God of the Insignificant and Ordinary Part 2

0 (1s): Well, good morning. Welcome everyone. Welcome to Harvest. My name is Cheryl Lynn, and we're just so excited that you guys are here to worship this morning and hello to everyone watching around campus and at home. I hope you're all doing well. If you're able to, why don't you stand with me as we begin, we'll take a moment. Pray and just invite the Lord's presence to be in our midst here this morning. 1 (33s): Let's go before him. 0 (35s): Thank you, Lord. We do just welcome your presence. Holy spirit. We want to meet with you this morning. I just want to come into your presence with boldness and courage, the springing to your hearts, to speed vulnerable before you to be real knowing we don't have to have it all put together or all figured out. We don't have to be perfectly polished to come into your presence. That's exactly why you died on the cross that you covered it all for us, Jesus, that we could come messy and Rogan and hurting and real before you. And so we just bring you our hearts this morning and worship you bring you our tears. 0 (1m 17s): We bring you our discouragement. We bring our doubts and our questions. Thank you, Lord that you meet us there 1 (1m 25s): As we just, 0 (1m 26s): Or auto Harts and praise. And thanks as we remember who you are and what you've done for us. 1 (1m 39s): where Jesus and died for me. I see independent on the cheek. 0 (13m 7s): Great. Is your faithfulness to us. Thank you, Laura. That we can truly depend on you. That's you're the one thing that never falters that never fails. Everything else in this world fills us breaks. Deserts, us abandons us, runs the dry, but you never do unless you're the weld. It never 1 (13m 36s): Thank you. 0 (13m 36s): And so we just happened to that. Well, this morning, the well, and your faithfulness, your goodness, your kindness and your mercy, we need it. God 1 (13m 47s): Thank you. 0 (13m 50s): And we actually want to teach you a new song this morning, all about God's faith. He talks about him. He's the God who could make mountains. If you know that story in the Bible, even when they're singing and the person, 1 (14m 4s): The reason and the doors come open as they worship 0 (14m 10s): And they marched around the walls of Jericho. And when they worshiped walls came tumbling down, I just feel like the Lord wants to remind us Church that there's power only worship. As we invite his presence. As we focus on him, there's the power. Let me praise. Sometimes we have to speak to our own fear and preach to our own souls reminders. 1 (14m 36s): God's goodness. And that's a lot. What the song is about this morning. 0 (14m 39s): I hope you'll join. And as you can, of course goes like this 1 (14m 54s): To shake and walls. I wouldn't speak to my fear. I will preach to you a favor. 1 (15m 7s): God you are the God who makes the mountains move. 1 (19m 4s): The God who heals, rescues, redeems. The sets are feet upon the rock. Remind us of your faithfulness and your goodness today. And mine is that there's never anything out of your sight. 0 (19m 23s): That's going on in our lives. You're you're not aware of you're a detail oriented. God you know everything about it. 1 (19m 34s): You made each of us uniquely site, the spray that you would need everyone who's here today or watching online and she would speak to their hearts. So that still small voice to bring encouragement, to bring hope, cast, vision, to give us purpose. We need you, or would you continue to just be in our midst today 0 (20m 8s): And our hearts to receive all that you have for us? It's your kingdom come 1 (20m 15s): Jesus' name. Amen. So good celebrates. I love it. 0 (20m 25s): Yeah. Never be afraid to praise and celebrate him. That's awesome. Well, let's take a moment to 1 (20m 29s): The new worshiping by saying hello to somebody just spreading some love 0 (20m 33s): Of some waves, fist bumps, elbow bumps, whatever you feel comfortable with. We'll gather back for some announcements. 1 (20m 42s): Good morning. My name is Ron. And what want to do first is 2 (20m 48s): Just welcome everyone here. So whether you're in the sanctuary or the law for the patio area, or maybe you tuning in online, we're super happy to have you here today. And by the way, if you happen to be new to Harvest Church, we do have a gift for you and you just head up to the info center and meet up with the people up there. And they'll be happy to hand off that gift to you. And while you're there, if you wouldn't mind, there's no strings attached, but if you want to fill out a communication card that just helps us to have you on the list where we can communicate to you, all the updates and things that are going on here at Harvest Church, that would be super helpful. And, and just as a friend for your information's ever since covert happened, we don't pass the bags anymore for communication cards or offering or anything like that. 2 (21m 36s): But we do have collection boxes here in the sanctuary and the loft in the patio area. So we want to make it easy for everybody. Hey, just want to say a couple of things just starting out today. Yesterday was a very special day for a couple reasons. One is yesterday morning, we were hearing the sanctuary. We had a Memorial service for a young man named Michael . So he died at 38, he had cancer. And so myself and another, another fellow kind of walked him through that journey. And, you know, he loved the Lord. And so it was kind of a family reunion yesterday. It's about a hundred people here. A lot of people came in from out of town and it, you know, it's a time of, of grieving for sure, but it's also time of celebration, you know, when a believer graduates and goes to heaven. 2 (22m 24s): And so we had the Memorial service here and then the reception in the patio area. So that was really uplifting actually. And then afterwards at four o'clock we had on the beach, we had a bonfire and baptism and I heard I didn't get to go, but I heard there was between 200 and 250 people there. Thankfully there were enough hot dogs to go around. So that was the big answer to prayer. Especially since I talked to a young man just a little bit ago, who will rename unnamed? His name is not Nathan, just in case. You're wondering, I said, how many hotdogs did you eat yesterday? He said, yes. 1 (23m 2s): Eight. 2 (23m 5s): I said, you can't fit eight hot dogs in there. You said, well, I didn't eat the buns. I told Nathan that does not count. Okay. But thankfully there were enough hotdogs to go around, but more importantly, we baptized 15 believers, 15 people yesterday. 1 (23m 22s): Yeah. Yeah. So 2 (23m 27s): Super wonderful time at the beach. So those of you that were part of that, it was, it was thanks for being there. One of the things we do a few times a year, we call growth track. And so that is where people that are newer to Harvest Church or maybe been here for awhile. You just want to learn more about who we are, meaning what, what makes us unique from the other churches, great churches in our community. So you're gonna learn a little bit about that, but more importantly, we're going to help you to, to discover your spiritual gifts and to give you opportunity and encourage you to get involved. Not only here at Harvest Church, but you know, our gifts are not only for Church ministry, but as for community ministry, we want to help you on that journey. 2 (24m 8s): And so the growth track we're offering, it's going to begin next Sunday. So Sunday, October 11th, it'd be 11 o'clock during the 11th clock service. And it's going to be in the office space, which is just up the road here, but we need to just sign up. Now here's the catch. It is four consecutive Sundays. So this is not sort of like a onetime thing. You can have opportunity to gather with other believers, four consecutive Sundays during the 11 o'clock service, you're going to get to know the other people in the group really well. And that's just a side benefit and a, but you need to sign up so you can sign up a couple of different ways. In fact, we want to make it really easy for you. We actually have 'em the Harvest Church app. So in fact, I got to jump ahead. 2 (24m 50s): So to AIG Harvest app, and then we added a new feature to our app. Recently we call it the connect link. So if you go to the connect link on our Harvest Church app, you can sign up that way four, the growth track, or you can just walk up the Hill to the info center it's right next to the coffee. So if you like coffee, boom, you're there. All right. So go ahead and sign up for the growth track, if you would like to participate in that. And as I mention, and we have this new connect way of communicating and, you know, in a, in a group of believers, it's really helpful to communicate things, right? In fact, I'm going to just read this to you because it's new to me as well. We have a new place on the AIG Harvest app for you to communicate anything and everything with our staff at Harvest simply click CA simply click on the connect link and fill out the form to let us know prayer requests, sign up for classes, events, volunteer for help, to help out or et cetera. 2 (25m 44s): So we'd love to hear from you. And that's true. We, we, we want to encourage you. If you have something to say, sign up for, be involved in, you know, we love to make that easy for everybody to do. And then as a last thing I want to mention this morning, our children's program has kind of been rebooting now that we're kind of getting a little bit further away from COVID. And so we've got the children's ministry going four, the 11 o'clock service, but we're going to start it up again for the nine o'clock walk as well. So the, the CA, the kids classes will resume for the nine o'clock service on November 1st. So just want to let you know about that. If you have kids and you prefer to go to the early, early service, that's going to be available to you and it's not too late to volunteer. 2 (26m 26s): So if you'd like to help out ministering to the young people of our church in my mind, that is one of the most important ministries that we can have pouring our lives into the young people. And so if you want to be a part of that, it's not too late. Go ahead and sign up at the info table. Or again, that connect link would be a good way to help 3 (26m 44s): Us out as well. All right. That's all I have to say. I'm going to invite Jeremy up. He's going to share the word to us this morning and thank you. Thank you. One last thing. Sorry. I have one more thing. Stay here. The, the youth are standing in today because Jeremy's their youth leader and Oh, there they are. Okay. Alright. I'm done. 3 (27m 38s): Check, check. Oh, there it is. There's the check. I apologize. My name is Jeremy. I'm the youth and family pastor. Hello youth. Yeah, so we baptized 13 youth yesterday. It was, it was amazing. And the weather was perfect. You know, it was a, it was really low tide. So it was, it was fun to, to actually have to get as deep as we had to go to actually dunk a person, half, half of the people there. It was just we're in the water and it was, it was a really special time. So we'll have some pictures and videos to show for those who didn't make it. Yeah, it was, it was, it was powerful if you're just joining us this week. 3 (28m 22s): This is my second part of the book of Ruth, the God of the Insignificant and Ordinary Part. And so we're gonna kind of jump into the middle of Ruth Ruth three and four is what we'll, we'll kind of try to finish off today. We ended it, we, we, we started with some big things last week, kind of whittled away from starting from looking at Ruth as it emphasized the whole as the whole of nation, the nation. And then we kind of looked at a family and then went down to a couple individuals. So we're going to start this week with those individuals and kind of work our way back out. But before I jump in, let me just start with the word of prayer. 3 (29m 9s): We were S we were so grateful Lord for what you are doing and the plan that you are unfolding. And we're, we're thankful that you are the almighty sovereign God Lord. And yet you, you know, and you care for the estate of, of your people. Lord, I pray that just today, we would learn to trust and to obey you the Lord to you, to, to even a further degree, Lord teach us from your word Lord, just using the simple narrative, this, the simple love story, comfort our hearts Lord in Jesus name, we pray. 3 (29m 51s): Amen. So there's a lot, the book of Ruth isn't ma it's one of my favorite books. It is humanity and four chapters. And so with only having two weeks to teach it, there's a lot that I've have to kind of kept under the table. I haven't, I've, haven't been able to bring up to the surface to bring up to the light. So just know that as we're, there's a lot of things I ha I have to, for sake of time floss over, you know, growing up in our garage, there was a band saw and a number of other woodworking tools. And, and funny enough, it wasn't my dad's band. It was my mom's band saw my mom was the woodworker of the family. 3 (30m 33s): And we grew up on the mission field when I was, I was born in the mission field. And then my parents worked for a missions organization back here and the States. And because of that, my dad did the bookkeeping and accounting, but we were always trying to fundraise and try to keep support for our family. And it was one of the ways that my mom kind of provided help, provide help, kind of subside our income is she would do these little woodworking. So our friend had a woodworking arts and craft shop, and she would widdle and she made little Noah's arcs with little characters and paint them. It was, it was really cool. So I grew up with her, you know, whittling away at would and doing stuff with wood. And, and sometimes every once in a while, she'd whittle all the way, a little bit too much and have to Chuck it. 3 (31m 17s): And I was driving in this morning. I'm like, Oh man, I hope I haven't whittled away too much to the book of Ruth. That was, that was my fear. But with that said, let's just, let's just dive in. I want to recap for those of you who weren't here last week, just, just to try to bring you up to quick speed, but you know, we, the book of Ruth starts out in a very dark place. It's it? It takes place in the book of, during the period of the judges and in the period of judges, it was like everyone did what was right in their own eyes because there was no King. And so we were introduced to there's a famine land of Israel, and it narrows down to this family of Elimelech and Elimelech had a wife, Naomi, and in two sons, one was named Mehan and the other was Chilean and their names mean CIC and pining away. 3 (32m 5s): So it kind of shows you what was happening in that day in time and, and impossibly to save his family. He, what he does is he ends up taking them to a land of Moab. He traveled six 70 miles over the mountains and, and, and to a place that where they weren't supposed to go, but yet he's trying to save his family. So he takes him to land a Moabite Moab, and the F Elimelech ends up dying in a far away place, away from family and way from friends and their, his, his sons are left with his, his widowed and, and they, over the course of time, his sons take Moabite wives. And in the course of time, both of those sons died. 3 (32m 45s): So now we're left in MOA with three widows Naomie, the mom, here's the thing that they're there, that there's bread back at home. And so she, she goes from Moab to start to leave, to return to her, her town of Bethlehem. And on the way Orpah decides to stay with her own people. One of her daughter laws remains, but Ruth clings to Naomi, and she makes this statement like mine, your God will be my God. Your people mind people. And, and we, we, we find them back in Bethlehem and, and we find them not staying idle. Ruth does not stay idle. So she leaves walks out her front door and simply looks North, South East and West and decides, well, I need to do something. 3 (33m 28s): I need to go glean. I need to provide some out. And so she finds herself in this field and the Bible says it just so happened that she ends up in Boaz field. And from there, we see that over the course of time that there's this budding relationship between Ruth and Boaz. And she was simply obedient to say, I need to do something. And she found herself in this field of Boaz. So one of the important things that we need to to understand, and as we're reading through the book of Ruth is that, that this was written to very different culture. And, and, and we have to understand a bit of the context with which the Bible was written. Our, our Western postmodern understanding doesn't often help us understand this very Jewish culture sometimes. 3 (34m 14s): And sometimes I think we forget that Jesus was this middle Eastern Jewish rabbi. And so, so many of the things that Jesus said and did while he was doing his ministry go right over our head. But it was like, if you were a Jewish, or if you understand the culture and the context, you're like, Whoa, this is, that's what he's saying. Kind of blows your mind. As you begin to understand the culture. And what that does is it opens up these different patterns of the Bible that begins to emerge from these narratives. That's why this narrative is the story of Ruth is in the Bible. Our understanding our Western understanding says that there's prophecy and fulfillment. The thing that's called out, and then it's fulfilled. 3 (34m 57s): But the Jewish understanding is that there's these pro there's a prophecy given. And then there's these partial fulfillment along the way, pointing the way to an ultimate complete fulfilling of that, of that prophecy. So we get these partial, we get these patterns or types that emerge from the word of God. And the part of that pattern, part of those types will emerge from Naomi, Ruth and Boaz and who they represent. So chapter three, Let's jump in. How about that chapter three, verse one, it says, then Naomi mother-in-law said to her, my daughter, shall I not seek security for you? 3 (35m 42s): That it may be well with you, Naomi, the mother-in-law. And she wants to seek security and rest, which she was, she knows God has designed to be found in marriage. And it's within that culture, that Naomi is actually sacrificed in her own, right? The law of the love, right? It was, it was Naomi's right. But, but so that her daughter law will succeed. Naomi, stepping back and saying, I want you to succeed. I want you to be provided for, I want, I care about you. And so she's going to start to work and as a good mother-in-law or a good mother, and she's going to set up her daughter for success, she wants to set them up. 3 (36m 26s): All right. My wife loves to set other gals up. She loves to create these marriage, create these love stories. And so Naomi is going to do that for her daughter in law, Ruth, she wants to seek security and rest. And it leads to a question. I love asking the Bible questions and often, and the, on the margins, all the right questions. Well, why this, or why that? And some things I know will not be answered and tell it, tell her an attorney, but some of the things I'm like, well, I'll say this question for labor are stored in a little file cabinet, wait for later. And one of those questions that I've asked for a long time is why is Boaz single Naomi's, it's going to set up Ruth. So that there's this, the love story gets completed with Boaz, but why was Ruth? 3 (37m 11s): Why was Boaz single? You know, in that culture to be a single older man is, is, was like a . And yet we find that he had a great reputation among his, his employees running the community. He was a man of great wealth. The Bible speaks. Why was he single? And there's a few different thoughts. You know, what was he married? And his wife had passed away is one of the prominent ones that come out that's, that's understandable. And it's yet after reading and studying and, and really looking at the full picture of scripture. This is my personal opinion. My personal opinion was that was that Boaz was untouchable. 3 (37m 58s): He was untouchable. He was in touch long, the way that his mother-in-law had, maybe his, sorry, his mother had put up maybe a scar on him. You see boys, his father was one of the men that marched around Jericho, and that blew the trumpets. And the walls came tumbling down except where Ray had the harlot was and her family and Boaz, his father had taken Rayhab the harlot as his wife, Matthew records that in the genealogy. So it's my personal, if you knew that, that, although Boaz was a great and amazing man that he was still, there was still some stigma in the community and said, well, I don't want my daughter to marry this man. 3 (38m 43s): Who's only half Jewish. And so somehow there was this divine protection that now that God would orchestrate another foreign woman to come into his life, It says in verse two, now, Boaz whose young woman or we're with you, is he not our relative in the army? He says, in fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor, the threshing floor was the saddle on the Hill where the grain and the shaft for separate owners would take their grain and they would, they would, they would kind of crush it and you'd throw it up in the air and allow the wind to kind of blow off the shelf. The shelf was the light stuff, the whole, and the, and the grain would fall in place. 3 (39m 24s): And so it was a great celebration. It was a great time of like, yes, look at my pile of grain, look at what God has provided. Look what he's done. And so what you do either, it'd be just a big celebration. There'd be feast, there'd be excitement. And you wanted to protect that. So the, so the men would gather around and they'd lay on these piles to protect it. So that some fee for bandit wouldn't come and steal from their, from their CA their take at night. And so, and so Naomi's like, I know what's going on. I know where he'll be. And so she gives these specific instructions to Ruth. She says, therefore, wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor. 3 (40m 5s): Do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Then it shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies and you shall go in and uncover his feet and lie down. And he will tell you what you should do, Remove taking her best garment and putting our best God wasn't as much as getting fancy as it was removing her clothes of her widowhood. She's now saying Ruth, you are on the market, go dress like it. 5 (40m 36s): And the fees 3 (40m 37s): And the parties that would have gone on, and the eating and drinking was not in a way of access. So you remember the men are there to protect their grain. So if they, if, if you want to read into this, that, Oh, the, that Boaz got drunk. That's, that's just simply not in the text. Bose is there he's feces. He's exciting. There's joy to be found, but then he's going to lay down to protect his grade. And had he been at completely inebriated, then he wouldn't be able to protect if somebody came in. So Boaz and I love the scene is being excessive in his moderation. When he came to drink, be excessive in your moderation, because when he's laying down, he wants to protect what's there. And now, as Naomi is like, Ruth, this is what I want to do. 3 (41m 17s): These are the steps to take, say, tell him, or when you, when he wakes up, he will tell you what to do. And this is putting the ball in Ruth and Boaz this court. And it's a vulnerable position to be put in, especially as a woman, it's a foreign woman in those days. And yet Ruth said all that you say to me, I will do. Now we've got to hold up there, especially cause of the youth you guys are in here. And you're maybe thinking about someday, you want to meet a guy or a gal, and I'm going to say that don't be spiritual or biblical and say, Oh, I'm going to be like Ruth and go find a guy after party. Who's had a little celebration go find and uncover his feet and see what happens. 3 (41m 60s): Like don't do that. Okay, don't do that. That is, that is not what is saying. Is there a little bit of scandal on this as possibly, there's a little bit of scandalous, but there's nothing sinful going on here. This is once again, the culture and the context, and these are two people who that night keep their Virtu and keep their character. It's important in their, in their seeking out of love and seeking out of this marriage. There's still character and virtue to be kept. So Ruth does all that. So her mother-in-law's asked and it says that after Boaz in verse seven had eaten and drunk that his heart was cheerful. 3 (42m 42s): He is he's excited. The Lord has provided the Lord has returned to his people and given them green. And he laid down at the end of the heap of grain and she came softly and he, and she uncovered his feet and he laid down. Now I'm thankful that Hollywood has not tried to remake this into some kind of movie because they would for sure bring some things that aren't biblical and bring some scandal into it. They would botch it for sure. You think of, of, of Boaz. He had been working all day sweating. You know, his feet are dirty, stinky, sweating. She, and she's now laying by them. There's nothing attractive about that. And yet there's something significant that she goes in, uncover his feet and had she gone and tapped him on the shoulder. 3 (43m 28s): He might've jumped up ready for battle, ready to take somebody out. And he's trying to come out his grain, but instead she just simply softly uncover his feet. And there's the significance. And that this has more to do with the hem of his garment than any kind of uncovering we might think. So somewhere back in my genealogy, you might find I'm from Scotland. My last name is from Scott and there's a little village up in Scotland that bears my name Sutherland and the Scots don't wear skirts. They were kilts. Okay. Men back then didn't wear dresses. They wore tunics. Okay. And on the bottom, on the hem of that, tunic was part of it. 3 (44m 8s): There was embroidered into it a lot. And it said it had to do with your genealogy, your, your inheritance, the hem of your garment was something that was showed your authority or your protection, your lineage. It's the reason David, when he was being chased by Saul, he went and hidden the cave with all of his men and saw needing a little reprieve from the sun and needed a little rest, goes into that cave. Not knowing that David is hidden behind and David's men are like there saw, you can take him out. He's been chasing you. You're that you're supposed to be the next King. You've been anointed King. You can take him out. 3 (44m 48s): Now this has God has done this. And David's like, no, no, no. I could never do that to the Lord. And I did. But he, then he went and what did he, what did he cut off at the hem of salts? The hem of his garment. And David still felt guilty about cutting the head of his garment because the hem of God, wasn't just simply a piece of cloth. It's it's stood for the authority that Saul had been given Jesus on his way to heal gyrus. His daughter 12 year old daughter is surrounded by a crowd and a woman with a flow of blood for 12 years reaches out. And what does she touch the hem of his garden garment. 3 (45m 33s): It was this authority in her and she was healed instantly. And Jesus knew that there's power that had left. Why? Because it's this Ruth asking Boaz to take me under your, under your covering under your protection under your provision, verse eight. Now it happened at midnight that the man startled and turned himself and there was a woman lying at his feet. And she S and he said to her, who are you? Remember? There's the dark. There's no streetlights. There's, there's, there's the little light from the is. And maybe there's a moon out. And he says, who are you? And she says, I am Ruth. Your maid servant, take your maid servant under your wing for you are a close relative. The, the Hebrew word is go El. 3 (46m 15s): Or we also are translated into the kinsman Redeemer. And the girl had three aspects to them. He had to be a relative. He had to be related. He had to be able to redeem, and he had to be willing as well to redeem. And she kind of goes off, off her mother-in-law script. You know, Ruth says, well, he'll tell you what to do, but she says, I am Ruth, your maid servant, take your mates over. And under her wing, she is proposing marriage. Ruth had proposing, take me under your covering she requests. 3 (46m 55s): And she's doing this, redeem the land and fulfill the law of the lever marriage. And he says, bless her to you. My Lord of the Lord, my daughter for you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich, it seems like she had options. And now my daughter do not fear for all that. You, you requests for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman. Remember that night, they both kept their virtue. They're both kept their, their character. He says, now it's true. I am a close relative. However, there's a relative closer than I now hold up. 3 (47m 35s): Where did that come from? Right? The guy that's where there's drama suspense. There's a closer relative in the story. Boys was introduced way back in chapter two. And it was just kind of briefly mentioned. And now, now the author is choosing to reveal. It there's even close relative. What's this about? That's not supposed to happen. And so now Boaz begins to tell her what to do. Just like Naomi said, he says, stay the night in the morning. It shall be that if you will perform the duty of a close relative, do you good? Let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you as the Lord lives, lie down until morning. 3 (48m 16s): So they both are laying there. I doubt either of them slept. Ruth is thinking there's a wedding tomorrow, but I don't know to who, but as this thinking, okay, how am I going to make this happen? There's someone closer, but I got, how can I, how can I do this? First 15 says, and also he said, bring the Shaw that is on you and hold it in which he held it. He measured six of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into this city and when she came in to her, her mother in law said, is it, that is that you my daughter? 3 (48m 57s): And she told her all that the man had done for. And he, and she said, these six of barley, he gave me, he gave me for, he said to me, do not go empty handed to your mother-in-law. He's sending a code. And there's two things that he's seen with this six measures of two important things. One is Naomi remember had, had, had allowed Ruth to go for, go for Boaz. She didn't claim her right to Boaz. Naomi was laying her sight aside her right to Redeemer by seeking security for both Ruth's wellbeing. But now both Boaz is showing that his concern and care that he will provide for Naomi as well. He's providing for her as well. 3 (49m 41s): He seen you could have come at me and demanded that I do the law of love, right with you. But instead he chose the same roof. And now I'm going to take care of you nail me. Don't worry. I'm going to take care of you, but she's also sending another message or he's sending another message through this verse. 18 says is still my daughter and tell you no how the matter will turn out for the man will not rest until you is concluded. The matter of this day, think about that. Here's six ethos of barley free mother, and I'll give her those to you. And the man will not rest. You think of something has to do is six and then rest God's creation, right? 3 (50m 27s): God created in six days. And then he chose to rest the seventh. That was his message. That was a secret code to Naomi, like Naomi, I got this, here's your six ethos, but now just know that you can rest and rest. And I, there was probably a lot of concern and warring going on back in that house. Like what's going to happen. Who's the wedding going to be too, but they were told to rest. And that just enters into my mind, all the, what ifs have you ever read those books? I grew up with these books that you read, you know, part of a chapter. And then it would say, well, if the character chooses to go into the jungle, or if the character chooses to go to the forest, choose which way they go. 3 (51m 7s): And you say, okay, you know, forest is page 10 and, and the jungles page 20. And it leads you into the story of all these little different what ifs. And so you kind of, you can lead your character through these books, into these, these innumerable different little ways, and finally the bookends. And then you say, well, I want to see what happened if he went the other way. And so you go back and you reread it and it's all these what ifs and the what ifs start to haunt the story, or make me think that the story, all the, what ifs, what if Elimelech had never left? What if he had kept his sons there? 3 (51m 47s): What if that, what if his sons hadn't chose to, to marry these Moabite woman? What if Ruth hadn't decided to return with her? Mother-in-law what if Ruth had stayed in the house and said, you know, I'm too tired for this long journey. I don't really feel like going out. I just hope somebody will bring us some food. What if she never went out to the field? What if she'd gone to a different field? What if Boaz was not a kind and generous and man of character? 3 (52m 28s): What if he was a cruel and didn't want to fulfill the law that God had said for the law of gleaning and allow his corners of his grain to be Glen gleaned. There's so many what ifs. And you think about God, who knows in his, all the sovereignty seems to know all these what ifs, but yet he's working. He's unfolding his perfect plans through our choices, through these freewill decisions that we're given we're given. And yet they don't get outside of his ultimate plan. Cause now we're going to see, as it continues on now, Boaz verse, chapter four, verse one. Now he goes up to the gate and all night he'd been doing the what ifs. What if I go to the gate? And nobody comes by what if I go to the gate? 3 (53m 10s): And he doesn't want to sit down and be, what are all these what F so now Boaz went to the gate and he sat down and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken, came by and Boaz said, come aside, my friend, sit down here. And so he came and he sat beside and sat down. And this enters into the scene. Now another person unnamed relative, right? This man will go down in the history. Books is unnamed, which is a protection during the time that this was first written, they would have known who this man was, but the author chose to keep him out of the pages, book, the book. 3 (53m 51s): And it says, and he took 10 men are the elders of the city. And he said, sit down here. And they sat down and it seems like Boaz has this way of commanding respect. Now Boaz is setting up the scene. He has all these people around and you can imagine to see his heart beating out of his chest. Okay? Okay. How's this going to go? What's going to happen. He said to the close relative, Naomi has come back from the country of Moab is sold the piece of land, which belonged to our brother a liberal check. And it wasn't as much of a selling as it was a loaning or releasing. It was like a lease on the land. The land belonged to the family, but you could lease out if you were poor, if you needed extra cash, you could lease out parts of your land. 3 (54m 35s): And that's what Elimelech had to do. He had to lease out his family land because he couldn't keep the crops. There was just something that happened. And so in, in those scripts of, of, as the land got transferred, there's also this, the right to be able to buy the land back. And so now Boaz in his strategy is saying, okay, this close relative here. I want to remind you that this piece has been sold, but it needs to be redeemed verse Fortnite. And I thought to inform you, save and buy it back. And the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know for there's none. There's no one like you to redeem it. 3 (55m 16s): And then I am after you. And so the man says all redeem it. That's not the plan. I will redeem it and Boaz. Okay. So he's been strategy. He's been thinking about all this night, all night, and he says this. He says, on the day that you buy the fuel from the land of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth. The Moabitess, the wife of the dead to perpetuate, or the name of the dead through his inheritance. It was a reminder that you're not just redeeming the land. It's not just about the physical land, but there's also the redeeming of the lineage and the inheritance, which was part of their culture. And the close relative says, I cannot redeem it for myself. 3 (55m 57s): Lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself. I cannot redeem it. So yes, he was a kinsmen and he was able, but he was not willing. It says, now this was the custom in former times and Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. And you'd give a sandal off your foot. The close relative in verse eight said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. So he took off his sandal. It was the giving away have the right of the land. And, and this has the implication of, of Deuteronomy 1124 and Joshua one three that wherever the sole of your foot treads, that's where your land will be, that you have to actually walk into it and walk onto it. 3 (56m 41s): And that reminds us of, of this is a part of a pattern of our Christian life. There's so many abundant promises in the scripture and in the word of God, there's an abundance wealth out there, but we have to, as Christians, we have to step on it and we have to step into those things into those promises of God. We have to take those as ourself for ourself. We need to step in our sole of our foot. Our feet of faith need to like walk onto these promises of God. So the CA the sandal symbolize that. Now you can see in verse nine, that Boaz is probably holding up that sandal. And he says to elder the people, you are witnesses this day, I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Chileans. 3 (57m 27s): And Mahons from the hand of Naomi, he is, he is redeeming the land from Leviticus 25. And he says, Gomorrah over the Ruth, the Moabitess the widow of may hon. I have acquired as my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brother. And, and from the position at the gate, you are witnesses of this at this day. So now he was taking the Deuteronomy 25 of redeeming his bride to the left right marriage. And it says all the people who are out the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord, make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel. 3 (58m 11s): And may you prosper and epitaph as well as, and be famous in Bethlehem. So they're going to give, they're going to give Boaz now two blessings, and they're kind of interesting blesses. You have to kind of read and the survey, you have to know what was going on in this first class. And they're going back to Rachel and Leah of the house of Israel. And they're reminding that God promised that a Messiah would come through his people. And so there's, there is simply saying like the Messiah will CA, this will be part of the lineage of the Messiah. Micah five, two talks about Bethlehem being that Citi. And it talks about how he will be famous and you will be famous. 3 (58m 59s): He'll be famous in that space. Then they give a second blessing, which is interesting. Especially if you know the culture, the context of it, it says, may your house be the house of Perez who Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring, which the Lord will give you from this young woman. So without going very deep into Genesis 38, this is an interesting blessing. You see, Judah had three sons and he sought a wife and he found a wife for his first son that son ended up passing away. And so he wanted his second son and marry that woman. Then the second, second son rejected that, and God rejected him. And so he also passed away. 3 (59m 40s): And then the third son, Judah was like, well, I don't want that same thing to happen to him. So he held him back and that left Tamar in a very vulnerable position as a widow unprotected in that culture. And Tamar does something that's super skinless. She puts on the clothes of a prostitute, gets pregnant and bears a son to her. Father-in-law, it's sad that this is even in the Bible, but it shows the human condition. And the fact that this is Jesus, his lineage even is even blows my mind even more. And so the son that Judah BOR Perez, who is a relative of Boaz is illegitimate and God, and in Deuteronomy 23 had laid out in the law that 10 generations will be disinherited from entering into the temple to worship. 3 (1h 0m 38s): And so they're saying, may your house be like Perez who Tamar boarded Judah. That sounds like the weirdest kind of blessing to give to this man Boaz. Who's about ready to get married. And I'll circle back on that at the end. So Boaz took Ruth and he became his, and she became his wife. And when they went in and he went into and the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son, the barren woman brings forth a sun. And the woman said to Naomi blessed, be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative. And may his name be famous and Israel, and it was famous. Do you notice that same fields that were Boaz Ruth, those same fields? There were some shepherds watching their sheep at night and the sky was opened up and the angels came down in their glory, singing about a Messiah that was born in Bethlehem. 3 (1h 1m 29s): Those are those fields it'll be fit. His name will be famous for 15, and maybe he be a restore of life and a nourisher of you and your old age for your daughter law, who loves you is better to you than seven sons. And they only took the child later on her was them and became a nurse to him. She became a caretaker. She, this, this little child, his little baby obeyed became her like adopted son and away. 3 (1h 2m 9s): And I have one of those women in my life. I, so I was born in Hong Kong and I was born in Hong Kong. My parents were missionaries in South China and in McCalla, South China and Macau was not known for the best hospitals. And so my parents were like, we want to, you know, we want, we want to have our baby in Hong Kong. And so my parents traveled to Hong Kong, which has across the Harbor. And they stayed with this missionary lady and her name was Hazel Kline top. I call her Tutu for grandma and Tutu was one of the ones who every birthday, she, you know, for my, for my second birthday, she sent me $2 bill. You know, for my 14th birthday, she'd sent me $14. She prayed for me your whole life. 3 (1h 2m 49s): I'm so grateful her she's the sweetest lady, but my parents were coming back and they bring you back from the hospital. And she just felt like the Lord had spoken to her while, while, while I was in the hospital, like, don't let him go and sleep back in the guestroom where my parents had been staying. So she had just had a little two room apartment there and in Hong Kong. And so my parents came back home. They bring me in there. They're like, Oh, you moved the beds around. And she's like, no, no, no. I want you to take the master bedroom. And she's sleeping with the baby. And I'm like, Oh no, the guest room was fine. It was comfortable. And she's like, she just insists. And the Lord made it clear. You are not duty that the first night I'm back from the hospital to, to sleep in the room. 3 (1h 3m 31s): And she gets like, here's this noise. And what had happened is these rats had come in through the window, big rats, big, big rats, urban overseas, you see these big rats had come into the window and she's like, they would have, who knows what would happen? There's like this, this protection and to do was that, that amazing woman of faith. And now Naomi is holding this baby and she's realizing, she thought she went out four and came back flat and empty. And now she's seen all the blessings come back through this little baby. And she, and, and the name obeyed. And now it gives the genealogy. We're going to finish for the book of genie, the genealogy. And this is important because it says, now this is the genealogy of Paris. 3 (1h 4m 13s): Remember that illegitimate son Perez we've got Hezron has, rhombi got Ram. Randy got Neisha. And he got Solomon, Solomon begot, Boaz, Boaz. We got Obad. OB got Jesse and Jesse, we got David lists, 10 generations. There's 10 generations that illegitimate sons generations were to be disinherited. Now it's closing the loop. And it's saying, this is my son. And David was going to be that, that, that one. So in closing, this is that Ruth leaves, no detail overlooked, No promise, unkept, no prophecy that will not go unfulfilled. 3 (1h 5m 0s): Jesus said not one jot or tittle will by no means pass away. Jesus will complete it all. And what started out as a big nation, focusing in the nation that everyone was doing and what was right in their own eyes and, and how that led to tragedy and death. And now closing, we focus on a few individuals who are chosen to trust and obey and honor the Lord, despite the conditions that surround them, that we see this joy and birth that come in and not just for them personally, but for the family. And then also ultimately for the nation into the world. 3 (1h 5m 40s): And so looking at these characters, Ruth Bo Boaz and Naomi, where did they put their trust? And my question is where do you put your trust? Will you trust in yourself? And, and the good things that you do, your bank account, your 401k, your career. Do we trust in someone that someone will carry us through the, the hard times that some thing, some activity, but I wanted to say that Ruth was putting her whole trust into the God of Israel forsaken her own tribe and Mo and the mobile site has God. 3 (1h 6m 20s): I mean, what if, what if Ruth had just decided on that journey back? Well, I'm forsaking my God. I'm going to go to this God of Israel, and maybe, maybe I should just be at play a little safe. And I'll just take one of my little idols with me. I'll just take a little God with me that way. If anything really bad starts to happen, I can just pull out my little God and pray to this. God, what if she had kept something back? But I don't see that in Ruth. She abandoned everything completely. Totally. It was all putting her trust in it, into God. She was completely forsaken everything back home. And do you obey God and honor him with your day to day decisions? What if Boaz had not obeyed and honored God with his crops and obeying God with the law of, of gleaning? 3 (1h 7m 5s): What if Boaz had said, well, there's been a famine. I need to keep all this. I need to keep it for myself. And he instructs his Gleaners to glean everything. Don't let anything, we left here and get the corners. Don't let don't let anything fall. Like, what if you'd been that guy who said, I need everything that I'm simply not gonna let anybody have anything. And he's been just so held onto it, but he doesn't. We see him being obedient to God and to be generous to others. See the Lord knows every detail because he is the God of the ordinary and Insignificant, and in that God chose over the scope of humanity to narrow into a Bethlehem farmer and a foreign widowed woman. 3 (1h 7m 54s): And he brings us the book of Ruth. I'm going to pray Psalm 20 for a closing prayer. Believe it's applicable very ahead and close your eyes with me. Psalm 20 may the Lord answer you. And the day of trouble may the name of God, of Jacob defend you may he send you help from the sanctuary and he strengthened you out of Zion. May he remember all your offerings and accept your bird sacrifice? May he grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your purpose? 3 (1h 8m 37s): We will rejoice in your salvation and the name of our God. We will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions? Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his Holy heaven, with the saving strength and his right hand, some trust in chariots and some trust in horses. But we will remember the name of the Lord, our God, they have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen in. We stand upright, save Lord, may the King and stress. When we call having the fire, that is our prayer. You're good. God Lord. For any of those that might be here, who are carrying those extra bear burdens who are holding onto something who are holding on the trust to something that they shouldn't be doing Lord and not putting it in you Lord, pray. 3 (1h 9m 26s): They'd lay those burdens down. Lord, find the complete hope and trust in you. Jesus name. 1 (1h 9m 32s): Hey man. Why don't we all stand together? As we worship in response to what we've heard. You hear moving worship, worship, worship, worship. 1 (1h 10m 14s): God and then I don't feel it. 1 (1h 13m 8s): You working, you never stop. You never stop. Never stop. We never stop. I don't see he even man, I don't feel it. Never stop. Never stop. Never stop and stop. 1 (1h 13m 29s): 0 (1h 19m 43s): You were so good. You said faith full. Thank you. God for all that you've done for us. And he's continued to do to work in our, Thank you for the word that you brought today. I pray that it would take root in our hearts and fruit. Would you fill our cup for the week ahead? And we would overflow Jesus and to everyone, we come in contact with, make us more like you God The students to be together worshiping with here on campus and at home, just bless every family represent 1 (1h 20m 17s): That's your kingdom. Come in our lives in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Awesome. Such a great morning. 0 (1h 20m 26s): And any of you would like prayer. We would love to pray with you. Come on forward. We have some volunteers and staff that would be glad to pray with you. Have any needs. Have a wonderful week. Take a moment to say hi to somebody on your way out, and we'll see you next Sunday. Have a great day.