1) "As your prayer life develops with God, you will have to do plenty of both of those things: times when you find yourself waiting for an answer, other times God will have you waiting on his timing." [35:08] (Download)

2) "After years of waiting, God had us moving at lightning speed to get this church up and going. He really got told us in February and we had our first service in July." [36:32] (Download)

3) "Everybody's praying for one another, and now after all these prayers, Naomi is going to take some action. She has a plan to restore Ruth through marriage with Boaz." [39:23] (Download)

4) "Naomi knew they were going to be there celebrating that night. So as the barley and other grain was winnowed, the celebration would be occurring; it was all one big event that happened while they worked." [43:12] (Download)

5) "Boaz's response is truly wonderful, 'The Lord bless you, my daughter.' He seems genuinely happy and flattered and chosen. Boaz realizes that he is blessed and in turn asks God to bless Ruth." [45:47] (Download)

6) "Boaz understood the meaning behind Ruth's words and actions. So Boaz continues, 'Now don't worry about a thing, my daughter, I will do what is necessary for everyone in town knows you are a virtuous woman.'" [46:50] (Download)

7) "Naomi trusted that Boaz would do as he said and bring this to resolution that same day. And next week we'll learn if he did or not, or you can read ahead to Ruth chapter 4 and find out what happens." [51:56] (Download)

8) "Sometimes in a story that has this many questions in it, we can get so caught up in the questions that the real point gets lost." [51:56] (Download)

Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, God. Father God, we just thank you so much for this day. Lord, we thank you for everything that you've done in our lives. We thank you that we can come to your table and be welcomed there, that even though we're sinners, you welcome us into your house.

Lord, we thank you that we're your children and that you have a place for us. We thank you for all the great things that you've done in our lives and continue to do. We give you all honor and glory and praise for that.

Lord, this morning we worship you. We worship you, Lord. So, Father, we just ask that you bless our pastor, Pastor Cheryl, as she comes to deliver the message this morning. May her words be your words. We ask this all in the holy, holy, holy name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Amen.

Good morning! I loved watching your faces while I was reading Ruth chapter 3 because you're all going, "Where is she going to go with this one?" And it's okay; you'll figure it out.

So, first question: What do you do when God hears you waiting on something? How do you respond to that? You like it? Well, I just want to make sure no one said yes. Okay, so what about when He tells you to do something? Do you always respond right away? No.

As your prayer life develops with God, you will have to do plenty of both of those things, right? You'll have times when you find yourself waiting for an answer. Other times, God will have you waiting on His timing, even though you know what the answer is. And other times, God's going to ask you to do something that's going to take you completely outside of your comfort zone.

When we moved here almost 12 years ago, we knew when we moved up here that God had us here to help plant the church. For years, we thought about it, we dreamed about it, we prayed about it, and we kept waiting to see who God was going to bring in here to lead this church that we were just going to come alongside of.

And then, I don't know, about five years after we got here, we were going to a different church. We were coming across the bridge. We were actually in the same vehicle. For those of you who know, we're generally not in the same vehicle. We were in the same vehicle, coming across the bridge, and we both kind of at the same time said, "It's time. We're supposed to plant this church now."

As we started talking about it, we realized that God gave us the same vision for the church. We're not people who finish each other's sentences, but we were that day. And that we weren't just here to support a church plant, but we were here to plant the church.

He gave us this location, which happened actually very easily. He put everything in motion for the timeline that He gave us. After years of waiting, God had us moving at lightning speed to get this church up and going. He really told us in February, and we had our first service in July. For those who've been part of church plants, it's usually a two or three-year process. That wasn't what God had in mind, but it all came together. God made it all come together, and here we are, five and a half years later.

The vision remains the same: living our faith and loving our community. People have come and people have gone. All of you have found your church home here. The waiting part wasn't easy. That waiting for when God was going to say to do something was not easy, nor was it easy when God said it was time to go and we were supposed to move so quickly.

But today, as we see in Ruth, we'll see all those things, right? We're going to see the waiting, we're going to see action taken, we're going to see prayers answered, and we're going to talk about what God is doing in your life and how He uses both the waiting and the calls to action to fulfill His good and perfect purpose.

So again, Ruth chapter three, starting in verse one: "One day Naomi said to Ruth, 'My daughter, it's time that I found a permanent home for you. It will be good for you there. Boaz is a close relative of ours and has been very kind, letting you gather grain with his young women. Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor.'"

So Naomi and Ruth have been together through a whole lot, right? The deaths of their husbands. For Naomi, she lost two of her sons, one of which was Ruth's husband. Not knowing how they were going to have their needs met, leaving Moab for Bethlehem was home for Naomi, but she had been gone for several years. It was a completely strange place for Ruth as she's coming there.

After their arrival, things started to look up. Ruth was able to go and glean barley from the field that belonged to Boaz. Gleaning means that she would walk behind the harvesters and pick up what was left. It was a common practice under Mosaic law for that to happen for people who couldn't provide for themselves, and Ruth and Naomi were certainly in that group of people who were marginalized and needed that help.

So Ruth is getting what they needed for food, and she was working in the field owned by Boaz, who was their family redeemer. He was looking out for her; he was protecting her. He was going above and beyond what was ever called for someone who was just gleaning in his fields.

In the midst of all that, we heard a whole lot of prayers, right? Ruth's prayer that she'd take care of Naomi, Boaz and his harvesters blessing each other. Boaz prayed that God would be with them, and they in turn prayed that he would be blessed.

But there were three prayers that stand out that we're going to see that are answered today or on their way to being answered today. First is Naomi's prayer that Ruth would have another marriage so Ruth would be secure. Without a marriage at that point in time, there was no way for Ruth to be secure. She could not go get a job and take care of herself, no matter how confident she was.

Then you have Boaz's prayer that God cared for Ruth the way she cared for Naomi. We see everything that she did and everything she gave up when she moved away from home in order to care for Naomi. And then you have Naomi's prayer that Boaz be blessed for how he cared for Ruth.

Everybody's praying for one another, and now after all these prayers, Naomi is going to take some action. She has a plan, and it's a plan to restore Ruth through marriage with Boaz. It would give Ruth a new life and a new chance for children and security that she wasn't going to have as she was a widow.

As we said earlier, Boaz is their family redeemer, but he's also a wealthy, caring, influential man of God who is highly esteemed in the community and has been very kind to Ruth and, by extension, to Naomi. That evening, he would be at the threshing floor winnowing. When they winnowed, which is again when they separated the chaff from the grain, they would use the late afternoon and evening breezes to do that. So that's how she knew he would be there in the evening.

Naomi knew that Boaz would be there, and that brought the rest of the plan.

So verse three says, "Now do as I tell you: take a bath, put on perfume, and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don't let Boaz see you until he has finished eating and drinking. Be sure to notice where he lies down. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do next."

So now Naomi is taking action, right? Or rather, she was instructing Ruth on what she needed to do. It starts with getting ready. It makes sense to us, right? If we're going on a date or just going out, we want to shower, make sure we smell good, put on nice clothes, and make sure we look good. That's basically what Naomi is telling Ruth to do.

In other places in the Bible, this series of actions—this bathing, anointing, and changing of clothes—signifies a change in circumstances. Like when David had finished mourning his son, he went and did all these steps. It happens a couple of other times in the Bible. This would be a change in Ruth's circumstances for certain.

Then she goes to the threshing room floor where Boaz is, but still not let him see her. Once he lies down and goes to sleep, I know all this sounds crazy. We're going to talk about it.

Then Ruth goes and lies at his feet and uncovers them. Then he's going to tell Ruth what to do next. Got questions? Don't start throwing them at me because I know everybody's got questions. You don't have any? Okay, but you should, right?

So, you know, why is she going to lie at his feet and uncover them? I went through all my study and reference. You guys know I spend quite a bit of time doing that. There are a whole lot of reasons given, and if you start going out to the blogs, you get some really crazy reasons given why this happened. Some of you may have heard other reasons in other sermons.

The one that seems the most plausible, though, and that's repeated by the more respected theologians, is quite honestly that she just wanted to wake him up. Unless you're weird like me and you sleep with your feet out, your feet being outside of the covers is going to eventually wake you up because they're going to be cold.

So, why is she going to lay there at his feet? Well, Ruth was just standing there looking over him, waiting for him to wake up. Wouldn't that be creepy? Right? Can you imagine waking up with your feet out and suddenly there's a person standing there? So it's still a little frightening, still a little weird, but she was to lie down so it wouldn't be quite so creepy, and she would lie there on the threshing room floor with him.

The threshing floor would be a public place, so Ruth would be able to get in there. It wasn't like trying to get into his house or something; it was an open area that she could get to and do this.

So verse five says, "I will do everything you say," Ruth replied. So she went down to the threshing floor that night and followed the instructions of her mother-in-law. After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he lay down at the far end of the pile of grain and went to sleep. Then Ruth came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

So Ruth did what Naomi requested of her, right? She bathed, she put on her perfume, she wore her best clothes, she went to the threshing room floor, she waited for Boaz until he had finished eating and drinking, and then he laid down by his grain and went to sleep.

Anybody else here sleep near their grain? Put a bag of flour at their head when they go to sleep? Any of you do? Okay, I knew there was going to be somebody.

But let me help with that one a little bit too. A successful crop and harvest would be a reason for celebration. There would often be a celebration accompanying it. This was a reason to celebrate, and Naomi knew they were going to be there celebrating that night.

So as the barley and other grain was winnowed, the celebration would be occurring. It was all kind of one big event that happened while they worked; they partied, if you will. When the winnowing was complete, though, he would want to protect the stuff. He wouldn't be able to get to the storage right away because it would be late at night, so he's going to lay there and protect himself. That's why he's sleeping on the threshing floor—protecting his produce, right?

So once he's asleep, Ruth follows Naomi's instruction. She goes to where he's sleeping, uncovers his feet, and lies down. It goes on in verse eight and says, "Around midnight, Boaz suddenly woke up and turned over. He was surprised to find a woman lying at his feet."

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am your servant, Ruth," she replied. "Spread the corner of your covering over me, for you are my family redeemer."

I know, still more questions. This is a weird one. So if the point of uncovering Boaz's feet was to wake him up, it had worked. He woke up, turned over, and was surprised to find Ruth lying there. He didn't know who it was, so he asked who it was.

Ruth responded, "I am Ruth, your servant." She wasn't actually a servant in his home or in his fields, but she was speaking of her place next to her, her status to him. She was lower than him, right? At that time and in that place, she was a female and a foreigner—both strikes against her—while he was wealthy and influential, a man who was a community mover and shaker.

She knew that he had more status than she did. Then she asked him to spread the corner of his covering over her as a family redeemer. This feels a bit strange too. Do you guys remember last week in chapter 2, verse 12? It said, "May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done."

We said it was similar to Psalm 36 and 57 and 91 and a whole lot of other ones, and it's about God's wings protecting and sheltering those in need. It's the protective covering of the Lord's care. Ruth is asking Boaz, as the family redeemer, to take her under the protective care of his covering. That's what that signifies; that's what that's talking about.

Verse 10 says, "The Lord bless you, my daughter," Boaz exclaimed. "You are showing even more family loyalty now than you did before, for you have not gone after a younger man, whether rich or poor."

So Boaz's response is truly wonderful, right? "The Lord bless you, my daughter," he exclaims. He seems genuinely happy and flattered and surprised and chosen. Boaz realizes that he is blessed and in turn asks God to bless Ruth. He knows how loyal and caring she has been towards Naomi, and now he is experiencing that same thing from Ruth.

As we will see, God will bless her more. So Boaz knows that Ruth could have gone and chosen someone else to pursue, specifically someone younger. He refers to her as his daughter two or three times in here, implying an age difference—how much, we don't know, and I am not going to throw any stones on that one.

But she knew that Boaz had the rightful place as their family redeemer, and she honored him in asking him to fulfill that role and all its responsibilities. In doing so, what she was really doing—it was kind of clouded, and we don't necessarily get it—when she asked him to do that, she was asking him to marry her without actually asking.

It was really a marriage proposal. There were no kept women at that time; she wasn't going to go and become his daughter. It was a marriage proposal that she was making. Boaz understood what that was and understood the meaning behind Ruth's words and Ruth's actions.

So Boaz continues, "Now don't worry about a thing, my daughter. I will do what is necessary, for everyone in town knows you are a virtuous woman. But while it's true that I am one of your family redeemers, there's another man who is more closely related to you than I am. Stay here tonight, and in the morning I will talk to him. If he is willing to redeem you, very well, let him marry you. But if he is not willing, then as surely as the Lord lives, I will redeem you myself. Now lie down until morning."

So again, he calls Ruth "daughter," but then he tells her not to worry about anything. He's going to take care of it; he's going to do what's necessary. He goes on to say that everybody knows she's a virtuous woman.

So if you're wondering what happened on that threshing room floor, shame on you. A virtuous woman wouldn't do what you're thinking she might have done. A virtuous woman is a woman of noble character. Proverbs 31—the woman of noble character is praised for her integrity, for her work, for her enterprise, for doing the right thing. This is the same thing he's praising her for.

Without quite saying it, he's saying that their character—both of them—have integrity and work hard and do all those things. Therefore, they're a good match in that way.

But here comes the problem. Like all of those stupid Hallmark Christmas movies Tony makes me watch, there's a foreseeable problem. You kind of guess that there's something out there at the beginning, right? Naomi should know. Boaz does recognize it. Ruth probably doesn't have any real reason to know this, but there's a closer relative who has first rights to the family redeemer role. You might say he has dibs.

Boaz's instructions are for Ruth to remain where she is, and he will talk to that man tomorrow. It will be up to the other man if Boaz can marry Ruth or not. If the other family redeemer doesn't want to marry her, then Boaz will.

Not only does he say he'll marry her, but he says, "As the Lord lives." In other words, Boaz is taking an oath in front of and to the Lord that he will make the redemption process happen with or without him. He's going to make sure that she is redeemed, and he's not just saying it flippantly, but as a solemn vow.

But now remember, it's still midnight. So Ruth says in verse 14, "So Ruth lay at Boaz's feet until the morning." But as she got up before it was light enough for people to recognize each other, Boaz had said, "Let no one must know that a woman was here at the threshing floor."

Then Boaz said to her, "Bring your cloak and spread it out." He measured six scoops of barley into the cloak and placed it on her back. Then he returned to the town.

So Ruth did as Boaz instructed and laid back down at his feet until morning. She got up before light so she could return home before anyone would recognize her. What would happen as the sun rose wouldn't be good for her or for Boaz if they knew she was there. It would bring up questions as to what happened and provide fodder for rumors about what might have happened.

But at the same time that Boaz is worried about that, he's concerned that he can't send her home empty-handed. So he measures out six scoops of barley. For those of you who are thinking, "Six scoops of barley," you're wrong. Think six scoops of barley. It was about 75 pounds of barley that he scooped out for her and put in her cloak so she could take back home with her.

75 pounds is a lot. That's going to last them a while. But they both returned to town separately, of course, so no one would know that they were on the threshing room floor all night together. That's how rumors get started, even though they were both virtuous people.

When you put it that way, it doesn't sound so good, does it? So they both went home.

Verse 16 says, "When Ruth got back to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, 'What happened, my daughter?'" Ruth told Naomi everything Boaz had done for her, and she added, "He gave me these six scoops of barley and said, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'"

Then Naomi said to her, "Just be patient, my daughter, until we hear what happens. The man won't rest until he settles things today."

So Ruth went back, and of course, Naomi wanted to know what happened. This was her plan that was being instigated here, right? Ruth told Naomi everything that had happened. She bathed, she put on her perfume, put on her best clothes, she went to the threshing floor where Boaz was, but remained unseen.

When Boaz went to sleep, she uncovered his feet and lay by them. When he woke up, he was startled and asked who she was. Ruth answered and asked him to place the corner of his covering over her, essentially asking him to marry her.

Boaz responds that there is a closer family redeemer who would have to be asked first. He could not just agree to it at that point in time, but that he would go and get an answer that very day. Boaz told her to lie back down and to leave before anybody would recognize her in the morning light and gave her six scoops of barley as she left.

Ruth finished by showing Naomi the six scoops of barley that Boaz had given her, along with conveying his desire that she not return to Naomi empty-handed. Whether that was to show his intent to marry, his intent to see her redeemed, or just out of continued care and kindness, any way you look at it, it was a very generous gift that he did.

But Naomi trusted that Boaz would do as he said and bring this to resolution that same day. Next week, we'll learn if he did or not, or you can read ahead to Ruth chapter 4 and find out what happens.

But sometimes in a story that leaves this many questions in it, we can get so caught up in the questions that the real point gets lost, right? What are the questions you had at the beginning? What happened on the threshing room floor? Why didn't Naomi seek the other family redeemer first? Did Ruth uncover his feet? What does uncovering his feet really mean, and why did he do it?

Why did Ruth ask Boaz to spread the covering over her? What were the six scoops of barley for? You can get lost in all those questions, can't you, when you read this? Sometimes that's what you take away—all those questions.

You can also get lost in the romantic part of it, right? You can get lost in that part of the story. You can think that all godly women are just waiting for a godly man to come and redeem them. The story...