Ruth chapter 1. If you're staying in here, Ruth chapter 1. You notice Walter had some upbeat hymns this morning, did you notice that? Because the Lions won Thursday and Michigan beat Ohio State on Saturdays. You can kind of predict stuff like that. Ruth chapter 1. The Lions did not win Thursday, Chicago beat themselves. But the good thing is they got their coach fired, so it's a good day everywhere, amen? Ruth chapter one, Ruth chapter one. Ruth chapter one, making you look for it this morning, Ruth chapter one. All right, are we all there? I'll give you a hint, it's in the Old Testament. Ruth chapter one. All right, let's pray. Father, we come to you again this morning and it is so good again to be in church and sing these wonderful songs to thee and here's a beautiful special. Lord, we thank you for that. Lord, just pray this morning that you could minister to us. I mentioned earlier that we're in a messed up world down here. We just pray, Father, that you would give us what we need to guide us, to help us, to draw us closer to you, to make us better disciples, to make us better Christians. Speak to our hearts, I pray. And all you have up here is this clay vessel. Pray you'd fill it with your spirit and your power and your passion and your words and your wisdom. Put a watch by its mouth, a guard by its lips. Give it grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Spirit of God, thank you for standing behind this pulpit with me. Thank you for sitting with our people this morning. Always said, Lord, this is your service. Devil's not invited. This is your service. This is family time. And you can speak to your children. And we desire that. We crave that. And so, Lord, please minister to us this morning in Christ's name. Amen. Ruth chapter 1, we're going to read 18 verses that's a lot of verses so hang in there Ruth chapter 1 starting at verse 1 says 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 Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab he and his wife and his two sons name of the man was a limeleck name of his wife was Naomi and the name of his two sons were Malon and Killian epithets of Bethlehem Judah And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab, and the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelled there about ten years, and Mahlon and Kilion died also, both of them. And the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. And 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 his people in giving them bread. 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 unto the land of Judah. And Naomi said unto her two sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, I'm sorry, go return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you as he had dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant you that ye might find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said unto her, surely we will return with thee unto thy people. 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 a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight, and should also bear sons, would ye tarry for them till they are grown? Would ye stay for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.' And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back, and her people. Unto her gods, return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither thou goest, I will go. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left speaking unto her. Notice back in verse 14, it says, and they lift up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her. Interesting story here with a family. Naomi and Limelech, their two sons, don't know that much about them. We do know that they were well known in Bethlehem. So how do you know that? Well, if you look down at verse 19, when Naomi actually returns with Ruth, it says, so they too went until they came to Bethlehem, and it came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them, and they said, is this Naomi? So all the city is in a little bit of an uproar because Naomi has come back, and they recognize her as not this Naomi. And listen, I've gone back to Toledo a number of times and maybe a handful of people, you know, will say, well, there's Pastor Walker's here. But the whole city of Toledo is not moved when I return. And I'm thankful for that. I said this morning, I'll say it again, what John Denver said about the city of Toledo was absolutely true. They do roll up the sidewalks at nine o'clock and everything else. So. Naomi, Elimelech and their two sons headed into Moab and they're going to be there about 10 years. In fact, the statement we just read in verse 19 was after 10 years. They still remembered Naomi. They still recognized her. And so they were well known in the city. And in the statement, In the beginning of the text, it says there was a famine in the land in the days of judges. So a statement like that is what historians go crazy about because it helps pinpoint things. And archaeologists, when you're told a famine of the land, when? In the days of the judges. And it is very interesting that the Tel Aviv University, I think it's Dr. Israel Finkelstein, along with, I think it was another German university, archaeologists, had begun doing some research in there. And they said this, they said, many people know the period of Judges as a violent, sinful time of upheaval for the fledgling nation of Israel. A time of constant rebellion, wars, foreign oppression, and slavery. The backdrop of famine throughout a large part of this period is perhaps overlooked, but it should not be surprising. And here's why they say that. They studied pollen grains. Pollen grains are remarkably durable, extremely distinct. Each one has a unique fingerprint. and preserved well over a millennia in lake or desert environments. So the research team was drilling out sediment cores. So they drill out these sediment cores, and they meticulously then begin to go through that. And they're finding pollen grains. Now, not the job I'd want, I'll tell you that right now. But it takes all kinds. So these are the kind of listed, love looking for this kind of stuff. And they find these pollen grains. And again, pollen grains can be identified. They're all unique. They're all different. And here's the statement they made. They discovered that within a period from 1250 to 1100 BC, which is pretty much the days of judges, there was a sudden dramatic decrease of Mediterranean trees that require large amounts of water, the pine trees, the oak trees, the carob trees. And their place was a rise in the farming of dry climate trees, such as olives. And so they look at this thing and say, well, all of a sudden, they're not seeing the oak tree pollen, they're not seeing the pine tree pollen or the other stuff, but they're seeing an increase in the olive trees, which is kind of like the mesquite trees we have around here. You don't have to water them. They find a way to, and they grow. These things out here grow like crazy. I mean, trim them every two weeks or three weeks or what have you. They just grow like crazy. They're a desert tree. An olive tree is a desert tree. And so they've come to the conclusion that during this period of judges, there truly was a famine in the land. And if you understand Jewish history, you understand this, that God had told them, in fact, Deuteronomy 28, if you want to understand why Israel is going through what it's gone through over the years, Deuteronomy 28 is the chapter that tells you that. The first 14 verses in Deuteronomy 28, God says, blessed are ye if you do this, blessed are ye if you do that. I'll give you this blessing, I'll give you that blessing. All the blessings for being obedient and faithful to the Lord. The next rest of the chapter starts with but. And it's but if you're not. And he lists curse after curse after curse after curse after curse. And one of them is in verse 24. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust. From heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed. When the rain is powder and dust, you're in trouble. They call that a famine. And God got upset with Israel various times, and during the time of Judges was crazy. You know, every man doing that which was right in his own eyes is not how God intended people to live. And so you've got famine there, and you've got that kind of trouble. In fact, Deuteronomy 28 and verse 40 gives us a very interesting insight. It says in verse 40, thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts. So he just said in verse 24 there's gonna be famine, but he also said there'll be olive trees throughout all your coasts. That's a desert tree, that's what the archeologists have found. But thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil, for thine olive tree shall cast its fruit. In other words, you're gonna have olive trees, but they're not gonna be healthy. because they do need some kind of water. And in a famine, they're gonna grow fruit and they're just gonna drop it, it's not gonna be any good. So that's what's going on, primarily in the period of Judges. That's what's going on in Bethlehem, Judah. And that's where Elimelech and Naomi are looking at the situation and then they're trying to figure out what they should do. And so the next part of the verse says, they want to sojourn in the country of Moab. they left the land of promise and they went to Moab so instead of trusting God for provision so wait a minute preacher there was a famine yeah but you know what there's a God in heaven that can kind of overcome famines back there's a God in heaven that says during the Millennial Kingdom if a nation chooses not to come up to Jerusalem once a year in worship he's gonna cut the rain off God can cut the rain off he can turn the rain back on not a problem for him But instead of trusting for God's provision, they made what they thought was a logical decision. We don't have food here. He says, I've got a family to raise. They have food in Moab. Logically, would it not make sense to go to where the food is? Understand this, there's one kind of logic that includes God, and there's one kind of logic that doesn't. And we get in trouble when we function on the logic that does not include God. And that's what they did. And they probably, we covered this Sunday night, last Sunday night or maybe before that, the rudiments of the world Paul warns about in Colossians chapter two verse eight. And one of the rudimentary thoughts of the world, I think it's number five or number six, is you gotta make a living. That's a rudimentary thought among the world, you gotta make a living. And that becomes a very important, more important than anything else, you gotta make a living. And that may have been the thing that drove them from Bethlehem, where there's a famine in the land, to Moab, because I gotta make a living, I've got a family to take care of. And that's the problem. We'll talk more about that in a little bit. You say, preacher, what should they have done? Well, what did the other people do? I mean, they left Bethlehem, there were people there, then they came back 10 years later, there were people there, same people, many of the same people, who didn't leave because of the famine, and somehow managed to survive, maybe simply trusting God to get what they needed. And now they're there, they're still there, and they're being blessed. But what about Naomi and Elimelech? Well, they paid a cost for not trusting the Lord. They're going to spend about 10 years in Moab. They think they've made the right decision, but Elimelech dies. So Naomi becomes a widow. Then one of her sons dies. I mean, both boys had gotten married, and they married a Moabite woman. And the question of unequal yoking never came up, I'm sure, because, you know, the boy's got to have a wife and want to raise a family. And if all they got around here are Moabite girls, I guess we're going to have to marry them. Boy, we can justify things so easily, can't we? They weren't supposed to, and I think she knew that, but what are you gonna do? Your main source of provision has died, her husband. She's got two boys who are gonna need to get married, okay, get married, they'll have a family, this'll work out great, until one of them dies. And it hadn't long after they buried him that the other one dies. So you've got three widow women now, The death of a husband, the death of two sons. And Naomi finally gets to the point in verse 13 where she realizes that God is dealing with her. You know, it's a shame it takes some people so long to get the message. She spent 10 years, lost a husband, lost two sons before she realized, you know what, maybe we made a mistake. And in verse 13, she says, for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is going out against me. God is judging me. 10 years to realize the mistake and to go back. Well, at least she went back. Look at verse 6. For she had heard, God allowed her to hear some gossip. that said in the country of Moab she heard this how the Lord had visited his people and giving them bread she got word that they got food again in Bethlehem Judah and you know what she said I think she kind of went through the same thing the prodigal son said he came to himself I think she came to herself realized they'd made a mistake and you know what she did she went back thank God she went back thank God she went back there are people in churches across this valley this morning I'm sure that made the same 10-year mistake, that made the same wrong decision, that moved somewhere because the job is better over there, I'm gonna make more money over there, the grass is greener over there. And 10 years later realized, boy, did we make a big mistake. And had the courage and the humility to come back. What a blessing. You're never, listen, what I'm trying to say this morning is this, you're never in a position where you can't come back. Please don't do something stupid and follow your own human logic and go somewhere because you think it's better there. Please don't do that, but if you do, if you do, please come to yourself, realize you made a mistake, and you're more than welcome back here, more than welcome. I think of Liz Rogers, one of the songs she sings is, let your past be past, put away the painful misery. And sometimes that's what you have to do. We all make mistakes. But get past your past, put away the painful memories and all that stuff, God will take you back. God is a God of second chances, third chances, fourth chances, 10 chances, he'll take you back. And so grateful we are that the Lord got word to Naomi that there's food back up in Bethlehem, and she went back. Now, that's Naomi's story. But I wanna preach a little this morning about Orpah and Ruth, because they are an interesting couple. Romans, excuse me, Ruth, chapter one, verse 14. And Naomi's let him know, I'm heading back. And they lifted up their voice and wept again. In fact, they started to walk with her for a while, and I think they got to the border of the country. And Naomi stopped and said, why are you coming with me? I can't give you another husband. That's over, it's too late for that. Why don't you go back home, go back to your own people? And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law. Notice Orpah kissed her mother-in-law. And that word kiss is a very interesting word, what it represents in scripture. And there are numerous aspects, I got seven or eight different aspects of what Kiss represents. In 2 Samuel 14, you can turn there if you like, 2 Samuel chapter 14 verse 33, the context is that, and this is after David's sin, this is one of the judgments of the Lord and chastisements on David for his sin with Bathsheba. But he had a son named Amnon, Amnon fell in love with his sister named Tamar and he wanted her very badly and she didn't agree with that and he ended up raping her. And Absalom got word of that, her brother, got word of that and made up his mind right then and there, at the right time, at the right place, I'm going to kill him. And he did. He killed Amnon. And that caused a big stir in the family. Absalom went to the city of Geshur, I believe it is, and he stayed away. He didn't know if he was going to be convicted of murder or anything like that. He didn't know what was going to go on. David loved Absalom more, I think, than any of his sons. And David longed to see Absalom. Absalom's kind of hiding out in Geshur. He wants to be reconciled to his dad. It just hasn't happened yet. Joab gets involved in the thing, and that's where we are in verse 33. Joab will work out a plan that gets him back. And so Joab came to the king and told him, and when he had called Absalom, he came before the king. So Absalom is brought into the presence of the king, bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king, not knowing if there's gonna be a punishment meted out or anything like that. And the king kissed Absalom. There's a reconciliation there. And one of the aspects of the word kissing is reconciliation, two opposing parties being reconciled. And then there's the filial aspect of it. Go to Genesis chapter 49. Filial, the relationship of a child to a parent. In Genesis chapter 49, the last verse in Genesis chapter 49 deals with the death of one of the greatest patriarchs. In verse 33, it says when Jacob made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, yielded up the ghosts, was gathered unto his people. So Jacob dies. Now look at the first verse of the next chapter. And Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him and kissed him. That was the great love he had for his father. And he showed that by kissing him. And then there's homage, which means special honor, respect. 1 Samuel chapter 10 and verse 1. And Samuel at this point is going to anoint Saul to be the first king of Israel. It says, then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head, Saul's head, and kissed him. and said, is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance? So he anoints him, kisses him, a kiss of respect and a kiss of honor, this is the first king. And there's a kiss of affection. Go to Luke chapter seven. Luke chapter seven. And look at verse 38, situation with Jesus. Jesus had gone into someone's house to eat and there was a woman. said and stood at his feet behind him weeping began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment there the kiss is a sign of affection great affection there's also the kiss of between male relatives Genesis 45 Genesis 45, Joseph has revealed himself to his brothers that have come down and they had no idea Joseph was in Egypt and a couple little tests Joseph gave them but they finally came back and he could not contain himself because he still loved his brothers. Could you imagine that? His brothers had sold him into slavery. He still loves his brothers. And in verse 15 it says, moreover he, which is Joseph, kissed all his brethren and wept upon them, and after that his brethren talked with him. Reunion, if you will, with his brothers. And the kiss is also a kiss of brotherly love. Go to Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16. And look, if you will, at verse 16. And I could show you four other verses that say basically the same thing. Salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you. So Paul says, salute everyone with a holy kiss. Let me clarify something. We're Biblicists, right? We believe the Bible, we wanna follow the Bible word for word and all that. Let me help you with something. If you come into my office some Sunday morning and decide to give me a holy kiss, It'll be the dumbest thing you've ever done. I mean my shoulders are not what they used to be and my strength is not what it used to be. I will put one on you and you'll never ever do that again. But it is a sign of brotherly love. So that's Orpah. I mean Orpah kissed her mother-in-law. had affection for and love for and all that. But it says in verse 14, I believe it was, that Ruth clave unto her. Ruth clave unto her. And what's interesting in verse 16 of Ruth chapter 1, She will define for us what claving or cleaving means. And this is one of those wonderful things about a King James Bible that has a dictionary already in it. You just compare some things and you'll see. I mean, she's defining what it means to cleave. It says in verse 16, Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave or to return from following thee, for whither thou goest, I will go. What a statement. Whither thou goest, I will go. We were singing that song, one of those songs we just sang, that said, take Jesus with you wherever you go. That's backwards. That's backwards. We don't take Jesus with us wherever we go. We're supposed to be with him wherever he goes. That's the idea. Interesting, Matthew chapter 8 and verse 19, a scribe came up to Jesus one time, and the scribe basically said, Master, verse 19 of Matthew 8, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And that's the idea. That's the idea. We follow him whithersoever he goest. And then she said this, Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Where you're living, where you're dwelling, that's where I wanna live. Jesus said to his disciples one time in John 15 and verse four, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. Abide in me and I in you. Live with me and I'll live with you. Dwell with me, I'll dwell with you. And then she said, thy people shall be my people, thy God my God. She wanted that relationship with the God of Naomi. And she had watched Naomi. And she could have easily seen Naomi get very bitter toward God, but she didn't. She understood she made a mistake. And she learned by watching Naomi the greatness of the God of Israel, in spite of the loss of a husband and two sons, she saw in Naomi something that would say, that's the God I want. She came out of a pagan lifestyle. She came out of an idolatrous society. But when she was introduced to the God of the Bible, she said, that's the one I want to worship. Verse 17, she said, where thou diest will I die, there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also have ought but death part thee and me. And it is interesting that in verse 18 of Ruth chapter 1, When she or Naomi saw that she was steadfastly binded to go with her, and she left off speaking to her, Ruth was steadfastly, you're not gonna turn me back, I'm not turning my back on you, I'm not leaving, I'm with you. And Naomi realized, I can't talk you out of it, so come on baby, let's go. And what we have here are three types, and I said types, okay, three types of Christians in the world today. We have the Naomi type, we have the Orpah type, and we have the Ruth type, okay? The Naomi type, which is simply a type of a backsliding Christian. Now, giving her the benefit of the doubt, if she was following her husband because that's what she was supposed to do, she should be commended. May not have been her idea to go to Moab. She might have fussed with him a little bit and said, we can't go to Moab. That's an idolatrous place. God said we're supposed to stay in the land. And he might have said, honey, I'm your husband. We're going to Moab. And if that's the reason she went, she's to be commended. If she was thinking like her husband, if he brought it up and said, you know, honey, they've got a lot of food, a lot of food in Moab. Maybe we should go there. And she might have looked at them and said, you know, that's a good idea. then she's just as guilty as he is when things are getting difficult taking the most logical way out in spite of the fact they knew where God wanted them is so wrong how many Christians have stepped out of the will of God how many Christians have left the place where God has led them to come and I think about our church here I want people in our church here that are here because they want to be here. I want people in the church here that are here because God led them here, okay? And until God changes his mind, this is home. This is home. And if God leads you to move from here because it's too hot, because there's a better job out there somewhere, the grass is greener somewhere if God's leading you to do that follow him but make sure it's not your own logic because I can give you a story after story after story of Christians that were serving in a church serving God and a better job came up somewhere else and off they went And I've always told you, if you're gonna leave the church for a better job, the first thing you're gonna need to find out is not how much they're gonna pay you an hour. The first thing you need to find out is there a good Bible-believing church in the area. I know of men that have refused a job because they couldn't find a good Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church in that area. Said, thanks, but no thanks. My relationship with Jesus Christ, my family's relationship with Christ, position in a church or my need for a church is more important than making five or six bucks more an hour imagine that imagine that that's godly logic by the way human logic says there's more money let's go and I just wonder how many Christians have stepped out of the will of God for the greener pastures the dream oh the dream is out there And Naomi paid a price for stepping out of the will of God. Remember the phrase, you gotta make a living, one of those rudiments of the world. Gotta take care of my family. Well, how did that work out? Elimelech, how did that work out? You died when you got to Moab. So much for taking care of your family. You left a wife and two kids. But they married, and how did that work out? Two more deaths. What a wonderful decision they made. That must have been the will of God, right? God leading them out of the promised land to go into a place that wasn't the land of milk and honey. To have three people die in 10 years. Then there's Orpah. Orpah represents 75% of today's Christians. Verse 14, Orpah kissed her mother-in-law. We looked at some verses on kissing. There's reconciliation that's involved there. And you know, reconciliation means they're saved. It's a wonderful thing to be reconciled. Romans chapter five and verse 10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. We've been saved, man. What a wonderful thing it is to be saved. Lost in sin, dead in trespasses and sin, cannot save myself, on my way to a devil's hell, and somebody introduced Jesus Christ to me, and they told me he died on the cross for my sins. Past, present, future, he paid the price for my sins. He took my place on the cross. He shed his blood to wash away my sins. And he was buried, and the third day he rose again from the dead, just to let you know he accomplished what he came to do. And all I have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust Him. Stop trusting in everything else I'm trusting in. And trust what He did at Calvary. And He saves me, and He gives me eternal life. Hallelujah. Saved. Reconciled. Reconciled to God. That's a good thing. I mean, I hope you feel that way. That is a good thing. And there's that filial aspect, that I have a relationship with the Heavenly Father. I have a relationship. I'm a child of the God of the universe. You know, sometimes we say, I'm a child of God, and God's like some ethereal thing. No, I am a child of the one that created everything that you see, everything you smell, everything you touch, everything you hear. God created all this stuff. I'm his kid. I'm his kid. I can run in his back door and leave the door open and let my muddy, muddy shoes run all over his kitchen and maybe get in trouble for that, but I'm his kid. I'm his kid. What a blessing. What a blessing. But as many as received him, now them give ye power to become the sons of God. Wow. And there's heartfelt affection for the things of God. Colossians chapter three, verses one through three, we've read this a number of times, it's a great set of verses. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth, for your life is hid with Christ in God. My affections are on things up there. They certainly are not on the Chicago Bears. Like Walters on Detroit. I can watch that stuff. You know what, if the Bears lose, I'm not gonna cry. If my team loses, I'm not gonna cry. It's just a game. I love watching the losing side sitting on the sidelines and occasionally you see some of these millionaires sitting on the sidelines with tears running down their face. You know, we blew the game. I just laugh at that. I'd love to get a million dollars to lose. My affections are on things above, where Christ is at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. I hope your affections are on the things above. I think that's why you're here this morning, because your affections are on the things which are above. This is great stuff. Orpah represents Christians that are saved, that have a wonderful relationship with the Father, children of God, whose affections are on the things above. who have that brotherly love experienced by all true believers through Jesus Christ. Yeah, I mean, somebody mentioned the other night, if salvation had not happened, we wouldn't know each other. I think it was Johnny that said on Tuesday night, his best friends were sitting in this room. Isn't that amazing? And if it were not for Jesus Christ, we wouldn't have known any of you. What a wonderful thing, this thing called the brotherhood of God. Man, we get to be part of this thing called the family of God. And our best friends are sitting right here. And we get to see our best friends three times a week if you take advantage of all three services, all four services. And these characteristics of Orpah, these are wonderful, would make wonderful Christians that would bless any church. Great characteristics. But then there's Ruth. Because Ruth didn't just kiss her mother-in-law. It says, Ruth, clave unto her. Ruth represents that special type of believer who goes one step farther. Verse 16, we looked at it. She said, whither thou goest, I will go. I mentioned earlier, the scribe that had come to Jesus and said, Master, I'll go wherever you want me to go. Jesus responded to him in verse 20 said the foxes have holes the birds of the air of nest but the Son of Man have nowhere to lay his head a lot of times I'm sleeping under the stars are you willing to do that you're ready to do that never know how that conversation ended never know what that scribe did no it'd be nice to think he said he said the Lord Lord I'm I'm Ford I'm coming with you And I'll say the same about myself. Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests. I don't have anywhere else to lay my head. Just like you, Jesus, I'm coming with you. I have a hunch he didn't say that. Just conjecture, but I have a hunch he didn't say that. I have a hunch he stood there, never expecting to hear that. And Jesus said that, and looked at him, and probably walked away, and he probably just stood there. Yeah, I want to follow him, but I'm not going to go that far. I'm not going to go that far. How many Christians have said, Lord, I'm willing to go this far, but not that far. I've heard people testify. missionaries testify who got their hearts right about some things, that had offered themselves to the Lord, come to an altar and said, Lord, I'll go where you want me to go, and the Lord puts a place, and basically said, except there, I don't wanna go there, but then submit to the will of God, and decide to go there, and find out it's exactly where God wanted them to be, and they are exactly in the will of God, and they love it. I remember we had a guy at our church years ago, And he may still be there. I don't know. His name is Mike Ford. Mike Ford was in the military. I think he was an army ranger. And he'd learned survival skills that he thought for sure God was going to call him to a place like Papua New Guinea or some jungle area someplace in the Amazon because he knew how to survive in the jungle. That's where I want to go. And at the time, Bill Bailey was ministering in Athens, Greece. A metropolis. If you've ever been to Athens, it is a bustling metropolis. And he had to take some time off the field. And word got back to Brother Ford, would you fill in for me in Athens, Greece? I said, Athens, Greece? I don't want to go to Athens, Greece. I'll go to the jungle. I'll deal with rattlesnakes and boa constrictors. I don't want to go to Athens, Greece. But he went to Athens, Greece. And he fell in love with it. And he was a missionary there for years. I don't know if he still is, how that's working out. But he loved it. He absolutely loved it. God has this way of taking you to places where you think you don't want to go, you think you don't want to do that, and you find out when you do it, man, this is the greatest thing. This is a great life. And it could be vice versa. You could be in a metropolis thinking, I want to go to a city, and God puts you in a jungle, and this is great. This is great. But how many men or women has God called, and when he's let them know, this is where I want you to go, Well, I'll go here, and I'll go there. I am not going there. And they end up the rest of their lives being good Christians, loving God, serving in church, but they never took that one step that God wanted them to take. How many Christian women have told their husbands, I am not going to be a pastor's wife, I'm not going to be a missionary's wife. I've heard the stories I've heard the testimonies and sometimes the Lord gets a hold of their hearts and they change and sometimes they don't and that man never gets to do what God wanted to do and very few very few have had the attitude as expressed so simply as the statement where he leads I'll follow what he feeds I'll swallow Where he leads, I'll follow. What he feeds, I'll swallow. In other words, wherever God wants me to go and I don't care what kind of food they have over there. I always used to tease my son-in-law in Thessaloniki. I said, you picked the place that has the best gyros or whatever you want to call them in the world. You've got the food here, man. I was telling Brother Don Oldham this morning, he brought me in a, this is just between you and us, he brought me in this thing of baklava. Did you make it or did Kathy make it? You said you did. Anyway, I gotta test, I gotta try it. I said, but you know in Thessaloniki, Greece, you drive down the street, and there's this bakery, and then there's this bakery, and there's this bakery, and they all got their baklava out there. How could you not wanna go to Thessaloniki, Greece? In verse 17 of Ruth chapter 1, she said, where thou diest will I die, if aught but death part thee and me. Boy, that's something, isn't it? You know, Jesus had 12 disciples, if I remember correctly, except for Judas was a betrayer, he was a devil. So he had 11, but it seems like there are three. had a special place with the Lord over the rest. You say, Jesus doesn't show favorites. What Bible are you reading? He did show favoritism toward three. What about the rest of them? When's the last time you read of Judas, not Iscariot? Remember there was John, James, James the Less, Judas Iscariot, Judas not Iscariot. There was Peter and Philip, there was Bartholomew, Andrew, Simon, Thomas and Matthew. When's the last time you read about Judas not Iscariot? Or what did James the Less do? How about Bartholomew? Tell me what he did. Or Matthew? All we know about Matthew is he was an IRS agent that got right with God and gave that up. That's my message to the IRS. Get right with God, walk away from that building. But that's about all we hear of Matthew. Basically, we read about the disciples, they're a team. They're known as the 12. But there were three that seemed to show up more. Peter, James, and John. It was Peter, James, and John that went to the Mount of Transfiguration, and they got to see Jesus Christ glorify himself. And they got to see the glorified Moses and the glorified Elijah. They got to see that, and they got to hear the voice of God. And Jesus said, don't tell anybody what you just saw. This is just between us. Until after, until after. As Peter, James, and John, he chose to go with him when he went in the Garden of Gethsemane. So yeah, they fell asleep, but why did he choose those three? He chose those three. And I know Peter's the one that had the big mouth and James and John had a mother that wanted them to sit next to him on the throne in the kingdom and all that, but there's something special about Peter, James, and John. They are known as the inner circle. And the assumption is, I can only make the assumption that they must have loved the Lord a little more than the other ones. They must have had a desire for Jesus a little more than the others. When they sat down to eat, whether it be Gethsemane or wherever they were, there was Peter, James, and John right there. And Matthew wasn't saying, get out of the way, I wanna sit up here too. Or Bartholomew wasn't saying, I wanna sit, Peter, James, and John. And Peter had the heart desire. Remember what Ruth said, where thou diest, I'll die and I'll be buried there? Peter had that heart desire. Luke 22, 33, He said unto him, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. Peter had the heart desire to do that. Didn't make it. Didn't make it. Didn't make it past his trial. But you know what? One of them did. John is the one that went all the way with him. John went into the trial. Well, nobody knew John. Everybody knew John because John's daddy was Zebedee and Zebedee was one of the leading fishmongers of the area. They knew who John was. And John said, I don't care. And John followed him throughout the trial. And who was there when Jesus was crucified? There was John. And Jesus said to John, Behold thy mother. Take care, mom. And mother, behold thy son. John was with him all the way. Knowing he could be arrested at any time, say hey, he was with him, let's get him too. Didn't stop him. What did John do? Took that step a little farther than Peter or James did. Oh, Peter tried to take the step, but when he was recognized, he was out of there. But John said, you know what? I'm going all the way with him. I started with him. I've been with him three and a half years. I'm not going to betray him now. I'm going to go all the way with him. And he did. Verse 17, it's interesting. Ruth's statement, if ought but death part thee and me. You know, the traditional marriage ceremony says, till death do us part. And that word cleaving is very interesting because cleaving was used for the very first marriage ever recorded in history. When God made for Adam this wonderful young lady named Eve. And the statement, therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife. Cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. And that's the idea of cleaving. And you can make a comparison, you can ask yourself a question. You know, Jesus said to his disciples one time, he said, you're my friends. In fact, in John, I could read it to you. John 15, starting at verse 13, greater love hath no man than this, and a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, talking to his disciples. If you do whatsoever I command you, henceforth I call you not servants, for a servant knoweth not what the Lord doeth, but I have called you friends. friends what a wonderful thing to be known as a friend of the Lord what a wonderful thing to know that Jesus Christ is my friend I'm his friend he's my friend what a wonderful thing to have a friendship with Jesus Christ but let's compare that to something else because Paul takes it a step further in Ephesians chapter 5 He says, husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Paul said, let me tell you what marriage is. Marriage is a husband loving his wife, a wife loving her husband, just as Christ loved the church. So now Paul is saying, this relationship we have with Jesus Christ, it's good to be his friend, but we're married to him. We're married to him. 31 this cause shall a man leave his father and mother shall be joined he uses word joined to define cleaved the two shall be one flesh you never said that about friendship friends are not one flesh but marriages and our relationship with Jesus Christ he and me I and him supposed to be one flesh so we have to ask ourselves if we're satisfied with being the Lord's friend or taking the relationship up a level to the marriage aspect, to being married to Christ. Satisfied with friendship? Or you want to take it a level higher? Preacher, there's nothing wrong with being friendship, and I'm not saying there is. It's great to be the friend of the Lord. What I'm saying is there's a level higher you can go, where you're married to Him, where you experience that oneness with Him. I've got friends all over here. I might come close to maybe dying for one of you if something would happen. But that woman right there, that's the one I'm first to die for. You see the difference? The Lord has friends all over this valley, all over the country, all over the world. But how many are willing to die for Him? So, three types of Christians. The Naomi type, which when in distress or trouble follows human logic to fix the problem and pays the price. We talked a couple Sunday nights ago about another fellow in the New Testament by the name of Demas. Demas had served with Paul, he was a servant of the Lord, and yet 2 Timothy 4 says, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. Naomi was one of those types that for a period in her life fell in love with the world because she thought the world could give her what God can't. Isn't that why a lot of people step out on the Lord? I'm gonna go back in the world because I can get from the world that God won't give me. See how well that works. And the world will give you stuff that God will never give you. He'll give you AIDS, he'll give you addiction, he'll give you all that stuff. And there's the Orpah type, saved, relationship with the Father as a child of God, heartfelt affection for the things of God, part of the brotherhood of believers, wonderful Christians that would bless any church. And then there's the Ruth type that chose to cleave, who said, whither thou goest I'll go, where thou diest I will die, I've ought but death part thee and me. Ruth took that relationship to the next level. Let me ask you this, was Ruth blessed? Well, if you don't know, I suggest you read the rest of the book. There are three more chapters that would help clarify that. Ruth was blessed incredibly. What about Orpah? No idea, no idea. And my question to you, and I'm closing with this, Are you willing to take your relationship with Jesus Christ to the next level? Are you willing to take your relationship with Jesus Christ to the next level? Are you willing to say, Lord, I'll go anywhere you want me to go, without saying except there? Are you willing to make that commitment to the Lord? I'll go anywhere, anywhere, anywhere you want me to go. No strings attached. That's the question this morning. That's something to think about. We'll be starting a new year in a month. Well, everybody will have their New Year's resolutions. Why don't we start early? Let's start with that question, are you willing to take your relationship with the Lord to the next level? Or are you just satisfied being the Lord's friend? Appreciate all of you, I appreciate all of you. I'm asking you personally, are you willing to take your relationship with the Lord to the next level? Father, we thank you for your word this morning. Lord, we thank you for the story. It's a shame Ruth took 10 years before she figured out how to get something right. I'm sorry, Naomi. Thank you for a young lady by the name of Ruth who was willing to be a type of the church and follow where she should go. Lord, I pray this morning you'd speak to our hearts. Lord, you've got a lot of people here that are your friends. What a wonderful thing to be the friends of the Lord. Lord, a lot of times we kind of forget this concept that we also are married to you. And we're not fulfilling our marriage responsibility. Lord, we could take it a level higher. We could take another step. Pray you'd speak to hearts this morning. And that's about the last close, the altar's open this morning. God has spoken to your heart.