Faith on the Margins | Joshua 2:1-14 | Pastor Sammy Rodriguez

I know we're about to be blessed by our very

own pastor, Sammy coach, come on up and deliver that.

Word very own. Take a bother question.

Thank you everyone, Thank you everyone so excited. Before we

get started, Pastor Sinav said something in general, says, she said,

we're used to that win. Anyone used to that win

a few weeks ago? Anybody, anybody?

Just me?

It was like eighty to ninety miles per hour. Who

was almost blowing down our garage door. I was like,

the devil is a liar. It's crazy, right, it's crazy.

That wind was wild. I need to go back to

Huntington Beach, but no, I'm honored to be here. First

and foremost just want to just thank our pastors here,

our lead pastors. We just had Pastor Adam, but also

Pastor Ashley Masa. Can we just make a round of

applause for them here? And just so grateful he gave

me a whole introduction. But I'm just so grateful for

this patriot, for this family. As we were looking at

where we wanted to study church and do our residency

before planting, I couldn't think of a better place than

this place, in this location, and didn't know.

It was gonna be an opportunity, and then through one

thing leads to the next and we're here.

So we're just so grateful for the leadership, for the direction,

just for the authority on Pastor Adam and Ashley. So

one more time, can we just thank our pastors an

incredible way.

I'm gonna go a few more I just I want to.

I want to also shout out our pastors Nathan and SNAs.

Can we just give a round of applause? Just so

grateful again, I get a you know, my I've had

eighteen years in full time ministry. My background has been

to travel churches, a lot of incredible churches.

But this place is special.

Hey man, this place is special, and we can't we

can't leave out our pastors Erin and Erica. Just so

grateful for Pastor Aaron. See Pastor Aaron, he had the

juicer and all that a few Sundays ago, so I said,

I better step up my game, you know I'm talking

about so hopefully he honors and one last one, just

because I want to honor the founder of our pastors

at Diego and Cindy Mason.

Just so grateful for our founders. Amen. Amen.

I wish I could go on and on, but it

would take all my time and my countdowns going down.

But man, I'm just so grateful to be here. How

many guys love the Book of Joshua. Anybody, if you

got your Joshua journal, wave at me right now, waving

at me, waving at me. If you don't have it,

you could grab it in our bookstore right where you

could go forward. But I want to I want to

preach a message to you. And before we go into

I wanted drew this a little bit of who I am.

So I think my family picture is up here real briefly.

So that's me obviously, the good looking you know man,

and the Jesus loves you.

That's me.

And then that's my beautiful wife, Chandler, who's up here

in the front. Our son is three months old. His

name is Maverick. And then our daughter is about two

and a half. Her name is Philippa. We call her Pippa.

And Santa's not not my son, but in the spirit, okay,

But that's my family. We've been married for about seven years.

My background is I'm from northern California, Das Puerto Rican

Mexican one of like fourteen fifteen.

I got like.

Two hundred first and second cousin. So this is a

family readion, you know what I'm talking about, all right?

And then my mom's American, you know, Scandinavian background. But

but we have such a heart to be able into

this place. And so as we jump into this week three,

I want you to take notes if you can with me,

if you want to take notes. In the title of

this message is this it's faith on the margins, Faith

on the margins. Can can someone say that? Because someone

say faith on the margins, Faith on the margins. And

we get to jump into a beautiful story tonight. You know,

the last two weeks, if you weren't here, we you know,

Pastor Herron open it up so.

Beautifully and eloquently.

That walked us into what Joshua is gonna be. And

and on the other side of it, we had Pastor

Diego who just brought a fire message and the altars

were filled, and we get to build upon that as

we talk about faith on the margins. And now before

I get into it, we're gonna read the scripture. You know,

We're gonna stand and we read. I want to introduce

to you a few kind of key terms. Let's put

it on the next slide. If you put on the

next slide, I like to do something treaching. Somebody say treating.

Touch your neighbors say treating. Treating is preaching and teaching. Okay,

we've had a lot of that here. Okay, so I'm

gonna be teaching, but I can't help myself and preach.

Is that okay with you? Is that okay with you? Okay,

We're gonna do a little treating. And then the second

thing that's really important again, like my history in eighteen

years of ministry, have had the chance to do a

Bible college. Something simply that we need to understand and

reading the word is this phrase in reading the Bible

that content. Everyone say content plus context. Everyone say context

equals meaning. Everyone say meaning. What I mean by that

is that the content of the scriptures.

The words that are read here, plus.

The context of what's happening gives us our meaning. So

whenever you're reading the Word, whether it's Joshua, whether it's

in the New Testament, that helps us stay within bounds

of what we're doing.

Amen.

And last verse, I want to read to you Hebrews

four to twelve. Everyone say four to twelve. It's not

on there, you know, of course I didn't add it

in there. But Hebrews four to twelve said this, for

the Word of God is living in active sharper than

any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul

and spirit and joints and merrill, and discerning.

The thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Why we read the world, why we study the Word

is we don't go to it to prove our points.

We let the Word read us. Amen. So here's what

we want to do is the title. Like I said before,

faith on the margins.

We're gonna stand if if you love the Word, I

know you do, and we're all gonna stand.

Let's all stand in the reading of the world.

We have a few scriptures, so this might be a

little bit of a exercise for you. We got about

fourteen scriptures, so don't get tired. If you need to

do some jumping jacks, we could do that all right.

But starting and Joshua two verse one, it says and Joshua,

the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shitham

as spies, saying go view the land especially Jericho. And

they went and came into a house of a prostitute

whose name was ray Ab, and lodged there. And it

was told to the King of Jericho, behold, men of

Israel have come here tonight to search out the lamb.

Then the King of Jericho sent to Rehabs, saying, bring

out the men who have come here, who have come

to you, who entered your house, For they have come.

To search out all the land.

But the woman who had taken the two men and

hidden them, and she said, true, the men came to me,

but I don't know where they came from. Somebody said,

I don't know where they are. And it says in

the next verse, and when the gate was about to

be closed at dark.

The men went out. I do not know where the

men went.

Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. But she

had brought them up to the roof and hid them

with the stalks of flax. Somebody say, flax, we'll get

into that. That's my prop that passor Adam loved. I

know that that she had laid in order on the roof.

Next serverse. So the men pursued after them on the

way to Jordan as far as the fords, and the

gate was shut as soon as the pursuers.

Had gone out. We're almost done. Let's keep going.

Before the men lay down, she came up to them

on the roof and said to the men, I know

that the Lord has given you the land, and that

the fear of you has fall upon us, and that

all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the

waters of the Red Sea before you were before you

when you came out of Egypt, and what you did

to the two kings of the Amirits who were beyond

the Jordan, to say, sia Han and ag and whom

you devoted to destruction. And as we heard it, our

hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man.

Because of you.

For the Lord your God, he is God in the

heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Now, then we're almost nigh. Prom you're like my niece.

Now, then please swear to me by the Lord that

as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal

kindly with my father's house. And give me a sure

sign that you will save alive my father and mother,

my brothers and sisters, and all will belong to them

and deliver our lives from death. And the men said

to her our life for yours, even to death. If

you do not tell this business of ours, then when

the Lord gives us a land, we will deal kindly

and faithfully with you.

And that's it. Somebody say this words for you, touch

a neighbors say this word's for you. Go ahead and

take a sea. We're gonna pray together, Lord.

We just pray tonight, Lord, in our you know few

minutes we have together, we would you bring alive the

scripture as we look at.

What you want to say, be with me, be with

our room.

We want to be changed by faith in Jesus' name.

And everybody said, amen and amen and amen. Here's what

I want to look at, real, real, briefly, real, briefly.

Is this is that?

In Hebrews eleven one, it says this, because if we're

gonna look at faith, if we're gonna look at rahab,

we need to know what does that faith mean. If

we're gonna talk about faith on the margins, what does

that actually mean?

It says in Hebrews eleven one.

Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the

convictions of things not yet seen. In verse six, let's

look over here, it says this, and without faith, it

is impossible to please him. Forever would draw near to

God must believe that He exists and that he rewards

those who seek him. Now, I don't know if you're

like me. Whenever I think of faith, I think of it. And

in Hebrews eleven, which we'll get to in a second,

that's known as the Hall of faith.

Like in a lot of places and in a lot.

Of sports, there's something called the hall of fame in

the Bible and the Hebrews eleven. We call it Bible,

you know, theologians and nerds call it the hall of faith.

Ray have actually finds her way into there, And we wonder,

and we go, wait, wait, you're talking about the prostitute.

You're talking about the woman in Jericho that was well known.

How did you find her way there? And we're going

to dive into and dig into it right here, as

we look into it, as we move on, and we

look at that first point as we put it on here,

I got five points for you to write down in

your notes. Right The first point is this is faith

to go forward. Somebody say faith to go forward. Say

like you mean to say, faith to go forward. Come on,

touch your neighbors, say faith to go forward. I want

to put up the verse one up here because I

want to look at something, because we're gonna look at

a word. It says this in verse one. It says

and Joshua, the son of None said two men secretly

from Shitamas spy saying go view. Somebody say view, say

it like you mean to say, view, says go view

the land, especially Jericho. And they went, of course passor

Daniel got to sing about Jericho. You know, he's in

the he's in the he's in the sauce, especially Jericho.

And they went and came into the house of a

prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. Faith to

go forward. We we've already heard the message. And if

you haven't, like I said before, go back a few

weeks to hear. Joshua got a command from God to

be strong and courageous. The Lord has given you the land,

the same command that was given to Moses. But those

people had unbelief and fear and died in the wilderness.

So Joshua says, hey, I'm gonna bring these two spies together.

I want them to go for it in view, and

then I want to I want you to look at

this word real quick.

That word for view again.

It's you know it's it's that word in for view

in the Hebrew is ra ah.

Someone say it like you mean, say rah. It means to.

See, look at, inspect, perceive, consider The usage as we

look at this is the Hebrew verb for ra primarily

means to see in a literal sense, but it also

extends to see more abstract meanings such as perceiving, understanding,

or experiencing. It is used in various contexts, including physical site,

visionary experiences, and intellectual or spiritual perception.

The verb can also.

Be implied the act of looking with intention and consideration.

The crazy thing, though, is, is that Joshua knew what

happened when twelve men went into the Promised land, and

they had to wander for forty years looking at the

promise but never entering in. When Joshua told the two men,

he said, I want you to go and view it.

He used that word specifically. He said, I don't want

you just to look with your physical eyes. I want

you to look with your spiritual eyes. I want you

to consider this land that the Lord is given to us.

But we need to reference what happened, because this time

he didn't just send twelve. We know Joshua was one

of the two of the twelve spies along with Caleb.

Joshua and Caleb came back with a great report, but

the other ten didn't. So as we look back into

numbers one in verse thirteen, as we look at it's

on the scripture, it says this, we're contrasting between Joshua

sending out the spies and Moses.

Okay, so the Lord said this, check us out.

The Lord's book to Moses, saying, send men to spy

out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to

the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers.

You shall send a man everyone, a chief among you.

Keep going.

Moses sent them to spy out the land and said

to them, but pause, real quick pause. God told Moses,

I'm giving you this land. Get these chiefs together, and

get these people together. Now, this is how Moses responds

to the people.

Check it out.

Moses sent them into Canaan and said, go up into

the Negeb and go into the hill country and see

what the land is, and whether the people who dwell

in it are strong or whether they are few or many,

whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad,

and whether the cities they dwell in are camps or strongholds.

When we look at Joshua and we know this story,

and without have time to touch on this story.

But they went into the land, and they came back

with this massive fruit. They said, the place is flowing

with milk and honey. But there's a lot of giants

in the land. And that unbelief and that fear kept

them out of the promise. But Joshua, forty years later,

he says, I'm not gonna make that same mistake. He said,

I'm gonna go forward. And what does he tell the

two men. He says, I want you to go and

view the land, especially Jericho.

Why is that important?

That's important because Jericho was one of the strongholds of Canaan.

So Joshua was like, I ain't afraid of the strong towers.

I don't need to ask them if it's strong or not.

I've been on that land. I need them to go

view the promise. I needed them go set their feet

on that promise.

Amen.

We gotta think about this, because here's the thing is,

we're thinking through this. It was it was this, It

was it was it was their land to go view

and look.

And and here's my question for this as we go forward.

How about us? How about us?

When God gives a promise, When God says something to

you about your promised land, are we able to go

and view the land like the two Spies?

Are we gonna go look at it like the twelve Spies?

When God gives us a promise, and he says, go

and here here's here's another beautiful part of this word,

and then we'll go to the next point. But he says,

go view And a lot of us want to view

from from from from back here. We don't want to

go to the land. We just want to view it

from social media. We don't want to go to the land.

We just want to view it from our couch. And

God say, no, you need to move yourself to go

and view the promised land.

Amen.

They had faith to go forward. They have faith to

go forward. Can we continue? We're gonna continue. Okay, We're

gonna continue as we go into the next portion, portion

number two. I want you to write this down. The

first point was faith to go forward. The second point

and his faith from an outsider. As we read these verses,

verses four and eight and nine. Again we're breaking these

verses down. But in verse four it says, this says,

but the woman had taken the two men and hidden them,

and she said, true, the men came to me, but

I did not know where they came from.

And in verse eight it says, before the.

Men lay down, she came up to them on the

roof and said to the men, I know that the

Lord has given you the land, and that the fear

of you has fallen upon us, that all the inhabitants

of the land melt before you.

Is that it?

Of course, it is faith from someone say faith from

an outsider. No go back, not yet, not yet, Na yet,

I blame hove No, I'm just kidding.

I love Hobby.

If you love Hovey, say I love you Hobby. A

little inside joke. Faith from an outsider. We're gonna dig

into this, but again, you see this story already alluded

to it in Hebrews. Is that this woman who was

a prostitute. Is the woman that had great faith in

the story that this story is about, that everything changed.

It's crazy.

It's not a person in the sinner, in the King's

guard or the king himself that had great faith in Jericho.

It's this outsider, this person on the margins, that had

this great faith to receive the spies.

And I want you to think about.

This in this room because a lot of us in

this room we come from different walks of life.

Many of us might relate to the story of Rahab.

We're in cycles of sin, We're in cycles of brokenness.

We're in cycles.

It might not be prostitution, but it might be less,

it might be pride, it might be arrogance. We find

out in a second that Rehab's name means pride.

Her name means pride.

We might be coming in here in a cycle of sin,

not knowing how to get out of it. But it

was a one decision to activate her faith that changed.

Her life forever.

I want to encourage someone in this room that you've

walked in here and you feel like the cycle is continuing. Tonight,

the cycle breaks amen. Tonight, the psycho breaks amen. One

decision of faith can change your life forever. Here's what's great,

here's what you gotta understand. And again we could go

more and more into this, but with rehab from a

lifestyle of sin to the protector of the people of God,

it just takes one moment. And I wrote this down,

added extra as this is that you don't need a

resume to active faith. It could be it could hit

you right now. A lot of us feel like, great

men and great women of faith, you need this resume

in this walk with God. You need ten twenty years

with God, and then you could operate in this crazy faith.

Had none of that. She heard stories of God.

She had a lifestyle of sin, but she decided right there,

I'm gonna change my life forever. But some of us

in this room, we're like, I don't relate to rehab.

I'm not prostituting myself. I'm not in sin, I'm not

in lust, I'm not in these other areas.

And I want to read this quote real quick, and

I want to talk about this.

It says this by Cassiodorus. He's in the sixth entry.

He's an intellect, he's a theologian. I want you to

hear this, because he broke it down in such a

beautiful way.

He said. Rahab was a harlot who secretly Rahab pride.

Raheba was a harlot who secretly admitted the spies of

Joshua when they visited Jericho and let them out by

another exit, that they should not be captured. Her name

means pride. Everybody say pride. Her name means pride. She

was converted by God's generosity and deserved to obtain mercy.

She is a type of the church which takes in

souls in danger by the vices of pride and lets

them out into the life by another route, the way

of humility and patience. The thing is, we are all, Rahab,

we have all. And I want to read this other

one that's not up there, but I want you to

hear this out. This is from origin another theologian. The

title is no longer prostitute about this It says, nevertheless,

are Jesus Joshua that passor hearn spoke about, that sent

spies to the king of Jericho, and they are received

hospitably by a prostitute.

But the prostitute who received.

The spies sent by Joshua was no longer a prostitute

since she received them. Indeed, every one of us was

a prostitute in his heart as long as he lived

according to the desires and less of the flesh. If

we're honest, and it's hard to be, we were all

prostitutes until Jesus redeemed our life. We were all, you know,

like succinct to the patterns of the world. Right, it

says the wages of sin is death. No one is perfect.

The truth is in the story of rehab. We all

find ourself there. We all find ourselves in the place

where we have forsake. It got how many of us

is say God, I'm gonna prioritize you, and then Friday

Saturday roll around and saying, on Jesus, just go over there.

We're gonna We're gonna connect again on Sunday. I guess

what I'm coming on Wednesday? You know, Like, how many

of the times do we do this? And we're like,

I'm not at a prostitute. Yes you are, Yes I am,

because we're prostituting our said because we said yes to Jesus.

But we're also walking with the world. And the truth is,

here's the truth, guys, Go and tell you the truth.

The truth about following Jesus is either Jesus the Lord

of all or not Lord at all. And the truth

is in American Christianity, we feel like we could walk

with the world and Jesus hand in hand, and that

ain't the gospel, and that ain't the truth. And for

many of us in this room, or for few of

us in this room tonight to night, to make it right,

God has brought you here sovereignly. God has brought you

here through inviting of a friend. And maybe you relate

in the place of a cycle of sin, or maybe

you were relate in the area of pride and religion

and arrogance, and God wants to set you free tonight

where the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.

Faith from an outsider. Here's where we get into our props.

Up here point number three. If you could put it up,

there is faith in the middle. Somebody say faith in

the middle. Somebody say, like you me to say faith

in the middle. Touch three friends to say faith in

the middle.

While I drink my water. Come on.

In verse six, I believe it's up there, it says,

But she brought them up to the roof and hit

them with the stalks of flax that she had laid

in order on the roof, on the on the roof.

And I say it weird, but don't judge me, yolo.

Faith in the middle. What I wrote this question down.

And and it's an importance that it's funny. It doesn't

just say any kind of thing. It says she hid

them under the flax. Nobody say flax?

Why why, why? Why does that detail get brought up.

We'll go into it in a second.

That point number three, faith in the middle of what

happens when you step out in faith and you find

yourself under flax. Before we do that, Before we do that,

before we do that, Pastor Adam, real quick, hold this?

Can you hold this real quick? Hold this real quick?

Pastor Adam, is gonna be our Jesus for for just

one second?

Hang on, didn't say ready, saying saying, because it's gonna

be real quick.

It's so easy to have faith right when God gives

you a word, right, this word is the score the

promise of God.

Thank you, Jesus, thank you. Right, We're like, thank you,

I have faith God. You've given me this word.

We've given me this word and it's easy to have

faith when that word is fulfilled. God, thank you you

gave me back my family. Can I get an amen?

Or does no one care about their family? Can I

get an amen?

Okay? Right right?

God says, I'm promising your family salvation right here from Jesus.

Jesus gives it to me. Right, thank you Jesus. That's

all it makes. I have faith.

And then over here my family gets restored to me.

I get healed, I get delivered, I get set free,

my house gets paid off, whatever it is. Can I

get an amen? What about faith in the middle? You

can sit down?

Pass don't? Can we give it up for pastor? How

can we get up? Passadorim? What do I mean by that?

When you're walking with this word of a promise? The

two men went to go view the land. They had faith, right,

they had faith for the land. They said, I'm gonna

go view it. They went to the prostitute's house, and

the king said, you know, i'd have heard about these Israelites.

I heard about these Hebrews, and.

We gotta go stop them before they give that report back.

And what they do is they find themselves under a

little bit of flax and I don't know about you.

And flax is dirty and it's messy and it's gross,

and I don't know if you've ever been here right

where you've been under the flax. You've been under the flax.

You've been under the flax, and you're like, this ain't

worth it anymore. I don't love my family that much.

I don't know if I want that house that much.

I don't know if I want that promise that much.

Because you stepped out in faith and the king is

trying to kill you, and you say, I don't see

faith in the middle, But God wants to know.

Will you trust me in the middle, just like you

trusted me in the beginning? Let me get out of here,

hopefully I didn't lose my mind. Will you trust me

in the middle, not just.

In the beginning, not just at the end. Will you

trust me in the middle. Can I show you a picture?

Real quick? Can I show you a picture? Can I

show you a picture? Look at this? This is an

accurate depicture. No, it's not. That's a lie. I just

I googled it. That's the picture. Okay, that is what

Rayhab looked like and the spies. No, that's a lie,

okay in the flak.

Why is that important? I want you to catch this

because because this is the moment, this whole message.

But this is the moment. I want everyone in the room,

including myself, to catch this. Put this on the screen.

Because this guy named Saint Jerome in.

The fourth and fifth century, he gave a little explanation

about flax. Flax with much labor can become dazzling. Flax

grows from the soil, and when it comes forth from

the ground, it is dirty. Everybody say dirty. It has

no beauty. Everyone say it has no beauty. It has

no use.

Everybody say no use. First, this is how they use it,

because this was on the roof.

It was wet, it was soggy, it was drying. But

they make beautiful silk and linen and out of it.

But it says this is as first for the flax.

It's pulled up from the ground, broken and twisted. Afterward

it is washed. Next it is pounded, finally combed, and

after so much care and hard work, it finally becomes beautiful.

I don't know if you're like me, come on, I

don't know if you're like me. Come on, I don't

know if you're like me. Come on, I don't know

if you're like me. I don't know if you feel pulled.

I don't know if you feel broken. I don't know

if you feel twisted. I don't know if you feel drenched, pounded,

and comb But God is doing something in the middle

that's gonna bring about a great victory. Can I get

an amen? And the same way flax bring about this

great beauty. If you feel pulled, God could still use you.

If you feel broken, God could still use you. If

you feel twisted, God could still use you.

God's not finished with you yet. God's not finished with

me yet.

The story of the flax shows us that God could

use anything to bring about his beauty. It was in

the broken places they hid that they couldn't be found

faith in the middle.

Can I get an amen? Keep going, we keep we

got we got two more, I got nine minutes.

We're gonna do this amen. I'm a charismatic on an

evangelical timeline. Hallelujah, all right? Will you have faith in

the mess? Faith when there's no hope. The fourth point

I want you to write this down is faith in

the trials. Faith in the trials. I want to read

verse ten and eleven. It says, as for we have

heard how the Lord dried up the water of the

Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt.

This is Rahab talking to the spies.

And what you did to the two kings of the

Amirits who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and og

and whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as

we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no

spirit left in any man because of you.

For the Lord your God, he is God.

In the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Faith

in the trials. And here's where I want to encourage you.

Because we talked about faith in the middle, But what

about faith in the trials. You know, these these the Hebrews,

the Israelites, as they were wandering, as they were enslaverying

in Egypt and crossing the Red Sea and wandering the

wilderness and defeating these kings, their test was the testimony

for salvation for rehab. Come on, I don't know if

you got that. Let me tell let me say it again.

I don't think you got that. What if your test

is salvation for your family? What if your test is

salvation for your city. And you're saying I can't handle

this test and God saying I'm gonna make my name great.

Rayhab said, we've heard these things, and here's what's crazy.

What's crazy about this is this is that the Red

Sea happened, you know, when they crossed the Red Sea.

That happened right when they left Egypt. The killing of

the Kings happened right before they entered the Promised Land.

And so Rayhab heard testimonies of over forty years of

this group of people that were peculiar, that were shepherds

and herders, but somehow they have a God that's with them.

And she says, I want to leave every other God,

and I want to follow your God. Can we have

faith in the trials that God is beckoning those people

behind us to stay in the midst of our trials,

God is speaking of blessing and bringing salvation for a

whole nation.

Amen. I want to show this real quick. I want

to show this. This is a really fun This is

like Bible nerd of me real quick.

But I love this because it's a certain way of

writing and poetry they that is hidden in the text

for the people to remember a lot of these books

were passed down orally until they were written.

But it says this.

It says in verse you know nine and ten, and

then in eleven a reflects the end of a there right,

the Lord has given you this land, and verse eleven

at the bottom the Lord, your God is God in

heaven and above. So she started by saying God's given

you this land, and she ends with saying God is.

The God above heaven, on earth and below.

And be it says, a great fear of you has

fallen on us. All who live in this country are melting.

And then in the second part of eleven, it says,

our hearts are melting. Everyone's courage failed you. And see

it says, we have heard. And then then see it says, and.

So we have heard. It's a beautiful way.

And really, what a lot of scholars believe is this

is one of her confessions of saying, we know I'm confessing.

I'm confessing your God. And she doesn't even say my God.

Yet she says your God.

We know your God is the God not only that

will have this land, but above heaven and below. I

think I want to challenge you with the thought, can

I challenge you. If I can't say you can challenge me,

I don't have to. But can I challenge you? So

you could say you can challenge Come on, I heard

you worship. Come on, talk back to me a little bit.

Can I challenge you? All right? All right, I'm gonna

say you could challenge me? All right, I'm gonna challenge

myself too. Can we thank Jesus right for our test

that shifts eternity for someone else?

I want to redefine the test you're going through. Maybe

God doesn't want to calm the storm. Maybe Jesus is

sleeping in the storm in the middle of it. Amen

for our last point point number five, and I believe

we're going to get the keys up behind me, and

that means the Holy Ghost will finally be here.

Just kidding, that's a joke.

Point number five is this faith for her family? And

here's where I want you to hear this part. Let's

look at the verses twelve to fourteen. Now, then, please

swear to me this is rahab by the Lord that

as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will

deal kindly with my father's house and give me a

sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother,

my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them,

and deliver our lives from death. And the men said

to her, our life for yours, even to death. If

you do not this business of ours, then when the

Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and

faithfully with you. This this was a I mean, just

like in John chapter four, when Jesus talks to the

woman at the well who is Samaritan. She goes, excuse me, Jesus,

You're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan woman. Okay, exactly,

this didn't happen. Rehabs standing up for her family, especially

in that time, is unheard of because usually the eldest

male would challenge and stand for her family, for their family.

But rehab says, in the same way I've dealt kindly

with you, will you save my whole family. She stood

in the gap. She stood in the gap. We call that,

you know, when we like to call that. Come on,

shout it, Come on, ladies, someone, some lady in the room,

give me an amen. She stood in the gap for

her family. It's salvation. She had faith for her family.

I want you to think about this. I want I

want you to really think about this. We're almost done,

I promise you, we're ending. Not only did she have

faith for her family, not only was her family saved,

which we'll go into that second portion and we'll talk

more about that when that happens, but she her faith,

her catalytic faith, activated her into an incredible lineage that

will forever change her life.

She wasn't here's the thing. Please hear me.

What you're battling tonight, or what you've been battling since

last year, is not just for you. It's for the

generations that come after you. And you got to understand Rayhabs.

She might not even known this.

She was just thinking about her family. But let's look

at where she enters her story into.

Let's look at Matthew one, verse one, the book of

the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the

son of Abraham. Let's look at five and six and Salmon,

I think that's how you say it. The father Salomon,

I like to say, whatever, the father of boas by Rahab.

Somebody say Rayhab and boa As the father oh by

Ruth and Obey, the father of Jesse and Jesse the

father David the King.

And that goes all the way and it says, this

is the lineage of Jesus.

Her activation of faith to step out of the cycles

of sin included her in the lineage of Jesus. Let's

put that line up there that I wrote out right there,

next life, come on, let's put that line up there.

I put it out there.

Rehab's faith linked her to the lineage of Jesus. Can

I get an amen from somebody? Come on, if you

don't get excited about that.

Her faith for her family linked her to the lineage

of Jesus. Her faith for her family.

Included her a prostitute woman from Jericho is in the

lineage and the genealogy of Jesus because of her faith.

And if he did it for her, he could do

it for us. Some of us walk in here or

you got convinced to come in here, and you're like,

there's no way, there's no hope for me. If he

did it for them, if he did it for me,

he could do it for you. God is in the

business of doing miracles with people like us on the margins.

A lot of times we think of faith. As I

talked about our message faith on the margins. We think

about man, God, you're gonna use great things. You're gonna

use great people, but you're gonna use them from the

center of society. God goes to the margins. Look at

the twelve Disciples. They were fishermen and text collectors and zealots,

and the Jews in that Jewish tradition, if they had

some kind of promise, what they would do is they

would take them as kids. So these kids that are fishing,

these teenagers that are fishermen, text gusts and all those

different things, Zealots, they were more of the outcast.

Jesus chooses those kinds of people like us to see

the world change. Amen.

Faith for her family, Faith for a family. Last verse,

I know we read a lot, but it's good for

you and me. Hebrews eleven thirty one. By faith rayhab

the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient

because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

As I'm ending, I promise you, I'm ending, And we're

going to close and go into the altar. Call there

one more slide, but I want you to think about

this and Hebrews eleven.

That chapter, the Hall of faith. Everybody say Hall of Faith.

She is one of ten people that are talked about

in Hebrews eleven. She's one of seventeen people that are mentioned.

They mentioned David and Jepthah and Samuel and all these

others that they don't really even talk about. But Rahab

is mentioned. Let's put that verse back up. Let's put

that verse back up. No back on by faith, Rayhab,

the prostitute didn't perish with those who were disobedient because

she had given a friendly welcome despise.

I want to say this last thing.

What if faith and friendliness and welcoming people in hospitality

are linked?

Come on, let's think about this.

It says the friendly welcome got her into the chapter

eleven of faith. It doesn't have to only be miracles

and wonders. Yeah, that's gonna be it. But maybe our

faith is in our friendly welcome of our neighbor. What

does Jesus say? He says, love the Lord your God,

and love your neighbor as yourself. Maybe what God are

into this moment and got her into this chapter is

that she had a friendly welcome for someone that looked

different than her, that acted different than her, and she

welcome in in and got herself all messed up into

the story of God. And the same way for us.

It doesn't require a lot. Could our faith be activated

by friendly welcoming those who we love and those who

we don't.

Amen, as we recap and as we end. These four

are these five points.

Faith to go forward, faith from an outsider, faith in

the middle, faith in the trials, and faith for her family.

Here's what I want to do, and I want to

pray for us. And the first thing I want to do,

I'm I'm gonna do two things. First, We're gonna give

an opportunity to receive Jesus, whether for the first time

or for the last time. And I'll explain that in

a second. But one thing I really want to do,

and we're only going to take a few seconds, but

I want to pray for activated faith in the room,

meaning if you want to have faith like Rayhab had faith,

if you want to have faith like the spice, have faith.

It might bring challenges, it might bring testing, but we'll

be walking in the will and the glory of God.

If that's you in this room, can you lift up

both hands and I want to pray for you. Just

lift up both hands. Don't do it if you don't

mean it. This is not a pressure moment, okay, because

God will get you in a good way.

Okay.

But I'm gonna pray for us altogether. Lord, we pray

for activated faith tonight. Lord, we pray in twenty twenty five,

would it be marked by activated catalytic faith. Jesus, we

pray for every person in this room with their hands lifted,

I pray that you would activate our faith together, not

just for ourselves, but for our community in the same

way rehab represented the Church and the body of Christ

and salvation, that you would do it for us here

at Patriarch, Lord, in Jesus' name.

And everybody said, Amen, Amen. Amen.

The second call, in one of our favorite calls to

make in every service you'll hear it, is that we

love seeing people meet Jesus. We love seeing people meet

our best friend. And so what we're gonna do is

we're gonna bow our heads in a second, and we're

gonna pray a prayer all together.

And after that I'll count to three.

And if if you make that decision, whether for the

first time or for the last time, meaning if.

You rededicated your life to Jesus.

I'm gonna have you raise your hand because we believe

this moment is for you. Everything changes when you do

that moment. So let's all bow our heads and close

our eyes and repeat after me, say, Jesus, we thank

you that you came two.

Thousand years ago, you died on a cross, you rose

from the grave, and you did this for me. You

did this for us.

So tonight, Jesus, I confess I'm a sinner in need

of a savior. I receive your forgiveness. Thank you, Thank

you for wiping my slate clean. I declare that Jesus

you are Lord and savior of my life as of tonight.

And Holy Ghost, fill me up in Jesus' name. And

everybody said amen and amen. Can we put our hands together.

Here's what I want to do. You know that's you.

If you pray that prayer for the first or the

last time, and your heart is pounding with all heads up, well,

all eyes open, because we want to celebrate with you

on the count of three. If you prayed that prayer,

you want to make that decision for the first or

last time. On the count of three, Ready, one, two, three,

lift up your hand. If you just did that and

pray that prayer, thank you so much, thank you so much,

thank you so much, thank you so much, thank you

so much, thank you so much, thank you so much.

If there's more in the room, you can lift your

hand right now. Keep those hands up. If there's others,

they say, I'm praying that prayer for the first or

last time.

One, two, three. If that's you just lifted up. Amen. Amen,

we love you so much. We made the best decision

in your life. I promise you that. Amen. Here's what

we want to do. We want to give you a

book from our founding pastor, so.

If you go to www Dot grow dot faith, you

could grow in your Christian walk.

Want you to go on that tonight to walk more

into it. Amen.

Okay, we're about to end the service. I only went

a few minutes over, so I think I'm okay. But

what we're gonna do is I'm gonna.

Pray for you.

But if anyone has any needs for prayers, our prayer

team is going to be up here that want to

pray for you.

I hope you are blessed by this word. I hope

you love this word.

I love this church, my family, loves this church and

I'm excited to be here for the next few years.

Amen. Let's pray together. Lord.

We thank you so much for your word. We thank

you how you speak to us. It I'm passing and

you meet us in real way. We pray that you

would activate our faith. We pray for everyone who said

yes to Jesus that you walk with him. And we

thank you Lord as we continue this journey of walking

through and reading through Joshua and Jesus name.

Amen and Amen, go at peace.

I love you guys, Thank you for being here. Our

prayer team is going to be up here. We will

see you on Sunday and for young adults, hey, pull

up on Friday.

Sound good. Love you guys. Thanks so much.