WEBVTT - Blown Away! 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:07.320 Hey, did you hear the news. Elevation Nights Spring twenty 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:13.400 twenty two tour April twenty sixth through May fifth. Oh 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:17.840 you gotta come. I mean, you really gotta come. I'm 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:22.880 going to be preaching, Holly's going to be sharing elevation worship. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:28.640 Your favorite songs, old songs, new songs, kind of old 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:33.239 new ish songs. I want to see you if you 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:37.400 are anywhere near these cities, I want to see you. 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:42.519 No excuses, no delay. Get your ticket right now. Let 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:44.320 me know in the comments what night I'm going to 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.360 see you, and what's your name? So I can try 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:51.120 to shout you out, but I'll probably forget. But this 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:57.400 is going to be amazing, the best night of our year. 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:02.400 Go to Elevation Nights dot com right now, get your ticket, 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.240 leave a comment. Let's go to the Word of God. 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.720 I'm excited. I'm excited. Tell somebody it's not a sin 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:16.240 to have a good time in church. You don't have 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.720 to just endure it. God gave it to us to 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:24.480 enjoy it, and I intend to do that. I intend 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.479 to do it, and I'm gonna have a good time. 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.319 If I got to do it every seven days, I'm 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:34.200 gonna have a good time. And the truth of the 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.560 matter is, I believe you are too. I believe I 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:40.760 don't know what you're expecting today. I think God is 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:45.399 gonna beat it. And I know that's bold. I'm not 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:50.040 talking about me. I'm saying what he said for me 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.360 to tell you. It's just so meaningful. And I want 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:55.960 you to find that little book called Ruth in your 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:02.720 Bible one more time, this accidental sermon series from the 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.520 Book of Ruth. The Lord tricked me into preaching a 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.000 sermon series on Ruth. I mean, I used to plan 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.760 my series in advance, and now I call them series 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:18.520 in reverse. So but I know this will at least 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:20.480 be the end of the series for now, because we've 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.840 got Easter on Sunday, and I'm sure I could preach 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.760 Ruth for Easter, but the Lord gave me another message 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.240 for Easter, and then we'll see. I don't know, but 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.840 one thing I know about God. He's taking us from 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:39.920 glory to glory, I mean, from good to better, and 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:45.919 the best is yet ahead in your life. Amen, Amen, 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:51.040 get your expectation up, all right, get your expectation. Oh 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.680 you know, I say, don't get your hopes up? Do it? 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:57.880 Get them up, get them up, get them as high. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.520 Lift your hands right now and say, Lord, reaching for 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.440 you today. I want to experience you today. Amen. That's 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.200 the spirit of faith God wants. Okay, y'all be mad 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:11.360 if I read twenty verses, do your feet hurt? Because 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:15.639 you've been running through my mind all day? Ruth, Chapter two, 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.200 verse one. Now, they only had a relative on her 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.960 husband's side, a man of standing from the clan of Alimelech, 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:27.480 whose name was all the single people shout bow ass, 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:35.080 shout to the Lord, bring me my bow ass. Uh huh. 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.640 But we've been learning about this, okay, because she did not. Ruth, 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.120 who the book is named after, she does not go 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.280 into the field looking for bow ass. She's just looking 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:47.240 for barley right food, just doing what she has to 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.880 do to survive. She's not even on a dating app, 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.360 and she really the story is not about marriage at all. 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.440 It's not so much a romantic story. It's a redemption story. 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.000 And the theme of it. What is so refreshing to 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:04.160 me about Ruth? I don't know for you. Her sense 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:08.040 of responsibility is refreshing for me because I live in 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:13.480 a time of such entitlement, so to watch her stay 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.080 with her mother in law, although she had the option 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:20.239 to go back to her people and to choose something 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.280 new that God was leading her into. Really just blows 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.000 my mind because I look around and I see so 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:32.039 many people who are celebrated only when they step out 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:37.440 in faith. Ruth impressed me because she stayed in a 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:42.080 situation that was hard. And I think every year you live, 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:46.440 what impresses you is a little different. What impresses you 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.719 is a little different. And I've gone, you know, e'ven 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.760 pastoring a church from being impressed when somebody can sing, well, 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.560 well that's cool, and it can be a blessing, and 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:58.400 I want the people that sing here to be able 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.760 to do it skillful. But that in many ways is 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.479 a gift from God. Now what you do with that 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:09.680 gift is your active worship. And so I'm I'm equally, 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.039 if not more impressed by somebody who takes two talents 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:15.760 and turns it into four as somebody who takes five 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:19.080 and turns it into ten. It's just amazing, as you 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.400 how many how many know that's true that sometimes the 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:26.800 most impressive people that that you you don't you don't 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:31.039 even notice them at first. Yeah, So that's who Ruth 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.440 is in this passage and verse two. I will not 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.080 stop after every single one and talk that much. I'll 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:41.320 promise you, and Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.120 me go to the fields and pick up the leftover 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.880 grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor. I 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.240 just want to pick up grain behind anyone in whose 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.600 eyes I find favor. And one note I wrote was, 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.840 don't be too picky about who God can bless you through. 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.680 Don't be too picky about who God can bless you through. 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.240 All right, that's good because we get to a picky 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:10.039 we forget. God is our provider, whoever he chooses to 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.719 use in whatever season. That's good with me. Right. I 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:17.520 don't care if the door dasher has blonde hair and 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.920 blue eyes. I just want to know did you get 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.760 in the bag what I'm supposed to have to eat? 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.680 And some of us want to treat God's will like 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.800 a la cart, like I want this and I want that, 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.040 but not that. But I know this comes with that, 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.320 but I don't want that. God, can you customize my 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:43.719 calling to be meaningful and convenient? Verse to be Naomi 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.920 said to her, go ahead, my daughter, So she went out, 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.480 entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.960 As it turned out, she was working in a field 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.560 belonging to Boaz. The narrator is winking at us. As 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:01.680 it turned out, just so happened that the field belonged 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:05.560 to Boas, who was from the clan of Alimelech. Just then, 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:12.000 wink wwin. Boas arrived coincidental from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.200 The Lord be with you, The Lord bless you, they answered. 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.360 Boas asked the overseer of his harvesters, who is that? 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:22.280 Who does that young woman belong to? And the overseer replied, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.680 She's the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.480 She said, please let me glean and gather among the 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.960 sheaves behind the harvesters. She came into the field and 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.320 has remained here from morning till now, except for a 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.240 short rest in the shelter. So Boas said to Ruth, 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.440 my daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:44.560 another field. Imagine how shocked Ruth was when the man 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.480 who owned the field spoke to her. She must have 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.040 been absolutely she must have been scared. That is something wrong. 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.280 Are you about to kick me out? Please? I promise, 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.480 I promise, I won't take too much grain. Just let 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.320 me glean behind the harvesters. But he called her daughter. 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.640 Doesn't even know her name, but he speaks to her 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:07.760 with affection. Must have shocked her, must have blown her mind. 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:11.880 Stay with the women who work for me. Watch the 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.920 field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.600 the women. I have told the men not to lay 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.160 a hand on you, And whenever you are thirsty, go 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.320 get a drink from the water jars the men have filled. 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.400 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground, 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:31.480 and she asked him, why have I found such favor 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:36.040 in your eyes that you notice me a foreigner? And 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.640 Boaz replied, I've been told all about what you have 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.560 done for your mother in law since the death of 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.360 your husband, how you left your father and mother and 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:49.120 your homeland and came to live with the people you 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:53.679 did not know before. May the Lord repay you. May 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.560 the Lord repay you for what you have done. I 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:00.440 hear the spirit saying to somebody has payback time. You 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.040 thought nobody saw the sacrifices you made. You thought nobody 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:07.600 saw the treasure that you invested into the Kingdom of God. 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.120 You thought nobody heard your cry, but God saved your 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:17.520 tears in a jar and his payback time. Wow. May 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:21.160 you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.560 under whose wings you have come to take refuge. May 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.120 I continue to find favor in your eyes, my Lord, 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.600 She said, you have put me at ease by speaking 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.960 kindly to your servant, though I do not have the 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.800 standing of one of your servants. She can't believe it. 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.599 At meal time, now it gets crazier. It gets crazier 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.240 at meal time. Boas said to her, Come over here, 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.920 have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar. 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.720 I mean, she's just coming to survive, and now she's 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.160 invited to lunch and watch what happens next. When she 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.760 sat down with the harvesters, Huh, she's sitting down with 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:08.199 the same harvesters that she needed permission to even stand 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.320 behind just a few hours ago. God can do amazing 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:16.280 things quickly in your life. Quickly in your life, suddenly 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:21.160 in your life. He offered her some roasted grain. You 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.120 don't even have to cook it, girl, I'll roast it 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.560 for you and dip it in this vinegar. She ate 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.920 all she wanted and had some left over. Wow, she 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.360 got up to glean. Bow As gave orders to his men. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.000 Let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimand her. 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:40.040 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.040 and leave them for her to pick up, and don't 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:49.080 review her. Spill some extra for her. So Rude gleaned 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.360 in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.679 she had gathered, and it amounted to about an epha. 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.360 She carried it back to town and her mother in 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:04.560 law saw how much she had gathered. Oh my god. 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.200 Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:12.080 left over. After she had eaten it up. Her mother 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:16.480 in law asked her, where did you glean today? Where 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:20.160 did you work? This is ridiculous, blessed me the man 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.200 who took notice of you. Then Ruth told her mother 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.400 in law about the one at whose place she had 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:28.760 been working, and she keeps her in suspense. The name 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:36.120 of the man I worked with today is Boass, she 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.320 said verse twenty, and I'll quit. The Lord bless him, 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.560 Naomi said to her daughter in law, he has not stopped. 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:48.440 I can't believe he's still showing his kindness to the 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:52.280 living and the dead. And she added, what you didn't know, Ruth, 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:57.760 that man is our close relative. He is one of 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:02.080 our guardian redeemer. Here's what the Lord told me to 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.120 preach to you today. He told me to preach to 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:12.000 you and call the message blown away, Oh, blown away, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:18.640 blown away, blown away. Do it God in Jesus name, Amen, 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:31.959 blown away, blown away. You know what the hardest thing 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:34.720 for us reading the Book of Ruth is we read 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:41.679 it wrong. Not only do we not understand the context 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:46.720 of this little book wedged between the Book of Judges 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:50.240 in the Book of First Samuel, which only serves in 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:54.760 the broader schemata of scripture as a bridge between the 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.280 time of the Judges and the time of the kings, 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.320 as an apologetic almost to let the nation of Israel 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:04.160 know that David has the right to the throne, because see, 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:08.680 Ruth would be the great great, great great grandmother of 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:13.200 King David. But I want to step out on a 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:18.640 limb theologically and speculate for a moment. I know it's dangerous, 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:20.880 and they might clip this and put it on a 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:23.320 social media blog or something. But I'm gonna speculate for 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:28.920 a moment, just a speculation that I don't think Ruth 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:37.360 read Ruth chapter two, Verse twenty. It's just a speculation. 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:44.080 I don't think Ruth knew. You know, Hey, Ruth, it's 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.520 going to be all right. I know you're hungry, I 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.000 know your heart broken because you lost your husband. But 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:56.760 just turn to the Book of You chapter four. She 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:01.280 would be shocked most of all to know that there 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.400 would be a Bible book bearing her name, because she's 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:10.680 a Mobite Yahweh wasn't even her God when her story started. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:17.120 Her background and ancestry suggested nothing that she would be 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:20.400 a part of the lineage of our Savior Jesus Christ. 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.280 So we read the Book of Ruth through the lens 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:30.840 of our knowledge, But she had to live the Book 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:36.440 of Ruth through the pain of her present situation. And 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:38.800 the challenge is that I have to live my own 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:44.480 scriptures out not knowing what's in Ruth chapter Like you 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:48.640 never read the Book of You chapter two. So when 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.960 her husband Maelon dies in chapter one, she doesn't even 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.520 know there is a chapter two. Now, if she knew 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:58.640 about chapter two, perhaps chapter one wouldn't have hurt so much. 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:00.920 But you don't get to read the Book of You 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:05.040 chapter two. You don't get to know that it won't 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.960 hurt like this forever. You don't get to read the 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:12.280 part of the scripture where you flip to the back 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.360 of the thing and Joseph all the way in Genesis 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:20.080 fifty says you meant it for evil, but God meant 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:25.000 it for good. We get to shout over now what 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.400 he had to doubt about then? Did he really know 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:32.920 it would turn out this way? And so invariably when 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.640 Holly and I speak to people about dating or marriage, 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.280 which I don't do it too much. The reason for 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.920 it is I feel like most of what I did 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:46.840 right in marriage was in the selection process. I'm like, 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:52.040 just pray, pray that. I mean, because if you were 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.760 married to Holly, you probably do pretty good too. She 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.480 is not hard to be married too. And I mean that, Okay, 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.480 you're like, ah, you're just sucking up so she can 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.120 kiss you day after lunch and all that, and you 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:04.400 just want to look good. No, I'm serious about it. 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.120 That's really how I feel about it. But I think 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:15.200 she kind of feels that way about me too. Did 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.560 you say that for the cameras. We were talking the 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:19.920 other day, I said, I know it's hard. I know 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.080 it's hard to have me for a husband. Sometimes I 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.640 know it's hard, and not because I'm abusive or mean 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.520 or don't love you or anything like that, but I mean, like, 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:29.160 there's so much you didn't know about me when you 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.000 said you marry me. And she says this thing a 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.640 lot of times. She said, I love everything that there 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.880 is to know about you. That makes me feel good. 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.480 So I always teach. And I know it's an unusual 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:47.160 scripture to teach about dating. From Matthew thirteen forty four, 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:50.200 to bring a New Testament verse right alongside this Old 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.840 Testament story about Ruth and your current situation. In Matthew 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:58.120 thirteen forty four, it says, the Kingdom of Heaven is 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:03.680 like treasure in a field. When a man found it, 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:07.360 he hit it again, and then in his joy when 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:12.560 sold all he had and bought that treasure. No, he 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:17.840 bought the field that the treasure was in. Jesus said, 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.399 the kingdom is like that. And I would say that 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:24.080 being married is like that. You don't just buy the 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.399 shiny stuff. You don't oh oh oh oh oh oh 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:32.840 oh oh no no, you buy the whole patch a field. 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:39.040 I'm not marrying their family. I'm marrying them. But on Christmas, 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:50.119 guess who you get to kick it with every Christmas? Yeah, 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.399 they'll ask, colleague, how did you know that, Pastor STEVEM 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.159 I remember when I'm an internet teaching this, How did 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:59.760 you know that he was the one? And I was 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.639 hereated that day about something, so I said, she didn't 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:11.960 She didn't know. She hoped in the moment of candor. 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.400 Probably the interns couldn't handle that. That was probably malpractice 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.560 on these young hearts, just thinking it's gonna, you know, 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.879 have this total Jerry Maguire moment. If y'all remember that movie. 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:30.639 I'm just imagining, like Holly going, I think, I think, 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.200 I think he's probably the one. I think, I think, 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:37.520 I think you know? How does she know? You don't know? 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:43.000 She hoped, and then she held herself to a standard 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:49.000 that she would be the kind of woman that would 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:52.119 find the man that she wanted God to bring in 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:58.040 her life. That's very important. How did you know? You 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:02.280 don't know? Ruth? How did you know when you got 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.320 up that morning that you were going to be in 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.879 the field of boass? Did you just sense it. Did 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.040 you wake up that morning, Ruth and say, I have 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.040 a good feeling that today I am going to bump 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:19.320 into my boass. Ruth said, no, I was just hungry. 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:25.240 It was do or die. I had no husband. My 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.520 mother in law was depressed. My mother in law was 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:33.240 so depressed she started saying, call me Mara. She changed 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:38.800 her name to reflect her situation. She has a conflated 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:44.840 identity that is informed now by her experiences. I've been 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:52.080 thinking a lot lately about how our experiences affect our identity. 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.760 I've been thinking about the entanglement that happens when you 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.480 can no longer know the difference between who you are 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.800 and what you've been through, or who you are and 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:07.879 where you come from. Ruth the moa Bie was a 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:11.359 part of the lineage of Jesus the Messiah that makes 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:17.239 no sense, and Ruth knew none of it. Why are 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:19.760 you slowing down to tell us all of this instead 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.320 of just preaching the verses? Because I want you to 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:26.680 realize that you've been reading the book of Ruth wrong, 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.720 as if she had some great faith, and as if 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:34.520 you have to have some great faith that knows I'm 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:36.800 exactly where God wants me to be doing exactly what 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:38.520 God's called me to do, and this is going to 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:42.879 turn out okay for his glory. No, you don't know, 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:47.439 but you just had to know, right, No, I hoped, 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:53.840 I worked. I know. You had to know that Jiro 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:56.320 was going to be nominated for a Grammy right after 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:00.800 you wrote it. No, I loved it, and I thought, 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:02.919 if they don't give us a Grammy for this album, 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:08.639 they're stupid. I did. I thought that, but I didn't know. 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.280 You don't know. And in a matter of fact, in 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:14.399 the middle of trying to process that particular album, have 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.439 y'all heard this song Gyra. Yeah, after we wrote it, 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:18.840 I loved it so much and I sent it to 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:20.560 my friend and he didn't say anything back about it. 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:27.560 You know who you are. And I was hanging out 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:29.680 with my friend and my son and me and Elijah 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.040 really loved Gyra and we thought it was the greatest 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.040 song and we just loved it. And I was talking 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:36.400 to my friend and he said something about Gyra, which 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.600 he never responded to on the text message. And look, 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.760 I was so scared that maybe I liked it more 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:44.560 than other people would, because when you put something out there, 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:46.159 you never really know if they're gonna judge it or not. 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.080 That goes from everything from an outfit to an opportunity 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:51.919 that you try to seize, to an encouraging word that 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:54.760 you try to give. That potential of rejection can be 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.320 a really difficult thing. So I said to him, I 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:01.920 know Gira isn't a banger. I like it. And afterwards 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:05.720 Elijah said, what was that crap about Gira is not 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.600 a banger? I thought we liked Gira. I thought we 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:11.040 loved Gira. I thought we felt the presence of God 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:14.120 in your truck when we listened to Gira. I said, 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.159 you caught me red handed. I was so scared that 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:24.640 he didn't like it that I brought myself down so 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:27.320 that he couldn't do it to me. I did it 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:34.360 to myself. You had to know that song was special, No, 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:38.320 I knew it was special to me. And so all 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:40.400 of these little things do you see it in the scripture, 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:43.919 all of these little things that whoever wrote down ruthed 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:47.320 wrote down way after it happened. You know that, right, 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:52.760 this is not a live feed. So even when it 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:54.920 says in verse one, I love stuff like this, even 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:56.359 in verse one, when it says it was the field 0:22:56.400 --> 0:23:01.680 belonging to bo Ass that was added after years after 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:08.919 Ruth did not know Boass was Boass, even after she Madams, 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:13.360 she didn't know who he was. So it sets me 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:17.680 free to know that certainty is not a prerequisite for fate, 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:27.399 that understanding is not a prerequisite for blessing. That knowing because, okay, 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:30.080 let me do a poll. How many of you believe 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:32.840 this is for online too? Okay, you can participate in 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:36.640 the chat. How many of you believe that God is 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:44.199 guiding your life? Raise your hand? How many of you 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:46.440 believe that from time to time you get off trap? 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:52.960 How can both be true? If God is guiding your 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:56.160 life and he's good at what he does, how can 0:23:56.240 --> 0:23:59.920 you be better than God at your job? This willbe 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:04.840 because that is what you do. Because the Bible says, 0:24:04.880 --> 0:24:07.560 we all like sheep, have gone astray because sheep are 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:21.440 bad at following directions. Y'all like that. But the question 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:23.480 really is God is guiding my life? Yes, trust in 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:24.600 the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:26.920 own understanding all your ways. Acknowledge Him and He will 0:24:26.960 --> 0:24:28.879 direct your past. The steps of a good man are 0:24:28.960 --> 0:24:31.000 ordered by the Lord. All these scriptures that I love. 0:24:31.080 --> 0:24:33.280 I love those verses. I need God to lead me. 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:36.280 I need God to lead me. I need God. What 0:24:36.400 --> 0:24:40.080 else am I gonna let lead me? My feelings? My friends? 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:44.600 Sometimes I think they're dumber than I am. I love them, 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:47.439 but they're just as dumb as I am, if not dumber. 0:24:47.480 --> 0:24:51.560 I can't follow them. I'm sorry, I can't follow another 0:24:51.600 --> 0:24:55.359 frail of human. I need the Lord to leave me. 0:24:55.520 --> 0:25:00.560 But the question I have deep beneath the veneer of 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:04.160 that verbalization of a theological belief that God is leading 0:25:04.200 --> 0:25:14.480 me is how detailed will he be? How involved will 0:25:14.520 --> 0:25:18.719 he get? Right? When you say God leads me? Some 0:25:18.760 --> 0:25:21.560 people say that in fact, from a scale of one 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:24.320 to ten, how much do you believe God is leading 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:27.280 your life? Where would you fall on a scale of 0:25:27.320 --> 0:25:31.080 one to ten, how much would you believe it? So 0:25:31.320 --> 0:25:34.040 watch out for the people who shout ten real quick, 0:25:35.240 --> 0:25:42.720 because they think God speaks to them about everything everything. 0:25:44.520 --> 0:25:46.800 They put God in stuff that I don't think God 0:25:46.840 --> 0:25:49.840 cares about very much. Do you know what I'm saying? 0:25:51.280 --> 0:25:53.800 I mean, they really do. They just put God in 0:25:53.880 --> 0:25:57.720 the craziest stuff. And the Lord told me to wear pink, 0:26:02.240 --> 0:26:04.200 But pink does not look good on your skin tone? 0:26:04.240 --> 0:26:12.040 That wasn't the Lord? Be careful When people say ten 0:26:12.240 --> 0:26:15.119 like that, it's just a sign they're over compensating a 0:26:15.119 --> 0:26:18.400 little bit, because probably if they're saying ten, they don't 0:26:18.440 --> 0:26:22.960 want to have to make decisions. Right. Oh, I believe 0:26:22.960 --> 0:26:25.680 the Lord is leading me. And uh, you know that's 0:26:25.720 --> 0:26:28.760 why I've been fired four times in the last eighteen months. 0:26:32.040 --> 0:26:34.439