RUTH & I SAMUEL

My what a wonderful day we had in church yesterday!  God blessed!  A great crowd of God's people and many visitors showed up and so many new faces who are coming every week now.  It is a blessing.  God has been so good to us, and it is a joy to see and be a part of.  Tonight, Dr. Jack Trieber will be our guest speaker and tomorrow as well.  Dr. Trieber is a wonderful man of God and a joy to be around.  I'm so looking forward to being with my friend.  What a blessing he will be to us as God uses him to preach His Word.  Today, I'm in Ruth and I Samuel, and here are some of the highlights: 1) RUTH'S FAMOUS SPEECH- Ruth 1:16,17  "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: (17)  Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me."  This speech is often used in many settings, including weddings.  Ruth is telling her mother-in-law, Naomi, that she will not leave her side.  Naomi had lost all in Moab, but God has given her a faithful daughter-in-law in Ruth.  Good things will happen with Ruth, and God will grant Naomi a change to rejoice before the short book is over.  2) HANDFULS OF PURPOSE- In Ruth 2:16, Boaz, the land owner and near kinsman to Naomi, tells his servants:  "And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not."  Boaz, in kindness, told his servants to let handfuls of grain to drop so that Ruth who was gleaning the field. (Gleaning means to go after the reapers and to pick up the grain that they did not reap.  It is a hard job, but a job that was left to the poor of the land.  They poor were not fed, but they were allowed to go after the reapers and pick up anything left behind, and the Israelites were told by God to leave the corner's of their fields for the poor to pick up.  Here Boaz, gives mercy to Ruth.)  Handfuls of purpose is what Boaz called it.  I think God gives us "handfuls of purpose" everyday.  We just need to look for what God is doing and wants to do in our lives.  It is a blessing to realize that God loves us enough to leave us "handfuls of purpose" each day.  3) HANNAH'S FAMOUS SPEECH- 1 Samuel 1:27,28-  "For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: (28)  Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there." Here we see that Hannah is giving back to God the child she had prayed for:  Samuel.  He is now weaned and she gives her son for Eli the priest to raise.  From this, we get the practice of dedicating our children to the LORD!  This is a wonderful practice that reminds us as Christians that our children do in fact, belong to the LORD, and that they have only been lent to us to raise for His glory! 4) THE GLORY IS DEPARTED-1 Samuel 4:21-22-  "And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. (22)  And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken."  Phinehas' wife, is having a son.  She dies in giving birth to this son.  She has just heard that her husgand and her father-in-law have just died, and that the Ark of God was taken in battle.  She delivers a son and calls him:  "Ichabod", meaning: the glory is departed from Israel.  Her huband the Bible says was not a godly man.  It says that he and his brother, "knew not the LORD".  This is why God uses a young boy named Samuel instead of Eli's sons.  Now Eli and his sons are dead, and a young prophet/priest named Samuel will be used of God.  Let us trust that the glory never departs from Bible believing churches that we love today.  Keep God's glory strong! I hope you have a great day!  May God richly bless!  Pastor Mike Mutchler