The Story of Family Series

Week 1: Seeing Hope

Ruth 1:1–6 NASB95

Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food.

Ruth 4:13–18 NASB95

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. “May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap, and became his nurse. The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron,

Introduction

Our text today comes from the Book of Ruth. The title of these 2 weeks I will be sharing with you is finding God in our Story.

As we follow the story of Ruth we find a powerful testimony to the working of God in the life of His people. Funnily enough the narrator in Ruth doesn't mention God at all but its evident that the characters in the story have a confidence and hope in His ability to work within their story to create blessing.

The two passages we read are the start and the finish of the book. In the beginning we see tragedy and loss and the end we discover joy and blessing.

How did this happen and what can we learn from it will be our focus together. This week we will look at foundational understandings and principles we need to implement in our lives and then week 2 we will build on that with some next step realities.