We don't walk through the tulips with Jesus. Sometimes it's hard. Let's talk about it on He-ite. Hello, this is Mike Keller. He lives, denning you home with freedom, joy, and faithfulness to Christ. Our Bible teacher, Steve Brown. And here's Steve with a teaching for today. Thanks, Mike. Hope your weekend was great. And I hope your pastor sermon affected you the way my pastor's sermon affected me. Challenging me and calling me to be more faithful in my walk with Christ. If you have your Bible, turn it to the book of Ruth. We're in the midst of a very long Old Testament survey. We're going to each book of the Older Testament. Simply because most Christians don't spend much time in the Older Testament. And we miss so much when we don't do that. We like to say, well, in the New Testament there's a God of love. And in the Old Testament there's a God of wrath. Whenever somebody says that to you, know that they don't know anything about the Older Testament. As a matter of fact, the Older Testament has some of the highest and most wonderful teaching on God's grace. On his tremendous love, his long suffering toward his people. And in the New Testament there's the greatest example of God's wrath ever seen in any place in the Bible. Where God pours out all of his wrath on a totally innocent man on the cross. Well, we're looking at the book of Ruth and I just began it on Friday before the time ran out. So we're going to spend most of this week on Ruth. It's not a long book, so we're not going to spend a long time on it. But there's some things I want to show you that are really good, so stay tuned. It's our practice on Mondays before we study the book to go before the throne. Let's do that. Well, there sometimes when we look at ourselves and we see ourselves without all of the denial and the pretending, we really see ourselves the way we really are. And then when we look at you and what you've done and what you've given and your generosity and your kindness, we're simply overwhelmed. Father, your grace is the focus of everything. Every good and perfect gift has come from you. And then Father, we center in on our little negative and we make that the focal point of our life. Forgive us for doing that. Teach us to be Christians who are grateful always, who praise you in all circumstances, who are glad that we belong to you. Father, there are things that get to us and you know the people that are listening to this broadcast, who are going through a period that's really difficult. Some people have wounds that are deep, some people have broken hearts. Some people are going through family problems, some people are going through divorce. Some people are struggling with sin and they keep failing and they keep coming to you and they're about ready to run. Some people have come to the door and are afraid to come in. So Father, I come to you on my behalf and on their behalf. We are so very human. Father, you're God and we're not and you're infinite and we're finite and you're big and we're little. And you know everything and we know so little and you're eternal and we carry but just a little while. But God, you have shown us in so many ways, you're great love and you've been down low and listened to the sound of our tears and you are perfectly adequate. Remind us this week so that our walk with you would be intimate and profound. Father, we praise you because you're worthy. We ask forgiveness for our sins and rejoice in the grace that you give and then we pray for the one who teaches on key life. Forgive him his sins or they are many. We would see Jesus and him only and we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, if you're in a place where you can open your Bible, open it to the book of Ruth as we go through this study of the Older Testament. If you're listening on Thursday, I talked about the positioning of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible. We saw that in the Bible used by Jews, there are three main sections, the Pentateuch, the prophets, the writings. And in the Hebrew Bible, Ruth is the last book in the third section. And in the Bible that we have taken from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, or from the Latin Volgate, the book of Ruth is the eighth book in the Old Testament and a section that is come to be known in our Bibles as the historical book. We don't know who wrote the book of Ruth. We don't know for sure when the book of Ruth was written and I gave you some reasons, but would suspect if you're looking for a date and you've got to have one because you're that way. And you just won't read the book unless you know when it was written. You could say circa 900 BC, maybe a century after the events described in the book of Ruth. And I said on Friday the book of Ruth is just four chapters and it's a wonderful story. There's this woman by the name of Naomi who was married and she was from Bethlehem and that has some interesting implications because that's the place where Jesus was born. We saw that a famine arose in Bethlehem and Naomi had to eat, so she and her husband go to a pagan country, Moab. And they have two sons there and then the two sons marry two Moabite women. One's name was Oprah and the others was Ruth. And then the men, all of them, every cotton pick and one of them die off. And Naomi tells her daughters, look, you go back to your families. I'm going back to my home amongst God's covenant people. Oprah says, that's cool. Actually, she didn't say that in Hebrew. That's what she meant. And she goes back to her family and Ruth says, I'm not doing that. I love you. And she said, I'll go with you. I'm going to read that to you in just a minute. And she goes with her back to Bethlehem. God honors she's a virtuous woman. We're going to see that in a minute. And God honors her decision. She needs a man by the name of Moab. And most of the book of Ruth deals with that love story between, but sometimes you think they're going to make it. Sometimes you think they're not. I mean, you could write a novel about Ruth and do several chapters because it just brings to mind all kinds of things. Now, if you have you by, but open it to the first chapter of Ruth and I'm going to start reading at the sixth verse just to give you a flavor of it. And most of this week, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this week, we're going to be talking about this book. Whoever wrote the book of Ruth wrote as follows. Then she arose with her daughters in law that she might return to the country of Moab. First, she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people giving them bread. Therefore, she went out from the place where she was and her two daughters in law with her. And they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her two daughters in law, go return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord granted you may find rest each in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wet. And they said to her, surely we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, turn back my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb that you may find a husband? Turn back my daughters. Go your way for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope even if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters. For it greets me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again, and Oprah kissed her mother in law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people into her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. And then this is the central focus of the Book of Ruth. This is one of the most beautiful passages in the entire Bible. But Ruth said, here it comes, in treat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you, for wherever you go I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God, where you die, I will die. And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and bore also, if anything but death parts you and me. And when she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her. Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem, and it happened when they had come to Bethlehem that all the city was excited because of them. And the women said, it's Naomi. So she said to them, do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me. Very human, isn't it? You know, we get thousands of letters here at key life. A lot of you guys tell us about some of the pain that you're suffering, and the hurt that you go through. Listen, you're not home yet. That's the way of the world. You've got Naomi here, whose sons are dead, and whose husband is dead. I remember when my brother died. I remember my mother in the pain that she suffered as she went through that. You know, you expect your son to bury you. You don't expect to bury your son. And I remember when I got the call that my kid brother, the one my mother always said, look after. You watch after your little brother. My little brother died. My best friend almost killed me. But I bucked up because I watched what it did to my mother. And I almost didn't make it during that time. But then I remembered what the Bible says, that it's a hard place where we live. It's sometimes very painful, and it's very difficult, and only the most superficial amongst us. Those Christians who think you tiptoe through the tubes with Jesus think that there's not a hard time here. It's hard sometimes, and God never lied to us about it. God has told us the truth about death. What's death? It's a curse. It's not something you look for. And people say, wow, you know, it's normal. You're born, you die. It's not normal. It's not meant to be normal. It's a part of the curse of San Paul tells us in Corinthians. And we live in a place. Now, there's sometimes when you get a milkshake and you go for a walk on the beach, but don't be so superficial as to expect that everything's going to be copacetic. It's not. But God is faithful. And we'll talk about it more tomorrow. But right now, remember Ruth. Remember her faithfulness. Immulated. You think about that. Amen. Hey, listen, the spring magazine is out. And I'd love for you to have a copy of it. It centers around Easter. I read an article on why did Jesus have to die? Phil Yancey has this piece from his new book called Makeover. You're going to absolutely love it. It includes the magazine question and answer column. There's information on our upcoming like Barclay Conference. A lot of great resources to get you. And those you love home with freedom and joy and faithfulness to Christ as you're counting achievement. And it's free. All you got to do is let me know. 1-800 key life. You can call 24 hours a day. You can write key life post office box 5,000, Madeleine Florida, 32794. Or key life Canada post office box 32150. Cambridge, Ontario, in 3H5 and 3, or you can email us with your regular mailing address to key life. No, Steve at key life.org. And just ask for the magazine. Listen, if you could help us financially, would you do it? And we did the Bill's pilot. And some of you have been called to stand with us financially. If you're one of those, pray about it and be as generous as you can. You can charge it on your Mastercard visa. Discover card included in your envelope. And for any contribution of any size, when you request it, I'll send you the cassette teaching as my thank you, dealing with temptation. Hey, I got to go. Listen, whenever you write or call, would you do me a favor and give me the call letters of this great station? And all yes, key life is a production of key life networks.