3rd Wednesday in Advent Service

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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The Criteria of Communion Part 4

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I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it.

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I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it. I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it.

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I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it.

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I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it. I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it.

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I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it.

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I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it.

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I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it.

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I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it. I don't want you to do it by yourself, and I don't think that's going to let you do it.

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All right, I would like to welcome you all to Congress Winger Lutheran Church for our third in four midweek

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Advent services. Today we'll be looking at Ruth chapter 3.

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and if my eyes look misty I'm not crying it's you know it's the incense it's you know my eyes are sweating right if I have a hard time getting through this you all understand and then

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Psalm tone a today a is an alligator and we will be working through again the vespers service on page 229 in the hymnal the psalm tonight is

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Psalm 107 verses 1 through 9 verses 1 through 9 after we finish verse 9 we'll immediately go to the glory be to the

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Father part and then I think that's all the notes that we have so give me a moment and I'll get up chancel congregation please rise

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Oh Lord open my lips make haste

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Oh God to deliver me Psalm 107 verses 1 through 9

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Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good let the redeemed of the

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Lord say so and gathered in from the lands some wandered in desert wastes hungry and thirsty then they cried to the

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Lord in their trouble he led them by a straightway let them thank the

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Lord for his steadfast love for he satisfies the longing soul glory be to the

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Father and to the Son and to the

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Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever amen the office him today is 352 you may be seated a reading from Ruth chapter 3 then

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Naomi Ruth's mother -in -law said to her my daughter should

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I not seek rest for you that it may be well with you is not

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Boaz our relative with whose young women you were see he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor wash therefore and anoint yourself put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking but when he lies down observe the place where he lies then go and uncover his feet and lie down and he will tell you what to do and she replied all that you say

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I will do so she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother -in -law had commanded her and when

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Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain and then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down at midnight the man was startled and turned over and behold a woman lay at his feet he said who are you she answered

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I am Ruth your servant spread your wings over your servant for you are a

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Redeemer and he said may you be blessed by the Lord my daughter you have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men whether poor or rich and now my daughter do not fear

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I will do for you all that you ask for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman and now it is true that I am a

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Redeemer yet there is a Redeemer nearer than I remain tonight and in the morning if he will redeem you good let him do it but if he is not willing to redeem you then as Yahweh lives

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I will redeem you lie down until the morning so she lay at his feet until the morning but arose before one could recognize another and he said let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor and he said bring the garment that you are wearing and hold it out so she held it out and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her and then she went into the city and when she came to her mother -in -law she said how did you fare my daughter and then she told her all that the man had done for her saying these six measures of barley he gave to me for he said to me you must not go back empty -handed to your mother -in -law she replied wait my daughter until you learn how the matter turns out for the man will not rest but will settle settle the matter today well

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Lord have mercy on us we will sing the response serene behold the days are coming says the

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Lord when I will raise up for David a righteous branch in his days

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Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely glory be to the

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Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus amen well this is the chapter in any good chick flick or any story like Cinderella you think of the fairy tales this is the this is the part of the story where the fairy godmother comes out or the big twist of fate shows up the person who is the patron of the well the down trodden and the oppressed comes to the rescue and they give them a gorgeous dress a coach to drive in and well coachmen and things like this and this is where she makes her grand appearance and everybody can see her for what she is and gawking whoa and all that kind of stuff but you'll note this isn't that kind of story in fact it's a lot meaner than that we must remember even this far into this text that Ruth and Naomi are dirt poor and when it comes to a marriage they've got nothing to offer except for debt and you'll note that this is kind of the metaphor that we look at regarding our own lives she is in desperate need of a redeemer without a redeemer her situation will not improve they will live in squalor for the rest of their days and that's the consequences of sin but this is where we must recognize that this is us this is you this is me we are not capable of extricating ourselves from the poverty of sin we cannot our days on this earth are mean and toilsome filled with all kinds of anxieties and it feels like even on the best of days we're always financially hanging on a knife edge right we went from having everything eating in Eden was simple if you are hungry find your favorite tree pluck a fruit or two maybe one for your spouse or your friend and you were good to go at lunchtime if you were having a hankering for some bacon

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I'm sure it grew on trees back then you know you get there is no such thing as a perfect Eden like paradise without bacon trees you know just saying if we're not able to eat the pigs well we'll have bacon trees and so that's the idea

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Adam and Eve they had the wealth of the Garden of Eden everything at their disposal and their work in their life was not toilsome and then they rebelled against God they broke the one command that God had given them and what came on them was pain suffering slavery sin death the devil and a life of barely getting by of toiling working hard by the sweat of the brow and farming back then could not have been a joy at all

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I mean you'll note that major farm implements were not around at that time and at that time the ground was completely cursed and so eking out a living was at best all that anybody could do but with Naomi and Ruth they don't even have a property to their name that they can work they have assets that are locked up that they cannot get to and Ruth well she's a foreigner and I want you to kind of think this out for a second here she has come to a new land this is not where she grew up this is not the culture she grew up in and these technically were not her people they've now become her people and by them becoming her people because she has faith in the same

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God as they do there's a whole host of rules and regulations and the rules and regulation regarding her getting out of poverty in the situation that she is in requires her to marry a fellow and you're going to note that this marriage is awkward it's not one that normal kids her age and yeah

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I would say she's a kid would choose marry a man twice her age you'll note that girls are not really that interested in marrying guys that are the same age as their fathers that seems a little icky and here we've got this woman and you'll note not one single complaint from her if the only way out is for me to marry a

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Redeemer then she's already set her eye on Boaz and I don't think she could have picked a better man he's kind he's merciful he's generous he's protective and it's absolutely stunning that he has set his eye on this woman and she knows full well what's going on but she doesn't get to pull out the princess dress at this time far from it instead her mother -in -law has concocted a scheme we're going to see if we can well if we can hook

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Boaz it's an interesting scheme and we know because I've just read it that it works but let's walk our way through the text

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Naomi her mother -in -law said to her my daughter should I not seek rest for you that it may be well with you is not

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Boaz our relative love that pronoun there just she's she's basically saying we're family we're kin and the way she's talking you can always tell by the way when an employee goes from being new they always when they first show up at a business they'll talk about you know y 'all need to do this y 'all need to do that and they've already on the payroll but they're still using the y 'all thing right but once they've settled in and actually feel like they're part of the team everything changes they say things like we we need to make this decision we need to jump on this opportunity we need to and they see themselves as part of it and so here

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Naomi she considers Ruth to be absolutely family and she says he is our relative and you know so so should

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I not not seek rest for you that it may be well with you so now he's thinking about her daughter -in -law and realizing that you know she needs more than what she can offer her and so she says see he's winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor and I just look at this and go how did she get that little juicy bit of information right was she having tea with a gal from next door you know where's somebody passing by and she overheard as my mom would say a little bird told her she knew exactly where Boaz was going to be was there any kind of internet stalking going on here was she watching his

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Facebook I don't know it doesn't say but she knew exactly where he was going to be and so here's what she says wash take a bath anoint yourself put on your cloak a dark one by the way it has to be dark because she's going all ninja style here and I want you to go down to the threshing floor do not make yourself known to the man until he is finished eating and drinking but when he lies down observe the place where he lies then go and uncover his feet and lie down and then he will tell you what to do it sounds like a crazy plan

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I mean would Ruth get in trouble if she was caught I mean she's in stealth ninja mode at this point making sure that she's not going to be recognized when she goes out the door is the music going we don't know right but she says all that you have said

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I will do and so she does there is no beautiful dress or no coachman there is no fairy godmother just a very very poor woman poor because of the consequences of sin on a wing and a prayer and the advice of her mother -in -law she steals out into the night and she heads to the threshing floor she did just as her mother -in -law had commanded her and when

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Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry the good night there at the threshing floor a lot of work was done threshing is an important thing this is where the wheat and the chaff are separated do you think that this is some kind of a throwaway detail no it's not you'll think about this that the temple itself was built on a threshing floor the threshing of Ornon the

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Jebusite it belonged to that fellow before it became the property that David purchased when the angel of the

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Lord stayed his sword and so great things happening on threshing floors in fact you can kind of think of Mount Moriah itself as one big huge threshing floor there was

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Christ bleeding dying suffering for your sins and mine on the cross and he was crucified between two thieves one on his right one on his left one cries out to him if you're the

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Messiah save yourself and save us and the other rebuked him and said to Jesus Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom that threshing floor is a big deal because on that day one was wheat and the other was chaff the threshing floor continues to this day that the the threshing floor metaphor here this little detail invokes all of that threshing floor theology that points to how there's wheat and there's chaff and it invokes this question will

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Ruth be tossed with the chaff will she be seen as a defiant rebellious law -breaking foreigner or will she instead be seen as wheat to come into the barn of the

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Lord and you remember all of this took place a long ago in a little town called

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Bethlehem and that's not a throwaway detail either so Boaz was married he went to lie down long day he went down to sleep with good thoughts running through his head maybe there was singing maybe a little bit of dancing maybe there was a little bit of merrymaking and he was with friends it was a great night and so text then says

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Ruth came softly and uncovered his feet and then she laid down why uncover his feet it's real simple okay if you have your feet uncovered when you're used to having them under a blanket or a cloak or something your feet are gonna get cold if your feet get cold you're gonna get cold which means you're gonna have to wake up reach down and figure this out and sort it all out so this is a perfect way to wake him up but not in a startling way but to wake him up that's the plan wake him up get him his feet a little bit cold so she laid down and at midnight and we don't know how many hours have passed two three it doesn't say but Ruth has got to stay awake she's got to see the plan through at midnight the man was startled and turned over behold a woman lay at his feet what poor

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Boaz the guy who's been a single bachelor his entire life there's a woman lying at his feet and so he says it's dark she's got a cloak on who are you she answered

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I am Ruth your servant and now in one of the most beautiful and startling and jarring texts in all of Scripture the reason why it's jarring is because what she says next is a full -on marriage proposal now think this through with me women today are trained that if the guy is interested in you and if this relationship is really getting serious he has to put some thought into how the proposal takes place right he's got to put some thoughts and creativity some ingenuity women today they want what they want a social media potential you know you know type of proposal that would go viral on tik -tok or YouTube or something like that that their friends would sit there and everybody in the family would go oh that's not what happens with Ruth in fact she doesn't insist on anything you'll note that this woman has legitimately been doing everything in a selfless way she's there on the request of her mother -in -law and so she answers

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I am Ruth your servant your slave spread your wings over your servant for you are

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Redeemer she's come under the wings of Yahweh Yahweh spreads his wings we take shelter under the wings of Yahweh Christ is our

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Redeemer and this beautiful metaphor then invokes something that is deep profound beautiful it kind of chokes you up just thinking about it that Christ in his great work to redeem you and I from the poverty of sin he has spread his wings over us but in so doing we must remember that his wings were nailed to the cross in spreading his wings to redeem us it cost him his life and this he did for his bride to redeem her to redeem you to redeem me lost and sinful humanity

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Jesus indeed spread his wings over us and it's beautiful and so now

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Ruth kindly unpretentiously seriously looks

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Boaz in the eyes and says spread your wings over your servant you are a

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Redeemer she has nothing to offer him except for maybe herself and all that debt and she knows full well that if he agrees and she gives birth to a son that legally it's not even his own it belongs to her dead husband who would do that Christ does that for us

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Boaz exemplifies Christ is it any wonder he has a notable place in the lineage of Jesus when

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I I remember when I first started reading the Bible I do you guys remember Beat Alton booksellers remember

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Beat Alton bookseller there was a Beat Alton bookseller right there in the

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Santa Anita mall in Arcadia California this was the mall that we would hang out when malls were still a big thing right and the

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Beat Alton bookseller I went to the Beat Alton bookseller and I said I wanted to buy a Bible I just started attending a

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Christian school I never owned my own Bible and the lady looks at me says well what translation do you want right and so I got my first patent leather leather

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King James Bible patent leather black right and when

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I got home I was shocked these and thousand therefores and wherefores and who would you just it was a little difficult to read but I remember distinctly you know when we got to that part of the year where the

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Christmas story would be read of going into my King James Bible and reading the account found in the book of Matthew and it starts with a genealogy with a bunch of names that I knew nothing about and no concept of the history of Israel and all

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I heard was so and so begat so -and -so who begat so -and -so who begat so -and -so and my eyes rolled back in my head

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I thought what kind of stupid thing is this you know when I grow up I'm never gonna read this again kind of nonsense right but yet when you read those beautiful genealogies every name has a story behind it and Boaz is prominently featured and that's the beautiful bit is that Boaz name is there not the name of the deceased husband

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Boaz by Ruth and so his selflessness now

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God returns the one who humbles himself God exalts and so he then in this moment with this awkward proposal a marriage proposal the woman has proposed the marriage basically saying marry me but saying it in code talk spread your wings over me you're a redeemer we say yes we say no that's always the thing you know you ever watch a proposal as soon as the guy gets down on his knee and he pulls out the ring and she goes oh all right he asked the question and everyone's like this it's like listening for EF Hutton to give you like stock advice that's an old reference what will he say his response may you be blessed by Yahweh my daughter you have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men whether poor or rich he's not seeing her as a burden at all her proposal is received in the best possible light and he describes it as a great kindness listen

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I know I'm twice your age I'm old enough to be your father and yet you didn't go after any of the younger men either poor or rich which was your right to do because I know you're new to town and and what we do here in Israel may not make sense for what happens in Moab but this is the way

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Yahweh has set it up and you have chosen to embrace not only

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Yahweh's commands Yahweh's redemption and chosen to embrace me so now my daughter do not fear

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I will do for you all that you ask for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman and now it is true that I am a

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Redeemer yet there is a Redeemer nearer than I there's always a detail there's always a wrench that gets thrown into the works and it's like ah we can't get a clean resolve at this point there's another guy yeah he's here's the bit is that Boaz isn't

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Redeemer numero uno he's Redeemer number two what will happen what does that Redeemer like is he anything like Boaz there's nobody like Boaz what do we expect to happen here but Boaz has character you can trust him you can trust him with your life and Ruth does he's nothing but kind and he's upstanding he's not going to do something underhanded so he says there is a

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Redeemer nearer than I have got to tell you the truth so remain tonight and in the morning if he will redeem you well good let him do it but if he is not willing to redeem you then as Yahweh lives

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I will redeem you and now we've got a thorny problem we got a woman at the threshing floor in the middle of the night and we've got to get her out of here without creating gossip in town so he's already concerned about what's going on here he's got a plan you lie down until morning so she lay at his feet just like she had until the morning but she arose for one could recognize another she was getting out of there before she could be recognized and so he said to her let it not be known that the came to the threshing floor and he said bring the garment that you are wearing and hold it out so there in the darkness of the early twilight morning before she could be recognized she held out her garment and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her that's not a small amount and then she went into the city and when she came to her mother -in -law she said how did you fare my daughter you're the one who put her into this into this situation right

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I bet you want to know all the details tell me the tea dear and so she told her all that the man had done for her saying these six measures of barley he gave to me for he said to me you must not go back empty -handed to your mother -in -law again nothing but generosity nothing but kindness complete mercy complete looking out for her reputation as well as his own but yet he has to not only meet her needs he knows that he needs to also bring give something back to Naomi so she replied you wait my daughter until you learn how the matter turns out for the man will not rest but he will settle the matter today and if you want to know how this ends you have to come back next week in the name of Jesus congregation please rise let my prayer rise before you as incense our

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Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen the

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Lord be with you let us pray at the end of each of the colleagues today please say the word amen with me for each one

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Oh Lord God of life the life of all the living the light of the faithful the strength of those whose labor who labor in the repose of the blessed dead grant us a peaceful night free from all the disturbances that after a time of quiet slumber we may by your goodness be endued in the new day with guidance of your

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Holy Spirit and enabled to enabled in peace to render thanks to you through Jesus Christ our

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Lord amen stir up our hearts

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Oh Lord to make ready the way of your only begotten Son that by his coming we may be enabled to serve you with pure minds to the same

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Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit one God now and forever amen

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Oh God from whom come all holy desires all good counsels all just works give to us your servants that peace which the world cannot give that our hearts may be set to obey your commandments and also that we being defended from the fear of our enemies may live in peace and quietness through Jesus Christ your

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Son our Lord who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit one God now and forever let us bless the

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Lord the grace of our

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Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the