Our lives should influence our kids to ask for _________________.

You are a key co-author in the book of your child’s life.

What The Bible says about The Kingdom of God:

Pray for it. Seek it. It’s coming. It’s not yet here. It already is. It’s present in your midst. It’s upon you. It’s at hand.

What is God’s Kingdom?

_________________.

Where is God’s Kingdom?

_________________.

Can we experience God’s Kingdom on earth?

_________________.

Romans 14:17 For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Why should I ask for God’s Kingdom?

-We want him to rule and reign in our lives.

-We want him to conquer the hearts of those who are not yet part of the Kingdom so that they can become part of the Kingdom.

-We want him to dethrone the ruler of this world, Satan. We desire to see Satan’s destructive systems shattered. 

Mark 6:19 Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him.

Matthew 16:24 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

If you want your kids to ask for The Kingdom, you must _________________ them what kingdom living looks like & you do that best when you take up your cross.

Children hear what you say, but _________________ what you do.  

What if we chose to live each day as if a loving, powerful God really is in charge?

CULTURE: WAY OF LIFE OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE — THE BEHAVIOR, BELIEFS, VALUES THEY GENERALLY ACCEPT WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT THEM

• ONLY 15% OF YOUNG ADULTS CLAIM ANY STRONG AFFILIATION WITH CHRISTIANITY OR THE CHURCH.

• THE UNITED STATES NOW HAS MORE SECULAR, UNCHURCHED PEOPLE THAN MOST OF THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD.

• THE 3RD LARGEST MISSION FIELD IS NOW THE ENGLISH SPEAKING WORLD. CURRENTLY, ONLY 6% OF ADULTS OVER THE AGE OF 18 FIND FAITH IN CHRIST.

• APPROXIMATELY 200 CHURCHES ARE CLOSING THEIR DOORS EVERY WEEK IN AMERICA.

• THE FASTEST GROWING RELIGION IN AMERICA IS SOCIAL JUSTICE.

4 SIGNS OF A HEALTHY CULTURE:

1. THEY HAVE A CULTURE OF LOVE.

2. THEY HAVE A CULTURE OF SERVANTHOOD.

YOU HAVE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE:

1. PEOPLE WHO GO TO CHURCH
 2. PEOPLE WHO ARE THE CHURCH

3. THEY HAVE A CULTURE OF GENEROSITY.

TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE IN CHURCH:

1. GIVERS

2. TAKERS

4. THEY HAVE A CULTURE OF FAITH.

A HIS event where we answered some questions that the women of our church wanted answers for. 

To be a childless widow was to be among the lowest, most disadvantaged classes in the ancient world. There was no one to support you, and you had to live on the generosity of strangers. Naomi had no family in Moab, and no one else to help her. She was in a desperate, desperate situation.

Ruth 1:16-17 16 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!”

01 Ruth was determined. 

Ruth 1:14-17: Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, "Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law." But Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me." When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her. 

Ruth 2:11 And Boaz answered and said to her, "It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.

John 16:33 In this world you will have trouble.

Tenacity - the quality of being tenacious, or of holding fast; persistence 

02 Ruth expected the sweet!

Ruth 2:2 So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter." 

Ruth 1:19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, "Is this Naomi?" But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; 20 call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty  remember that word has afflicted me?" 

Almighty, = “El Shaddai” “the all-sufficient God, the God of abundant supply.”

HUMMINGBIRD PIC 

TURKEY VULTURE PIC

3 Ruth got to work.

Ruth 2:2 “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.”

Ruth 2:7 She said, ’Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.' So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house." 

Proverbs 21:25 The desire of a lazy person will kill him because his hands refuse to work.

04. Ruth Had Grattitude

Ruth 2:10 So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" 

Ruth 2:13 "Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants." 

Ruth 2:13 (MSG) She said, "Oh, Sir, such grace! Such kindness! I don't deserve it! You've touched my heart, tre

We believe in the next generation at New Song. This weekend we let three of our young communicators take the platform to share with our church how they each know God.