And thank you for your good participation in our singing here this morning, our time of worship. And we'll dismiss the young ones to go to the creche with Mrs. Schwartz. All right, we'll let them exit. And Ruth chapter two is where we're gonna be in our Bibles this morning. So back towards the beginning of the Bible, just after the book of Judges, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. And it is Mother's Day, so we do wanna honor our mothers and thank God our mothers and all the ladies in our church, whether mums or not, we're grateful for the women that God has put into our lives and certainly into our church. And not every woman will get to be a mum, but all women and men have mums. It's kind of like that question, where would we be if it wasn't for mothers? Well, the answer is we wouldn't be here. So we do thank God for those women that are willing to carry us. full term and give birth to us and God giving us life through them. So we thank God for our mothers and praise God again for a day set aside to honor mothers. And I obviously, you're thinking about your mother this day. I think about the mom that God gave to me. Her name is Anne. So Anne Schor is my mom. My oldest two are just with my mom and dad for this past week up in Des Moines, Iowa, enjoying some fellowship time with Grandma and Grandpa. over the spring break and you know when my mom married my dad she became a pastor's wife and for the last 40 years or so of ministry she was dad's companion in ministry and a very good pastor's wife and serving God with my father and those that know my parents love them and I praise God they tell me And you know, again, we're thankful for all moms that are there, but truly the greatest mom is a mom that's a godly mom. A mom that loves the Word of God, loves the truth of God. You just think about this morning, other mothers can tell their children stories, but a godly mother can sit down with her kids and teach them the Bible stories, teach them about Jesus. Other moms can teach manners, but she can teach her children godliness and what it is to walk with God and to know God. Other moms help their kids lead good lives, but a godly mom can teach her child to get eternal life and to live a godly life. Other moms only have their authority when they're disciplining their children, but again, a godly mom can lift up the authority of God and the fear of God and teach that respect for his authority to their child. Our text today is Ruth chapter two, and what I wanna preach out this morning is the makings of a great mom, okay? The makings of a great mom. It's a character study of a woman of great character. And we've read a little bit of the story already, but let's pick it up again in verse four. It says, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered him, the Lord bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant that was sent over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And he's looking across at Ruth, and he's a wealthy bachelor farmer, and he's done quite well for himself, and he sees this woman bleeding in the field, and asks basically, who is she? All right, who is this young lady? And what follows in scripture answers that question better than just with her name. It really reveals to us the character of this godly woman. And as we come to the story, we find Ruth right now, at this point in her life, she's a young widow, not widowed very long, and not married very long either before her husband passed away. She was a Moabitess, and so she's from a different people than her mother-in-law, Naomi, in Naomi's family. In our story, she's not yet had the blessing of motherhood, all right? She's not had any children at this point, but we know that she will. She's going to give birth to a son called Obed. Obed is going to beget Jesse. Jesse is going to beget David. And so David's grandfather was the son of David. of Ruth, and we're speaking about King David when we speak about that David. And so what follows in her story is a great romance which leads to the farmer getting a wife, and that wife is Ruth. And so a character study of this young lady for us here this morning. And as you think, you know, the title, again, The Makings of a Great Mom, the men here could kind of tune it out, or maybe a child could tune it out, or maybe somebody that's not a mom could tune it out. But as we look at her character, the character that we're going to see in her life would be beautiful in a man's life as it is in a woman's life, or in a single lady's life as it is in the life of a of a mom, and so we can all benefit this morning as we look at the character traits that are in this lady. So let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to the Word of God this morning. Father, it is our desire this morning to be impacted by the word of God. Father, that when we open the word as a church, that it would be a time of growth, that it'd be a time of just really, Father, the water of life, the water that gives spiritual life being poured out upon us. Father, my desire as a pastor, preacher, is to set a table that, Father, we could eat from and grow spiritually. And so I pray for that this morning, and I pray for that in the kids' class as well. Lord God, would you bless my wife this morning, as she ministers there, and the mother of our home, as she labors to teach the children the truth of the Word of God. In that class, I pray, Spirit of God, let that go very well. Let the kids be attentive and listening to the Word of God this morning. Father, I can't speak in this time without the enablement of God. And so I ask that the Spirit of God would please guide my lips as I speak. Lord, help me speak kindly and truthfully the truth of the Word of God, unashamedly, not seeking to please men, but seeking to please God that I try the hearts. And Lord, we desire very much that this service bring glory to your name. And I just pray, Father, take away distractions. I pray that we'd have ears to hear. And Lord, that we wouldn't be hearers of the word, not doers, but that the Spirit of God would please give us something this morning that we can apply to our life and that we can benefit from looking at the life of this godly young lady, Ruth. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so the makings of a great mom. And I'm going to give you a lot of points this morning, and they're just going to be highlights from the life of Ruth. And so I guess my point would not be to have everybody memorize all the different points that we go through this morning, but just as we look at them, to look at her life. And the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. And it's very profitable. profitable for us to go to an Old Testament story, look at the life of a godly woman, and just think, why did the Spirit of God give us all this truth about her life, if not to look at her life and look at our life and see things that we can benefit from. And so we find her, first of all, a woman of initiative. She had initiative. Initiative is the ability to assess initiate things independently. In other words, nobody needs to help you with it. You walk through the kitchen and the rubbish bin is full. You look at it and think, you know what? Somebody should empty that. You think, why not me? Right? You pick it up. You take it out. You take care of it. That's an initiative. That ability to assess, hey, something needs to be done and to do it. And so, Ruth 2, verse 6, It says the servant that was sent over the Reapers answered and said, it's the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, I pray you let me glean and gather after the Reapers among the sheaves. All right, she didn't just stay at home with her mother-in-law bemoaning the fact that they've had all these trials father-in-law died, her brother-in-law died, her husband died. These things have just happened in the story and she's had to leave her family and oh woe is me or anything like that. She just looks around and says somebody needs to provide and get a job so that we can have some food so that we can eat. God has made it so that generally speaking speaking men are the providers or the breadwinners for a home that generally speaking it would be the man that gets a job that goes out and labors so that he can bring that paycheck in and provide for his family. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5 8 but if any provide not for his own especially for those of his own worse than an infidel. So that is a man's responsibility primarily. But you know there's times where maybe that the husband can't work for some reason or maybe that something happens like the husband passes away and it falls upon the woman to step up and to meet the needs. Certainly there have been times like that where that has happened. When World War II took place there were a lot of women that what a woman should or could do to go in and to do heavy lifting or things like that. Wikipedia says women responded to the call of need in the country, and they stepped up to fill positions that were traditionally filled by men. They began to work heavy construction machinery, taking roles in lumber and steel mills, as well as physical labor, including unloading freight, building airships, making munitions, Much more and I guess especially back in the day. Nobody thought my mom's gonna help with the war effort She's gonna go into a factory. She's gonna do these things but praise God again for women that looked at and stepped up and had initiative something needed to be done and They did it Ruth was like that. It's like the Proverbs 31 woman that you find in Scripture And it says there about her in verse 10 who can find a virtuous woman for a price as far above Ruby have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, initiative, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." You know, again, it's ideal to have stay-at-home moms where the kids are in the home to be able to nurture them and do the motherly things that God has called them to do. But praise God for those times where there's something that needs to be done and a woman looks at it and says, I can do that. My mom, I mentioned, When I was growing up in my younger years, my mom was a stay-at-home mom. But when I got to high school or into college, she started getting some extra jobs to just try to supplement the income in our family. My mom did substitute teaching. She taught also a children's music class. She did piano lessons. My mom would just look around and find things to do and get them done. You know, this morning, again, whether male or female, are you a person of initiative? Are you somebody that can look around and say, that needs to be done, I can do it, I can help with that. And then we see, secondly, she was a woman of dependability. It says in verse seven, so she came and hath continued even from morning until now that she tarried a little in the house. She took the initiative to go get a job and then it's the next day she shows up for work early, she gets there and she begins to do that job. She's a gleaning in the field. GotQuestions.org, speaking about gleaning, says the Hebrew word for glean is lekat. And it means to collect, to gather up, to pick. In the Bible, the Israelites were commanded to allow the poor to follow behind reapers and pick up leftover spears of grain and fallen grapes. In this way, the law of Moses provided food for the poor, orphans, widows, and resident aliens. The law specified that landowners must leave some of the harvest for gleaners. The Bible says, when you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time, or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God." Okay, so God allowed for that, for the poor people or the widows to be able to come in and to get some food, but it wouldn't be easy, pickings you could say. I mean, they're bending over in the heat of the day, working hard, but Ruth is a hard worker. She's going to get there and get the job done. She was dependable. You know, I think dependability can be a forgotten characteristic in our day. You know, I'm not sure it's something that's being taught much to our young people in the schools and things. My brother-in-law came over to Dundee and got his doctorate in history. And he got to do some tutorial classes and things. And I remember him saying to me that of his, say, 15 students that would be expected to be there, maybe three would show up for the tutorial. It's just they can be late or whatever and the school just kind of allows for that I I was kind of shocked by that and I don't know about your education, but I think back to being at Bob Jones and we had light bill We actually I had a bill that would go off at 655 in the morning and get you up out of bed We had, at nighttime, we'd have a bell at 11 o'clock that would be, that lights out in time to be in bed. We had a bell system that, when you got to class, I mean, when the bell rang, you're expected to be seated, in your seat, on time, and present. If not present, you're supposed to be in the hospital that was there on the campus. And, you know, I look back at that, and some people could think, well, That's regimental or that's military school or something like that. But I thank God for them instilling in my life that characteristic of dependability. That idea that if you're to be there, that you're there, that you're present, that you're on time and ready to go as that event takes place. You know, again, we could lament unreliability in our day, but I suppose it's always been the case that there have been those that have been unreliable. King David lamented about it in the Psalms. In Psalm 12, verse 1, he says, Help Lord for the godly man seizes the man that really desires to walk with God and to be faithful to God and be consistent in the things that they do for God. God help because this person is lacking in our day. And that's coming back some 3,000 years ago. You know, this morning, as we think about dependability, are you somebody that you say you'd be there, you're there, that gets yourself there at a good time to be present, to be able to do the activity or whatever is taking place, whether that's job or anything like that. You know, as a church, as we pray, we need to pray, God, give us faithful men. God, help us to have that consistent characteristic of dependability. Because the Bible says in 2 Timothy 2, verse 2, many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. As we as we as a church look at our congregation we try to develop leadership whether Sunday school teachers or people that will have positions within our ministry God says that we're to look for somebody that's dependable. Somebody that says what they say, and they show by what they do that they mean what they say, that if they say, I'm going to get there tomorrow, I'm going to work, as in the case of Ruth, that she shows up for work, and she's there putting in a good day's work as she said that she would. Are you dependable? Then we find about Ruth as well, she's a woman of submission. She's got a submissive spirit, even though she's got initiative. She's got her own ideas. She can look at it and assess something and do it, yet she's somebody that can put herself under authority. I've had parents tell me over the years, my kids won't take a telling. bemoaning the fact that the child won't submit to the authority of the parents and, you know, it just makes for in the home a conflict there because that authority is not being followed. And lack of submission to authority or at least rebellion or insubordination and those kind of things and God has put within our lives different authorities. We've been talking on Wednesday nights about the authority structure of the home, how the husband is the head of the home. And that the wife is under the authority and the guidance of her husband, and that children are under the authority of the parents that are in the home. As the Bible says in Ephesians 5, 23, for the husband is the head of the wife. Even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Colossians 3, 20, children obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. And so as God has given those authorities, a home that is blessed of God is a home where the man is leading the home in spiritual things, leading the home in the decision, primary decision, making responsibilities of that home, and the wife is under that leadership, and together they're united, and they're teaching their kids to follow and to mind their authority, and a home that gets that authority structure right is a home that is blessed because of that submission to authority. And so we look at this story and Boaz is going to give five commands to Ruth or six commands in these verses. And he's not he's not her husband, but he is the wealthy landowner. He is kind of, you could say, the boss. And so he is the authority. And Ruth is going to respond well to his leadership. It says in verse eight, then said Boaz to Ruth, hearest thou not my daughter? Right. Are you listening? He says, go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here, fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have not I charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn. And as a good leader and as a good authority, he's caring for her and she doesn't respond to these commands and go, who are you to tell me what to do? She responds to these commands with a gracious spirit, a submissive spirit to what Boaz has instructed. Ruth has already demonstrated a submissive spirit to her mother-in-law, Naomi. And so Ruth chapter one, verse 16, It says that Ruth said, And treat me not to return from following after thee. For whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. And thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. and just following, and she puts herself already under Naomi so that in the future when Boaz marries this young lady, he doesn't have to wonder, is she gonna follow my leadership as I make a decision, or I make a plan for our family? She has a wonderfully submissive spirit. You know, again, whether male or female, God's given to us, all of us, authorities. And it starts with God as the great authority. Psalm 111 verse 10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. His commandments, His praise, endure it forever. Submission really begins with God. You said this in the Word of God, I see it there, God, I'll do it. God, I'm not gonna push back against that and say, who are you to exercise authority over my life, but God, I submit to authority. This is a beautiful thing in the life of a man as well. The husband's the head of the wife, but Christ is the head of the man. And so if that man puts himself under that authority, wonderful thing, but all of us under the authority of God, but then a submission to earthly authorities that God has put into our life as well. Ephesians 5.21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. And again, if I were to broker that term submission or subordination within a society, how do you think society is going to respond? If society is against that, our society is very rebellious, but when we understand that all authority structure is given to us by God, and that the blessing, the blessing is in being able to put ourselves under that authority, then we can find the blessing of what Ruth had. She had great character. Why? Because she's submissive. She can have commands given to her. She doesn't bristle at, and she responds very well to them. But then we find as well about Ruth that she was a woman of humility, of humility. It says in verse 10 that she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him, why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I'm a stranger, all right? Ruth didn't expect this stranger Boaz before and she didn't have a sense of entitlement because of hardship and everything that she's been through or anything like that. Again, how different from our day where many times there are people that they have a need but they do very little to help themselves, very little activity to try to maybe meet their needs and when help is given, say governmental help or things like that, there's discontent, dissatisfaction, was somebody that was full of gratitude. As somebody reached out to help her, she was grateful for the help that was given. Now you might know this already, but Boaz is a type of Christ in the Bible. He's a type of the kinsman redeemer. He's a type of the one that buys back a person. And Christ, as our Redeemer, brought us back. You know, you think about what God has done for us, and there ought to be something in our hearts that falls down and bows herself before Christ and says, to Christ, I'm so unworthy of everything that you've given. Why did you take knowledge of me, a stranger? Who am I that I should have your favor and respond, even as Ruth did, with humility? God, I don't deserve more. There might be things that I desire in my life, and maybe, you know, I'd really like to see these things happen, but God, you know, anything I've got is more than I deserve. I don't deserve the gospel. I don't deserve to be saved. I don't deserve to have you looking at me. Just think about this with a Boaz as a type of Christ, to have Jesus notice us and think about us. There's so many people in this world today that are Christless, but here, God has, in his grace, reached out and touched our lives. Are we somebody, again, that can bow before him and recognize the blessing of what he's given to us? She was a woman of humility, but then she was also a woman of faithfulness, all right? She did what she needed to do faithfully. It says in verse 11, and Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath been fully showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband." She's never met Boaz before. I know it's a smaller village or whatever area that's there near Bethlehem, but Boaz comes and said, it's been fully showed me what you've done. And no doubt as Naomi got back with Ruth, there was kind of a buzz in the neighborhood and everybody's saying, have you heard about Naomi? She went over to Moab and in Moab, she lost her husband. She lost her sons. They died. The sons were married and the daughters-in-law were left without their husbands. And then somebody says, but one of their daughters-in-law came back. Ruth came back with Naomi, and you know, she's been caring for her. She knows that she's going through a tough time, and all the sorrow that's befallen her, and the love of this young lady is beautiful. She's a mullaby, you know, she's a stranger, but she cares about this person. And boy, as a kinsman to Naomi heard what Ruth had done, and it pleased him that this young lady had so cured. but for his relation. She was a woman of faithfulness. I wonder if Ruth could have thought, nobody knows what I've done. Nobody knows what it's cost me to be faithful to my mother-in-law. Nobody knows what I've gone through to try to provide and to meet her needs or things like that. But again, it's awesome that you look at the story and Boaz, as a type of Christ, looks at her and says, it has been told me. I know what you've done. You know, again, as we think about boys as a type of Christ, sometimes we can think, nobody's heard what I've gone through for Jesus. Nobody knows what it's cost me. You know, nobody knows, is aware of what I've invested for God and what I'm doing. And by the way, the kinsmen of Christ is this body. The kinsmen of Christ is all the people All the people there are believers. And somebody can think, nobody knows what I've done to try to minister to them. But then Christ comes along and says, it's been told me. And obviously he understands, he doesn't have to have somebody tell him, but as the type there of boys, it's been told me what you've done. I see your faithfulness. You know, whether Boaz said anything to Ruth about it or not, she was faithful. She wasn't somebody that was just, again, bemoaning all the things that happened to her, but she was just getting in there and doing what needed to be done. She was doing it faithfully. And Boaz noticed. Praise God, are you somebody that's faithful? And again, seeing what needs to be done, and whether somebody says something or not, just somebody that can continually just get it done and do the job that needs being done. Again, we look at this young lady and go, this girl had a tremendous character. She was faithful, and she was also a woman of faith. Verse 11, it's been told me, he says, how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of thy nativity and are come unto a people which thou knowest not heretofore." You know, I was reading through my Bible this year, and I've already gotten past the book of Ruth, but as I read through it, I read this text, and this is really what triggered in my mind to go back to it. Because what I thought when I read that, I thought, this is a great missions text. You know, I've never thought about, you know, let's go to the Old Testament and preach a message on missions, but missions is in the Old Testament. There's people that were called of God to go out to another land, and they went not knowing where they'd go, and to a foreign-speaking people as ambassadors for God, or as a testimony for God, or in obedience to God. And so you look at Ruth, and Ruth left her parents. She left her culture and language. to go to a strange people. Again, that's what a missionary does. A missionary leaves that culture, that climate that's familiar and leaves family and goes to another land to start again and to do these things. And as I look at this story again, I'm confident that Ruth did this in obedience to God. She said to Naomi, thy people shall be my people. And so it's not just like, Hey, you know, I've always wanted to visit the land of Palestine. And so that's great. You're going back there. Hey, I'm going to go. I believe that she looked at it and it was a sacrifice. Okay. Yeah. I've got my family. I've got my climate. I got all these things, but Hey, you know, Naomi needs help. And I really feel like God wants me to go there. And she responds. Why? Because she's a woman of faith. We see that Abraham's life, the faith that he had to obey God, God said, all right, time to go to a new place. Hebrews 11 verse eight says, by faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing whither he went. You know, sometimes it's like that as a Christian. God says, hey, this is what I want you to do. And we got to step out by faith and say, I'll be that person of faith. And I'm going to trust God. Listen, as a church, don't you feel like we stepped out a little bit by faith as we're in this great property that God's given and there's tremendous responsibilities that God's given, but we know that God has led us here. Hey, that's not a bad thing. Why? Because that can help us to grow in this area of character. And that is to be a person of faith. This is what God wants to do. And we believe God. And so she does that. And Boaz looks at it again, he goes, I see that, I see what you've done as you left your family. You know, Jesus Christ knows this morning, again, what it costs you to obey God. There's some that when they got saved, they had to leave family because family basically ostracized them. There's some that had to leave friends. I heard a testimony recently that somebody got saved and they said, I got no friends left, nobody. And you can kind of wonder, you know, does Jesus recognize what is Cosby, right? I'm following God by faith, does he understand what is Cosby? Peter asked, or said to Jesus, Luke 18, 28, lo, we have left all and followed thee. And Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you, there is no man, no man, that hath left house or parents or brethren. for the kingdom of God's sake, we shall not receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come, life everlasting." If there's no man that has done that and not received a reward, what do we know about that? It's that Jesus notices every single time somebody says, you know what, this is tough, I'm gonna sacrifice to do this, but this is what God wants, so I'm gonna obey God and go by faith. And guess what? God sees that step of faith. I believe it's gonna get like what Boaz gave to Ruth, and she unexpectedly heard him say, look, I've heard what you've sacrificed. I think it's gonna be like when we hear Jesus say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, because I know what it costs you to follow me. You know, somebody that's a person of faith, John 10, 27 says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And so we need to be in tune with God and God says, okay, go here to be that person of faith. She was a woman of faith, but then she was a woman of consecration. It says in verse 12, the Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel. Boaz is conveying a blessing to her. A full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust. What a beautiful picture of faith. I mean, consecration. She set herself apart unto God. It's like she just snuggled up to the Almighty. She nestled against God under whose wings thou art come to trust. The Moabites, they didn't believe in Jehovah God. they were idolatrous people. And so when she left Moab, she left the idolatry of her people. And as she did that, we could just imagine, although the Bible was silent about it, but we could just imagine that Ruth's family didn't go, oh, that's great that you want to follow the God of the Jewish people. That's great that you're leaving the idols of your family and the gods of your family and forsaking them, we can imagine that maybe like some of what we heard last week as the D'Amelio's shared their testimonies that, you know, their family maybe couldn't understand what was taking place. Maybe even there was some pushback about this idea, you're gonna follow the God of Jehovah, and yet she was consecrated to God, she was gonna trust in God, she was gonna stand with God. Even if her family didn't step up and say, hey, that's great, I'm with you on this, that she was gonna follow God anyway. Like a river glorious, that hymn written by Francis Ridley Habergo says in the third verse, every joy or trial falleth from above. traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. We may trust Him fully. You know, did Ruth have reasons for not trusting God? Look, her husband died, her brother-in-law died, her father-in-law died. She could have looked at that and said, why would I follow a God that allows these trials? But through the hardship that she faced, she didn't rebel against God and go, okay, I'm not gonna follow a God because of that. And then her mother-in-law says, I'm going back to the land. And she looks at her mother-in-law and says, I love God too. I love your God too. I'm not with the idolatrous nation that I'm in now. So I'm going to go with you. I am consecrated to God. You know, I wonder this morning, how's your consecration to God? has been tested lately because of tough times, and you begin to doubt God. Why is God allowing this trial that's in my life? Or do you have that consecration that says, look, I'm gonna stand with God like Job did, where he said, though he slayed me, yet I will trust in him. I'm consecrated. And I'm gonna step out and follow God. She was a woman of faith. She was a woman of consecration. And then she was a woman of grace. She's a woman of grace. She has a gracious manner of speech. And so verse 13, it says, Then she said to Boaz, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord, for that thou hast comforted me, or for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. You know, as she speaks, you just, you're not surprised, are you, as you read the story and you see the character of this woman, you're not surprised that as she opens her mouth, just beautiful, wonderful words come out that are words of just grace that come out of her lips. You know, you can know a lot about a person just by what they say or what they speak. As I shared the verse, a little bit of it this morning, but Matthew 12, 34, a generation of vipers, Jesus said to the Pharisees, how can ye being evil speak good of the heart the mouth speaketh." And so as we see this refreshing words that come out of the lips of this gracious woman, we know that in her heart, she has a right heart, she has a sweet heart, as it were, because gracious words come from her lips. shows the inner beauty of her. Grace, as an adjective, as I'm using it here this morning, describes someone as being kind and warmly courteous, tactful, compassionate, charming, and graceful, elegant, and with good taste. You look at the words that come out of her mouth and you think, This is something that somebody that's stately in a high position on earth would say, and yet if you really think about her position, she's kind of a beggar, a widowed woman that is standing looking at a very wealthy man, and yet she's not ashamed to stand before him. She's not ashamed of her poverty. She's not ashamed of her position, she doesn't complain about how unfair life has been and all the problems that have come her way. She doesn't let her pride reject the kindness that is being offered to her, but she just looks at him and graciously expresses her appreciation for what he has done already and what he has said to her. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of times grace is not my first response to, in the way that I speak. I think it's a lot easier for me to complain. It's a lot easier for me to gripe. It's a lot easier for me to talk about my problems and everything that's going on in my life rather than to express with thankfulness, gratitude to somebody or to a God. Yet the Bible says that grace should be on our lips at all times. Colossians 4 verse 6 says, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer every man. So again, we look at this young lady, and again, she's a tremendous example of Godly character. We look at the graciousness that's there and say, dear God, help me to be as gracious in the way that I speak, in the way that I appreciate, in the way that I understand my life. Help me to be a person like Ruth of Grace. Then we find as well that she was a woman of diligence, of diligence. It says in verse 14, And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. She sat beside the reapers, and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and she left. and when she was risen up to glean. She sat down to eat, but she didn't stay down eating. She got back up and she went back to work and she got back at it. And again, we look at the character of this woman. She had a diligence about her. She had a great work ethic. She wasn't lazy. Our church studied the book of Proverbs recently. With Proverbs you have some themes. You've got the theme of, my son, give me your heart and listen to my instruction. You've got the theme of being warned about wicked friends, being warned about the wicked woman, and guard yourself from foolishness. But an interesting theme to me as we studied through the book of Proverbs was the idea of not being somebody that is lazy. Proverbs 6 verse 10. a little slumber, a little folding of thy hands to sleep. In other words, somebody that just gets up and wakes up in the morning and says, I'm just gonna stay here a little bit longer, snooze. I'm gonna stay here a little bit longer, snooze. And Proverbs 22, 13, the slothful man saith, there's a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. If I try to do that job, there's every reason in the world why I can't get it done. So I'll just put it out because there's a lion without. Proverbs 26, 14. It says, as the door turneth upon his hinges, slowed the slothful upon his bed. There's a time to sleep, but there's also a time to get up and a time of activity and a time to work. My grandpa, Grandpa Roth, he couldn't sing very well, really, but when he'd wake us up in the morning, he had a song that he'd like to sing, and that was, Lazy bones sleeping in the hay, how you gonna get your day's work done? It always went up on work when he got to that. If we don't get up, it's not going to get done. You know, we're not going to get out and do evangelism for God. If we don't set a time, by the grace of God, I'm going to go up and I'm going to do evangelism. I'm not going to say there's a line without, there's reasons why I can't do that or get there or I can't get to the house of God or I can't get to work or I can't get my myself to the responsibilities that God has given to me. Certainly in our day, there are many people that are sleeping away their life instead of getting up and being diligent to get their work done. Again, we look at this lady. And she's a model of somebody that can sit down and get a meal, but then get up and get back at it and get back to work. And so a woman of diligence, but then a woman as well, generosity, a woman of generosity. It says in verse 16, and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave them. He's telling his men to provide for her that she may glean them and rebuke her not. So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw that she had gleaned, and she brought forth and gave to her, gave to Naomi, that she had reserved after she was sufficed. And so Ruth is out there laboring, and you might wonder why isn't Naomi out there in the Bible that's silent about that? But we could suppose that maybe she was just overwrought with grief. They've been so tough. She lost her husband. She lost her sons. And maybe she was just mentally overburdened by that. Or maybe she's infirm. She's older, obviously, than Ruth. And maybe she just couldn't get out there in the heat of the day and work. But whatever the case, Ruth is a sole laborer. And so she goes, she gets it, and she comes back. She takes what she has, and she gives it generously or shares it generously with her mother-in-law. And again, I'm just looking at our generosity. But you know that we don't have to be rich to be generous, that we don't have to be people of great wealth to be able to be somebody that takes what we have and shares it with others in the scripture. The Bible gives examples of people that were very generous that maybe didn't have that much. I think the poor widow woman in Luke chapter 21 is Jesus is there at the temple and he's observing what's being given and says, he looked up and he saw the rich man casting their gifts into the treasury. He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mines. He said of a truth, I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all, for all these have their abundance cast in unto offerings of God, but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had. This woman was very generous with what she had. She took what she had and she just said, I want to use that for God, though she had very, very little. The Church of Macedonia was the same way that they and their poverty were very generous with what they had for God and God's work. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 1. It says, Moreover, brethren, we do you to wed in the grace of God, who stood on the churches of Macedonia, of that in great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hope, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. These people were poor and yet the Bible says they abounded into the riches of their liberality. They didn't look at what they had and say, I can't afford to give. They looked at what they had and they thought, what can we give? And so first let's give ourselves to Paul and to God's work. And then they took of what they had and they gave it to God. And sometimes maybe that's it. And our heart says, well, why aren't we generous? Well, we haven't really given ourselves to that person. We haven't really given ourselves to that cause. But if it's our heart, we're the, where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. And if our heart is in that person and our heart is in God's word, in the case of a church ministry, then our affection is gonna be upon that. And we're gonna look at what we have and say, what can I give for God? How can I share what God has given to me? And so we see about Ruth that she was a generous woman. And so again, this morning, we're looking at a lot of things, all right, with the makings of a great, She's going to make a great mom for Obed. She's going to make a great wife for Boaz. She's got wonderful character traits. She's a woman of initiative, dependability, submissiveness, humility, faithfulness, faith, consecration, grace, diligence, and generosity. And that's why the final point, I don't need to preach this this morning because the final point speaks for itself. She was a woman of desirability. Verse 19 says, and her mother-in-law said unto her, where hast thou gleaned to-day, and where wroughtest thou? Blessed is he that did take knowledge of thee. Boaz looked at this lady. Remember, at the beginning of the story, he looks at, it's a great romance in the Bible. Who is she? Who is she? No wonder he took knowledge of her. Why? Because she had character. She was a woman that was a godly, a godly woman. This morning, do we have the makings of a great individual for God? Whether man or woman, whether mom or single, do we have the character traits that we see in the life of this young lady? And I would just remind us this morning that character is not something that is natural. Character is something that we build. So we can look at this this morning, this list of things and think, you know what? What can I add to my character? Am I a person of initiative? Do I see a need in my house and I meet it? Do I see a need at church and I meet it? Do I see a need at work and I meet it? Am I a person that picks that up? Am I dependable? Are people surprised that I'm there or that I'm not there? When I said that, I be there. Am I somebody that I say it, I show up and get there and I get there to get the job done? What about submission? Putting ourselves, again, male or female, under authority. Whatever that authority that God's put over us, that somebody can take commands and that's okay, because God's given me that authority. Somebody of humility that looks at it and says, I'm not worthy that God loves me this form. I'm not worthy that God has taken notice of me. Somebody of faithfulness that, again, just is getting the job done. And maybe whether people notice or not, somebody of faith that is somebody that's going to step out. God says to go. Somebody of consecration that says, you know, I've set apart to God. Other things can change in my life. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I'm consecrated to God. Somebody of grace that our lips open with the right words in the right way. thankfulness, a person of diligence, a person of generosity that takes from what we have and says, you know, I just want to use this for things I love, and I love others, and I love God, and I want to be that for God. So may the Spirit of God just take this woman this morning and challenge us, and I'll walk with him. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would just open our hearts and minds, and we've covered a lot of territory. in our Bible study this morning. But Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would remind us of these truths this week. And it might be this morning that the Spirit of God is speaking about something specific that's in our life. A character trait that's the opposite, probably, maybe, of what we see in the life of Ruth and something that needs work on. Father, we can't change it of ourself. We need the mercy of God, the forgiveness of God, the grace of God, the help of God. But when we look at a godly woman like this, she had it. And no doubt, it was disciplines that she had learned in her life, many of them, but all related to her faith in God, her obedience in God. And Father, just pray that you strengthen us. Father, the best thing that we could give to our families is to be a mom of great character, be a dad of great character, be children of great character. Father, the best thing we can give to this church is to be the same, a person of great character. The same with our employment. And Father, these are vital things. And Father, we've illustrated them before us this morning. And Father, we cannot accept the lack of these things in our life. Father, especially when we're dealing with areas of sin or disobedience against God and unfaithfulness. Lord, I shared the scripture this morning, the same commitment out of faithful men. Our burden as a church, and my burden as a pastor, and I pray, Lord, our burden as a church is that, God, we be faithful. We be faithful. So, Father, you gave us this property, and that we're faithful in our use of this property. God, you gave us this mission field, as it were, this field to sow in and to harvest in, and God, it's vital that we fulfill our obligation because someday we're gonna give an account to God. Father, there's so much sin that's in our world, so much temptation, so much that's seeking to tear us down. It can destroy us, it can destroy our family if we don't have victory in some of these character traits that we've seen even this morning. And so Father, I do ask that the Spirit of God please would speak to hearts And Father, that what has been shared by the grace of God to be helpful, helpful as individuals, helpful as families, helpful to our church. And Father, we need help. And so I just pray, Spirit of God, anchor these truths in our mind. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen.