· They want to understand.
· They want to be understood.
· They want to be encouraged.
· They want to connect.
· Churches are better at exclusion than inclusion.
· Andy Stanley – The reason people don’t go to church is because they’ve been.
· Joshua 2. 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.
· Would you welcome Rahab to our church?
· People cannot break the power of sin until after they
meet Jesus.
· 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.
· … for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
· How strong is your spiritual hunger?
· 12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of
my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”
· The way to determine the right thing to do is to do the most loving thing.
· 14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her.
“If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and
faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”
· Joshua 6:25 - 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
· Matthew 1:5 – 6a - 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose
mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose
mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.
· PIX - Graft
· 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.
· Churches are places of grace to help people take their
next step.
· Jesus celebrates what faith you have and invites you
to take your next step.
Group Discussion Questions
Starter: Have you ever been a situation where you are helpless and someone helped you? How did you feel before they helped you? How did you feel after they helped you?
