Ruth 1:19-22

Today, we begin studying the last section of chapter 1 of Ruth. Naomi and Ruth return home to Naomi's native land. The people notice! No doubt, these people would have heard of Naomi's loss of her husband and sons. The women even ask, "Is this Naomi?" and Naomi responds by telling them to call her Mara instead of Naomi. Why would she do this? Naomi means, "pleasant one." If Naomi had lived up to the meaning of her name, the people would have remembered her as such. Mara means, "bitter." This word is first used in Exodus 15:23 when Israelites came upon bitter water. The place was called, "Marah," because of it's bitterness. Naomi's response to the women indicate the place of her heart. She was no longer pleasant, but rather was now bitter because of her current circumstances. Although she recognizes that it is God which has caused these things to happen to her, she is not willing to submit to His plan. Rather, she is relaying her bitterness in what God is doing in her life. How about you? How do you respond towards what God is doing in your life? Do you recognize his sovereignty and yet still have a bitter heart? Or do you recognize his sovereignty and have a pleasant heart?

Hope from Ruth

It is evident that Ruth had faith and confidence in the God of Israel. She would not have been so willing to leave her family, culture, false gods and everything else she had known for all of her life. It is also interesting to note that all Ruth would have learned about God through Naomi and her family for the previous 10 years. She did not have Scripture as we do today! How does her commitment to God offer hope and encouragement to you? We share our thoughts today on the program and would love to hear from you. Please share!

Ruth's commitment

In chapter 1:17, Ruth tells of her commitment to Naomi. The Bible says in verse 14 that Ruth clung to her. This word "clung" is used in the same way as in Genesis 2:24 when God commands to man to "cleave" to his wife. Ruth's mind was made up. She was going home with Naomi and once Naomi saw her determination she said no more. How did Ruth reveal her commitment to Naomi?

• Where you go, I will go. She commits to leaving her home.
• Where you lodge, I will lodge. She commits to settling in a foreign land.
• Your people shall be my people. She commits to embracing a new culture.
• Your God shall be my God. She commits to denying her false gods and chooses faith in the one true God.
• Where you die, I will die and there be buried. She gives up her right to be buried with her family in her home country.
• May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you. A seal of her comittment to Naomi.

Losing Hope

Ruth 1:10-14 reveal to the reader that Orpah and Ruth desired to return to Bethlehem with Naomi. This reveals that they were willing to give up their family, their gods and their culture to follow their mother-in-law. As we discuss today, this shows they loved Naomi. She must have been a mother-in-law worth following in order for them to give up everything they knew. Then we find out that Naomi desires for them to stay home. She gave several reasons to them that they should return home: she no longer would bear any more children, she was too old to have another husband, she had lost hope and said the hand of the Lord was against her. Naomi felt that God was against her and that if these ladies followed her, they would suffer because of her. But why did Naomi feel God was against her? As we discuss today, we see from these verses that she loses hope. She acknowledges God's hand in her situation, but feels hopeless for any joy in her life. As you study these verses, do you see yourself like Naomi - losing hope in your time of trial? Never forget that the God who created you and loves you has His hand on all things in your life. He is good and as His child will cause all things to work for your good to conform you more to be like Christ (Romans 8:28-29).

Character qualities of a godly woman

We learn more about Naomi and Ruth as we continue on in our study. We are learn that while in Moab, Ruth's husband dies. Her two sons marry Moabite women and then her sons die. Naomi now finds herself in a foreign country with just two daughter-in-laws as her family. She had no grandchildren. At some point while Naomi was in the fields, she finds out that the Lord was blessing her people with food (vs. 6). Naomi desires to return to her people, her home and gives Orpah and Ruth a blessing. Her blessing was that the Lord would be kind to them as they had been to her and the dead and that they would find rest in the house of their husbands (most likely a desire for them to marry again). This relationship between Naomi and her daughter-in-laws cause us to ask about the character of these women. What kind of mother-in-law was Naomi to Orpah and Ruth to give them such a blessing? What kind of daughter-in-laws were Orpah and Ruth for Naomi to be so kind to them? What does this indicate about their relationship?

The Setting

As we dig further into the background of the book of Ruth, we find in 1:1-2, some interesting facts about Ruth's family....before we even meet Ruth. It is helpful to know what is going on at the time of the writing. It helps to know how Ruth (a Moabite) would have found herself going to Bethlehem and serving the One True God. We find out from the first two verses that because of a famine in the land of Judah, Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and two sons chose to move to the country of Moab. We're not told if they thought this was a temporary move or if their reasons for moving were prompted by God. All we know is that they moved. So here's a question for thought....Do you think that Elimelech's decision to move his family to Moab was wise? Why or why not?

Studying Ruth

Today we will begin studying the book of Ruth. We encourage you to take about 15 minutes and sit and read through the entire book. It's just 4 chapters long and will help you to refresh your memory about the story as we begin studying in detail. Notes for our study are posted on the right side of our blog. If you wish, you may print these notes and study ahead on your own or follow along with us as we study. As we begin today, we will discuss the purpose of the book of Ruth. Please share any thoughts or questions you might have here. We would love to hear from you!

An Interview with a Missionary

We are blessed to have the opportunity to have Hannah Scott with us on the program. She'll be sharing her testimony and ministry with her husband in Thailand. Hannah is the daughter of our own Pam Ormiston and we are delighted for this opportunity for Hannah to share her heart with us. She'll be with us from February 4-10, 2011. We hope you will enjoy listening! Hannah, a member of Family Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, was born into a godly family on January 27, 1980 in Illinois. At the young age of four, Hannah placed her faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ through the testimony of her mother. Through the ministry of camp, Hannah surrendered her life to the Lord’s service around the age of 10. God continued to prepare her by providing ministry opportunities with children, youth, ladies, and counseling. Amidst the ministry at Family Baptist Church, Hannah and Duane realized the mutual desire and passion for missions that they shared. August 3, 2002 they were married. 2003 they began the application process with Baptist Mid Missions where they saw a presentation on Southeast Asian. After a brief survey trip to that area they began deputation for Thailand. Hannah and Duane have been serving in Thailand since June of 2006. You can follow their ministry here: http://www.scottsinthailand.org

Imitating Good

As we close our study in 3 John, we want to spend the time talking about how we can encourage children and teens to imitate good in the midst of peer pressure. We can't ignore the fact that children and teens are bombarded with false philosophies on a daily basis. Every day that your child goes to school they must make a decision about whether they will choose to follow God or do what their friends do. Every day is an opportunity to talk with your children (or those whom you have influence over) and discuss how their walk with Christ is going. It is VITAL that we are being godly role models and mentors to those who are younger than us. Well, we share a lot of our thoughts today on the program. If you missed the broadcast you can look for the audio archives (link is located on the right of this blog) and listen. What do you think? How can Christian women encourage children and teens to imitate good?

A Negative Example

In 3 John 9, we have a negative example of a man named Diotrephes. He was a man who put himself first in the church and rejected authority. As we study this man and his characteristics, they certainly do not glorify Christ! John calls this man out and we have a written record of his negative example. What can we learn from this man? What situations might believers be tempted to be first? As you study this section of Scripture, do you find yourself like Diotrephes in any way? We encourage you to ask these hard questions of yourself. Evaluate your life - are you a negative example like Diotrephes or are you a godly example like Gaius?

Hospitality

As we have studied 2 John and are now studying 3 John, we can see that hospitality was an important part of the believers in John's day. We also know from Scripture that we ought to be showing hospitality to others (Romans 12:13). Our topic of discussion today then is, "how can we show hospitality to other Christians?" We hope this is an encouragement to you as you seek to be obedient to God. How do you show hospitality to others?

Praying for the Believers

Today we want to talk specifically about praying for other believers. We know that prayer is an important characteristic in the life of the believer. We've talked about how it is an encouragement to others when we pray for them. But today, our conversation is more about How you can pray for other believers. We can see from 3 John that John prays for his fellow believers and we see how he prays for them. So we will take thoughts from this text and seek to apply it directly to how we pray for others. What about you? How doe you specifically pray for other believers?

Encouraging the Believers

Today we talk about why it is important to tell other believers that you are praying for them. First of all, it's so encouraging! It also is biblical. We see in this letter that John not only prays for Gaius, but he also tells Gaius of his prayers. What an example of love. When we not only show love by praying, we love even more by telling the believer we've prayed. Is there someone who you have been praying for that you could encourage by telling them so? Or, is there someone you should begin to pray for? Let's pray and tell.....it's such an encouragement!

3 John

We begin a 2 week study of 3 John today. As you read through this book, you will find many similarities between 2 and 3 John. 3 John addresses hospitality and false teachers as 2 John does. This letter was written to Gaius, a very faithful Christian. This is the only book in the Bible that is address to one specific person. John prayed that Gaius' health would be as strong as his spiritual health. Doesn't this tell you something about this faithful Christian? John was very enthusiastic about the positive reports he received regarding Gaius. I hope that as we have discussed qualities of Gaius today, that you will be encouraged reflect on which qualities you need to develop in your own life.

Showing Love

Today we talk about how we can be loving and kind AND still refuse to accept false teachers. That is a hard thought! I don't know about you, but when one is trying to get me to accept a false belief, I am tempted to get pretty huffy quick! Yes, it is good to stand up for God's truth and turn from any false belief. However, it is so important that as we refuse to accept a false way, that we do show love. Here's a few thoughts we share today:

1. Remember Ephesians 4:32 - be kind to others.
2. Use Scripture to defend your belief. Don't just say, "I think," but rather say, "God says."
3. Look at them as Christ does...an unbeliever who needs the Savior. You may be the first person they have met who is a Christian.
4. Don't take it personal. They will answer to God someday for their rejection of the Truth!

Let us know your experience(s) with dealing those who believed falsely. What did you say? Was it hard to show love and kindess? How can we better prepare ourselves for future interaction with people such as these?

Believing a lie?

Today we ask why believers so often tempted to take false teaching lightly? Do we think we would never stray from our faith? Do we not realize the seriousness of their unbiblical belief? Do we think it's OK for them to believe what they want to keep the relationship peaceful? Are we afraid of speaking up for our faith? These are serious questions that you ought take the time to answer in your own life. We share our thoughts today regarding this....what do you think?

False Teachers

As we move into verses 7-13 of 2 John, we encounter those pesky false teachers again! What did they deny? They denied the deity of Jesus Christ. John spent a lot of time in his 1st letter to warn the believers of these false teachers. Here in 2 John, he is warning them again! John encouraged the believers to watch out for them so as to guard the faith. The reader of this letter was warned to not even let these false teachers into his or her house! In doing this, they would be vulnerable to the false teacher's lies. Christians often invited strangers into their home because they were following the command to show hospitality and love to others. Yet, in this case, John said to not allow the false teachers in their home. We hope this discussion of these verses help you to understand this context of Scripture. In two days, we'll get into the more practical application of the truth John wrote about.

Love for the Church Family

How do we show love for our church family? We have talked so much about loving others in the past, and today we want to ask specifically regarding those in our church family. What do you do weekly, monthly or randomly to show love to your church family. Again, we shared many things from our hearts today, and we want to hear from you too! What steps can you take today to show love?

Love for the Church Leadership

Today we are asking a very practical question for every one of us: "How can we show our love for our church leadership?" Specifically this applies to your pastor(s), elder(s) and/or deacon(s). We have a lot of thoughts about this, and would love to hear from you. How have you shown love for them? Or, how have you seen others show their love?

Joy

John had great joy when he hear that children were walking in the truth! (verse 4) Isn't it so encouraging to see others thrive in their Christian walk with God? We talk some today about when we have had joy seeing others walk in the truth. Will you share your joy with us?