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Risking It All | Joshua 2 · Saint City Chapel

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We got some good TV speakers, don't we?
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Hey, good morning everybody, welcome to Saint City.
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If I don't know you, my name is Brandon.
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I'm so glad that you are here today.
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We're going to open up the book of Joshua today in God's Word.
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So if you got a Bible, turn to Joshua or go to the table
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contents and find if you don't have a Bible, we actually have
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one in a seat nearby in front of you on the floor there.
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And it's on page 179 of that Bible.
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When I get up to talk, when anybody gets up here to preach
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at Saint City, what we do each and every week is we open up
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God's words. Why?
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Because our words aren't all that important.
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But like the Apostle Peter said, like to whom else would we turn
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that has the words of life? And we believe that that book
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that is on the floor there in your hands today, guess what?
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It has the very words of eternal life itself.
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That immortality is found in the belief in Jesus.
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And we believe that you can have that and experience that for
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yourself. And so we turn to his words for
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life in our life with Jesus. And so we open that up and just
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a moment, I'll meet you there. What I'm realizing right now in
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my life is that sometimes you just have to risk it all, OK?
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You just got to you got to send it.
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You got to risk it all to have it.
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Some of you, like I'm looking at the college students right now.
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I'm like, you just got to risk it and go ask that girl for her
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number. You know, I'm saying you just
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got to risk it, but I was watching Deal or No Deal
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recently just as like I was conjuring up this image of
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risking it all. I don't know if you remember
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this show, but it was hosted by the bald headed beauty known as
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Howie. He's our bald king, right?
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We love him in the bald world. He pulls it off.
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But Howie, what he'll do is he does something dramatic all the
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time and Deal or No Deal, Deal or No deal's this game show
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where you have a briefcase beside you and there's like 2530
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briefcases before you. And you have to decide if the
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value of what's in your briefcase and the numbers that
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you know that are worth those briefcases.
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You're like, hey, is this briefcase going to be worth more
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than either the briefcases that are out there or the deal from
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the banker? And so you work your way through
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and you're like, hey, what is my briefcase going to be worth
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taking that offer or grabbing one of those briefcases?
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And you do this again and again and again and again.
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What will happen is in the show is how he does something super
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dramatic. He'll look at you and he's like,
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everything in life has a turning point.
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Is this yours? Are you going to take the
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$500,000 offer or are you going to bet that you have the
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$1,000,000 case? And then inevitably they'll
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like, open up their case and it's like a $5 case.
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And you're like, oh, my gosh, the anxiety of just turning down
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a half, $1,000,000 for five. Yeah, sometimes you got to risk
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it, right? You got to risk it all to have
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it all. And the crowd, as he's chanting
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that, he'll be like, hey, crowd, what?
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What you guys who've seen the show, you know it.
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He'll be like, hey, crowd, should they risk it all?
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And the crowd will like chant, and they'll get really into it.
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And sometimes the risk is worth the reward.
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They're like, hey, that's that deal's only worth $20,000.
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There's 17 cases up there worth more than $17,000.
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I am not taking that deal. What happened spiritually is
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something similar at times, I believe.
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And it's the problem that many of us face each and every week
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is that many of us are unsure or unclear if going all in, if
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risking it all for Jesus is actually worth it.
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Is it worth risking it all for Jesus Christ?
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Is it worth it? Is it going to be something
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we're look back on with regret? Is it going to be something that
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we years from now look back on and go, wow, I made a dumb
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decision by giving more of my life to Jesus, risking it all on
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the reality that he died on a cross, he rose again and he
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ascended to heaven never to die again.
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Is that worth risking my whole life on?
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Is it worth risking my image and my career?
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Is it worth risking my finances? Is it worth risking it all on
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Jesus Christ? Am I willing to bank my life on
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Him and His claims? I think we find ourselves asking
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that question. I think we find a character
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right here in Joshua chapter 2 that was asking a similar
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question. The central question for today
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that I want us to focus in on together is this, does faith in
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Jesus mean I have to risk it all?
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It's a question Rahab, our main character, is going to be asking
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herself, and it's a question we have to find an answer for, for
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ourselves together. In fact, that is my goal this
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morning is that you would leave here with clarity and with
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confidence and with conviction to an answer to that question.
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So let's go to God's Word, Joshua chapter 2.
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But before we do, actually I just want to pray for us as a
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church family as we come before God's Word.
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Will I just be able to pray for us as a church family before we
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go to God's Word? Would you join me right now?
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Lord, here we are as people here in Tempe, AZ asking and
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believing God, that you can still speak, you can still move
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in hearts. And so, Lord, I pray and I ask
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God that you would shake, shake us.
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You'd shake us from whatever apprehension, whatever obstacle,
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whatever interferes with us living a life of worship unto
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you, whatever prevents us from having faith in you.
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Oh God, would you give us great faith today for the person who
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has unbelief? Lord, would the simple prayer be
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I believe, but help my unbelief and God would you make me as a
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messenger so small and your message so big that people would
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hear and experience the glory of who Jesus Christ is and what
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he's done for their life in Jesus name, Amen.
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Joshua chapter 2 verse one says this and Joshua, who is the
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successor to Moses, who is the new leader of the people of
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Israel. He, the son of Nun, sent two men
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secretly from a city that I would like for you guys to
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pronounce. Actually, if you have your
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Bible, you're laughing because the city Hashitim, as spies
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saying, go view the land, go view the land, especially a city
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called Jericho. And they went and came into the
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House of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.
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And it was told, the king of Jericho, behold, men of Israel
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have come here tonight to search the land.
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Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab saying, Bring out the men
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who have come to you who entered your house, for they have come
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to search out all the land. But the woman had taken the two
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spies, the men and he, and she'd hidden them.
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She said, true, the men came to me, but I did not know where
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they were from. And when the gate was out to be
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closed at dark, the men went out.
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I do not know where the men went.
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Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.
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But she had brought them up to the roof and hit them with the
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socks of flax, that she had laid an order on the roof.
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So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as
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the Fords, and the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone
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out. Let's stop right there and let's
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ask ourselves the next question. If we're asking ourselves the
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question this morning of is Jesus worth banking my life
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around? Then let's ask ourselves this.
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Do we realize the risk of staying?
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Like what is the risk of staying put where we are?
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I think a lot of times when people are considering Jesus,
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when they're considering their faith in him, they are realizing
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the risk of going all in on being a Christian.
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But they are not realizing the risk of actually staying in the
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space and in the mentality in the lifestyle that they
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currently find themselves in. That there's actually a risk of
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staying put, of holding on to your briefcase just as much as
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there is grabbing a new one or taking the deal.
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I think we see in this first initial section here 3
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unavoidable spiritual laws that Rahab discovers for herself and
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that is true for us. The first unavoidable spiritual
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law is that judgement is coming. Judgement is coming.
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Rahab. Before the men lay down, she
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came up to mum in verse 8. Now she came up to them on the
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roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you the
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land and that the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all
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the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
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Rahab is realizing something that the people of Canaan, her
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people, guess what judgment is coming for them.
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These people, these Canaanites, they're child sacrificers.
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They are evil, wicked people. Herself, her career, not exactly
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an honorable one. She's a prostitute, The oldest
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profession they call it right? She is deeply aware that
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judgement is coming, not just for her, but for all the people
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of Jericho, and that she is recognizing that.
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Wait a second, this God who is with the Israelites?
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Everywhere the Israelites go, guess what?
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The people melt before them. The land is theirs.
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If their God says they have it, they get it.
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And judgement is coming for every single person in Jericho.
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Now that is not only true for Rahab, that is a spiritual law
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that is true of the world. Romans 3 says that nobody is
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righteous, no, not one, because of the reality that each and
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every single one of us was born in sin and chooses to sin,
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therefore is worthy of God's judgment that we don't just
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stand accused, we stand condemned because of our sin and
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we are in deep need of salvation.
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And Rahab realizes something. She realizes the second
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spiritual law that I can't save myself.
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Not only is judgement coming, but Rahab realizes something.
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She's like, wait, these Israelites are about to come
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into our city, they're about to take over.
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And sure, I could stand the post of my house with a sword, and
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that's not going to go so well. I'm like picturing verbal meme
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right now. I'm like picturing Jon Snow and
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he's like, got all the army coming at him and he's got the
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sword raised. Like, that's Rahab trying to
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save herself. It's just not going to work.
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It is a suicide mission to try to save yourself.
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And she realizes it. Not only is the judgement
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coming, Rahab is deeply aware of the reality.
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She can't save herself. Once again, that's not just true
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for Rahab. That is true for every single
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one of us. That staying put is fatal.
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That it is a horrifying thing to fall into the hands of a holy
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God. Staying put is dangerous.
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I've never lived in Florida because I am deathly afraid of
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hurricanes. We get all the perks of the
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sunshine here in Arizona, none of the natural disaster, thanks
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be to God. But if I were to live in
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Florida, I could tell you how I'd operate.
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I would not be the kind of person who fled hurricanes
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because I'm the skeptic by nature.
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It'd be like, hey, time to board up your windows.
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Time to run. I'd be like, meh, we'll risk it
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for the biscuit. We'll stay here.
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And I can tell you with certainty, as I look over my
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wife Maddie, she's like, we would absolutely not be those
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people. We would be going to Georgia,
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we'd be going to Mississippi. We'd go somewhere other than
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Florida. I know this is true because in
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college often times my fire alarm would go off and I lived
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on the 15th floor of my dorm and on the 15th floor of my dorm at
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3:00 AM when the fire alarm went off, I never went downstairs.
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If, if, if this is how it ends, so be it.
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I'm I'm called to die right here and now staying put though in
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Florida, staying put in my dorm had danger to it.
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And I'm concerned for some of you today.
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I'm concerned that you're not realizing the risk of staying
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put where you are spiritually, that you think that staying
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where you are with Jesus is enough, that there is no danger
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in just letting him be a part of your life.
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If Jesus is not Lord of it all, he is not Lord at all.
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Listen to me closely. Staying put has grave
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consequences. Judgment is coming.
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You can't save yourself. But here's the third spiritual
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law. God must be kind to us.
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He has to be kind. He has to be gracious.
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He has to make a way where there is no way, otherwise we are
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stuck in the risk, stuck with the grave consequences.
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God has to be kind to us, otherwise the risk of staying
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put will leave us without hope. So my second question for you
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guys, is this a God worth risking it all on?
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If I'm you and I'm in the seat today and I'm like wondering if
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where I'm at with Jesus and I'm thinking to myself, hey, what
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does faith in him look like in my everyday life?
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Will I be asking myself that question?
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Is this God worth risking it all on?
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Will I regret it? Will I think back and wonder if
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it was worth it? Well, I think Rahab thinks he's
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worth it. I think He gives us 5
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attributes. We learn about God in verses 9
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through 11. She said to the men, I know that
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the Lord has given you the land. The first thing we learn about
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God is He is in charge. Another word for that is He's
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sovereign. He is sovereign.
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He rules over the land. That land, the promised land is
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actually God's. Jericho might inhabit it, but
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they do not own it. They are renters from God
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Himself and He's decided no longer is it yours.
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You are abusing the land that I gave you.
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You are not operating in holiness.
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You are not reflecting my image, human beings.
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So guess what? I'm going to give it to my
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people, the Israelites. He is in charge.
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It is His land to give. He is sovereign.
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He is in charge. The second thing we learned is
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that He is powerful. Look back at verse 9.
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The Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has
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fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land will
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melt away before you. Rahab realizes something that
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when the Israelites fight, they do not lose.
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Their God is the undisputed champ of winning battles, and
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their hearts melt because of it. They cower in fear.
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They're hoping that that God, the Jericho people are hoping
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that God will change his mind because they know if this battle
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starts, it's a battle they're going to lose.
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I mean, look what he she says next, verse 10 for we have heard
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how the Lord, she calls him Yahweh.
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By the way, God's personal name, recognizing that she actually
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believes in him, doesn't just know about him, but actually
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believes these things to be true about him.
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He dried up the water of the Red Sea.
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Pause. He dried up the water of the Red
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Sea. How many seas have you looked
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at, spoken to and dried up? None.
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I imagine you could even look at a puddle and let that happen.
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God looked at the Red Sea in Exodus and he said part.
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He's that powerful. If God can do that, what can he
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do to the city of Jericho? That's what Rahab's feeling.
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If you're that powerful, if your God is that strong, we're in big
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trouble. Not only do we learn that about
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God, we also learn that he is big.
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So the Israelites, what they did to the 2 Kings and the Amorites,
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Rayon the Jordan to see Han and AOG, whom you devoted to
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destruction. I'm in verse 11 now.
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And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted and there was no
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spirit left in any man because of you.
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For the Lord your God, He is God.
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Where? In the heavens above and on the
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earth below. What is she saying?
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She's saying every other God that I've heard of isn't this
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God. They're all ants compared to
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him. So what happens when you feel
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really, really small? Your heart melts.
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There is no courage to fight because you're no longer
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fighting the people of Israel. You are fighting against God
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himself. And he is big.
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However big you think God is, he's bigger.
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He is infinite, He is self existent, meaning he doesn't
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need anyone or anything to exist.
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He didn't need anyone to create him.
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He's eternal. He is omnipresent, meaning he is
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everywhere all at once. He is omnipotent, all powerful.
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He is omniscient, knowing things beyond any human comprehension.
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This is God, He is that big. And when you come face to face
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in a fight with God, guess what? Your heart melts.
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And so is Rahab's. He is big, He is powerful, He's
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in charge. But look at verse 12.
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He's also kind. Now then she says, please swear
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to me by the Lord that as I have dealt kindly with you, you will
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also deal kindly with my Father's house.
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That word there in the original language is the same word that
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we get for God's steadfast love, his covenant love.
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It's the Hebrew word has said, and what that means is, is what
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she's saying is, Hey, I want to enter into eternal relationship
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with this God. I want his your God to be my
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God. And for that to happen, He needs
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to be kind to me. You need to be kind to me.
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You need to be loving to me. I know I'm an outsider.
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I am not born of the people of Israel.
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I did not wander in the desert for 40 years.
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But guess what? I believe and know that your God
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is the real God. Listen to me.
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You might not have grown up in church.
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You might not have been around the things of God before.
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You might think it's only for the people who are clean and
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pure and they grew up in it. But listen to me.
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God loves outsiders and He welcomes them in.
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He is kind to anyone who would call upon His name to be saved.
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That's who He is, and that's what He does.
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He is kind because He's also a missionary God.
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I don't know if you've ever thought about this as an
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attribute of God, that He is a missionary God, but He is
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fulfilling a promise here in saving Rahab in Genesis chapter
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12. You can write down that like
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Genesis chapter 12, he promises Abraham.
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At that point in the story, he's known as Abram.
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His name changes at one point, but Abraham is promised that
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through his lineage, all the nations of the earth will be
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blessed. The people of Israel aren't just
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to be blessed. There's intended to be a
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blessing to the world that anyone who wants to live unto
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God in worship can be an Israelite.
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And I think that many of us when we're doubting God or wrestling
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with God or we have friends that wrestling with God, we think of
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God like some cosmic tow truck, truck like driver.
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OK, I was talking to Tanisha this week and I'm putting her on
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blast. I'm so sorry, T, you're not even
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here today. But she was over at the
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Chick-fil-A over near campus. And it says very explicitly on
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those signs, do not park here unless you're a Chick-fil-A
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customer. Now, if you're in downtown Tempe
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very often, you know, parking is hard to come by and that parking
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lot normally fair game. OK, not this day, not for
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Tanisha. Poor tea.
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She goes about and she goes, she literally goes across the street
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to a different restaurant. First she was going to go to
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Chick-fil-A, but she went somewhere else 1st and there was
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a tow truck driver waiting there for her.
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Being as petty as can get. I'm sorry if you're a tow truck
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driver, by the way, I'm not trying to offend.
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But this guy, he's sitting there waiting for her car and makes
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her pay on the spot before he tows it away.
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That that's like so petty and vindictive and there's waiting
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for you to do something wrong. I think many people think about
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God like that, especially the God of the Old Testament, let's
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call it. He is the same yesterday, today,
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and forever. I think many people think that
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we're in Joshua right now, that we think God is different here
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than he is when Jesus arrives in the New Testament.
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This is the same God. This is the same God who loves
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people regardless of ethnicity, regardless of story, regardless
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of background. This is the God who is a
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missionary God who is willing to save Rahab the prostitute.
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And all it took was an admission that this God is who he said He
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is and that she needed His grace and His kindness.
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Upon her life. Rahab realized that this God is
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a missionary God. So is God worth banking your
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life on? I would say yes.
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That this God who is in charge, who is powerful, who is big and
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kind and seeking after you as a missionary, guess what?
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He loves you enough to come save you from your sin.
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That it might not be God doing the talking right here through
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the spies, but it is nonetheless an opportunity and an invitation
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for Rahab to take hold of life eternal, offered to or through
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God. This God is worth it.
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His judgement on sin is just. You cannot save yourself.
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But He is loving and kind and seeking and saving the lost.
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Even in Joshua. This is who God is.
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So what grants us God's kindness in our life?
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What grants us our his kindness in our life?
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Well, we're going to keep reading the story.
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What's question three, Question 3.
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Now as you're taking notes, is this what grants us the kindness
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of God? Let me show you in the text,
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verse 15. Then she let down the spies by a
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rope through the window, for her house was built into the city
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wall so that she lived in the wall.
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And she said to them, Go into the hills, or the pursuers will
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encounter you and hide there three days until the pursuers
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have returned. Then afterward you may go your
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way. The men, they say to her, We
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will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you
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have made us swear. Behold, when we the Israelites
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come into the land, you shall tie underlying this, this
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scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down,
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and you shall gather into your house your father and mother,
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your brothers, and all your father's household.
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Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the
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street, his blood shall be on his head and we shall be
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guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone
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who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.
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But if you tell U.S. business of ours, then we shall be guiltless
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with respect to your oath that you made a swear.
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And she said, according to your words, so be it.
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Then Rahab sends them away. And they departed, and she tied
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the scarlet cord in the window, despised the part, and went to
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the hills, and remained there three days until the pursuers
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returned. And the pursuers searched all
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along the way and found nothing. Then the two men returned.
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They came down from the hills, passed over, and came to Joshua
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their leader, the son of Nun. And they told him all that had
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happened to them. And they said to Joshua, Truly
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the Lord has given all the land into our hands, and also all the
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inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.
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So what does Rahab do? What are we supposed to do with
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the opportunity for the gospel? Is there A to do list to do?
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Is there much to be done? I think it's actually really
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simple in the Bible. How do you receive the kindness
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and grace of God? It's simply this.
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Faith with God means risking it all to have it all.
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Faith with God is risking it all to have it all.
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Rahab risks everything by turning to God in faith.
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Her faith is simply the act of saying I'm going to hang this
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scarlet thread, that this God is who he said he is, despise and
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do what they said they do, and I and my family will be spared
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from the judgement. It's just faith.
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In fact, that's all Rahab's ever honored for in the Bible, her
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ethics here with lying. That's under debate, much
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debate, and Christians land on all sides of it.
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Personally, I land on the spot where she shouldn't have lied,
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but I understand it and God's grace is real and big.
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But I think that God never condones her lying here.
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He never says, hey, it's a good thing.
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What's commended in Hebrews 11, what's commended in the book of
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James, what's commended for her being in the genealogy of Jesus
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is her faith, her trust that God is who he said he is.
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And I think there's five aspects of her faith that I want to show
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you right there in the text. Once again, it's ordinary but
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biblical faith. The first thing is, is she
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risked her allegiance. She risked her allegiance.
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The king of Jericho knows these spies have come.
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He knows that they're in, they're in the city of Jericho
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and he's got Intel saying that they went to her in her house
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and she's willing to risk her allegiance to the people of
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Jericho, to the God of Israel. Our decision isn't very
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different. Now, we might not be risking
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necessarily our allegiance to our country or to our neighbors,
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but there are allegiances you have that are on the table when
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it comes to risking it all for God.
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Maybe it's to your family, to your career, to your image.
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Maybe it's to your friends and your relationships.
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I don't know what allegiance you hold dearest and deepest, but I
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know this. It's in competition with a good
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and great and powerful God that there is a line in the sand.
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Those who are still in rebellion against God and those who are
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waving His flag in His Kingdom. Rahab was willing to risk her
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allegiance in faith. She risked it all, risking her
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life on the reality that she would have life from God.
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She doesn't just risk her allegiance though.
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She surrenders whatever is between her and God.
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She surrendered whatever was between her and God.
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She's going to lay up the spies on the roof with the flat.
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She's going to give away whatever she can so that
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whatever's between her and God, she's not going to play it safe
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anymore. She realizes the judgement is
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coming. She can't save herself.
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So what's she going to do? Hey, God, I'm banking my whole
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life on the reality that you are who I've heard you to be, that
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you are who you say you are. We would call this playing it
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safe, the idea that we might not actually go all in.
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We're going to hedge our bet a bit against God.
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We're going to hold a little bit back.
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We'll go to church on Sundays, maybe a small group throughout
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the week. Maybe we'll listen to Christian
28:56
music on the radio or podcast even.
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We cannot give God a part of our life and expect Him to give us a
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whole eternal life. Jesus Christ is the greatest
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treasure this side of heaven and the next.
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The pleasure of living with God as a part of your life will not
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exceed the treasure of living life with Jesus Christ as Lord.
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We hedge our bets and surrender often because we are doubting
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the reality that the pleasures of this life, that they're
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better than the treasure of knowing Jesus.
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I get it. This is me, this is my story.
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When I was 18 years old, I was headlong head first, going after
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the things that this life offers you, wealth, beauty, success,
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power. My heart was drawn to it.
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And as an 18 year old raised in the church, I believed that.
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Guess what? Like I thought to myself before
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I was saved, there is no way that going all in on Jesus is
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actually worth it. Those Christians who take him so
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seriously, here's what I thought.
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They're losers. God doesn't actually want that
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much of your life. He just wants to be a part of
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it. When Jesus is your greatest
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treasure, when you truly believe in Him like that, He becomes the
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Lord of your life and you are willing to surrender whatever He
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asks you to. Give that going into ministry,
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starting a church like we have here.
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It was God once again asking me to surrender in faith to risking
30:58
it all again. That the faith that saved me,
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risking it all, banking my life on the reality of Jesus.
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It doesn't just save, it also sustains you.
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So listen to me, Christian faith isn't over yet in your life.
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You still need to continually risk more and more for Jesus.
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That comes through financially with your treasure.
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It comes through with your talents.
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It comes through with your time. This is what it means to have
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live a life of faith. It's saying God, I don't see
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what's on the other side of this, but I will continually
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risk it all because you are the God who I came to believe in
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when I got saved and you are the God who I know to be now and you
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are trustworthy of holding my life in your hands.
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He's worth surrendering to. She compassionately also Rahab
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two more things here on rehab in her risking at all ordinary
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faith is just compassionately looking to save others.
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Did you notice that she has a whole blurb about her family?
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Hey, my father, my brother, my sisters, my mom.
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Hey, can you get them saved too? Can you spare them?
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That's one of the first questions you should ask as
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being a saved person is who in my who is in my life that I
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would love to see be spared of the judgement of God.
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There's this magician. I think it's it's either tell or
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a pen. I don't remember which one of
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them. I never I always mix them up,
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but they're popular for looking at magicians shows.
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And one of them says this in regards to Christians.
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He said I don't believe in the whole God thing.
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But here's what I do believe that if you believe that my
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life, my eternity, is going to be completely and utterly
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judged, that there is an eternity apart from goodness and
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you don't have the courage to tell me about it, that has to be
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one of the most cruel and unloving things I've ever heard.
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That there's a train about to hit me and you stay silent.
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What are you doing? Oh, would we be a people of
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faith St. City, a people that see the
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train coming and constantly say, hey, guess what?
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Salvation is available to all, Rahab.
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That's what ordinary faith looks like, and it looks like obeying.
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She does the very thing. She lays the scarlet thread out,
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she obeys God, and then she reaps the reward of seeing God
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come through on His promises. Faith is simply just that.
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Most of the time it's just taking God at His word and
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acting upon it, knowing that He promises a good result in your
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sexual purity. It takes faith to believe that
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He promises a good result for your obedience, in your
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financial integrity, in your relationships, and seeking
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forgiveness in the way that you're raising your kids is
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taking God at His word and trusting that He knows what it's
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like to have a good marriage. He knows what it takes to be a
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good parent. He knows what it takes to be a
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good college student. He knows what it takes to have a
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life of flourishing. Would you trust Him and take Him
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at His Word? Rahab is proof positive that
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it's not where you start, it's how you end.
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He started with a horrible career of being used like an
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object. But I found something
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fascinating this week in studying Rahab.
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Rahab is the mother of a guy named Boaz.
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Some of you know who Boaz is because you've read a lot of
34:40
your Bible, but Boaz is the husband of another major
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character named Ruth. Boaz and Ruth are the great
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great grandparents of King David, who is the great, great,
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great, great, great, great, great granddad of Jesus.
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That Rahab, the prostitute that she lives her life.
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And as yours goes on and as the book goes on, she's going to be
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saved from the battle of Jericho and she's going to marry a man
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named Salmon, not a fish, just a tough name.
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He's named Salmon. But what I learned this week is
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that Salmon, according to Jewish history, is one of these two
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spies that the home where she was used and broken, God
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redeemed. God's not done with you yet.
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However your story started, it doesn't have to be how it ends.
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She is in the lineage of Jesus Christ and the reason we have
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Joshua 2 in our Bible, It's not every single one of us could
35:53
look at it and look at the story of Rahab and go Jesus Christ
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loves people from all stories and backgrounds.
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He came through all kinds of people, for all kinds of people.
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He is Jesus Christ. And that is really the story of
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Rahab. There's three main characters in
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the story. There's the rescuer, there's
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Rahab, and there's us, the reader.
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Jesus is not obviously glaring on the text.
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He's not like the one talking. But make no mistake, the book of
36:22
Joshua is helping us see the reality of a man named Jesus
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Christ who would come. It is foreshadowing for us that
36:28
the hero of the Bible ultimately is Jesus Christ.
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And he's not here for the spiritually clean.
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He's not here for the one who think they have it all together,
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but rather he's here for the ones who would humble themselves
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and look to him and say, save me, for I am a person who needs
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saving from my sin, from your judgment.
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Rahab was a liar and a harlot, but her hope wasn't in stacking
36:50
her good deeds. It was in looking to a person
36:53
named Jesus Christ, the hero of every person's heart who is
36:57
saved. He is the great rescuer, the
37:00
great Redeemer, and that is who she is looking to in this very
37:03
moment. I hope you are seeing him
37:06
clearly that the story of Rahab is not about the city of
37:09
Jericho, it's about the sin inside of its walls.
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That this story is not about crossing the Jordan River.
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It's about crossing from death to life.
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That the story of Israel and Joshua is not ultimately about
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the rest and joy of the Promised land.
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It is about people receiving the rest and joy of being saved by
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Jesus Christ. Christian, do you marvel at the
37:35
mystery of the Gospel? Once again, this is your story.
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For those still on the outside, do you believe it that Jesus is
37:44
worth banking your life on? He is the rescuer who came to
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save every single Rahab, even you.
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And so I think this leads us to three quick pieces of our
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discipleship, how to be learners and followers of Jesus.
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This is wrong. close the three areas of our discipleship that
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God is speaking to directly. First.
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I think it speaks to our walk. So Christians, listen, this is
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for you. Are you praying that God would
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save more Rahabs in your life? The person far from God, the
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person who you think is impossible for God to save.
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Are you actually praying for that, or are you just thinking
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about it? Are you actually taking time to
38:25
beg God to save the Rahabs in your life?
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But also, do you actually believe God is trustworthy for
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the risk he's asking you to take?
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What risk is God asking you to take still, still going to take
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faith? It's still going to take risk.
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Where in your life is that going to happen?
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It's going to happen in your finances.
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It's going to happen in your purity.
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It's going to happen in your marriage.
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It's going to happen in your parenting.
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Where in your life is it going to take faith this week?
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Because I promise you, faith is on the table once again for you
38:55
to believe in God and take Him at His Word to obey Him.
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In fact, that's just what faith is.
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It's just the next step of obedience and that's how we walk
39:06
with Him. 2nd, and I thought it buried just its own point is
39:13
just it affects our witness. Are you willing to risk your
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reputation, perhaps your job, perhaps that promotion your
39:25
image and telling others about Jesus?
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I think we get quick to rationalize that.
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We're quick to write it off and say God wouldn't really want me
39:37
to. Rahab was willing to risk it
39:43
all. She committed treason against
39:46
Jericho. I just wonder if you're willing
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to take risks this week and telling others about Jesus.
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And finally, I'll borrow a line from Howie here.
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Everything in life has a tipping point.
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And so for you who are here today and you realize that Jesus
40:05
has just been a part of your life.
40:08
That you actually haven't risked anything on His reality of His
40:10
resurrection yet. Are you willing to risk it all
40:14
to have it all? Are you willing to put your
40:17
whole life on the table, your whole eternity on the hope of
40:22
Jesus Christ? Are you willing to do it?
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There's some of you here today that I believe God is going to
40:27
save. That you are realizing that the
40:31
judgement is coming and you've been trying to save yourself and
40:34
all you can do is cry out to God for salvation in His kindness
40:38
and grace to you. You're realizing the Rahab in
40:42
you and you've only given a little bit, but I invite you
40:47
today to risk it all, to have it all.
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I think Jesus is worth it. That you would grab hold of the
40:54
scarlet thread that runs all throughout the Bible.
40:59
It is the story of Jesus Christ, the scarlet thread that every
41:02
person calls upon to be saved. If you believe in your heart and
41:06
confess your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, Romans 10 says
41:10
you will be saved. So I'm going to pray for us and
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then we're going to take communion together and I'll lead
41:21
you through that in just a moment.
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You pray with me first.