Get On The Right Road

It seems so simple...if you want to get to a desired destination, you have to be on a road that leads to that destination. Good intentions will not get you where you want to go if you are on the wrong road. We all know it's true. But so many people think they will be the exception.

The Bible says that Naomi received word that the famine had ended in Bethlehem, and Ruth 1:7 we are told:  “With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.”


When we set out on the road that will take us where we want to go, it is important to remember that it is a journey. We want instant results, to move from bad to blessed overnight. Most of the time, it doesn't happen that way. The first action step that Naomi took to turn her bad situation better was to set out! She put some distance from the bad situation she was in and the place of praise she wanted to be. There is some distance you must travel in order to get out of the place where you've been living and get to the place where you want to be. It's a process. And the first step is to get on the road.

I love the way Andy Stanley puts in his book "The Principle of the Path". If you live in Chattanooga and decide to go to Florida, you can pack on the right stuff, have every intention of going to the beach, and even be excited about the trip. But if you get on Interstate 75 north, no matter how good your intentions are, no matter how excited you are about the trip, you will never get to Florida. To get to the destination you want, you have to get on the right road.

So let me encourage you today to take a good look at the road you are traveling. Look at the decisions you are making. Take a look at your daily schedule and your checkbook. If those things indicate you are making choices to keep leading you from bad to worse...it's time to get on another road. Set out on the road back to Judah...back to praise...back to blessing.

A Journey From Bad To Better

This week, we began a new sermon series based on the book of Ruth. It is a book filled with tremendous truths even thought it is a very small book. There are only four chapters, 85 verses, and you can read the entire book in less than 20 minutes. Yet this book is filled with amazing principles.

The theme of our first sermon, in fact, the theme of the book, is one of tremendous encouragement. The over-arching theme reminds us of this great truth: When it appears that all hope is lost...it isn't! 


This week, we are going to explore chapter one through the eyes of one of the main characters, Naomi. Twelve-hundred years before the birth of Christ, Naomi and her husband, Emilech, lived in the city of Bethlehem with their two sons. This was during a very difficult time for the people of Judah. There was a tremendous famine in the land. People were starving to death. So Emilech decided to move his small family 50 miles to the east, to the pagan city of Moab. Even though it was only 50 miles away, Moab was a totally different culture. They worshiped pagan gods, and were even involved in human sacrifices.

The situation in Judah must have been extremely bad if Emilech was willing to move his family to Moab. The Bible says that Emilech planned to  move to Moab "for a while", indicating that he planned to stay there for a short time. The implication was, hen the famine in Judah was complete, he was going to move his family back to Judah. However, shortly after moving to Moab, Emilech died, leaving Naomi to raise her two sons by herself. Her journey from bad just got worse.

But that is not the end of the story. What was meant to be a short visit to Moab became a decade long stay. During that time, Naomi's sons married Moabite women. Even though she was a widow, living in a foreign land, things were at least remaining on a status quo. But then, it went from bad to worse again.

After a decade, both of her sons died. Now, Naomi was left to take care of her two daughter-in-laws. She wass alone and destitute, facing more responsibility than she should ever have to face.

But her story doesn't end there! It is not just a story of moving from bad to worse to worse. It is actually a story of moving from bad to better. Even though she was at the point where it appeared she had lost everything, a new life was waiting for her right around the corner.

The Bible says that Naomi received word that the famine had ended in Bethlehem, and Ruth 1:7 is a key verse:  “With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.” Remember, the word Judah literally means praise. Naomi is going back to the land of praise, the land of blessing. If you don't like the situation you're in right now, Naomi’s example gives us three action steps to move from worse to better. We will be exploring those action steps this week.

But for today, remember this...when it looks like all is hopeless...it isn't!

When You've Done All You Can Do, God Is Not Done!

A substitute Sunday School teachers was upstairs struggling to open a combination lock on the supply cabinet for some supplies for her students. She had been told the combination but couldn’t remember it. She went and found her pastor to see if he could help. He went upstairs and began to turn the dial. After the first two numbers, he paused and then looked heavenward while his lips moved silently. Then he looked back to the lock, quickly turned to the final number, and opened the cabinet. The teacher was amazed and said, “Wow. I’m amazed at your faith, Pastor.” To which he responded, “It’s really nothing. The combination is on a piece of tape on the ceiling.”

Of course, the analogy is, when all else fails, look up. Christmas is a season of hope. And hope is a predominant theme in the Scriptures. Time after time, God shows up and works in miraculous, though sometimes mysterious ways.  To people whose situations seem hopeless, God moved on the scene and transforms their hopeless situation. It was in the midst of one of these hopeless situation that David declares in Psalm 42:5 “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God....”

However, out of all the hopeless situations in the Bible where God moved into a downcast, disturbing situation, none appear more hopeless that the one Ezekiel finds himself in in Ezekiel 37. In chapter 37, Ezekiel is transported by the Spirit of the Lord to the middle of a valley. God wants to show him, and us,  how to have hope in a hopeless situation. In Verse 11, the words from this valley are: “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone…” Their spirits were shriveled up inside them. Have you ever felt that way? Do you feel that way today? While this chapter is dealing specifically with God bringing the nation of Israel out of Babylon and putting them back in the land of Israel, there are at least four things that we learn from Ezekiel's experience that we should emulate when we feel hopeless. But before we explore anything we should do, let's emphasize the main point of Scripture...When you’ve done all you can do, God is not done! That is why we can "put our hope in God...."

Joy To The Word...And You Too!

This week I have been talking about the gift of joy. I began the week talking about the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness depends on what happens to us. Joy is a Divine dimension of living that is not influenced to by our circumstances but by the Spirit of God within us.

Happiness is a reaction to events. Rejoicing is a choice. Actually, it’s more than a choice, it is a command repeated twice in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Let me share a few choices we can make to help us rejoice. First of all, recognize God as joyful. Our joy will increase if we view God as a Creator with a smile on His face rather than a taskmaster. Listen to how God feels about you according to Zephaniah 3:17: “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” God delights in you and breaks out into song when He thinks about you! That’s hard to believe, isn’t it? I love how the Living Bible paraphrases this verse: “Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song.” 


Another choice you can make is to become actively involved in sharing your faith.  Philemon 6 says: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”  Luke 15 reminds us that heavenly rejoicing takes place when people who are spiritually lost discover Christ. When the lost sheep is recovered, verse 5 says that the owner “joyfully puts it on his shoulders” and then goes home and calls his friends and neighbors together and declares in verse 6, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. I tell you in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents…” Jesus reminds us in John 4:36 that we can be filled with delight when we participate in the process of evangelism: “Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.” 


So as we wrap up our look at the gift of joy this week, let me just remind you of the words the angels proclaimed to the shepherds in Luke 2:10:" I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." This is a message of great joy for the entire world. But the angel also adds in verse 11: "Today...a Savior has been born to YOU...." This is also a personal message. Corrie Ten Boom once said, "If Jesus were born one thousand times in Bethlehem and not in me, then I would still be lost." While it is the season we proclaim joy to the world, it is also a season that we ultimately need to be reminded that a Savior is born to YOU!

Glad Tidings of Great Joy

Luke 2:10 says that the angels told the frightened shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people". This was news “of great joy.” The word great here is the word megas in the original language. It has the idea of mega joy or super-sized cheerfulness. This good news is exceedingly exciting because God is bringing about the solution to the sin problem. They went from total terror to mega joy.

In Galatians 4:15, Paul asked a very penetrating question: “What has happened to all your joy…” That question needs to be asked many churches today. Do we as a people of God demonstrate super-sized joy? What has happened to all our joy? Perhaps the great evangelist from the last century, Billy Sunday, helps us answer that question. He once said, “The trouble with many men is that they have got just enough religion to make them miserable. If there is not joy in religion, you’ve got a leak in your religion.” A pastor once said to Groucho Marx: “Mr. Marx, I want to thank you for bringing so much joy into the world.” To which Groucho replied, “I want to thank you for taking so much out.”

We tend to equate “happiness” with joy but they are two totally different ideas because they each spring from a different source. Happiness comes from external sources and events. Joy originates directly from the Holy Spirit. Happiness is dependent upon what is happening to me. If people treat me nicely, if things are going well in my life, then I’m happy. If my circumstances aren’t favorable, then I’m unhappy.

Joy, on the other hand, is a divine dimension of living that is not influenced by circumstances. The Hebrew word means, “To leap or spin around with pleasure.” In the New Testament the word refers to “gladness, bliss, and celebration.” 


The message of Christmas is one of gladness, a season of bliss, and a source of celebration. Could it be possible to have more leaping and spinning with pleasure in our services?