Big God - Faith Welcoming

Hebrews 11:30-31

What’s this?

It’s a section of this Stack that reflects the content of a weekly small group Bible study that I lead. These posts primarily consist of a sermon summary used as notes during the meeting. A longer description can be found on the About page. If you subscribe to this Substack but don’t wish to receive notifications for this section, select Manage Subscription from the upper-right menu and turn the notification off there.

Audience

These summaries are prepared for and presented within an on-campus small group audience, adding explanations and additional questions during the meeting itself. Members of the group vary in their understanding, but are familiar with the Bible, can find references fairly quickly, and tend to believe what they read there. The beliefs we hold vary individually.

I have no particular expectations with regard to the online audience. Curiosity is enough, and perhaps patience if you understand things differently. The same goes for visitors to the church itself.

Questions and comments are encouraged.

Small Group Setting

Meetings are informal and conversational, although there is structure. We begin by taking time to arrive and connect, open in prayer, and then review a portion the message from the previous Sunday. There isn’t time to go through everything, but we go where we are drawn, following the outline or not.

There can be considerably more to each message than what appears in the summary, although the more recent posts have been more detailed. I suggest watching the video if you have the time and interest. Sermon videos typically run about 30-35 minutes. Take a few notes. Comment below.

Toward the end of our time we look at the “fill-in” sermon points, published with blanks in the bulletin but presented in full within the message and here. We also may glance at the questions for reflection (also from the bulletin) if there is time, and we close with extended prayer.

Note About This Series

This “Big God” sermon series is based on the book Big God — What Happens When We Trust Him, by Britt Merrick.

Note About This Service

This is totally an aside, but if you want to see what happens when the presentation software (ProPresenter) scrambles the order of the hymn slides playlist during last-minute edits before the service and how the screens operator (me) deals with it, watch the service music portion of the service at the “Full Service” link below. The fun part happens at the transitions between hymns in the spots where the list is out of order and the slides for the new hymn are the wrong ones. Did you ever try to diagnose and solve a problem while also turning slides every so many seconds in time to music?

Sermon Video

Optional but recommended.

Sermon YouTube Livestream Link
Full Service YouTube Livestream Link

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Sermon Summary

(“Slide: …” indicates that the text following is projected on the sanctuary screens and displayed at the bottom of the livestream.)

1. Scripture Reading

   1. Hebrews 11:30-31 - 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

      31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

      Joshua 2:1-11 - Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

      2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

      4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

      8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

2. Introduction

   1. (Remarks about children “moving up” to the next grade)

   2. Communion (at end of service) is God welcoming us into relationship with him, and to the table. Starts with our reminder of who God is.

   3. Because God has welcomed us, we can welcome one another, and welcome God’s purposes into our lives. Our faithfulness to him starts by remembering that before we ever thought about being faithful to him, he was faithful to us. Before we considered welcoming his purposes and his plans, we were welcomed to the table, into relationship. And into God’s purposes and plans for us as well.

   4. Will be looking at Rahab’s story and seeing that she demonstrates faith that is welcoming.

3. Slide: Rahab is faith welcoming.

   1. She welcomes the spies (see the reading, above) into her home and protects and guards them. But she also welcomes the purposes of God into her life. She’s in a space where God has a clearly defined purpose to give the promised land to the Israelites. She notices & welcomes that in her life and says ‘I’m going to be a part of what God is doing in this land and time'.

   2. God is on the move in our church, community, city, state, county, world, accomplishing his purposes whether we feel that or not. He is up to something big. Expect to see in our time God move powerfully in our world. We can forget that, when our worldview or people around us walk away and we feel like everything is falling apart, things are not good. God is still on the throne, accomplishing his purposes. Are we welcoming God’s purposes into our lives? Being a part of what he is doing?

   3. The claim is made that in churches, 10% of the people do 90% of the work.¹ Possibly better at this church. Globally, there are ~2 billion Christians, with 12 million serving in some capacity, 0.55% serving in ministry or mission. The Bible speaks of a royal priesthood, that we are all pastors to our area of influence. A clear theology exists for interacting with one another to serve & use the gifts and talents God gives us, yet many fail to welcome the purposes of God. There’s much to learn from Rahab’s story and how she accomplished this and why she was qualified.

   4. (Series review². Summary of the Genesis story, Abraham to Moses, wandering in the desert 40 years, Joshua, Rahab.)

   5. Rahab comes into the story, does incredible things for God, and is mentioned repeatedly in scripture. What made Rahab so suitable for God’s purposes? What was it about her that led her to be part of this story and to be found in our biblical text today, in Hebrews 11 and in Joshua? Will look in the book of Joshua for what made her suitable for ministry.

4. Slide: Joshua 2:1 - Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

   1. Rahab is not from Israel, doesn’t “know the right people”, lives in the wrong place, and is a prostitute. Wrong job for ministry. Not making the right moral decisions. But these are not required as pre-qualifiers to determine if we can be part of God’s purposes.

5. Slide: 2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

   4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

   1. Rahab’s ministry plan: lie to people. Gray areas aside, she had alternatives. Could have taught about God, used it as a moment to trust him with protecting the spies. Chose self-reliance instead. Not a good church hire, not equipped for ministry, not ready to serve. But these are not what qualified her.

6. Slide: 8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

   1. Rahab didn’t have the right qualifications, but she had faith, trusting in God. Her “qualification” was not about her, but about her submitting herself to God’s plan and purpose.

7. Rahab did three things that we can learn from as we learn to welcome the purposes of God into our lives.

   1. Slide: Rahab heard what God had done.

      1. In v.10-11 (above) she heard.

      2. Hearing is an important part of our faith. Knowing the stories of God, who God is, what he requires, his purpose for our life — is an important part of our faith.

   2. Slide: Romans 10:17 - “17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

      1. We need to be a people of ‘hearers’ who hear the word of God, and understand who he is because of that, spending time exploring it to hear about his power, story, and plan for our lives. And a people who interact with one another in small groups and other settings and share testimony about what God is doing in our lives.

      2. Hearing these stories we might be encouraged or challenged or pushed forward. But we are meant to be a people who hear the word of God and hear about the things that God is doing in our lives. It needs to go further than that as well.

   3. Slide: Rahab recognized who God was.

      1. She mentioned that everyone had heard the stories and was fearful, yet only Rahab did something about it. They heard the stories but were thinking about how they were impacted, not about turning their hearts toward God.

      2. Rahab recognized who God was. In v.11 (above) she believed. Demons believe too (James 2:19³), but what separates us from demons? Our faith in God, knowing him in an intimate way, abiding in him, loving him, and turning our hearts toward him.

      3. Knowledge of God is helpful, but we can’t stop there, with hearing. We need to recognize & know who God is.

   4. Slide: Rahab submitted to God’s purposes.

      1. We need to do that as well. What are those purposes? There are several things we can point to that God calls all followers of Christ to do.

         1. Love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Mark 12:30⁴). Ask yourself, do I love God? Does my life reflect a love for God? Goes back in this series to Abel and “faith worshiping”, being willing to sacrifice everything to put God first. Do we put God first?

         2. Love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31⁵). Are you loving the images bearers that are all around you? Including every person God puts in your area of influence, demonstrating the love of Christ to all those people. Servers at restaurants. Co-workers. Neighbors. People at the grocery store.

         3. Make disciples. If you have been a Christian for any amount of years, are you making disciples? Loving the not interested, evangelizing to the explorers, helping to disciple new believers and growing Christians, so that they become fully-committed followers of Jesus. Doing the work of discipleship. Pointing those who don’t know Christ toward the gospel message and a relationship with Jesus. For those who are further behind you in faith, what are you doing to pass your faith along, reach the next generation, help the church continue to live long beyond your years on earth? Are we welcoming the purpose of God into our lives? Many don’t do this. Why? There are many possible reasons, but here are four…

8. Slide: Why don’t we welcome the purposes of God?

   (1) Inconvenience

   1. It is not going to be easy; it will be challenging. In the U.S., we have to fight the false god of ‘comfort’. We love our comfort. Coming to church, we can be super Christ-like until our comfort is pressed & challenged. If something affects our bank account or time, leisure, vacation, house, things we want to do, we start to get offended and begin acting less Christ-like. We start demanding what’s best for us, rather than focusing on what’s in it for God, glorifying him.

   2. Rahab was inconvenienced by God’s purposes and plan. Her world was literally shaken and torn down. She lost friends, job, income. Had to learn a new culture and practices. Everything changed on that day, but Rahab was still faithful.

9. Slide: (2) Risk

   1. It’s going to be risky, a challenge. It will press on us in ways that aren’t comfortable. Some people in other countries are taking significantly more risk to follow Jesus than we are. Some are giving their lives.

   2. Here in California, in 2024, it is a risk to be a follower of Jesus. Saying Jesus is the only way, the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him, will offend some people. Offended people might lash out. In response, we still have to proclaim the love of Jesus. Risky.

   3. People have lost jobs & influence because of their faith. But last week we talked about “faith winning”, and the areas where the enemy is going to attack our sense of security, significance & acceptance, telling us that we will lose our security, income, important relationships, significance. People won’t care what you say. You will get canceled, lose acceptance, lose people to hang out with.

   4. It is going to be a risk. When we place our trust is in Jesus we can overcome that, through living in faith worth the risk preventing you from welcoming the purposes of God into your life.

10. Slide: (3) Sin

    1. Sin prevents us from welcoming the purposes of God into our lives. The sins of pride, greed, selfishness, envy, again making it all about us. Anytime this welcoming becomes a hit on our pride, on what we want to do, want to have, then we say ‘I can’t do that now’.

    2. Rahab was wiling to sacrifice everything. She asked in return, “take care of my family”. She didn’t act out of selfishness or pride, didn’t demand money or wealth or power. She acted out of love and faithfulness.

11. Slide: (4) Lack of knowledge

    1. Knowledge about who God is, what his purposes are, of the promises of God. It won’t be easy to welcome the purposes of God into our lives, but when we know who God is, looking at his power and glory and might, what choice do we have? ‘I need to serve God.’

    2. When we go deeper into understanding who God is, and start looking at his love and grace and mercy, ‘why would I want to do anything else?’ There’s this powerful God that sends his son to die for me, so that I can have life through him and life with him for eternity. What in this world has more value than that?

    3. Sometimes we forget the promises of God. God has warned us that this world will be difficult, that as Christians we’re going to suffer in this world. But we also forget that there is an eternity where every tear will be wiped away and there is no more pain, sorrow, heartache, death, suffering, disease. None of those things will exist in eternity. When we put our trust in Christ we get to dwell in perfect harmony with him forever. That is what we have to look forward to.

    4. For the next 30, 40, 60, 90 years things might be tough, but that is a blink of an eye in the span of eternity. So we welcome God’s purposes when we get to know him and them, and his promises. Then all of a sudden it becomes possible to have faith that will allow us to do what God has called us to do.

    5. Rahab responded to God’s call and welcomed God’s purpose because she knew who God was, and she knew the stories, and she knew what God was going to do. She knew that her life in God’s hands was a lot better than her life in anyone else’s hands, including her own. She trusted in the purposes and plan of God.

    6. Because of Rahab’s faith, she experienced great blessing. She saved her life and the lives of her family, but also God used her in powerful ways. We see her story in Hebrews 11, which is the “Hall of Faith”. This lying prostitute, one of two women mentioned there.

12. Non-Slide:⁶ James 2:25-26 - 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

    1. Of all the people God could use, Rahab is one of two non-Jews mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the book of Matthew. Talk about living faith. Rahab’s name appears repeatedly in scripture. Not because she had everything figured out, not because of talent, resources, or ministry experience. All she had was faith, and she trusted God.

13. Conclusion

    1. In so many of us we don’t welcome God’s purposes into our lives because we keep making it about ourselves, keep thinking I’m not good enough, not capable, can’t do that, I need to be smarter, older, younger, have different relationships, more money, power, fame, knowledge, different talents. So many have stopped welcoming the purposes of God into our lives or we refuse to welcome them because we are looking at ourselves, thinking God can’t use me. Next time you think that, remember this list of people that we find in scripture.
       ●       Rahab was a prostitute

       ●       Noah was a drunk

       ●       Abraham was too old

       ●       Isaac was a daydreamer

       ●       Jacob was a liar

       ●       Leah was ugly

       ●       Joseph was abused

       ●       Moses couldn’t speak well

       ●       Gideon was afraid

       ●       Samson had long hair and was a womanizer

       ●       Jeremiah and Timothy were too young

       ●       David had an affair/was a murderer

       ●       Elijah was suicidal

       ●       Isaiah preached naked

       ●       Jonah ran from God

       ●       Naomi was a widow

       ●       Job went bankrupt

       ●       John the Baptist ate bugs

       ●       Peter denied Christ
       ●       Thomas doubted

       ●       The Disciples fell asleep while praying

       ●       Martha worried about everything

       ●       Mary Magdalene was demon possessed

       ●       The Samaritan Woman was divorced... more than once

       ●       Zaccheus was too small (and a thief!)

       ●       Paul was too religious

       ●       Timothy had an ulcer

       ● Lazarus was dead!!!
       And God used every single one of them.

    2. The next time you think “I’m not good enough”, remember that God is. Over and over in scripture, it is faith alone that equips us for God’s purposes, because he is doing the work. The next you think “I’m not good enough”, remember that scripture tells us that when we put our trust in Jesus, the Spirit of the living God dwells within us. Take your eyes off of yourself and realize that what you are saying is that the Spirit of the living God cannot use someone like me. That is an offense to God. If God can use all these people in scripture, he can use you. We just need to step out in faith, and welcome God’s purposes into our lives.

    3. Let’s be a people who live faithfully, serving a Big God, because that’s who he is.

[Closing Prayer]

[Communion]

Sermon Points

Moses was faith winning.
Rahab is faith welcoming.
Rahab heard what God had done.
Rahab recognized who God was.
Rahab submitted to God’s purposes.

Why don’t we welcome the purposes of God?

1. Inconvenience

2. Risk

3. Sin

4. Lack of knowledge

Questions for Reflection

1. What does it mean to welcome the purposes of God into your life? How do you feel you are doing at this?

2. What are some of the purposes God has for you specifically in the season of life that you are in?

3. Who is one person that you can share the gospel with this year?

1. These numbers are from the book, published about 11 years ago.

2. Abel was faith worshiping       Abraham was faith well-tried
Enoch was faith walking           Moses was faith winning.
Noah was faith working
Abraham was faith willing

Sarah was faith waiting

3. James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

4. Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

5. Mark 12:31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

6. The slide existed but was not displayed (by pre-arrangement with Ryan), but he did read and talk about the passage.