The Un-breaking of the Heart

The Un-breaking of the Heart

A Sermon Based on Ruth 4:13-22

There is one last tragedy in the book of Ruth that we see in the life of Naomi. It's the suspense we feel as we live out our own stories. The suspense that holds us back from fully engaging own our lives. The internal suspense that makes us too afraid to let go of our fears. While that kind of suspense makes for a good story, it makes for a tragic kind of life - a life where you are always dragging around past baggage. The Spirit ministers to the human spirit in this Scripture giving it strength to fully hope in the last word of every believers' book. Listen in!

Eternally Redeemed

Eternally Redeemed

A Sermon Based on Ruth 4:1-12

There are many, many legal details in this scene of Ruth. It is difficult to wade through. There are so many details that it can be appealing to focus on the lower story here - the story of a biblical beauty and a biblical prince who end up together, but there is a higher story here and a greater magic that we have to see.  Right here in this Scripture we get to see divine love. Who knew legal details could be so saving? Listen in!

Redeemed for Risk

Redeemed for Risk

A Sermon Based on Ruth 3

We all face spiritual paralysis in life. Sometimes it means that we will even stare at an open door and do nothing; or see a crack of daylight and not run for it. This is a sermon redeeming the listener from that hopeless kind of life. The redemption comes in the form of trusting God's living presence in our lives. Listen in!

Redeemed for Work

Redeemed for Work

A Sermon Based on Ruth 2

A writer once said, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." That, of course, means we spend most of our lives working - 96,000 hours or so of it the statisticians say. That is a very significant part of our lives that can sometimes seem so futile and empty. That, in turn, can lead and has led to feelings of depression and resentment about our jobs for many of us. This is a sermon designed to help the listener better understand why we feel that way and to hand back to us all joy in our work. 

Redeemed from Bitterness

Redeemed from Bitterness

A Sermon Based on Ruth 1:14-22

There’s a lot we can learn about bitterness from what we see here. A lot. And we could talk about it. We could talk about how we tend to carry it somewhere deep inside. That resentment. That anger. That feeling down there that life isn’t exactly as it should be. That thing or things that make your soul want to scrunch up its face like you just tasted something that makes your taste buds reel and makes you want to spit your own life out. There are many things we can learn from bitterness here and we will, but there is one thing we must learn. Listen in.

Redeemed from Insecurity

Redeemed from Insecurity

(A Sermon Based on Ruth 1:1-14)

You can read the opening of this story in a Robert Frost kind of way - as a chance to ask yourself if you'll travel the road less traveled and hold onto someone who is valueless to you. You can also read the opening to this story as tragedy from beginning to end. You can even further read this story as the search for security or, more properly, insecure ways of trying to be secure. All of those readings, however, aren't the right ones. What is the right one? Listen in. You'll unlock security for your life with the narrator if you do.