s20060409m_Turning Misery into Mission

Turning Misery into Mission

20 She said to them, “Call me no longer Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty; why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has brought affliction on me?” Ruth 1: 20-21

When You Fail Or Experience Tragedy:

God Wants You to Make Some Crucial Choices To Complete His Mission:

15 So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.; 17 where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you. Ruth 1:15-17

Ruth Chose To  [LOVE NAOMI]  To  [BELIEVE GOD]  To  [HOPE IN GOD’S FUTURE]

God Wants You to Exercise The Five Essential Qualities Required for His Mission:

QUALITY #1                         [INDUSTRIOUSNESS]

6 The servant answered, “She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi ... 7 She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment. 2:6-7

QUALITY #2                                    [ATTENTIVENESS]

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” Ruth 2:8-9

QUALITY #3                                    [HUMILITY]

Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?” Ruth 2:10

QUALITY #4                         [KINDNESS]

11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge! Ruth 2:11-12

QUALITY #5                         [GRATITUDE]

Then she said, “May I continue to find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, even though I am not one of your servants.” Ruth 2:13

How To Discover God’s Mission From Your Misery

¨      use what you have been through as a way of helping others.

¨      look for God’s purpose in allowing whatever life brings.

¨      work with God as he makes all things to work together for good.

¨      stop asking why and begin asking what—what does God want me to do?

¨      allow humbling experiences to give you a servant’s heart.

¨      choose not to wallow in self-pity.

¨      invest your life in the lives of others.

¨      take your pain and misery and turn it into ministry.