INTRODUCTION AND OPENING PRAYERS
Hello everyone this is pastor Kasuku I have a message that ah I believe it will do something in your life. And I want to give to you seven profile of a man that can be a Boaz to you, the real man that you need in your life and I believe that God will release to you the grace to meet the Boaz for your life and also why not if you are a man to be the Boaz for somebody who is a Ruth in the name of Jesus Christ Praise the Lord.
Word of life. Welcome to the morning altar of prayer today. I pray that God will bless you.
Let us pray as we start the session of this morning and ask God to talk to you. Tell God Lord I'm ready to receive instruction from your word.
I want to live by your Word. God of second glory, I believe in you, I trust in you, in the name of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Father, we pray that the word of today will change us inside out. And at the end of it all we give you the glory and the praise oh God. In Jesus precious name we have all prayed.
GLORY BE TO GOD. GOD IS THE GOD OF SECOND GLORY.
Haggai 2:9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.
We have here in Ruth chapter two a very beautiful story and a very beautiful Scripture that confirms to us that God is the God of second glory, the glory greater than the former one.
Ruth had a marriage and the marriage did not work as it should because the husband died for the reason we don't know exactly.
Now God is introducing her to a new stage, a fresh start if I can say that of her life and an encounter with an amazing man called Boaz.
And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, "Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace", and she said unto her, go my daughter.
We see the story between Boaz and Ruth. It is giving us a couple of teachings on relationship.
And I was asking myself a couple of questions, how can I be a Boaz to my spouse? How can I be a Boaz as a man? How can I be a Boaz as a husband? How can you be sure that this man can be a Boaz to your life? How can you be able to discern the Boaz that God has ordained for you?
And I'm asking the same question to myself, how can I be as well a Boaz?
THE PROFILE OF A MAN THAT CAN BE A BOAZ.
I have come to identify seven profiles of a man that can be a Boaz.
When you read the story of Boaz, I was comparing Boaz with some people in the Bible and I have come to a certain man called Amnon. And you know Amnon is found in 2 Samuel 13. And I see a very big contrast between Amon and Boaz.
PROFILE 1 | BOAZ CONNECTS TO RUTH THROUGH HER CHARACTER.
What I mean is that what draws Boaz’s attention to Ruth is her character.
So we see Boaz saying something in Ruth 2:11-12
And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.
The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.
What draws the attention of Boaz? What makes Boaz to connect to Ruth? It is her character. If you want to know that that man is a Boaz to you, you need to check what connect him to you. No assumption.
Boaz said ... I have heard … meaning that you are loyal, you are serious, you are committed, you are diligent, you are committed.
In fact, the major trait that drew the attention of Boaz toward Ruth is her commitment.
Any man who comes in your life, any man who comes to connect to you, not through your character, meaning not through your inner beauty, that man is dangerous.
Peter says in 1 Peter 3:4, “But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price”.
Boaz’s declaration to Ruth can be paraphrased like … “I have heard how you were with your mother-in-law. You were committed. Your husband died and your mother-in-law was left alone but you remain committed. That's what connects me to you : your commitment”.
But when you read 2 Samuel 13:1, the Bible talks about Amnon saying, “Amnon loved Tamar”
But was it really love? No. It was not love at all. It was purely sexual obsession.
The reason why many relationships end up in shipwreck is because of the wrong foundation. Amnon was sexually obsessed, but he called it love.
Sexual obsession comes with distress, sickness and so forth as we can read it in 2 Samuel 13:4, “And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister”.
It made him to become physically sick. He lost weight. He became mentally depressed. He was not able to function normally on day-to-day basis. That cannot be love.
So a very fundamental profile of a man that can be a Boaz is a man who connects to you as a lady through your character, commitment, faithfulness, loyalty, seriousness.
Am I saying that the physical attraction and so forth is bad? I don't say it is bad but what I just say is that it is not enough.
In fact, Jesus talks about two houses built one on the rock and another built on the sand. And obviously, the one built on the rock is what will stand.
You should know that the beauty of a woman will attract you but her character is what you will live with. You can be attracted by her physical beauty, but you will live with her character. I pray for you to receive the grace to be consistent.
Consistency, commitment, etc are what drew Boaz’s attention, while Amnon connected through sexual obsession.
And we see Amnon becoming unsettled and peaceless. No. Godly love comes together with peace and joy.
In Galatians 5:22, the Bible says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace … Where there is love, there is joy and there is peace. The moment somebody says he loves and he becomes unsettled, insecure that cannot be love.
In 2 Corinthians 13:11, Paul says again, “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and THE GOD OF LOVE AND PEACE shall be with you”.
You see? If what you call love makes you sick or depressed or losing weight, you need medical attention.
So, lady, when a man is coming to you, you need to ask yourself a question, what attracts him to me? If the first place where he wants to lead you is to the bed, that's a red flag.
PROFILE 2 | BOAZ PROVIDES EMOTIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT.
Boaz is an emotional encourager. He is an emotional uplifter. He is a comforter. If you find a man who is a discourager, he is very dangerous. That is a red flag.
That is what we saw in Amnon. Amnon is an emotional manipulator.
In 2 Samuel 13:6 , we read, “So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick: and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand”.
Amnon was not sick. Amnon is a man who can use all kind of tricks to get what he wants. He can pretend to be sick. He can pretend to sleep, because all he wants is sex.
But when we look at Boaz, there is no mention of sex with Ruth anywhere.
In Ruth 2:13, Ruth says, “Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens”.
You see? If you find a man who always pulls you down instead of lifting you up that is a red flag.
PROFILE 3 | BOAZ PROVIDES CARE AND SAFETY
A Boaz will care for your safety and for your needs.
It is amazing to see in Ruth 2:8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens:
Boaz knew that if Ruth goes to another field she would be mistreated. So he cared for her safety.
In verse nine, he says to Ruth, "Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.
Here we see Boaz caring for Ruth's needs.
If a man cares for your need and for your safety and makes sure that you are safe, that place is safe and you can just say, “Oh! Hallelujah! That is a Boaz!”
So, any Boaz cares for your safety and for your needs.
When you look at Amnon on the other hand, he is an uncaring, selfish, self-centered and wicked kind of a man.
In 2 Samuel 13:14, we read, “Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her.
A man who loves you will not force you to do anything. That is a very uncaring man. A man who says that he loves you and does not care for you does not love. True love comes with care.
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.
PROFILE 4 | BOAZ IS RESPECTFUL OF BOUNDARIES
See even how Boaz is talking to Ruth : friendly and respectfully.
Ruth herself testifies about it in Ruth 2:13, "Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.
And see how Boaz is calling her … My daughter... That is a sign of respect.
When a man does not respect you that is an Amnon. A real man is respectful. And the bible says about Amnon in verse fourteen, “... he would not heed her voice...”
You will know that somebody respects you if he or she can listen to you. I’m talking about active listening. When you are talking to him and he is on the phone, checking his status, something is wrong somewhere.
When you talk to her and she's busy doing her other stuff, something is wrong somewhere.
There must be mutual respect. If a man has respect toward you as a woman, that is a real man.
That's why I say that in every relationship, there must be boundaries. What are boundaries? Boundaries are simply expressing what you want and what you don't want, what you like and what you don't like.
For example, there are some parts of your bodies that you shouldn’t allow them to be touched. That is boundary.
Boundaries must be voiced out, “For the moment or the time being, I don't feel comfortable for you to touch there”. Which is okay.
But when despite you voicing out your boundaries, they force you like Amnon, that is a red flag. That is an Amnon.
Boundaries mean that there's a time where you want to just be alone. Your boundaries must be respected. There are times where you just want to have your space. That is also a boundary that should be respected.
There is a time where you want to read maybe your book or you want maybe to go and hang with your friend, that one is also a boundary that needs to be respected.
That is what I see in Boaz. He is a man who is respectful toward Ruth’s boundaries.
PROFILE 5 | BOAZ TREATS WITH EXTRA KINDNESS
There is treatment. There is kindness. And there is extra kindness. It means that there are things Boaz can do for you, he does not do them to others or with others. Meaning that you are special in his eyes. If you find such a man, he can be a Boaz to you.
The first day Boaz saw Ruth, he said unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? (Ruth 2:5)
This shows already that among many, there was a special attention toward her.
And when you read again in verse 15 to 16, when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded the young men saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.
That is the extra kindness I'm talking about compared with others.
You can know that he is a Boaz for you when he can do to you what he is not doing to others.
When you look at Amnon, Amnon is just a conman void of all kindness.
In 2 Samuel 13:15, we read that Amnon hated Tamar exceedingly so that the hatred where which he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her.
You see? After he got what he wanted, he hated her.
But when you look at Boaz, he was not doing anything because he wanted sex, meaning that there was no string attachment.
We don't know if he had a plan in mind for Ruth, but it is obvious that he was just being kind.
PROFILE NUMBER SIX | BOAZ HAS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
When you read verse ten, Ruth was not expecting such kindness.
Ruth 2:10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?
For her, such kindness was strange because she was a stranger.
If somebody loves you because you are from the same country or tribe, I don't know if that can be called real love.
Where there is true love, there is not always explanation. There is no way that somebody can really love and explain why.
The Bible says for example, “God so loved the world and gave …".
There is no explanation on why God so loved the world. No. The Bible just says … God so loved … Period.
It happens sometimes in life that somebody can love you and you feel unworthy of such. When for example you look at your life, when you look at your past, when you look at yourself and you compare with the attention this man is giving to you, you wonder how can he love me that way?
You know? When we talk about unconditional love, it humbles you more than you feel entitled to it. We don't see Ruth feeling entitled to deserve Boaz’s love. No.
Maybe you have a very weird past. Maybe you have been a prostitute or you have lived a bad life, the unconditional love is the kind of love you can find only in God. That love does not look at you like a sinner, or like a weird woman, but looks at you from the lenses of grace.
That is the Boaz-kind-of-love that makes the beneficiary wonder like Ruth, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?” (Ruth 2:10)
To have a Boaz in your life, it takes the grace of God. You can be beautiful, but it will take the grace. Don't you think that Ruth was the only woman in that field? I don’t think so. There were many. But grace located her.
I want to pray for somebody because we are talking about the second glory. I pray grace to locate you in Jesus name.
Don’t allow yourself to feel like you deserve or you are entitled. If it is really grace, then, it must be underserved.
PROFILE 7 | BOAZ HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT YOUR LIFE.
That day when Ruth encountered Boaz, we see that she felt comforted and became confident.
And look at even how she went back home. In Ruth 2:17, the Bible says, “So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.
An epha of barley was a measure of food that could sustain her and her mother-in-law for 10 days.
When her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned she was amazed and said unto her, “Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee”. (Ruth 2:19)
What she brought home was more than what she was expecting to get.
Boaz's impact upon her life was all round. There was an all-round impact.
But when you look at the other side with Amnon, what was his impact on Tamar?
2 Samuel 13:19 And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.
2 Samuel 13:20 And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? but hold now thy peace, my sister: he is thy brother; regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house.
You see?
Amnon brought mourning, grief, sorrow and lamentation in Tamar’s life. Amnon killed her dream. The Bible says that she tore her cloth of diverse colors. That cloth symbolizing her pride. That was her dignity. That was her dream because that kind of cloth was only put on by the virgin.
So Amnon came in her life to destroy her dream.
But when you look at Boaz, Boaz came in the life of Ruth to fulfil her dream.
You will know that this man is a Boaz to you when he comes in your life for your dream to become true, for your dream to come to pass.
And look again Amnon. He left Tamar in shame and reproach. Amon will bring shame and reproach in your life.
And finally Tamar went crying and remained desolate in the house of her brother.
But look at Ruth. When she's going back home, she's in plenty.
CONCLUSION
Anyone who is listening to me, anyone who is a single mother, anyone who is expecting God for an encounter of a lifetime, this coming Sunday, it is the Sunday of second glory.
It's a service for anybody whose dream has been shattered. It is for everybody whose dream has been killed. It is for everybody who has been destroyed. Anybody whose foundations have been destroyed and shattered. Anybody whose dream has been tampered with by some evil people. Anyone who wants to see the dream come alive, come this coming Sunday. The second glory coming Sunday is for you. What God did for Ruth he can do for you.
CLOSING PRAYERS
You can make it your prayer. And tell God what you did to Ruth please.
You can do it to me as well. Make me a Boaz oh God. We can pray for men in this country of Kenya to be Boaz in their families. To be Boaz for their children. To be Boaz at home in the name of Jesus Christ.
Lift your voice and pray. Can you make those things those seven things your prayer it can happen to you. You can find that man who connect to your character and that man who lift you emotionally care for your safety, who care for your need, that man who respect you, treat you with extra kindness, that man who is like boss, show unconditional love, have a great impact, a positive impact. A blessed impact over your life.
Lord do it again. I trust you and believe you, I pray for the release of that anointing oh God. You are the God of the second glory you can do it oh God. Any marital relationship. Anyone anybody who has been ah ah or who has been rejected oh somebody who is waiting upon you oh Lord almighty you did it for Ruth you can do it for everybody.
We pray for that kind of encounter.
Can you lift your voice and say Lord I pray that in my life I will never meet such people like Amnon in the name of Jesus I will never give room to Amnon in my life can you rebuke the spirit of Ammon in your life in the name of the Lord for our children Lord I rebuke the Amnon spirit in my life preserve us from Amnon in our life.
Preserve us from fake people who come and are not sent by you, do it oh God again and we be careful to give you the praise and the glory in Jesus glorious and precious name we have all prayed. And we say amen and amen.
I pray that this word of today will find expression in your life.
I pray wherever you are, you are a single, you are a single mother, you are ahm ah waiting upon the Lord for a restoration in your relationship. I pray that God will make it to happen in your life. This word of today God did it for Ruth will also do it for you.
Welcome to this coming Sunday. God has a word. We have a prayer to make that God will restore our dreams. God will restore the dreams of relationship which we had and God will do it. In the name of the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit we have prayed and we all say amen and amen.
Thank you very much you have a blessed day ahead. May my God be with you and cover you in Jesus name amen and amen. Glory to God.
Pastor TD KASUKU
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