Women of the Seed // The Redeemer

Honoring Mothers & Loyal Love

• Pastor Jonathan opened by honoring all mothers and mother figures, including biological moms, adoptive moms, foster moms, spiritual moms, grieving moms, and women longing to become mothers.
• He emphasized that motherhood reflects God’s “loyal love” — a love that sacrifices, remains faithful, and mirrors the redeeming love of Christ.
• The service centered around Psalm 46, reminding the church that “God is with her; she will not fall.”

The Story of Ruth

• Continuing the “Women of the Seed” series, Pastor Jonathan taught through the book of Ruth, describing it as one of the greatest redemption stories in the Old Testament.
• He explained the dark backdrop of the story: Israel was in the time of the Judges, a season marked by rebellion, violence, famine, and spiritual decline.
• Naomi and her husband Elimelech left Bethlehem during a famine and moved east to Moab — a place associated with rebellion and separation from God.

Ruth’s Faithfulness

• After Naomi’s husband and sons died, Ruth chose to stay loyal to Naomi rather than return home.
• Pastor Jonathan highlighted Ruth’s famous declaration:
• “Where you go, I will go… your people will be my people and your God my God.”
• He explained that Ruth, though a Moabite outsider, demonstrated incredible covenant loyalty and faith.

Boaz the Redeemer

• Pastor Jonathan described Boaz as the “kinsman redeemer,” a relative who had the ability to redeem Naomi’s family line and provide protection and restoration.
• Boaz noticed Ruth’s faithfulness and generosity and showed her kindness by providing food, safety, and favor.
• He explained that Boaz represents the heart of God: instead of exploiting vulnerable people, he chose to cover, protect, and redeem Ruth.

A Picture of Jesus

• Pastor Jonathan connected Boaz’s redemption of Ruth to Jesus redeeming humanity.
• He pointed out that Boaz himself was the son of Rahab, another outsider redeemed by God, showing that God continually brings unlikely people into His redemptive story.
• Ruth, once excluded as a Moabite, became the great-grandmother of King David and part of the lineage of Jesus Christ.

Jesus & the Woman at the Well

• Pastor Jonathan connected Ruth’s story to Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4.
• He explained that while many viewed the woman as immoral, Jesus revealed she had experienced repeated rejection and abandonment.
• Just as Boaz redeemed Ruth, Jesus became the true Redeemer who restored and accepted the rejected woman at the well.

Key Message

• Pastor Jonathan emphasized that there is no sin, failure, background, or brokenness beyond God’s power to redeem.
• God specializes in restoring outsiders, healing generations, and transforming lives through His loyal love.
• He encouraged the church to “lay themselves at the feet of Jesus,” trusting Him as their Redeemer who covers, restores, and renews.

Closing Encouragement to Moms

• Pastor Jonathan closed by encouraging moms that their faithfulness and love can change generations.
• He reminded them that when they partner with Christ, God uses their influence to bring healing, restoration, and redemption to families and future generations.
• The church gave out bookmarks based on Psalm 46 as a reminder that God is present, faithful, and near in every season. 

Hey, stand with me to your feet. Let me pray for you this morning.

 All right, let me read the scripture over you and then we'll pray. Psalms , verse  through , it says this. "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. The holy place where the Most High dwells. God is with her. She will not fall. God will help her at the break of day."

 Father God, this morning we just give you the rest of this service, Lord. We give you this time of the Word. We thank you that your presence here and your spirit is moving, illuminating your Word into our hearts and minds.

 Lord, we thank you for this study and this time together. So in your holy name we pray. Amen and amen.

 Okay, you may be seated. You may be seated.

 Before we get into today's message, which I'm really excited about,

 I do want to just take a moment to honor all the moms and the mother figures who are in this room. And as a church, we think it's really important to not just honor those who are here, who are biological moms, but also the many different facets that motherhood can look like. And so we have moms and adoptive moms and foster moms and stepmoms and grandmoms and spiritual moms, single moms and moms to be. And there's women who've lost children in this room. There's women who are longing to be moms in this room.

 And there's moms who are nurturing, who are guiding, who are loving, who are caring for others. And I just want to take a minute and I want to just make sure that you know that we as a church and I personally honor what you're doing. And I honor that you're partnering with God to show loyal love and the work of redemption through the love of Jesus Christ.

 There's no better picture in a person's life than the loyal love that they can experience from that mother figure. That is a thing that shows like with a person that immediately there's this moment of time of a love that is willing to lay down their life and to be loyal through all time in a way that's not dependent on the action of the person receiving that love, but specifically because of the love that a mother has for a child. And so if you're here and you're any of those categories of people, I want you to know that we honor you, that we love you, that we value you. And we're so thankful that you're here this morning as a church and you're just such a huge blessing to our church. And so can we give just one more round of applause for all those moms in the room? I just love it. I'm so thankful.

 I'm so thankful.

 But hey, we are continuing a series that we started last week called "Women of the Seed." And I would love to give you a recap, but unfortunately last week I crammed like  sermons into one and it was a lot of content. But the general premise is we've been practicing or we've been following the concept that was shared with us in Genesis chapter three during the fall when God talks about that through the seed of the woman will come this redemption, this Redeemer who will break the power of sin and death. And we've been following that. And so we looked through a couple of different women who are in that lineage, specifically the lineage that was mentioned in Matthew , although we will see a few other characters as we continue in this little miniseries. But today we're kind of in the middle and I decided that I want to share, like I told you, my favorite story of the Old Testament.

 And it is also not just one of my favorite stories, but it is also a character who is mentioned in this lineage of Jesus, this very unlikely character that's mentioned in the lineage of Jesus. And this is found in the story that's found in the book of Ruth. And here's just a couple little facts just to kind of get us set in the book of Ruth. So the book of Ruth is an Old Testament book. You'll see it. It's only four chapters long. It's really easy to read. It's a beautiful story. And it opens up like this. This is how the story opens up. It says, "In the time when the judges ruled Israel." Now, for those of you who are really good Bible students, that instantly sets a picture that we should already in our mind know what's going on. So this is historically, if you're trying to place in the timeline, when did this happen? This is after Israel has already left Egypt. They've gone through the  years of the wilderness. Moses has passed away. Joshua has taken them across the Jordan. They've gone through. They've conquered Jericho. They've done all those kind of things. They've created this nation. They've defeated giants and created their own nation in the Promised Land. And then it says that after Joshua and his generation died out, it talks about how there was very few who were still serving the Lord. And so we enter into this season of Israel's history where they are ruled by the judges. There's a whole book of the Bible called Judges. And when you read through Judges at some of the hardest times in the nation of Israel, and it's also some of the most violent and destructive stories in the entire Old Testament come from the book of Judges. And often, in fact, like one of the things we see is we see a lot of violence and destruction

 and abuse towards women and women figures throughout that whole book of Judges. It's just, it's a really at times hard book to read because we are seeing what happens when people are making choices outside of God. And so basically what would happen is God would raise up a judge to kind of be over Israel. And some of the judges were better than others. And sometimes people would listen to those judges and sometimes they wouldn't. And it was just a hard season. And there was a lot of times where God would give them over this. You see this phrase over and over in Judges that he gave them over to the consequences of their choices or the consequence of their sin. And as a result of that, there would be things like plague or a different nation would come and capture some of their land. Like all sorts of stuff was happening. And so when we read in Ruth that it says, "In the time that the judges were reigning, we should be picturing like," and I like some of these books and stuff. Like I like the kind of like bookstarters that are postapocalyptic era. Like anybody else like a Mad Max postapocalyptic? Cool, just me. All right, awesome. You're so interactive this morning. And so here's what happens. Like we are supposed to picture like this is not a good season. This is not a good time. Things are bad. Like Israel is just kind of hanging on and everyone's kind of doing what's good in their own sight.

 And as a result of that, right after that, it says that there was a famine, which means no harvest, no food. And we pick up with this story about a guy and his name is a limalek. Now here's what's amazing about Ruth. Ruth is, even though it's only four chapters, it is so dense because almost every phrase, almost every section, either there are words that have really specific meaning or they're like what we kind of talk about like hyperlinks, like links to other stories in the Bible. Like you should be imagining with the language. It's like it is one of the most dense books that you can read that's pointing to all sorts of different places, backwards and forwards. It's absolutely beautiful. And I wish we had time to go over all of them, but we don't, but so we're going to hit some of the highlights. But a limalek, which by the way, his name, because I'm going to give you all the characters' names because this is like a drama. This is a real life drama. This is things. This actually happened. And this is a story that will just blow your mind. So a limalek, his name means my God is king. And he takes his wife, Naomi, whose name she means pleasant or sweet. That's what Naomi means. So he takes the two of them and he says, hey, we live in a place called Bethlehem. You guys have probably heard of Bethlehem. He, we live in Bethlehem and as there's no food though because of this famine. And so we're going to leave our ancestral home. Remember they're from the tribe of Judah. They live in Bethlehem and this, they have a plot of land that's theirs, but they say nothing's growing here because of this famine. So we are going to leave with our two sons and we're going to go to Moab. Now geographically, you want to know where Moab is? Moab is east of Bethlehem. It's actually across like the Dead Sea or the Jordan River, depending on which direction you go. And it's kind of in a desert. So it's a little southeast of where Bethlehem is located at. And now you may sit here and just think, okay, they just decided to go to Moab. But there's two things that anytime we see direction or we read the Bible that we should pick up on. First of all, if you know Moab, then you know going to Moab is a real nono. They shouldn't be going to Moab. We'll read about it later, but Moab specifically, they tried to trick the nation of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness. And God actually said that none of them are meant to be in the assembly and that you're not supposed to marry any of them. You're not supposed to associate with them. Basically, it says for  generations, but really that's just a way to say like forever. You're just not supposed to talk to these guys. So strike one is they go to Moab, but also there's this real trend that you can see. Directions are really important in the Bible and Moab is east of Bethlehem. And every time that any character goes east, it's this symbolic gesture of sin. Anytime you see something going east or down, that's the two things where it's like, hey, things aren't going good. Like when they go down to Egypt or they go east of Eden, like every time you see that, this is this thing that you'd be like, ooh, something bad's about to happen. They went east. So they went east and they went east with their two sons. Now they had two sons that they had and that's pretty good. When you have two sons, again, this is like a patriarchal society. The whole pride is in the sons. Like all this is important. She has two sons that she's given her husband, which is my goddess king. But they named them something interesting. Their names were Mahalan and Killian. Now you may be like, those are real tongue twisters. But here's what's really wild. Mahalan's name means sick or you could just call him sicko. That's what his name means.

 And his brother's actually worse. Killian means done for or wasting away.

 That's what she named him. That's where they decided to name their kids. I have no clue. Now listen, I like you in the room, although some of you are the ones in the room who've done this, I sometimes am shocked by the names of kids sometimes. Like I hear some names and I'm like, oh, cool. Kindergarten will be wonderful for them. And, you know, sometimes it's like meaning and sometimes they're funny. Sometimes they're spelled weird or sometimes they're some kind of trendy something. But like they have meanings. And I actually were really passionate about names and meanings in our hands. Like all of our boys are the names have a significant meaning for us. And we think it's really cool. But I just can't imagine that when you're calling your kids, you know, to come in from dinner, like tell me dinner and you're just like, hey, sicko and done for.

 Sicko. And he's like, that's me. All of his friends are like, what is wrong with it? They called him sicko. Like what is going on? I don't know why they called them that, but that's what they did. But here's the thing. It also should just signify they don't have very long in the story.

 If that's a surprise to you. So they get to Moab. And the first thing that happens when they get there after they get there is a limaluck dies. So the husband dies. But the two sons get married to Moabite women. Right? And again, this was a nono.

 God said, don't do it. And some people debate were the Moabites cursed? Some people say yes, they are. Some people say no, they weren't cursed. There was just a curse on the nation of Israel if they took the Moabites in. Either way, you were breaking a direct commandment that was in Deuteronomy if you married a Moabite person. But in fact, too, you weren't supposed to marry anyone outside of Israel. And then it was also like a double down, but especially not them.

 So they married two women.

 One married a girl named Orpah, which people debate what her name means. The most likely one is Fawn or neck of a fawn. So she just had this like a dancer's neck. You know what I mean. She just had that long neck.

 And then the other one who married Siko, her name was Ruth.

 Ruth, which means friend, she married Siko.

 And they were together. But surprise, surprise, again, if you're just reading this, none of it should surprise you. Both sons die.

 Both sons die. So now we got two widows on our hands, right? Actually, three widows on our hands because you got Naomi, and then you've got these two Moabite women. And all the men are dead. And this and some time has passed. About  years has passed in the story. And she is now alone. But Naomi hears that God has returned his favor on the nation of Israel and that crops are growing again around her town. And so she's like, "Listen, I'm basically, I've got no husband. I got no prosperous husband. I got two daughtersinlaw and their sons are, my sons are dead. I'm going back to my ancestral place." And so she starts to leave. And at first, both these daughtersinlaw are going to come with her. And they're like, "We're going with you."

 But then a little while later, Naomi remembers something. "Oh, yeah.

 I'm not supposed to hang out with Moabites. I probably shouldn't bring them home."

 So she tells them, "Hey, I got an idea. Maybe you should go home and not come with me. Doesn't that sound good?"

 And listen, the neck of the gazelle, she is like, "I don't think I'm very much." And she just bounced. She ran. She was out. She didn't want to go anyways because she's like, "I know what's going to happen when I get there. It's not going to be good."

 But Ruth, friend Ruth, she has this incredible speech. This is in Ruth chapter , verse . She says, "Don't urge me to leave you or turn my back from you. Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me."

 She makes one of the most powerful oaths you will read in the entire Bible.

 She makes this oath to her motherinlaw, to her motherinlaw.

 I mean, some of you, that in itself is a miracle.

 Not for me. My motherinlaw is here.

 But here's the thing. She makes this oath. And so she's name is says, "Okay." And they go back and they get back to their ancestral town. And this is when, at this moment, this is when this turns into straight up, this turns into, and my wife introduced me to these, and she hates it when I say this, but it's true, she did. My wife introduces this thing that's really popular. I mean, they haven't been in English, but they're not exactly the same thing. But she introduced me to these shows. They're really prevalent in Hispanic community, and they're called telenovelas.

 Thank you.

 And listen, it's like a soap opera, but it's a Hispanic soap opera, so it's more dramatic.

 Okay? It's more dramatic. And it does wildly. No reality exists in telenovelas. Like anyone can come back to life. Anyone can have a twin. Anything can happen in telenovelas. And we don't watch it. We only watch it for you, but I'm telling you what. It's like open my eyes to a genre of things, right? And so this is, we are starting to, like this moment, we're starting a real, this is like a real ancient telenovela. So Naomi shows up with this darn law, a Moabite, who everyone knows, like she's not supposed to be there. And she shows up to come back to her ancestral land. And we get this like chorus of women who show up and they're like, "Oh, look, Naomi's back. Naomi's back." And the first thing she does, she says, "Don't call me Naomi anymore."

 Naomi's a little dramatic. You'll find this out. "Don't call me Naomi anymore. Call me Mara." And if you want to know what Mara means, Mara means bitter. You like, you remember whenever there was that water of bitterness and they called it Mara, like when they were going, so she's like, "Call me bitter,

 because God's taken everything from me." And the people are like, "Oh." And it's like, "I'm just here. And the only one I've got is this one." I tried to get rid of her, but she came anyways.

 And so I got to deal with that.

 So here I am, call me Mara. And they're like, "Okay, that's dramatic, but all right, Mara." And so they go. So they get there, and that's the end of chapter one.

 And basically what happens, oh, by the way, Naomi said this thing. She says, "I went away full and I came back empty." Isn't that dramatic? Come on, Naomi.

 Whatever. No, I'm kidding. So it ends chapter one and it says, just this little thing. Oh, and it's the season of the barley harvest.

 And again, most of you are like, "Cool, but that's important." And let me tell you why it's important. Some of you guys know I happen to dabble with bread.

 And I happen to like to deal with grains and whole grains. And the barley, that's a different than wheat, but it is a type of grain. And it's got a specific time of harvest. There's two major harvests that Israel would do. It was the barley harvest that was usually done in March, April, depending on the year. And then three or four months later, it would be the wheat harvest, right? So this is that time. But why it's important is that the barley harvest should not only give us a time of year that we can pick. So it's actually just maybe a couple weeks ago, would this would have happened. But it also paints a picture that there's a particular festival that's going on that we should know about and we should remember, which is the Passover Festival. The Festival of Redemption. This is all putting a picture in our minds. And so it says, "It's the barley harvest time." And so Ruth and Naomi get there. And the first thing they do when they get home, even though they have like an ancestral land and an ancestral home, there's nothing being grown there. Nothing is happening. It's not producing anything. So they have no food. So they say, "We have no food." So Ruth goes to her motherinlaw and she says, "Hey, I'm going to go and I'm going to try to get some leftover scraps because they're harvesting this barley. And maybe I can go around and get some scraps." And Naomi says, "That's a good idea." And the reason she says it's a good idea because Israel has this rule that when you harvest the barley or you harvest the wheat, there's two things that are supposed to be done because God desires to take care of those who are in poverty and widows and orphans and the stranger among them. So he said, "Because of that, when you harvest a field, anything that falls in a certain way, you're supposed to leave it. You're not supposed to go back. You're supposed to allow people who are less fortunate to you to come and take it." And then secondly, there's like this border around the field. Almost imagine a pop tart, the part that's not good, right?

 And that's the part that you're supposed to leave for. That's the part you're supposed to leave for the poor and the widows and the people who need that, right? And so that's the part that my parents cut off for my sister Lauren until she was like  years old. And maybe still to this day for all I know. And so I've got a story, but I'm going to time. But anyways, the pot tarts.

 So Naomi's like, "This is a good idea. You should be able to go and get some scraps first and we should be able to maybe get a loaf of bread out of this deal." So Naomi goes and she ends up at this field and she's working and it's hot in the dust and all this stuff. And she's working with these other women who are behind this stuff and she's going and she's gathering these little scraps that fall just hoping that I can get enough grain that I can process it and maybe get it milled and make some bread. And all of a sudden, this is when the dramatic music comes.

 The wind begins to blow. The sun is shining and a man enters in the scene.

 He's strong.

 He's powerfully built. He's handsome. He is the most eligible bachelor in Bethlehem. And not only does he have the looks, he's rich.

 And single.

 And he shows up on the scene. The hair just blowing and everyone likes him. Listen, it's like women love him and men want to be him. You know, like that's who this guy is. And he shows up and he's just blessing everyone. He's like, "Oh blessing, blessing all these people." And they're like, "Oh all of his workers are like, "We love you. We love you." And he's just like, "Yes, I know. Calm down, calm down, calm down." And he's just blessing everyone. And here's the thing, his name is Boaz.

 And Boaz, even his name is just, his name is, in him is strength. That's just who he is.

 He's just so powerful. And he's out there. And it's just total, my kids really love this joke that I made. I shared this story. They love this one. They told, they asked me to make sure I worked it into the sermon again. And Boaz is the only person in the history of the world who's ever been aura farming while barley farming. And that's what he did. I know the youth, you love it. You're welcome. Thank you. I'll be here all day. And so he's out there and he's just like checking on the stuff, making sure the harvest is happening, blessing people, like just this character. And all of a sudden, he's struck by something. And he's just immediately, whoosh, and he sees something. And he calls his head forming over and he says, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Who dat?

 And at first she's like, who? And he's like, you know who I'm talking about.

 Who's she? And he's like, oh, that's Ruth. The Moabite, you know, the one who came back from Naomi, you probably heard Naomi's back and she brought a Moabite with her. And that's her dynamite. And he's like, okay, okay, okay. So he goes over and he talks to her. Now there's another term my kids really didn't like,

 and I'm going to use it anyways, because they hate it.

 Felix hates it. Rafa hates it. Lucas hates it. Diego hates it. But I sometimes at this moment, I like to call Boaz "Daddy Boaz" at this point.

 Yeah, and see, you all like hate it. Because he shows up and he says, hey, listen, I just want to let you know, I've heard about you. I've heard about what you've done for your motherinlaw. I'm really impressed by it. And actually, if we had time, we don't have time to go over it, but like he starts saying some things that are actually crazy. He starts likening her in all the language he uses is the language that God uses to describe Abraham.

 And that's what he says about Ruth.

 Right? That's what he says about her, which is totally, if you were reading this and we were reading this as an Israel person, like your brain would be so confused about, wait, she's a Moabite and he's a person from Judah and he's calling her Abraham, but she's an outsider widow from a foreign place. Like what is going on? All my categories are getting mixed up.

 I'm getting mixed up. But he says, I heard what you did for your motherinlaw. I just want to let you know. You can stay here and you can glean grain here as long as you want. Nobody's going to bother you. Don't go to anybody else's field. Just go to this field. And she's like, okay.

 That's in the message translation.

 And so she goes and she does that. And then he goes over there and he talks to this foreman and he's like, is she looking over here? And he's like, yeah, totally. He's like, cool. Play it cool. And he tells us, like, listen, no one bother her. Okay. She gets to harvest here and she gets to work here as much money. He's like, yeah, got it. Sounds good. And he's like, also have a little extra fall around where she's working. You know what I'm saying? Have a little extra fall.

 And they're like, okay, cool.

 And then he comes back a little later. He's like, actually, actually just go ahead and bundle it up for her. Just bundle some up for her. And he's like, okay, cool. And then he's like, actually, she can come to lunch. I want her to come to lunch with me. I'm going to have lunch for her. Not for the rest of them, but for her. And then we're going to have lunch. And then there's leftovers. We had leftovers. We had doggy bags. We had to pack up doggy bags. And she needs to take the leftovers with her. And then you know what?

 Let's just go ahead and give her  pounds worth of flour. Let's just go for  pounds. And just so you know, what this equals is literally like  large loaves of bread is what this would turn into. Like a massive amount of it. This is not what you get from like leaning around. This was a transaction. So she comes at the end of one day of working. And Daddy Bo has his field.

 And she shows up back when Naomi carrying doggy bags of food and then like more grain than she can carry.

 And Naomi's like, what did you do to get all this food? She's like, I met the nicest guy. His name was Boaz. And he just kept giving me things. And I don't know why.

 Now Naomi, she knew why.

 She knew why. And she's like, Boaz? Ooh, this is good. And remember, she's dramatic. She's also a little bit of a, you know, meddler. And so she goes, this is good. And we get this term. He's a close relative to us. He's actually called our kinsmen redeemer is how like the King James would call it. A kinsmen redeemer. And this is this whole process that was this whole thing that got set up. It's like where basically if someone died or there was a family land that needed to be redeemed or a widow and there was someone who was a close relative, they could come in and they could redeem the land and they could act as a redeemer. And this was something that the people could do. But this was a bigger picture because God the entire time was talking about how He desired to be the redeemer of all of Israel. And so there's this picture of this kinsman redeemer. So she says, this is a kinsman redeemer. So she says, keep going back to that field and just keep doing whatever he says. And everything's going to be good. So we go through and it says that she works for a couple, both harvest, the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. So she's there working every day for about  weeks or so. It's about how long it takes for these two things to happen. And every day she's just getting food and doggy bags and go bags. Like she's just getting all the goodies and she's coming back. At this point, they've got food for the whole year. But she shows up and at the end of this, it says at the end of the harvest, there's a festival.

 There's a festival. And we get this incredible opportunity at this festival. And this is what happens. So this would be about Juneish time of year. Okay. And in this festival, Naomi has this idea. She says, okay, Ruth, it's time for us to call on Boaz.

 And it's time for us to ask if he will be our kinsman redeemer. Because we just can't do this forever. Like at some point we got to say, and I think he likes you. Because Ruth sees the flirtation. Ruth knows was, Naomi knows what's going on. Ruth is still clueless. And so she says, go. She tells her, she says, go, take a bath. Put on the lotions and the oils and the perfumes. I don't know where they got all these because I thought they were destitute. Maybe they sold all that bread they've been making. And so, do this. Put on your best clothes and you're going to go to this harvest festival. You're going to do exactly what I said. And she says, okay. And she says, you're going to wait until he's eaten this big harvest feast. And then he's drank a lot. And the Bible says that Boaz's heart was merry.

 I don't know what that means. But he also went and took a nap afterwards. So he ate a lot. He says, he ate a lot. He drank a lot. His heart was merry. And then he went and took a nap. And she says, when he takes a nap, she says, I want you to go and lay down at his feet.

 That's super weird.

 And also, young ladies in the room, this is not prescriptive of how to get a man. Okay. None of this is like some of you are like, taking notes, not this part.

 Okay. You don't got anything like, I'm surprised. So, says, lay down on her feet.

 And then when he wakes up, ask him if he'll redeem you. Now, we miss all this when we're reading it in English. But when you read this in the original Hebrew, all the language that's leading up to this point, all of it is actually, I mean, it is setting up a story that looks like this is going to end in tragedy or a moral failure.

 It's setting up a scene that looks much more like either the Tamar story or Lot and his two daughters story. This is setting up this whole idea of alcohol and late at night and people coming to each other. Like it's saying, like this is setting up this thing of like, oh man, this looks like something untoward is going to happen.

 And so she shows up and she lays down on her feet. And then in chapter  verse , Boaz woke up and he said, who are you? This is a good response, men, if you wake up and someone is laying at your feet that wasn't there when you fell asleep. Also, again, by our modern days, a good step two would probably be to run. That would be a good idea. Just run. Don't stand around. Don't see what they're up to. Just take off.

 That's for free.

 So, and she answered, I am Ruth, your servant.

 Spread your wings over your servant for you are a redeemer.

 Now this is really powerful because listen to this. And verse , in chapter , when Boaz was talking to Ruth, remember he was using all this Abraham and he says that the Lord would pay you for what you have done and a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.

 That's what Boaz says about her. And so now in this moment, she comes to Boaz and she asks, will you spread your wings over your servant? Will you become my covering? Will you redeem me? You are my redeemer. And at this moment, there's this tension in the story.

 Is he going to do what has happened time and time again when men are put in this place with vulnerable women, which is when they see and then they take and they consume and then they break everything? Or is he going to choose to act the way that God does and covers and redeems? And Boaz in him is strength and he had a relationship with God. And so he looked at her and he said, I will redeem you. But he said, but there's a problem.

 And this is where we enter phase two of telenovela, the other man.

 He said, there's an issue. I want to redeem you. In fact, I love you.

 But there's a relative who's closer and it's his right to redeem you first. And so if he's willing to redeem you, then he has to do it. But if he's not, I'll do it. But he said, just sleep here for the rest of the night. And in the morning you can go home and I'll take care of everything.

 And so she did that and said, they woke up early and he goes to the town square

 and she goes back to Naomi's house. She tells Naomi what happened. She says, you just rest here and do nothing while Boaz takes care of everything. You have to trust that he's working while you are resting.

 And she says, okay. So she sat there. Then Boaz goes to the gate and then wouldn't you know it, the other man shows up

 in the town square and he says, friend, I have some business for you.

 Do you know what the Bible calls his name?

 So and so. That's literally the guy's name. So and so. There's not even a name. It's like this guy came along and so and so.

 So and so comes around and he says, I've got some business for you. And wouldn't you know it? I just happened to gather  elders of the tribe and they're all right here.

 He hoodwinked this guy. He bushwhacked him. He just tricked this guy. And he says, I'm sure you've heard that Naomi's back in town and that her land and all of her family land needs to be redeemed.

 And you are the closest redeemer. And so I wanted to ask you in front of all these elders, are you willing to redeem her land? And he says, oh, I like land.

 I like things that can make me more money. So he says, yes, I would love to redeem it. And he says, oh, that's such goodness. I'm so glad you said that. But I also wanted to remind you that Naomi, the widow whose land you want to redeem, she has a daughterinlaw, the son of her oldest, the wife of her oldest, who also needs to be redeemed. Her name is Ruth. And oh, yeah, by the way, she's a Moabite.

 Remember the Moabites, the ones that you're not allowed to enter into a relationship with or else God will curse you for breaking the law. So she also needs to be taken care of. You got to have that one too.

 So are you down for that too?

 And the guy's like, nope.

 And he says, I can't because I'm afraid that if I were to redeem her, my inheritance would be ruined.

 Because I'm unwilling. And he's like, oh, cool. Would you swear that in front of all these  guys? Who's like, this is it? And he's like, yeah. And then he's like, okay, cool. All you got to do is give me your shoe.

 And you guys are like, what are you talking about? That's how they did it. Had to take off his shoe and give it to Boaz. So I want you to picture him. This guy was just on his normal stroll.

 And all of a sudden he's like, hey, can you come over here and talk to me a minute? And then he gets bushwhacked and all the  elders are there. You're like, and then all of a sudden it's like, you want to do this? He's like, yes. He's like, no. And he's like, cool, give me your shoe. And he's like, now get out of here. You don't want to be a redeemer. And God said we're supposed to be redeemers.

 But there's a conflict because God also said they weren't supposed to marry Mo Bites.

 Which one is it?

 And so he's like, I don't know. I'm not going to do it. And he's like, give me your shoe. Now walk home, all crooked, all barefoot over there. This guy's just like, the whole way home.

 But Boaz has exactly what he needed. And he said then, once he's got the shoe, he goes to those  elders. He said, I want to know I'm swearing an oath in front of all of you, in front of everyone here, that I will redeem the land and I will redeem Naomi and I will redeem Ruth the Moabite and we will be married.

 And all of a sudden the angels sing and the wind blows and all this kind of stuff. And they get excited. So he goes and he marries Ruth.

 And they get together and it says that they married, it goes, blesses them.

 And they have a child.

 And here's what's crazy.

 They give this child, his name is Obed. And these women show back up, the same woman, her name is here and she's like, call me bitter. And now she's back, she's like, I'm Naomi again.

 She's right back at it to Naomi. And they start saying some really wild stuff.

 They start saying, they start blessing Naomi and blessing Boaz and blessing Ruth and saying, may you, Ruth, be like Leah and Rachel, the mothers of all of Israel.

 And then they say something crazier, may you be like Tamar, who saved our tribe. And you remember from last week, Tamar, that story is just unhinged.

 And they said, well, you do this. And this is that she has a son, they named him Obed. And it says, they took the son and it says, they gave this son, they placed it. It says, the Bible literally says, place it at the breast of Naomi and that the baby, this very act, it says that it rejuvenated her youth. And this is one of those wild things. But the Bible says that Naomi was the one who was the nurse of this child and she breastfed this baby in her old age.

 And then the women said, what a daughterinlaw is Ruth. And by the way, all the dollars in the room, this is the blessing I'm speaking of, it says that your daughterinlaw is worth more than seven sons. And you may be like, how hard is that? But in that culture, one son is like the honor of honor. If you had seven sons, you were like something. And to say that this woman, Naomi, is worth more to you than seven sons

 was an honor that is beyond, like, this is such an amazing thing. And so everyone cheers and you're like, oh, this is great.

 You're like, what a beautiful story. I can't believe Boaz was willing to do that. And then it ends like every very important story ends with a genealogy. The credits.

 And it goes on and it tells you these are the sons of Judah.

 And it gives you the  generations of Judah.

 And the last one is David, King of Israel. Now, remember how the story started? And the time when the judges ruled in Israel, brokenness, what does it point forward to? David, the greatest king of all the nation of Israel.

 The man after God's heart.

 That's the last word of Ruth is David.

 But here's what the genealogy reminds us. Why would Boaz marry a woman who was off limits when he didn't have a heart? Why would he think that God is able to redeem someone who's an outsider and bring them to the insider?

 Well, I'm glad you asked that. That means you're a good Bible student.

 So when you're reading through that heritage, it has Judah. Then it's Perez was the son of Judah. Remember, his mom was Tamar.

 And then you have Hezron, Ram, Abinadab, Nashon, and then Solomon, Boaz.

 So Boaz's dad was Solomon.

 But what we know if you read Exodus that you should connect, remember connecting the dots with connecting the dots.

 Solomon married somebody else who was outside of Israel.

 Her name was Rahab, the Jericho prostitute.

 Boaz's mom was Rahab, the Jericho prostitute. Boaz growing up seeing the results of one who chooses God and what redemption is and how God will cover with the wings when someone says that your God will be my God and your people will be my people because Rahab, before they ever went and started marching around those walls, said, "I've heard of the fame of your God and I believe that he is the God and the creator of all things and that if you will save me and my family, we will serve and be with you for the rest of life." And she was redeemed her and her whole family, the only ones to survive to survive from Jericho. And she married the person who was the head of all of the tribe of Judah and she had a son and named him in him his strength. And he grew up his whole life knowing that at one point in time, my mom was a foreigner and a prostitute, but God's redemption turned her into one of the most influential women in all of the nation of Israel. And she had me and in him his strength. And now I see another woman who's in need of redemption and God's wings can cover and redeem beyond what we can ever see.

 So he saw Ruth and he said, "Can God redeem something like that?"

 And he knew the answer was yes.

 And then Ruth, the Moabite, the one who shouldn't have been allowed in, is now not only in, but is in the very... She's the grandmother of the King of Israel, David. And therefore we know because we know what comes from David. If we keep going and keep going and keep going, is Jesus himself, our great redeemer. How much time do we have?

 You want to hear something else cool?

 Good. Because I was going to do it whether you wanted to or not.

 So listen this in the genealogy.

 So Judah, he has Perez, Hezron, Ram, Abinadab, Neshawn, Solomon, Boaz. Boaz is the seventh son, the seventh generation from Judah.

 David is the tenth one.

 But Boaz, the redeemer, he's the seventh one. Do you remember when Jesus was with his disciples?

 And they were coming from Galilee, they were going to Jerusalem. And he said, "We have to pass through Samaria."

 And they were like, "Gross, Samaria is disgusting and we hate those people."

 And they complained about it. They hated it so much they would walk the long ways to get to Jerusalem, as opposed to the straight path, because they could not stand the Samarians.

 But he says, "I have to go through it." And he went to it, and he went to Jacob as well. And his people were like, "Now we got to go see if we can find some kosher food." And there's a godawful place. And they leave Jesus at the well, and then a woman shows up in the middle of the day, when no woman should show up to get for water. And he asks her for a drink, and she's just like, "No." And they have this long dialogue, and they have this whole story, and they talk about God and the kingdom and the Messiah.

 And he starts talking about worshiping and all this kind of stuff. And he says, "I'm the living water." And she's like, "I want a drink." And then he tells all this stuff. And then she says this question, and he says, "That's true." And then he asks her, "Go ahead and bring your husband."

 Do you guys remember this story?

 And she says, "I don't have a husband."

 And he says, "Ah, you answer true.

 You've had five husbands.

 And the one who's with you today, you're not even married to."

 Now, maybe you grew up in the same context that I grew up, when I grew up, I'm like, "Oh, five husbands. She's a bad girl.

 Or she's a black widow.

 Or she can't cook good. I don't know which it is."

 But I was like, "Something's wrong with her."

 But in that culture, both in Sumerian and in Jewish culture,

 women can't ask for divorce.

 Women are issued divorce.

 They have no choice in the matter.

 So what he told her is, "Five times you've been rejected.

 The sixth one, he won't even marry you.

 He won't even give you any of the security that comes from that."

 But the seventh man, Jesus, showed up. The Redeemer, and told her everything she had ever done. And as opposed to feeling guilty, she felt redeemed. And she went to the town, and she became one of the first evangelists of Jesus the Messiah. Not even a Jewish person, not even a man, but the woman was one of the first evangelists of Jesus, the Messiah, and said, "He is the Son of God, the Messiah, and I know because he told me everything I've ever done, and that I'm forgiven."

 Six men had rejected her, but then the seventh man, the Redeemer, showed up. Just like Boaz showed up, it's seven generations from Judah, and all the brokenness and was willing to redeem Ruth.

 Jesus will show up in your situation, is willing to redeem anything that you have going on. There is no background. There is no failure. There is no sin. There is no shortcoming. There is nothing that can separate you from the love of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.

 There is no thing too big that His redemption is not powerful enough for. There's no ancient history or modern problem that the love and the redemption of Jesus Christ is not there for. (Music)

 And in the story of Ruth, a story that in any other culture would not have been recorded because she was not powerful, she was not royal, she was not a queen, she was a rejected widow that was in destitute living, and that is who God says, "And I want to tell her story." (Music)

 Because it shows my heart.

 It shows what happens when people trust in me.

 (Music) When we experience God's loyal love, and I wish I had time, one of my favorite Old Testament words, Hebrew words, as Hasid, and it's all through this story, loyal love, loyal love. Ruth shows it, Boaz shows it, God shows it, but when we experience His loyal love, we are transformed into people who can show loyal love to others.

 But I can tell you, when you lay yourselves at the feet of Jesus, your Redeemer, and invite Him and say, "Can you cover me in the wings of God? Can you cover me?"

 You'll find out that not only are you redeemed and restored,

 but the generations before you can be restored and the generations after you can be restored. Because of Ruth's faithfulness and her choice to serve God, Naomi's life was transformed and just told that she was given more back than she ever had, and the generations forward were blessed because of the faithfulness of Ruth. You may say, "I don't know if I can do anything on your own." It's true, you can do nothing. Apart from Him, you can do nothing, but with Him all things are possible, and whatever He chooses to redeem and transform and change and heal and restore, that is what He can do through the work of Jesus Christ and the Redeemer in your life. (Music)

 And so to all the moms who are here today,

 the ones who daily and weekly and monthly show loyal love to their families,

 and especially for you who know that you can't do it on your own and you need to turn to that Redeemer, (Music) you are transforming and healing the generations that came before you, and you are changing the trajectory of the generations after you.

 (Music) It is not a small task, and if you're a biological mom or a stepmom or an adoptive mom or any of the categories of moms that are sitting in this room today, you have an ability that when you partner with Christ and you turn to Him, you are the conduit of through what the restoration and the redeeming that comes through. What a powerful, what a powerful joy and honor that has been given.

 And last thing, church, before we dismiss, and we can go ahead and have some Mother's Day brunch. My favorite thing about Mother's Day.

 I just want you to stand with me real quick.

 And for all those mom figures that we have in the room, at the exits there's some little tables set up, and we just have this, this is not what you deserve, you deserve much more than what this is, but we have a little bookmark, a little reminder that we made for you this Mother's Day, just to bring home. And it's based out of the verse that we read in Psalms ,

 where it says, "God is in the midst of her, and she shall not be moved, and God will help her when morning dawns." I would love for you on your way out, just grab one of these.

 Let this word be a reminder that God, your Redeemer, the love of your soul is with you. He values you. He loves you.

 No matter what hardship you faced yesterday or will face tomorrow, in this moment, He is there, present with you.

 And He'll be present with you in every trial, in every tribulation, in every up and every down.

 Let's pray this morning. Father God, we thank you so much for today.

 We love you. We bless you. Lord, we celebrate all the moms in this room. We celebrate the effort and the love and the sacrifice that they make for the next generation.

 Lord, we just thank you that we can partner with you, our Redeemer,

 and amplify the results of our lives so that we can see your goodness here in the land of the living.

 Lord, we just love you and we praise you. It's in your holy name we pray, amen and amen.