The Struggle is Real
Joy • Sermon • Submitted
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WE EXIST TO HELP PEOPLE KNOW JESUS AND FIND PURPOSE
15 So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.
NAOMI — RUTH — ORPHA — WIDOWED IN SUPER SHORT TIME — NAOMI AND HUSBAND WENT TO MOAB FOR A BETTER LIFE — NAOMI SONS GOT MARRIED — HUSBAND DIED AND SONS DIED
WOMEN COULD NOT OWN ANYTHING — AWFUL SITUATION — WHAT DO YOU DO?
Ruth 1:13 (NLT)
13 ...the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.”
Maybe you are there or have been there? Feeling like God has raised his fist against you
6 Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.
When things get tough we tend to get paralyzed — and not do anything
MAKE A DECISION TO IMPROVE YOUR SITUATION
“They took the road toward Judah” — She didn’t know everything but she went towards Judah —
POWER STEERING ILLUSTRATION — EASIER ONCE YOU ARE GOING
SEEK WISE COUNSEL AND MAKE A DECISION
NAOMI TELLS THEM THEY HAVE SO MUCH LIFE AHEAD OF THEM, YOU DON’T NEED TO GO WITH ME, ORPHA TAKES HER UP ON IT
14 And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. 15 “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.
A lot of times our struggles involve relationships
WHO YOU START OFF IN LIFE WITH ARE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE WHO ARE THERE LATER
LET GO OF THOSE WHO LEAVE AND EMBRACE THOSE WHO STAY
When you keep reaching for the ones who left you push away the people that are trying to stay
19 So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked. 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?” 22 So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
MARA MEANS BITTER BUT IT ALSO MEANS STRENGTH
a lot of times women may have been angry, but men we led them there because we weren’t stepping into the role we needed to...
PREPARE NOW FOR YOUR NEXT SEASON
If you are not happy this year… lets do some things this year to prepare for next year.
If you are not happy with where you are? start planting because a next season is always coming.
GOD HAS BIG BIG PLANS FOR NEW PURPOSE CHURCH — WE HAVE TO PREPARE NOW
BAPTISM PHOTOS
IS THERE AN AREA IN YOUR LIFE THAT’S DRY?? — SOW INTO IT
1 Now there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi’s husband, Elimelech. 2 One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.” Naomi replied, “All right, my daughter, go ahead.” 3 So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech. 4 While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. “The Lord be with you!” he said. “The Lord bless you!” the harvesters replied. 5 Then Boaz asked his foreman, “Who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to?”
THIS WAS THE OG SWIPE RIGHT — ??? WHO SHE WITH ???
NO MATTER HOW MAD YOUR LIFE IS, IT WILL GET WORSE IF YOU STOP WORKING
NBA — FEEL DEFEATED AFTER A RUN — THAT’S WHEN IT’S OVER
WORK THE FIELD YOU FIND YOURSELF IN AND GOD WILL OPEN DOORS FOR YOU
19 “Where did you gather all this grain today?” Naomi asked. “Where did you work? May the Lord bless the one who helped you!” So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. She said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.” 20 “May the Lord bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.”
FAMILY REDEEMER = HUSBANDS BROTHER - CONTINUE FAMILY NAME AND KEEP PROPERTY - LEGACY — LAW THEY COULD TAKE CARE OF YOU IF THEY CHOSE TOO.
Ruth 4:13–17 (NLT)
13 So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife.... the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. 14 Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. 15 May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!” 7 They named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.
ACT IN FAITH AND KNOW THAT YOUR REDEEMER IS COMING FOR YOU
EVERY OT STORY IS A SHADOW OF JESUS
BOAZ IS JESUS RUTH IS US — JESUS DIDN’T HAVE TO REDEEM US BUT HE DID
WITHIN WEEKS OF THEM COMING BACK TO BETHLEHEM (GOD’S HOUSE) EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED — HOUSE OF GOD — HOUSE OF BREAD AND WAR — FEED TRUTH AND LEARN TO FIGHT