Sermon Tone Analysis

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.