Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture

Ruth 4:13-

Introduction

Today, I want to talk to you on the subject “Oh, That’s Why!”

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Turn to your neighbor and say “Oh, That’s Why!”

Now I want you to say it like you been through some things where you didn’t quite know why you were going through what you were going through when you was going through it, but now God has revealed to you why.

Say to your neighbor “Oh, That’s Why!”

Anybody ever been there before?

Introduction

Anybody ever been through some situations in your life you didn’t quite understand, but now years later or in hindsight you finally recognized Oh, “That’s Why!” Anybody ever been there before?

Teach for America Story

Teach for America Story

Teach for America Story

Before I graduated from my undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, I was applying for two different industries.

I loved to teach so I applied to teach math for Teach for America and I was a Business Economics and Accounting major so of course I applied to accounting firms.

All throughout my undergrad, I had developed a good relationship with one particular accounting firm —Deloitte.

I had been to leadership conferences, they flew me to Tennessee, they were wining and dining me.

We were dating.

And then during the course of me applying to both Teach for America and the accounting firms, I learned that Deloitte had a partnership with Teach for America that allowed me to do both.

I could go teach for two years and then come back to the accounting firm.

So now I’m praising God, thinking to myself that God connecting all the dots and causing all things to work together for my good.

I get accepted to Teach for America, but I get rejected from Deloitte.

I ended up getting accepted by PwC, another accounting firm, but they didn’t have the same partnership that Deloitte had with Teach for America.

So now I had to choose.

I was heartbroken and went through a mini depression.

Eventually I decided to accept my offer to PwC and go to the accounting firm.

I started work, met Paige, and a year and a half later when it came to buy a house, I sat down with the loan officer, and the loan officer said usually in order for us to give you a loan, you have show sufficient income coming in for two years.

You have only been working a year and a half, but because you went directly into what you studied, we are going to wave the two years.

Sometimes when you are going through things, it is not until years later you look back on it all and recognize “Oh, That’s Why.”

When I think about all the church hurt I have been through in my life, starting at age 14, and then to see how God has used those things to shape and mold the way I think, today I can say to myself “Oh, That’s Why!”

Ruth and Naomi have been through so much over the past 3 and half chapters.

They have been through a weeping period where they experienced famine, death and economic instability.

They have been through a working period where Ruth had to position herself on the barley field and pick up grain in order for them to eat.

And they have been through the waiting period where Ruth had asked Boaz to marry her, but because Boaz was a stand up guy and knew their was a closer male relative to redeem Ruth and Naomi back to economic stability, she had to wait to see if she was going to have to marry a man she didn’t even know.

And when you have weepped long and worked long and waited long, you start to wonder why are you going through what you are going through, but there will come a day when a light bulb turns on where God reveals His master plan and we say “Oh, That’s Why!”

And inside our text I see four things that might explain why God allows us to go through some of the things we go through.

1.

To Bring You Back OR To Him (Chapter 1).

The first reason I am going to suggest to you is not found in Chapter 4, but it is found in Chapter 1, and that is, the first reason I see in this text that might explain why God allow us to go through some of the things we go through is TO BRING YOU BACK TO HIM OR TO BRING YOU TO HIM.

In Chapter 1, we find out that a famine has hit Bethlehem and so Naomi and her family leaves to Moab.

As I have told you before, Moab was a very sinful place where they worshipped other gods.

It was a place named after the offspring of a deceiving daughter and her drunk father.

Moab was equivalent to our Las Vegas.

What happens in Moab, stayed in Moab.

Naomi and her family lived in Moab for 10 years, being shaped by the sinful culture.

While they were there Naomi’s two sons even broke Jewish law and married two Moabite women, one in which was named Ruth.

Now when we read Ruth, we only see her as a believer, but when Mahlon married Ruth, Ruth hadn’t necessarily converted to Judaism or “given her life to Jesus just yet.”

Moab was starting to grow on them.

And it is not until Naomi’s husband dies and her two sons die, that she finds her way back to Bethlehem.

Anybody ever found yourself drifting into some Moab places, doing some Moab things, hanging out with some Moab people?

In other words, anybody ever found yourself going to some places you have no business going to, doing some things you have no business doing and hanging out with some people you have no business hanging around?

Sometimes God will find you in the middle of your Moab and he will shake things up your life in order to bring you back to him.

At the beginning of Ruth, Naomi and her family leave to Moab.

In Moab they worship and serve other gods.

It was the equivalent of our Las Vegas.

Not everybody that goes to las vegas go to wild out, but for a lot of people is a time where passions and desires are sought after.

It would have been a place where people would have said what happens in Moab, stays in Moab.

The sons had already married Ruth and Orpah before they converted to Judiasm or how we would say “gave their life to Jesus” so they could have started to dabble and take on some Moab tendencies.

Death is what happened for Naomi, and sometimes God will allow things to happen in your life to bring you back to where you need to be.

Jonah

There is a story in the Bible about a man named Jonah whom God had told to a place called Nineveh.

Jonah didn’t want to go so he stowed away on a boat headed in a different direction.

And because Jonah did that, God caused a storm to rock the boat.

And the crew on the boat tried to throw stuff off, but Jonah knew that the reason why the storm was going on was because it was in a place that he wasn’t supposed to be.

So Jonah told the crew to throw him overboard and the God had prepared a fish to swallow Jonah up and spit him out where he was supposed to be.

Sometimes God will cause storms in our lives to rock our boats and allow things to swallow us up and spit us out so that we come back to place that we are supposed to be.

And God will not only use these techniques to bring you back to Him, but he will also use these techniques to bring you to Him.

Ruth was a Moabite woman that worshipped other gods.

But when her husband died, she went back with Naomi and told Naomi your God will be my God and your people will be my people.

It is not until Ruth’s life has been shaken up, that we see her confession of faith.

Sometimes God will take some drastic measures in order to bring to him.

And I know sometimes we might wonder how could such a loving God allow things like death to happen in order for us to come back to him or to him?

And it’s a great question, but it’s only a great question when you are looking at your trials and suffering in the scope of this temporary life.

But when you ask that question in light of eternity, it ought to change from a question of doubt to a a question of hope.

Boaz’s parents is Salmon who is a Jew and a foreign woman by the name of Rahab who was the prostitute that hid Israelite spies when they were getting ready to destroy go into Jericho.

It moves from questioning how could a loving God allow such things to happen to bring to him, to the statement that God loves me so much that he is willing to do whatever it takes in order for me to spend eternity in Hell.

At the beginning of Ruth, Naomi and her family leave to Moab.

In Moab they worship and serve other gods.

It was the equivalent of our Las Vegas.

Not everybody that goes to las vegas go to wild out, but for a lot of people is a time where passions and desires are sought after.

It would have been a place where people would have said what happens in Moab, stays in Moab.

The sons had already married Ruth and Orpah before they converted to Judiasm or how we would say “gave their life to Jesus” so they could have started to dabble and take on some Moab tendencies.

Death is what happened for Naomi, and sometimes God will allow things to happen in your life to bring you back to where you need to be.

And I wish I had me some believers in here that could testify

And I know sometimes we might wonder how such a loving God could allow certain things to happen in order for us to come back to him?

But when you ask those questions in light of eternity it should chnage your perspective.

I don’t ever want God to have allow somebody to die in my life in order for me to come back to him, but if you have to allow that happen in order for me to spend eternity in Hell, then Lord allow whatever you ever to allow.

That had God not shook up my life when I was in the streets.

In other words, anybody ever found yourself going to some places you have no business going to, doing some things you have no business doing and hanging out with some people you have no business hanging around?

That had God not shook up my life when I was doing some things I wasn’t supposed to be doing.

In chapter 1, we find out that when Naomi’s husband dies, her two sons take Moabite women to be their wives.

That had God not shook up my life when I was going to places I wasn’t supposed to be going.

That had God not shook up my life when I was hanging out with the wrong crowd.

I would be somewhere else other than church on a Sunday morning.

But God loved me so much that he reached into the abyss of darkness I had fallen into, disturbed my comfort, and brought me back to himself.

Had God not shook up my life when I was I would be somewhere else on Sunday morning.

But God loved me so much that he reached into the abyss I had fallen into, disturbed my comfort, and brought me to himself.

Sometimes we go through some of the things we go through because God is trying to bring us back to him or to him.

Boaz’s parents is Salmon who is a Jew and a foreign woman by the name of Rahab who was the prostitute that hid Israelite spies when they were getting ready to destroy go into Jericho.

2. To Make Space For What’s Coming (4:13b).

1.

To Make Space For What’s Coming (4:13b).