1. How God Restores and Uses Less-Than-Perfect People Part 4 : Rahab
Hope for 2017
How God Restores and
Uses Less-Than-Perfect People
Part 4 : Rahab

2. Goals for 2017 F – FORTY FAMILIES A – ADD new staff and ministries
I – INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
T – TEACHING & TRAINING
H – HELPING others
Goals for 2017

3. Joshua 2:1: ...a harlot whose name was Rahab.

4. “Ra”: the name of a false Egyptian god representing the sun or creative powers.

5. Joshua 2:15: Her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall.

6. Joshua 2:9-11: I know that the LORD has given you the land, and the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan , to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in no man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

7. Rahab’s Faith controlled her function.

8. Hebrews 11:31: By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

9. Joshua 2:12-13: Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.

10. “Kindly” in Hebrew is “chesed” which means: means “kindness” but also means “loyalty” and “faithfulness” - - used 200 x in OT.

11. “Chesed” is use most often to define God’s covenantal covering in spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness.

12. James 2:23-25: And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. 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? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

13. John 15:14: You are my friends when you do the things I command you.

14. James 2:14: My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don’t do anything to show that you really do have faith? Can that kind of faith save you?

15. “to save” (Greek: “sozo”):
literally means to make well, heal, restore
James is referring to God’s restoring power in history, not His saving power for eternity.

16. One of the reasons many of us are not seeing God come through for us in our day-to-day lives is that God hasn’t seen our FAITH.

17. Joshua 6:17 and 25: ...Only Rahab the prostitute and all those who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 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.

18. In order for Rahab to witness the miracle on the wall, she had to go against her culture, environment, her surroundings.

19. The woman in Joshua is also in James, Hebrews, and Matthew
The woman in Joshua is also in James, Hebrews, and Matthew. In the OT we see Rahab as a prostitute, but in the NT she is an example of righteousness, godliness, and power because God can turn a mess into a miracle. ....Don’t tell me God can’t turn your situation around!

20. IT’S NOT TOO LATE
God wants to restore and use you, even the imperfect you; if you will let Him.