11/2/25 Pastor Harlow, Ruth 2: 14-23

And you know what did

When Ruth and Naomi they got all of their bushels of grain and they were able to carry that home and they were to feed them for a long time. Did they have to work hard for that food? >> No. >> No they didn't because they were shown grace from Boaz. And you know what? This is what our Lord has done for us. He has given us grace ultimately. He's given us grace by dying on the cross for our sins and showing love and kindness by forgiving our sins so that we don't have to work for it. We don't have to work so hard to show God, oh God, I love you so much. I'm going to work so hard. Please forgive me. He doesn't He doesn't require that. He gives it to us as a gift because he loves us so much. In fact, he did it while we were still sinners. There was nothing about us that he loved in and of ourselves other than just he is just full of love and he gave us grace because of just how loving he is. And so I want you guys to remember that as you guys eat Cheerios, okay? God is very grac gracious. So let's pray. All right. Dear heavenly father, we are thankful for just your love and your grace and your mercy. Thank you for all these children, Lord. And we just ask that you would just show them the love your loving kindness this week. Help them to praise your name and glorify you as they as they enjoy all of the blessings and the and the abundance of grace that you've given them. And help them to know it in their hearts. And we just ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen. >> All right, come over here. I got I got some Cheerios for you guys. >> Well, Amen. It's always good to see the little ones in the service and how encouraging it is. >> Desmond, is that Sam? >> Oh. >> Oh, well, I'm glad that he's here. Is

Your dad doing well? >> Awesome. Praise the Lord. Before we get started, also want to just say is Devin and Sophia, are they here? Hey guys, congratulations on y'all's engagement by the way. Let's give it up for them, guys. [applause] Yes, Christian. Get married, have lots of babies, make lots of Christian babies, and let's conquer the world for Christ. So hey if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to the book of Ruth chapter two. We are going to wrap up this chapter today. Before we get into that, just on behalf of my family and the elders, thank you all so much. For those of you that gave just little gifts and cards of encouragement over the last month, October is pastor appreciation month and it's always encouraging to hear about how God has blessed you through the preaching of the word or through various other ministries. And so thank you guys very much for that encouragement. Today we are going to be continuing to talk about grace [snorts] and providence because we see God providing for his people and how he is advancing his redemptive plan through the ordinary means of just faithful believers and just kindness. I remember hearing the story and this is pretty common one that most of you have heard but George Mueller he was a he ran orphanages back in back in England during the turn of the industrial revolution. He was a peer to Charles Spurgeon. Through his care, he took care of over 10,000 orphans through his ministry, which is just a shocking amount of people, right? You just think of orphans were a massive massive issue back then. Once he sat down to bre breakfast with hundreds of orphans and he didn't have any bread, any eggs, any milk. He didn't

Have anything. And yet he sat down and he said, "I'm going to thank the Lord for what God is going to do." And so as he prayed, he gave thanks. And when he said amen, there was a knock at the door. Just a simple and he opened the door and there was a baker in there and he said, "I felt compelled by the Lord this morning at 2 in the morning to get up and bake extra bread, for you guys." And so, here's a bunch of bread. [laughter] So, God provided. And then while they were bringing in all of this bread, lo and behold, a milk cart was going past and the wheel broke. Right there in front of the doors to the orphanage. And the milkman, he got out and he said, "Well, I can't make my deliveries. Can y'all make use of this milk before it spoils?" Well, absolutely we can. And God, he provided for George Mueller and those orphans. And those stories, they remind us that there is not one thing that is random in God's kingdom or his world. Not one thing. We can look at all sorts of just random things. This is a tapestry. It's like the back of a tapestry. All we see are strings and knots. And we really don't have a clue as to what it actually is. Is it football team? Like, you know, it kind of looks like a field goal post. It looks like grass down there at the bottom. I don't know what that is. But to us it just seems like random threads that kind of have some sort of pattern to them. But then you get to the other side and you see exactly what it is. It's a beautiful tapestry telling a story. And that's how it is of in God's kingdom, in God's world, in God's universe. You see, we don't see things clearly. And if we're not careful, we can fall into that feeling of fatalism that God is going to do whatsoever he desires regardless of our prayers or our actions. But let me

Be clear, God, he does do that. He does whatever he desires in heaven and earth. But he uses ordinary people doing ordinary things to accomplish those tasks. That's how he sovereignly uses people. He uses things that seem to us to be random chance. And last week we saw Boaz being that tool that God used to demonstrate grace toward Ruth. And today we get to see the result of that as we learn about grace upon grace. If you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read, if you're able to read Ruth chapter 2 14 to the end of the chapter, God's word, it says this. And at meal time, Boaz said to her, "Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine." So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain, and she ate until she was satisfied. And she had some left over. When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheav, and do not reproach her, and also pull out some of the bundles for her, and leave it for her to glean. And do not rebuke her." So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an epha of barley, and she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw that what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. And her mother-in-law said, "Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today was Boaz." And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead." Naomi also said to her, "This man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers." And Ruth the Moabitete said, "Besides, he said to me, you shall keep close by

My young men until they have finished all my harvest." And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, "It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted." So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Let's pray. And so, Father, we do thank you for this time that we get to have. Thank you for your mercy and your kindness. Thank you for the love that we have that's in Christ. We thank you for your word and this example of Ruth and her faithfulness. We thank you for the example of Boaz and his kindness and his grace. And we pray that we would emulate these these faithful saints that went before us. Lord, thank you for giving us a full view of your word where we read it from Genesis to Revelation and we see how you're working all things out for a redemptive purpose. And Lord, that gives us great confidence in the world that we live in where we feel like maybe we're victims of chance or happen stance or whatever. Lord, help us to know that we go with you preparing the path and the way, God. Lord, in light of that, we do want to lift up to you so many of our brothers and sisters that we know that are that are sick, that are suffering. Lord, we do want to pray for specifically the Johnson family. God, thank you that Denny was able to come home. But we pray that you would continue to give them grace and understanding. Lord, we still pray for you to work powerfully in this situation. We want to pray for her and her. We pray that you would answer their prayers, God. The deepest, most sincere thoughts of their hearts. We pray that you would grant to your servants, Lord, abundant grace and healing, God, according to your will. We ask that would be done. Father, we want to

Remember Steve and Cindy as well. We pray that you would help Steve to overcome his cancer and that he would be able to fellowship among us. Lord, it's been u couple years now since we've been able to really see and be alongside of him. And just pray that you would give him energy and strength. Father, we pray that you would be with our whole congregation, God, as there's so many right now that are battling all sorts of different colds and headaches and migraines and stuff like that. It's the changing of the seasons. And so we just pray that your abundant grace would be revealed to them. Lord, for Wayne Hurdle, Lord, we pray for him. We pray for Sue. And as she ministers to her husband, God be with them. For Rance Libby, God, we pray for him. Lift him up to you. Lord, there's so many on that prayer list that we just want you to remember. And even personally in our own lives. We give them to you, God. Lord, for Sam Campbell. We thank you, Lord, that you have spared him and that Dez and Cat get to continue to minister to their dad. We just pray for a full recovery. We pray for encouragement for constants. Father, we love you. We just thank you for your grace. It's so abundant. Please be with us, Lord. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. Well, our passage begins with Boaz doing something really different in this culture because he invites Ruth the Moabitete to come and eat with him. And if you look at what Boaz says to Ruth, he says, "Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine." And I want you to notice a couple of things that there's this invitation. Boaz, he invites Ruth to come near because Ruth, she has no right to draw near. She is excluded from the assembly of the Lord because she's a Moabitete. And since she is a widow, it means that she has no social standing, no standing within the community. She is

A gleaner, which means that she has the lowest profession in Israel. And so she was observing proper etiquette. She is standing back, standing away from everyone else. And what happens is that she is brought near, closer, and Boaz welcomes her and invites her into fellowship. But Boaz beckons her. It's a clear invitation to come. That word, Hebrew word here is nagas, which is sometimes translated as coming near, drawing near, being close. It's used to describe when God calls us by his grace. Secondly, notice that Boaz, he shares the worker's bread with her. This is Ruth's very first day out there, and she doesn't have a single dime to her name. All she has is a little bit of a good reputation from working hard in the morning. That's all that she's got. Now, we don't know how long it's been since Ruth has eaten, but we can assume that Ruth is very, very hungry because look, it that's the cultural norm at this time. It's either feast or famine, right? You eat what you can when you can. Thirdly, notice that Boaz, he even offers her a condiment. Okay, that dipping the morsel in the wine, it was it wasn't really actually a wine. Okay, it wasn't juice. I'm not going that Baptist on you today. Ha. It's a joke, guys. But, it was a wine vinegar is what it was. Okay? You probably use red wine vinegar. That's what it was in order to give some flavor for bland flu foods such as just straight roasted barley grain. And as Christians, when it comes to food, oftentimes we're tempted to just think of the necessities. It's enough. But the law of grace shows that there's abundance, right? And so we go above and beyond not just the necessities, but even some of the things that give flavor to life as well. Boaz, he personally serves her this roasted grain. He passes it to her. And for Boaz, the owner of the field, the employer of every person that is there

To serve Ruth the Moabitete, it just shows honor upon honor to this widow. And she eats until she's satisfied. And she even has some leftovers, which shows that she's just totally committed to Naomi. She's thinking about her mother-in-law, even though she's the one out there busting her hump. And Boaz, he gives her more than what she needs. This is a feast of grace. And that's what we learn about today is grace at the table. If you're taking notes, write that first point down. Grace at the table. Because just as Boaz welcomed this outsider, this foreigner, this stranger to the table. So God, he beckons us and welcomes us to come to him. He doesn't Boaz doesn't treat Ruth as a new unproven servant, but he honors her with tremendous love. God, he gives us our daily bread and he completely satisfies us, but he also gives us life, life, abundant life. And Jesus, he served us by dying on the cross for our sins. And he continues to serve us by interceding for us before the throne of the father. He doesn't just save us and say, "Have at it, guys. I'm leaving you to your own. No, he walks with us and he continually is working in our lives. And thank God for that. And you see, the Gospel gives us a greater view of grace and abundance. It allows us to see people as they rightly are, as imagebearers of God. Ruth the Moabitete is Ruth the favored here because Boaz, he has a great heart of God's view for the nations. In Acts chapter 10, Peter, he has a clear vision from God where this great sheep comes down from heaven. And on it, there's all sorts of animals and reptiles and birds and all these different things. And a voice speaks from heaven that says, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat." And Peter says, "No, Lord. I've never eaten anything unclean." And that happens three times. Now, he's not just, you know, saying at that point, God is not just saying,

"Hey, all food is clean because the immediate context is that he's going to Cornelius and the Gentiles to go and share the Gospel." And they have a Pentecost experience, showing that the Holy Spirit is not just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles. And so, one of the one of the best ways that you can be evangelistic, okay? Because we're, you guys remember a few weeks ago I introduced to you guys the, the vision and the mission and, you know, that we want to be all about, John 15:16, right? And, we want to be about being rooted in Christ, reproducing disciples, renewing lives for the glory of God. That's what we want to be about. And so what a lot of people may assume is that it's it's about evangelistic programs. Okay? And that's not that's not the case. Please don't don't hear that. It's about living with purpose. Just as Peter, he learned that God's grace welcomes outsiders. Boaz, she was already he was already living that truth generations earlier in how he treated Ruth. So let me say it again in a different way. Evangelistic programs are not the answer for reaching the lost. But living according to God's purpose is. In other words, you are called to make disciples every day in Camden, in Climax Springs, in Roach, in Decatorville, in Osage Beach, in Lake Ozark, in Lebanon for those of you from Lebanon. Sorry, man. Gota to Can people get saved down there? >> Yeah, they can. They can't. It's tougher, he said. But here we see Boaz's ministry is by loving his neighbor and the gift of hospitality. Hospitality is missional. When we realize that there's Ruths all over the place, all around us all the time.

It's it's this come in kind of mentality. You guys, how many of y'all have ever heard the testimony of Rosaria Butterfield? Anybody ever heard that? It's a powerful, wonderful testimony. If you have not listened to her testimony, I need you to go home this afternoon, get on YouTube, and listen to her testimony. She was a committed LGBTQ atheist and professor who despised Christianity. Was very public about it and a Presbyterian pastor and his wife invited her to come into their home and just simply have supper. That was it. They talked about religion. They talked about politics. They talked about all sorts of different things. But she was the one kind of leading those conversations. You know what was happening is that through years of ordinary meals and Gospel conversations and her getting into the word, her life started to change and she hated it. She was, "What is happening to me? This is not what I want. This is not who I am. I know who I am." and God did the work of changing her heart and her mind and her life. Now she's a pastor's wife. I mean, praise God. Amen. That all that it was just simply the love and the grace that Boaz reflects here. Unexpected kindness, opening that door to redemption and that grace and the abundant life that is offered in Christ. It doesn't just give us what we need. It gives us abundance, grace upon grace upon grace, life eternal. You see, Jesus, he doesn't just give us roasted grain. He doesn't just give us dry bread. Well, he keeps the best back for himself. Rather, he gives us him himself, the bread of life, the absolute best thing that he can offer. And when Ruth finishes her meal, she leaves. And Boaz, he instructs his young men to minister to her by letting her glean

Among the sheav. And even pull out some and just leave them in a pile for her and allow her to glean from that grace upon grace. And she did. And she worked hard until evening doing the gleaning. And then she threshed and she got an epha of barley. And this teaches us. Oh, sorry. Forgot about that one. This teaches us about grace in the field. You know, an epha of barley is about 30 to 50 pounds of grain. That's a lot of grain to harvest by hand. Yet, I mean, think about how small a grain is. And yet, she gets enough to create 30 to 50 pounds. That's like a That's like a Costco size dog bag, dog food bag, right? I mean, it's just absolutely massive. It's worth roughly about two weeks of wages and she was able to get that in one day. And this shows us Boaz's generosity. But it shows us also Ruth's work ethic. You see, when we experience grace, the right response is not for us to rest on our laurels, but to engage and to work hard for the kingdom of God. Christians have a responsibility to do that. We don't work hard for grace. Just let me make that clear. We don't work hard for grace, but our efforts proceed from the grace that we've received. Matthew Henry, he said it this way. He said, "Providence sometimes drops handfuls on purpose for those that trust him." You see, Ruth's gleaning it's not just by luck. It was God's grace leaving gifts in her path. In other words, our good work is evidence of a changed life. It's evidence of a changed life. Good works do not produce life change. It's only by abiding in Christ, remaining in the Gospel, do Christians grow and increase [snorts] in meaningful life change. It all proceeds from Jesus. Now Ruth, she gathers her grain and she carries it home to Naomi. Now Naomi, she has decided that she's going to go by Mara right now. Y'all remember that?

She's going by Mara, which means what? >> Bitter. She wants to be bitter. But when Naomi sees what Ruth brings home, she's kind of shocked. Ruth even provides the leftovers for her meal. This shows so much love, so much concern. I And it's just so astounding that Ruth wouldn't just scarf down all that food. I just want you to emphasize that. Imagine that you were starving for days and someone gives you a bowl of soup. Okay? It's like eating half that bowl of soup and saving it so that way someone that you care about can have food, too. It's just love. That's all that it is. Now, I want you to think about the massive change that just happened here. Because not only does Naomi and Rof have food for the day, but through Boaz's generosity, they have enough to eat for two whole weeks. What ended in chapter one with emptiness and loneliness and bitterness, God has changed to acceptance and abundance. And this is an obvious sign of God's blessing. And God is not doing anything particularly particularly miraculous here except that he's using a normal working man like myself, like mo so many of you out there to change the lives of needy people. This is such a normal thing. We look at this and we I if you're a secular person, you just think this is just simple kindness, but yet it's kindness that stems out of redemption. There's no one else that God has raised up for this purpose except for Boaz. And this is such a normal thing. And when blessings and grace come into our lives, it should naturally spill over into the lives of others around us. Boaz was clearly blessed by God. And yet he didn't hoard his blessings like the foolish man. He lavishly shared them with others in his community. If God blesses you, you're called to bless others as well. Now

Naomi, she says much more than a couple words here. You might remember in the Hebrew last week, she just simply said two words like pretty much go my daughter, go. Okay, get out of here. She didn't want to say a whole lot because she's full of bitterness. Now you can't can't keep her quiet. She's just talking and she asks these questions because it's very unusual what's going on with Ruth. Where did you clean? Where did you work? Who did you work for? It's shocking. And to have a prepared meal. Remember there there's no such thing as restaurants. There's not an end that she can there's not like a McDonald's there in Bethlehem. And this is clearly a blessing. And Naomi, she says, "Blessed is the man who took notice of you." And then Naomi, she says something that marks a turning point in her heart that she recognizes God's grace. Naomi's bitterness begins to soften in light of the abundance of God's grace. And then what Ruth says is really exciting. She tells her she worked for a man named Boaz. Have you heard of him, Naomi? Yeah, I know him. That guy. May he be blessed by the Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. Whose kindness is she talking about here? Is she talking about the Lord's kindness? Is she talking about Boaz's kindness? It depends on how they translate it. But in the Hebrew, it's very ambiguous because you can't really tell. It's deliberate because it's through Boaz that Naomi experiences God's covenant faithfulness and love. And this is the first time that Naomi has talked where it's not about bitterness. It's not about loss. It's not about any of that. It's about emphasizing God's blessing. She says that God's kindness goes to the

Living and the dead. And that word kindness has said it encompasses a lot. It's a word about love. It's about mercy. It's about loyalty and covenant and faithfulness and grace and God's goodness to the living. Talk about Naomi and Ruth. To the dead. Talking about Naomi's husband, IMC and her deceased sons. But Naomi, he's she says, and this is the best part, this man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers. This is this is kind of like a look behind the curtain there where you get to peek behind. You get to see this foreshadowing of how the story is actually all going to come together that this man, this wonderful man, this worthy man, this man that is a blessing to others is also the Redeemer. Now you might remember last week where we talked about goels. That's what that word Redeemer means in the Hebrew. It means it is goel. This person he could buy back land. He could free relatives from slavery. He could avenge wrongdoing. I didn't really touch on that last week. He could guard family inheritances and names. And what happens here is Boaz is described as a Redeemer, but Boaz, he points to the greater Redeemer. That's what this whole story is about. It's about pointing us to Jesus Christ who redeemed us voluntarily at his own cost, at tremendous cost to himself. Just as the Lord was to Israel. Look at what it says here. Say therefore, Exodus 6:6. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will deliver you from slavery to them. And I will redeem you. Goel, with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. Just as the Lord did that for Israel, Christ the Lord did that for you and for me. Look at what it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no

Sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. We needed a Redeemer. We needed salvation. We were lost and without hope. And God by his own sovereign plan and will. He chose to redeem us who were born again by faith to become part of the family of God. And he did that. Why? Because of his tremendous love. Because of his concern. Because he is a redeeming God. Thank the Lord for his redemption. You know when we make a habit of recognizing God's grace, it never hardens us. It always softens It does the opposite of makes us bitter. It makes us sweet. In fact, it multiplies the fragrance of Christ in our lives when we live with a heart that is focused on seeing God's grace. Naomi's heart began to change as she began to count the blessings. Not only was Ruth gainfully employed, not only did she come with a ready-made meal, not only did she come back with an EA of barley that would keep them fed for several weeks, but she also met a Redeemer that apparently is very favorable towards her. Grace upon grace upon grace. There's a hymn that sometimes I annoy my children with if they ever start to complain. And it's called Count Your Blessings. Yeah, you guys you guys know what I'm talking about. And in 1897, the world it was embroiled in massive changes. You had the industrial revolution and labor laws that were still being formed. You had men and women and children that were working in terrible conditions in factories. You had wealthy men that were ruling as tyrants on a wide scale and people that could barely make a make a living. They could barely make ends meet in the whole family. You know that they would have children as young as three years old working in factories. And so this churchman, he wasn't a pastor, his name was Johnson Oman Jr.

He wrote 5,000 hymns. And he wrote that hymn, Count Your Blessings. And the lyrics, they say this, "When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done." And that song was an instant hit. With the church all over the world. The hymn grew so quickly that even on the front lines of Africa during the Boer war, men were singing that song between various assaults, between artillery shells, they would sing counter many blessings, name them one by one in order to keep their spirits up. See, when we focus on the blessings that God has given to us, it helps us to keep a good perspective on the Lord. Naomi, she sees the meal that Ruth has brought. She sees the couple weeks worth of barley. She hears that Ruth has favor in the eyes of her Redeemer. Naomi may be bitter, but she also sees God's hand. And Ruth, she discloses, besides all of this, he said to me, Boaz said to me, you shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all the harvest. So, there's this ongoing invitation that Boaz has extended. And Naomi picks up on this immediately. She's like, "This is a good thing to stay in Boaz's field because Boaz is offered protection. He's offered community. He's offered a source of consistent food during the harvest." And so, that's what Ruth decides to do. Notice Naomi, she leaves the fields of Israel and it cost her dearly. She left the providence and the protection and the covenant people of God to go into Moab. And she lost her husband. She lost her two sons. And it caused bitterness. And so she instructs Ruth, stay in the field. Stay where you're supposed to be. And this hints to her repentance. Even though she doesn't explicitly do it, you can sense that there's a change in her heart. And so

She kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. That protection, that provision extended for several weeks. Now, the barley harvest, it starts at the Passover. The end of the wheat harvest is about 40 days later at Pentecost. And so Ruth is experiencing the first fruits of God's grace as she is faithfully gleaning in Boaz's field. Week after week, Ruth, she is remaining there with Boaz, slowly revealing her character to him. She's being very faithful in the small things. She's being steady in service. She's being sheltered in grace. And it's a beautiful picture of what we might call grace and perseverance. God. He simply proves his faithfulness to us over and over again as we look for his hand. And spoiler alert, God is continually working not just to give her bread and not just to give her community and protection, but is in the process of redeeming Ruth by bringing Boaz around to be her kinsman Redeemer, to be that shelter that she can hide in. Lamentations that tells us this, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and they never cease toward you. His mercies never come to an end and they never come to an end toward you. They are new every morning. Great is God's faithfulness. Amen. So, what do we learn from all this? Well, we learn about God's grace and his covenant faithfulness. We see grace at the table, grace at the field, grace being recognized, and grace and perseverance. We see all these things and each moment reminds us that God through his providence is graciously providing for his people. He takes care of us. He takes care of so many in the world because he's a good God and he graciously provides and he is moving forward his plan through ordinary

Faithfulness and unexpected kindness. Naomi and Ruth, they are taken care of. More than just their basic needs, but abundant life is being given to them with an amazing hope that comes to fruition. How much how much better is the redemption that our Lord Jesus Christ offers to us? I mean, we were we were destitute. We were divided and we were dead. But in Christ, he has brought to us liberty. He's brought to us love and given us eternal life by offering up his son so that anyone that turns to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in him alone can be saved. And so we can look at the story and we can see that sometimes God, he allows trials and he in these hardships to call us out of places that we shouldn't have been. Like Naomi, she shouldn't have been in Moab. But through her choices, she was there. And yet through all the bitter things that God was bringing her through, he was still working for her redemption as well as Ruth's. We also learned that God's grace never leads us to be presumptuous, but guides us to grow in faithfulness. And this is a sign of God's work within you when we joyfully recognize his grace and we grow in it in peace and in confidence in Christ. Christian, stay in the Redeemer's field. Count his mercies. Recognize how he ha is providing for you and how he has delivered you. And let his grace turn your ordinary faithfulness into someone's unexpected blessing. Head, heart, hand, head. God wants you to know that he weaves his redemption through everyday faithfulness and gracefilled kindness. Ruth two, it shows us that God, he is not absent in the mundane. So as you do dishes, as you visit neighbors, as you go and you do the things that God has called you to do, just know that God is working through you. You see Boaz's compassion, Ruth's diligence, Naomi realizing they're all threads in his redemptive

Design. And knowing this guards us from fatalism because God's sovereignty never cancels out human responsibility. Instead, God, he works through our everyday obedience heart. God, he wants you to believe that since his providence is personal and purposeful, we can trust his heart even when we can't see his hand. If God could use gleaning and grain to restore to widows, then his grace is certainly at work in your circumstances. Amen. Even when it's hidden. Boaz's kindness, it points us to his covenant love that has said the blessings of Christ who redeemed us at the cost of his own blood. So believing that God is both sovereign and good, it frees your heart from bitterness and from fear and hand. God, he wants you to live faithfully where he has placed you and extend his grace to others. And because we trust in a gracious Redeemer, we can mirror his kindness. So be attentive to the roots that God places in your path, whether you're at Walmart or at GBS or wherever you're at. Serve them. Share with them. Stay faithful in the field that God has entrusted to you because your ordinary obedience may become the very means through which God might bring them into redemption. So be faithful where he has placed you. Now, as is our custom on the first Sundays of the month, we respond through partaking of the Lord's supper. And the way that we partake in that is we practice open communion. So, if you are not a church member, you can participate with us. If you are not a believer, we ask that you do not participate with us, that you would not drink judgment upon yourself. If you're walking in habitual sin or disobedience, this is a good time for you to confess those things. And if there's something that you need to make right, we

Encourage you to maybe say, you know, I'm not going to partake this time, but by the time that it comes around next month, I'm gonna make sure that I'm in a place spiritually where I can joyfully participate in the Lord's supper. So, I'm going to ask the men to come forward and then we're going to pray and read some Scripture and then we will respond by singing the doxology at the end. Now remember that the Lord's supper is a symbol of our union with Christ. He invites you to partake in the Lord's supper as a as a joyful memorial that he has indeed shed his blood for you. That he offered his very body for your redemption. And so why don't we just take a moment and go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this time whereby we get to remember your death and your burial and Lord your resurrection. Father, thank you for redeeming us by the cost of your own blood and your body. Thank you for truly dying for us. Thank you for taking my place on that cross. Thank you that you have called us into fellowship with you. We ask that you would just please continue to work in our hearts and in our minds. We love you so much in Jesus name. Amen. Brothers, if y'all would go ahead and distribute the bread. This bread is a is a symbol of Christ's body. He offered it up to us. Go ahead. Y'all can go ahead and distribute that out. He offered it up to us to be crushed. So as you crunch on the bread, remember the sacrifice that Christ made for you. He took on the full punishment for you because of his great love. So in verse in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 23 it says for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me take the bread and eat

Lord thank you for the covenant that you've given to us, a new covenant of your blood whereby we can enter into it by faith. And I pray that this is a testimony to those outside of the faith that they can participate if they would just trust in Jesus Christ alone. Thank you for your shed blood, which we remember now, which actually saves us. It remits our sins. And Lord, you take that, you make us new. Lord, thank you so much for cleansing us by your blood. Jesus name. Amen. We're going to now distribute the juice. This is a symbol of Christ's blood that was shed on the cross for you. His blood flowed freely down that wood. The sphere. Y'all can go ahead. That sphere was pierced into his side and blood and water flowed out symbolizing both how we are actually saved by his blood and the cleansing that comes through the water. So we thank the Lord for that. The Scripture says, "In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. I am so thankful for that new covenant." Amen. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Take the cup and drink with me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Let's pray and then we'll all sing together. Father, we do love you so much. We thank you for this Gospel truth that we have that we can partake in you, Lord. We feast on the bread of life, God. Not in a literal way, Lord, but in a symbolic way, remembering, Lord, your words that you will return to us again, God, just as you faithfully provided your son, just as he died on the cross for us and he truly did so. Lord, we look forward to your return. Father, we thank you for the peace that we have in Christ.

Thank you that was at the cost of Jesus. Lord, thank you for being our Redeemer. We love you so much. We just delight in you and we thank you Lord for all that you've done. In Jesus precious name we pray. Amen. Let's all stand and let's sing the doxology together. [singing] whom all blessings flow. [singing] Praise him all creatures [singing] here below. Praise him above [music and singing] ye heavenly host. Praise [singing] Father, Son, and Holy [singing and music] Ghost. [singing and music] >> That was beautiful.