April 3, 2010 Bread in the House Ruth 1:1-7, 4:13-17

 

In my introduction, I need to say that if you are to understand this text properly, then you need to understand that, it was the time of the judges, according to the book of judges (2:14) “and the anger of the lord was hot against Isreal and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies”. A time when not only was the lord against them , you will be hard pressed to find the lord in an interactive personal way in that book, but their enemies were against them as well because of the lord.

Now although there was the disposition that God had toward them , that he was not going to be there involved in a positive way with them.

“now it came to pass-in those days”whenever there is the use of this expression it denotes impending trouble, if the lord is not involved in a positive way there cannot be and will not be a manifest presence of God available, hence, “now it came to pass”

It meant that they were singing , they were dancing, but the lord’s presence , his manifest presence was not available. “Now it came to pass”, meant that they were having business as usual but the lord’s presence was absent from the routine. “Now it came to pass” meant there was no god involved in their doings.

I have come to some conclusions about where I am in my life, if everybody goes, if nobody else is here, lord don’t let me have a period of “now it came to pass”. I’d rather live without you than live without God. I’d rather make  the manifest presence of God my priority than man.

I believe we have lost the priority of the presence of God. We have made people and personalities and choirs and money and clothes a priority , but  we have to get back to making God’s presence a reality in our lives

Notice the end result – there was a famine in the land. Make no mistake about it , that there is a direct correlation between the absence of the manifest presence of God and the presence of a famine in the land.

You must know that God is getting ready to break out in our churches , in this town, in our cities and in this country- if he has to bypass tired churches, bypass stuffy cathedrals, bypass intellectual congregations and bust out in a back door storefront church – he’s coming on his own terms- he passed by the religious elite before to dine with the poor, profane and the prostitutes, because they knew they needed him and they were hungry and if we don’t get back to remembering how much we need his presence, it will pass right by us.

You need to make up your mind , whatever it takes, whenever it comes, wherever it comes from – we need him- ragged or dressed up, dirty or dignified, short, nappy, poor, broke, disgusted, lonely, confused, upset, sick, hurt and in pain, look good, don’t look good, weave , bald, – I NEED HIM. If I have to pray all night and all morning ad get on the bus or ride the bike or walk to church, if I have to fall out until I get lint balls on my new suit and my wig roll to the back of my head- I WANT HIM AND I NEED HIM On his terms not mine, cause I don’t want to be inside waiting for him to come while he passes by on the outside cause the insiders will miss him but the outsiders march with him. And I am too hungry to sit in the back of the church and play games and get complacent and tired – im hungry for my god nd for his manifest presence- I WANT SOME BREAD .

Naomi went down to Moab(dirty little wash pot)as a matter of survival she went because that was the only way she felt she could in fact survive- some of us been getting by, out of the dirty little wash pot  but I’ve already cried too much, hurt too much, to get my bread from a place I aint supposed to I can’t get my bread from a party , from a man/woman who don’t love me- I need some bread in my house.

The church has failed itself and the world because when people come in hungry , the spiritual cupboard is bare- we only had crumbs of bread, recipes for bread, wrappers of bread, songs of bread, testimonies of bread, memories of bread, visions of bread, hopes of bread, thoughts of bread, plays of bread, messages of bread- but no bread.

Bread becomes the spiritual substance and the spiritual substinence that the child of God needs and desires for their nourishment and survival. That was the purpose for Naomi’s sudden movement-bread.

We have falsely advertised , hyped it up and subsequently lied, we have talked grandly about where he was , where he has been, what he has done, there’s a remnant of his glory but aint no bread , there’s a residue of bread but no bread in the house

Yeah , he blessed you yesterday but have you dealt with him that way today-no bread.

No bread because we have not accounted for one another, we have let folks come into church, who claim to be believers do whatever they want and we don’t ask them to do right so we can have bread in the house, we have let folks come in and argue and fuss and subsequently aint no bread, we have let folks come in and act ugly and not speak and get cute and have all this mess going on in their lives and then get up and testify like they alright – aint no bread.

And all we have done is successful created a religious environment without the spiritual bread, talking about where he has been , at the expense of locating him in the present.

Because of the absence of the manifest presence of God, because of the absence of bread – our behavior , our dedication, our commitment is lacking- no wonder we can sit next to people who will barely raise their hands to praise god, barely bow their heads to pray. There is not enough bread in the house.

We have instead settled for crumbs sure we get a touch or a taste every now and then but it’s just crumbs, baby it’s just crumbs. Why ? because there’s a little bit of man mixed with a little bit of God – a touch of god mixed with a touch of flesh. The problem is not that he wasn’t there , just not enough of him.

S o we’ve been content on settling for a touch of God – for crumbs, when he wants to fill our lives with his glory. I’m not talking about gifts of the spirit, neither am I particularly talking about miracles I’m talking about him. If he shows up- gifts will flourish and miracles will come. But I refuse to worship a gift, I refuse to run after a miracle – I want him so I can have my bread. You shouldn’t just want a man with a gift to lay his hands on you- you should want the awesome undeniable power and presence of god to flow into this place, so much so that it wont matter what gift the man has everything you need will be here , somebody holler lord send the bread.

The reason why we cant touch the neighborhood, our city., our town, is not because we don’t have gifts, ohhh we have the gifts and the callings. But because there is no bread in the church and if the manifest presence of God cannot flow down the aisles of the church, it aint flowing onto the streets of the city- it must start at the temple

For the next 90 days I am commanding you to seek the manifest presence of the GOD. We’re going to destroy every seducing spirits we are going to break the plans of manipulating men. We are going to hold lazy irreligious, uncommitted,  people accountable. And we are going to ask god for revival, not a good time, not a dance or a shout but we are gonna ask for bread in the house- his manifest presence.

Cause I cannot be content with crumbs on the carpet and crumbs in the pulpit we need bread.

He’s too much god for me to settle for crumbs I want his best. I don’t want to hear another story about him I want HIM. WE WANT REVIVAL , NOT SIMPLY REVELING  BUT REVIVAL . NOT SIMPLY THE RECYCLING OF SAVED PEOPLE THROUGH THE CHURCH TO KEEP THEM FIRED UP. There are too many hurting people searching for help and turning to the psychics we need a true wave of revival, where people who are unchurched, unlearned, never been saved, smell the aroma of bread and run to the house.

Because your pain , your trouble, your mistakes, your hurts, your trials ought to create in you a desire to be wherever the bread is she didn’t care about what happened she quickly got her things and returned back to Bethlehem, her babies were dead, yet she had to get over it long enough to make her way back to Bethlehem if you could forget somethings long enough, if you could forgive long enough to make it back to the place of bread

Hungry people , I mean really hungry people are very different from other people

They that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. The only reason she moved so intently and so dramatically is that she wanted bread in the house.

What will you do to get bread in yours ?

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~ by awordgiver on May 27, 2010.