1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,380 . 2 00:00:05,380 --> 00:00:07,040 Hallelujah. 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:08,920 It's also good to have with us tonight, 4 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:10,820 our state ministry's coordinator 5 00:00:10,820 --> 00:00:12,820 and his lovely wife, Sister Renee, 6 00:00:12,820 --> 00:00:15,780 brother Jimmy, good to have you in the house of the Lord tonight. 7 00:00:15,780 --> 00:00:17,460 Good to have you with us. 8 00:00:17,460 --> 00:00:19,820 I serve on brother Jimmy's state ministry board 9 00:00:19,820 --> 00:00:21,960 when I can get there, amen. 10 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,060 Get ready for senior adult retreat coming up. 11 00:00:25,060 --> 00:00:26,560 Friends on the mountain. 12 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,300 Coming up here before too long, we'll be on the mountain. 13 00:00:29,300 --> 00:00:41,300 Lord. A little faster, saints, a little faster. We can almost feel it up here. And it is an honor, again, to have our bishop with us tonight. 14 00:00:41,300 --> 00:00:50,300 Over the past few years serving our ego, I thought you would have one known reason I put mine on tonight. 15 00:00:50,300 --> 00:01:00,300 Who? Serving our church at large around the world as our general overseer, our general bishop. 16 00:01:00,300 --> 00:01:07,300 From time to time I just, I knew the road was a little bit hot, a little bit heavy for him. 17 00:01:07,300 --> 00:01:15,300 I just shoot him a little message just to let him know that somebody that don't want anything from him is praying for him. 18 00:01:15,300 --> 00:01:25,300 Amen. Isn't it good sometimes you get those? And bishop, I meant every one I sent. I prayed when I sent it and before. 19 00:01:25,300 --> 00:01:30,300 It's good to have you here in Tennessee, but it's good to have you back at Hopewell Church of God. 20 00:01:30,300 --> 00:01:35,300 Come and take your liberty in the Lord tonight. Amen. Would you make our bishop welcome? 21 00:01:35,300 --> 00:01:49,300 Thank you for having us here. What a joy to be in Hopewell tonight. So good to be back. It's been a while since I've been here. 22 00:01:49,300 --> 00:01:56,300 Paul and I love being in this church. And we're so honored to be with Pastor Cliff and Kathy Waters tonight. 23 00:01:56,300 --> 00:02:02,300 Don't you appreciate this couple so much? I love them. Appreciate them for a long time. 24 00:02:02,300 --> 00:02:08,300 It's good to see every other pastor and minister here tonight. Thank you, Brother and Sister Talley, for being here tonight. 25 00:02:08,300 --> 00:02:15,300 It's such a joy to see this wonderful couple that's helping make our transition into Tennessee a whole lot easier than it would be without you. 26 00:02:15,300 --> 00:02:18,300 I can tell you that right now. We're glad that they're here. 27 00:02:18,300 --> 00:02:26,300 You know, I couldn't help but think, Paul, when Pastor Cliff received that offering for you, 28 00:02:26,300 --> 00:02:36,300 when we were, I don't know, probably married two and a half to three years, we found out we were going to have our first child. 29 00:02:36,300 --> 00:02:46,300 And everywhere we would go as evangelists, every pastor got up and said, 30 00:02:46,300 --> 00:02:52,300 we're going to take this offering for Sister Hill tonight because she's expecting a baby. 31 00:02:52,300 --> 00:02:57,300 Everywhere we went, I went for nine months without getting an offering. 32 00:02:57,300 --> 00:03:03,300 Paul got every offering where we went. I couldn't help but think when he did that tonight. 33 00:03:03,300 --> 00:03:09,300 I'm so glad that's not the reason he did that tonight. 34 00:03:09,300 --> 00:03:16,300 Lord, have mercy. But thank you for doing that. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. 35 00:03:16,300 --> 00:03:22,300 Now listen, I know it's warm in here. It dawned on me a few minutes ago. Take my necktie off. 36 00:03:22,300 --> 00:03:26,300 And I might can preach 20 extra minutes without that necktie. 37 00:03:26,300 --> 00:03:30,300 So that's the only reason I did that tonight. 38 00:03:30,300 --> 00:03:34,300 You know, when you've got a group of folks up here that can sing like this group can sing, 39 00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:37,300 I just want to sing with them. Is that all right? 40 00:03:37,300 --> 00:03:42,300 You folks are fantastic. Just tremendous. Now get up close to me. 41 00:03:42,300 --> 00:03:45,300 You may be wondering what we're going to do. I don't have a clue what we're going to do. 42 00:03:45,300 --> 00:03:50,300 We're going to figure it out. Let's go to the good Church of God key of F. 43 00:03:50,300 --> 00:03:54,300 And let's just let's just see how it goes. 44 00:03:54,300 --> 00:03:59,300 Oh, yes. Oh, yes. 45 00:03:59,300 --> 00:04:06,300 I'm a child of the key. 46 00:04:06,300 --> 00:04:16,300 His royal blood now flows in my veins. 47 00:04:16,300 --> 00:04:27,300 And I who was wretched and poor now can see. 48 00:04:27,300 --> 00:04:32,300 Praise God. Praise God. 49 00:04:32,300 --> 00:04:38,300 I'm a child of the key. 50 00:04:38,300 --> 00:04:48,300 Once I was cloned in the rags of my sin. 51 00:04:48,300 --> 00:04:58,300 I was wretched and poor, lost and lonely within. 52 00:04:58,300 --> 00:05:19,300 But with wondrous compassion, the king of all kings in pity and love took me under his wings. 53 00:05:19,300 --> 00:05:25,300 Oh, yes. Oh, yes. 54 00:05:25,300 --> 00:05:30,300 I'm a child of the key. 55 00:05:30,300 --> 00:05:41,300 And his royal blood now flows in my veins. 56 00:05:41,300 --> 00:05:51,300 And I who was wretched and poor now can see. 57 00:05:51,300 --> 00:05:57,300 Praise God. Praise God. 58 00:05:57,300 --> 00:06:04,300 I'm a child of the key. 59 00:06:04,300 --> 00:06:18,300 Now I'm a child with a heavenly home for my holy father. 60 00:06:18,300 --> 00:06:24,300 Reached heaven and made me one of his own. 61 00:06:24,300 --> 00:06:29,300 Now I'm cleansed by his blood. 62 00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:34,300 And I'm clothed in his love. 63 00:06:34,300 --> 00:06:45,300 And someday I'll sing with the angels above. 64 00:06:45,300 --> 00:06:50,300 Oh, yes. Oh, yes. 65 00:06:50,300 --> 00:06:55,300 I'm a child of the key. 66 00:06:55,300 --> 00:07:06,300 And his royal blood now flows in my veins. 67 00:07:06,300 --> 00:07:16,300 And I who was wretched and poor now can see. 68 00:07:16,300 --> 00:07:25,300 Praise God. Say that again. Praise God. Praise God. 69 00:07:25,300 --> 00:07:32,300 One more time. Praise God. Praise God. 70 00:07:32,300 --> 00:07:41,300 I'm a child of the key. 71 00:07:41,300 --> 00:07:44,300 Any King's kids here tonight? Amen. 72 00:07:44,300 --> 00:07:46,300 Oh, wow. 73 00:07:46,300 --> 00:07:51,300 We're going to buy a bus and put this show on the road, I'm telling you right now. 74 00:07:51,300 --> 00:07:53,300 Let's stay in the same key. 75 00:07:53,300 --> 00:07:57,300 This was the first song I ever remember singing in front of a large group of people. 76 00:07:57,300 --> 00:08:01,300 I was seven years old at a Texas camp meeting on a Sunday night. 77 00:08:01,300 --> 00:08:04,300 The last night most of the crowd had gone home. 78 00:08:04,300 --> 00:08:07,300 So they knew it wouldn't hurt anything if they called this fat, 79 00:08:07,300 --> 00:08:09,300 freckle-faced, redheaded kid up to sing a little bit. 80 00:08:09,300 --> 00:08:11,300 I'd been singing in Dad's church, son. 81 00:08:11,300 --> 00:08:15,300 And so they brought me out of the crowd, stood me on a piano bench, and said, 82 00:08:15,300 --> 00:08:17,300 Sing, son. 83 00:08:17,300 --> 00:08:21,300 And the only song I could think to sing was what Mama had been playing on the old record player 84 00:08:21,300 --> 00:08:23,300 by the Happy Goodman family. 85 00:08:23,300 --> 00:08:26,300 A song called I Wouldn't Take Nothing From My Journey Now. 86 00:08:26,300 --> 00:08:29,300 Now what's funny about it is the first verse of that song says, 87 00:08:29,300 --> 00:08:32,300 I started out traveling for the Lord many years ago. 88 00:08:32,300 --> 00:08:35,300 At seven years old I had been down the street hardly at all. 89 00:08:35,300 --> 00:08:39,300 The next line said, I've had a lot of heartache, met a lot of grief and woe. 90 00:08:39,300 --> 00:08:42,300 Truth is, the only woe I'd ever know is what my mama gave me. 91 00:08:42,300 --> 00:08:44,300 But I've been singing that song ever since. 92 00:08:44,300 --> 00:08:46,300 So you think we can sing a little bit of that? 93 00:08:46,300 --> 00:08:51,300 I started out traveling for the Lord many years ago. 94 00:08:51,300 --> 00:08:56,300 I've had a lot of heartache, met a lot of grief and woe. 95 00:08:56,300 --> 00:09:01,300 But when I would stumble, then I would humble down. 96 00:09:01,300 --> 00:09:06,300 And there I would say I wouldn't take nothing from my journey now. 97 00:09:06,300 --> 00:09:09,300 Well, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey now. 98 00:09:09,300 --> 00:09:11,300 God, I make it to heaven somehow. 99 00:09:11,300 --> 00:09:16,300 The old devil tipped me and he tried to turn me around. 100 00:09:16,300 --> 00:09:20,300 He's offered everything that's got a name or the wealth I want. 101 00:09:20,300 --> 00:09:24,300 The worldly fame, but if I could still, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey. 102 00:09:24,300 --> 00:09:29,300 Singing again, well, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey now. 103 00:09:29,300 --> 00:09:32,300 God, I make it to heaven somehow. 104 00:09:32,300 --> 00:09:36,300 The old devil tipped me and he tried to turn me around. 105 00:09:36,300 --> 00:09:40,300 He's offered everything that's got a name or the wealth I want. 106 00:09:40,300 --> 00:09:46,300 The worldly fame, but if I could still, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey now. 107 00:09:46,300 --> 00:09:51,300 There's nothing in the world that'll ever take the place of God's love. 108 00:09:51,300 --> 00:09:55,300 All the silver and gold can never buy a mighty touch from above. 109 00:09:55,300 --> 00:10:01,300 Oh, no, when my soul needs healing and I begin to feel in his power, 110 00:10:01,300 --> 00:10:06,300 I could say, thank the Lord, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey now. 111 00:10:06,300 --> 00:10:09,300 Well, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey now. 112 00:10:09,300 --> 00:10:11,300 God, I make it to heaven somehow. 113 00:10:11,300 --> 00:10:16,300 The old devil tipped me and he tried to turn me around. 114 00:10:16,300 --> 00:10:20,300 He's offered everything that's got a name or the wealth I want. 115 00:10:20,300 --> 00:10:26,300 The worldly fame, but if I could still, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey one more time. 116 00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:29,300 Well, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey now. 117 00:10:29,300 --> 00:10:31,300 God, I make it to heaven somehow. 118 00:10:31,300 --> 00:10:36,300 The old devil tipped me and he tried to turn me around. 119 00:10:36,300 --> 00:10:40,300 He's offered everything that's got a name or the wealth I want. 120 00:10:40,300 --> 00:10:45,300 The worldly fame, but if I could still, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey now. 121 00:10:45,300 --> 00:10:56,300 If I could still, I wouldn't take nothing from my journey now. 122 00:10:56,300 --> 00:10:58,300 Yes, sir! 123 00:10:58,300 --> 00:11:00,300 Whoo! 124 00:11:00,300 --> 00:11:04,300 Oh, my goodness. 125 00:11:04,300 --> 00:11:08,300 I'm getting too old singing one like that too much. 126 00:11:08,300 --> 00:11:12,300 Y'all better sit down. Y'all keep standing. I want to sing all night. 127 00:11:12,300 --> 00:11:14,300 Let's do a little course of something here. 128 00:11:14,300 --> 00:11:16,300 Let me see if this is my key. 129 00:11:16,300 --> 00:11:22,300 That's the Church of God key, so that must be it. 130 00:11:22,300 --> 00:11:34,300 There's a lighthouse on a hillside that overlooks live sea. 131 00:11:34,300 --> 00:11:43,300 And when I'm tossed, oh, it sends out a light. 132 00:11:43,300 --> 00:11:48,300 A light that I might see. 133 00:11:48,300 --> 00:12:01,300 And the light that shines in darkness now will safely lead me o'er. 134 00:12:01,300 --> 00:12:13,300 If it wasn't for the lighthouse, my ship would sail no more. 135 00:12:13,300 --> 00:12:21,300 And I thank God for the lighthouse. 136 00:12:21,300 --> 00:12:23,300 Sing it with us. 137 00:12:23,300 --> 00:12:37,300 I owe my life to him, for Jesus is the lighthouse. 138 00:12:37,300 --> 00:12:50,300 And from the rocks, he has shone the light 139 00:12:50,300 --> 00:12:58,300 all around me that I could cleave. 140 00:12:58,300 --> 00:13:17,300 If it wasn't for the lighthouse, then where would this ship be? 141 00:13:17,300 --> 00:13:33,300 Now everybody that lives around us, they say, tear that lighthouse down. 142 00:13:33,300 --> 00:13:40,300 The big ships find no point in sailing this way anymore. 143 00:13:40,300 --> 00:13:46,300 So what's the use of that old lighthouse just standing around? 144 00:13:46,300 --> 00:13:55,300 Oh, but then my mind goes back to that stormy night 145 00:13:55,300 --> 00:14:01,300 when just in time I saw the light. 146 00:14:01,300 --> 00:14:08,300 It was the light from that old lighthouse. 147 00:14:08,300 --> 00:14:13,300 And it still stands up there on Calvary's Hill. 148 00:14:13,300 --> 00:14:22,300 And I thank God for that old lighthouse. 149 00:14:22,300 --> 00:14:36,300 I owe my life to him, for Jesus is the lighthouse. 150 00:14:36,300 --> 00:14:48,300 And from the rocks of sin, he has shone the light 151 00:14:48,300 --> 00:14:57,300 all the way around me that I could clearly see. 152 00:14:57,300 --> 00:15:07,300 If it wasn't for, tell me where. 153 00:15:07,300 --> 00:15:11,300 Why don't you lift your hands and let's sing it just one more time. 154 00:15:11,300 --> 00:15:19,300 Oh, but I thank God for. 155 00:15:19,300 --> 00:15:35,300 Oh, I owe my life to him, for Jesus is the lighthouse. 156 00:15:35,300 --> 00:15:47,300 And from the rocks of sin, he has shone the light 157 00:15:47,300 --> 00:15:50,300 all the way around me that I could clearly see. 158 00:15:50,300 --> 00:15:53,300 Oh, I feel his presence in this house that I could see. 159 00:15:53,300 --> 00:15:55,300 Do you feel his presence here? 160 00:15:55,300 --> 00:16:01,300 If it wasn't for. 161 00:16:01,300 --> 00:16:06,300 We're going to sing it just one more time. 162 00:16:06,300 --> 00:16:08,300 Sing out your praise. 163 00:16:08,300 --> 00:16:19,300 Oh, but I thank God for that old lighthouse. 164 00:16:19,300 --> 00:16:33,300 I owe my life to him, for Jesus is the lighthouse. 165 00:16:33,300 --> 00:16:36,300 Hallelujah. 166 00:16:36,300 --> 00:16:39,300 Oh, I feel him in this place. 167 00:16:39,300 --> 00:16:46,300 He has shone the light 168 00:16:46,300 --> 00:16:54,300 all the way around me that I could clearly see. 169 00:16:54,300 --> 00:17:09,300 If it wasn't for, tell me where. 170 00:17:09,300 --> 00:17:15,300 Jesus is the lighthouse. 171 00:17:15,300 --> 00:17:20,300 Now listen, I'm not trying to get out of my responsibility to preach 172 00:17:20,300 --> 00:17:25,300 because I've got every intention of doing that before we leave here. 173 00:17:25,300 --> 00:17:29,300 But I got sang on me right now. Is that all right? 174 00:17:29,300 --> 00:17:31,300 OK. 175 00:17:31,300 --> 00:17:35,300 And if you'll let us do just a little bit of one more, I'll take it off my preaching time. 176 00:17:35,300 --> 00:17:38,300 Is that OK? 177 00:17:38,300 --> 00:17:48,300 I fell. I fell back in love with this song late last spring going into the summer. 178 00:17:48,300 --> 00:17:51,300 And I told this at camp meeting. 179 00:17:51,300 --> 00:17:55,300 I think I told it at General Assembly. 180 00:17:55,300 --> 00:18:03,300 I was 14 years old when Benny Triplett visited my mom and dad. 181 00:18:03,300 --> 00:18:08,300 At that time, his daughter, Renee, and their son-in-law, Duane Piot, 182 00:18:08,300 --> 00:18:12,300 pastored 30 miles up the road, and so they had come to see them. 183 00:18:12,300 --> 00:18:18,300 And we lived in what we called Lake Country. 184 00:18:18,300 --> 00:18:21,300 There were like three or four pretty good-sized lakes 185 00:18:21,300 --> 00:18:25,300 that just surrounded the community we lived in. 186 00:18:25,300 --> 00:18:31,300 And so dad invited Brother Triplett to come over and go fishing, and they did. 187 00:18:31,300 --> 00:18:36,300 And when they got back, we cleaned those fish, or they cleaned those fish, 188 00:18:36,300 --> 00:18:39,300 and then we had a fish fry. 189 00:18:39,300 --> 00:18:46,300 And when all that was over, Brother Triplett had seen a piano in my mom's den, 190 00:18:46,300 --> 00:18:51,300 and he invited me, a 14-year-old teenage boy, 191 00:18:51,300 --> 00:18:56,300 to go into that den and listen to a brand new song he had just written. 192 00:18:56,300 --> 00:18:59,300 My dad fell in love with it. 193 00:18:59,300 --> 00:19:03,300 I've sang it through the years, as we all have, but just for some reason, 194 00:19:03,300 --> 00:19:07,300 a few months ago it just hit me. 195 00:19:07,300 --> 00:19:12,300 Jesus is precious. 196 00:19:12,300 --> 00:19:18,300 He is so precious. 197 00:19:18,300 --> 00:19:29,300 Jesus is precious to me. 198 00:19:29,300 --> 00:19:40,300 He is my Savior, my Lord, and my Master. 199 00:19:40,300 --> 00:19:51,300 Jesus is precious to me. 200 00:19:51,300 --> 00:20:02,300 It's not earthly treasure, and it's not worldly pleasure 201 00:20:02,300 --> 00:20:13,300 that seems so important to me. 202 00:20:13,300 --> 00:20:23,300 And though I prize kinship and thank God for friendship, 203 00:20:23,300 --> 00:20:31,300 there's no one as precious as He. 204 00:20:31,300 --> 00:20:34,300 Sing it with us, everybody. 205 00:20:34,300 --> 00:20:40,300 Jesus is precious. 206 00:20:40,300 --> 00:20:45,300 He is so precious. 207 00:20:45,300 --> 00:20:55,300 Jesus is precious to me. 208 00:20:55,300 --> 00:21:06,300 For He is my Savior, my Lord, 209 00:21:06,300 --> 00:21:11,300 and my Master. 210 00:21:11,300 --> 00:21:19,300 Oh, Jesus is precious to me. 211 00:21:19,300 --> 00:21:21,300 Now, I love this line. 212 00:21:21,300 --> 00:21:33,300 He's comfort in sorrow, and He's hope for tomorrow. 213 00:21:33,300 --> 00:21:43,300 Jesus is precious to me. 214 00:21:43,300 --> 00:21:48,300 He's all that I pray for. 215 00:21:48,300 --> 00:21:54,300 What more could I ask for? 216 00:21:54,300 --> 00:22:02,300 There's no one as precious as He. 217 00:22:02,300 --> 00:22:08,300 Jesus is precious. 218 00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:14,300 He is so precious. 219 00:22:14,300 --> 00:22:23,300 Jesus is precious to me. 220 00:22:23,300 --> 00:22:31,300 For He is my Savior, my Lord, 221 00:22:31,300 --> 00:22:35,300 and my Master. 222 00:22:35,300 --> 00:22:45,300 Jesus is precious to me. 223 00:22:45,300 --> 00:22:47,300 If that's the way you feel about it, 224 00:22:47,300 --> 00:22:50,300 tell Him you love Him with a hand of praise tonight. 225 00:22:50,300 --> 00:22:53,300 Amen. Amen. 226 00:22:53,300 --> 00:22:55,300 God bless you. Thank you so much. 227 00:22:55,300 --> 00:22:57,300 Thank you, singers, musicians. 228 00:22:57,300 --> 00:23:00,300 We've got to do this again. Amen. Praise God. 229 00:23:00,300 --> 00:23:07,300 Well, how many are praying for a 24-minute anointing 230 00:23:07,300 --> 00:23:10,300 to hit me tonight? 231 00:23:10,300 --> 00:23:13,300 I see it out there. 232 00:23:13,300 --> 00:23:16,300 That would take us to about 7 o'clock. 233 00:23:16,300 --> 00:23:18,300 That's going to be my aim. 234 00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:22,300 If I go beyond that, you blame it on the Lord, okay? 235 00:23:22,300 --> 00:23:24,300 All right. 236 00:23:24,300 --> 00:23:31,300 I want to just go somewhere in the Old Testament tonight. 237 00:23:31,300 --> 00:23:33,300 If you've ever heard me preach much, 238 00:23:33,300 --> 00:23:37,300 you've heard me preach from the Book of Ruth. 239 00:23:37,300 --> 00:23:40,300 There's a message I've been preaching for a long time. 240 00:23:40,300 --> 00:23:42,300 I call it Handfuls on Purpose. 241 00:23:42,300 --> 00:23:45,300 That's not the message I'm going to preach tonight, 242 00:23:45,300 --> 00:23:48,300 but I just want to lift a few thoughts, if I may, 243 00:23:48,300 --> 00:23:54,300 from the Book of Ruth, and then we'll pray. 244 00:23:54,300 --> 00:23:58,300 When I was pastoring in Danville, Virginia, years ago, 245 00:23:58,300 --> 00:24:04,300 I fell in love with the four chapters of this book 246 00:24:04,300 --> 00:24:09,300 and preached for about four months on these four chapters. 247 00:24:09,300 --> 00:24:11,300 I thought I had preached everything there was to preach 248 00:24:11,300 --> 00:24:15,300 in this book, but not all that long ago, 249 00:24:15,300 --> 00:24:20,300 I let something get a hold of my heart that I had never seen, 250 00:24:20,300 --> 00:24:22,300 and I'm going to try to point it out to you 251 00:24:22,300 --> 00:24:25,300 in just a very few minutes. 252 00:24:25,300 --> 00:24:29,300 In Ruth chapter 1, let me begin reading with verse number 19, 253 00:24:29,300 --> 00:24:33,300 without a lot of background, a lot of history to this. 254 00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:38,300 Let me just simply reference the point that these verses 255 00:24:38,300 --> 00:24:46,300 have to do with Naomi and Ruth returning to Bethlehem 256 00:24:46,300 --> 00:24:49,300 out of Moab. 257 00:24:49,300 --> 00:24:53,300 Years before, Naomi's husband, Elimelech, had taken her 258 00:24:53,300 --> 00:24:58,300 and their two sons to Moab during the time of famine 259 00:24:58,300 --> 00:25:01,300 that had come to Bethlehem Judah. 260 00:25:01,300 --> 00:25:04,300 By the time we pick up in the 19th verse, 261 00:25:04,300 --> 00:25:06,300 the famine is over in Bethlehem, 262 00:25:06,300 --> 00:25:10,300 and word has got back to Naomi way over in Moab 263 00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:12,300 that God has visited His people. 264 00:25:12,300 --> 00:25:15,300 The rains have come, there's bread back on the table, 265 00:25:15,300 --> 00:25:19,300 the famine is over, and you are welcome to come home. 266 00:25:19,300 --> 00:25:22,300 Well, by this time, Elimelech has passed away, 267 00:25:22,300 --> 00:25:25,300 and her two sons had grown up, married Moabite women, 268 00:25:25,300 --> 00:25:29,300 and now the two boys are passed away. 269 00:25:29,300 --> 00:25:32,300 And she is left with two daughters-in-law. 270 00:25:32,300 --> 00:25:35,300 One by the name of Orpah has gone back into Moab, 271 00:25:35,300 --> 00:25:38,300 but one by the name of Ruth, the Bible said, 272 00:25:38,300 --> 00:25:41,300 clinged to Naomi and said, 273 00:25:41,300 --> 00:25:44,300 don't push me out of your life. 274 00:25:44,300 --> 00:25:46,300 Let me go where you're going, 275 00:25:46,300 --> 00:25:48,300 because your people will be my people, 276 00:25:48,300 --> 00:25:52,300 and your God shall be my God. 277 00:25:52,300 --> 00:25:54,300 And that brings us to verse 19. 278 00:25:54,300 --> 00:25:58,300 All of that brings us to verse 19. 279 00:25:58,300 --> 00:26:04,300 And it reads, so they too went until they came to Bethlehem, 280 00:26:04,300 --> 00:26:07,300 and it came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem 281 00:26:07,300 --> 00:26:09,300 that all the city was moved about them, 282 00:26:09,300 --> 00:26:11,300 and they said, is this Naomi? 283 00:26:11,300 --> 00:26:19,300 And by the way, the name Naomi means sweet, good, pleasant woman. 284 00:26:19,300 --> 00:26:21,300 Is this Naomi? 285 00:26:21,300 --> 00:26:25,300 And she said unto them, don't call me that anymore. 286 00:26:25,300 --> 00:26:29,300 Call me not Naomi, call me Mara. 287 00:26:29,300 --> 00:26:32,300 The name Mara means bitter, 288 00:26:32,300 --> 00:26:34,300 and it comes from that story of the children of Israel 289 00:26:34,300 --> 00:26:37,300 coming through the desert, the wilderness. 290 00:26:37,300 --> 00:26:40,300 They came upon bitter waters, 291 00:26:40,300 --> 00:26:43,300 not knowing they were bitter until they tasted it, 292 00:26:43,300 --> 00:26:46,300 but they named that place Mara. 293 00:26:46,300 --> 00:26:49,300 She said, don't call me good, sweet, pleasant woman. 294 00:26:49,300 --> 00:26:53,300 Call me bitter, call me Mara. 295 00:26:53,300 --> 00:26:59,300 She said to them, the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 296 00:26:59,300 --> 00:27:02,300 I have been out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. 297 00:27:02,300 --> 00:27:04,300 Why then would you call me Naomi, 298 00:27:04,300 --> 00:27:06,300 seeing the Lord has testified against me, 299 00:27:06,300 --> 00:27:08,300 and the Almighty has afflicted me? 300 00:27:08,300 --> 00:27:12,300 So Naomi returned and rude the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, 301 00:27:12,300 --> 00:27:14,300 which returned out of the country of Moab, 302 00:27:14,300 --> 00:27:18,300 and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest. 303 00:27:18,300 --> 00:27:22,300 Now go with me very quickly to the fourth chapter. 304 00:27:22,300 --> 00:27:26,300 Four chapters now have come and gone, 305 00:27:26,300 --> 00:27:33,300 and in these four chapters, Naomi and Ruth have found their way to Bethlehem. 306 00:27:33,300 --> 00:27:36,300 They have set up housekeeping. 307 00:27:36,300 --> 00:27:43,300 Ruth was better to Naomi than seven sons would have been, the Bible said. 308 00:27:43,300 --> 00:27:48,300 And while Naomi sets up housekeeping, Ruth goes out to find a job, 309 00:27:48,300 --> 00:27:52,300 and she finds a job working in the fields of harvest 310 00:27:52,300 --> 00:27:55,300 for a man by the name of Boaz. 311 00:27:55,300 --> 00:27:57,300 Boaz is a type of Christ in this story. 312 00:27:57,300 --> 00:28:02,300 He is what is known as a kinsman-redeemer. 313 00:28:02,300 --> 00:28:05,300 Long story short, one thing leads to another. 314 00:28:05,300 --> 00:28:11,300 Boaz marries Ruth, and they ultimately have a child. 315 00:28:11,300 --> 00:28:16,300 And that's what's happened by the time we get to Ruth chapter 4. 316 00:28:16,300 --> 00:28:18,300 We pick up with verse number 14. 317 00:28:18,300 --> 00:28:23,300 A baby has been born to Ruth and Boaz, 318 00:28:23,300 --> 00:28:28,300 and the women of the city want to see this baby. 319 00:28:28,300 --> 00:28:30,300 And so the Bible says here in verse 14, 320 00:28:30,300 --> 00:28:34,300 The women said unto Naomi, 321 00:28:34,300 --> 00:28:38,300 Blessed be the Lord, which has not left thee this day without a kinsman, 322 00:28:38,300 --> 00:28:41,300 that his name may be famous in Israel. 323 00:28:41,300 --> 00:28:46,300 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age, 324 00:28:46,300 --> 00:28:53,300 for thy daughter-in-law which loves thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him. 325 00:28:53,300 --> 00:29:03,300 And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom, and she became nurse unto it. 326 00:29:03,300 --> 00:29:05,300 And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, 327 00:29:05,300 --> 00:29:09,300 There is a son born to Naomi. 328 00:29:09,300 --> 00:29:11,300 And they called his name Obed. 329 00:29:11,300 --> 00:29:16,300 He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. 330 00:29:16,300 --> 00:29:20,300 And now my father, I pray for just a few moments you will help me 331 00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:26,300 to just deliver a message tonight that I pray will speak to someone's heart. 332 00:29:26,300 --> 00:29:33,300 In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. 333 00:29:33,300 --> 00:29:44,300 I was sitting on a plane when the Lord revealed this to me that I had never seen. 334 00:29:44,300 --> 00:29:53,300 And I had my tray down, my Bible on the tray, diet coke over here, pretzels over here. 335 00:29:53,300 --> 00:29:58,300 And a man was passed out drunk sitting beside me. 336 00:29:58,300 --> 00:30:01,300 He had had a few of those little bottles to drink before we took off. 337 00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:03,300 He had a few more after we took off. 338 00:30:03,300 --> 00:30:08,300 By the time we got to 32,000 feet in the air, he was gone. 339 00:30:08,300 --> 00:30:13,300 And I'm reading my Bible and I come across this old story about Ruth and Naomi, 340 00:30:13,300 --> 00:30:17,300 and I saw something, pastor, that I had never seen in all the years I preached to them. 341 00:30:17,300 --> 00:30:20,300 I had never seen it. 342 00:30:20,300 --> 00:30:24,300 And when I saw it, I went into another zone. 343 00:30:24,300 --> 00:30:31,300 When I came to myself, I realized that I had spilt my diet coke. 344 00:30:31,300 --> 00:30:37,300 The drunk man beside me had awakened and he was brushing off pretzel salt off of his sleeve. 345 00:30:37,300 --> 00:30:40,300 And he looked at me and said, are you from a foreign country or something? 346 00:30:40,300 --> 00:30:41,300 I said, no, why do you ask? 347 00:30:41,300 --> 00:30:45,300 He said, because you're talking in a language I don't understand. 348 00:30:45,300 --> 00:30:51,300 So I figured I must have really got into another zone. 349 00:30:51,300 --> 00:30:56,300 I didn't try to explain it to him, but I'm going to explain it to you tonight. 350 00:30:56,300 --> 00:31:00,300 Here's what blessed me. 351 00:31:00,300 --> 00:31:06,300 Ruth, Chapter 1, clearly tells us that when Naomi returned to Bethlehem, 352 00:31:06,300 --> 00:31:15,300 she was bitter, angry, broke, discouraged in every way, 353 00:31:15,300 --> 00:31:20,300 to the point that when she's coming into the city gates 354 00:31:20,300 --> 00:31:23,300 and they recognize her and begin to speak her name, 355 00:31:23,300 --> 00:31:27,300 she stopped them because she knew what that name meant. 356 00:31:27,300 --> 00:31:30,300 She was not just hearing them say, Naomi is back. 357 00:31:30,300 --> 00:31:32,300 Here comes Naomi. I recognize Naomi. 358 00:31:32,300 --> 00:31:34,300 She's been gone a long time. I know her anywhere. 359 00:31:34,300 --> 00:31:37,300 That's Naomi. She wasn't just hearing the name. 360 00:31:37,300 --> 00:31:40,300 She was hearing the meaning of that name. 361 00:31:40,300 --> 00:31:44,300 Good, sweet, pleasant. 362 00:31:44,300 --> 00:31:47,300 The good woman is back. The sweet woman. The pleasant woman is back. 363 00:31:47,300 --> 00:31:51,300 And she stopped them and said, please don't call me that anymore. 364 00:31:51,300 --> 00:31:56,300 I left here full. The Lord has brought me back empty. 365 00:31:56,300 --> 00:31:59,300 As a matter of fact, he is dealing very bitterly with me. 366 00:31:59,300 --> 00:32:02,300 And in light of that, you have my blessing. 367 00:32:02,300 --> 00:32:04,300 I give you my permission from this day forward. 368 00:32:04,300 --> 00:32:11,300 Just call me Miss Bitter. Call me Mara. 369 00:32:11,300 --> 00:32:14,300 And I read that and the thought came to my mind, 370 00:32:14,300 --> 00:32:21,300 I wonder if anybody ever did call her Mara. 371 00:32:21,300 --> 00:32:23,300 I went through the rest of that chapter, chapter one, 372 00:32:23,300 --> 00:32:26,300 they didn't call her Mara in chapter one. 373 00:32:26,300 --> 00:32:31,300 I went into chapter two, they didn't call her Mara in chapter two. 374 00:32:31,300 --> 00:32:34,300 Chapter three, they don't call her Mara. 375 00:32:34,300 --> 00:32:37,300 In all of chapter four, verse by verse, line by line, 376 00:32:37,300 --> 00:32:42,300 they have never called her Mara throughout that entire book. 377 00:32:42,300 --> 00:32:48,300 That's what got me. They never called her Mara. 378 00:32:48,300 --> 00:32:51,300 Because this crowd who had lived through the famine, 379 00:32:51,300 --> 00:32:57,300 this crowd who had waited it out, I'm going to preach for this, this is over. 380 00:32:57,300 --> 00:33:00,300 This crowd who had kept their trust and their faith in God knew that 381 00:33:00,300 --> 00:33:04,300 what God had done for them, he would do for her. 382 00:33:04,300 --> 00:33:09,300 And they called things that were not as though they were, 383 00:33:09,300 --> 00:33:13,300 they kept calling her good, sweet, pleasant woman. 384 00:33:13,300 --> 00:33:16,300 In spite of how she felt, in spite of what had happened to her, 385 00:33:16,300 --> 00:33:19,300 in spite of everything that was encroaching about her life, 386 00:33:19,300 --> 00:33:23,300 they kept seeing into her life, speaking into her life, 387 00:33:23,300 --> 00:33:27,300 knowing about her life, what she did not know herself. 388 00:33:27,300 --> 00:33:30,300 They never called her Mara. 389 00:33:30,300 --> 00:33:33,300 And I've come by Hopewell for just a few minutes tonight to tell you 390 00:33:33,300 --> 00:33:36,300 one main thing, don't you let this world identify you, 391 00:33:36,300 --> 00:33:39,300 don't you let your circumstances tag you, 392 00:33:39,300 --> 00:33:42,300 don't even let how you feel put a name on you 393 00:33:42,300 --> 00:33:44,300 because the Father has already named you 394 00:33:44,300 --> 00:33:47,300 and the Father says you're blessed and highly favored. 395 00:33:47,300 --> 00:33:49,300 You may not feel like it, but you are. 396 00:33:49,300 --> 00:33:51,300 You may not look like it, but you are. 397 00:33:51,300 --> 00:33:53,300 Other people may look at you and say you're not, 398 00:33:53,300 --> 00:33:56,300 but you are because God has given you a name. 399 00:33:56,300 --> 00:34:00,300 He's blessed you, he's favored you, and I choose to walk in the name 400 00:34:00,300 --> 00:34:03,300 the Father has given me to walk in tonight. 401 00:34:03,300 --> 00:34:06,300 Oh, clap your hands and pray for 15 more minutes, amen. 402 00:34:06,300 --> 00:34:08,300 Amen. 403 00:34:08,300 --> 00:34:15,300 So I'm a preacher, and every preacher worth his salt 404 00:34:15,300 --> 00:34:18,300 has got to get at least three points out of this, 405 00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:22,300 but I've got four. 406 00:34:22,300 --> 00:34:25,300 Here's what I see when I read this story. 407 00:34:25,300 --> 00:34:27,300 They never called her Mara, number one, 408 00:34:27,300 --> 00:34:30,300 because this crowd who had lived through the famine 409 00:34:30,300 --> 00:34:32,300 understood these principles. 410 00:34:32,300 --> 00:34:39,300 You never allow circumstance to determine your identity. 411 00:34:39,300 --> 00:34:43,300 Naomi, you've lost a husband, but that's not who you are. 412 00:34:43,300 --> 00:34:47,300 Two sons have died, but that's not who you are. 413 00:34:47,300 --> 00:34:49,300 A daughter-in-law by the name of Orpah kissed you goodbye 414 00:34:49,300 --> 00:34:51,300 and went back to her idol worship, 415 00:34:51,300 --> 00:34:54,300 but that's not who you are. 416 00:34:54,300 --> 00:35:00,300 Your circumstances must not determine your identity. 417 00:35:00,300 --> 00:35:02,300 I love what the apostle Paul says. 418 00:35:02,300 --> 00:35:04,300 I believe it's in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 419 00:35:04,300 --> 00:35:08,300 Let me just preach it out a little bit. 420 00:35:08,300 --> 00:35:10,300 If I could put it in this vernacular, 421 00:35:10,300 --> 00:35:12,300 Paul would look at us tonight and say, 422 00:35:12,300 --> 00:35:15,300 now, on any given occasion when you check in on me, 423 00:35:15,300 --> 00:35:22,300 I may be troubled on every hand, yet not distressed, 424 00:35:22,300 --> 00:35:26,300 perplexed, but not in despair, 425 00:35:26,300 --> 00:35:30,300 persecuted, but not forsaken, 426 00:35:30,300 --> 00:35:33,300 cast down, but never destroyed. 427 00:35:33,300 --> 00:35:38,300 Don't judge me by what you see on the occasion you see me, 428 00:35:38,300 --> 00:35:40,300 because you'll walk away thinking one thing, 429 00:35:40,300 --> 00:35:44,300 but the reality is I'm something else by the grace of God. 430 00:35:44,300 --> 00:35:48,300 Circumstance must never determine your identity. 431 00:35:48,300 --> 00:35:52,300 Number two, circumstance must not be permitted 432 00:35:52,300 --> 00:35:55,300 to distort your view of God. 433 00:35:55,300 --> 00:35:59,300 Listen to what she says. 434 00:35:59,300 --> 00:36:06,300 She stops the people from pronouncing her name Naomi, 435 00:36:06,300 --> 00:36:12,300 and she says, the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me. 436 00:36:12,300 --> 00:36:14,300 I left here full. 437 00:36:14,300 --> 00:36:15,300 I've come back empty. 438 00:36:15,300 --> 00:36:19,300 He's angry with me, and he's dealing bitterly with me. 439 00:36:19,300 --> 00:36:24,300 Her circumstances had twisted her view of God. 440 00:36:24,300 --> 00:36:28,300 Her circumstances had so misaligned 441 00:36:28,300 --> 00:36:32,300 and defined her view of her loving heavenly father 442 00:36:32,300 --> 00:36:38,300 to the point that she no longer saw God as that loving Lord. 443 00:36:38,300 --> 00:36:40,300 And you get the impression she's blaming God 444 00:36:40,300 --> 00:36:43,300 for all of her ills and all of her difficulties. 445 00:36:43,300 --> 00:36:47,300 Circumstance must never be permitted to distort, 446 00:36:47,300 --> 00:36:51,300 twist, malign your view of God. 447 00:36:51,300 --> 00:36:55,300 I think about Job's wife. 448 00:36:55,300 --> 00:36:59,300 Some of the finest preaching I've ever heard, brother, 449 00:36:59,300 --> 00:37:04,300 has come from preachers who sent Job's wife down the road. 450 00:37:04,300 --> 00:37:05,300 And I get it. 451 00:37:05,300 --> 00:37:08,300 I mean, she told Job, curse God and die. 452 00:37:08,300 --> 00:37:09,300 I get that. 453 00:37:09,300 --> 00:37:14,300 Some of the best homiletical sermons, good hermeneutics, 454 00:37:14,300 --> 00:37:18,300 all of that, great preachers of our day and in the past 455 00:37:18,300 --> 00:37:21,300 have sent Job's wife down the road 456 00:37:21,300 --> 00:37:25,300 because of what she said to Job, curse God and die. 457 00:37:25,300 --> 00:37:28,300 But I'm on a campaign tonight. 458 00:37:28,300 --> 00:37:36,300 I'm on a campaign to lift the reputation of Sister Job. 459 00:37:36,300 --> 00:37:39,300 Here's what I think happened to Sister Job. 460 00:37:39,300 --> 00:37:41,300 She had a meltdown. 461 00:37:41,300 --> 00:37:45,300 No, I'm going to preach before this is over. 462 00:37:45,300 --> 00:37:46,300 She lost the same kids. 463 00:37:46,300 --> 00:37:54,300 He lost the same house. 464 00:37:54,300 --> 00:37:57,300 She's watching her husband die by the hour, 465 00:37:57,300 --> 00:38:00,300 eaten up with sores. 466 00:38:00,300 --> 00:38:03,300 Three supposed friends have come from far and near, 467 00:38:03,300 --> 00:38:07,300 and in silent suspicion, Brother Talley, 468 00:38:07,300 --> 00:38:09,300 they have stared at him for seven days 469 00:38:09,300 --> 00:38:11,300 and not said one blessed thing. 470 00:38:11,300 --> 00:38:14,300 Now think about that. 471 00:38:14,300 --> 00:38:16,300 If I get sick and go in the hospital tonight 472 00:38:16,300 --> 00:38:20,300 and you decide to come see me, you better talk to me. 473 00:38:20,300 --> 00:38:22,300 Don't just stare at me. 474 00:38:22,300 --> 00:38:25,300 But for seven days, they stare at the poor man. 475 00:38:25,300 --> 00:38:26,300 Finally, one of them speaks up and says, 476 00:38:26,300 --> 00:38:29,300 what did you do to make God so mad? 477 00:38:29,300 --> 00:38:31,300 Don't forget on the sidelines over here, Brother Mills, 478 00:38:31,300 --> 00:38:35,300 is Sister Job. 479 00:38:35,300 --> 00:38:37,300 No wonder she said what she said. 480 00:38:37,300 --> 00:38:39,300 She's lost all of this. 481 00:38:39,300 --> 00:38:41,300 She's listened to these three guys berate her husband, 482 00:38:41,300 --> 00:38:43,300 and she just can't take it anymore, 483 00:38:43,300 --> 00:38:47,300 and she says, curse God and die. 484 00:38:47,300 --> 00:38:49,300 Drop this integrity thing. 485 00:38:49,300 --> 00:38:50,300 You don't owe them an explanation. 486 00:38:50,300 --> 00:38:51,300 You don't owe me one. 487 00:38:51,300 --> 00:38:53,300 I'm not sure you owe God one anymore. 488 00:38:53,300 --> 00:38:55,300 Job, just get it over with, man. 489 00:38:55,300 --> 00:38:56,300 Curse God and die. 490 00:38:56,300 --> 00:39:01,300 Her circumstance had twisted her view of God. 491 00:39:01,300 --> 00:39:02,300 So here's my question. 492 00:39:02,300 --> 00:39:05,300 What have you been through 493 00:39:05,300 --> 00:39:09,300 that has affected your view of God? 494 00:39:09,300 --> 00:39:13,300 Come here, Brother, just a minute. 495 00:39:13,300 --> 00:39:15,300 But Job pulls her back in. 496 00:39:15,300 --> 00:39:18,300 You play the role of Sister Job just for a minute, will you? 497 00:39:18,300 --> 00:39:19,300 I'll do my best. 498 00:39:19,300 --> 00:39:21,300 And I hope, and you better hope, 499 00:39:21,300 --> 00:39:23,300 this is not on Facebook Live tonight. 500 00:39:23,300 --> 00:39:26,300 You'll never live it down. 501 00:39:26,300 --> 00:39:30,300 He pulls her back in at some point 502 00:39:30,300 --> 00:39:36,300 and says to her, you speak like a foolish woman. 503 00:39:36,300 --> 00:39:37,300 Now, I can tell you right now, 504 00:39:37,300 --> 00:39:41,300 my marriage would not have lasted 45 years 505 00:39:41,300 --> 00:39:43,300 if I had started any conversation like that 506 00:39:43,300 --> 00:39:45,300 with Paul right there. 507 00:39:45,300 --> 00:39:47,300 But he said, you speak like a foolish woman, 508 00:39:47,300 --> 00:39:51,300 but here's the deal, sweetie pie. 509 00:39:51,300 --> 00:39:54,300 I didn't have a thing when I got here. 510 00:39:54,300 --> 00:39:56,300 That's what he said. 511 00:39:56,300 --> 00:39:58,300 Naked came I into the world, 512 00:39:58,300 --> 00:40:00,300 and naked shall I be when I leave, 513 00:40:00,300 --> 00:40:01,300 but here's the truth. 514 00:40:01,300 --> 00:40:04,300 While I am here, I will bless the name of the Lord, 515 00:40:04,300 --> 00:40:05,300 because he gave it to me. 516 00:40:05,300 --> 00:40:07,300 The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. 517 00:40:07,300 --> 00:40:09,300 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 518 00:40:09,300 --> 00:40:11,300 And the Bible said in all of this, Job, sin not. 519 00:40:11,300 --> 00:40:13,300 Neither did he charge God foolishly, 520 00:40:13,300 --> 00:40:16,300 and his lateran was greater than his beginning. 521 00:40:16,300 --> 00:40:18,300 So here's what I think he might would have done. 522 00:40:18,300 --> 00:40:20,300 I think he might have pulled her real close 523 00:40:20,300 --> 00:40:22,300 and said, you said curse God and die, 524 00:40:22,300 --> 00:40:24,300 but darling, if we can curse God and die, 525 00:40:24,300 --> 00:40:26,300 we can bless God and live. 526 00:40:26,300 --> 00:40:28,300 I came by to tell hope well tonight. 527 00:40:28,300 --> 00:40:30,300 You can bless the name of the Lord, 528 00:40:30,300 --> 00:40:33,300 and don't let your circumstance twist your view 529 00:40:33,300 --> 00:40:35,300 of your loving Heavenly Father. 530 00:40:35,300 --> 00:40:37,300 Amen. 531 00:40:37,300 --> 00:40:39,300 Amen. 532 00:40:39,300 --> 00:40:41,300 Now, you're sitting there thinking, 533 00:40:41,300 --> 00:40:44,300 why'd you pull that guy up there to illustrate Sister Job? 534 00:40:44,300 --> 00:40:46,300 Because Paul knew what I was going to preach, 535 00:40:46,300 --> 00:40:49,300 and she said, don't you dare pull me up there to do that. 536 00:40:49,300 --> 00:40:51,300 So it fell your lot, my friend. 537 00:40:51,300 --> 00:40:53,300 There you go. 538 00:40:53,300 --> 00:40:55,300 They never called her Mara. 539 00:40:55,300 --> 00:40:59,300 Ron, because number three, 540 00:40:59,300 --> 00:41:02,300 this crowd who had lived through the famine refused. 541 00:41:02,300 --> 00:41:07,300 They refused to allow her circumstance 542 00:41:07,300 --> 00:41:13,300 to devalue her potential. 543 00:41:13,300 --> 00:41:15,300 Don't let it determine your identity. 544 00:41:15,300 --> 00:41:17,300 Don't let it distort your view of God. 545 00:41:17,300 --> 00:41:23,300 But thirdly, don't allow it to devalue your potential. 546 00:41:23,300 --> 00:41:29,300 Naomi has no clue what her potential is. 547 00:41:29,300 --> 00:41:31,300 But centuries later, millenniums later, 548 00:41:31,300 --> 00:41:34,300 we read her story, and we see, pastor, 549 00:41:34,300 --> 00:41:37,300 that even over in Moab, 550 00:41:37,300 --> 00:41:39,300 the woman is full of potential. 551 00:41:39,300 --> 00:41:41,300 She doesn't know it. 552 00:41:41,300 --> 00:41:43,300 So how do you know that? 553 00:41:43,300 --> 00:41:47,300 Well, because when she had the chance 554 00:41:47,300 --> 00:41:51,300 to separate between one or the other, 555 00:41:51,300 --> 00:41:55,300 Orpah, whose name, by the way, means stiff neck, 556 00:41:55,300 --> 00:41:58,300 rebellious, stubborn, 557 00:41:58,300 --> 00:42:01,300 who one of the renderings of her name is Beauty, 558 00:42:01,300 --> 00:42:03,300 when she has the opportunity to separate 559 00:42:03,300 --> 00:42:05,300 between one or the other, 560 00:42:05,300 --> 00:42:08,300 she lets stiff neck go on down the road. 561 00:42:08,300 --> 00:42:12,300 And she wraps her arms around that beautiful anointing, 562 00:42:12,300 --> 00:42:15,300 that beautiful companion, 563 00:42:15,300 --> 00:42:17,300 that beautiful spirit, 564 00:42:17,300 --> 00:42:21,300 and makes her way back to Bethlehem 565 00:42:21,300 --> 00:42:24,300 with something beautiful. 566 00:42:24,300 --> 00:42:28,300 That says to me that when given the choice, 567 00:42:28,300 --> 00:42:32,300 her potential shines through. 568 00:42:32,300 --> 00:42:34,300 Now let me ask you this, 569 00:42:34,300 --> 00:42:37,300 and I'm going to put it in hyper speed here. 570 00:42:37,300 --> 00:42:44,300 Does it ever just amaze you what accumulates on us 571 00:42:44,300 --> 00:42:48,300 when we're walking through life? 572 00:42:48,300 --> 00:42:52,300 I mean, you're just minding your own business. 573 00:42:52,300 --> 00:42:56,300 Walking through life. 574 00:42:56,300 --> 00:43:03,300 And stuff just starts accumulating. 575 00:43:03,300 --> 00:43:06,300 You don't go looking for it. 576 00:43:06,300 --> 00:43:14,300 You don't sign up for it. 577 00:43:14,300 --> 00:43:17,300 What's in this, darling? 578 00:43:17,300 --> 00:43:20,300 But baggage! 579 00:43:20,300 --> 00:43:23,300 Please turn that camera off. 580 00:43:23,300 --> 00:43:26,300 Baggage! 581 00:43:26,300 --> 00:43:31,300 Just jumps on you. 582 00:43:31,300 --> 00:43:35,300 And then, about the time you think you've got it balanced, 583 00:43:35,300 --> 00:43:38,300 come help me, preacher. 584 00:43:38,300 --> 00:43:41,300 Get on this side. 585 00:43:41,300 --> 00:43:44,300 Along comes that orpa spirit. 586 00:43:44,300 --> 00:43:47,300 Just grab onto my shoulder. 587 00:43:47,300 --> 00:43:50,300 And everywhere you go, 588 00:43:50,300 --> 00:43:52,300 orpa's hanging on. 589 00:43:52,300 --> 00:43:56,300 You can't shake it. 590 00:43:56,300 --> 00:43:58,300 Hit the ball and drag George. 591 00:43:58,300 --> 00:44:00,300 You know what I'm saying. Just everywhere you go. 592 00:44:00,300 --> 00:44:04,300 Only a golfer understands what I just said. 593 00:44:04,300 --> 00:44:05,300 Come back up here, Miss Jobe. 594 00:44:05,300 --> 00:44:07,300 I'm going to change your name for a second. 595 00:44:07,300 --> 00:44:09,300 Now you get to be Miss Ruth, okay? 596 00:44:09,300 --> 00:44:11,300 Grab onto that shoulder. 597 00:44:11,300 --> 00:44:13,300 No, just there you go. 598 00:44:13,300 --> 00:44:22,300 But God loves you enough to balance out the orpas with Ruth. 599 00:44:22,300 --> 00:44:24,300 You got all this other baggage going on, 600 00:44:24,300 --> 00:44:27,300 but God loves you enough. 601 00:44:27,300 --> 00:44:28,300 Let me man it up a little bit. 602 00:44:28,300 --> 00:44:33,300 He brings a handsome spirit to you. 603 00:44:33,300 --> 00:44:35,300 A handsome anointing. 604 00:44:35,300 --> 00:44:37,300 Man, I tell you what. 605 00:44:37,300 --> 00:44:39,300 If it was 20 degrees cooler in here tonight, 606 00:44:39,300 --> 00:44:42,300 I could preach for an hour and a half. 607 00:44:42,300 --> 00:44:44,300 It's been a great night to preach on hell. 608 00:44:44,300 --> 00:44:47,300 I can tell you that right now. 609 00:44:47,300 --> 00:44:51,300 What an altar call we could have had, too. 610 00:44:51,300 --> 00:44:55,300 And this is what's happened to Naomi. 611 00:44:55,300 --> 00:44:58,300 She's just moving through life and all this stuff. 612 00:44:58,300 --> 00:44:59,300 Two boys have died. 613 00:44:59,300 --> 00:45:01,300 The husbands died. 614 00:45:01,300 --> 00:45:04,300 All this stuff just dragging her down. 615 00:45:04,300 --> 00:45:10,300 And then comes that stubborn spirit. 616 00:45:10,300 --> 00:45:11,300 Sister, did I tag him right? 617 00:45:11,300 --> 00:45:14,300 Did I pick the right guy? 618 00:45:14,300 --> 00:45:16,300 Boy. 619 00:45:16,300 --> 00:45:21,300 But there comes a point in time when that handsome anointing 620 00:45:21,300 --> 00:45:24,300 overpowers that stubborn spirit, 621 00:45:24,300 --> 00:45:29,300 and somewhere along the way you're going to get a little break. 622 00:45:29,300 --> 00:45:30,300 Watch it happen. 623 00:45:30,300 --> 00:45:31,300 It'll happen. 624 00:45:31,300 --> 00:45:35,300 And that stubborn spirit will get more distant from you 625 00:45:35,300 --> 00:45:39,300 the closer that handsome anointing gets to you. 626 00:45:39,300 --> 00:45:43,300 And then you get an opportunity to just wave that stubborn spirit 627 00:45:43,300 --> 00:45:45,300 goodbye. 628 00:45:45,300 --> 00:45:47,300 Now, what you've got to be careful of is that you haven't 629 00:45:47,300 --> 00:45:53,300 become so codependent on that right there that you go chasing 630 00:45:53,300 --> 00:45:55,300 after it. 631 00:45:55,300 --> 00:45:59,300 And then what happens is you begin to notice the longer that 632 00:45:59,300 --> 00:46:06,300 handsome anointing hangs on, other things just begin to fall away. 633 00:46:06,300 --> 00:46:10,300 The baggage separates. 634 00:46:10,300 --> 00:46:13,300 The load, don't leave me, don't leave me. 635 00:46:13,300 --> 00:46:16,300 The load gets lighter. 636 00:46:16,300 --> 00:46:21,300 The day gets brighter because God has brought a handsome 637 00:46:21,300 --> 00:46:28,300 anointing, an anointing not just to cope, an anointing not just 638 00:46:28,300 --> 00:46:32,300 to deal with things, but an anointing to help see you through 639 00:46:32,300 --> 00:46:35,300 to get you from Moab all the way to Bethlehem, 640 00:46:35,300 --> 00:46:38,300 which by the way the name Bethlehem means the house of bread, 641 00:46:38,300 --> 00:46:41,300 the house of plenty, the house of provision. 642 00:46:41,300 --> 00:46:43,300 I'm preaching better than anybody's shouting here tonight. 643 00:46:43,300 --> 00:46:46,300 The house where Jesus himself, the bread of life, was going to 644 00:46:46,300 --> 00:46:48,300 be born in a few more centuries. 645 00:46:48,300 --> 00:46:51,300 I came by to tell you God's bringing a handsome anointing to 646 00:46:51,300 --> 00:46:52,300 your life. 647 00:46:52,300 --> 00:46:54,300 God's bringing a providing anointing to your life. 648 00:46:54,300 --> 00:46:57,300 God is bringing an anointing to your life that's going to get 649 00:46:57,300 --> 00:47:00,300 you from point A to point B without all the baggage in 650 00:47:00,300 --> 00:47:01,300 between. 651 00:47:01,300 --> 00:47:09,300 Can somebody clap your hands to the Lord? 652 00:47:09,300 --> 00:47:14,300 Point four, you thought we'd never get here, didn't you? 653 00:47:14,300 --> 00:47:15,300 How am I doing? 654 00:47:15,300 --> 00:47:16,300 How's my clock? 655 00:47:16,300 --> 00:47:18,300 Am I good? 656 00:47:18,300 --> 00:47:22,300 They never called her Mara because this crowd who had lived 657 00:47:22,300 --> 00:47:28,300 through the famine, they understood circumstance must 658 00:47:28,300 --> 00:47:34,300 never destroy your destiny. 659 00:47:34,300 --> 00:47:37,300 Don't let it determine your identity. 660 00:47:37,300 --> 00:47:41,300 Don't let it distort your view of God. 661 00:47:41,300 --> 00:47:44,300 Don't let it devalue your potential, but most of all, 662 00:47:44,300 --> 00:47:49,300 don't let your circumstance destroy your destiny. 663 00:47:49,300 --> 00:47:57,300 Now follow me real close because this is so good. 664 00:47:57,300 --> 00:47:59,300 Ruth meets Boaz. 665 00:47:59,300 --> 00:48:04,300 I love that whole story. 666 00:48:04,300 --> 00:48:10,300 And by the way, did you ever notice how he proposed to her? 667 00:48:10,300 --> 00:48:12,300 Did you ever read that? 668 00:48:12,300 --> 00:48:18,300 There at lunch one day, eating parched corn, butter dripping 669 00:48:18,300 --> 00:48:22,300 off both ends. 670 00:48:22,300 --> 00:48:31,300 And he reaches for an ear of corn and extends it to Ruth. 671 00:48:31,300 --> 00:48:39,300 If I had ever known you could have got by that cheap. 672 00:48:39,300 --> 00:48:42,300 Brother Bobby Paula likes jewelry, but if I had ever known 673 00:48:42,300 --> 00:48:47,300 that an ear of corn, he extends her an ear of corn, next thing 674 00:48:47,300 --> 00:48:51,300 you know, they're married. 675 00:48:51,300 --> 00:48:54,300 Lord, I feel like preaching here. 676 00:48:54,300 --> 00:48:55,300 Is it cooling down? 677 00:48:55,300 --> 00:48:59,300 What'd you do? 678 00:48:59,300 --> 00:49:03,300 And they got a baby on the way. 679 00:49:03,300 --> 00:49:04,300 And you know how folks are. 680 00:49:04,300 --> 00:49:07,300 They want to see that baby when it's born. 681 00:49:07,300 --> 00:49:09,300 Whose eyes did it get? 682 00:49:09,300 --> 00:49:12,300 Whose nose does he have? 683 00:49:12,300 --> 00:49:17,300 So all the town's women go to see little baby Obed. 684 00:49:17,300 --> 00:49:22,300 That's his name, Obed. 685 00:49:22,300 --> 00:49:28,300 And they see this baby and they pick this baby out of Ruth's arms. 686 00:49:28,300 --> 00:49:30,300 Watch it. 687 00:49:30,300 --> 00:49:36,300 And they move toward Naomi, who had said in chapter 1, 688 00:49:36,300 --> 00:49:40,300 I can't have any more kids. 689 00:49:40,300 --> 00:49:45,300 By her own confession in chapter 1, she said, I'm too old. 690 00:49:45,300 --> 00:49:48,300 It's not going to happen. 691 00:49:48,300 --> 00:49:50,300 So I release you, Ruth, and I release you, Orpah. 692 00:49:50,300 --> 00:49:54,300 Go back to your people, find husbands, get on with your life. 693 00:49:54,300 --> 00:49:56,300 It's never going to happen to me. 694 00:49:56,300 --> 00:49:59,300 If it could happen, I wouldn't expect you to wait on it. 695 00:49:59,300 --> 00:50:01,300 But it's not going to happen. 696 00:50:01,300 --> 00:50:05,300 I'm as good as dead. 697 00:50:05,300 --> 00:50:10,300 But in Ruth chapter 4, they walk into the room saying, 698 00:50:10,300 --> 00:50:15,300 Blessed be Naomi. 699 00:50:15,300 --> 00:50:18,300 They haven't called her Mara the first time. 700 00:50:18,300 --> 00:50:23,300 Blessed be the God of Naomi, because God has given you a 701 00:50:23,300 --> 00:50:28,300 kinsman who will nourish you in your old age. 702 00:50:28,300 --> 00:50:32,300 Not only has he given you a kinsman, watch this, watch this, 703 00:50:32,300 --> 00:50:40,300 he has given you a son. 704 00:50:40,300 --> 00:50:44,300 She said, I can't have children. 705 00:50:44,300 --> 00:50:46,300 Yeah, but God's given you a son. 706 00:50:46,300 --> 00:50:49,300 I'm too old to bear children, but God's given you a son. 707 00:50:49,300 --> 00:50:52,300 The biological clock has not, yeah, but God has given you, 708 00:50:52,300 --> 00:50:53,300 it's not going to happen. 709 00:50:53,300 --> 00:50:57,300 Yeah, I know, but God's given you a son. 710 00:50:57,300 --> 00:51:03,300 Biologically, that's not her boy. 711 00:51:03,300 --> 00:51:11,300 But God tied her to a destiny, because not only is she tied to 712 00:51:11,300 --> 00:51:17,300 an obid, now she's tied to obid when he grows up and gets 713 00:51:17,300 --> 00:51:21,300 married, they have a child named Jesse. 714 00:51:21,300 --> 00:51:24,300 And now she's tied when Jesse grows up and gets married, 715 00:51:24,300 --> 00:51:27,300 they have a child named David. 716 00:51:27,300 --> 00:51:31,300 Following on and on and on and on, and one day on the dusty 717 00:51:31,300 --> 00:51:34,300 streets of Judea, there's an old blind beggar that heard Jesus 718 00:51:34,300 --> 00:51:37,300 is walking by, and the Bible said when he heard Jesus was 719 00:51:37,300 --> 00:51:41,300 near, he cried out and said, oh, thou son of David, have 720 00:51:41,300 --> 00:51:43,300 mercy on me. 721 00:51:43,300 --> 00:51:47,300 I came by to tell you, she had a destiny she was connected to. 722 00:51:47,300 --> 00:51:49,300 Even though hope seemed lost, even though life seemed 723 00:51:49,300 --> 00:51:55,300 hopeless, she was still connected to a future. 724 00:51:55,300 --> 00:51:59,300 I'm not going to spend too long here, but the Bible said she 725 00:51:59,300 --> 00:52:01,300 became nursed to it. 726 00:52:01,300 --> 00:52:04,300 Let me just speak to that a moment. 727 00:52:04,300 --> 00:52:09,300 That simply means she helped to mature that child. 728 00:52:09,300 --> 00:52:12,300 That simply means she helped nourish that generation. 729 00:52:12,300 --> 00:52:16,300 That simply means she was more than a good babysitter, she was 730 00:52:16,300 --> 00:52:20,300 more than a good nana, she was more than a good granny. 731 00:52:20,300 --> 00:52:24,300 No, that simply means she had a maturing capability, she had a 732 00:52:24,300 --> 00:52:28,300 nurturing capability, she had a teaching capability to help a 733 00:52:28,300 --> 00:52:31,300 young generation connect to a coming Messiah. 734 00:52:31,300 --> 00:52:34,300 Don't you let anybody write Pentecost off, don't you let 735 00:52:34,300 --> 00:52:37,300 anybody write the Church of God off, don't you let anybody 736 00:52:37,300 --> 00:52:41,300 write full gospel off, don't you let anybody write off anybody 737 00:52:41,300 --> 00:52:43,300 that preaches the whole Bible rightly divided. 738 00:52:43,300 --> 00:52:47,300 God has raised us up to help nurture a generation and mature 739 00:52:47,300 --> 00:52:52,300 a generation that is connected to a coming Christ, hallelujah. 740 00:52:52,300 --> 00:52:56,300 Go stand to your feet and clap your hands all over this place. 741 00:52:56,300 --> 00:53:06,300 They never called her Mara because she still had a future. 742 00:53:06,300 --> 00:53:09,300 Hallelujah. 743 00:53:09,300 --> 00:53:13,300 I just preached an hour and a half sermon in a little over 744 00:53:13,300 --> 00:53:20,300 20 minutes, miracles still happen. 745 00:53:20,300 --> 00:53:23,300 And I preach that whole thing to make this one point and I'm 746 00:53:23,300 --> 00:53:24,300 through. 747 00:53:24,300 --> 00:53:27,300 You have a future. 748 00:53:27,300 --> 00:53:29,300 You have a future. 749 00:53:29,300 --> 00:53:33,300 The Church of God in Tennessee has a future. 750 00:53:33,300 --> 00:53:36,300 The Church of God around this world has a future. 751 00:53:36,300 --> 00:53:39,300 They never called her Mara. 752 00:53:39,300 --> 00:53:42,300 I refuse to wear any label. 753 00:53:42,300 --> 00:53:44,300 I refuse, well praise God. 754 00:53:44,300 --> 00:53:46,300 Well praise God. 755 00:53:46,300 --> 00:53:49,300 I refuse to wear any tag. 756 00:53:49,300 --> 00:53:53,300 I refuse to wear any name besides I'm blessed and highly 757 00:53:53,300 --> 00:53:55,300 favored of God. 758 00:53:55,300 --> 00:53:58,300 The more I preach the more I want to preach. 759 00:53:58,300 --> 00:54:02,300 We're living in a day and time and a nation and a culture that's 760 00:54:02,300 --> 00:54:04,300 trying to rename our sons and daughters. 761 00:54:04,300 --> 00:54:07,300 They're trying to confuse the identity of our children and all 762 00:54:07,300 --> 00:54:10,300 this crazy stuff that's going on here and there. 763 00:54:10,300 --> 00:54:13,300 But I came by to tell the Church of God and hope well. 764 00:54:13,300 --> 00:54:16,300 I came by to tell everybody that represents a church wherever you 765 00:54:16,300 --> 00:54:17,300 represent it from. 766 00:54:17,300 --> 00:54:20,300 You keep proclaiming the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 767 00:54:20,300 --> 00:54:21,300 Keep preaching the truth. 768 00:54:21,300 --> 00:54:22,300 Keep protecting our children. 769 00:54:22,300 --> 00:54:28,300 Keep protecting our teenagers because we have a future in God. 770 00:54:28,300 --> 00:54:30,300 Somebody praise him in this house. 771 00:54:30,300 --> 00:54:37,300 Hallelujah. 772 00:54:37,300 --> 00:54:44,300 Hallelujah. 773 00:54:44,300 --> 00:54:45,300 Tell you what let's do. 774 00:54:45,300 --> 00:54:46,300 Gather with me around these altars here. 775 00:54:46,300 --> 00:54:49,300 Just come stand here for a few minutes. 776 00:54:49,300 --> 00:54:50,300 Thank God. 777 00:54:50,300 --> 00:54:51,300 Thank God. 778 00:54:51,300 --> 00:54:54,300 Thank God. 779 00:54:54,300 --> 00:55:06,300 Thank God. 780 00:55:06,300 --> 00:55:08,300 Thank you Jesus. 781 00:55:08,300 --> 00:55:20,300 Was brokenness and strife but he made something beautiful of my 782 00:55:20,300 --> 00:55:24,300 life. 783 00:55:24,300 --> 00:55:28,300 Why don't you sing it, lift your hands and sing something 784 00:55:28,300 --> 00:55:37,300 beautiful, something good. 785 00:55:37,300 --> 00:55:53,300 For my confusion he understood all I had to offer him was 786 00:55:53,300 --> 00:56:05,300 brokenness and strife but he made something beautiful of my 787 00:56:05,300 --> 00:56:06,300 life. 788 00:56:06,300 --> 00:56:07,300 Thank you Jesus. 789 00:56:07,300 --> 00:56:08,300 Thank you Jesus. 790 00:56:08,300 --> 00:56:09,300 Now we're going to pray. 791 00:56:09,300 --> 00:56:14,300 Feel led to just say this. 792 00:56:14,300 --> 00:56:18,300 I've been telling this recently everywhere I've been preaching. 793 00:56:18,300 --> 00:56:27,300 In another message I've been preaching about labels. 794 00:56:27,300 --> 00:56:33,300 You know life has a way of labeling us. 795 00:56:33,300 --> 00:56:39,300 I've been told for one doctor visit and walk out labeled. 796 00:56:39,300 --> 00:56:44,300 It's an Old Testament story about King Naaman. 797 00:56:44,300 --> 00:56:47,300 Mighty warrior king. 798 00:56:47,300 --> 00:56:51,300 Remember the card of the scripture uses one little 799 00:56:51,300 --> 00:56:56,300 three-letter conjunction that connects his history to a very 800 00:56:56,300 --> 00:56:59,300 dismal future until God healed him. 801 00:56:59,300 --> 00:57:04,300 King Naaman this, King Naaman that great, great, great, great 802 00:57:04,300 --> 00:57:11,300 warrior, leader, king but he was a leper. 803 00:57:11,300 --> 00:57:16,300 That word leper changed it all. 804 00:57:16,300 --> 00:57:25,300 Sometimes a label can change everything about our destiny it 805 00:57:25,300 --> 00:57:28,300 seems. 806 00:57:28,300 --> 00:57:31,300 I've been telling you that little sermon I'm preaching. 807 00:57:31,300 --> 00:57:36,300 When I was a kid my mama went and bought some new pillows, 808 00:57:36,300 --> 00:57:39,300 brought them home so we could all have a new pillow to sleep 809 00:57:39,300 --> 00:57:41,300 on. 810 00:57:41,300 --> 00:57:43,300 The first night I tried to sleep on my pillow something kept 811 00:57:43,300 --> 00:57:47,300 irritating my neck. 812 00:57:47,300 --> 00:57:49,300 I got up, turned on the light and discovered that there is this 813 00:57:49,300 --> 00:57:54,300 label on that pillow. 814 00:57:54,300 --> 00:57:59,300 In big bold lettering it says under penalty of law do not 815 00:57:59,300 --> 00:58:03,300 remove the label. 816 00:58:03,300 --> 00:58:06,300 Well I was a rambunctious mischievous six-year-old so I 817 00:58:06,300 --> 00:58:08,300 just got up and found me a pair of scissors and I cut that 818 00:58:08,300 --> 00:58:10,300 label off. 819 00:58:10,300 --> 00:58:14,300 I have yet to go to jail. 820 00:58:14,300 --> 00:58:18,300 I don't know who the Pillow Police even are. 821 00:58:18,300 --> 00:58:23,300 I'm sure there's some logical reason for all that. 822 00:58:23,300 --> 00:58:28,300 But I came by tonight to tell somebody take the label off. 823 00:58:28,300 --> 00:58:33,300 You're not who a doctor said you were, a diagnosis. 824 00:58:33,300 --> 00:58:37,300 You're not who life circumstances say you are. 825 00:58:37,300 --> 00:58:54,300 You're who God says you are.