Pt 4 of the series "Ruth: A Redemption Story"

What could we possibly need more than provision? More than resources? More than to be blessed?

What we need more than provision, resources and blessings is the One who is the source of them. Ruth comes home after her first day in the fields with an uncommon armful of blessings, but it is not this that lights up Naomi's eyes - it is the revelation that the one who blessed Ruth is a redeemer for their family.

You need a Savior more than you need to be saved.

Pt 5 of "Ruth: A Redemption Story"

Urgency is not an attack from our enemy but a gift from God. Ruth and Naomi realize that they have to act with a sense of urgency and make sure that their lives collide with Boaz in a way that demands a response.

The Threshing Floor is where this encounter takes place. The Threshing Floor is a place where pressure and crushing reveal what is most valuable in us, and then by faith we enter the in-between moments, the leaps of faith, and trust God to fulfill our need for a Redeemer.

Pt 3 of "Ruth: A Redemption Story"

As Ruth just happens to walk into Boaz's field, it begs for us to ask the question: are any of the places we find ourselves actually random or by chance?

What we find is that we are not simply experiencing happenstance in our daily lives, but the hand of Providence.

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The second sermon in the series "Ruth: A Redemption Story"

Ruth 1:7-22

Naomi is coming back to Bethlehem, but the conversation she has with her daughters-in-law indicates that Naomi isn't coming back to make a new life, she is going home to die. But God has brought two tangible forms of grace into Naomi's life that is going to change everything: Ruth and the harvest.

The truth is, God isn't waiting to provide for our redemption and healing, He has already provided all we need long before we knew how to ask. We are never without a Redeemer. And God's clingy grace hangs on us through the most difficult situations.

Ruth 1:1-6; 4:16-21

Beginning our sermon series "Ruth: A Redemption Story" - the first installment of this story is a season of disobedience, tragedy and pain. Naomi loses her home, her family and her future but all of that brokenness is not the end of her story.

When we gather our pieces, our brokenness, and put them in God's hands He does something that we wouldn't expect and couldn't accomplish on our own. 

The glowing face of Jesus, the appearance of Moses and Elijah, and truly the entire scene at the Transfiguration is a curious moment in the Gospels. Why does Jesus reveal Himself in this way? Why is this mountain top experience important for the disciples?

Like so many texts in the Bible, context is key. The conversation between Jesus and Peter in Matthew 16, talking about the identity of Jesus and the cost that comes with following Him, is what leads us to the mountain of Transfiguration.

The view from this mountain reveals to us that God never requires a cost or sacrifice without a promise of greater return.

Our goal is to be like Jesus, to have our lives calibrated to His example and life. In John 8, the story of the woman caught in adultery and the men caught in judgement, Jesus shows us how He viewed the broken and in turn we begin to understand how we are to view them as well.