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Newington Three Angels Church

Eric Walsh

Godly Glue

We are once again at the 3 Angels Church in Newington, Connecticut, at the now evolving early stages of the aftermath.

And as we begin to open things back up here in Connecticut, we are still in empty churches, and we are just waiting on God's movement.

And we just praise God for the opportunity to record and to share a message.

Our scripture reading tonight comes from the book of Acts chapter 20, starting at verse 24.

But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

A message this Sabbath, for this week, is entitled, Godly Glue.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to just study and share your word.

Lord, I ask once again that you make me a nail, a rusty, sorry nail, Lord, that is hammered into the wall.

Upon that nail, Lord, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

Let Eric Walsh not be seen or heard tonight.

Instead, Father, let us hear a word from the throne room of grace.

It is our prayer in Jesus' precious and holy name.

We're going to be coming from the book of Ruth for the most part with this message.

Ruth chapter 1, starting at verse 1, and I'll begin to read.

Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land.

And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his 2 sons.

The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi.

The name of his 2 sons, Malhon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah.

They came into the country of Moab and continued there.

The scripture tells of a family, a husband, wife, 2 sons, who when famine hit the land of Judah, they had to leave and go to Moab.

Not sure what Moab had to offer, but obviously there was some opportunity there that did not exist in the land of famine.

Elimelech takes his wife, Naomi, the 2 sons, they go there, and the scripture says, and they continued there.

While there, the Bible says in verse 3, Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died.

Verse 4, and they took them wives of the women of Moab.

The name of the 1 was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth.

So they were there a little while, the father, Elimelech dies.

In order to continue the family name and legacy, her 2 sons take wives of the Moabites, and 1 of them takes a woman named Orpah, The other takes a woman named Ruth, and they were married and together there for 10 years.

The Bible says in verse 5 of Ruth 1, and Malon and Chilion died, also both of them.

The woman was left of her 2 sons and her husband.

She has to leave home because of a famine and she travels to the land of Moab.

When she gets to the land of Moab, her husband dies, not probably too long after she gets there.

10 years into her sojourn into this land, her 2 sons die, leaving her with just her daughter's in-law.

Sometimes it seems like you are targeted with loss.

I'll say that this week, I actually had to go to the funeral of someone very, very close to me, my dear aunt, my mother's sister.

And our family has had so many funerals that it just, it's almost incomprehensible.

So I understand what it would have been like for Naomi, the difficulty of seemingly losing so many for so long.

And I wanna say that 1 of the biggest challenges of having a funeral during the coronavirus is that the funeral homes up until just a few weeks ago, would only allow 10 people at the service, based on the state law, in the state where this happened.

But these would normally have been events that would have been attended by hundreds, maybe 2, 3, 400 people would have attended, whole churches full of people that knew my aunt would have been there.

The extended family would have come from overseas and it would have been a huge, huge gathering.

Was very difficult to have this kind of a service.

And I can tell, after going through so many funerals, death sucks hope out of people.

When you lean on someone for so long, my aunt was a, she was the glue.

That's why the name of this sermon is the godly glue.

She was the glue after my grandmother died and she held the family together, her relationship with each 1 of us.

And so when she dies, you know, she died, like with so many deaths, a lot of times what happens is folk can lose hope.

There's a finality to death that is discouraging.

Hopeless, it would seem that you'd ever spend time with that loved 1 again, but the Bible says something different about death.

1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 13 says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

Paul says to the Thessalonians, listen, we do not sorrow as those who have no hope.

When a Christian loved 1 dies, we have hope that the world cannot understand.

You see, because in verse 14, we believe that Jesus died and he rose again.

When Jesus died and rose again, he took death and the grave captive.

Paul says, listen, those of us who live, Paul thought maybe he would live and see the second coming, but those of us alive today very well might.

Those who are alive when Jesus comes, we will not prevent them which are asleep.

Look at this, 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 16 says, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Then Paul says something profound, a message that I want to send to my cousins who've just lost their mother and her grandchildren, even her great-grandchildren.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 18, wherefore, comfort 1 another with these words.

1 day, your Christian loved 1 will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and will forever be with the Lord.

When Jesus returns, Those that have died in Christ, when he, when he returns, they will come out of their tombs and their bodies will be transformed and glorified and gravity will have no sway over them.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

Not everybody's going to die and then be resurrected, but everyone's going to be glorified.

He says, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.

1 day my aunt, my mother, my grandmother, faithful soldiers in the army of the Living God, 1 day they'll come up out of the grave and the cancer and the disease and the sickness that sin has allowed to be placed on their bodies will evaporate from off of them and they will be transformed.

Jesus said it like this in John 11 in verse 25, Jesus says, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.

He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

This is him speaking to Lazarus's sister who said, Lord, if you had been there, my brother would not die.

He says, listen, I am the resurrection and the life.

That's why he says, if you believe in me, even if you are dead, you will live again.

And if you're alive and you believe, you have no fret.

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Godly Glue

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