FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
What God Can Do Within Your Family | Ruth 1:1-22
Your family is a mess. My family is a mess. We're all a mess in some way. The restaurant disaster with my kids running wild? Just the latest evidence that family life rarely goes according to plan. But what if these messy moments aren't just obstacles to overcome—what if they're precisely where God wants to show up?
In this kickoff to our "Bless This Mess" series, we dive into the book of Ruth—the soap opera of the Bible—where family dysfunction meets divine redemption. Ruth's story unfolds during Israel's darkest period, when "everyone did what was right in their own eyes." Elimelech, whose name ironically means "my God is king," makes the catastrophic decision to move his family from Bethlehem to Moab during a famine. Rather than trusting God, he seeks provision in a pagan land where people worship through child sacrifice. Sound familiar? It's like saying, "God's not providing, so I'll handle this myself."
The consequences are devastating. Death, grief, and bitterness follow. Yet in this mess emerges Ruth's beautiful declaration of faith: "Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God." Her loyalty to Naomi mirrors how we should cling to Jesus, who never stops clinging to us even in our worst moments.
When facing family crises—whether marriage conflicts, parenting struggles, addiction, betrayal, or loss—we have a choice between bitterness or belief. Bitterness says, "This happened; life will never be good again." Belief says, "This happened, and it was terrible, but I believe God still has something for me." The story culminates with their arrival in Bethlehem at harvest time, signaling new beginnings that eventually lead to the birth of King David's grandfather and ultimately, Jesus himself.
Whatever mess you're facing today, remember: Jesus doesn't step around your mess—He steps right into the middle of it. Cast your anxieties on Him, for He cares for you. Subscribe to join us as we discover how God blesses our messes for the story of Jesus's glory in our lives.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
series this morning that we are calling Bless this Mess. Everybody look at somebody and say Bless this Mess. This is actually a series on family, on family. Your family is a mess, like my family is a mess. We're all a mess in some way. Look at somebody and say you are a mess, you are a mess and we are all a mess. We are all in a mess and that's why we need Jesus. Can I get an amen? We tried, michelle a mess, and that's why we need Jesus. Can I get an amen? We tried, michelle and I.
Speaker 1:We just thought it was such a brilliant idea to try and take our three little rugrats out to eat About a week ago Brooklyn 6, cruise 2, ileana 1, and we thought, man, let's just take them out, let's try it all in the restaurant one more time. What's the worst that could happen? Right, and of course it was a dumpster fire, train wreck, disaster all at once. I'll probably never forget it. Cruz, he's two-year-old, you know he cannot sit. Still. He's running up and down the bench in the booth and he's trying to get out. And he's going out and trying to talk to other people and just making a havoc wherever he is. And Brooklyn, she got her favorite meal that we always do, the little kid's steak bites, which are actually really good, and some corn Food comes out and she just starts crying. For some reason she changed her mind. She doesn't want it. And Eliana now one year old, and now she's taking everything off the table and she thinks that everything on the table should be under the table right, and so ketchup's flying and sweet and low and all that kind of stuff. And we're just amazed they even let us back in.
Speaker 1:To be honest with you, I remember about a year ago when we were there and Cruz, he used to love to just literally walk the whole restaurant, probably because we went so much he thought it was home, and he would walk the entire restaurant and he would just give people high fives, just giving people high fives. He's giving high fives left and right. He turns around and there's a waitress right there. He gives her a high five. The only problem is she's bending over right, gives her a high five right on her bottom. I'm trying to stop him. I pull him back. She looks up and it's me right there. I'm like no, ma'am, watch the tape, watch the cameras. It was not me, it was my son. We are all a mess. Can I get an amen? We're gonna look at the book of Ruth.
Speaker 1:Open up with me to the book of Ruth. The book of Ruth is an incredible book of the Bible and it talks about marriage, talks about parenting, talks about family, talks about singleness, talks about dating, talks about death and loss, and hope and blessing. It is the soap opera of the Bible and it is always good to just dive deep in God's word. This is a real life story and the reason that God recorded it, the reason that God orchestrated it, was to connect with your real life story. In fact, the more your life is a mess, the more the Bible makes sense to you, because the Bible is all about people who are all caught up in messes. We thought this was a great opportunity. It's actually the next book that we're studying. We started in Genesis, the very beginning of the Bible, back in January of 2024,. We've worked our way up all the way to Ruth now and it's just perfect the way that God works it out.
Speaker 1:Talking about family, as we're back to school Some of y'all may have started this past Friday, some of y'all are starting tomorrow Our little girl, brooklyn's starting the first grade and I can't think about it or I'll cry. So let's just continue here. I wanna talk about the 10 most common family messes that maybe your family is found in right now. Could be a marriage conflict or crisis, could be parenting struggles, could be financial strain, could be addiction or substance abuse. Could be mental health challenges. Could be a spiritual disconnection from God, could be busyness or you're just burned out. Maybe you've gone through infidelity or you have been betrayed. Maybe you've gone through infidelity or you have been betrayed. Maybe you have a blended family tension that's brewing in your family. Or maybe you have gone through grief, loss or chronic illness. Or maybe you're going through all 10 and we just need to pray for you right now. And you know we come to church and we just got to remember that it's not time to put on your church face. Right, it's okay to not be okay and the whole purpose is we come here so that Jesus can do a work in your life, so that he can bless you, so that you can leave better than the time, than the way that you walked in. Can I get an amen? And so we're going to look at Ruth one, and I want to remind you as we look at Ruth 1 together.
Speaker 1:If you got your Bible or your fake Bible on your phone, or we'll see it on the screen I just want you to know that there's four parts typically to every story. Whether you watch a movie, you read a book or a TV show or a comic book, whatever it might be, there's always the background how did the mess come to be? There's the problem what problems is the mess creating? There's the decision, the decision that you've got to make while you're in the middle of the mess, and then there's the hope that God is going to bring you out of the mess All four. So here we go.
Speaker 1:Let's look at the first one your background. Everyone say background. You have a background to your story. Your family has a background. The way that your family is today, it's because of everything and everyone's life leading up to the way that it is, and that's the same here in the book of Ruth. Here's what we see. It says in the days of the judges, when they ruled, there was a famine. When the judges ruled there, there was a famine in the land. So actually, ruth is not some beautiful love story. It is actually a love story that is found in the middle of a huge national spiritual mess. The book of Judges we went through Judges throughout the month of July you can check it out about Gideon and Othniel and Deborah and about Samson. The pastor Christian Henry preached last week, did such a great job. July you can check it out about Gideon and Othniel and Deborah and about Samson. The pastor Christian Henry preached last week, did such a great job. And this is the setting that Ruth is in. It's actually in one of the greatest national spiritual crises throughout all of the Bible.
Speaker 1:And here we find this story of Ruth and how God is focusing on one family at this time, to show us that God is focusing on your family too. You can write down won't be on the screen. Judges 21, 25 says in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone just did what was right in their own eyes, first and foremost, just talking about family. If you really want God to bless your family, you gotta make sure, first and foremost, that Jesus is your king and the king of your family and you don't do what's right in your eyes, you do what's right in his eyes. That's found in his word. Can I get an amen?
Speaker 1:It says there was a famine going on, a famine of food. And so what's happening here, in this context of Judges if you remember this book, it is probably because of all of the people's disobedience. And God is not causing a family because he doesn't love them, he's not causing a famine just to punish them. As you see throughout the book of Judges, god may be causing this famine just to get their attention, saying you're not just starving physically, you're starving spiritually because you're feasting on sin. And that's what God loves to do, is he loves to get our attention. If you could imagine no bread in the land, no food in the land, not knowing where your next meal is going to come from, not knowing how you're going to feed your kids, could you imagine, right, no bread in the land, walking into the Mexican restaurant and they ran out of chips? Can you imagine Going to Cracker Barrel there's no biscuits, going to Jim and Nick's and there's no little cheese muffins. My goodness, jesus, come on back, all right. So roll with Ruth 1-2.
Speaker 1:It says the name of the man. So this story. The dad's name was Elimelech, by the way, elimelech meant my God is king, and the name of his wife was Naomi. Naomi's wife meant sweet or pleasant. The names of the two sons were Malon and Kilion. Malon meant sickly and Kilion meant dying. Truly, that's actually what they meant. So there you are, my God is king, sweet and pleasant, and they're parenting sick and dying.
Speaker 1:Can't make it up, y'all. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem. Bethlehem should jog your memory. A light bulb should go off. Oh little town of Bethlehem, right where Jesus was born. This family was in Bethlehem hundreds of years before Jesus, bethlehem and Judah, and they went into the country of Moab and they remained there.
Speaker 1:Now here's the problem that you've got to read into the passage so you can see what's going on. Elimelech is the dad, he's the patriarch, he's the spiritual leader. His name means my God is king. The only problem is he's not living up to his name. The only problem is, this is not the way that his life is going. See here in the famine in the land, because of their spiritual disobedience, what Elimelech decides to do out of all of these people, he may be the worst dad around. Elimelech decides to go and move his family to Moab.
Speaker 1:Moab was a pagan land. Moab worshiped the god Chemosh. Chemosh was a real god, false god idol. He was a god that he was worshiped through violent acts and even physical child sacrifice. It would be like you moving your family to the Las Vegas Strip. It would be like saying, hey, god's not being good to us in our church. We are going to Vegas and we're going to provide for ourselves. In other words, what's your Moab? Moab is the area of your life that you're saying God, you're not providing for me, so I am going to provide for me. Naomi, sweet and pleasant, she was probably just going along with it, malon and Kilion just going along with it.
Speaker 1:What a reminder that dads here in this room, dads in this room, we are called to be the spiritual leaders in our family. Moms in this room, dads in this room, we are called to be the spiritual leaders in our family. Moms in this room, you are a spiritual leader as well, as you are following your husband. The Bible says submitting to your husband, but also maybe you're in here and you are a single mom and you're called to be that spiritual leader, whoever you are. As a parent, we are called to prioritize our children's spiritual life over every other part of their life.
Speaker 1:Can I get an amen? It is our job to make sure that we are keeping them as close to God as possible that we are keeping them in the church. There is no more important place in your child's life than the church of Jesus Christ. I wanna encourage you get them in our kids' ministry. Get them in there on Sunday mornings, get them in there on Wednesday nights. Get your students in our student ministries on Sundays and Wednesdays and get your kids in all the activities and you get to be every parent's favorite. Two words hands free. Can I get an amen? And you get to come to worship and you get to go to group and God gets to do a work in your life. See, you can't provide for you and you can't provide for your family what only God can provide. That's why we see in scripture when, if grandpa says church is essential, my family's going to church. But the very next generation dad says you know what I'm gonna make it optional for my family. Then the next generation, the, says you know what I'm gonna make it optional for my family. Then the next generation, the son, might say well then, church is unnecessary for my family. Then the grandson would say who's Jesus? Who are you talking about? The most important part of a child's life is their spiritual life and it is our job to make sure that we are constantly, continually exposing them to the gospel, to get them saved and to continue to disciple them in order to live saved.
Speaker 1:Look at verse 3. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died. She was left with her two sons, malon and Kilion. And you would think, naomi, okay, this is her chance, she's going to take them back to the people of God, she's going to take them back to Bethlehem, she's going to get them out of Moab, this pagan land. No, they stayed there, they stayed in Moab. And these, the two sons, malon and Kilion, they took Moabite wives.
Speaker 1:When we put our kids in the wrong places, it leads them to make the wrong decisions. And the name of the one wife was Orpah and the name of the other wife was Ruth. We see here what is happening is you look at verse four. They live there, malon and Kilion and Orpah and Ruth and Naomi. They all live there, continue to live in Moab, for about 10 years, a whole decade.
Speaker 1:It's tragic, it's heartbreaking. Both Malon and Kilion, sick and dead, died. So the woman Naomi, here she is. She's left without her two sons and without her husband. What we see here is a real mess that only God can bless. I don't know what's happening in your family, but I know what's happening in my family, I know what's happening in our extended family and we've got messes that are going on in our families and you've got messes that are going on in your families and we have to remember we're not just called to live in the mess and we're not called to take care of our own mess. We're called to give our mess to Jesus because only he can bless it. Can I get an amen? Tamara Estes. I love her testimony, her story. If you know, tamara and Trinity and the other daughters and just the whole family.
Speaker 1:On February 26th in 1998, tamara said I became mom to a sweet boy, trevor. From birth, doctors knew something was wrong. He required constant transfusions and by nine months our church prayed over him and miraculously, his bone marrow started working. We celebrated, thinking the worst was behind us. But soon after, trevor developed a rare condition and was later diagnosed with Pearson syndrome and at just 22 months he went home to be with the Lord. We prayed for healing and God answered. But he answered with eternal healing in heaven.
Speaker 1:Years later, tragedy struck again. On September 4th 2014, tamara said my husband, buddy passed away unexpectedly, and the next day my father-in-law. 18 months later, my brother passed away. My daughters lost their brother and three of the most important men in their lives. Those men in just less than two years.
Speaker 1:And here's what Tamara says. And yet God never left us. God has been our provider, god has been our peace, god has been our strength. We have been our peace, god has been our strength. We have lived through grief, we've seen miracles and we have found joy again. She says we're not strong on our own, we're strong through Christ, who gives us strength.
Speaker 1:It is a reminder that Jesus doesn't just step around your mess. Jesus loves to step right into the middle of it. It's like a little kid, you know, whenever we get up to rain puddles, we walk around it. We don't want anything to do with it, but what's the little kid do? The little kid just runs and jumps and splashes and the mess gets all over him. And that's what Jesus does, because that's what Jesus did. And that's what Jesus does, because that's what Jesus did.
Speaker 1:Jesus came to earth when earth was an absolute mess, during 400 years of silence of God. Why? Because nobody was listening anyways. And Jesus comes and steps into the mess so that he can bless us with his life. And in the same way, hear me, whatever mess that is happening in your life and in your family, jesus wants to step into the middle of it to bless your life and to bless your family. That's why it says in Jeremiah 29, 11, write this down Jeremiah 29, 11,. God says I know the plans I have for you. They are plans. God says my plans for you are good. He says my plans for you are not for disaster, they're not to be a dumpster fire. He says they're to give you a future and a hope. So my question for you this morning is what's your mess that God wants to bless? Because only he can.
Speaker 1:So, as we think about our background, let's go to number two and let's talk about our problem, your problem. Look at somebody and say problem your problem. What is your problem in your life that your background has led up to? Well, here's what we see in verse six Ruth one. Then she, naomi, arose with her daughters-in-law. Now Elimelech is dead, malon is dead, kilion is dead.
Speaker 1:Now here Naomi is, she's from Bethlehem, she's from the people of God. Now she has two daughters-in-law that are Moabite women, that are Chimash worshipers, and she says that they got up and they went to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. Now let me just stop for one second and just make one incredibly important point that you have to hear for your life God is visiting his people in the middle of their sin and disobedience. Listen, god does not bless disobedience. It's not that he won't, it's that he can't. God cannot bless the disobedience in your life. There are times praise the Lord that he blesses our obedience, but what God loves to do when he's in our disobedience is he loves to bless us, to show us his goodness and his kindness, so that we can follow him out of our disobedience and into our obedience as we follow him. That's exactly what he's doing here in this passage. God loves to bless the mess. So check this out in verse eight. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law go return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
Speaker 1:Naomi was homesick. It doesn't look like that. She's just homesick for her family. I think she's homesick because she's been living in a pagan land. She's been living around people who don't know God, who don't worship God, who don't sacrifice to God, who don't serve God. She wants to go home to be around the people of God again. Have you ever been out of church? And you just miss church? I remember, as a pastor, I was out of church for about three months. It was called COVID, and so were you. We were all at home, right, and we were watching worship and I just remember if this is all I've got, if this is all I can do, then this is what I'm going to do. But I could not wait to get back to church and be with the people of God. It's not about being in the room, it's about being with the assembly, about being with the people of God that God loves to bless. And we see that Naomi is homesick to bless. And we see that Naomi is homesick and I'll be honest with you, she said so.
Speaker 1:Ruth and Orpah, why don't you go back to your homes, go back to your mom, go back to your dad, go back to your family, get married, have a family, have children again? And I've never noticed this before. Everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. Instead, naomi should have said Ruth Orpah, you come with me. I want you to come with me, to come, and I want you to know God. I want you to worship God. I want you to be around the people of God. I wanna get you out of the world. I wanna get you out of this pagan culture. I wanna get you out of this pagan society and I want you to get among and around in the middle of the people of God so that you can understand the goodness of God. He's being kind, he's visiting his people. I want you to come back with me to be done with Chemosh and I want you to go and I want you to come and I want you to worship Yahweh with me.
Speaker 1:And it says may the Lord God deal kindly with you. She is saying God is a good God, he's a kind God. Romans 2, 4 says it is the kindness of the Lord in your life that leads you to repentance. Because of the kindness of the Lord. God says that we need to constantly extend kindness to one another. Do you know? Probably the number one place in your life where you might be the least kind is in your home. It's true of you, it's true of me, it's true of all of us. We are often our worst at home because we know our family is supposed to love us anyways. But Ephesians 4.32 says be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ's sake has forgiven you.
Speaker 1:She said, the Lord, grant that you may find. Rest each of you, in the house of her husband. And then she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and they wept. Can you imagine the depth of sorrow that they were experiencing together? As they're hugging and they've been together for now a decade, and these are her daughters-in-law she loves them and she's saying I want you to go and do what the culture is telling you to do. I want you to go back to your family and get married and have children. She's not telling them to do what the word of God tells them to do. And so we see this sorrowful moment in what happens. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and she goes back to Moab.
Speaker 1:But Ruth, but Ruth clung to Naomi. We see here, from Ruth, we see what it looks like to be loyal to our family, to say, no matter what we're going through, no matter how hard the mess is, no matter how difficult. Our trial is. No matter how messed up we are, no matter how all the arguments or the disagreements that we have, we are still going to be loyal to one another, because Jesus himself is loyal to us. I think that Ruth is showing us, as she is clinging to Naomi, that we need to be clinging to Jesus, because there's never a time that Jesus isn't clinging to you.
Speaker 1:Can I get an amen? All throughout Jesus's life man, he had messes. All throughout his life, his own people, the Jews, hated him. The culture, the political society, the Romans hated him. People misunderstood him, people didn't believe him, people didn't know who he truly was. But yet what did Jesus do? He stepped into the mess and he took our mess upon him and he died for our mess. Can I get an amen? He died for our mess and he rose from the dead, and what does God call us to do?
Speaker 1:1 Peter 5, 7, you can write it down, not on the screen. 1 Peter 5, 7 says cast all of your anxieties, all of your worries, all of your problems on Jesus, because he cares for you. In other words, give your mess to Jesus. I mean every day. I mean have an honest conversation with Jesus every day. Yes, he knows. But there's something different that he does in your life when you deal with it, when you pray about it to him, when you give it to him every day.
Speaker 1:God, this is killing me. God, this hurts me so deeply. God, this is difficult. God, this causes doubt in my life. God, I don't know what to do. And he says I want you to continue to cast that upon me, and cast that upon me. And cast that upon me why? Because it says that he cares for you. So every story, your mess, has a background and has a problem in your life. Number three and then what happens is because of your mess, you have a decision to make. Everyone say decision, decision, check this out.
Speaker 1:Ruth 1.16. But Ruth said, talking to Naomi for where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God will be my God. I believe what we see here is this is actually Ruth's moment of conversion. This is when Ruth is giving her life to Jesus.
Speaker 1:Ruth is saying I don't want to go back to Moab, I don't want to go back to the world, I don't want to worship Chemosh or any other false God. Naomi, I want to come with you. You've told me for the past 10 years about the people of God. You've told me about your land. I understand they may not be living for God, but God is still good to your people. What a loving God. My God is violent. Your God is loving. My God requires child sacrifice. Your God is building up the next generation. I want to be a part of your God, not a fake, false, phony God, but the one, true, living God. Can I get an amen? God saved the life of an atheistic Moabite woman who lived and worshiped a false God.
Speaker 1:I love a story here in our community they may be in here today Nicole and Scott man. I've met them. Scott's one of the he's the manager over at Huey Louie's, which I love to go to. And Nicole her story. She comes on Wednesday mornings here in our women's Bible study. She was an atheist for 33 years, had nothing to do with God. Every time that God came up in a conversation she'd always get irritated. She'd even find herself like talking people out of God, right, and so there was one day she tells me.
Speaker 1:She tells us that she was driving from Chattanooga to Atlanta for a bachelorette party and something happened and God spoke to her in the car on the ride and God calls her name and says Nicole, I love you and I want you. Nicole screams out, and it's just her in the car, she's all alone. Nicole screams out and it's just her in the car, she's all alone. She screams out no. And she said, the more she screamed out no, the more the love of God intensified in her heart, to where she felt like she had no choice. And so she said the clunkiest salvation prayer ever. God, I don't really know you, but, god, I believe in you. God, I believe that your son Jesus is God and he died for my sin and he rose from the dead. And so, god, I don't know why you're choosing me, but I give my life to you. She gets saved.
Speaker 1:She calls her fiance, scott, at the time, and she gets on the phone and she says Scott, I just gave my life to God. And he said you're just being emotional, hangs up the phone, right, like that's impossible. She calls her brother, who's a believer, maybe a pastor? And she calls her brother and he says what are you talking about? You're telling me you've gone from like zero to 100 spiritually. How do you explain that she said the only word I can think of is love, that I feel the love of God. She said I want you to baptize me in two weeks, when we're going to be there for some wedding, be with her brother. She goes and she gets baptized. She tries to talk to her fiance, then becoming her husband, scott, about the Lord and he's not real responsive. So I love what she does. I've never heard of this before.
Speaker 1:She went and bought a Bible and put it underneath his bed so he was sleeping on the word of God every night. He didn't even know about it. I love that man. I love that. Sneak in the Bible under your husband's pillow. That's so good and some of your husbands can be taking your pillows tonight. That's awesome. Puts the Bible underneath the bed and you won't believe how he got saved.
Speaker 1:They went to a big old secular music concert, the Riverbend in Chattanooga Maybe some of y'all have been there before all these awesome bands and he loved to go there and just kind of chill out to the music. But he said this time he watched her and he watched her friends and the church people and the Christian people in this concert as they would engage people and talk to people and share the gospel with them and hug them and cry with them and pray with them. And Scott said it was at that secular music festival that he said that is real Christianity, that's what I want. And then Scott gives his life to Jesus. Put your hands together for the way that God works, for the way that God works, for the way that God works.
Speaker 1:What is the decision that you need to make? We need to remember with Ruth, check this out. When Ruth says that your God will be my God when God became her God, then her people changed. When God became her God, her people changed. She's saying I wanna be a part of the people of God. She wants to get in the worship of God. She wants to get into groups. She wants to get into community. She wants to get around the people. Notice, she says that where you go, I'll go, where you lodge, I'll.
Speaker 1:Her salvation changed where she went. Her salvation changed what she did. She wanted to go and serve Naomi in the same way that when we get saved, that we just want to serve Jesus and others. That when she gave her life to God and her whole life and her mission changed. That's what happens to you and that's what happens to me. So I want to encourage you, even in your mess, decide today to follow Jesus in your mess. I think there are so many people today, hear me, that would be willing to follow Jesus out of their mess. But what if his plan is not to take you out? What if his plan is to bless you right in the middle of it, so you can be a blessing to others even in the midst of your mess? I wanna encourage you decide today to follow Jesus in your mess, no matter what the result is, because he is worthy of your worship and he is worthy of your obedience and he is worthy of your surrender. If you believe that, say amen, number four, and we're done. Number four, there's a background to every story. There's a problem, there's a decision and then there is hope. Everybody say hope. Let me share hope in your mess, verse 19. It says and when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred.
Speaker 1:Naomi's back home. It's been at least 10 years and the women said is this Naomi, meaning, pleasant and sweet? Her face had changed, her posture had changed. She's no longer smiling like she once did. Naomi said to them don't call me Naomi sweet, pleasant, call me Mara. Mara meant bitter, she said, for the Lord Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty. Naomi had experienced real grief and her grief, hear me, led her to bitterness.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the mess in our family is because of something. Maybe an unmet expectation, maybe there was hurt, maybe there was abuse, maybe there was loss. Maybe there was hurt, maybe there was abuse, maybe there was loss, maybe there's regret, maybe there's disappointment. Whatever it is that may have happened in your family, hear me, grief can easily lead to bitterness. Can I share with you what the Bible says about bitterness?
Speaker 1:The Bible says, and you can write it down Hebrews 12, 15,. It says don't let bitterness take root in you. Acts 8, 23,. Bitterness brings bondage in your life. Romans 3, 14,. Bitterness corrupts your words. Ephesians 4, 31,.
Speaker 1:So put away all bitterness. It sounds so easy. I can't put it away. Maybe you're thinking I've been struggling with this for years. What do I do about my bitterness? Because my bitterness is ruining me.
Speaker 1:The Bible says to do what Naomi did to confess it. Be transparent. Don't just put on a face, don't just hide it, but lament over it. Be transparent, don't just put on a face, don't just hide it, but lament over it. But don't stay there. Get godly people around you who love you and who will pray for you and have the goal in your life to get out of the bitterness so it doesn't take root and so that you can put it away.
Speaker 1:Believe the gospel. What is the gospel? That Jesus steps into your mess to bless you and trust God that he is going to work in your life. In other words, when you go through grief like Naomi, you have two options. Option one you have bitterness, but the second option is belief. Bitterness is this happened. Life will never be good again. Belief is this happened and it was terrible and it was awful and I'll never be the same. But I believe that God has something for me, that he is still working in my life, that he still wants to bless me, that he is my hope and he is my future and he wants to bring me joy and God is going to bring me into a new beginning again, that God has belief for us all. And so you might be wondering how is this about hope when it sounds so depressing? I'm depressed, aren't you? So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. You see here a new harvest taking place, not just physically, but spiritually. In other words, if you feel like a part of you is lost, a part of you is gone, we have a God who raises dead things in our life to come back to life, like your hope, like your faith, like your joy. If I could just share with you a little bit of that, without spoiling the whole story, because we're just gonna go through it in the month of August, just four quick weeks, but let me tell you the very end, without spoiling all the details. You ready, here we go. God blesses Naomi and God blesses Ruth, in a miraculous kind of a way, in ways that can also happen, similarly to you. And every step along the way they keep their eyes on God and God blesses them, step after step after step, and the end of their story concludes with a little baby boy being born, who's the grandfather of King David and David, who is in the lineage of Jesus. Had God not orchestrated the story of Ruth, jesus would not have been born. In other words, I want you to see. God blesses your messes for the story of Jesus's glory in your life.
Speaker 1:I went to lunch with a church member, went to breakfast with a church member this past week, just this past week. He was in the 930 service and here's what he told me. He said when I was one year old, my biological dad walked out on me and my mom Three years old, my mom started dating another man. They got married. He said he was nice to me, he was good to me, he loved me, but he had no drive, he had no ambition, he was very lazy. He said so we never went to church.
Speaker 1:He said I didn't know much about it. He said when I was 18 years old this was like back in the 1940s. When I was 18 years old. It was in South Florida. It was a time of segregation. He said typically you wouldn't do this. But he said I had a job back then you wouldn't do it. But he said I had a job back then you wouldn't do it. But he said I had a job back then with four. He's a white guy. He said I have a job with four African-American men working in the sod fields.
Speaker 1:He said an African-American man. He didn't tell me his name. He said he was in his 30s and he could not read or write. He said that African-American man would go home every night and his wife would read him the Bible and he would come back to work the next day and he would tell the men, including this man that I'm sitting with the Bible stories and the gospel of Jesus Christ at work on a daily basis. This man that I'm sitting with told me he said so I went to this man's church all African-American church. He said I, I went to this man's church, all African American church. He said I think I was the only white person in four miles. He said and I heard the gospel and I saw their worship and I saw their love and I wanted nothing to do with the life that I grew up in. I wanted the life that they had. He said I placed my faith in Jesus Christ and he said then they took me out back and they baptized me in a steel tank. And he said God's hand has been on my life ever since.
Speaker 1:I want you to know that God blessed his mess for the story of Jesus's glory and whatever it is that you're going through the hurt in your life, the pain in your life, the situation that just feels insurmountable. I want you to know that Jesus doesn't walk around your mess. He steps right in the middle of it. He's with you, he's strengthening you, he's encouraging you, he's blessing you and he is going to bring about his glory through it. Keep following him. Every head bowed, every eye closed, no one looking around.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're here this morning and you just need to be real, honest and transparent with God. Maybe you feel like you've told him a thousand times, but it's been a while and you just need to cast all your anxieties upon him again. Maybe you just need to tell him God, I'm struggling, I'm in a mess, don't know what to do. But, god, I believe you. I'm not gonna let bitterness set in. I'm gonna choose belief so I can have hope and I can have joy. God, would you bless me, even if you never get me out of it. God would you just bless me in the middle of it so I can live my life for you.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're here this morning and you can't pray that. You can't say that because you haven't given your life to him, I can help you get saved right here, right now. Give your life to God forever. It's not from the words of your prayers, from the faith of your heart, but you can say something like this to God in your own words. You can say God, I believe in you, I believe in Jesus, your son. You can tell him, I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin and, god, I'm asking you to forgive me of all of my sin because of Jesus' death. And you can tell him, god, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead. He's alive. I want to follow him with my life. I want to call on him to be the Lord of my life.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that if you confess Jesus as your Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So, god, we thank you for that. We pray this morning. Anyone not saved that. They would have prayed and they would have got saved today or one day very soon. God, we love you and we pray all these things in Jesus' name. And all God's people said put your hands together right now for anybody that gave their life to Jesus. We just want to say welcome to the family, welcome to the kingdom, man, as God loves to bless us together. God is so good, and I just want to encourage everyone at this time that God is continuing to work in your life and he wants to do great things even in the hardest of your times, and so I want to ask us all just to, to uh, to stand up right now, and I'm gonna ask Pastor James to come on out and he's gonna share a couple of announcements with us and then we'll sing to Jesus one more time.