Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Max Lucado – It’s Okay Not to Be Okay: God Is With You in Your Struggles
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: God is the God of fresh starts, new beginnings, and
- 0:02Speaker 1: second chances. God is the God of glory days. And
- 0:07Speaker 1: if you could use some, then welcome to Glory Days,
- 0:09Speaker 1: a series of lessons on the book and life of Joshua.
- 0:14Speaker 1: God gave him, in the Hebrews, a promised land life,
- 0:17Speaker 1: and he offers to do the same for you. If
- 0:20Speaker 1: you're interested, then receive what he has to give. Let's
- 0:24Speaker 1: begin with the Glory Days Declaration. The words will appear
- 0:27Speaker 1: on the screen. I want you to please fill your
- 0:30Speaker 1: lungs with air and your hearts with hope and say
- 0:32Speaker 1: it like you mean it. These days are glory days.
- 0:36Speaker 1: My past is past. My future is bright. God's promises
- 0:41Speaker 1: are true. His word is sure. With God as my helper,
- 0:46Speaker 1: I will be all he wants me to be, do
- 0:49Speaker 1: all he wants me to do, and receive all he
- 0:53Speaker 1: wants me to receive. These days are glory days. Yes,
- 0:57Speaker 1: they are, Lord. They're not easy days. They're not always
- 1:01Speaker 1: pleasant days. But they are father days in which we
- 1:04Speaker 1: can sense your power and your presence and your promise.
- 1:08Speaker 1: Today we lean into those. So many voices have competed
- 1:12Speaker 1: for your attention. And we have heeded them Lord. Today
- 1:16Speaker 1: we heed yours. Would you please instill within us fresh hope.
- 1:22Speaker 1: Embed within us a new truth. And convict us father.
- 1:26Speaker 1: That you are calling us into a new land. Find
- 1:30Speaker 1: that soul among us that today came with so much
- 1:34Speaker 1: discouragement and despair. That they barely made it. Would you
- 1:37Speaker 1: speak to them. And now Lord forgive the sins of
- 1:41Speaker 1: the one who speaks. There are so many. And grant
- 1:44Speaker 1: that we can see Christ. Our Savior. In his name
- 1:48Speaker 1: we pray. And all the church said. Well, people in
- 1:55Speaker 1: Paraguay are making music with their trash. They're turning wash
- 2:02Speaker 1: tubs into kettle drums. Plastic hoses into trumpets. Other orchestras
- 2:08Speaker 1: fine-tune their mahogany cellos and brass tubas, but not this band.
- 2:14Speaker 1: The kids from Cartura, Paraguay, have found a way to
- 2:18Speaker 1: play Beethoven sonatas with plastic buckets. Credit a man by
- 2:23Speaker 1: the name of Don Lowe. cola. He's a garbage picker
- 2:27Speaker 1: who lives in the shack beside the town dump. On
- 2:30Speaker 1: his side of Asuncion, the garbage is the only crop
- 2:35Speaker 1: to harvest. He and thousands like him sort and sell
- 2:39Speaker 1: refuse for 10 cents a pound. They are the poorest
- 2:43Speaker 1: of Paraguay's poor. In many ways, they have met the
- 2:47Speaker 1: same fate as the trash. They've been tossed out. They've
- 2:51Speaker 1: been discarded. But Cola is bringing music their way. He
- 2:56Speaker 1: had never seen, held, or heard a violin in his life.
- 3:02Speaker 1: Yet when someone described the instrument to him, this untutored
- 3:06Speaker 1: craftsman took a paint can and an oven tray into
- 3:09Speaker 1: his tiny workshop and he made a violin. His next
- 3:14Speaker 1: project was a cello. He fashioned the body out of
- 3:18Speaker 1: an oil barrel and made tuning knobs out of a hairbrush,
- 3:22Speaker 1: the heel of a shoe, and a wooden spoon. Thanks
- 3:26Speaker 1: to this trash dump Stradivarius, the junk gets a mulligan.
- 3:31Speaker 1: And so do the kids who live among it. They're
- 3:35Speaker 1: playing the instruments. And ever since their story hit the news,
- 3:40Speaker 1: they've been tutored by world-class maestros and featured on national
- 3:45Speaker 1: television programs. Why, they've even gone on a world tour.
- 3:49Speaker 1: You can call them the landfill harmonic, the second chance symphony,
- 3:55Speaker 1: or the recycled orchestra. Or you might call them a
- 4:00Speaker 1: picture of God's grace. He sure can make music out
- 4:06Speaker 1: of riffraff, can't he? Heaven's orchestra right now is composed
- 4:12Speaker 1: of the unlikeliest of musicians. There's Peter playing the trumpet.
- 4:16Speaker 1: He's the one who cursed the name of the Christ
- 4:20Speaker 1: who saved him. There's Paul. He plays the violin. There
- 4:25Speaker 1: was a day when he played the self-righteous religious thug.
- 4:31Speaker 1: And the guy on the harp? David. Bloodthirsty David. Conniving David.
- 4:39Speaker 1: Adulterous David. Murderous David. Repentant David. But we turn our
- 4:49Speaker 1: attention today to the lady on the clarinet. Her name
- 4:53Speaker 1: is Rahab. And we begin by pointing out her profession.
- 5:00Speaker 1: Rahab's profession in Jericho. Here's your cue if you like
- 5:06Speaker 1: to fill in the blanks. Rahab's profession in Jericho. Her
- 5:13Speaker 1: story appears in the second chapter of Joshua, verse 1.
- 5:18Speaker 1: Now Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out two men
- 5:21Speaker 1: from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land,
- 5:27Speaker 1: especially Jericho. And so they went. And they came to
- 5:32Speaker 1: the house of a harlot named Rahab. and lodged there.
- 5:41Speaker 1: So the time has come for the Hebrew people to
- 5:43Speaker 1: cross over into the new promised land. Joshua was their leader,
- 5:47Speaker 1: if you remember, and Jericho is their first challenge. It
- 5:51Speaker 1: was a formidable town that sat on the north of
- 5:55Speaker 1: the Dead Sea, just across the banks of the Jordan River.
- 5:59Speaker 1: Canaanites indwelt the city of Jericho. We'll be talking quite
- 6:04Speaker 1: a bit about Canaanites, but for today's Suffice it to say,
- 6:08Speaker 1: to call the people barbaric is to describe the North
- 6:12Speaker 1: Pole as nippy. Some sociologists have said the world has
- 6:20Speaker 1: not seen a more evil people since these people of Canaan.
- 6:27Speaker 1: They sacrificed their own children in worship. Worship was an orgy, literally. Literally.
- 6:35Speaker 1: They buried babies alive. Canaanites, it seemed, had no regard
- 6:39Speaker 1: for human life. They had no respect for God. And
- 6:43Speaker 1: so it was into this city that these two spies
- 6:47Speaker 1: of Joshua crept. And it was into this city that
- 6:50Speaker 1: these two spies met Rahab, the harlot. We could say
- 6:56Speaker 1: much about Rahab without mentioning her profession. And she was
- 7:02Speaker 1: a Canaanite. She covered land. Provided cover for the spies
- 7:07Speaker 1: and Joshua. She believed, as you'll read, in the God
- 7:10Speaker 1: of Abraham. Having never met the children of Abraham, she
- 7:13Speaker 1: was spared the destruction of her city. She was grafted
- 7:17Speaker 1: into the Hebrew culture. She married a contemporary of Joshua.
- 7:21Speaker 1: She bore a son named Boaz. She had a grandson
- 7:24Speaker 1: named Jesse. A great-grandson named David. And one of her descendants...
- 7:33Speaker 1: Was named Jesus Christ. Yes. Rahab's name. Appears. On the family. Tree.
- 7:42Speaker 1: Of the son of God. Rahab's resume could mention much.
- 7:46Speaker 1: Without mentioning. Her profession. Yet in five. Out of seven
- 7:53Speaker 1: appearances of her name in scripture. There it is. Rahab
- 7:59Speaker 1: the harlot. Five. Five. I'm thinking one would be enough.
- 8:07Speaker 1: And that one reference could be cloaked in a vague,
- 8:10Speaker 1: obscure Hebrew term like Rahab the best hostess in Jericho.
- 8:17Speaker 1: Rahab who made everyone feel welcome. Just got to cover
- 8:21Speaker 1: it up a bit. A little cover up on this
- 8:25Speaker 1: biblical blemish. It's bad enough that Rahab sounds like rehab.
- 8:32Speaker 1: Just drop the reference to the brothel, please. But the
- 8:37Speaker 1: Bible doesn't. Just the opposite. The Bible makes a big
- 8:41Speaker 1: deal out of it. God even included Rahab's name and
- 8:48Speaker 1: profession in the book of Hebrews Hall of Fame. The
- 8:51Speaker 1: list includes Abel and Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses.
- 8:57Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, Rahab, the harlot. No asterisk,
- 9:04Speaker 1: no apology, no footnote. Just right there. Living color for
- 9:09Speaker 1: all to see. It is as if God is making
- 9:12Speaker 1: a point about the people he uses. He's been known
- 9:18Speaker 1: to turn some rejects into music makers too. So back
- 9:24Speaker 1: to the story. Rahab's profession in Jericho mattered less than
- 9:29Speaker 1: Rahab's profession in If you've heard the other messages, you
- 9:35Speaker 1: might remember that the number of Hebrews on the other
- 9:36Speaker 1: side of the Jordan was significant. Anyone remember? The other
- 9:50Speaker 1: message is you might remember that the number of Hebrews
- 9:55Speaker 1: on the other side of the Jordan was significant. Anyone remember?
- 10:00Speaker 1: Well over two million. You don't hide two million people.
- 10:05Speaker 1: Especially when you're only six to eight miles away. The
- 10:07Speaker 1: king could see them. Everyone could see them. And as
- 10:11Speaker 1: Rahab will later disclose, all the people of Jericho were scared.
- 10:15Speaker 2: Scared.
- 10:17Speaker 1: Word on the street was that God had his hand
- 10:19Speaker 1: on this Hebrew people and woe be to anyone who
- 10:23Speaker 1: got in their way. When the kings heard that the
- 10:27Speaker 1: spies were hiding at Rahab's house, he sent soldiers to
- 10:31Speaker 1: fetch them. And the result is, I think, one of
- 10:34Speaker 1: the most fascinating scenes in the book of Joshua. I'm
- 10:40Speaker 1: envisioning half a dozen soldiers squeezing down those narrow cobblestone
- 10:45Speaker 1: streets where through and into the red light district of
- 10:51Speaker 1: Jericho it's late at night and the torch lit taverns
- 10:56Speaker 1: are open and the patrons are already a few sheets
- 11:00Speaker 1: to the wind they yell obscenities at the king's men
- 11:03Speaker 1: but the Soldiers don't react. The guards are on a mission.
- 11:08Speaker 1: They keep walking. They keep walking. They keep walking until
- 11:12Speaker 1: finally they stand before the wooden door of a stone
- 11:15Speaker 1: building that abuts the famous Jericho walls. Its lantern is unlit,
- 11:21Speaker 1: leaving the soldiers to wonder if anyone is at home.
- 11:24Speaker 1: The captain pounds on the door. Pound, pound, pound. There's
- 11:30Speaker 1: a shuffling inside. The door opens, and there she is, Rahab,
- 11:40Speaker 1: the madam, Rahab. Her low-cut robe reveals a fringe that
- 11:49Speaker 1: a lacy secret had to it that even Victoria couldn't keep.
- 12:01Speaker 1: Her voice is husky from one cigarette too many. Her
- 12:06Speaker 1: makeup is layered and her eyes are shadowed and she
- 12:09Speaker 1: puts one hand on her hip and uses the other
- 12:12Speaker 1: hand to hold a dirty martini with three olives. Sorry, boys,
- 12:18Speaker 1: she says. We're booked for the night. We're not here
- 12:25Speaker 1: for that, the captain says. We're here for the Hebrews.
- 12:28Speaker 2: Hebrews?
- 12:30Speaker 1: Hebrews? You sure you're not here for a little bit
- 12:34Speaker 1: of fun? And she winks a heavy eyelash at the
- 12:39Speaker 1: youngest soldier and he blushes. But the captain stays focused.
- 12:45Speaker 1: We came for the spies. Where are they? She steps
- 12:50Speaker 1: out on the porch and she closes the door behind
- 12:52Speaker 1: her and she looks to the right and she looks
- 12:54Speaker 1: to the left and she motions for the soldiers to
- 12:56Speaker 1: lean in and she lowers her voice to a whisper
- 12:59Speaker 1: and she says, you just missed them. They just snuck
- 13:03Speaker 1: out before the gates were closed. But if you take off,
- 13:07Speaker 1: you can catch them. Take off they do. And as
- 13:11Speaker 1: soon as they disappear around the corner, Rahab turns and
- 13:14Speaker 1: she opens the door and she scurries up the stairs
- 13:18Speaker 1: of the brothel to the top where the two spies
- 13:25Speaker 1: are hiding. The coast is clear, she tells them. And
- 13:30Speaker 1: she gestures over the city wall at that disappearing group
- 13:36Speaker 1: of soldiers and their lit torches. And she says, now's
- 13:41Speaker 1: your chance to get out. We're tempted to dash down
- 13:46Speaker 1: a trail or two ourselves here, aren't we? And talk
- 13:48Speaker 1: about why in the world those men were hanging out
- 13:50Speaker 1: in a brothel to begin with. I'm not going there.
- 13:56Speaker 1: Why did Rahab lie? And what does that say about
- 13:58Speaker 1: our own ethics? We'll save that one too. I think
- 14:04Speaker 1: the bigger question right here is Rahab herself. And what
- 14:10Speaker 1: does the appearance of a harlot taking up the entirety
- 14:16Speaker 1: of the second chapter early in the book of Joshua
- 14:19Speaker 1: have to say to us about our own promised land? Well,
- 14:26Speaker 1: the answers appear as we begin to look at Rahab's
- 14:29Speaker 1: response in her commentary, what she says to the soldiers
- 14:33Speaker 1: before they slip out. I'm reading now from the LPV.
- 14:37Speaker 1: It's the Lakato paraphrase version. She said to the soldiers,
- 14:45Speaker 1: the whole city is talking about you and your armies.
- 14:47Speaker 1: Everybody is freaking out. The king cannot sleep. The people
- 14:52Speaker 1: cannot eat. They're popping Xanax like candy. The last ounce
- 14:57Speaker 1: of courage left on the morning train. The words must
- 15:04Speaker 1: have stunned the spies. They never expected to find cowards
- 15:08Speaker 1: in Jericho. Even more, they never expected to find faith
- 15:15Speaker 1: in a brothel. But they did. Now I'm reading from
- 15:19Speaker 1: the Bible. Rahab said to them, I know that the
- 15:23Speaker 1: Lord your God has given you the land. We have
- 15:28Speaker 1: heard how the Lord dried up the water of the
- 15:30Speaker 1: Red Sea and what you did to the two kings
- 15:33Speaker 1: who were on the other side of the Jordan. The
- 15:35Speaker 1: Lord your God. He is God in heaven. And on
- 15:45Speaker 1: earth beneath. Just never know where you're going to find faith,
- 15:54Speaker 1: do you? Her morals may have been questionable, but she
- 16:00Speaker 1: could do the math. And her logic was spot on.
- 16:03Speaker 1: She said, I've been watching. I've been paying attention. And
- 16:09Speaker 1: the best I can tell, your God is the one
- 16:11Speaker 1: calling the shots. And Rahab found God. And God found Rahab.
- 16:22Speaker 1: He spotted this tender heart in this hard city. And
- 16:26Speaker 1: he reached out to touch her. He would have done
- 16:28Speaker 1: the same for the entire city, but no one else
- 16:31Speaker 1: asked him. Rahab, I think, had an advantage over the
- 16:37Speaker 1: other people. You see, she didn't have anything to lose.
- 16:43Speaker 1: She was at the bottom of the rung. She was
- 16:46Speaker 1: at the end of the rope. She'd already lost her reputation,
- 16:49Speaker 1: her social standing, her chance for advancement. In the clearest view,
- 16:55Speaker 1: Is always from the bottom of the pit. And that's
- 16:59Speaker 1: where Rahab was. And perhaps that's where you are. Rahab
- 17:06Speaker 1: was surrounded by evil. Maybe you are too. Rahab was
- 17:09Speaker 1: encircled by violence. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you're in
- 17:15Speaker 1: a home where everyone argues and fights. Maybe you're in
- 17:18Speaker 1: a business where backbiting is an art form. Maybe you're
- 17:21Speaker 1: in a school where no one cares. Maybe you're in a.
- 17:26Speaker 1: where the only time you hear about God is in
- 17:28Speaker 1: a curse word. Maybe you know what it's like to
- 17:33Speaker 1: live in Jericho. Maybe you know what it's like to
- 17:38Speaker 1: go the ways of a Rahab. You may or may
- 17:42Speaker 1: not sell your body, but you've sold your allegiance, your affection,
- 17:46Speaker 1: your attention, your talents. You've sold out. At one time
- 17:53Speaker 1: or another, we have all sold out. And we've not
- 18:00Speaker 1: even met our own expectations of ourselves. And we've wondered,
- 18:06Speaker 1: does God have a place for someone like me? And
- 18:10Speaker 1: we hear messages about promised land and glory days, and
- 18:14Speaker 1: we think that's fine and good for them, for him,
- 18:18Speaker 1: for her, but not for me. We tell ourselves, I've
- 18:23Speaker 1: gone too far. I've sinned too much. I've wandered away
- 18:27Speaker 1: for too long. I'm on the garbage heap of society.
- 18:31Speaker 1: There's no glory days for me. And God has a
- 18:36Speaker 1: one word response to that reluctance. The name Rahab. Rahab's
- 18:47Speaker 1: proclamation to us. God has a place for you. Just
- 18:54Speaker 1: when you start to self-eliminate, just when you begin to
- 18:58Speaker 1: let your past disqualify you, you turn the page on
- 19:02Speaker 1: the book of Joshua and you read the story about Rahab. Fascinating,
- 19:10Speaker 1: don't you think, that the narrator gives her an entire chapter.
- 19:16Speaker 1: We don't even know the name of Joshua's right-hand man.
- 19:20Speaker 1: The priest who will carry the ark across the Jordan River,
- 19:22Speaker 1: who knows? She gets a whole chapter, second chapter. She's
- 19:28Speaker 1: on front page of the paper. Headline news. God picked Rahab.
- 19:40Speaker 1: If scriptural quantity and scriptural chronology have anything to do
- 19:45Speaker 1: with theology... We're getting a big dose. of grace here
- 19:52Speaker 1: in chapter 2. And that is to say, if you
- 19:55Speaker 1: want to go into the promised land, don't you think
- 19:58Speaker 1: for a second that your past is greater than God's grace.
- 20:05Speaker 1: Jesus' self-assigned job description was this. The Son of Man
- 20:12Speaker 1: came to seek and save that which was lost. Now
- 20:18Speaker 1: when you and I use the word lost, we talk about, oh,
- 20:21Speaker 1: I've lost my keys. I've lost my dog. Lost my mind.
- 20:31Speaker 1: But when Jesus used the word here, he used a
- 20:34Speaker 1: word that means ruined or destitute, on the garbage heap.
- 20:40Speaker 1: Tossed out, discarded. Jesus said the son of man came
- 20:46Speaker 1: to seek and save that which was trash. That's the
- 20:54Speaker 1: person I came for, God says. As evidence, we have
- 21:00Speaker 1: stories like Rahab. As evidence, we have stories like that
- 21:03Speaker 1: of the Samaritan woman in the New Testament. She was,
- 21:07Speaker 1: wasn't she the New Testament counterpart to Rahab? By the
- 21:13Speaker 1: time Jesus met her, she was a first century version
- 21:16Speaker 1: of a downward spiral. Five ex-husbands. Five ex-husbands. Half a
- 21:24Speaker 1: dozen kids, each one looking like a different daddy. Decades
- 21:29Speaker 1: of loose living had left her tattooed and tabooed. Living
- 21:33Speaker 1: with a boyfriend who thought a wedding was a waste
- 21:35Speaker 1: of time. She was a sitting duck for the town gossip.
- 21:40Speaker 1: Maybe that's why she enjoyed going to the well in
- 21:42Speaker 1: the middle of the day when most of the women
- 21:45Speaker 1: would go early in the morning. The scorn of the
- 21:48Speaker 1: heat was worse than the heat of the sun. Were
- 21:56Speaker 1: it not for the appearance of the stranger that day,
- 21:59Speaker 1: we would have never heard her story. She would have
- 22:01Speaker 1: just been lost in the Samaritan sands. But this stranger came,
- 22:06Speaker 1: Jesus came into her world and he began talking to
- 22:10Speaker 1: her about this endless supply of water and this ability
- 22:15Speaker 1: to have your thirst quenched once and for all. And she,
- 22:23Speaker 1: I guess like Rahab, Had tried everything else. And so
- 22:30Speaker 1: she was willing to take a chance. And she tossed
- 22:33Speaker 1: her hat in the ring with him. And we know.
- 22:37Speaker 1: Because of what happened next. Many Samaritans from the village
- 22:40Speaker 1: believed in Jesus. Because the woman had said he told
- 22:43Speaker 1: me everything I did. And when they came out to
- 22:46Speaker 1: see him. They begged him to stay in their village.
- 22:48Speaker 1: And so he stayed for two days. Long enough for
- 22:53Speaker 1: many of them to hear his message. And believe. And
- 22:57Speaker 1: they said to the woman. Now we believe. Not just
- 23:00Speaker 1: because of what you told us. But because we have
- 23:02Speaker 1: heard him ourselves. And now we know. That he is indeed.
- 23:06Speaker 1: The savior of the world. First missionary. To be sent
- 23:12Speaker 1: out by Jesus. Not Peter. Not Paul. Not John. A
- 23:19Speaker 1: woman whose name were never told. But whose story we are.
- 23:26Speaker 1: A modern woman. day in her day Rahab who chose
- 23:31Speaker 1: to believe Jesus gave her the chance of a lifetime
- 23:36Speaker 1: when no one else even gave her a chance he
- 23:38Speaker 1: came for her he came for people like Rahab the
- 23:45Speaker 1: Hebrew spies as it turns out were actually missionaries too
- 23:49Speaker 1: you know since we know what happened to the city
- 23:52Speaker 1: of Jericho We know that whatever information that the spies
- 23:57Speaker 1: collected proved needless. Because it was not the information or
- 24:04Speaker 1: the data that the spies brought back to Joshua that
- 24:08Speaker 1: caused the city to collapse. God did that. He didn't
- 24:13Speaker 1: need their data. He didn't send them there. They may
- 24:15Speaker 1: have thought they went there to collect information, but really
- 24:19Speaker 1: they were sent there to reach Rahab. What a picture
- 24:25Speaker 1: of God. He came to seek and to save, to
- 24:31Speaker 1: seek and to save. And so the two spies told
- 24:36Speaker 1: Rahab how to be saved. They said, bind a line
- 24:40Speaker 1: of scarlet cord in the window. Remember, her brothel abutted
- 24:47Speaker 1: the wall. And so she did without hesitation. She bound
- 24:50Speaker 1: the scarlet cord in the window and she hung it out.
- 24:54Speaker 1: And there it hung until the day Joshua and his
- 25:00Speaker 1: soldiers came and they were told to keep an eye
- 25:03Speaker 1: out for that scarlet cord. They escaped. The spies did.
- 25:09Speaker 1: Rahab made her preparation. She told her family to get ready.
- 25:12Speaker 1: She tied that rope, that scarlet rope, that cord and
- 25:18Speaker 1: hung it out her window. And don't you bet your
- 25:20Speaker 1: sweet September that she double checked it two or three
- 25:23Speaker 1: times a day to make sure it was still there.
- 25:28Speaker 1: And when the Hebrews came and the walls fell, when
- 25:31Speaker 1: everyone else perished, Rahab and her family were spared. Her
- 25:37Speaker 1: story became a part of Hebrew lore. Joshua spared Rahab
- 25:41Speaker 1: the harlot, her father's household and all that she had.
- 25:45Speaker 1: So she dwells in Israel to this day. As if
- 25:49Speaker 1: the narrator was saying to the first readers of this story,
- 25:52Speaker 1: you can go meet her if you want. She'll tell
- 25:56Speaker 1: you what happened. And she'll tell you that all she
- 25:59Speaker 1: did was believe. She had faith. She didn't know much
- 26:06Speaker 1: about God. A hunch is she'd never heard of Moses.
- 26:12Speaker 1: I don't have high faith. expectations that she had ever
- 26:17Speaker 1: memorized the Ten Commandments. She had sure never heard all
- 26:20Speaker 1: of the Torah, but what she had heard of God,
- 26:23Speaker 1: she believed, and that was enough. She believed what she
- 26:28Speaker 1: had seen. The scripture says, by faith, the harlot Rahab
- 26:37Speaker 1: did not perish. In the end, it was her profession
- 26:41Speaker 1: of faith that and not her profession in Jericho that
- 26:48Speaker 1: made the difference. Maybe your past is a checkered one.
- 26:54Speaker 1: Maybe all your life, your failures have been spoken in
- 27:01Speaker 1: the same sentence with your name. Maybe your pedigree is
- 27:08Speaker 1: one of violence. Your ancestry is one of rebellion. Rebellion.
- 27:15Speaker 1: Your heritage is one of disbelief. And you've wondered, does
- 27:18Speaker 1: God have a place for someone like me? The story
- 27:22Speaker 1: of Rahab is in the Bible for you. It's for you.
- 27:28Speaker 1: Take refuge in God. Follow her example. Put your faith,
- 27:36Speaker 1: put your faith in a living God. A living, loving God.
- 27:44Speaker 1: We don't, Dangle scarlet cords. Out the window. But we
- 27:49Speaker 1: do trust. In the crimson thread. Of the blood of
- 27:54Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. That spilled from his heart. As he hung
- 28:00Speaker 1: on the cross. We don't prepare for the coming of
- 28:03Speaker 1: the Hebrews. But we do live with an eye toward
- 28:06Speaker 1: the east. Anticipating the arrival of our Joshua. Jesus Christ.
- 28:17Speaker 1: And just as the walls of Jericho were demolished, so
- 28:20Speaker 1: this version of this world will be demolished. And it
- 28:25Speaker 1: will be restored to the way it was intended to be.
- 28:30Speaker 1: And someday our mess will become our music. And our
- 28:34Speaker 1: bad chapters will become stories of grace. And we'll take
- 28:38Speaker 1: our place in that heavenly symphony. You'll play your instrument
- 28:42Speaker 1: and I'll play mine. And one thing's for sure. will
- 28:48Speaker 1: all know amazing grace by heart. Thank you, Father, for
- 28:54Speaker 1: stories of grace that find their way in the most
- 28:56Speaker 1: unlikely places. But here we are, Father, the most unlikely
- 29:02Speaker 1: of your children, seeking you, wanting to know you, and
- 29:05Speaker 1: worshiping you. We come today not with boasts of accomplishments
- 29:10Speaker 1: of our own, but depending upon the accomplishment of Christ.
- 29:14Speaker 1: Thank you, Father. We receive anew the forgiveness of sins
- 29:18Speaker 1: and the promise of eternal life. Through Jesus we pray.
- 29:23Speaker 1: And all the church said. Thank you.
- 30:14Speaker 2: So so.
- 31:00Speaker 3: So so.
- 31:52Speaker 2: So Loving you alone feels so beautiful. And yet, it
- 35:16Speaker 2: hurts the most.
- 35:21Speaker 3: You became my quiet sunrise, the dream I never dared
- 35:26Speaker 3: to say.
- 35:28Speaker 2: Every smile you gave so freely took my breath a
- 35:33Speaker 2: little away.
- 35:35Speaker 3: Held this love like fragile glass, so precious, soft and true.
- 35:42Speaker 3: But every beat inside my.
- 35:44Speaker 2: Heart was only reaching out to you.
- 35:49Speaker 3: Unspoken love is sweet and painful, like honey mixed with rain.
- 35:57Speaker 3: A tender hope I hold so tightly while it Slowly
- 36:02Speaker 3: breaks me. Loving you from just one side now leaves
- 36:07Speaker 3: my soul in silent blue. Cause the deeper that I
- 36:12Speaker 3: fall alone, the lonelier I do. I can't blame my
- 36:21Speaker 3: heart for choosing someone it could never keep. So I
- 36:27Speaker 3: smile through hidden heartache and love you quietly. Unspoken love
- 36:35Speaker 3: is sweet and painful like honey mixed with rain. A
- 36:41Speaker 3: tender hope I hold so tightly while it slowly breaks me.
- 36:48Speaker 3: Loving you from just one side now leaves my soul
- 36:53Speaker 3: in silent bloom. Cause the deeper that I fall alone,
- 36:59Speaker 3: the lonelier I do. Maybe loving you in silence is
- 37:11Speaker 3: the closest I can stay. Though it leaves behind a
- 37:27Speaker 3: sorrow that may never fade away. Unspoken love is sweet
- 37:37Speaker 3: and painful like honey mixed with rain. A tender hope
- 37:44Speaker 3: I hold so tightly while it Slowly breaks me loving you.
- 37:51Speaker 2: From just one side now.
- 37:53Speaker 3: Leaves my soul in silent blue. Cause the deeper that
- 37:58Speaker 3: I fall alone, the lonelier I do.