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A God-Made Life · Enjoying the Journey

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  The Book of Ruth begins in dark days,
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  but even in the darkness, God was at work. Through loss,
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  uncertainty, and unexpected turns, we discover
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  a beautiful story of grace, redemption,
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  and hope. Join Scott Pauley for this new study, The Gospel
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  According to Ruth. Light for Dark Days.
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  It is not uncommon in our world today to hear people talk about being
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  self-made people, a self-made man, a self-made
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  woman, a self-made business person. But may
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  I just tell you that first of all, that's a real misnomer because
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  Nobody makes something of themselves. All of
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  us are products of the people who invest in us and influence
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  us and whose life intersects with our lives.
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  The truth of the matter is, even if you say, well, I, I'm the
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  one who put forth the effort and I had to work for all of this—
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  yes, but somewhere God used someone in your life.
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  But let's back up from that just a step. And let
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  me point out to you that even if there was such a thing as a
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  self-made person, the greatest life in the world is never
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  the self-made life. Rather,
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  it is the God-made life. And here's the reason for that: because
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  God is the— God is the one who gave you life.
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  God is the giver of all good gifts. So the great life
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  is not what you can produce, But rather it
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  is a life of fruitfulness, and fruit is something only God
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  can produce. In fact, I think the, the verbiage in
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  Ruth chapter 4 is very, very important because it talks
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  about being fruitful. And this is so important.
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  John chapter number 15, uh, it is we who bear the
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  fruit, but it is he who produces the fruit.
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  Look, you walk through a garden, you don't brag on the vegetables,
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  you brag on the gardener, the, the one who actually
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  cultivated it, who made it possible, who,
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  who ministered to it in such a way that it could bear fruit. Look,
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  friends, we're all just in God's produce department,
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  and if the best we can do is what we can produce, that's, that's far
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  short of what God has for us. No, The great life
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  is a God-made life. And so we
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  return right to where we left off the other day in the prayer that these
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  people prayed for the union of Boaz and
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  Ruth. Let me read it to you again. Ruth chapter 4,
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  verses 11 through 13. And all the people
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  that were in the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses.
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  And then here is the blessing. That they brought. You know, people come
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  to a wedding, they bring wedding gifts, they give kind greetings,
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  but the greatest blessing is the spiritual blessing. Here's the blessing: The
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  Lord make the woman that has come into thine
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  house like Rachel and like Leah,
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  which 2 did build the house of Israel. And do
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  thou worthily in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem And
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  let thy house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bare
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  unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give of this young woman.
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  So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife.
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  And when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare
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  a son. Now, does Boaz have a part? Yes.
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  Does Ruth have a part? Yes. But I want to point out to
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  you that the emphasis of the passage is on the Lord. This is very important.
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  Because while we have a responsibility, it is God.
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  Salvation is of the Lord. Every good thing in my life
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  is because of the Lord. Would you mark in verse number 11 this
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  phrase, the Lord make? This is the life worth living.
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  You want a life worth living? Let it be the God-made life.
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  The Lord make. And then in verse number 12,
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  mark this phrase, the Lord shall give.
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  So the Lord makes, the Lord gives, and then
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  again in verse number 13, the Lord gave. Isn't that beautiful?
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  So what they prayed was answered. The blessing that they anticipated,
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  what they believed God to do, the Lord did that. And I might add,
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  we're about to come to this, much more than they expected,
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  much more than they imagined. The Lord
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  gave and the Lord made it so. Ruth's life
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  is not a Ruth-made life or even just a Boaz-made
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  life. It is a God-made life.
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  Like everyone, Ruth had a past, but now,
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  now she has a future. And maybe I'm talking to somebody today and
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  you, you're thinking so much of your past. Maybe the blessings
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  of your past are so big in your mind you can't imagine any more blessing.
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  I want you to know that God always saves the best for
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  last. Maybe it is the blemishes and the blots and
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  the blights on your past, and they weigh you
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  down. Your own sin, your own failure, what someone
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  else did, what somebody said, something you can't seem to get over.
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  I want to tell you, friend, everybody has a past, but God
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  has made it so that you and I can get past our past.
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  See, the God of the Bible is not the God of the past. He is
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  the God of the present and the God of the future. He is the eternal
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  God. He is God from beginning to end and everything
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  in between. And whatever your past, I want to tell you
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  today that with the Lord, with the Lord, I can confidently tell
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  you, you do have a future. Now everything has
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  changed for Ruth. For example, now she
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  has peace. In verse 9 and 10, her debt was paid.
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  This was a woman who was in debt and she couldn't pay
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  the debt. Sound familiar? Yes, but our Lord Jesus
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  Christ has paid the debt in full. He takes care of
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  the past. He pays the debt. He, he brings us from poverty to riches,
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  from death to life. Blessed be the name of our great Redeemer.
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  We now have peace with God. That's a God-made life.
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  And now she not only has peace, now she has provision.
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  And the verses that we just read, verse 11, 12, and 13, she gets
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  more than the material, more than money. Let me tell you what the greatest blessing
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  in life is. The greatest blessing in life is people.
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  The greatest blessing in life are the, the people that
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  God has given you to love and the people God has given you to influence.
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  The greatest treasure I have is my wife,
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  our children, our grandchildren, my,
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  my parents, even my sister. You know you're getting old when you
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  start to love your siblings, you know. But all of our family, aunts and uncles,
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  These are the people, and spiritually speaking, people in the family of God
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  the Lord has given to minister to me and me to minister to them.
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  This is the greatest provision of all.
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  Notice, we'll come back to this in verse 11,
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  they pray that she will be so fruitful she'll
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  be like Rachel and Leah, and then in verse
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  number 12, like Perez. We'll come back and talk
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  about who these people are, but the point is they were praying that she would
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  have children. That she would have the divine provision, what God alone can
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  give. And God answered that prayer. It's a God-made life.
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  And now she has peace, and now she has provision, and now she
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  has purpose. We'll come back to this thought as well, uh,
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  but it is this— I love this— in verse number 11: Do thou worthily
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  in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem.
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  Would you like to know what your purpose is? It's to make your Redeemer famous.
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  It's not just to be blessed, it is to be a blessing.
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  And, and if you continue reading, uh, the rest of the chapter,
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  the end of the Book of Ruth, which we will come to, you'll find
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  that she now has a place. She's accepted into the lineage
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  of Christ. I mean, she— this woman is going to show up in
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  the genealogical record of Messiah. Think how far she's
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  come. Was that because of Ruth? No. Was that because She earned
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  it. She was somebody. She got in there and made it happen and got it
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  done. No, this is the divine favor. This is grace,
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  people. This is what only the Lord can do. We are accepted
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  in the Beloved. Some of you are looking for acceptance.
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  You're having a hard time finding it. You're having a hard time finding your place.
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  Well, I want you to know, you come to Jesus and Christ brings you to
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  God, and in God you find everything you've been searching
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  for all along. This is the Gospel According to Ruth,
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  and this is A God-Made Life.
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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 every
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  book of the Bible. Enjoying the Journey is made
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  Until next time, keep following God's word and
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  finding Christ's joy.