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00:00 How many of you have ever seen someone
00:03 and you've thought, I wish I had a life like that?
00:08 Have you ever done that?
00:09 You see someone and maybe it's just some part of their life,
00:12 like you see their life on Instagram
00:14 and they've got like 40 billion friends
00:17 and they're always out having fun
00:18 and they're playing pickleball together
00:21 and at a restaurant together and you're looking going,
00:23 I wish I had friends like that.
00:26 Or maybe it's someone that has a career
00:28 that they actually studied for and now they're doing it
00:30 'cause you studied for something and you're not doing it
00:33 and you look on and you go, they're making good money
00:35 and they're doing something that they enjoy.
00:37 I wish I had a career like they have
00:40 or it could be a ministry.
00:42 You look at someone and say,
00:43 wow, they're really making a difference
00:45 or it might be their family,
00:46 like they all come into church together
00:49 and it looks like they like each other
00:52 and their Christmas cards just are perfect
00:55 and we almost divorced the last time
00:56 we had our Christmas photos or whatever it is.
00:58 You look at that or it might even just be a mindset,
01:01 like you just look at them and they just,
01:04 they seem contented, they seem just at peace.
01:07 You look on and you think, I wish I had that.
01:11 I wish I had what they have.
01:14 The problem is when you look at somebody where they are,
01:18 you're just seeing their current chapter.
01:21 You don't know the full story.
01:24 You're not seeing the previous chapters
01:26 that led up to the chapter that they're in.
01:30 You may look at their current chapter and say,
01:32 I want a story like that,
01:34 but you haven't read the previous chapter
01:36 called Private Sacrifices.
01:39 Or you don't know about the chapter called Heartbreaking Loss
01:44 or the chapter called Overcoming Insecurities
01:49 or the chapter called My Spiritual Doubts.
01:52 All you see is their current chapter.
01:55 Today, what I wanna do is I wanna show you
01:57 from the last chapter of Ruth, a principle,
02:01 if you're taking notes, that the decisions
02:03 that you make today will determine the story
02:07 that you tell tomorrow.
02:08 The decisions that you're making in your life today,
02:12 what you do, what you don't do, who you're with,
02:16 who you're not with, the decisions you're making today
02:18 actually determine the chapter
02:20 that you will live out tomorrow.
02:23 And so for those of you that may not be happy
02:26 with the chapter that you're in,
02:28 and you want a better chapter, a different chapter,
02:30 you want a different story,
02:32 I'm calling this message, choosing your next chapter.
02:37 And Father, we ask today that you are the,
02:40 as you're the author of all life
02:42 and the giver of all good things,
02:44 that your Holy Spirit would teach us principles
02:47 to live a life that would honor you
02:49 and write a story that would glorify you.
02:52 We pray this in Jesus' name and everybody said, amen.
02:57 Let's get back into Ruth.
02:58 The context of Ruth, if you haven't been with us,
03:00 let me give you kind of a quick summary.
03:03 Ruth was a Moabite widow who left Moab
03:08 to turn to the God of Bethlehem
03:11 and came back without much hope, without any resources,
03:16 and she got to work.
03:17 Instead of doing what a lot of women
03:19 would have been forced to do when they were widowed,
03:21 she didn't sell her body, she didn't beg for money,
03:24 she actually started gleaning in the field
03:27 of a guy named Boaz.
03:29 She just so happened, the text said,
03:32 started to glean in the field of a guy named Boaz,
03:35 a man of standing, and Boaz met Ruth
03:38 and he admired her character and her integrity
03:41 and her work ethic.
03:42 And they had what looked like a little bit of a date
03:45 over lunch, he asked her to sit down.
03:47 They had a date and it seemed like sparks were flying
03:50 and things were going well.
03:51 And then evidently, Boaz, the business owner,
03:54 appeared to have gotten distracted
03:56 and stopped paying attention to her.
03:58 He never followed her on Instagram, he never followed up.
04:01 And so she, with the encouragement of her mother-in-law,
04:04 gave him a little bit of encouragement.
04:07 And by encouragement, what she did was she lied down
04:11 at the foot of his bed and said, "Remember me?"
04:14 I thought that was funny.
04:16 You don't have to laugh at that,
04:18 but that's, I hope my daughter never encourages
04:21 a guy like that.
04:21 But that's what she did and she was at the foot of the bed
04:24 and she kind of almost like proposed to him
04:27 and almost asked him, "Would you be something
04:30 "that Ruth calls a kinsman redeemer?"
04:32 A kinsman redeemer is someone who would protect a widow
04:36 and provide for a widow.
04:37 It's a family member who would step in
04:40 to a very important role to help make sure
04:42 that she was cared for.
04:44 Now, according to the law, there was a problem
04:47 because Boaz wanted to be her kinsman redeemer,
04:50 but he discovered there was another dude
04:53 that was actually more closely related.
04:56 And so he wanted to step into that role,
04:58 but since there was someone else, he had a very big problem.
05:03 Somehow he had to find this guy.
05:07 We don't know where he is, we don't know what he's doing.
05:09 And he had to find this guy and work a deal
05:13 so he could pursue the woman that he had on his heart.
05:18 Now, to make this deal, Boaz needed three things.
05:22 What did he need?
05:23 He needed the same three things that you'll need
05:27 to write a better chapter.
05:29 What did he need?
05:30 He needed providence, planning, and prayer.
05:35 He needed the providence of God,
05:39 a strategic plan, and faithful, Spirit-filled prayers.
05:44 We'll start with the first one, what did he need?
05:47 He needed, say it with me, he needed the providence of God.
05:51 What is the providence of God?
05:53 We've defined it this way.
05:54 The providence of God is whenever God uses
05:57 natural circumstances to bring about his supernatural will.
06:02 Because when you look at the book of Ruth,
06:05 oddly enough, you don't see any physical miracles.
06:08 There's no parting of the Red Sea.
06:10 There's no opening blind eyes,
06:12 but you see the miraculous providence of God
06:15 where he uses natural circumstances
06:18 to bring about his supernatural will.
06:20 And you're gonna see this starting in the very last chapter,
06:24 Ruth chapter four, verse one, that says this.
06:27 Boaz, he's got a problem, he's gotta find this guy.
06:30 Who is this guy that's a kinsman redeemer?
06:32 So he went to the town gate and took a seat there.
06:35 Now let's pause for a moment.
06:37 What is the town gate?
06:39 This was the place where they would do business deals.
06:42 You would negotiate a deal, you would close on land.
06:45 This was kind of like going to city council
06:47 or going to court.
06:49 And so he goes to the town gate, takes a seat,
06:52 and what are the next two words?
06:53 Let's all say it aloud, just then, everybody say it.
06:56 Just then, online, type it in, type just then, just then.
07:01 It just so happens the family redeemer
07:04 he had mentioned came by.
07:07 It just so happens by the providence of God
07:11 that God was working through natural circumstances
07:15 to bring about his supernatural will.
07:17 Just then, wow, the family redeemer he had mentioned
07:21 came by, so Boaz called out to him.
07:24 Hey bro, come over here, I got a deal for you
07:29 and sit down, friend.
07:31 I wanna talk to you.
07:32 Now, the word friend is a very, very generous translation
07:37 of the real words in the Hebrew language.
07:40 Boaz calls this guy plony alimony.
07:44 That's just really fun to say.
07:47 You can say it if you want to, plony alimony.
07:49 That's what he calls him in the Hebrew language.
07:51 He says, hey, plony alimony.
07:52 And in Hebrew, this was an idiom
07:55 that's only used two other times in the Bible,
07:59 plony alimony.
08:00 What this literally means is it means a muted name,
08:05 a muted name.
08:07 A very, very literal translation could be Mr. No-Name.
08:12 That's what it is.
08:14 Hey, Mr. No-Name, that's what we see in a text.
08:17 Come over here.
08:18 And we're gonna discover that the author
08:20 of the book of Ruth, Samuel, doesn't include this guy's name.
08:25 And I'll tell you probably why he didn't include it
08:28 in a few minutes.
08:30 So when did Mr. No-Name show up?
08:34 The text says, just then he showed up.
08:37 He just so happened to show up.
08:40 Did Boaz get lucky?
08:42 Was this a coincidence?
08:45 This is when God uses natural circumstances
08:49 to bring about his supernatural will.
08:52 So Mr. No-Name just happens to show up
08:54 by the providence of God at the exact right time
08:58 in the right circumstances.
09:00 What do you need for a better chapter?
09:02 You need the providence of God.
09:04 And I'll show you how this is spelled in the Hebrew language.
09:08 This is hasgatshapratis.
09:11 Hasgatsha, I like saying that too.
09:13 And in the Hebrew language,
09:15 if you'll notice the word on the top,
09:17 Hebrew, you actually read it from right to left.
09:21 Obviously in English, we read from left to right.
09:24 But this is the providence of God.
09:27 And in my context,
09:30 we actually have to read Hebrew backwards.
09:32 I would say this about the providence of God.
09:35 The providence of God is like reading Hebrew.
09:39 It's best understood when read backwards.
09:43 If you wanna see the providential power of God,
09:46 it's best when you look where you are
09:49 and you look backwards to see how God
09:52 used natural circumstances that you didn't realize
09:56 to bring about his supernatural will in your life.
09:59 And I'll give you just a very personal example
10:02 of reading backwards the providential power
10:05 and the will of God in my life.
10:06 You go all the way back into high school, my senior year,
10:09 I was playing in the state championship tennis tournament.
10:14 And there was a scout that was gonna come out
10:17 to watch me named Arnold Short.
10:19 He was scheduled to come to the finals
10:20 where I was gonna play a guy
10:21 that I'd beaten two weeks previous in the finals.
10:24 And he was gonna watch me beat this guy in the finals
10:27 and sign me on the spot for a full scholarship.
10:29 Unfortunately, he came at the wrong time.
10:32 He came to the semifinals and I played a not very good guy
10:37 and I ended up beating him rather easily.
10:39 And he gave me a half scholarship at that moment
10:43 and left the day.
10:46 I went into the finals and I played the guy
10:48 that I'd beaten two weeks previously
10:51 and he wiped the court up with my nasty little tail,
10:55 destroyed me and the coach wasn't there.
10:57 All of a sudden, I at least had a little bit
11:00 of a scholarship.
11:01 So I went to Oklahoma City University with that scholarship
11:04 where I just so happened to fall into the wrong crowd
11:08 and joined a fraternity and partied my brains out.
11:11 And it just so happened that four of my fraternity brothers
11:14 committed grand larceny.
11:15 And it just so happened that when they did that,
11:18 I was also the president of the fraternity.
11:20 And so it just so happened that in order to try
11:23 to save the fraternity, I did a little public relations stunt
11:27 and started a Bible study.
11:28 And it just so happened on the day we were gonna have
11:30 the Bible study, I was going to the business class
11:33 and I didn't have a Bible and it just so happened,
11:36 there was a gentleman in a suit and tie
11:38 from an organization known as the Gideons
11:40 who just so happened to offer me a free green
11:43 little New Testament Gideon Bible.
11:46 And I just so happened to start reading that little Bible.
11:49 And when I got to Ephesians chapter two,
11:51 I just so happened to read about the grace of God,
11:55 that you're saved by faith in Jesus through his grace
11:59 and not by works.
12:02 (congregation applauding)
12:03 And I just so happened to cry and repent
12:06 of all the horrible sins that I had committed.
12:10 And by the grace of Jesus, I was made into a new creation.
12:15 Just so happened that I stopped dating girls
12:17 to kind of detox and it just so happened one night
12:20 that the electricity was out at the fraternity house.
12:22 So I just happened to go to the library
12:25 and just so happened to meet a cute girl
12:27 who just so happened to not be a Christian
12:29 and came on to me.
12:30 And I just so happened to be flattered
12:32 that I almost gave into her.
12:33 But it just so happened I stood strong in my faith
12:35 and said, "No, I can't because I'm a father of the Lord
12:38 "Jesus Christ, back off Satan in the name of the Father,
12:40 "the Son and the Holy Spirit."
12:42 And she backed off and made fun of me
12:45 and it just so happened, a couple of months later,
12:47 I bumped into her again and it just so happened
12:50 that she made fun of me because I probably deserved it.
12:53 And she just so happened to tell me about this other girl
12:56 who was equally weird like me.
12:58 Her name was Amy.
12:59 And it just so happened, she said I should meet Amy.
13:02 And it just so happened I did meet Amy
13:05 right before graduating.
13:06 It just so happened I had a really good job offer
13:09 that just so happened to be in Houston,
13:11 which was far away from Amy.
13:12 But just before I moved to Houston, it just so happened,
13:15 I bumped into a guy who said there's a job with Honeywell.
13:19 And I just so happened to interview that,
13:21 turned down the better job for the sucky job
13:24 to stay with a good girl,
13:25 which just so happened to be brilliant and God honoring,
13:28 one of the best decisions that I ever made.
13:30 And it just so happened at Honeywell
13:32 that someone invited me to a Bible study downtown
13:35 where there was a guy named Nick Harris who was teaching,
13:38 who just so happened to be gifted at helping young people
13:41 step into their calling and ministry.
13:44 And I became a member of his church and he discipled me.
13:47 And I all the way look at where I am today,
13:51 reading backwards and thinking I thank God
13:55 that my coach showed up at the wrong time.
13:59 I thank God for his providence.
14:02 (congregation applauding)
14:04 The providential will of God is a lot like reading Hebrew.
14:08 It's best when it's viewed backwards.
14:10 And if you look at Ruth,
14:11 what we're gonna find is in chapter four,
14:14 she gets really blessed.
14:16 But you have to remember that this was not
14:19 like some of the previous chapters.
14:22 If you were gonna title some of her previous chapters,
14:25 you might've called one of them
14:26 suddenly and tragically widowed.
14:30 That would have been the title of a chapter.
14:31 Another one would have been called the faith to lead Moab.
14:35 Another chapter would have been called
14:37 broke and broken in Bethlehem.
14:40 And so if you find yourself hoping for a better chapter,
14:45 you might wanna look for the providence of God.
14:47 You are not in your final chapter right now.
14:50 God is still writing your story
14:52 and there is more story for him to tell.
14:55 The providential will of a very good God.
14:59 The first thing you need for a better chapter
15:02 is the providence of God.
15:03 The second thing that you're gonna need is strategic plans.
15:07 Strategic plans.
15:08 It's planning is actually spiritual.
15:11 In fact, I'm gonna show you what Boaz did
15:13 is pretty interesting.
15:14 I like Boaz, he was not a pastor, he was not a prophet,
15:17 he was not a priest, he was actually a business leader.
15:20 And where he's going, he wasn't going to a Bible study,
15:22 wasn't going on a mission trip,
15:23 he was actually going to a business deal.
15:26 And God was all over this deal.
15:29 You can be in business and please God all day long.
15:33 I hope you understand that.
15:34 And so he goes to the city gate with this plan
15:37 and he calls 10 business leaders together
15:40 to be the witness and he says,
15:42 "Mr. No-Name, I'm gonna make you an offer
15:46 "that you can't refuse."
15:48 And he's actually working his plan.
15:51 He tells them, "Hey, you remember Lim-Alek,
15:53 "he was married to Naomi, well, Naomi's widowed
15:56 "and so if you want his land, here's what you need to do."
15:59 And here's what the text says.
16:00 "If you want the land, then buy it,
16:02 "here in the presence of these witnesses.
16:05 "But if you don't want the land, let me know right away
16:08 "because I'm next in line to redeem it."
16:11 And the guy said, "All right, basically, okay,
16:13 "you wanna sell me this land for pennies on the dollar,
16:16 "I'll do it."
16:17 And then Boaz says, "Oh yeah, there's one more thing."
16:22 And he's working his strategic plan.
16:24 He says, "I forgot to tell you," Boaz says,
16:26 "that of course, your purchase of the land from Naomi
16:30 "also requires that you marry Ruth, the Moabite widow,
16:35 "that way she could have children
16:38 "who will carry on her husband's name
16:41 "and keep the land and the family."
16:43 In other words, you gotta raise babies
16:44 and then you gotta give the land
16:46 that you spend your money on back to their family
16:48 and you don't even get to keep it.
16:49 And Mr. No Name pumps on the brakes.
16:52 Hey, hang on, this wasn't the deal that I agreed to.
16:54 You're telling me this deal comes with a couple of widows
16:58 and one is a Moabite woman
17:01 and the other one is her grumpy mother-in-law
17:05 and I gotta provide for both of them
17:07 and I gotta pay for the land
17:09 and then I gotta give him the land?
17:11 What kind of deal is this for me?
17:15 And so Mr. No Name says this.
17:18 He says, "Then I can't redeem it,"
17:21 the family redeemer replied,
17:23 "because this might endanger my own estate."
17:26 And he says to Boaz, "You redeem the land, I can't do it."
17:31 Mr. No Name thought this chapter
17:37 was titled "A Bad Investment."
17:39 Boaz though, he was calling this chapter
17:44 "A Legacy Opportunity."
17:46 And the author looks on and says,
17:49 "I'm not even gonna dignify that selfish guy
17:54 "who was more concerned with his money
17:56 "than any type of ministry.
17:58 "We're just gonna call that guy Mr. No Name."
18:01 Boaz, he's working his plan.
18:05 And when you look through this story,
18:07 you see most people didn't have any kind of plan.
18:11 Go all the way back to chapter one.
18:14 You remember Naomi's husband, Elimelech,
18:16 remember his name means my God is king?
18:18 He did not have a plan in Moab.
18:21 There was no will, he left his wife high and dry,
18:26 there was no plan.
18:27 You may remember Ruth's husband, Malon.
18:30 You remember the two guys named Sick and Tired?
18:33 Okay, just making sure you've been with me.
18:35 He didn't have a plan at all.
18:37 Mr. No Name didn't have a plan.
18:39 He couldn't see past a day, he had no plan.
18:42 And that's why I wanna remind somebody here
18:45 that one of the most spiritual things you can do
18:48 is make a plan.
18:50 One of the most spiritual things you can do is make a plan.
18:54 In fact, I love what God's Word says
18:55 in the Old Testament, Proverbs 21 five,
18:57 that good planning and hard work.
19:00 Let's say it aloud, the first thing, let's all say it.
19:02 Good planning and what else?
19:04 And hard work lead to prosperity,
19:08 but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.
19:12 Can I stay here for just a moment?
19:14 Good planning, one of the most spiritual things you can do
19:17 is create a plan.
19:18 God had a plan, he sent his son.
19:20 Good planning and hard work.
19:22 We live in a culture where nobody wants to work hard.
19:25 The Bible says, you don't work, you don't eat.
19:27 There is such a reward to hard work.
19:30 Good planning and hard work leads to a life of blessings
19:33 and prosperity, but hastiness and shortcuts
19:35 leads to poverty.
19:37 I would ask you this, what's your plan?
19:39 Like what's your plan?
19:42 If you want a better chapter, have a better plan.
19:44 What's your plan?
19:47 Some of you say, well, my marriage is struggling right now.
19:50 What's your plan?
19:50 Get a plan.
19:52 Get a plan to be in a life group together.
19:54 We're gonna go and we're gonna open up God's Word together
19:56 and we're gonna let other people pour into our marriage
19:58 and we're gonna receive in our marriage.
20:00 Or we're gonna go into counseling.
20:02 We haven't been able to figure this out on our own,
20:04 so we're gonna go and get some help from godly wisdom
20:08 to create a plan to help strengthen our marriage.
20:12 Or financially, what's your plan?
20:15 Some of you, your plan is just to spend more than you make.
20:18 That's your plan.
20:19 It's a plan, it's not a good one.
20:21 But you might look on and say, this boat won't float.
20:25 So instead you create a plan to cut up your credit cards,
20:29 to start doing a debt snowball,
20:31 to work a plan and to get out of trouble.
20:35 What's your health plan?
20:36 Eat.
20:40 Sleep.
20:43 And eat some more.
20:46 I mean, if you really wanna honor God with your health,
20:48 you might develop a plan.
20:51 Here's what I eat and when I eat and how I treat my body
20:54 and go to the doctor and take some supplements
20:57 and create a little workout plan.
20:59 If all of your friends are stoned 80% of the time
21:04 and they're all broke and they're all far from God,
21:10 maybe you need a different plan
21:11 when it comes to your inside friends.
21:14 Because the decisions that you make today
21:19 determine the story that you tell tomorrow.
21:21 The decisions that you are making right now
21:24 is writing the chapter that will be published tomorrow.
21:29 What do you need?
21:30 The providence of God and you want a good plan.
21:32 (audience applauding)
21:36 So Boaz, he works this plan and he goes and he buys the land
21:43 and he becomes the kinsman redeemer.
21:47 And verse 10 tells us this.
21:49 Verse 10 tells us, "And the land of acquired Ruth
21:52 "and with the land of acquired Ruth,
21:55 "the Moabite widow of Malon to be my wife."
22:00 This way, she can have a son to carry on the family name
22:07 of her dead husband and to inherit the family property
22:10 here in his hometown.
22:12 And he says to everybody, "You are witnesses of this today."
22:16 What is he doing?
22:17 Boaz is joining his chapter with her chapter
22:22 to create God's chapter.
22:25 We're together through the providence of God,
22:28 through strategic planning,
22:29 and we're gonna find through powerful faith-filled prayer,
22:32 God is entering this story
22:35 and bringing out something more powerful
22:38 than you could ever, ever imagine.
22:40 What do you need for a better chapter?
22:42 You need the providence of God.
22:44 You need some strategic plans.
22:46 And the third thing is you'll wanna be praying
22:48 some faith-filled prayers, some faith-filled prayers.
22:53 In fact, as we've gone through this book of Ruth,
22:56 you may or may not have noticed
22:59 that prayer is all over the book of Ruth.
23:02 It's all over the book of Ruth.
23:04 Almost every prayer is a very, very short prayer.
23:09 Sometimes people ask me, "Craig,
23:11 "how long do you pray every day?"
23:15 And the answer would be somewhere
23:16 between four and five hours every day.
23:19 I don't pray that long.
23:22 The truth of the matter is
23:24 that I don't pray very many long prayers,
23:29 but there are very few long periods of time
23:33 that I don't go without praying.
23:34 There are very few long periods of time
23:38 where I'm not talking to God in short bursts of prayer.
23:42 And that's what you see all through the book of Ruth,
23:44 ongoing conversation and prayer.
23:46 Let me show you some of the prayers in Ruth.
23:48 Naomi prays, "May the Lord give you a husband."
23:51 Ruth prays, "May the Lord deal with me if I leave you."
23:53 Boaz prays, "May the Lord be with you."
23:55 The workers pray, "May the Lord bless you."
23:57 Boaz says, "May the Lord repay and bless you."
24:00 Ruth says, "May I continue to find favor."
24:02 Naomi says, "May the Lord bless the man who blessed you."
24:06 And Boaz says to Ruth, "May the Lord bless you."
24:09 And we see prayer after prayer, after prayer,
24:11 after prayer, after prayer.
24:12 And then the elders pray a generous prayer of blessings
24:17 in Ruth chapter four, verse 11.
24:19 And the scripture says this,
24:20 "The elders and all the people standing in the gate replied,
24:24 "We are witnesses.
24:25 "She's now your wife.
24:26 "May she be blessed with children.
24:27 "May the Lord make this woman
24:30 "who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah,
24:35 "from whom all the nation of Israel descended.
24:40 "May she be like the women
24:44 "from whom the whole nation of Israel descended.
24:47 "And may you prosper in Ephrath
24:51 "and be famous in Bethlehem.
24:56 "May the Lord make this woman Ruth,
25:00 "the Moabite woman who turned to the God of Israel.
25:05 "May you make her like the women from the nation of Israel
25:09 "that the whole nation descended.
25:12 "And may you prosper and be famous in Bethlehem."
25:17 And I don't know about you,
25:18 but I just happened to know someone else
25:20 who's pretty famous from Bethlehem.
25:23 His name is Jesus, and he is all over this story.
25:27 If you will see the providential power of God,
25:31 and if you will see the strategic planning
25:34 and the faithful prayers of the people,
25:36 the providence of God is like reading Hebrew.
25:40 It's best understood when you read it backwards.
25:44 I wanna look at the story of Jesus backwards.
25:47 What is the story of the gospel?
25:49 The story of the gospel is this,
25:51 that God so loved the world.
25:54 God so loved you.
25:56 (soft music)
25:59 That he gave his one and only son, Jesus,
26:05 who was perfect, the Lamb of God, without sin,
26:10 and was slain for the forgiveness of sins.
26:14 He died on the third day, the stone was rolled away,
26:17 and he was not there, the tomb was empty.
26:19 So that anyone, and this includes you,
26:22 anyone who calls on the name that is above every name,
26:25 the name of Jesus, you would be saved.
26:28 The gospel, it doesn't matter who you are,
26:31 your sins can be forgiven.
26:34 But reading backwards, before Jesus died and rose again,
26:39 he actually prayed, and on the cross,
26:46 he declared, "It is finished."
26:49 And he prayed, "Into your hands I commit my spirit."
26:54 But before he died, and before he rose again,
26:56 and before he prayed,
26:58 Jesus was actually fulfilling God's strategic plan.
27:02 God had a plan the whole time.
27:04 And Scripture tells us this plan.
27:07 For God saved us and called us to a holy life.
27:12 He did this not because we deserved it,
27:16 but because that was God's plan
27:19 from before the beginning of time,
27:22 to show us his grace and his love and his mercy
27:26 through Christ Jesus.
27:28 And reading backwards, we know that Jesus was born
27:33 without sin.
27:33 How did that happen?
27:35 He came from the Virgin Mary.
27:39 And the providence of God is just like reading Hebrews,
27:42 best when you read it backwards.
27:44 Matthew 1:16 tells us what did Mary do.
27:46 Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
27:51 And where did that come from?
27:53 Well, Mary was engaged to Joseph, whose father was Jacob.
27:57 If you look in Matthew 1, you see the lineage of Jesus.
28:01 And if you look at things backwards,
28:02 you say Jesus came from Mary and Joseph,
28:05 who came from Jacob and Matthew,
28:06 who came from Eleazar, from Eliud,
28:09 from Achim, from Zadok, who came from Azor,
28:11 from Eliakim, from Abuib, from Zerubbabel,
28:15 from Sheltiel, from Jehoiachin, from Josiah,
28:19 from Ammon, from Manasseh, from Hezekiah,
28:21 who came from Ahaz, from Jotham, from Uzziah,
28:24 from Jehoram, who came from Jehoshaphat,
28:27 who came from Asa, who came from Abijah,
28:30 who came from Reboahim, who came from Solomon,
28:32 who came from David, who came from Jesse,
28:34 who came from a guy named Obed,
28:38 who was born from Boaz and from Ruth.
28:43 When you look backwards, you see the providential will,
28:48 the power, the plan of a good God,
28:52 who was working the whole time,
28:55 who was working in the good chapters
28:59 and working in the dark chapters,
29:02 who was working in every single moment,
29:05 pointing toward the grace and glory and goodness of his Son.
29:09 So whatever chapter you're in,
29:14 God is in it with you.
29:17 He's still working and he's there.
29:20 In God's providence and through God's plan
29:26 and through the prayers of the saints for a Savior,
29:29 God offered salvation, not because we deserved it,
29:34 but because that was his plan.
29:37 So if you think about your next chapter, what do you need?
29:43 The providential power of God,
29:46 which is best viewed looking backwards.
29:48 That's how he used it and that's what he was doing.
29:50 I didn't see it, but he was there all the time.
29:53 And strategic planning, good planning and hard work,
29:58 leads to blessings and prosperity.
30:00 And a life of dependence on God.
30:02 I'm with you, God, I need you, God.
30:03 Direct my steps, I'm praying, God.
30:05 I'm depending on you, God.
30:06 I'm not walking by sight, I'm walking by faith.
30:09 God, direct my steps, I need your guidance,
30:11 I need your power, I need your wisdom.
30:14 And all that together, God will help write
30:16 your next chapter.
30:18 It will be a chapter where he's glorified
30:20 because he is with you and he is always good.
30:25 So Father, today we ask for your power,
30:27 your grace, your goodness to do a work in our lives
30:29 in a way that only you can do.
30:32 As you're praying today at all of our different churches,
30:35 I wonder how many of you would say,
30:37 just real honestly right now,
30:40 there's some part of your life
30:42 that you wish wasn't in this chapter.
30:47 You want something different.
30:49 It could be for you,
30:50 it could be for someone that you love,
30:52 but you're believing God for a better chapter.
30:53 Would you lift up your hands right now,
30:55 just all around the room online?
30:56 You can type it in the comment section,
30:58 I'm believing God for a better chapter.
31:00 Father, I pray that even though we may not see you now,
31:04 we thank you that you are here.
31:06 That you're even with us in the chapters
31:09 that we don't understand.
31:12 So God, help us to trust you, help us to see you.
31:14 God, help us to do our own part,
31:17 to create a plan, to be wise, to be good stewards.
31:21 And God, ultimately to depend on you in prayer.
31:24 We pray, God, I pray, God, for miracles.
31:26 I pray for those who are seeking healing and restoration,
31:30 God, and provision and emotional peace,
31:35 God, and miracles in relationships.
31:37 God, I pray that we could see your power,
31:40 see your presence, that you would work,
31:43 and you'd be glorified.
31:46 As you keep praying today, nobody looking around,
31:50 God has a plan.
31:53 And what I want you to know is God has a plan for you.
31:56 And his plan isn't just to make you happy on this earth,
31:59 it's not just to give you a better house.
32:01 His plan is for you to know him,
32:05 to be transformed, to be spiritually at peace,
32:10 and to have the God kind of life.
32:14 That's his plan.
32:16 But you can't get there on your own.
32:19 His plan was that he sent his son, Jesus,
32:23 the Lamb of God, the perfect one, the sinless one,
32:25 to be the perfect sacrifice
32:28 for the forgiveness of our sins.
32:31 So that anyone who calls on him,
32:33 he'd hear their prayer, he'd forgive their sins,
32:35 he'd make you brand new.
32:36 Today, there are many of you that you're watching,
32:38 you're online, you're at a physical location,
32:40 that you recognize you're not walking with God,
32:43 you may not know God intimately.
32:44 What I want you to know is that you are not here by accident.
32:48 This is a part of his plan.
32:51 And his plan is for you to say yes
32:55 to the gift of salvation through Jesus.
33:00 We can't earn it, we don't deserve it, it's his gift.
33:03 Wherever you're watching from today,
33:04 those who say, "I need it," what are we gonna do?
33:07 We're just gonna leave Moab,
33:09 we're gonna leave the life of sin,
33:10 and we're gonna go toward Bethlehem,
33:12 we're gonna go toward God and say,
33:13 "I surrender my life to you, Jesus, you be first,
33:15 "you be the Lord of my life."
33:16 When you call on him, he will hear your prayer,
33:20 he'll forgive your sins.
33:22 The old is gone and everything becomes new.
33:24 Wherever you're watching from today,
33:25 those who say, "I need his forgiveness,"
33:26 I know, I step away from my old life,
33:30 I call on him, "Jesus, save me, Jesus, make me new."
33:32 That's your prayer today, you say,
33:34 "I need him, I'm stepping away from my old life today,
33:36 "I surrender my life to him."
33:37 That's your prayer, lift your hands high right now,
33:39 all over the place and say, "Yes,"
33:40 that's my prayer right here, God bless you guys,
33:42 and over here as well.
33:43 Others of you today say, "Yes, Jesus, I surrender to you."
33:46 Oh, come on, praise God for you.
33:49 Others today say, "Jesus, I need you,
33:50 "be the Savior, the Lord of my life."
33:53 Online, you can type in the comment section,
33:56 "I'm surrendering my life to Jesus,"
33:57 just type that, "I'm surrendering my life to Jesus,"
34:00 and we're all gonna pray, pray,
34:01 "Heavenly Father, forgive my sins, Jesus, save me,
34:06 "make me brand new, fill me with your Spirit,
34:11 "so I could know you, so I could walk in your love,
34:16 "so I could show your love, thank you for new life,
34:21 "you have all of mine, in Jesus' name I pray."
34:26 Could I have somebody worship now, give God thanks,
34:28 thank you for who he is, thank you for what he's doing.
34:31 (audience applauding)