Fantastic Four | Part 4

somebody ready to praise the Lord put your hands together tears turn to praise chains of depression broken by grace when I start remembering how good you've been yeah, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me yeah, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me the enemy's weapons fall to the ground the armies of heaven always around when I start remembering how you carried my cross you called me by name loved me like I was but you didn't leave me that way what's dead now will live yeah, that's what you did yeah, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me you've been so good to me yeah, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me from morning to night from morning to night the lows and the highs I look back on my life and all that I've seen yeah, you've been

so, so, so, so, so, so good to me would somebody testify if God's been good to you today come on, somebody praise the Lord if He's been good in your life hey, hey come on, would you say this with me when I say God is good you say all the time when I say all the time you say God is good when I say God is good you say all the time when I say all the time you say God is good when I say God is good you say all the time when I say all the time declare that God is good when I say God is good you say all the time when I say all the time you say God is so, so, so, so, so, so good has he been good to your church? you there so, so, so, so, so, so good hey from morning to night

the lows and the highs I look back on my life and all that I've seen from morning to night the lows and the highs I look back on my life and all that I've seen there you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good you've been so good there you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me you've been so good to me come on church if he has been good to you can you just give him a shout of praise this morning thank you Jesus that you've been so good to us come on church if you're awake this morning you got air in your lungs he has been awfully good to you well before you are seated this morning I want you to say hi to your neighbor and then you can grab a seat well on behalf of pastor Sam and pastor Brenda we want to welcome you to Grand Rapids First we are so glad that you're in the house this morning worshiping with us I promise you you're not going to regret it it is going to be an amazing morning

in the house of God also welcome to our online campus thank you so much for joining us as well let us know where you're watching from there is a pastor right on the other side of that screen waiting to chat with you and also we have a connect card for you to fill out. So church, can we give it up for all of our first time guests this morning? Thank you so much for joining us as well. And listen, if this is your first time or first time maybe in a long time, we want you to fill out the connect card. You can scan the QR code in the pew back in front of you. There's also gonna be a QR code behind me on the screen as well. We just wanna get connected with you. We wanna know your name. We wanna know your story, but also we wanna keep you in the loop of all that is going on here at Grand Rapids First. I have some amazing announcements I'm about to bring to you. So we want you all to stay connected. And the best way to do that is to make sure you fill out that connect card. So please do that for us if this is your first time or first time in a long time. Also church family, make sure y'all are checking in,

get out your phones, go to the church app, make sure you let us know that you and your family are worshiping with us this morning. Well, church, I got some amazing announcements and I've been blessed because I think I got two of the best announcements this morning. And my very first announcement is next week is a very special Sunday. We're gonna be having baptisms next week. Come on, you can give it up for baptisms. Yes. But what that means is today is an opportunity for you to sign up to be baptized. If you're ready to take that next step in your faith journey, if you're ready to declare that Christ is Lord over your life and you wanna go public with your relationship with Jesus, I encourage you, do not miss this moment to be baptized next week. You can sign up with the QR code behind me. You can also sign up on our church website, but also on the app as well. You will see a link there. And if you are under the age of 16, we encourage you that when you are signing up, make sure you have a parent or a guardian there with you. And baptisms here at GR First, we do 12 years and up. So if you would like to sign up for baptism,

do not miss this moment to sign up. It's gonna be amazing, amazing opportunity for you to take the next step in your faith. And listen, church, I know there's a lot of people in the room, but all that means is you're gonna have the biggest cheering section for you. When you go into that water, you die to your old self and you come up brand new. We're gonna cheer you on. And listen, I will be there with you. You can look for me, cause I will be running. I will be dancing, celebrating that you are taking that next step. And our church as well is gonna be doing that with you. So we cannot wait to celebrate with you next week. Also, we have some amazing, amazing things happening in our youth ministry. But before I get into the announcement, I gotta share with you something so special that's happening in the youth ministry. We have grown one member in the youth ministry this past week. You guys all know Pastor Taylor and Leah. They had their baby boy, Elliot Michael Murphy this past week. He is beautiful. He is healthy. Pastor Taylor and Leah are doing great, but we are so glad that our ministry grew

by another member today. So make sure y'all keep them in your prayers, but also celebrate them. If you have Pastor Taylor's number, send him a text, tell him that you're thinking about him this morning. But also for youth, we have something really special coming up. We have something that's called Youth Convention. And Youth Convention is hosted right here on Grand Rapids First Campus, and it's November 7th and 8th. It's a Friday and Saturday. It's for middle school and high school students. So anywhere in between the grades of sixth and 12th grade are all are welcome. And it's gonna be amazing, amazing conference, we believe. And we have a special guest speaker, Pastor Micah Mack, that's gonna be bringing the word. And we also have our one and only Wyndon Embers that's gonna be doing worship. Come on, give it up for Wyndon Embers. And it's gonna be a very powerful time. And I encourage you, parents, but also students in the building, the deadline is coming up very soon. And we have an opportunity for you to sign up. We actually have tables out in the lobbies, right out the center doors here. So I encourage you, don't rush out of service today, but come and meet us, sign your student,

or students come and sign up for Youth Convention. It's gonna be amazing time. It is $70 per student that wants to sign up. It is $70 per student that wants to stay in the hotel. Now, listen, I know I got some Dutch people in the room, and I encourage you, have your students stay in the hotel. It's an amazing experience to grow with friends their age, but also if your student would like to go for free, they can stay home, but they can still attend Youth Convention here. On Saturday, in between our sessions, we are going to Craig's Cruisers. So if your student would like to come to Craig's Cruisers with us, that's only gonna be $20 for them. But also, if you're staying at home, that doesn't mean you can just show up, okay? We need to know that you're coming with us, so make sure you still come back and you meet us at the tables and you get your student registered for Youth Convention. And Youth Convention has a very special place in my heart because when I was 16 years old, it was at a youth convention that I was called in the ministry and I gave my life to Christ. So this has a very special moment, and I believe God is gonna do that for students, that He's calling students back to themselves, and also He's calling students into the ministry

and He's transforming their lives, and it's moments like Youth Convention. Come on, so church, let's partner, parents. Yes, you can give it up for that. Ooh. Parents, also push your student maybe to step outside their comfort zone, even if they've never been a part of the ministry before, this is an amazing, amazing opportunity for them to get involved. And even if you're maybe busy that weekend, if I haven't got the chance to connect with you or our team hasn't got the chance to connect with you, I would love to just get to know your name and say hi to you, so come say hi after service at the table. That's all announcements. I told you I had two amazing announcements, baptism and Youth Convention, but now we're gonna transition into a time of generosity and ushers, you can make your way forward at this time. Thank you so much. And you can see the ways to give behind me. You can give through the giving app. You can give online. There's also gonna be giving receptacles as you leave the room today, and in just a moment, we are gonna pass the usher. The bags are gonna be passed in just a moment. And as I was preparing just to bring a word to you

about generosity and our giving, I've been honestly sitting in 2 Corinthians in my own studies, and I've just been reading it for months and time after time, and I feel like the Lord has placed this on my heart, and it always sticks out to me what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8-2, and I'll read this to you. It says, in the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. See, Paul is writing yes to the church in Corinth, and he's writing to them to take up a financial offering for them to be generous for the believers in Jerusalem that are struggling. But what he does is he actually points to a group of churches in Macedonia, and he reflects on their generosity. And here's the thing, you have to understand the context that the church in Macedonia was going through it. They were oppressed by Rome more than we've ever known oppression before, and they had absolutely nothing, but yet their hearts were welled up because of what Christ did in their body and what Christ was doing through each individual in the church. And they were saying to Paul, and Paul was reflecting on their generosity, telling other churches about it, yo, you gotta see the church in Macedonia

and what they are doing. And even in verse three, it says that their generosity even moved beyond their limits. How does your own generosity move beyond your limits? Because it's a reflection of what Christ has done inside you in the joy that he's placed inside you, in the salvation that he's placed inside you. Generosity doesn't come from a place of abundance, but no, it comes from a place of realizing in the joy that you sit in as a child of God. Grace transforms the believer to be a person of generosity. And I love what he says in verse four, and I'm gonna read this to you also. He says, they urgently, this is talking about the believers in Macedonia, even though they had nothing, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service, the service of giving, the service of being generous to other believers, to the Lord's peoples. See, the Macedonians didn't see giving as maybe an obligation or even a burden. No, they saw it as an honor, a joy, but also a privilege to not just partner with what God is doing, but supporting other believers. They might not know their story. They weren't just next door neighbors, but believers in the body of Christ that whole, they wanted to say, man,

I wanna partner with what God is doing in his body. Even to the point of in their brokenness and what they felt like was nothing, they pleaded to Paul, man, I wanna give even more. And church, as I reflect on this passage, I wanna be a church and I wanna be a person that my giving isn't maybe just based on where I'm sitting and the wealth that I have, but I wanna be a person that, yeah, I see an opportunity to give, but I wanna plead even more so, man, how can I partner with the body of Christ to see the mission of God go forward? And church, you have the same opportunity this morning. opportunity to partner with us and what God is doing just here in this body but also within the greater body of Christ what God is doing through the youth ministry and the young adults ministry but also through the over a hundred missionaries that we have through Jura one global in church we know that our giving isn't based on maybe what our bank account looks like what our 401k looks like maybe what our mortgage looks like I don't know about you I just bought my first house I just paid my first mortgage and it hurts sometimes honestly I paid my first one interest rates are high but church something that I've learned and the Holy Spirit has spoken to me and he's told me time after time is man if I take care of the Lord's house he will always take care of my house so I don't matter maybe what it looks like but I encourage you to step out in generosity and let's be a body that is marked by our generosity let's not see it as a burden but let's be like the people in Macedonia man Paul is there any more ways that we can give and be a part of what God is doing right now and we always have a local church blessing and today we're praying for a very special group of people we're praying for team world vision you can

see a photo behind me I believe of that team and this is the greater team world vision that is running today but also a part of Grand Rapids first we have we have 60 runners and walkers that are doing the half marathon in full marathon okay that's 13.1 miles or 26.2 miles that they are running right now okay we got to pray for them because y'all had a struggle walking into church I know I did this morning I had to walk about a hundred yards imagine 26.2 miles but we want to pray for them as they're running right now and walking but also we want to pray for them because every single dollar that they raised goes to bringing clean water to families that do not have any and we also want to extend our love and sympathy to Tom Karsten whose wife Kathy Karsten passed away at the age of 72 on October 11th we know that Kathy is celebrating with Jesus she is dancing and she is worshiping Jesus right now but on this side of heaven we're gonna be praying and we're gonna be coming around Tom and we're just gonna love on them well so church if you know Tom can you do that if you know the Karsten family can you just love on them well in this season can we pray together can you bow your heads with me Lord we thank you for this opportunity Lord to worship you Lord but we lift up Kathy Karsten Lord and we thank you for the life well live Lord but I pray that you'd be with Tom Karsten and his family Lord that you would surround them Lord with a community and the body of Christ to love them in this season while they're mourning Lord and I pray that your peace would be their comfort Lord that you would just give them joy in this season Lord we also lift up to you Team World Vision and all that are running right now for clean water Lord we thank you for the 60 runners from Grand Rapids first Lord I pray that you'd be with them that you would give their body strength right now but also I pray Lord that you would take every dollar that is raised and you would multiply it Lord to bring clean water Lord in that clean water coming into those villages would also show the love of God Lord and that your gospel would go forth Lord and we thank you for the body right here and that we have the opportunity to be generous to you Lord we thank you for the opportunity to partner with you in all that you are doing Lord so I pray

that you would move upon our hearts Lord that we would be marked as a body of generosity as individuals that are looking and pleading for ways to give above and beyond Lord and I pray that you'd be in the midst of our worship today Lord that you would transform our hearts Lord and that you would inhabit our praise Lord so we thank you for this opportunity to worship you and we give you all the honor glory and praise in all God's people said amen amen Church be blessed as you give this morning So would you go ahead and stand to your feet go ahead and stand to your feet and listen if you want to join us in the altars for worship you're welcome to come find a spot up here if you'd like but come on all around this room can we just start by thanking Jesus for what he's done in our lives Jesus Lord we lift our hands around this room we lift them up as a sign of complete and total surrender to Lord who you have who you are Lord who you will have us to be Lord your will in your ways so Lord would you just come meet us God Lord would you just overwhelm us with your presence God we pour out everything we are and we give it to you because Jesus you are worthy of everything all of our praise it belongs to you and you alone Jesus I was a wretch I remember who I was I was lost I was blind I was running out of time Separated the breach was far too wide but from the far side of the chasm you held me in your side So you made a way across the great divide left behind heaven's throne to build it here inside and there at the cross you paid the debt I owe broke my chains freed my soul and for the first time I have hope Thank you Jesus for the blood of mine Thank you Jesus it has washed me wine Thank you Jesus you have saved my life You have drawn me from the darkness into glorious life Oh yes So you took my place laid aside my tomb of sin You were buried for three days but then you walked right out again Death has no sting and life has no end For I have been transformed by the blood of the Lamb

Thank you Jesus for the blood Thank you Jesus Thank you Jesus it has washed me wine Thank you Jesus you have saved my life You brought me from the darkness into glorious life There is nothing stronger than the one you work in power of the blood Say it again The blood That calls us Calls us sons and daughters For we are We are meant to fly above Say it again The blood The blood There is There is There is nothing stronger Than the one you work The one you work in power Yes The blood The blood That calls us That calls us Calls us sons and daughters ♪ Oh we are, we are blessed by your blood ♪ The blood, the blood ♪ The blood of Jesus, hey ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus for the blood, the blood of Jesus ♪

Thank you, Jesus ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ It has washed, washed, washed me white ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ You have saved my life ♪ You brought me from the darkness into glorious light ♪ Hey! ♪ You brought me from the darkness into glorious light ♪ Hallelujah! Come on, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Come on, if you're set free in Jesus, somebody shout your victory today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come on, just lift your voice to him. Just begin to thank him. Thank him for bringing you out of darkness into his light. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. ♪ Light of the world, you step down into darkness ♪ ♪ Open my eyes, let me see you ♪ ♪ Beauty that makes this heart adore you ♪ ♪ Hope of the life spent with you ♪ ♪ So here I am to worship, here I am to, here I am to see ♪ ♪ You're mine, you're all together now ♪ ♪ All together worthy, all together wonderful to be ♪ ♪ King of all things, oh so highly exalted ♪ ♪ Glorious in heaven above ♪ ♪ So humbly, humbly you came to the earth and created ♪

♪ All for love's sake became poor ♪ ♪ So here I am to worship, here I am to bow down ♪ ♪ Here I am to say that you're mine, you're all together now ♪ ♪ All together worthy, you're all together now ♪ ♪ So here I am, so here I am to worship, here I am to bow down ♪ ♪ Here I am to say that you're mine, you're all together now ♪ ♪ All together worthy, all together wonderful to be ♪ ♪ I'll never know how much it costs to be worthy of you ♪ ♪ To see my sin upon that cross ♪ ♪ I'll never know how much it costs to see my sin upon that cross ♪ ♪ I'll never know how much it costs to see my sin upon that cross ♪ ♪ I'll never know how much it costs to see my sin upon that cross ♪ I'll never know. See I'll never know. To see, to see myself upon the cross. So here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that we are one. You're all together. You're all together. Love me. You're all together. Love me. You're all together. I'll never know. So here I am. So here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together. Love me. You're all together. Love me. You're all together. I'll never know. Come on, shout it out again. What'd you say? So here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together. Love me. You're all together. Wonderful. You're all together. Wonderful. You're all together. Wonderful to me. A thousand generations falling down in worship to sing the song of ages to the Lamb. And all who've come before us and all who will believe will sing the song of ages to the Lamb. And the angels cry, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. If you've been forgiven. And if you've been refused. Sing it. Sing this song forever to the Lamb. If you walk, if you walk in freedom. And if you've been refused. Sing this song forever to the Lamb. And the angels cry, sing holy, holy, holy. All creation cries, sing holy, holy, holy.

Shout it out. You are lifted high. Holy, holy, holy forever. Hear your people sing. Hear your people sing. Sing holy, holy, holy. To the King of kings. To the Lord of lords. The rock of our salvation. Sing. You will always be. Holy. Sing holy forever. Declare. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. ♪ Bronze and a minion, come on ♪ ♪ Somebody shout it, somebody shout it ♪ ♪ Somebody lift it up like you've never sang before ♪ ♪ If you believe he's worthy and his name's above it all say ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name, come on ♪ ♪ Take your worship just a little further today ♪ ♪ Take your praise just a little higher today, say ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions, say all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name is the standard of all, your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name is the standard of all, all thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ All powers and positions, your name stands above them all ♪

♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name, your name is the greatest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name is the standard of all, all thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Stands above them all, hear your people sing ♪ Shout it out, son! ♪ Holy to the King of kings, holy to the King of kings ♪ That's a sweet sound today. ♪ Holy, you will always be, holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever, holy to the King of kings ♪ Come on, the song, we're gonna sing for all eternity. ♪ Hear your people sing, declare and say ♪ ♪ Holy to the King of kings, holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be, holy, holy forever, holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Holy, hear your people sing, hear your people sing, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Holy to the King of kings, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be, holy, holy forever, holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You'll always be, you will always be, holy, holy forever ♪ Come on, if somebody knows that this world is not our home, but we have eternity with Jesus, will we surrender our lives to Him? Would you join the song of heaven? And somebody cry, holy, holy is the Lord. Say, holy, holy is the Lord. Somebody lift up your highest praise. Let loose your praise. His name is the highest. His name is the greatest. There is no authority that is above the name, above all names, Jesus.

So in just a moment, we're gonna shout out the name that has all the victory today. We're gonna shout out the name that can heal depression. We're gonna shout out the name that can heal cancer. We're gonna shout out the name that gives you freedom. We're gonna shout out the name that gives you hope. I can see it's welling up in somebody right now. So with all praise, with every breath that's in your body, on the count of three, would you shout the name that's worthy of our greatest praise? One, two, three, shout. Jesus. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name is the greatest. Sing, all the world, let's sing. ♪ Rose and dominion of hearts and positions ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest of all the gods ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest, Your name is the greatest of all the gods ♪ Rose and dominion Rose and dominion of hearts and positions Your name stands above all the gods Holy, holy is the name of Jesus Sing holy, holy is the Lord Perfect, perfect is the Lord Sing holy You'll always be, You'll always be Holy, holy forever You are holy, You are holy

Listen, God is in the house, the Holy Spirit is here And so Jesus, we cry out to you Lord that we receive your word We receive what you have today Lord and we thank you that this isn't our home But God, you've created a place for us And so Jesus, right now, we thank you for the salvation we have And Lord, we prepare our hearts because we do want to hear from you We don't want it to go in one ear and out the other But we want to be brought to change And we speak of this all in Jesus' name today Come on, somebody say amen And come on, you can return to your seats Go ahead and celebrate God one more time for what he's going to do It's a great day in the house of God today I have been approved to walk on this foot a little bit So I'm getting there Boy, do y'all just feel like you've just been baptized in something powerful Just the presence of God is so real here I'm telling you, you really should be expecting something while you're sitting there Really The presence of God is not just for everybody out here, it's for you You could be in here and an addiction leave you just like that in the presence of God Just like that, an addiction that's binding you Seriously A mindset that's tormented you The presence of God is that powerful It's that powerful You could be healed right where you're sitting I'm telling you, God can give you an idea for your company just like that Some of you are trying to struggle with, I don't know what my career path should be

And I'm just bored where I am Just like that, the spirit of God in his presence God can change everything, amen I'm just telling you, I'm just living in this right now Are y'all just enjoying this just for a minute? The presence of God, wow My brother-in-law used to say this He used to say, we're getting so high in here we could hunt ducks with a rake It's just that good right now, amen How many thank God for his presence? You love Jesus? Go ahead and show him It's okay to show him, alright Okay to show him Glory to God Alright, so we're in our Fantastic Four series You can go ahead and turn to Hebrews 11 I gotta tell you that while I was in church, while I was in service And I was listening to the exhortation about the worship of giving And how to make your life a generous life It's just amazing how the spirit of God hits someone Someone texted me while I was in service And usually it doesn't happen this quick But I love immediate obedience Sometimes delayed obedience is not obedience But someone texted me that moment and said You know these kids that want to go to the youth convention I know Pastor David is up there sitting somewhere to minister up in the balconies here in a minute after service But someone texted me and they said here and said we don't want we don't want anything to hinder any student or

a parent saying we don't want our kids to go and they said we will we will pay for any student that does not have the ability that money is an issue and they just don't have that the means to do it they said it'll be taken care of for any young man young lady that wants to go to youth convention and so if you want to go if you want to go and you're and you're you just say pastor are just our finances we'd love for our child to go we can't this is the kind of church you're in you're in in a generous place because where the Spirit of God is there's freedom there's liberty and there's even freedom and liberty with how you treat your resources and so if I were as a parent right now I would encourage you in the culture in which your son and daughter is facing I would say yes to this if money is an issue and go back there today and signing your son or daughter up there is and it's proven statistically there is a revival of the presence of God hitting this generation I'm just it's unquestioned I'm what we're seeing happening in our youth and student ministries is just mind-blowing right now mind-blowing and here's what I'll just tell you Grand Rapids first anybody in here you cannot stop the move of God I can't stop it but you can sure miss it and I do not want anybody's son or daughter to miss their destiny with God at this youth convention and so if you you you want to go and its finances are an issue don't worry about it we'll include Craig's Cruiser right along with it amen because that's just the kind of people we are we are fun people I'll be glad you go to this church amen amen I'm glad I go here I'm glad we go here Brenda are you holding up aren't you glad I'm getting my healing she's praising God she's that woman has more faith for my healing I'm telling you just if you need prayer line up behind Brenda buddy she believed for my healing amen come on let's get in the Word of God today if you're new with us you want to go listen download the app go to the website it's free and listen to the series of the fantastic four and we're looking through the what they call the Hall of Faith of men and women great men and women and even in the Hall of Faith they said we we don't have time to mention all the other people but there were so many men and women that have

gone on before us that had such faith to hear God and to just simply trust and do what God said no matter what insurmountable odds were against him they just walked by faith and so we've been picking out four of them people in particular because you'd go on forever but I picked out four people and we're on the fourth person but I want to start Hebrews chapter 11 okay so let's go there it's talks about these people it's his faith shows the reality of what you hope for that's what faith does faith believes that God is who he says he is and that he'll do what he said he would do and the greater your revelation of who he is the greater your anticipation for what he will do I'm gonna say that again the greater your revelation because of your relationship of walking with Jesus then the greater your expectation for what he'll do so you can walk through hell in your marriage you can go through the cesspool of sin in our culture and your expectation is so high not because of what's around you but because of what is in you by your relationship with Jesus Christ so the greater your revelation so I'd work on my walk with Jesus Christ and the Word of God more than anything more than anything because then the greater your expectation that God is who he says it is and he'll do what he said to do so faith shows the reality of what we hope for it is the evidence of things we cannot see we don't see him we don't have him yet through their faith speaking of all these people Hebrews 11 through their faith the people in days of old earned a good reputation so we talked about the faith of Noah we talked about the faith of Moses what made him fantastic that trust that relationship with God and trust in him when he said something no matter what anybody said Noah had it in an environment where everybody turned away from God and he was considered the only righteous person at his time and he stood strong Moses, to take God's people and God develop him and grow him as a leader. And we talked about Israel and Joshua leading the people of Israel around the walls of Jericho. And the last teaching we did on Joshua and Israel, you remember Hebrews 11, 30 says that it was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days and the walls came down.

They marched around. Think about that. The walls were 46 feet high. Think about that. Six feet thick and they marched around and all they had was a faith, a horn and a shout and God brought it down through their faith. But I want you to look at the next verse right after that about Jericho. And I want to take you to Hebrews 11, 31. It says it was by faith that Rahab, the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God for she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. So when everybody thinks that God is just a God that wants to destroy, but just remember they refused to obey God. They knew, but there was one, even if there's just one who will believe, it's amazing the mercy and the grace that God has. And guess what it was. It was a prostitute. Wow. How many thank God that God never shot shies away from the scars of his people or the shame or the past sin of his people. I know some of us, we don't want anybody to give you, you want everybody to think you've been raised in church your whole life. You so Holy. You've never been to a theater. You've never put liquor to your lips. You never smoke weed. You want everybody to think that you have no past. You haven't even cut a deck of Uno cards. You're so Holy. You self-righteous little thing you, and then you curl your nose at someone who doesn't look like you walk like you talk like you been struck by the culture of the world that's

twist them. And yet you flip your nose at I'm saved. They're lost. We're better than them. The Bible never hides the shame and the past of its people. I thank God that he is so honest about your sins. So much so that Hebrews 31 would call her not Rahab, the prayer ministry partner. He called her Rahab, the prostitute, you know, the woman that got paid cash to sleep with every man, that, that kind of woman. And then even Joshua two, and Joshua looks at the story, we're talking about the walls coming down. It called her again. It was called a prostitute name, Rahab. Yeah. How would you like it? If God had another book, he added to the Bible and we just put down all the stuff you've never told anybody in your little small group about you, how'd you like that? Huh? All the porn films you saw, the abortion you had, the people you slept with. God never hides from this stuff. Never ever hides. And here's the thing about Rahab. Here it is. She was, she was a prostitute, all this stuff. Some of you are just going through the litany of things you hope that your kids never find out about, but Rahab could not change that past. She couldn't. She'd already done it called a prostitute. Now don't get so down in the mouth. You're going to get cheered up here in a minute.

She could not change her past, but she could change her path and rewrite the story. And I cannot change the past of your pastor and I cannot change the past about you that you don't know. It's stuff nobody even knows about, but how many thank God through Jesus Christ, Rahab shows you can change your path and become something you never dreamed you could ever be. You would be mentioned in honorable mention with the people of faith in the hall of faith in Hebrews that God would put your name down. In fact, he's going to do one better than that. He finds you so worthy. He's going to put you in the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless one. You're going to be in that lineage. How many only God can take a person that's a prostitute, change their past and give them a new path. Amen. Only God. So, oh, you ought to, we should give God praise just for what he's done. Come on. Don't, don't, you don't need to hide there. You don't need to sit there and hide because if you got some scars and you got some past and you even walked in here going, I don't, I don't even want to be in here. These people are so holy. Look at that. God's moving. And I don't even know. No, you're in the right place. If you're watching online for the first time, you're in the right place. Because if you got scars, I just want you to know you're in good company with all these folks you're sitting by. You are in great company and don't worry about us.

You're in even better company with people mentioned in the Bible. Look at Moses. You think God used him and he had faith. He was a murderer. Think of David. God used him and he's in the lineage of Jesus. He was an adulterer. Think about that. Then he committed murder on top of that to hide his adultery. You want to look at Peter? He was a doubter and he was a tempter that even tempted Jesus Christ not to go to the cross. You want to look at Paul? Paul, the great one that had all the revelation, he was a murderer. He was called a blasphemer. He was called a persecutor. The people of God. Now listen, if transformation can happen for all of them and it can happen for a prostitute and it can happen for the man or the woman sitting on each side of you, then I'm telling you, you are in good company. You will not leave the same out of this room. Come on. How many of you thank God? He redeems you and restores you and uses you. You don't have to live in that past. So this is what made her so fantastic. You can all listen. You can keep living. Well, we're always going to be in poverty. Well I'm up.

My daddy was an alcoholic and so I'm going to be alcoholic. Well my parents divorced, their parents divorced, my parents divorced and God will never restore my marriage. You never do this for me. We're going on the same path as them. Well you never see, we always lived in this neighborhood and we'll never get, listen, you can live in that past or you can say, Holy Spirit, I'd really like to hear what you say about my new path. I'd really like to hear it. So what makes this woman so fantastic? A prostitute who sleeps around with every man in town. Every woman despises, but all the other men like. What did it for her that transformed her? I'm going to give you just two things, two things, two things. Here we go. You ready for the journey? Let's go. Here's the first thing she did. When the word of God came to her, she didn't analyze it, didn't criticize it, didn't say that's not relevant for me today. Didn't fight against it. She actually received the word of God. She received it. She took it in. Now let's look at the story just for a little bit. Go Joshua chapter two. I'm not going to read all of them. I'm just going to, for time's sake, I'm just going to give it to you. So you know the people of Israel came out of their bondage of 400 years of slavery under Egypt.

They've wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. Moses has died. Joshua is now the leader. They're getting ready to enter into the promised land. And the first place they hit is this place called Jericho with nothing but people who are God haters and pagan. And yet they've heard the word of God. So the word got out that the Israelites had sent spies into Jericho. The King finds out they've sent spies in. Okay. Somebody let it out, but they found out. So the King of Jericho, we find the story here, the King of Jericho heard they were housed in Rahab's house, this house of this prostitute, her home. So then he sends soldiers, knows where they are. The intel tells them they're in her house, sends two men to go capture them immediately. When the soldiers came looking for them, what does she do? She hides them up on her roof and puts them under a flax that is drying out on her rooftop of her home. And she hides the spies. When the, when the soldiers come to arrest them, they have the intel. They know where they are. They come in. They go, where are these two spies? She goes, Oh yeah, they were here a moment ago. You know how men come and leave this place. They were here a moment ago and they've left. She purposely and intentionally sends them on this wild goose chase. Here's this woman who does not have salvation, who does not have favor of God yet. She sends them on a wild goose chase. When Rahab goes up, she goes back up to the roof of that house, sees those spies and starts

having a dialogue with them. And look what comes out of her mouth. She said to them, I've been hearing the stories about your God and what he's done for you. So when you receive the word, you start hearing something. Everybody say hearing. So she heard some of you, you have changed what you're listening to and you are going to change because you're changing what you're listening to. Instead of your little group of buddies that think they know who God is, a world and even sometimes a government that wants to interpret what they think God says about a child or a baby. See, this is the problem. Here's our problem that we're dealing with right now, everybody. It's when government ought to govern, but when they start acting like they're theologians. to interpret the word of God to tell the people this is what you ought to do that's when you have I have a problem with you so then people think I'm political when I'm fact you have treaded on the territory of the Word of God and I will hold my ground on the Word of God you are not theologians to tell people what God says about a child or about a woman or about a person you are treading on God's territory let me talk about the word I will defend the Word of God and if you got a problem with that wrong place to be in I will defend what God says about his people and about men and women and the lost and the poor and the disenfranchised I will stand on the Word of God for it so I'm gonna move on but she heard she had heard she started listening and look what she heard since she was a little girl so she had just she didn't just see these guys the first time everybody Jericho had opportunity to be saved America has an opportunity to save you have an opportunity to be saved you've been hearing she heard and since she heard she heard it since she was a little girl and she heard about the miracles this wasn't the first time she heard some of you've been raised in church and you're still hearing but you're still not doing anything about it and look what she said Joshua to 9th she said I know everybody say I know I know

way for the balcony everybody say I know I know the Lord has given you this land she told them we are all afraid of you everyone in the land is living in terror why for we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt and we know what you did to Sihon and Og the two Amorite Kings east of the Jordan River after God dried up the Jordan and they crossed there as well whose people you completely destroyed so what's happening to her since she was a little girl she has been hearing these stories about what God is doing and now the people are in terror and they're heard and they're hearing see some of you are here today and watching online because you've been hearing something you've been hearing how the woman that you used to live with has gotten her life redeemed and restored and she's on a new path and she said I got to start living right life right with you I can't live together with you anymore so she's gonna follow God and you've been hearing and been watching what God's doing in her life to transform and what you're hearing and seeing her life is now stirred you to start going maybe I need to listen to the God she's been listening to some of you have been hearing about people getting saved and deliver from addictions and immorality and you've been hearing and that's what brought you here because if God can do it for them maybe he'll do it for me here's my point some of you need to start tuning out the world and start tuning into what God is saying what he's saying to you see because who you tune into will determine what you turn into and if you keep tuning into the same old people that are victims you will always think you're the victim if you keep tuning in that I'll never get free from this addiction very few people get set for this addiction you whatever you keep tuning into will determine what you turn into and can I tell you what is happening it's Romans chapter 10 verse 17 but faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing but hearing what by hearing the Word of God and when the seeds of the Word of God start getting inside of you it starts changing your thinking it starts changing you're doing it starts changing what you see about yourself can I tell you what you hear determines where you head and that's what happened

to that little girl she might have been a prostitute but somehow she had been hearing and all the people knew but one person decided I'm gonna begin to act on what's happening can I tell you you need to hear what God has done for other people because he'll do it for you so just for a moment I want you to get ready to hear something if you used to be in sin a good moral person but you thought your morality saved you then you discovered you are set headed the same hell as anybody else until you found Jesus in just a moment I want you to give God praise so they can hear you if you were once addicted by the bondages of sin you named the immorality you named the addiction you name whatever it is but you found Jesus and he set you free in just a moment I want you to lift your praise so they can hear that God has set you free If you were once bound by prejudice and anger and couldn't stand other races or other people, but Jesus saved you and set you free, I want them to let you hear your praise of how God showed you how to love people through the eyes of Jesus Christ. If you were a person that one time was in absolute poverty and you started following God and you started listening to his word, that he is the God that supplies your needs, you started managing, you started giving, and now God's turned your financial situation around, I want you to start in just a moment, just lift up the praise so they can hear you testify. So anybody that's been redeemed, saned, delivered, healed, liberated by Jesus Christ, would you lift up a praise so they can hear? If God did it for me, God will do it for you. He'll save your family, he'll restore your marriage.

Come on, let somebody give God praise. If he's changed your life, if he's redeemed you and calls you by name, you heard it. And it's not just for Pastor Sam, it's not just for them, it's for you, it's for you. Okay, I need to sit down. Here, I'm gonna say this again, because there's some believers, you're tuning into some wrong things. You keep listening to that man you're checking out on Facebook that used to be your old boo back when you were in high school. I feel I'm gonna say that because the Holy Spirit told me to say it. You're not satisfied with your marriage, and it's not what you thought it would be, ma'am. And someone showing you affection that you feel has been forgotten in romance that you feel has been forgotten in your marriage. What you tune into will determine what you're gonna turn into. But he's getting ready to turn your mourning into dancing. Your sorrow into joy. Your defeat into victory. Start getting around people that you know are hearing by the Word of God. She heard, okay, how did she receive the Word?

She just didn't hear it, but then you gotta act on it. It's not enough just to hear it, you gotta act on it. Let's go to James 2.25. It talks about Rahab. I'll hear it again, Rahab the prostitute. God didn't hide nothing, even James won't hide it. Somebody just leave it alone for a moment. James writes, Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be, watch this, right with God. I love this. Rahab the prostitute was shown to be right with God by what? By what, everybody? By her actions. When she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. And do you know what the next verse follows that? Some of you already know the book of James and what the next verse is. Guess what it is. Faith is dead without good works. The moment God begins to transform and you hear, there is a corresponding action that God begins to do inside of you. You see, faith requires action. Believing does not require action, faith does. Believing requires you to think and requires intellectual exercise. But faith, it requires more than you just sitting in church saying, I believe, I believe, I believe, but you don't do anything.

I believe we need to save the world, but you don't witness and can't even treat a server at the restaurant with dignity and kindness. You order them around like they're your servant. You say you love the Lord and you think the world needs saved but you haven't given anything to GR1 Global to reach anybody. I'm not picking on you, I'm just telling you, faith, believing doesn't require you to act. Faith requires you to act. This is what God said, I look down on this prostitute because she now has a corresponding action to what she has heard. See, faith is what you act upon, it requires an action. I'll put it this way. So you go down to the grocery stores, let's say you go to the grocery store and your kids are all hungry, You're all hungry and you're going down the aisles and you see all these wonderful things that are on the shelf to eat, to give you vitality. And you keep going down the aisles, you go down the aisles, all this stuff will keep you alive, but you never put anything in the basket and you never prepare anything at home. You just like going down the aisles and you see the good stuff and you hear the good stuff and you believe it looks delicious, but you never consume it. Guess what's going to happen? You will starve and you will die. How many people are going in with their spiritual baskets into churches across the United States today, nodding heads, going down the aisles, believing everything is said, but never really taking it where God starts doing it to them and they start acting on the word of God. For God to transform them, for God to deliver them, for them to start walking by faith,

for them to be an encourager to other people, for them to witness to other people. See friends, it takes more than just hearing, you must act and that's what she did. She acted and just didn't hear and believe. How many of you say amen or me or something like that, right? This is what God requires of you and me because look at her, just Rahab, just all she did was hear and then she acted. She'd been hearing and she acted. She didn't have time for a choir to come in and sing amazing grace as the stained glass was lit by the sunlight beaming through it to feel God. She didn't have time to learn the lyrics of amazing grace. She didn't have time to listen to all that. She didn't have time to learn lyrics. She couldn't download a podcast six session on how to make your faith go stronger. She didn't have time. She just heard and she did and that's so many of us. We have such delayed obedience. She just heard and she did and when she hid those spies underneath that flax, that was the moment that her action corresponded with what she believed and faith exploded inside of her in that very moment. That's how she grew strong in faith. In that one moment, she heard and she began to act on the word of God. That's the same thing for you and me. Act on it. Don't just hear it one day. Act on it. Some of you've heard about Jesus giving your, I need to get my life to Jesus, I really do. Act on it. Act on it today. Don't wait another minute. Act on it.

Give your life to Jesus Christ. Can somebody say amen to that? Then here's the last thing she did that made her become a place where she just didn't hear. She received that word. How did she receive it? She received it by hearing. She received it by acting and she did so by confessing. She confessed it. Now look at Joshua 2.11. She said this, no wonder our hearts have melted in fear. No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. So the walls haven't come down yet. Some people want to believe after the walls come down. Walls hadn't come down. They're still there. They're doing fine. Something's changing in her. No one had the courage to fight after hearing such things. Hearing, hearing, hearing. Listen to the right thing. What you tune into determines what you will turn into. Here, change it. Change the dial. Change the music you're listening to. Change what you're reading. Change the atmosphere. Change even friendships if you have to. Change it because it determines what you're going to turn into. She said, no wonder no one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord, watch this.

For the Lord, your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below. She didn't just say, she didn't just say the Lord, your God. She used the word Elohim. The scripture there is Elohim, which means supreme God over all gods. The word Kauai, it means a covenant-keeping God. She knew there's a covenant-keeping God. He has everything. I have nothing, but he wants to make covenant with me, a person who has nothing, but he will keep his promise to me. She called him that. She's basically saying, I have been raised in a pagan culture, much like my mother, your pastor's mom, a pagan culture with many, many gods. They worshiped Baal. That's who they worshiped. They saw the child's sacrifice and thought nothing of it. No one stood up. No one protested this one because it was the way of life. They worshiped many gods. Sacrificing children was no big deal. Prostitutes were no big deal. This would make Vegas blush. This would make Vegas blush. They had temple prostitutes. It was normal for them to sleep, have sexuality, homosexuality. All this was, it was rampant. It didn't matter. It was gross immorality. And why? Because she served all these other gods. So the moment she said, your God is the supreme God, she is declaring, these are not gods

and they are not my gods. I serve Jehovah God alone. She took her stand and she confessed it. I'm leaving it all behind. He's the only one that I'm going to follow. She's declaring it. She's saying with those people at the time, I believe he is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and now he is the God of Rahab, who is the prostitute. I declare he is my God and my God alone. She took a stand. Now remember, nobody else in that city cared about God. She is the only one out of God's mercy that heard, but she was the one that acted. She took a stand. She confessed. Hey, listen, here's why coming to Jesus Christ is so powerful. It's because she not only saved herself, her own soul, she saved her whole family. Look what the spies told her. They told her in verse 18 of Joshua chapter two, they said, here's what you do, leave a scarlet cord. The scarlet cord in typology was the picture of the blood of Jesus Christ that would come to deliver us. Leave a scarlet cord, just a scarlet cord outside your window, outside the wall of the city. As we march, we were going to see that scarlet cord. When you do that, it's going to show that you believe and follow the one true God, Jehovah God himself, and you and your family will be saved. You read the story. The walls came down. Everybody else was destroyed. The wall came down, except there was one house standing and one group of people saved, and

it was Rahab and her family. What I'm saying to some of you is you're wanting God to bring a transformation into your home, to break generational curses off your family that seem to trail one family after another, and you've seen it. Mom did this. Mama's mama did this. We're not sure what mama's mama did, but we got a pretty good clue by the way she lived, and now it's happening to me. This is what dad did, and dad did this, and dad did this, and now it's coming on me. Some of you need to believe Acts 16, 31, where it says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You shall be saved, and so shall your household. Come on. This is household salvation when you give your life to Jesus, and you need to get under the blood of Jesus Christ. But this woman, she took a stand, everybody. She declared to her family and her home. She declared all those people a scarlet cord. He is the one true God, and God had mercy and spared her family, her home, and her soul. Think about that. You know what next Sunday's water baptism is, as they were announcing that today? I got to think of that. Do you know what water baptism ... You know when Pastor David said, Jesus did it, and then he commanded us to follow him in this act, if you're going to follow Jesus? You go down into that watery grave, which was the picture of his death, and when you come back up, you're a brand new ... You're declaring, I'm brand new, set free from the old sin, no longer has a grip on me, and I'm resurrected new in Jesus Christ. Do you know what you're really doing that day? Can I tell you what you're doing, the demon powers, and what you're doing for all of us, and what you're doing for your family and friends you invite? You are taking your stand, that all of it is left behind, my sin and everything, and

I'm rising to follow Jesus Christ, the Lord, the rest of my life, until I stand before him face to face. If you've never followed Jesus Christ and that kind of declaration of going down in that water ... I know some of you were sprinkled as children, and that's wonderful, but when you got sprinkled as a child, that was not for your faith, because you didn't even understand what was going on. It was for your parents' faith, not yours. This is your faith now. Have you taken a public stand to say, I'm selling all out. My old life is dead and buried in Jesus, and I'm resurrected new in Jesus Christ. So I'm going to encourage some of you, those of you watching online, young people, to go get water baptized next Sunday, and make the devil scream out of this place, and let terror hit him, because he knows a redeemed person that has been water baptized, bathed in the blood of Jesus, washed in the blood of Jesus, resurrected through the baptism waters, is coming after me, and heaven is their home, and they're born again, and I cannot touch them. How many of you ... Thank God. That's what we're going to do next Sunday, and I want you to do it. I want you to join us. So get that QR code up there, and get water baptized. We're going to have a time, because you're going to take a stand. So what was all this for her? It was receiving the word. But you see, whatever you tune into determines what you turn into. So guess what happened to her? When she started tuning in to what God had done, and she started realizing, would God do this for me, and she saw the salvation, she started realizing who she really was. She realized her worth. And when you start giving your life ... To God, sir, you're going to discover that your value is not what you bring home in a

paycheck. You're going to start finding that it's not what you build. You're going to discover, man, that it is not in your beauty or your kids are on the honor roll and you can put the bumper sticker on the back of your minivan. You're going to discover what real worth is. It is not being admired by other men or by other women. You're going to discover it's not your position. She found out what real value and worth was. Now, Rahab's whole identity determined who she was and determined her significance in Jericho. Jericho, the world, told her what she was worth by what she gave. Now, rabbinical tradition says this about Rahab. Rabbinical tradition says that they believe that she was one of the four most beautiful women in the ancient world at that time. So in other words, she was probably one of the most attractive men. She had a lot of status because when the king knows where you live, when the king knows your address, there's a reason why you're popular. Every man, she was known by all the men and by the king. She had the tallest home in all of Jericho. She was the only one that had a window that could look beyond the wall. So when you're on the outside wall looking out, the tallest, that meant you had extreme wealth from what you had provided for men and others, and you had status because no one thought bad about you, the prostitute. It was the way of life. And she had all this beauty, considered maybe one of the four most beautiful women at the time. She had status. She had wealth. But the world's lures started losing its power over this woman. You know why?

Because it all goes away. Even her looks. The wrinkles get more defined. Age starts to set in. Money and position, you can't provide what they used to want you to provide. This woman started realizing that the world had put so much on her, but it was all based on what she could give them. And look what happened. Rahab followed God, and she knew that the moment that she followed God, she knew that this culture would reject her immediately to follow God. Because her works, he'd start acting. In fact, verse six said that there was flax drying on the rooftop of her house. Some commentaries believed that she had already began to change her vocation and her profession of prostitution and started going into another line of work by drying flax, which was used to make linen cloth. She might've already started turning even before the conversation. Oh, this is so good. Isn't that good? Isn't it amazing that what you tune into determines what you turn into? She started changing and finding worth. You see true value, friends, is found in Christ. Look at James 2 25. Again, let's look at this. We're coming in for a landing. He said, in the same way was not Rahab the prostitute considered righteous, but what she did from prostitute to right relationship and even called righteous before God. Talk about an extreme makeover, everybody. You know, we had this marriage conference here this last week and Dr. Don Litchie taught a lot of great things, but there's one that just hit me like a ton of bricks. I wish all of you could have been to it.

Next time we have one, marriages be in these. These are powerful, but he said something so profound. This guy's a psychologist, been practicing well over 35, maybe 40 years practice. He said, what I have discovered are that the you messages of your childhood and your teen years end up becoming your eye messages. When you become an adult, I'm going to say this again. The you messages you heard as a kid and as a teenager have now become your eye messages as an adult, where someone says, you know, you're fat, you need to lose weight ends up becoming your eye message that I'm just, I'm, I'm always going to be swayed. That's who I am. And because of certain ways you don't look, everybody rejects you. Everybody rejects you becomes I'm rejection. The sexual immorality of your past now was a you that becomes, it becomes, it was that you're immoral now becomes your eye message. I'm just immoral. You'll never amount to anything. Why can't you be more like your sister? So the you messages you don't measure up now becomes the I message, I'll never measure up to my husband. I'll never measure up to Jesus. I'll never measure up to my wife. I'll never measure up. And so many adults are living with I messages because you have never let God transform the you messages of your past. So Rahab has lived from childhood. Who knows if she was sexually abused as a child because of the pagan lifestyle back there? Who knows that? That she was in that and now it's become the I message that brought her into an adult practice of what she was in.

And God says, let me transform that. See because here's what I know about Satan, how he treats me and how he treats you. Here's what I do know about him. Satan knows your name, but he calls you by your sin. He knows who Sam Reif Gogol is, but oh, he didn't call me Sam. Never called me Samuel one time, but he will always bring up the trash of my past and he'll do the same with you. He's brought every memory of everything that you wish you could undo and you are still making it your I message. When you listen to him, he knows your name, but he calls you by your sin. But let me tell you what happens when you start encountering Jesus and the word of God like Rahab did. God, he knows your sin, but he chooses to call me by my name. He doesn't know you because of adultery. He doesn't know you because of prejudice. He doesn't know you because of bitterness and hate. He doesn't know you because of sexual trauma. He doesn't know you by that. He knows you by name and when he redeems you, he not only redeems you, but he writes my name in the Lamb's book of life. When you look in his book, you're going to see Samuel Reif Kogel and he spelled Reif Kogel right, my friend, because he calls me by name and he calls you by your name. Makeover. I'll give you one last thing. There's only one thing. There's only one woman in the whole Bible that is ever called virtuous. One. Only one called virtuous. There were virtuous women, but there's only one that was called virtuous. You remember who it was?

I just taught about her in our favor series. Ruth was the only one called virtuous and she was the wife of a man by the name of who? Boaz. And theologians say that that is a picture. Boaz is a picture of the Redeemer, the family Redeemer of Jesus Christ. And Ruth is the picture, that moabite of sin, which were pictures you and me that are brought in and redeemed by the Boaz, the picture of Jesus Christ. Well guess who Boaz's mama was. Rahab. The one that was the picture of Jesus, the one, the picture of redemption was the offspring of Solomon and Rahab, the prostitute. How many of you married in this room? Raise your hands real quick. Now ladies, put your hands down. Men leave your hands up. Okay. All right. I'm going to talk to y'all for a minute. Put your hands down. When I went, got married, whether I liked it or not, I was very influenced by my mother. You can't tell my eyes are slightly at a 45 degree angle. I love rice, have rice with everything. I'm telling you, I can eat Asian food 24 seven breakfast, lunch, and supper. God bless you. But there were, there were things about my mom. She, she, she cared for our family. I watched her strong faith in God. And when I went to look for a wife, I got to tell you, my mom was the one that influenced me in some foundational qualities that I knew were imperative for me and were non-negotiables for me when I found a wife.

First and foremost was this tenacious faith that when you go through suffering and loss, you don't abandon God. I watched her. I watched her. Just like any other child, I saw the quirks, and I saw the things that I thought were flaws, and then I discovered, as I became a parent, and a husband, I had some, and I understood her a little bit better. But I started looking for someone who had this faith to follow God, and it was non-negotiable to me. My mom was generous. Her actions of generosity. She was a janitor, but you talk about generous. Even in her 90s, even before she died, she was still supporting missionaries on a fixed income. Brenda, I just, I wanted someone generous. I mean, seriously. I called her pastor before I was getting ready to ask her to marry me, and I asked him. I said, hey, I got, he said, oh, she loves Jesus. I said, does she pay her tithe? I did. I did. Does she pay her tithe? He said, why are you asking that? I said, well, that's a reflection of how people, how she treats God is how she'll treat me. Don't sell out.

He says, she's not only a good tither. She was single. He says, she's one of my top three givers in this church. As a single adult. She didn't have any money when I married her, but she was a good giver. She had a water bed I hated. I said, let's get rid of that. Where did I get that? Those things? I got them from my mom. So when Boaz looks for a virtuous woman, Ruth, who taught him what a virtuous woman was like? I'll tell you who did it. A woman that used to be a prostitute that slept with every man. That God so transformed her life that her own son sees the transformation, said, I want to marry somebody just like my mom, a virtuous woman. That is transformation. How in the thunder does a kinsman redeemer, a Jew, go end up and marry a Moabite woman whose primary God is Chemosh with such sexual immorality and child sacrifice and been taught that, raised that by the name of Ruth? How in the world will this Jewish boy go and reach out to a Moabite by the name of Ruth? What taught him how to be redemptive and to see a person's heart, to hunger for God,

even though their past, what they used to be, no one ever would let in. Where do you think he learned how to be kind and redemptive and reach people where they were? Where do you think he learned how to reach out to a Moabite woman by the name of Ruth that would be called the virtuous woman? I'll tell you why. Because he knew his mom was past. But he said, Mom, I saw your new path. I know the history of what you used to be. And you taught me how to reach people where they were, even when they turned their back on God to reach out to them. Because you had a heart to want to follow God. And just like Daddy reached out to you, I'm reaching out to Ruth, the virtuous woman. And out of that lineage comes Jesse, comes Obed. Look at that. Solomon and Rahab. Think about that. She has, she teaches Boaz, Boaz and Ruth have Obed. Obed gives birth to Jesse, Jesse to David. And then Jesus Christ comes out of the lineage of all of them. I don't know about the rest of you, but that's pretty fantastic. So much so that Jesus said in Revelation 22, 16, he said, I am the root of all things.

He said, I am the root of the offspring. I am the root of the offspring of David, the bright morning star. That's who I am. That's what I can do. Some of you need to realize your worth. I want you to bow your heads just for a moment. Father God, I thank you for your goodness to us, your spirit in this room. She received it, but then she acted on it. Father God, I'm asking you to speak to the heart of every man and woman, young person in this room. I want you to speak to every person watching online right now, father, that the enemy chooses to tell them that this is what you are. And now they made it. This is what I am. Even the world has projected on though. This is what you really are. And now that they say, that's what I am. And all Satan ever does is keep bringing up their sin and bringing up their sin. He knows their name, but he calls them by their sin to immobilize them thinking they can never be changed. But Jesus, you know them and you know their sin, but you say, I choose to call you by name and I call you my own. I call you son and daughter and Lord, I pray today, let them see the value of what happens to them when they surrender to your Lordship. Holy spirit, I pray that there are some believers in this room, but the enemy keeps bringing up your this and you did this and you do this and it's becoming the eye of who they are. But God, I pray today, would you begin to call them by their name and said, that's what I redeemed you from. That's what I transformed you from.

And just like Rahab, that the lineage of Jesus could come, that she could teach her own son Boaz how to, how to treat a woman, how to be redemptive, how to look for a virtuous one. That transformation can happen to any man or woman in this room right now. So Holy spirit, I pray, would you begin to show them surrender and act upon what I've shown you that I've done for you and where I'll take you. Holy spirit, do that work while your heads are bowed just for a moment, you say, pastor, as you have broken down this message today, it is like the Holy spirit is telling me this is for me today. This is for me. And maybe there's some, you're this and you're this, and it's become your eye. But God says today it's getting ready to change. The great I am is getting ready to step into your eye and change you. And you say, pastor, this message was for me and I received everything from it. I don't just hear it. I act on it and I confess who I am in Jesus Christ. This was for me. This was for me. Would you just lift your hand as high as you can get it to Jesus right now? This was for me. This was for me. Boy, look at that. Thank you, father. You were always spot on. Holy spirit. You're always spot on. You can put your hands down. I want to go a step further than that. How many would say pastor Sam today, I'm going to do like Rahab and I am taking a stand. I am walking away from the sin and all the powers of darkness of what Satan has tried

to destroy me and even impose upon me by telling me, this is who you are. You'll never be forgiven. You'll you, God will never, that sin is too bad. You say pastor Sam today, I am taking a stand. If Rahab can do it, if the people in this church can do it, if Moses, if Noah, if Peter, if all those people in the word of God, the apostle Paul, God can change them. He can change me. And today I want to surrender my life to Jesus Christ and I'm taking a stand. I'm turning my back on sin and I'm turning my back on Satan today. I'm surrendering to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God supreme and I'm going to serve him today. I'm giving my life to him. If that is you, when I count to three, I want you to pop your hand up as high as you can. Just like these other folks did with absolute freedom and no shame said, pastor, this is for me. Are you ready? Here we go. Holy spirit. Give them the courage to lift their hand today in Jesus name. Here we go. Ready? One, two, three. Just lift it up. Pastor. That's for me. That's for me. There you go. God. Love y'all.

God. Love y'all. God. I want you to just raise your hand. I want you to do something even greater. Come on. You can do this. I'll do it with you. You raised your hand. I want you to stand right where you are. Just come on. Just stand up right where you are. Go on. There you go, buddy. There you go. There you go. There you go. Just stand up. Don't, don't care what, don't worry what these folks think. Just stand up. Come on. Just stand up. Go ahead. Stand up. Come on, sis. Go ahead. Stand up. You say, well, I didn't know that many people are going to stand. You go ahead and stand. I'm ready to make a stand. I'm gonna make a stand for Jesus. There you go. Don't be afraid. You're in a safe place

You're in a safe place. I Want you to do another thing? While these folks and heaven are cheering and shouting for you. Would you do me one of the favor? Would you put one foot in front of the other and just step out from where you are and come stand with me right now? Come on, just come come on. Just come on. Come on I'll get this stuff out of the way. Come on. You just come on. I'll wait for you right down here pastors elders Come on Come on I'm gonna wait for you. Come on He said I didn't raise my hand, but I'm ready to surrender all to Jesus just come on Just just walk on up here with them. You're okay You're okay While you are coming down here just pastors and elders y'all surround them come on just come on I'm gonna pray with you Can I just say something to y'all just for a minute I want to put this up. I've said this before but I want you to hear this when I talk about the worth and the value of who you are, I Want you to remember this God doesn't love you because you're valuable You're valuable because God loves you You Because you and I have his pressure of the world on us all the time Perform do be this be this and then you'll be accepted Jesus says to you and me with our flaws and our sins Sam. I take you just the way you are But you know what's gonna happen Sam The more you hang with me, I'm not gonna leave you that way I'm gonna transform you little by little into my image He doesn't love you because you're valuable You're valuable because he loves you

And we're gonna do just We're gonna do just like Rahab did They were waiting for the promise of Jesus the one who'd wipe out their sins, but now you have it you have it And the scripture tells us if we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us all our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness That means absolutely pure Absolutely whole before God are you two guys brothers twins? Cory it Did you bring him to church today Did you did you did he come did you come with him to church today? Is this your first time? first time All right, give me a second I'm coming down Bring it in man, bring it in buddy. What's your name? Austin? I'm glad you're here, man You didn't know that was gonna happen today did you Austin, huh? Any others here for the first time? How many up here up front for the first time first time here first time here? What's your name? Aubrey Boy, God had his assignment for you today, didn't he? What's your name brother? Chris You You know, it's amazing Chris it just blows my mind how as we grow up as men What people are the markers they make that show you're a man There's the things they put on us as markers You're a man when you do this, you know, I I Think like you like a lot of men I just sense like the Holy Spirit saying there's a lot of things that you're you've To prove that I've made it. I'm a man and they put a lot of stuff on us first beer first joint First time you drunk

The first time you have sex… That's just like Rahab. They put that stuff on us, but God's image is getting you so strong you are discovering what a real man is. What they consider weak, your courage and your strength is going to be so strong. It's not self-will. There's this undercurrent. It's what I call velvet steel. It's your tender to the things of God and people outside tender, but inside there's this steel of the Holy Spirit to be a strong, mighty man of God. That's what's coming into you. Isn't that cool? What's your name? What's your name again? Lamaris? Omaris. Yeah. How old are you? 20. Oh, it's good stuff today. It's good stuff, Omaris. Things that you never thought could be done before for you and your family are going to happen for you. You're going to be like a Jabez. Have you ever read that guy in the Bible, Jabez? There's a guy named Jabez. It says that God blessed him above his brothers. He said, Lord, cover me. Give me more territory. All for the honor of God.

There's this guy, Jabez, that just stuck out from among the family and even his own brothers. It's almost like the Spirit of God says, it's like that Jabez. Go read that story. Go look it up. Google it. There's something God wants to distinctly take you. When others would say, well, that's because, and that's because you're going to say one thing. It's because I chose to follow God and listen to him and the choices I've made. This is why he's allowed me to excel. I'm not superior than anybody else. This is just what obedience does to God. Spirit of God, I pray that on this young man. That heart like Jabez, when you see everything else pull him to the sides, something distinctly comes in him to follow God with all of his heart. In the name of Jesus. Everybody pray. Pray for these young men, all of them. Pray for all these young men up here today. There's a lot of them. Guys, put your hand on the young men. Would you men start laying your hands on young men? Just put your hands. Spirit of God, that they would be, you would, you would take them and separate them out to the side. These young men, God, full of the Spirit of God to find what the real markings and the real, what a real man is, then start blessing them above their brothers, not for arrogance, not to be condescending, but they know that they will declare who it is that raised them up and who they have chosen to follow. And God's blessings are going to come to your hands, to your minds, your thoughts.

You're going to run into blessings by accident. Favor of God to be on you young men. There's something on you, something on you. Spirit of God, Spirit of God. Okay. Let's pray. Okay. I want you to make this confession today, ladies, men. I want you to join me in this prayer and this whole church is going to join you. Okay. Sorry. I just want to take a minute, everybody. Okay. Sorry for a minute. I just almost forgot about y'all out there, but sorry. I just, just want to take a minute. I want you to say this to God and pray. Say Lord Jesus, today I completely surrender. You're my God and I'm your child and today I surrender to you. Lord Jesus, I receive what you did for me when you went to the cross and you allowed them to crucify you so that I could have life, so that I could be forgiven, so that I could conquer with you against every. power of darkness that would try to destroy me and those around me. So today, Lord Jesus, I take a stand. I declare you are the son of the living God that took my sins on the cross that lived the life I couldn't live. But you conquered death. You rose from the dead and you're my soon coming king. And I receive everything that you did for me on the cross. I receive my identity in you. I am who you declare that I am, Jesus. And I am your child. I am forgiven. I am clean. I will spend eternity with you. I declare that I am an overcomer and that from glory to glory, step by step, I'm going to keep following you. And I'm going to be turned more and more each day, each moment into your image, because today I'm not

turning back. And I take my stand that I am your child and I will never be the same. I am redeemed, forgiven, and I am valuable because you first loved me. And for this, Jesus, I just gotta praise you. And I just gotta thank you. Come on now, let's do it, friends. Let's just praise him and let's thank him with all of our heart. Come on, let's thank him. Come on, let's praise him like heaven is praising over them church. Let's rejoice and dance like angels are rejoicing and dancing in heaven over our brothers and our sisters today. Jesus, you're a Lord. Jesus, you're our savior. Jesus, you're our soon coming king. Oh, Jesus. Now I want you, before you leave this room, it's going to stay up on the screen and those of you watching online too, because I know you've been transformed. I want you to take a screenshot and grab a hold of this QR code before you leave. And I just want you to text me the word forgiven, okay? Text me the word forgiven. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to help you start walking this journey. We're going to help. We're going to start walking this. You're going to, you're going to start tuning in to the right voices that are speaking the things of God over you. We'll start tuning in. Okay. And for some of you, I want you to get water baptized next Sunday. Just go get water baptized. I'm going to follow Jesus. I'm going all the way to Jesus. Okay. Father, as we lift our hands to you, I declare this over your great people and over these that are your sons and daughters new to the family. I declare over you that he loves you. He loves you. And that his blessing and favor is on you. And so now I declare that the Lord blesses you and the Lord keeps you. His face shines on you. And he is gracious to you. He lifts his countenance upon you and he gives you peace because you are his children and the enemy cannot take this from you. You were bought with a high price and you are valuable because God loves you in Jesus Christ's name. And all God's people said, now let's go crazy over our brothers and sisters in the Lord today. Amen. I love y'all. Jesus loves you more. Amen. If you need prayer, our prayer partners are here. God bless you. Go in the joy of the Lord. Pastors take some time with these folks that you prayed with today. God bless you.