Sermon Notes:

Love that Doesn’t Leave

Pastor Alan Hannah

¹Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz. [Ruth 2:1]

²And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” ³So she went out, entered a field, and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. [Ruth 2:2-3]

⁵Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?” [Ruth 2:5]

¹⁴At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. ¹⁵As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. ¹⁶Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.” [Ruth 2:14-16]

Real love goes further than it has to.

¹⁹Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

²⁰“The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.” [Ruth 2:19-20]

1. Become someone who notices.
2. Go further than you have to.
3. Trust that HESED travels farther than you know.