What’s on the Other Side of Your Faith? | Cami Robledo

God, we're here for you, we're here to worship. Thank you Jesus. ♪ He's on the move, He's on the move ♪ ♪ The Lord is here, the Lord is here ♪ ♪ We welcome Him with songs of praise ♪ ♪ Let faith arise in the atmosphere ♪ ♪ The Lord is here, we glorify His name ♪ ♪ We glorify His name ♪ ♪ We surrender everything we're laden at the feet of Jesus ♪ ♪ No limit to what He's about to do ♪ ♪ Every chain, every curse is broken at the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ No limit to what He's about to do ♪ ♪ Cause He's on the move, we sing ♪ ♪ The Lord is here, the Lord is here ♪ ♪ We welcome Him with songs of praise ♪ ♪ Let faith arise in the atmosphere ♪ ♪ The Lord is here, we glorify His name ♪ ♪ Yes we do Lord, we glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you've tasted heaven, glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you've been forgiven, glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you know He's risen, glorify His name ♪ ♪ Glorify His name, oh ♪ ♪ If you've tasted heaven, and we glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you've been forgiven, we glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you know He's risen, glorify His name ♪ ♪ Glorify His name, oh ♪ ♪ The Lord is here, the Lord is here ♪ ♪ We welcome Him with songs of praise ♪ ♪ Let faith arise in the atmosphere ♪ ♪ The Lord is here, we glorify His name ♪

♪ The Lord is here, the Lord is here ♪ ♪ We welcome Him with songs of praise, oh ♪ ♪ Let faith arise in the atmosphere ♪ ♪ The Lord is here, we glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you've tasted heaven, glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you've been forgiven, we glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you know He's risen, glorify His name ♪ ♪ Glorify His name, oh ♪ ♪ If you've tasted heaven, glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you've been forgiven, glorify His name ♪ ♪ If you know He's risen, glorify His name ♪ ♪ Glorify His name, oh ♪ Come on, let's glorify the name of Jesus. Yes, we glorify You, Lord. ♪ Oh, you are good, the Lord is good ♪ ♪ Oh, we thank You for Your presence ♪ ♪ We thank You for Your presence ♪ Let's sing, the Lord is my shepherd. ♪ The Lord is my shepherd, my refuge and my shelter ♪ ♪ Though enemies surround me, I will not be afraid ♪ ♪ He's my defender, yes He is ♪ ♪ He's faithful and patient ♪ ♪ He's loving and He's gracious ♪ ♪ From age to age His goodness never changes ♪ And I will sing praise. ♪ I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ All of my days are held by His grace ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good, the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Always, always, yes You are ♪

♪ You're my prize and my treasure ♪ ♪ He's good beyond all measure ♪ ♪ Oh I've tasted and I've seen there's nothing better ♪ ♪ So forever I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ All of my days are held by His grace ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ All of my days are held by His grace ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good, the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Always, always, yes You are ♪ ♪ The Lord is good always, always, always ♪ ♪ You're good, You're good ♪ ♪ Oh I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ages ♪ ♪ Holding to the hope that's never failing ♪ ♪ I've got all I need, cause I've got You, oh ♪ ♪ Oh I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ages ♪ ♪ Holding to the hope that's never failing ♪ ♪ I've got all I need, cause I've got You, oh ♪ ♪ I'm standing, oh I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ages ♪ ♪ Holding to the hope that's never failing ♪ ♪ I've got all I need, cause I've got You, oh ♪ ♪ Oh I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always, and all of my days ♪ ♪ Are held by His grace, for the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Is good always, and I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always, and all of my days ♪ ♪ Are held by His grace, for the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Is good always, always, always, always, always ♪

♪ For the Lord is good always, always, always, always ♪ ♪ I'm standing, oh I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ages ♪ ♪ One true love that's never fading, I've got all I need ♪ ♪ I've got all I need, cause I've got you, do you believe it today? ♪ ♪ I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ages ♪ ♪ One true love that's never fading, I've got all I need, cause I've got you, yes I do ♪ ♪ I've got all I need, cause I've got you, yes I do, oh I've got all I need ♪ ♪ I need you, cause I want you ♪ ♪ I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ All of my days are held by His grace ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good, the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Always, always, always, the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Always, always, the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Yes He is, yes He is, yes He will get me, yes He will get me ♪ God is always good, amen. He's so faithful. Can we just take a moment and just, come on, can we just acknowledge that? God, you're so faithful. God, you're so good, but you're so worthy. Lord, all of this is about you, Jesus. This is all about you. Lord, we declare your faithfulness, your goodness. You know, we're gonna continue in worship here in just a moment, and we're gonna be singing this word, Elohim, and I just wanna let you know that Elohim is a Hebrew word for the name of God. And it's mentioned all through the Old Testament, hundreds and hundreds of times.

In fact, it's mentioned in the very first scripture in the Bible, it says, in the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. And so this, we're gonna be singing a reminder that we're worshiping a creator when we're in this room. We're worshiping somebody who is far beyond our comprehension of how powerful. He's somebody that cares for us so much. We're singing to a God that created the universe and knows each of us by name. So we're singing to Elohim, God, our creator. So come on, let's worship. Thank you, Jesus. Creator of heaven. Thank you, Jesus. ♪ And worthy of our praises ♪ ♪ Time and time again we worship you ♪ ♪ Whom anyone with eyes can see a mountain ♪ ♪ But anyone with faith will see a moon ♪ ♪ Oh, Elohim, you're the God who goes before me ♪ ♪ Prince of peace, my heart is found in you ♪ ♪ You're the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ There's no end to who you are ♪ ♪ And there's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Merciful and true, oh God of every virtue ♪ ♪ You're solid rock we're standing on ♪ ♪ You're holy and you're kind, dear bear me your light ♪ ♪ We magnify the worthy one ♪ ♪ Yeah, we magnify the worthy one ♪ ♪ We're singing, Elohim, you're the God who goes before me ♪

♪ Prince of peace, my heart is found in you ♪ ♪ Peace of peace in my heart is found, oh ♪ ♪ You the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ You're the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ There's no end to who you are ♪ ♪ There's no end to who you are ♪ ♪ And there's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ And there's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ There's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ If no one is higher, God, our provider, peace, peace ♪ ♪ He's good beyond measurement, worthy forever ♪ ♪ He's good beyond measure, worthy forever, Elohim ♪ ♪ If no one is higher, God, our provider, peace, peace ♪ ♪ He's good beyond measure, worthy forever ♪ ♪ If no one is higher, God, our provider, peace, peace ♪ ♪ He's good beyond measure, worthy forever, Elohim ♪ ♪ If no one is higher, God, our provider, peace, peace ♪ ♪ He's good beyond measure, worthy forever ♪ ♪ We sing Elohim, the God who comes before you ♪ ♪ The God who comes before you ♪ ♪ The Queen and Son of Peace ♪ ♪ And my heart has found a home ♪ ♪ You're the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ There's no end to who you are ♪ ♪ And there's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ There's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Oh, no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Because we know that you're great, Lord ♪

♪ We know that you're a big God ♪ ♪ You're the Holy One, the Holy One ♪ ♪ You're the worthy one ♪ ♪ There's no limit to who you are ♪ ♪ There's no limit to your greatness ♪ ♪ We magnify you, Lord, we magnify you ♪ ♪ There's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, yes, we magnify you, Lord ♪ ♪ No limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, there's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, there's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ We sing no one! ♪ Him, no one is higher, the God provider of peace, of peace ♪ ♪ He is good beyond measure, worthy forever, Elohim ♪ ♪ Him, no one is higher, the God provider of peace, of peace ♪ ♪ He is good beyond measure, worthy forever ♪ We sing Elohim, you're the God who goes before me. ♪ Prince of peace, and my heart is found a home ♪ ♪ You're the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ There's no end to who you are ♪ ♪ And there's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ There's no limit to your throne ♪ ♪ Your throne ♪ ♪ No limit to Your greatness ♪ ♪ No limit to Your glory ♪ ♪ So we magnify the Lord ♪ ♪ Yes, we magnify You, Jesus ♪ Come on, let's sing this, we sing. ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪

♪ All hail, Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Savior of the world ♪ Come on, we sing. ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ All hail, the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ Praise to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ And let every knee come down before the King of kings ♪ ♪ Let every tongue confess that He is Lord ♪ ♪ Lift up your shout, let it resound with all who can ♪ ♪ We sing holy, we sing holy, we crown holy, we sing holy ♪ ♪ We sing holy, we sing holy, we crown holy, we sing holy ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Lord of heaven and earth ♪

♪ All hail, King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail, the Savior of the world ♪ Praise to you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Can we give King Jesus a shout of praise in this place? We praise you, Jesus. We celebrate you, God. Come on, church. Jesus is here. The presence of God is here. The Spirit of God is here. He's worthy of the praise, the honor, the glory. We praise you, Jesus. Praise you, God. I love that on a weekend like this we can be reminded of who the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is amen I love that we can declare all hail King Jesus the Lord of heaven and earth in fact Paul echoes this in Acts chapter 17 he's talking to the Athenians and he is explaining to them because they've been worshiping an unknown God and he says I want to tell you who the true God is here's what he says in Acts chapter 17 verse 24 he says he is the God who made the world and everything in it since he is Lord of heaven and earth he is in control he's the king of the universe he's the boss he's the sovereign ruler he says I want to tell you that's the God we're talking about and he says he doesn't live in man-made temples but then he goes on to say in verse 27 he says his purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him and then listen to this though he is not far from any one of us God is near he's close amen and so here's here's what I want to do as we are celebrating this Independence Day weekend celebrating 250 years as a nation honoring those who have sacrificed and given of their lives so that we can enjoy this freedom we wanted to take a moment this weekend and

pray and pray for our nation and specifically we want to come into agreement with what Paul said 2,000 years ago that God's desire is that the nations would seek him can we just pray for America that our nation will be known as a nation that seeks God that pursues God that loves God that stands on righteousness and justice come on I'm gonna pray out loud and I invite you to pray corporately with me if you feel comfortable just open your mouth and pray with me father we thank you for this great nation we thank you for America we thank you father for the freedom that we enjoy to come into a place like this and to worship and to lift our voices and to celebrate you we thank you for that God and we pray right now that this nation would turn to seek you that you would be our number one desire our passion our drive our goal our nation needs you we need revival we pray Holy Spirit for an outpouring of your spirit in America we pray that you would draw people to yourself we pray for revival in the schools revival at the colleges revival in the in the in the corporate America revival in the churches father we need you Jesus and we ask you right now because your word says blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord we declare you are Lord and you are Lord of all in this place in Jesus name and everybody said amen and amen let's give him praise one more time amen amen well listen it was so great worshiping with you and as we continue in the service today I'm so excited because our very own Kami Robledo is actually going to be bringing the word today if you don't know her she's a part of our worship department but she has a great message for us and you're gonna hear more about that here in just a moment but before we turn our attention to her why don't you turn to two or three people greet them and welcome them to Gateway Church a nation formed by imperfect people through rain and storm to cement our rights that come not from government but from God today we remember the men and women who sacrificed the generations who prayed and our freedoms granted by the price Jesus paid and to this day families still pray churches still sing hope still rises the very reason our hope survives is for these 250 years God

has been faithful and we look ahead knowing he will remain faithful so as our flag flies this 4th of July we celebrate more than a nation's birthday we celebrate God's goodness God bless America ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Hey, church family. I hope you're having a wonderful summer. I'm so excited about this weekend. Not only is it 250 years as a nation, I hope you're finding some time to be with family, to celebrate this moment, and I pray that you'll take a moment to pray. We pray for God's continued blessing over our nation. We pray for favor, and most of all, we pray for revival, that the Spirit of God would move in a fresh way in and through the people of this great nation. I'm also excited about this weekend because we're doing something very special that I know you're going to love, and we're calling it Young Communicators Weekend. You know, in our heart, mine and Tammy's have always been to raise up the next generation of leaders and to give ministry away. We never wanted to stand in the way of what God was doing in the lives of people. And so one of the things that we're launching this weekend is Young Communicators.

And here's simply what that means. It means this, is that we've taken some of the team who we believe have the gift of communicating God's Word. We've spent months with them, helping them develop the message and develop the outline and hear from the Lord and complete their message. And now this weekend, at every campus, we have different communicators sharing the Word of God. And so let me just tell you, for some of them, very first time, they're standing on the platforms they're standing on. And I told them, I said, our church family is going to love you. They're going to cheer you on. They're going to clap. They're going to amen more than they normally do to encourage the gift and encourage the step of faith that these communicators are taking as we see God develop a fresh gift on the inside of them. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to lean in. I believe God's going to speak to you today. And I want you to be encouraging, and I want you to amen. I want you to open your heart for what God may want to say to you today through His Word and through His people. So at every location, here's what I want you to do. Get up on your feet and put your hands together

and welcome to the stage the one who will be communicating God's Word today. Come on, celebrate with me. Good morning, church. Good morning, good morning. Good morning, church. What an incredible day to be in the house of God. Amen? Amen. Guys, I'm kind of still a mess from worship. It was hard to not just cry my eyes out down there. But first and foremost, I want to thank our leaders, Pastor Daniel and Pastor Tammy, for this opportunity. I think it's absolutely amazing that all across of our campuses right now, there are young communicators getting to practice their gifts, and we're a church that doesn't just believe in the next generation, but we equip them and we empower them. Isn't that incredible? Yeah, that's amazing. That is amazing. And so thank you so much for being here with us today. If it's your first time, I want to welcome you to Gateway Church. We're so glad you're here with us today.

And if you're joining us online, whether at our Gateway gatherings, at our prison campuses, or on demand later in the week, thank you so much. We're so glad you're here with us today. Guys, I'm excited. Happy 4th of July weekend. Y'all, I love the church. I grew up in the church. I'm a pastor's kid from Miami. So 305 till I die. I know there might not be a lot of Miami people in here, but I absolutely love it. And I know Pastor Daniel has kind of joked about how here in the South, y'all would do Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. That was a hefty thing. You were in the church. And let me tell y'all something. Us Hispanics, we took that and we said, we're going to put it on steroids. We are going to go Tuesday night discipleship, Wednesday night prayer, Thursday night worship rehearsal, Friday night youth nights, and Saturdays we almost always ended up there for no reason probably. But normally for either a Christmas rehearsal

or Easter thing or getting back to our local community, whatever we could do, we would be in church. And by we, I mean me. I was there all the time. You could ask my parents. I literally was at church more than at home sometimes. You're also going to hear me say literally a lot. That's a Miami accent thing. So enjoy it. And so I was at church so much that being there actually caused me to be at a really significant crossroads when I was about 16 years old. I remember that my parents approached me and they said, Cami, we're moving to Dallas. And I said, we? I don't think so. But they said, you can pray about it and you can either finish high school, which I had a year and a half left, or you can stay with your sister. siblings under their guardianship. My sister's 11 years older than I am, she's here today. My brother's five years older than I am, he's watching online. And I was like, cha-ching, I'm staying with my family, like my sibling, this is gonna be so fun. No parents during senior year, prom is gonna go crazy, like this is gonna be amazing. And so, yeah, I had no good ideas and no good intentions in that.

And so I was like, all right, I'm cool, I'm gonna stay here. But as any normal Christian saint would, I was like, let me pray about it, like I should probably pray about this. And so I was praying about it and I just started having like panic attacks and anxiety attacks. And guys, I had a panic attack in English class. And if you ever run out of a classroom and take 20 minutes in the bathroom, you know they don't think you're having a panic attack. They think you had bad Mexican food at lunch. And so I was like, this is not okay, I need peace. Like, I don't know what's happening. And one day my mom picked me up from school and we parked at a CVS Y Mas. Y Mas means and more in Spanish. And so for all of y'all that aren't from Miami, Spanglish is our national language. Everyone speaks it. We don't speak enough English and we don't speak enough Spanish. So we just mesh them together and we're like, I hope this works. And it actually does. And so we were outside this CVS Y Mas, which basically means it's a normal CVS that y'all have, but then everything you could find at your abuela's house that you need because you live in the States now, so you're not back home.

So we're parked outside there. And I don't know why my mom just turns over and she was like, Cami, I'm gonna say y'all from the Spanish. She was like, Cami, I can't leave all my three children behind. Can you please, please think about moving with us? And guys, I had so many excuses to not do it. I was the captain of the varsity soccer team at school. I was in choir. I was in a really rigorous academic program. I was on the worship team at church. I was involved in absolutely anything and everything you could possibly think of. I was there. And so I was like, I'm not doing this. Like I could have thought of so many reasons why not to do it. And before I could even think of reasons, like they were there, trust me. I had been repeating them for weeks. Before I could think of those, I felt the strongest impression I've ever had in my life of God speak to me and say, you've been praying for peace. Dallas is your peace. And I want to pause there for a moment and acknowledge that I know that peace is not confined to a location. It's not confined to a building.

It's not about a specific place. It's only found in Jesus. But he knew my prayers. He knew that I was like, Miami, Dallas, Miami, Dallas. Give me peace, Miami, Dallas. And he spoke to me how he knew best. And isn't that the best? That God knows exactly how to give us a word right when we need it. Right, church? Right? And so I tell you this story because I was at a really significant crossroads when I was about 16 years old. I was a young high school girl. And it's not lost on me that in this room, there's so many stories. There's so many of us that find ourselves at those crossroads. It might not be moving states, but it could be stepping into that relationship, stepping out of that relationship. It could be making that business investment or not making it. It could be reaching out to that friend that there's been some tension and you're not sure what's going on and you're kind of putting it off. It could be as big as moving states. It could be, should we have kids right now

or should we not? We all find ourselves in these crossroads. And it's in moments like these that I personally look to scripture to see what God has taught us. What is the blueprint of what to do when we're faced with these questions and doubts and situations that feel like they're a little bit too big for our own humanity? And so someone I think of in scripture that lived this out perfectly is Rahab. And so a few fun facts about Rahab is her story is written in Joshua chapter two. And what's going on here is I'm just gonna give you a synopsis cause it's a pretty long chapter. And what's happening is Moses died while they were going to the promised land and the leadership of Israel was left over to Joshua. And so Joshua heard from the Lord that the next city they had to conquer was Jericho. And so he sent two spies over to the city, you know, to scout the land, to see their weaknesses, their strengths, what their, yeah, what the whole setup is like. I wasn't back there in war, but they needed to know the setup just like we know now. And so they send the spies and these spies run into a woman named Rahab.

So fun facts about Rahab is that she is a pagan. She's a Canaanite. She lives in the border of the city. Jericho's a fortified city. So it was kind of like a whole cylinder like this. She lives in the border of the city. And if there weren't any more reasons as to why she's the least expected person that God would partner with in this story, on top of that, Rahab was. was a prostitute. And so we don't expect much from this story, but these men arrive at Rahab's house, and the government comes to look for them, and Rahab has a decision to make. But she says, in exchange of me hiding you, I ask that when you come and take over this city, that you spare me and my family's lives. So let's stop right there for a second. Imagine yourself as Rahab. She's in a city that God is about to judge, and this isn't a fun thing. But I wonder what kind of questions cross her mind, because she said yes to these spies. I wonder if she asked, is this the right decision? Is this not the right decision? Do I let them stay, do I not? What's gonna happen to my life if I do? And what's gonna happen if I don't? There was so much uncertainty on the other side of that,

and she had no idea, and yet she still did it. And I think that a lot of us are in that same place. Do I do it? Do I not? Do I go? Do I stay? Maybe like me, a 16-year-old, do I move? Do I stay in the comfortable? What do I do? What Rahab shows us is that she stepped out in faith without knowing what was on the other side of it. And so today, if you're taking notes, the sermon title is, What's on the other side of your faith? So Father, we thank you. We thank you for your word that is perfect and true. And we ask that Holy Spirit, you would illuminate our eyes to see Jesus, that you would help us understand, and that at the end of the day, you would give us courage to step out in faith. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen. Amen, church. So when I think of Rahab, the first thing that comes to my mind in her story is that her faith came first. So if you have your Bibles with you, whoa, fun little new thing. If you have your Bibles with you, can you open them up to Joshua chapter two?

I also accept digital Bibles, it's all right. We're good, I have mine right here. Joshua chapter two, verse eight. It says, before the spies laid down for the night, she went up on the roof and she 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. We have heard, can y'all say we have heard? We have heard. Y'all are the 11 o'clock, a little louder. We have heard. We have heard. Let's go. We have heard 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. 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 earth below. God is heaven above and on earth below. I find it really interesting that Rahab out of all people said this because if you don't have, I didn't have much before studying all of this that the cultural context and the historical context is that this is a pagan city.

They do not serve the God of Israel. They do not know the God of Israel. She had no context to know of this God before this. She didn't have like we had Sunday school. She didn't have like they had a temple, a synagogue, the law. She didn't have any of that to make this confession and yet that was her confession. The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below. And it was this confession that when the spies told her to put up a scarlet cord over her window and that would be the identifier that they wouldn't attack her home, that she did it. She took that step first because she says, the Lord your God, not all the other gods I've served all my life, not all the other pagan gods that my city has tried to offer me, that is not God. Those are not the gods that I know is real. The God of Israel, He seems to be the God. He seems to be the one. And I know that in this room, we might not all have those pagan gods that Rahab had, but if we're honest with ourselves, we all have our own gods. We all have our own idols in our hearts, things that we put first before Jesus, our financial status, our education, the things we look for safety and comfort, things we run to when we need satisfaction.

We make God the things that aren't Him. But it's interesting that Rahab, she said this before even Romans 10, 17 says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so a lot of us, that's our first step today. Faith comes first. Our first step is saying, He is who He says He is. Right, church? He is who He says He is, right? And what Rahab did was she responded to what she heard. She hadn't yet seen the other side of what would happen if she said yes. Of what would happen if she harbored these ties. If what would happen on the other side. Because I think she teaches us that faith is not believing God after you see the outcome. It's trusting him before you see it. And a lot of us have a lot of trouble with that. Let me tell you I'm the first one. Because she knew that she had the danger right in front of us. But with a lot of us that's not the story. But faith is something that God invites us to step into. The Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11 saying, now faith is confidence in what we hope for. And assurance about what we do not see. You see Rahab she had confidence in what she hoped for. And she had assurance about what she had not yet seen. She hadn't seen the end of the story. If you read later in Joshua you read the end of the story. That the city does get taken over. That it does become complete destruction and complete and utter mishap. She doesn't know that yet.

But she knew that she had come face to face with two people that represented that God. She represented the God that was powerful. The God that was mighty. And she was confident even though she couldn't see it. Because I think that we forget that real faith is actually supposed to provoke action. You know Pastor Mark Job talked about that last week in his sermon. He said when we are called our job is to go. Because responding to God's prompting isn't blind faith. It's biblical faith. It's not just I'm walking in the dark. I'm going in a direction I don't know of. No. It's walking in the light. It's seeing that he's prompting us in a certain direction. But you see a lot of us in this room we have a lot of reasons as to why we delay those steps of faith. One of those reasons is we think we need more certainty. You can tell yourself like no I need to be 100% sure before I make this decision. But let me tell you if you had complete certainty it wouldn't be faith in the first place. And I tell you with a smile on my face because I know that that's hard for us in the room. But you know if we're honest with ourselves. If we were in Rahab's position and these spies come to our home. We would be like let me think about it. Let me let me pray about it. Let me tell my support group. I'm gonna submit it to my elders. I'm going to ask everyone. I'm going to pray again. And then after I pray I'm going to ask chat GPT what chat thinks about the decision. And then go ahead and make a decision based off of that. And then once I'm sure about that then I'll do it.

Right? Am I the only one? Just me? Okay amazing amazing. It reminds me really of my three-year-old niece Abby. She's learning how to swim and it is genuinely the cutest thing in the world. Like she is just a bubble of joy. And so I wonder what would happen right? She's swimming. What if one day she came up to me and she was like Tia I want to swim. And I'm like amazing. Let's jump in the water. Like let's get in. Let's do it. And she goes no no no I'm not gonna get into the water until I'm 100% certain I know how to swim. For all the swimmers in the room we know you have to get in the water in order to swim right? Right? And what would you think if someone told you that? You'd be like it's kind of silly. Like you need to get in you need to get in the water to swim. But that's the same with faith. You need to jump. You need to take that step. Faith is not idle. Faith is in action. It's an action. It's not a thought. It's not an opinion. Faith is an action. But I wonder how many of us do that?

I'll be honest I do it. God show me a lightning bolt from heaven. Right now. If it's you start a storm. And it's like he's not gonna do it. It's a sunny day out like he's not gonna do that. Or tell a stranger on the street to come and tell me that my shoes are cute. And then I know it's you. And it's like odds are in south like someone might do it. Honestly someone's gonna come up to you and probably do that. But the thing is that's not what God's asking us to do. He's not asking us to go make sure if everything's certain. He's not asking us to go check every box. He's asking us to simply respond. He's asking us to simply jump. He's asking us to simply trust. And you see there may be others in the room whose response to this is is not the need for certainty but it's actually a lot of fear. And I can relate with that. I can understand being in a position where you say and you freeze literally like that. You freeze, it panics you. And a bunch of questions come to your mind, like, this is too much for me. Like, what am I supposed to do? What happens if I make the right decision? What happens if I make the wrong decision? What are people gonna think of me? Like, there's so many things that go through our minds. And maybe fear isn't the thing you struggle with,

but maybe it's doubt. Maybe it's cynicism. Maybe it's doubting that God would even support you, that God is even there for you. That maybe he doesn't even hear your prayers anymore. And there's a lot of us in this room that could come up with a lot of excuses. We can come up with what ifs, negative what ifs, honestly. We never really think of the positive ones, right? We're just like, what if I die? And it's like, well, what if you have the best day of your life? Like, there's just so many opportunities, you know? Right, yeah, we had a celebration back there. Yeah. And I think it's because we don't see the ending. And we might not even know every single step. The word says that in Psalms, that God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. And Pastor Mark mentioned this last week too. A lamp does not go too far, guys. It doesn't go too far, but it gives us right where we need. It gives us light exactly where we need. Every step we take, every step we take, there's a light to our feet. There's a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. And we have to understand that when we're at a crossroads, we have to remind ourselves that the God we serve, we can have confidence in Him.

Rahab knew that and she didn't even know Him yet. She had just heard of Him. So how much more us that we have infinite exposure to the Bible, to the stories, to the people's testimonies, we can have confidence and assurance that we can trust our God because He will not put us to shame, amen? Come on, I said He will not put us to shame. God will not put us to shame because if He said it, He will do it, amen? Can y'all repeat after me? If God said it, I believe it. Come on, one more time. If God said it, I believe it. You see, in that moment, Rahab didn't know her outcome. And many of you might not know your outcome, but she didn't need more convincing. She didn't need the lightning bolt from heaven that we often ask for. She was just asked to act, to jump, to do it. And let me tell you something, that Rahab had a lot to lose, a lot to lose. If y'all can turn your Bibles to verse two through seven of Joshua chapter two, where we're at. It says, the King of Jericho was told, look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land. So the King of Jericho sent this message to Rahab. Knock, bring out the men who came to you and entered your house

because they have come to spy out the whole land. But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, yes, the men came to me, but I don't know where they had come from. And at dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don't know which way they went. So go after them quickly. You might catch up with them. But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. 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. You see what Rahab did right there is what us in modern times would call treason. And if she were to be caught historically, she would have been imprisoned. She could have been tortured. And eventually it could have led to the death of both her and her entire family. Why did she say yes? Why did she act? Because the decision she just made put her in a risk that was not theoretical. It was a literal danger on her life. But you know what, she does it anyway. She's betting her entire life and her entire family's life

on this God of Israel. And she might not have complete certainty, but she trusted him. Because would you put your entire family on the line? Every family member at the stake. Would you do that? She wasn't trusting God from a position of safety. She was trusting God when it could have cost her everything. Everything. Can you imagine her thought process? How do you even make that decision? I think I tend to forget that this is a real person here. This isn't a tale or a fable from a long time ago. This is a real person that had to make a real decision. And maybe in this room, Crossroads you're at isn't a life or death decision. I can understand that, even though there are people that to this day, there is, there are. Might not be a life and death decision, but what we can learn from her, from Rahab, is that she was willing to risk it all. She was willing. I know at a young 16 years old, I felt like I was willing, kind of, not really. I felt like I was risking a lot, you know? Like for a 16 year old, it felt like a lot. I was risking my support system, my circle, my community, my activities, and maybe for you, the risk of that next step of faith is what your family might think of you,

what your friends might think of you, what your school mates might think of you, what the people in the boardroom might think of you. Maybe that's your risk. Maybe it'll cost you some friendships, and maybe it'll cost you some connections, and maybe it'll cost you a social status, but are you willing to risk it? Because I honestly wonder if we're all honest with ourselves, if we're really just a little too comfortable with where God has us. I think we know that a change would require us to change our preferences, and our opinions, and what we value, and what we want, and if I'm honest, I don't like to do that. And I think if you're honest, you don't like it either. I'm with you, I promise. I think that we cling to what brings us the most safety, and the most security, and they can look different for all of us, but what we can learn from Rahab is she risked it all. Charles Spurgeon says that faith is believing Christ is who he says he is, and acting upon that belief regardless of the consequences. It doesn't matter what the consequences are, I believe him, I'm doing it. I believe him, I'm doing it. You see, God isn't asking us to do the comfortable thing, he's asking us to do the courageous thing.

If we were all comfortable, and historically if everyone stayed comfortable, we wouldn't have a faith to begin with. All the apostles died a cruel, awful death. I don't think that was comfortable. I don't think being crucified was comfortable. And hey, that next decision you're taking might not be as extreme as that, but it might feel like God's just asking a little too much from you. He's asking for the thing you cherish most. But I wanna tell you today that the reward is far, far, far greater than the risk. And you might be, that next decision, even though it feels like it's too much, God, what he can do in return with that is bigger than anything we could plan ourselves, invest ourselves, build ourselves, logically make ourselves. It's almost always bigger. There's nothing that he will take from us that we will not get something in return that's bigger and better than we asked for. And it doesn't always look like what we thought it looked like. You know, it reminds me of this hymn. It says, take the world, but give me Jesus. All its joys are but a name, but his love abides forever, though eternal years the same.

Oh, the height and the depth of mercy. Oh, the length and breadth of love. Oh, the fullness of redemption, pledge of life and less above. Take the world, but give me Jesus, sweetest comfort of my soul. With the Savior watching over me, I can sing the Thunder's Roll. Take the world, and I will add, take my comfort, take my preferences, take my opinion, take my political party, take my economic status, take my friend group, take my degree, take anything you want from me, but give me Jesus. In his cross, my trust shall be, till with clearer, brighter vision, face to face, the Lord I see. It rings in my ears, Philippians 3, 7, that says, but whatever were gains to me now, I consider a loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. And I consider it all garbage that I may gain Christ. And I'd like to believe that that was Rahab's posture of heart. Even though she had only heard of this God, I wonder if deep in her spirit, she had the confidence that no matter what she would lose,

there was a greater reward ahead. Reward ahead. That's a hard word for a Hispanic. There was a greater reward ahead. And I wanna encourage you today, church, that no matter what you lose, there is a greater reward ahead. Amen? Amen. This leads me to my third and final. point that says, faith goes beyond you. That's what we can learn from Rahab. In chapter two, verses 12 to 14, it says this. Now then please swear to me by the Lord, this is Rahab. 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 that you will spare the lives of my father and my mother, my brothers and my sisters and all, y'all say all, all who belong to them and you will save us from death. What's beautiful of this story that I think is incredibly special and precious is that Rahab thought of her family first. She wanted to make sure that the safety, the protection, the salvation that she got was extended to her family, that it would go beyond her. And listen, y'all, if that were me, that would be a really packed house. I'm Hispanic and so I know that in a Hispanic family, we are huge and we also take on a lot of our friends

as family, I think here today, I have like 10 or 15 that are my family or family that are friends, right? My Latinos, yes, I see y'all, I see y'all, my family's here, family, friends, it's a lot of us. We are a lot of people and Middle Eastern families aren't much different, they are a lot of people. And she said, I want everyone saved. I want everyone in this house and everyone that belongs to everyone, everyone's gonna get saved, I promise, everyone is in this home. And isn't that incredible? It's amazing that it went beyond her, it wasn't just about her, it wasn't just about her benefits, it wasn't just about her gain because when you act out in real faith, it's not just about yourself, it really isn't, we think it is, but it's what God wants to do in the other people's lives around you as well. And what we learned from her is that her faith became a doorway for others, not because she was special and she could save them, but because her decision created a way and an opportunity and experience for them to experience God's rescue on their own. They got to experience God's rescue on their own because of her decision. And sometimes I could admit, I don't know about you, that when I'm praying about that next thing, when I'm thinking about that next leap,

when I'm thinking about something I need to step out in faith in, a lot of my prayers sound like, how is this gonna affect my life? How are my days gonna be changed? How are my comforts gonna be taken from me? How are my preferences gonna change? I can admit that I can be selfish in that. And I wonder how many of them in this room can admit that as well. That even though we would wanna be the best versions of ourselves, sometimes we really, at the end of the day, are concerned about our own lives. And you see, that's just not how God works. It's not. He wants your faith to go beyond you. Yeah, he wants, come on. Yes, I like that energy. He wants your faith to go beyond you, yeah. I love that man back there. Yes. He wants it to go into your classroom and your boardroom. He wants it to go into your workspace. He wants it to go into the grocery store you're shopping in. He wants it to go at the blowout bar you're getting your hair done in. He wants it to go everywhere. He wants it to spread to everyone. And let me tell you, friends, you might be one courageous act away

from affecting your leaders, your grandparents, your cousins, your family members, your brothers, your sisters. You might be one act away because let me tell you, Rahab's entire family was spared that day, everyone under that roof. And what if I told you that that next decision, you could affect everyone around you? Pastor Delaney told us this morning at our Circle Up that all of us have influence, every single one of us. We have the ability to impact someone around us, every single one of us. And what if we used it for good? What if we used it for God? What if we used it in the step of faith we're about to take next? And let me tell you something, this is my absolute favorite part, y'all. This is my favorite part. So Rahab, she makes this decision, right? And without even knowing it would pan out this way, when she gets saved, she ends up finding her husband in Israel. Yeah, yeah, come on. For all the single ladies and men in the room, who knows, on the other side of faith, you might find your husband. I know I did. I did, yeah.

We just got engaged, so hallelujah. And so, he's amazing, okay. I had to I had to I had to guys I had to but guys she found her husband not any just not any just husband not any husband she married someone in the tribe of Judah his name was Salmon spelled Salmon pronounced pronounced Salmon right Irene yeah yes yes pronounced Salmon I have a hard time because my whole life I've been told it's Salmon and now it's suddenly Salmon so she marries this man she marries into Israel which means she is now in God's family he's saying you are now mine what you thought you lost is now suddenly all given back to you you have a family you have who you belong to you have someone protecting you you have safety you have security guys and it does not end there it doesn't end there so Rahab marries this man Salmon right and so they have a kid named Boaz and Boaz has a son named Obed and Obed has a son named Jesse and Jesse has a son named David who we know of as King David the one who wrote the Psalms yeah the one who defeated Goliath yeah him him uh-huh yes I like that it's him and did you think she thought that did you think she knew that no and you know what's even crazier who would come through David say it louder who would come through David Jesus Christ Son of God would come through the line of David and let me tell you Rahab is one of five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus she is one of five women woven into the story that God was writing in all of history the biggest story we could ever tell the most important story we could ever tell Rahab was written in it her name is written on that paper one decision one act of faith and look at her generational impact it genuinely blows my mind I wonder I wonder what she thought in that moment like I just want to survive I don't want to suffer like this feels like an out I don't I don't think she understood the magnitude of that decision and I can tell you what I thought when I was 16 years old the summer before I even knew I was moving here I was sitting right here at a Gateway Youth Conference contemplating

taking my life away and God has turned my life around he did it it's only him ten years ago before I knew I would live here before I knew this would be my church I came as a visitor I came from out of state which is another sign send your kids to youth con send them to a place where they're getting counted the presence of God and be taught the Word of God and be instructed in his ways because God just does that he radically changes our story yeah he radically changes our story and let me tell you I don't think Rahab knew that 31 generations later 31 generations later that step of faith would bring forth Jesus that step of faith would be talking about today and I don't know about you but I haven't thought about what would happen in 31 generations if I took that step of faith I haven't haven't even thought about sometimes the next one sometimes but that's God's invitation to us because he is a generational God your faith has to go beyond you it has to extend to others it has to should be shouted from the rooftops it had to be told to every person around you and you sitting here today you might be thinking of to yourself like I don't know what would happen I don't know if people would think something weird of me I don't know if I would lose it all maybe your step of faith today or tomorrow morning on Monday is to pray for that person at work simple as that that you know they've had a hard year to pray for them maybe it is investing in that business that I mentioned before maybe it is moving states or starting a small group here in the fall at Gateway Church or starting to serve we need people to serve in youth and in kids and all over the place maybe that's a step of faith it's simple steps of faith and you might feel like you're risking rejection from people but God has acceptance for you and you might feel like you're risking provision but God has abundant life for you and today we have a chance to respond today is the day especially for those of you that haven't given your life to Jesus you've heard of him you've heard of him here today but you've chosen to keep a hand out because you just don't know what that decision might cost you and if even if it costs you thing what did we read in Philippians it's all garbage to me but to know him

but to know him the scripture says that it is by grace that we have been saved through faith and it is not from us it's a gift from God amen so church if we could all bow our heads and close our eyes this morning I know a lot of us have a lot of thoughts maybe running through our minds of things that we steps that God's asking us to take and I want you to pray about that but there are also people in this room that I know have never taken that step of faith to follow Jesus and I mean follow him surrender your life to him and today is the day the Holy Spirit has been convicting you you have felt it on your heart in this place and if that is you today and you haven't given that confession to him and surrender to him I want you right now every eye closed every head bowed to raise your hand in this room I'm the only one that's gonna see you I just want to know who I'm praying with this morning and there's nothing magical about my prayer I just want to join you it's your heart's change that matters anyone in this room I see you thank you so church can we all join and pray this out loud for the benefit of those who have just made that decision today can we all say Jesus I need you I ask for you to forgive me of all my sin I believe you died for me and I believe that God raised you from the dead today I make you my Lord and Savior thank you for your sacrifice for me in Jesus name I pray amen amen church we put our hands together and celebrate with those come on church can we give it up for Kimmy such a fantastic word so proud of so good so challenging come on how many know the future is bright for Gateway Church amen so excited for you so happy and church we had a couple of people actually raise their hand for salvation can we celebrate them too as well you just made the best decision ever and we want you to know that that is not the end that's just the beginning we want to take some steps with you we want to help you grow in your relationship with God and so there's two ways to do that first of all if you gave your life to Jesus you can just text the word Jesus to 710

10 and we can follow up with you that way but also I want to go ahead and invite our prayer team to come forward we'll have leaders here at the front and then also there in the balcony you can start making your way forward and the reason why they're coming forward is because we want the opportunity to pray with you in a moment we're going to step into just a few more choruses of a worship song and that's gonna be our opportunity to respond some of us just need to respond in worship but then the others of you you came into this place and you you have a concern a need something you're carrying maybe maybe you know God's calling you to take a step of faith and you just want someone to pray with you maybe you're going through a difficult time in your marriage or you need a breakthrough financially whatever it is we would love the opportunity to pray with you and if you said yes to Jesus I want to invite you to come forward as well because we want to pray with you and so as we get ready to move into this worship song I want everyone to respond either respond by worshiping or coming forward and inviting us to pray with you so God we just thank you so much that as we lean back into worship I pray for every person that has a prayer need today that you'd give them the courage to come forward in Jesus name Amen Amen let's worship church and I invite you forward if you have a prayer need Christ is His bow down before He is Lord Christ is Oh, what a Saviour Oh, what a Saviour ♪ Isn't he wonderful ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Bow down before him ♪ ♪ For he is Lord of all ♪

♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Christ is risen ♪ Amen, amen. I wanna encourage you to keep coming forward even as I share a few closing announcements. We'll stay here as long as we need to. We'd love the opportunity to pray with you. Just a couple of reminders. Kami mentioned YouthCon is coming up in less than two weeks. I wanna encourage you, students, you gotta come to YouthCon. Parents, get your kids there. As she mentioned, it is a transformative time. My life was personally changed at a youth conference, and so I encourage you to get the kids there. Come be a part of that. You can just text the word youth to 71010. That's youth to 71010, and we can get you signed up there. Also, in two weeks, Pastor Daniel's gonna be beginning a brand new series entitled TikTok Theology, where we're gonna be talking about what is feeding you, what are you consuming, and really going back to the truth of the word of God. We encourage you to be here two weekends from now, and also to invite some people. Lastly, I do just want to welcome all of you. If you are new to Gateway Church, or maybe this is your first time here in a very long time, we're so honored that you chose to be with us this weekend.

Come on, church. Can we put our hands together, welcome all of those that are new to Gateway. So honored you're here. And we would love the opportunity to personally connect with you, and really, there's a couple ways to do that. First of all, after service today, there's an area called Connect Central, and I'll be there along with some of our leaders. We'd love to meet you, shake your hand, answer any questions that you have. And so if you have a moment, just stop by there so we can greet you. But also, if you can't do that for whatever reason, or you're watching online, you can just text Connect to 71010, and we'll follow up with you there as well. Let me speak a blessing over you today out of Numbers chapter six. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. God bless you, we love you, and we'll see you next week. God bless you, we love you, and we'll see you next week. God bless you, we love you, and we'll see you next week.