Ruth

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Hi. How are you guys? I was listening to and talk about

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all the babies that are being born here and the ministries we

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get to have an opportunity to be a part of and the

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children we're watching grow up. Guys, there's so much

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fruit in the house. There's so much fruit, God is doing

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things and I'm so encouraged

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by what I see all around us. So we're gonna

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press into the word today because I think it is the word that changes us.

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I believe it is the truth of the word that gives us a foundation

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to stand on and allows us to move forward, and I find it

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very much like God that this particular

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Sunday, I would have the opportunity to share about

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Ruth, and that I would have the opportunity to talk with you

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guys about how we navigate things when

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seasons change in our life. Anybody been going through

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anything lately? Let's just start over here

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with the first row. Life happens,

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doesn't it? Things happen, disappointment happens,

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our hearts get broken, relationships change,

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we have to navigate hard places sometimes. Have any of

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you ever had to navigate a place that you didn't really know? Well

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number one, you didn't want to be there in the first place, and number two,

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you're like what am I going to do now? Anybody, what am I going to

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do now? I seem to spend a perpetual amount of

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time asking the Lord, okay, what do I do now? Well He had taken

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me in the book of Ruth some time ago, taken me through some

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steps, some life lessons that have

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really served me well. I feel like when the Lord implants

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something in your spirit through his word, that's not just for

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now. It's one of those things that you use over and over and

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over again as the Lord changes your seasons.

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Have the leaves fallen off of anyone's trees lately?

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Because that's how I feel a lot of times when the seasons change in my

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life, and I'm watching Ruth walk through

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some seasons, and I watch to see

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how the Lord helps her navigate those places. And I just want to

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share it with you and see what the Lord would do with these things in

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your life as you navigate the hard seasons

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or the changing seasons or fields that you didn't even

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want to be in in the first place? How do we navigate those

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places in a way that brings glory to God,

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brings wholeness to us, and strengthens us and we can

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learn as we go. So we're gonna stand and read a passage

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in a minute. Let me set it up. How many of you know the story

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of Ruth? Okay. Tell your neighbor

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about it. Just a brief

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synopsis. Ruth, Elimelech

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and his family, Elimelech and Naomi, are living

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in Judah, and it says there is a famine in the land. And

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so Elimelech decides to take his family to

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Moab, and so Elimelech takes Naomi.

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They leave the homeland, and while they are there, their sons,

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Mahlon and Killian, marry two daughters, Ruth and

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Orpah. Well, in the course of events, they're living in a strange

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land. It isn't where it isn't their homeland. They've been forced to go there

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by circumstances. Have circumstances ever taken you

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somewhere that you really wish you didn't have to go? Yeah,

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me too. Me too. And so there they are

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in a strange land, but they've been there for a while, actually

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about ten years, and Elimelech

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passes, then Mahlon and Kilion both

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pass, and so not only has this woman,

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Naomi, lost her husband and lost both of her

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sons, she now is charged with caring for two

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daughters who she loves dearly. And

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this is where we pick up the particular passage, if you would stand with

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me for a moment. The Lord, she has made the

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decision. She has heard. Naomi has heard. Help

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has come to her homeland. People are being

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blessed. It's not in famine anymore. Things are being taken care of.

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So she makes a decision to go home, and this is

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where we are. Look, said Naomi,

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your sister-in-law is going back to her people and

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her gods. Go back with her. But Ruth

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replied, don't urge me to leave you or to

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turn back from you. Where you go, I will

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go, and where you stay, I will stay.

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Your people will be my people, and your God,

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my God. Father, thank you for the decisions, Lord, that we

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make that put us right in the center of your hand. I pray, Father

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God, that today you would teach us. Lord that we could glean from these

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fields things that would serve us well, Lord, as we

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traverse these pathways, Lord that are unexpected and sometimes

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hard. Give us wisdom today, Father. I pray for

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teachable hearts, for soft spirits today, Lord Jesus.

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And I pray that my stuff would fall, and Your stand in Jesus'

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name, amen. Amen. I think it's

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kind of one of those cool things. There are four chapters in the book

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of Ruth, and each chapter shares a

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season that she has walked through. A couple of interesting things

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about the book of Ruth, it is the only book in the Bible that is

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named after a non Jew. Ruth was a

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Moabite. And so I love that

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this story is shared with someone who didn't have

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original covenant. I love that the path that he is

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getting ready to walk with Ruth is one that we

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are invited into. So I also think

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it was interesting that it actually most people think that it was a part of

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the book of Judges, but this particular part got

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told so many times, the story of Ruth and Boaz was

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told so many times that it kind of got separated as a

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separate story, so we went from Deborah in the book of Judges

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into this story with Ruth. But here's the thing.

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So often when we read about Ruth, what do we think about?

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Boaz. We think about I mean, come on. Come on. Now

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women, we have all seen the conferences finding

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your Boaz. You know, the search for

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Boaz. Do you have my Boaz? Preparing

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for Boaz. And I was like, oh, come on. Give me a

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break. Anyway, that's what we see.

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That's what we see somehow. It's always the story of Ruth and Boaz,

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and Ruth and Boaz are absolutely pivotal

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in the story. But here's the thing. We so

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love to jump to the good part, don't we? We don't like to go through

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the messy part. Just tell us the outcome. Just tell us

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the good part. Don't make us suffer with you.

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Don't make us grieve with you. Don't ask us

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to mourn with you or walk through hard places with

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you. No. Jump to the ending. You will ruin

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a book that way. You miss so much when you

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just want to jump to the end because it's the story that makes

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the ending so powerful. It is the

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story that makes the ending so rich. I was

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riding in the car with Nora June the other day. She's three, and

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it had been cloudy all day. I mean, just clouds everywhere.

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And all of a sudden, she yells from the back seat, Nana,

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look. The sky is blue. It's peeping

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right there. It's peeping right there and the rays of sun were coming through.

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And she went, it is so blue.

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Guys, the clouds are what show us how blue

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the sky really is. When they begin to part, when these

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things begin to happen, and the Lord just starts showing

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up, and all of a sudden everything is more beautiful

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because of what you've walked through, because of what you've come

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through. See sometimes we don't want to know

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the bad stuff. Here's the thing.

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So often I've heard teachers pretty much most of my

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life say, God can heal you without scars.

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I pray not. I pray not because

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every scar that I carry is a testimony of

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his healing if I just let somebody touch it long enough

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to hear the story. The scars that you carry

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have purpose. They have meaning. The hard things that

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you have walked through, your testimonies are right there

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etched on your skin, etched on your heart, etched on those

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places because God has brought you through those

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clouds. These are the rays of sun

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peeping through that we're supposed to be using to tell the

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body of Christ you can make it. You can do it. This

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is my mom's favorite thing, this too shall pass. And I'll be

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like, no, it ain't. Yes, it will. No, it

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won't. It doesn't feel like it sometimes, does it?

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Sometimes those seasons feel like forever. Well, in our desire

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to not deal with the scars and the broken places, we

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miss the hand of God and so much. And we make it small.

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We make the suffering and the wounds and the pains and the isolation

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of people so small because we just want to hear the good stuff.

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Ruth was a widow.

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Yeah, you've heard that a thousand times. No. Ruth was a

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widow. She had been married to Killian for ten

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years. Anybody in here been married for ten years?

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Is your life just a little bit entwined with that person's?

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You love them a little bit? You invested?

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Is your heart there? So was Ruth.

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So was Ruth. Malin had been her husband for

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ten years. She loved this family that God had placed her

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in the middle of. You know that she did. I mean, Naomi's calling

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them daughters. Daughters. And they're weeping because they

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don't want to leave her. That is not normally the the message that mother

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in laws have. Guys, I

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am so blessed. I have two of the best

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daughter in laws in the world. In the world and God

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so matched them to my sons. So I

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understand that love that you have for

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daughters that weren't born of you, but were sent to

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you. And I'm so grateful for Kate. And I'm so grateful

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for Rachel, because my sons needed

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them. They complete our family. This is

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what I see with Ruth and Orpah. This is her family. These are her

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girls. And she tells them, she says, I don't have anything to offer you.

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I don't have anything. I've lost my husband and I've lost my

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sons. I don't have anything for you. Go

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home. Go home to your parents. And they cry and they say,

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we're not gonna leave. And eventually Orpah decides to go and be

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with her family. And Ruth says, I will not leave you.

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I will not leave you. And that's where we see that passage of scripture where

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you go, I will go. Your people will be my people and

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your God will be my God. And in that

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moment, in that moment, in this first chapter,

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this first season that we are learning about Ruth, I

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believe what we see is she walks through pain and suffering

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and loss and mourning. And God

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sends her an ally. God places an ally in

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her life. God will send you an unexpected

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ally in those moments when you need them the

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most, when you just need them. But I believe the whole

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thing shifts with the words, your God

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shall be my God. Because from that moment

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forward, it went Ruth was no longer a Moabite.

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She was a follower of Jehovah. And let me tell you something.

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When you invite Jehovah onto the scene in your hard

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places, when you decide to trust him in those

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moments, everything changes. Everything

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changes, but you've got to go, God, you will be my

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God. Even in this hardest of place. Even in this

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field that I don't want to be in. In my grief, in my mourning,

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in my suffering, in my pain, with these wounds,

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with these scars. You are still God.

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You are God. And that is the season

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so often we find ourselves in. Places that are hard and

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unexpected and that we don't want to walk in. And I'll begin to go, Lord,

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show me how she walked this out. Coming out of those

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hard fields, out of those hard places. Lord, teach me so

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that I know how to do this. And I think it is so

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key that in that moment, the most wounded of them all, the one who

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had lost her husband, lost her sons, makes

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a decision to go home. Makes a decision

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to go home.

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Some of us have stayed in the field of

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wounds too long. Some of us have stayed in the

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lands of loss for too long, and it's

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time to turn our heart toward home. Now I'm not talking

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about Coalfield, because I ain't going back there. But I'm

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talking about I'll drive by and

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wave, but, I'm talking about a hard

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place, a hard position, a community

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that God has surrounded you with. See, because she had

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community, Naomi had community back home. We know

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that because when she goes back, she's got more than one relative. She's got

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people, And we're going to see that unfold a little bit later. So she decides

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to go home. Some of us need to decide to go home

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and stop isolating. You know, you can be in the room, but

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not of the room. You can be in the space and not

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participate. If your heart is wounded and hard and hurt,

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let your guard down. Let healing start. And so what we see,

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which I think is wonderful, God starts a process

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in Ruth's life. They move back to Bethlehem and

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Judah and she begins to listen to

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Naomi, this heart friend in this season.

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You know, I just said God will send you allies, he will send friendships into

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your life, and they are in your life for seasons.

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I didn't understand that when I was young. I had friends and

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close heart friends when I was young, or over

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time. And I just knew, man, that Jan was going

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to be my best friend until the day that I passed, and we would sit

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on our front porch and we would watch our grandchildren grow up. Well that wasn't

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the case. God sends people into your life with purpose,

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and most of the time it's for a season.

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In my life, in school season, Jan was

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it. Jan kept me grounded. She made me

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study. She made straight As and I couldn't let her beat

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me. And so she challenged me academically, she

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challenged me as a friend and grounded me. And in

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that season that was wonderful, that season ended,

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but I still love her. She's still a great friend. When

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I was a young mom and was really, really, really, really, and

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I should say that again, scattered, the Lord gave me Christine lockets.

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And I tell you what, I don't know that my children would be here without

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Christine. They she fed them. She took care of them,

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she taught me how to be a better mother. In that

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season, I needed to know how to navigate motherhood. And let me tell

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you something, if you think your hands are full, go be with a

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mom who's got three times the kids that you do. And you're like,

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thank you God for three children. And she had

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nine. She had nine. And she

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was the most amazing mom, and she mommed my kids, and she

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loved my kids, and she taught me about

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parenting in that season. And I thought it would be forever.

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But then God moved her to the other side of the country

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for other purposes. And then the Lord brought someone into my

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life named Dawn Montgomery. And Dawn Montgomery hit my life

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at exactly the moment that I needed Dawn Montgomery in my life. She

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was nurturing me in I was writing and I was

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singing and I was creating music and working in Nashville.

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And Dawn, I don't know if you've ever heard her sing, but the girl can

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sing. And she is anointed and she

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would sit with me at the piano and she'd go, you know, well, have you

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thought about this word? Have you thought about that? Or she would encourage me or

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she would sing the harmony to it and I would get it. And in that

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season of my life, I cannot imagine that season

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of my life without Dawn Montgomery. She taught me

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so much. And then the Lord brought Anna

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Urias into my life. And Anna Urias is like

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trying to run next to a thoroughbred. I have never

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felt more donkeyish in my life

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When trying to run by Anna, you know, and it wasn't

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purposeful. She wasn't that's just who she was and God went in

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my spirit went, you know, you can run like that. You know, you can

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study like that. You know you can serve like that.

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And man, she taught me so much in that season of my

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life. And I pray that I blessed her in

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that season.

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And then the Lord brought Sue Cole into my life.

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In the season where I needed an Aaron and a her and a

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whole army, I needed somebody in

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ministry just to encourage and to do the things that I couldn't

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do and to tell me that it was gonna be okay. Anyway,

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and so it's my desire. It's my hope.

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And I mean my here's the thing, guys. Every

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single one of those women who have ministered to me and walked

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alongside me in my life, I could call them in a heartbeat and they

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would be there. They would be there and I would be there for them.

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It isn't that the love goes away. It's that the purpose of the season

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has changed. And understand, God is going to

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bring people in and out of your life with purpose for a season,

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and respect that season. Love them the way that they deserve to

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be loved. Allow them to pour into you and to teach you.

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That's what Naomi did. Now listen, it's my prayer

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that Sue Cole and I get to sit on the beach and watch the kids

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play. Because there ain't a whole lot more seasons, you

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know? And I I really don't have time to train another friend.

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Actually, I think God is going, no. This is the last one you're getting. You

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have worn the rest of them out. And but I'm just so

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grateful. I'm so grateful for that. And Naomi

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was that in this season for Ruth, and she began to

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speak wisdom to her. And one of the things that she did, now listen, let

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me tell you something. After a painful season, after

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a suffering season, just like spring

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follows winter, you will enter a season

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of gleaning. You will enter a season of gleaning

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just like she did. Naomi says, I want you to

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go and glean in the fields of Boaz.

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See, all it means to glean is to go and see what's left

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over. When you come through a hard place, a broken place,

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a a place that you did not even think you would survive,

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sometimes, most of the time, it's time

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to glean the field. See, when you glean a field, you really

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are going, okay, this is devastated, Lord.

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What's left? What's left? And when you glean a field, to

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glean literally means to collect

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information, to

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extract knowledge, and

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to obtain wisdom. To

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collect, to extract, and to obtain

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wisdom. When you've gone through a hard season that you don't really

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understand and you're like, why, God? The best thing you can

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do in that moment is is to begin to look at your situation

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and go, okay, Lord. What is the

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information, Lord, of this moment? What are you trying to teach me

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in this moment, Lord? What can I extract?

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What goodness can I extract from this? What can

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I pull from this soil of of tears

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that I've walked through? What can I obtain?

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What is in my hands now that I didn't have before? What have

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I obtained through this season of

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pain? If you will collect information, if you

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will extract the knowledge of the moment, and if you will take what you

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have learned and what you've experienced and allow God to

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turn it into wisdom, It will give you something

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when you leave a hard season. It will put something in your hands that

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you didn't have when you went in. See, so often we get so focused on

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what was taken out of our hand that we can't see what he has put

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in it as we've taken this journey.

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So, from wounded places to places

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of gleaning, Lord, what can you teach me here? What can you show me

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here? What can I carry forward in this moment?

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And the next thing we see her do, she does. She goes and she gleans

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the field. And then Naomi tells her, I

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want you to be provided for. I want you to be

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taken care of. So I'm going to give you some wisdom here. I want

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you to go to the threshing floor. She says, I want you to go wash

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your face. Go wash your face.

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Put on your best clothes, and then I want you to go to the threshing

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floor. Boaz is going to be at the threshing floor tonight,

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and he is I want you to watch where he is, and

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after he goes and he lays down, I want you to go and I want

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you to lay at his feet, lift the blanket, lay at his

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feet, get up and wash your face. What does that remind

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you of? Didn't David have to get up and go wash his

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face? Didn't he have to get up when things didn't go the way

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he had prayed, the way he had wanted, and his son dies?

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There comes a point in time where he had to get up and go wash

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his face and move forward. And that is exactly what

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Ruth does out of this season of loss and lack and hurt and

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wounds. But here's the cool thing, guys. Do you know

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that when she goes and she lays down at the feet

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of Boaz, she is calling for the kinsman

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redeemer. She is calling for the kinsman

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redeemer. And you know what's cool about that? For all reasonable purposes

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according to this culture, Ruth just asked Boaz to marry her.

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So there you go, women. Don't do it. Anyway.

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No. God will send him you you are to be pursued. Let

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me back up a minute, women. God will send one that will

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pursue you and love you with your whole heart, and if they win

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you, then go. But, I'm just gonna put

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that out there.

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The kinsman redeemer. You know that that's the type and shadow

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of Jesus. Right? The kinsman redeemer is the closest

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relative, and that's who Boaz wasn't the closest relative. There

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was one that was closer, but Naomi had said go and do

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this, and Boaz will take care of it. He will see that the

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matter is settled. He goes to the gate and he invites the the gate

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of the city. The man comes who is the other that's closest, and he's like,

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I really want the field. And Boaz says, I really want the

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woman. In other words, he says, I want

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what she has. And Boaz says, I want her and

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everything that has to do with her. Everything.

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You have a kinsman redeemer who loves you, who

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wants everything that you are,

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everything that you possess. You know what's wonderful about that? A kinsman

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redeemer couldn't be a true kinsman redeemer if he could only afford

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half of her. If he could only afford to redeem a part of her

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debt, if he could only afford to do a little bit, he was

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it was invalid. He couldn't do it. The kinsman redeemer

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had to buy it all. The kinsman

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redeemer had to redeem it all.

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It all. Every debt, every

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loss, everything returning her name to her, her

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reputation, everything came through the

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kinsman redeemer. Guys, you have a

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kinsman redeemer. You have a kinsman

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redeemer. And it could have stopped there. Guys, come on out if the

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worship people. Come on out.

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Worship people. That's the technical term.

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Musicians and minstrels. Levitical

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priesthood, come forth.

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Better? Better? Oh, thou that art anointed by the

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Lord.

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It's getting more and more difficult to call them out.

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Sheesh. I'm so

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grateful for them. So we watch Ruth go through three seasons.

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We watch her go through brokenness, through pain, through tears, through

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mourning, through loss. Then we watch her go into a gleaning

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season where she makes the decision to place

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herself in a field that is in right proximity to the

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master of the field. And she begins to glean, she

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begins to gather information, she begins to gather

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wisdom, and she begins to move in those things. And

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in her third season, guys, when you have been through this,

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find you a place at His feet. Male or female, this isn't a

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male or female thing, this is a heart posture. Find a

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place. When the Lord is revealing things to you about what you just went

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through, go sit at His feet and go, God, show

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me what to do with this. I'm still broken and I'm still wounded and

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I'm still healing. But God, I know that you can change this.

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Find some time at his feet. And he will show

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you what to do with what you've been through. And see,

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not only does Boaz redeem this, not only does God

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redeem this time, that would have been enough. It would

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have been enough for him to redeem Ruth and to redeem,

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Naomi. But God always does exceedingly abundantly

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above, doesn't he? He always adds more. And so you wanna

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see something beautiful here.

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Boaz marries Ruth. And

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then God gives Ruth and Boaz

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a son. And this son,

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the whole community rejoices. Because

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Naomi went away broken and she came back full.

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And this community, these people that God took her

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back to, helped her name her son. Name this

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grandson, and they named him Obed. And

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Obed means worship. Obed means worship.

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When you've been through the fields, when you've been through the gleaning, when you've

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been at his feet, it just might be time to worship. It

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just might be time to go thank you God for what you brought me

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through in this. And that would have been enough, right?

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Obed is born. But then there's God. And so you know what

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happens next? Obed gives birth to

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Jesse. He and his wife have a son. They name him

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Jesse. And then Jesse and his wife have a

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son and they name him David. And we

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are singing the songs of worship

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that the grandson of Ruth, the grandson

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was birthed into this place. You serve

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a God who does exceedingly, abundantly above

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what you can think or ask. If you will take those hard places,

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those changing seasons that you do not understand. If you will glean

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and learn the wisdom of those moments and then take them and

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lay them at His feet and entrust Him to do what only He can

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do. Worship Him. And

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generations, generations,

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generations will be changed, will be

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affected. That's the opportunity

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we have when our seasons are in

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the hand of our kinsman redeemer.

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Amen? You wanna hear a really cool little fact?

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David, this grandson, because of the

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Bibles that have been published, the hymns that have been written, all

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of these things. He is the top selling

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musician and artist of all time.

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Still today. So we're we're gonna take an opportunity if you would

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stand. I'm gonna

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invite some elders and leaders to come down and

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be available for prayer. But even more than

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that, if you are one of the ones in this room

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that I know are in here. And the beginning of this song

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says, this is where I lay it down. This is where I lay it

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down. Can you come lay it down?

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The season you're in, the place you've been stuck,

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the hope that you're waiting for. Your time is

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now. It's time to worship. Father, give us wisdom.

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Encourage in Jesus name. Amen.