Sabbath 1-28-2023 West Palm Beach 7th Day BAPTIST Pastor Garfield “Going Home” Ruth 1;15-22

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Sabbath 1-28-2023 West Palm Beach 7^th Day BAPTIST Pastor Garfield “Going Home” Ruth 1;15-22

 

 

We have all had different experiences of going home. We remember the prodigal son and the experiences he had and then he said, I’m going home to my father. He also said he would arise and go home to his father. After I missed the 2^nd plane because the 1^st plane I was on was late, when I finally did get my plane seat, I typed a text, “I’m coming home”. Brothers and sisters you might not understand the feelings that someone feels when they think its time to go home. There is a feeling of warmth inside of you. There is an anticipation of expectancy with this feeling you have when you arrive home. The sermon today, “Going Home” reflects on the experiences of Ruth and Naomi.

Both women had the same literal journey of going to Jerusalem. Both of them had different views of this going home. Going refers to a journey. It refers to anticipation and reflection on the things you are leaving behind. There is also the thought of what will I experience when I get to this place I’m going to. Ruth and Naomi had different responses to this journey and anticipations. They had different what is being left behind things and what is ahead of them. When we say Home we are talking about a place of joy and peace. A place of protection, provision and purpose. Brothers and sisters, I invite all of us to come home. Wherever you are and whatever you are experiencing, we want to tell you that there is joy in the Holy Ghost. When you are inside this home, you will have the peace which passes all understanding. When you are inside this home, there is a comfort you have in Jesus Christ.

Some of you will come home like Naomi who has been there before. We are also calling others like Ruth who had never experienced the blessings of our Father’s home. My personal focus of this year is “Show me your glory Lord”. As I reflect on my own Christian journey, I find myself saying that I want to be the best Garfield that I can be. In order to achieve this, I must come home to my Father, come home to my family and I must come home to the purpose that God has called me to. The question is are you entrusted into being the best you for 2023? The sad thing is that for many of us, there are others imitating us and they are doing a better job of imitating us than we are of living the way we are expected to live. Brothers and sisters to be your best Self, it calls that you leave some things behind and take a step into the unknown. The song says “softly and tenderly Jesus is calling us to come home”.

Brothers and sisters there are many of us like Naomi who are scared and unsure of how you will be received. I want to remind you that my God is a merciful God. God is so gracious. It doesn’t matter where you are, God Himself will accept you as you return. Now the home for Naomi was a place that she could have said she was missing. She also could have said she longed to feel God near to her. She may have also said she was longing for the fellowship of other Israelites. Naomi said she would return back to her Father’s house. Its clear that maybe she made a mistake in going to Moab. But she decided to make right this apparent wrong and go back home. Ruth, on the other hand, said I want to experience what you have been witnessing to me for the last ten plus years. I want that peace that you have spoken to me about. I want the rest that you have described to me that is to be found with God. I am stepping into that new place that is called the home of my Father.

Remember Jesus said “In my Father’s house are many mansions and if it were not so, I would have told you”. Brothers and sisters there is room for ALL of us in my Father’s house! There is provision for ALL of us in my Father’s house. There are blessings for ALL of us in my Father’s house. My Father’s house is the Potter’s house and it is where we should go. We know that we are not perfect, we know that we are falling short. But when we go our Father’s house none of this matters. What matters is that God is a Sovereign God. What matters is that God is All knowing. What matters is that my God is Merciful and All seeing.

It sounds like the entire city was stirred up when Naomi came back. This speaks of her character and her presence in that place before she left. The name Naomi means sweet and pleasant. When she got back she said her name was Mara which means bitter. Naomi thought her life was bitter but look at the great welcoming she got when she returned. Sometimes the bitterness is what we are feeling and not what the world on the outside actually is. We must recognize that God can change every circumstance from bitterness back to sweetness.

***Three Things About Naomi and The Going Home:

 

1) In Going Home, Don’t Be Afraid to Walk Back Your Bad Decisions:

Remember home is the best place no matter what. God is patiently waiting with a Plan. We may have made decisions that later we realize they were wrong. As soon as you realize you did something wrong, it is time to get up. It is time to wake up and go back to your Father’s house. God is waiting for you.

2) In Going Home, Don’t Get Caught Up In Your Apparent Failure Because Others Need To Go Home As Well:

Naomi had said to Ruth to not come with her but to go back to her people and to her gods. Naomi wasn’t thinking that God is a God for everybody and not just for the Isaelites. God is a God for all people on the face of the earth. Naomi was so preoccupied with her own situation that she forgot that others need to be welcomed into the home of God also. The same thing happens to us sometimes when we get burdened down and caught up in our own situation. We forget that others need God too and need to find their home through the gates of our Father’s house.

3) In Going Home, Don’t Allow A Temporary Crisis To Define Who You Are:

Naomi, when she arrived, she changed her name. She said call her Mara because she had a bitter experience. But brothers and sisters as you experience crisis, know that it is temporary. The Word says that only the Good Salvation of our God lasts forever. Weeping may endure for a season but joy comes in the morning. Do not be too quick to re-name yourselves. If God called you sweet and pleasant, no matter what you go through, remain sweet and pleasant. It doesn’t matter how it may look now, your sweet and pleasant nature will come back. We are back home and we are in the place that God wants us to be.

Brothers and sisters when things get rough, say I am Naomi. When things are unbearable, say I am sweet and pleasant. When you don’t know what the answer is, say I am Naomi and I am sweet and pleasant. When others criticize you, say I am Naomi and I am sweet and I am pleasant. When the enemy tells you bad things about yourself, remind him that I am a Child of God. I am Naomi. I am sweet and pleasant. Very often in our lives it is important that we talk to ourselves. If you talk to yourself, nothing is wrong with that. The problem is when you talk and then respond. If you don’t respond you are not mad and crazy. We need to encourage ourselves in the Lord God Almighty and in His Son Jesus Christ, our Messiah and our Lord and Savior.

 

AMEN