There is Power in the Name of Jesus

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- Barbara. Take two.

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- Hola. Me nombre es Barbara.

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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I'm Sean and I'm a part of the Crossroads Anywhere team.

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You know, Crossroads is one church

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with many locations full of people

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meeting digitally and physically all over the world

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in church buildings, homes, dorm rooms, bars,

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and really, really just about anywhere people can gather.

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And I know there are hundreds and thousands

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of you meeting all around the globe.

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And really, I would love to help you

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find the right people who can help you grow

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on your journey with God.

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Now, today, you're joining us in a series

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all about hope, and we believe that

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Jesus is the best shot that any of us have at true hope.

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You know, that story is why

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I love being a part of this place.

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You know, we partner with organizations

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around the world to bring hope to people

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in places that need it.

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Barbara is a modern day widow who lost everything.

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She was incredibly vulnerable,

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and yet God was looking to bring hope to her life.

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That's what today is all about:

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Jesus bringing hope to vulnerable places.

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Right now we're going to sing some songs

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to the God we believe offers us our best shot at hope.

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If you don't believe every word, that's okay.

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You are in the right place.

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We just encourage you not to jump ahead

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and to lean in and worship with us.

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- Let's sing to the One

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who has all power over those walls.

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If you ever wonder

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why people call Him King Jesus,

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I want to tell you it's because He is

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the authority above all other authorities.

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He is the foundation of what true kingship looks like.

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He is. He's the lion and He's the lamb.

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He's full of power, yet He's full of sacrifice

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at the same time.

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The Bible tells us that the kings

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and the evil powers of this world

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will rise up to try to destroy Him.

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But I want to read you what it says in Revelation 17:

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This is the One, King Jesus, who is worthy,

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worthy of our worship, the true King.

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And so I will sing these words to Him,

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to the One who has all power.

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- Sing the Reign of Darkness.

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When we sing who You are back to You,

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because You are Holy, because You are great,

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because You are mighty, because You are strong,

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because You are truth.

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God, You are worthy of worship.

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You are worthy of affection.

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You are worthy of our attention,

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so we give it to you right here in this moment.

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We sing holy to You.

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What us singing who You are,

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reflect back on us so that we can see who we are

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because of who You are,

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because of who You called us to be.

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That is Your holiness, Your faithfulness

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that we chase after.

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It's Your Name that we make great,

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that we sing, we sing to You that we worship.

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You are worthy of praise.

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In Your Son's name, we pray. Amen.

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Yeah, you can clap for that.

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I hope you feel His presence in the room.

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He's here. He's with us.

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It's a beautiful thing when we get to worship the Lord,

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He's here with us.

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Thank you for being here.

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For our Anywhere community, we're so glad

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that you're worshiping with us.

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Hey, before you grab a seat,

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why don't you say hey to somebody around you?

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Maybe you find two people say, what's up?

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Tell them your name if you don't know them.

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You can have a seat.

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- We say this a lot,

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but it's because we really believe it:

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Crossroads is not just content to watch.

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Our hope and prayer is that all of this

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is just the foundation and launching point

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to helping you grow and experience life change.

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One way that we believe you'll grow,

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and we're like 99% sure of it, actually,

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is through the seven proven practices.

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By logging on to watch this,

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you're already doing one of the practices

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through receiving weekly teaching.

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Congratulations and well done.

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Like, seriously, that is awesome.

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You know, another one of those practices

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is living generously.

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And we believe that specifically

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through something called the tithe.

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So what is the tithe?

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Well, we believe the Bible

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has a standard for giving, where we give 10%

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of our gross income back to God

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through our local church.

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Our entire staff tithes.

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And we have close to 4000 people

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who have been self-declared as tithers

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as a part of our Blue Team.

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Now, when you hear that, you may think that

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that sounds crazy, or even might even sound

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like bondage to you, like there's some divine rule

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that you have to follow with your money.

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You know, many people react that way at first,

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but hang with me.

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If you ask someone who ties faithfully,

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they will almost always tell you

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it has brought the exact opposite of bondage.

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Tithing has brought them freedom

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because when you get on God's plan,

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He delivers on His promises.

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Proverbs 3:9-10 says:

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And we have countless stories of people

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who will confirm what this verse says:

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that God is faithful and generous and good.

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And I found that to definitely be true

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in my own life and my own journey

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when it comes to tithing.

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Now, if you want to try tithing, we've made it easy

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with something called the Tithe Test.

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If you truly tithe for 90 days

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and you don't see God show up in some way

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in your life like He promises to do,

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we will refund all of your money.

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There's literally no risk.

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We've done this for five years and

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less than 2% of people have asked for refunds.

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Check it out at crossroads.net/TitheTest

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to engage with it or maybe just to get

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a few more questions about tithing answered.

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And we also have a tool for everyone,

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no matter where you're at in your tithing journey.

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We know that while God brings freedom,

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the world's financial ways almost always bring bondage.

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That's why we created an entire program

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called Freed Up.

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It's designed to help you manage your finances

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in ways that God says will work best.

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It's a program to help guide and equip people

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who follow Jesus to manage money in a healthier way.

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It's all through biblical wisdom.

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And you can engage with it alongside others

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in community through a group.

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So check out Crossroads.net/FreedUp

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for all the details and to learn more about it.

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And whether or not your years deep

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in your tithing journey, you're just beginning,

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or you're not quite there yet,

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you can support the work God is doing here

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at our church at Crossroads.net/give.

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Now right now we're going to hear from

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our teaching pastor Alli Patterson,

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on how Jesus brings hope to the vulnerable

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and how we can be a part of that too.

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- Well, hey everyone, I'm Alli.

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It's great to be with you gathered in community

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here at Crossroads this weekend.

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I don't know about you, but the last few weeks here

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have ended up being some of my favorite in recent memory.

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My husband and I do what I think you guys do too.

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You can tell me.

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We get in the car and we go, "Did you like that?

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What'd you think?

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Did you get anything out of it?

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Do you really like him?"

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We know you do that. It's all good.

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But the last few weeks,

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all of those car conversations, I feel like

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just one after the next, we've been like,

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"Wow, that was really good.

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I'm so uplifted. I feel so good."

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And I think it's because we've been majoring

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on a message of hope, really deeply looking at

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the hope that the gospel brings

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into especially the life of the hopeless.

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These six different groups of people

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that we see all throughout Scripture

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seem beyond hope: the sick, the prisoner,

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the poor, the stranger.

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Today we're going to be talking about another one

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that appears over and over again through the Bible,

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and the group is referred to often

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as orphans and widows.

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And strangely, they almost always appear together,

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which we're going to be talking about today.

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And I think you're going to leave here

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knowing that you have far more in common

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with widows and orphans, spiritually speaking,

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than you might ever have known.

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And God wants to offer the protection

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and provision that we need

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in a really profound and unexpected way.

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So let me pray for us as we get started.

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Lord, thank You for Your Word to us tonight

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about any place that we are vulnerable.

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I pray that You would meet us in that space

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and bring new life and new hope there.

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In Jesus's name, Amen.

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Well, I've known that I'm going to be

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talking about orphans and widows

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for a couple of months.

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The way our teaching plan works is

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we usually know the topics several months in advance.

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But the very Monday morning

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that I started to work on this message,

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I actually got an email.

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I opened up my email and right there in my inbox

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was an email that said, the subject line said,

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can I talk to you about widows?

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And I had to laugh because sometimes God

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just literally sends you an email to help you.

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And so of course, I responded.

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It was to a woman in our Mason community

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who wanted to share some things with me about widows.

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She had heard that I was actually doing

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a lot more work on things for women

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in our community, and heard about

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the conference that is coming in August.

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It's called the Ignite Conference.

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We're going to be really encouraging women

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to look at stepping into a deeper life

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of purpose and mission.

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And so she wanted to share with me

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that her purpose, her mission, is to care for widows.

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She was widowed at a young age

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and has been building a community

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right here inside our community

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that really is focused on widows.

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And it was so eye opening for me to talk with her,

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because it's just not a topic that I've lived.

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And so hearing her experience and understanding

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all of the ways that God has met her

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in her own story really started to open my eyes

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to widows everywhere.

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Did you know there are 258 million widows

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in the world today? That blew me away.

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It absolutely blew me away.

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In my conversation with her, I realized that

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though the circumstances, the culture

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is extremely different than

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what we read about in the Bible,

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the outcomes in the life of this vulnerable group

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really are not very different.

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It remains one of the significant life events

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that can plunge people into poverty.

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Like 10% of widows around the world

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live in the poorest of poor conditions.

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And the poverty rate here in the US

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is much, much higher than comparable groups

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of women their age.

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Now I say women, not because widowers,

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men don't experience the same pain

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in the loss of a spouse,

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but only because the numbers don't lie.

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The laws on inheritance and transfer of wealth

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and property laws and things like that

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around the world, along with, you know,

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interruptions to work experience

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because of family care and all that kind of stuff.

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It really deeply accounts for widows

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becoming one of the most vulnerable groups

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around the globe, and orphans.

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And I started to ask myself, like,

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what is it that these two groups have in common?

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Why in the Bible, over and over

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do widows and orphans, widows and orphans,

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they're named together all the time?

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And it's because they've suffered a similar kind of loss.

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One of the more known verses

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in the New Testament about widows and orphans

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is this from James 1:27. It says:

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They have a common distress.

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What is that distress?

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That's the question, right?

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Why are they grouped together

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in this intense vulnerability?

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It's because they've lost the very people

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that we're supposed to be protecting

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and providing for them.

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They've lost the strength

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of something underneath their life.

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I was shocked at the numbers of orphans too:

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153 million.

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And even my surprise at as I dug into this topic,

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actually kind of speaks to the experience

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of these vulnerable groups.

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They almost disappear in societies.

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They fall into the cracks.

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We don't notice them in our own life.

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We're unaware because they have to continue living.

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Like what kind of deep, intense loss

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they've actually been through.

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They not have only lost provision,

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they've actually lost something that

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the Bible treats in a very different way

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than we do in our American culture.

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They've lost the strength of their family name.

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The more I read about widows and orphans

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through scripture, the more I understood that

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this common distress, this common loss is,

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yes, about care and provision,

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and all of that is important.

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But underneath that is the loss of a name.

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It's the loss of the power of a family name.

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Now, Americans, we don't really like this idea.

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Like our cultural mindset kind of tends to be one,

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like, I can make my own way in the world.

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We like that.

00:34:18

We prefer the individual message

00:34:20

where you can start fresh every generation.

00:34:22

A lot of us aren't familiar with our own family trees.

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We're just going to go out

00:34:26

and create a new identity

00:34:28

and a new destiny for ourselves.

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And that's a very American mindset.

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No matter what you think of that,

00:34:35

good, bad or otherwise,

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it definitely doesn't communicate

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what the Bible talks about in terms of name,

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the strength of power, the undergirding influence

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of a name, a name that gives cover,

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help, opportunity.

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More like being a Vanderbilt

00:34:52

or a Rockefeller or something.

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You know, a name that can open doors for you

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and name that that provides for you in ways

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that you could never have without that name.

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That is what a name really alludes to in the Bible:

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your identity, your occupation,

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your community, your inheritance.

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And when it comes right down to it,

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your very survival, your very survival

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is wrapped up around name.

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And so when when God describes the distress

00:35:21

of orphans and widows, it's the gravest kind,

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it's the loss of a name.

00:35:28

And we see that reality take place

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in a book of the Bible that we're going

00:35:31

to look at together tonight, the book of Ruth.

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And Ruth is a snapshot of one family's story

00:35:38

in the middle of an Old Testament period of the Bible.

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And so you get four little chapters.

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Ruth is an amazing book,

00:35:44

highly recommend you go read it.

00:35:45

Hopefully you'll want to after tonight.

00:35:47

It's an amazing short book,

00:35:49

and it's about the family of a guy named Elimelek.

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And Elimelek has a wife named Naomi,

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and they're in a famine in Bethlehem.

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They live in Bethlehem, and a great famine hits the land,

00:36:02

and they decide they need to move to

00:36:04

a neighboring country called Moab

00:36:06

to try to escape the famine.

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And so they do that,

00:36:08

and tragedy continues to follow them there.

00:36:13

And Naomi becomes a widow.

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Here's how the book of Ruth starts:

00:36:36

Naomi was not only widowed directly by her husband,

00:36:39

but then her sons died, so they would have been

00:36:42

the ones that would have carried on that name,

00:36:44

that provision, that protection for her

00:36:47

and for the wives that they left.

00:36:50

Three widows, no options for survival, no family name.

00:36:54

Naomi knew what that meant for their future.

00:36:57

And so she did what made sense to do.

00:37:01

She starts saying to the two daughters,

00:37:03

"You need to go take your best shot

00:37:06

f being provided for somewhere else,

00:37:08

because I don't have anything for you."

00:37:10

Here's what she tells them, it says:

00:37:38

Naomi says I have no name to offer you.

00:37:43

And if I don't have a name to cover you with,

00:37:46

then you might as well go back to the one you came from.

00:37:51

You have no hope with me.

00:37:53

She's trying her best

00:37:54

to do what she thought was right for them,

00:37:55

and she pushes them away.

00:37:57

And so one of them, her name is Orpah,

00:37:58

she does what Naomi says. She returned home.

00:38:01

Now, if only her name were Oprah,

00:38:05

she could have gone, "You get a husband

00:38:07

and you get a husband and you get a husband," right?

00:38:10

It is just one little letter flip flop.

00:38:13

You got to wonder what happened there, right?

00:38:15

Anyway, Orpah does what you would expect her to do.

00:38:18

She says, "That makes sense.

00:38:19

That seems like the wise idea."

00:38:20

And she returns to her family's household.

00:38:23

Because when we feel vulnerable

00:38:26

what makes sense to us, what we want to do

00:38:29

is we want to protect ourselves.

00:38:30

We want to take our best chance

00:38:32

of being provided for, of course. Right?

00:38:35

That just seems to make sense.

00:38:37

And that's what Orpah does.

00:38:38

I was thinking about something that

00:38:42

I started getting told as a teenager

00:38:44

by the culture, by people I knew, just messages,

00:38:47

you know, you pick up about ways

00:38:49

that you need to be in your life.

00:38:51

I think every woman I know has this kind of story.

00:38:54

I started getting told things

00:38:56

when I was a young woman about the fact

00:38:58

that I was physically vulnerable.

00:39:01

Now, those words weren't used, but that's the idea.

00:39:04

Like, you never --

00:39:05

I mean, when I went to college,

00:39:07

I can't count the number of people that were,

00:39:09

like, "You never walk anywhere alone.

00:39:11

Don't ever walk anywhere alone, especially at night."

00:39:13

I think I had to walk home one time by myself

00:39:16

from being out with some friends,

00:39:17

because we got separated, and I walked

00:39:19

straight down the middle of the street

00:39:21

with my head on a swivel like this,

00:39:23

you know, like, where is he?

00:39:24

Somebody coming for me?

00:39:27

I walked to my car with my keys in my hand.

00:39:30

I check under my car before I get in.

00:39:32

If there's a man in the elevator and I'm alone,

00:39:34

I get out of it.

00:39:35

Like things that I've been told from

00:39:37

the time I was young that imply you are vulnerable.

00:39:42

And I was thinking about that idea

00:39:44

and how we establish these practices in our life

00:39:47

around our assumptions that we're vulnerable,

00:39:50

maybe physically, maybe financially for you,

00:39:52

maybe you can't take one more financial hit.

00:39:54

You're barely making it.

00:39:57

And if something happens, you're done.

00:40:00

Like, something cannot break.

00:40:02

You know you're vulnerable. You're best.

00:40:04

I think the thing that marks vulnerability for me

00:40:07

is the idea that even at my best,

00:40:09

even at my strongest,

00:40:10

I still may not be able to help myself.

00:40:13

I still may not be able to protect myself.

00:40:16

That is vulnerability.

00:40:19

Financial. Emotional. Physical. Environmental.

00:40:23

Maybe you have a home or a workplace

00:40:25

that doesn't feel like a safe place to be,

00:40:27

and every time you walk in the door,

00:40:29

you get this feeling of vulnerability.

00:40:31

And when we do that, we want to protect ourselves.

00:40:33

We want to take the way out that's given to us.

00:40:37

And that is exactly what Orpah does.

00:40:42

I don't want you to miss the idea

00:40:45

that this is where you are spiritually.

00:40:48

This is where we all are spiritually before God.

00:40:52

And Americans can miss this idea because

00:40:55

we take this idea of vulnerability

00:40:57

and we want to crush it.

00:40:59

We're like, no, no, no, I can handle this.

00:41:01

I just need some pepper spray or a big bank account

00:41:03

or whatever it's going to be,

00:41:05

and I can make myself not vulnerable.

00:41:09

And you cannot.

00:41:11

You cannot handle your spiritual vulnerability.

00:41:16

You don't have a way to do that.

00:41:19

You can try.

00:41:20

You can try to one day show up before God

00:41:24

and convince Him or bargain with Him

00:41:27

that your best really was enough.

00:41:28

You can try to protect yourself

00:41:31

against a spiritual enemy that actually

00:41:34

has a claim on you and on your life.

00:41:36

You can give that a shot.

00:41:39

But these are the realities spiritually

00:41:41

that we encounter over and over and over again

00:41:44

in the Bible, that we are vulnerable spiritually.

00:41:47

The unfortunate spiritual truth is that

00:41:51

your eternity is not going to be determined

00:41:54

by good enough or strong enough,

00:41:57

or your own ability to protect yourself

00:41:59

in whatever way you're going to try.

00:42:02

It's about whether you carry a certain name.

00:42:08

And you and me, we are spiritual no names.

00:42:14

You have no name before God that means anything to Him.

00:42:18

You have no name of significance.

00:42:20

No matter the grandest name on earth

00:42:22

has no significance to Him in heaven.

00:42:26

You are a Naomi. You are a Ruth.

00:42:28

You are an orphan.

00:42:30

You show up, spiritually speaking,

00:42:32

before God as an absolute no name,

00:42:36

completely without provision or power

00:42:40

or anything that would recommend you

00:42:42

to Him in any significant way.

00:42:43

Your family name, no matter how good or how bad,

00:42:46

it gets you nothing in heaven,

00:42:48

it gets you nothing with God.

00:42:49

It doesn't get you any perks.

00:42:50

It doesn't get you any access.

00:42:52

It doesn't get you any inheritance.

00:42:54

It gets you absolutely nothing.

00:42:57

That's the reality of who we are

00:43:00

spiritually before the Lord.

00:43:03

We're widows. We're orphans.

00:43:05

We've lost the power of carrying the right family name.

00:43:09

Now, Orpah did the thing that makes sense

00:43:13

in our minds to do.

00:43:14

She's like, "Okay, I'm going to take my best shot.

00:43:16

I'm going to go home.

00:43:17

I'm going to try to help myself.

00:43:18

Hopefully this is the right thing to do."

00:43:21

And we kind of do that spiritually.

00:43:23

Like, "I'm pretty good-ish, better than that guy.

00:43:28

I'm going to take my best shot

00:43:29

and hope that God gives me some grace on the day?"

00:43:34

But Ruth did something different.

00:43:38

Ruth does something radically different.

00:43:40

And I read her story and I'm like,

00:43:42

did she know what she was doing?

00:43:44

I can't answer that question from the text,

00:43:47

but what I know is that when she said these words,

00:43:50

she did about as different a thing

00:43:53

as you could possibly do than what Orpah did.

00:43:56

Here's what she says. She says -- it says:

00:44:20

Wow.

00:44:22

This is about as opposite a take

00:44:25

on what needs to be done

00:44:26

in this intensely vulnerable situation

00:44:29

that you could possibly get.

00:44:30

Ruth goes all in, not just on Naomi,

00:44:34

but Naomi's God. Did you catch that?

00:44:36

She said, "May God deal with me ever so severely."

00:44:40

She's making a vow to the God of Naomi.

00:44:44

And so I wondered, like, what?

00:44:45

What experience could she have had?

00:44:47

They lived in Moab the whole time.

00:44:49

Why did she respond this way?

00:44:51

What did she know of Him?

00:44:53

I don't know that, but what I do know

00:44:55

is that right here, those words,

00:44:58

she chose the family of God over her own.

00:45:01

She went all in on God in this moment.

00:45:05

And she went back to Bethlehem with Naomi.

00:45:08

Her life changed right here,

00:45:10

and she probably thought for a minute

00:45:13

it was for the worse.

00:45:16

When she said those words, what she communicated

00:45:20

to Naomi and to God is that

00:45:22

she wanted to take on the family name.

00:45:27

She was going to renounce her own,

00:45:28

she was going to stick with Naomi,

00:45:30

and she was also going to take on

00:45:31

the family name of Naomi's God.

00:45:36

If you're familiar with the Lord's Prayer,

00:45:39

it's the prayer in the New Testament

00:45:41

that is how Jesus taught His disciples to pray.

00:45:44

He said, "Pray like this," and He said some words,

00:45:46

and a lot of people memorize those

00:45:48

and we call it the Lord's Prayer.

00:45:50

And it starts, "Our Father, who art in heaven,

00:45:53

hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come."

00:45:55

If that sounds familiar, that's the Lord's Prayer.

00:45:58

And I was thinking about those words:

00:46:02

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

00:46:05

Hallowed just means holy. Set apart.

00:46:08

Significantly different. Other. Higher than.

00:46:14

God is a Father with a holy name.

00:46:23

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

00:46:26

What does that refer to?

00:46:28

It's because He has a family name

00:46:31

and it's a name that's different than any other name.

00:46:33

It's a hallowed name. It's a holy name.

00:46:36

It's a name that's set apart

00:46:37

and unlike yours and mine.

00:46:40

All through scripture, the way this name

00:46:42

is referred to, it's just often called

00:46:44

the name of the Lord.

00:46:46

And that sounds like, I don't know,

00:46:47

kind of simple, generic.

00:46:48

You could read right over it, maybe miss

00:46:50

the fact that what's being referred to there,

00:46:53

the name of the Lord, is not just any old reference,

00:46:57

it's the totality of God.

00:47:00

God has given a lot of specific names

00:47:02

that describe one aspect of His character.

00:47:05

But when you hear the name of the Lord,

00:47:08

what's being communicated there is

00:47:10

the totality of God, all that He is,

00:47:13

all that makes Him holy,

00:47:14

all that makes Him separate and different.

00:47:16

It's his family name.

00:47:19

And interestingly, every time this family name

00:47:21

is mentioned, it sounds an awful lot

00:47:23

like things that vulnerable groups of people might want.

00:47:27

Here's one from Proverbs 18:10. It says:

00:47:36

Now what's a fortified tower?

00:47:38

Anyone who's reading that in the day that it

00:47:40

was written would have understood instinctively

00:47:43

a fortified tower is what gets built in towns

00:47:47

so that when an enemy strikes, the town can protect itself.

00:47:50

Literally all the people,

00:47:52

all the valuable possessions, maybe provisions,

00:47:54

and food and weapons would be hidden in these towers.

00:47:58

And so they could run to the tower

00:48:00

and defend themselves and their belongings and their town.

00:48:04

And so every village or every town

00:48:07

that was of any size would have had a tower

00:48:09

of some sort where things like that happened.

00:48:12

So if you think about the name of the Lord

00:48:14

is a fortified tower where you can be safe.

00:48:18

What are vulnerable people looking for?

00:48:21

They're looking for safety, defense,

00:48:24

provision, protection.

00:48:25

And the name of the Lord is a fortified tower.

00:48:28

It's the name of the Lord.

00:48:30

It's the family of God.

00:48:31

It's the hallowed, the holy name of God

00:48:35

that is this fortified tower that makes you safe.

00:48:38

This is the name of the Lord,

00:48:39

and it's the name that you need

00:48:42

to deal with your vulnerability too.

00:48:45

Yes, your practical vulnerabilities,

00:48:47

whatever those are day to day,

00:48:49

I believe the Lord has ways that He can

00:48:51

actually provide for you in those those vulnerabilities.

00:48:55

But mostly and bigger picture,

00:48:59

the name of the Lord is how we deal with

00:49:01

our vulnerability before God spiritually.

00:49:04

The fact that we don't belong with Him,

00:49:06

we don't have anything to recommend us,

00:49:08

we don't have any strength of any name.

00:49:10

We're at a total loss before Him.

00:49:12

The name of the Lord is what we need

00:49:15

to deal with that vulnerability.

00:49:16

And I think a lot of us don't know this kind of God.

00:49:19

We don't realize that this is who He is,

00:49:21

that this is what He's like, because we pull an Orpah.

00:49:26

We take the thing and we convince ourselves

00:49:29

we're taking the wise way out,

00:49:30

we're doing what makes sense,

00:49:32

when really we're not ever putting to the test

00:49:35

is the Lord a fortified tower for me?

00:49:37

Is the name of the Lord going to provide for me?

00:49:40

Does He mean what He says? Is He who He says He is?

00:49:44

Is the name of the Lord of relevant concept in my life?

00:49:47

The only way you can know that

00:49:49

is in your vulnerability to test and see

00:49:55

is He who He says He is?

00:49:58

Does the name of the Lord do anything for you?

00:50:01

Naomi and Ruth were hoping so, I'm guessing,

00:50:03

because they arrive in Jerusalem

00:50:05

and they are poor, they are weak,

00:50:07

they are vulnerable.

00:50:08

They were probably surprised they even made it

00:50:11

because of the danger of the journey

00:50:12

that would have existed for two women

00:50:14

traveling across that distance.

00:50:17

So they arrive in Bethlehem at their worst,

00:50:20

they're absolutely at their worst.

00:50:21

And they they arrive during a time of the year

00:50:23

that is a harvest time.

00:50:24

It was the barley harvest time.

00:50:26

And Naomi had some understanding, obviously,

00:50:30

from the story of Old Testament law,

00:50:32

which makes sense because she was

00:50:34

from the nation of Israel.

00:50:35

And so she tells Ruth a way to get them some food.

00:50:39

And I'll read to you from that section

00:50:42

of the law in Deuteronomy 24, it says:

00:50:56

The law of God, the Old Testament law

00:50:59

for the nation of Israel reflected who He was.

00:51:04

He baked in provisions like this in many

00:51:07

different places for vulnerable groups of people.

00:51:13

And one of those was so that they could eat.

00:51:15

And so Naomi tells Ruth, "Go gather

00:51:17

behind the workers in the field

00:51:19

and pick up what's left."

00:51:20

She knew that was lawful.

00:51:22

And so Ruth does that.

00:51:23

And she ends up in the field of a man named Boaz.

00:51:26

Now she doesn't know him,

00:51:28

but when he asks about her.

00:51:31

He notices her, somebody he doesn't know.

00:51:33

She would have looked physically quite different

00:51:35

than the people in the town of Bethlehem,

00:51:37

because she was from Moab.

00:51:39

And so he asks about her, and then he says this to her:

00:52:05

This is what a man of God does.

00:52:09

This is what the people of God are called to do.

00:52:12

The people of God are to bear the character of God,

00:52:15

to bring the image of God on the face of the earth.

00:52:18

And Boaz steps up and he says, "You are vulnerable.

00:52:22

I'm not going to exploit that.

00:52:24

I'm going to protect that."

00:52:26

There's nothing, according to the Bible,

00:52:28

there's about nothing you could do

00:52:30

to anger God more than to exploit the vulnerable.

00:52:35

Any time you read about that,

00:52:37

I wouldn't want to be there one day

00:52:41

and try to explain that,

00:52:43

because He takes it personal,

00:52:46

like really, really personally.

00:52:48

And He expects His people to bear His image

00:52:52

on the earth and actually to offer protection

00:52:55

and provision for vulnerable groups.

00:52:58

And Boaz does that here.

00:52:59

He exemplifies the name of the Lord.

00:53:02

And he's not just a good guy, actually.

00:53:05

See, Boaz found out what Ruth later found out,

00:53:08

which is he is in Naomi's family line.

00:53:11

He was actually a part of Naomi's family.

00:53:13

So when he asked and was told like,

00:53:16

"Oh, that's the widow that moved back here with Naomi,"

00:53:19

he takes a special interest

00:53:20

because he's actually in their family line.

00:53:23

And besides good guy points,

00:53:26

like, he's clearly a nice guy.

00:53:27

He knows that he plays a special role.

00:53:29

He's actually a key to their survival.

00:53:33

And the question is, what will he do with it?

00:53:35

Because God was about to, through Boaz,

00:53:38

give them the chance to access the family name.

00:53:41

That's what He wants to do for you.

00:53:44

That's what He wants to do for me.

00:53:45

He actually wants to bring us to the very person

00:53:48

that can access the family name for us.

00:53:50

He wants us to become a part of

00:53:53

what He can offer us through the name of the Lord,

00:53:55

the great protective, providing name of the Lord.

00:54:00

He wants that for us.

00:54:01

And so what He's trying to do is push us

00:54:03

to the person that can actually offer that to us.

00:54:06

And in Ruth's story, that's Boaz, that's Boaz.

00:54:10

And so Boaz does it.

00:54:12

He does what he knows he can do to help them.

00:54:16

See, he had a special title under the law.

00:54:20

He was called the kinsman redeemer.

00:54:23

I know that's a funny title,

00:54:25

but it was set apart in the law,

00:54:28

designated as the nearest relative

00:54:31

for situations exactly like this

00:54:33

that was able to take on all the property

00:54:36

and to redeem it back to the family that it came from.

00:54:41

And so Boaz knows as a near relative

00:54:44

of these two widows, he actually has the right

00:54:47

to buy the lands and all the property

00:54:49

that went with Elimelek

00:54:51

because they are relatives, near relatives.

00:54:55

And he also, as a result of that,

00:54:57

would take on the care of the widows.

00:55:00

And so Boaz knows that this is him

00:55:03

and he actually has to pay a price for this.

00:55:06

There's a guy in the story

00:55:07

whose name is never mentioned, probably because --

00:55:11

I don't know, he's not who you want to be.

00:55:13

So they never even tell us his name.

00:55:15

He's the one that's nearer than Boaz.

00:55:18

There's one guy, and you know what he says?

00:55:21

"I don't want to pay the price."

00:55:25

Because to redeem them, people didn't like

00:55:29

take up a Go Fund Me page.

00:55:31

He had to, out of his own fortune,

00:55:34

purchase the land, the possessions, the property,

00:55:38

everything that went with Elimelek,

00:55:39

he had to purchase it back.

00:55:42

And the first guy says,

00:55:43

"It's going to cost me too much.

00:55:45

I don't want to do that."

00:55:48

And Boaz steps in, and here's what he says instead:

00:56:17

Boaz was the one who could preserve the name.

00:56:22

He was the one who was qualified.

00:56:24

He was the right relative, the right guy,

00:56:26

the nearest person who was not only able,

00:56:29

but also willing.

00:56:32

The first guy was able, he just wasn't willing.

00:56:34

Boaz had to be both able and willing,

00:56:38

and what he wanted was to preserve the name

00:56:41

that they should have been protected by.

00:56:44

And this is what we need spiritually.

00:56:47

We need a kinsman redeemer.

00:56:50

I want you to get really comfortable with that title,

00:56:53

because somebody's got to pay to get you back.

00:56:57

Somebody has to pay a price because

00:56:59

you were born outside of the family of God.

00:57:02

The Bible says, we are born outside the family of God,

00:57:06

inside the family of Adam, inside the human race,

00:57:09

and into a life of spiritual poverty

00:57:12

where we are not heirs to a kingdom and a fortune.

00:57:17

We are slaves to sin.

00:57:20

That's how the Bible describes our condition.

00:57:22

And we need a kinsman redeemer,

00:57:25

somebody who is able and willing to offer us

00:57:28

a chance to be part of a name we have no claim to,

00:57:32

we have no right to.

00:57:34

Is it crazy to think that God did that very thing?

00:57:41

Jesus is your Boaz.

00:57:45

Jesus is the kinsman Redeemer that I need,

00:57:49

that you need, that every single person

00:57:51

who wants to bear the name of the family of God

00:57:54

needs to access through that name.

00:57:58

There is no other way.

00:58:00

And God is opening the door.

00:58:01

He's pushing you toward it.

00:58:03

You're like the Ruth that shows up

00:58:04

in the right field, you know?

00:58:06

I mean, that's crazy, right?

00:58:07

She ends up picking up sheaves of wheat

00:58:09

in the right field by the right guy.

00:58:12

Come on.

00:58:13

God has brought you into the right field

00:58:17

so that you can hear the name,

00:58:19

you can interact with the person

00:58:22

that can give you access to the name of the Lord.

00:58:25

And Jesus is that.

00:58:26

He is not only able, He is able.

00:58:29

He was fully a man and He was also fully God,

00:58:33

so His life, perfect life,

00:58:35

counted not just for one of us,

00:58:37

but for all of us as our nearest relative.

00:58:40

He was a human in every way, shape and form.

00:58:45

But He was also willing.

00:58:47

He came knowing, "This is going to cost Me

00:58:50

to buy you back.

00:58:52

It's going to cost Me to redeem you,

00:58:55

to pay to bring you back into the family name.

00:59:01

To give you access."

00:59:03

And it's His right. He bears it.

00:59:05

He's the Son of God.

00:59:07

It's only His right to be able

00:59:09

to share that name with you.

00:59:10

And He shares it willingly

00:59:12

and everything that goes with it.

00:59:14

You're not just some somebody,

00:59:16

you're a son, you're a daughter

00:59:22

when you get redeemed into the family.

00:59:24

Because the name of the Lord

00:59:26

can only be accessed through adoption.

00:59:31

That's God's chosen method.

00:59:33

And He gives us this wonderful thing on earth

00:59:36

that we can understand what's really taking place.

00:59:38

The Bible uses the idea of adoption

00:59:40

over and over again to describe

00:59:42

how we get into the family.

00:59:44

Paul was explaining this idea

00:59:46

in the book of Galatians, and he put it like this:

01:00:04

You've been bought at a price.

01:00:07

You are a widow without a husband,

01:00:09

an orphan who becomes a son

01:00:12

through the name of Jesus,

01:00:15

and only through the name of Jesus.

01:00:17

It's through that faith that you get sealed

01:00:20

and brought back into the family,

01:00:21

where you get access to an inheritance

01:00:24

that is now rightfully yours.

01:00:26

You have the privilege of adoption into the name of God.

01:00:31

See, Ruth was not just a widow who came back

01:00:34

and got food and a home and a husband.

01:00:37

And yes, that happened for her.

01:00:39

And yes, her earthly needs were provided for in that sense.

01:00:42

But her marriage to Boaz did her one better.

01:00:46

It actually grafted her into the family of God.

01:00:49

She, in essence, became an orphan also,

01:00:52

that got adopted into the family

01:00:54

when she married into the nation of Israel.

01:00:57

So Ruth was not just a widow who got a husband.

01:01:00

She was an orphan who ended up in the family of the King.

01:01:04

Because the book of Ruth,

01:01:05

it ends in this really odd way.

01:01:08

It ends with a genealogy,

01:01:10

a genealogy making clear that her child with Boaz

01:01:14

became the grandpa of King David.

01:01:17

And King David is in the line of Jesus,

01:01:20

who is your kinsman redeemer.

01:01:22

God grafted this foreign widow with no hope at all,

01:01:28

and adopted her into the family of God,

01:01:32

and brought your kinsman redeemer through her line.

01:01:37

That is wild.

01:01:39

She was a widow and an orphan who ended up

01:01:41

in the greatest family name of all time,

01:01:43

the name of the Lord.

01:01:44

And you have the same chance

01:01:47

that she had to be adopted.

01:01:50

I got a living example of this not long ago,

01:01:52

when I went to the adoption hearing

01:01:54

of a good friend of mine.

01:01:56

They had been fostering a little boy,

01:01:58

and they were in the process of adopting him.

01:02:00

And the hearing day came and I was asked,

01:02:02

as a good friend of both the mom and dad,

01:02:05

to come to the adoption hearing.

01:02:06

And I had never been to one before.

01:02:08

And so I very gladly went and I listened

01:02:11

in fascination with the questions that were

01:02:13

being asked by the judge in this courtroom.

01:02:17

And the judge was, I mean, 30 minutes or so,

01:02:21

at least, asking question after question:

01:02:25

Are you going to provide for him?

01:02:26

Are you going to make space for him?

01:02:29

I see you have two other kids.

01:02:31

If you have bank accounts

01:02:32

and you're going to send them to college,

01:02:34

are you going to do the same for this little boy?

01:02:36

Making sure that they were actually

01:02:38

receiving him fully into their family.

01:02:40

And he really honed in on one particular thing

01:02:43

when there was a couple of questions

01:02:45

about the way they were connected to this child.

01:02:48

And my -- the husband, my friend,

01:02:50

he answered very honestly and said

01:02:52

he had had a little trouble bonding with him

01:02:54

when they first got him into their home.

01:02:56

That the little boy had really preferred his wife,

01:02:58

and he'd had to work pretty hard

01:03:00

to build a connection.

01:03:01

And the judge, she got right ahold of that,

01:03:04

and she asked question after question

01:03:06

after question.

01:03:10

And he just answered her really honestly,

01:03:12

really, really honestly about his struggle

01:03:14

and how far he had come

01:03:15

and some of the things they had gone through.

01:03:17

And she said, "Well, where are you now?

01:03:21

What's your connection like with him now?"

01:03:26

And he got really quiet and he took a second.

01:03:29

And then he looked up at the judge and he said,

01:03:33

"He's my son."

01:03:36

And there really wasn't anything else to say.

01:07:14

- Someday that little boy is going to have some questions.

01:07:17

I understand that it's not unusual

01:07:19

for orphans to come back and to wonder,

01:07:22

am I loved? Am I protected?

01:07:26

Am I a part of this family?

01:07:28

Am I wanted, was I always wanted?

01:07:31

And I cannot wait to be part of his life

01:07:34

and be one of the people who gets to say,

01:07:37

"No, no, no. I was there on that day.

01:07:40

I watched you become a son.

01:07:43

This is your family. This is your name.

01:07:46

You've always been loved.

01:07:47

You've always been wanted right from the very get go."

01:07:51

And friends, this is us.

01:07:53

This is us before the Lord.

01:07:55

You are wanted. You are wanted, planned for,

01:08:00

absolutely protected, provided for child of God.

01:08:04

And the enemy is going to whisper to you,

01:08:07

maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, maybe in five years.

01:08:10

And he's going to say, "You aren't wanted.

01:08:12

You're alone.

01:08:15

God's not going to provide that for you.

01:08:17

Just take what you can get by yourself.

01:08:20

Strike out on your own

01:08:21

because this Lord of yours, He's going to let you down."

01:08:25

And in that moment, what I want you to remember

01:08:28

is the words of Jesus.

01:08:29

Jesus says this to you,

01:08:32

"I will not leave you as orphans.

01:08:34

I will come to you."

01:08:36

You have a kinsman redeemer.

01:08:39

He paid to buy you back.

01:08:40

He's not going to leave you alone.

01:08:42

You are not an orphan.

01:08:43

You are a son of the Great High God.

01:08:46

You are a daughter of King Jesus.

01:08:49

That's who you are.

01:08:51

And so in the moments that you doubt that,

01:08:53

in the moments that you feel alone,

01:08:55

I want you to remember, "No, no, no, I was adopted.

01:09:00

That's what happened to me.

01:09:02

This is my family and this is my name."

01:09:05

And some of you are here tonight,

01:09:07

and you don't carry the family name.

01:09:09

You haven't been adopted yet.

01:09:12

And I'd like to pray for you right now.

01:09:14

I just -- I feel like there are people here

01:09:16

that they are ready. You're ready.

01:09:18

You are ready to go.

01:09:20

You had no idea it was as easy as saying,

01:09:23

"I want to be adopted into Your family."

01:09:27

So let me pray for you right now.

01:09:30

Father, You are so good. You are so kind.

01:09:33

Thank You for paying the price to get us back.

01:09:39

And I ask that You would meet each person

01:09:41

who is here tonight and listening,

01:09:43

and anyone here who has yet to be adopted

01:09:46

and is ready at this moment, I just pray that

01:09:48

You would whisper to them,

01:09:50

"Yep, you're already mine and I want you."

01:09:55

And that You would receive

01:09:56

their prayer to You right now just saying,

01:09:59

"Lord, adopt me." You would hear that.

01:10:03

You would know that that's the prayer of their heart,

01:10:05

and You would reassure them that they, in fact,

01:10:08

were already always Yours.

01:10:12

Bring them fully into the family.

01:10:14

In Jesus's name, Amen.

01:10:18

- At Crossroads, we believe in action

01:10:20

and actually doing the very things we talk about.

01:10:23

This series has been all about

01:10:25

how Jesus brings hope to us,

01:10:27

and how from that we can bring hope to the world as well.

01:10:31

City Serve Day is just around the corner

01:10:33

on June 15th, where we will have the opportunity

01:10:35

to make a difference with our friends,

01:10:37

our neighbors, and local communities by serving

01:10:40

and making an impact right where we are.

01:10:42

Now we're joining in to serve our local partners,

01:10:45

strengthen our relationships,

01:10:46

and fill needs that would otherwise go unmet.

01:10:49

If you live near one of our physical locations

01:10:52

at Crossroads, you can simply go to

01:10:54

Crossroads.net/CSD to find a project

01:10:56

to serve with on June 15th.

01:10:59

If you don't live near a physical location,

01:11:01

please do not let that be a barrier

01:11:04

to you making an impact in your local community.

01:11:07

Your project could involve anything

01:11:09

from assisting a neighbor in need

01:11:10

or volunteering at a local nonprofit organization.

01:11:13

Like, literally anything.

01:11:15

If you sign up to lead a project,

01:11:17

we will provide you with the necessary resources

01:11:19

and support to help you successfully

01:11:22

run your project in your area.

01:11:24

Now, we'll be doing this as a church

01:11:25

all together this year on June 15th.

01:11:28

You can find more information

01:11:29

about how to serve your local community

01:11:31

at Crossroads.net/CSD.

01:11:35

Now Crossroads started as a church

01:11:36

in the Midwestern United States

01:11:38

and has grown into a movement all over the globe.

01:11:40

Friends and families on a journey with God together.

01:11:43

The important thing isn't where we watch the service,

01:11:46

it's that we're connecting with God and each other.

01:11:49

You know, that's my community story.

01:11:51

My Crossroads community

01:11:52

isn't near one of our main physical locations.

01:11:54

You know, shout out to all

01:11:55

my Batesville and Indianapolis people.

01:11:57

But we figured out a way to be a part of Crossroads

01:12:00

while also building community

01:12:02

and experiencing a different kind of church.

01:12:05

Now, if you're watching this

01:12:06

and you ever thought, "Man, I love Crossroads,

01:12:09

but I don't live near a physical site,

01:12:10

and I wish there was a way

01:12:12

I could be more connected to my church and community."

01:12:14

Well, then I have something for you.

01:12:17

The Crossroads Anywhere Weekend is coming up

01:12:19

on July 19-21, and consider this

01:12:22

your official invitation to join us.

01:12:25

The Anywhere Weekend is all about building into you,

01:12:28

helping you experience God in a fresh, new way

01:12:31

while also having great food, drinks

01:12:34

and creating unforgettable memories.

01:12:36

Now all you have to do is get here

01:12:38

and all the food and experiences are on us.

01:12:41

Now, if you're like me and you have young kids,

01:12:43

you might be wondering if this will work for your family.

01:12:45

And let me assure you,

01:12:46

we have an entire team working on

01:12:49

making this a great experience for all ages,

01:12:51

from toddlers to middle school and high schoolers

01:12:53

to even big grown up kids like me.

01:12:55

It's going to be incredible.

01:12:57

To see a breakdown of the schedule and to sign up,

01:13:00

just go to Crossroads.net/AnywhereWeekend.

01:13:03

And I know it's not a small task to sign up

01:13:05

and attend something like this,

01:13:07

but I promise it will be worth it.

01:13:09

If you're hesitant for whatever reason,

01:13:11

just know we will lower any barrier we can

01:13:15

to help you attend.

01:13:16

Just reach out and we will be glad to help.

01:13:19

I cannot wait to see you there.

01:13:21

And as always, thank you for joining us today.

01:13:24

We'll see you back next week.

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