Going to look at that passage in Ruth
and consider it together for a few moments
and take some time just to be blessed
in the Word of God.
And let's take a moment and just pray
before we do that.
You know, we've seen God answer prayer in
a couple of ways this week already.
And when I talked to Glenn Douglas last
night, Hope is home from the hospital and
she was taken in on Tuesday night, Wednesday
morning.
And she's home, so that's good.
But keep praying for her and for her
family.
And this dear lady here kind of keeps
on surprising us.
She had knee surgery a little over a
week ago, a week and a couple of
days ago.
And here she is walking into church this
morning.
So, I guess He still answers prayer, and
we are so grateful.
And Tina, I think the next thing must
be dancing with the stars after that.
Let's just talk to Jesus and ask Him
to touch us this morning.
Lord, it's been a privilege to sing and
to lift our hearts to You.
We thank You for Your Word this morning.
Lord, we invite You just to come and
to touch us through Your Word, to encourage
our lives, to strengthen us for the days
in which we live and walk, to teach
us, Lord, more about Yourself, and so that
we might know more of You just day
by day.
Lord, as we seek Your face this morning,
we do give You thanks for answered prayer.
We thank You, Father, that You tell us
just to continue to call to You, and
You will answer it.
And Lord, as we open the Word of
God, may You just bring answers to our
hearts and strength to our lives through it,
in the power of Your Holy Spirit, in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, as we do our series on the
book of Ruth, when we left off last
week, Ruth and Naomi had gone back to
Bethlehem, and you remember Naomi was saying, don't
call me Naomi, call me Myra, bitter, because
life's been hard on me.
And we looked on the fact, too, that
God wasn't finished yet.
And as you think about these two ladies,
they have come back to Bethlehem, but they're
empty, and they're unsupported, and they're alone.
And you know, one of the things that's
hardest for us is to be alone.
I think that's why when we get into
the vehicle, the first thing we do is
crank on the radio.
We don't like to be alone so much,
do we?
And the ladies have one another, that's true,
but there's a sense in which, in that
kind of culture and so on, there's nobody
to support them.
They don't have that sense of someone to
care, someone to come alongside, and we like
that, don't we?
We love when somebody is there for us.
That's such an important thing to us as
human beings, as individuals.
And as you look at the beginning here
of the second chapter, we start to pick
the story up again.
So what happens to these ladies in this
situation?
And it might be, you know, that there
are times in our lives, I think it's
true for everybody, where you wonder, well, what
are we going to do now?
There doesn't seem to be any way through
this situation.
But as we begin chapter two, it starts
by pointing us to a person in verse
1, and let's just think about him for
a moment or two.
The person's name is Boaz, and his name
means strength.
He's a strong one, and he's a very
well-established man, could you say?
He is a businessman who is doing well
and going on from strength to strength.
He is the strong one.
And in this thing, here's what I like
as I think about how this chapter begins
with a look at a person.
You ever noticed that at the darkest times
the Lord doesn't send you a program?
He doesn't send a philosophy.
He sends a person.
It's somebody into whose heart the Spirit of
God has been moving and working, and they
just kind of walk in at that appropriate
moment, and there is that person sent by
God, and they have such a word for
you that lifts up your heart.
And I could take all the preaching time
just to think about times and incidents when
that has happened in my life, and I'm
sure in yours too, when you look at
things and circumstances and say, oh, this is
bad, and this is bleak, and this is
tough.
Lord, this is a bitter kind of situation.
That's what Naomi was thinking, wasn't it?
And yet, as you see, the chapter here
begins with this man Boaz, and he's a
kinsman to Naomi.
Not just any person, but somebody who's related
to her.
He's part of the family of Elimelech, her
husband.
And, you know, they had a wonderful system
of families caring for families before we had
the social system and structures that we have
in place today.
Families used to care for families.
Not a bad idea, is it?
I mean, it could be revolutionary and catch
on, don't you think?
Anyway, as you look here and you see
Boaz, he is a kinsman, and he is
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ in
the book of Ruth.
Just like Joseph is a type of the
Lord in the book of Genesis and so
on, so it is here with Boaz in
these few chapters of the book of Ruth.
And as you think about the one that
God has sent for you and me, the
kinsman Jesus, He's of the same tribe and
tongue and nation as you and me.
He is not selective.
He belongs to each one of us who
have received Him as Savior and follow Him
as Lord.
He is the one who is our kinsman
redeemer.
And I love to just draw the comparison
between Boaz.
Here are the ladies probably thinking, what do
we do now?
And the next statement is, there was a
man whose name is Boaz.
And when you think about, what do I
do now?
There is a man whose name is Jesus.
Oh, isn't it marvelous just to think of
him this morning in church for a moment
or two, that regardless of the circumstances and
the pressures and the disappointments and all those
kind of things, there is a man, and
his name is Jesus.
And when there has been disappointment, Naomi and
Ruth must have both had grief and extreme
disappointment in life.
I mean, when you have a family, you
have some dreams that all will be well
with them.
And not only has Naomi lost her husband,
but she's lost her family.
So bitterly disappointing.
But that's not the end of the story.
There is a man, a kinsman, and it
is the same for you and me in
the things of life with Jesus.
He is the one who is there, the
strong one.
And I like this so much because when
we were singing this morning about in our
weaknesses, you know, I think about he is
strong.
And when something's not going just the way
that I think it should, it's so good
to have a strong one to go to.
And he's quite capable of changing my heart
in it so that I can carry the
burden.
He's quite capable of lifting the burden off
my shoulders altogether.
He is the strong one.
And this morning, as you think about Jesus
and you think about all the disappointments that
life can hand to us, there is nothing
that is beyond Him.
Nothing.
I remember speaking with a man one day
who was being transferred to Tuktoyaktuk, and that's
a little ways away from Edmonton.
You know, we get so accustomed to doing
things and just doing things, but when you
think about the providence of God, it's an
amazing thing where He puts us and when
and why.
You see it in Scripture so often.
Moses in Exodus chapter 2 is a little
baby in a basket, and it just happened
that the basket was found by who?
You know the story.
Who found it?
Pharaoh's daughter.
It just happened.
No, it's the providence of God.
Paul is going to Damascus to destroy the
church, and it just happened along the way
that he met the Lord.
No, there is that providence of God guiding
and governing all the way along.
Let me read to you a quote from
Florence Nightingale.
She is a lady who became a nurse
in military campaigns and a great Christian lady,
and here's what she said.
If I could give you information about my
life, it would be to show how a
woman of very ordinary ability has been led
by God into strange and unaccustomed paths to
do in His service what He has done
in her.
And if I could tell you everything, you
would see how God has done all and
I nothing.
I have worked hard, very hard, that is
all, and I've never refused God anything.
What a statement.
I've never refused God anything.
So we see a person in this text.
We see the providence of God in this
text, and how wonderful it is just to
think He is here for you and I
this morning.
Thirdly, in verses 4 through 9, we see
protection in this text.
You look here at verse 4 and following
when Boaz arrives from Bethlehem, and he says
to the reapers, the Lord be with you.
And they respond to him, the Lord bless
you.
You get the idea that this was a
man who was indeed walking with God and
who was speaking to his workers even that
the Lord would be with them, and they
responding back to him.
And then he begins to create security and
safety for Ruth when he asks who she
is and finds out.
And I love this.
I'll tell you why.
Here's this foreigner who must have felt uncomfortable,
probably not worth a lot, not understanding the
culture, not really able to do a lot,
and yet out of all the people in
the field who's in the eye of the
Redeemer?
She is.
Now the devil loves to tell us lies,
and one of the biggest lies he tells
us is God doesn't care about you.
Look at how hurt things are for you.
God doesn't care about you.
You're just a number.
But listen, who is it that he singles
out?
This very one.
The one with the greatest need is the
one that his eye falls on.
And when he begins to discover who she
is, don't you think it would be somewhat
threatening for a young woman to be there
in that harvest field and to listen to
all the guys and all the talk and
all the rest and not feel a sense
of belonging or somebody who would be there
to protect?
But Boaz comes into this situation and he
says, I've told the young man not to
touch you.
You stay here.
Stay in my fields.
I don't have to run around to a
bunch of other places.
I can get exactly what I need from
the kinsman Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he is the one who protects as well.
He creates security for her.
And so it is that Jesus understands your
greatest need today for protection or for a
safe place or a haven to go.
And so often there have been times in
different situations when it has felt so good
just to run into the strong tower that
is the Lord Jesus.
When we were in Niger at the end
of February and the coup took place and
missionaries are saying, what do we do now?
It was so good just to run to
Him.
He is the one who protects us.
He is the one who keeps us.
He is the one who is strong enough
to do it all.
He creates in essence a place of refuge
for us.
Now the experts when they teach you to
preach tell you never to pick on somebody
in the congregation, but I'm just going to
mention something because it's so appropriate.
My brother, for Moyin Sharif, is a refugee
from Liberia.
That's not a safe place for you, is
it brother?
You're not anxious to go back to Liberia
and it's not safe for your family either,
is it?
No, that's why they're in Sierra Leone and
we're praying that one day they'll be here
with you.
So this nation that we call Canada, when
he came and they begin to investigate, what
does your paper say that they gave you
from the government?
It says refugee.
There you go.
Refugee protection agreement.
Brother, how did it feel when you got
that piece of paper and you knew that
you didn't have to go back to Liberia?
Very happy.
It was one of those whoo-hoo moments.
Yeah, I'm with you.
I remember the day I got my little
package that said this envelope contains your permanent
papers for residency in Canada.
It's a refuge.
It's a place where I no longer have
to be under threat.
It's a place where there's some safety.
It's a place where I can start to
live.
It's a place where I can start to
experience the goodness of God and the people
of God.
And this is what Boaz is doing in
the life of Ruth as he is ministering
to her that day in the sense of
protection that he alone can bring and give.
Friends, there's one last thing that I want
us to look at before we go back
into that lovely sunshine in this beautiful day.
In verses 4 through 10, we also see
there is provision.
He not only protects her, but he provides
everything that she needs.
Take and keep your finger there in Ruth
and go back to the book of Leviticus
for a moment and chapter 19.
And I'm just going to read verses 9
and 10.
Leviticus 19, 9 and 10.
When you reap the harvest of your land,
you are not to reap to the very
edge of your field or gather the gleanings
of your harvest.
You must not strip your vineyard bare or
gather fallen grapes.
Leave them for the poor and the foreign
resident.
I am the Lord your God.
You see, here's the heart of God to
provide for those who have nothing.
Greed is not in the heart of God,
but greed is one of those issues that
we wrestle with oftentimes, isn't it?
We had this economic crash because of greed,
but God is in the business of providing.
Here it is material food for those who
have nothing and no one to support them.
And that's why we find Ruth the Moabitess
out there gleaning in the field, because it
was part of the provision that God made
for those who had no other way to
live.
And as we think about this concept of
His provision, you see the grace of God
here in His heart for people.
And it doesn't stop just at physical food,
does it?
There's grace upon grace.
For the tough issues of life, there's His
provision.
There's His supply.
And you know there was enough provided, not
only for Ruth, but she took back enough
to feed Naomi as well, as we'll see
as we go on into the book.
Boaz is His instrument to cause it to
happen, just as Jesus is His instrument for
you and for me.
I wonder, am I speaking to somebody today,
and you need that supernatural supply, His provision.
There's a little story about a lady called
Ann Elliot, and her life was just full
of things like this.
God's supernatural provision.
When Ann was older, she had always the
job of carrying two buckets of water every
morning into the house where she lived.
And as you get older, you don't feel
like carrying buckets of water.
I can freely say that this morning.
There's a dry well across the road from
the house where she lived and worked, and
one morning somebody saw her going across the
street with the two empty buckets to the
empty well, and they laughed at Ann Elliot
and said, don't go there.
There hasn't been water in there in 15
or 20 years.
But you see, Ann had spent the night
talking to the Lord about the fact that
she didn't have the strength to carry two
buckets of water every morning anymore.
And she said, Lord, Your Word says come
and let us reason together.
And Lord, I'm just saying there's an empty
well across the road.
Is there any reason, Lord, why you couldn't
fill it?
So when she got there, there was 26
feet of cold, clear spring water.
That's His provision.
And this morning, just as we wrap things
up, what is it, preacher, that you're trying
to tell me this morning?
Just three things, and we're done.
The first is that God's purposes may be
fulfilled in unexpected ways.
Say it again.
God's purposes may be fulfilled in unexpected ways.
The second is God works in the lives
of anyone who is faithful to Him.
And the third is that God's love and
goodness is for everyone.
The Israelite people could have said, Ruth, you're
not one of us, but His love and
His grace are for all.
Now, I wonder this morning as we just
come to wrap things up, what are some
of the problems and some of the issues
that you are facing?
What are some of the blessings that you
need to seek the Lord for?
What are some of the issues?
Last night as I talked to my youngest
son, he was telling me how much it
would cost for education for him.
It's an issue, but there's a supernatural supply.
In the deep needs of our hearts, there's
a supernatural supply.
As you've often heard me say, I say
it again, the only thing an evangelist can
do is to say, look, here is Jesus.
You go to Him, and He will meet
your every need.
Let's pray together.
And just in the beautiful quietness that the
Spirit of God gives us, go to Jesus
this morning.
He's your kinsman and Redeemer.
He has more love for you than you
and I could ever think or imagine or
dream of, and His source and supply is
endless.
Father, this morning as we come to you,
we just acknowledge our great need of Jesus
day by day and moment by moment.
We thank you as the people of God.
We can come to you, and there are
gleanings in the corners of your fields, and
there are things that you have left on
purpose for us along the way.
And it is not an accident that we
are here this morning, but as you speak
to our hearts, you have something more for
us.
You will give us the grace that we
need to go through the days of this
week, and you'll give us the strength that
we need to face the issues in it,
and you'll give us the love to know
the tenderness of God in it all.
Father, in the quietness of our hearts as
we reach out to you, I pray that
in your love and mercy you would reach
in to us in Jesus' strong name.
In God's people's sin, amen.
Let's change position and stand together as we
come to our benediction, and thank you for
being here today.
I need any elders who are here.
Brenda here is facing difficult surgery in a
short time, and she's asked if we would
pray for her, and so elders, if you
could just join me for that, that would
be good.
Next week you'll have Brad and Judy back,
but not Melissa, so we'll be three quarters.
You're down to one quarter this week.
That's pretty poor attendance from the staff.
I think you should write them a note
and just let them know about it.
Father, your Word says that you're able to
keep us from falling, and you're able to
present us before your throne faultless.
Lord, this morning we pray the blessing of
God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit upon each one who is
here.
We ask, Lord, that you would go before
us into this week and that we might
walk by your grace.
Lord, may it just happen that we will
also be in the right place at the
right time through the days of this week
to point someone to you, and may it
just happen that you would send across our
path those who can encourage us and build
us up in the faith.
So, Lord, dismiss us with your blessing and
send us forth from this place, but not
from your presence.
In Jesus' strong name we ask, amen and
amen.
The Lord bless you and keep you and
give you a great week.