Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, whatever
the case may be. We are here with our Bible study
in the Book of Ruth. This is part two. Part one,
as you know, we went through kind of some background
as to the Book of Ruth, along with explaining
what this Bible study was going to be kind of
set up as. But we only did chapter one, verse
one. So, Today we're gonna pick back up in chapter
1 of the book of Ruth starting in verse 2 See
how far we can get through today Depends on what
all we go over how far we go But I'm just gonna
jump right in and start with the first I'm gonna
read chapter 1 verse 2 through 5 Didn't give
you what I got Told you last time kind of how
I teach Sunday school is kind of how I'm teaching
this I wish I had an audience here with me to
give some feedback or give some of their points
of view but again, I would love if you have anything
you would like to add Send me a text email Message
on if you can on one of these apps on Facebook
whatnot because I too need to learn more and
I'm not gonna learn more teaching myself if that
makes sense because I Only know what I know or
what God reveals to me and I need other people's
input anyway Let's just get into it. How about
that? So Ruth chapter 1 verse 2 I'll go ahead
and read verse 1 again, but it's really gonna
be 2 through 5 that we're gonna look at So let's
just read Ruth chapter 1 starting in verse 1
now it came to pass in the days when the judges
ruled that there was a famine in the land, and
a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to Sojourn
in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his
two sons. Verse two says, and the name of the
man, and bear with me as I say these names, because
I'm probably gonna butcher them. Verse two says,
and the name of the man was Limelek, and the
name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two
sons, Malon and Chillion. Euphrates of Bethlehem
Judah and They came unto the country of Moab
and continued there and Elimelech Naomi's husband
died and she was left and her two sons Verse
four and they took them wives of the women of
Moab The name of the one was Orpah and the name
of the other Ruth and they dwelled there about
ten years now circle that if you're reading along
in your Bible because that's important to me,
how long they were there. They dwelled there
10 years. This is, Elimelech's been dead for
10 years. Well, I don't know that he's been dead
the whole 10 years, but he died before they took
their sons. The sons took the wives. Anyway,
circle the 10 years part, because that's important
to me. And then verse 5, it says, The woman was
left of her two sons and her husband. So we find
ourselves here. Elimelech took his that there's
famine in the land of Bethlehem. There's famine
in Israel. We said last time that Bethlehem means
in Hebrew, the house of bread. There's famine
in the house of bread, yet they left and went
to Moab, which is a foreign country. They went
to Sojourn, which was a temporary stay in a foreign
country that worshiped a foreign God, not the
God of Israel. So that's where we're at. And
as we get there, we think. Alemelek thinks he's
leading his family out of famine to a land where
they're gonna have things, where they're gonna
have food, they're gonna find jobs, the two sons
find their wives, everything's gonna be better.
But we find that life - And Moab wasn't necessarily
better and easier than it was back in Israel,
back in Bethlehem. What do you mean? Well, ultimately
Elimelech died, both the sons died, and there's
Naomi left without a male in her household. They
went out of the frying pan and into the fire
as the old saying goes, or the other old saying,
the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Another saying is that hindsight sometimes is
20 -20. In a nutshell, they went out looking
for something, but didn't necessarily get. what
they thought they were going to get on it. We
look back at verse 1, why did they leave in the
first place? They were looking to leave the famine.
They were looking to find a better situation
somewhere that, my Bible doesn't say it, but
somewhere where maybe God necessarily wasn't
telling them to go. I had mentioned in the first
one that sometimes We try to run from our problems
instead of face our problems with God. Sometimes
we think we can just move away from our problems,
but we find out that we just bring our problems
with us. We don't necessarily get away from them.
The problems go with us. But I want you to focus
through all of this on that 10 years. And like
I said earlier, last go round. and I'll probably
say five million more times as we study the Book
of Ruth, is that my focus in the Book of Ruth
is not so much on the character of Ruth, but
the character of Naomi. And not just the character
as in the character being a person, but her character,
her makeup, what makes her up, what makes Naomi
who Naomi is. happened in these 10 years. Because
for these 10 years, Ruth was looking at Naomi
and looking at how she responded when her husband
died, how she responded when her sons died, how
she responded to all these negative things going
on in her life. So I want you to keep that in
the back of your head too. That we've run away
from our problems or a limelight has attempted
to run From the problem of famine into the land
of Moab, but sometimes our problems We camouflage
our problems and we do that today That's one
thing I think personally That drugs and alcohol
are a big camouflage that people use is we've
got this problem and deep down everybody's problem
is really the same problem. It's not a financial
problem. It's not a health problem. It's not
a anxiety problem. I struggle with anxiety so
I can deal. I can say that. I know what it is
to be anxious all the time and get... worried
about things, we struggle with family problems,
all that. But the real problem that we try to
run from is the God -shaped hole in each and
every one of our hearts. And we try to fill it
with other things. We try to fill it with alcohol.
We think run into an alcohol bottle or a pill
bottle or... a job or power or education or a
man or a woman or whatever it might be that we
try to fill with. After all of that wears after
the honeymoon phase, so to say, or after the
new wears off, or a good example is the drugs
and alcohol after the alcohol, the drunkness.
or the drug dupness, whatever term, I'm not good
with terms, but whatever the terms are, the high,
wears off, the problem's still there. And then
we run back to the bottle again and we get drunk
again or we get high again or we seek another
woman or we seek another job or we seek more
money and after the money runs out, the problem's
still there and will always be there until we
get the problem filled with Jesus because it
is a Jesus sized, shaped problem in our heart
that we're trying to fill with all these things.
And that's free because that really doesn't have
anything to do with this other than the fact
that in verse 1, I feel like that was part of
the issue was instead of trusting God through
the famine, Elimelech made the decision to take
his family and flee thinking, hey, if I get somewhere
else, maybe the problem won't be as bad. The
problems go with us. That's life. But moving
on, we'll read verses six and seven here. Ruth
chapter one verse six, it says, then she, being
Naomi, then she arose with her daughters -in
-law, that she might return from the country
of Moab. For she had heard in the country of
Moab how that the Lord had visited his people
in giving them bread. verse 7 wherefore she went
forth out of the place where she was and Her
two daughters in law with her and they went on
the way to return into the land of Judah So here
we are we have left Bethlehem because of famine
with a limelight leading the family out during
our ten years of sojourning whatever you want
to call it, our 10 years of being out in Moab.
We've had some things that we've had to deal
with. Elimelech's died. The two sons, Malon and
Chilean, have died. And now we're returning back
to Bethlehem. We're returning back to Israel
because she had heard that the famine was over
and God was giving bread to his people. Now what
would have happened if they had stayed through
those 10 years? I don't know. The Bible doesn't
say we can speculate. Maybe Elimelech, Malon,
and Chilean die anyway. But maybe they're still
alive. Maybe they find other wives. Well, I know
they wouldn't have found Ruth and Orpah because
they didn't go to Moab. Things would have been
different, but my point is sometimes I believe
that God expects us to wait through the hard
times. not to run, and we've beat this like a
dead horse about running away from our problems,
but sometimes we need to, as the song says, and
as God says in Psalms, or David writes in Psalms,
God inspired him to write, is be still. We need
to be still and watch God move. We need to be
still and wait upon the Lord. It's when we're
in our weakest. When we're in our waiting that
he's doing the most that's when he's working
and I think God expects us to do that Excuse
me anyway, so Naomi heard the Lord had visited
his people And it was time for her to go back
and I think there's some things that we can get
about going back and let's Look at some other
scripture here about a time When somebody went
back, okay? If you want to flip you'll find this
scripture in Genesis chapter 35 I'm gonna read
verses 1 through 3 Genesis 35 1 through 3 and
we're talking about Jacob and a time when he
needed to get back so Genesis 35 and 1 says and
God said unto Jacob arise go up to Bethel and
dwell there and Make there an altar unto God
that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from
the face of Esau thy brother and I'll stop right
there see Bethel is a place where Jacob had already
been previously, but he had left it. Okay, now
let's jump into verse two. Then Jacob said unto
his household, and to all that were with him,
and this is important, we need to do this today,
put away the strange gods that are among you
and be clean and change your garments. Verse
three says, and let us arise and go up to Bethel.
and I will make there an altar unto God who answered
me in the day of my distress and was with me
in the way which I went." So Jacob had been in
Bethlehem before, just like Naomi had been in
Bethlehem before. Jacob had fled Bethlehem, just
like Naomi with her husband and her two sons
had left Bethlehem. Now God himself here is telling
Jacob, it's time for you to arise and go back
to Bethel. But there's some things that he had
to take care of, and there's some things that
we have to take care of when we go back. It said
here that he had to tell them to put away the
strange gods that they had among them, to be
clean, to change their garments, to get back
to Bethel. And he had to repair, he had to build
the altar back up that he once had at Bethel.
Now Bethel, just like we said Bethlehem in Hebrew
meant house of bread, Bethel means house of God.
And I feel like today in 2025, we could say just
like Olimolec and Naomi when they were there
in Bethlehem, we're facing a spiritual famine.
And the only way to get that spiritual famine
to get through and to get what we need is to
go back to Bethel, go back to the house of God.
God wants to bless our country. God wants to
see lost, or we want God to bless our country.
We want to see lost souls saved. We want to see
our churches grow. We want to see all these things
happen. But in order for them to happen, we first
have to get back to Bethel. And in the Bible,
I believe it's in Proverbs, I could be wrong,
but I believe it's in Proverbs where it says,
judgment begins at the house of God. If we want
to see all these things change in our nation,
in our families, in our communities, in our world,
we've got to get to where we're supposed to be
first before we can try to help anybody else
or try to point anybody else in the right direction
to get back to where they need to be. Naomi could
have heard she had a choice here, just like Jacob
did when God spoke to him to go back to Bethel.
Naomi could have heard that God had visited his
people and wished that she had gone back, but
she had to actually put it into action. Okay,
sometimes we pray all these prayers. We want
to see this accomplished. We want to see that.
We need this. God, I'm looking for this answer.
But sometimes we have to put it into action.
God wants to see, He wants to answer, but we
have to put feet to our prayer sometimes. He
expects us, believe it or not, He expects us
to do a little bit of the work. Only He can answer
those prayers. Only He can provide, but there's
some things that... we're expected as Christians
to do. We get over into the book of James, and
we studied that not too long ago in Sunday school
at our church, but the big part of the book of
James to me was where he talks about being doers
and not hearers only. Well, let's go a bit further.
Instead of it being just a speaker or a sayer,
We've got to be a doer. I can tell you the Bible
says to do this, the Bible says to do that. This
is how the Bible says we're supposed to live
our life. This is what God expects out of me,
you, each and every one of us. But if I'm not
a doer of what I'm saying, what good is it doing?
Just like Naomi here, she heard there was bread.
She heard that the famine was gone. There was
bread back. The Lord had visited Bethlehem. She
heard all these great things, but she could have
just stayed in Moab. She wasn't forced to go
back to Bethlehem. She heard all the great things,
but she had to put some feet to action and actually
move and go back to Bethlehem. If we want to
get back to God, the first thing we're gonna
have to do, first we're gonna have to acknowledge
that we've walked away from God, that we've left
Bethlehem, or we've left Bethel. it hadn't been
that God left us because he never will I think
we said that last time God will never leave us
but we sure will leave him especially when we're
up on the mountaintop and everything seems to
be going good and we don't think we need him
then we start to stray away but that's another
topic altogether but to get back to God we need
to do not a 360 because if you turn 360 you go
all the way around and you're headed in the same
direction you were headed to begin with we need
to do a 180 and head back to Bethel, head back
to Bethlehem, head back to God, where we sat
down, where we sat down our testimony, where
we sat down our witness, where we sat down our
desire, where we sat down our fire to get closer,
our desire to see the church grow, our desire
to grow closer to God. I believe it was Sunday,
it may have been Wednesday night when I preached
and said something about the Bible being a living,
breathing Word of God. But I don't have, my Bible
doesn't have feet that's going to just plop out
of it and it's going to walk over to me to force
me to read it. I have to put forth effort to
read to grow closer to God. And that goes along
here with, too, I have this big thing on words
and cause and effects and things. You'll find
this in several different verses, but I'll read
this one here because it's the main one that
a lot of people know. It's the if -then. If we'll
do our part, then God will do his part. Now listen
to what it says in 2 Chronicles 7 -14. If, okay,
now following the if is what we're supposed to
do. If my people, which are called by my name,
shall humble themselves. Oh, we've got to get
humble. Nobody wants to do that and pray we Find
time to do everything but pray it seems like
and seek my face now will seek Baseball game
will seek money will seek time with our family
will seek vacations will seek all this stuff,
but we don't seek God and Turn from their wicked
ways not continue in your ways not continue doing
the same thing over and over and over but turn
from it. Not turn all the way around until you're
facing it again. Turn from it. If my people,
which are called by my name, shall humble themselves
and pray and seek my face and turn from their
wicked ways, then, here comes God's part, then
will I hear from heaven and will forgive their
sins and will hear their land. So why do we try
to be stubborn and keep pushing on a door that
says pull? We know if we'll do our part, God
is faithful and just to do His part. If we will
confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive
our sins. If we will seek His face, He will pour
Himself out to us. If we will pray to Him and
step out when the stepping is not easier or do
like I've said the other night, do all these
things that make us look weird and stupid and
don't make sense, but it's what God tells us.
If we'll do our part, He's gonna do His. But
God expects us to do our part too. So we find,
let's do a quick summary here. Let's back up
to verse one and summarize through verse seven
real quick. So there was a famine in the land,
Elimelech and his family left. They went to Moab.
While in Moab over the course of this ten -year
period the limelight died the sons Malon and
Chilean took on wives being Orpah and Ruth Malon
and Chilean died Naomi hears that God's visited
Bethlehem and brought bread to his people She's
deciding it's time we turn and go back or or
she turn and go back to her people But she wasn't
forced to do that. She had to make the choice
to go back. So there's where we're at, and now
we're at verse eight. I'm gonna read verses,
this is Ruth, chapter one, verses eight through
13. Verse eight says, and Naomi said unto her
two daughters -in -law, go, return each to her
mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you
as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
Verse nine. the Lord grant you that you may find
rest each of you in the house of her husband
then she kissed them and they let's underline
they right there because it's Orpah and Ruth
they lifted up their voices and wept verse 10
and they underlined they again if you're reading
along and they said unto her surely we will return
with thee into thy people verse 11 Naomi said
turn again my daughters why will you go with
me are there yet any more sons in my womb that
they may be your husbands verse 12 turn again
my daughters go your way for I'm too old to have
a husband and if I should say I have hope if
I should should have a husband also tonight and
should also bear sons verse 13 would you tarry
for them till they were grown? Would you stay
for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters,
for grieveth me much for your sakes that the
hand of the Lord has gone out against me." So
Naomi is telling them that in verse 9 and verse
10, I've told you to underline the words, they
both, Orpah and Ruth are there. Naomi says, look,
I'm going back. Bethlehem and this is the if
you are in Sunday school with me You've heard
me say the Jeremy international version, but
this is the Jeremy summary of how I read this
and Take it as you will read it for yourself
in the Bible But this is my interpretation. Okay,
so Naomi says look My husband's died my two sons
who girls were married to died y 'all are from
Moab y 'all have your own gods You have your
family here. It's just me here I've heard that
God has returned and blessed Israel with food.
I'm going back home. I'm turning back to the
God I know. I'm turning back to what? I'm going
back to where I need to be. Y 'all go back to
your families. And it says they both wept. They
both lifted up their voice, both girls. They
both said unto her that they would return with
them. And she's like, why would you go with me?
I'm old. I have no husband and even if I did
have a husband tonight and did end up having
two sons, y 'all are gonna sit around and wait
for them to be of age so you can marry them.
You're young, you've still got your life ahead.
Go back to your family. I've brought all this
bad stuff upon y 'all. Y 'all dealt with me kindly.
I appreciate it. Y 'all are awesome daughter
-in -laws. Go back to your family. I'm going
back to my land and my God. Now that's what all,
I feel like Naomi was kind of in a summary saying
to them, but what I find in here also is despite
all that has happened in Naomi's life, all the
loss, I don't read where Naomi was bitter when
she talked to him. She could have been, but I
feel like she was like Jobe. where Job said,
the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed
be the name of God. Naomi, she had all the reasons
in the world to be bitter. She had lost her husband,
she had lost both her sons. She's in a foreign
land with no family, but I don't read it as if
she's bitter. But I also want to look at me and
have you look at you. Where would we fall in
these situations and circumstances? How would
I have responded? How would I have responded
if I took Amanda and the kids away from Bree
City and we go to some foreign land and and and
they all die and everything goes wrong and it
starts falling apart? Naturally, I just go Huh,
what was me throw my hands up in the air, but
I don't see her as this way and maybe that's
just me Maybe that's my impression of Naomi,
but I think that's also important because of
during those ten years and All that went wrong
in Naomi's life. You got to remember you got
two girls Who were watching her and watching
how she lived and how she responded to all these
things? You know How do we respond when bad things
come to our life when we go to the doctor because
everything good our life is not just going to
be Roses all through life Okay, it's not always
gonna be great. We're gonna go to the doctor
and get bad news. Okay, that's life We're gonna
lose loved ones. We're gonna we're gonna lose
jobs. We're gonna bad things happen How do we
respond? Do we turn to God or do we blame God?
Do we get angry at God? The answer to our problems
in life or any circumstances we don't understand
while we're having to face them, the answers
are never in pushing God away but are always
found in drawing closer to him. No matter how
bad it is, when the doctor comes in and says
you've got cancer and it's the worst kind you
can have and you might have six weeks to live,
God's still God and God's still good. Don't push
him away draw closer. That's where our strength
is and I believe Naomi had that relationship
where she drew strength from God and Orpah and
Ruth more so Ruth saw that and responded to that
and that's let me read verse 14 verse 14 says
and They you can underline they again and they
lifted up their voices and way up both of them
But now here's where the difference is, okay?
And Orpah kissed her mother -in -law, but Ruth
clave unto her. Only Ruth clave unto her. It
says they both way -upped, but they also both
had a choice to make. And although they both
way -upped, we see here that there's a difference
in saying and doing. Orpah was sad, Orpah said
I'm gonna go, Orpah said I'm gonna do this, all
these things. Ruth did. She claved to her. Life
is going, guaranteed, going to give us hard roads
to go down at times. And the Bible tells us we'll
have trials and tribulations, but at some point
we have to become more than just a sayer and
become a doer. And there, James, like we mentioned
earlier, James 1 and 22 says, but be doers of
the words and not hearers only deceiving your
own selves. Sometimes we've got to put rubber
to the road. We've got to put feet to our prayers.
We have to be a doer. If we are truly one of
His, we know what we should do, but do we always
do it or are we sometimes just bystanders just
hearing it without responding? Are we an orpa
or are we a Ruth? Ruth saw all these things in
Naomi and she said, I'm going to be a doer. Our
life our choices in life might not always be
clear The end may not always be visible to us.
We talked last time about I believe it was last
time I said that our life is like a jigsaw puzzle
We see a couple of pieces, but God sees it all
put together We're not always going to understand
but we need to take on with God And I preached
on this a couple of days weeks ago whenever the
Nike slogan of just do it. We need to have that
attitude towards God. Ruth maybe couldn't fully
understand what was ahead, but she was going
forward anyway. She was just going to do it.
She was just like, I've been with you 10 years
now. I don't fully understand all this, but I'm
going with you. I'm just going to do it. And
I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit. But
that's the attitude we need to have. And what
I preached the other night... come from John
and I want to read these verses. John chapter
2 verses 1 through 5. We're at the marriage supper
where Jesus turns water into wine and says, and
the third day there was a marriage in Cana of
Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there and
both Jesus was called and his disciples to the
marriage and when they wanted wine the mother
of Jesus saith unto them unto him they have no
wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have
I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.
Now listen at verse five close. His mother saith
unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. And that's the kind of attitude we need
to have. That's what it means to be a doer. Whatever
God says, it doesn't have to make sense to me.
In teaching and preaching, I've mentioned this
several times since I read this one book. about
a pastor who his church caught on fire and he
thought everything was going bad and he was just
gonna give up. He wasn't gonna preach anymore.
And as I was reading that, there was something
said in there and it hit home to me and it makes
sense to me. What is this? 2025? I've been saved.
This month will be 15 years and in the 15 years
I've been walking with the Lord, he's never once
asked my opinion on anything. Because really
at the end of the road, at the end of the day,
my opinion doesn't matter. If he says do it,
just do it. Does it make sense? Always no. Did
I, Jeremy, did I want to be a preacher? Not necessarily,
but God said I'm calling you to preach. I had
to just do it. There's a lot of things in life
we don't necessarily want to do or it doesn't.
Sound fun or it doesn't look the way we think
it's gonna be But if God says do it we need to
have the attitude of just do it the Nike attitude
Ruth took that attitude. She went beyond just
saying it. She went beyond just lifting up her
voice and weeping she claved she clung to Naomi
and was like no, I'm doing it. And what is she
doing? Well, let's read here and we'll finish
up on these last four verses right here and we'll
just end today's podcast or Bible study in Ruth
right here. I'm going to read Ruth chapter 1
verses 15 through 18. Verse 15 it says, and she
said, this is being Naomi, back to Ruth, who's
cleaving to her. I can see, can you picture when
you were a little kid or maybe you had a little
kid and the little kid that locks around your
leg and you're trying to walk out the door and
you're dragging them behind you. I can picture
Ruth just clinging to Naomi like that. Naomi's
trying to go back and Orphus hugged her, kissed
her and was like, love you. I'm peace, I'm out.
And Ruth is just hanging on for dear life. Then
Naomi says this it says and she said behold thy
sister -in -law has gone back into her people
and into her gods Return thou after thy sister
-in -law Or 16 and Ruth said and treat me not
to leave thee or to return from following after
thee For whither thou goest I will go and where
thou lodgest I will lodge Thy people shall be
my people and thy God my God Verse 17. Verse
18. So verse 18 in summary when after Ruth says
to Naomi, look, where you go, I'm going to go.
Where you lodge, I'm going to lodge. Your people
is going to be my people. Your God's my God.
Wherever you go to die, that's where I'm going
to die because I'm following you to the end.
And Naomi sees there in verse 18, hey, Ruth ain't
playing around. So, okay, let's go. Ruth was
a Moabite. She was not one of God's chosen people.
She was not an Israelite. But despite this, She
had watched Naomi for 10 years live in her country.
She had seen how she lived her life. Ruth had
seen how Naomi responded to adversity. Ruth had
seen Naomi's witness. She had seen her live out
what she believed. She may not have known exactly
what Naomi had or exactly the God that Naomi
served. She might not have understood at all,
but she had seen enough. in Naomi that Ruth said,
whatever Naomi have, whatever you got, I want
it too. So let's end tonight, today, whatever,
let's end this Bible study in Ruth by asking
that question, can that be said about you? Can
that be said about me? Does the world look at
me or you and say, look, you've gone through
X, Y, and Z. You've had some curveballs thrown
in your life It's not always been perfect. I
don't understand exactly How you've responded
to this I don't understand exactly What you have
I don't understand exactly this Relationship
not religion this relationship with God that
you talk about But I've seen you live it and
whatever it is you have Dog on it. I want it
to Can the world say that about me and you? So
that's where I Wrote that book that I talked
about last time or pamphlet whatever you want
to call it about my mama awakens is I Saw I was
young growing up. We all were young anyway I
saw, you know, life wasn't always easy for my
mom, but she always put her faith and trust in
God. Now, I could say that about Papa Aikens.
I could say that about Ma. I could say that about
my mom. I could go on to all these different
people who have been influences in my life, but
I always look back to Mama Aikens and how she
was the Naomi in my life. I didn't quite understand
it all, and the older I got, the more I saw it.
as a teen and in my early twenties, knowing that
I was living in sin, knowing deep down that I
wasn't where I needed to be, but I saw she didn't
have, they weren't rich, they weren't wealthy,
she had health problems. All the bad in life
that we all have, but she had a hope, she had
something. I didn't understand it, but deep down
I knew whatever it was. I really want that too.
Now, look at me. Here I am, Jeremy, at 44 years
old, quote unquote, youth pastor at Victory Bible.
Why Mike chose me, I don't know. But I have to
look at myself and say, am I living a life that
these kids at church or my coworkers at work
or my... unchurched family around me. Am I living
a life that makes them want what I have? Am I
living, am I truly living my testimony? See,
we all have this thing in common, and I'm sorry,
Jeff, Uncle Jeff, if you hear this, I think I
stole this idea from you, but I love it. We all
have some things in common, and two of them are,
If God Terries is Coming. We're gonna have a
tombstone with a birthday on it and a death day
on it. But those two really aren't important.
The little dash in between. That's our testimony.
That's what's important. What's in our dash.
What people have seen. What we have left behind.
If you want to use the word legacy. What we've
left for them to look at and say, I don't understand
it, but I know that they trusted in God. And
he saw... Jeremy through this that and the other
a lot of people don't understand Jeremy because
he's weird and crazy but as a youth pastor as
a as a Leader here at work. I'm the director.
So I guess everybody's supposed to I don't know
We're all equal here at work another story. But
anyway, I Want people to be able to look at me?
And not won't my house 102 Quinn Drive because
it's nothing it's temporary. It's gonna fade
away It's it's it's not going with me. My car
is nothing special. I wear the pretty much the
same clothes I have for the last 20 years I don't
buy new clothes when I do I get them at Goodwill.
They're nothing special. I Don't want people
to want that I want people to see what's on the
inside and See that there's something different
and whatever it is. I want what he has And in
them wanting what he has, I need to live a life
where I can show them how you can have that same
relationship that I have. Not a religion, not
a name on a church roll. Y 'all that see me on
Facebook know I probably make you sick throwing
Victory Bible Church and we're doing this and
come listen to this and watch this. Victory Bible
Church doesn't amount to a hill of beans. There's
the church, Jesus Christ and his church. Okay?
I would love for you to be in my church with
me at Victory Bible Church. But more importantly,
I want you to be safe because your name on a
roll means nothing. You get baptized every other
month, it means nothing. You pay your tithes,
your 10%, or you go above and beyond and give
25%. You can give your whole check. I really
don't care. None of that means anything. That's
all religion. Okay? Let's talk relationship.
The blood of Jesus applied to our heart and life.
That's all that matters and I want others to
see that Jeremy has that They want that and I
want to be able to point them to how they can
get it for themselves So let me end Since I tend
to ramble I'm just gonna bluntly end right here
on one of my favorite verses I used to have like
a favorite verse and now then I had favorite
verses and then all of them is my favorite but
one of my favorite verses that goes along with
this. Chew on this until we pick up next time
in Ruth chapter 1. We'll start in verse 19. But
when people are looking at our lives, we're asking
the question, do they see, are we and Naomi in
front of them? Do they see God in us? Do they
see, do they want what we have? 2 Corinthians
4 and 3, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them. that are lost. I'm just going to leave
it right there, open -ended. If our gospel be
hid, it's hid to them that are lost. I love each
and every one of you. If anybody listen to this,
I hope you got a blessing out of it. Next time
we will pick up in Ruth chapter 1 and verse 19.
Go out, share your gospel, and be a Naomi.