --> 01:02:36,120
Speaker 1: your hands like this to God. Just like this to God.

859
01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:40,120
Speaker 1: Just like this to God, Just like this to God.

860
01:02:40,920 --> 01:02:46,200
Speaker 1: Naomi said, I went out full and I went down

861
01:02:46,240 --> 01:02:49,680
Speaker 1: the Moab and I went because I had to go,

862
01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:55,560
Speaker 1: and I lost when I can't replace. So I went

863
01:02:56,280 --> 01:03:03,600
Speaker 1: out full and I came back empty. And that would

864
01:03:03,600 --> 01:03:08,000
Speaker 1: be a summary of how some of us feel today. God,

865
01:03:09,960 --> 01:03:11,800
Speaker 1: But we want to see that reversed in our life,

866
01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:16,480
Speaker 1: that we would say I came in empty, but I'm

867
01:03:16,520 --> 01:03:22,320
Speaker 1: going out full believing that while Rachel and Leah were

868
01:03:22,320 --> 01:03:27,000
Speaker 1: fighting themselves, disliking themselves and proving things to one another,

869
01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:30,880
Speaker 1: that you were building a nation. Now, if that was

870
01:03:30,960 --> 01:03:34,280
Speaker 1: true for their blessing, if that was true for Ruth

871
01:03:34,280 --> 01:03:41,840
Speaker 1: and Naomi, maybe it's true for me too. For every

872
01:03:41,880 --> 01:03:49,480
Speaker 1: blessing there's a burden. It'll come together, but our focus

873
01:03:49,520 --> 01:03:53,720
Speaker 1: has chosen. So right now, Jesus in your name, I'm

874
01:03:53,760 --> 01:03:57,200
Speaker 1: asking you that you would put a baby in Naomi's

875
01:03:57,280 --> 01:04:01,480
Speaker 1: arms today, take the bitterness or the pain away, but

876
01:04:01,560 --> 01:04:09,880
Speaker 1: it'll give us something to look forward to. I'm sorry, y'all,

877
01:04:09,880 --> 01:04:12,160
Speaker 1: but I gotta obey the Lord. He said, you're holding

878
01:04:12,200 --> 01:04:16,480
Speaker 1: O bed O bed never would have been here without Moab.

879
01:04:18,520 --> 01:04:22,880
Speaker 1: Thank you what you're holding, what you're walking in, It

880
01:04:22,960 --> 01:04:32,720
Speaker 1: will come saying together, it will come together, Say that

881
01:04:32,960 --> 01:04:38,080
Speaker 1: it will come together. You gotta trust God in this part.

882
01:04:39,040 --> 01:04:41,680
Speaker 1: You gotta trust God in this moment, knowing it will

883
01:04:42,160 --> 01:04:49,800
Speaker 1: come together. Almighty God, Jehovah, Shah Loong, Prince of Peace,

884
01:04:51,880 --> 01:04:57,240
Speaker 1: Jehovah Rathha, our healer, Jehovah. And see our banner and victory,

885
01:04:58,920 --> 01:05:03,760
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, change

886
01:05:03,800 --> 01:05:10,840
Speaker 1: our name today. We came in holding bitterness, but we

887
01:05:10,920 --> 01:05:15,280
Speaker 1: believe that the baby held in Naomi's arms is representative

888
01:05:15,320 --> 01:05:17,120
Speaker 1: of the purpose that we are holding. And God, if

889
01:05:17,160 --> 01:05:22,000
Speaker 1: I preached it for one person today, then that's cool

890
01:05:22,040 --> 01:05:26,720
Speaker 1: with me, because if they get this, great things are

891
01:05:26,760 --> 01:05:29,360
Speaker 1: coming forth from their life that eyes have not seen

892
01:05:29,520 --> 01:05:32,400
Speaker 1: and ears have not heard, and it hasn't even entered

893
01:05:32,400 --> 01:05:34,480
Speaker 1: into their heart. But you know it and you spoke it,

894
01:05:35,080 --> 01:05:38,360
Speaker 1: and you can do it. It'll come together. If you

895
01:05:38,360 --> 01:05:41,880
Speaker 1: don't give up, it'll come together. If you don't mess

896
01:05:41,920 --> 01:05:47,320
Speaker 1: it up and manipulate it, it it will come together. I

897
01:05:47,360 --> 01:05:50,360
Speaker 1: speak the blessing of the Almighty over you today. May

898
01:05:50,440 --> 01:05:54,920
Speaker 1: the Lord make you like Rachel and Leah who together

899
01:05:55,000 --> 01:06:02,800
Speaker 1: built the house. All things work together. How many of

900
01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:13,080
Speaker 1: you love the Lord? How many of you are called

901
01:06:13,720 --> 01:06:17,240
Speaker 1: according to His purpose? Just if that's you, I'm called

902
01:06:17,280 --> 01:06:21,520
Speaker 1: according I'm not called according to my experience. I'm called

903
01:06:21,560 --> 01:06:25,440
Speaker 1: according to his purpose. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast,

904
01:06:25,560 --> 01:06:27,280
Speaker 1: there are a couple of things I'd love for you

905
01:06:27,360 --> 01:06:31,680
Speaker 1: to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast.

906
01:06:32,040 --> 01:06:34,400
Speaker 1: You can also help us reach others by investing today

907
01:06:34,400 --> 01:06:38,080
Speaker 1: at Elevation Church dot org, slash give and thanks again

908
01:06:38,080 --> 01:06:40,240
Speaker 1: for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.