Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, can we put our hands together for all of
our teachers this morning, allof our faculty administration,
all of our bus drivers?
In fact, we wanna honor youthis morning If you are retired
or you're active, you're ateacher, you're an administrator
, you're faculty, you're a busdriver, you're a coach, in any
way involved in our public,private, homeschool, wherever it
(00:20):
might be.
Would you just stand right nowso we can honor you, wherever it
might be.
Would you just stand right nowso we can honor you and let's
put our hands together for them.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for all that you doRaising up and educating the
next generation as men and womenand dads and moms going into
the workforce, our society andour community.
(00:41):
And we just we honor you todayas a reminder.
We have a gift for all of ouractive teachers.
Why do we give them a gift?
Because often they'reresponsible for resourcing their
classroom, and so we've got a$75 gift card for all of our
teachers, just right out hereafter the service.
And so all of our activeteachers just wanna remind you,
(01:01):
fill out a Next Step card andyou can put any information you
want on there, but especiallyyour name, your email and on the
back you can put the grade thatyou teach and the school that
you teach at, and we are lookingforward to honor you and to
resourcing you in that way.
And again, it is our way ofsaying thank you and I just, I
absolutely love getting to besenior pastor here at First
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Baptist Church, powder Springs,because we get to be a church
where all of the community cancome together in unity as a
family and worship Jesus as one.
And God is so good and he isworking in our lives, he's
working in our church, he isworking in our community and we
just wanna say thank you to ourteachers and everyone who is a
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part of it.
I want to remind you or maybefor the first time, we have
Baptism Sunday coming up.
Everybody say baptism, baptismSunday coming up on September
the 14th.
Here's the deal I'm going to bepreaching on baptism September
7th, so maybe you or maybesomeone you know is I'm going to
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be preaching on salvation andbaptism.
We share the gospel everySunday, but really that's going
to be a get saved and getbaptized kind of Sunday on
September 7th, and then the nextSunday, september 14th, is
we're going to have baptismSunday for everybody that wants
to get baptized.
So if you need to be baptized,we would love to baptize you.
Or if you know someone right,don't come and push them in the
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tank, but you bring them, andwhatever God wants to do in
their life, we will leave theresults to the Lord.
Well, let's continue in ourseries through the month of
August.
It is on the book of Ruth.
It's all about what God can dowithin your family and we are
calling it Bless this Mess.
Look at somebody and say Blessthis Mess, bless this Mess.
(02:51):
So this is our opportunity thatwe get to talk about just
family and biblical manhood andbiblical womanhood and parenting
, and this morning specifically,we are going to be talking
about marriage, when God willbless your marriage.
Just as a reminder, this is foreveryone who is married.
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Raise your hand if you'remarried this morning.
Raise your hand, very good.
Raise your hand if you'resingle this morning.
This is for you too.
Look around, see who all issingle in the room, meet each
other, go out to lunch, inviteme to the wedding.
You are welcome.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
All right, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we love youand God, we just wanna proclaim
that this is your word, we'reyour people, god, we want your
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work and for you to do God inour life, whatever brings you
worship and whatever brings youglory.
In Jesus' name and all God'speople said amen.
When will God bless yourmarriage?
And I love that all the kidsare in here with us today.
My little girl, brooklyn, is inhere, first grade, over here
today as well, and I think I mayhave told you before do you
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remember?
I told you the one about thehusband's store that they have
in New York City, the husband'sstore.
So apparently, as a singlewoman, you could walk in the
store if you were shopping for ahusband, and there's six floors
to the store.
From what I understand, therules are is that there's a
certain type of man on a floorand you can go up, and whenever
you go up the man gets a littlebit better, but you can never
come back down.
Okay, I guess that's the rulesto the store.
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So you walk in and the firstfloor is these men have good
jobs, right?
So a woman walked in and saidman, that sounds really nice,
but I think I can do a littlebetter than that.
And so she walks up to thesecond floor, these men have
good jobs and they love kids.
Wow, it just keeps gettingbetter.
Let me go up to the third floorsee what they offer.
Man, they've got good jobs,they love kids and they're
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romantic.
Well, I gotta see what's on thefourth floor.
The fourth floor jobs, kids,romantic, and they do housework.
On the fifth floor, right goesthrough everything again and
they do all of that and theymake a lot of money, right.
And so the woman says this isincredible, I've got one more
floor.
What more could they possiblyoffer?
Goes up to the next floor.
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There's no men, there's only asign, and the sign says this
floor is to prove that no mancan meet any woman's
expectations.
I love that.
I love that story.
You know, I heard recentlythere's not only a husband's
store, there's a wife's store,and so a single man walked into
the wife's store, new York City,first floor and said these
women are good looking, so he'slike man, this is great.
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Goes up to the next floor andsays these women are romantic.
And then apparently, from whatI understand, no man has ever
been to the third floor orhigher because we're good after
floor two.
There you go.
All right, we're just good,good looking, romantic, we are
good to go.
Single ladies single ladies inthe room what a reminder for you
that you will not find theperfect husband and no woman in
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this room is married to theperfect man, and all God's women
said amen.
Single men, this is a reminderfor you that you will not find
the perfect woman and no man ismarried to the perfect woman,
and all God's men said don't sayit, don't say it, do not say it
, do not say it, do not say it.
Some of y'all almost got introuble.
What I'm saying this morning,what I'm saying this morning to
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you, is is the Bible is our onlyyou ever thought about this?
The Bible is your only reliablesource of truth when it comes
to singleness in marriage andhow to live your life in a
blessed way, because you don'twant to bless yourself and you
don't want someone else to blessyou.
You want God to bless you most.
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If you believe that, say yeah,you want God to bless your life,
and so I want you to see in theword of God, that God's word,
it actually starts with themarriage Adam and Eve.
It actually ends with theultimate eternal marriage
between Christ and his bride.
The church and the Bible isfull of imperfect marriages all
the way through it, but theBible gives us truths and
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principles in how we can bemarried and live for Jesus in
our marriages and also in oursingleness.
You realize today we live in aworld where less people are
getting married than ever, some60% less over the last 50 years.
We live in a world today wherealmost half of marriages end in
divorce.
You realize about 50% ofmarriages end in divorce.
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You realize about 60% of secondmarriages end in divorce.
You realize about 70% of thirdmarriages end in divorce.
In other words, I wannaencourage you get married to a
godly spouse and when you getmarried you stay married,
because typically you find outwell, if we get divorced,
they'll marry the next personthey get divorced.
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Marry the next person they getdivorced.
The problem's not them, theproblem is you right.
And so the whole point is thisGod won't bless a marriage
against his word.
And why won't God bless amarriage against his word?
The reason he will not isbecause he cannot.
God cannot bless anyone, godcannot bless anything that is
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not living for his glory,because God would then be
blessing people who are livingin disobedience of him.
So the book of Ruth that we'regonna see this morning is the
most perfect example of anearthly love story.
But hear me, the book of Ruthpoints us to the perfect
marriage, love relationship ofJesus and his church.
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So in case you missed it, justto catch you up on Ruth so far,
there was a guy by the name ofElimelech.
He was married to Naomi.
Elimelech wanted to takematters into his own hands, so
he moved his wife Naomi, his twosons, malon and Kilion, to a
pagan land called Moab.
There Elimelech dies.
The two sons marry twodifferent women, ruth and Orpah.
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The sons die.
Now all you have left is Naomi,who's now the mother-in-law of
these daughters-in-law, ruth andOrpah, who are of Moab, this
pagan land.
Naomi wants to move back toBethlehem where the people of
God live, and so Orpah says I'mgoing to go back to my people in
Moab, ruth.
But the other Moabite wife saysNaomi, I want to come with you,
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I want your people to be mypeople.
And Ruth says I want your Godto be my God.
This is Ruth's salvation momentin her life.
She says I no longer want thispagan God, chemosh of Moab, to
be my God or any other God.
You've been telling me aboutYahweh, you've been telling me
about the one living, true God,and I wanna live my life, I
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wanna go with you and I want toexperience this God.
And so they move back and thebig question is, in this whole
mess in their life, as Elimelechhas died and Malon and Kilion
has died, and Naomi is movingback, they've been gone for 10
years and Ruth is moving backwith her from a pagan land and
now they're living together andthey've got nothing and they've
got no one and they are brokeand they don't know what to do.
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The question is how is Godgoing to bless their mess?
Well, it just so happens thatRuth goes to a field in order to
glean wheat to take back toNaomi so that they can eat, and
it just so happens that it was afield owned by a man by the
name of Boaz.
The Bible says that he's aworthy man.
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Looks like that he was even awealthy man.
Looks like that he was even asingle man.
And Boaz takes interest in Ruthand Ruth takes interest in Boaz
.
To the point.
Last week they went on this bigdate and Ruth basically
proposes to that he wouldpropose to her.
In other words, ladies, as Itold you last week, if he won't
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ask you out, don't ask him out,but you can go tell him, hey, if
you ask me out, just so youknow, I'll say yes.
Or maybe you've been in adating relationship for a while
and he won't ask you to marry.
You just say hey.
I just want you to know.
If you ask me I will say yes,right, it's in beautiful love
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story.
But Boaz says legally,culturally, lawfully, there's
another man who actually comesbefore me that's able to marry
you before I can.
And Boaz says I am going to goand take charge of this, I'm
going to handle this.
Now, here's the deal, here'sthe point.
The point is number one inmarriage that God blesses.
Number one is it's complicated.
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Everybody say complicated.
You ever, someone ever, askedyou a question about an area of
your life and you didn't evenwant to get into it because it
would take too long.
And so you just answer it'scomplicated.
Right, if someone ever, if youever, asked them and they tell
you it's complicated, that meansdon't even go there, it's going
to take too long to explain.
You have complications in yourlife.
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You have complications in yourfamily.
You have complications in yoursingleness.
You have complications in yourmarriage.
One thing that we need toremember as the people of God is
this every marriage, every lifeto remember as the people of
God is this every marriage,every life, every family,
everyone has complications.
You are not alone.
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We even see this in the story.
There's this huge complicationthey want to get married.
But in that culture there wasanother man who was able to
marry Ruth before Boaz.
And what a reminder that weoften like to find things that
aren't complicated to make lifeand think, parts of our life
that feel complicated, kind oflike a Hallmark Christmas movie.
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You know, what's notcomplicated is a Hallmark
Christmas movie.
Right, it's always going to bea small town girl and she's
going to move away to a big citywhere she's going to meet
somebody and they're going to beengaged.
She, she's gonna move back tothe small town and either
they've gotta save the farm orthe family business, or they've
got a cookie decorating contestto win something very important
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and she falls back in love withthe small town boy.
Maybe it was her boyfriend backin the day.
She always has to break it offthe big city boy and they get
married and there's always anold man on set who is Santa
Claus, every single time thatSanta Claus lives in that town.
Right, it's not complicated?
Well, let's walk through thecomplication of Ruth and Boaz's
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life.
Verse one of Ruth, chapter.
Y'all can take that off the bigscreen now.
Very good, all right, ruth,chapter one.
Now Boaz had gone up to the gate, just real quick.
What was the gate?
The gate was the premier partof the city, the center of the
city, where they would do all oftheir legal dealings and where
people would walk through everyday.
So Boaz goes to the gate, hesits down and behold the
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Redeemer, the other guy that wasrightfully ahead of him for
Ruth, of whom Boaz had spoken.
That other guy came by, so Ilove this.
Ahead of him for Ruth, of whomBoaz had spoken.
That other guy came by, so Ilove this.
Boaz said turn aside, friend.
I love that.
He called him a nickname Likehey bud, hey pal, why don't you
sit, buckaroo, why don't you sitdown right here?
And he turned aside and Boazsat the guy down.
Here's what I love about Boazis Boaz is a real man.
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Boaz takes matters into his ownhands.
Boaz trusts God, he loves God,he obeys God, he does things
God's way, the proper way, buthe doesn't just wait for God.
What Boaz does is God, I trustyou, I obey you, lead me and I'm
gonna go and I'm gonna handleit, I'm gonna take care of it.
In other words, men, we arecalled to lead our family.
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We are called to lead ourfamily.
We are called to lead our wife.
We're called to lead ourchildren, lead our homes, lead
in our work and lead in our city.
That's who we're called to beas godly men.
Verse two and Boaz took 10 menof the elders of the city and
said you sit down here too.
And so they sat down.
I love that.
Boaz is not doing anything insecret.
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He's not private, it's verypublic.
He's got nothing to hide.
He's gonna do the right thing,the right way, and he's gonna do
it in community.
It's the important part of aChristian life.
You know this lie that we'vebeen told that my relationship
with God is just private betweenme and him and whatever happens
between us, nobody gets to partof a Christian life.
You know this lie that we'vebeen told that my relationship
with God is just private betweenme and him and whatever happens
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between us.
Nobody gets to know.
That is a lie of the devil.
What the scriptures tell us isthat we are called to live our
life in community with oneanother, because we have nothing
to hide.
We want to do things publiclyVerse three.
Then Boaz said to the redeemeryou remember Naomi?
Remember the lady that shemoved off about 10 years ago?
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She went to Moab with Elimelech.
Her husband died, her sons died.
She came back.
Yeah, you remember her.
She's part of your family.
Yeah, you got it.
Okay, who has come back fromthe country of Moab?
Naomi is selling the parcel ofland that belonged to our
relative Elimelech.
So Boaz starts with the positive.
He starts out with somethinggood because he's working his
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way into a conclusion.
He said.
Boaz said so I thought I wouldtell you of the land that
Naomi's selling and I wouldencourage you buy it, in the
presence of those sitting hereand in the presence of the
elders of my people.
If you want to redeem it, thenredeem it.
But if you don't want to redeemit, if you don't want to buy
Naomi's land which he would alsoget Naomi the redeemer would
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also get Ruth as well.
He said if you don't want totell me, for there is no one
besides you to redeem it, and Icome after you legally, lawfully
, and I will redeem it.
Boaz said the day you buy thefield, I'm sorry.
So the redeemer in verse four,actually he said the other
redeemer said I will redeem it.
And so right here, every readergasps because it looks like
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that Boaz is losing Ruth.
It looks like the otherredeemer is going to buy the
field, which means he gets Naomi, which means he gets Ruth too.
And it looks like the otherredeemer is going to buy the
field, which means he gets Naomi, which means he gets Ruth too.
And it looks like this wholelove story is over.
You ever felt like that, thatyour love life is over.
You ever felt like that it'sall done.
You ever felt like you've cometo the end of your story.
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Remember, whenever you feellike that, that God is
continuing to work and God iswriting a new story.
So the other redeemer said Iwill redeem it verse five.
Then Boaz said the day you buythe field from the hand of Naomi
, you also acquire Ruth, theMoabite, the widow of the dead.
He really makes her sound great, doesn't he?
So you wanna buy the field?
Fine, you can buy the field,but just remember, when you get
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the field, you're gonna get abitter old woman.
Her name is Naomi.
She literally calls herselfbitter.
You're also gonna acquire Ruth,a Moabite.
She's a widow of the dead, inorder to perpetuate the name of
the dead in his inheritance.
It sounds terrible.
It sounds like her onlinedating profile.
You know, like if Ruth had one,she would say I am from a pagan
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country of Moab, my husband'sdead.
I'm living in Bethlehem with mymother-in-law who's completely
dependent upon me.
We are completely broke zeromoney, but I'm really good at
gathering wheat, right?
It sounds very compelling andvery attractive.
And so Boaz puts it in this way.
And verse six, the Redeemer saidI'm out, I'm out.
I didn't realize that all thatcame with this whole deal.
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I can't realize that all thatcame with this whole deal.
I can't redeem this for myselflest I impair my own inheritance
.
The redeemer said take my rightof redemption yourself, for I
cannot redeem it.
In other words, the otherredeemer is saying who would
want that?
Who would want this field?
Who would want thismother-in-law?
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Who would want this Moabitewoman, this widow?
Who would want this messAnd-law?
Who would want this Moabitewoman, this widow?
Who would want this mess?
And Boaz is saying I do Give methe mess, because Boaz sees
through the mess, he seesthrough the complication and he
sees his queen, he sees hiscompanion, he sees his calling,
he sees his woman, he sees hiswife and that's what Jesus loves
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to do.
Listen, jesus looks into themess of my life and Jesus looks
into the mess of your life andJesus is our redeemer.
And Jesus sees through yourmess and he loves you so much
that he says I want to step intothe mess and I want to bless
the mess and Jesus dies for oursin and he rises from the dead.
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And that's what he's teachingus through Ruth and Boaz.
What does Boaz get?
Boaz is not focused on a fieldhe's gotta cut.
He's not focused on amother-in-law he's gotta feed.
He's not focused on a wife thathe is.
He's redeeming her from all ofher.
He's focused on I get a wife, Iget a mother-in-law, I get a
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family.
I get to be blessed by God.
That God is also redeeming hismess too.
Boaz sees hear me, boaz seesthat, even in all of the
complication, that God isblessing his family, that God
wants to bless him with a wife.
He wants to bless him with awife.
He wants to bless him with awife.
I heard about two little boys ina wedding and they were sitting
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next to each other in a weddingand it was just beautiful and
they loved the music.
And here comes the bride, downthe aisle and everyone is just
dressed to the nines, right, andone little boy leans over to
the other little boy and saysthis is awesome, I want to get
married one day.
He said how many wives can Ihave, right?
And the other little boythought about it and he said
well, the pastor said 16.
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He said 16, I can have 16 wives, he said.
The pastor said four better,four worse, four in sickness and
four in health.
So that's 16, right there.
So, boaz, I'm sorry, that wasterrible.
So, boaz, he looks through itall and here's what I want you
to hear me say Proverbs 12,verse four an excellent wife is
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the crown of her husband.
In other words, every marriage,every family is complicated.
Every life of single iscomplicated.
Can I just tell you, if you aresingle here today and I realize
half of America is single, halfof America is married and here
we're probably about 50-50.
I want us to be a church ofsingles.
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I want us to be a church ofsingle people where single
people can meet each other.
I want us to be a church wherewe are raising up godly men and
godly women in their singlenessto be able to meet one another
so they can have a godlymarriage.
Can I get an amen to be able tomeet one another so they can
have a godly marriage?
Can I get an amen?
If you're single, I just wantyou to hear me say today that if
your single life is complicated, that does not mean that Jesus
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is not involved.
I believe that Jesus steps intoour complication and he blesses
us.
Complication is just a presencethat you live in a sin-cursed
world, but what Jesus loves todo is he loves to redeem and he
loves to restore.
Maybe you're engaged to someonetoday and you're thinking this
thing is so complicated.
If it's right, is it reallygonna be this complicated?
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And I would say well, first ofall, I don't know your situation
, but second of all, everydating relationship, every
engagement, every marriage iscomplicated.
Complication is not the absenceof Jesus.
You just wanna make sure thatyou are dating or engaged to or
marrying a godly spouse thatloves Jesus even more than they
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love you.
And maybe you're here todaywondering do I need to step out
of my marriage Because mymarriage is so complicated?
Have I married the wrong person?
I came across this and I wantedto read this to you this
morning.
Maybe, if you find yourselfunhappy in your marriage, can I
just remind you this morningyou're not unhappy because you
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married the wrong person.
You're unhappy because no oneis.
But Jesus is perfect.
Every spouse comes with atrade-off.
Maybe the one with moneydoesn't have a whole lot of time
.
Maybe the one with a lot oftime doesn't have a lot of money
.
Maybe the really romantic oneis too emotional.
Maybe the really loyal one isway too boring.
But that doesn't mean you'redoomed to unhappiness.
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You're just living in a sinfulworld.
Marriage isn't about finding theperfect person.
It's about two sinners saying Ido, following Jesus together.
Real love doesn't always feelmagical.
Sometimes it looks like doingdishes, praying for one
another's problems, giving spacewithout resentment or even
sharing silence when there areno words.
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If you're wanting or waitingfor perfect, you'll wait forever
because there's no such person.
But if you build your marriageby pursuing Jesus together,
you'll find the kind of lovethat lasts through the messy,
the boring and the complicated.
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Boaz looked through all themess and he said I want her.
Jesus looked through all themess and Jesus said I want you.
Number one it's complicated.
Number two it's cost-worthy.
Everyone say cost-worthy.
A marriage that God is blessingis cost-worthy.
Through all the complication,it is worth the cost.
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You realize that a marriagewill cost you.
It will cost you your pride,your selfishness, your laziness,
your comfort, your idols, andit will cost you your privacy.
But it will reward you withlove, with unity, with growth,
with intimacy, with faith thatGod has reward within marriage,
because marriage is a picture ofChrist and the church.
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Verse nine Boaz said to allthose elders and to all the
people you are witnesses thisday that I have bought from the
hand of Naomi all that belongedto Elimelech and all that
belonged to Malon and Kilion.
And watch this, watch how thepeople respond.
This is amazing.
Verse 10 he said I also alsoRuth the Moabite, the widow of
Malon.
I have bought to be my wife.
Then all the people respondthis is amazing.
Verse 10,.
He said I also also Ruth theMoabite, the widow of Malon.
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I have bought to be my wife.
Then all the people who were atthe gate and the elders said we
are witnesses.
And then what did they do?
They started praying for Boazand Ruth.
First, they prayed for Ruth.
May the Lord make the woman whois coming into your house like
Rachel and Leah who togetherbuilt up the house, like Rachel
and Leah who together built upthe house of Israel.
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All of the people startedpraying for Ruth.
Do you want to know what is oneof the most important things you
can do?
If you're single, you want tofind a godly spouse.
If you're married and you wantto become a more godly spouse,
or to pray for your spouse tobecome more godly, the number
one thing you can do is notpreach to them, it's pray for
them.
It's pray for them.
And we see here the communityis praying for them.
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There is something so powerfulabout getting on your knees
before God in desperation,praying for your spouse, praying
for yourself If you wanna getmarried, that you would pray
that God would provide that foryou If you are married, that God
would bless your marriage.
And they pray for Ruth.
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Not only that, but they prayfor Boaz.
May you act worthily.
Notice they're praying forBoaz's continued character.
Boaz.
May you continue to be a godlyman, may in all that you do, may
you continue to obey Jesus andworship Jesus in all that you do
, and may you be renowned inBethlehem.
To be renowned means to beremembered after death for your
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righteousness, they're sayingBoaz.
May you live in such of a waythat, when you die, you're going
to be your reputation.
What you're going to beremembered by is your
righteousness, not all the otherstuff.
Repentation what you're gonnabe remembered by is your
righteousness, not all the otherstuff.
In other words, if you diedtoday, what would you be
remembered for?
Your righteousness before theLord or something else?
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They prayed for Ruth.
They prayed for Boaz.
Then they prayed for theirhouse, their home, their family,
and may your house be like thehouse of Perez, who Tamar bore
to Judah because of theoffspring that the Lord will
give you by this young woman.
If you don't know what thismeans, I just need you to hear
me.
As your pastor, I didn't knowwhat this meant either.
I had to go look it up, and sohere's what they're saying.
(26:13):
They're saying Boaz and Ruth.
May your family, may your homebe blessed like the one of Judah
and Tamar, who birthed Perez,judah, judah and Tamar.
Who birthed Perez?
Judah was a man from Bethlehem,from the people of God.
Tamar was a woman from a pagannation.
The Canaanites and God broughtthem together and they had Perez
, who would be a godly son.
(26:34):
In other words, here's what Godis saying that just like Tamar
came from outside the people ofGod and just like Ruth came from
outside the people of God,there is no such thing as an
outsider within the kingdom ofGod.
And just like Ruth came fromoutside the people of God, there
is no such thing as an outsiderwithin the kingdom of God.
They're saying the importantthing is not what country, what
ethnicity that you have, butwhen you come in Jesus Christ,
(26:56):
that we are all one together.
God is saying there is only onerace and that's the human race.
And within the human race thereare different nationalities.
There are differentnationalities, there's different
ethnicities, but God isglorified when we are
diversified and unified and ourcommonality is Jesus.
Can I get an amen?
That's why we want to be amulti-ethnic church, because God
(27:20):
loves it when his children loveone another and they worship
Jesus together.
That's what we see from theword of God.
So they start praying for theirhouse.
And I just want you to hear mesay this love story in the book
of Ruth is unbelievable.
And we think about that lovestory and we wonder man, I wish
(27:41):
that my story was more romantic,or maybe more righteous, or
maybe more rememberable, orwhatever it might be.
Here's what I would encourageyou is nobody has a story like
your story, because what makesyour story special is not that
it was perfect.
What makes your story specialis that it's yours.
And hear me that God worked inyour story in a unique way and
(28:04):
maybe God didn't bring youtogether, maybe you came
together in sin, but thatdoesn't mean that God can't
redeem and restore yourrelationship to be a love story
for the future that God gets allthe glory from.
Can I get an amen?
That's what God loves to do.
Is he loves to redeem?
That's the point of the book.
He wants to redeem our story.
(28:26):
He wants to restore our story.
He wants to enter into ourstory, to make our story better,
all for his glory.
So I would encourage you keeptelling your story.
Maybe if you find your marriageto be a little boring right now,
maybe it's an opportunity thatyou and your spouse can rekindle
(28:49):
and start telling your storyabout your early days and how
you fell in love with oneanother and you just reminisce
and you go through all of thememories.
Maybe you ask another coupleout on a double date and you go
through all of the memories.
Maybe you ask another coupleout on a double date and you ask
their story of how they met andhow they fell in love and you
get to tell your story and howyou met and how you fell in love
.
Or maybe you're single andmaybe you need to remember that
(29:10):
the way that you live your lifetoday matters and that you need
to live as the godly spousetoday in your singleness so that
you can attract the godlyspouse that you want to make a
story with one day.
Why?
Because every relationship iscomplicated but every biblical
marriage is cost-worthy.
(29:30):
And then last last one and I'mdone.
And then every marriage ismeant to be Christ-centered.
Everyone say Christ-centered.
Every marriage is meant to beChrist-centered.
Everyone say Christ-centered.
Every marriage is meant to beChrist-centered.
Verse 13.
So Boaz took Ruth and shebecame his wife.
Can you imagine how fast Boazran from that gate when the
(29:51):
other guy publicly said I won'tredeem her?
You can how Boaz ran fast fromthat gate all the way to Naomi's
house, knocked on the door, goton one knee.
Ruth answers the door and therehe is with the ring saying we
can get married now Can youimagine the joy, the smile
across Ruth's face?
(30:12):
And they get to have thiswedding together.
They get to have one another.
I will never forget our weddingday where I married Michelle,
june 14 of 2014.
I still remember, obviously,the church, the setting, the
people, her dress, how beautifulshe looked and how we just got
to share and exchange vows ofone another, of how we're gonna
(30:35):
live for Jesus before oneanother.
And that's what we're seeinghere with Ruth and Boaz.
Why?
And here's the point of thestory?
Because the book of Ruth is notabout Boaz and Ruth.
The book of Ruth is aboutChrist and his church, the
ultimate relationship that weare all caught up in.
(30:57):
See every marriage, we find ouridentity, we find our meaning,
we find our truth, we find ourpower, we find our restoration
in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Right, this is the gospel ofJesus Christ.
That we see how much a man issupposed to love his wife, that
Jesus died for his bride, thechurch, who's the bride of
(31:20):
Christ.
I'm not the bride of Christ andyou, individually, aren't the
bride of Christ.
The church, collectively, weare the bride of Christ, and
Jesus loved his bride, eventhrough all the complication.
He saw that we, as the church,were cost worthy.
He saw that you were costworthy, and so Jesus went to the
cross for my sin, and Jesuswent to the cross for your sin,
(31:43):
and it was all out of his lovefor you, it was all out of his
love for us.
And so we get to see Jesus asthe ultimate spouse, the
ultimate husband, in the waythat he loves his bride, in the
way that he leads his bride, andwe also get to see the church,
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us collectively.
What are we doing collectively?
We are called to submit ourlives to him, to follow his
leadership and to love him, andthat is the picture that God has
given us for husbands and wivesEphesians 5, 31.
I just wanna end with this, themost important marriage passage
of the Bible.
If you're married, I wouldencourage you to read this every
(32:28):
single week to remind you whoyou're called to be as a husband
, who you're called to be as awife.
If you're single, I wouldremind you, I would encourage
you read this in who you arecalled to be as a wife.
If you're single, I wouldremind you, I would encourage
you, read this in who you arecalled to be as a future husband
, a future wife, and the husbandand wife that you are looking
for one day.
Verse 31,.
Therefore, a man shall leavehis father and his mother and
(32:51):
hold fast to his wife.
In other words, we are, in asense, leaving our families and
we're creating a new family,holding fast to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh.
We're not called to fightagainst one another, we're
called to fight for each other.
But Paul says this mystery thatis profound.
(33:12):
It's a profound mystery andhe's saying the mystery of
husbands and wives refers toChrist in the church.
In verse 22, he says so, wives,what do you do?
You submit to your own husbandas to the Lord?
Why?
Because, like the church, withChrist in the church, as you are
finding your identity in thechurch, in the gospel, as we as
(33:34):
a church are submitting to Jesus, you are submitting to your
husband as to the Lord.
In other words, you're notsubmitting to anything he's
calling you to do sinfully, butin every way he is leading you
spiritually, you are called tosubmit to him, for the husband
is the head of the wife, even asChrist is the head of the
(33:55):
church, his body, and is himselfits savior.
Now, as the church submits toChrist, so also wives should
submit in everything to theirhusbands.
You know Genesis 2,.
It says when God created Eve,god made her a helpmate, a
compliment or a helper to Adam.
(34:17):
Do you realize that that Hebrewword is used some 21 times in
the Old Testament Helper, help,meet, compliment.
And did you know that 16 out ofthe 21 times it's used for God,
towards us?
In other words, ladies, you arefinding your identity in God.
(34:38):
You're finding your identity inthe gospel when you submit
yourself to the spiritualleadership of your husband.
It says in verse 25, husbandslove your wives, husband love
your wife.
Isn't it interesting that itsaid wife, submit to your
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husband.
So you would think it would sayhusband, lead your wife.
But it doesn't.
It says husband love your wife.
Why would it say wife submit toyour husband, but husband love
your wife?
Here's why I think it is.
I think because for you, ladies, it is natural for you to love.
It's not always natural tosubmit.
For us, as men, it's naturalfor us to lead, but it's not
(35:23):
always natural for us to love.
I believe what God is saying.
Ladies, you wanna love yourhusband in the gospel, you love
them by submitting to them.
Men, you wanna lead your wife?
Lead her by loving her.
In other words, a godly womanwill follow a godly man who is
following Jesus and she willfollow him to the ends of the
(35:44):
earth.
If your wife, men, knows thatyou are following Jesus, she
will follow you anywhere.
If it's not about you but it'sall about him, she'll go.
If she's a godly woman,wherever you lead her to go.
Husbands, love your wives, asChrist loved the church and gave
himself up for her.
As men, we are called to findour identity, as you, ladies,
(36:06):
find your identity in Jesus.
We are called to find ouridentity in Jesus in the way
that he loved the church andgave himself up that he might
sanctify her.
Why are we serving or leadingand loving our wife?
Because we want her to besanctified, having been cleansed
by the washing of the waterwith the word, making sure that
the word of God is in yourwife's life, so that he might
(36:30):
present the church to himself insplendor, without any spot or
wrinkle or any such thing thatshe might be holy and without
blemish.
In the same way, husbands lovetheir wives as their own body.
Aka happy wife, happy life.
Can I get an amen?
He who loves his wife loveshimself.
No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes
(36:51):
it.
Just like Jesus loves andnourishes and cherishes the
church, so all husbands nourishand cherish and love their wife.
Because we are members of thebody of Jesus Christ, and I'll
read it again.
That's why we're called toleave our father and our mother.
We're holding fast to the wifethat the Lord has given us.
We're becoming one family.
(37:12):
Two shall become one flesh.
This mystery is profound, buthusbands and wives are all about
Christ and the church.
Let each one of you love hiswife as himself and let the wife
see that she respects herhusband.
When will God bless yourmarriage?
(37:32):
When you realize, even thoughit's complicated, that God is
still present.
When you realize that, eventhough it's complicated, that
God is still present, when yourealize that, even through the
complication, it's stillcost-worthy.
And the one guiding truththat's going to bless your
marriage, the way that Godblesses your marriage, is when
you live in such of a way thatit is Christ-centered.
(37:53):
If you have a husband and youhave a wife on either side, the
way that a husband and a wifegets closer to one another is
when you get closer to Godtogether.
How are you growing in Godtogether?
I would encourage you be in agroup together.
I would encourage you continueto do this worship together.
(38:15):
I would encourage you get inthe word of God together.
Make sure that you are prayingtogether.
It might not feel comfortable,it might feel complicated, but
it's cost-worthy and that's theway that you live in such of a
way that is Christ-centered andyou give them all the glory.
Because here's the deal.
(38:36):
I believe the number one thingthat Satan wants to destroy on
earth today is marriage andfamily, because that's where the
Bible started.
Adam and Eve, husband and wife,and Satan came in and Satan
wanted to divide it, because heknows that when we are united,
(39:00):
we're stronger together.
How is Satan trying to divideyou From your loyalty to Jesus
in your singleness in yourmarriage?
What does the Holy Spirit wannado in you in your singleness in
your marriage?
What does the Holy Spirit wannado in you in your singleness in
(39:21):
your marriage and in yourfamily, in the way in which that
he wants to build you up.
He wants to bless your messNext week.
I'm talking about blessing themess of parenting with children
and just all.
How crazy it is, and Satanloves to try to come into the
middle of it and divide it all,but Jesus loves to come in and
(39:44):
unite and strengthen and blessfor his glory.
I'm gonna ask you to bow yourheads and close your eyes.
Every head bowed and every eyeclosed.
I just wanna encourage youright now.
How is it that you need to praythis morning, as we saw the
community pray for Ruth and prayfor Boaz and pray for their
(40:05):
family?
Maybe this morning you need topray for your spouse.
Maybe this morning you need topray for a godly spouse.
Maybe this morning you need topray for yourself to be a
godlier spouse.
Maybe this morning you need topray for yourself to be a
godlier spouse.
Whatever it is that God islaying on your heart right now,
(40:27):
I want to encourage you.
Be faithful to that and prayfor that.
It very well might be the way,the area of your life that God
wants to step into yourcomplication and bless you most.
Are you kids in the room youmight wanna pray for your mommy,
pray for your daddy Teenagersin the room.
(40:50):
You might wanna pray for agodly spouse, college students
and young adults and singleadults, praying that God's will
would be done in your life.
Maybe you're here this morningand maybe you're not ready to
pray that yet because youhaven't given your life over to
Jesus yet, you haven't allowedhim to save you yet.
(41:11):
Maybe today is the day of yoursalvation, maybe someone's never
walked you through it.
That's what I'm here to doHelping you give your life to
Jesus.
If you never have Believing inhim, placing your faith in him,
if you've never have, right here, right now, in your own words,
from your own heart, your ownprayer, you can just tell Jesus
(41:32):
right now, and he can hear youfrom your own heart.
You can just tell him Jesus, Ibelieve in you, jesus, I need
you.
You can tell him Jesus, Ibelieve that you died on the
cross for my sin and I'm askingyou to forgive me of all of my
sin my past, my present, myfuture sin.
(41:54):
You can tell him Jesus, Ibelieve that you rose from the
dead, you're alive and I wannaturn from my sin and I wanna
follow after you, not inperfection but in direction, and
I wanna live for you, I wannaknow you, I wanna give my life
(42:16):
to you, and the Bible promisesthat if you confess with your
mouth that Jesus is Lord andbelieve with your heart that God
raised him from the dead, youwill be saved.
And, god, we thank you for that, thank you for that promise,
thank you for that truth.
We love you and we pray thesethings in Jesus' name.
(42:38):
And all God's people said wouldyou put your hands together for
anyone that made that decision,that prayed that prayer, that
believed in Jesus?
We just wanna say welcome tothe family.
There's no greater decision inyour life.
As a reminder, baptism Sundayis coming up.
If you need to get baptized, wewould love to baptize you on
that Sunday or any Sunday.
There's a next step card infront of you.
If God has worked in your lifeand maybe you want some more
(43:01):
information, we've got someoptions on that next step card
that you can choose from.
As the band's coming out, youcan choose from those options.
We would love to reach out toyou, give you more information
that you can follow Jesus morein your life in that way, and I
want you to know that we arealways here praying for you.
Let me pray over you one moretime, heavenly Father.
(43:22):
In Jesus' name, god, I ask thatyou would bless every man,
every woman.
God, I pray that you wouldbless every child and every
teenager.
God, I pray that you wouldbless every single adult and
every married adult.
God, that we would live aChrist-centered life, that you
would fill us with your HolySpirit, that we live for Jesus
(43:44):
all the more.
And God, that he gets the gloryfrom our life.
And, lord, I pray that youwould bless every person.
I pray that you would blessevery family.
I pray that you would blessevery marriage.
And, lord, may your will bedone and may your glory come.
All in Jesus' name.
And God's people said
All right, can we put our hands together for all of
our teachers this morning, allof our faculty administration,
all of our bus drivers?
In fact, we wanna honor youthis morning If you are retired
or you're active, you're ateacher, you're an administrator
, you're faculty, you're a busdriver, you're a coach, in any
way involved in our public,private, homeschool, wherever it
(00:20):
might be.
Would you just stand right nowso we can honor you, wherever it
might be.
Would you just stand right nowso we can honor you and let's
put our hands together for them.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for all that you doRaising up and educating the
next generation as men and womenand dads and moms going into
the workforce, our society andour community.
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And we just we honor you todayas a reminder.
We have a gift for all of ouractive teachers.
Why do we give them a gift?
Because often they'reresponsible for resourcing their
classroom, and so we've got a$75 gift card for all of our
teachers, just right out hereafter the service.
And so all of our activeteachers just wanna remind you,
(01:01):
fill out a Next Step card andyou can put any information you
want on there, but especiallyyour name, your email and on the
back you can put the grade thatyou teach and the school that
you teach at, and we are lookingforward to honor you and to
resourcing you in that way.
And again, it is our way ofsaying thank you and I just, I
absolutely love getting to besenior pastor here at First
(01:23):
Baptist Church, powder Springs,because we get to be a church
where all of the community cancome together in unity as a
family and worship Jesus as one.
And God is so good and he isworking in our lives, he's
working in our church, he isworking in our community and we
just wanna say thank you to ourteachers and everyone who is a
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part of it.
I want to remind you or maybefor the first time, we have
Baptism Sunday coming up.
Everybody say baptism, baptismSunday coming up on September
the 14th.
Here's the deal I'm going to bepreaching on baptism September
7th, so maybe you or maybesomeone you know is I'm going to
(02:05):
be preaching on salvation andbaptism.
We share the gospel everySunday, but really that's going
to be a get saved and getbaptized kind of Sunday on
September 7th, and then the nextSunday, september 14th, is
we're going to have baptismSunday for everybody that wants
to get baptized.
So if you need to be baptized,we would love to baptize you.
Or if you know someone right,don't come and push them in the
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tank, but you bring them, andwhatever God wants to do in
their life, we will leave theresults to the Lord.
Well, let's continue in ourseries through the month of
August.
It is on the book of Ruth.
It's all about what God can dowithin your family and we are
calling it Bless this Mess.
Look at somebody and say Blessthis Mess, bless this Mess.
(02:51):
So this is our opportunity thatwe get to talk about just
family and biblical manhood andbiblical womanhood and parenting
, and this morning specifically,we are going to be talking
about marriage, when God willbless your marriage.
Just as a reminder, this is foreveryone who is married.
(03:12):
Raise your hand if you'remarried this morning.
Raise your hand, very good.
Raise your hand if you'resingle this morning.
This is for you too.
Look around, see who all issingle in the room, meet each
other, go out to lunch, inviteme to the wedding.
You are welcome.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
All right, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we love youand God, we just wanna proclaim
that this is your word, we'reyour people, god, we want your
(03:34):
work and for you to do God inour life, whatever brings you
worship and whatever brings youglory.
In Jesus' name and all God'speople said amen.
When will God bless yourmarriage?
And I love that all the kidsare in here with us today.
My little girl, brooklyn, is inhere, first grade, over here
today as well, and I think I mayhave told you before do you
(03:58):
remember?
I told you the one about thehusband's store that they have
in New York City, the husband'sstore.
So apparently, as a singlewoman, you could walk in the
store if you were shopping for ahusband, and there's six floors
to the store.
From what I understand, therules are is that there's a
certain type of man on a floorand you can go up, and whenever
you go up the man gets a littlebit better, but you can never
come back down.
Okay, I guess that's the rulesto the store.
(04:18):
So you walk in and the firstfloor is these men have good
jobs, right?
So a woman walked in and saidman, that sounds really nice,
but I think I can do a littlebetter than that.
And so she walks up to thesecond floor, these men have
good jobs and they love kids.
Wow, it just keeps gettingbetter.
Let me go up to the third floorsee what they offer.
Man, they've got good jobs,they love kids and they're
(04:40):
romantic.
Well, I gotta see what's on thefourth floor.
The fourth floor jobs, kids,romantic, and they do housework.
On the fifth floor, right goesthrough everything again and
they do all of that and theymake a lot of money, right.
And so the woman says this isincredible, I've got one more
floor.
What more could they possiblyoffer?
Goes up to the next floor.
(05:01):
There's no men, there's only asign, and the sign says this
floor is to prove that no mancan meet any woman's
expectations.
I love that.
I love that story.
You know, I heard recentlythere's not only a husband's
store, there's a wife's store,and so a single man walked into
the wife's store, new York City,first floor and said these
women are good looking, so he'slike man, this is great.
(05:22):
Goes up to the next floor andsays these women are romantic.
And then apparently, from whatI understand, no man has ever
been to the third floor orhigher because we're good after
floor two.
There you go.
All right, we're just good,good looking, romantic, we are
good to go.
Single ladies single ladies inthe room what a reminder for you
that you will not find theperfect husband and no woman in
(05:42):
this room is married to theperfect man, and all God's women
said amen.
Single men, this is a reminderfor you that you will not find
the perfect woman and no man ismarried to the perfect woman,
and all God's men said don't sayit, don't say it, do not say it
, do not say it, do not say it.
Some of y'all almost got introuble.
What I'm saying this morning,what I'm saying this morning to
(06:06):
you, is is the Bible is our onlyyou ever thought about this?
The Bible is your only reliablesource of truth when it comes
to singleness in marriage andhow to live your life in a
blessed way, because you don'twant to bless yourself and you
don't want someone else to blessyou.
You want God to bless you most.
(06:28):
If you believe that, say yeah,you want God to bless your life,
and so I want you to see in theword of God, that God's word,
it actually starts with themarriage Adam and Eve.
It actually ends with theultimate eternal marriage
between Christ and his bride.
The church and the Bible isfull of imperfect marriages all
the way through it, but theBible gives us truths and
(06:50):
principles in how we can bemarried and live for Jesus in
our marriages and also in oursingleness.
You realize today we live in aworld where less people are
getting married than ever, some60% less over the last 50 years.
We live in a world today wherealmost half of marriages end in
divorce.
You realize about 50% ofmarriages end in divorce.
(07:12):
You realize about 60% of secondmarriages end in divorce.
You realize about 70% of thirdmarriages end in divorce.
In other words, I wannaencourage you get married to a
godly spouse and when you getmarried you stay married,
because typically you find outwell, if we get divorced,
they'll marry the next personthey get divorced.
(07:33):
Marry the next person they getdivorced.
The problem's not them, theproblem is you right.
And so the whole point is thisGod won't bless a marriage
against his word.
And why won't God bless amarriage against his word?
The reason he will not isbecause he cannot.
God cannot bless anyone, godcannot bless anything that is
(07:53):
not living for his glory,because God would then be
blessing people who are livingin disobedience of him.
So the book of Ruth that we'regonna see this morning is the
most perfect example of anearthly love story.
But hear me, the book of Ruthpoints us to the perfect
marriage, love relationship ofJesus and his church.
(08:17):
So in case you missed it, justto catch you up on Ruth so far,
there was a guy by the name ofElimelech.
He was married to Naomi.
Elimelech wanted to takematters into his own hands, so
he moved his wife Naomi, his twosons, malon and Kilion, to a
pagan land called Moab.
There Elimelech dies.
The two sons marry twodifferent women, ruth and Orpah.
(08:37):
The sons die.
Now all you have left is Naomi,who's now the mother-in-law of
these daughters-in-law, ruth andOrpah, who are of Moab, this
pagan land.
Naomi wants to move back toBethlehem where the people of
God live, and so Orpah says I'mgoing to go back to my people in
Moab, ruth.
But the other Moabite wife saysNaomi, I want to come with you,
(08:59):
I want your people to be mypeople.
And Ruth says I want your Godto be my God.
This is Ruth's salvation momentin her life.
She says I no longer want thispagan God, chemosh of Moab, to
be my God or any other God.
You've been telling me aboutYahweh, you've been telling me
about the one living, true God,and I wanna live my life, I
(09:20):
wanna go with you and I want toexperience this God.
And so they move back and thebig question is, in this whole
mess in their life, as Elimelechhas died and Malon and Kilion
has died, and Naomi is movingback, they've been gone for 10
years and Ruth is moving backwith her from a pagan land and
now they're living together andthey've got nothing and they've
got no one and they are brokeand they don't know what to do.
(09:41):
The question is how is Godgoing to bless their mess?
Well, it just so happens thatRuth goes to a field in order to
glean wheat to take back toNaomi so that they can eat, and
it just so happens that it was afield owned by a man by the
name of Boaz.
The Bible says that he's aworthy man.
(10:01):
Looks like that he was even awealthy man.
Looks like that he was even asingle man.
And Boaz takes interest in Ruthand Ruth takes interest in Boaz
.
To the point.
Last week they went on this bigdate and Ruth basically
proposes to that he wouldpropose to her.
In other words, ladies, as Itold you last week, if he won't
(10:23):
ask you out, don't ask him out,but you can go tell him, hey, if
you ask me out, just so youknow, I'll say yes.
Or maybe you've been in adating relationship for a while
and he won't ask you to marry.
You just say hey.
I just want you to know.
If you ask me I will say yes,right, it's in beautiful love
(10:44):
story.
But Boaz says legally,culturally, lawfully, there's
another man who actually comesbefore me that's able to marry
you before I can.
And Boaz says I am going to goand take charge of this, I'm
going to handle this.
Now, here's the deal, here'sthe point.
The point is number one inmarriage that God blesses.
Number one is it's complicated.
(11:06):
Everybody say complicated.
You ever, someone ever, askedyou a question about an area of
your life and you didn't evenwant to get into it because it
would take too long.
And so you just answer it'scomplicated.
Right, if someone ever, if youever, asked them and they tell
you it's complicated, that meansdon't even go there, it's going
to take too long to explain.
You have complications in yourlife.
(11:29):
You have complications in yourfamily.
You have complications in yoursingleness.
You have complications in yourmarriage.
One thing that we need toremember as the people of God is
this every marriage, every lifeto remember as the people of
God is this every marriage,every life, every family,
everyone has complications.
You are not alone.
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We even see this in the story.
There's this huge complicationthey want to get married.
But in that culture there wasanother man who was able to
marry Ruth before Boaz.
And what a reminder that weoften like to find things that
aren't complicated to make lifeand think, parts of our life
that feel complicated, kind oflike a Hallmark Christmas movie.
(12:11):
You know, what's notcomplicated is a Hallmark
Christmas movie.
Right, it's always going to bea small town girl and she's
going to move away to a big citywhere she's going to meet
somebody and they're going to beengaged.
She, she's gonna move back tothe small town and either
they've gotta save the farm orthe family business, or they've
got a cookie decorating contestto win something very important
(12:33):
and she falls back in love withthe small town boy.
Maybe it was her boyfriend backin the day.
She always has to break it offthe big city boy and they get
married and there's always anold man on set who is Santa
Claus, every single time thatSanta Claus lives in that town.
Right, it's not complicated?
Well, let's walk through thecomplication of Ruth and Boaz's
(12:53):
life.
Verse one of Ruth, chapter.
Y'all can take that off the bigscreen now.
Very good, all right, ruth,chapter one.
Now Boaz had gone up to the gate, just real quick.
What was the gate?
The gate was the premier partof the city, the center of the
city, where they would do all oftheir legal dealings and where
people would walk through everyday.
So Boaz goes to the gate, hesits down and behold the
(13:17):
Redeemer, the other guy that wasrightfully ahead of him for
Ruth, of whom Boaz had spoken.
That other guy came by, so Ilove this.
Ahead of him for Ruth, of whomBoaz had spoken.
That other guy came by, so Ilove this.
Boaz said turn aside, friend.
I love that.
He called him a nickname Likehey bud, hey pal, why don't you
sit, buckaroo, why don't you sitdown right here?
And he turned aside and Boazsat the guy down.
Here's what I love about Boazis Boaz is a real man.
(13:40):
Boaz takes matters into his ownhands.
Boaz trusts God, he loves God,he obeys God, he does things
God's way, the proper way, buthe doesn't just wait for God.
What Boaz does is God, I trustyou, I obey you, lead me and I'm
gonna go and I'm gonna handleit, I'm gonna take care of it.
In other words, men, we arecalled to lead our family.
(14:04):
We are called to lead ourfamily.
We are called to lead our wife.
We're called to lead ourchildren, lead our homes, lead
in our work and lead in our city.
That's who we're called to beas godly men.
Verse two and Boaz took 10 menof the elders of the city and
said you sit down here too.
And so they sat down.
I love that.
Boaz is not doing anything insecret.
(14:26):
He's not private, it's verypublic.
He's got nothing to hide.
He's gonna do the right thing,the right way, and he's gonna do
it in community.
It's the important part of aChristian life.
You know this lie that we'vebeen told that my relationship
with God is just private betweenme and him and whatever happens
between us, nobody gets to partof a Christian life.
You know this lie that we'vebeen told that my relationship
with God is just private betweenme and him and whatever happens
(14:47):
between us.
Nobody gets to know.
That is a lie of the devil.
What the scriptures tell us isthat we are called to live our
life in community with oneanother, because we have nothing
to hide.
We want to do things publiclyVerse three.
Then Boaz said to the redeemeryou remember Naomi?
Remember the lady that shemoved off about 10 years ago?
(15:10):
She went to Moab with Elimelech.
Her husband died, her sons died.
She came back.
Yeah, you remember her.
She's part of your family.
Yeah, you got it.
Okay, who has come back fromthe country of Moab?
Naomi is selling the parcel ofland that belonged to our
relative Elimelech.
So Boaz starts with the positive.
He starts out with somethinggood because he's working his
(15:30):
way into a conclusion.
He said.
Boaz said so I thought I wouldtell you of the land that
Naomi's selling and I wouldencourage you buy it, in the
presence of those sitting hereand in the presence of the
elders of my people.
If you want to redeem it, thenredeem it.
But if you don't want to redeemit, if you don't want to buy
Naomi's land which he would alsoget Naomi the redeemer would
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also get Ruth as well.
He said if you don't want totell me, for there is no one
besides you to redeem it, and Icome after you legally, lawfully
, and I will redeem it.
Boaz said the day you buy thefield, I'm sorry.
So the redeemer in verse four,actually he said the other
redeemer said I will redeem it.
And so right here, every readergasps because it looks like
(16:17):
that Boaz is losing Ruth.
It looks like the otherredeemer is going to buy the
field, which means he gets Naomi, which means he gets Ruth too.
And it looks like the otherredeemer is going to buy the
field, which means he gets Naomi, which means he gets Ruth too.
And it looks like this wholelove story is over.
You ever felt like that, thatyour love life is over.
You ever felt like that it'sall done.
You ever felt like you've cometo the end of your story.
(16:37):
Remember, whenever you feellike that, that God is
continuing to work and God iswriting a new story.
So the other redeemer said Iwill redeem it verse five.
Then Boaz said the day you buythe field from the hand of Naomi
, you also acquire Ruth, theMoabite, the widow of the dead.
He really makes her sound great, doesn't he?
So you wanna buy the field?
Fine, you can buy the field,but just remember, when you get
(16:59):
the field, you're gonna get abitter old woman.
Her name is Naomi.
She literally calls herselfbitter.
You're also gonna acquire Ruth,a Moabite.
She's a widow of the dead, inorder to perpetuate the name of
the dead in his inheritance.
It sounds terrible.
It sounds like her onlinedating profile.
You know, like if Ruth had one,she would say I am from a pagan
(17:20):
country of Moab, my husband'sdead.
I'm living in Bethlehem with mymother-in-law who's completely
dependent upon me.
We are completely broke zeromoney, but I'm really good at
gathering wheat, right?
It sounds very compelling andvery attractive.
And so Boaz puts it in this way.
And verse six, the Redeemer saidI'm out, I'm out.
I didn't realize that all thatcame with this whole deal.
(17:40):
I can't realize that all thatcame with this whole deal.
I can't redeem this for myselflest I impair my own inheritance
.
The redeemer said take my rightof redemption yourself, for I
cannot redeem it.
In other words, the otherredeemer is saying who would
want that?
Who would want this field?
Who would want thismother-in-law?
(18:01):
Who would want this Moabitewoman, this widow?
Who would want this messAnd-law?
Who would want this Moabitewoman, this widow?
Who would want this mess?
And Boaz is saying I do Give methe mess, because Boaz sees
through the mess, he seesthrough the complication and he
sees his queen, he sees hiscompanion, he sees his calling,
he sees his woman, he sees hiswife and that's what Jesus loves
(18:23):
to do.
Listen, jesus looks into themess of my life and Jesus looks
into the mess of your life andJesus is our redeemer.
And Jesus sees through yourmess and he loves you so much
that he says I want to step intothe mess and I want to bless
the mess and Jesus dies for oursin and he rises from the dead.
(18:45):
And that's what he's teachingus through Ruth and Boaz.
What does Boaz get?
Boaz is not focused on a fieldhe's gotta cut.
He's not focused on amother-in-law he's gotta feed.
He's not focused on a wife thathe is.
He's redeeming her from all ofher.
He's focused on I get a wife, Iget a mother-in-law, I get a
(19:06):
family.
I get to be blessed by God.
That God is also redeeming hismess too.
Boaz sees hear me, boaz seesthat, even in all of the
complication, that God isblessing his family, that God
wants to bless him with a wife.
He wants to bless him with awife.
He wants to bless him with awife.
I heard about two little boys ina wedding and they were sitting
(19:28):
next to each other in a weddingand it was just beautiful and
they loved the music.
And here comes the bride, downthe aisle and everyone is just
dressed to the nines, right, andone little boy leans over to
the other little boy and saysthis is awesome, I want to get
married one day.
He said how many wives can Ihave, right?
And the other little boythought about it and he said
well, the pastor said 16.
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He said 16, I can have 16 wives, he said.
The pastor said four better,four worse, four in sickness and
four in health.
So that's 16, right there.
So, boaz, I'm sorry, that wasterrible.
So, boaz, he looks through itall and here's what I want you
to hear me say Proverbs 12,verse four an excellent wife is
(20:10):
the crown of her husband.
In other words, every marriage,every family is complicated.
Every life of single iscomplicated.
Can I just tell you, if you aresingle here today and I realize
half of America is single, halfof America is married and here
we're probably about 50-50.
I want us to be a church ofsingles.
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I want us to be a church ofsingle people where single
people can meet each other.
I want us to be a church wherewe are raising up godly men and
godly women in their singlenessto be able to meet one another
so they can have a godlymarriage.
Can I get an amen to be able tomeet one another so they can
have a godly marriage?
Can I get an amen?
If you're single, I just wantyou to hear me say today that if
your single life is complicated, that does not mean that Jesus
(20:51):
is not involved.
I believe that Jesus steps intoour complication and he blesses
us.
Complication is just a presencethat you live in a sin-cursed
world, but what Jesus loves todo is he loves to redeem and he
loves to restore.
Maybe you're engaged to someonetoday and you're thinking this
thing is so complicated.
If it's right, is it reallygonna be this complicated?
(21:14):
And I would say well, first ofall, I don't know your situation
, but second of all, everydating relationship, every
engagement, every marriage iscomplicated.
Complication is not the absenceof Jesus.
You just wanna make sure thatyou are dating or engaged to or
marrying a godly spouse thatloves Jesus even more than they
(21:37):
love you.
And maybe you're here todaywondering do I need to step out
of my marriage Because mymarriage is so complicated?
Have I married the wrong person?
I came across this and I wantedto read this to you this
morning.
Maybe, if you find yourselfunhappy in your marriage, can I
just remind you this morningyou're not unhappy because you
(21:59):
married the wrong person.
You're unhappy because no oneis.
But Jesus is perfect.
Every spouse comes with atrade-off.
Maybe the one with moneydoesn't have a whole lot of time
.
Maybe the one with a lot oftime doesn't have a lot of money
.
Maybe the really romantic oneis too emotional.
Maybe the really loyal one isway too boring.
But that doesn't mean you'redoomed to unhappiness.
(22:20):
You're just living in a sinfulworld.
Marriage isn't about finding theperfect person.
It's about two sinners saying Ido, following Jesus together.
Real love doesn't always feelmagical.
Sometimes it looks like doingdishes, praying for one
another's problems, giving spacewithout resentment or even
sharing silence when there areno words.
(22:42):
If you're wanting or waitingfor perfect, you'll wait forever
because there's no such person.
But if you build your marriageby pursuing Jesus together,
you'll find the kind of lovethat lasts through the messy,
the boring and the complicated.
(23:02):
Boaz looked through all themess and he said I want her.
Jesus looked through all themess and Jesus said I want you.
Number one it's complicated.
Number two it's cost-worthy.
Everyone say cost-worthy.
A marriage that God is blessingis cost-worthy.
Through all the complication,it is worth the cost.
(23:23):
You realize that a marriagewill cost you.
It will cost you your pride,your selfishness, your laziness,
your comfort, your idols, andit will cost you your privacy.
But it will reward you withlove, with unity, with growth,
with intimacy, with faith thatGod has reward within marriage,
because marriage is a picture ofChrist and the church.
(23:45):
Verse nine Boaz said to allthose elders and to all the
people you are witnesses thisday that I have bought from the
hand of Naomi all that belongedto Elimelech and all that
belonged to Malon and Kilion.
And watch this, watch how thepeople respond.
This is amazing.
Verse 10 he said I also alsoRuth the Moabite, the widow of
Malon.
I have bought to be my wife.
Then all the people respondthis is amazing.
Verse 10,.
He said I also also Ruth theMoabite, the widow of Malon.
(24:05):
I have bought to be my wife.
Then all the people who were atthe gate and the elders said we
are witnesses.
And then what did they do?
They started praying for Boazand Ruth.
First, they prayed for Ruth.
May the Lord make the woman whois coming into your house like
Rachel and Leah who togetherbuilt up the house, like Rachel
and Leah who together built upthe house of Israel.
(24:26):
All of the people startedpraying for Ruth.
Do you want to know what is oneof the most important things you
can do?
If you're single, you want tofind a godly spouse.
If you're married and you wantto become a more godly spouse,
or to pray for your spouse tobecome more godly, the number
one thing you can do is notpreach to them, it's pray for
them.
It's pray for them.
And we see here the communityis praying for them.
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There is something so powerfulabout getting on your knees
before God in desperation,praying for your spouse, praying
for yourself If you wanna getmarried, that you would pray
that God would provide that foryou If you are married, that God
would bless your marriage.
And they pray for Ruth.
(25:10):
Not only that, but they prayfor Boaz.
May you act worthily.
Notice they're praying forBoaz's continued character.
Boaz.
May you continue to be a godlyman, may in all that you do, may
you continue to obey Jesus andworship Jesus in all that you do
, and may you be renowned inBethlehem.
To be renowned means to beremembered after death for your
(25:31):
righteousness, they're sayingBoaz.
May you live in such of a waythat, when you die, you're going
to be your reputation.
What you're going to beremembered by is your
righteousness, not all the otherstuff.
Repentation what you're gonnabe remembered by is your
righteousness, not all the otherstuff.
In other words, if you diedtoday, what would you be
remembered for?
Your righteousness before theLord or something else?
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They prayed for Ruth.
They prayed for Boaz.
Then they prayed for theirhouse, their home, their family,
and may your house be like thehouse of Perez, who Tamar bore
to Judah because of theoffspring that the Lord will
give you by this young woman.
If you don't know what thismeans, I just need you to hear
me.
As your pastor, I didn't knowwhat this meant either.
I had to go look it up, and sohere's what they're saying.
(26:13):
They're saying Boaz and Ruth.
May your family, may your homebe blessed like the one of Judah
and Tamar, who birthed Perez,judah, judah and Tamar.
Who birthed Perez?
Judah was a man from Bethlehem,from the people of God.
Tamar was a woman from a pagannation.
The Canaanites and God broughtthem together and they had Perez
, who would be a godly son.
(26:34):
In other words, here's what Godis saying that just like Tamar
came from outside the people ofGod and just like Ruth came from
outside the people of God,there is no such thing as an
outsider within the kingdom ofGod.
And just like Ruth came fromoutside the people of God, there
is no such thing as an outsiderwithin the kingdom of God.
They're saying the importantthing is not what country, what
ethnicity that you have, butwhen you come in Jesus Christ,
(26:56):
that we are all one together.
God is saying there is only onerace and that's the human race.
And within the human race thereare different nationalities.
There are differentnationalities, there's different
ethnicities, but God isglorified when we are
diversified and unified and ourcommonality is Jesus.
Can I get an amen?
That's why we want to be amulti-ethnic church, because God
(27:20):
loves it when his children loveone another and they worship
Jesus together.
That's what we see from theword of God.
So they start praying for theirhouse.
And I just want you to hear mesay this love story in the book
of Ruth is unbelievable.
And we think about that lovestory and we wonder man, I wish
(27:41):
that my story was more romantic,or maybe more righteous, or
maybe more rememberable, orwhatever it might be.
Here's what I would encourageyou is nobody has a story like
your story, because what makesyour story special is not that
it was perfect.
What makes your story specialis that it's yours.
And hear me that God worked inyour story in a unique way and
(28:04):
maybe God didn't bring youtogether, maybe you came
together in sin, but thatdoesn't mean that God can't
redeem and restore yourrelationship to be a love story
for the future that God gets allthe glory from.
Can I get an amen?
That's what God loves to do.
Is he loves to redeem?
That's the point of the book.
He wants to redeem our story.
(28:26):
He wants to restore our story.
He wants to enter into ourstory, to make our story better,
all for his glory.
So I would encourage you keeptelling your story.
Maybe if you find your marriageto be a little boring right now,
maybe it's an opportunity thatyou and your spouse can rekindle
(28:49):
and start telling your storyabout your early days and how
you fell in love with oneanother and you just reminisce
and you go through all of thememories.
Maybe you ask another coupleout on a double date and you go
through all of the memories.
Maybe you ask another coupleout on a double date and you ask
their story of how they met andhow they fell in love and you
get to tell your story and howyou met and how you fell in love
.
Or maybe you're single andmaybe you need to remember that
(29:10):
the way that you live your lifetoday matters and that you need
to live as the godly spousetoday in your singleness so that
you can attract the godlyspouse that you want to make a
story with one day.
Why?
Because every relationship iscomplicated but every biblical
marriage is cost-worthy.
(29:30):
And then last last one and I'mdone.
And then every marriage ismeant to be Christ-centered.
Everyone say Christ-centered.
Every marriage is meant to beChrist-centered.
Everyone say Christ-centered.
Every marriage is meant to beChrist-centered.
Verse 13.
So Boaz took Ruth and shebecame his wife.
Can you imagine how fast Boazran from that gate when the
(29:51):
other guy publicly said I won'tredeem her?
You can how Boaz ran fast fromthat gate all the way to Naomi's
house, knocked on the door, goton one knee.
Ruth answers the door and therehe is with the ring saying we
can get married now Can youimagine the joy, the smile
across Ruth's face?
(30:12):
And they get to have thiswedding together.
They get to have one another.
I will never forget our weddingday where I married Michelle,
june 14 of 2014.
I still remember, obviously,the church, the setting, the
people, her dress, how beautifulshe looked and how we just got
to share and exchange vows ofone another, of how we're gonna
(30:35):
live for Jesus before oneanother.
And that's what we're seeinghere with Ruth and Boaz.
Why?
And here's the point of thestory?
Because the book of Ruth is notabout Boaz and Ruth.
The book of Ruth is aboutChrist and his church, the
ultimate relationship that weare all caught up in.
(30:57):
See every marriage, we find ouridentity, we find our meaning,
we find our truth, we find ourpower, we find our restoration
in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Right, this is the gospel ofJesus Christ.
That we see how much a man issupposed to love his wife, that
Jesus died for his bride, thechurch, who's the bride of
(31:20):
Christ.
I'm not the bride of Christ andyou, individually, aren't the
bride of Christ.
The church, collectively, weare the bride of Christ, and
Jesus loved his bride, eventhrough all the complication.
He saw that we, as the church,were cost worthy.
He saw that you were costworthy, and so Jesus went to the
cross for my sin, and Jesuswent to the cross for your sin,
(31:43):
and it was all out of his lovefor you, it was all out of his
love for us.
And so we get to see Jesus asthe ultimate spouse, the
ultimate husband, in the waythat he loves his bride, in the
way that he leads his bride, andwe also get to see the church,
(32:04):
us collectively.
What are we doing collectively?
We are called to submit ourlives to him, to follow his
leadership and to love him, andthat is the picture that God has
given us for husbands and wivesEphesians 5, 31.
I just wanna end with this, themost important marriage passage
of the Bible.
If you're married, I wouldencourage you to read this every
(32:28):
single week to remind you whoyou're called to be as a husband
, who you're called to be as awife.
If you're single, I wouldremind you, I would encourage
you read this in who you arecalled to be as a wife.
If you're single, I wouldremind you, I would encourage
you, read this in who you arecalled to be as a future husband
, a future wife, and the husbandand wife that you are looking
for one day.
Verse 31,.
Therefore, a man shall leavehis father and his mother and
(32:51):
hold fast to his wife.
In other words, we are, in asense, leaving our families and
we're creating a new family,holding fast to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh.
We're not called to fightagainst one another, we're
called to fight for each other.
But Paul says this mystery thatis profound.
(33:12):
It's a profound mystery andhe's saying the mystery of
husbands and wives refers toChrist in the church.
In verse 22, he says so, wives,what do you do?
You submit to your own husbandas to the Lord?
Why?
Because, like the church, withChrist in the church, as you are
finding your identity in thechurch, in the gospel, as we as
(33:34):
a church are submitting to Jesus, you are submitting to your
husband as to the Lord.
In other words, you're notsubmitting to anything he's
calling you to do sinfully, butin every way he is leading you
spiritually, you are called tosubmit to him, for the husband
is the head of the wife, even asChrist is the head of the
(33:55):
church, his body, and is himselfits savior.
Now, as the church submits toChrist, so also wives should
submit in everything to theirhusbands.
You know Genesis 2,.
It says when God created Eve,god made her a helpmate, a
compliment or a helper to Adam.
(34:17):
Do you realize that that Hebrewword is used some 21 times in
the Old Testament Helper, help,meet, compliment.
And did you know that 16 out ofthe 21 times it's used for God,
towards us?
In other words, ladies, you arefinding your identity in God.
(34:38):
You're finding your identity inthe gospel when you submit
yourself to the spiritualleadership of your husband.
It says in verse 25, husbandslove your wives, husband love
your wife.
Isn't it interesting that itsaid wife, submit to your
(35:00):
husband.
So you would think it would sayhusband, lead your wife.
But it doesn't.
It says husband love your wife.
Why would it say wife submit toyour husband, but husband love
your wife?
Here's why I think it is.
I think because for you, ladies, it is natural for you to love.
It's not always natural tosubmit.
For us, as men, it's naturalfor us to lead, but it's not
(35:23):
always natural for us to love.
I believe what God is saying.
Ladies, you wanna love yourhusband in the gospel, you love
them by submitting to them.
Men, you wanna lead your wife?
Lead her by loving her.
In other words, a godly womanwill follow a godly man who is
following Jesus and she willfollow him to the ends of the
(35:44):
earth.
If your wife, men, knows thatyou are following Jesus, she
will follow you anywhere.
If it's not about you but it'sall about him, she'll go.
If she's a godly woman,wherever you lead her to go.
Husbands, love your wives, asChrist loved the church and gave
himself up for her.
As men, we are called to findour identity, as you, ladies,
(36:06):
find your identity in Jesus.
We are called to find ouridentity in Jesus in the way
that he loved the church andgave himself up that he might
sanctify her.
Why are we serving or leadingand loving our wife?
Because we want her to besanctified, having been cleansed
by the washing of the waterwith the word, making sure that
the word of God is in yourwife's life, so that he might
(36:30):
present the church to himself insplendor, without any spot or
wrinkle or any such thing thatshe might be holy and without
blemish.
In the same way, husbands lovetheir wives as their own body.
Aka happy wife, happy life.
Can I get an amen?
He who loves his wife loveshimself.
No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes
(36:51):
it.
Just like Jesus loves andnourishes and cherishes the
church, so all husbands nourishand cherish and love their wife.
Because we are members of thebody of Jesus Christ, and I'll
read it again.
That's why we're called toleave our father and our mother.
We're holding fast to the wifethat the Lord has given us.
We're becoming one family.
(37:12):
Two shall become one flesh.
This mystery is profound, buthusbands and wives are all about
Christ and the church.
Let each one of you love hiswife as himself and let the wife
see that she respects herhusband.
When will God bless yourmarriage?
(37:32):
When you realize, even thoughit's complicated, that God is
still present.
When you realize that, eventhough it's complicated, that
God is still present, when yourealize that, even through the
complication, it's stillcost-worthy.
And the one guiding truththat's going to bless your
marriage, the way that Godblesses your marriage, is when
you live in such of a way thatit is Christ-centered.
(37:53):
If you have a husband and youhave a wife on either side, the
way that a husband and a wifegets closer to one another is
when you get closer to Godtogether.
How are you growing in Godtogether?
I would encourage you be in agroup together.
I would encourage you continueto do this worship together.
(38:15):
I would encourage you get inthe word of God together.
Make sure that you are prayingtogether.
It might not feel comfortable,it might feel complicated, but
it's cost-worthy and that's theway that you live in such of a
way that is Christ-centered andyou give them all the glory.
Because here's the deal.
(38:36):
I believe the number one thingthat Satan wants to destroy on
earth today is marriage andfamily, because that's where the
Bible started.
Adam and Eve, husband and wife,and Satan came in and Satan
wanted to divide it, because heknows that when we are united,
(39:00):
we're stronger together.
How is Satan trying to divideyou From your loyalty to Jesus
in your singleness in yourmarriage?
What does the Holy Spirit wannado in you in your singleness in
your marriage?
What does the Holy Spirit wannado in you in your singleness in
(39:21):
your marriage and in yourfamily, in the way in which that
he wants to build you up.
He wants to bless your messNext week.
I'm talking about blessing themess of parenting with children
and just all.
How crazy it is, and Satanloves to try to come into the
middle of it and divide it all,but Jesus loves to come in and
(39:44):
unite and strengthen and blessfor his glory.
I'm gonna ask you to bow yourheads and close your eyes.
Every head bowed and every eyeclosed.
I just wanna encourage youright now.
How is it that you need to praythis morning, as we saw the
community pray for Ruth and prayfor Boaz and pray for their
(40:05):
family?
Maybe this morning you need topray for your spouse.
Maybe this morning you need topray for a godly spouse.
Maybe this morning you need topray for yourself to be a
godlier spouse.
Maybe this morning you need topray for yourself to be a
godlier spouse.
Whatever it is that God islaying on your heart right now,
(40:27):
I want to encourage you.
Be faithful to that and prayfor that.
It very well might be the way,the area of your life that God
wants to step into yourcomplication and bless you most.
Are you kids in the room youmight wanna pray for your mommy,
pray for your daddy Teenagersin the room.
(40:50):
You might wanna pray for agodly spouse, college students
and young adults and singleadults, praying that God's will
would be done in your life.
Maybe you're here this morningand maybe you're not ready to
pray that yet because youhaven't given your life over to
Jesus yet, you haven't allowedhim to save you yet.
(41:11):
Maybe today is the day of yoursalvation, maybe someone's never
walked you through it.
That's what I'm here to doHelping you give your life to
Jesus.
If you never have Believing inhim, placing your faith in him,
if you've never have, right here, right now, in your own words,
from your own heart, your ownprayer, you can just tell Jesus
(41:32):
right now, and he can hear youfrom your own heart.
You can just tell him Jesus, Ibelieve in you, jesus, I need
you.
You can tell him Jesus, Ibelieve that you died on the
cross for my sin and I'm askingyou to forgive me of all of my
sin my past, my present, myfuture sin.
(41:54):
You can tell him Jesus, Ibelieve that you rose from the
dead, you're alive and I wannaturn from my sin and I wanna
follow after you, not inperfection but in direction, and
I wanna live for you, I wannaknow you, I wanna give my life
(42:16):
to you, and the Bible promisesthat if you confess with your
mouth that Jesus is Lord andbelieve with your heart that God
raised him from the dead, youwill be saved.
And, god, we thank you for that, thank you for that promise,
thank you for that truth.
We love you and we pray thesethings in Jesus' name.
(42:38):
And all God's people said wouldyou put your hands together for
anyone that made that decision,that prayed that prayer, that
believed in Jesus?
We just wanna say welcome tothe family.
There's no greater decision inyour life.
As a reminder, baptism Sundayis coming up.
If you need to get baptized, wewould love to baptize you on
that Sunday or any Sunday.
There's a next step card infront of you.
If God has worked in your lifeand maybe you want some more
(43:01):
information, we've got someoptions on that next step card
that you can choose from.
As the band's coming out, youcan choose from those options.
We would love to reach out toyou, give you more information
that you can follow Jesus morein your life in that way, and I
want you to know that we arealways here praying for you.
Let me pray over you one moretime, heavenly Father.
(43:22):
In Jesus' name, god, I ask thatyou would bless every man,
every woman.
God, I pray that you wouldbless every child and every
teenager.
God, I pray that you wouldbless every single adult and
every married adult.
God, that we would live aChrist-centered life, that you
would fill us with your HolySpirit, that we live for Jesus
(43:44):
all the more.
And God, that he gets the gloryfrom our life.
And, lord, I pray that youwould bless every person.
I pray that you would blessevery family.
I pray that you would blessevery marriage.
And, lord, may your will bedone and may your glory come.
All in Jesus' name.
And God's people said
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