The following sermon was recorded at Calvary Tabernacle on October 2, 2024. This sermon is presented by pastor Kenny Robertson. See below for the full transcript of this sermon.
Episode Transcript
This transcript was created using an automated transcription service, so some text may be inaccurate.
The book of Ruth, chapter 1. 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 two sons.
And the name of the man was Elimelech. The name of his wife, Naomi. The name of his two
sons, Malon and Shalon, Ephrathah of Bethlehem, Judah.
They came to the country of Moab and continued there. And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died.
And she was left with her two sons.
They took them wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah. The name of the
other, Ruth.
They dwelled there about ten years. Malon and Shalon died also, both of them. And the woman
was left of her two sons and her husband.
And she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab. For
she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them
bread. Wherefore, she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law
with her.
They went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. Indeed, this passage of scripture paints
a very dismal picture. It describes a sad situation that’s going on.
Read about how a famine had came to the land of Israel. There was a great famine in the land.
You read that chances are there wasn’t any grain, there wasn’t any barley, there wasn’t any
wheat, because there was a famine.
Can you say amen? And if you ain’t got those ingredients, then it’s safe to say that there was no
bread in the land of Israel at that moment in time. Read about how in Bethlehem, Judah, and
Bethlehem means the house of bread. In Bethlehem, the house of bread, there was no bread at
that point in time.
We read of how Elimelech and Naomi took their family and decided they needed to get
somewhere where there was bread. Can you say amen? We read of how they loaded up and
they left Israel and they go into the country of Moab. We read of how they took everything and
they went over into Moab.
In essence, they moved out of the land of promise and they moved in to a land of idolatry. Can
you say amen? They get there and they continue there for a while and we read of how
Elimelech passed away. No doubt that was a very trying time for Naomi.
Her husband had passed away and she was left with her two sons. We go on and read in verse
4 how she took them, how they took wives of the children of Moab. This was a direct
transgression of the law in Deuteronomy 11.
They weren’t even supposed to intermingle with the Moabites up to the 11th generation. We
read how they settled there and they began to take wives of the Moabites. We go on and we
read that they dwelled there with their wives for ten more years.
Reading on in verse 5, both of Naomi’s sons passed away in the country of Moab. We read how
Naomi is left with just her daughters-in-law. Her husband had passed away and her sons had
passed away.
I believe that things were hard for them while they were in the land of Moab. I believe that
things had to be difficult and dark and dreary while they were in the land of Moab. The husband
had passed away.
Then we go on and we read how their sons had passed away. I can’t help but wonder if what
they moved there for in the first place still held the value it held when they left the land of
promise. I can’t help but wonder as Naomi looked around and she saw how things were falling
apart.
She had to say to herself, I wonder if we messed up coming here. I wonder if we made the
wrong decision coming here. Things ain’t working out just like we thought they would.
Things ain’t going just like I thought they would. Elimelech has passed away and if that’s not
bad enough, now my boy Malon and my boy Shalon have passed away as well. They might have
had bread in the house of Moab, but I believe that the bread they had at that point in time did
not compare to what they were losing in the long run.
I believe that the bread they were feasting on didn’t mean as much to them as having Elimelech
and the boys back. Can you say amen? It was hard. I believe Naomi’s heart was shattered.
I believe that the daughters-in-law, I believe their hearts were shattered. I believe with all my
heart that it was just a bad, bad time in the land of Moab, but all of a sudden, somewhere,
somehow, came the word that there was bread back in the land of promise. Somewhere,
somehow, word had came to Naomi.
Have you heard? God is handing out bread once again over in Bethlehem, Judah. Once again, in
the house of bread, bread is bacon. Once again, in the house of bread, there’s bread to feed the
hungry.
I believe in that moment, I believe Naomi was like, we can stay here in this land of death, we
can stay here in this land of darkness, we can stay here in this land of despair, or I can load my
family up and I can get my family to where there’s fresh bread being baked by the hand of God.
And I read how they got together. The word tells us in verse 7, and they went on the way to
return to the land of Judah.
Another translation reads, they took the road. If you go in and research that, it means they took
the road that led them back to Judah. As we well know, Judah means praise.
In that moment, in that very moment, Noah said, come on family, we’re going to get on the
road that leads us back to worshiping God so we can get the bread that God is handing out
today. Can you say amen? My blessed Lord. Let me drill this down.
I believe we can take this and we can compare it to a lot of our churches around us today. I
believe that a lot of our churches have become bakeries that don’t offer any bread anymore. I
believe that some of our churches have ovens set up that have not ran in years.
I believe they’ve got the ingredients to bake the bread, but I believe they ain’t got the fire to get
the oven started so the bread will bake. I’m here to tell you we’ve got churches that gather
around cold ovens every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night. They
gather around and they throw out a crumb here.
They throw out a crumb there. They toss a crumb here to this one. They’re promising this.
They’re promising that. But there ain’t a bit of power because there ain’t no bread in the house
of God. My blessed Lord.
We’ve got the bread, but are we offering the bread? That’s why our children are turning to tarot
cards. That’s why our children are looking at horoscopes. That’s why our children are looking at
pornography on their phones.
That’s why our children are learning about God through social media. Falsely, I might add,
because there’s no bread in the house of God. But I’m here to tell you, Calvary, we’ve had bread
baking lately, and if it’s up to your pastor, we’re going to keep having bread.
Does the devil like it? No. But that lets me know the bread’s baking. That lets me know the
bread’s coming out.
Can you say amen? Glory. Oh, there’s fake bread all up and down the road. It’s like that fake
sausage, hamburger meat.
Brother Brandon can tell you all about that. He works in that. There is sausage and hamburger
meat that ain’t got a bit of meat in it.
It’s made from plants. It’s made from grass. People, I ain’t knocking it.
If you like that, I ain’t knocking it. And I’ll be honest, I’ve ate it before. But it ain’t real.
I said it ain’t real. We got bread. We got pastors.
We got pastors serving up bread that ain’t real, Brother Billy. We got pastors handing out
bread. Oh, it looks like bread.
It looks like it. It might even taste like it. But it ain’t real.
How do you know it ain’t real? Because I see their fruit and because I know there ain’t no
keeping power in it. The last time I checked, you don’t get protein from a plant. You get protein
from meat.
That lets me know we got to have the real bread in the house of God to serve up to the people.
We’ve been seeing, thanks be to God, we’ve been seeing people that struggled with addiction
come in our doors. I thank God for that.
Give the Lord a hand clap for that. We’ve been seeing them fall in the altar and find the
transforming power of Christ. It ain’t nothing to do with what you’re doing.
It ain’t nothing to do with what I’m doing. We’re just trying to bake the bread and get out of the
way and let the bread serve the need of the people. Can you say amen? You ain’t getting what I
give you.
I ain’t feeding you. You better get somewhere where you can find some bread, real bread,
that’ll satisfy you and help you grow. Let me tell you, every one of us here need to be getting a
hold of the bread of God because the bread that you have might be a help to somebody.
Think about this. As I was pondering on this last night, I asked Jennifer about it. I said, I have
never thought about this.
Over in 1 Kings 18, you know the story. The Lord had came to Elijah, said, prophesy and say
there’s not gonna be any rain. Ain’t gonna be a bit of rain.
And said, sure enough. Elijah did what he was commanded to do. The Lord told him, now get
down by this brook.
I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. You’re gonna drink water from the brook and
I want you to get down there because that’s where I’m gonna hide you out. So he goes down
there.
We know the story. Sure enough, twice a day, the ravens did what? They brought him meat, but
they brought him bread. Now I want you to think about this.
We know that God can rain down bread. We know that God can rain down quail and manna,
but I couldn’t help but wonder if that bread came from somebody that knew how to bake
bread. What if that bread, and we don’t know, we don’t know if the bread rained down or if that
raven found that bread in somebody’s backyard, but I’m of the mind to think God is a big God.
He can sure rain it down, but I believe that if he’s got somebody that’s baking bread, he can
take that bread, Brother Billy, that you’re baking and take it over here and drop it right down in
Terry’s soul. He can take that bread, Mom and Daddy, that y’all bake when y’all get up and sing
under the power of God and take it and drop it in some struggling person’s soul. I’m here to tell
you, Nathan, when you play that piano under the power of God, you’re baking bread in the
spirit of God.
It’s going out and it’s helping people. I’m here to tell you, Bradley, when you sing about I’ve got
so much to thank him for, you’re breaking bread and baking bread that the angels of God can
come and drop in somebody’s soul. We gotta get the bread back in the house.
We gotta get the bread back in the house. Not once every two months, once every three
months. We need the bread of God every time we come together.
Can you say amen? Think about Jesus. My goodness. My goodness.
He is the bread. Kenny Robertson is not the bread. Far from it.
Calvary Tabernacle is not the bread. Far from it. But oh, may I read to you over in John chapter 6
written in red, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me, what? Shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
I’m not interested in raising the banner of Calvary Tabernacle.
I’m not interested in raising the banner of Kenny Robertson. I’m interested in raising the
banner of Jesus Christ, him crucified, because he said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto
me. Let me tell you, Calvary, let us get our focus back on Jesus, not on us.
If we focus on Jesus, the bread of life, he’ll draw all men. Can you say amen? That wayward
spouse, that wayward child, they don’t need my opinions. They don’t need my ideas.
They need the bread. They need the bread. And just like the ravens dropped it to Elijah, you
may be the one that drops it to that person, that person on the job that lives a life that you
know doesn’t line up with the word of God.
They need bread. They need the bread of life, which is Jesus Christ. Can you say amen? How’s
your bread? How’s your bread this morning? What are you serving up? What are you serving to
your family? What kind of bread are you serving to your family, your friends? What kind of
bread are you serving? It’s time we get the real bread of God back in the house and back in our
lives.
There’s a lost and a hungry world that needs the true bread from heaven. Can you say amen?