Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Well done. Thank you for greeting me. Nice work.
[00:00:05] Love being with you. Get to be with you again. Next week we're going to talk about bonding and bull riding, but today we're going to talk about a prostitute.
[00:00:12] And we'll be in the famous city of Jericho. If you've got a text with you today, we're going to be in Joshua, chapter two. Joshua is the sixth book in your Bible. From the left.
[00:00:23] I've got a friend that I was talking to a little while ago and she says to me, you know, she was asking me about how my church is going and stuff. And then she goes, I really like your church. I go, do you come to my church? Because I don't see you. She goes, well, kinda. She says, sometimes I drive up there and I pull into the parking lot and then I just stay in my car.
[00:00:47] It's not like a drive in, right, where you've got a radio speaker or something like that. She just sits in her car. I'm like, why don't you come in? She goes, well, I don't. I don't feel worthy. Like, I don't feel good enough now.
[00:01:03] I mean, she's right. Like, none of us are worthy, right? We've all prostituted ourselves, we've all acted dishonorably.
[00:01:11] But this is precisely where the surprising kindness of God bursts through the dirty walls of Jericho.
[00:01:18] So we're going to be in Joshua 2 and there's 24 verses. We're going to go through them. All narratives in the Bible are to be read. And so we're going to read the whole thing. And then we're going to take a brief look at the three times in the New Testament that our neighborhood prostitute is mentioned.
[00:01:33] So would you bow, please? You don't have to bow if you don't want. We just say that before prayer. But I'm going to pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the scriptures and for your servant Rahab that we can learn from. And I pray that we will, and it'll be even life changing today. In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:01:51] All right, here we go. Joshua 2, starting in verse 1. Then Joshua son of nun.
[00:01:56] By the way, there's only three people in recorded history that did not have parents.
[00:02:02] Adam and Eve and Joshua son of nun.
[00:02:10] Pastor joke. Come on.
[00:02:12] Thank you. Then Joshua son of nun, secretly sent two spies from.
[00:02:18] Careful, Shittim.
[00:02:23] Go look over the land, he said, especially Jericho. So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
[00:02:31] So Joshua sends two spies 40 years after his mentor Moses sent 12 spies, of which Joshua was one of those spies. Now remember, that went badly. So only two of the 12 were faithful. And one of those was Joshua. But because of the cowardice of the other 10, the Israelite people languished in the desert for 40 years.
[00:02:53] Now, maybe Joshua sent Two Spies as an ode to the two faithful spies. Perhaps he sent Two Spies because he realized that 12 is a committee. And that is way too many.
[00:03:06] This is covert military reconnaissance. So 2 is more agile then 12. They're going in to check out Jericho. Jericho is the main city in a country called Canaan. Jericho was the seat of power in Canaan. It was also the seat of demonic idol worship. It was also the first obstacle that they would experience as they cross over the Jordan river into the rest of the promised land. So the spies stroll into town and they head straight for the brothel.
[00:03:39] Why?
[00:03:41] Why go to the house of ill repute?
[00:03:44] Well, they're spies.
[00:03:46] It's part of their cover. Out of towners go to the brothel. It's Vegas.
[00:03:52] And they were looking for information. And if anybody's got information, it's the town prostitute. Her name's Rahab. She is the star of the story. She's the only one, other than Joshua, known by name in this story.
[00:04:07] And in here, this verse you saw intentionally suggestive language.
[00:04:13] They enter and they stay there. Stay there is the translation that I have with the new international version here.
[00:04:21] And what the translators did is just. They were a little squeamish. I think they softened it.
[00:04:27] Literally. The Greek word means sorry. Hebrew word means lie down.
[00:04:33] So they enter and they lie down. Both those are Hebrew innuendos. Those are double entendres. Those are euphemisms for sexual intercourse. Now, some say that the spies mix business with pleasure. Probably not. Joshua would have chosen godly young men of character for this responsibility.
[00:04:53] You can be one of the 20%, by the way.
[00:04:56] So these words are intentionally ambiguous. And that's because the Hebrews were great storytellers. This makes for good storytelling. Now, these two young guys might be good men of character, but they're not particularly good spies. Because somebody influences notices. Somebody of influence notices immediately. Look at verse 10 or verse 2. The King of Jericho was told, look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.
[00:05:27] So these guys are already busted. Verse 3.
[00:05:31] So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab. Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house. Innuendos again. Because they have come to spy out the whole land.
[00:05:45] Now, why doesn't the king. He's the king. Just burst in there and arrest the spies? Well, that's because of the ancient rules of hospitality, the ancient hospitality customs. Even if there is an enemy in the house, you. You respect the host. And even if the host is a prostitute. Now the spies are busted, and now they're at the mercy of a pagan prostitute who is more than meets the eye. Few verses now starting in four. But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from.
[00:06:24] At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left.
[00:06:28] I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You might catch up with them.
[00:06:32] But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that she laid out on the roof. So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords, the banks of the Jordan River. And as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gates were shut. Gates were shut at night for protection.
[00:06:51] Okay, this is terribly risky for Rahab.
[00:06:56] This is a time of war, and she faces execution for treason if she is caught.
[00:07:01] And so vexing scholars and ethicists now for 3000 years, she lies more than once.
[00:07:11] She says she doesn't know where they're from. Yes, she does.
[00:07:15] She says she doesn't know where they are currently.
[00:07:17] Yes, she does.
[00:07:19] Now, this is awkward because Rahab is actually a hero lauded throughout the Bible and throughout history.
[00:07:27] But she lied.
[00:07:29] So in the discipline of ethics, this gets worked over pretty good.
[00:07:35] And the essence is, she did a bad thing, but did the right thing.
[00:07:43] She violated one of the ten Commandments. So she did not do a good thing, but she did the right thing.
[00:07:51] Discuss.
[00:07:55] Actually, we're not going to have time to discuss, but I. Go a little deeper into that in your reflection questions. So you can look at that later. But we got to keep going through this narrative. So she deceives the king by implying that the Israelites had had sex and left satisfied. Rahab is savvy. She is shrewd.
[00:08:13] She gets the intelligence officers out of there, and now they're on a wild goose chains. Now, the spies are hidden under flax.
[00:08:20] So flax is, you know, a plant. And then you would get fibers from that to then make linen or cloth. And you make that by first soaking the flax and then drying it and then weaving the fibers. So if the flax was still wet, the then this would have been a Very uncomfortable hiding spot for the boys, right? Wet and uncomfortable and slimy if it was dry. Now it's very itchy. So this is an uncomfortable time for these spies. Now, they might be wet and slimy and itchy, but now they're in a tight spot because the gates of the city are closed for the night. So even if they got out, their only escape route back to Joshua is cut off because there is a search party out there canvassing that very route. Verse 8.
[00:09:04] Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord word here is Yahweh. So the God of the Bible, the first name God uses when he reintroduces himself. I know that the Yahweh has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us. So that all who live in this country, okay? And all of Canaan are melting in fear because of you.
[00:09:31] So she says that she knows three things.
[00:09:34] And the reason she knows this stuff is because her customers have told her three things. Canaan is going down, Canaan is scared, and Canaan is scared flaxless.
[00:09:48] They are melting is the word she uses. That means they're emptied, they're falling apart. Because great fear is the great consequence of great rebellion against God. And they have reason to be scared. Verse 10. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to Sehon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. So she knows some stuff. More than 40 years earlier, when the Israelites were escaping, when the Hebrew people were escaping from Egypt, they get to the Red Sea, right? The Egyptian army is bearing down on them. God parts the Red Sea, they cross over on dry ground. The army is behind them, and the waters fold in on them.
[00:10:38] Everybody knows about this.
[00:10:41] Everybody does.
[00:10:43] She also knows about the two Amorite kings.
[00:10:46] One guy named Sihon.
[00:10:48] This is a guy who aggressively rejected God. Another one's name is Og, but in Hebrew it's actually pronounced Ugob.
[00:10:57] Ugob. So some of you, you know, you might be pregnant, thinking about what to name your kid. You were like, let's go with a Hebrew name like Ugob.
[00:11:06] I wouldn't recommend it. This guy, by the way, was one of the last of the Raphaam. Raphaim were Goliath like giants. His bed was made of iron. Deuteronomy tells us the size of his bed. It was 13ft long and 6 foot wide. So this was a big boy who slept alone.
[00:11:27] I mean, he snored, he had a cpap. I mean, nobody wants to sleep in that iron bed.
[00:11:32] So both of these kings were powerful and intimidating, but both of these kings were defeated before the conquest of the promised land. So the Canaanites thought if God can do that there, he can do that here.
[00:11:47] And we're doomed. So yeah, they're melting. You'll see the word again. Verse 11.
[00:11:53] When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you.
[00:12:02] So that word melted. You get the idea, like defeated, despair, distressed, disheartened, discouraged, falling apart, melting like a candle being poured out. And, and in the face of that despair, Rahab utters her statement of saving faith. And here it is for the Lord your God.
[00:12:23] So Yahweh, your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.
[00:12:30] Now this phrase here is used by only two other people in all of the Bible, Moses and Solomon.
[00:12:39] That puts Rahab in good company. Doesn't this is the most famous person in biblical history and the wisest person in all of history used this terminology. And what makes this statement so remarkable is that she grew up in and now lives in a polytheistic religious culture. Polytheistic, many gods. So the Canaanites worshiped a pantheon of gods. El Athrat, baal, Yam Mote, these are all demons. And she is saying that Yahweh is bigger and better than all of them. These small g gods are demons. And Israel's God is Yahweh, who is the self existent one who wants to be with you for your good forever. So there is no deity more powerful and no deity more relational because the demon idols are not relational, do not care about humans.
[00:13:39] But Yahweh is loving and he's caring. And so she has renounced the demonic deities. And now she has stepped over the line of faith into a relationship with Yahweh who loves her. And she has begun and is on her way to a relationship with the one true God. And a God who actually loves her is relational with her in contrast to the demons that are worshiped by the people in Jericho and Canaan at large.
[00:14:08] Now she's going to test that love. Verse 12.
[00:14:12] Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness chesed to my family because I have shown kindness to you.
[00:14:22] Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father, father and mother, my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them. And that you will save us from death.
[00:14:34] Notice that she doesn't have a family, doesn't have a husband, doesn't have kids.
[00:14:43] She's, you know, the prostitute.
[00:14:47] She cares about her parents, her siblings. She wants them to be protected. This is what she's hoping for. She uses the Hebrew word chesed, a big word that we made much of when I was here talking about Ruth over and over again. This idea of God's loyal covenant, keeping love, his promise, keeping love. And it's not transactional with God. Now, she's new to this and shows he's actually using it in a transactional way. I'm gonna show kindness to you, you show kindness to me. Understand that God doesn't do it that way, right? God just gives you his kindness. He just gives you his loyalty and his love and his compassion. And so she's kind of figuring out God, and she's using this towering word, and she believes them, that they're going to do this for her. Verse 15.
[00:15:32] Let me do 14. Our lives for your lives. The men assured her, if you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly. There it is again. And faithfully. And then they say, when the Lord gives us this land. So they're believing that God is going to follow through on this. She believes them. Verse 15. So she let them down by a rope through the window. For the house she lived in was part of the city wall.
[00:15:55] Interesting statement here. The house she lived in was part of the city wall. What we know from archeological digs in Jericho is that the city of Jericho had two walls, an inner wall and an outer wall. Now, the rich people, as you might imagine, were not on the outer wall. They had a better view. But the rich people lived on the inner of the inner, okay. Where they'd be protected. So the outer, that's the first line of defense, and it'd be the first line of attack. So the outer is. Is where the kind of normal people lived, the poorer people, the prostitutes. And so she and the spies have access to the exterior of the city.
[00:16:35] So she drops down a rope, and down they go. 30ft. Now, they did not lower themselves.
[00:16:43] She lowered them.
[00:16:45] And we know that because there is a Hebrew construction for lowering yourself, say, hand over hand or sliding down the rope. That's not what's used here. It's her lowering them down.
[00:16:59] Now, how did they secure that rope?
[00:17:03] Well, Rahab held it.
[00:17:05] And incidentally, the word rahab means wide, so she apparently had ballast. But this is pretty simple.
[00:17:13] You just wrap that rope around your waist, and if you need to double wrap it, you can double wrap it. And then there's friction as it goes over the sill, as it's going over the wall.
[00:17:23] But you got to hold on tight, man.
[00:17:26] Look, if you're Rahab, if you're on the anchor end of that rope and you've got a spy hanging on the end of it, you got to hold onto that rope. It's 30ft to the deck.
[00:17:38] You don't want to drop that rope.
[00:17:41] I teach the theology of adventure at Yellowstone Theological Institute here in Bozeman, and I come by it naturally. Next month, I'll be going canyoneering, which is something I really like to do. Go into southern Utah, you know, and do slot canyons.
[00:17:54] My buddy Bates and I do this fairly regularly, and Bates and I get in a bunch of trouble together, and we did on this occasion.
[00:18:02] So we met in Moab to do some mountain biking and some canyoneering, and we got there early enough that we thought, hey, we could knock out a canyon this afternoon and into the evening. Let's go get one. And so we went to a canyon called Uppercut, and, man, did it give us an uppercut. So we hastily throw our stuff together, and then we head off onto the mesas and, you know, the canyoneering. So you're heading kind of to higher country, and then you start descending. And so it's usually got rappels. So these are, you know, really narrow canyons. The erosion, some of them very, very tight. You find these slots, and you rappel into them and then work your way down and then do another rappel. And this one had two rappels. The first one was straightforward, about 30ft, about what Rahab had. The second one was bigger. It was a couple hundred feet. We don't have that much rope. And so you got to stop halfway down, actually, at 130ft. At 130ft, there's this terrible ledge that you get one first guy to. And then there's this tree that grows out of this ledge that it's as old as Rahab. It's a terrible tree. It's not that secure. But so I. I rappel first.
[00:19:10] I usually rappel first because I'm expendable. You know, if the rope's gonna break or if the anchor's not gonna hold, it might as well be me. But that's not really the reason. It's because I'm terrible at the anchors. I get confused at the anchors, you know, with the ropes and the anchors and stuff. It's just. My brain just doesn't work there. So I'm like, I let my buddy Bates, he's gonna clean the anchor. And so I go off first. So a double rope rappel down to this terrible ledge. I get to the ledge, and then I just hook into this tree that might hold me if needed. And then Bates has to pull the rope back up and then reset it. Based on the distance, we have bunch of complexities. So as he's resetting the rope, I'm just sitting on this ledge looking down into this canyon that we're in the middle of. And then I can see way out into the valley. And it's evening, and the sun is setting, and the colors are cool, and it's beautiful, it's warm, and I'm just enjoying this moment. And then I hear a sound that you just don't want to hear.
[00:20:08] It starts with a hiss and then becomes a whoosh.
[00:20:12] And then the sound of rope slapping rock. And before I know it, the rope that Bates needs to rappel goes whipping by me, goes sliding all the way by me.
[00:20:25] And it gets hung up on this tree way down below me, like, oh, no.
[00:20:32] And then it's just quiet.
[00:20:34] And I'm sitting there like, oh.
[00:20:37] And then I hear Bates yell deep into the canyon, vern, I dropped the rope, and I yelled back.
[00:20:50] No kidding.
[00:20:55] If I was from the town of Shittim, I might have said something different.
[00:21:00] And so I had the wherewithal at that point to pull my phone out and shoot this little picture of myself.
[00:21:10] I mean, I don't even have my climbing helmet on. I mean, we did this in such haste. And then here's this wall behind me. And then it kind of rolls off towards the top so I can't see base. All I can do is hear him. So he's way up there. And I take this with that look on my face, and to be honest with you, I had a good attitude. I'm like, we've got ourselves a serious problem here. But, man, when you get into a serious problem, it's important to have a good attitude. And so then I won't bore you with the details of, you know, Bates was in a position where he couldn't go up or down. I was in a position where I couldn't go up or down, but I needed to go down and get that rope and get that rope back up to him.
[00:21:48] It was a very long night in Uppercut.
[00:21:53] You don't want to drop that rope.
[00:21:56] Hey, Bates, don't drop the rope.
[00:22:00] Rahab don't drop that rope.
[00:22:03] And Rahab did not. Verse 16.
[00:22:08] Now, she had said to them, so this is before they rappel off the wall, go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you, hide yourselves there three days until the return, and then go on your way. So the area around Jericho is limestone. So there's limestone cliffs and caves. And after three days, you know, the search would be over and they could sneak back to Joshua. Now, verse 17, the men said to her, so this is up in her room before they go off. This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down. And unless you have brought your father or mother, your brother and all your family into your house, if anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head. We will not be responsible.
[00:23:00] As for anyone who is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him.
[00:23:07] But if you tell what we're doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.
[00:23:13] Agreed, she replied, let it be as you say. So she sent them away and they departed and she tied the scarlet. Scarlet is just a fancy word for red. The red cord in the window now important the red cord is not. The repelling rope was not the same.
[00:23:32] Those are actually different Hebrew words.
[00:23:35] There was already a red cord. Why does Rahab have a red cord?
[00:23:41] It signifies to the travelers Jericho's red cord district.
[00:23:47] As the travelers come in, they know there's the prostitute.
[00:23:54] But you know what God does?
[00:23:56] He just redeems stuff.
[00:23:59] He even redeems the red cord.
[00:24:02] What was a symbol of sin and rebellion is now something that's going to be.
[00:24:09] The new function of the red cord is that in the chaos of the war, the soldiers are not going to know which window is hers. And so the red cord is the signal.
[00:24:18] No death there.
[00:24:20] You get that lady and her family out of there.
[00:24:26] Verse 22. When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them.
[00:24:35] Then the two men started back and they went down out of the hills and they forded, crossed the river and came to Joshua, son of nun, and told him everything that had happened to them.
[00:24:45] They said to Joshua, yahweh has surely given the whole land into our hands. All the people are melting in fear because of us.
[00:24:57] How did they know that the people were melting in fear?
[00:25:00] They didn't experience it.
[00:25:02] They learned that from Rahab.
[00:25:06] They snuck back navy, sealed their way out of the desert and across the river and debriefed with Joshua.
[00:25:12] And the most remarkable thing I think about these verses is the last line.
[00:25:18] The spies quote the prostitute.
[00:25:22] She risks her life, hides the spies, compliments them, and boosts their spirits. And they actually don't have anything original to say to Joshua. They're just inspired by Rahab to trust God and do what God says.
[00:25:37] 40 years earlier, 10 spies chickened out, and they did not trust and honor God. And a whole race of people suffered the consequences, by the way.
[00:25:47] Now two spies light a fire under Joshua because the prostitute had put her faith in God and acted like it.
[00:25:59] Israelite history pivots on this moment, which is why Rahab is brought up three times in the New Testament. So here they are. First one's in Matthew, chapter one. It's a genealogy, and we see Rahab's name in there. Rahab is included in the lineage of Jesus.
[00:26:17] So Rahab actually meets a prince from the tribe of Judah named Salmon, and they get married, and they have a kid named Boaz. It's born Boaz that married Ruth from Moab. Talked about her for a month last year. And then they have Obed, and Obed has Jesse, and Jesse has David, which means that the Canaanite demon worshiper who now has a relationship with Yahweh is actually in the line of David, which means that she's in the line of Jesus, which means she's an ancestress of Jesus.
[00:26:50] So my friend sitting in her car in the church parking lot, like, really?
[00:26:57] You don't think you're good enough?
[00:27:00] When the royal line of Jesus includes adulterers, a murderer, liars, idolaters, cheaters, mean people, and a prostitute. So come on. You're okay.
[00:27:11] Get out of the parking lot and get in there. Grab the rope and hold on Jesus. If he is, anything is accessible.
[00:27:20] Relatable. You think you got family baggage?
[00:27:25] Second is Hebrews, where Rahab is listed with the greats of Hebrew history. So Noah is brought up. Abraham, Joseph, Moses. These guys did incredible things. What did Rahab do?
[00:27:40] Hebrews tells us by faith. The prostitute Rahab. Isn't it interesting that she kind of keeps the moniker because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. What did she do?
[00:27:53] She didn't build an ark to save humanity and the animal kingdom. She didn't offer her son Isaac. She didn't save an entire nation like Joseph.
[00:28:04] She Just lied.
[00:28:07] She hid the spies.
[00:28:09] But you understand that that came from a place of very personally risky faith.
[00:28:16] Never minimize and never underestimate the power of your awkward faith to move mountains and make miracles happen.
[00:28:27] Israelite history, Christian history pivots on what she did, and it was clunky.
[00:28:36] Your faith, too.
[00:28:38] Never underestimate the power of your faith moving mountains and making miracles happen in your lives and in the lives of people that are on the sharp end of that rope.
[00:28:51] James, in illustrating the cataclysmic and disruptive statement that faith without works is dead, faith without deeds is dead. James actually brings up Rahab.
[00:29:02] Now, he could have leveraged anything in the Old Testament, all kinds of stories that he could have leveraged to describe faith without works as dead. He picks this one. Here's what he says. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction. And then the kicker. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds, faith without works. It's dead.
[00:29:33] Useless.
[00:29:36] See, if there was any question, now we know for sure that she put her faith in God. And the way we know it is because she proved it by doing something that's saving faith. See, James and Rahab are saying, don't think you're a Christian if there's no evidence of that.
[00:29:51] Jesus is gonna transform you. And then there's gotta be some action that comes out of that transformation.
[00:29:58] There's motion, there's activity, there's ministry, there's obedience to the commands and teachings of Jesus.
[00:30:06] Rahab and James are saying, look, if there isn't any evidence of you being a Christian, well, call it whatever you want, but don't call it Christian.
[00:30:14] There's got to be some action coming out of this.
[00:30:18] And so speaking of faith without works is dead. Speaking of doing something, you're Rahab.
[00:30:29] Me too.
[00:30:33] Which means don't drop that rope because you're on the anchor end of it.
[00:30:40] You see, perhaps you have a friend like mine who can't get themselves out of the parking lot and into a relationship with Jesus for whatever reason.
[00:30:48] There's a lot of people around you that need your help. And so whatever you do, you don't drop that rope.
[00:30:55] Rahab lowered them down.
[00:31:00] It was her hands on the rope.
[00:31:04] It included rope burns.
[00:31:07] It was 30ft off the deck. We know that from archeology.
[00:31:12] That spy hanging onto the end of that rope, he needed her to hold on tight.
[00:31:17] They put their life in her Hands.
[00:31:21] When someone by faith is shimmying over the windowsill 30ft off the deck, 30ft off of the jagged limestone ground, man, that is not the time to drop the rope.
[00:31:33] People need you to hang onto that rope. Cause some of the people in your life, they're dangling, just barely hanging on, holding onto the rope on your end, on the anchor end, could just be an act of mercy that they need.
[00:31:51] It might be an actual commitment that you're going to pray and not forget and that you're going to earnestly pray for them with your own awkward faith.
[00:32:02] It might be friendship.
[00:32:04] It could be an act of kindness.
[00:32:07] Maybe they need some advice after you've earned the.
[00:32:11] They might need money.
[00:32:13] They might need you to not forget them.
[00:32:16] After a funeral, like everybody else does, it's you taking responsibility to take that rope because somebody is depending on you. Your children, your husband, your wife, a sibling, a friend at school. You know, that kid everybody else overlooks, they're on the end of a rope.
[00:32:40] You grab on to the Rahab end, wrap it, hold on tight.
[00:32:47] Might even be an enemy, stranger on a bad day. It's encouragement, hope, escape, rescue.
[00:32:53] But you got to know that they might be barely hanging on because they're scared and unsure and hesitant and sad and maybe doubting God, they want to do right. They do. They just need support.
[00:33:05] You know what they need?
[00:33:07] They need you on the end of that rope.
[00:33:10] Somebody that they can trust. Because, look, when you get onto the sharp end of that rope and you start heading for the edge, well, you look.
[00:33:23] You look the anchor end in the eye.
[00:33:27] You got me?
[00:33:30] And they need you looking back at them.
[00:33:35] I got you.
[00:33:37] Oh, I got you.
[00:33:41] Be Rahab.
[00:33:43] Be faithful. Be strong.
[00:33:46] Wrap that rope around your head. Wrap the gospel around your waist and start letting it down, even when it burns your hands. But whatever you do, don't drop that rope.
[00:34:02] Well, we should pray about this. So I invite you to take a moment to talk with the Lord. And here's a moment for you just to tell him what you're thinking, how you're feeling.
[00:34:12] He's relational, remember? He wants to visit with you.
[00:34:19] It.
[00:34:45] Sam.
[00:35:13] Okay. So. Heavenly Father, we thank you. Thank you for my buddy Bates, who dropped the rope. Thank you for Rahab, who did not.
[00:35:21] Thank you for preserving her story for us. It's helpful. It's inspiring. It's super challenging.
[00:35:29] We thank you for the good news of Jesus, the gospel.
[00:35:33] And we grab on, hold on tight. And we've got friends that are on the sharp end.
[00:35:38] And I pray that you would give us courage and strength and wisdom to be for them what they need.
[00:35:47] It's scary going over the edge, stepping into a relationship with you, figuring that out and beginning to follow you and do what you say, because faith without works is dead. And I pray that we would be helpful to people, the people that you've entrusted to us.
[00:36:06] We're okay with rope burns.
[00:36:09] Your hands took nails.
[00:36:13] And we're so grateful.
[00:36:17] So give us strength to endure suffering and difficulty and challenges. Give us wisdom.
[00:36:27] And we thank you for Jesus especially, who never drops the rope.
[00:36:33] And in his name we pray.
[00:36:35] Amen.
