My Life, My Emotions, My Decisions

Today I'm going to immediately go to the word Ruth chapter 1. Today I want to preach from this. My life, my emotions, my decisions. My life, my emotions, my decisions. Ruth 1. Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem Judea was to sojourn into the country of Moab.

He and his wife and his two sons and the name of the man was and the name of his wife Naomi and the name of his two sons Million and Chileon. They came into the country of Moab and continued there. If you are interested in the state of the world in this time, you can back up from Ruth 1, go back just a page in your Bible to Judges 21 and 25, and it reads this way.

In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. For just a little while, I want to preach this. I'm going to pray one more time, and you can be seated. Jesus, so honored that you are with us today. And Lord, I submit myself to you for the next few minutes.

God, I pray that we could receive what you have for us today. That you would anoint our hearts and our minds to receive your word. In Jesus name we pray and amen. Amen. You may be seated. This is a time in the era in which Ruth lives, where there was no king. And every man does what's right in his own eyes.

They're doing their own thing. And every attitude is valued as much as any other attitude. Every lifestyle is valued as any other lifestyle. Every belief is there. It's it's on equal ground because everybody just does what's right in their own eyes. I feel like if there's ever been a verse of scripture that I felt like defined the world in 2025, it's Judges 21 and 25.

that everybody's doing what's right in their own eyes. And if we sit and think about this verse too long, it can it can cause you and I to maybe become a little bit depressed and discouraged. It was a bad time in Israel. Everyone was searching for something more, something more than what they had, and they were dealing with a famine on top of that.

So, it was it was real bad. Because of this, people began to look around to try to find some way to meet their needs. it was there. And looking around when you need something is not necessarily a bad thing as long as you're looking to the right source. So you got to be careful when you get hungry where you search to have that hunger filled.

Sadly, IMC and his family did not go to the right source. Their hunger caused them to look outside of the norm or the things that they knew that God had been directing them. They went outside of God's direction. And it's always a dangerous place when we step outside of God's direction in our life.

They step out they stepped outside of his direction. They stepped outside of God's word in search of trying to fulfill this hunger. We got to be sure that when you and I become hungry, not just physically hungry but spiritually hungry, that we look to the right place to have that hunger fulfilled. Amen.

Amen. We can see in the verse and read that rather earlier that Limcch took a souljourn into the country of Moab. For some in the room today, we automatically know that Moab was not a good option. It's never painted in a good light in scripture. But to make sure everybody understands this, Moab had a very interesting beginning.

Moab the country became a part because of some bad decisions that Lot made in his life. Lot was tied to Abraham. it was his nephew. And you can go back and study this out in scripture, but to give you a fly over today so that we all have a bit of a backstory as to why Moab was bad is Moab was born out of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters.

Literally, the word Moab is translated my father is also my child's father. It was it was because Lot had relationship with his daughter and there was a child born out of that and that's where the country of Moab came from and this incestrious relationship that was there. It was a it was a land that was fatherless and it says there in that scripture that I read to you at the beginning and they came to the country of Moab and they continued there.

As you know, you've heard me if you've been around this church for just a couple of services. I talk about the importance of why the words are there in scripture for us and that you can't just glaze over that. It'd be real easy to just read the next verse and miss the point that there was there was a reason why the author put those words and they continued there.

They made a bad decision and they didn't just make a bad decision because let's be honest, I don't know that there's a one of us in the room today that hasn't made a bad decision at some point in your life. We have all made bad decisions. But there's something about making a bad decision and there's and then making a bad decision and staying in the decision.

And that's what we have going on here is IMC made a decision to go to Moab. It wasn't a good choice. Again, it was his hunger that was driving him. He was trying to fulfill a need, but he tried to do it in outside of what God wanted for him. What what God had already defined was safe and not safe.

So he goes into a to a fatherless land and not just making that decision, but he camps out there in that bad decision for a while. The sad thing here is this family was so hungry that they ended up trading a famine for a funeral. We know this because we continue to read on there in verse number three.

And IMC, Naomi's husband, died and she was left and her two sons. So, IMC died and then his two sons died, but only after they had taken wives from the women of Moab. Verse four says, "And they took them wives of the women of Moab. The name of one was Orpa and the name of the other Ruth.

And they dwelled there about 10 years. Remember I said that they continued there. This wasn't just an overnight trip. This wasn't just a bad week. Let's be honest, we've all probably had a bad week or two in our life, but this is a 10-year bad decision that continued to go on. In verse number five says, "And Million and Chileon died also, both of them, and the women were left of her two sons and her husband."

What happened was against God's command. Again, they had a hunger. Let's be let's be real. We have appetites that are part of life, God-given appetites. And I'm not going to dive deeply into all of those things, but I think we all know that God gives us appetites for a reason. But appetite itself is not bad.

But when appetite runs outside of boundaries, we get in trouble. So the hunger, there was a famine. There was there was a situation that they were dealing with here that was real. It wasn't wasn't a problem that you deal with a situation, but it's how you deal with the situation that can make all the difference.

And this made a difference in where they were. We see a decision was made. And because of that decision, all that's left of IMC's family is three widows and three graves. I don't know about you, but so far in this story, I'm not really inspired. I'm not really feeling good about myself, not feeling good about life.

Because this is this is very depressing up until this point. But verse number six says, "Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited the people in giving them bread." In the middle of her in the middle of her frustrations, in the middle of her bad decision, word comes that God is doing something back where she belonged, back from her homeland, that there was bread that was there.

Sometimes it feels to me that that you know I've been I've been apostolic Pentecostal my entire life but it seems to me more more often than not we get caught up in our emotions. We're emotional people right saying well Pastor Kevin like you know that's we like that we like feeling God.

We do. We like feeling God in service. But I've been around here long enough to know that I see a lot of people who get very emotional in service but their life doesn't really change. Is it okay if I just myself today? I feel like we have developed multigenerational emotional junkies. Well, they come in and they feel the presence of God and they cry out and they respond because they feel God moving over them and they love that feeling that is there and they are caught up in the moment and in the moment of here in our worship time like what we did today where we're gathered around the front and even at the end of service during our altar time where where God moves on them and they like that feeling and they feel feel better about themselves because

they've they've asked God to touch them and ask God to forgive them and He's He's a good God and he's a faithful God and he does that, but there's no real change. There's no real decision made. It's just caught in emotion. They like the goosebumps. They like the feeling of the worship service that is there.

And for a few moments, let's be honest, we do feel better about ourselves. We feel better about life when we come down and we get caught up in a time of worship. I like the atmosphere of worship. I like how I feel in an atmosphere of worship, but we don't live in an atmosphere of worship.

We can't live here. Now, we can praise wherever we go and that's true and I'm not against that. I'm for that. I'm I'm for creating atmospheres wherever we go. But there's something powerful when we come in to where there's there's a collective group of us who are worshiping God and the p the power and the presence of God is strongly felt that we can get here and we feel real good about ourselves, but again, we have to leave.

we have to go home. We have to go outside these walls. And what I have seen so many times is people that that that are here caught up in emotion, they leave and they go right back to the same situation time and time again. Same same place. It's on repeat over and over again.

Sunday comes and they're down here and they're worshiping and we're crying and we're lost in the presence of God. But we leave here and Monday comes and we're right back down into the same bad decisions. See, here's here's what I've realized in my life is a decision is a very powerful thing.

Now, I know we we're in this post-Christian world where there's a lot of questions that are being asked questions specifically about God. I've heard so many times, why would why would I choose a God that allows so much suffering? I always find that's an interesting question. If God is a loving God, why would he allow suffering?

I feel like there's an easy answer for that. The answer is God allows suffering because he's a loving God. Now, you may be like, "Well, Pastor Kevin, I feel like that doesn't make any sense." Feel like it's a legitimate question to ask. If he's if he's loving, then why is there pain and why is there suffering?

And why is there heartache and why is there disappointment? If he's a loving God, why why do we have these things? But let let me let me try to help us understand by carefully walking through some ideas. First idea here for starters is who is God? Who is God? You know his word tells us that God is love.

Now love is an emotion but scripture tells us that God is love. Love isn't just what God does. Love is who God is. Not a good English but a good statement. God is love. He created us for love, you and I, to be loved and to and to love in return. To be loved by him and to love him in return.

Here lies the problem. Because for love to be love, it must also be a choice. If it's required, it's not love. It's a requirement. Imagine someone being so demanding and saying, "You must love me." Most of us are naturally drawn against that. I don't want to be forced into it. Love is a choice.

And God knew that in his in his mind and when he was creating us, you and I, his desire, somebody someone said before, why did he even create us? Well, God's desire was for companionship, a relationship that was there. But in order for there to truly be a right relationship, it had to be a choice that he would choose to love us.

And then in return, his hope is that we would choose to love him. But inside the choice also brings with it the opportunity for us to not. If we choose love, it means we can also choose hate. If I if I choose good, it means there's also an option for me to choose bad.

Therein is the beauty of choice and how love unfolds. So I go back to explain why is there so much love? Why is there so much suffering in the world? Well, it's because of God. He gave us the freedom to choose. And some do not choose to love, they choose to hate.

It goes back to the beginning of the Garden of Eden when it was there. God gave us a choice from the very beginning and we chose poorly. There I say, we chose and this is this is in into the heart of my message today. So don't miss this point. God created all that was there.

He created Adam and Eve even put them in the Garden of Eden and they had everything that they needed to survive. Everything that was taken for and they just it wasn't just in a vacation environment. Okay, I think sometimes people misunderstand the Garden of Eden. It wasn't just a vacation environment. They had a job to do.

They were to tend the garden because you have a purpose. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a purpose. And your purpose is not to breathe air and exist, but you have a purpose. When you get outside of your purpose, you start to wander. Oh, I feel Holy Ghost moving right now. See, a lot of us try to get to a place in life where I don't have to do anything because that's our desire.

Oh, for us just to go back to garden eating. So, it's just I can relax. They were not relaxing. They were working. They were tending the garden. Now, there was a lot of things that were going on because they didn't have to deal with sin. But the enemy was still there. The devil showed up.

Chapter 3, Genesis, and the serpent, who was more subtle than all the beasts of the field, he showed up. And what happened? He started playing on emotion. Did God say, "Well, if we do this," he said, "we're going to die. Thou shalt not surely die." because he knows in the days that you partake of that, you're going to be like him.

So, all of a sudden, emotion comes into play because they begin to question, well, why would God not want me to be like him? See, here's here's a here's a truth for you. It was the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, why would why would he not want them to know these things?

It wasn't because God was trying to keep knowledge from them. They had access to him in the cool of the morning, the cool of the evening, they were walking with him. I mean, if you think through this relationship that was there, they had an opportunity firsthand to ask any question they wanted to ask.

It wasn't a limit of knowledge. He was growing them and maturing them in the same way that you and I grow and mature our children. There are some things that you just can't tell a 5-year-old because they can't comprehend it yet. But in time, in time, you're able to explain things over time.

What happened was they shortcircuited God's plan because he said look because here here's another thing. God always has something that's separated that belongs to him. Always. He always he's he's a God of separation. There's always something there that God says that's belong that's mine. It belongs to me. It's holy. Don't touch it.

Go through scriptures and read it yourself. That's what even in the New Testament for you folks that don't like the Old Testament. I don't know why you don't like it, but you don't like it. It's there. There's always a separation line. God had intended for them to come to knowledge in the when when time came but they sure because the enemy played on the emotion and they got wrapped up in emotion and they made a decision.

It's why ladies and gentlemen I'm here to preach to you today to try to teach you this principle that you can't allow your emotions to be the driving force in everything you do in life. Emotions are there and they are God-given, but they are meant to be kept in check. Just like our appetites are meant to be kept in check because I don't think there's a one of us in this place who is mature who will say that I can always trust my emotions.

Are you going to tell me your emotions have never lied to you? You're going to tell me there haven't been times when you had part of information, you had a piece of information and you flew off the handle? thinking you knew the whole. Oh, I can't believe she said, "Oh, oh, you'd wait till I I'm going to only to find out later."

Well, I didn't know that. Well, if I'd have known that, I wouldn't acted like an idiot. Well, maybe you should just stop being an idiot. Maybe you should back up until you have full truth. Maybe maybe you should make decisions based off of truth and not off of emotion. For from the very beginning, that's what happened.

The enemy came after the emotion to cloud the judgment. God said, "Don't." The enemy said, "Try." See, decisions are powerful things. Hell itself cannot stand in the face of a human heart that says, "I'm going to serve God." The enemy can't stop you from serving God, but you can. If you've determined that you're going to live for God, no matter what comes your way, the enemy cannot do anything about it.

Because here's the deal. The enemy can't kill you. Because if he could kill you, he'd already killed you dead. But he can't. He has to ask permission. That's the truth for you. So, I don't know what you're afraid of. The enemy can't take you out. But you know what? You sure can derail things by getting caught up in your emotions.

You Yeah, we we're all guilty of like, well, the devil's been bad on me. I want you to just stop complaining about the devil. You know, the worst enemy you got is you. Is you. Quit blaming it on him. It is you. It is you. You get too caught up in your emotions and your bad decisions when it was your fault.

You can try to blame somebody else. There are sometimes that life happens to us and it's beyond our control, but the overwhelming majority of the time it's me. It's my fault. I ran out of the boundaries. I did something. I reacted when I shouldn't have. I behaved in a way that was unbecoming.

Maybe that's just me. I'm a pastor. Maybe y'all need to give me some grace. We all struggle. None of us are exempt from this. We all got to make sure we're keeping our emotions in check in check when we decide. In fact, decide is a verb. the definition to come to a resolution in the mind as a result of consideration, a decision.

And you know what it means? It means that I have a decision to make. And if I'm going to do this, I'm going to take the other options off the table for just a minute. I'm just going to put God in the equation. And I'm going to say, "All right, God.

I've got to make a choice. Where where are you, God, on my decision?" What if you just started filtering it through the word of God instead of trying to make the word of God fit into your decision? Well, I'm going to get me a word to back up what I'm trying to do.

Now, you've heard me say this before. You can take the Bible and almost make it validate anything you want to do if you orphan scripture. There's some interesting verses in there. I mean, there's some there's some you should read it. I mean, there's some stuff if you just took the one verse out and I mean, you could you could build some interesting doctrines and some people have tried to do it, but you can't take just a piece.

You got to take the whole thing. It's all or nothing. It's the same way with God. It's all or nothing. He doesn't want a part. He wants the whole. So my decisions means I'm going to put God there first. I'm going to ask him. And if more people would decide, you don't stumble into the will of God by crying about some problem that's over.

You make a decision and more often than not, God follows up. You keep waiting around for the will of God to happen. Just get busy doing the present work at hand and the will of God will show up. I promise you. Sitting on the sideline waiting. I'm waiting on the sign from God.

Just if you see something to do and it lines up with scripture, then just do it. I promise you in the middle of you doing that, you'll be in the will of God.

I'm going to get back. I was tempted to go on rabbit trail, but I'm going to come back in here. The Lord just checked me. I'm coming back. To decide is powerful. Naomi decides for she heard in the country of Moab what the Lord had visited his people giving them bread. in the middle of godless people.

She heard about God doing a work. What better could be said about our church than to say that the Lord had visited centerpoint that he visited here. So I love if you keep going verse number seven. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

Back to praise. Back to praise. Now, I talked about atmosphere of praise because there's something about being in atmosphere of praise that has the ability to bring some clarity to your situation. We just don't we just can't live in that atmosphere all the time. We can't we can carry him with us in there.

But you do have to move forward in life. And it would be great if you could worship God and have a shout in the Holy Ghost fit while you're working the drive-through McDonald's. Lord knows they need the Holy Ghost over there. Pray for that ice cream machine. They got the devil in it.

But they're going to go back to where God visits. Ruth verse chapter 1 verse number eight. And Naomi said to her who her two daughters-in-law, "Go and return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant you that you may find rest each of you in your house of her husband."

And then she kissed them and they lift up their voice and they wept. I don't know about you, but this is like the beginning of a Hallmark movie. There's just three women standing in the middle of the road crying. Just why you always shake your head at me? Was that a bad example?

Okay. It wasn't a Hallmark movie. It's I don't know. We got We got three women standing in the middle of the road crying. However you choose to. My mind goes there. Now, we got to unpack what's going on here. It seems to me a little bit odd that Naomi's wanting them to leave.

Like, what's going on? What is it? And maybe maybe one reason is maybe they represent one of the worst mistakes she's ever made in her life. She knows those boys were not supposed to marry Moabitete women. She knows that God was against those things. And here she is now she has no husband and no sons and all she's bringing back was bad decisions with her.

Maybe that's what's going on. I don't know. But these two women had to represent that. But can you imagine how that was going to go over with when she showed back up? Aren't you thankful you go to a church that hunt doesn't hold your past over you? cuz we all are new creatures.

We all are new creatures. But here we go. Verse number 10. And they said unto her, "Surely we will return with thee unto thy people." And Naomi said, "Turn again, my daughters, why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have an husband, and I should say, I have hope.

If I should have a husband also tonight and should also bear sons, would you tear for them until they were grown? Would you stay for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, forgree with me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. So Naomi saying, "Look, you don't want to stay here.

What do you want me to do? If I happen to find a husband tonight and got married tonight and then I had sons, are you are you going to wait around until they're old enough to marry you? Is that what you're going to do?" No, don't do that. Don't do that. And then then she makes this statement that I feel like is pretty powerful.

For it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. What what about you left the house of bread when you were hungry and you and your husband made bad decisions? What about you let those boys marry girls that they're not supposed to marry? What about the fact that you messed up?

What about you should stop blaming God for everything that's went wrong in your life? Most of that was your doing. Most of that was your doing. We like to bring God in. God's just forgot me. God, you know, I find it fascinating how many people get mad at God because God didn't work according to what they thought God should do.

I do feel like it's very arrogant when we when we decide what God should do. Yeah. than than me that I know better what God should do in my life than God knows about what he should do in my life. I feel like that's a pretty arrogant way to live. Got to be careful there.

But she she's making her way h back to the house of God. To me, the story takes a turn right here. Verse number 14. And they lifted up their voice and they wept again. And Orpa kissed her mother-in-law. But Ruth claved to her. Orpa kissed her mother-in-law. She did what we often do.

She got caught up in emotions that was there. But Ruth pushed past the emotions and she grabbed a hold. Orpa there. Ruth. Ruth clave. Orpa cried. The same word the Bible uses to say that her husband cleaves to a wife. Verse 15. And she said, "Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back to her people and unto her gods.

Return also with thy sister-in-law." Three times she does this. And three times Ruth says, "No, Ruth, I'm not I'm not doing it." Ruth Ruth Ruth made her decision to Naomi said, "No, I'm not I'm not leaving you. I'm not." She's very powerful moment. She wanted Naomi to know that she had not tied her life to where she was from.

She had not tied her life to a generation. She wanted her to know that that she wasn't sure what was going on there. But she was tied to something that she knew was better. You're going towards God. You're going back to where God is. That's where I'm going. I'm not going back that way.

And I wish there was enough people who who who when times didn't work out quite the way they wanted to would be determined to say, you know what, things may not be ideal, but I'm not going back to where where you found me. I'm not going back to the way things were. I'm not going to go back there.

That I'm not going to go. There's nothing left for me. I know you're saying go back. and Naomi is like, "Go back and you'll find a husband. Go back. It won't take you long. Go back to the Moab way. Everything's going to work out. You're going to be successful." And she said, "No, I don't care what Orpa is doing.

I'm not going to base this on emotions. There's something much deeper that's going on here. I've heard you talk about what was going on back in Judah. I've heard you talk about your life before you showed up in love. I heard you talk about how God was a God of provision and a God of protection.

And I don't know. I just can't get away from that. I'm staying with you. Wherever you're going, that's where I'm going. I'm sticking with you in this process. you cannot shake me on this. Now what I love about this is if you go to verse number 16, it says and Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave thee or return from following after thee.

For whether thou goest, I will go. And whether thou lodest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Whether thou diest, I will die, and there I will be buried. The Lord do also do to me do so to me and more also if ought death part thee from me.

She took all options off the table. I don't care what people say. Your people are my people. Your home is going to be my home. Your God's going to be my God. That's where I'm going. Where you die, that's where I'm going to die. I don't know about you, but this is someone who took the emotions off the table and made a decision that, hey, I'm sticking and I'm staying.

There's nothing you can do. I' I've made my decision. Ruth was saying, stop trying to get me to leave. Your God's my God. That's where I'm headed. Something about powerful when someone finally makes their mind up that I'm going to live for God regardless. Isn't it interesting how sometimes when we make a decision to be dedicated to God and dedicated to the people of God and dedicated to the house of God that we have some well-intended people dare I say even some of our family try to tell us and talk us out of it and try to oh you don't have to do all that you don't have to be all you don't have to go all those things you're going to that you're going to that apostolic Pentecostal church those people are crazy and we are crazy because everybody's He's crazy.

There's not a sane one, a bunch, any of us that are walking on this big mud ball right now. They try to talk you out of it. But I love when someone says, "You know what? I know what I felt. I know what I've seen. I know what I'm committed myself to. That's going to be my church.

Those people are going to be my people. That's where I'm headed. We are part of the people. I'm going to be there." You know verse number 18. And when she saw that she steadfastly minded to go with her, she then left speaking unto her. This should speak loudly to us. Too many are waiting for God to give you a blinking light and a loud horn to tell you that you need to believe this thing.

When you just need to buy in and say, you know what, I'm going for it. I'm going for it. It would be great. I I've said this often. It would be great. And you know, if we could we in our daily prayer life, we could be like the on demand stuff that we have.

We live in the on demand world. You right now, if I wanted to, while I'm preaching, I could get on my phone and I could get on Uber Eats and I could order me something and while I'm preaching, I could have some food delivered and I'm hungry right now. And that that sounds really good.

I need to think about how I can be spiritual with that and work that into a sermon. We live in an ondemand world. And what I'm afraid is this mindset of on demand, this mindset of personal preference that we have around us all the time, right? Because cuz you don't know what's best for you, right?

You have to be told, "No, I don't. I know exactly what I want." Oh, yeah. That's what's happening to you on social media. You're getting exactly what you want. Sure. No, you're getting exactly what they want to give you. It'd be great if I could get down and say, "God, today I need this and I need this and I need this.

I like a little bit of this and a little more of that and a little bit of that. And if you could do that, it' be good." And to submit my order. And when God doesn't fulfill the order, well, we get mad. Well, he doesn't love me. If he loved me, surely he's seen that I haven't used a cuss word in two weeks.

Surely he's seen that I have not done this or I have not done that. Surely he's I mean, I've cleaned myself up. Surely he's seen I've showed up for church four Sundays in a row. I put a $20 bill in the offering. Surely he's seen all the things. When I'm grading myself in my mind against other people, I'm ahead of the curve.

And that's where we And then when God doesn't, we get mad. And then we get mad. Here goes our emotions. And here's our emotions. Yeah. Emotions running wild, running crazy. When when when we when we do this, we significantly limit what it is that God wants to do. Because here's the deal. God is not moved when you emotionally check out.

He listens to us. When you're all Have you ever been around somebody who's overly emotional? Don't point fingers. Have you ever been around somebody that's overly emotional? Does that person make you happy or does that person tend to frustrate you? Do you find yourself struggling with your own emotions because of their emotions?

Yeah, but you've been around somebody who's emotionally steady, not emotionally dead, because there's a difference. But someone who's emotionally steady, they bring a calming presence with them, don't they? Yeah. I mean, they will get upset, but they don't run off the rails. They will show remorse and sadness. They they're there, but there's something about them working in a proper way because they don't allow the emotions to cause them to make bad decisions.

By doing this, they take options off the table. And by doing that, they kill off everything except doing the will of God. Now, look at this verse number 19. So, they too went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came about, it came to pass that when they came to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them.

And they said, "Is this Naomi?" And she said unto them, "Call me not Naomi, but call me Mara." Here we go again, blaming God, for the Almighty hath dealt bitterly with me, very bitterly with me. And I went out full. That's a lie. You were hungry. And the Lord hath brought me for home again empty.

Why then have you called me Naomi, saying that the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? So Naomi returned and Ruth and Moabitis, her daughter-in-law with her was returned to the country of Moab and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest. Talk about coming in and allowing God to do something great.

God brings them back. They end up coming back at the time of harvest beginning. To me, that's a picture of the mercy of God. The mercy. Now, if you have time, and I would encourage you if you want to just be careful, like go back and study out the story. I'm I know I've went slower today because I feel like this was the kind of lesson that sermon that needed needed some teaching behind it to fully grasp the powerful messages here.

The book of Ruth is beautiful. It's a beautiful story to tell you about Ruth. She comes back and she's very devoted and she's very committed to her mother-in-law. She goes to work because she knows they need to have some food. And she goes and works in the field. And she comes in to the field and works with a man named Boaz.

And Boaz ends up becoming the kingsman redeemer. It's to shorten the story because of her being a widow. It fell down in the family line that she could get remarried, but the first option for remarage had to be inside the family that was there. Well, Boaz happened to be a relative. He wasn't the closest relative, but he was close enough and had the means to and he desired.

And again, you should read the story because I'm not giving you all the details, but it's a good one. He desired to take care of her. Beautiful story, but he had to make sure that he did things the right way. So, he goes to the town gates. You remember me Wednesday night talking about how great things happen at the town gates and how that it was Jesus Christ himself that said the gates of hell should not prevail against us.

Why? because the business of hell is not going to prevail against the church. Boaz goes down to the city gates and says, "Hey, look, Naomi has returned and she's brought a daughter-in-law with her and they need to be redeemed back. She he visits with the man who was the next in line."

And he says, "A first I'm going to do that." He said, "Well, just know if you're going to take on all the stuff, you got to take on the daughter-in-law, And he says, "Look, that's going to cause bad things for me at home with the woman I'm married to." That's my version. I don't think I want to get into all that.

So, I'll pass. And there's an interaction. There's a shoe taken off and there's a whole exchange that goes and takes place because they do things the right way. And then he brings her back in. And it's this beautiful love story about how they get married and things are going really, really good.

It's powerful. We know how story of Ruth turns out. I'm going to get to the ending in just a minute there with her. But Orpa is interesting. She actually has a story, too. It's not in the canonized Bible scriptures in there. And I caution you by saying this that there there are other writings and historical documents that we have that talk about things that transpired during biblical times too.

We have the writings of Josephus and the rabbiic writings that go that go on and traditions that were written there that also tell historical facts. And according to the rabbis tradition, Orpa went back to Moab and she lived a very promiscuous life and she had quite a reputation as that kind of a girl.

You ever heard of a guy named Goliath? It said that Goliath was her son. Now what we find interesting is if you go to Matthew 1 in the New Testament and you read the genealogy of Jesus, it reads like this in verse number five. Solomon begat Boaz. Remember talking about him because he took in Ruth by Rahab.

And Boaz begat Obed by Ruth and Oed begat Jesse. And Jesse begat David the king. Now the story of David and Goliath is an interesting story because we have things that indicate that when David stepped out and said, "Is there not a cause from that man who's speaking all the blasphemies against God that he's a direct descendant of Ruth?

It's her grandson." And the grandson is there in the kingdom of God because Ruth made a decision to cleave. Orpa made a decision to leave. And by all accounts, it was her son Goliath who's standing on the other side of the field with all the blasphemies coming out. Now, by man's standard, he was head and shoulders above everybody.

He was powerful. He was intimidating. He was fierce. He was the champion of the Philistines that was there. And then there's little David, little grandson, just a little shepherd boy. He was being literally the story. I've said this before. He was the Uber delivery boy of the day Uber Eats. He was drinking food just I don't really I've never used that.

I don't know why it's keep coming up again. Again, have I mentioned that I'm hungry? But I want to end this way. I started off talking about your life, your emotions, your decisions. You have a life and you have emotions and you have to make decisions, but they have a huge impact not only for you, but for generations to come.

You think you're just in a moment and you're just trying to deal with you're sad or you're happy or you're angry or you're hurt. But I want you to know in most all those instances there's something much more at play than just you in that moment when they're sitting there on the side of the road and they're crying and she's saying Naomi is saying go back you know just go back to Moab.

Go back to that way. Go back to you have an easy life. You'll find a husband. Orpa she kissed her. She cries. She's caught in emotion. She's like, "Okay, I'll go." And she went back. But Ruth, she cleaved. She held on. She's like, "It's not always about the easy decision. Life's more than just easy decisions.

It's more than just the easy path. It's more than just a popular way." Something inside of Ruth, Brother Moore, said, "I don't know. I can't get away from what I feel down deep that I need to stay with you. I know I can hear what you're saying and I see what I see what Orpa is doing, but I'm not going to allow myself to be caught up in Orpa's decision because I don't know that her decision is right.

I can't get away from what I feel like I'm supposed to do. And then we see how that decision played out for generations to come. Psalms 102:18, my last scripture says, "This will be written for the generations to come that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord." There's something about understanding in my own life, I'm living for more than just me.

Look, the world doesn't do this, all right? It's never going to tell you that you live for more than just you. It's going to tell you be true to yourself and focus on you and get your version of happy and get your version of right and do whatever that you think feels good in the moment.

just we only have this one life, so live it to the fullest. But I'm telling you, there's more than just this life we live. There's more than just this life we live. And every decision I make may has a huge implication, not just for myself, but for the generations that are to come.

And there there are those of you that are in this room today because way back two or three or four or five generations ago, there was somebody who who cleaved to truth, who cleaved to apostolic doctrine, who cleaved to the mighty God in Christ, who cleaved to Jesus name baptism, who cleaved to be the might to be infin and because of that, generations later, you're sitting here as a beneficiary of a decision that was made long ago.

For some of you, this you're generation one here. And I want you to know that's you're I'm no better than you just because I may have a lineage behind me with in God's eyes. There's only one generation. He only has kids. He doesn't have grandkids. But I'm telling you this, in the natural, there are decisions that are being made today.

There's decisions that will be made in this room today that have generational outcomes. When I take all the other stuff off the table and I and I and I take my emotions out of the equations and I take all the things that are being distraction and all the noise and I get back down to what is it that you're telling me, God, that's true for my life.

What decision I and it may go against the grain. It may not be popular opinion, but God, I'm not concerned. I'm concerned with being aligned with you in my life because there's much more than just me at play.

See, emotions, I'm going to say this and I'm closing. More often than not, the emotion that I'm feeling is all about me. It's all about me. I don't feel right. I've been hurt. I've been betrayed. I've been misunderstood. And don't get me wrong, there are instances with, again, sometimes life deals us a bad hand.

Sometimes people that should have taken care of us don't. They just don't. And I wish it was different. I'm not trying to minimize anybody's pain or anybody's hurt or anybody's circumstances or suffering that you've been through. And there there there's some stories that I'm aware of that are in this room tonight today that are just they're just they're man they will break your heart.

But I don't have to and you don't have to allow the circumstance to define who you are. It's still a decision. If you if you want to be the victim, then you can choose to be the victim. You the what happened to you when you were a victim was beyond your control.

But what you do with it from that moment forward is in your control. It is in your control. Look, we all have a story. Very few of us escape life without a story. And what I mean by story of some victim story, some horrific thing that happened to you. I don't know that it is any better in the church than it is out of the church.

I don't know. When it comes to the stories and what has happened, we all have a story. I have a story. You have a story. We have a story. I have if I wanted to by the world's standards and surely by what without doubt what my enemy wants is I could allow what happened to me.

I'm just going to speak about me because I can only speak with authority about me in my life. But I could tell you you a lot of you think that my life's just been easy. I was raised in church by loving mom and dad and I did I have a loving mom and dad.

They were wonderful people. They were not perfect but they were loving people. There was never a day that I' i've never known that I wasn't love. That doesn't mean that I didn't go through my own things. That I didn't suffer my own abuse. That there wasn't times that I was a victim because I was.

Let's don't share it in public places because it's deep and it hurts. But I chose not to let that be what defined me. It doesn't define me. I could. And in the in our day and age, please understand my heart. In our day and age, it's almost celebrated as a badge to wear.

The victim. Yeah. So, I was victimized, but I left that at an altar. I left it. Again, don't minimize. I mean, I got my story. I maybe if you if you're a victim and you're struggling with something, come to me. I'll tell you my story. I'm not proud of it. It's a very shameful thing that happened to me.

Very shameful. But I'm not going to wear that because I'm a child of the king. That's who I am. I'm not a

victim. I moved past that because I realized that I had to. I couldn't stay there. I couldn't live. I couldn't live in that moment. But I couldn't because the longer I lived there, the more I kept being victimized and the more that the person who did that to me maintained

control. But God made me the captain of my life. So I made a decision to get up from there and I said, "God, you must be Lord of my life. I commit myself to you." and he helped me and he worked with me and there are still from moments and I'll be honest with you from time to time I tell the story and when I do the emotions come back and it's hard to relive some of that stuff.

It is because I've gave it to them and I go back and I talk about it but you know what I feel like you know what what the enemy tried to use for evil I I'll use it for good. So if I need to help somebody walk through a dark lonely time I'll go down there and walk with you in that dark lonely place for all I will.

Our circumstances may be different, but I can identify with the hurt and the pain and the shame and the guilt and all the things. I know what that's like. I know what it is to deal with those things, but I can't stay there because there was another generation that I knew who was depending on me just like there's another generation who's depending on you.

You can't stay there because one day you're going to be faced with a Goliath. And if you haven't moved past it, you'll never be able to slay the giant that God's going to bring into your life. Because we all have a giant we're going to face one day. So, I don't know who I'm speaking to today about your life and your emotions and your decisions.

I don't know who I'm speaking to, but I'm here to tell you that that it is your life and those are your emotions. But what are you going to do with the decision you need to make? some point you got to push those things aside and you got to get back to the reality of what it is that God has for you and what it is that he says about you.

And he will meet you where you are. He will meet I promise you this. He will meet you in the darkest moment of your life and he will walk through and lead you right back out to where his light is. He won't leave you there. If you stay there, it's because you made a choice to stay.

But if you make a determin God, I'm going to bring you the broken parts. And you've heard me say this so many times. He specializes in taking the ashes and turning them into something that's beautiful. So, whoever I'm speaking to today, make the right decision. Bring the brokenness of your life. Bring the hurt.

Bring the frustrations. Bring the failures. Bring the pain. Bring the shame. and lay it down at the altar and make a decision today that regardless of what comes my way, I'm going to live for you, God. That there may be generations to come. When I think about that story, there's no way that Ruth had any clue that her grandson was going to stand on the battlefield one day and fight against Orpa's boy.

But it was right and God had orchestrated some things and put it together. But it would never come to pass. Where would what Bible would we have without David in it? The man after God's own heart come through a Moabitete woman. How does that work? It works in God's kingdom. It works in God.

In fact, if you go back up, his great great grandmother was Rahab was a harlot. In what world was that working in God's kingdom? So, you look, you don't have to be the best. You don't have to be the qualified. In fact, that book is full of people who are it's the island of misfit toys.

And I like that because I'm a misfit, too. And the truth is, so are you and that's the God we serve. As he says, I'll bring them all. I'll take them all. Bring them to me. So, I don't know who I'm calling for today, but this altar is open. I'm going to pray.

And I don't know what you're dealing with. I don't know what kind of shame or guilt or I don't know what I don't know. Maybe just maybe just need a good old check-in with God. And there's nothing there. Because here's the deal. I want you to know right now, I rebuke any labels that anybody puts on anybody.

We are just children of the king who need to get closer to him. All right. So, if you're a child of God and you need to get closer to him, if you need help, if you need strength, this altar is open today. I'm going to pray. Jesus. God, you are good. You are so good and you are faithful.

I pray today, Lord, that in the middle of this presence, we feel you're here so close and strong and near to us, God, that there would be there would be courage to step out today to move into a right and a deeper and a better relationship with you, God. God, that we could trust, God, that we could place all of our failures and frustrations and heartache and pain and shame in your hands.

And Lord, that you would take the brokenness of our life and you would make it beautiful again in Jesus name. In Jesus name. It's prayer time. I'm going to pray with those that have come.