I'll jump in this way. Let's open a word of prayer before we break open the word. We're going to be in Ruth chapter two this morning. Father, thank you. I am just in awe, Lord, that I've read that passage Ben just shared several times, but to hear it in a way that just brings down the reality that we were worth everything is just humbling in a way that, Father, just causes us to want to respond to that love. So, Father, through your word that you have given, I pray that you would give us a glimpse on how to respond to that this morning. And we just thank you for your spirit, Lord. For those who may be seeking you for the first time or maybe just checking you out, I pray that they would just be overwhelmed and remember nothing else except for that amazing, amazing truth that was just shared. And Father, for those of us who know you, I pray that you would just rejoice our hearts, fill us afresh and anew, and guide us in how to respond to that. And it really is through the Spirit that you sent and the gift of Jesus that we pray. Amen. Well, I'm so glad you're here. If you have a Bible, please feel free to open it to Ruth, chapter 2. It's towards the front of the Bible. And we're doing kind of this entire book of Ruth. And it's it, God, there's so many great things. Last week we looked at kind of the foundation of it, who was Ruth, and just getting through life. Uh, and I want to start this morning with yesterday morning. Yesterday morning, uh I was in Chicago. I had had a show Friday night in Chicago. For those of you I'm not familiar with or don't know me, I do stand-up comedy for a living. Beautiful theater there in Chicago, great show. But I was in the airport yesterday morning. Uh apparently the airline decided I needed to be there for about five hours. Um I'm sitting there. I don't watch a ton of TV. I I don't I I love watching sports, and occasionally my kids have something on. I'll watch a little bit of Disney and some America's Funniest videos. That's that's about the extent of my TV. And and uh I was in the airport and one of the news networks was on cable. And uh, if you're dyslexic, you can figure out which one. And uh let that sink in. And and I'm not used to watching it, but it's right there and it's just all over. And it's when when it's not part of our norm, I think we become more sensitive to what's being communicated. And I'm not gonna talk about the topics, I'm not gonna talk about anything that they said, only that I had this overwhelming feeling of just being accosted with uh with an agenda. And it wasn't just in the news, but how it was being portrayed. And the bottom line was I I genuinely felt like what should be shameful was being glorified, and what should be glorified was being shunned and shaved. That's the feeling that I got as I sat there and just went, oh, I literally had to get up and I walked away to where there were no TVs, and I was just like, wow, I'm just amazed by that. And with that concept, so often, because what we're in, I think we lose sight of what's really important. And the economy of the Creator, God made this whole place, cherishes you and I to the point of willing to sell everything, and what is really important. And if we want to unlock what he calls the abundant life, what's really important and really brings joy and peace and fulfillment in the midst of all the circumstances we have to go through, we really have to come up with what's those qualifications? What are those qualities that are important? And with that, what we hear out there, and I'll be general, and what God says through his word, the definitions tend to be quite different of what they are, and the priorities and the importance tend to be very different. And I'll set it up this way. Friday night I did a show that I'd never done before. Um, I've performed for over 20 years, and I'd never done a show like this one. And two days before, my road manager called and said, Hey, oh, remember this one's a little different. I'm like, well, what's different about it? Beautiful theater then. She goes, Well, the majority of the audience is Latino. And I'm like, that's cool. I've performed for Latino audiences. She goes, Yeah, but although about 95% speak English as a second language, um, and the five percent that don't, they want to have an interpreter on stage with you during your show, doing your show. And I was just like, oh, well, if you don't know anything about comedy, a little bit of comedy is timing. So I was a little bit wigged out, and then I met Jose, and Jose was one of the greatest guys, just this incredible brother with this great smile, and and I and I said, you know what, Lord, this is a great opportunity. I'm just excited about the show. And so I talked with Jose. I said, Now, are you comfortable? And we went through this, and and it was going great, and I'm working on my time. I thought I'm gonna treat it like improv. It was one of my favorite shows ever. It was just hysterical because you got this. Most people understand there's this big laugh, and then he does it, and then there's another laugh. So I'm getting like double laughs. This is awesome. But there was this one point, there was this one one point in the show where one of my reactions was it's time, it's it's setup, punch, tag. That's terminology for I'm setting it up, and it's a little funny. There's the punch, it's really funny, and then there's a tag line to oh, that's even more funny. And and I got to the setup, and it's about my wife, and she loses hair in the shower, and um so I looked down in the drain, and the line is I looked down in the drain and I was like, holy cow! And and I timed it where I was gonna say that line and then let him do it, and then I was gonna go, there's a small toupee down in the drain, and and I timed it, I was like, holy cow, and he didn't say anything. And I was like, holy cow. And he had this quizzical smile, and he just looked out of the audience, and there was a there was a laugh for that for those who understood. But then what he said next, and I don't speak Spanish, and he was like, um, Santa Boga, Santa Roca, something to that effect, and the place went nuts. I mean, they were howling, and I'm like, Santa Boga. And I mean, it was a solid minute and a half of solid laughter, which is huge. And and I was like, Jose, you will need to tell me what this word translates later. And he laughed, and they laughed even harder, and I'm like, wow. And even during the show, I would call back and I'd say, hey, um, if there's not a really good laugh, just say holy cow again. And and he would, and he laughed, and they laughed even more. I'm like, what is this afterwards? He he shared with me. I'm like, what is that? People were coming up, I'm signing autographs, they're like, Santa Boga. And I was like, Well, in that culture, in the Spanish, there's a very heavy Catholic influence in that language and in that culture, and basically there is no translation for holy cow. There's not one. But holy is very tightly woven to the Catholic faith, so strictly translated, it comes across as the Virgin Mary is a big cow. Okay then. And so then I'm embarrassed, and I'm just like, but they they get that it didn't translate, and it's like, wow, that was awesome, and we just laugh. So now one of my favorite terms is I know how to say uh rojo and uh donde está el banco, and I can ask for the bathroom and say red and hurry, and now I can say the Virgin Mary is a big cow. And there's something lost in the translation. One is a reaction, one is just not there. And what I've seen in and this is in Ruth chapter two, what we're gonna look at these these qualities that unlock everything good that God wants in this beautiful story. I I want to go into just a little bit of depth in each of these, and I want us to pray through God, these are the qualities, these is the resume that you want us to have, and I want to eliminate the misunderstanding of what these words are. And I want to tell you up front, I will not do it justice. I will not. The only way that we can fully grasp what these qualities mean is if we individually sit down with this truth, and I want to encourage you if you have time this week, read through Ruth chapter 2. Make some notes in the margin on your Bible of these words and what sticks out, and then let God show you what he really feels about these different qualities. So I'm just my my hope this morning is to introduce those concepts to this beautiful story, and I want to go ahead and read chapter two of Ruth, and then we're gonna come down and break it down. Chapter two. Now, Naomi, and that okay, quick background if you weren't here last week. Um Naomi and Elimelech are this couple, they there's a famine, they move to a foreign land. She has two sons, those two sons marry, her husband dies, her two sons die. She is frustrated, they move back, she is now back alone. One of her two daughters-in-law said, I want to come with you. She said, No. We learned last week that one of the two stayed there in the land where there was godless and full of idols, but Ruth said, I want to go with you. So that's where we pick up. And here it is. Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side from the clan of Elimelech. And you can underline this a man of standing whose name was Boaz. This is the first time we hear about Bo. And Ruth, the Moabitus, said to Naomi, Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone whose eyes I find favor. And Naomi said, Go ahead, my daughter. So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech. Just then Boaz had arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. The Lord be with you, and the Lord bless you, they called back. Boaz asked his foreman of his harvesters, Whose young woman is that? And the foreman replied, She is a Moabitis, who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters. She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning until now, except for a short rest in the shelter. Boaz obviously went over and said to Ruth, My daughter, listen to me. Do not glo go and glean in another field, and do not go away from here. Stay here with my servants, girls. Watch the fields where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you, and whatever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jar the men have filled. At this she bowed down with her face to the ground, and she exclaimed, Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you would notice me, a foreigner? I want you to mark that word a foreigner. It is going to become precious at the end. Boaz replied, I have been told all about what you have done for your mother in law since the death of her husband. How you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wing you have come to take refuge. May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my Lord, she said. You have given me comfort, and have spoken kindly to your servant, though I do not have a standing as one of your servants' girls. At mealtime Boaz said to her, Come over here, have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar. When she sat down with the harvesters, sh he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. And she got up to glean. Boaz gave order to his men, even if she gathers among the sheaves, do not embarrass her. Rather pull out some stocks for her from the bundle, and leave them for her to pick up, and do not rebuke her. So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley and she had gathered, and it amounted to about an epha. She carried it back to town. Her mother-in-law saw her, saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over from what she had eaten enough. Her mother-in-law asked her, Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one whose place she had been working. The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz, she said. The Lord bless him, Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. He has not shot stopped showing kindness to the living and the dead. She added that man is our close relative. He is one of our kinsman redeemer. And Ruth the Moabitus said, He even said to me, Stay with my workers until they are finished harvesting all my grain. Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls. Because in someone else's field you might be harmed. So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvest were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law. In that amazing passage, I want to break this down in a couple very simple words of character. The first one would be we found in verse 2 Ruth is hungry. They have nothing. She has no standing. And she asked a simple question. She said, Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone whose eyes I find favor. This quality, which is shunned in our society, is magnified here, and that is the quality of submission. Submission. And that word is totally taken out of context in our society, and yet it is glorified here. She says, Let me go, but she she understands I have no position here. You are the only authority I know. Let me go. And she's asking, she's willing to do anything, but she's willing to be submissive. That act is incredible. It is an act that gives honor to others for the common good. That is what that is what submission is. It's not belittling ourselves and becoming a doormat. It's saying, I will give honor where honor is due, and I will do whatever it takes for the common good. She goes, I want to go and do this for us. For us. It's a we, not a me. That's what she's going after. And she says, I'm going to do it, but I need to ask first. That idea of submission. And for those of you who may be here today, and that are women, and maybe you're in a situation or circumstance where you didn't ask for it. And maybe those around you have said, you know what, unless you have a husband or there's a man, then you're you're not complete. I would say that this is one of the most beautiful examples of a working woman, and she's like, I'm going to do whatever it takes. And versus the concept of there's no man, there's no hope. There were no men, and she had lost her husband, and she's living with her mother-in-law, and yet she said, You know what? I'm going to submit not to another man, but to my authority and to God. That quality, that quality of submission is on the top of God's resume of what he's looking for. The second is in verses 10 and 13. Look at these real quick. She bowed down on her face and she said, Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you would notice me a foreigner? Again, I want you to underline that word a foreigner because in a minute it's going to be a wow moment. She's asking, Why would I find favor there? So not only submission, but humility. And in verse 13, you have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant, though I do not have standing, not even one of the servant girls. She's saying, you know what? I'm going to humble myself. I'm going to humble myself. My middle son, we're driving back one day from school, and he goes, Dad, did you know that yawns are allergic? And I said, allergic to what? And he said, other yawns. What he meant to say was, Did you know that yawns are contagious? And they are. Because if you see somebody yawn, something comes over us in the brain. I don't know how the chemicals work, but it's like, oh, I have to yawn now. You know, it's just if they're contagious. Let me tell you something else that is contagious and watch this. This is fun to watch out in the real world. Watch this. Um, if you have a smartphone, watch this. If you're just kind of sitting there alone by yourself around others, pull out your smartphone and just turn it on and start doing this. And watch the number of people around you that go. And they'll start messing with their phone. It's like, oh, oh, we're supposed to, we're supposed to, okay, I don't know what I'm doing, but yeah, I'm supposed to do something now. Email, okay. There's just something contagious about that. There's something amazingly contagious. And in God's economy, in these qualities, there is something amazingly contagious about a humble servant. When I walked in, for those of you who may be new to his hands, let me just say one of the most amazing parts is this humble servant attitude. You walk into this place and the halls are great, the bathrooms are amazing, and it's because some people said, you know what? I may not have a lot of time or whatever, but I'm going to volunteer and I'm going to be a servant. And I'm going to be a humble servant. I didn't need credit for it. I watched people as I got here today to go over the notes that they had a broom and they're just sweeping up and they're cleaning, they're stocking and everything else. It doesn't happen because there's this big janitorial firm that comes in. It's because we decided that we're going to be servants. That's part of God's economy. He says, you want to be the greatest? Be a servant to all. That's on the top of his list where our society goes, man, if you're a servant, you're on the bottom of the barrel. And God's economy says if you're not a servant, you'll never, you'll never experience the fullness of what you are created to be. And then thirdly, look at verse 11 with me real quick because this is amazing. Boaz said, I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. How you left your father and your mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know. That is one of the greatest examples of the quality of loyalty. Loyalty. In God's resume, loyalty is huge. Loyalty to the point of am I really loyal? And I would caution us to pray that prayer. God, develop loyalty in me. Because when we ask for loyalty and to develop that, true loyalty is not revealed until it cost. Don't miss that. It cost Ruth. It cost her a husband. And then it cost her. She knew it was going to cost her, but her loyalty was to God at a level that says, God, if you take everything away, and he did, it's still worth it. Because inversely, what Ben shared before, that God was willing to give everything away. Because he sees that value of loyalty. And not just the value of it to accomplish something, but the value of it because it is the core of where we gain. Because it's only with what we're loyal to that we experience the fullness of who he is. I want to give you a very practical way of experiencing that loyalty, communicating, God, it's all yours. And I'll give you one way to it, and I'm not going to go into any detail on it, but God set up this system of time and money that we're all accustomed to. We have a limited amount of both. Those are two resources. And when you say, I'm going to take the time to come and listen to God's truth and be with his people, that's a commitment of loyalty, going, God, I want to know you more. I want to communicate to you that I believe. Financially, it it's I would encourage you over the next few weeks, I want to challenge you, not challenge you, I want to encourage you to throw out one of the neatest ways to feel that connection. There's four different poles back there. And they're really, really hidden because they say pray and give. That's what's on the polls. I want to encourage you to do this as part of worship. I would even say during worship, during the music, be a part. And I'm not even going to tell you an amount, I'm not going to tell you. I'm going to tell you the Old Testament, New Testament, this, that, gross net, blah. I'm not going to tell you any of that. Amount, at least for the starting, is just not important. What's important is that I make an acknowledgement. I try to do this on a very regular basis. Now I give on a regular basis when I get paid, but I try to do it as part of my worship. And I'll go back and literally just go, God, as an act of loyalty that I believe you own it all. And I thank you for the ability you've given me to work and the opportunities. And God, I just I acknowledge that. It will change us inside. And again, I'm not going to dwell on that other than to just say it is one of the most amazing opportunities to connect with God. And you'll notice we don't pass a plate. It is not the foremost. And I would even encourage you, if you're not a Christian, you're kind of seeking, going, oh, there's the money thing, don't take part. Because God is not what He can get from us, it's what He can give to us. And until we know Him, we don't understand that economy of when we give, it opens up His vision and passion of what this life is about. So, with that loyalty set, and then finally in Ruth, and then we're going to move on to Boaz real quick. One of the greatest qualities I see is in verse 7 and verse 17. They say about Ruth in verse 7. She said, Please let me glean and gather the sheaves behind your harvest. She went into the field and worked steadily from morning until now, except for a short time of rest in the shelter. Bumped down to 17 where it says, And she gleaned in the fields until evening. Then she thrashed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephid. I want to give you two incredible points. And the the quality that she is displaying here is diligence. Hard work. In God's economy, it's not our position or our status or our bank account. It's not if we'll be the richest one day, I know I'll never be that. It's not if we'll be the most famous, I'll never be that. It's not if we'll be the most beautiful, it definitely won't be that. It's where our diligence is. I want you to get the picture, okay? How many of you are, you farm for a living? Raise your hands. Okay, nobody, you're on my page. Good. I want you to imagine this. They are literally, they've cut down wheat. We've seen wheat, the fields, okay? Now think about that. They've gathered them up, and what they do when they thrash is they beat it out till the kernels or the part that you can mash into flour comes out. And I want you to imagine they've they've gathered it up. She's picking up what's left over, okay? Now I want you to picture out just one piece of wheat and think about beating that out and you can get a few seeds. She's getting the leftovers. Okay, she's getting the leftovers. That's amazing enough. And she's walking and she's gathering them. Get this, though. This is amazing. She worked so hard and she worked so long and diligently not to miss anything that was left over that when she threshed it out, in other words, she beat out the seeds. I want you to think how much one would be and how she would have to get several of these. How much do you think an epha is when she beat it out in that? How much should she gather in a day? Do it in any measurement. Somebody over here yell out how much do you think she could do in a day? A pound? Okay, that's pretty good. Anyone else? A bushel? I'm not a farmer, I don't know what a bushel is, but it sounds big. A lot. You just read the notes, that's right. Here's what it is. When she threshed it out, I want you to think of a two-liter bottle of coke. That would be amazing. That would be amazing if she could get that much out in a day from the leftover stuff. When she beat it out, she beat out twenty-two liters of seed in one day. The sister could work. That's what I'm just saying. And then she cared, I want you to imagine going down to the store and getting 11 two-liter bottles and then carrying that back home, walking with that back home. That's what she did. She had a diligence, and I'm telling you, that is just amazing. Now, these qualities are incredible. While I was sitting at the airport yesterday, I was sitting across from some gentlemen. I don't know why they routed through there, but three of these guys had Minnesota Vikings garb on. And as I'm looking at them, I'm gonna listen to them talking because I wasn't interested in TV. I just I heard their conversation. For those of you who don't follow football, this is not a football example, but it's what they're looking for. And they were talking about now that it looks like this big dispute over the labor is going to be resolved, what do we do now? Who do we need to go after to fill in our team? What qualities are we looking for in order to fit in with what we're trying to accomplish with what we already have to win a Super Bowl? And they are literally, they are dialed in, and they are talking about who they're gonna talk to, where they're gonna go, and they're gonna basically split up, they're gonna talk to free agents and do all this stuff, and they are looking for qualities for the ultimate prize. That is God right here. He's saying, Hey, in your life, I have an ultimate purpose. And the qualities you need to experience that ultimate purpose are right here in chapter two. And then I want to address this incredible guy named Boaz real quickly. Boaz was amazing. Look in verse 1, and I want you to underline a couple words here. Naomi had a relative of her husband's side of the clan of Lima, like a man of standing, whose name was Boaz. A man of standing. That is no small term. He was well known and well respected in the community. He had position. Look in verse 4. We can tell he is a leader of an area. Just as Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, greeted the harvesters, the Lord be with you, and the Lord bless you. They called back. It was a position of authority, it was a position of standing. Our position will be a result of how we take these qualities. Boaz embodied these qualities. Not only position, but look at the second, in verse, I tell you what, guys, go ahead. I know I said to put nine, but go ahead and put eight up there, verse eight, because I want us to see that not only in his relationship, not only was he a man of position, he was a man of protection. In verse eight, he says to Ruth, My daughter, listen to me. Do not go glean in another field, and do not go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. At the end of the chapter, when Naomi talks to her, she goes, You know what? You stay there. Because if you go to another field, you might be harmed. He realized this. He realized that even in the nation of Israel where everybody's supposed to be great, there's some bad spots. And a woman without a husband in a land where she is not a part of the culture, he knew and he looked at her and went, You are a target. And they can abuse you and they can rationalize it as she's not even part of us. He goes, you know what? I'm not only going to provide an opportunity, I'm going to provide protection for you. And then finally, one of the provision in verse 9, we've already talked about what she gleaned. He tells her in verse 9, watch the fields where the men are harvesting and follow among the girls. I have told the men, do not touch you. And whenever you're thirsty, you go and get a drink from the water jar the men have filled. He said, You know what? I'm going to provide. Men, I want us to take this to heart in a couple ways. One, I want us to see what is our position? Not from a worldly standpoint, not what title do we have, but what position have we been given? Because those those qualities mentioned before of loyalty. Let me ask you, if you're if you're a student here today, if you're a student here today, you have parents. And let me just tell you, your parents, they used to be cool. They did. They used to dress cool and they had like nice stuff, and they and they just put on the dog, they drove a decent car, and and now they look like this. You know, so it's just what happened? What happened? It should be a daily reminder to you, especially those who are younger parents with little kids. Man, it's just like survival mode. Nails, seriously? I don't I don't I don't have time to care about my nails. If you want to see young moms, a lot of times the the first child, they're like, okay, and they they learn to pull their hair up in a ponytail, and man, by the second or third child, it's like they have hair this long because I don't even have time for that. And it's why? Because it is what we give up. And it's our it's a sign of total loyalty. And our society shuns that. And it should be a badge of honor to us. That you know what? I'm my position is a parent. It's one of the highest callings ever. God designed it that way. And my protection, I hey, you can spit on me, talk bad about me, and throw my name in the gutter. I don't care. But do not mess with my children. And that's that's my protective side. And the only thing more protective than me is my wife. Wow. The mama bear syndrome. You know what I'm talking about. God designed us that way. We should take great honor in that. We should take great joy in that. And that is afterwards, not right now, but can anybody tell me one TV show, one movie, where fathers are portrayed as the position and the authority and the protector and the provider and are honored in that way. No. Guys are the boobs and the idiots and the out-of-touch, and it's just it's degrading. But in God's economy, he goes, hey, you're a man, here it is, position, protection, and provide. We're given this opportunity to do that. And I want to wrap up with this beautiful, beautiful reality of this chapter. You've got Ruth, a woman from a foreign land with no position. And remember when she said, Why would you take such why would you treat me this way? I'm a foreigner. Boaz knew what a foreigner meant. Could it be that he really knew what it meant to be a foreigner? Yes. Don't miss this. If you've ever felt like I don't belong, if you've ever felt like, well, God, God can't use me, do not miss this. Because Boaz knew that feeling. Why was it? Ask yourself a real question a minute. How could it be a man of standing, of good standing, that was successful in that culture, in a society where marriage was premium, why was he single? Why was he single? A man of standing with authority and land and servant? Why was he single? I'll tell you why. Because he didn't belong. He didn't belong. And even in a culture of people of God who are following, Boaz didn't belong. Let me give you a couple ways I just the way I discovered this. Have you ever seen the genealogies or the family tree in like Matthew chapter 1, where it's just like begat so-and-so, begat, begat, begat, begat. I'm like, really? Why? And I asked that one day, and God just went, boom, look. Okay, what's different about it? Hmm. In a culture that was male-driven, there are four women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. Four. Two of them are in this story. One of them is not mentioned by name, but you have to dig. And I looked at it. If you go back Matthew chapter 1, 5, you can see that. But I want you to write in the margin Joshua chapter 2. Joshua's called to lead Israel out of captivity. They're coming up to Jericho, the big town of Jericho, and he sends in two spies to spy out Jericho. Do you remember this story? And the two spies go in and they're spying it out, and the king sends and they're spies, they don't belong here. Go find them and kill them. And what happened? Do you remember this story? The woman in the city who maybe has no position, a prostitute. She sees them and she hides them and protects them. And she says, You know what though? Here's the deal. When you come to take our city, and we know you are, we have heard what God has done on your behalf, and we said, Spare my family. And they say, okay, as long as you mark your door and they're all in this one room, we will spare your family. Prostitute. She knew the town. Sure enough, God comes in, takes over the city. They spare, they spare her. Rahab, the harlot, the prostitute. And they spare her family. And they're grafted in. Do you think the holy Israel just goes, hey, come on in, you're a prostitute? Yeah, we don't care. Come on in. Guess who her son was? Boaz. Boaz. Can you imagine being the son of a prostitute? Do you know your father? I don't know. I don't know. There's Boaz. Boaz's father, we don't know if he was one of those grafted in Elimelech. We don't know. Elimelech may have been one of those two spies. We don't know. But we do know that Boaz was a son of Rahab the harlot. He knew what it meant to not belong. And yet in God's economy, he was submissive to those in authority. He was a humble servant because he knew who he was, but not from a doormat standpoint, from a loyalty and a diligence standpoint. And he worked his way up until, and this is why I love to underline this, he was a man of standing. See, God's economy and God's is different. We'll get to it at the at the end of this, but when God calls us to character and we answer that call, we will fulfill who we were meant to be. And it doesn't matter what society says. We see this in these two amazing people, and they continue to move together as they follow after, all they know is God is real, and I'm going to seek him. That's all I know. It's a beautiful story. If you feel like you don't belong, realize the greatest belonging, and that greatest accepting is what God gives to you and I the opportunity. And that opportunity is through his son Jesus. He says, I know that you're imperfect. I know your past. I know every dirty spot. And I've already paid the price on the cross for that. And all you can do is accept that. Accept that. It says to as many as receive him, those that he gave the right to be called his children. But we have a choice to be adopted by him. That is the treasure in the field. We are that. And he's done everything to that. It's amazing. Read through chapter two of Ruth and see these character qualities. I want to leave with two thoughts. One is this in there, men, I would encourage you to be what Boaz was. And that we would become those men that God made us to be, regardless of what culture says. I want to be what God says I am. And the question I would ask you and I to ask ourselves is what is my reputation? What is my reputation with God? What is my standing around at work in my home? Am I being the man I was called to be? Am I the one who is protecting and providing? And it's not an amount, it's a heart. And Boaz was that. The other piece I want us to just rejoice in, and you can go ahead and cheat and read ahead if you want. But chapter three is one of the most amazing, beautiful parts of Scripture as far as relationships. If you are a couple and married, it will open your eyes to your spouse in a new way. If you are single, it is one of the most beautiful processes of how to approach relationships and what can happen. I've titled it Every Man's Dream, Every Woman's Desire. And it's in that chapter. And it is awesome. And that's what we're going to look at next week. Let me pray, and then I've got a couple quick announcements. Father, thank you. Thank you for this morning and your amazing word and your truth. Thank you that it's not our resume that we build, but it is the character that you've laid out. God, I thank you so much for Boaz. Someone who didn't belong, but you said, that's who I'm going to use. And Lord, thank you so much that you love us that same way today. And it's only through Christ we can pray. Amen.