Valley Lights Church Podcast
A Story Only God Can Write- The Book of Ruth- Chapter 1- Pain & Bitterness
Good morning. Welcome to Valley Lights church. My name is Bruce. I'm the lead pastor here and I'm excited that you've joined us today. I want, before I jump into today's message, I want to introduce a few special visitors to our church today. All right. First, I want to introduce you to John and Whitney McCorder. Can you just, you don't have to stand. Just raise your hand for a second. They're over there. Do you want to stand? Okay. I'm just kidding. The answer is a firm no and no. Okay. So the room is small. You can see them over there. This is John. He's the executive pastor at our sending church at Stone Arbor Church. John and I work together for a long time and John currently serves on the board of directors for Valley Lights. And John has been a very good friend of me, a constant source of encouragement over many years and a fellow adventure seeker, which is an important part of my life. And his wife and their three girls have played a really meaningful role of friendship for our family. So I'm excited that they're here visiting today. Also, I want to introduce you or reacquaint you to Mitchell and Marie Spazafari. You can raise your hands right there. And they are original members of the launch team that started the church. So if you've only been at Valley Lights within the past year, you wouldn't know them. If you've been here longer than the year, you would have met them before. And Mitchell and Marie, for three years, they poured themselves into getting this church off the ground and they sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears, literally all three of those things, sometimes on Sunday mornings. And they have really sacrificed deeply to help see what you see here. And Mitchell also has served on our board of directors and also a fellow adventure seeker. So maybe that's how I make my selection for leaders. I just like, who wants to go on a really hard backpacking trip? You're in. So yeah, if you haven't had a chance to say hello or meet them, say hello after a church. I'm really excited to have you all here today. I also want to let you know about what we did this past week. We had a few service projects here at the school at Ria Norte Junior High. And what we did on Monday and Tuesday, we spent two days helping with their summer check-in. And that is the big event before, so school starts on Monday tomorrow. Summer check-in is when students get their ID cards and gym clothes and textbooks and things like that. And so that's a big, their school has asked for volunteers on that day. And so we jumped in a bunch of us. And we also on Thursday provided lunch for all the staff here. And Thursday, it was kind of like their big last day of meetings throughout the whole day, getting ready for students to come in. And so while they were having meetings, we were sizzling chicken, marinated chicken out on a charcoal grill. And the custodians said, you could smell it on the other side of campus. And so they were getting excited. And it was a lot of fun being able to partner and just really serve some needs that the school has over this past week. Weekdays are hard for most people. So we didn't, you maybe you had wanted to be a part of it, but you weren't able to because it's right in the middle of the work day. But we didn't have a few different members from our church serving at each of those different days. And even some of our members took an entire day off work to be able to help out. And so that was, that was really fun teaming together. Some of the highlights from this effort was we had a few teachers who said, this is the best chicken I have ever had. So that's pretty good. That's amazing. I think they weren't joking. And some others just said, we're just really expressive of their gratitude, a lot of appreciation for us helping out and kind of surprise a little bit for us helping out. The school principal said, man, you really have refreshed our staff and we really appreciate that. And so just walking away from the week, it was really encouraging for me to see that they must think that this church is a refreshment to this school. And that meet us being here is a blessing. You know, us being here is a good thing. And it's a blessing to the campus and an asset. And so I really hope that that continues to be the case that we're, if we're going to meet here, that we're not just taking, but that we're giving and we're figuring out how can we be a blessing. So it's really amazing, honestly, how just sacrificing a little time, spending some money, sacrificing to serve people, it really quickly opens doors. It very quickly begins conversations, it builds trust, and it just takes a little willingness to sacrifice and it goes a long way. On the days when we had students, the students were on campus with their families, some of our volunteers got to talk with we saw a bunch of people, we saw some people that are asking questions about our church. We've even, we saw some families that had attended the church at different points in the past and it was like a meaningful reconnection. And the service projects that we're doing really allowed us to rub shoulders with the people that live here. I mean, this school, it, you know, brings people from the community here. And so as it felt exciting and strategic for us to be able to connect with the real families that live in this community by serving in this way. So if you helped out, thank you so much for taking the time to do that. And if you were praying, I really appreciate that as well. So that was, that was an exciting thing. So for today, we're going to jump in to our message and we're starting a new message series. This is, you came on a good day. We usually do donuts, whenever there's a new message series and we're going to be going through a small book in the Old Testament. We're going to be reading. What I think is one of the most delightful stories in the Bible. We're going to see the way that God is involved in the lives of really ordinary people and God is working invisibly through their joys and through the hardships and really devastating ones. So over the next four Sundays, we're going to read through each of the four chapters of the book of Ruth. And as you watch Ruth's life unfold, you'll realize that it's truly a story that only God could write. Even the tragedies faced by her family, so horrible in the moment, are woven into God's much bigger story of redemption for the entire world. So currently, your life, perhaps it's unfolding in a way that maybe you didn't expect. There may be things going on in your life where you maybe question God. Like, what's going on here? Like God, what is it that you're up to? I mean, how do you know if God really is in control of those uncomfortable or even painful events, things like tragedy or grief or our health or sickness or the economy or the housing market or your current living situation? In the past few years, I've had many unexpected twists and turns, times when things happen that I just didn't see coming. And if you've never experienced that in your life, there's still time. You might. You might experience that kind of thing. So let's begin by reading the book of Ruth chapter 1 verse 1. It's printed there in your handout, but I'll be reading here from the Bible. Here's what it says. "During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land." So that phrase, by the way, "time of the judges." It tells us that the setting for this takes place pretty early in the Bible. Ruth is the eighth book from the beginning. So if you just go to start in Genesis and go eight books and you'll be at Ruth, and the book just preceding it is Judges. Judges is the seventh book. And that was a time period before Israel had any kings, before King David, King Saul. There were these judges that were like military leaders and also sort of served as spiritual leaders, some of them, people like Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. But it was a really tough time to live in. It's honestly, you know, the stories about the judges, like skies like Samson, they make for fun Sunday school lessons, but you wouldn't want your kids growing up during this time that we're going to read about. And there was this cycle that was happening in this time period where God would raise up a judge when God's people Israel were being oppressed by neighboring groups. They would come and invade and oppress them. God's people would cry out to God for help. And so God would raise up a deliverer, somebody with military ability, especially, and they would repent. Israel would repent for a season, but sadly they would turn away from God again towards some form of idolatry and disobedience to God. And then the cycle would just continue. Oppression, really bad things would happen, crying out, just like horrible tragedies, deliverance, and this would just keep happening. And so this story that we're going to read about takes place in the middle of this kind of cycle. And so what it says in Ruth chapter 1, "During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land." So possibly this famine may be somewhat related to judgment on Israel for disobedience. But it says, "A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while." The man's name was Olimalek and his wife's name was Naomi. So famine led Olimalek to move out, pick up his wife and kids and go. He presumably wanted to provide for his family. This was probably about a 60-mile journey. And actually I have a map of it here. You can kind of see this is the Middle Eastern area. Kind of their top part is where they would start. They're starting from Bethlehem. And it would maybe take a family about seven to ten days to do this trip, moving all their belongings. But this was a move into, or it was probably enemy territory, the Moabites. This was one of the two groups who were excluded from worshiping in the assembly with God's people. And that's because when the Israelites, back when they were in need of food and water, after coming out of Egypt, the Moabites did not help them out. But Olimalek must have heard, "Hey, at least there's no famine in Moab." So we're going to go and see if we can survive down there. So it says, "Man's name was Olimalek. His wife's name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Malan and Chilion. They were Ephriites from Bethlehem and Judah. They entered the fields of Moam and settled there." So we have someone who made an artistic drawing of what this nice family must have looked like. And in this story, it's really interesting. The names carry a lot of weight. I don't know if you have kids, you name them, presumably for some reason. And maybe it was the meaning of the name or it was the name itself. Maybe they were named after somebody. Names were really significant in this time. And you'll see throughout this whole story. Olimalek, coincidentally means, "My God is king." Now remember, this is a time period where there was no king in Israel. And so it's kind of a good thing that Olimalek, he would hopefully think that God is his king even when there is no king. But part of this story is setting up a path towards a king that would really be a help to Israel. His wife's name was Naomi. That means pleasant or lovable. And that's good. "My God is king and pleasant." And then they have their two sons. Malan means sickly or weak. And Chilion means wasting away. So this picture, they actually pretty healthy in this picture. But I'm thinking maybe if they were doing their Hebrew study, maybe the artist would have drawn some emaciated kids. I don't know if they looked bad when they came out of them. Maybe there was probable that they were sick in some way when they came out. It's really struck. Maybe they're jaundice. I don't know. I don't know all the things that could have happened. And then it says that they were Ephrathites, which is the ancient name of Bethlehem. So now that you've been introduced to this lovely family, the tragedy rolls in pretty heavy. We're only at verse three and here it comes. It says Naomi's husband, Olimalek, died. And she was left with her two sons. Her sons took Moabite women as their wives. One was named Orpa and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about 10 years, both Malan and Chilion also died. And Naomi was left without her two children and without her husband. These marriages, by the way, those two boys who got married, even though it was to Moabite women in the enemy territory, the marriages were not forbidden. Probably would have been pretty looked down upon, though, especially because of Israel's history with Moab. But Orpa, her name means either fawn or neck or girl with full mane. Maybe she had a lot of hair, probably. Maybe a lot of hair going down her neck, probably. And then Ruth means friend or friendship. That's a good one. All right. So Ruth, which, by the way, I have a little bit of a connection because sometimes when I'm on the phone with people and they say, what's your name? And I say Bruce. Sometimes they say Ruth. I say no, Bruce. I got to really articulate. So that's happened more than once. I'll just let you know. All right. So Olimalek, here we go. This guy, this dad, he leaves the whole family out here in this area. And here they are in a foreign country, just trying to survive, probably, escaping famine. Losing Olimalek probably would have been a devastating setback, of course. Naomi really, at this point, now she needed to rely on her sons, sickly sons, probably, to get them all through and in work and bring in income. But they die, too. Maybe that was related to their health conditions. So you could maybe imagine, we could try to imagine how this woman would be feeling. Losing her husband, both sons, what would you be wrestling with at that time? What would you be thinking after such unexpected events? So who's going to care for me? Who's going to carry on our family name? There's no children born to those sons while they were alive. Can I even survive here in Moab? Even if I could make it back to Bethlehem, could I even survive that trip? And so she does decide to go back to Bethlehem and go back to her own people. But she's really struggling. You're going to see that this woman, Naomi, really is struggling with her faith. She's in a major faith battle. It's pretty understandable. I mean, could you blame her after losing so much? And this really is a common thing for us, too. Whenever we're hurting, sometimes our view of God and our faith in God can begin to get shaky. And your confidence about God as good as it can get shaky because of really painful, devastating things that happen. And there may be times when it seems like we can hardly see anything good in this situation. And so let's look at where this story goes now. Verse 6, Naomi and her daughters-in-law set out to return from the territory of Moab because she had heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to his people's need by providing them food. So apparently back in Israel, the famine is getting resolved so that it would be perhaps prudent to move back. And verse 7 says, she left the place where she had been living accompanied by her two daughters-in-law and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah. But then she stops. Maybe they got to the border. They're like at the resting the rest stop right before you cross into the new area. And she turns to her daughters and she says this, Naomi said to them, "Each of you go back to your mother's home. May the Lord show kindness to you as you have shown to the dead and to me. May the Lord grant each of you rest in the house of a new husband." She kissed them and they wept loudly. And then they said to her, "No, we insist on returning with you to your people." Naomi doesn't want them to come. They want to go. And here's what he says, this interaction. Naomi replied, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more signs who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters. Go on." I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me to have a husband tonight and bear signs tonight, would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying? No, my daughters. Actually, I'm going to read that last part yet. So what she's saying, in some ways this actually is probably pretty good advice. What was truly at risk for these two daughters-in-law Ruth and Orpa? If they go to Israel, they would be foreigners, again seen as probably enemies or people of the enemy land, outsiders, also single women and pretty vulnerable in a pretty brutal culture. Their safety would be definitely in question. So by following their mother-in-law, it probably means never remarrying ever again, probably never finding anyone to care for them long-term, leaving their own families behind, abandoning their way of life, their people and their culture. It seems possibly like this would, for them to go, it would be almost a guarantee of being destitute until death. And maybe there's some good advice in what Naomi is saying. And here's what she says, she says, "No, my daughters, my life is much too bitter for you to share, because the Lord's hand has turned against me." Now this statement that she makes is, I think it's something that she's been brooding on. I think these thoughts have been rolling around in her head, because this idea that my life is bitter, it comes back later in this story. And it's possible, maybe at this moment, I don't know if she had ever verbalized this out loud before or not, like that my life is bitter and the Lord is against me. Maybe this was for the first time she said it out loud and she's really starting to embrace it. She's starting to really believe that this is true. That's really her name. Remember Naomi, the pleasant one, is letting a new concept define who she is. No, God is against me. That's who I am. That's my identity in life. How many, if this was the thought she was considering, how many minutes or hours or days has she spent brooding on this thought in her pain? So a question for you is, have you ever questioned whether or not God is really for you? Have you been at that point on your journey? Have you ever hit a state of deep discouragement or confusion where you're really struggling with God? And you wonder, is God doing me harm? I mean it's one thing, some people doubt that there's a God at all. It's one thing to think that there's no God, but it's another thing to believe I know God's there, but he's being malicious or cruel. And this, I think, is where Naomi's pain has led her. She knew God was involved in her life, but it was in a negative sense. And so her grief had prompted her toward bitterness. She really at this point had very, very low expectations of her future, very low expectations of who God is, what God could do, God's power, God's love, it was really low. And here's what we see next in Naomi's life. God uses some people and some circumstances in the middle of the struggle and the pain. And here's what it says, again, they they wept loudly, and Orpa kissed her mother-in-law, meaning Orpa decided to go and left. But Ruth clung to her. Naomi said, look, Ruth, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her God's follow your sister-in-law. But Ruth replied, this is beautiful. What she says right here should be song lyrics. It's amazing. She says, don't plead with me to abandon you or to return and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go. And wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me and do so severely if anything but death separates you and me. This, of course, is a profound display of loyalty. Ruth's name means friendship. She is living up to that. She is committed to this relationship. God really uses Ruth to support Naomi in this hard time. So what happens then? Once Ruth says this, and it seems like, all right, there's going to be no dissuading Ruth. She is in it for the end. Once Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped talking to her. The matter was settled. So they journey on together. So what Ruth did in this, she really steps out and she chooses risk. And she's actually using God's name the way that people of Israel would refer to God. She's talking about God that way. So there appears to be not just bold loyalty, but some faith involved in what she's doing. So this is a beautiful picture. It might even, it might cause you to think, "Who's God using in your life to support you right now? Who has God used to support you in the past?" And other hard things that you've gone through. For me, God has absolutely used friends of mine to pray for me when I'm hurting, to check in when I'm struggling or just confused about what God's up to. People to listen to me when I needed it, God provides people to help us if we have been investing in the church. If you've made an investment in God's family, like a church like this, and you've really opened yourself up relationally, you've allowed some trust to go out where you let people into your life into what's going on. God will use people. He'll use the body of Christ to provide incredible support and loyalty. So what happens next is verse 19, the two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. So they made it back. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival and the local women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi? This is a long time has passed. It's been about a decade. If Naomi walks in, there may have been kids that she saw that were just like real little. She's like, "Oh, everyone's so big now." You know, you just people are looking around and they're like, "Oh, you look older." You don't know what they'd say. But people remember Naomi. There's probably only a few people living in Bethlehem at this time. But they say, "Isn't this Naomi?" And she says, "Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara." So remember, Naomi means pleasant. Mara means bitter. He says, "Don't call me Naomi. For the Almighty has made me very bitter. I went away full." You saw that family picture? "I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Since the Lord has opposed me and the Almighty has afflicted me." So like I said, I really think that Naomi has clearly embraced this idea of having a terrible life. You read that children's book? Isn't it like Alexander's Horrible Terrible No Good Very Bad Day? Isn't that one of those kids books? Don't read that book to your kids. That's what this is doing. You're like embracing it. My life is terrible. I'm just going to sit in it. And that's what she's doing. Earlier she said, "My life is bitter." But now she's saying, "God made my life bitter. My bad life is God's fault. He's not being good to me. God has left me out to dry." So change my name to bitter because this is who I am. This is so much my identity. You need to change my name. This is what I got dealt. And I think she was brooding. At some point those strategies happened, which you really do walk through sorrow and sadness and suffering. For sure that happens, but there was at some point a brooding on this idea of God that got in and it just started, it probably just started rolling around in her mind and in her heart. And now it's impacting her relationships too because think about it. How do you think Ruth felt when Naomi is like, "I came back empty?" Ruth is like, "Hello?" I'm like, "Do you see what I just left?" I mean, Ruth probably didn't say that because you see what kind of an amazing character she has in the next few chapters. But she's probably thinking, "Am I worth nothing? You say you come back empty? I've been with you." But at this point, Naomi's being reckless. She's hurting so bad that she's being reckless with her words and not really seeing clearly the good things that God has done for her. The bitterness is warping her perspective. Now, I don't fault Naomi for feeling extreme sadness and sorrow and grief. There is a lot of legitimate emotion that she was feeling. I mean, those losses were real and those feelings are real. Those are real things. Not everything she felt was bad. I mean, God is the one that gives us emotions. God is the one that designed us as human beings with emotions. He created us to have them. So I'm not saying that Naomi should have just quickly and easily worked through the bitterness. Like that would have been a simple, short thing to do. No, like this level of pain is not going to be addressed overnight. But this first chapter shows what it's like when you don't know how to effectively walk through the grief and walk through the loss and allow the truth of Scripture to shape the way we're seeing things. This chapter really shows us when grief and pain defines and then masters a person. And the truth is, I think none of us are born knowing how to do that effectively. And I think instinctively, none of us handle grief. Like we have to learn how to do this. And if we don't, I think pain and grief like this, and you can see this in this story, but pain and grief can lead to distance from God. Clearly that's happening. She feels like God is against her. It leads to distance from others. This pain just starts warping relationships as well. It could even lead to deconstruction, meaning like turning away from the faith all together. And it could lead to darkness. Just thoughts and feelings that just bring us into a dark place. And I would say this same thing is very easy for us to fall into as well. When we walk through pain and devastation, it can be so easy to be consumed by it. We too may feel bitterness that's aimed at God when we feel hurt. We feel ripped off from what we wanted. Maybe we lost something that we felt we deserved. We might start moving in a direction away from God. And when that happens, the difficulty only gets worse because now I'm without God's help. And it kind of brings up a question, I think. What was God doing? Like, does God hurt us? Does God ever cause pain in our lives? This is a question I've studied or a few different passages in the Bible. One I came across was Job. Job 5, 17, it says, "Blessed is the one whom God corrects, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty, for he wounds, but he also binds up. He injures, but his hands also heal." This is saying God does wound us. God does injure us. Hosea 6-1 says, "Come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn us, and he will heal us. He has wounded us, and he will bind up our wounds." So the question for you then really is, do you believe that God only ever deals out pleasant things, feel good circumstances? Or do you believe that the God that you serve is one who may wound you, injure you, or tear you? What is that all about? Think about that one this week. That's a little concerning. By the way, I've studied this. There's more passages in this. Every few years I walk through unusually hard circumstances, and I really have to fight for the right perspective. And in those moments where things are really hard, God is doing something really important that I don't understand yet. God may be disciplining me, he may be testing me to grow me, or the enemy, or probably also all the above, but also the enemy is tempting me towards sin, towards doubt, and towards crumbling my faith. So really, I guess the question then is this, if God is wounding me, is he still good? Are even the wounds from God a kind of blessing and gift that ultimately leads to my good? And if our answer to that question is yes, I do trust that God is still good and that he's not ripping me off, we can later experience his healing, which is so good and so worth the wait. But to brood and mistrust means the healing will not come, and life will be very bitter. So if you are brooding over negative thoughts or emotions, or if you are shaping your identity around your pain like Naomi did in this story, that's potentially somewhat of a dangerous place to be in. And maybe you know that already, and maybe you don't even know what to do about it. Maybe you don't like, if you're bitter in life, you probably don't even like feeling bitter, like I don't like feeling this way, but how do I get out of this? How do I stop this cycle of thinking about this, just how bad things are, how difficult it is, or how hopeless it feels. If this is you, my recommendation is to pull your hearts into the Bible and God's people. If you're really struggling, the Bible, I know, will shape your perspective. If you open your heart to it and you allow your mind, if you allow God's word to change the way you're seeing your situation, it will be very healing. And also, if you open up your heart to people, God's people, good people, that have a track record of faithfulness and good perspective of walking in the word, then those people will be an incredible help. In fact, and probably you probably need both of these things working together, your own personal study from the Bible, which, by the way, if you hear messages and sermons like this, that helps you a lot, but I actually think that you get even more help from God when you study the Bible yourself, and you really take the time to let the Holy Spirit teach you from His word. But this combination, maybe it will also take some conversations and just digging into things with other people that can help you work through things. Another suggestion I would make is to consider attending a conference that our church network is doing in November. And I'm going to be putting out some information about this, how you can register soon. But there's a conference doing that we've done every year. My wife and I, and many here, have gone for many years. This November, the topic is on identity. And the reason I think it's relevant is because sometimes these things that happen in our life can shape our concept of identity. Like the things I have walked through or I am walking through affects my perception of who I really am. And a conference like this, I think, could be pretty life-changing on shaping the right perspective. If you definitely want more info about that conference right away, write the word conference on your connection card, and I'll make sure you get that. But if you're here, some of you may actually be in deep pain. And if you are, this message probably didn't address everything that you're feeling. This message is not a comprehensive solution to what you're walking through. I hope that at least, though, that this message cracks the door open to a kind of hope that just maybe not all of your pain is meaningless. That just maybe there's a kind of beautiful redemption on the road ahead. In the last verse of chapter one, I didn't read the last verse yet. Naomi is in for a bit of a surprise. It says this, Naomi came back from the territory of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabitez, and they arrived at Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. That's encouraging, right? No, you're like, what does that even mean? What's the big deal about a barley harvest? The timing of their arrival is very providential. After a string of terrible devastating events, this barley harvest is a hint that God has been writing a much larger story the whole time. It seems coincidental. Actually, a lot of things as we read seem really coincidental, but God's planning here is very meticulous. There is precision down to every detail of what's going on with Naomi and Ruth, and you're going to see why there's a lot of wheat and barley imagery in the pictures that we've been using. But up to this point, Naomi thinks that God has been punishing her, but the story is about God's mission to restore her family. God wasn't done writing yet. This is a story that Naomi never would have written for herself. It's only one that God could write, and there is something huge and surprising at the very end. It's going to take us four weeks to get there. There's something amazing and just shocking that happens at the end of this story, but you can't know any of that unless you come back next week. Seriously, so I hope you come back next week. Well, we read through chapter one. We'll get into chapter two. It sort of ends a little bit on the cliffhanger with the sadness, but we're going to see what God is doing. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you so much for this story, for, well, I think even for using narratives like this to draw us in, it's so easy to identify with these characters and the things that they walk through. And I think you've learned that you've included them many thousands of years ago in your plan for bringing redemption to the world, and you even include us in your kindness in your plan. And so we thank you, Lord, for making away for us now today to know you personally and deeply by sending your son Jesus to die in the cross for us, for our sins to just remove all obstacles in relating to you. And I thank you that, you know, in the way that Ruth said, you know, your God will be my God. You've made a way for us, all of us. We started far away from you, but you've made a way for us to draw near and to join you and your family and be a part of what you're doing. And we're so grateful. Help us, Lord, if there are any that are struggling here with pain in the current time or even in the distant past, I pray that you would provide the scriptural truth and then the people needed the resources and the working of the Holy Spirit to bring light and clarity and hope and faith through that, that you'd break chains of bitterness and that you would break lies that wrap people up in the wrong kind of identity and, Lord, that you would just keep speaking to us through your word. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]