Episode Transcript
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In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land
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and a man of Bethlehem and Judah
went to sojourn in the country of MOAB,
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he and his wife and his two
sons. The name of the man
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was a Lamelek, the name of
his wife Naomi, and the names of
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his two sons were Maelon and Killean. They were ephortites from Bethlehem and Judah.
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They went into the country of Moab
and remained there, but Alimelech,
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the husband, and Naomi died and
she was left with her two sons.
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These took moabite wives. The name
of the one was or paw and the
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name of the other was ruth.
They lived there about ten years and both
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Maelon and Killean died, so that
the woman was left without her two sons
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and her husband. Then she arose
with her daughters in law to returned from
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the country of Moab, for she
had heard in the fields of Moab that
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the Lord had visited his people and
given them food. So she set out
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from the place where she was with
her two daughters in law, and they
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went on the way to return to
the land of Judah. But Naomi said
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to her two daughters in law,
go, return each of you to her
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mother's house. May the lord deal
kindly of you, as you have dealt
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with the dead and with me.
The Lord Grant that you may find rest,
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each of you in the house of
her husband. Then she kissed them
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and they lifted up their voices and
wept and they said to her, no,
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we will return with you to your
people. But namely said, turn
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back my daughter's. Why will you
go with me? How I yet sons
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of my womb, that, mad, that they may become your husband's.
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Turn back my daughter's. Go your
way, for I am too old to
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have a husband. If I should
say that I have hope, even if
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I should have a husband this night
and should bear sons, would you therefore
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wait till they were grown? Would
you therefore refrain from Mary and know my
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daughters for a succeedingly bitter for me, for your sake, that the hand
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of the Lord has gone out against
me? Then they lift it up their
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voices and wept again, and or
Paul Kissed her mother in Law, but
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Ruth Clung to her and she said, see, your sister in law has
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gone back to her people. And
to her God's return after your sister in
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law. But Ruth said, do
not urge me to leave you, which
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return from following you, for where
you go, I will go, and
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where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people,
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and your God my God. Where
you die, I will die and there
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I'll be buried. May The Lord
do so to me, and more also,
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if anything but death parts me from
you. And when they only saw
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that she was determined to go with
her, she said no more. So
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the two of them went on until
they came to Bafflehem. And when they
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came to Bafflehem, the whole town
was stirred because of them, and the
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women said, is this Naomi?
She said to them, do not call
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me Naomi, call me Mara,
for the Almighty hastelt very bitterly with me.
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I went away full and the Lord
has brought me back empty. Why
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Call Me Naomi when the Lord has
testified against me and the Almighty has brought
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calamity upon me? So nami returned
and ruth them all bide. Her daughter
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in law with her, returned from
the country of Moab and they came to
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Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. May God bless the reading of his
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word he may be seated. What
is our highest good in this life?
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Is it God and God alone,
or is it someone or something else?
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That's one of the great questions of
life, but it's also a question that's
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at the heart of the book of
Ruth. The book of Ruth Presses us
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about what we treasure in this life, what we value in this life,
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what motivates us in this life.
It presses us about what is our highest
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good in this life. Is it
God in God alone? And do we
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love the Lord? If that's the
case, if he is our highest good,
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do we love him, even if
that means are suffering and our loss?
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Do we love him above all else? Now, that's a very easy
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for us, where we confess readily
and gloriously that our chief end is to
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glorify God and to enjoy him forever. But what happens? What happens,
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say, for instance, what if
you struggle to provide food for your family?
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What if you could provide food for
your family, but the tradeoff would
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be that the Lord God was no
longer your highest good, that you no
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longer be worshiping? Yeah, what
if you were alone and shaken to the
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core. What if you wanted to
do the right thing, which you found
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life so hard and you found yourself
so beaten down that you often were despairing?
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And what if you were called to
leave everything you had ever known,
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your family, your home, everything
you had ever know? What we if
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you were called to leave that all
behind? Well, the book of Ruth
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gives us those three scenarios with the
historical incorporate figures of a Limeilec, Naomi
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and root. They are each confronted
with the question is God my highest good?
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Is God in God alone my highest
good in this life, or is
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it someone or something else? What
we'll see in this opening chapter is that
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a Limelec chooses something else and the
result is death. But the Lord shows
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his kindness, his covenant mercy to
Naomi and to root. He works in
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their hearts that they might believe,
that they might know that he alone is
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their highest good, and the result
is life. But this account here in
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the word of God first story is
also our story and it challenges us.
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Is God and God alone our highest
good, or is it someone else?
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But we'll see, the book of
Ruth points us to know that Jesus Christ
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is our highest good, in that
in having him we have every good thing
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in this life and then the one
to come. Well, first there is
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a LIMILEC, and to understand that
Limilec we need to understand the historical setting
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of the book of Rout now,
the book of route takes place in the
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period when the judges ruled. Now
that was approximately from about twelve fifty BC
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to about Zen fifty BC. It
was after the exodus from Egypt and before
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the establishment of the monarchy in Israel. And what marks this period? We're
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told over and over the refrain,
is everyone did what was right in their
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own eyes. That's what was going
on in Israel. Everyone was doing what
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was right in their own eyes.
And so what Israel would do this,
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when they would do was right in
their own eyes, the Lord would chastise
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them for their sin, and one
of the ways that he would chastise them
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is that he would bring famine to
the promised land, and that's unthinkable certain
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respects. The Promised Land was that
land overflowing with milk and honey. But
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in the people sin during the period
of judges, when they were doing that
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was right in their own eyes,
the Lord would chastise them with famine.
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And that's what's occurring at this point
as the book opens. There's famine in
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the land. There's famine in Bethlehem, which literally means House of bread.
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The House of bread has no bread. And so, in Israelite limelect decides
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to do what is right in his
own eyes. He takes his family across
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the Jordan. He takes it,
his family to Moab to live. Now
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we move around all the time,
I mean it's it's for us. Relocation
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is is a fact of modern life. But this, this was no innocent
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thing. In the old covenant,
this was no innocent thing. Here,
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during the period of the judges,
the worship of the Living God, according
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to his law, was bound to
the land at that time. This is
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where the Ark of the Covenant was, this is where you were to worship
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the Lord, this is where the
blessing was found, and to take your
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family away from that worship was a
very sinful thing. But even worse,
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to take your family to the despicable
land of MOAB is it's hard to comprehend.
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For us, Moab worshiped idols,
detestable. We're tolding where the God,
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we're told in kings. Second King, they worshiped the testable idols.
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They worshiped the God keimosh. Do
you know how you would appease Kimosh?
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You would sacrifice your children to get
him to act. That's the pagan nature
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of the religion in Moab. Second
Kings, three twenty seven. The King
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of Moab, wanting to get his
the gods of Moab to act, sacrifices
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his eldest son. Moab was no
place for any Israelite to be instant there.
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In fact, we see in the
book of Deuteron, and we've seen
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the book the deterronomy, if you
married a Moabite a wife, and then
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the context, I believe it's a
pagan worship Moabite wife. If you marry
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a mobite wife, you were prohibited
from entering the Assembly of the Lord for
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ten generations, for four hundred years, you could not enter the assembly of
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the Lord to worship the Lord.
That's how the testable that MOAB was.
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But here's what makes it so doubly
sad. Moab was related to Israel.
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Moab was the son of lot,
but you remember what happened in the exodus,
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and the Exodus Moab would not help
Israel's matter of fact, moabs King
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Bailick. He hires Balem to curse
Israel, but the lord boils that plan
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and rather the Lord has balem blessed
Israel. We all know that. But
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you recall what happens next in the
narrative there in numbers, the Israelites Start
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Intermixing with the MOABITES, they start
committing a dollar adult tree and the Lord
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brings immediate judgment of a plague in
which twenty four thousand Israelites are killed.
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So we have to understand this in
this opening verses of this book. What
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is going on here? This is
no innocent thing. When a little elect
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leaves the land and he goes to
moat and he is making a clear choice.
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What is my highest good in this
life? And it's not the Lord
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God alone. What is my highest
good in the in this life? It's
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not worshiping the Lord God according to
his work. What is my highest good
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in this life? It's putting food
on the table, even if that means
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I have to turn my back upon
the Lord. And that's what he does.
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He takes his family there and he
dies and then we're told, we're
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told the text, that his widow
Naomi and his two sons. His two
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sons ends up marrying two moabite women, or Pout, and then we're told
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that his two sons die. And
so that brings us then to Nayomi into
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this question. What is Naomi's highest
good in this life? Is it God
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and is it God alone? Now
she goes with her husband. But here
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note in the text, she remains
in this despicable land ten years after her
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husband dies. But then her son's
die and she's there. But the Lord
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is kind to her. She hears
a report, she hears good news.
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The Lord is kind to her,
he extends his Covenant Mercy to her.
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She hears this report and then she
decides to return to Bethlehem. Now that
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theme of returning marks the first chapter. I don't know if you picked it
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up while I we read the text, but note in our in our passage,
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the return theme. So first six, then she arose with her daughters
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in law to return from the land
of MOAB. For seven, they want
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on their way to return to the
land of Judah. Verse Eight. But
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Naomi said to her daughter's in law, go return to your mother's house first
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ten, and they said to her
know we will return with you to your
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people. First Eleven, Naomi said
turn back or return. First Twelve,
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the only said turn back, return. First Fifteen, Naomi said to ruth,
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return after your sister in law.
First Sixteen, but Ruth said the
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Naomi, do not urge me to
leave you or to return from following you.
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First Twenty one, Naomi spoke of
her return, saying the Lord has
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brought me back. And then first
twenty two. So Naomi returned and rout
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the mobile with her. In the
Hebrew it's all the same word. It's
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comes from the Hebrew Word Root Shoe. Do you know what that word and
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the Old Testament is used for?
It's the primary word for repentance. It's
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the primary word using use for turning
away from sin and turning to the Lord
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or her husband had turned away from
the Lord. She had gone with him.
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She had been there for ten years. But then the report comes to
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her, the good news comes to
her, and her heart is changed and
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now she's repenting, she's turning,
she's turning back to the Lord, God
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and the old in the old covenant. At this point, a turning towards
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the land is a turning towards God
she's turning from these pagan gods of Moab
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and she's turning back to Lord.
Her heart has been changed. Now,
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please understand, doesn't mean she's not
hurt. Doesn't mean she's not devastated by
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the loss of her husband and her
two sons. She went away with them,
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she went away full, she had
them. She came back without them.
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She's empty in that sense. This
path has been hard, it's been
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bitter, but her ultimate testimony,
and we can see this at the end
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of chapter two, her ultimate testimony, is that the Lord God has been
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kind to her, merciful to her. That's her old them in testimony.
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And you can see in the chapter
itself this repentance, in this change of
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heart, in that something's happening with
her, this change. You can see
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it in first ate, in first
a. She says to her daughters in
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law, may the lord deal kindly
of you, as you have dealt with
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the dead and with me. Friends, you want cheese. What's going on
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there? Sometimes we miss it.
She's praying for them. What we're reading
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there is a declaration of prayer.
She is praying for her daughters in law.
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That's what's going on there. She's
praying that the lord may deal kindly
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with with them. She's praying that
her daughter's law might know this covenant God
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who is faithful to his promises.
That's what she's praying for there. Well,
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that brings us now to ruth.
And Ruth is the widow of Malon.
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We know from the second chapter that
her parents are still living. So
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Ruth could have stayed in the land
of Moab, she could have gone back
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to her parents. She's probably still
in her s. She could have found
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a husband and she could have had
her wife in Moab. And but she
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determines to go with Naomi, as
does or pot. Now they're on their
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way and but at a certain point, perhaps knowing how hard this is going
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to be, their widows from Moab, of going to Israel, Naomi says
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to them go return to your mother's
house. And then she had and then
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there's that declaration there. Well,
it's hard for us to grasp at times,
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but India, in the old covenant, here in the Land of Israel,
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the inheritance was tied to the mail. These three are returning. There's
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no males, there's no husbands and
no signs and no seed. This is
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going to be a very hard life. Potentially can be a very hard wife.
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And Naomi is not only praying that
they would know the Lord's kindness,
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of the Lord would bless them,
these daughters in law, but she's also
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praying that they would know the costliness
of the matter, the suffering involved.
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You See, if you go back
to MOAB, it is probably it's not
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going to be this hard. You're
still young, you still have your life
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in front of you, you can
still find a husband, you can still
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have a family, you can still
be I'm not worried about putting food on
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your table every night. You'll find
this husband and he'll be able to provide
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for you in that way. But
what is left unsaid here? But the
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text makes the the the whole context
and what's going on in this book makes
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it clear to us. What is
left unset is the heart of the matter,
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and the heart of the matter is
you can have all these things,
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but you will not have the living
God of Israel. So what will they
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do? Will they choose the comfort
of Moab and having all these things that
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will provide for them earthly security,
or will they be willing to suffer loss
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for the god of Israel, because
he and he alone is now their highest
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good. That's the question. Or
Paul decides to go back, and what
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are we told? We're told that
she can only returned to the land,
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but she returned to her gods.
That's no innocent statement in that text.
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That tells you everything you need to
know what's going on here. She is
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returning to the Gods of MOAB.
The costliness of the matters too much for
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her. She wants something else as
her highest good. But Not Ruth Rufe's
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heart has been changed. She is
not going anywhere. She's willing to suffer
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the loss. She clings to Naomi
and she says to her she's clinging to
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her. Your God will be my
God. She's using the language of the
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Covenant and then clinging to Naomi,
this Israelite who's returning. She is clinging
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to God himself. That's what's going
on here. She's been changed. The
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God of Israel is now her God, and even at that means that she
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will have an existence when she's without
husband and which she's without family, even
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if it means that she will be
a stranger in the land and a moabite
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widow in this land. She is
willing to suffer that cost because her heart
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has been changed. God, and
God alone is her highest good. Well,
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I said at the beginning of the
sermon that they were historical figures.
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This story is true, this took
place, it's all true, but they're
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also corporate figures. So when we
read this account, we have to understand
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that these individuals are representing something larger
than themselves. You have a LIMOLEC he
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is Israel an apostacy. He does
not want to serve the Lord, he
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is not faithful to the law of
God, he will not give up his
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life for the Lord. He desires
something else and he is willing to remove
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his family from the prescribed worship of
the Lord, because that is what's more
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important to Israel. Will follow after
the bails, and it's a posse because
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it believes the baals pro bide more
earthly good for him, for them,
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than the Lord God. Naomi,
Naomi is Israel in repentance, short of
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the coming day of the Lord.
She returns, she repents, but she
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struggles to understand. And then there
is ruth. Ruth speaks of that new
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day, that coming day, when
the heart is completely set upon the Lord
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as one's good. She is willing
to lead behind father and mother, sister
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and brother. She is willing to
leave behind all the old things because nothing
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compares to the goodness found in the
Lord. She is representative of the Gospel
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going to the gentiles. She is
the first fruit of the Gospel going to
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the gentiles. And what are we
told about that day in the new testment?
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What Does the Apostle Paul tells us? Tell us in the book of
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Latian, it's about that new day. It will be a day in which
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there is neither male or female wins
inheritance is not tied to the male.
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In this new day, it will
be a day in which there is neither
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June nor gentile. It's not these
prohibitions upon the MOBITES. It is a
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day, we are told, in
which all are one in Jesus Christ.
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And that's what the Gospel, or
that's what the book of Ruth the Good
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News, the Gospel of the book
of Ruth's pointing to the coming day of
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Jesus Christ. Ruth Hope. Our
hope is found in Jesus Christ, the
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Promised Messiah, David Seed, and
yet David's Lord and like Ruth, in
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the words of Paul from Ephesians Chapter
Two. We were gentile, separated from
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Christ, alienated from the Commonwealth of
Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.
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We were without hope, without God
in this world. But now in
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Jesus Christ, through his blood,
we who are once far off, have
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been brought near through Jesus Christ,
to the gift of his spirit. We
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have access to the father, so
that we're no longer we're told in the
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book of Ephesians, of Phesians too, that were no longer strangngers and aliens,
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but fellow citizens with the saints,
in members of the household of God.
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And how is this the case?
It's because God has been kind to
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us, and we have heard the
report, and we have heard the report
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about what Jesus Christ has done for
us. We are sinners. Jesus Christ
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has done everything we have not.
Every day we struggle with what is our
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highest good. Every day we struggle, even though we've been set free from
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the tyranny of sin. Every day
we struggle with is God, and God
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alone, our highest good, not
Jesus Christ. He's tempted in the Wilderness,
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forty days without food. What does
he say? The Satan man does
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not live by bread alone, but
by every word the proceeds from the mouth
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of God. Jesus Christ makes it
his meat and drink to do the will
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of the Father in heaven. And
yet he takes our sin, we who
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have failed, we have transgressed the
law. He takes our sin and nails
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it to the tree that we might
be cleansed. He has risen from the
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dead and he's ascended upon high,
where he intercedes for us, and we
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are to know that's we're joined to
him by faith and united to him in
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the heavenly places. We have been
blessed with every good thing. We lack
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nothing, and that's the wonderful thing. Here now we don't have time to
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go on the book of roof and
of our we're with you the next week.
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I could show you from chapter two. For the one who comes to
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an end of themselves, who knows
that God and God alone is their highest
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good, there's blessing. The harvest
comes. It's actually so incredible. The
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word of God has so incredible.
I mean, do you know what's taking
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place here? When you move from
the barley harvest, from the start to
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the finish in Israel's calendar, you're
moving from the feast of Passover to the
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Feast of pentecosts. Some of the
Times these things are lost upon us.
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Do you want happens at that?
The feast of Pentecost in the New Testament
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Acts Chapter two, when the spirit
is poured out and the gentiles are brought
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in. That's all being prophesied here
in the book of Ruth, and there's
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blessing. There's blessing for the one
who turns from the emptiness of falling after
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other gods to following after the true
and living God. The story is our
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story. The Lord has showed kindness
to us and worship secure in him.
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So means that we're not going to
be those who escape from the realities of
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this life, of the pressures of
this life or discouragements of this life.
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But we're not undone, for the
Lord is with us. He is our
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our redeemer, a Kinsman Redeemer,
and we find shelter under his wings.
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So my encouragement to you from the
book of Ruth is to be those who
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truly seek to make the Lord God
and his son Jesus, your chief good
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and to live out of that reality
in a way that does bring your God
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glory, but also that you might
be built up in the faith. And
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you know what, that's going to
have a tremendous impact in this community in
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which you live. That's the opposite
way of the world. It's a way
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of life that's only by the spirit, but it's a way of life in
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which you're dying to sin and you're
dying to this world and you're dying to
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self and you're living to God.
It's a life that shows that the cross
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is alive in you, in friends. That actually is the most powerful thing
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in this life. You know it
to be true, for was it not
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the Cross of Jesus Christ, knowing
he died for your sins? Isn't it
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what brought you to your knees and
faith and repentance, knowing that this is
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where life is found, and knowing
where life is found, knowing that this
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is where the meaning of life is, and knowing this is where the good
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of life is, but then doing
so, you know, doing so,
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you're actually given everything. In dying
to the old age and the old ways,
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you're actually given everything. Well,
that's my prayer for you, that
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you might embrace that, in live
that and testify to that that in Jesus
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Christ, you have every good thing. Let's pray
