Saturday, July 31, 2010

Seen In The Story - Sermon #1

The story in the Old Testament book of Ruth is a story of love and redemption. Those that dig into the theological aspects of the well known Bible stories will tell us that this story is a picture of Jesus as our "kinsmen redeemer". In short an kinsmen redeemer is just that, a family member who gets you out of trouble. In the book of Deuteronomy the Jew was instructed to marry his brothers wife should his brother die without having any children. Though this seems a bit odd in our culture, for the Jew it meant the ability to carry on the family name. One thing that becomes apparent to us in the stories of the Bible is that the deeper truths of God are understood in the context of these life stories. To be encouraged by the Bible we need to see it fleshed out in our lives. Some may see this as nonspiritual, but I would disagree and point out that God gave us the story of Ruth for that very reason. Why else would we need to know about Ruth? We need to move away from knowing the Bible just for the sake of knowing the Bible. We need to know the Bible to understand life! Look at the stories of life around you and see our Redeemer at work. It is true beauty!

Pastor Paul

Carried to the Table by Leeland