Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for today's installment of Power Walk with Pastor Paul Cannings. Today we begin a new series titled The Measure of Love, based on the book of Ruth. When our love for God, family, and friends is really tried and tested, are we able to live up to the love that we easily profess?

Through this series, Pastor Cannings shares how we can experience the kind of love that is refined when tried. Let's listen as he brings us part one in this series titled The Source of Love.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Hollywood has taken this whole issue of love and has diluted it. What I mean by that is that it has become more of people being excited about each other because when they're around this person, they make them laugh. When they're around this person, they feel so safe. When I'm around this person, they help me to so see myself that it builds me up greatly.

There's a lot of different things that people now call love. When we talk on the phone, we say the same thing right at the same time. We can't hang up from the phone. We have these feelings that lead us to know we are in love. When you compare that to the scriptures, there are issues with that. But it all stems from what we're going to look at in this story in the book of Ruth, chapter 2, verses 17 through verse 23.

We will walk our way through this and seek to explain how important the nature of love is because when love is pure, it doesn't fail. When love is pure, it doesn't keep a record of wrongs. It's forgiving. It's not boastful. First Corinthians chapter 13, verse 3 on. We're able to not be vengeful or insult for insult and all these different guidelines that God gives us when things become tense. He tells us how to function. Let your words not be unwholesome. In Galatians chapter 5, he would say don't use filthy language. He would go through a list of things because he says you can be angry. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 26 on, you could be angry, but he says do not sin.

When love is sincere, when love is true, when love is what God calls it to be, forgiveness comes with that. Vengeful spirits are not there. The guidelines that are given to us do not become a burden. They become something that we could faithfully do because it is a love that John would say has no measure. We see these characteristics in the story of Ruth and Naomi.

I want to spend some time as well on Naomi. A lot of emphasis is on Ruth and Boaz and people looking for their Boaz and stuff like that. But also look at Naomi. The key thing in this story is to understand that one of the reasons we see Ruth so adamant about working with Naomi is the fact that Ruth has been influenced not just by the fact that Naomi, as we see throughout this book, was a loving woman, a woman who would sacrifice and lead and guide Ruth in her life forward so that Ruth ends up marrying Boaz. So you see she's sacrificial as well.

Apparently in this story, when you look at not neglecting widows, when you look at what the Bible says in the Old Testament about what needs to take place, it seems like Naomi and her husband and her family living with Moabites, they are cursed. So when you look at how a Moabite is functioning with Ruth and how she's responding to Naomi, it seems like the influence of the family and the worship of God based on the family has impacted Ruth to the point where her loyalty, Ruth would say, "Your God is going to be my God, and your people are going to be my people." And she surrenders to a situation where it shows her heart.

What does it mean she shows her heart? It shows that Ruth, knowing these folks could just disdain her, knowing the fact that she's going back to a culture that does not accept her, she's still saying, "They'll be my people and your God will be my God." Ruth is saying, "Moabites, we worship a lot of different gods. We are polytheistic. We worship different things. We have a history with you all, so we have some sense of the Yahweh you worship because of our descendants. But when I look at all that is going on in our Moabite land and I look at all that is happening in your history with your God, I purposefully, willfully, decisively choose your God. So I will not be an obstacle to you. When you take me back, I will not be a burden to you. I will work with you to be an asset to you."

That is what you find here in this story that allows us to see that their love for God, the influence of God on their lives, is the key aspect to what takes place in even providing them the love of God in order to love each other to make this story work. That's why today, before we jump into the depth of the story, we first need to park ourselves in 1 John chapter 4, verse 7. 1 John chapter 4, verse 7 says this: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God." Very deep verse because John likes this word "know." It's important in 1 John because of Gnostic philosophers.

The Gnostic philosophers believed that they had a special emanation from God, and because they had this special emanation from God, they had a special knowledge that they knew was from God. So however they lived is irrelevant because the knowledge they have from God is going to take care of everything and make them have a connection with God that's very productive. So it doesn't really matter what they do in the flesh because the flesh is no good.

John loves explaining what this word "know" is because that is so far from the truth. That's why in chapter 3 he would say there is no way a person can practice sin and say that they're saved. From verse 3 to verse 11, there's just absolutely no way because the seed of God abides in them. That seed convicts. That seed will guide them to truth. That seed would influence them, the Holy Spirit.

That's why when we come to practicing the word of God and the Holy Spirit is functioning powerfully in us and moving us from sinfulness to righteousness. When we look at the scriptures, we see that it is crucial this word "know" has a lot to do with the Holy Spirit. So John is telling us in 1 John chapter 4, verse 7, he says, "Beloved, let us love one another." It's a choice, it's a decision. That's what you're seeing with Naomi and Ruth. There are decisive actions being taken because of their commitment to do what God says.

How do you know that? Because of what he's going to say here: "for love is of God." In other words, God is not love because he shows love or he says love or he does kind acts. No, God is the very nature of what love is. So if a person is not attached to who God is, they can't love. That's why the Bible would say in Matthew chapter 22, verse 36 through verse 40, he says you've got to love the Lord all your heart, your soul, and your mind in order to love your neighbor as yourself.

If a person doesn't love a neighbor, what is being exposed is that they don't love God. If somebody can't love their husband, they're saying loud, "I don't love God." If a person can't love their wife, they're saying loud, "I'm not the nature of Christ when I'm supposed to be Christ in the church in my home." When I can't love somebody at my job, I don't love God first. That's what it's saying. When my feelings get to going, my insecurities, my anxieties, my history pops up as to "yeah, I've been through this before" type of attitude, the Bible is saying I'm saying that I cannot deny myself, pick up the cross, and follow him in the critical times of my life.

And that's why he's saying love is of God. You cannot get away from it. What are they talking about in the book of Ruth? "I will walk with your God. I will do what your God tell me to do." Naomi is saying, "God has blessed us today." They're connected to God. Boaz would say, "God be with you." See, they're connected, and that's why we have this love story. That's why we could talk about the measure of love in this story in the book of Ruth, because they're totally connected to the source of love. They're plugged in.

Salvation is when John would say it right here in 1 John chapter 4, he would say a person must believe that Jesus—he walked on earth, human—is the Christ—deity—the Son of the living God. He was begotten into the womb of a woman in order to be saved. If a person can actually do that, they're saying loud that God has touched my life, opened my eyes to see it, because he is the one that draws us to himself. John 6:44. Because Romans chapter 3, verse 9 through 11 says ain't nobody seeking him; he's the one bringing us to him.

John is saying a person must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Paul would tell us in Romans 10:9, you must believe it in your heart. In other words, there's a commitment to go do what God says. And when God sees that fertile soil in that person's heart because they surrendered their will to him, for that person, the Bible says the Holy Spirit comes into their life 100%. Titus chapter 3, verse 4 through 8.

When that transformation takes place through a brand new creation, he says the person is now born of God. They can't come to God without God. They can't open up their heart without God. And it's only because God so loved the world that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, so none of it can happen without God. And he says that person that come to know it, that come to know it. This is huge. It's huge because in chapter 2, verse 3 through verse 6, he talks about what that "know" means. "Knoweth" literally means the person, verse 3 says, "hereby we would know that we've come to know him if we keep his commandments."

In other words, if a person has a passionate desire to hold on to what God is saying, no matter what they feel, no matter how difficult life may be, they have a desire to do it. When they don't do it, they confess their sins. Earlier on, he's going to say if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us. They want to confess their sins because they want to get back to doing what God says. He says that person, critically committed to keep seeking to obey God, he says that person comes to know him. They come to sense his conviction. They come to understand his word deeply because the Holy Spirit is now influencing their lives. They have a passionate desire to worship him. This person can grow so much from the flesh, they're now in the spirit. So now what comes out of them is the fruit of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace.

When a person like Ruth and Naomi commits to God and they decide to do what God says, they've made the first step to teach us the foundational principle of what makes relationships last with a lot of fruit. When the challenge is before us for what love really means, as 1 Corinthians 13 says, it keeps growing us as we love other people. John 14:34 through verse 35 says, "Now you know who are my disciples, because you see it when they love one another." You see the discipleship here take place between Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi because they became disciples of God. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Amen, Pastor Cannings. Praise God that we can draw from His limitless resources to love those around us. To purchase a copy of this message series, visit us online at powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org. And while you're online, please also consider obtaining the series Establishing Godly Relationships and Experiencing God. Both of these will help you further grow in your love for the Lord and for others.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Hello everyone, this is Pastor Cannings. It's been a pleasure coming into your home, maybe your car. It's been a blessing to serve you. And I hope that you will become a partner as we seek to continue to serve God in an effective manner. Many times he opens up so many doors, but what we lack is resources to get it done. You can't go through every door, but you know the ones that are a great fit for our ministry to touch lives. So I pray that you would become a Power Walk partner as we Power Walk together to impact lives. Thank you for listening. It's been a blessing serving you.

Guest (Male): Also, would you take a moment to learn more about Power Walk Ministries and prayerfully consider supporting us financially? To make a one-time or ongoing contribution, please log on to powerwalkministries.org or call us at 281-260-7402. You can also write us at Power Walk Ministries, PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas 772092. And now as we leave today, remember the more we experience God's love toward us through prayer and His word, the more we will be able to freely love others in our lives.