Page 8 - BACK TO BETHLEHEM

academics or even Bible knowledge, you will only find
emptiness. Fullness is in Bethlehem; it is in Christ; it is in the
House of Bread. Until we go back to Bethlehem, we cannot
begin to have the union with our heavenly Boaz that results in
the production of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to go back to
Bethlehem, and that is where it all begins.
Now, I am emphasizing the word “back” in “Back to
Bethlehem”. I am making a big deal out of that because
Bethlehem is a picture of Christ, a picture of fullness, a picture
of abundance, and every Christian starts out where they started
out in Ruth chapter one. You are already in Bethlehem. You
start out in Bethlehem. Some Christians have a mistaken idea
that they need something in addition to Jesus. They say, “Oh
yeah, I have been saved. I have trusted Christ as my Savior, but
now I need something in addition to that.”
Sometimes you hear people talk about a second
blessing, “I have been saved, and I have Christ as my Savior,
but now I need a second blessing or a baptism of the Holy Spirit
or some additional experience. There is no second blessing but
there is a rediscovery of the first blessing, and sometimes that
rediscovery of the first blessing is so dramatic that you might
call it a second blessing.
When you receive Christ as your Savior, God has given
you His everything. He does not give you Jesus plus anything;
not Jesus plus power; not Jesus plus patience, not Jesus plus
love. When you receive Christ, you receive all of Christ and
He is all of those things in your life. You may not enjoy all of
those things but you do not need more of Christ; you need more
eyesight. We need to see what we already have in Christ.
Every time a person gets saved he is in Bethlehem. He
is totally blessed. If you are not enjoying fullness in Bethlehem
it is not because you have not received it; it is because you left
it. The Book of Ruth begins where every Christian begins; on
level ground. Nobody has an advantage with God. We have
Christ, and that is all we need, and sometimes we depart from
that and we go off to Moab.
In Ruth 1:20&21 Naomi said, “Do not call me Naomi;
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