Roche Coleman Ministries: The Infusion Broadcast

Roche Coleman: It's important that we bless those around us. Now let me tell you why. I'm convinced as believers we have the authority and the power within us to pronounce these blessings. Why? Because by virtue of our relationship with God, the covenant relationship that we have through Christ Jesus, God bestows upon us the ability to also bless others.

We are not the source of the blessing; we are only the conduit through which the blessing flows to other people. And that's why we have to bless those. And that's why I'm convinced we have to be careful with our speech as people of God. That instead of derogatory statements and criticizing and ridiculing, that we are asking God, "Lord, turn that situation around. I'm believing You, Lord, that You're going to change this person. I see where they are now, but Lord, I'm believing that there's going to be a day they will be walking with You. Lord God, that You're going to release them from that which have them bound. Lord, You will open up their blinded eyes. You will declare their day of deliverance."

If you start praying and blessing them and believing that, watch God. He can move in the circumstance.

Guest (Male): Thanks for tuning in today to join us on the Infusion broadcast with the Roche Coleman Ministries. Friends, we may not all have experienced the same set of circumstances as Naomi or Ruth, but we've all had our share of going through some hard times and even extreme sorrows. Yet we see God's providence throughout this book. Today we see them come full circle, from bearing grief and pain to being blessed with security and honor once again. Let's listen now as Dr. Coleman brings this final message in the series titled "God's Gracious Favor."

Roche Coleman: Father, we love You. We thank You for mercy and for grace, for Your compassion and kindness, Lord God, and we are so thankful that You are our God. And we ask that You guide us and be with us as we look into Your Word. Open our eyes and understanding, for that we give You praise. We love You. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Fourth chapter Ruth. We were at the place where Boaz and the true Goel, the redeemer, the closest relative, they were there discussing the whole matter as it relates to Ruth. Remember they were before the elders, and they had the cloud of witnesses who were there in the background. And they were concluding the sale, if you will, not only of the property that was associated with Naomi, that included taking Ruth the Moabitess as well. And one of the things we were looking at were the blessing that was pronounced on not only the conclusion of the matter, the elders, but also they were asking.

Let's look at verse 11 briefly. It says all the people who were in the court and the elders said, "We are witnesses." Remember we talked about they were witnesses, and this is where they pronounced the blessing. "May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah." And you remember Rachel and Leah. Remember we looked in Genesis where they were the wives of none other than Jacob. And Jacob, remember he was deceived into marrying Leah first, but he was working for Rachel. But because Leah was older than Rachel, the custom said that he had to marry the oldest first.

Jacob didn't know it, and that good old uncle Laban, I believe he was laughing the whole time because he knew what he was going to do. I can just see him laughing and the next day when Jacob comes in and says, "Hey man, what have you done?" He's probably laughing the whole time, smirking and smiling, and say, "Hey man, this not our custom. You got to take Leah first and by the way, just work another seven years and I'm going to give you Rachel, too." And so that's how he got these two wives. And then their handmaidens came, and so this is where we get the 12 tribes of Israel. You can go back and you can see the account of that in Genesis beginning about chapter 27 and come forward.

But anyway, they reference the people here, the witnesses reference Rachel and Leah because of the home that is going to come through Boaz and Ruth. They were praying for the same prosperous multiplication of the house. And when they reference house in the Old Testament context, they're referencing offspring, children, sons, daughters to build it up. And he says just like they were blessing the house of Israel and built it up, may you achieve also wealth. And he says Ephrathah, which is Bethlehem. He says become famous in Bethlehem. Same place, it was called Ephrathah before it was called Bethlehem.

Then he goes on and moreover, verse 12 said, "Your house be like the house of Perez." Perez, you recall, was the descendant of Tamar. Tamar, remember she was the one who had the relations with her father-in-law in a deceptive way. It's so intriguing how they use two acts of deception to allude to an act that is without deception. But both of those acts of deception, God used them to bless. And that's the graciousness about our God. God can use our imperfections and still bless. That's the grace of God.

And that's why we have to always remember one of the things I see in the book of Ruth is the hope that it brings and no matter how poorly we have behaved, how bad our lives may have been, God still in His grace He blessed us and showered down upon us and gave us favor. Now that is not to say we should go out and just make a mockery of things, but it is to say that we serve a God who's a gracious God and even in our acts of disobedience He's still merciful and longsuffering. We give Him glory for it.

Verse 13, we get here and now we're talking about the wedding, the consummation of the wedding and so forth. And I want you to go down to verse 13 with me. He says so Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. So now it's official, we've gotten them and they're cutting the cake and they're having punch and all that good stuff and they're having merriment and so it's a good time. She became his wife, and when he went into her, the Lord enabled her to conceive. The text really means He gave her conception. He gave her a child, enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

I love this because what I want you to see is it's just consistent with who God is. It is God who is the subject, the Lord Himself, Hashim, the Hebrew name they reference to His name, Adonai, the Lord rather, they call Him Hashim. The name, it is He who enables, who opens the womb. It's not us. There are so many individuals like, "Well we're going to have a child after two," no, you're going to have a child when God says you have a child. Not humanity.

So what happens, He gives her the ability to conceive and she gives birth to a son. And then the women, this is so intriguing to me in verse 14. You all got to see this now. Look in verse 14. All right, now we get here in verse 14 and the Bible is talking about the child that's going to be born and the women begin to speak in verse 14. And they said to Naomi, "Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel." I like the fact that I believe the women redeemed themselves. Because remember when chapter 1, when they saw Naomi, they were like, "Is this Naomi?" They were being messy in chapter 1.

And now they're about the Master in chapter 4 because now they have changed their tone and they see it from the proper perspective now. And I love this part of it, and they pronounce a blessing. "Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel." They're pronouncing a blessing upon Naomi. I like this. They go on further. "May he also be to you a restorer of life." I like this because remember when Naomi left she was full, when she returned she says, "I am empty." She said, "The Lord Almighty, His hand is against me." She says, "I'm changing my identity, my name," and she says, "Call me Mara, I'm bitter." All of that.

The shift has occurred. And so what happens now is that God has appeared and He's shown Himself faithful. Two things I got to show you right here, you got to see this real quick. First thing, I love the blessing that's pronounced. Throughout scripture, there are what we call formal pronouncements of blessings, such as the cases when we have the dedication of the king. When the king is installed in his office, there is a formality that goes with that. When Samuel anoints David as king, there's a formality to. When he anoints Saul as well, there was a formality went with it. They take the oil, pour it on their head, and then they pronounce this "long live the king," statements like that are said.

When you see some of these blessings take place and when I'm talking about a blessing, it comes from the root word *barakh* to bless and it also comes from the root word this idea of to kneel or to bow. And then you get *berakha*, which has this whole idea of a divine blessing and it can be a blessing between individuals and then there's sometimes when God will bless individuals. So there is a range of use of the word. But it also can be used in the context of greetings, when you're saying goodbye, when you praise God, you can invoke a blessing also on others. But there are different contexts in which these happen.

One of the ways we see them is that you can even bless people and ask God for His favor over people. Sometimes you'll see that in Numbers 6:24 we see that happens. Also in the transference of a legacy and authority. When Isaac blessed Jacob, you recall he was supposed to bless Esau who was the oldest, but what happened? It was that deceptive trickery going on. And that is the exact reason why Jacob got deceived by Uncle Laban. Why? You sow to the wind and you reap the whirlwind. You thought you were getting over, but somebody got over on you now, so don't be mad. Just take it and keep moving.

Also we can bless people just in encouragement and strengthen them. We want them to be strengthened in their faith. All of this is important. I want you to see this. Why? Because I'm convinced these also are applicable to us. When we can bless people, our families, we can bless our legacy, our posterity. You hear me all the time saying when take your kids, before they go to school, before they go to bed, just pull them up, lay your hands on them when they're traveling going somewhere and bless them, pronounce a blessing over. It would be great sometimes get some oil and bless your children.

That's what Jacob, you look in Genesis when Jacob at the end of his life, he's there and he called those boys in and he begins to bless all of those boys. He knew them. He knew them. And he blessed them accordingly. It's a prophetic utterance also in some of this, but he also knew them and this is why it's important as parents number one that we have a relationship with God, but also that we train up a child in the way he should go. And so we can pronounce those blessings on them.

Also blessings for praise and for worship, recognizing God as the ultimate source of all goodness and then we bless God as a result of that. In 2 Samuel 6:18 David blessed the people when the Ark of the Covenant came back in the name of the Lord. And it's so important prophetic declarations, I'm going to run real quick because we got to get through, our time is short. Affirming covenant relationships, and I use this down here in Genesis 12 where when God had called Abram from Ur of the Chaldees, promising him that there's going to be descendants. He gave him also circumcision as a symbol. There are ways that we can bless.

And so it's important that we see this and don't miss this. It's important that we bless those around us. Now let me tell you why. I'm convinced as believers we have the authority and the power within us to pronounce these blessings. Why? Because by virtue of our relationship with God, the covenant relationship that we have through Christ Jesus, God bestows upon us the ability to also bless others. We are not the source of the blessing; we are only the conduit through which the blessing flows to other people. And that's why we have to bless those.

And that's why I'm convinced we have to be careful with our speech as people of God. That instead of derogatory statements and criticizing and ridiculing, that we are asking God, "Lord, turn that situation around. I'm believing You, Lord, that You're going to change this person. I see where they are now, but Lord, I'm believing that there's going to be a day they will be walking with You. Lord God, that You're going to release them from that which have them bound. Lord, You will open up their blinded eyes. You will declare their day of deliverance."

If you start praying and blessing them and believing that, watch God. He can move in the circumstance. Don't look at where they are because we have examples of that right here. They're just getting married, just signing the the marriage license and they're saying, "Hey, we want believe that you're going to be like Rachel and Leah. You're going to be like Perez." They're blessing them and believing God to do something supernatural, so we want to pronounce those blessings. Now, also there are what I call spontaneous blessings or informal blessings whereby you don't have to have something formal.

The situation arise and you say, "Hey, this is an opportunity for me just to bless God for what He's done." "I want to bless God's people." It can be spontaneous. You don't have to wait for a formal moment. You can be in the office somewhere, somebody come in and you're talking and and if the Lord drops it in your spirit, pray for them, bless them right there on the spot. Why not? Why not? I believe as people of God we should never miss an opportunity to bless and be a blessing. Very important.

So if we individually as believers are priests, we are walking in the priestly role in our homes, what did the priest do? They blessed the people of God. Numbers 6:22 and then what was Aaron serving as? He was in the priestly office. In the New Testament economy, all of us as believers we function in the role of a priest of our own home. Because we function in the role of priest, we have the authority to bless. You with me? And so we can do this. And then sometimes just spontaneous. Noah blessed Shem and Japheth. Isaac blessed Jacob, you see he's going to bless also Esau later on in 27.

Jacob blessed his sons in 49. We got the Aaronic blessings. Number 33, Moses blessed the tribe of Israel before his death. There's just so many places where we see these blessings that manifest. In the New Testament, Elizabeth blessed Mary. Simeon blessed the baby Jesus and his parents. Remember he had been waiting for the consolation of Israel. Oh man, beautiful and he blessed the child. He said, "I've been waiting for this moment," and now he's like, "Now I'm ready to go. I've seen the salvation of the Lord."

And so these are all occasions for us to bless. And one of the things so often we come to this short four chapters in the book of Ruth, we miss the depth, the profundity of the rich theology in the book. We are so caught up in Ruth and Boaz and we miss all of the beauty that's going on in here. Most of the time we don't focus on the blessing that's come. It seems short but insignificant, but I'm like this is powerful stuff. Powerful. And in the blessing, there are two things that has happened here that I don't want to miss.

I'm going to go down here further and then I'm going to come back to it real quick, the last point I wanted to bring out to you. After they bless her and they say, "Hey, he's better to you than seven sons has given birth to him." And then in verse 16 it says, "Then Naomi took the child." Watch this, this is beautiful. Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap and became his nurse. She says nothing more. She's silent. Naomi now she's holding this child. The woman who was empty, weary, I believe she was grieving when she returned and she's changed her identity and now the Lord has given her new life literally and spiritually.

Hope that she never thought she would see. Yes, she is grandmother. She's grandmother. She's the spiritual grandmother. The text here says look it says she's going to nurse the baby. She's the caregiver. She became his nurse. She's going to care for the child. And she's silent. Why is Naomi silent? Naomi is silent because I believe she is just taking in the gravity and the goodness of God. Gravity of the moment. I mean the joy, the excitement because it shows us how they were empty but God filled. And if you feel right now that you're empty, God can fill you back to overflow.

Look, Ruth also she was empty, but she comes full circle. Remember she started off as a wife. She was a daughter-in-law, she was a daughter, became the daughter to Naomi. But then she had to become that foreigner when she left. In this chiastic kind of formula we see it. Also she became the maidservant she identified herself as, the handmaid, but now what is she? She's back to being a wife. She's back to being a wife. You see God has a way of filling us. He fills us. It may seem like, "Man, I'm empty," but God can fill.

Same thing happens to Naomi. Remember what her verse was: "Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, bitter. The Almighty has dealt bitterly with me." She started off also as a wife, had sons, daughters, but death robbed her. And then here, this is a pivotal point in 1:20 because in 1:20 what happens, this is where there is a change in identity. Also she has the *gibbor hayil*. Remember Boaz was identified as the *gibbor hayil*, this person here and he is the one who's going to bring this security. And then she finds herself in the conclusion, she's backfilled and she's going to be the nurse of what? The redeemer whose name going to be Obed, the child.

It's incredible to see God do this. It's incredible how He moves and how only God can bring these things to fruition, but I love how He does it. But God is going to use this foreign woman, this Moabitess. God is going to use her to bring forth the kingly lineage, I mean and the King par excellence. Because remember David is the king of kings. He is the example by which every king is measured. Very interesting too. And all of these lineages they trace back to a common ancestry, to a singular source, Adam and Eve.

But this lineage is important because why? When we get to the New Testament, it's going to authenticate why Jesus Christ is Messiah. And guess who He used to bring this to fruition? None other than a foreigner by the name of Ruth, a Moabite.

Guest (Male): Dr. Coleman, it's truly been an exciting journey as you had us travel with Naomi and Ruth. Thanks for the rich contextual insights you provided, together with the many theological principles you highlighted for us. Friend, if you've never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life or have doubts about your salvation, please email us at info@rochecolemanministries.org. If you'd like to speak to us, you can call us. Our number is 346-386-4621. You can also leave a message online at rochecolemanministries.org.

Wherever you reside, we want to encourage you to find a local church to attend. Now if you're in the Houston area, please stop by the Impact Church of the Woodlands where Dr. Coleman serves as senior pastor. Worship times on Sundays are 8:00 and 10:45 AM, and the church is located at 5401 Shadowbend Place, The Woodlands, Texas. There are ministries for every age group, and it's a church that's passionate about serving others. We hope you'll stop by this weekend. As we close, no matter where you find yourself today, hope in God. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. God bless you.