Rahab: an unlikely heroine | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

Follow us on social media using the handle at Celebration ORL or visit our website, celebrationorl.org.

Okay.

That sounds very nine o'clock service of you.

So we're going to try it again.

Celebration Orlando 1030 service.

How are you doing?

There we go.

There we go.

It is so good to see every single one of you, man.

Megan and I have truly, have truly missed you.

If you are new to the church, um, my name is Keith Peter Mike.

Who's this guy with the flowery shirt on?

I'm Keith.

Um and my beautiful wife, Megan.

We have the privilege of serving as the lead pastors here at Celebration Um Orlando.

And every year, um, typically in the month of June, sometimes it adjusts, but we take some time off to kind of like rest, reflect, and and get recharged.

And so I'm grateful that we have an incredible community that gives us the space to kind of disengage a little bit so that we can get fired up and come right back in it.

But we've missed you all so much.

Now, before I jump into today's message, I do want to take a moment to just shout out um some people that are near and dear to my heart, and that is our our Celebration Orlando staff.

Can we put our hands together for for them?

And and and here's here's why I want to do that.

As I as I mentioned, every year we take some time off to just kind of disconnect a little bit and kind of like balance out the spiritual warfare and all the other things that we're doing.

And and our staff, they they run the church um without missing a single beat.

And so we've been able to be fully um present with one another for our family while the church has been able to move forward.

So our staff does such an incredible job, and and I'm so thankful for every single one of them.

So I want to shout out Pastor Nate, who's over in Zimbabwe as we speak, probably preaching it up right now.

I also want to shout out um Pastor Pastor Vinny, who's a man of many, many talents.

Um he's the one who spearheaded our summer school series um and and and led the charge on it completely.

I'm so thankful for him.

Pastor Lindsey, she preached an incredible message, but just the way that she leads the teams.

We have Rachel, who's over there taking care of all things next gen.

Um, but then also I want to take a moment to introduce you to our newest staff member.

So, Lizzie, can you stand up and wave to the people?

Let them let them see you.

Give them a big wave, give them a big wave, Lizzie.

Lizzie is the newest member of our team and and she oversees all of our connection points.

A lot of the stuff we're talking about, the connect area, all those things.

She's the one who oversees that area.

And and she's new, but she's been doing an incredible job.

So I just know that if we're talking about behind the scenes, I know a lot of you guys are used to seeing me and my wife, but but without the team that we just mentioned, the church wouldn't be the same.

So, once more, Tom, can we put our hands together for our incredible celebration, Orlando team?

Okay, who's ready to get into God's word today?

All right.

If you have your Bibles, will you join me in the book of Joshua, chapter two?

Joshua chapter two.

And while you're turning there, I want to take a moment just to give you some an outline of the series and then ultimately some context into where the today's sermon is going.

I firmly believe that God's word is transformational.

I I know that in every area of my life, when I consider my development, my discipleship, I've gone to amazing churches, I've gone to conferences, I've had these incredible God encounters, but but nothing has changed my life more than engaging God's word because it frames up everything that we do, it frames up everything that we believe.

It literally is the thing that has transformed my life the most.

And so we engage God's word, knowing that that this unknowable God, this God who's beyond comprehension, yet makes himself knowable through his word and through Jesus.

And it's a beautiful opportunity for us to bridge the gap and understanding this infinite being, even in our finite limitations.

And so, what I recognize is that every time we open up the word of God, we have an opportunity to be engaged in these larger-than-life stories and these incredible moments of red seeds being parted, people walking on water, we're seeing blind eyes being opened, resurrections that are taking place, and it's so transformational for us, and it literally becomes these things that inspire us and encourage us.

But what I also recognize is that while we preach about those highlight reels, we don't often talk about the things that are taking place behind the scenes.

Maybe some people that aren't discussed much in scripture that were the ones who helped to play a part in being obedient to helping God to do what he was called to do, not helping him in a sense of his power, but being a conduit that his power could flow through.

And so what we want to do in this series is examine some narratives, some people that maybe we don't talk about as much, but also recognize that God is always working behind the scenes.

And I'm hopeful that it can be encouraging for us because there may be some things that are in front of us that we're facing, and in our own strength, we don't feel that we have the ability to overcome it.

But if we truly believe that God is working all things together for the good, maybe, maybe God is doing something that we don't see, and our faith will determine if we ever see it.

Can I get an amen to that?

Amen.

Okay, so now going into the text that we're jumping into.

The children of Israel had been out of Egypt now for about 40 years.

They find themselves going to the promised land.

This is a phrase that we often use in in church, but the promised land is a place that God had promised God's people that they would prosper, an environment that could handle the blessing that he has on his life.

There was nothing special about the land.

The promises were with God's people, but the land could sustain the blessing that God has for them.

And so it took them 40 years to finally get to a point where they're entering into the space that can handle the blessings that God has for them.

It was very common back then that as you're going into the land that God has called you to step into, that you would go and look and see what are some of the oppositions and some of the things that you're going to have to navigate through.

And so two spies were sent in to scout out the land.

Now, mind you, they've been on this journey for 40 years.

So people in the surrounding area are very familiar with the Israelites, they're familiar with their exploits, they're familiar with what they've overcome, and they're even familiar with the reality that they're making a march towards land that's already occupied.

So when these two men show up, people recognize that that these are the Israelites.

They recognize that that they're there because God has given them the land, and so they're trying to figure out a way to hold on to something that God has promised to them.

So now the town is on high alert.

They're trying to find these two spies in hopes that they can that they can eradicate them and scare off the Israelites like they did 38 years prior.

But they find help from the most unlikely person in the most unlikely place.

A woman named Rahab decides to shift her allegiance from that community and the pantheon of gods that she once served to now being loyal to God.

And what I believe we're gonna do is we're gonna examine why she would do that.

Starting at verse number eight, the text says, Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went onto the roof to talk to them.

I know the Lord has given you this land, she told them.

We're all afraid of you.

Everyone in this land is living in terror, for we have heard how the Lord had made a dry path through the Red Sea when you left Egypt, and we know what you did to Sihon and Og, or I like to say the OG.

You what we saw what you did with them to the Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed.

No wonder our hearts have melted with fear.

No one has courage to fight you after hearing such things.

For the Lord your God is the supreme God of heavens above and below.

So here's what we're going to do.

Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family, since I have helped you.

Give me some guarantee that when Jericho was conquered, you will let me live along with my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters and their families.

We offer our own lives as guarantee for your safety, the men agreed.

If you don't betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you when the Lord gives us the land.

Then, since Rahab's house was built into the town hall, into the town wall, she let them down by a rope through the window.

Escape out of the hill country, she told them.

Hide there for three days.

For the men are searching for you.

Then when they return, you can go your way.

This is a small snippet of this entire narrative that I want to encourage you to go read, what comes before it and what comes after it.

We're going to talk about it a little bit shortly.

But I want to pause there and just take a few moments to unpack the reality of what happens when God is moving amongst a group of people, but when he also moves on the heart of someone else, of how when we're obedient and we can say yes, how God can move through it.

So if you're taking notes and I hope that you're doing that, um, today's message title, in fact, all of our messages in this series are going to have very simple titles.

So today's message title is really this Behind the Scenes Rahab.

Let's pray and let's get into it.

Lord, we thank you so much for your presence.

We thank you for your favor.

We thank you for your grace and an opportunity for us to gather in your name.

Lord, we ask that you are glorified in this moment.

Holy Spirit, you're welcome, and we ask that you that you inspire us, that you challenge us, that you that you motivate us, that you that you help us to take whatever our next step is.

So, God, we just ask over the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you, open ears to hear you, and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

You know, as I as I mentioned earlier, every year, Megan and I, we we take some time to go on a little bit of a mini sabbatical, if you want to call it that, mini sabbatical, mini vacation, um, that allows us just to kind of disconnect a little bit, to reorder some things in our lives, even with our time, and and to come back fired up and charged up.

And and sometimes it's hard to do that because we live in a world where we have our phones and other devices and everything is so intertwined.

So, one of the things that we have grown to do is that every year, I think we're about three years running, so I figured like at this point we have this dynasty going, so we might as well keep doing it.

But we go on a cruise every year.

Because what a cruise does, is that it it it it it's it's almost metaphorical as we're like leaving the land, we're disconnected, and it allows us to be fully present.

Now they give us the Wi-Fi package, so we still end up getting connected anyway, but that's I'm trying to talk Megan out of it.

Next year we're not getting the Wi-Fi package.

Okay.

Um, but nonetheless, we we we go on a cruise, it helps us to disconnect and to be fully engaged with one another.

And so while we were on this cruise in the beginning of our our time off, um, this cruise ship was amazing.

It's it was just beyond comprehension, the things that they're able to do on these ships.

And these shows are just top-notch.

It's like Broadway on the ocean, like it's incredible.

So we went to this one show that was probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen by way of production in my life.

Like, I'm watching it and I'm like, I can't believe that we're on a cruise ship right now.

It was spectacular in every essence of the word.

Like, I was I was inspired.

I was my my eyes were open.

It made me rethink my life.

Like, I wonder if I should have gotten into gymnastics.

Like it was that, it was that incredible.

It was amazing.

And so after we took in the show and we went and had dinner that night, the next day while we were on a ship, in the same area where that performance took place, they have like a little coffee shop out there.

And so I'm sitting out there, Megan comes out there, and then as we're sitting there, I'm noticing the production team.

They show up.

And so now they're preparing for the show that's going to be taking place a few hours from now.

And as they're there, I'm watching them walk through very tediously all the details and all the behind the scenes stuff that no one even recognized was going on when we were watching the performance.

They were making sure that all of the harnesses were good.

They were making sure that everything was meticulously planned and detailed to ensure that everyone was safe.

And so I was enamored just watching the way that they did these things for like two hours straight.

Like I was people watching them real hard.

If you ever want to be amazed, is do some people watching on a cruise ship.

You build narratives, I got books written now.

But I'm watching these guys, and I was just blown away at the level of detail that they were putting into everything.

So as we were finishing up and we were about to leave, I saw like the production lead guy walking away.

And I remember walking up to him, I'm like, I'm like, hey man, I said, man, you and your team have done such an amazing job.

It's inspiring to watch you.

And he was kind of taken off guard because naturally he's probably used to the stars of the show getting all the attention.

We understand that.

We all have a role to play.

But you can see that he was really confused on how to respond to it because he he didn't know that someone was watching him function behind the scenes.

But I think my years of ministry has helped me to recognize that that what you see on stage doesn't happen without the people behind the scenes that are making it all come together.

So as I as I celebrated his success, you could he walked away and you can tell that it literally made his day.

And it made me think about this.

It made me think about how in the kingdom we have these two coins, these two sides of the coin that are equally important.

We have these incredible miracles that we see that make us feel good and that make us feel inspired, but we often don't celebrate the things that are taking place behind the scene that are responsible for the miracles to take place.

Because let's be honest, we're great at celebrating the person that's on the platform, but we're very rarely going to give a shout out to the person that's holding the camera in the back.

Shout out to Andy.

Thank you, Andy, for holding the camera in the back.

We're really good at highlighting people that have performances that we can put on display, but we very rarely recognize the things that are happening behind the scenes that make it happen and come all together.

What I love about the kingdom of God is the beautiful thing is none of us are the guests of honor.

We just simply play a role and we have varying places that we're supposed to be to play our role, but Jesus is the guest of honor and he invites us to work behind the scenes, but it's ultimately for God to get the glory.

This is why I love when John the Baptist is on the scene and people are coming to him to try to give him all this attention.

He's like, hey, don't get it twisted.

I'm not the light.

There's one coming after me whose shoes I'm not even worthy of tying.

I'm not the light.

I'm I'm actually just the moon.

You know, moons don't have light of their own, they simply reflect the light of the sun.

And as long as we don't allow our egos and pride to eclipse us from God's glory, God will use us to brighten up the night sky, but we got to recognize that I am not the light.

I want our church to recognize I'm not the light.

It is not about me.

It is a I am I am I am simply a conduit that is pointing you to a light that can shine brighter than anything that I could ever do in my own strength.

It is not about me.

I am not the light.

Jesus is the light, he gets all the glory, he gets all the honor, he gets all the praise.

So that's what I love about the kingdom is how God is able to use all of us in our varying roles and skill sets to ultimately bring glory to him.

And that is why I love this story with Rahab so much.

You see, for the children of Israel, they had been in Egypt for over 40 years at this point.

And they had been to that exact same spot 38 years earlier.

And when they got there before, they they didn't have, they didn't have the faith to believe that they could occupy the promises because watch this, their eyes were bigger, their eyes were so focused on the problem that they lost sight of God's power.

We've all been there.

Where we feel like God is nudging us to do something, and we lose sight of what God has said, and we're so focused on what we see.

So as a result of that, God said, I need you to turn around and I need you to walk that out of you.

Because the blessing that I have for you, you're gonna have a hard time sustaining my powerful blessings as long as you still have Egypt in your heart.

The promises are in your hand, but is Egypt still in your heart?

So they had to walk around the wilderness for 38 years so that so that Egypt could get out, the power of God could get in, and now they're able to adequately steward the promises that God has for them.

Now here they are, 38 years later, and they're dealing with the same exact test.

Can you imagine failing a test and then coming back to it in this the exact same test again, same answers, and you fail it again?

The problem is you.

Okay, let me keep they're right back at the same spot.

So they're thinking to themselves, like, hey, the last time we were here, we chose our own strength.

This time, how about we rely on God?

So even though they were not any more powerful, they even though the town they were trying to occupy didn't grow any weaker, but they chose to move forward with confidence because they recognize that even if in our own strength we are not able to do it, maybe God is doing something behind the scenes.

Maybe God is moving amongst somebody behind the scenes, maybe God is gonna send the enemy in confusion.

But all I know is that no matter how big this wall is, it is not bigger than the power and the promises of my God.

No matter what my opposition is, nothing is gonna be able to oppose if God is for me.

And little did they know there was this woman who was very obscure.

This woman who, by society standards, didn't have any value, was going to be a crucial piece in helping them to occupy the promises of God.

And I believe that when we look at her life, there are some principles that I think we can pull from it that could be encouraging for us.

Are you with me, celebration?

Okay, here's the first thing that I want us to write down that we can learn from looking at Rahab.

The first thing is this she put her faith in God.

Super simple statement.

Super simple concept, very difficult to implement when you understand the nuance in which she came from.

And Canaanites are a people group that is linked back to Noah, but they're known for their polytheistic worship style, their pagan practices.

She came from an environment that Yahweh was not Lord.

She came from an environment where there was a pantheon and different gods served different purposes.

You had the God of fertility, you had the you had the God of provision, you have these different things that you would worship, and so that was her nuance, that she had a dependency and a faith in all these other things.

But the thing that was unique about the Jewish God, the God that was over the Israelites, is that he was a single solution.

He was the God of all.

And so that was the contest and the battle that we see that when God is battling against, when he's battling against the Egyptian gods, because that's exactly what every one of those ten plagues represented in Egypt.

It was him showing that I am the God that's above all else.

And so she hears the stories about this.

The other thing that we learn about Rahab is that they say that she was defined as a prostitute.

When you do a deeper study into the culture and the nuance and understand some of the language, what it is believed to be is that she ran a brothel or an inn.

So that means that that she was the oversight for it.

This is where travelers as well as local people would come.

It would almost be like a bar type setting that also had rooms and travelers would come and stay there, but also travelers would come and solicit the services there.

I'm not here to judge, I'm just letting y'all know what's going on.

Like there, they would go there, and these are all things that are taking place there, and she oversaw all of it.

So, what many scholars believe is that while she's there and you have travelers that are coming in town as well as locals that are there, she's hearing the stories about this God of the Israelites.

While she's there serving, she's hearing someone like, Man, did you hear about what happened over in in Egypt?

No, you know, like all their slaves got set free.

That never happens.

How did that happen?

I don't know, man.

They were talking about some God of the of some God named Yahweh came through and he opened the Red Sea for him.

And she's like, Wow, like that's that's pretty peculiar that that they have a God that'll open the Red Sea for him.

Oh man, did you hear did you hear about what happened with the with with Og or OG as I like to call them?

You heard about what happened with OG and his people?

No, what?

Like they they ran up against the Israelites.

The Israelites, the ones who have no king, the the ones who have no military experience, and they got defeated?

Wow, that seems really weird.

That that I know the gods that they worship.

They're calling on a God of war, and that same God that freed them from Egypt is the same God that gave them victory over that.

That's pretty peculiar.

That's that's still the same God.

She's hearing these stories about what God is doing amongst God's people, and even though she has her own pantheon of belief, she recognizes that my gods are insufficient to the God of God's people.

So she begins to make this shift in saying that I'm looking at the evidence, and even though I don't feel it for myself, I witness it in you, and I'm going to shift my loyalty.

She places her faith in God in spite of her own upbringing and in spite of her own beliefs, but she recognizes that God is God.

She makes this statement I believe that your God is the God above all else on heavens and in earth.

That declaration was a recognition that even though these other false gods are out there, they pale in comparison to the power of that God, and I'm going to go directly to the source.

I'm putting my faith in God.

But I also want you to recognize something that's so significant that we can almost miss.

She says, I'm placing my faith in God.

She doesn't say, I'm placing my faith in you.

She doesn't say, I'm placing my faith in your military army.

I'm placing my faith in your strategy.

I'm I'm placing my faith in your ability.

She says, I recognize that God is with you, He is using you, and I'm placing my faith in Him.

Here's my question for us celebration, Orlando Who are we truly placing our faith in?

Because I've grown to recognize there are some moments where we profess that we're placing our faith in God, but the expression of our faith in We trust in our bank account.

We put faith in our academics.

We put faith in our spouses in an unhealthy way.

We put faith in our political leaders.

I want to step on everybody's toes right now.

It's going to get better though.

We're going to heal again.

Watch this.

Everywhere I turn, social media, news, they're not communicating information.

They're communicating fear.

If your guy doesn't get in, the world is going to fall apart.

Your family's going to go fall apart.

You're going to lose everything that you love.

If your guy doesn't get in, then this is what you can expect.

And what they're doing is they're pumping fear.

And then oddly, they're connecting it as if it's God.

But God doesn't give us a spirit of fear, baby.

He gives us a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind.

And if you're being made fearful in order to make your decision, that sounds like the spirit of manipulation, which is not God.

What God is saying is maybe we need to stop putting our faith in the created and start putting our faith in the creator.

Something that I've had to learn over the past 10 years of being in ministry is you know what?

I've seen people that I've that I've supported that made it into the White House, and you know what?

I've seen people that I didn't support make it into the White House.

And watch this.

It didn't matter who was in the White House because Jesus was still on the throne.

We need to stop allowing this culture of fear to perpetuate us in such a way that now we begin to dehumanize other people because they think differently and their experiences are differently than us.

Listen, Jesus is on the throne and my faith is in him.

So do I look at the political landscape?

Absolutely.

Am I concerned about the world that my children are going to be raised in and my grandchildren are going to be raised in?

Absolutely.

Am I going to vote?

Absolutely.

But even if it sounds like I'm talking about the Sabrack and the Meatchack and the Big, even if my God does not get into office, even if it doesn't work out the way that I think it's going to be, God is still on the throne because I placed my faith in Jesus.

She placed her faith in God.

And I believe that that is a, I think that's a lesson that we are meant to embody in this season.

Care, but don't carry it, because Jesus is still on the throne.

She placed her faith in God.

When we look at what the idea of faith is, faith is confident, assurance, reliance, allegiance on God.

When you really break down the definition, faith has this unique way of being defined as being steadfast, unmovable, but also in motion.

That means I am unmovable in my conviction with God, but I'm also putting it into action in anything that He tells me to do.

In other words, faith has action too.

It requires you to do something with it.

It's not an intellectual idea, it's not a heart posture, but it's a behavior that literally changes everything that you do.

I like to use this example because I think it's a good one.

But what you believe determines how you behave.

Right?

If we are all leaving here right now and we are told, hey, when you get on I-4, if you have to go on I-4, first of all, God bless you.

But when you get on I-4, be careful because there's a speed trap up there.

Now I know Celebration Orlando, we follow the laws of the land, we're not speeding, but I'm just throwing this out there.

If you're made aware that there's a speed trap up there, what speed limit are you going to do when you pass by the police officer?

Because you believe, so it changes the way you behave.

If I truly believe that Jesus is Lord, how much more should it affect my behavior?

If I truly believe that Jesus is on the throne, how much more should it affect where I go and when I move and how I move?

What we see with Rahab, because she placed her faith in God and recognized that God's people were conduits of the blessing, and then allowed her to put it into action.

I'm going to show my loyalty and my allegiance, which leads me to the next thing.

The beautiful thing that I love that she does is that we see is that she is others focused.

We see in this interaction that she's having with them, is that she could have easily said, Hey, I know that God's with y'all.

I know that y'all are about to take over this land.

Hey, just let me rock with y'all and that's it.

But what we notice she does is she begins to say, Hey, I have some people that I care about.

There are some people that I love, and I don't want to be so fixated on just me that I am the only one who benefits from this.

So I need to make sure that the same favor and blessing that is being extended to me, that I'm making it available to as many people as humanly possible.

Because the reality of it is we live in a world that is so focused on self.

And I think that's a good shift from what we may have been told in our upbringing.

Because we all understand what it looks like to give of ourselves in environments that aren't healthy, and then it takes of ourselves, and then we lose parts of ourselves, and now we've lost complete essence of our identity.

I understand all of that.

But I also have seen where the scales have shifted in such a way that we become self-aware, and now we become self-absorbed, and now we've flat out become selfish.

Because now it's all about me, it's all about my mind, my life, my boundaries, my everything, and I wreck and I've lost sight of the fact that those things are important, but I'm also connected to a bigger community, and sometimes it's gonna require me to do this.

And I want you all to prepare for this.

I'm gonna say a bad word in church.

Sacrifice.

Because I'm connected to something beyond me.

Sometimes it's gonna require something of me that I don't feel like doing, but that's what happens when you're part of a community that you love.

You you sacrifice, you you give of yourself sometimes.

Not in unhealthy doses, but you recognize the importance of being others focused.

My wife puts this on display all the time.

On the same cruise ship, on in fact, it was the same show, they tell us, hey, get here about 45 minutes early.

Because if you want to get the seat that you want, you're gonna have to get there early.

So we're getting there early because I know what I want to experience, and so we get there early.

So as it gets a little bit closer, we get about like 10 minutes before showtime, it's chaotic.

And people are coming in and they're trying to find seats, and it's a hot mess.

Now, I want to show you how Megan and I are different.

As I'm sitting in the seat, she's sitting next to me, and I'm seeing people walking around trying to find seats.

My reaction is, they should have got here earlier.

Pray for me.

Um, her reaction was, oh my gosh, these people don't have seats.

Hey, sir, is anyone sitting there next to you?

Because there's a family over here.

I'm like, what are you doing?

We're on vacation.

And then she looks at me and she didn't even say a word because we've been together so long that the looks communicate a lot.

So she just looks at me.

And the look she gave me was like, now, Keith, we have a seat and we are filled with so much peace.

Why would we not go out of our way to make sure other people can experience the same peace that we got?

To that, I said, I'm on vacation, my pastor hours are from nine to five.

I'm not here for all that.

I thought I left that back in Orlando.

So I'm like, yeah, you're right.

So she's literally helping people find seats.

And while I think that that's a that's that's a small microcosm of what I'm trying to communicate, it shows you that even though we were comfortable, she wasn't comfortable because she knew that there were other people who were still searching.

How much more when we recognize that Jesus is a peace that surpasses all understanding?

How much more when we recognize that we've tasted and seen that the Lord is good, that we should be making it available to anyone that we have a relationship with that is willing to listen.

I hear the pain that's going on in your life, and what I want to invite you to into an environment where you don't have to perform, but you can be loved exactly where you are.

Your answer is actually Jesus.

I I know that you're filled with stress and some things aren't working out, and I'm not saying that it's gonna fix everything overnight, but what I can tell you is that you're looking to the wrong things and that the answer is found in Jesus.

I believe that every time that we declare the name of Jesus and live a life that honors him, it invites people to experience the same peace that we have, but we have loved ones who don't have a seat.

But every time we show up, we're we're creating space for someone.

Yes, your presence here today matters because you help to create an atmosphere of the God that's in you and the God that's in you, and that's worshiping together, it creates an atmosphere.

So the person who is reluctant in coming to church, they see you worshiping and it brings some freedom into their soul because they see you, yes, your presence matters.

That when you don't feel like showing up, it ain't God telling you not to.

I promise you, there's a breakthrough that's going to take place.

That every time that you give, you're helping to create space so that people can experience and encounter the presence of the living God.

That every time you serve, you're opening the doors for a person who's never had a door open for them, for a person who's had a horrible week.

But when they see your smiling face, it allows them to feel welcome and valued, so now they can come in and have an encounter with the living God.

Absolutely everything you do matters when you serve, when you give, when you love, and create space for others because we're others focused.

Rahab was not just consumed with herself, but she was thinking about how I can use what I'm aware of to make sure that it benefits people that I love and that I care about.

She was others focused.

The third and final thing that I want us to write down, and we're gonna we're gonna wrap up in just a moment.

This is gonna be the challenging one for us.

Watch this.

Sometimes we just have to follow instructions.

Just just follow instructions.

When she's talking, when she's talking with the men in the state, and she's having this conversation saying, like, hey, like, I I'm I'm I'm shifting my loyalty.

I am I'm gonna be surrendered to God.

What do you need me to do to demonstrate my loyalty?

They give her some instructions.

They say, hey, here's what we want you to do.

We want you to tie a red cord around this particular window, and we want you to allow that to be there.

Have your family there, make sure they're all under the roof, and when we come there, we're gonna recognize that you're the one who helped protect us.

We're gonna send word back to the camp, you're gonna be protected, your family's gonna be protected.

Just do what we're telling you to do.

Follow instructions.

Here's why I emphasize this because we live in a world where nobody wants to follow instructions.

In fact, we live in a world where we have so many experts, and watch this podcast popping up all over the place telling us how we can get the things that only God can provide without going through God.

This is what you need to do to experience these things.

And none of us just want to get right back to the core of it and saying, What is God telling me to do?

Go back to point two when I said we've become so self-absorbed that sometimes we're even trying to remix what the Bible says because we don't like the way certain aspects of it make us feel.

I want you to hear me.

I realize that the Bible has been misinterpreted for years.

Context and literary genres and all these things are very important to make sure that we can rightly divide the word of truth.

We are recognized that certain passages of scripture have been weaponized to control, to manipulate, and oppress people.

Those things need to be challenged, those needs need to be deconstructed.

But you will never have a faith that doesn't require anything of you.

You will never have a faith that doesn't challenge you.

You will never have a faith that doesn't require you to surrender.

And if you create a belief system that requires nothing of you, you have made yourself into God.

What I love about God's word is that sometimes he's going to tell us to do it and we just have to do it.

My father, he's a master electrician.

He's been in the industry for over 40 years.

And in those years, he's accumulated experience in virtually every area of construction you can imagine.

I've seen him literally build, deconstruct.

It's amazing to watch what he does.

So when he was at our house just in May, um he was in town for vacation with my mom, and and every time he comes, he's always looking for things that he can do around the house.

Like, there's times when he shows up, I'm like nervous.

He's like, hey man, you know that this thing is crooked.

Like, I know that it's fine.

But I'm I I know that that's what he's gonna do, and I actually love it.

So I decided I'm like, hey, I'm gonna get my dad to put up a ceiling fan for me.

So he comes over and and and I and I get the ceiling fan, he takes it out of the box, he takes out all of the parts, he lays it all out in front of him.

Mind you, over 40 years of experience.

He can walk into a building and tell you how it's wired without even without even looking behind the walls, like it's it's it's that good.

He lays out all of these things and then he turns and he picks up the instruction book and begins to read through it thoroughly, slowly.

And I'm looking at him and I'm like, Dad, I got thought you, I thought you just knew how to put this together.

Like, I thought you wouldn't even have to look at it.

And he said these words to me.

He said, Son, I've grown to recognize through maturity and experience that you can never outgrow direction.

I know this like the back of my hand.

I'm experiencing this, but I still need direction.

If I expect you to get the results that the manufacturer had intended, we are created by a creator made in the image of God, and he gives us his word as instructions and directions so that we can get the results that the manufacturer had originally intended.

The manufacturer had originally intended for us to live a life of peace, for us to live a life of wholeness.

And so now the instructions are telling us that if you want to live a whole life, there's certain things you can't do.

I'm not telling you this because I'm trying to control you.

I'm telling you this because I want to protect you.

Any of the parents in the house know what I'm talking about, that sometimes you're gonna tell your kids that they just can't do something.

They're not gonna understand it, they're gonna be frustrated with it.

But if you only understood, I am trying to protect you.

What if when we look at God's word and he's telling us to do something, we stop looking at it like small children throwing tantrums and saying, maybe God is trying to protect me.

Maybe God is trying to put me in a direction to ensure that it creates wholeness.

What I recognize is that there's a lot of times that God is giving us red flag after red flag, and we ignore it, and then we get into a place that God didn't lead us into, and then we're wondering why we don't feel God's presence while we're there.

I'm talking to people that have ignored the signs and have stepped into relationships that you know that God hasn't blessed, and now we're wrestling with why we don't have peace.

Because God is saying, I told you to make a U-turn a long time ago.

Will you get back on track so that you can understand that I'm ordering your steps to protect you, not to control you?

What I love about Rahab is that if we were to take that exact same narrative and put it in today's timeline, I would imagine, depending on who it is, well, why does it have to be a red cord?

Why can't it be a blue cord?

I actually don't like the color red.

Why does it have to be that window?

Because I prefer that window.

That window is a little bit better for my feng shui and my energy.

We know how to debate against everything, but there are going to be some things that God is gonna say, Can you just follow my instructions?

Can you just follow what I'm telling you to do?

You you may not see it, you may not understand it, but if you put your faith in me and you trust me, then you are gonna be able to trust the fact that I'm ordering your steps.

Sometimes we just have to follow the instructions.

Her story doesn't end there.

In fact, there's there's so much more to it.

What many scholars have been able to deduce and what they believe is that Rahab eventually ends up becoming the mother to Boaz.

And and if you are familiar with the the book of Ruth, you hear all about Boaz.

Boaz is a man who functioned with integrity and great character and kindness to a foreigner, the same way that Rahab did to the Israelites.

So you can directly see how the way that she interacted with God and God's people has been passed on to her son.

Through through Boaz, we then see the lineage of Jesse, who then is the father of David, which then subsequently becomes the king, which is the bloodline that Jesus comes from.

When you look at the genealogy of Jesus, Rahab's name is mentioned as a Gentile woman, a woman who was a prostitute, a woman who was not socially accepted.

But because she said yes to God and she supported the people of God, her name is listed among the people that allow the presence of the Messiah to come.

I've learned in life that when we say yes to God, that it will change the way that people look at you.

Now what you were known as is no longer what you're known for.

She was known as a prostitute, but she's known for being the woman who said yes to God, who brought about Boaz, who brought about Jesse, who brought about David, who led ultimately to Jesus.

Many scholars have even gone on to say that it's because of Ruth and her Gentile blood that in Jesus, the blood of Jews and Gentile coexists, which allows us to live this whole new man ministry that we have right now.

Literally, Jesus was reconciling all of it inside of himself with his very existence because a Gentile woman said yes.

I believe that there is power in saying yes, even when it is behind the scenes.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to I want to pose a simple question to us, just really quick.

Maybe you're in here with us today and and you recognize that there's aspects of this that resonate with you.

Maybe you need to put your faith in Jesus.

Maybe there's a part of your life that you recognize that you need to be others focused.

And maybe there's a part where you just need the strength to follow instructions, the strength to overcome those hurdles, those areas of life that God is clearly ordering your steps, but it's so challenging to do it.

I want to lead us in a moment of prayer really quickly.

And the power's gonna come up and give us some instructions as we wrap up.

But if that's you, specifically, if that's you, and you want to surrender your life to God, I want to say yes to God.

I want to put my faith in Jesus.

If that's you, on a count of three, I want to invite you to boldly lift your hands.

One, two, three.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you, amen, amen, amen.

God bless you, amen.

Church, can we put our hands together and celebrate with everyone that is saying yes to Jesus?

Here's what I want us to do.

I want us to stand on our feet.

I want to lead us in a moment of prayer.

And what I recognize is that in a room with this many people, even for those who are joining us online, there are areas of our lives that we want to invite the power of God to give us the strength to say yes.

There are areas of our lives where we want to have the wisdom on how to be others focused and to be more generous.

But there's also areas of our lives that we just need to learn how to put our focus on God.

Will you join me in prayer?

Lord, I thank you.

I thank you that that you work all things together for the good.

I'm grateful that you are always working behind the scenes, that there are some things that we may be facing that we can't see what's on the other side, but we know that you're with us.

So, Father, I pray that we could put our eyes on you, the author and finisher of our faith, that we could fixate our attention on you, recognizing that things may come, things may go, but you will always remain.

And you are the source of our peace, you are the source of our provision, you're the source of our hope.

God, we pray for our nation.

The division and the chaos, and it doesn't seem as if it's settling down.

We care about it, God.

We live here.

We want, we want to see revival, but it happens through us because we keep our eyes on you, not because we've fixed ourselves into a political structure.

It can't contain the glory that you have for us.

So as kingdom citizens, God, we put our eyes on you.

We are others focused and looking for opportunities that we can shed light and that we can be an example of the life and the light of Christ, Lord.

We're asking for a peace that surpasses all understanding.

And Father, I pray that we could put our faith in you above our education, above our resources, above this economy, God, that we place our faith in you.

And that is what's going to relieve us of the anxiety because we recognize that you're our provider, and it's from that place of wholeness we'll get clarity and perspective.

And Father, I pray for every precious person that is surrendering their life to you.

Lord, I pray that you fill them with your spirit, that you order their steps, that you put them in a community of people that can walk alongside them, that can encourage them, that can challenge them, that can inspire them.

And God, I ask that you give us all the ability to follow your word, even in the areas that it doesn't feel comfortable, even in the areas that challenges us.

Help us to rightly divide it, wrestle with it, invite people into the process with us, but never let us get away from your word, God.

Your word declares our flesh and blood will pass away, but your word will never pass away.

God, allow us to anchor ourselves and build our lives on that foundation.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

Follow us on social media using the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website, celebrationorl.org.