 Hey, Radiant Church, how you guys doing today? You guys feeling good today? Hey, real quick, I want to recognize Pastor John Zondervin, the best campus pastor there is. Don't tell Pastor Stefan over at Portage, but John is an amazing man of God, an amazing father, husband, pastor, preacher. He's also my boss, so I kind of, but just a phenomenal friend, and just we're so thankful for Pastor John. My name is Andrew, I'm the student pastor here at the Richland campus, and a couple of exciting things. Actually, first off, I got to hold my little Simba up today, Ms. Rose Pearl. This is our fourth child. She's what I call an angel baby, and the reason she's an angel baby, she sleeps through the night. Come on, I'm sorry, some of your parents are like, you want to kill me right now, they're in here. For us, we just had our fourth, so we've joined the category of the crazies. Like not five kid crazy, but four kid crazy, and after my son, I prayed that little girl in to sleep through the night, cause I couldn't have another number three. But hey, one exciting thing is we have Pastor Lee back in the platform next week, kicking off a new series called Tuned In About Hearing the Voice of God. See, early on in my faith, I heard a series very similar to this, and I'm telling you, it radically changed my life. And what separates Christianity from any other religion is our God is alive, and our God speaks to his sons and to his daughters. So it has the power to radically transform people's lives, and I just want to encourage you to invite some people out. It's gonna be a great way to close the summer. And also for me, it is truly an honor to be on the platform today. Pastor Lee has been preaching here for over 20 years, spirit and truth preaching, some of the best preaching I believe in our nation. But it's also a very humbling experience for me. As a young man, I did not know the Lord, and I pursued desires of the flesh, and as an athlete, went to play collegiate athletes. Education was not even on the list of importance to me. English was by far my worst subject, but it's amazing how God many times will call you into a place of weakness. But he can use the weak things, the foolish things this world for his glory. See, the grace of God means to me is this. For me to be all he's called me to be, and do all he's called me to do. And my prayer is that every one of us know that grace. Let's pray before we get going today. Father, we come to you today. Lord Jesus, we love you. Lord, we're thankful for all these young sons and daughters that came in here today. Lord, that they will be mounted as a pillar for you. Lord, I give you this time, Lord Jesus, I humble myself and say, speak through me. Father, I give you, I ask that you give every single listener the ability to hear in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Well, hey, we are in a series right now called Heroes, and it's taking Old Testament heroes walking through their journey to see how it really applies in our life today. So today we're concluding that series with Ruth. Any Ruth fans in here? Yeah, come on. So I've taught on Ruth many times. I've been a student pastor for a number of years in this process of dating. So if you do have your Bibles open to Ruth, chapter one, today I'm gonna be taking a little bit of a different approach with the book of Ruth, but ultimately Ruth, it's a love story. It's a love story that we see trial, we see tragedy, but we see this thing as they lean into the process, we see this thing called redemption that goes into romance. Ultimately it's a Hallmark movie. So today we're gonna be watching a Hallmark movie. So if you have your Bibles open to Ruth, chapter one, and here we go, it says, in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to Sojourn in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons. So right away the author gives context. Many believe it was Samuel, so he was alive in the time of David. So when he wrote this and he said when the judges ruled, the listener had a context right there because that was a very dark time in Israel's history. They were marked by immorality, they were marked by just rebellion that was going through the land, but here's what I love, and I believe the same mandate is on us. Ruth stands as an oasis in a contrast where they were rebellious, she was righteous, where they were immoral, she was integrous. God is calling his church to walk different than the world around us. So not only was it a dark time, but there also was a famine in the land. We're gonna meet a family here in a second, but this famine strikes and they're in Bethlehem, which actually means house of bread. So at the leave, the house of bread, because there's no more bread in the house, and they go to a place called Moab, which was about 30 miles south. There was a river there, so it was kind of famine proof where they go. So in verse two, it says, the name of the man was Elimelech, and name his wife Naomi, and name of his two sons Rameleon and Chileon. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there, but Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, he died. So tragedy hits. She was left with her two sons. They took Moabite wives. The name of the one of them was Orpah, not Oprah. The name of the other was Ruth. They lived there for about 10 years, and it hits again. Then both Milan and Chileon died. So the woman was left without her two sons and her husband in verse six. It says, then she arose. She tragedy hits this family. Not only is it a dark time and famine in the land, it becomes so personal when her husband dies and her two sons die. See, I've been doing ministry long enough to realize this, that there is more going on in people's lives than meets the surface. We can make ourselves look really nice and pretty, but when you dig into people's story, you begin to find tragedy. You begin to find heartache. You begin to find just pain that people walked through, and some of you are here today that have outlived your kids. I couldn't imagine that. Some of you are here today and you've had a health issue come into the home and it's just rattled everything. Even this last week, I had a cousin that ended up taking his life, that battled addiction, had a DUI, was gonna go to jail and he chose a different route to go out. Like tragedy comes against the home. And listening to this, this is out of compassion of my heart. Actually, I did a funeral right here in this room over a year ago of a man that lost his daughter in a motorcycle accident, just a tragic, a young, young life. And there's a time to mourn. There's a time to grieve. Like there's a time to lay it all out before the Lord. But out of compassion, I tell you today, there's a time to arise. And I saw this man this last week with a smile on his face, not that he hasn't forgotten, but he was arising, saying now it's time to arise. And I just wanna tell you, it's time to arise for some of you. So Naomi, she finds out that the famine is over. So she's going back to Judah. She's headed back in that direction. But she has Ruth and Orpah. She says, hey, stay here. Go to your mom's house. I'm old, you're young. We're different ethnicities. Like stay over there. Go find yourself a husband. And she kisses him on the forehead. And they just begin to weep. And Ruth and Orpah said, no, Naomi, we're going with you. Like we don't wanna leave you. She says, no, I have nothing to offer you. Even if I found a husband today and I got married and I had two sons, would you wait? I hope not, it'd be really awkward. Like, would you wait for him? And in verse 13, it said, where would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it's exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Listen, Naomi believes that God is a problem. She believes that the hand of God is against her. Lean to the person next to you and say, God is not against you. Do you believe that? Do you believe that we have a good, good Father that every perfect gift comes from the Father above? Listen, life is hard. You have a lot of things that are against you. You have an adversary that is against you. And I would say if you're going on the path and there's a little bit of rumbling intention, the enemy doesn't want you going in the right direction. I would say you're probably headed in the right direction but there's a lot against you but our God is for you. So if God isn't against you, lean to your neighbor and say, people are not against you. People are not your problem. Say, people are not your problem. Thank you for participating. Some of you are like, you have no idea the people that I work with. You have no idea the people that I gotta deal with. So people aren't your problem. Lean to the person next to you and say, your family's not your problem. Some of you are gonna be like, God, you're gonna have to show me that one. That's a hard one to swallow right there. The government is not your problem. So if God isn't family, people, government, who is? You is. Listen, we have to stop blaming everyone else and everything else and everybody else for our own situations and where we're at. Listen, if you hear this, if you grab a hold of this, this can truly set you free because 10% of life is what happens to you. 90% is what we do about it in the direction and the decisions that we make. And I know some of you might be here and like, Andrew, you're young, you're naive. I got generational curses. Like you don't know my family. Like this has been going on for generation to generation. The same God that can break generational curses, the same God that can bring generational blessings. You see, my family, my bloodline is not the greatest bloodline. My son is actually the last son, the last William's name to go on. I thought I was gonna have all girls so it would have stopped with me but my son was the last one, the William's name in our bloodline. And here's the reason why. The William's gene has one thing called passion but another thing that we don't have is called self control. So we pursue things passionately in many times as the ways of the world. My grandfather, I met him once on his death bed. He was in his 50s dying from alcoholism. Our men usually don't live past 50 or they're in jail. And I talked to my father about this and getting his permission to kind of share some of this because my father has had many failures. He's had many successes. He's had tragedies come against him and as we are talking, we just literally just begin to cry because a lot of people would look at my dad and say, you messed up, you messed up, you messed up. But my father was a chain breaker. You see, even in his failure, as I've heard this, sometimes chain breakers can be tormented through the process. But even in his failure, he always got back up and he always kept going. My father was a chain breaker and I'm a blessing bringer to the William's name. I'm telling my son, we'll have a different story. There's no excuses that I'm gonna carry in my life. For many of us, it is, we just want that. We just need that new job. Like we need that new car, that new house. We need that new life, that new wife, that new state. Even my wife and I were talking like, summer's almost over. Like, Lord, come on. I'm not ready for that yet. We want summer to last a little bit longer. Remember, I just need the sunshine state to sit out on the beach, that's what I need. Here's the problem with that. The new job and the new state. You still gotta go with you. The problems are gonna follow you. Cause you're the problem. Listen, what I mean in that. The same mindsets, the same critical thinking, the same failure that you can't overshake or overcome. You know, I mentioned this is kind of like a Hallmark movie. But our lives are kind of like that. And here's what it looks like, the Hallmark movie. You have this honeymoon season. Everything looks awesome. Then the tragedy, then the trial, then the failure. But in the Hallmark movie, when you think it's hopeless, they lean in a little bit harder. They press in a little bit further. Then at one point, there's breakthrough. The word says that those who wait upon the Lord, he will renew their strength. And let me say it like this. Those who wait upon the Lord, there will be a suddenly. If you wait, there will be a suddenly in a breakthrough in the movie, then you see romance. Then you see love, you see all these things. But here's what we tend to do. We start off in that honeymoon season with that new job. And usually about two and a half years in, the rumble begins. The tension in the trial, then you start pointing fingers and looking to the left and to the right. Instead of leaning in to the issue that's going on in the rumble, what do we do? It's like we start a new movie. We start a new job. Two and a half years in, the rumbling begins. What do we do? We get a new boat, a new house, a new family. We get all these new things in this process, and this pattern continues over and over and over again instead of looking on the inside, because here's what happens when you lean in and you press in to the tension and you have that breakthrough. It doesn't matter the job. It doesn't matter, because here's the reality. If your job is stealing your joy, there's something deeper going on because joy is something that God gives and man should never be able to take away what God has released into your heart. There's something deeper that we need to lean into today. And Naomi said, God is against me. And Orpah was like, all right, I'm out. She's gone. She leaves. She goes back home and Naomi tells Ruth, look, Orpah's leaving. Go with her. And after the third time, a boldness rises up in Ruth. I call it a holy boldness and we see in verse 16. She said, but Ruth said, do not urge me to leave or return from following you. For where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people, my people. Your God, my God. Where I die, you die. I will not leave you. And the scripture says, Naomi was like, dang girl, all right. Are you gonna ask this again? She did not ask her again. A boldness rose up on the inside of Ruth. And I believe a holy boldness needs to rise up in this room. A holy boldness that says, no more will allow this wishy-washy me. No more will I allow this fickle me. We need to divorce the fickle me on the inside that tolerates those addictions. That tolerates an apathetic spiritual spirit in the home. A no more mentality that says, I'm not gonna believe the lies anymore. No more that I'm gonna let the past in my failure dictate my future. No more because me and my house, we will serve the Lord. A holy boldness to rise up. Come on, I'm driven by this right now. I'm a father. I have four kids. And the more I mature, the more I see the importance of my own personal life. I wanna give you a deeper meaning today about what you do in secret. Of what you do when nobody sees. It's important. You see, for me, I was a very, and I mentioned a very immoral young man. And when I got saved, right away just a passion in my heart was for the Lord. That pastime gene was there and I tilted it everything I had towards the Lord. But God called me into ministry down the road, called me to be a pastor. And at that time I saw different pastors fall in sexual and moral sin. And I just went to my pastor and a couple of men at that time and I said, I don't want that to be my story. I don't want that to be me. And it's something purity and a pure mind and pure eyes is something I take very seriously. It's something that I hold very near to my heart. And it's something I've strongly walked out. But the Lord gave me a deeper meaning recently. He said this. He said, Andrew, the purity that you walk in will be the platform that your son steps into. Your life matters. My father hit a low point and took an attempt on his life. And I was in Texas, driving to Missouri to see my father in the hospital. And when I was there, I really just, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say. There's so many issues in his life. And I'm like, Lord, I can't help one of those. I can't change his mind. I tried. I can't do any of these things. But here's the thing. The Lord is near the broken hearted. So I went into that hospital room looking my dad in the eyes and said, Dad, one day things might get hard for me. One day my son and my daughters, they might go through a hard season or my grandkids might go through a hard season. And Dad, if you choose this road, could this be a door that could open for me when things get rough? Could this be a door that opens for my kids or my grandkids? I said, Dad, I can't change your situations. But if I could say anything, I need you to fight. And my father got back up again. Your life matters. Not just for you, for the generation to come. Mama, that insecurity, that depression that has been weighing on you, that anxiety that has been resting on you. I wanna say today, you need to fight. You need to press through. And even if you don't got a fighting bone in you anymore, call the church, call a friend. We will fight with you. We'll press in. Cause it's not just your life that is affecting. It's generations to come. And listen, you overcome that insecurity. You're gonna see a freedom in your kids down the road. You overcome that fear. So many of us stay back and don't pursue the dreams in our heart because there's fear that's resting in us. And I wanna say the fear that you overcome, you'll see a fearless generation that rise on the next level. So let's fight together. No more. A holy boldness rises up. A holy boldness. See chapter one, it's the worst. Like it's awful. Like tragedy, death. But here's what I do love about chapter one. Verse 22, it ends with this. There's a harvest that is coming. And I'm here to tell you today, there's a harvest coming over your home. There's a joy that God wants to release into your house and into your life. Harvest season means there's plenty. Harvest season means there's new wine to drink. There's a joy that is being released into the house. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God wants to bring you a harvest? Cause sometimes when you get through the seasons of life, like something that used to drive me crazy, people would say, Andrew, you're zealous. But they would say, wait till you get a little bit older. I'm telling you, if it was righteous for me to pop them right in the nose, I would have. I hated that. I hated that so much. But you know what? I've gone through some challenges. I've gone through some seasons and I had to say, line up. Do I line up with what's present from me or what you're saying and the promises that you've released into my life? You're faithful, God. And I'm telling you, I'm here today to say, there is a harvest coming your way. Hebrews 11, verse six says this. And without faith, it's impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him, there's two requirements. One, believe that he exists and believe that he rewards those who seek him. To please God, you have to believe that he's a good God. To please God, you have to believe that he is for you, that he wants to release joy into your home. Matthew six, six, what you do in secret, he will what? Reward you openly. Why does he do that? Why does he reward our faithfulness? Why does he reward when no one sees and we're integrists? Why does he reward when no one sees when we're faithful and pure because he's the only one that sees it? And because he sees it, he says, I can bless it and I can pour out. There's a harvest. You see, Ruth stepped into a harvest. She prepared herself for the harvest. You see, root chapter one is all about Ruth being faithful and loving. Ruth chapter two is all about Ruth being faithful and integrists and loving. And root chapter three and chapter four is all about God rewarding her love and rewarding her faithfulness and rewarding her. She went from poverty to wealthy. She went from having no family to meeting a man named Boaz. And Boaz means warrior, man of God. Ladies don't settle for nothing else, man. We're raising a Boaz. There's a Boaz on the front row, let's go. You know, we don't settle for his cousins. That's bad news. You want the Boaz. Many of you know the story of Ruth about her gleaning into the field. Naomi says, go into the field. She was single. And even all the single people in here, Ruth wasn't going into the field, getting her on her IG handle saying, hey, getting some great. Like, she wasn't trying to get it. She was stewarding what was in front of her, trusting God, you care more about me than I can even care about myself. And he brought a Boaz into her life. So her and Boaz, they get married. They have a son named Obed. They have a son that ends up having a son named Jesse, that he has a son named David, that becomes king of Israel, that through his lineage becomes Jesus Christ. She's grafted into a privileged position into the privilege of Jesus Christ. God rewarded her. There's a harvest coming. There's a harvest in her life. But if you talk to any farmer, you talk to any man that knows about harvest season, is joyful, it's happy, but it is work. You have to roll up the sleeves. It's early mornings, long days. You gotta prepare for the whole entire year. So you say harvest in its work. And listen, if we're gonna step into the harvest, we gotta roll up the sleeves. We gotta fight. We gotta say no more excuses. And a boldness rise up. No more fickle me to step into the harvest that God has for us in our life. So we're gonna take a look at this. One of the first things that Ruth did, she said, your path will be my path. Where you go Naomi, I will go. Pick your path. You see Psalms one verse six, but how different it is for the righteous. The Lord embraces their paths as they move forward while the way of the wicked lead only to doom. We have a choice in this. When I was a young man in high school, I was getting ready to go into college. I wanted a motorcycle. So I went to my mom and said, hey mom, I'd love to get a motorcycle for college. She said, no way you'll kill yourself. So I went to my dad, no way you'll kill yourself. So I saw that that angle didn't work. One thing about the Williams jean, we're a little street smart. So I went to my father and I said, hey dad, what if me and you got a bike? And like me and you, like this is our last two wrong, getting ready to be an adult dad. We can go on trips together. Light bulb, God has attention. So that day we went to the Harley Davidson shop. And at the Harley Davidson shop, we saw a sign that said, better to ask forgiveness than permission. There was a choice. We chose the forgiveness route. So that day we walked out with two brand new Harleys. Mom didn't know about it. So for two weeks, we kept the bikes at the dealership and we're like, hey, we're going to the grocery store. Again, let me go ride the Harleys. So after two weeks, we decided we're gonna tell mom about these Harleys. So we're driving home and about a mile away from the house, there was a turn that straight path to the house or there was this windy road up and downhill. It was probably eight mile track, a little crazier. We chose the crazy route. So we went that way a half mile away from the house now. I hit loose gravel, spilled the bike, landed on my chin, busted my chin open, drove to the hospital with my chin flapping all over the place. Had to get like three layers of stitches and called my mom from the hospital saying, we got two brand new Harleys and some stitches. Today's decisions will result in tomorrow's consequences. Choose your path. Early on, I believe it's pretty simple. You know, for me it was don't do drugs, okay? Don't do this. Don't hang out with bad people. Like it was really simple, very clear to see the path of God and the path of the wicked. And there was decisions that you have to make. You have to make those decisions. You have to leave some things in the past. But as you grow and mature in your faith, I feel like it can be a little more challenging. Maybe a little harder to see the clear path that God has for you because it's not just external and big decisions. It becomes internal and mental decisions. Sometimes thought by thought decisions. Are you gonna believe the lies of the enemy that he speaks over you? Are you gonna believe what God says about you? Are you gonna choose fear in your life? Are you gonna choose faith in this season? Are you gonna choose to believe what everyone else is doing is saying is a better way than what God says is a better way? As these thoughts come in, are you gonna choose jealousy and coveting or are you gonna speak life and pray? It can be a challenge as we lean into that. But here's the thing. We have a helper in the Holy Spirit. If you say, God, is this a lie that I'm believing? He'll show you. He'll reveal that to you. Some of you in this place have bit into the lies of the enemy that you don't know even know what truth is anymore. And I'm telling you, some of you need to start over and write out every single thing that you're feeling, every lie that the enemy is speaking over you and say no more and just begin to rely on the word of God. Because again, it's a challenging place when you almost don't trust your own thoughts. So what do you do? You go to the word of God and speak life. And when that thought comes in, no, I'm choosing the path of righteous. No, I'm choosing this path. That was for somebody in this room. The second thing that she did to prepare herself for the harvest is this. She picked her people. You have to pick your people. Our Proverbs 2.20 says, So you walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. Proverbs 4.14, do not enter the path of the wicked. Do not walk in the way of the evil. You see, pick your people. Ruth, I'm sorry, Naomi, when she was stepping into her new season, there were some people that had to stay in her past. Orpa was her past. Ruth was her future. There were some people that need to stay in your past. And how do you know if they need to stay in your past? Because they keep on bringing your past into your present. That's a very similar thing. Early on, I believe it's pretty easy. I need to cut relationships here. That was the first thing I did when I got saved. I cut my bad relationship. I said, I love you. I believe in you. But this is what Jesus did in my life. And I ain't going down that road anymore. I called every one of my college football players, every one of my best friends. Because I read that scripture, turn your way from the wicked or you'll fall down the trap. I ain't going there. I found something better is what I told him. No one came with me, but it was good. But God brought someone into my life. And it was a 70 year old man that he would kick my butt in tennis. It blew me away. But he mentored me. He spoke life into me. He showed me how to read the word of God. See, early on, I think it's easy. Like, show me your friends. I'll show your future. Okay, I don't need these people in my life. But as we get a little bit older and mature in faith, what does this look like? See, Naomi changed her name to Mara. Her name meant pleasant. She changed her name to mean bitter. I'm bitter on the inside. The things that have happened. But her redemption came when she began to pour into Ruth's life. She began to pour into her life. And Ruth, a part of her redemptive story, is she received from Naomi. Some of you in here need to find that person to pour into. Your breakthrough is on the other side of you pouring out. See, we need an Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob generation. The Abraham speaking into the Isaac. The Isaac receiving that. And the Isaac slapping the Jacob on the head and saying, get your stuff together. I was a Jacob. I wish I had someone to slap me on the head and say, get your stuff right. That we need this speaking into and receiving. So for me in my life, I look, do I have people speaking into my life? Or do I just have peers? I need someone that's walked through a journey. I need someone that's had victory over a tragedy or a situation. I don't need someone in the same playing field. And we've had a lady in the church that has taken my kids in, like her very own grandkids. And I cannot tell you, words cannot express what that means to me. That she would pour into my kid, but she's one of the happiest people, why she's pouring into this next generation. We need to pick your people to prepare ourself for the harvest. And the third thing is this, pick your place. She said, where you go, I go. You lodge, I lodge. Your people, my people, your God, my God. She picked a place. I will die here. And the scripture, or it doesn't say, but have you ever heard this term? We're called to be followers of Jesus Christ. The question is, where are we following Him to? We're following Him to the Father. And if we view God as a Father, that means we're family. Sorry, we're family. We need to start treating the church like family. What does that mean? There's a loyalty. There's a commitment. There's a grace that we give out to one another. Early on, my wife and I went to a church in Austin, Texas, and it was a mega church. They had everything, flag football. They hit, my wife was in a dance ministry, credible worse than the pastor was actually funny. I didn't know that that can happen in church. You know, at that time, you know, we just love this church. And we moved to Missouri on business and we literally would go to this church and we're like, ah, it's not like that one. Go to this other church. Ah, it's not like that one. After five in, I was in the parking lot, walking out. It's clear as I know my name, the Lord said, Andrew, when are you gonna stop going to church for you? And when are you gonna start going for me? You say, this church might not have all the things that you want, but I've called you to be at this place. And you have something I want you to bring to the table. And my wife and I got connected and we got planted. When Ruth made a commitment, resources started coming. I was at a, you know, I was at a youth pastors gathering and I was a campus pastor at this time, but I had such a heart for this younger generation and knew God could be stirring me to go back into student ministry. So I went to this event. There was 120 youth pastors, 95% or yeah, I would say probably 95% said that they were in transition. And 99% of them were in that hallmark season of tension. They were just going through a hard time. They weren't needing a new job. So it doesn't escape pastors either, that same journey and that same tension that we walk through. But she said this to these young men. She said, God can't bless some of you guys because you're not loyal. And I began to sit on that and chew on that. And she began to share her story about the challenges that she's went through with her denomination. Even betrayal, like crazy, crazy stuff. And she said, God called us to be a part of this. It wasn't man that called me here. God called me here and this is family and said, God won't bless you because you see yourselves as free agents. Guys, we have to stop seeing ourselves as free agents in church and we need to get planted and we need to become the body of Christ, the family of Christ. And if it's at radiant, we champion you, we support you. But if it's not here, go get planted at a church down the road, wherever it may be. But listen, are they gonna do something dumb? I promise you they will. Have I maybe done something today that offended you? Maybe, I hope not. But it will happen. You will get hurt. You will get offended at some point. But listen, no church is perfect, but it's not about perfection, it's about direction. And I'm telling you, you need to get connected and planted. She made a path. She picked a people and she picked a place and the harvest came. You know, one person that we really haven't looked at in this story is a man by the name of Boaz. See, Boaz ultimately was the redeemer and he really was a pre-incarnate Christ, a picture of the Christ, Jesus Christ. You see, he had a heart for redemption because his life was redeemed at one point. His mom was a prostitute by the name of Rahab. And she was actually the woman in Jericho. When the Israelites came into Jericho across the Jordan River, they sent two spies in and she's the one that hid the spies. And through that, her life was saved and she got grafted into the family of God. So Boaz had a heart for redemption and he redeemed other people. The scripture says out of Revelation 21 verse five, he says, I have come, Jesus says this, I have come to make all things new. He doesn't say I've come to make all new things. You don't need a new thing in your life. You need him to take that old thing and make it new. You need him to take that pain and that failure and redeem it. Here's what I've learned in my journey as a pastor. God will take your biggest hurts, pains and failures and when you give it to him, he will use it for his glory. My wife has been abused by many different men, all of her father figures in her life that built this bridge. How can I trust other men that come in? And I'll tell you, my wife can share her story with not a tear in her eye because she's went through the process. God redeemed and I've seen her set so many people free through a story. Why? Because he, God redeemed it. God wants to redeem your life. Now I'm gonna close with this story. There was a pastor that had a very much of a prophetic tilt. He was an evangelist who traveled across the nations, across America and he was in England doing this event. And he saw a man and as he was teaching, the Lord said, I want you to have him stand up. So, sir, when you stand up, he stood up and he just began to say this over him, you are kind, you are sweet, you are a man of God and he's been to speak all these things like five minutes went on about how sweet and kind this man was. Then he had to sit down and continue the service. Back in the green room, he had like five people rush up in a panic and go, you missed it. You messed up. You missed it. Like we know you hear God, but you didn't on this one. He said, why? What's going on? What do you mean? What's going on? He said, this man, he's a woman beater. This man has beat his kids. He has restraining orders on some of his family that against him, he just got out of jail for domestic violence. He is a foul alcoholic, crooked man. And this pastor sat back for a second and said, maybe I'm speaking into who he really is. Maybe I'm not just speaking to his baggage, but I'm speaking to his luggage. So what we have to realize, some of those people that have hurt you, yourself included in that journey, you've hurt yourself by some of the decisions that you made, we've all been made in the image of God. That we had a creator that fashioned us, informed us in his womb, that they just got off track. They chose the wrong path, but God has the right path for them. So a year later, he comes back to England. He's probably 100, 200 miles away from that event that he did. And at the end of his service, this family comes running up and hug him and just start to weep and cry. And they're crying and crying and crying. He has no idea what's going on. And finally his wife gets herself together and says, we were that family. My husband was the one that you had stand up. And he is the kindest. He is the sweetest. He's a man of God. He's serving in the church. So he said, God transformed and redeemed his life. God wants to redeem our lives. He wants to redeem your failure. He wants to redeem that pain in your life. Not that you forget it. He just wants to redeem it and breathe a newness of life on it. Will you stand with me today? You just close your eyes in this place. It's creating a space for you and the Lord. Today for some of you, this message was needed because you have been beating yourself up for feeling like a failure. Feeling like it's too late. You've lost it. There's a song that says, when I thought I lost me, you knew where to find me. You put my pieces back together. Today, God wants to put your pieces back together. He wants to redeem every area of your life. As a young man, I was 19 years old. I was broken and I was lost. And I came to the altar after the world let me down. And I didn't want to go in the path of the Williams before me. I surrendered everything at the cross. I surrendered everything to Jesus, my dreams, my failures, my pain, my mistake. There was not one thing that I held on to. I laid it all at the feet of Jesus. And in that moment, the spirit of God came on me. The grace of God came on me. And I'm telling you, he poured blessing out in my life. For so many, I didn't deserve it and I didn't. But Jesus, he's the one that took your pain. He took your failure. Your shame on the cross. He died for you not to live in the junk that he died for, that you would be redeemed and he redeemed my life. And I believe there's some of you in here today that maybe raised your hand at a prayer at one point. Maybe you know about God and you've been doing this church thing for a while, but have I asked you, have you surrendered everything to Jesus? Have you gave everything to him? Listen, there is one that can call you to give everything and it's the one that laid everything down for you. He died for you and we gotta die to ourselves for him. So if you're here today and that's you and you wanna surrender everything, you wanna give him them all, you know that the other way is not worth it. And you wanna lay it down right now at the foot of Jesus because he wants to redeem your life. He has a new path, he has a new journey. And if that's you today, I just want you to raise your hand right now. If that's you, thank you, thank you. Do not miss out on this moment. If the Holy Spirit's sturdy on the inside, He's calling you right now. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. So Father, I just come to you right now for every person that is responding to what you're doing. Lord, I say you pour out your spirit right now on their hearts. Lord, give them dreams, give them visions. Lord, that they can see you. Father, your scripture says they become a new creation. The old has gone. The past has gone. The failure has gone. And Lord, I just ask that you breathe a newness into their life, that they could see their purpose. They could see their past and their destiny, Lord Jesus. Lord, I ask that you melt away addictions and desires and failures, Lord Jesus, that they could step into the fullness that you have. Lord, that you fill them with your joy. You fill them with your power, Lord God. You fill them with your grace. We release that in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Hey, we're proud of you guys. Amen, hallelujah. At this time, I'd like to invite our prayer partners to come forward, our care ministry team. See today, as I share, I just, I couldn't help to think that God wants to redeem some homes. There's been this anthem and this theme that's been stirring on our pastors that God wants to revive the home. Listen, where God is worshiped, God shows up. We see God move on the weekends. Why? We worship Him here. If you start worshiping Him at home, you start opening up your Bible with your kiddos, praying, taking your kids and saying, what's God showing you? It's not too late. I don't care if they're teenagers. Begin to open up that door and God will begin to show up. But I believe God wants to redeem some marriages. God wants to redeem some passions in your heart for Him. We have a God that redeems the homes. He cares about your house. He cares about your home. He cares about your kids. You see, I am who I am because I had a praying mama that prayed for me. When I was lost in this world, she prayed all the more. And I believe one, there's a crown on her head. And I believe every time I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, there's one person that's gonna get more crowns and that's my mom. Cause she prays, she's praying for me right now. Love you mom, I know she's watching. God wants to redeem the home. So if you just take the hand of your spouse, connect as a family, I just want to pray over your home, pray over your family. Lord Jesus, I ask right now that you redeem the home, you redeem the family's Lord Jesus. Lord, I ask for the heartache and the challenges and the things that we just can't seem to shake. Be shaken in Jesus' name. Lord, I ask for an intimacy to come into the home, a joy to come into the family, Lord Jesus. A joy being a mother and a father, Lord. I ask for the sons and the daughters, Lord, that you speak to them right now, Lord. That they align with who they're called to be, not who what the world wants them to be, Lord. That you redeem the home. Father, I lift up the moms and the dads to say no more. A boldness to rise up, to live their lives righteous and faithfully and pure unto you, Lord. Because you're worth it. You deserve it. Our kids in this next generation deserve it, Lord. So Father, we ask for the helper to come. Lord, we can't do it on our own. We need the helper to come, to pour out a spirit, to give us the ability to overcome, to give us the ability to wash away the desires, Lord Jesus. And we give this to you in Jesus' holy name, amen. Come on, let's just praise the Lord today. He's worthy. He's worthy. Thank you, Lord. So hey, if you need prayer today, we have some incredible people. We would love to partner with you and pray with you. If you raise your hand and respond, we'd love to invite you. We have some information. We'd love to give you. But also, if you wanna pray for a son, stand in the gap, pray for your health, pray for whatever God moves in power when two or three gather in His name, He is there. So bless you guys, go be radiant. We'll look forward to seeing you this next week.