I heard a story recently of a radio show host in florida who was getting ready to open this morning show and he saw online the tragic news that a locally famous skywriter had passed away for those who don't know a skywriter or those people that can fly small planes and through the exhaust can actually write messages or do shapes in the sky. And so this guy had become pretty well known in the, in his hometown. And so the radio host was really sad to hear the news of his passing. And so he decided to open his show paying tribute to this locally famous skywriter. And he invited people who have been impacted by his life to call in and share stories and wouldn't you know it that the lines started ringing off the hook. Phone call after phone call started sharing stories where they had been inspired by this religious skywriter. One lady shared that she was going in for a procedure at the hospital and she was praying to God asking God just give me a sign that it's gonna be okay. And she went outside to go to the hospital and she looked up in the sky and literally saw the words God loves you. And so all these stories started pouring in. And as the stories poured in then the radio host decided to play more emotional music and as he played more emotional music there became more stories and it ended up being this incredible kind of powerful moment on the radio. And then one caller called in and said, wow, you wouldn't believe it, His legacy lives on, someone has picked up the mantle and now is riding God loves you in the sky today. And so people were like, wow, this is incredible, and this is amazing. And it really was amazing. Except for one issue, the guy had not died, there had been a mix up in names and so the website actually produced that he had passed away when in fact he had not. And so here the skywriter turned on the radio and heard of his own passing and he tried to call into the show to let him know that he was in fact alive. But he couldn't because the lines were so busy. So then he got in his plane and he started to write the message to show people that he was still alive. And so eventually word got back to the radio host and he got to share a miracle that he's come back to life. And you know, he had to apologize and it made for kind of an awkward end too inspirational morning. But that got me thinking, imagine yourself, I want you to put yourself in the shoes of that skywriter for a moment to turn on the radio and to hear people paying tribute to your life. That would be weird, wouldn't it be like attending your own funeral, You know? And they talked repeatedly about his lasting legacy yet he was still alive. Now imagine if you knew what people were going to say about you after the fact I wonder if that would change how you live today, knowing what people would say about you tomorrow. The idea of a legacy is really, what do you leave on for the people for future generations? A lot of times it's seen as money or property, but the most meaningful legacies are the memories and the reputation that you instill in the generations to come. And so what I want to talk about today is that not just the lasting legacy of someone but the legacy you leave tomorrow starts with the choices you make today because here we are wrapping up a series entitled Ready or not. We're in week three looking about how do you deal with change in a rapidly changing world. And today we're going to wrap up our short study, The study of ruth in ruth chapter four and this morning's message is entitled the lasting legacy of redemption. So in Ruth chapter one It starts out again the story that took place about 3000 years ago. It starts out with tragedy right away. Naomi please her hometown. There in Bethlehem goes to moab With her husband and two sons And the first five verses of Chapter one, she loses her husband, she loses her sons had married um two ladies or PPA and and Ruth and or PPA decides to stay back and Ruth shows loyalty to Naomi and Naomi is so bitter and so broken and so sad, she changes her name tomorrow, which means bitter and she goes back to Bethlehem no husband, no sons, seemingly no land, no hope. And we showed that in that moment Ruth decided to be brave And then in chapters two and 3 Ruth decided to get to work. She didn't focus on what she didn't have, she focused on what she did have and what she could do. So she started working in the fields, she started gleaning her cleaning up after the reapers would go through the harvest and would would grab grain and and the crops of what she could. And through the process of hard work and being faithful and humble, she would meet boaz, the generous and wealthy. The faithful steward of the field boas started to know ruth and ruth ultimately would present herself to boaz and boaz would and then step up and say, I'm gonna save your family. We talked about this concept of redemption that in that culture that when the male leader or father or husband died, that there was a process through a relative could step in Marian carry on the lineage that was seen as a kinsman redeemer. What's interesting here is we finish up the story of ruth in ruth chapter four, the words redeemed by purchases used roughly 15 times in the final chapter and the idea of redemption is to purchase or to buy back what was once lost in this case, it's the lineage of a family name and land and ultimately a legacy. But to redeem in today's age has lost some of its luster, lost some of its significance. And so we might think of redeem redeem a ticket for winning prize or you paid for something, you're at the deli that give you a number, you make an order, you redeem it and you go up and you pick up what you would order. But at a much deeper sense in this context, in this culture, the idea of redemption leads to salvation and restoration of a family of a legacy of a name. And so here we have the legacy of redemption found through the faithfulness of ruth and boaz. And so if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. That how you build a legacy is this formula? Daily decisions plus Godly provisions equals a lasting legacy. Daily decisions plus Godly provisions equals a lasting legacy. We're gonna see that God was present with them the entire way. But it started with their daily decision to make, really obeying God their highest priority. I'll officiate a number of weddings. And one of the common things I say in the wedding ceremony is that great marriages are not made in a day, but daily daily through our choices and our attitudes and our actions. But we say what we do, right, parenting, same thing, sports team work, same thing in your business, same thing. They're not made overnight. They're made daily with the little choices that we make. And so we see the faithfulness. Day in day out. Little choices of Ruth and boaz. And then we see that God provided. And when you put those two together, it leaves a lasting legacy. So we left off the story at the end of Ruth, chapter three Ruth had presented herself to boaz and boaz said, I will redeem your family except there is somebody else higher on the waiting list. There's somebody else that actually has the claim before I do. And so I'm gonna go and present and see if he wants to redeem your family. So he goes to the edge of the city goes to the city gate where the elders are gathered. Little interesting note. Oftentimes they're the elders were gathered at the gate of the city to make wise decisions for the city and the new testament. When they started what became known as the church. The description of the elders that would gather at the city gate were seen as Iglesia. So this picture of wise people gathering together to make decisions on behalf of the city would lead to the word where we ended up getting our picture for church. So boaz goes to the elders and he says, you know, someone needs to redeem someone can redeem Naomi's family through ruth. And so he presents it to this guy who we don't know his name. He's simply referred to as the relative and here's what's interesting at first glance when the offer is made to redeem Naomi's land, he says, yeah I'm in and then boaz shares will to redeem the land, then you have to marry Ruth and then he goes, I'm out. You know the song, this land is my land, this land is your land. This guy was like this land is not my land, it's your land. And he's like no I'm out and he didn't want to marry ruth. But also he he wanted to protect his name and his hair in inheritance in his land. But here's what I find fascinating. Here is a guy who was so nervous about losing the power of his name. And by turning this opportunity down, we don't even know what his name is. So in Protection of his name, we lost his identity. And 3000 years later we're just simply simply known as the relative. So he turns it down and then boaz decides, nope, I'm gonna step up, I'm gonna risk my name, I'm gonna risk my lineage and my line to step in to save Naomi's line and to mary ruth and so he steps up and he marries her and together they have a son and it's just, it's just beautiful picture and so we pick up the story here in Ruth chapter four verse 14 and it reads this, then the women said to Naomi blessed be the lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer and may his name be renowned in Israel and he shall be to you a restorer of life and a new Risher of your old age for your daughter in law. Who loves you. Who is more to you than seven sons has given birth to him. And then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. How about that that love for a grandchild? Right. Those in the room that have grand kiddos when you get to hold that grand baby and then she gets to step in and to be nursed and to take care of this baby. That's gonna save their lineage. And it's such an incredible blessing and picture. But notice verse 17 and the women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying a son has been born to Naomi referring to our lineage and the name is a bed and he was the father of jesse. The father of David. Hold up light bulb moment. Now we know why this story is in the bible because here they come together, they have a child abed's father of jesse to father of David. Does David ring ring a bell with anybody. David, the shepherd boy. David. David the slay the giant Goliath David. The save the country of Israel. David, the man after God's own heart who became king, who wrote a majority of psalms David, This man who we see as one of the greatest leaders of all time, who pursued God restored the name of Israel who lived out his son Solomon, who was seen as the wisest man in the world, wrote the book of proverbs Ecclesiastes. We see this who changed history as we know it. David, we now have the backstory to his family. I love back stories, don't you? He tells this whole story and right at the very end, turns it and say, oh, that's David's great grandparents, what I'm a Star Wars fan. And for those that watched Star Wars, you know that the series started in episodes 45 and six, Right? And then years later they came out with episode one and I was so excited. I remember going opening night went with my friend Yaseen and he uh we weren't super spiritual was to say that we just snuck in food to the theater. You know, no one else does that. Um at all. I'm sure you're shaking your hand or nudging people who do. Um but when I say sneaking food, my friend Yazan was like the Master at it. Like he snuck in an entire six pack of rbc root beer. I'm half a pizza. Um like chocolate candies. I mean he had like the whole deal like, I don't know like I just remember that because the credits roll, That's got a very famous entry point to the movie right for Star Wars and the credits rolls, the music of john Williams came up and my buddy like clinked our bottles right there, front and center in the movie theater. Like this is great. We get the backstory right Darth vader luke, all this stuff. It's awesome. And then we walked out of the movie hating jar jar banks worst character of all time. And if you watch Star Wars, you know, and if you don't want Star Wars, you're like, please move on. But here's the thing, I loved hearing the backstory. I loved hearing how we got to where we were in sports world. My favorite sports team growing up and what I absolutely love was the nineties Chicago bulls and Michael Jordan's. So last year when they showed the last dance documentary, it just saved us from Covid 19. As far as sports world is concerned. You know what I'm talking about? Like there was no sports. Every, all the sports fans were super sad and this backstory of the nineties Chicago bulls came on and we loved it. Why because we love the details to see how people got from Point A to point B and here we have this story of ruth and it's no longer just seen as just a nice little story. But instead a setup for the family and the generations where the leader would come and save the nation. It's so powerful that here these subtle decisions. We find that God was in the process the whole time the whole time with the backdrop of judges, where it was seen as one of the darkest ages in world history filled with addiction and abuse and an evil And in the middle of this chaos we find and we learned that God was present and moving his purposes forward the whole time. And that God decided to use the faithfulness of ruth in the midst of tragedy to connect with boaz in a field to begin a lineage that would ultimately save a nation. And we see how in four short chapters, things change. Ruth. Chapter one started with the death, But in Chapter four, it ends with the birth. In Chapter one, we see the comparison of or PPA who turned back and ruth who moved forward. And then it ends with the comparison of the relative vs. Boas. And then we see that the book starts with an act of love, An act of sacrificial covenant, loyal love. First, Ruth to Naomi saying, I'm gonna leave everything behind and go with you. And then it ends with boaz saying, I'm gonna put my inheritance, I'm gonna put everything on on the line to redeem your family and to save your legacy. And then we see that the story starts with Brokenness but ultimately ends with blessing mm hmm, everything seemed lost and come to find out that God was setting them up to be saved. First, it was a blessing to Ruth, I found her husband to have a child. If you've held a child newborn child, it's a blessing all Children are a blessing blessings. And and then it's a blessing to Naomi, her family has saved. Her lineage is saved. Then it becomes a blessing to the nation of Israel. We see that through this line comes King David kills the Goliath, David. Right? The psalms that we've still seen today, David. But then it goes a step further and continues on down the line. And I've shared multiple times through this story that this took place just outside of Bethlehem. And for some of you, Bethlehem rings a bell. Where do you where do you remember? Bethlehem from, Jesus come to find out through this line comes the savior of the world. You don't normally think of genealogies as exciting. But in Matthew chapter one notice this line in verse five and 6, it's a genealogy of jesus Salman, the father of boaz by rehab paused there for a moment. Now, there's some discussion in terms of OK, is this his mother Or is there some gaps. Is there just in the line of either way, you look at it? Depending, depending on the timeline of history. The fact that rehab is in the history of boaz. For those that might not know the backstory of rehab. Not the best story beforehand. I mean, if you're sleeping around with people for money, not a great start, but yet turned her life around saves people becomes faithful And now it's in the genealogy through the lineage and whether directly or just a few generations down the line produces boaz. Maybe her history, her passed through the family influenced then how boaz treated foreign women, seeing the turnaround in his family tree, in history of rehab, out to him. So he sees ruth and he and he learns to look at a person's heart and their character and not just the color of the skin and their wealth. And so we see that that by rehab and boaz, the father of Obed by Ruth and Obed the father of jesse and jesse the father of David and it continues on down the line to eventually, we get to the story of jesus, do you realize we don't get to sing O little town of Bethlehem in the christmas pageant without ruth, there's no way they could have known in that time that they weren't just saving her family, they would save a nation and ultimately the world. But this is where God steps in in the middle of chaos, in the middle where everything is going wrong and people are doing what's right in their own eyes, We see this one story of a few people choosing to make obedient, humble, faithful decisions and God uses them to save their family, to build a legacy, to save a nation and to save the world. Mm hmm this next christmas, when you see the pageant, when you sing the song understand that when you hear the words Bethlehem that it's connected back to boaz and ruth talk about a legacy but their legacy started with tragedy. Here's what I've come to realize. What if tragedy, it's just a chapter in your story and not the end. Another way to put it, what if tragedy was not a period in your life? Just simply a comma. Some of the best verses in the bible start with something horrific. Then there's a comma and then we have this word but we were dead in our transgressions. But God cibo is is a picture of jesus not fully right. He gave out of his wealth but he put his inheritance, his life at risk to save the family of another to redeem another. Jesus actually gave his life. It was the ultimate redeemer for you and for me. And so we have this event. This story that starts with tragedy. But tragedy was simply a chapter. It wasn't the end. It was a comma, it wasn't a period some of you in this room right now are watching online, have a whole lot of stuff before the comma. What I want to know is what's after. You see ruth and boaz have can tell us that they don't have to be defined by what has happened to them. And I want to share that with you. If you have experienced something tragic, something horrific, something difficult, Maybe you've lost a loved one. Maybe you've had a broken relationship, lost the job feeling worried, feeling stressed, Maybe you've been battling an addiction, understand that that is before the comma that your story is not done that for whatever reason, God has you here in this room online right now, watching this for a reason, I want to encourage you that you're in the middle of your sentence, not the end. That the story you tell tomorrow starts with how you live and respond today that your story is not about being a victim of being victorious. Your story is not about being abused, but overcoming ruth didn't have a great legacy before her but her choices, her decisions forever changed the narrative so that today we have the story of ruth, what comes after your comma and let's just be real, it's not like you lose a loved one, you lose a relationship and then and now I'm better. That's not how that works. Some of you might be walking with a limp the rest of your life, you know, if we're faced with trauma or loss or grief, there are things that can trigger us in a moment right away. So you're gonna be walking with that the rest of your life. But here's the thing if you've lost a loved one, what is the best way to honor the memory of someone you lost is to remember them and how you live. It's how you respond to difficult circumstances tell us the greater story that you don't have to tell the story of forever being addicted, that you can get the help you need. You can tell the story of how a marriage was poor, but now it's strong. You don't have to tell the story of betrayal. You can tell the story of forgiveness and growth and strength and courage. You don't have to be a coward, you can be courageous. You know, scars described the past. I had knee surgery in college and I still have a scar, but your scars while they describe the past, they don't have to define your future. And so you get to decide what is the story that you're going to tell. Your legacy tomorrow starts by how you live today. And so I want to ask you how you living on the other side of the comma and it's not just about what happens to you, but how do you respond and where do you go from here when I think of legacy, you know, I think of people like in our church who many of, you know, bob bob's on the trip right now. So normally be sitting kind of front and center here first service, but and for those who don't know bob was our trailer driver for the first entire year of our church. So late 70s would come in, just faithful guy and he would just come in and he would drive the trailer every sunday. And so I would joke with him, and I'd say bob the entire church is in your hands every week. And so he would drive. And and so he came to me recently and he shared with me this document that I absolutely love and he said, hey, you know, I don't know how many years I have left, but I want my family to know my story. And so I wrote out my testimony and what it means to believe in jesus. Can you look at this? You know what bob is doing right now? He's building a legacy that will shape generations to come. And he's choosing what story to tell when I think of legacy. I think a guy named steve Gleason steve was a football player who played for the Saints. He's most famously known for when hurricane Katrina wiped out new Orleans and they were rebuilding and the first game back in the Superdome back, the new Orleans steve blocked the punt that won the game. And and actually there's a statue outside of the stadium entitled rebirth. They didn't just win the game and rebirth the team and in a sense, rebirth the city and excitement again. And so there's a statue outside of the stadium steve Gleason, but it wasn't long after this moment he became diagnosed with a L. S. And his body was breaking down and he was having a son, he said, you know what, that's, that's not the story I want to tell. I don't want to sell the story of my disease. And so he started recording videos for his son not knowing how long he would make it, you end up having another child. And and he would record these stories and these inspirational statements so that his kids could watch them later. And I remember specifically one video when he looked in and he said son, our father and son relationship would will not be like most people, it's not gonna be easy but it's gonna be awesome. Mm hmm. Isn't that great? And he started recording and his body is still breaking down today and they thought he might not even make it two years. He's made it nine years. But now he can't even move. He, the only way he can communicate is through special technology where you can have his eyes map out letters on a digital board. But look at the legacy. He's leaving 1st family. Look at the story that he's telling and shaping for generations to come. I love that. It's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be awesome. That could be your story. That's the story of ruth and boaz. The story of redemption. Because the formula to building a legacy is daily decisions what you do now what you say every moment matters plus Godly provisions God was moving even in the midst of all that chaos lead to a lasting legacy. We now have a savior, jesus, The greater boaz, the greater redeemer, The greatest redeemer who paid the price for you and for me when he died on the cross and pay for our sins and redeemed purchased us back, restored us back to life. And when he rose again, we can rise. And that means that it doesn't matter what's on this side of the comma that you can have eternal life and abundant life now and forever through him. Whatever change. Whatever challenge you faced in the past year. Health, broken relationship, worry, doubt, addiction, job loss. I'm here to tell you, you're Atacama and God's not done with you yet. And the legacy you want tomorrow starts by how you live today. Will you pray with me? Dear God. Mm hmm, mm hmm. Thank you for the story of ruth. Thank you for the story of boaz and their faithfulness. How in a time where people did what was right in their own eyes and a time filled with chaos and corruption. They chose to be faithful and obedience and that you were with them in that moment and position them to not only save a family but to save a nation to lead down the line. That would lead to the salvation of the world. Here we are talking about their legacy. God for those in the room right now who have experienced tragedy, who've experienced betrayal. We've experienced heartache and difficulty. Yeah, my prayer is to help them remember. You Help them to look to you the great Redeemer. That God, you forgive our sins, that it's only through you, jesus that we can go to heaven, that we can have eternal life tomorrow and abundant life today. That we are not defined by our mistakes. We are not defined by the things that have hurt us. The people who have hurt us, the struggles, the heartache. But God, we are defined by you and your grace and your love and your forgiveness and your power and your purpose. Mm hmm. So help us to create that lasting legacy tomorrow. By choosing to follow you today. Mhm. Help us to tell a better story. A greater story, your story. God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for saving us. Help us to live for you today. So, your son's name. We pray Amen.