Synopsis of September 10, 2023 Sermon

Delivered by Joseph W. Walker, III

Hebrews 11:31 NKJV By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

1. INTRODUCTION 
2. Gods sees in us we can’t see in ourselves. When he moves people into destiny, it is preordained. It’s already done.
3. If we be honest, we are surprised how God trusts us. All of us have colorful backgrounds. If people knew what we had done in the past, they might not want to sit beside us.
4. The enemy specializes in making you think God can’t use you. No matter what happened in your past, God sees you as being salvageable. No matter what you’ve done, God will use you. God has a plan for you.
5. Today we learn how we made the cut. We are hear by the grace of god.
6. This chapter is the chapter of faith. We get an explanation of faith in chapter one. In verse 6, we see that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Faith needs to be played out in our works. Our faith moves heaven.
7. We see this hall of faith in this chapter. Your faith moves you above being average. We have a list of amazing people that were example of faith.
8. Abraham for example moved by faith and so did Noah who built an ark out of faith. In this chapter we meet rehab. It makes sense how Abraham and Noah made the list, but how did Rahab make it?
9. Rehab was a prostitute, but she made the cut. Even the person next to you, looks churchy, but if you go deeper and they were to be honest, you might wonder how they made the cut too. God salvages people that the public has thrown away.
10. This points to Joshua too. They were about to take Jericho. These spies went in first and had a conversation with the Rahab. Rahab hid the spies. You all know what the Hall of Fame is, don’t you? Well, because of her faith, Rahab is remembered in the Hall of Faith.

1. YOU’RE NOT DISQUALIFIED BECAUSE OF YOUR PAST 
2. Every believer who’s done anything for God, knows you are not disqualified because of your past. God uses imperfect people all the time.

1. Our Histories Are Not Hierarchical 
2. Some people think some sins are greater than others. Despite her past, Rahab was included in the Hall of Faith. God is no respect or of persons. If you think about, God has demonstrated this in us. Just because you have the Position you have, it doesn’t exempt you from your humanity or the ability to do something wrong.
3. The problem with legalistic mindsets is they think they are all mini-Jesuses.  Be careful when people literalize the Bible. All sin is sin. There is no hierarchy on sin. For example – “I don’t smoke crack, I just smoke weed.” Jesus said judge not, yet less ye be judged.

• People See Your Past, But God Sees Your Potential 
• God doesn’t allow an episode in your life to disqualify you. When you hear the name Rahab, many of you have preconceived ideas about her. People are quick to bring up what you used to be. Despite what Rahab had done in the past, God always knew that there was something good inside of her.
• God sees your potential, when people see the worst in you.

1. GOD WILL PUT YOU IN THE MIDST OF A DIVINE PLAN 
2. God orchestrated a situation for rehab. When the spies came, they came for protection. God will put you in a situation to show the world you are more than what they thought you were.
3. Destiny sometimes finds us, instead of us finding destiny.

1. Embrace The Opportunity for Redemption 
2. You have to think, maybe God put you in a place, so that people can see something about you, that they’ve never seen before. When you have an opportunity to do good, do it.
3. Just because people have done bad things, doesn’t mean that they have a bad heart. There could be a variety of reasons why people ended up where they are. You have to ask yourself, what put this person in that place? Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
4. The good news is; God didn’t judge you off of one chapter of our life.

• Allow Grace to Hit Your Gift 
• The Bible tells us to serve one another, and our gifts will manifest. Rehab, though she was a harlot, was a businesswoman. Although her business was morally wrong, it doesn’t mean she wasn’t gifted at business.
• When the spies asked to be hid, she negotiated the terms. She was able to cut a deal that was mutually beneficial not only to her, it was beneficial to her family too. Just because you did things wrong, don’t mean God can’t use the gift inside of you.
• Rahab had been using her gift wrong, but now she was able to use it for something good. Remember when Jesus called the disciples, he didn’t take their gift of fishing away from them. Instead, Jesus just changed what they were fishing for.
  • What would happen if you used the gifts, you had been using for bad and turned it around to use it for God’s work? It is not that people are not gifted. It is that their gifts are misguided.
  • Even though Saul was killing Christian’s, he was still brilliant. He used all of his gifts for Satan. After the Damascus rode, he used his gifts for good. When God’s grace hits your gift, you will help somebody.

1. GOD ALWAYS DELIVERS ON HIS PROMISE 
2. God counted on rehab for righteousness.

1. God Never Forgets Those Who Serve 
2. When you serve, you have to serve with:
   1. Availability – Some people say they don’t have time. You have to make time for God.
   1. Aim – What is your motivation for serving? Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV says 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
   1. Attitude – If you are going to serve, serve with a smile. Serve the Lord with gladness.
      1. Psalm 100:2 NKJV says Serve the Lord with gladness; 
         Come before His presence with singing.
      1. Matthew 25:23 NKJV says His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

• Your Decisions Have Generational Implications 
• We don’t always connect the dots. Whatever you choose or not to do, can affect your whole generation. Rahab could have just thought about herself, but she didn’t.
• Rahab is negotiating with the General. She asks if she hides him, what’s in it for her? Rahab’s condition was when they came back, to destroy Jericho, they needed to make sure not to harm her family.
• Although they agreed, there was one condition. The General told Rahab to put a red rag outside the window. He told her that when they saw the red rag, they would know not to go there. The red rag in this case represented the blood.
• Another condition was, when they came back, her family had to be in Rahab’s house. They could not be out running around. When things go down, there is nothing like being in the presence of God.
• Rehab is brilliant. She doesn’t just think about herself. She thought about her generation. In a similar manner, when you get tired of church, you have to think this is not just a decision you are making just for you. This will be a storm that gets your children wet. Some of our children are jacked up now, because of the decisions we made concerning God.

• THE GOD WHO CONTROLS YOUR DESTINY DESERVES YOUR PRAISE 
• God knows the plans he has for our lives. There are seasons that had significant strongholds but know that God is in control.

1. You Will Be Known by Your Faith Not Your Flaws
2. When pinning history, the writer included Rahab. Somebody is being interrogated right now for what they used to be. Every interrogation will end now, in the name of Jesus! Psalm 103:12 NKJV says As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. – God’s grace is about to put you in mind blowing spaces. When the hand of God is ion your life, he puts you in places that you would never have believed.
3. Some people say the same about you as you have said about Rahab. They wonder how did you get that job? How did you get that house? They based it off of what you were in the past.

• His Grace Will Put You in A Mind-Blowing Space 
• God’s grace put you in this space. When others counted me out, God put me here. Eyes have not seen nor ears heard, neither have entered into the heart of the man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor 2:9 – When the world wants to throw you away, God recycles you.
• You might still wonder how somebody like Rahab could be used by God? Well if you look at Matt 1 :1 -5a will see this: 1 This is the genealogy^[a] of Jesus the Messiah^[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham: ² Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, ³ Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, ⁴ Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,⁵ Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, – Women been saying they are waiting on their Boaz and if you catch the bolded part at the end, you will see that Rahab was Boaz’ mother. Boaz mother was a prostitute, but she ended up in the genealogy of Jesus Christ!
• Turn to your neighbor and say, “Despite everything I did, I made the cut”!