The Seven Pillars (Part 20)-Pillar 5-Mantle Of Elijah: Success To Legacy - Rahab,Ruth, & Boaz - Rod Mills, Marina Behel, Beth Mills

​This is a series on the 7 Pillars of the AeroNova spiritual family, the DNA markers of who God has called us to be as a people.
In this next installment of the teachings on the fifth pillar, we discuss the critical shift from success to legacy paradigm for spiritual fathers and mothers.

Full transcript generated by ai (please excuse errors):

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​So we are beginning this next section, we're on the fifth pillar of Aaron Nova and the friends of Jesus, which we recognize as something that's happening in the church in many places. And that is the seven key values and practices in this what I call the seven pillars are seen, they seem to be emerging in the grassroots level of certain places in the church. And I believe this is big, even though it's not huge, yet it is, it's evident that there's a work of the Holy Spirit happening. And so we did not create this, we just got on board with what God is doing. And in this fifth pillar, we're talking about the mantle of Elijah. And in our last session, we talked about this transition in Elijah's life, from success to legacy. So I'm going to do a short review, because even though someone may be listening on the teaching library and go, Well, I just listened to the last one a minute ago. For us, we have a little bit of time between that. So I'll review it. And there's an old saying that repetition lends itself to learning. So if there's a little repetition here, it's not bad. So just in review, in order to better understand the significance of the mantle of Elijah, in our own lives, it's critical for us to understand this transition in wages life, he had been focused on his mission and calling to the nation. Through this crisis, though, God brought him through what we call a strategic shift, and transition in his life, and a transition from a focus on success in his life, to a focus on legacy. If you look at a Elijah's life before and after his encounter with God in the cave, you will see two different paradigms. And we'll explore some of this today into the legacy paradigm. And we'll probably explore some in the next session as well. But this radically changed his life, his life and ministry. The success paradigm just to redefine it and review the success paradigm is a life focused on our own success, even in righteous terms. Are you with me? So in other we're not saying that it's not that it's bad to focus on, we want to be successful in our walk with God, we want to be successful in our lives, in our ministry, in our family and our finances, in our professions, we want to be successful, we're not talking about not having any desire for success. That's what we're talking about the thing that discerns or delineates between the two is our focus. And this, this is good, and it's certainly a part of the target of seeking God's will for our lives. But the legacy paradigm is different. It is a life focus on others success in the kingdom of God and in eternity. And if it's a paradigm we operate in, if it's a template we operate in, it will come out everywhere, it'll come out in your family, it'll come out in your home, it'll come out in your work, it'll come out in your profession, because if it's a paradigm we operate in, we're always looking for how we can impact others rather than how successful Am I being see the difference. Aiming at success, I use this illustration last time is like shooting at the outer ring of the target. It can be good and right. And it does define if you think about it the outer ring of the target, it defines the whole target. It defines the boundaries of the entire target. So if you're shooting at the outer ring, you are shooting at the target. We're not saying that aiming at success is not aiming at the target at all. But aiming at legacy is like aiming at the bullseye of the target. If you hit the bullseye, you have hit within the outer ring. But if you hit the outer ring, you have not hit the bullseye. This is very important principle in these two paradigms. Are you getting it? One will bring the other but the other will not bring the one. See what I'm saying? So the essence of the great commandments catch this the end Since of the great commandments, and the Great Commission, actually construct the legacy paradigm. Let that sink in the essence of the great commandments, loving the Lord with all our heart, soul mind strength, loving our neighbor as ourself, and the Great Commission to go forth and make disciples. It actually constructs. It composes, if you will, the legacy paradigm, the meaning and essence of the legacy paradigm is wrapped up in those three, because if you see those three, they are not focused on personal success. They're, they're focused on investment and impartation and multiplication outside of ourselves. So Elijah's life is the tale of two paradigms. Two ways of living. Two perspectives have seen two ways of experiencing the world. And two completely different motivations. This is important. So we read the passage in First Kings 19, I'm not going to reread that because this is just a review, you can go back and reread it. First Kings 19, we read verses one through 14. So I want to just highlight a few things in our review. So when when Elijah recognize that Jezebel was within hours of having him killed, this came on the heels of this enormous victory in Elijah's life. And I mentioned this, that some of my spiritual fathers have warned me and taught me this, I learned this from an early age, to be very vigilant after a great victory after a mountaintop experience, because in those times, we are the most vulnerable to spiritual attack, especially if we operate in the success paradigm, because we're so focused, and it's easy to let your guard down. And it's easy. Have you ever had a mountaintop experience with God, and then bam, there's a spiritual attack, and you're like, it ruined the whole thing. Now, it didn't really ruin the whole thing. It just felt that way, right? Many times in our lives, when you have a spiritual victory, it's easy to let your guard down. And then that attack comes. And I'll tell you, I think the more we believe that we lean into this, we will see that much of this. I believe Elijah was very, very susceptible. We went into great depth on this the last session, I believe Elijah became very susceptible to depression. Remember, he got to the point where he was asking God to kill him and he wanted to die. You ever been that discouraged, some of us have been around long enough to be that discouraged, you're like, Lord, just kill me. It'd be better off dead. You're discouraged. But I believe one of the things that made him so vulnerable, was because of his success paradigm. And we saw, he thought he was alone, he thought he was the only guy. All those things, the self pity, and the feelings of isolation. And all those things come in the success paradigm, whereas the legacy paradigm, your mind is beyond yourself, you already are seeing the horizon, you see others, Elijah couldn't see the 7000 till God spoke to him. I don't think that should have been that way. But that's the way it was. I believe that his his myopic view of the world was because of his operation in the success paradigm, rather than the legacy paradigm. So in this paradigm, we're extremely susceptible of contracting the disease of over importance, pride, and even worse arrogance, but the flesh shirt does like it. And so when we become focused on am I anointed enough, am I this enough? Am I good, effective enough? Am I it's like, Wait a minute. If anything, God has taught you anything. It's like he can take your faithfulness and use you in an extraordinary way. But don't be so focused on yourself, if you will. Elijah, number two, he isolated himself. Listen, this success paradigm. If you're focused more on your success than legacy, it's very easy to start isolating yourself. And again, he focused on himself and and we looked at it even when he was going to the cave. He even told his servant he's like, Oh, you go over here, sir. You know you Stay here, I'm gonna go by myself. Now there is a time to be alone with God, I understand that. But Jesus taught us and we looked at the Garden of Gethsemane that whenever Jesus was under the stress in his life, the last thing he did was isolate himself. I understand that he went on common retreats, he often retreated to the desert, in the beginning of its ministry, he went out to the wilderness, 40 days and 40 Nights, we got that. But when Jesus was under enormous stress, and He sweat, Drake, great drops of blood, in the most trying times of his life, he surrounded himself with people who were close to him in God, in this case, Peter, James, and John. And the success paradigm will do just the opposite. Like Elijah, it'll be like, Oh, you need to, you need to get alone with God, just you nobody else. And it's good, because the self focus sometimes draws us into that. Whereas Jesus shows us a different way. In spiritual warfare and attack, no matter how spiritually strong you and I think ourselves to be. Isolation is rarely the key to victory. You need to be hearing the word of the Lord from people, not just yourself. And people who only hear the word of the Lord through themselves. I know we're Protestants. You know what, the Protestants are bad about this? Like they guy? Oh, you know, I've got a direct line to God, and it's me. Yes, you do. But God was speak. Read First Corinthians, Paul, many times, I say, Yeah, God will, he wants to do it, he's going to do it through someone else through another gifting through another way. Because this is a way of humility, and submitting ourselves to one another, and operating as the body. I mean, you can't cut your arm off, and then tell your arm to just operate like an arm. It operates because it's connected to the body, as Paul taught us. And so we have to stay connected. Don't listen to those lies that try to get you to disconnect when you're under stress, or pressure, or trouble, or relational problems, or family problems, or any of those problems, because that's when the body needs you. When the arm needs the body the most when the limb needs the body the most when the member of the body needs the body the most. Again, the difference, I believe, between success paradigm, and and, and the legacy paradigm because the legacy paradigm sees the whole body. And if you're a hand, the success paradigm sees just what the hand can do and what the hand should do, and what the hand might do and all of those things. So Elijah was so discouraged, I told you this, he wanted to die. And the success paradigm set him up for discouragement, or jealousy, or negative emotions. And I'll tell you, this success paradigm can set you up for a lot of failures. Even though success is good, it's not the bullseye. And if we focus on success before legacy and living in that paradigm, it sets us up for all these things, because then it can easily be disappointed. And I believe this is what was happening in Elijah's life. And I call your attention to Verse four in First Kings 19. Elijah says, a strange statement that doesn't make sense, at first until you look at these two paradigms. He's He says, For I am no better than my father's. He literally is comparing himself because he feels like he has failed. And he goes, I'm no better than my father's. Because his focus again on his own success, more on himself, and what he can do for God. It is good to seek and do what's pleasing to the Lord. But our study examines his focus. We see what happens is it's myopic, and it turns on itself. In ministry and in life. It's not uncommon to find people so nervous about doing a great job, so nervous about being anointed, so nervous, and all of us have been there, guys, this is not something that you look at it and go Well, this is mainly my failure. I don't think anybody else every one of us have been through this at some level and made these mistakes. We're in this together. But it's not uncommon when we focus on the success paradigm to worry so much that we actually struggled to function or we just don't eat worse. We don't say yes to God, because we're not good. Enough. Anybody ever been there before? Every one of us raises our hand on this one, because we're not good enough. And the problem is, we're focused on not what God's going to do for them. But our do we look good enough? Are we anointed enough? What do they think about us? What do they not think about us? And I'd love the prophets of the Old Testament, Ever notice how they just don't seem to worry about what people think about them. And it got a lot of them killed. And Jesus was the master of awkward moments. You look at how many times Jesus would bring up something. And it was an awkward situation because he was calling them out. That's not popular today. It's just not popular. We don't see this hardly any in the church. Because we've gotten it what's become so important to us to be accepted. And we feel like well, if I'm accepted, I can have more influence, I can influence their heart, I can evangelize them. And so what ends up happening is we only speak half the truth. And we grocery shop the scriptures, and we say the promise part, but boy, we don't say the judgment part. We just kind of skip through that part. You know, what am I saying? Jesus didn't worry about it. Jesus would speak the truth. And man, there are some pretty awkward places in there where he speaks the truth and you're, I'm putting myself there and going, Man, I'd be uncomfortable right now, even if I was the disciples, I'd be like, Whoa, you know, this is trouble. You just made them mad. And but we don't make people mad, do we? Again, though, am I focused on myself in the way people accept me? Or am I focused on what God is doing and saying in others, because many times even the awkward times the Holy Spirit's working, because we spoke truth to power to the situation. So others worry less about their own mistakes, because their focus is on those people they're serving. And I believe that's the way Jesus was. Can you imagine when Jesus said things like, well, your of your father, the devil? Why did he say things like that? Vipers. Remember when he called him vipers? Or when he said, A brood of vipers, there's one place where you because you're a brood of vipers, what was he doing? Jesus, again, he was in the legacy paradigm, he wanted his disciples to see what was true, and what was not. He wasn't focused on what they thought about him, or whether they liked him. He was focused on what what he would impart to this generation. And perhaps someone in that brood of vipers goes, Wait a minute, maybe I am a viper. But he was willing to risk his own reputation, so that God could speak to them, these guys are, you're seeing the difference, the success paradigm can actually defeat itself, because it doesn't see the greater goals of God as its focus. Another good indicator of the paradigm we're operating in, is how we deal with immaturity in others. Now, this is something we all deal with at different times. And the more we operate in the success paradigm, the Morse self focus that we tend to be, I'm gonna say this 1000 ways, 1000 times, and Thecus, the more offended that we are. You see what I'm saying? It's much more easily to get offended. If you're focused on yourself, then if you're focused on others, and the more we operate in the legacy paradigm, the more we learn to transcend the immaturity of others. Can you guys see this as a spiritual father, and as a spiritual mother, so I want to use an illustration here. If someone on your job gets angry at you, and they start throwing hurtful words at you, or insults or you name it, someone on your job, someone you're with every day, you know, you're with them on a consistent basis. The more focused you are on the on yourself, the more easily you will become offended. If especially if you're focused because, man, I don't want people to think about that, but I want to be successful. I want people to know that's not who I am, right? You see where I'm going with that? If your own children get angry with you, and they say something harmful. You are focused on what as a parent You're focused on maybe correction, loving them, depending on their age, what kind of discipline, but you're focused on helping them find and see the way to the truth. See the difference? Now parents may ask you a question, how many of you have ever had something hurtful said or done to you by your children? I have, if your children are grown, I guarantee you have at some point, that's just a fact of life. But see the difference when you're the parent, you see yourself as a father or as a mother. Right. And when you see yourself as a father and a mother, what is a father and a mother concerned about? More than themselves most of the time, I mean, there are some that are more immature, but you're mostly concerned for your kids. So your patience and your willingness to work through that. And by the way, the older they get, sometimes the longer those periods of time become, it requires more patience. You know, when they're young, you're like, Oh, don't do that. They'll stand in the corner, you can't do that, you know, and you're going to correct that right away, right. But when they're 20, it doesn't work that way, when they're 30, it doesn't work that way. And so if they offend you, or say something hurtful, or do something that's hurtful, you don't even see it the same way, you see it more through a legacy paradigm if you're a mature parent. Now, if you're an immature parent, which there are, if you're an immature parent, you're back to like the person at work. You're seeing them as a peer, you're hurt, you're selfish, all of those things. Are you getting the feeling here see the difference? When we operate in the legacy paradigm, we are operating in more and more the maturity of a father or of a mother. So in one Sara scenario, you're focused on yourself the work scenario, you're more likely to be focused on yourself, whereas the family paradigm, you're more focused on others, and they are the ones you love dearly, right? Legacy paradigm, one of my spiritual fathers used to quote this verse to me when I was young, and I'm glad he did, because it really sank in. And he's still a spiritual father to me today. But I was a teenager. And he used to quote the King James version of Psalm 191 65. And I liked the King James Version, because here's what it says, Great peace have they which Love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Now, that's mostly most versions translate that to say, Nothing shall cause them to stumble. spiritual fathers and mothers are grounded deeply in the law of God. This is what David's talking about, which is the what's the law of God. It's the record of his ways. It's the record of his nature. It's the record of his attributes, and how they play out in the world around us. And the psalmist. He says, that they have great peace, because they love your law, they love everything about the nature of God and who he is, and he goes, they shall not be offended, nothing shall offend them. In other words, they know God. So now they see things as a spiritual father or mother, are you getting this the difference? So you can be a mature Christian, and still have some immaturity is, especially if you're focused on the success paradigm. But this legacy paradigm and living this way, thinking this way, being this way, and having this as the culture of who we are, changes everything about who we interact with, how we interact, how we live, and all that we do. So the more we're operating in the legacy paradigm, the more we will see ourselves as spiritual fathers and mothers. And this is part of the core of the mantle of Elijah, and what it means as we understand it, and Malikai in the words of Jesus, and we will operate as spiritual fathers and mothers, if you see yourself as a spiritual father or mother, you are a lot more likely to operate as a spiritual father and mother. Tracking legacy paradigm. spiritual fathers and mothers can transcend a lot of offenses in difficult situations, because they understand their legacy role in the kingdom of God. When you read the words of Elijah, he's offended. It sounds like that. I don't know for sure. But man, it sounds like he's offended. It sounds like you know, Lord, and he's probably offended at Jezebel. She's trying to kill him. And then he's probably like, God, what what's I'm by myself, why did you leave me here by myself? Just kill me. I'd rather you Kill me than Jezebel kill me, right? That's the kind of feeling that you get from Elijah when you read his words, and First Kings 19. I'll tell you what love comes a lot easier to a father or mother. Think about it. If you're a father or a mother love comes a whole lot easier to your children than then if you're not, if you're a spiritual father or a mother, love will come a whole lot easier. So that is some review, and then some dovetailing into this success paradigm and this legacy paradigm. And I pray that God will help us more and more and more to move into this legacy paradigm. And I encourage you, we're going to study this more, because we're going to look at some of the application we may not have time today. But we're going to look at more of the application. I brought some of it today. But we're going to see how that if we can start literally focusing and aiming at this bullseye. After a while I believe that our lives our thinking, our lifestyle, the way we relate, will more and more be in the legacy paradigm instead of the success paradigm. And that's, I believe, part of how we become spiritual fathers and mothers, I want to completely go through this transition, how about you, I want to be unlike God, I can definitely see where I have lived parts and seasons and portions and swaths of my life in the second success paradigm. And God took me through a period of time where I begin to make the shift. And it started out slow in my own personal life, like I saw it. And I started praying it and I kind of start doing it. But then it was kind of like man, I'm only going five miles an hour here. And I had to go through some things in my life. But then God started hitting the accelerator and, and I believe that whether it starts out slow or fast, you can do this, we can do this together. Because I'm still making the turn from the success paradigm to the legacy paradigm. I believe this. The people who do it earlier in life, if I only had understood, I wish I could have made this transition in my 20s. But I didn't. But I tell you, the earlier you can make this transition, the better off you and your family will be many others will be and I believe the much greater rewards in the heavens will be if we can make this transition as early as possible. And there's a lot entailed here. It's I wish it was as easy as turning the steering wheel on a car. But it is more complicated than that. It's it's a big change. But I'm teaching this in this fifth pillar because I believe that this is part of the essence of the definition of the mantle of Elijah, as we see Jesus describing it and Malikai describing it. Now, last session, after we had turned the recorder off. Marina shared a profound insight from Ruth. And this insight draws a contrast between two men. One I believe, had the success paradigm and the other had the legacy paradigm. Wow, I was just the whole time you were speaking I was like, Why did I turn the recorder off, you know, but normally, that's what how we practice it because we want people to be free to share and ask questions and not feel like the whole world's listening to them. So what I've done is I've asked Marina to come up and share this again, we can capture this for the rest of the body of Christ who listens to the teaching library. And then yesterday, Beth shared some additional insights. And I was like, this is incredible. So we're going to ask you to share it Marina and then as soon as you're finished, if we can have Beth, follow up with these other insights. And we are going to do a short case study in the success paradigm and the legacy paradigm from the book of Ruth. All right. So with the Ministry of Apple, so we study for, I think a month and a half or something like that. The book of Ruth and I never studied this way. They went I wasn't teaching till the ladies of the staff were teaching they're just passionate about the Word of God and and their teachers, their teachers, but they went deep in this book and And they found things that I never, I think, thought about it. And what impacted me is when I'm going to share in the story of Ruth starts when she marries and Israelite main Malone or Malone. Then what Ruth is from Moab she's not Israelite. She doesn't know the Lord. She doesn't know the law. But she marries this guy Malin, and Marlon dies in Ruth becomes a widow. Again, she's from Moab, a pagan country. Ruth sees example of Naomi, Naomi, her mother in law, and she decides to follow her in her gut. Just want to mention that Naomi's also a widow. Ruth is a widow. And they they go back to Israel. They returned to Israel and Naomi serves Ruth as her voice of wisdom. And I'll tell you why. If you guys want to go with me to Ruth three, and I'm not gonna read the whole thing, I'm just gonna read a few verses. So verse one says, One day, Naomi said to Ruth, my daughter, it's time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for bolus is a close relative of yours. And he's being very kind by letting you gather grain with his young woman. Tonight he will we know him. We know. We know him barley at the threshing floor. Verse three says, Not now do us I tell you take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. So she listens to Naomi, Ruth comes and take a shower and dresses up in gold. And she encounters boss when he's asleep. And he wakes up and she tells him, Can you redeem me? Can you marry me, I'm a widow, and You are the closest relative that can redeem me. And blasts says, I will do what it's necessary. This is burst 11 for everyone in town knows you are a virtuous woman. But while it's true that I am one of your family Redeemers there is another man who is more closely related to you than then than I am. Stay here tonight, in in the morning, I will talk to him. And if he's willing to redeem you very well. Let him marry you. But if he's not willing, then then as surely as the Lord lives, I will redeem you myself. Now lay down here until morning. And I want to say that Naomi, in in this whole book. I want to say that from this chapter three and four, she is almost a, I want to relate it like the voice of the Holy Spirit. When he bites us when he talks to us. And when we listen, it's gonna be it's gonna be good. If she tells her here in verse 333, says, now do OSI tell you to me it's like an invitation in reminds me, that's the voice of the Holy Spirit. That's how I related right now. And also, I like I like so much how blasts and Ruth is back and for their son, honor of words, their honor off actions they're in. I just love how he honors her in how she honors him and how Ruth honors Naomi, there's an honor word big word in this whole book of Ruth. But where I want to go is well we'll add the size, the fixed route situation. I feel like he he wants to help us from the beginning. If you read the whole book is just he wants to help or he knows he's poor. He knows he's a widow. He knows he doesn't even have anything to eat. So he is a good man. He's a good he's a righteous man. And I wanna just mentioned Is that bull last is the son of Salman, which is a prince of Israel. In Rahab, the prostitute that comes ALMOST THERE HE IS HE comes from our redemption Rahab was a prostitute in, in that blast comes from them. He has already a redemption kid from this marriage. And I'm not gonna go the whole in that story but I almost feel like both of us knows where Ruth comes from, and he wants to help somehow, even even he's willing to find a husband for her. If you come with me to Deuteronomy 25, seven to 10. In what's going on here is that rules just once a redeemer like the law of Israel says, and it says in verse seven through through 10, however, if a man does not want to marry his brother's wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, my husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name and Estro he will not fulfill the duty of a brother in law to me, than the elders of his town shall assume on him and talk, talk, talk to him, if he persists in saying, I do not want to marry it, her his brother's widow shall go up to him and in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, This is what is done to the men who will not build up his brother's family in line that men's lines shall be known in Israel does the family have the sandaled on sandal? So this story will come here in it, it doesn't say this happens and I'm gonna, I'm not gonna read the whole thing. But in chapter four, says, Boaz, went to the town gate and took a seat. He there, just then the family Redeemer, he had mentioned Kambei. So what was cool out to him, come over here and sit down, friend, I want to talk to you. So they sat down together, then boss, call 10 leaders from the town and ask them to sit as witnesses and boss said to the family Redeemer, you know, Naomi, who came back from Moab, she is selling the land that belonged to our relative Elimelech I thought I should speak to you about it so that you can redeem a fish if you wish. If you want the land, then buy it there in the presence of this witnesses. But if you don't want it, let me know right away because I am next in line to redeem it after you. The men reply. The the other family relative, all right, I'll redeem it. There's there's lamb there, right I read the I want it. But then bill last. He said to him, of course, verse five, you purchase of the land from Naomi also requires that you marry Ruth, the more of a widow. That was she can have children who will carry on her husband's name and keep Dylan in the family. Then the relative this, this guy said, Dan, I can't redeem it the family Redeemer reply because this mine in that endanger my own state, you reading that you're the route, you redeem the land, I cannot do it for seven. Now in those days, it was the customer of Israel for any one transfer right of purchase to remove his sandal in hand into another party, this public plea barley data that transaction. So the other family Redeemer drew off his sandal, as he said to us, you buy the land, so he didn't want to have anything to do with Ruth. Unless he was only only the land right? But he didn't want the land he won. He didn't want Ruth he only wants the land. And I'd read you the deer on me 25 seven and 10 and you see what happened to people that didn't want to redeem the family. You know, the widow do took the stand on his spit on his face. This didn't happen here doesn't say but it was a shame. It was a shame action that that Ruth would have done but she did it. She didn't she didn't do that or blast didn't do that. But they did the sandal exchange and I'm I can tell there was a shame for this guy for not doing and following the law of God, this man, but his own needs and interests before anyone else, this man missed to be part of the lineage of Jesus, he missed to be part of the story, his name is so known. What this story teaches me is that the Lord's invitation is there for me, he invites me and you to be part of his story, not to be famous, or to be known for your success, not at all, but to be part of what he's doing here. Now, in this time, he wants us to serve Him, to seek His face to follow His ways and to know him. He wants us to be part of the future and eternity, he has prepare for all of us. But the answer is not. Is not God's is yours. Do you want to be part of this story? Do you want to be part of the lineage of Jesus? Or do you just just want to be the unknown like this guy. And one more verse I want to read. So Bowl last took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When she slept with her when he slept with her. The Lord enable her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. Then the woman of the town said to Naomi, praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family, may this child child be famous in Israel? What was this? This is the lineage of Jesus, where Jesus comes from in there's in there, if you give reading there says, where all the lineage is of Jesus, the beginning of the limbs of Jesus. So just the invitation is, do you want to be part of this? Or do you just don't, there's no middle point. And maybe at some point of our life of life, we, we get lost, it happens that it happened, it could happen. But we can be strong enough. And this word can just go Boyd, and just can't we can ignore it, no matter the age that you are. There's an there's a chance, there's a an opportunity, there's a purpose for all of us. And that's all I want to say. Awesome, thank you Marina, what you shared, set me in motion one day. And I got to thinking about all of the things that you had talked about, especially with this man, who thought of himself, he was in that success model, rather than in the legacy model. He was concerned for himself, and whether or not he would be successful, gaining that land would make him more successful. And then he would have that to pass on to his children. However, when he found out that he was going, part of the deal was to Mary Ruth, then he saw that it would actually go against that success model, he was not going to be a successful man, because everything that he poured into that land and everything he did to make the improvement, and then it would be taken from his own inheritance. Rather than being poured out into others, he did not have he wasn't operating in that legacy paradigm to give and to grow and cause everything to spread out. But one of the things that I got to thinking about when I was still meditating on this this morning, I was actually thinking of that song that is in Fiddler on the Roof. And there's a time when they have the blessing, the Shabbat blessing that they're praying over their children. And one of the lines in there is may you be like Ruth, and like Esther, may you be deserving of praise. May you come to be in Israel, a shining name, that you would carry on that blessing that you would be a shining name in Israel, lifting up their children blessing their children. And I was thinking about you know, Ruth, because you know, that she's mentioned in there May our children may or young women be like Ruth and like Esther. And I was thinking about what she was like and what rope Boaz is like compared to this near relative. And he he refused to redeem roof not only because he when he poured into that land and it would not go to his own inheritance, but um, according to The rabbinic teaching. The Israelite people believed that, that Naomi's sons, Killian and Milan, they died because they married Moabite women, they believed that they had fallen under a curse. And then to marry this mole by route woman, he also was concerned for his own life. If I marry this woman, I will fall under this curse, rather than seeing through the eyes of legacy, seeing through the eyes of the Lord, because Ruth had already made the determination that Naomi's God would be her God. She proclaimed it when Naomi was trying to, you know, like, no, no, go back to your family, go back to your people go back to your gods. And she says, No, in treat me not to leave the your God shall be My God, your people shall be my people. And she knew that there is a place in God's kingdom. There, there is a place in Israel for those who proclaim that God will be their God. They didn't have all the same rights and privileges as a son or daughter of Israel, but there was a place for them. And she clung to that promise. And she was brave, and wanted to cling to that promise there. So going back to Boaz, and this unnamed, unnamed relative by refusing his right and duty to redeem the land, and provide an inheritance and a name for Milan, this man's name is no longer remembered. And I was reading in the, in the Tanakh. And the that's the Jewish version is not messianic, but it's so beautiful to see the truths of the Lord in there. And so I was reading in in what some of the rabbis are saying, and according to the wording that they have in the Tanakh it says, Bo as said, Come over, sit down here Plone I alimony or plenty alimony. I don't know how that's pronounced. But I was like, Oh, he does have a name his name's PLO, knio knio knio. And then I read the note, New King James Version just says, Come over here, friend, as Marina had read, but this says, Come over here Plone, il mon i. And then in the notes, it says Planai Elmo and I literally means unnamed, anonymous one. So in Scripture, he is remembered as unnamed anonymous one. And the note says, since he did not fulfill his familial duty by marrying Ruth, Scripture hides his name. That's powerful. We've talked a lot about the things that we do that seem to be hidden to the world, but heaven knows our name. It's inscribed. But here he had an opportunity to just walk in his familial duty and obedience, and he refused. And now his name is hidden. By redeeming her. Boaz had such grace for Ruth, and he showed no fear of being cursed for marrying her. He was going to walk in that obedience to the Lord, which then became a legacy. And if you've read in Matthew chapter one, there is a lineage of Jesus, the Messiah, but it's not Malone's name that's listed. And it's not Elimelech name that's listed. It's Boaz, by Ruth. They're both listed in the genealogy of Jesus. They are remembered for their kindness, for their faithfulness, and their loving obedience to walk in God's ways. And I call that the legacy of Kiss Edie has said is the Hebrew word that means steadfast love, faithfulness, loyalty, mercy, kindness. Its promise prominently used in the Psalms to describe God's loving kindness and mercy toward us. On Psalm 118 and 136. It says his cause said in endures forever. His love endures forever. On this morning, Jennifer sent out Psalm 51. The beginning says, have mercy upon me, oh God, according to your loving kindness, according to your care said, Psalm 21 seven says, for the king trusts in the Lord, and through the mercy or the kiss said, of the Most High, he shall not be moved, that really hit me today, rather than you were saying, He shall not be moved, he shall not be offended, through his hair said, He shall not be moved. And, of course, Psalm 23, Surely goodness and has said, mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. On the note on the introduction of Ruth, in the Tanakh it says Boaz could not have attached much significance to his attempts to make Ruth's life easier. And he was very kinder, he would even say to those when she was gleaming behind them, he would say to them, let some extra fall. And don't say anything to her when she's picking up the extra. When she went, you know, to go sit and have her lunch, he came, and he shared some bread with her he shared bread and wine, it's very covenantal. But God viewed his kindness differently. He attached such importance to their deeds, that he incorporated them into the sacred scriptures. As the Midrash puts it, which is a listing of all like the the rabbinic teachings, and then it's kind of like the side notes all the way around the Scripture. That's the Midrash had Boaz only known that the Holy One blessed his he would consider his generosity to Ruth, his class said toward her important enough to inscribe in Scripture, he would have given her a sumptuous banquet meal of stuffed calves. If he had only known if he had to only known who he was showing kindness to. But we have the same opportunities. If we only knew who we were serving, and loving and showing kindness to, it's not just about having our names be shining names in the heavens. There's still books being written in heaven, about you and about me and what is done. And I'm praying that we'll be aware of how much God treasures it when we walk in faithful love toward him, when we walk in faithful love toward others, that no act of kindness is too small. No act of kindness is overlooked. When you're picking up children, and just making sure their little faces are washed, and their hair is brushed over so they're ready for school. When you see someone who's just in need of a drink of water along the way, when you open up your home and just serve a little bit of coffee and tea. Those small acts of kindness are not overlooked. So I'm praying that we would continue that legacy of care said, Faithfulness is the most common word, I think, translated there. And we've said this before, it's worth saying again, one of the things I love about faithfulness, and there are a lot of things like this, faithfulness is not a created thing. Remember this, whatever comes out of God, in His nature, is uncreated. It's eternal. Faithfulness comes out from the heart of God, which means it was never created, it has always been, because it's part of his nature. So whenever you and I carry in our relationships, these eternal and qualities of the nature of God, we literally are carrying eternal possessions inside of us. And it adds a lot of meaning to what Jesus said, When he talks about eternal life. He literally I'm not this is not the exact words but he says, relationship with the Father that is eternal life. Literally. I want to read a scripture that I thought you were going to read that you had sent out. Joshua, chapter two, verse 11, forward the Lord this is this is Rahab, the harlot in Jericho. And the 12 spies go into Jericho to spy out the land and they're going to take this the city and Rahab the harlot says, No, here's what what makes Rahab stand out from all the others. Many people say well, because she was a prostitute No. Rahab had faith. Remember, Faith will change A person's life when you entrust something to God, when you believe God, it literally God can use that faith as a bridge, he'll transform everything about you. And so that's why the Scripture accounts so much to Abraham, because of his faith. What does faith mean trust, she, so what happened was when they came in, she said, I recognize the God of heaven, and I trust him. And I trust him so much that if I don't do something, we're all gonna die. That's how much she trusted. She recognized beyond the fact there was an invading army, she recognize the God of heaven. And so she says, In Joshua, the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now, therefore, I beg you swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have and deliver our lives from death. These are the words of faith. So something more than just trying to save her neck was happening here. She, others knew that they could take them out. But she had faith because she saw God she literally believed God. And Beth said, these are the bold, courageous words of Rahab to the two spies, one of which was named Salomon. As promised Ray Hubbs. Entire family was spared. And she married him. She married Salman, and Salmond and Rahab our bow as his mother and father. You see what's happening here? The courage and the kindness of both labs, Mom and Dad flowed in him, let me say something more importantly, the faith of Boaz, his mom and dad. So Boaz had an inheritance again, God, they were that she was already thinking about more than herself. She was thinking about her family, she wasn't focused on herself. And so this, this faith produces a legacy way of living. Faith in itself is already looking faithfulness is looking, who can I be faithful to? Who can I rescue? Who can I invest into? Who can I bring legacy to this is the nature of faith. And faithfulness is just a whole lot of faith. Right? When we say faithfulness has said, it means full of faith pneus to make it to make it a noun, full of faithfulness, right. And he recognized that same faith and kindness. In Ruth, he saw it when Ruth says, Your God will be my God. She wasn't just saying now me I really love you. She was she was saying, Let Naomi I love you. But something that happened in her and faith cried out, faith is glorious, because it's a quality in God Himself. And so she did this. Wow. I'm going man, and this dude, Mr. No Name. You see, I had forgotten about the land. I'm glad you read that. Because when he thought there was land in the deal, he was all about it. But when he realized no, and you think about the selfishness of this, there was land in the deal, right? He had children that his inheritance would go to, but he wanted the land also. So they would go to his children. But when he found out there might be other children involved, when he rescues that was the whole purpose of the kinsman redeemer law. We might think it crazy in our culture and time like Why not marry brothers? Why, when he dies? Yeah. But listen, if a when a widows were destitute, there was no social security. There was no system, there were no safety nets. Many times they went into prostitution because they didn't have enough money to save their families. So this was Israel's way of rescuing them and rescuing their lineage also. And so in fact, he turned away from his kinsman redeemer responsibility. But the irony of the whole thing was, he had the opportunity to be a father to lineages. He actually was turning down God's intention to bring a double blessing upon his life. See, will tell you this, this faith in the heart of Rahab and Solomon, this faith that was imparted to bow as to see it. Whenever we say kindness whenever we say courage, whenever we say that is the stuff that comes out of faith and His heart, you can't fake it like you can't. Boaz didn't have a checklist and he was going. This part of the problem is as Christians, we start operating on an intellectual level, what should I do? What should I not do? I deal with this all the time with students at the University in theology, they're so focused on what I should do and what I shouldn't do that they're missing the heart dimensions that create these things. And so they go to the checklist of what my action should be, instead of entering into the heart round the heart dimensions, the heart domain, because when our hearts are changed, like bow as as was, you instinctively make the right decisions, you instinctively give you instinctively think beyond yourself, and you instinctively go right into that legacy paradigm that you ladies are teaching us about all so today. What a case study, you guys this man, when you spoke that no name thing, I got goosebumps, I was like, Whoa, man, this is incredible. The scriptures are letting us know clearly. What this is about, in the very thing he stopped. He stole from himself. Because he was stuck in a success paradigm, which can be self centered. And in his case, it was. Amen. Let's pray. And then we'll open it up for discussion. And Sherry, Lord, we thank you for these timeless truths that people have been living in you for 1000s of years, people have experienced these. And I believe the heavens are filled with saints, people who have walked these journeys before us. We ask You, Lord, help us to learn from them. And help us to also learn from their mistakes. So we don't have to make those mistakes. Lord, carry us into this legacy paradigm, so that we can be a people like Boaz and Ruth, like Solomon, and Rahab. And they were brought into the very lineage of You, Jesus, the Son of the living God. And, Lord, this is our prayer. And we thank you for it. We, we just pray God usher us into this kind of fullness and living in these in this faithfulness of God in Jesus name. Amen and Amen. Thank you for joining us today. 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