The Danger of Self-Activated Grace

• The Favor of God [00:30:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines God's favor not as special treatment or being a 'favorite,' but as unmerited grace, goodness, and blessing given freely to all believers.
• Ruth and Naomi [00:34:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the biblical narrative of Ruth, a Moabite outsider, to illustrate how God's favor flows from recipients to others, blessing Naomi and future generations.
• Divine Surprise [00:36:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God specializes in surprising his children with grace, often intervening in times of tragedy and need, as seen when Boaz notices Ruth.
• God's Favor and Grace [00:44:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God's favor is ubiquitous and unearned, received through faith rather than merit, illustrated by the story of Ruth and personal anecdotes.
• Sanctification and Reward [00:53:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between salvation by grace alone and the Christian reward for integrity and effort, citing Ruth's hard work and Jesus' 'well done' judgment.
• Common Grace [00:50:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies everyday conveniences (hot water, cars, refrigeration) as tangible examples of God's common grace available to all.
• Divine Favor [00:57:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses how God's favor comes in different forms, illustrated by Boaz's kindness to Ruth, and flows from God to individuals to bless others.
• Receiving Grace [01:01:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the difficulty of receiving God's favor due to feelings of unworthiness, emphasizing that favor must be actively taken and applied to be effective.
• Salvation and Discipleship [01:05:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor issues an invitation for listeners to receive God's grace, become Christians, and begin a friendship with God through prayer and faith.
• Salvation and Grace [01:06:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor urges the audience to receive God's grace and become Christians by confessing sin and calling on the name of the Lord.
• Prayer of Salvation [01:06:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor provides a verbatim prayer for the audience to recite internally to receive Jesus and give Him their heart.
• Communal Response [01:07:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks those who prayed the prayer to raise their hands as a public indication of their decision to follow Christ.
• Next Steps and Discipleship [01:08:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor directs new believers to go to a physical cross in the room to meet volunteers for guidance on their next steps in their relationship with Jesus.

• Sermon Illustration [00:32:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about meeting a man at an airport in Charlotte wearing a shirt that said 'God's favorite person.' The man clarified he was 'God's favorite dog' and that everyone is God's favorite, which the pastor uses to illustrate the theology that God's favor extends to all.
• Sermon Illustration [00:40:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a story from his senior year in high school (1991) where his parents teased him about potentially buying him a Ford Ranger pickup truck for college, only to reveal they had already purchased it for him as a surprise gift.
• Sermon Illustration [00:41:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a personal story from his youth where his parents surprised him with a brand new Ford Ranger pickup truck at a dealership, not because he earned it, but as a gift of love and grace because he was their child and worked hard in school.
• Sermon Illustration [00:44:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of Scrooge McDuck swimming in a pool of gold coins to describe the overwhelming abundance of God's favor and grace available to believers.
• Sermon Illustration [00:45:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical story of Ruth in the field of Boaz, highlighting how Boaz offered Ruth protection, water, and work opportunities as a gift of grace to an outsider, which serves as a type/shadow of Jesus' grace.
• Sermon Illustration [00:47:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a humorous analogy of modern dating ('sliding up in the DMs') to contrast with Boaz's direct, face-to-face initiative in pursuing Ruth, encouraging men to take bold, personal action.
• Sermon Illustration [00:50:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor lists mundane daily activities (turning on a faucet, starting a car, opening a refrigerator) as illustrations of God's common grace that believers often overlook.
• Sermon Illustration [01:01:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his 26-year-old leather belt. After losing weight, he tried to add a new hole with a pocket knife. His wife bought him two new, modern belts for Christmas, which he ignored for months. When he finally used them, he realized they were superior and functional. He uses this as an analogy for God's favor: it is a gift that sits unused until the believer actively 'puts it on' and receives it.

• Pastoral Charge [00:47:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor commands single men to approach women face-to-face rather than using digital messaging, encouraging them to overcome fear and ask women out directly.
• Pastoral Charge [01:04:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks the congregation to stand up in unison across all church campuses.
• Pastoral Charge [01:06:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor leads the congregation in a specific prayer of salvation and receiving God's grace.
• Pastoral Charge [01:07:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > Raise hands to publicly indicate acceptance of God's grace and salvation
• Pastoral Charge [01:08:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > Go to the wooden cross in the room to meet with volunteers for follow-up

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:06:15] Amen from somebody on the front. That's right. I see that hand back there. We're glad y'all are here. Can I get an amen from the balcony right quick? Yes, that's what I'm talking about. We're so glad to hear you guys. We are all going to participate together in our call to worship. The words will be up here on the screen. I'm going to read the parts for the leader and we all together with one loud voice, loud enough so your neighbor can hear you. We'll all read the parts for the people together. Can I get another amen from somebody? All right, y'all, let's do this together. Here we go.
[00:06:50] The words will be on the screen.
[00:06:53] Come, let us worship the Lord who is Jehovah Jireh, our provider.
[00:06:59] You supply all we need, oh God.
[00:07:01] We trust in you.
[00:07:04] Let us praise Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who yields.
[00:07:08] You restore our hearts and mend our brokenness.
[00:07:12] Lift high the name of Jehovah Nisi, our banner of victory.
[00:07:16] Your name goes before us.
[00:07:18] We stand in your strength.
[00:07:20] Rejoice in Jehovah Shalom.
[00:07:22] the Lord our peace. Your presence calms every storm. You are our peace. We gather in awe before Jehovah, the great I am. From age to age, you are faithful. We worship you.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:07:38] Thank you, God. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, New Spring Church family. It is a good day to be in the house of the Lord. We are so glad you're here with us. My name is Cody. I get the opportunity
[00:12:21] of serving on staff here. Yeah. And I want to be one of the first to just say, we are so glad that you came together and worship with us this morning. So, so glad you're here. One of the things we
[00:12:30] always do during this time is we just want to take a minute and point to God and just share where he is working goodness in our church. And the way that I want to do that this morning is just through
[00:12:39] sharing a little bit of a personal testimony with you guys. So October of last year, my wife and I we're blessed to have our second baby, John Luke. And I think we have a picture of that handsome
[00:12:49] fella. Where is he? Oh yeah. That's what favor looks like right there. Well, 10 days old to John Luke's life, we discovered that John Luke had a heart condition, which was causing his heart function to rapidly decline. And at 11 days old, he was flown to MUSC. And at 15 days old,
[00:13:09] John Luke went in an open heart surgery to try and address everything that was going on in his heart. And family, I'll just tell you that this season was by far one of the darkest
[00:13:20] seasons I've ever been in. It was terrifying. I spent nights crying with my wife that our baby would make it. Wanted to ask God why it was happening and having total uncertainty of how it was going to end. But I just want to testify to the goodness of God this morning
[00:13:35] two ways that God was very present. One, through this New Spring Church family. Trips back and forth to Charleston, living out of Charleston. My phone was off the hook. People praying, people calling, sending us meals, sending us money. I cannot imagine walking through this season without
[00:13:51] this family. And the second, and even more importantly, during that time, there wasn't a moment where the presence of God wasn't with us. He was so present, even in the uncertainty.
[00:14:02] So in January, we came home from the hospital. And this morning, guys, I just want to, this is it.
[00:14:06] Look at God, okay? Last week, John Luke turned six months old, and I took him to a cardiology appointment last month where he has a 100% heart function. Oh man, thank you, God. And guys, I know
[00:14:25] that that may not be exactly the situation that some of our family is going through today, but I do want to be a brother that stands up here today. And I just want to remind you, he is who he says
[00:14:35] he is. Our God is faithful to his word and you will see his goodness in Jesus name. That is the promise that he has for us. Amen. Amen. Well, right now, guys, we're going to continue worshiping
[00:14:46] through the giving of tithes and offerings.
[00:14:48] And in case you're new to church, you don't know why we do this, what's about to happen, I just wanna set it up.
[00:14:52] We give, simply put, because it's biblical.
[00:14:54] This is something that God says as believers we should do.
[00:14:57] But as I was preparing for this moment, I was reminded it's not just something that we should do, it's not a religious duty, it's an act of worship that we get to partake in.
[00:15:05] There's a verse in 2 Corinthians 9 which talks about the posture we should have when we give.
[00:15:09] It says, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
[00:15:13] Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
[00:15:16] each one must give as he has decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in
[00:15:28] all things at all times you may abound in every good work so maybe you've sat in this moment a hundred times it's so easy to jog past all right we're going to give now and you can begin to do
[00:15:39] whatever you need to do with us giving on the app or preparing for the baskets to come because I just want to encourage us to take on a different posture. The same way that we sing and we say,
[00:15:48] Lord, I love you. You're Lord of my life. I trust you. Giving is just another way that we get to do that. So I'm going to pray for us and we're going to continue in worship through giving and singing.
[00:15:58] So Heavenly Father, we love you. Jesus Christ, you are Lord of this house. Thank you for another day to gather with your body, to exalt your name on high, be glorified. Holy Spirit, we open our
[00:16:12] hearts to receive what you have for us. Show us who you are and remind us who we are. In Jesus' name, amen.

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:17:11] Let's sing, he is the Christ.
[00:17:14] He is the Christ, the son of the living God, the holy anointed one. Let's sing his name together.
[00:17:31] G. Let's sing the gospel story now. The stone was rolled. The stone action. Recognizing that the gift of your son is the greatest fulfillment of all of your faithful promise. Brothers and sisters, let's take just a moment in quiet to remember the faithfulness of God in your own
[00:21:57] heart, in your own words. Just have a moment to say thank you. Let's sing this hymn together.
[00:22:22] Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow up to Thee.
[00:22:42] Thou changest not Thy compassions, they fail not.
[00:22:50] As Thou hast been, Thou is Thy faithfulness.
[00:23:05] Great is Thy faithfulness.
[00:23:11] King by morning, new mercies I see.
[00:23:21] I have needed Thy hand, is Thy faithfulness.
[00:23:45] King time, sun and star, forces above.
[00:23:55] If you know some harmony, I'd just invite you to sing along.
[00:24:54] Hearted for sin.
[00:25:26] Come on, family.
[00:25:41] faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have in thy hand is thy faithfulness.

[00:26:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:26:07] I want you to take a second and greet the neighbor to your left or your right. If you haven't done that yet, we are packed across the state today. I'm looking at a room full of people. Say hey to
[00:30:02] your neighbor. If you're not from the South, we say hey down here. Howdy, hello, how are you? Welcome, welcome, welcome to church. We're just one big, no ordinary family and we are glad you're here today. My name's Clayton. I get to be on the team here and I am preaching
[00:30:20] today out of Ruth chapter two on the favor of God. I don't know how I'm going to get through this message without just losing my mind when I think about how good God has been to us.
[00:30:38] It is going to be a great day today because God is going to speak to us through his word as we look at chapter two. There is a phrase that pops up three times in Ruth chapter two, and it's this
[00:30:51] phrase, favor of God. So what in the world is the favor of God? Some people think of it as favors from God. You know, Jelly Roll has a song about that. God, I need a favor. And sometimes it can
[00:31:07] feel like that. And then others of us think of a favor in terms of being God's favorite. And sometimes it kind of feels like that. And so, you know, as a teaching team, we get the opportunity
[00:31:20] you to preach our sermons on Wednesdays and we record them. And then if we're able, we go to the Greenville campus for Thursday night service and we preach it live at our Thursday night service
[00:31:31] in Greenville. And by the time Sunday rolls around, hopefully we've preached this message a couple of times and the team has had a chance to help us get through it, think through it, make it effective. Well, Thursday morning, I wake up at 4 a.m. in Jacksonville, Florida to fly home
[00:31:45] from an event where I was preaching and I'm in the airport. I fly from Jacksonville to Charlotte.
[00:31:49] I'm at the gate waiting on my flight to board, and I look over, and look, y'all know this about me, right? I meet famous people. I meet them. I meet famous people. If you follow me on Instagram,
[00:32:03] you know that nine out of 10 of the famous people I meet are pro wrestlers. I just recently met big, sexy Kevin Nash. If you're old school WWE, big daddy, cool diesel, got to share the gospel
[00:32:17] with him. So I'm standing there. Now this is a different famous person that I met. Guys, ladies, I'm standing in the airport in Charlotte and I look over and there he is in real flesh and blood,
[00:32:31] God's favorite person. And how did I know he was God's favorite person? He was literally wearing a shirt that said God's favorite person. And I said, Lord, I know you're doing this just for me.
[00:32:46] there's something this guy's going to tell me that's going to make it into my sermon on Sunday at new spring. If you're wearing a shirt that says God's favorite person in public, you're inviting me to come talk to you and you are inviting me to use you as a sermon illustration. So I'll walk up
[00:33:06] to God's favorite person. And I said, Hey, tell me about your shirt. He said, I'm God's favorite dog. And I was like, oh, okay. I said, well, what about me? He goes, you God's favorite too, dog.
[00:33:21] I said, what about all these people here at gate D28? He said, all them are God's favorite too.
[00:33:28] Everybody is God's favorite. And I thought he has no idea how solid that theology really is.
[00:33:35] Because when you read the Bible and you see God's story from old Testament to new, And when you get to Jesus on the cross and you get to the story of salvation, every one of us, if we understand God's favor correctly, and I hope you will after this message, you can say to yourself, I am God's favorite child.
[00:33:59] And so is everybody else.
[00:34:01] That's what God's favor really is like.
[00:34:04] It's his blessing.
[00:34:05] It's his goodness.
[00:34:07] It's what we don't deserve.
[00:34:08] it's what we can't earn, but it is given to us freely. And in the story of Ruth chapter two, we get to see what this looks like in her life. Ruth, by the way, man, I love this story. She is
[00:34:22] a heroic woman of virtue. She is a woman of courage. She is a woman of conviction. You know the story. There's a woman named Naomi, and she's married to Elimelech, and they are from Bethlehem.
[00:34:38] Bethlehem means house of bread ironically there's a famine in Israel and they have to go to Moab they have to go to another country so that they can survive and when they get there tragedy happens
[00:34:52] horrible terrible unspeakable things happen not only does Naomi lose her husband Elimelech when he dies but she loses both of her sons they both die and they are married to Moabite women and one of those Moabite women, she's not a Jew, she's not Israeli. She is what we would consider
[00:35:13] a Gentile. She is in many ways an outsider. Her name is Ruth. And when Naomi decides I'm going back to Israel, I'm going back to my hometown of Bethlehem, this amazing heroic woman of courage
[00:35:25] and virtue, Ruth says to Naomi, I'm going with you. Where you go, I go. Where you die, I die.
[00:35:33] I am going with you there. And when we get to chapter two, I want you to watch God begins to pour out his grace, his favor, not only on Ruth, but also on Naomi, because God's favor
[00:35:48] is not meant to terminate on you. God's goodness and blessing that he gives you in your life.
[00:35:56] it's not just for you and I to hoard it and hold it. God's favor is meant to flow through us to other people so that they can receive the favor of God too. And that's the story of Ruth.
[00:36:11] Ruth is a recipient of God's grace and goodness of his kindness and his favor, but that favor flows through her to Naomi and even to generations to come as we are going to see. Now, I want to
[00:36:25] start off by letting you know that when it comes to our God and the God that we see unveiled in Ruth chapter two, God specializes in surprises. He loves to surprise his kids. And if you're a
[00:36:37] parent, you know, when you were little, you loved Christmas morning because you were going to get a surprise. But when you become a mom or a dad, Christmas hits different because you get to give
[00:36:48] the surprise. And what do you want to do on Christmas morning? You don't care that your kids got you a pair of socks or a tie. What you want to do, you want to see the look on their face
[00:36:57] when they open that gift and they're surprised. God specializes in surprises. And we pick up in chapter two, verse one. We'll read verses one through five. Look at this. Now, Naomi had a relative on her husband's side. He was a prominent man of noble character from a limilex family.
[00:37:20] His name was Boaz.
[00:37:24] Ruth, the Moabitess, asked Naomi, will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain behind someone with whom I find favor?
[00:37:39] There's the word.
[00:37:41] The Hebrew word is spelled in English, C-H-E-N, pronounced Ken.
[00:37:47] It's God's goodness, it's God's grace.
[00:37:49] We call it God's favor. Naomi answered her, go ahead, my daughter. So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from a limalex family. Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said
[00:38:10] to his harvesters, the Lord be with you. The Lord bless you, they replied. And this is where the romance kind of begins. The love story begins. Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the
[00:38:24] harvesters, whose young woman is this? All right. So we see the story begin to take a turn here.
[00:38:33] Boaz is a prominent man. He's a man with resource. He's a wealthy man. He's also in the family, the extended family of Naomi. And he notices Ruth. Now what is Ruth doing? Well, she's actually
[00:38:50] depending on the favor of someone else just for survival. Now think about this. She is a Moabite.
[00:38:58] She is not a Jew. She's in a foreign country, in a foreign town. She knows nobody except her mother-in-law, Naomi. They've both lost their husbands. This is a story of tragedy that is about to experience the favor of God. And I want you today to think about in your life as I'm
[00:39:15] preaching this message, what tragedies have happened to you? What hard things are you going through? What have you lost? What confusion do you have right now? What frustration do you have with God? What prayer have you been praying that God has not yet answered? What are you bringing
[00:39:30] in with you today? What kind of trauma, what kind of pain did you bring with you to church today?
[00:39:34] You are the perfect recipient for God's favor, goodness, and blessing.
[00:39:41] And that's what we see in the life of Ruth.
[00:39:43] She's actually in the fields gleaning grain.
[00:39:48] Well, let me just put it to you in a modern phrase you might understand.
[00:39:50] She's basically picking up the scraps left over from the ground after the primary harvesters have come through and they have harvested the grain.
[00:39:59] This was part of their culture.
[00:40:01] if you were poor, if you had no means of survival, oftentimes if you were a widow and you had lost your husband, you would depend on the favor of other people just to be able to eat. And so she's
[00:40:14] out there in the field and she's great. She's gleaning from the grain. Boaz notices her big surprise. And this is where we begin to see God's favor poured out in her life. She did not deserve
[00:40:28] this attention. She didn't earn this attention. She's just doing whatever it takes for her to be surviving. And it's a big surprise when Boaz notices her. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever been really, really surprised in your life? Think about like the biggest surprise you've ever
[00:40:45] received, maybe a birthday present, a Christmas present, you know, a surprise party. I think back in my life, and when I think about the favor of God, I can remember my senior year in high school.
[00:40:57] Many of you are about to graduate across our state, hundreds and hundreds, a few students, right? And graduation's coming up and I'm done. All of my two have already graduated from high school, but they're in college and seminary now. I think about right before I graduated, 1991.
[00:41:14] Oh, it was such a good year. And I was driving a 1979 black Chevy Camaro that I paid for with my own cash money, and it got 0.2 miles to a gallon, and it had a 350 with dual exhaust. It
[00:41:29] was a muscle car, and it looked awesome on the outside, but as long as I drove it, I stayed broke.
[00:41:34] And I was traveling and preaching at the time, and I was going off to college. I'd just gotten a scholarship to go to Gardner-Webb, and I'm wondering, how am I going to survive? I've got
[00:41:44] to drive this car that breaks down all the time. My parents had told me that they weren't going to be able to help me with college. So because we were a blue collar family and we didn't have the
[00:41:53] kind of money, long story short, right before we graduate, I'm getting ready to go to school one morning. I think it was my last day of classes actually. And my mom says to me, as I'm walking
[00:42:01] out the door, Hey, why don't you after school today, meet me at fairway Ford on Lawrence road.
[00:42:09] Your dad and I have been looking at some Ford Ranger pickup trucks. Now we can't help you get one, but maybe in a year or two, we might be able to give you enough for a down payment because that
[00:42:22] Camaro is not going to work. And you're traveling and preaching and you're driving hundreds of miles. So meet me up at fairway Ford, and we'll take a look at some of these trucks. And maybe
[00:42:29] in a year or so you can get one. And I'm thinking, why are you going to tease me like that? If I can't have the truck, then don't dangle it in front of me. And, but she's my mom. And I'm like,
[00:42:42] okay, that'll be fun, I guess. I pull into the parking lot of Fairway Ford. My mom is waiting on me with the salesman. And there's about seven or eight Ford Rangers all parked in a line.
[00:42:55] And she's like, well, here's all the Ford Rangers. By the way, back then, you could buy a brand new Ford Ranger for $10,000. Wasn't it such a special time, the 1900s?
[00:43:07] I remember it fondly. So we go down the line and she said, well, which one is your favorite out of all of these? I said, this one, the maroon one. She said, me and your daddy knew you were
[00:43:19] going to say that. And she reaches in her purse. She called it her pocketbook. She pulls out the keys. She hands me the keys and she said, it's yours. I said, do what now? We bought it for you.
[00:43:33] it's yours you worked hard you made straight a's and then my mom and her very special fountain in kind of way she said and even though you weren't the smartest kid ever in your class you sat on
[00:43:50] the front row in the middle seat and you worked hard and you got a scholarship and your scholarship is worth way more than this truck we wanted to give this to you so you'd have a dependable vehicle
[00:43:58] not only to go to college but to drive and preach i didn't praise god there's somebody wants to clap over here and that's okay. I'm going to let you clap if you'd like to. Thank you for
[00:44:08] feeling what I'm giving out right now, the emotion. When I think about that story, I didn't deserve that. I didn't earn that. They didn't give me that truck because I worked for it. They were rewarding
[00:44:20] me for my hard work, but there are plenty of kids at Hillcrest High School working hard. They weren't giving anybody a truck except me. Why? Because I was their child. They loved me. This was their
[00:44:31] goodness, their grace, their kindness, their favor in my life. What I want you to see today in the next 20 minutes, I've got to preach this, is that God's favor is all around you in surprising
[00:44:41] ways. God's favor is all around you in places you may never look. And if you will tune your eyes to see God's favor, tune your heart to hear his voice, tune your ears to hear what he's saying to you,
[00:44:53] you will be swimming in an ocean of God's favor and grace like Scrooge McDuck doing the backstroke in a big pool of gold coins. God's favor is all around you and you don't have to be a good boy
[00:45:08] or a good girl to get it. You just have to receive it. Okay, now that I've warmed up, let's move on. Favor is a gift of grace. It's just a gift. It's a gift that God offers to you
[00:45:25] freely in Jesus Christ. And this word gift and this word grace, they're all throughout the Bible and we see them in Ruth chapter two, this gift of grace. God gives her grace upon grace upon grace.
[00:45:41] Look at Ruth chapter two verses eight through 10. So Boaz has now noticed Ruth and then he speaks to her. Then Boaz said to Ruth, listen, my daughter, don't go and gather grain in another
[00:45:55] field and don't leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. See which field they're harvesting and follow them. Haven't I ordered the young men not to touch you when you're thirsty, go and drink from the jars that the young men have filled. She fell face down, bowed to the
[00:46:23] ground and said to him, why have I, here it is again, why have I found favor with you so that you notice me although I am a foreigner? She knows that she doesn't fit in. She feels like she doesn't
[00:46:43] belong. She's painfully aware of the fact that everybody in Bethlehem knows that she's a Moabitess.
[00:46:52] She knows that she's not one of them. These are not her people. She's not their people. She's just here for Naomi. But what does God do? God begins to open doors in surprising ways to give
[00:47:06] her grace and he gives her these graces and these acts of goodness as gifts. She apparently is in the field and Boaz just decides, I'm going to go out there and talk to her. You know, let me say
[00:47:21] something to the single young men out there that are listening to me right now. Sometimes a man's just got to take a chance. And I know we're living in a social media world where I'm gonna make sure
[00:47:35] I get this phrase right, where people like to communicate by sliding up in the DMs. That's such a millennial Gen Z thing to say. And I'm such a Gen Xer. That just hurts my heart to even say
[00:47:46] slide up in your DMs. Boys, can I tell you this? If you're single and you notice a good looking girl and she loves the Lord and she catches your eye, I forbid you in Jesus name. I forbid you
[00:47:58] with the power of God, with the anointing, with the favor of God on me right now. I speak with biblical authority, I forbid you to ask her out by sliding up in her DMs. You, young man,
[00:48:12] young man, you need to feel the absolute sheer terror and fear of speaking to a female face-to-face in the wild. You need to know what that feels like. You need to know that she could end your
[00:48:24] life with one word. You need to feel the fear of rejection and do it anyway. Go for it. Take a shot.
[00:48:33] swing for the fence, ask her out. And if she says no, ask her, does she know any other single girls who have better taste in men? I am preaching right now. I love the fact that Boaz notices
[00:48:49] her from the sideline, but he's like, I'm not letting this one get away. So he walks out in the field. He can do that. It's his field. He owns the field. And he walks up to her and he's like,
[00:49:00] hey, I've got some gifts of grace here. Don't leave this field and go to another field because those fields aren't as good as this field. This is the best field. My field is not mid.
[00:49:13] I got the words today. My field is not mid. My field is lit. No, that was like so 2022.
[00:49:22] My field is the best field. Oh, and by the way, I've already told the women servants that work for me to look out for you. You can work with them. And I've told all my men servants not to
[00:49:33] mess with you. In other words, I have spoken for you. I've got my eye on you and I'm going to take care of you. All kidding aside, this is a gift of grace. Oh, and when you get thirsty, you don't
[00:49:46] have to go walk to a well and draw water. I had my men servants do that. You can drink from their water. This is such a picture of how Jesus pours his grace out with you and me. Look around your
[00:49:58] life. Look around and see what God has done for you. Did you get up this morning and turn a knob and hot water magically poured out of a spigot, faucet, sorry, shower head, something from
[00:50:13] Fountain Inn, I can't hide it. That's God's grace on you. Did you get in a car and touch a button or turn a key and it cranked up and magically transported you to church today? Miracle of God's
[00:50:23] grace. Did you go to a refrigerator and open it up and there was food in there that you could eat that did not kill you because it was refrigerated?
[00:50:30] Do you have food in your cabinet at your house right now?
[00:50:32] Do you live indoors?
[00:50:34] Are you able to touch a button on the wall and control the temperature when you get too hot or too cold?
[00:50:38] These are all gifts of God's common grace that everybody gets to experience.
[00:50:44] And when we begin to just look around and notice and take note and call it out and verbalize, we will see that God's favor is all around us.
[00:50:53] Did you get a promotion?
[00:50:55] Did you get a raise?
[00:50:56] Did you get a scholarship? Are you able to read? Do you know that so many people in the world don't ever get to experience what we get to experience? We are the richest culture that has ever lived
[00:51:07] in the history of the human race right here, right now in America. And yes, there is a lot we need to work on and so much that we could fix and help, but by the grace of God, we are blessed.
[00:51:19] God's favor is all over us, all around us, and we don't deserve it, and neither did Ruth, but man, God is pouring his grace out on her. It is all around her. When I was 14 and first got saved,
[00:51:38] the first Bible that I used to preach out of, I would take notes anywhere there was blank space, and in the front of my Bible, I wrote right here, this is not that Bible, but my pastor
[00:51:50] defined grace for us. And I love it. I never forget it. It's an acrostic, G-R-A-C-E, God's riches at Christ's expense. And that stuck with me, not just in my head, but in my heart.
[00:52:08] God's riches are mine and yours, but we didn't buy them or earn them or work for them. Jesus did.
[00:52:14] It was the expensive gift of Christ's life on the cross that gave us the ability to receive God's grace and God's favor. And Ruth is a perfect recipient. Do you see the humility in her?
[00:52:27] She bows down in front of him. She says to Boaz, why have I found favor with you? I'm a foreigner.
[00:52:36] This is a picture of the gospel. This is a shadow and a type of Jesus to come. She is an outsider who receives grace. We're all outsiders when it comes to salvation, but Jesus has made us insiders
[00:52:49] when he invited us to be his sons and daughters, when God invited us into friendship with him.
[00:52:54] And she knows that she doesn't deserve this favor, but she is thankful that she's receiving it.
[00:53:01] God also rewards integrity and effort.
[00:53:08] Now, hear what I'm saying.
[00:53:11] God rewards integrity and effort.
[00:53:14] Hear what I'm not saying.
[00:53:16] We are not saved by our effort.
[00:53:20] We are saved by his grace.
[00:53:23] But I want you to see in the story of Ruth, specifically in chapter two, how God rewards her integrity and her hard work.
[00:53:32] This is Ruth chapter two, verses 11 through 13.
[00:53:35] Boaz answered her, everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband's death has been fully reported to me.
[00:53:42] How you left your father and mother and your native land, how you came to a people you didn't previously know.
[00:53:48] May the Lord, here it is, reward you for what you have done. And may you receive a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. The reward she
[00:54:10] receives is a result of the work she's done. And what this means is that for us, when we give our life to Christ, when we are saved, when you become a Christian, when you give your life to Jesus,
[00:54:25] there is a natural progression. We call it sanctification, where the closer you get to God, the more you want to glorify him with your life. The more I read the Bible, the more I want Jesus
[00:54:39] to shine through me. The more you come to church and sit under the teaching of God's word and volunteer and tithe and give and share the gospel, the more you feel God's power flowing through you.
[00:54:50] In other words, it's a joy to work for Jesus. It's a joy. And we're not saved by our work, but we are rewarded according to our work. Think about Jesus' words in the gospels. At the end of
[00:55:03] time, Jesus predicts what's going to happen. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, I prophesied your name, cast out demons, did miracles.
[00:55:11] Jesus will say, depart from me, I never knew you.
[00:55:13] But then there's another group.
[00:55:15] And what does Jesus say will happen?
[00:55:16] They will stand before God on judgment day and they will hear these words, well done, good and faithful servant.
[00:55:25] Not well thought.
[00:55:31] Not well planned.
[00:55:34] Not well intentioned.
[00:55:37] Not well said.
[00:55:39] Not well done.
[00:55:44] So there is a part of our Christian theology where we see in the scripture, we are called to work.
[00:55:53] We are called to get our hands dirty.
[00:55:56] We're called to make a difference in Bluffton.
[00:55:59] We're called to make a difference in Spartanburg.
[00:56:01] We're called to be out among our people in Aiken and Charleston and Myrtle Beach and Florence.
[00:56:07] We're supposed to be doing something in Powdersville and Anderson.
[00:56:11] We're supposed to be active in Clemson and Greenville.
[00:56:15] We should be doing something with the grace that God has given us.
[00:56:19] And it's, look, it's not work unless you're doing something.
[00:56:25] And God rewards hard work.
[00:56:28] So I'm wondering in my life, and maybe even in your life, are there areas we should work a little bit harder, just in our relationship with Christ and the way that we serve other people?
[00:56:37] Because we'll be rewarded based on how we work.
[00:56:41] And when we get to heaven, we'll go through those pearly gates and we'll see Jesus and we'll hear him say, well done, good and faithful servant.
[00:56:50] I'm looking forward to that.
[00:56:52] I can't wait for that day.
[00:56:53] The older I get, the more I long for it.
[00:56:56] But until then, I'm gonna work.
[00:56:58] I'm gonna break a sweat.
[00:56:59] I wanna go to bed sore.
[00:57:01] I wanna wake up the next day sore.
[00:57:02] I wanna sleep like a baby, not because I took a supplement to help me sleep.
[00:57:07] I wanna sleep hard because I work hard.
[00:57:09] It's a joy to work for Jesus.
[00:57:11] We're building the kingdom of God together at New Spring Church.
[00:57:14] We're doing it all over South Carolina and all over the world as we plant churches, as we share the gospel.
[00:57:21] Ruth is a perfect example for us of a woman who knew how to work hard because her life and the life of her mother-in-law depended on it and Boaz took notice.
[00:57:31] But I wanna show you one more thing from this scripture today.
[00:57:35] Favor comes in different forms And it may look differently, but it's always meant to flow through us to other people.
[00:57:42] Favor comes in different forms.
[00:57:44] Ruth chapter two, verses 14 through 20.
[00:57:48] So now the love story is really starting to develop here.
[00:57:53] At mealtime, Boaz said to Ruth, come over here.
[00:57:57] In other words, I saved you a seat.
[00:57:59] It's like middle school lunchroom.
[00:58:01] I saved you a seat.
[00:58:02] Come sit beside me.
[00:58:03] Come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce.
[00:58:07] I guess that's a way to like flirt back then. So she sat beside the harvesters and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some leftover. Her belly is full. Oh, and by the
[00:58:25] way, talk about the favor of God. There's more than they needed. There's excess. Reminds me of the story of the feeding of the 5,000, 12 basketfuls leftover. Don't you see just little, little nuggets of the gospel planted all throughout the book of Ruth. If you read it, you'll see it.
[00:58:39] So there's food left over. When she got it to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, let her even gather grain among the bundles and don't humiliate her. Man, this man has got solid game. Pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to gather and don't
[00:58:57] rebuke her. In other words, don't make her work hard for the scraps. Take some of the best.
[00:59:03] Take some of the best.
[00:59:05] Pull it out of your bundles and just lay it on the ground for her so all she has to do is come and scoop it up.
[00:59:09] That is God's favor.
[00:59:12] So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening.
[00:59:15] She beat out what she had gathered.
[00:59:16] It was about 26 quarts of barley.
[00:59:19] She picked up the grain and went into town where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.
[00:59:24] She brought out what she had left over from her meal and she gave it to her.
[00:59:28] So her mother-in-law, this is Naomi.
[00:59:31] Naomi, whose name literally means bitter.
[00:59:34] She's changed her name to bitter.
[00:59:35] But you see all this good stuff.
[00:59:37] Look, the favor of God is flowing from God to Boaz, to Ruth, to Naomi.
[00:59:44] And Naomi is now as bitter and broken and as much loss as she has experienced, she is now experiencing the overflow of the favor of God through Ruth onto her.
[00:59:56] Her mother-in-law said to her, where did you gather barley today?
[00:59:59] and where did you work?
[01:00:00] May the Lord bless the man who noticed you.
[01:00:03] Ruth told her mother-in-law who she had worked with and said, the name of the man I work with today is Boaz.
[01:00:12] Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, may the Lord bless him because he has not abandoned his kindness to the living or the dead.
[01:00:20] Naomi continued, this man is a close relative.
[01:00:24] He is one of our family redeemers.
[01:00:28] When I memorized this back in like middle school, it was kinsman redeemer and I believe it was the King James Version.
[01:00:34] Kinsman redeemer.
[01:00:36] In other words, Boaz is an extended member of our family.
[01:00:41] May God bless him because he is coming to help us.
[01:00:45] He is coming to redeem us.
[01:00:47] He is coming to care for us.
[01:00:49] God's favor abounds and it comes in so many different forms.
[01:00:56] If you look around, you'll find it.
[01:00:58] I do know though that sometimes it's hard to receive that favor because you don't feel like you deserve it.
[01:01:05] You're aware of all your sin.
[01:01:06] I'm aware of all of my shortcomings.
[01:01:08] You know all the mistakes that you've made.
[01:01:10] And listen, God's favor can be offered to us over and over again, but until we receive it, until we take it, until we put it on, until we actually apply it, it's just sitting there unused.
[01:01:22] I have a story to tell you to wrap it up and hopefully it'll make sense.
[01:01:27] several months ago, back before Christmas, I was in the bathroom and I had my, I have a leather belt. I bought this belt probably 26 years ago. Shari and I celebrated 26 years this year,
[01:01:37] last week, sorry, this week. What am I talking about? On May 1st, we celebrated our 26th anniversary. Right after, thank you. Praise the Lord. Praise God. And so right after we got married, I bought a brown leather belt and I've still been wearing it for 26 years. I wear it with dress
[01:01:56] clothes. I wear it with work clothes. It's just, you know, it's functional. It's leather. A cow gave its life. So I'm going to have this belt. It does everything I need it to do. Well, I lost some
[01:02:07] weight and there were no more holes in the belt. So I'm in the bathroom one day with my pocket knife. Some of y'all know what I'm talking about. And I press them down on the counter and I'm just,
[01:02:19] I'm digging a hole in my belt to make another notch for the, for the belt loop, for the thingy, whatever you call it. Shari's like, what are you doing? I said, well, my belt doesn't fit.
[01:02:31] And so I'm making another hole. She goes, with your pocket knife? Yes. On the vanity? Yes. She goes, we have some money. You can buy a new belt. And I'm like, but this one's fine. It's great.
[01:02:43] She goes, no, you need a new belt. I'm like, this one works. It's functional. It will last until the millennial reign of Christ. This belt is forever and ever in eternity. This belt will still be there. My wife was like, you are so country. I cannot. So Christmas morning, I wake
[01:03:01] up and there are two boxes and I open up these boxes and my wife has bought me two belts, a brown belt and a black belt. And I'd like to, I'd like to tell you that those belts sat on my desk in the
[01:03:16] box until last month. And Shari comes up to me one day, she goes, are you ever going to wear the belts I bought you? Yes, I'm going to wear those belts. And it was a different kind of belt. It
[01:03:28] worked in a different way. And so I was kind of confused. I was like, well, I'll just, so she's like, you need to get these belts out. These are really nice belts. And so I finally took out the
[01:03:36] belt and it was really easy to put together. And it's like zip, zip. You just, and it's amazing.
[01:03:42] These belts are magic. And I'm wearing my black belt right now. It's doing a great job. It's helping my pants stay up. I've got my microphone pack attached to it and it goes with my outfit.
[01:03:56] So I'm told by my wife, this belt was sitting on my desk for three and a half months. It was a gift that my wife gave me. It didn't do anything until I put it on. Think of God's favor like that.
[01:04:14] It's good when you wear it, but it doesn't do anything until you receive it and say thank you.
[01:04:21] What I want for you today is I want you to put on God's favor like a garment.
[01:04:26] I want you to pray for God's favor, thanking him for the goodness and grace he's given you.
[01:04:30] And when you begin to put it on and when you begin to wear it and when you begin to walk in it, your life will change for the better and you will see God's favor following you
[01:04:41] every day of your life.
[01:04:43] not to terminate on you, but to flow through you for the blessing of other people.
[01:04:50] And all God's people ought to say amen to that.
[01:04:53] Could I ask you to stand to your feet with me across every campus right now?
[01:04:58] We want the favor of God for you.
[01:05:01] And we know you can find it right here today in God's house through Jesus Christ.
[01:05:06] With your eyes closed and your hearts open, right now, before we respond, we're gonna have communion, we're gonna worship and sing.
[01:05:14] We'll have our teams around the altars and the stages and around the sides to pray with you.
[01:05:20] But I wonder today if somebody needs to receive the greatest gift of God's grace.
[01:05:25] So with your eyes closed and your hearts open, maybe you wandered in today, maybe you were invited, maybe it's your first time or your first time back, or maybe you've come for a long time,
[01:05:35] but today you just realize the thing missing in your life is God's favor, his blessing. And today you want to receive his goodness by giving your life fully and totally to Jesus Christ as your
[01:05:49] savior. What I'm asking you to do right now is I'm asking you to become a Christian. I'm asking you to receive God's grace. And I'm telling you how you can be saved today. You can begin a friendship
[01:06:06] with God today if you will simply receive his grace and ask him to save you. The Bible says, if you'll confess your sin, he'll forgive you. And if you call on the name of the Lord, you'll
[01:06:18] be saved. And this is for everybody. So if you want to be saved, or if you simply want to know for sure that you have a friendship with God, you can find that favor right now. It's already here
[01:06:32] for you. Jesus is listening to your prayer. Pray this to him right now. If the spirit of God is drawing you. Pray this to Jesus and mean it from your heart. You can begin a brand new relationship
[01:06:46] with God through Christ right now. Just pray this to him in your heart. Jesus, I receive you by faith.
[01:06:56] I don't deserve your mercy, but I'm thankful for it. Thank you for your favor. Now I put my faith in you and I give you my heart. I want to follow you, Jesus. Please save me right now. Thank you
[01:07:21] that you love me. Help me be your disciple. Just keep your eyes closed and your hearts open for a minute. I'm just going to ask a simple question and then we'll respond collectively. If you just
[01:07:37] received God's favor by praying that prayer and you meant it and it was from your heart and you just asked Jesus to come into your life and take control, whether it was the first time or you've
[01:07:50] done it before, but you meant it today, just do something real simple, real quick. Would you just raise your hand straight up above your head right now across all of our campuses. Raise them up as
[01:07:59] high and boldly as you can. Just raise them up across all of our campuses. And that's just an indication you're saying, yeah, I have responded to God's grace and favor today. Put your hands down. Everybody look at me for one second. Across all of our campuses, I want to invite you to do
[01:08:18] something. As we respond with the Lord's Supper and communion and prayer, for those of you that just responded by praying to receive Christ, I'm going to ask you to do something very specifically.
[01:08:29] There's a cross in the room where you are, a wooden cross, and our teams are going to start moving our volunteers. Volunteers, you can actually begin to make your way here right now for communion
[01:08:38] and other things, but I want you to go to the cross. There were, I can't see everybody, but in this room, 11 people just raised their hands. Just in this room, 11 of you just indicated that
[01:08:49] you made a decision. Would you let us help you? Would you let us help you take your next steps in your relationship with Jesus? In this room, the cross is right over here. In your room,
[01:09:00] it'll be somewhere down front or over toward the side. So God, right now, as we begin to sing and as we prepare to take communion, I pray that everyone who responded by praying a prayer,
[01:09:12] making a decision, would find the cross in their room and go there so that one of our volunteers can help them take their next step.
[01:09:19] And I pray that all of us now would respond in worship because you deserve it.
[01:09:25] We love you and we thank you, God, for your favor in our lives.
[01:09:31] In Jesus' name we pray.

[01:09:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:09:32] And so your goodness is running out With my life laid down, surrendered now I give you my goodness is running Your goodness is running out With my life laid down I surrender now I give
[01:12:22] Your goodness is running out I spoke your name Into loving kind Tore through the shadows Of my soul Work is spent And is written Oh Jesus Christ I live Oh great Let's together Have you and Jesus

[01:17:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:17:00] To have a conversation we ask him to remind you how he has poured his favor his mercy grace and given gratitude and response come on this is for all of us young old no matter your background no matter what day you've
[01:17:15] had i want to encourage you to respond to him now let the mercy of god flood your soul again let it bubble up as gratitude to him we shouldn't even be here church yet he has he's put breath in our
[01:17:27] lungs so you and jesus just talk about that for a second respond back to him in worship and in

[01:17:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:17:32] praise. Come on. As Clayton was speaking, one of the things that I think just stuck with me,

[01:19:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:19:52] I think we should pay attention to is that the favor and the grace of God in our lives is not meant for us only. It's not meant for us to hoard, but it provides an incredible opportunity for us
[01:20:03] to minister and to testify to the character and the nature of the God that we serve to those around us. Again, it's not, oh, look at me. Look at what I have. Look at what God's given me. It's
[01:20:13] a man. Can I just tell you about who God's been for me? Can I tell you about my heavenly father?
[01:20:18] It's an opportunity for us to do that. And as I was praying and just preparing this morning, I really do. I feel what if new spring church just went first and being marked by the way that we
[01:20:27] testify to God's goodness in our city. Can you imagine there's so much going on in the world, so much news we get. What if Anderson was just filled with people who just was constantly declaring the goodness of God on our lips, right? That's the invitation at hand for us.
[01:20:41] And I also just felt this, guys, I just want to debunk this term over-spiritualizing. Like, can we just call it what it is? There is no such thing as over-spiritualizing. Let's call it, it's the goodness of God and his favor in our life, big and small. So one of the ways that the
[01:20:55] church, we have an opportunity for you to get to testify and declare his goodness is through baptism. Baptism is a public declaration of the salvation that we've received. Um, and that's the way that you can say, man, Jesus is Lord of my life. I want to declare, I want to testify. He
[01:21:08] saved me. And if that's you, you can text baptism to three zero three zero three, or you can just flag down a staff member with a green name tag. We'd love to help you walk through that process.
[01:21:18] But church, as we get ready to go, I want to bless you. So if you would open out your hands, We do this in just a posture of receiving the word of God.
[01:21:26] And I just want to remind you guys, the word that we have today is not meant to stay in this room and pick it back up next week.
[01:21:32] This is something that God has for us to wear, a tool for us to wear as we go about and usher the kingdom of God to Anderson the rest of our week.
[01:21:39] So let me bless you guys.
[01:21:44] May you understand and receive the grace and favor of Christ, remembering that every good thing is from God.
[01:21:52] May God give you eyes to see all of the abundant favor that he has poured out in your life in Jesus Christ.
[01:21:58] And may you walk forward each day with a heart of gratitude.
[01:22:02] As you do, may that stir in you a passion and desire to serve and love others that all may know the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
[01:22:15] When you spring, we love you guys so very much.
[01:22:17] I hope you have a blessed week and we will see you again next week.