Rivercrest Community Church - Portland, Oregon, USA - Sunday, Feb.

28, 2021
Rev. Daniel A. Burnett, Senior Pastor; Curt Krieger, Minister of Music; Sean Adams, Technical Director.
Call To Worship
Who will be your people? God’s people will be my people.
Where will you go? I will go wherever God leads.
What are you willing to leave behind? I am willing to leave everything.
May our worship today lead us to a place where all of this may be so. Let us worship God
Opening Prayer
Praise & Worship
Friend Of God
Who am I that You are mindful of me, that You hear me when I call? Is it true that You are thinking of me?
How You love me it's amazing (It’s amazing it’s amazing)
(Chorus) I am a friend of God! I am a friend of God! I am a friend of God. He calls (You call) me friend. (REPEAT)
(Bridge) God Almighty Lord of Glory You have called me friend (4x)
CCLI Song # 3991651 Israel Houghton | Michael Gungor © 2003 Integrity Worship Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music, David C Cook)) Integrity's Praise! Music (Admin. by
Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music, David C Cook)) Sound Of The New Breed (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music, David C Cook)) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of
Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI License # 237061

Something Beautiful
(Chorus) Something beautiful. Something good. All my confusion, He understood.
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life.
(Verse) If there ever were dreams that were lofty and noble. They were my dreams at the start and the hopes for
life's best. Were the hopes that I harbored down deep in my heart, but my dreams turned to ashes, my castles
all crumbled, my fortune turned to loss. So I wrapped it all in the rags of my life and laid it at the cross.
CCLI Song # 18060 Gloria Gaither | William J. Gaither © 1971 William J. Gaither, Inc. (Admin. by Gaither Copyright Management) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights
reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI License # 237061

Seekers of Your Heart

Until we give You first place. Until we let You begin. To fill us with Your Spirit. Renew us from within.
Nothing matters, nothing's gained without Your holy presence, our lives are lived in vain.
(Chorus) Lord, we want to know You. Live our lives to show You.
All the love we owe You. We're seekers of Your heart.
Because Your heart was broken. Because You saw the need. Because You gave so freely. Because of Calvary.
We can now be called Your own, completed creations, filled with You alone.
We're seekers of Your heart
CCLI Song # 10635 Beverly Darnall | Dick Tunney | Melodie Tunney © 1985 Universal Music - Brentwood Benson Publishing (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)
Pamela Kay Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI License # 237061

I’m Forever Grateful

You did not wait for me to draw near to You but You clothed Yourself with frail humanity.
You did not wait for me to cry out to You but You let me hear Your voice calling me.

(Chorus) And I'm forever grateful to You. I'm forever grateful for the cross.
I'm forever grateful to You. That You came to seek and save the lost.
CCLI Song # 24047 Mark Altrogge © 1985 Sovereign Grace Praise (Admin. by Sovereign Grace Ministries) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI
License # 237061

God Is So Good
God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He’s so good to me
He cares for me, He cares for me, cares for me, He’s so good to me
He loves me so, He loves me so, He loves me so, He’s so good to me
God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He’s so good to me
God is so good - He’s so good to me
CCLI Song # 5851005 Unknown | Yancy © Words: Public Domain Music: 2007 Dried Rose Music For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI License #
237061

Pastoral Prayer - After Prayer response: I Need Thee Every Hour (vs. 1 & refrain)
I need Thee every hour, Most gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine, can peace afford.
(Chorus) I need Thee O I need Thee, Every hour I need Thee O bless me now my Savior I come to Him.
CCLI Song # 78811 Annie Sherwood Hawks | Robert Lowry © Words: Public Domain Music: Public Domain For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com
CCLI License # 237061

Pass the Peace - Announcements

Hymn: O The Deep Deep Love Of Jesus (Ebenezer)
O the deep deep love of Jesus; Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free.
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me.
Underneath me all around me is the current of Thy love.
Leading onward leading homeward to my glorious rest above.
O the deep deep love of Jesus; Spread His praise from shore to shore.
How He loveth ever loveth; changeth never nevermore.
How He watches o'er His loved ones, died to call them all His own.
How for them He intercedeth, watches over them from the throne.
O the deep deep love of Jesus; Love of every love the best.
'Tis an ocean vast of blessing; 'Tis a haven sweet of rest
O the deep deep love of Jesus; 'Tis a heaven of heavens to me
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee.
CCLI Song # 137178 Samuel Trevor Francis | Thomas John Williams © Words: Public Domain Music: Public Domain For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved.
www.ccli.com CCLI License # 237061

Sermon Series: Ruth - The Best is Yet to Come!

Sermon Title: Bad Decisions and A Good God
Sermon Text: Ruth 1:1-22
Series Introduction - Well, this morning, we're going to start another mini-series. It's from the Book of Ruth.
So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to in your Old Testament to the eighth book in the Old
Testament. You've got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, if you
get the First Samuel, just kind of make a U-turn and you'll get back into Ruth, a little book with a big message.
I've titled this series, The Best is Yet to Come . Because the fact of the matter is, for any one of us as
we're walking with God, for any one of us as we're looking to the Lord, regardless of where we find ourselves
today, we can know this, that the best is yet to come if we look to the Lord. You may not be walking with the
Lord today. You may have come in this place not knowing anything about walking with the Lord, or you may
have tuned in online and find yourself in a season of life where you're essentially living away from the Lord. Not
serving him, Not walking with him. Maybe at one time, you did, but you've come in today and you don't have a
vibrant, living relationship with the Lord. This series is for you. This series is for the person who finds
themselves in a situation that seems irreparable, irretrievable, a situation where it looks like hope is lost. A
situation where it looks like things are never going to change, they're never going to get any better. This book
talks about the ability of a loving, gracious, kind God who is able to work a comeback in our lives as we look to
him.
When you come to the Book of Ruth, honestly, it's one of the most touching stories in all of the Bible,
because this is a book that gives us insight into how God deals with people. If you wonder how God views you -
if you wonder how God works in life. This book gives us a wonderful, wonderful example of God's working in life.
Sermon Introduction - The book opens with a famine. I'm going to just make a few introductory remarks and
then we'll jump into it. It opens with famine, but really, that's the least of this family's problems, although a famine
would be very, very severe.
The book itself and the story take place in a season known to Bible scholars as the Season of the Judges.
You ask, what's a judge? Well, before there were kings in the land of Israel, God would raise up various
individuals from various tribes in the nation of Israel and they would lead. They would be the judge. They would
judge Israel. They would be the leader of the people. What we find in the Book of Judges, though, is a very sad
reality. The nation of Israel had a lot of ups and downs, seemingly more downs than ups. The people had
abandoned God. They had stopped walking with God and because of that, there were all kinds of problems that
they encountered. It was a dark time. It was a rebellious time. It was a time of hopelessness, invasion by foreign
armies. The land pillaged. The people knowing shortages, heartbreak, loss. The text does not give us an exact
date, but it happens about 1200-1020 B.C., somewhere around one thousand years before Christ, and you
could take the book of Ruth and you could kind of drop it into the Book of Judges. It's happening during that
season, probably near the end.
It's interesting, The Book of Judges ends with the verse that really kind of summarizes what life is like in
the land of Israel at that time. It says this in Judges 21:25 “In those days, there was no king in Israel.” Now,
who is the king, you say, well, eventually, Saul and then David, but God was supposed to be the king. They
were to look to Yahweh for protection, provision, and their every need. The people aren't looking to God. The
people aren't listening to God, the people aren't honoring God. They're not serving God. What are they doing?
Look at it. “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” As a nation, on a macro level, everybody is doing
what is right in their own eyes. Individually, on a micro-level, everybody is just doing what is right in their own
eyes. So you look at the Book of Judges and it is a cycle - the back and forth faithfulness, unfaithfulness,
repentance, and turning to God. God helps, they fall away from God again. And that's kind of the story of the
book of judges.
Then you come to Ruth and what is presented is God's concern for the individual. God cares about
nations, absolutely. But he also cares for people. All people . He sees where people are at, he's watching over
people, he sees where you are. There are some who have come in here today, and truth be told, you wonder if
God knows what's going on in your life. You're like, “oh, I get what he knows, but does he really care? Is he
really involved or does he really will he really help me? I know that he’s been working in Sharon’s life, or I know
that God would be willing to help Willis and Joanne, but is he going to help me?”
The answer is, God wants to work in the lives of every person in this room, every person watching the
stream. God sees exactly where you are at and what he wants to do, is he wants to reverse the hurtful, harmful,
devastating situations of our lives. Where there is loss, He wants to bring healing and wholeness. He wants to
reverse. He wants to redeem the situations of our lives. Amen? Let’s pick up Ruth Chapter 1, verse 1 - In the
days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to
sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. (a very interesting sense of the irony of
Bethlehem being mentioned in this story. This at this point, Bethlehem has no theological significance in the
Bible. It's a village, a small village. David has not been born there yet. Who becomes the King of Israel? Jesus
has not been born there. That will come a thousand years later, but Bethlehem figures prominently in the Bible.
The name Bethlehem means the house of bread. “Everybody does whatever they want." There was a famine in
the land. And a man of Bethlehem. There's a famine in the House of Bread, do you catch the irony there? It's the
house of Bread, but there's no food. Incidentally, the whole imagery of Bethlehem plays huge because it's at the
house of bread that the bread of life comes to a starving world . Beautiful analogy. So there is a famine.) So
immediately we're introduced to a significant irony in the days when the judges ruled. The name of the man
was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion.
They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained
there. (Ephrathites - The town was Bethlehem. So let's call Ephratha the county. So they live near Bethlehem and there are a man and
his wife and his two kids. And it says they went into the country of Moab and they remained there. Now I want you to notice something in
those verses. There's a fact that is repeated twice.
A guy from Bethlehem moves his family to Moab. Shocking! Say what? A guy from Bethlehem moves his
family to Moab. Are you serious? I mean, a guy who lives in the house of bread - a guy who lives in a place like
Bethlehem - a guy who lives in the town from which will come the greatest King of Israel and ultimately the
Messiah, [who is truly the greatest king, not just of Israel, but the world, the bread of life,] the town that's going to
produce that - this guy leaves that place and goes to Moab. You've got to be kidding . Why in the world would
somebody do that? Moab is a pagan place. Moab is a vile place. The people of Moab come out of an
incestuous relationship between a father, Lot, and his daughter, and it goes downhill from there because these
people are so pagan, even though at one time their ancestors knew the Lord, they've got nothing to do with
God. They worshipped the demonic gods Chemosh. The way they worshipped is they burn their children in the
fire. They offer their children as sacrifices. Here's a guy who lives in the house of Bread . And he's leaving the
House of bread to live in Moab. Why in the world would somebody do that?
What's interesting is the name of the man is Elimelech, and this, too, brings a huge question mark because
his name means “God is king.” Here's a guy who says that Yahweh, the God of the Bible is king, but this same
man is leaving the place of God's provision, the Promised Land, and going to a pagan place. I mean, the whole
thing, from the very first verse gives us a sense of what in the world is going on. Why in the world would
somebody do that? (He was doing what was right in his own eyes.)
He's married to a woman. Her name is Naomi and the name Naomi means “pleasantness or sweetness.”
So now she is a sweetheart. Naomi is a good person. She's a pleasant person. She's a kind person. But, what
you're going to see happen is this lady is a sweetheart, by the end of chapter one, says, call me an old hag. Call
me a bitter, negative, nasty old hag. Very, very interesting.
 They've got two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, the names mean “sickly” and “wavering near death.” Probably
want to steer clear of those if you are naming a child or grandchild. People that want Bible names and they say,
oh, man, don't don't do it. I mean, in our day, it would be like you introducing your sons, “I'd like you to meet my
sons over here. I've got Coronavirus. And over here I've got Ebola.” I mean, it's a messed-up deal. The good
news is God cares about messed-up people. You know, and you can have a name, you can identify outwardly
with the people of God and still be totally messed up in your decision-making. Here's Elimelech, and his name
means God is king, and he takes his family and he leaves the realm of God's blessing. Why does he do that?
Well, we read it “in the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land.” Here is what he's
doing; he's doing what a lot of people do and so this becomes very poignant. This is a very, very practical book
because everything about this, we can all readily identify with it. Here's Elimelech, his name means God is king,
but rather than saying, “you know what? There's a famine in the land, and any time there was a famine, it was a
sign that things weren't good with God.” So, rather than saying, “is it because of the leaders, or is it because of
things I've allowed in my own life?” Rather than saying, “God, what do we need to do to call on you, to look to
you, to rectify this situation?” He looks elsewhere.
We don't know why there is a famine. It could have been a drought, could have been armies. You know,
you read the book of Judges and it could have been any number of enemies. The Midianites come in, they
ravage the land. They destroy the crops. Other countries are oppressing the people of Israel, including the
country of Moab. So it may have been that Moab came in and was oppressing the land and so here's Elimelech.
And he's saying, “Man, they're the ones that are oppressing the land. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. I guess I'm
going to go over there.”
He's facing famine, and he's facing it while living in the House of bread, which is a huge irony. Rather than
saying, “God, what are you trying to say to me? What are you trying to teach me?” Rather than
approaching the situation first and foremost spiritually because honestly, the spiritual realities are the greater
realities. And say, “God, what are you saying to me through this situation? Is there something you're
trying to teach me or are you trying to strengthen my faith that I might grow on you? Are you wanting me
to rely on scripture? What does your word say?” If Elimelech knew the word, he's going to get some
promises that should hold him tight to trust God. For example, the word of God says things like this. This would
have all been common knowledge that these would be Psalms that would be written around the times of the
judges or shortly thereafter.
Psalm 34:9 says, Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! In other
words, when when you're walking with God and you're trusting God, God is going to provide for you. You may
not understand how he's going to do it. It may be famine all around you, but in the middle of the famine, God can
provide for you. That's what the psalmist is saying.
In Psalm 37:25 the Psalmist says, “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the
righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.” You know what? I've watched this thing all of my life
and the way it works out is God takes care of his people. He takes care of his people. He's able to provide for
you in the midst of your situation, as you look to him.
Psalm 33:18-19 - Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his
steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. So Elimelech
should have been thinking about the word of God. He should have been thinking about the promises of
scripture. He should have held on. He should have said, “you know what, I'm going to trust the Lord in the
middle of this.” But instead what he does is he makes a decision and he says, “you know what, I'm going to
move, I'm going to leave the house of bread.” He does it for the most rational, the most humanly logical reasons.
He’s starving. He went to sojourn in the country of Moab. There's no food in Israel. There's no king in Israel.
There's no stability. Humanly, it seems like a good decision. I mean, it's only 40 miles and it's all downhill from
there. (Let’s pick it up with verse 3) But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her
two sons. Outside of God’s provision, outside of God’s will for his people and the worst thing could happen, the
Patriarch of this family passes away. And like many first steps away from God, rather than repent and turn away,
one step leads to another, to another. This is the thing people never calculate. Always one decision results in
you having to make another decision, so he goes down there. v.4 - These took Moabite wives; the name of
the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth.
Now, marriages in that day were arranged. This is unthinkable for an Israelite. This guy’s name is “God is
king, but he's all of a sudden arranging the marriages of his kids, his sons are now marrying pagans. This is
absolutely unthinkable because here's what God said in Deuteronomy, Chapter 23 verse 3, “no Ammonite or
Moabite or any of their descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the Assembly of the Lord.” What
he's saying is there's going to be negative spiritual ramifications when you unite yourself to a pagan or your kids
to a pagan.” This is more about being obedient to God and less about being, what the new testament calls
unequally yoked. Seriously, because marriage is hard enough when you have two people who love the Lord. It's
virtually impossible when you have somebody who does and somebody who doesn't. I mean, it's very, very
difficult. But as they continue to walk away from what God has told them to do, things continue to decline. Verse
5 They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without
her two sons and her husband.
What was the thing that motivated Elimelech to move to Moab? He didn't want to starve to death and he
didn't want his family to starve to death. He didn't want to die. But, what happened to him? He died. What's going
to happen to his sons, they die. The writer of Proverbs says this, Proverbs 14:12 - there's a way that seems
right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death. You know, when you and I operate on our perspective on the
situation, our wisdom equals deadly consequences. God's wisdom and acting on it leads to life.
So, Elimelech and his sons are now dead and all of a sudden Naomi and his two daughters-in-law are in a
desperate, desperate situation because there's no social safety net. There's no Social Security, no Food
Stamps, no medicare, no pensions. There is nobody going to care for them. They are on their own and in that
society, that is a bad thing. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab,
for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. So
she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to
return to the land of Judah. (Interestingly enough, the imagery in the typology and the inference is the land of
Judah. Do you know what the word Judah means? Praise. She said, “I'm living in the land of Moab and I'm
going to get back to the land of praise. I'm going to get back to the land where I am praising God with my life.”
v. 8 - But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house.
May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The LORD grant that
you may 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 to her, "No, we will return with you to your people." In that day, what
would happen is if you had children and you had brothers and a brother died and he didn't leave any son that
would take care of the mother and would continue the family name, then the other brother would marry the
widow, produce an heir that would carry on the dead man's name. This is called Leverite Marriage - You can
read more about it in Deuteronomy 25:5–10. Naomi now refers to that whole situation and says, listen, “I'm too
old to have more children. And are you really telling me you're going to hang out and wait for me to have a son, if
I could even have a son, and then marry him, that's not going to work out.
Naomi says, verse 13, “ No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the
hand of the LORD has gone out against me." Who is Naomi blaming for her “bad Luck”? God, But it seems to
me there was a guy named “God is King” who had a lot to do with her current situation. You know, you meet
people all the time and they're angry at God, they're bitter at God, they're frustrated with God, “why did God let
this happen?” You know the type? Why did you send this person into my life, why was this temptation put in my
way? People can make their decision, now is God to blame in this? The answer is absolutely not. Because
here's the deal, God says here are the parameters of a life I'm going to bless and it's available to absolutely
anybody who wants to experience my blessing. God saying that to you, to everybody in this room here, if you're
here's the life I've blessed, if you're if you will live according to my word, if you will seek me with all of your heart,
if you'll love me, if you'll walk with me, I will walk with you. I will do good to you because he's good and he does
good. But if somebody chooses to step away from the place of God's blessing. Whose responsibility is that? I
say that because there are some who would have the tendency to view it like Naomi. You feel like, God’s really
got it out for me. God's really God's really against me.
Here's Naomi, and she messed up because she's like “Gods against me” and “the hand of the Lord has
gone out against me.” You can't say much for her view of God in that moment, but you can say this? God
understands. But she does the one thing that's going to change everything, she doesn't have a very good view
of God, that’s going to change because by the time you get to the end of the book, she's going to be blessing
God. She’ll be living in the land of praise and she's going to be praising God. But the change begins with what?
It begins with her saying, “I'm going to go back to the house of bread . I'm going to go back to the place of God's
provision, I'm going to go back to the boundaries God has established and I'm going to live there. I don't
understand why God has let these things happen to me. I don't get what he's doing. But I do know this. I was
better off when I was living in Bethlehem then I have been living away from him.”
So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the
whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, "Is this Naomi?" She said to them, "Do
not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the
LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the
Almighty has brought calamity upon me?" So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law
with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley
harvest.
Conclusion
If Naomi stays in Moab, nothing changes. If she stays there, she's left with her bitterness, she's alienated from
the promise of God, the purpose of God, the praise of God, the provision of God. But if she makes one decision,
even though she doesn't understand everything that's happening and she's a little bit irritated by God and some
of you, that's where you're at. And it just is what it is. I'm not putting you down for that. I'm just saying that's how
you feel. But you can do something that will change everything. You can say, I'm going to get back to the place
of God's blessing. And when you do that, one decision will begin to undo all the devastation, all the brokenness,
all the famine, all the shortage, all of the problems. I'm not saying you never have a problem. I'm just saying got
to begin to work in ways you can't begin to imagine. She's bitter. She's barren. She's alone. At the start of the
book, at the end of the book, she's praising God. She's got a grandson who's an ancestor of not only the king
known as David, but the king of kings known as Jesus. God’s ability to take a mess that seems, humanly
speaking, beyond repair and turn it. One decision, it’s all you got to do.
Closing Hymn: God Will Take Care Of You
Be not dismayed whate'er betide, God will take care of you. Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.
(Chorus) God will take care of you. Through every day, o'er all the way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you.
Through days of toil when heart doth fail, God will take care of you. When dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you
All you may need He will provide, God will take care of you. Nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you
No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you. Lean weary one upon His breast God will take care of you
CCLI Song # 93645 Civilla Durfee Martin | Walter Stillman Martin © Words: Public Domain Music: Public Domain For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com
CCLI License # 237061

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen!

Benediction
Go in peace to love and serve the LORD and your neighbors!