FBC Morning Worship Service

Oh See on this Lord's Day. Hope you've had a good week with all of its challenges, especially in the middle of the week

It's a disappointments and heartaches and all the rest that we've seen on a national level but the trust that the

Lord has Blessed you in other ways through the week. You've experienced his answers to prayer.

You say well like what? Well, are you are you healthy? Are you fed today?

We can got a lot to be thankful for What would the Lord say if we have?

or the Apostle Paul if we have food and Raymond let us therewith be content and The Lord in his in the

Sermon on the Mount exhorted us Not to be concerned about all kinds of things that the heathen are concerned about But trust him day to day and so we do

Some have already asked me this morning as you came in if there's any update on Priscilla Sent a prayer request yesterday afternoon to pray for her

She Jean said this morning. She is so so a little bit better today than yesterday

But certainly needs our continued prayers. So pray for Priscilla as well as her family

We'll say more about that in our prayer time But in your bulletin a couple of announcements just to emphasize the

Wednesday night program. We resumed that last Wednesday So the kids club and the youth meetings set for 645 and the

Bible study and prayer time at 7 And then two weeks from today on January 24th is our annual meeting and it's a meeting of the church

We'll meet in the afternoon at 1 o 'clock encourage you to bring like a

Sack lunch or whatever bring your own lunch thing and we'll have the fellowship hall set up Set up like a modern -day restaurant, you know with the tables

Socially distanced apart and so forth so we can We can have our lunch together and then meet back here in the auditorium at 1 o 'clock for that annual meeting those who are committee chairman

Need to get those reports in to Chris by next Sunday if you would do that, please

And we do want to pray for Kelly's Kelly Bliss's family Kelly Diana Of course her sisters.

I trust folks know that but their grandmother passed away the other day and She had been ill

Recently and in the in the intensive care unit herself She just passed away on Thursday.

So I want to pray for that family We've come together today to worship the

Lord Psalm 90 begins in this way says Lord You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

It's good to remember this Lord You have been our dwelling place in all generations

Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth in the world from everlasting to everlasting

You are God So let's worship our God who has been our help in ages past and shall be in ages to come

Jim, please come and lead us Thank You pastor and it that is in your hymnals on page 96 our

God our help in ages past Number 96. Let's all stand together, please and sing all four verses together

Oh I Was all

They Just passed

Remain standing for prayer, please brother Dan. Let us pray our father again.

We We're so thankful for your grace and your mercy this past week

And father we thank you for who you are The truths that Will be spoken about it from your word today father.

We pray that we would be open and attentive to your word Father your word gives us hope gives us encouragement

Gives us joy Knowing that you And you alone are in control of everything that happens on this planet

And father as we sing these praises to you May we lift our voices up to you

Thanking you and praising you We pray these things in Jesus name Want to read together some 28 on the back of your bulletin 28th

Psalm Encourage you to follow along as I read

These nine verses together Psalm 28 Psalmist writes he says unto thee will

I cry Oh Lord my rock Be not silent to me lest if thou be silent to me.

I become like them that go down to the pit Hear the voice of my supplications when

I cry unto thee when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle Draw me not away with a wicked and with the workers of iniquity which speak peace to their neighbors

But mischief is in their hearts Give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavors give them after the work of their hands

Render to them their dessert Because they regard not the works of the

Lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up Blessed be the

Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusted in him and I am helped

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices and with my song while I praise him The Lord is their strength.

He is the saving strength of his anointed Save thy people and bless thine inheritance

Feed them also and lift them up forever Lord add his blessing to the reading of this his word

Our message today is going to focus on the mysterious ways of the Lord's working and this next hymn

He's going to come and lead us in that is in our supplement book. God moves in a mysterious way

So Jim, please come lead us That's on page number 21 in your blue books

It is your supplement song books God moves in a mysterious way and we'll sing all the verses together

God moves Way Jim was

William Cooper and I don't know if you know the story of William Cooper his life his

Struggles and so forth. He was a he was a man who? Well, I don't know if it was seasonal affective disorder as they call it today if that was his problem or what?

But he fought with tremendous bouts of depression. He was a friend of John Newton and One of the ways that he dealt with that depression was going back to God's Mysterious ways the ways in which he worked and Trusting in him and his divine providence and so forth.

So that song comes out of I think The heart and life and mind of one who struggled frequently with bouts of depression.

We thank the Lord for the way he uses Uses us even in our infirmities as we pray together this week

I mentioned earlier to pray for continue to pray for Priscilla that the Lord would graciously raise her back up to health and strength she would improve see improvement today and Even through this week and again also pray for Kelly's family

Not sure of any funeral arrangements, but those are being held in the Chicago suburbs area pray for Bob He's scheduled to have chemo tomorrow.

That is tentative. He's been having some problems with Infection and some numbers related to that and if those numbers are too high he'll have to postpone that again so please pray for Bob and continue to pray for Jerry that God would give her grace as she ministers to him helps him and serves him

Also, Jerry mentioned earlier this week. We sent it out as a prayer request to pray for This girl

Jada a neighbor of hers who's been here to church To kids club and so forth.

She apparently is suffering from concussion she Was sledding and ran into a tree and that was the problem that caused

It was the motivation or the impetus for that prayer request. So pray pray for Jada as well

Our missionary this week is Jim and asked Jim to share a couple prayer requests. So before we pray

Jim, please Thank You pastor appreciate that the opportunity and do want to ask you to Pray obviously for the opening of the jails and jails are closed to inmate visitation but not closed to staff and been going up there not every week, but Every two to three weeks visiting staff the sheriff's

Pray with the sheriff's both of them. They appreciate that more opportunity to witness to staff and So that's a good thing that's come from all this and also

The we had a recent Passing of an individual that was on our staff long grace ministry staff

Walter Shanko, he died He was in hospice for a couple of last few weeks and went on to be with the

Lord dear friend to say the least it worked in the ministry together for 30 years now and and Meetings and visits and fellowship and and went

His funeral was was postponed because of not so much as funeral.

It was his Memorial service as in this church in Belleville or near st.

Louis And we don't know when that's going to be so I appreciate your prayers concerning his wife

Margaret she is in the ministry as well and just as involved as he was and Now more so so appreciate your prayers for her and this rescheduling of this memorial service

I plan on going down down there and and also with His replacement

Walter's replacement, his name is Ted Beeler and He's been with long grace for about six months, but he doesn't know much about the workings

I'm going to go down and meet with him as well and go through his files and and get him on his way as a director in the

South Central area with a long grace ministry. So appreciate your prayers and The opportunity to present them

Let's pray together. Shall we? indeed father

So often we don't understand your ways we look at the world in which we're living and We are perplexed

We can't we can't perceive what What your purposes are in this world in its upheaval?

Both on a national level but an international level as well there seems to be chaos and and and confusion and uncertainty all around our world

We realize that we have an ultimate you have an ultimate plan Your ultimate plan is to bring this world to its knees

The nation's and the leaders of these nations who laugh and scorn at you

Your your plan is ultimately to Bring them to the place where they realize you are

God If it takes something like what we're experiencing today, maybe this is just the beginning of what you have in store for that Then may it be

And I pray that you would give us grace and faith to trust you through all of the difficulty

We think of our own nation and its chaos and its turmoil The anger the the rage the the the conflict between groups and the division of our land we think also of the actions that are being taken to Restrict the freedoms that we have taken for granted so much through the history of our land for our nation and Father again, we pray as your people

That you would give us grace give us patience help us to endure Give us faith to trust you.

I Pray that we would be faithful in all of this that we would not we would not allow we would not allow the circumstances the events of our day to intimidate us into silence and to restrain from our testimony for Christ and He is the greatest need of our day and so father

People need what we have people need to know our Savior whom we know. I Pray that you would help us to let our light so shine in this dark dark day and may others see our good works may others hear of the truth of the of our testimony of Christ and May that light the light of the world shine into dark hearts that need him so desperately

So we pray for our nation today We also pray for these individuals who are in need we pray for Priscilla and ask that you would graciously touch her body

We pray for for healing for effectiveness of treatments that she's receiving

We pray for her family for Tom and Jean and Tim I pray that you'd give them grace in this time of uncertainty and great concern for Priscilla and even an inability to to see her and Face to face and to be with her in her time of trouble and anxiety

Give them patience. I pray pray that you would also protect them and keep them. Well we pray for Bob Klein and pray that That he might be able to have this treatment tomorrow if that would please you that you clear up Infection enough that he can and pray that it would be effective

We pray father for Kelly's family and ask that you would give them comfort and hope in this time of sorrow

They're thankful that her grandmother knew Christ as her Savior a good testimony of saving faith

And I pray that that would give comfort to her family and then father we do pray for Jim and his ministry with law and grace and Father, this is a challenging time for that ministry when the chaplains can't go in person and visit with inmates

Share the gospel with them. I pray that You'd give patience there as well.

Pray that these jails might soon be able to be opened up again. Pray for staff as Jim and the other chaplains would have opportunity to counsel with them and share the gospel with them and pray that there would be effectiveness in that ministry

Thank you for the faithfulness of Walter Schenkel through the years of serving and and sharing the gospel and teaching inmates the truth of of the word and Thank you for his home going that he's absent from the body, but he's present with you

I pray for his replacement that he would learn the The routine and the responsibilities quickly and effectively and he may have a great long -term service as well

We pray for Walt's wife Margaret and pray that you give her comfort and Encourage her in her time of sorrow and pray also that you'd bless her as she carries on in her work in in that ministry as well so father we

Commit these things to you today and we pray that you would meet each one and I pray as we your people have gathered here today that you would encourage us and Comfort us and convict us through your word and this we ask in Jesus name

Amen, take your hymnals once again, please and turn to number 118 118 he knoweth the way that I take

We'll sing verses 1 & 3 Let's stand together if you would He knoweth the way of number 118

My Please be seated our scripture reading this morning.

I'm going to turn to the book of Ruth chapter 1 Old Testament book of Ruth Chapter 1

I'm going to read verses 1 through 14 Be Returning to this little book for the next few weeks together

Today, we're going to focus Really going to be more of an overview of the book though.

We'll center a lot of our attention in chapter 1 But Ruth chapter 1 verses 1 through 14 encourage you to follow along in your copy of scripture as I read

It says now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab he and his wife and his two sons and The name of the man was

Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Kylion Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah and they came into the country of Moab and continued there and Elimelech Naomi's husband died.

She was left and her two sons And they took them wives of the women of Moab the name of the one was

Orpah and the name of the other Ruth and they dwelled there about ten years and Mahlon and Kylion died also both of them and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband

Then she arose with her daughters -in -law that she might return from the country of Moab for she had heard in the in the country

Of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people and giving them bread wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters -in -law with her and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah and Naomi said unto her two daughters -in -law go return each to her mother's house

The Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me The Lord grant you that ye may find rest each of you in the house of her husband

Then she kissed them and they lifted up their voice and wept and they said unto her

Surely we will return with thee unto thy people And Naomi said turn again my daughters.

Why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands turn again?

My daughters go your way for I am too old to have a husband if I should say I have hope

If I should have a husband also tonight and should also bear sons Would you tarry for them till they were grown?

Would you stay for them from having dot husbands? Nay, my daughters for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the

Lord has gone out against me and they lifted up their voice and wept again and Orpah kissed her mother -in -law, but Ruth clave unto her brief prayer

My father in this chaotic world, I pray from this passage of Scripture today. You would give us

Encouragement we pray in Jesus name. Amen Few years ago

Chris and I were on vacation in near San Diego is in Late February like the last few days of February first couple of days of March So it was you know, fairly warm there a nice place to go at that time of year but Previously in that region there had been a tremendous amount of rain

It was a very rainy winter uncharacteristically, so for Southern, California And so while we were there

I think was my sister who sent me a message and said Have you heard about the wildflowers in the desert near you and we hadn't heard about it

So I checked it out and sure enough about an hour and a half or so, maybe two

Northeast of where we were staying up in the desert The the desert floor was just awash with Bountiful blossoming of wildflowers because of all the rain and By the time she told us about it.

We didn't have much time left and we never got to go see them but thousands and thousands of people actually did they flocked to the desert to see

The the splendor of these Blossoms that were so colorful and unusually so in that particular place and time

I Thought about that and wondered why? Why were they so attracted to go to the desert and see all of these?

Blooms all of these blossoms out there in the middle of the desert Well, I'm sure that it has a lot to do with the variegated beauty of it all

I don't get to see that much of it. I suppose and it is such an unusual thing We are drawn to the unusual are we not?

but I wonder too if on a deeper level that whole

That whole panorama isn't a little bit of a metaphor for life and for the life of so many

Who would who would venture hours away from their home to go up into the desert just to see a bunch of flowers a

Metaphor for life. Well in what way? well, I think for most people a lot of the time in their life life can be like a dry barren desert you know kind of a rather hopeless existence, you're just plodding along day after day and perhaps enduring one wave of grief or heartache or difficulty or challenge after another trouble following trouble until Hope is all but gone all but lost

They venture out into that desert the real desert and and see these

Millions and millions of flowers that have bloomed in the desert of all places and Does that in itself kind of?

Resurrect a few feelings of hope that maybe the desert of my life could blossom forth

What we long for what most of us long for in life, I suppose is some refreshing rain

Rain shower that's followed by the blossoming of hope in the desert of our existence

Well that brings us to the book of Ruth because this book Indeed Shows us hope blossoming in the desert now clearly the book opens in the desert and it does so in Three different ways the barrenness is

Indicated in three different ways in this book. One of them is the larger context that is referred to as the book opens

It says it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled What do you know about the days when the judges ruled you don't have to go far to find out if in my

Bible I just look up. I just look up an inch and In chapter the last chapter of Judges verse 25 says in those days there was no king in Israel Every man did that which was right in his own eyes

And if you know the book of Judges, you know that it's just a constant cycle. They come.

I remember studying this in Bible college and he talked about it being the sin cycle of the book of Judges God's blessed his people they have some prosperity, but then they sin they engage in idolatry and Then in that idolatrous condition

God sends God sends some kind of punishment some kind of chastisement But then he raises up a judge

Who delivers the people in a region of Israel delivers them from the oppressor?

some foreign oppressor And and they're delivered and they have they're experiencing peace and prosperity again for a while and then they sin again and then the sin brings oppression and the oppression brings a judge and and so on and it's this cycle just continues and continues and why is that because Everyone was doing what's right in his own eyes.

This is the time of the judges. It's a time of a spiritual wasteland if you will a spiritual desert

But then in the literary context of the book of Ruth, there's also an indication of a desert

The book of Ruth is the third in what's called the Bethlehem trilogy and and the first two

Accounts or first two Bethlehem stories go back into the book of Judges The first is in Judges 17 and 18.

It's where The Levite from Bethlehem See, there's the Bethlehem trilogy the

Levite from Bethlehem. He kind of sells his services to the highest bidder

He becomes a private priest if you will for a guy named

Micah in his household but then the Danites come and they find out there's a there's a priest over this one little household and they

Talk him into going with them and they'll pay him so much more and so off he goes It's a terrible spiritual desolation but in this cultural

Context this literary context if you will and that first Bethlehem story there is this this decline of Of integrity on the part of the priesthood, but then in Judges Judges 19 to 21 the second

Bethlehem story has to do with another Levite Who takes a concubine?

who is from Bethlehem and that story is an absolute mess and I'm not going to take the time to read to Encapsulate it for you.

You can go back and do it in your for your homework if you want to but it's just a mess and that's the second

Bethlehem story and the Deplorable stuff that happens in Judges 19 through 21

Bethlehem story number two the book of Ruth is Bethlehem story number three, so we might think of this as a cultural context of a desert

It's a cultural desert but then in the immediate text the immediate text is more of a personal desert a personal desert and I think you probably understand this that when there are times of Cultural and spiritual

Wasteland when you living in a cultural wasteland or and a spiritual wasteland

There is far greater likelihood that you too are going to experience a personal desert

Well that's brought out here in this chapter in some interesting ways the desert the wasteland

One of those ways is highlighted by the names that you read in verses 1 & 2

Because there's a tremendous irony in each of those names Look at them

It's a time of famine in the land and there was a man of Bethlehem in Judah Bethlehem, you know what

Bethlehem means the name the name the city the town Bethlehem means house of bread

Do you get the irony? There is famine in the house of bread in the house of bread.

There is no bread and This is Bethlehem in Judah and Judah means praise and you are

You are hard -pressed to find any Evidence of praise that goes on in this first chapter of the book of Ruth.

There is no praise offered No praise in the house of bread because There's famine in the house of bread

In Bethlehem, there's this guy by the name this man by the name of Elimelech Elimelech and his name means

God is King God is King but look at the story. Look at the picture is

God is God the king in Bethlehem Judah Now, you know in intellectually we say well, yes, of course he is he's the king but but when you're living on the ground and you're you're living in the context culturally in which

Elimelech and Naomi and their sons live in the broader context in the regional context the concept of the gods is

That the gods provide for their people So the God of Moab needs to provide for the

Moabites the God of the Ammonites needs to provide for the Ammonites and the God of the

Israelites if he's the king of their land. He needs to provide kings provide for their people is

God the king of the land It's just a question you and I know the answer but When you're living in famine, you can tend to wonder

And and we could ask it even further. Is God the king of Elimelech is God the king of this man is

Is Elimelech looking to Yahweh to rule his life and determine what he does and we'll say more about Say more about that in just a few minutes

He's married to a woman named Naomi her name means pleasant

Pleasant Do you read anything pleasant in Ruth chapter 1

Even she herself when you get to the end of the chapter. She says don't call me. Don't call me pleasant Don't call me

Naomi. Call me Mara. Call me bitter There's nothing pleasant in my life.

You see the irony. This is a personal desert There's Naomi and they have two sons

Elimelech and Naomi do The first one is named my Mahlon Mahlon his name means sick

Who would name their child? sick

Probably a parent whose child at birth is sick Is none is unwell.

Well, we have no idea what the sickness is Could it be this the sickness that Mahlon was suffering from at birth?

Affected the longevity of his life because after all ten years after they got to Moab he dies he lived a short a

Relatively short life his mother outlived him. That's for sure He's got a brother another brother named

Kylian his name means spent or Pining like longing

Again you have to ask yourself when Naomi gave birth to this little baby

What was going on in their home in their life in their experience? That they would look into the eyes of that little child and name him

Longing pining Spent Like we're spent and we're pining for something better.

We're pining for something good What are they pining for? We don't know

But it does indicate does it not that their lives are? somewhat of a wasteland somewhat of a desert and then and then they are from They are

Ephrathites from Bethlehem Judah now Ephrathah is just another name for the town of Bethlehem But the name itself means

Fruitful now you put those together and you can see the connection right Bethlehem means house of bread

Ephrathah means fruitful. So this is apparently at one time at least an area not far from Jerusalem That was a very fruitful region where the crops were bountiful and plentiful

Now there's a famine. There is no fruit in Ephrathah in the place called fruitful

Isn't that fascinating just the names themselves the irony of these names indicate to us though the desert in which

Naomi finds herself Well, not only the names highlight that but the

Circumstances that we read about in this chapter tell us that these people are living a desert life the circumstances

Famine, of course that tells you a lot in itself but the last part of verse 1 tells us that they

They went to sojourn in the country of Moab to sojourn means you

You pull up stakes and you're gonna go somewhere temporarily You don't plan to go and move there and stay there for the rest of your life

It's the idea of doing this in a time of famine as you say, well, you know We don't have any food here.

So we're gonna go over to Moab for maybe a year You know how until the until the rain comes back and the crops grow again, and then then we have we have crops again

Well, then we'll come home. It's just gonna be for a short time But to sojourn to have to to have to leave your home behind to a place you've never been for an indeterminate period of time

You ever had to do that? Have you had to go through that? That challenge that difficulty of Uncertainty and Total strangeness of area all by yourself sojourned but the sojourning lasted a whole lot longer than they expected the last part of verse 2 and There is a there's an interesting

Contrast in terms at the end of verse or in verse 1 he says they went to sojourn in the country of Moab, but at the end of verse 2 it says they came into the country of Moab and Continued there the

SV translates it remained there literally it says they were there

It's like This is now our home. This is where we're staying There's no point in going back

They remained they resettled but they resettled as foreigners in a foreign land and a land that you know, really there's been a history of Hostility between the

Israelites and the Moabites you can read back in your history of Israel and you can discover that So you've got that and then then of course, there's the death

The desert that Naomi finds herself in involves the death of her husband untimely to be sure

He she I'm sure expected that he was gonna lead her at some point back home to Bethlehem where they belonged

But he dot he dies He dies He dies and then these two children two sons of hers

Mathlon and Kylian They died also Now Do we understand the the heartache and the grief and the desert experience of death?

We we understand that when a loved one dies We're left bereft

We get that but that bereavement and that that desolation is

Manifold times more great for Naomi and For the two wives

Naomi or Ruth and and Orpah that are left behind this is not easy for us to comprehend but in the culture of that day the

Security of a woman was found in having a husband. I mean a woman couldn't just go out and get a job

Not like our day You know all kinds of women live alone these days and they they survive and they do more than survive

They can thrive they can do well Hope not in that day to be a widow and not have a prospect of a husband is to expect a life of poverty of Just scraping by and scrounging to get by and and you actually see that in chapter 2 because when they do

Ruth and and and Naomi do get back to Bethlehem the only way that they have to eat and survive is for Ruth to go out and scavenge food in a field somewhere

This is what they're left with talk about a desert you talk about being hopeless

This is why the Ruth says which era Naomi says what she does in verse 12 as she says to these girls

Orpah and Ruth she says turn again. I'm too old to have a husband

I'm hopeless is what she's saying I'm too old to have a husband and then she goes on to say if even if I should say

I have hope in the very unlikely Possibility in the almost impossible

Situation where I could say I have hope Would you wait around?

What is what is nail? What is Naomi saying? She says I'm absolutely.

I'm absolutely hopeless Desperately I suggest desperately in the desert we need hope

We need hope when you read this book. There's a word that's going to show up over and over again, and it's the word

Redeemer a Redeemer or kinsmen as it's often translated in the

King James the key listen the key to hope is

The provision of a Redeemer by the providence of our sovereign

God Now watch this the key to hope is the provision of a

Redeemer by the providence of our sovereign God Now watch as is normally the case

God's providential work is hidden from view We don't even see it

It's hidden from view It's hidden from view as he in his providence works through the ordinary unfolding events of everyday life

I want you to notice something here notice yourself myself we're

You know, we're earthbound creatures We live on this planet and and most of life is just a mundane going through our routines and so on and so forth right and as These mundane earthbound creatures that we are

We are wowed by stories of the supernatural the exciting the

Spectacular we're wowed by those stories right think think about some of the The stories that that that you've been wowed by Several years ago now.

There's there was a movie And you'll understand why I'm using this in a minute there's a movie angels in the outfield it's it's about the the

California Angels or Los Angeles Angels baseball team actually, I mean they just absolutely stink. They're horrible

They're in last place in their division But they get they get helped by the angels and so you see as watching this movie you see the angels who are helping the players the

You see the supernatural Angels who are helping the baseball player angels out there playing baseball

They're catching these fantastic catches like nobody could ever possibly catch them how in the world did they catch that because an angel carried him and he was able to catch this in a miraculous way and these

California these louse this lousy team in last place in their division because of the help of these angels and their

Supernatural intervention they bring this team to first place and dig them into the playoffs and they get into the

World Series And it's game seven of the World Series and you're sitting on the edge of the seat are the angels going to come through for the angels and sure enough they do and We're wowed by this

Or that's far more impressive and satisfying to us than watching baseball as usual, right?

Especially if it's the White Sox or that, you know, I need don't need to go there, right?

I mean just Struggling game after game pitch after pitch bat after bat.

All right now look the book of Ruth is like It's like baseball as usual.

You don't see any angels in the outfield in the book of Ruth Instead what you see

Are some common ordinary everyday people who face failure?

They make decisions They endure difficult circumstances They devise plans to try to better their lives.

There are no spectacular divine interventions in the whole book But when you get to the end of the book at the close of the book

You understand something You see that through all of this ordinariness of the first three chapters and 17 verses of all the ordinariness of all of this

God has been working behind the scenes all along now watch

Back in the garden at the fall in Genesis 315 God Promised a

Redeemer he promised a Redeemer and in the book of Ruth he is providentially working through the machinations and the everyday ordinariness of Naomi and Ruth and a man by the name of Boaz he he works through all of this to provide a

Redeemer for Naomi and Ruth and this Redeemer for Naomi and Ruth is the providentially provided Redeemer for them who is necessarily involved in the providential provision for your

Redeemer it is after all through Ruth and Boaz that David is going to come through whom

Jesus comes But the thing of it is all of it is hidden from view

You don't see how God is providentially working until as Stephen Charnock said and this quote is in your bulletin one of those points to ponder you ever read those

One of them is Charnock. He said Providence is crowned by the end of it

Do you get it the crown of Providence is not placed on the head of the story if you will until the end of Ruth's the book of Ruth or as John Flavel said

Some providences like Hebrew letters must be read backwards

If you know how Hebrew works you get that you get the point right the the

Hebrew language in Hebrew you read from right to left

Not from left to right and so he uses that Analogy, and he said Providence is like that sometimes

Providence has to be read backwards so you can go to the end of the book of Ruth the last verse of the book and you go ah

I see and then you can read Backwards through this book and you can see how

God in his providence was working through all of the ordinariness of everyday life

And I would suggest to you that Even today Today in our world in our nation in the desert of our lives

God is working behind the scenes. He's using scores of Seemingly well on one hand insignificant actions and maybe on another hand very significant actions and decisions and Perhaps he is in his

Providence leading through some very challenging circumstances To bring about his ultimate purpose and You don't even see what he's doing.

You don't even see his hand of Providence. And what I would suggest to you is that this is the normal way that he works

So look at this first chapter Look at this first chapter and notice how God in his providence working toward his ultimate purpose will overcome our failures

He'll overcome our failures. It may be maybe a failure of faithlessness in verse 1

Okay, a famine has come to Bethlehem. What do we do? What do we do? We have called this town the house of bread.

We have been brought to this place by the divine direction of God He has given he has given us this land.

He has given us this place Right now it's a difficult thing.

It's a challenging time. What do we do? What do we do? When the crisis comes will you trust or will you leave?

You say well that may be kind of harsh on the limeleck I mean after all they do have to eat but but but think about this for a minute

I mean, I I don't know what the circumstances completely were and his it either

But the vast majority of the people of Bethlehem Judah lived they just stayed

They somehow worked through this challenging time I don't know how and I'm I'm not suggesting that that's always the it's always the thing to do to stay in a challenging

I'm not suggesting. I mean insisting upon that the question is where is where is the faith?

Do we when times are? Difficult and challenges come do we do we just abandon our faith and say

I'm gonna just try and figure thing is it figure everything out On my own. I'm just gonna figure it out on my own We can be faithless in these circumstances, but here's the thing

God in his Providence Can overcome the failure of our faithlessness?

He can also overcome the failure of disobedience in Verse 4 what do these two sons do?

Mahlon and Kylian They marry Moabite women if you know again know anything about the history of Israel you would understand and know that God has prohibited any

Moabite from coming into the assembly of his people this is a prohibition against the marrying of Moabite women and Yet here they are they're in a you know, they're in this foreign land and there's nothing but Moabite women around And here's these young guys and they got to have a wife because they got to keep the family going.

So, what do we do? Let's just take Moabite women and so they do and God in his

Providence can overcome the failure of bitterness in our hardship the last end of chapter 1

Naomi they Naomi and Ruth go back to Bethlehem. It says in verse 19 They went until they came to Bethlehem and when they came into the town of Bethlehem that the whole city was moved and they said

Is this Naomi? Remember what her name means? Mm -hmm pleasant

She said to them don't call me pleasant Call me bitter For the

Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me I went out full and the

Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why do you call me pleasant? Seeing the

Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me. I think she's bitter

By her own testimony she is But the Lord in his Providence is going to overcome that bitterness in their hardship

Now listen do not misunderstand The fact that the Lord will overcome failure

Does not mean there will be no consequences for that failure and the fact that the

Lord in his Providence will overcome failure is Absolutely, not a warrant for presumptuous sin

In other words don't hear me this morning and in when I saying that God in his

Providence can overcome our failure Don't don't hear me as if I'm saying Oh, it doesn't matter then if I if I sin if I fail if I turn my back on the

Lord It doesn't matter if I do that because God will God will overcome it. Anyway. No, it's not what I'm saying That's not an excuse for this

It's just an observation of what God does and how God will often work he'll overcome your failures and God in his

Providence will providentially use your decisions To use your decisions.

So Naomi in verses 6 and 7 here of chapter 1 decides to return to where she belongs so verse 6 and 7 she rose with her daughters -in -law because Because why

Was this a profoundly spiritual decision on her part? And she said, you know,

I don't belong here. I I'm a follower of Yahweh. I belong in Israel the land that Yahweh gave to us and and I'm I'm out of the will of God here.

You know, I need to get back where I belong No, it's not that's not what motivated her

What motivated her? Said well, there's bread back home. I'm gonna go back home for bread.

Maybe not the most noble of motivations But the

Lord providentially used it. So for example, he does this in our lives as well

I don't know that this is the case with anybody here, but It's beginning of the new year and Sometimes people make a decision that goes something like this, you know,

I haven't been real faithful in church, you know And I know maybe that's why my life isn't going so well so This new year.

I'm gonna get back to church. I'm gonna I'm gonna go to church every Sunday Because life will go better for me if I go back to church

Well, it's not the most noble of no motivations But the Lord in his providence can use that to mold you and shape you and do things in your life that you had never anticipated

So he providentially uses this decision for on Naomi's part to return to where she belongs.

He uses Providentially the decision on Ruth's part to be loyal to her commitments in verses 14 through 17

So Naomi sees these two daughters following along going with her and she says, you know This is this isn't good because if we get back to Bethlehem Not only am

I gonna have to worry about my own welfare I'm gonna have to worry about these two daughters -in -law as well.

So she turns to them and says hey go back home go back to your own family and What encouragement right

I don't want you with me you're just gonna be a burden to me is essentially what she's saying and In spite of that Naomi says no

No, I'm not going to return with you. I'm not gonna go back home to my family

It's good reason for her doing so Naomi says to the to the girls look in the

Normal scheme of things and this again is a little foreign to our ears But in the normal scheme of things since her sons died the husbands of these two women

What would often happen if they had been childless another son would step in and take the take the widow as his wife so that the

The older son who passed away would Would have a child

That could carry on his name. I know it's a little weird to us But that's what Naomi is referring to here

She says if I had other if I had other sons, would you would you wait for them until they grew up?

No, this doesn't make any sense girls go on home to your own family and find a husband in your own house in your own area and then of course

Orpah says Okay, Naomi, you're right. I'm gonna go home

Peer pressure right is what others do why not go along with the crowd? No Ruth decides to be loyal to her commitment and God in his

Providence uses that decision of loyalty to her commitment and Then the

Lord uses your decision providentially uses your decision to forsake false gods for the one true

God so in verses 15 and 16 Naomi says to these girls behold your says to Ruth behold your sister's law

Sister -in -law has gone back unto her people and to her gods go to you return also

Should I do that No, Ruth says don't don't entreat me to leave you verse 16

Don't don't ask me to return from following you. I'm gonna go where you go where you lodge

I'm gonna lodge your people will be your my people and your God will be my God God uses that Providentially uses that decision to forsake the gods of the

Moabites for the one true God Yahweh the God of Israel and God Providentially uses the decision on Ruth's part to leave the past behind for some unknown uncertain future

Ruth chooses to leave her homeland To go to Israel I'll think this one through with me for a minute, you know

That in that region and I alluded to it earlier in that time and so forth the different Territories regions countries nations, whatever they would have their territorial gods as I mentioned

They're the gods of the Ammonites the gods of the Moabites and so on Now watch this

Listen Moab had bread When Bethlehem Judah was in a time of famine so looking at it from the

The through the lens the the religious lens of the culture in the day

Ruth could look at it like this You know the God of Moab.

He provided bread for us your God didn't provide bread for you so Why would

I leave This place behind where there's been plenty of bread and our God is provided for us

To go to a place where you know, it's kind of sketchy as to whether or not there's going to be bread next year

Why would I do that? She could have thought that way she could have thought that way But she didn't all right.

Now. Here's the point of that becoming a follower of Jesus and Forsaking the past May and I might say will certainly involve times in your life when it's difficult and the difficulty will come when it seems that Moab if you will is enjoying an abundance of bread and you can look at that and say

Which way should I go? Should I keep heading in this direction of an uncertain future?

with this Christian walk that has brought me difficulty and hardship when

Moab Has an abundance of bread at least from the way you can see it Ruth Ruth chose to leave the past behind for an uncertain future and God in his

Providence Uses that oh you can go on in the next a few chapters and and just think about him for a minute and think about him and ponder them

In the in the days ahead as we look forward to seeing them in the days ahead and in chapter 2

God providentially orchestrates the Circumstances as Ruth says I'm gonna go see if I can find us something to eat

And she goes not knowing where to go and she just so happened to land in the field of Boaz In chapter 3

God providentially blesses your plans plans that are made remember

Naomi schemes comes up with this scheme about how Ruth can Ruth can let it be known to Boaz that she wants

Boaz as a husband and And and Ruth goes along with that plan goes along with that scheme now watch.

Here's the thing about that In all of that scheming and the planning and so forth You read nothing about anybody praying about it

No, Naomi didn't go to her prayer room and spend hours in prayer saying you know

Lord What should I do about this should I should should I do this and the Lord gives her this? You don't see that now now don't misunderstand me again

That's not an excuse. I'm not saying don't pray, but it is an observation

About how the Lord have you have experienced this in your life Haven't you when you have made plans you've made decisions?

You've set a course in a direction, and you've headed in that direction, and you didn't even really seriously pray about it

Maybe later you felt guilty about not praying about it but you didn't really seriously pray about it and and you you went down the direction you made those plans and you carried out those plans and God actually blessed them and he used that plan those plans to do something

That you would have never thought of Now oftentimes it goes the other way doesn't it you make plans without looking to the

Lord and asking his direction and praying and he He makes sure that those plans go awry, and you're sorry you ever made him, but this this again an observation and Then you get to chapter 4 and God in his

Providence honors Ruth's faithfulness, and he will honor your faithfulness the

Redeemer Boaz redeems He redeems and the

Lord Preserves a family line you read that in chapter 4 verses 13 through 17 how

Boaz took Ruth and and and made him as made her his wife, and he went into her

Lord gave her a son and The son became a descendant of Naomi and on and on through down verse 17

Naomi took the child laid it in her bosom and became a nurse to it and the women in her neighbors her neighbors gave it

A name saying there's a son born to Naomi Did you get that a son born to Naomi?

Why because the Redeemer has redeemed and that Redeemer has preserved a family line

Then you come to the end of the story and God in his Providence preserves his plan in verses 18 through 22

Here's the thing about God's plan His plan began long before you

We see that here in verse 18. These are the generations of Phares Phares begat

Hezron, so he's going back decades decades this plan that God has whatever his plan and purpose is for you and You know

We could extend expand this beyond your own personal life to your home to your family to your to your nation

Whatever that plan is it it began long before you It definitely includes you because in verse 21

Salmon begat Boaz Boaz begat Obed Boaz begat

Obed by Ruth his plan includes you and his plan includes much more than you

Much more than you Obed begat Jesse Jesse begat

David and Then you can go to Matthew chapter 1 and you can read the rest of the lineage down to Mary of Whom was born

Jesus? So I wonder Have you been assuming as you look at your life, and maybe you've done some

Maybe you've done some Reflection recently because of the change of year or whatever, but have you been assuming that because there's nothing really spectacular going on in your life and You may feel like you're in a little bit of a desert

That God must be ignoring you I'm going to encourage you this morning to turn away from that shallow view of God and Come to trust him

To use even the mundane ordinary events of everyday life even the failures that you look back on and that grieve you and the griefs the heartaches the

The the burdens that you have carried that you you see those things as Things that God in his providence will use to accomplish his purposes in your life

If you are his Are you his? Has the

Redeemer that G that God has provided as that Redeemer Jesus as he redeemed you

Are you his? Are you his you a follower of Christ?

If you are then listen, this is your perspective on the ordinariness of life

Our Father in our God We thank you that even in the everyday ordinary and sometimes

Extraordinarily difficult the challenges of life The events of life that you lead us along May we walk with you and trust you as we go.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen Let's take our hymnals and turn to number 112 number 112 and Sing just the first two stanzas of that hymn and just alluded to God leads us along Sometimes in shady green pastures, but not always not always let's stand as we sing.