Continuing in our sermon series, "History Lessons," Pastor Steve covers the book of Ruth. It shows God working faithfully through ordinary events, even when He seems silent. The story takes place during the dark days of the judges, and it begins with Naomi losing her husband and sons and returning to Bethlehem bitter and empty.

Nevertheless, God is quietly at work. Ruth, Naomi's daughter-in-law, stays loyal to Naomi and commits herself to Naomi's God. God uses Ruth's ordinary faithfulness to turn Naomi's emptiness to fullness, and all of it works to become a part of God's eternal plan.

The book of Judges presents us with a repeated cycle: Israel sins, God disciplines them, they cry out, and God shows mercy by raising up a judge to deliver them. Joshua's generation didn't fully obey God's command to remove pagan influences from the land. As a result, they turned to idols, suffered under their enemies, and repeatedly needed rescue.

Hope isn't lost, however. In this sermon, Pastor Steve demonstrates that while the judges were flawed deliverers whom God used to show mercy, their weakness points forward to the need for a perfect Deliverer--Jesus--who saves not just from earthly enemies, but from sin and death forever!

We're beginning our next mini-series on our journey through the Bible: History Lessons! In this sermon, Pastor Steve covers the book of Joshua.

Joshua focuses on one central truth: God is a sovereign, promise-keeping God who fights for His people. Therefore, his people should trust Him, obey Him (even when it doesn't seem to make sense), and choose to serve Him--not to earn His favor, but because they already have it!