Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): This is the Power Walk Ministries broadcast, and our current series is titled Relationships, Marriage and Family. It's brought to you by Dr. Paul Cannings. Today Pastor Cannings brings the fourth and final message in this series titled Are You Ready? You may have heard it said that signing a marriage certificate doesn't change who you are, as we retain all of our strengths as well as our shortcomings.

Taking us to the Book of Ruth, Pastor Cannings teaches us about the story of Ruth and her commitment to her family and the priority God had in her life. Let's listen as he brings today's message, Learn to Be Single First.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Understand, he doesn't change anything. Ruth, go to the water, they have these wells and they put it in a jar. It's crazy for a Jew to drink water out of the same jar as a Moabite. He is literally attacking racism. He is saying at the end of the day you can't have a woman out here as a widow, thirsty, in the hot sun, working harder than all of y'all, and don't give her nothing to drink. That's inhumane.

What you find in this man is that he's a fair man. He's a man of integrity. He's a man when he learns the truth, the truth is above everything. I don't care what y'all think of me right now. What I care about is that this woman came to take care of a mother-in-law when she didn't have to, and that mother-in-law is a sign to death, and she's one of us. I'm going to take care of this woman because she's taking care of one of us. Period.

You find a man of integrity, you find a good man. He doesn't play politics. He doesn't say, "You scratch this back, I scratch that back." He stands up for the truth, he lives with the truth, and that's what makes him a leader in your home. Why is that key? When one kid is talking about this and the other kid is talking about that and mama said this, the husband is going to be a leader and say, "Hey, you stop going to your mama, you come to me.

If you have a question, come to me. Let your mama and I work it out. But you don't go to your mama and then come to me, or you don't go to me and then go to your mama. This is not how this works in this house." You find a leader. That's what you find in Boaz. He led. He didn't care what nobody thought. It's what is the right thing to do. Period.

When you don't find a man like that, how are you going to be a helper when he's not into cultivating a garden? In Genesis, Adam cultivated the garden. Then Eve came to be a helper. Since you're willing to be a helper, we could talk about husband and wife. She can now come to be a helper because she found a cultivator. It's being repeated in the Book of Ruth. That's why you have a relationship that is an attraction that God puts together. That's why He says what God puts together, let no man put asunder.

Watch this carefully. We run past those verses. Watch what happens in this real attraction. Now, here's a thing y'all are not going to like, ladies. I'm going to tell you right now. I want you to see that Boaz and her don't connect emotionally until Ruth does this thing. Here is what she does. The first part of what she does, I'm not saying go do that. What I'm going to concentrate on is that once Boaz exposed himself to be who he proves himself to be, that's when Ruth gave him respect.

Ruth didn't give him respect before that. But when she saw this man is going, "Hey, I don't care if you're a Moabite or what, you're a widow. God has a verse for that. You're taking care of a woman that is near to death. God has a verse for that. Since you're helping us fulfill the law towards widows, I'm going to honor God." He just proved to her he's a man of God that follows the word. The reason why all those other maidens aren't married to him is because they're not like Ruth.

He chose Ruth because she's not like the rest of the maidens. She didn't just stand out because of her beauty; she stood out because of her character. He's serious, he's diving in now. I found out more information about you, so I'm diving in. That is why I keep saying to y'all, it is first being single. We want to run from single life to married life and the Bible says learn to be single first. If you don't learn to be single first, you'll learn marriage the hard way.

Watch this carefully. Look at verse 10. She fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said, "Why have I found favor in your sight? I got to check you out. You check me out, but I'm going to check you out. I'm going to give you respect as my boss that allowed me to be in this field, and day after day I come to this field and you don't kick me out, so I'm going to give you respect. But who are you?"

She didn't say, "Ooh, he has money. He is Boaz. He has a field, he has servants, he has a lead servant, he rides a horse, he has a house. This man has it going on, so I'm going to marry this guy." She goes, "No. I committed to my God. I'm committed to Naomi. I have yet to be committed to you." Ladies, I'm saying this because this next thing you got to do, and I'm going to show you in the Bible, you have to do it or you will kill a good man. You will kill him.

He will not be a leader anymore. He's just not going to lead your kids the way you need him to lead because you didn't do this next thing. I'm sorry, I didn't write the Bible, but I'll tell you this. You don't do it until you know who you're hooking up with. Don't do it. Ruth didn't fall all over herself. She asked, "Who in the world are you? What are you talking about? I don't care who they say you are. You tell me for yourself.

I watch you every day around here. You got all these maidens around here. You think I don't know they like you?" I got to figure out who you are. You could be messing around with all of them. I don't know you. So I got to go back to Naomi before I go get a blanket. She didn't just go, "Let me get a blanket, I got Boaz. Thank you, Jesus. Let's hook this thing up." Naomi told her it's good.

Look at verse 12. He said, "I want not just me to pay you, I want God to pay you. We are going to keep this relationship as Boaz and Ruth. We are not married yet. I'm going to pay you, I'm going to ask God to pay you in full, and I'm going to ask God to protect you, not just me protect you, for God to protect you." He shows we are going to keep this single as single. We aren't moving in together.

In verse 13 he says, "I have found favor in your sight, my lord." Is it a capital L? Small l. What is the Bible saying? A woman should not get married until she respects a man. Until she sees a man as a man, she should never offer him respect. But if you got married without doing the investigation, the verses still apply. The Bible says in order for a leader to continue to be a leader and develop as a leader, the person has to be sustained as a leader.

He's going out to work, he's constantly being hit. People say, "Do this, do this man, come here do this." He's constantly being told what to do all day. He doesn't want to come to a wife telling him what to do all day. A man, the Bible says, because he has to go out—this is why he's naturally physically more strong than the woman—he has to go out there and he has to fight. He has to protect his family.

He needs to be standing strong. The Bible says when you investigate and you decide to get this relationship tied together, if you can't give him the respect that I'm telling you to give him, don't marry him or you will kill a leader. A man must feel honored and respected in his home or you will destroy him. The worst place you could destroy him is in the bedroom when you act like nothing happened. You will destroy a man.

I'm telling you women, a foolish woman can tear a house down by her own hands. You can do that. That's why the Bible is saying you want a relationship, walk the way to it. But when you get there and you decide to get married, you got to function within My roles. And that is to keep a man lifted. Find positive things to say to him, even when you want to cut his head off. You don't want to defeat your husband, tear your husband down and then tell him to lead.

Y'all do that at the wrong time. Kids are acting crazy. Well, you're the leader of the house. Now you tore me down, you go do it. She honored this man. She kept him high. She lifted him and she did not tear him down. Don't do that to your man because this is when the feelings got connected. He says these words, "For you have comforted me." Right there the feelings kick in. We do feelings at the top, she did feelings at the end.

This is what made this woman such a godly woman and this man a godly man. "You have comforted me." As a Moabite, they could have killed me or raped me. I came here and I can't get a water. You gave me water. You went and investigated me, a Moabite widow? Why would you want to investigate me? My hard work, my decency while I'm in the field, how I look at men and respond to men in the field. You saw all of that. You investigated it.

You have made my life come from misery, a death of a husband, a trip with Naomi. You brought me peace. Our feelings are connected. She got there. Hollywood takes us there first, and that's why our feelings are a mess at the end. God is saying if you start off doing it My way, then your feelings will kick in because the Comforter in the New Testament is Jesus Christ. When you make Him Lord, you start there, you end there.

Ruth got the comforting because she found this was a good man. I could respect him. She still went back to the field. "I kind of like you now, but I'm still a single woman. And until God directs me to you, I'm still going to work, but I ain't trying to marry you right now." And that's what I'm connected to until you do something else. Are you really ready?

Guest (Male): Thank you Pastor Cannings for pointing out how central honor and respect must be in all of our relationships, especially in our marriage. Friend, as you know, we're a listener-supported broadcast, so could we ask for your financial help with our broadcast costs? You can contribute online at powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org, or call us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402.

If you'd like to write us, our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092. We appreciate your support and your prayers for us. And if you live in the Houston area or you're planning a visit, please join Reverend Cannings at Living Word Fellowship Church this Sunday. For church location and service times, visit lwfellowshipchurch.org.

And now as we leave you, remember, whether you're single, married, preparing for marriage, or have marriage in your past, our lives must bring honor and glory to God, and He will enable us to find favor with those around us.