The Dwelling Richly Podcast

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 3/Day 3 Ruth 4:1-11

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 3/Day 3 Ruth 4:1-11
Remember that this story is set during a time when “Israel had no king, and everyone did as he saw fit” (Judges 21:25). More often than not this meant NOT obeying God’s laws and not honoring God’s ways. This is why the period recorded in Judges is filled with the many times God’s people were under discipline. But Boaz and Ruth stand as shining examples of the rewards and lasting blessings that come when we are honorable in our ways toward God.
Welcome to Lesson Three in our Dwelling Richly Bible study, “Faithful & Fearless” Today we’ll read and write through Ruth together.
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Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
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Faithful and Fearless: Lesson 3/Days 1 and 2

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 3/Days 1 & 2
Welcome to Lesson Three in our Dwelling Richly Bible study, “Faithful & Fearless” Today we’ll read and write through Ruth together.
#lmccwomen #dwellingrichly #FaithfulAndFearless
Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.jennifergrichmond.com/dwelling-richly-bible-study/
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
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Faithful and Fearless: Lesson 2/Days 9 and 10

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Days 9 & 10 -- True confessions: I’m super not good at waiting. Seriously. I want it now. I don’t mean the Christmas presents can’t wait or the birthday (November 10, if anyone’s interested) presents or the other fun things in life – I mean the relationship stuff. The conflict. The questions. The changes. I hated when I found a note in my teacher box from the principle: “I need to speak with you after school today.” What?? No! Cancel my classes and get a sub and meet with me this very second. The not knowing. The loooong waiting. No. Nope. Nuh-uh...Just let’s get to it. So, here we are in Ruth’s story and she has to wait to find out if some other guy is going to honor the cultural custom and take her on as his wife or if she gets the tall, dark, handsome, love of her life, Mr. Beau...er...I mean, Mr. Boaz. Honestly, if I were Ruth and I had all my hopes and dreams waiting on this one scene I’d have jumped up and found that guy that night and gotten it over with! But, noooo. Ruth. Sweet, brave, bold, faithful and fearless, Ruth somehow musters the grace and patience to wait until morning to find out her fate. Sigh. Lord, help me to seek you and to wait for you. Thank you for your loving-kindness to Ruth and the tender reminder to me that you do have my best at heart and I can truly trust and obey and wait on your perfect timing. Share a photo from your study or share this podcast or video recording and let others see the kindness of God in your life. #lmccwomen #dwellingrichly #FaithfulAndFearless
Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.jennifergrichmond.com/dwelling-richly-bible-study/
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
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B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 8

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 8 -- What if it were God’s wrath that called us to repentance? What if it were His scare tactics? His frustration? His loud, booming, scare-the-hell-out-of-us voice? It isn’t though.
It’s. His. Kindness.
God’s kindness leads us to turn around, lament our state, see Him – His grace and mercy and love – and want that. His kindness beckons us to release the ways of the world and reach for Him. It’s a kindness because the alternative to turning from sin is to be engulfed by it and that leads ultimately to death – spiritually and physically. God’s kindness leads us to life – true life, abundant life, new life. Thank God for his kindness. He could have done it another way, but He calls us His own in kindness so we come in love and thankfulness for what we receive not out of terror for what we could have gotten. Thank God for His kindness Share a photo from your study or share this podcast or video recording and let others see the kindness of God in your life.
#lmccwomen #dwellingrichly #FaithfulAndFearless
Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.jennifergrichmond.com/dwelling-richly-bible-study/
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
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B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful and Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 7

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 7 -- As a type of Christ again we see that Boaz goes above the requirements of the law. There is a traditional Jewish song called the “Dayenu.” At the Passover meal, called a Seder, Jewish families sing this song joyfully as they recount the many ways God has been more than enough in their lives. Boaz exemplifies this right here in verse 15 but all throughout the story! What-a-guy!
Here’s some of the lyrics to the Dayenu:
Eelu hotzianu mi-mitzrayim (if He had taken us out of Egypt…)
Eelu natan lanu et ha-shabat (if He had given us the Sabbath…)
Ilu natan lanu eta ha-torah (if He had given us the Torah…)
Dai-yenu, dai-yenu, dayeinu! It would have been enough! It would have been enough!
This traditional song is 15+ stanzas long and recounts the many, many abundant ways God has provided for Israel. Take time in closing to be thankful for God’s kindness in your life and to recognize that He has gone over and above all that we could ask or imagine. Why not take a moment to share about God’s kindness to you? Share a photo from your study or share this podcast or video recording and let others see the blessing of God in your life.
#lmccwomen #dwellingrichly
Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.jennifergrichmond.com/dwelling-richly-bible-study/
F O L L O W:
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
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B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 6

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 6 - Is it just me, or is it hard for you also to make the connections from the ancient ways and cultures to life today? Just me? Ok. Reading through Ruth brings me to a different life and I find myself put off by the ways things like courtship were done. Washing up, anointing yourself, then laying at the feet of the guy you’re interested in – who also happens to be your former husband’s relative aaaaaand your sort of boss? But then. Then I think how all the accounts that have been included in the Word of God over a period of 3,000 years like crossing the Red Sea, God appearing in fire, the earth swallowing up people – fish swallowing too! – feeding 5,000 people with some left-over bread and dried fish, healings, resurrections, the sun standing still...and here we are in this account – Ruth, an insignificant outcast laying at the feet of a man who will end up being her husband and this story is included in the testaments of Scripture? Wow. That fact – that this life was included along with the great men and women of renown and the astounding miracles across the span of time – that 85 little verses in the count of over 23,000 verses recorded from Genesis to Revelation are recorded for me – for all of us - makes me stop and get over myself and my difficulty in grasping a couple of cultural oddities. God made sure this life and all its details were recorded. Ok. I get it, God. I’ll read and pray and thank you. Thank you that, in your sovereignty, you made sure that this account would never be forgotten. I’ll pray and thank you for seeing after the big, crazy miracles and the small, tender ones. Thank you for seeing after every detail in my life too.
Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.jennifergrichmond.com/dwelling-richly-bible-study/
F O L L O W:
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
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B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 5

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 5 - Consider this: when God wrote laws for His people about kinsmen-redeemers, when God spoke of being the Father to the fatherless, He already knew Ruth and Boaz and Naomi – He knew them one thousand years before they ever walked through the fields of barley, before they gleaned, or reaped, wandered or wondered. Does God know you today in that same way? Is He providing for you today? I think you know the answer, but do you know-know the answer? Like down deep from your heart to your toes, do you really, truly believe and trust that God’s got this? God’s got you and has had you in mind since before you were even born – do you believe that? Do you live a life of love and faith that demonstrates that belief? As we’re reading through this account of Ruth’s life and the lives that swirl around and connect to hers pray that God would seal upon your heart the reality of His provision for you, the truth of His love for you, the grace and mercy that He has and will continue to have extended for you. Pray that you will live a life that shows you don’t just believe in God, but you embrace all the truths of who God is and live faithfully and fearlessly because of those truths.
Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.jennifergrichmond.com/dwelling-richly-bible-study/
F O L L O W:
https://www.Instagram.com/jennifergrichmond
https://www.YouTube.com/c/jenniferrichmond
https://www.Facebook.com/jenniferrichmondblog
Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
http://lamiradachurch.com/
B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 4

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 4
When we notice God’s timing, we think how amazing it is that lives and situations were planned to happen in such a way. But what if we don’t notice? Imagine how many times today the hand of God has been at work to allow your life to come together in the way it is.
 
What a change we’re now reading in the demeanor of Naomi! From emptied to being filled…She is a changed woman whose heart of bitterness is warming by the kindling of kindnesses…Ruth’s and now Boaz’s. And the realization that Boaz isn’t any ordinary landowner but providentially, THE best of landowners, a relative who is her kinsman-redeemer.
 
Kinsmen-redeemer is not a custom we’re familiar with in the West. We need to understand what this means though in order to appreciate not just the grace of God in Naomi’s and Ruth’s immediate circumstances but the sovereignty of God through this relationship and what it means to you and me! Yes, you and I are directly benefitting from this story! It’s quite exciting! And we’ll learn more about this custom in our study going forward.
 
In the New Testament (Acts 2:1), the Feast of Weeks is known as Pentecost (penta = 50) – because there were 50 days to be counted during this time. This gives us a timeline for the story. Ruth gleaned for seven weeks. We are encountering evidence of God’s kindness in establishing laws that would protect the weakest and most vulnerable in a society – from the very books that so many today use to try to justify their bad view of God as a brute out to kill and destroy those who don’t bend to His will. One of our goals in our focus on the kindness of God is to equip you as you encounter people in your life who have a prejudice against the God of the Bible.
And now, as we move into chapter three we’ll see even more evidence of God’s loving-kindness. Be sure to join me for the next day in our “Faithful and Fearless” lesson!
 
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.lamiradachurch.com/women
F O L L O W:
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
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B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful and Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 3

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Day 3
Kindness Made the Difference...
In the sixth grade I was once again the new kid in my school. Because of my dad’s work I had moved six times since kindergarten and now, as a 6th grader, I was starting over again. As out-going and friendly as I was – and I really was! – I still felt timid and shy and worried. Sixth graders can be a mean, petty bunch and starting again was making me feel unsure and weak and tired of it all. I wanted to blend in, keep my head down and just come and go unnoticed – and yet,
I wanted to belong. I wanted to connect, have a friend and be a friend in return. But starting out in a school where most of these kids had been together since kindergarten was not easy and to make it worse, I didn’t get to start school on the first day. I started a week late. I walked down the echoing hallway into Room 23 with a transfer slip from the office that may as well have read: “This is Jana Garrett*. She’s the new kid. Be sure to have all the kids stare and her and snicker and give her mean glares if she wants to sit near them.” Sigh.
I made it to Room 23. Mr. Garber read the note, seated me in a wobbly, lift-top desk near the front, and I slumped trying to will the powers of invisibility to come over me even as I felt the stares of the students behind me. Soon enough the recess bell rang, and I took my time so I’d leave the room last behind the pushing swarm of giggling 12-year-olds. I slipped out and stood by the classroom door surveying the playground - kids bolting for the handball courts, running for the monkey bars, and already untangling ropes to jump in trios scattered across the blacktop. I walked slowly out from under the shade and covering of the hallway awning and made my way to the blue fiberglass-topped tables to eat my snack...
As I sat down and reached into my brown lunch sack, I felt the table shudder as a big girl sat down next to me. So much for disappearing. “Hey,” she said looking right into my face. “Hey,” I said weakly looking up and then back to my apple. “You’re new. My name is Noelle. I saw you come in today. I was in the back. But I saw you and you looked a little freaked out so I figured I’d say hey and let you know we could be friends.
I don’t’ think I have to tell you what relief and peace came over me that day at the lunch tables of Weathersfield Elementary School. But the openness that Noelle showed me that day led to a year of friendship that helped me grow in kindness and strength. I gained a best friend and a lifelong appreciation for the blessings that come from reaching out in kindness to others.
Perhaps you have experienced a kind act like this? Perhaps you’ve reached out in kindness to someone? Our story of Ruth is one of loyalty and faith but is marked significantly by kindness. The Hebrew word translated “kindness” is “chehsed.” It is found explicitly three times – in the beginning, middle and end of the book - and implied throughout the story. As we continue, make note of the acts of kindness mentioned in the book and perhaps highlight them in your Bible as you read and let this theme of kindness remind you of the love and kindness of God toward you and how we are called to be like Him – kind to all.
*Jana was my given nickname
The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.lamiradachurch.com/women
F O L L O W:
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https://www.Facebook.com/jenniferrichmondblog
Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
M Y C H U R C H:
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B I B L E: Bible App: https://www.bible.com/app

Faithful & Fearless: Lesson 2/Days 1 & 2

The Dwelling Richly community Bible study meets at La Mirada Christian Church every other week: Mondays, 6:30pm or Tuesdays, 9:30am, February 4-April 30, 2019
Register online http://www.LMCCWomen.Eventbrite.com
When you share, use our hashtags: #LMCCWomen #DwellingRichlyBibleStudy
DOWNLOAD THE STUDY: https://www.lamiradachurch.com/women
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Share any prayer requests in the comment section below!
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