Now, let's turn in our Bibles to the Old Testament book of Ruth.
Ruth chapter 4.
And while you're turning there, just to remind you that next Sunday evening will look slightly different.
And that there's a chance for us, after we've thought about a big truth from the Bible,
and what it means for everyday life.
A chance for us to discuss in small groups.
You don't need to stay, but hopefully be a helpful time for us to work those truths into our hearts and lives.
So we're doing that for six weeks, and so everyone's very welcome to that.
Ruth chapter 4.
As we finish this wonderful story.
Meanwhile, Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian redeemer he had mentioned came along.
Boaz said, come over here, my friend, and sit down.
So he went over and sat down.
Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, sit here.
And they did so.
Then he said to the guardian redeemer,
Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimele.
I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people.
If you will redeem it, do so.
But if you will not, tell me.
So I will know.
For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.
I will redeem it, he said.
Then Boaz said, on the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.
At this, the guardian redeemer said, then I cannot redeem it.
Because I might endanger my own estate.
You redeeming yourself, I cannot do it.
Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other.
This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.
So the guardian redeemer said to Boaz, buy it yourself, and he removed his sandal.
Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people,
Today you are witnesses.
I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilian, and Margo.
I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Malon's widow as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property,
so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his home town.
Today you are witnesses.
Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, we are witnesses.
May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel.
May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.
Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman.
May your family be like that of Herod, whom Tamar bore to Judah.
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.
When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
The woman said to Naomi, praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer.
May he become famous throughout Israel.
He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.
For your daughter-in-law, who loves you, and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.
Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for her.
The woman living there said, Naomi has a son, and they named him Obed.
He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This thing is the family life of Perez.
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron, the father of Ram.
Ram, the father of Aminadah.
Aminadah, the father of Neshon.
Neshon, the father of Salmon.
Salmon, the father of Boaz.
Boaz, the father of Obed.
Obed, the father of Jesse.
And Jesse, the father of David.
Amen.
And that's how the book of Ruth ends.
So this week, as I was reading, especially the conclusion, I was thinking, how different would the book of Ruth look if Disney did Ruth?
We know that we'd done Moses.
What if they did Ruth?
Well, certainly they would focus on what we have in the story of Ruth.
We've got this on the boy meets girl.
We've got the romantic angle.
What we've seen is the story of Ruth is one of love across death grids.
Ruth is from Moab, a foreigner to Israel.
You can imagine Disney would like the rescue.
We've spoken of Boaz as a redeemer.
So the idea of a heroic rescue, perhaps.
And certainly, Disney, they would all live happily ever after.
Then we come to the true story, to the Bible story.
We see that some of those things are there, but there's also some surprises.
So we have got a rescue.
We have got a redeemer.
But there's not so much in the way of dramatic rescue.
It's taking place in a courtroom.
And we do have a happily ever after, but there's a surprising focus to it.
Because it's almost as if Ruth and Boaz are going to disappear out of shot.
And the focus is on Naomi.
And then it's on the nation of history.
So we're given a happy ending, but it's a surprisingly big one.
Because this story began in the dark days of the judges.
And what we know about the days of the judges is that everybody was doing just whatever they wanted to do.
So there was moral and spiritual, religious chaos.
And in the days of the judges were told that there was no king.
So the hope at the end of the judges is that God would provide a king as the answer to the darkness.
And how does Ruth end?
Ruth ends with a family line that leads us to King David.
So the hope in the story of Ruth comes first of all in that God provides a redeemer, this man called Boaz.
But he also does that so as to provide for a king called David.
And so we take the whole story of Ruth in view, especially when we come to chapter 4 here.
And we see again how this helps to highlight for us God's redeeming love.
That this is much more than a happily ever after for Naomi or for Israel.
That through Jesus, the redeemer, who is also God's king, there can be good news for each one of us.
There is hope extended to a world that is lost in sin, that is knowing much hope, brokenness and confusion, just like the judges.
We can find hope in the sending, in the promise of Jesus.
So let's look at this story together for a little while.
Looking first of all at this first scene, which takes place in the courtroom.
So we can see a family rescue that is taking place in the first 12 verses here in the courtroom in Bethlehem.
And I guess we, as a culture, we enjoy a good courtroom drama.
We have some classics, the 12 Magnum Ends, Kill a Mockingbird, we have our John Grissoms, we like.
Courtroom dramas.
This one takes place in Bethlehem.
And it takes place at the city gates.
So let's dive into this.
And let's see, first of all, the preparation for the courtroom.
We see in verse 1, if you have your Bibles, Boaz goes up to the town gate.
And the town gate in that day was the courtroom of his day.
That's where community business happened.
So he deliberately goes to the town gate.
And then we see, again, God's guiding hand.
Boaz is just sat down, just as the guardian redeemer he had mentioned came along.
So just as we've seen all throughout the book of Ruth, God is guiding action so that Boaz might serve as redeemer.
So what does Boaz say?
He says, come over here, my friend, and sit down.
And that's not, let's sit down for a cozy chat.
This is sit down, let's transact some legal business here.
And we see that because the next thing that Boaz does, verse 2, is he calls 10 of the elders of the town to sit.
So they act, in that sense that we think about that, during the act as witnesses to all that's about to unfold.
So the preparation has been made.
And now in verses 3 to 8, we can see it here.
We've got a report of what happens in the court.
And it's very much driven by the words of Boaz.
And so he says to his friends, here's the situation.
There is Naomi.
She's part of your family.
She is in poverty.
She's needing to sell the family land.
You're in the legal position to buy it, to act as her protector.
Are you willing?
So this unnamed actor, and I think it's deliberately unnamed because he serves as a contrast to Boaz.
He's thinking, okay, I'm being asked to care for an old lady.
And when she dies, I will receive her land.
And I can add it to my inheritance.
So he says, yes, I am willing.
And at that stage, Boaz turns to him and says, well, there's one more complicated factor.
When you buy the land, you also will inherit a new wife, Ruth.
And you have to raise a family with her in order to keep that land, to keep the family line of Elimelech going.
And at that stage, this unnamed guardian or kinsman redeemer said, no, no, thank you.
I can't do that.
It seems like perhaps the cost was too high.
I can mean the financial cost was too high to care for Naomi, to care for Lou.
Perhaps he certainly thought that there was a risk of his estate being weakened.
Boaz also deliberately draws attention to the fact that Ruth is from Moab.
Perhaps he felt there was a risk to his status to take to his own home someone who is from outside of Israel.
But either way, he says to Boaz, I am not willing to be the redeemer.
You do.
And then we come to that unusual bit in verse 7 and verse 8.
We find that legal practice of the sandal swap.
Legal practices, I guess, adapt over time.
We discover that even here in the book of Ruth.
This idea of taking off your sandal and giving it to the other party.
Say, here's a transfer that's now taken place and being formalized.
They didn't do that in the time of writing anymore.
But with that sandal being taken and handed over, the deal is now sealed.
There is an agreement that Boaz is going to function as the kinsman redeemer.
He is going to pay the price to secure the land for Naomi.
He's going to commit to Ruth and to raising a family with her.
And that takes us to Boaz's response in verses 9 and 10.
And what does he do?
He asks the elders and all the people who were gathered to be witnesses.
To be witnesses to those two realities.
The one who will act as the kinsman redeemer to secure the family land.
But also that he's going to take Ruth as his wife.
To preserve Maraul's family name.
And then we get verses 11 and 12.
The reaction in the courtroom.
Where they announce that they are willing to be witnesses.
And then what we see is that they seek blessing from Boaz.
One of the wonderful features of Boaz is that in every scene he is regarded as honorable.
He is presented to us as a man of faith.
And so this crowd, the elders and others, they seek this blessing from Boaz.
And it's got some significant features.
And so they want that Ruth, this Moabite foreigner,
would have as significant a part in the story of Israel as Rachel and Leah.
And they're mothers of the first twelve.
And they became the twelve tribes of Israel.
And may the Lord make the women who's coming into your home like Rachel and Leah.
And together build up the family of Israel.
They seek a blessing and a legacy of faith on Boaz.
May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.
And then in verse twelve.
It says,
Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young man,
may your family, a bit like that, of Perez,
whom Tamar bore to Judah.
And this is interesting.
This is another one of those Old Testament legal details.
Tamar, this woman Tamar,
is the other famous,
it's called a leperate marriage in the Old Testament.
And so where there is a widow who dies without children,
and it's the responsibility of a family member,
a brother,
to raise a family for the dead man.
Tamar,
Genesis thirty-eight,
is the other famous story.
And there's some parallels,
and then some significant differences.
But we get to verse twelve,
and we get to the end of this courtroom scene.
And what we discover is that Boaz,
the hero in our story,
he has,
and that's it,
won his case,
and there's honour that's given to him.
And we can imagine the courtroom breaking into cheers,
perhaps.
And they ask for these wonderfully large blessings
to come to Boaz.
But little did they know
how God would answer so far above and beyond their expectations.
That God's plans for this family in Bethlehem
would include the future king of Israel,
the king after God's own heart.
Little did they know
that Ruth would be in the family line of the Lord Jesus.
Little did they imagine
how God was going to use this little family
to demonstrate God's covenant faithfulness
far beyond Bethlehem
to all peoples everywhere.
Now before we leave the courtroom,
maybe a couple of lessons to draw.
First of all,
thinking about Boaz.
And to think about Boaz
as an everyday hero of faith.
You know,
we think about,
maybe we think about our Sunday school heroes.
They're usually known for very courageous,
brave acts.
Maybe in battle,
we think of our Gideons
and our Davids even.
But here is Boaz,
and he's just a wonderful,
upstanding man of faith.
He is a model employer
who seeks God's blessing
on those who work in his fields.
He protects and cares
for those who are vulnerable
as they work.
He shows mercy
to an outsider.
He extends hospitality.
We see him absolutely committed
to this work of
being a redeemer
for Naomi and Ruth
and honoring Ruth
for her covenant loyalty
in the dark days.
In the dark days of the judges,
boy,
that shines bright
for his faith.
And isn't that a wonderful
call to us
as the people have gotten
an encouragement to us?
To be faithful
in the everyday
stuff of life.
So much of this
isn't spectacular
in that sense,
but called
to be faithful
to honor God
in what
we're given
to do.
And do you know
we do that
understanding
that God
has his plans
for how he will
use them.
Now, we don't know
what those plans are,
but God does.
What does he call us to do?
He calls us
to be faithful
in the everyday
stuff of life.
Knowing that that's
how he is able
to work
in and through
us.
Let's also think
about the sacrifice
of Boaz.
Because we meet
Boaz in chapter 2
and never once
do we find Boaz
asking what's in it
for me.
He is committed
to serve,
to honor,
to love.
Never thinking
about the cost
to himself.
Or the things
are affected
because he's
willing to pay.
And he stands
in stark contrast
to this guy
who was supposed
to act as the
guardian redeemer.
I would say,
no, that risk
is too high,
that cost is too high
I'm unwilling to pay.
I'm unwilling
to care for
this old lady.
I'm unwilling
to extend
her family life.
I wonder
if we recognize
something of that
dependency
in our own
hearts and lives.
Perhaps
to be asking,
well, what's in it
for me when it
comes to
serving the church?
what's the cost
going to be?
Is this going
to be too much
of an inconvenience
for me and my
family for the
things that I
want to do?
I think Boaz
stands as a
wonderful reminder
of that call
that we have
knowing how God
has been so
kind to us
and served us
that he calls
us to serve
others,
to care for
others,
to have a heart
for those who
are needy.
so we don't
want to be like
that,
but we want
to be like
Boaz.
But then to
think about
the way
that Boaz's
story goes
and we find
him in this
courtroom scene
taking the
initiative to
function as
the redeemer,
that also helps
us to think
about the
gospel and
it helps us
think about
God's amazing
grace.
Because we
find legal
language being
used at the
gospel,
we find the
idea of the
judge and a
judgment being
used in the
storyline of the
Bible.
And what we
need to understand
as people is
that our place
in God's
courtroom by
nature,
our standing
in the drama
of human history,
where do we
find ourselves
in God's
courtroom?
We would
find ourselves
by nature
in the
dog,
standing before
God the
judge guilty
as charged.
guilty of
pride,
that we
live without
God,
guilty of
idolatry,
where we
would make
other things
to be as
important and
more important
to us than
God,
guilty of
rebellion,
where we
ignore God
as king and
turn our
back on his
law.
All of those
realities the
Bible calls
sin, so we
would stand
in the dog
guilty as
charged and
we would
have no
case for
the defense.
As the
Bible says,
every mouth
will be
silenced
before God
the righteous
judge.
That's us
by nature
without God's
intervention.
And then we
need to see
how Boaz
points us
to the
coming of
Jesus,
because into
this courtroom
drama steps
Jesus, and
Jesus is
willing to
become our
legal
representative.
He is the
judge, but
he enters
the dog and
he takes
our place
and he
takes our
punishment.
That there
on the cross
the judge is
judged for
us.
He is
condemned so
that we
might be
forgiven and
set free to
enjoy peace
with God.
That faith in
Jesus means
that we receive
the declaration
over us that
we are
righteous, that
we are not
condemned.
Jesus, the
judge who
has taken
our place,
he is ready
to honour
us and to
take us
home to
where he
is.
And so
great is
his love
for us, a
great love
that far
exceeds that
even of
Boaz.
The story
of Ruth
and the
story of
Boaz, it
also reminds
us about
how wide
God's
grace is.
Because in
God's
kingdom we
discover there
is grace
and there
is a
welcome for
Ruth.
Yes, she
is from
Moab and
yes, she
was serving
other gods
but now
she has
come to
faith in
the one
true God
and there
is grace
for her.
And in
God's
wisdom and
God's
mercy, she
is in
the family
tree of
Jesus.
How is
Jesus known
when he
came to
live among
us?
He was
known as
the friend
of sinners.
Some people
hated him
for that.
Religious
people should
just stay
with religious
types.
And Jesus
would just
come for the
good.
God would
just want to
say that
that wasn't
Jesus'
pattern.
Others
loved him
for the fact
he was
friend of
sinners,
especially
those that
everybody else
despised.
Those that
were on the
margins, they
flocked to
Jesus because
they knew
they were
by mercy
and grace.
Yes, they
would be
confronted about
their sin, but
they would also
have the
prospect of
forgiveness and
life of God
through him.
And what we
see in the
gospels is
his deliberate
kindness to
the least and
to the most
unlikely.
And it's
what we see
all through
the Bible,
it's what we
see in the
story of
grace.
And so as
we think
about that,
if that's
God's
pattern in the
Old Testament,
that plan
right from
the beginning
to extend
his blessing
to all
the nations,
and if that
was the
pattern of
Jesus,
it makes
us ask
some practical
questions of
ourselves.
Who is my
welcome,
brothers?
How is the
mercy and
kindness of
God expressed
by me to
others?
What is our
attitude to
the poor?
What is our
attitude?
to those who
come from
other nations
to live
among us
and to
worship
with us?
Where we
be as
broad as
our King,
as loving
as King
Jesus.
Well,
let's move
from the
courtroom to
where our
story closes
in the
family home
of Boaz
and Ruth.
I hear the
focus isn't
just on the
rescue of
this family,
the focus is
now on the
royal family
line.
In a sense,
we might
expect
chapter 4,
verse 13,
to be where
the story
would end.
This is the
happy ending
we expect.
We've been
looking forward
to seeing
Boaz and
Ruth be
married,
and then
nine months
later,
as the
drama moves
on,
a son is
born.
If this
was dizzy,
you'd hear the
big song,
to be
incredibly
credited.
That's not
where we
finish.
Rather,
what we
see is the
director of
this story
having this
wide-angle
lens on
joy,
so that
we also
find joy,
verse 17,
in the fact
that Naomi
has a
son.
So we're
back to
thinking about
God's
provision for
Naomi.
And then
in verse
17 and
verse 22,
we're left
with the
good news
that the
nation has
a king.
Obey was
the father
of Jesse,
and Jesse,
the father
of the
king.
Verse 13
is also
significant.
Because it's
only the
second time
in the
story where
God is
named as
an actor.
We see
him directing,
as it were,
behind the
scenes,
guiding in
providence,
but here we
see the
Lord enabled
Ruth to
conceive.
In chapter
1 and
verse 6,
the Lord
had come to
aid of his
people by
providing
food.
And now
the Lord
has come
and provided
a child
for Ruth
and for
Boaz.
She had
been married
for 10
years to
Madeline,
and no
child ever
here,
by God's
grace,
she is
able to
conceive.
And again,
to highlight
God's glory
and God's
grace,
we find this
theme throughout
the story of
the Bible.
Women who
are unable
to have
children,
they're enabled
by the
grace of
God to
conceive.
We find
it back
with the
story of
Abraham and
Sarah,
we find
it with
Rebecca and
with Rachel,
we find it
with Hannah
and we find
it with
Ruth.
Whenever
there is
an act of
God to
enable someone
to conceive
and give
birth to a
child,
we know
that God
is going
to use
that child
for his
own purpose.
And that
prepares us
for the
beginning of
the New
Testament
for the
greatest
miraculous
conception
when God
by the
power of
the Holy
Spirit
would cause
Jesus to
be conceived
in the womb
of the
Virgin Mary,
the great
Redeemer,
the great
King has
come.
But back
to our
story,
verses 14
to 17,
what we
find is
Naomi's
friends
gathering
in the
family home
and it's
very much
her story
that's in
view,
we would
probably
expect
Boaz and
Ruth to
be in
view,
but the
focus is
on Naomi.
Naomi
who left
many years
before with
a husband
and two
sons.
Naomi
who came
back with
Ruth to
Bethlehem
and she
came back
bitter,
came back
empty,
came back
feeling the
Lord's hand
was against
her.
Now her
friends are
saying,
praise thee
to the
Lord who
this day
has not
left you
without a
guardian
redeemer.
They can
see just
as Naomi
can see
God's
gracious
hand at
work in
her life.
Now in
chapter 2
and 3 the
focus of
the guardian
redeemer was
Boaz,
but did you
notice as we
read chapter 4
how it
switched?
None of the
guardian
redeemer in
Naomi's
like,
it is this
little child
who has
been born,
little
Obeg.
And why
is he the
kinsman
redeemer?
Because for
this elderly
widow,
having a
son in
her family
was for
her a
source of
security.
Obeg,
when he
grows up,
will be
able to
work to
provide for
Naomi and
for Ruth.
And through
Obeg,
the family
land will
be killed.
So we
have this
wonderful
story where
Naomi is
really moved
and motivated
towards,
at the
beginning,
finding a
place of
rest,
a home,
and security
for Ruth.
First of all
telling her to
go back to
her own land
and her own
people,
and then to
seek that
rest from
Boaz.
And God
provides for
Ruth through
Boaz,
but also has
provided for
Naomi.
His kindness
is so much
wider than
Naomi could
anticipate.
And then we
look at the
request and
the prayer of
blessing from
Naomi's
bride.
Verse 14,
may he,
may this
child,
Obeg,
may he
become famous
throughout
Israel.
And again,
God's going to
answer that
prayer above
and beyond.
They're asking
as Obeg
becomes the
grandfather
in the
fullness of
time of
King David.
Just as
a, in a
sense, as
a by-the-by,
God
encourages
our
dependent
prayers,
and God
encourages us
to pray
big.
Because our
God is
powerful,
and our
God is
generous,
and we
will never
out-ask
our God.
And so,
stories like
this, and
prayers like
this, as we
see their
fulfillment,
encourage us,
should encourage
us to pray
and to keep
praying for
God's kingdom
to come and
his will to be
done in our
church, in our
city, in our
families, in our
world.
And then
verse 15,
notice the
praise that
Ruth has
given.
If you're
a doctor
in law,
who loves
you, and
who's
better to
you than
seven sons
is given
birth.
And again,
what's in
view here,
it is the
covenant love,
the faithfulness,
the loyalty,
the love in
action of
Ruth.
The whole
book is
full of
covenant
faithfulness,
from Ruth,
from Boaz,
and ultimately
from God
himself.
Verse 17,
we come to
a naming
ceremony.
name.
The women
living there
said,
Naomi has
a son,
and they
named him
Obeg.
And the
name Obeg
means he
serves.
And so the
natural question
to ask is,
who is it
that Obeg
serves?
And there
are two
ways, I
think,
the story
of Ruth
invites us
to answer.
First of
all,
Obeg
serves God,
and serves
God's purposes,
because he
becomes God's
agent to
remove that
bitterness and
that emptiness
from Naomi,
providing a
future and a
security for
her.
And so he
serves God,
but he also
serves Naomi
by functioning
as that
redeemer,
by being that
source of
security and
rest.
And so
what do we
would expect?
Wow, okay,
so here's Ruth
and she's got a
child, and Naomi
has a son,
and she's got
this kinsman,
and we would
expect a
happy life
after here.
But we're
still not
done.
And we're
not done
because the
author of
the book of
Ruth has
taken us
all the way
from the
dark days
of the
judges to
the wonderful
kindness of
God in
giving the
king after
God's own
heart,
King David.
And so the
true happily
ever after
doesn't come
until we move
beyond God
providing the
redeemer at
the time of
the judges
to providing
the king
through David
and through
this royal
family.
And so we
finish with
a genealogy.
That's never
how we would
expect a great
love story to
finish.
But it's so
important to the
people of God
to see God's
faithfulness working
through the
generations,
working through
Ruth and Boaz
to take us
to David.
David.
When Matthew
came to
write his
gospel,
that's when
he started
with a
genealogy,
taking us
through this
family to
the coming
of Jesus.
In the
dark times
in which
Jesus came
to a world
lost without
God,
that genealogy
reminds the
world that
God is
faithful,
that God
is working
out his
covenant
purposes,
showing covenant
faithfulness,
working out
his plan.
And so we
leave the
wonderful book
of Ruth
behind,
having celebrated
in every
chapter God's
covenant love,
God's
redeeming love.
chapter 4
finished with
a wedding
and with
a family
tree.
And with
the covenant
commitment of
Ruth and
Boaz,
with them
coming together
and with
Obed being
born.
When we
think about
our wedding
services,
and we
have a
husband and
a wife
coming to
make vows,
with four
family,
with four
friends,
with four
children,
with four
God,
committing for
richer and
for poorer,
for sickness
and in
health,
and better
and for
worse till
death do
us part.
It's a
covenant
relationship,
binding,
lifelong,
covenant
love.
Now when we
think about
Boaz and
Ruth, we
learn what
covenant
love looks
like.
It looks
like active
service,
it looks
like sacrifice,
for the
other.
It looks
like devotion
and hard
work and
generosity
and hospitality.
And one
of the things
that we're
laying with in
the book of
Ruth is
these wonderful
figures to
admire and
to aspire
towards.
In our
marriages,
in our
families,
in our
friendships,
to be
showing this
love and
loyalty,
this active
loving
service.
But we
don't want to
stop just
for the
human
actors.
And we
need to
see God
and his
covenant
faith
with him.
That he
is committed
to loving
and to
saving sinful,
rebellious
people.
So committed
that he
will work
his plans
through history
to give us
a redeemer
who is a
king,
whose name
is Jesus.
Jesus who
came to
establish the
new covenant
with his
church by
giving his
own body
and blood
for us.
Do we
know this
love?
Do we
rest in
the covenant
love of
God?
Do we
all know
this love
for ourselves?
Let's pray
together.
Lord God,
thank you
for this
wonderful story
that we've
been able to
reflect on
for the last
few weeks.
We thank
you for
the many
pictures of
covenant
love and
faithfulness
we see in
the human
actors.
We thank
you too
for the
covenant
faithfulness
we see
from you,
our God.
Thank you
for your
work of
providence
in guiding
and directing
so that a
redeemer was
found,
so a king
would come,
ultimately
so that
King Jesus,
our great
redeemer,
would come.
Lord,
help us to
enjoy his
love and
give us the
help we
need to
reflect that
love, to
demonstrate that
love to
one another.
Lord, as we
go into a
new week,
we thank you
that if we
have faith in
Jesus, we
know that you
go with us,
that you are
absolutely
committed to
our welfare,
come what
may.
And so we
ask that we
would trust
you and
worship you.
In Jesus'
name we
pray.
Amen.
Now we
will close
singing from
Psalm 147,
the first
seven verses.
Let's stand
to sing.
tonight.
Thank you.