Ruth 2:3
And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
When Ruth went to get some food for her and her mother-in-law to eat, she did not go to the playground to play; she went to the field to glean after the reapers. She did not go to the field to remake the field, but she went to the field to glean after those reapers who had already reaped a harvest in that field. She did not go to a field that had produced no fruit, but to a field that had produced fruit.
Ruth was smarter than most in our day; she was smart enough to glean after reapers and not to go after those who attacked and tried to destroy the testimony of the reapers. She did not join the chorus of voices who tried to make it sound as if the field was the problem and needed to be destroyed to make a new field, but she chose to keep the field the same and simply glean after those who reaped in that field. The result was she was able to have a harvest herself, and God was able to do a mighty work in her life by placing her in the lineage of Christ.
Many voices in our day criticize the field of the old paths and the reapers who have reaped in this field. My friend, the field of the old paths is not the problem. You can try and remake the field and never glean after those who had a great harvest in that field, but you will only find that your field will not produce fruit, and it will only create a critical heart against those who have reaped because you must justify your lack of reaching the harvest. Let me share a few observations about gleaning after the reapers.
First, I would much rather glean after a reaper than to glean after a loser. You will notice that the reapers were not sinless, but they still had something to glean from. Nobody said the reapers we glean after were sinless men, but they were men whom God used mightily to reach many souls for Him. You will find if you stopped criticizing the reapers of the past that you can glean much wisdom from them on how to build a church and reap a great harvest in your life and ministry. Stop joining the losers who criticize, but glean after the reapers who have shown how to reap a great harvest.
Second, you cannot glean after the reapers if you are not in the same field. You will never glean from the old paths if run with compromisers by yoking up with them in their conference pulpits. The only way to glean from the reapers is to stay in the same field where the reapers reaped. Stop trying to make a new field and reap in the field that has already shown how to have a great harvest.
Third, you cannot glean after the reapers if you don’t seek the reapers. One reason God has worked through my ministry at Maranatha Baptist Church is because I have sought out the reapers of the past to learn how they reaped. All I have done is replicate what they did to reap a great harvest. You would be wise to glean after the reapers like Lee Roberson, Jack Hyles, Dallas Billington, and the plethora of great men whom God used to build great churches in the field of the old paths.
My friend, you cannot glean after the reapers if you are sitting and playing instead of reaping. Get in the field and reap the souls of men, glean from how the reapers before you increased their reaping, and you will find God will work through you as He did through the great reapers of the past.
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