How many of you have ever done this? How many of you have ever been in your car and you're just on autopilot? Where you literally you're going where a similar route, maybe it's to where you normally go to work or normally go to school or normally go to and and you're not going there, but you end up there. And when you get there, you're like, this is not where I was going. But but you just end up there. It's autopilot. How many of you uh how many of you shower naked? Raise your hands. If you shower naked, okay, it's most of you. Really, the rest of you use clothes in the shower. Really? No, it's it's unconscious. We just, you know what, I'm gonna bathe, I get in there, and then I'm alone, and that's good, and naked is a weird word, but that's we do we just do that. And then all of you here today, everyone, every person I've seen today, you have clothes on. And that's a good thing. And some of you, some of you really spend a lot of time thinking, wow, I'm gonna put this and it's gonna match, or this is some of you are very standard. You know, these are my jeans, and I got anything with that and going on. Some of you, some of you obviously didn't put a lot of thought into it. And um, we're not gonna point you out. Uh, you pretty much stand out on your own. But yeah, no fingers, don't point at people. That's not nice. But we we make just a mountain of decisions every day. Every day we're in this mode of just making decisions. Many of them are literally just unconscious or very normal. We're just making them, making them, making them, making them, and it's just what we do. But the truth is that we're the real joy in life, the greatest fulfillment, is the foundation of the decisions that we make. There's a group of girls, ladies today, that very separately, different parts of the country, they made some decisions years ago that they were gonna follow a certain path, and these paths brought them together. And then as a group, they made a decision that we're gonna do something. We're going to make a commitment and sacrifice so that we can accomplish something that is incredibly rare. And today at 2 o'clock, if you're by a TV, I would encourage you, it's one of the few things worth watching, is that the U.S. women's soccer team will be playing for the World Cup. And it's a base of, I'm a huge sports nut anyway, and I'm not a soccer fan. But I would I have been glued to these games, just going, oh man, you know, cross leg, dude, oh, yeah, no, no, you're kidding me. And just I'm into it. And it's such a joy, especially in our culture, whether you're a faith or not a faith, there's something about we recognize people that have decided to accomplish something that is not normal. And we we even look at that, and today, if you watch the game, you're gonna see a group of women that are just synced up and are totally devoted to what they're doing. And because of that, I have a firm belief that they're gonna accomplish something that we will never forget, and they will have the culmination of decisions that they have made. I share that to set up the foundation of where we're going to be for the next couple weeks. The book of Ruth in the Old Testament. If you have a Bible, I want to strongly encourage you twofold. One, if you have a Bible, open to the book of Ruth. If you don't have a Bible, I want to encourage you to grab one, get one in the next week. There's something powerful about this book, and there's something amazing. And with technology, a lot of people go, oh, you know, I got one on my iPhone, and that's good. And it is good. And I definitely look at my iPhone for references all the time, and I cross-reference and use different translations, but there's something about having your own copy of this book that we can write in and highlight in. There's probably not a page in my Bible that doesn't have something written on it or a note. I remember several weeks ago Steve was sharing, and I remember writing in the margin a couple things that Steve shared, and I can guarantee you I'll go years from now, and I'll be going through something, and God will bring me that passage and go, man, I remember when he shared. I remember this truth in that moment, and it will challenge me or encourage me or bring something back. That's the power of this book. With that being said, in Ruth chapter one, and we're going to go through the book of Ruth. It's one of my, she is probably my favorite female in the Bible. And this particular story today will really reveal to you and I the foundations of decisions. If we can grab these fundamental decisions and then choose to make them, we will, on our ongoing basis, literally experience what God calls the abundant or the fulfilling life. Without making these decisions, we will go through the motions and we will go on the path, and we will be like that drive during the day where we end up where we've always been and realized this is not where I want to be. So those decisions being told, let's look at Ruth chapter 1. I'm going to read the chapter, and then we're going to go back and we're going to break down a couple of these key decisions that are really prompted and made in the book of Ruth. In the day when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem of Judea, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, and his wife, wife's name Naomi. And the names of their two sons were Milan and Kilean. They were Euphrathites, say that three times fast, from Bethlehem of Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died. And she was left with her two sons. Watch verse 4, we're going to highlight this in a minute. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah, not to be confused with Oprah, and the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. Both Milan and Killian also died. And Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. When she had heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people to provide food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go back, each of you to your mothers' homes. May the Lord show kindness to you as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband. Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud, and said to her, We will go back with you to your people. Naomi said, Return home, my daughters, why should you come with me? I am going to have am I going to have more sons who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters. I am too old to have another husband. And even if I thought there were still hope for me, even if I had a husband tonight, then gave birth to sons, would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters, it is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord's hand has gone out against me. At this they wept again. Then Orpa kissed her mother in law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. Look, said Naomi, your sister in law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her. But Ruth replied, Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go. Where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates me and you. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. So the two women went until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was astir because of them. And the women explained, Can this be Naomi? She said, Don't call me Naomi, she told them, Call me Marah, because the Lord because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me, and the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me. So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by Ruth, the Moabitus, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. In that chapter, in these circumstances, we find some of the most fundamental, key decisions that you and I today have to make. And what prompted them, the first decision we have to make is simply this. We have to make the decision what is really important. What is really important? What are my priorities in life? Until we consciously determine what is important, we will continually function in dysfunction. We have to make the conscious decision. Priority, what is really important? And what happened in the story, if you and I will look at the very first part of that, we see that there's a famine and they move to a different land. Providing is important. Don't miss that. Naomi loses her husband and she pours into her two boys. She loses her two boys, and they begin to ask the question, what is really important? Maybe you're sitting here today and you've gone through a tragedy recently, and it's forced you to realize what have I decided is really important? Maybe in our economy you are like many who have struggled with a job or the loss of a job, and it's forcing us to say, what is really important? Or maybe maybe it's a relational situation where you're like, you know what? I've lost a marriage, or I've lost a spouse, or I'm single, and I don't have what I thought I should have at this point. And if only I could find that part, it would bring the fulfillment I desire. Bottom line is a loss is or we don't have what we seem want. Pain and problems force us to face what's really important. It's not a tragedy, it's a part of life. Every one of us will go through it. But the key here is to answer that question, to make that decision consciously, to say, this is what's really important to me. Look at verse 4 there for just a second. And they said, They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and one named Ruth, after they have lived there about ten years. Look what happens. Both the sons die, and Naomi is left without her two sons and husband. The tragedy has happened, but it's after ten years. Let me ask this question. Where were you ten years ago? I can ask it very specifically. How many of you remember, and you can raise your hands if you want to, on September 11th, in 2001, where were you when you heard the news that the trade centers had been hit? Do you remember where you were? I do too. Go back to that time and think about your living situation. Were you married, single, kids, no kids? Were the kids at home? Were they gone? What was our situation there? And then ask the question, what was important to me? When you heard that news, what did you do? I had two little boys and a wife at home. I was headed to get my hair cut. When I heard the first tower had been hit and it was an accident. After I heard the news the second one was hit, I knew this is not a mistake. All I wanted to do was get home. I wanted to get home. I wanted to be with my family because I knew that's what was important. I wanted to protect them. I didn't have any clue what was actually happening, but I knew I needed to be there. It's when those times happen that we see what is really important. And how are we different today because of where we were 10 years ago? Think 10 years from now, where am I going to be? I can't tell you exactly where you and I are going to be in ten years, but I can tell you this. The degree of fulfillment of our lives ten years from now will be determined by the decision we make today of what is really important. The way we function today and our decision of what is important today will determine the fulfillment, the abundant life that we have ten years from now. That fundamental decision Ruth made when she looked, and she said, You know what's really important to me? Family. Real family. And faith. God. Look at what Naomi said. She said, go back to your people and your gods, little G. Mark that down. She's telling them, hey, you know what? She's not a really good at evangelism. You know? Punt God. Go back to your gods. My God stinks right now. And that was her approach. And you know, Orpa, who would go on to be a talk show host in Chicago. She decided, she decided, I am going to go back. I am going to go back. And we can't fault her. But Ruth saw something. For 10 years, she experienced a tightness in a family that she did not have before. She experienced a faith in a God that was real, not man-made. And she said, despite all the circumstances of what I'm going through right now, what's important to me is what little family I have left, and it's you. And it's the God that I have experienced through you. He's real. And it's amazing if you flip over. I want to just take a quick look at it. Too often, or so often we hear Ruth chapter 1, verses 16 through 17 is just we hear it at weddings. And it's so great. Your people will be my people and your God my God. And where you go, I will go. Where you sleep, I will sleep. And it's so romantic. Do you realize that that is not from a husband to wife? That is from a woman to her mother-in-law. Which is proof that there is a God and He makes a huge difference right there alone. Which brings us to the second decision we have to make. Not only do we make the decision, what is really important, we have to make a decision, what am I going to trust? What am I going to trust? And it's in those difficult times where we have that fundamental decision. Can I make a confession to you this morning? It's only been in the last two or three months that I have realized one of the greatest frustrations of my faith for decades is now one of the greatest freedoms that I've experienced in the last couple months. And it is in this concept of what am I going to trust? And we see it in chapter 1, in verses 12 and 13 in Naomi, tragedy has happened, and she, look at how many times she says this, starting in verse 12. Return home, my daughters. I am too old to have another husband. If I thought there was still hope, even if I had a husband tonight, he says, it is more bitter for me because the Lord's hand is against me, me, me, I, my. She's looking completely and totally from a circumstantial and a natural sense. She goes, What am I gonna do? Am I gonna get married tonight and have other kids so you can have a husband? And here's the here's the the bottom line. Who am I gonna trust? It's not me. I'm not trusting me anymore. I'm not trusting what I can figure out. Because here's what I'm learning: the answer to the trust is not me. I'm not the answer. God is. There's times where God will choose to use me. And there's times that He will choose to use you. But even when those come across our paths going through a difficult time, and as much as we can be there and be used by God, we are not the answer. I'm not the answer. On my best day, I'm not the answer. The best we can do is what this family did for Ruth, and that is live the presence of God and point to the fact that he is that answer. That is our response. It's not us, but it's him. Now look at this in verse 14. Don't miss this because this is critical in this decision of trust. Verse 14. At this they wept. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. The decision of trust is a very simple one. It is either going to be we're going to trust what circumstantially and naturally we can figure out. Orpa had lived there her whole life. She knew that circumstance. She knew those gods of her country. They were empty, they were powerless. She had seen the same joy and fulfillment that that family, but she knew that. And what was most comfortable for was for her to just stay there. To do nothing. I don't have to do anything to trust. I'm just going to keep here. And she kissed her mother-in-law as she stayed. But look what Ruth did. She clung. She took not the natural route, not the logical route, but the supernatural route. She saw something that was bigger than herself, bigger than her mother-in-law, bigger than her circumstances and what she knew. She saw God. And she said, I'm not trusting in you. I'm trusting in the God that I've seen in you. It's the supernatural. And you and I have to make a fundamental choice. A fundamental decision. Is my trust going to be in the circumstances I see, the situations I'm in, or am I going to trust in something I can't see, but that I can experience as I move forward? 2 Corinthians verse 4, verse 18 puts it this way. Paul writes, So fix your eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Now that seems so crazy. How do I fix my eyes on something I can't see? How do I do that? Let me give you very specific examples from my life that I've struggled back and I think back at the moment I thought, this is crazy. How do you fix my eyes on something I can't see? Twenty years ago, actually about 22 years ago, I came to a point in my life where I was like, okay, God, show me anything in my life I need to change. At that time I was over $22,000, $23,000 in debt. And I don't know where your circumstances are. I don't know if you've ever been there. I don't know. Maybe you are there now. Let me just tell you, my prayer was, God, rapture, lottery. Either one's fine. I just want to get out of this. I could not see how to get out of it. How do you make $28,000 and get out of $23,000 in debt? How does that work? I make $28,000 a year, I got $23,000. How do you do that? God, I don't see how this is going to happen. But to fix my eyes on that which is unseen, the fact that God says, I got a plan. I didn't get you into debt, but I've got a plan to get out. I've written a really cool book that is not just a good book of ideas. It is living and active. And Ken, if you'll look at my truth and you'll come and you'll seek me, you'll see that I have over 2,000 verses on how to work and be diligent and on finances. And I will tutor you personally through my word. And I will guide you through this. And when I put it on paper, if I were to Focus on that piece of paper, I would have quit the first day. Because it was going to be seven to ten years before I could get out of debt. And I'm not making that up, and I'm not exaggerating. And I looked at that, I'm like, God, I don't see how it's going to happen, but God, I trust you, continue to teach me. And I begin to go through a course called Crown, and I begin to pray and seek God daily and look at these masses of verses. And in less than two and a half years, that debt was gone. And it wasn't because it just magically disappeared or a clerical error. It was because God showed and worked and taught me. It was my relationship, and I did the single series here this past year. It was going, God, I've had 19 roommates. I've married off 18 of them. Why not me? I want to get married. What's wrong with me? And I started going, God, I don't see how this is going to happen. I've tried everything I know to try, but God just said, hey, stop looking outward. Start looking here. I've got a way. I want to mold and change you through my truth. One of my favorite parts of this book is in the very back, right before the maps. It's called the Concordance, where it's got a lot of words and verse references. And I have spent more time in that part of the Bible than any other going, God, I don't even know where to start. Just show me a word and a verse, and I'll weave through it, and I'm like, God, I want to learn, teach me. And it doesn't change. And I hope that you do make it to the date night because one of my favorite parts is that we just get real. We play a big game in here, and then we do some stuff, and then we talk about just relationships with marriage. I've been married almost 16 years now. I have still not figured women out. Because women are just weird. They make no sense. But I can tell you what I do. I open this book and I'm like, God, help me. Show me. And I can tell you this. I made the fundamental choice, God, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust you, not what I think and feel, because if I rely on my logic, marriage is impossible. But if I rely on you, I find great fulfillment. I have great insight. You guide and direct me in a way that my wife is validated and honored. And I see her in a different light. But it's only because of you, because I choose to trust you. That's my foundational. Because here's the reality: real trust is proven in trials and conflict. That's where real trust happens. But we have to make that fundamental decision. I'm going to trust God, not where I am, what I think, what I feel. So if we make that decision, I'm going to decide that what's really important, God and my family and whatever else is on that list, and I'm going to say, God, this is what's really important. And God, I'm going to trust you, and I'm going to let your word speak to my heart on a regular basis. I'm going to trust this over what I think and feel. Then finally, I have to make it probably one of the biggest decisions of all. And Ruth made this decision. What am I going to do about it? What am I going to do about it? Because it's not all about up here. It's what am I going to change in here? And what am I going to do with my feet to do it? Look in verse 19 of Ruth chapter 1. So the two women went until they came to Bethlehem. They went. She left everything she knew and she made a fundamental decision. I'm going to go where I know God is. I don't know anything about it. If you do the study on it, it was about a five-day journey from where they were to Bethlehem. Let's make it real for just a second. Picture this getting out of these doors, going into your car, getting in your car and driving for five days. Eight to ten hours a day. When you get to Texas, you take a left and you just go. You end up in the south part of Mexico somewhere. Imagine that. And that's about what Ruth made a decision to do. Probably knew a little bit of the language, but not a lot. Had no standing. Nobody knew who she was. She had no source of help, but she decided to go. Not only go, but she decided to serve. Serve her mother-in-law. All I know to do is that this is my family and I trust God. That's it. Those are my priorities. That's all I got. And instead of looking inwardly, going, God, why have you got me here? She's like, what can I do? I can serve God that I don't know as best I can, and I can serve my mother-in-law. That is a choice, not for the natural, but the supernatural. And if you and I want to experience that supernatural, so that ten years from today, we are in a place where we look back and go, wow. God, circumstantially, maybe it's different, maybe it's not. But I have a fullness of life that I never thought would be possible. It's from those three fundamental decisions. What's important? Who am I going to trust? What am I going to do about it? That's the foundation. That's the foundation. I'm going to pray in just a second, but let me just encourage you. Take those decisions. It's up to you and I. What are we going to do with those decisions? Because we have no excuse down the road. Have I taken God at His Word and said, hey, I want to know what's really important. Show me. I want to know that I can trust you in where I am today. The places I don't know what's going to happen. The frustrating parts of my life. I'm going through one right now, and as I reviewed these notes, I got to tell you, I'm thinking, God, I thought I was preparing to communicate. What I was preparing for was to let you deal with where I am today. And then finally, God, what do you want me to do about it? What can I do about it? Because these next couple weeks, once we get that foundation, let me ask you two questions in prep for next week. Have you ever, or do you currently feel like, either one of two or both? Have you ever had the feeling, I don't belong here? I don't belong in these circumstances. I don't belong in this situation. I don't belong here. Or and what's the real purpose? What's the purpose of it all? Maybe you felt like I have on several occasions where I go through it and I am busy to beat the band. I don't have enough time. Always busy, but never moving. And I want purpose. I want to know that what I'm doing in that is for a purpose and meaningful. There's a guy that we're going to introduce next week. His name's Boaz. That was his world. He didn't really belong. And he was doing a lot of good things, but it was the purpose of just going, you know what, God, what's the purpose here? I've been faithful, but I don't really belong. And I'm not really sure what the purpose is, but I'm going to keep being faithful and I know you. And it's an explosion. And it's specifically what happens when we do that. It is incredible. Let me close this in a word of prayer today. Father, thank you. God, I thank you for personally letting your word speak to my heart. And I pray this morning that these decisions that we have to make are just what we just lay before you. Father, and every single one of us that turns to you, you speak into our hearts. Father, thank you that your word is living and active. And when we individually sit down with you and we grapple and get into it, we will always get out of it. What we put in. Speak to our hearts. Thank you for today. Help us to answer these questions and make these.