Do Hard Things

October 12th 2025

Series: Courageous

Sermon Title: Do Hard Things

Topic: Joshua leading the Israelites into the Promised Land - Story of Rahab.

Key Passages: Joshua 1:1-7, Joshua 2: 1-24, Hebrews 11:31, Matthew 1: 1-6

Topic: Courage, Joshua, Rahab

Sermon Blurb: In today’s message, we will see God can work through people that might even shock us.

***1st week ODD months add communion & target message at 15 pages.

***1st week EVEN months add space for dedication, baptism, or ministry highlight & target message at 15 pages.

***Green in sermons means illustration, something we are looking for a response from, and/or a picture that goes on the screens.

***Yellow means what is yellow will be on the screens and in the handout.

Dedication, Baptism, or Ministry Highlight (1st Sunday, every even month):

Sermon:

Hello, Family Church!

        Welcome, whether you are here in person or online.

Family Moment –

Start with something personal from your family life recently to help people get to know you.

Celebrate salvation / rededications / baptisms last week.

Celebrate new disciples and disciple-makers.

PAUSE

If you are new to Family Church, you picked a GREAT weekend to come!

It’s Missions Month!

And every year, we set aside one month to share what God is doing all over the world through Family Church and all of our partners.

And this month is going to be a fun one!

This series, which we are calling Courageous, is about learning from the courageous things our teams have done while on mission trips.

The courageous things our missionaries are doing in the Congo.

The courageous things happening in the Amazon Jungle,

El Salvador,

Kenya,

and right here in West Michigan.

PAUSE

One word that describes our missionaries - Courageous!

It takes courage to leave what is comfortable and follow God’s call on your life.

In fact… Let me show you a video of one of our courageous missionaries…

Example of courageous missionary - video? Jason & Krystina.

Isn’t that a crazy testimony!

        Talk about being courageous!

        ADD HOW YOU FOUND IT TO BE COURAGEOUS .

        Then God drops an idea into your mind that sounds CRAZY!

        And you do it and it works!

Talk about COURAGEOUS!!!!

PAUSE

Our focus for Missions Month this year is being courageous.

Last week, we encouraged you to refocus on the reality that our lives are a training ground that God uses to prepare us for the work He has called us to do.

Work that requires strength,

courage,

commitment,

and obedience.

Last week we heard about a guy named Joshua. 

Joshua was a mighty warrior…

But Moses had to teach him how to be a leader…and not just any kind of leader….but a Godly leader.

Moses discipled Joshua over a period of 40 years!

Because Joshua, like a lot of us, had a LOT to learn.

How a LOT in his life that needed to change.

And he was not ready to do what God wanted him to do.

So, Moses invested 40 years in developing Joshua.

And let’s pick up the Bible where we ended last week in Joshua chapter 1, and we will continue from there..

If you have your Bible with you, and I hope you do, open it up to

Joshua 1

New Person Bible Connection:

If you do not have a Bible, that is ok!

        After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!

Just go to ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE and get one for FREE!!!        

Or you can always download the Family Church app and follow along on your phone as well.

Simply download the app and click "Sermon Notes" on the main page.

PAUSE

Joshua 1:1-7 1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses ’aide:

2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.

3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.

4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

Let’s read this next part together…

        Read verse 7 out loud church.

7 “Be strong and very courageous.

Be strong and very WHAT church?

Courageous.

Be strong and very courageous.

You want to know something interesting…

        And this will not be on the screens.

        This is why you bring your Bibles to church.

Look at verse 6…be strong and courageous.

Look at verse 7…be strong and VERY courageous.

Look at verse 9…be strong and courageous.

Look at verse 19…be strong and courageous.

PAUSE

Now look at verse 1…

        Who is saying all of this to Joshua?

                That’s right…God!

It seems like God really wanted Joshua to know something…

Anyone want to guess what it is?

        Yes!

Be strong and courageous.

Write this down…

        God wants us to be strong and courageous.

        (Repeat)

And here me in this church…

        That looks different for all of us!

        For Joshua it had to be with leading God’s people through some difficult times.

        For Moses it was leading God’s people out of slavery.

        For Jason & Krystina it was leaving the America dream behind to go live in the jungle to translate the Bible into the mother tongue of people that do NOT have it!

        For me….ADD A SHORT STORY of how you have been courageous.

For you, it might look like:

        Living out your Christian values at school or work.

        It might be asking someone to study the life of Jesus with you.

        It might be not backing down to a bully.

        It might be quitting your job to do what you feel like God is calling you to do.

        It might be you finally getting the courage to do something.

PAUSE

And today….we will see courage come from a very unlikely person.

PAUSE

Flip over a page to Joshua 2 in your Bibles and let’s start reading the Bible.

Joshua 2: 1-24 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.”

So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab:

“Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.”

6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)

7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

Let’s pause here to make sure we all see what is happening…

        Joshua is sending spies into the land that God instructed them to enter.

        Rehab, a prostitute, hides the two spies.

Now…you should ask the question of why.

        Why would she do that?

        Why would she LIE to her king about it?

        Why would she deceive her own countrymen, who came looking for the men?

        Why would she hide them?

PAUSE

Well the good news is the Bible explains that.

        Verse 8.

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them,

“I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.

Who church?

                The Lord….

Don’t miss what this means.

        And I know some of you are going to struggle with this.

        BUT…

        It means God was speaking and guiding a woman who was a prostitute.

        It means God was guiding a woman who was very broken.

        It means God was working in the life of a woman who was VERY sinful by the standards back then and still today.

But here is the reality church…      

        We are ALL broken people.

        We are ALL VERY sinful people!

        And God does not rate sin.

And we are THANKFUL that God works through broken, sinful people like us, and we need to make sure we do NOT look down on people who have different sin issues than we do…

And someone needs to Amen that…

        I am going to let that sink in for a minute…

        Let’s keep reading…“I know that…

the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.

10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt,

and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.

And let me pause here…

        King Og… write this down to study later…

        King Og is mentioned in a LOT of places in the Bible.

In Deuteronomy 3, you can read it later….

There, it talks about how he was the last of the Rephaim.

Which, if you want a fun rabbit trail…

Study the Rephaim people…and ancient people associated with giants!!!

And Deuteronomy 3 tells us this guy's bed was 13.5’ long and 6’ wide.

You want to know why you need to be STRONG and COURAGEOUS…

        Because you're fighting people like that!!!!

And these people are afraid of Joshua because he has already killed people like Og!!!!

The Bible says….

11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you.

Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—

and that you will save us from death.” 14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her.

“If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”

Stop there.

Rahab is a prostitute. 

Everyone in the community knows that—even the King.


She is aware of what is going on in the world.

She has heard about the Israelites.

Maybe in her profession, she is privy to all kinds of things.


She hides the spies….

PAUSE

What would it have cost her if the King had found this out?

     She would likely have been tortured for information, and then she would have been killed!

But she had courage….

She courageously asks for protection for her family and receives it if she will follow through!

But here is the point I want to make sure we all CLEARLY see…

        Write this down.

God can work through courageous sinners to accomplish His mission.

        (Repeat)

But it gets even more interesting church….Verse 15…

15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall.

16 She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”

17 Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us

18 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 and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.

19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible.

As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them.

20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”

21 “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”

So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

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.

23 Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them.

24 They said to Joshua, “The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”

Stop there.

Here is the point, church…

It takes courage to walk in obedience.

        (Repeat)

The spies had courage...


They went into a new land to spy it out.

They hide on the rooftop—believing Rahab would protect them


The spies reported back to Joshua what they saw.



The spies believed that it was time to go to battle.


God asks people to do courageous things. 

And He also promises that He will be with us.

Rehab, one of the most unlikely candidates, was chosen to help accomplish God’s mission!!!!

She helped God’s spies…

And it led to her family being spared.

PAUSE

And let me keep unpeeling this onion… 

Let me show you…and this is going to shock some people…

Hebrews chapter 11 is a chapter known as the Hall of Faith chapter.

        Listing the people who had EPIC faith.

        Anyone want to guess who made it in there?

                Yes…Rahab.

Hebrews 11:31 “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”

Let’s make it even more interesting….

        There are places you can read the lineage of Jesus.

        Anyone want to guess who is in our God’s lineage?

        In Jesus' lineage.

                Yes…Rahab.

Matthew 1: 1-6 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

        Was who church?

        Rahab…

        Rahab…married Salmon at some point and had Boaz.

        Boaz…who, if you have been in church for a while…married a cool woman named Ruth….

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.

Do you see the redemption church?

        Rahab was the great-grandmother of one of the greatest kings in all of world history!

And while that is amazing….31 generations down from Rahab came….

        Jesus…

PAUSE

What about you?

What courageous thing is God asking you to do this month?

Could God be asking you to lead a study of Jesus Study at work?
    Is God calling you to go on a mission trip?

Pursue ministry?

Volunteer to work at one of our local ministries?

To sign up for a serving team?

To invite a neighbor over for dinner?

What is one courageous step you can take in obedience to what the Lord is calling you to do?

Do not be afraid!!!!

Do not be discouraged!!!!

God promises us the Lord will be with you wherever you go.

Fear has no place in our mission from God.

God will be with you wherever you go.

God is continually training us to do hard things...

He is preparing us for the work of this mission field we call life.

Our hope is you will step onto your Training Ground…

Serve in local ministries and/or go on a mission trip… ADD PROMO PIECES HERE?

PAUSE

Let me give you your life application today.

        If you are new, or newer, to Family Church, we LOVE to end our messages with something for you to talk about with someone else.

        Something to help you apply the message to your life.

So here is this week’s Life Application…And yes…it will sound a lot like the last weeks…

Life Application: Pray for a courageous month. What is one courageous step you can take in obedience to what the Lord is calling you to do? As a result of today’s message, I will _________________________.

Prayer:

        Make sure to do a salvation call!

Offering:

Thank you all for being here today!

        If you would like to continue your worship through giving, there are offering boxes by the doors as you exit, or behind me on the screens. You can also see other ways to give here at Family Church.

        You can also place any connection cards you filled out in there.

***Each week we want to highlight a different way to give.