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Stay Close · Enjoying the Journey

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  The Book of Ruth begins in dark days, but even
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  in the darkness, God was at work. Through loss,
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  uncertainty, and unexpected turns, we discover a
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  beautiful story of grace, redemption,
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  and hope. Join Scott Pauley for this new study,
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  The Gospel According to Ruth. Light for
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  Dark Days.
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  In the crisis hours of life, lots of people run to
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  the Lord, but sadly, not all stay.
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  You know, in a moment you can be right with God. In a moment you
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  can get near to the Lord, but you have to choose to stay close
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  to him every day. And there's never a good time. Are you listening to me?
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  Never a good time to get away from the Lord.
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  Never. But the time of greatest need is
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  certainly not the time to be at a distance from God.
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  You want to know how you can be sure to be near on the desperate
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  days and the, and the, and the hardest days of your life?
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  Stay close to God every day.
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  We return to Ruth chapter 2. We've been talking a lot about Boaz, this redeemer
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  the mighty, gracious, interested, kind deliverer
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  that God puts here, a picture of our Christ. But I want
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  to bring you now to Ruth's response to him.
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  Remember, we've been talking about our responsibility to
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  respond to God, and I think this is very important. In verse number 8,
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  Boaz says to Ruth, hearest thou not,
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  my daughter? Go not to glean in another
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  field. Neither go from hence,
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  but abide here fast by my maidens.
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  Now that, that word fast is not a speed
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  word, it's a stick word. And the word fast literally means
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  like glue, to stick to something. What is Boaz saying?
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  He is telling her not only to come close but to
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  stay close. For example, From verse 18 down
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  to verse number 23,
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  she, she draws near, she comes close.
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  But if you come to the end, verse number 23, the Bible says,
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  so she kept fast by the maidens. Verse 21,
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  same thing, thou shalt keep fast. Isn't that interesting?
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  3 times in chapter 2 we find this
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  expression to stay fast.
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  Literally stay close. And I want to say to all of us today,
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  this is the time not only to get close to God, this is the time
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  to stay close. It's time to stay close. This is not the time to drift.
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  This is not the time to get out of church. It's not the time to
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  let the world into your home. It's not the time to lay down your Bible
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  or stop praying. This is not the time to, to lose the fire and zeal
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  for souls. No. If ever there was a time to
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  stay close, this is it. Because when
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  you stay close, you're going to find everything that you need in
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  the Lord. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Look at, look at the
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  chapter again. Ruth chapter 2, verse number 9. When you stay
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  close, you find safety. He says, I have charged
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  the young men that they shall not touch thee. Isn't that wonderful? There's protection
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  when you live in God's presence. The safest place in the world is
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  near the heart of God. Stay close. Again, in verse
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  number 9, he not only tells them don't touch this woman,
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  he says when you're thirsty, go into the vessels and drink of that which
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  the young men have drawn. Isn't this beautiful? When you stay
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  close, you not only find safety, you find satisfaction. He quenches
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  our deepest thirst. Water in scripture is always symbolic of
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  life, and he, he satisfies, he meets the
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  needs. And then come down to verse number 14.
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  Boaz said unto her, at mealtime come thou hither
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  and eat of the bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat
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  beside the reapers, and he reached her parched corn, and she
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  did eat and was satisfied— was sufficed—
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  and left. Isn't that wonderful? Do you see When you stay close,
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  not only do you find safety and satisfaction, you find supply.
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  Here's the sufficiency of God, his own provision. She's not gleaning now.
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  She's sitting at the table. She, she's no longer
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  just picking up leftovers. No, God doesn't just give his kids leftovers.
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  She is now feasting on the bounty.
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  This is powerful stuff. Powerful. Look again,
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  verse number 18. She took it up, went to the city, and her mother-in-law saw
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  what she had gleaned, and she brought forth and gave to her that
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  she had reserved after she was sufficed. There it is again,
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  the sufficiency of the Lord. This is so beautiful.
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  See, when you stay close to God, you get more than you
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  could ever imagine, exceeding abundantly above all we could ask
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  or even think. And then look at verse 15 and verse 16.
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  When she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying,
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  let her glean even among the sheaves and reproach her not.
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  And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave
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  them that she may glean them and rebuke her not. When you stay close,
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  you find God's special gifts.
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  Blessings are great. Can I
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  tell you what's better than the blessings? The blesser. To be near him.
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  She, she's allowed to come among the sheaves.
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  You see, strangers should have only been allowed according to Leviticus 19
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  to have gleaned in the corners of the field, way off in the corner in
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  the distance. He says you come as close as you want.
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  Oh dear one, you can be as close to God as you want to be
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  today. You can be as near to him as you want. You don't have to
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  live at a distance. You don't have to settle for living in the corner.
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  No. Come close to God. Come among the sheaves.
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  Come near the blesser. And I love this— twice he says it.
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  At the end of verse 15, reproach her not. At the end of verse 16,
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  rebuke her not. There's no reproach with him.
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  He doesn't scold you, doesn't fuss at you. James 1:5,
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  if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, which giveth to all
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  men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask
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  in faith, nothing wavering.
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  God's not going to reproach you. God's not going to rebuke you.
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  Look, who, who can say no when God says yes?
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  And the Lord says yes, you come to me, I'll give you what you need.
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  Notice there's handfuls of purpose here. It's the divine intention to
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  bless us. Sin brings the curse, God brings the blessing.
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  I'm telling you, when you stay close, you find safety and you find
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  satisfaction and you find supply, and you find special gifts,
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  and then you also find sufficient for other people. Do you see that
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  not only does she eat well and not only does she get what she needs,
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  but when she leaves, verse 17, she leaves with an ephah
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  of barley. You know how much that is? That's between 50 and 51 pounds
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  of barley she carried home. Friend, that was enough for her to eat on for
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  a long time, but it was also enough for her to feed Naomi, her mother-in-law.
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  And anybody else leaving, living at the house. God didn't
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  just want to give you what you need. God wants to give you so many
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  blessings and so much truth, so much grace, that you can share it with
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  others. 2 Corinthians 1:4, we comfort them with
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  the same comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
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  See, this is, this is the cause of others. This is
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  the cause of God in the lives of others. Don't you want that?
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  All right, then stay close. Stay close. Can I
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  give you some practical applications of this from Ruth's example?
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  Stay humble. Remember, you don't deserve anything. She acknowledged
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  that again and again. I don't deserve this. I don't deserve this.
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  Stay trusting. Verse number 12, we'll come back
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  to this. She's trusting the Lord God of Israel. She's come under his wings.
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  Stay loving. All through, Ruth keeps a loving heart
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  towards Boaz, towards Naomi.
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  Minister to others. Stay diligent. She's working,
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  she's out there in the fields, she's laboring.
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  Stay obedient. Just do what you're told to do.
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  And if you'll stay humble and stay trusting and stay loving and stay diligent
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  and stay obedient, guess what? You'll stay close.
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  One of my favorite hymns has in it a line that says, prone to wander,
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  Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.
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  Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.
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  Could I challenge you today not only to come to the Lord, but by
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  God's grace, every day stay close to him?
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  It's time to stay close.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's study. If you've enjoyed
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  this journey through Ruth, visit us at etj.bible
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  and explore our Journey Through Scripture section,
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  where you'll find overviews, Bible teaching, and preaching for
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  every book of the Bible. Enjoying the Journey is
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  If God leads you to give, simply click Give at
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  etj.bible. Until next time, keep following God's Word and
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  finding Christ's joy.