We've all been hurt.
We all carry scars.
We can all overcome these things and be healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Let's build that relationship together right here.
Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
I'm trying to dab at this as it runs through.
If I get too shiny, let me know.
I don't want to blind anybody.
I'm not that pretty to begin with.
Well, good morning.
Apologize for that mic check this morning.
It kind of reminded me.
I remember you go to the theater and they had that little, you know, the audience can
hear you now thing and blow you out of the room.
I really should have said the audience is deaf.
That's kind of how this morning went.
So technical difficulties about, right?
That's okay.
That's the enemy.
We're going to work through them every time.
So for the last month or so, we've been going through the book of Ruth, right?
And we're going to continue that today.
You know, and really looking at it, it's a blessing of second chances, you know, being
able to step out in faith and to trust the Lord, right?
When we look at Naomi and Ruth, they lost everything.
They had a very unsecured future, right?
It's very much like looking at Job and many others throughout the book, you know, as we
read through the Bible.
Naomi herself had been led away with her family, led away from the Lord, led out of the promised
land, you know, into Moab.
You know, from there, you know, while she gained a loyal daughter-in-law, she lost her
husband, she lost her sons, she lost everything.
You know, and Ruth in the process, Ruth could have very well just stayed where she was,
stayed with, you know, the way she brought up the culture that she knew and knew that
there was a chance for another future there, right?
Some security.
Instead, because she loved Ruth, she was very loyal to Ruth, she had faith in Ruth, you
know, and thereby, you know, Ruth, I'm sorry, not Ruth, Naomi, Naomi was able to bring Ruth
to the Lord, which strengthened her, right?
So this took both these women, led them back to the promised land.
Here they run into Boaz.
They didn't know this is the field that Ruth was choosing, but they come to see him.
They see him for the honorable man that he is, this gentle, kind person who treats strangers,
you know, in the downtrodden with love and hope, you know, the things that we should
all do, you know, as ambassadors for Christ.
You know, in this respect, we look at it really Boaz as a superhero, right?
He's one of the original superheroes.
You know, all that's forthright and good.
You know, it turned out he has a close relative, so we come to find out, you know, here Naomi
is, she's talking to Ruth, and she's like, hey, he's been so good.
He's blessed us so well.
You know, this is going to be a good person to turn to as our guardian redeemer.
You know, so she's gone to him even with this.
Now with all the things that Boaz could have done, you know, we've discussed this at length.
He could have done just the bare minimum.
He's gone above and he's gone, you know, to that next level, that bar that we should all
strive for.
And he had no idea just how far his blessings would reach, right?
And it's no different for you or for me.
I want to share a story with you as we get started here from my own past.
And I don't share this with you to toot my own horn or to boast at all.
Matter of fact, I'm looking up.
Not sure if our PowerPoint doesn't look like it's working right now.
It is working on it.
OK, it will come.
So while we're working on that, I'm just going to keep going forward here for time's sake.
OK, so, you know, Matthew, chapter six, verses one through four, the word says, take heed
that you do not celebrate your days before men to see that to be seen by them.
Otherwise, you have no reward from your father in heaven.
Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory for men.
Surely, I say to you, they have the reward.
But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand
is doing, that your charitable deed may be done in secret.
Now, rather, you know, I'm not sharing this to my own horn because my horn doesn't deserve
to be blown.
You know, this is all to the glory of the Lord.
I share this because this was a lesson that I needed at this particular point in my life.
All right.
So years ago, I'm going into a Smith's grocery store.
And as I'm going in, I see this guy, he's sitting there by the door.
He's exhausted.
He's sunburned.
He's not bothering anybody.
He's not asking for a thing.
He's just trying to get some shade and to cool off for a little bit.
Right?
As I walk into the store, I feel it on my heart.
So I was just going in for a few things, but I feel the Lord tugging at my heart saying,
while you're in here, stop over at the deli, grab some of those pre-made subs, grab a few
bottles of water, and go over and grab a big bag of chips while you're at it.
I'm like, really?
This is the Lord.
He put it on there.
And he's just like, really, really, go do this.
So I do it.
I go through.
I do my grocery shopping.
I grab his stuff.
I have it bagged up separately.
I'm walking out the door.
He's still there.
He's still not bothering anybody.
Right?
He's keeping to himself.
He didn't ask me for a thing.
The Lord put it on me.
And so I walked over, and I tell him, hey, the Lord put it on my heart that you needed
this.
And I gave him the bag with this food and these bottles of water.
And he lights up.
Thank you.
He thanks me.
He gets up, and he disappears around the corner.
Now, as you can imagine, this feels pretty good.
Right?
This is a good thing.
I'm like, all right, cool.
I get them, my boy scout, you know, deep of the week.
Right?
So a lot of us look at these things.
I go.
I load up my car, take the cart back.
I'm going to leave.
As I'm coming around the side of the grocery, I see the same guy standing at the side of
a car that he's clearly living out of, sharing this food with two kids and who I presume
to be his wife, sharing it with his family.
It was a very profound moment for me.
It's like, wow.
I thought I was just helping this guy, and I'm helping a whole family.
I had no idea.
Just like Boaz had no idea how far his blessing would go when he was blessing Ruth.
And by proxy, was also blessing Naomi.
Right?
You know, we have no idea the implications of our actions, the things that we do.
And the things that we do build up how people remember us and lay down the footsteps, the
milestones of our own legacies and how our legacies will impact other generations to
come in ways that we don't even have any idea.
Right?
Now, Boaz, like I said, he had no idea how far his gift would go.
He gave graciously.
He gave with a happy heart as we all should.
He was doing the right thing for the right reason.
And I'll remind you, what we see as small, the smallest thing can have a profound impact
on somebody else.
We just don't know, nor do we need to know.
You know, right here, the stage is set as we go back into Ruth where we left off.
You know, and we can see that, you know, Ruth is, we know Ruth is, oh, you set the stage
and she asked him, hey, be my guardian, redeemer, Boaz.
I said, no, there's somebody else that basically has first dibs before me, right?
First ribs.
Another relative is closer than I.
And so he's doing the most honorable thing he can.
And he let her know, hey, stay here, hang out for a little bit.
Oh, there we go.
Bless you.
He's doing, you know, the best thing that he knows how is being as honorable and he's
letting Ruth know, hey, hang out here for a little bit.
I'm going to go.
I'm going to go to this relative and I'm going to tell them that what's going on and that
you have first claim, that they have first claim, excuse me.
So turn with me now.
We're going to go into Ruth chapter four, verses one and two.
All right.
So chapter four, verses one and two, the word says, now Boaz went up to the gate and sat
down there.
And behold, a close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by.
So Boaz said, come aside, friend, sit down here.
So he came aside and sat down and then he took 10 men of the elders of the city and
said, sit down here.
So they sat down.
All right.
So Boaz, he gone up to the city.
Now, I'll remind you, the city was, it says went up here because the city was literally
built on a ridge.
So it's still out to this day.
It's up on a ridge.
It's up above things.
You recall in previous chapters, it said that they went down to the threshing floors, right?
Because they had to go down and away to these other hills.
Right.
And this is, this is something, you know, that still happens in a lot of East Tweenleys
cities because it talks to the city gate.
The city gate was really kind of a town center and a slash city hall, right?
Doubled.
This is a place where everybody and anybody came through to take care of whatever business
they had to get done.
So merchants sit up here, you know, all the businessmen, the tradesmen, all this stuff,
right?
Excuse me.
So this is a happening spot.
If you're going to come through town, this is one part of town that you cannot miss when
you come through.
You have to pass through it at some point.
And Boaz, knowing his relative was going to have business of some sort because going through
city centers like this was a part of daily life at that point, right?
He knew he's going to run into this relative.
On top of that, knowing all these other people were there, he knew that he'd be able to find
witnesses because what we're seeing here, what we're starting to see is a legal transaction,
right?
You always need witnesses for legal transactions.
So he knew he had no problem finding them.
So you know, this is the hot spot.
This is where everything was at.
So and sure enough, he knew if he hung up, he'd find his relative and he did.
He finds him.
He finds these witnesses.
You know, and he said in the back then, it's a lot easier than now, right?
You didn't have to cut through all sorts of red tape to get things done.
You didn't have to have meetings for meetings, to plan meetings, to talk about meetings,
to prepare for a meeting coming up, right?
We're all pretty familiar with those.
Anybody who's worked in the corporate world especially, you know, it's a nightmare sometimes.
You just want to pull your hair out, scream, right?
Throw things at the wall like, what's going on?
Now here, it's just like, hey, I need you to bear witness for a couple of minutes.
Come over here.
Cool.
And they went and they sat and they got down to business.
So and what we're looking at here, you know, there's a legal presence to be had, you know.
I'm going to refresh everybody's memory from what we were talking about a couple of weeks
ago because what we're looking at here actually comes from Deuteronomy chapter 25 verses 5
through 10, right?
Deuteronomy 25 verses 5 through 10, the word says, if brothers dwell together and one of
them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger
outside the family.
Her husband's brother shall go into her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a
husband's brother to her.
It shall be that the firstborn child that she bears will succeed to the name of his
dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
But if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to
the gate elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother
in Israel.
He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him.
But if he stands firm and says, I do not want to take her, then his brother's wife shall
come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his
face, and answer and say, so it shall be done to the man who will not build up his brother's
house.
His name shall be called in Israel the house of him who had his sandal removed."
As you recall, we discussed this back in chapter 1 when we discussed the deliberate marriage
laws and the importance of ensuring that the family name would continue on, right?
Because inheritance didn't pass to wives and to daughters.
It passed to the firstborn son, which is what this is speaking of.
Right?
It's like we think of our, remember I talked about how we see our in-laws.
It's like, okay, we're related by marriage.
I love you.
Cool.
It's great.
I mean, it's great.
I've got my in-laws right here.
Right?
Love you guys.
Good to see you.
If the husband died and there were no sons or anything, then it was up to the brother-in-law
to marry the widow.
Right?
That's something that many of us would think very highly of these days.
All right.
That's what it's all talking to.
This is what we're looking at.
And Boaz, he recognizes what's happening here.
He knows that the family line needs to be sustained.
And that's what Boaz is looking to accomplish.
But this comes to him and identified, hey, my time of morning is done.
I want you to be my guardian redeemer.
And he said, well, there's one other.
So he's already assembled.
This is where we're at now.
So going back to Ruth, chapter four, we're going to look at verses three through four
now.
So Ruth four, verses three through four.
The word says, then he said to the close relative, Naomi, who has come back from the country
of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother, Elamalek.
And I thought to inform you, saying, buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and
the elders of my people, if you will redeem it.
But if you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is no one but you
to redeem it.
And I am next after you.
And he said, I will redeem it.
So we're going to pause right here.
Just for a second, we want to break down a couple things.
Because depending on your translation, you'll likely have a note saying something slightly
different in a couple places.
Well, really in one place here, where it says, I thought to inform you.
You may say, it might say, your translation might say something like, uncover your ear.
And basically, what's happening here, Boaz is saying, hey, I need you to listen very
closely.
I need you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say.
I want your undivided attention, in other words.
This is a very serious moment.
As we know how things play out, this is a big moment.
And he wants to make sure that there's no doubt and there's no misunderstanding as to
what's being said.
When you're tied up with something and somebody comes like, hey, do I have more of your time?
So this one, those times when we know something serious or somebody has something important
to say, we want to give them our undivided attention.
We want to hear what they have to say.
Unfortunately, sometimes we get tied up, we're busy.
All right, OK, yeah, yeah, what you got?
And we're not really paying attention.
You know, it's those moments when you get kind of tied up and you're busy.
Let people know, hey, you know what?
I really do want to hear what you have to say.
I really have to focus on this.
So let me get this done.
And let's talk about it after.
People might get frustrated at first.
But people will appreciate the honesty.
You know, the drawback is you don't do it.
You're like, OK, you listen to it halfheartedly and you forget most of what they say.
If not, everything's like, wait, what did we just talk about?
What's going on?
You know, there's a name that circulates through social media every once in a while.
It's like my wife said, you don't ever listen to anything I have to say.
It's like, wow, that's a weird way to start a conversation.
My wife probably feels like that sometimes herself.
So that's what's going on.
The other thing here that I want to point out is as we're going through this, it never
gives the name.
The author never gives us the name of this relative.
Now surely Boaz knew it.
Boaz knew him, right?
But when we're looking through the word here, we don't learn his name.
There's a couple of reasons for this.
One, doesn't really matter.
It's not that important.
He's here and he's gone, right?
We know he's talking to somebody.
We know they're a relative.
We got what we need from that.
Secondly, because of what's about to happen, where he says, no, I'm not prepared to do
this.
I'm not going to do it.
Where it's saying, you know, the talking about the remove sandal and everything, right?
It's basically a way of showing contempt, punishment for this person for not living
up to what they need to do for not meeting their duties as the family member.
Right?
It's basically blotting them out, not just buying them out, but plotting them out of
history.
It's like you're here, but you're not.
Nobody's ever going to know who you are.
That's how serious it is.
Bye bye.
Blot it out like that.
Really, when we do this, a lot of people kind of forget, what's going on?
Oh, there's that person and then that's it.
Until we dive back into the book, most people don't even remember that they existed.
That's how big of a deal it is.
Right?
It's punishment for this kinsman for not doing his duty and preserving his brother's name.
Essentially, he's losing his own name in the process.
In life, it's a great example for us to meditate on.
Like I said, because we need to pay attention to what we're being told.
We need to pay attention to what's going on.
No matter how hard it is to meet goals, we need to focus on those goals and do our very
best to meet them.
It's okay to strive to meet the goal and to fall short.
It's going to happen.
We're never going to do everything completely and completely perfect.
Sometimes we have to fail in order to learn.
We tell people, this is the goal.
This is what we're doing.
This is what happened.
I'm sorry.
People appreciate that.
They really do.
Continuing on, we're going to look at verses 5 through 7 now.
Ruth 4 verses 5 through 7, the word says, then Boaz said, on the day you buy the field
from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the
dead.
Two, depending on your translation, will either say, rise up or perpetuate the name of the
dead through his inheritance.
And the close relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I ruin my own inheritance.
You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.
Now this was the custom in former times.
In Israel, concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm anything, one man took off his
sandal, gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.
Taking out that sandal is a big deal.
I think I might have mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I remember when the president was
over in the Middle East and he was at a press conference and someone took off their sandal
and threw it at him.
Because it's like the biggest insult out there.
It's worse than spitting on somebody or giving them the finger or calling them names.
This is the worst insult over there.
And right here, this is how far back it comes from, taking off that sandal, pow, right?
Getting their attention like, boy, you messed up.
So that's what's going on here.
It's a big deal.
And at first, this kinsman is willing to take on the land of Naomi.
He said, OK, cool, there's land.
Land is wealth, right?
Even today, land is still wealth.
If you have land, you have something important, right?
Even more important than a house.
A house can burn down, you can rebuild, as long as you have that land.
Land is a big deal.
It's tangible.
It's something that you can barter with.
You can sell.
You can trade.
And back then, it was no different.
You know, but when we move up, part of what's holding them back is Leviticus 25, 25.
If one of your brethren becomes poor and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming
relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold, right?
So right away, it's like, OK, let's keep it in the family.
We're going to keep things going.
But then here comes the kicker, right?
Here's that whoa, whoa, whoa, moment.
Hold on.
We're not going to move forward with this.
As soon as Boaz mentions Ruth and that she's a Moabite, and she comes with the package,
she's part of it, that by taking on this land, he agrees to be a guardian redeemer and to
marry this woman.
He wasn't prepared to do this.
Back then, especially, the Israelites and the Moabites were at each other's throats.
They were very hostile towards one another because the Moabites refused to allow them
to pass through their land during their exodus, right?
When we look at Deuteronomy 23, it talks about this, Deuteronomy 23 actually talks about
how the Israelites weren't even supposed to befriend a Moabite, let alone marry one.
So a line had already been crossed here, right?
We kind of see that a lot with racism today, right?
A lot of intermixed marriages.
People like, whoa, hold the line.
No, no, no, no, we don't do this.
This isn't cool, right?
It's not the way we're supposed to think, though.
We're supposed to love on our neighbors.
We're supposed to love on other people.
That's the Christ-like thing, right?
That's what God wants us to do.
But here, here's a man who's afraid of what society is going to judge him for, how he's
going to look.
He has an image he has to uphold, right?
A lot of us are very vain ourselves.
We have to dress a certain way.
We have to wear certain jewelry.
We have to talk a certain way to fit in.
So it's one of the things I loved about going to a military school and later on going into
the military.
You have to actually get to know people.
You get to boot camp, basic, whatever.
Everybody's got the same haircut.
Everybody's dressed the same.
You can't judge them.
Be like, oh, I hate this guy.
No, that's not my friend.
Instead, you have to actually spend time and get to talk to them, get to know them.
And in the process, you actually end up gaining a brother.
All that stuff stripped away, all that nonsense that we shouldn't be focused on, gone.
That's how we should be addressing others.
It's a lot harder here than it is there.
The thing there, though, is once you get there and you cut through all that stuff, you have
this friend, you have this brother in arms.
You have this sister in arms.
And when you go out and it's time to do your job, you have no question in your mind whether
or not they're there for the right reason and whether or not they have your back.
And you know you have their back, just the same.
That's what family's supposed to be.
That's what the church is supposed to be.
Right?
Now, there's going to be a decision, but that's where we're supposed to be at.
So here's a kinsman, and he's blinded by the legalism of a not so distant past.
We're talking about outsiders.
Here's someone the community knows.
They know she's no longer an outsider.
They know that she's come to God.
Right?
This is somebody that we should be accepting of.
But he's like, no, not doing it.
So instead of taking care of that familial obligation, he's passing the buck.
Boaz, you do it.
You got this.
Good luck.
Right?
So going back to Ruth chapter four, verses eight through 12, the word tells us, Therefore
the close relative said to Boaz, buy it for yourself.
So he took off his sandal and Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses
this day that I have bought all that was Eli-Malik's and all that was a chilean's, a maylan's,
and the hand of Naomi.
Moreover, Ruth, the Moabitess, the widow of Milam, 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 brethren and from his position at the gate.
You are witnesses this day.
And all the people who are at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses.
Let the Lord make the woman who is coming to you, excuse me, coming to your house like
Rachel and Lee, the two who built the house of Israel.
And may you prosper and be famous in Bethlehem.
May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring
which the Lord will give you from this young woman.
Man, if only all legal proceedings were this easy, right?
And whenever I've been to court even for just a traffic ticket, you're in there for a while.
And here it is, say, hey, come here and sit down.
I'm going to lay it all out.
Boom, it's done.
Let's go get lunch, right?
Now that'd be nice.
So basically, everything's done.
Boaz, he's gathered everybody in.
He's laid out the information.
This is what's what.
And if you agree to this, you're also agreeing to this.
So there's nothing blindsided.
There were no secrets being held here, right?
This is, you know, today this is what we call the fine print.
They expect you to read.
He didn't wait for him to read it.
He just put it out there.
Hey, this is it.
Here's the fine print.
Take it or leave it.
It's up to you.
You know?
Whereas at first, you know, this kinsman was like, yes, he's like, hold on a second.
And then we'll do this, but wait, there's more, but not necessarily the more he was
expecting.
So explain all the stipulations, the obligation to Mary and Ruth.
And after being able to hear everything, like I said, the buck was passed to Boaz.
Like, hey, take it.
Have my blessing with it.
Now something of note here as well, of all the ancestors that have been named and all
the ancestors that could have been named going all the way back to Abraham, right?
Perez is the one who's named.
This is because Perez came about, he was the result of Leverett marriage as well.
So there's already a connection here.
And his descendants made Judah the prominent tribe.
So that's something big in itself.
You know, coming right through the family line to the biggest tribe in the land, the
most respected tribe, the ones that have the say, right?
So Boaz, David, all the Judean kings, these were all people who were his descendants.
Different men, people of high seats, right?
The people that people went to, the leaders of the land for each of their generations.
His legacy.
A legacy is still something that's important.
Legacy doesn't come about just because of who you are and what your name is.
Your legacy, what you leave behind comes from your actions, your choices, right?
What people see, what people witness, the good and the bad.
How you worship God, how you treat your family and worship with them, how you treat others.
All these things, they all play in.
How you work, not necessarily the work that you do, but how you go about it.
Is it something that you do joyfully?
You know, are you the kind of person that people come in and be like, that's a good
worker, that's the dude I want, that's the woman I want taking care of business, right?
All these things, they all add up into how people remember you when you're gone.
And not only that, but they set the stage for other generations to come, for your children,
for your grandchildren, for your great grandchildren, right?
The things that have gone wrong that they might have to correct, the things that you've
done right that are going to give them blessing.
Someone's bumping out there, aren't they?
So, when it comes to legacy, it's all the more reason to make sure that when we're doing
something, we're doing it for the right reason, right?
Not necessarily because we like it, not because it's the easy way, because most often it's
not.
You do the right thing for the right reason.
Even when it's hard, even when you don't think anybody else is looking, because guess what?
Jesus is always there.
Jesus is always watching.
He knows what's up.
When you do something, He knows what's going on in here, right?
When things get tough, in the heat of things, stop, take a moment, pray.
Talk with the Father, and then move forward doing the right thing, doing what He's put
on your heart.
And just trust, know that what He has is going to be what's best for you.
I'm going into the home stretch here, guys, I promise.
So looking back in Luke 4 verses 13 through 22, the Word says, So Boaz took Ruth, and
she became his wife.
And when he went to her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.
Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without
a redeemer or a close relative.
And may His name be famous in Israel.
And may He be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer or nourisher of your old age.
And your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne
him.
Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom and became a nurse to him.
Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi.
And they called his name Obed.
He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Now this is the genealogy of Perez.
Perez begat Hezron, Hezron begat Ram, Ram begat Amenadab, Amenadab begat Nishon, Nishon
begat Salma.
I know it looks like salmon.
It's Salma.
Salma begat Boaz, Boaz begat Obed, Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.
Now Ruth and Naomi, we've beaten this horse in the ground.
They saw a lot of tragedy in their life, a lot of hardship, right?
However God brought them blessings greater than seven sons.
Greater than seven sons, meaning an abundance of, right?
Greater than just having seven heirs.
This blessing was so huge, seven heirs couldn't match it, right?
It's a big thing, especially back then.
Because what you could get from seven children, right, was quite a bit.
Naomi, you know, at the beginning of the book of Ruth, she moved away from God.
She returned to the promised land and allowed Ruth to join her.
Taught her of her faith, taught her of God's people, the land, the history, everything
that was going on, right?
And then this brought Ruth to the Lord.
Ruth left everything, her culture, security, the whole bit to an uncertain future that
would look really bleak at the time.
However, because of love and trust and integrity and loyalty, all those things that we should
all work to embody, she was blessed.
We continue to trust in the Lord through all of it.
You know, Naomi said, don't call me peaceful, call me bitter, right?
She's seeing the blessing.
Things are turning around.
Life is not looking good.
You know, Ruth, she was known as a kind woman to everybody, a loyal woman, a loving person,
a former from a pagan and lost land in need of the Lord in her life, just like all of
us, right?
We all come from a pagan land of idols.
We all need the Lord in our life, working in our hearts, working to help us.
And because of her trust and because of her relationship, she found a deeper meaning than
she ever thought possible.
You know, looking at Ruth, a lot of people, they see a woman of luck.
There's no such thing as luck.
Luck doesn't exist, right?
The reality here, it's God at work in the details.
When you are blessed, it's not by luck, it's not by fortune.
It is God at work in your life.
You know, I said, you know, going through here, this is right here, what we're seeing
with this guardian redeemer is the road to redemption being paved, right?
We see people coming back to the Lord, finding their redemption, finding their relationship
with God.
It doesn't matter how far you've gone, it's just coming back.
It's not an easy road.
You're going to have to work.
You know, a lot of people, this is where a lot of people get led astray and they think,
oh, I go to church and I do all the things and I'm going to be good and I'm going to
be healed.
And that's not the case.
You know, Jesus even told us we're going to face hardship.
Things are going to be tough.
We're going to have obstacles in our life.
But we still come to Him because He is the way to get us through.
He is the way.
Getting through those obstacles is just working on us, building our character.
You know, Boaz was unaware of what was to come because of his actions.
Naomi was unaware of what was to come because of her actions.
Ruth was unaware of what was to come because of her actions.
You and I are unaware of what's to come because of our actions, right?
The things that we do, the smallest thing can have the biggest impact, not even immediately,
but later on down the line for generations to come.
The precedent that you set is important.
The example that you set is important.
How you talk to others about God is important.
How you treat others is important.
That is legacy.
You know, the thing is, we're never going to know just how important the things that
we do and the things that we say, the legacy that we leave.
We're never going to see just the full importance and how it's going to impact others until
we stand in eternity with Jesus.
I'm waiting to try to see it now.
You're not going to see it.
You're going to miss that mark of where you're supposed to be going if you just stand there
and wait.
The thing is, you have to keep working towards it.
You have to keep walking.
When you're struggling, you lean on the Lord and He will get you there.
At the end, look, when we're standing in eternity, when we're standing there in heaven with the
Lord, that's really the ultimate goal, right?
It's not He who dies with the most toys.
We ain't taking any of them with us.
Just walking with the Lord, leading others to the Lord, doing things that reflect His
light and His glory for all to see.
Less of us and more of Him.
No matter where you're at in life, we can't do things for selfish gain.
No matter how hurt and how broken you are inside, if you haven't already come to God,
this is the time, right now.
This is the time to do it because we don't know what tomorrow brings.
We don't know what later on today brings.
So come to Him and ask Him, be my guardian redeemer.
Be my guiding light, right?
Lay your hardship, lay your sins at His feet.
Bear it all to Him and ask for His forgiveness.
And He's assures He's going to give it to you.
That's the way it works.
And He will help you work through what it is that you're going through.
All right?
Let us pray.
Lord, we thank you for this time together in your presence.
We thank you for the many blessings that you've given to us and the ones that you've stored
for us in heaven.
We thank you for reminding us that when we come to you in faith, that you're going to
forgive us and you're going to help us in our daily walk.
We ask that you remind us about the legacies that we leave and that you'll continue to
remind us of them as you guide us through where we need to go.
That you'll continually work with us to help us to not be selfish in our own lives, but
to be selfless, to serve others as you'd have us serve, to do your will and not our own,
to show others your light.
We ask that we always remember that the work we have is to build your kingdom.
We thank you for providing a way to redemption and reconciliation with you through your son,
Jesus Christ.
We thank you and we love you for all this and more.
And all these people said, amen and amen.
All right.
So as we go to cut the stream here.
Thank you for joining me today here at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
If you'd like to know more about our ministry or how you can support us, you can do so by
going to our website at BeTheLightSanctuary.org or you can visit us on Facebook at BeTheLightSanctuary.org.
We'll catch you next time.
God bless.