Gripped By Faith: A Little Faith Does a Lot

Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes Keep Kicking

Keep Kicking

Two frogs fell into a tub of cream. The one looked at the high sides of the tub which were too difficult to crawl over and said, “It is hopeless.” So he resigned himself to death, relaxed, and sank to the bottom. The other one determined to keep swimming as long as he could. “Something might happen,” he said. And it did. He kept kicking and churning, and finally he found himself on a solid platform of butter and jumped to safety.

Let’s Pray!

A Little Faith Does a Lot

A Little Faith Does a Lot

A Little Faith Does a Lot

Hebrews 11:31–39 NLT

It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised.

Purpose: To retell the story of Rahab to discover the nature of risk-taking faith.

INTRODUCTION

People of all ages are fascinated by tales of heroic battles and courageous deeds. Similarly, as a wide-eyed little girl, Rahab must have heard stories about the ten plagues, Israel crossing the Red Sea, and the destruction of Egypt’s army.

But that was forty years ago. Now she heard fresh stories about the powerful Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, whom Israel had utterly destroyed east of the Jordan River. The swollen Jordan could only keep Israel away for a little while longer.

Proposition:

Rahab’s tiny faith led her to seize great opportunities. She stretched out her hand of faith and gripped some amazing opportunities.

SHE GRIPPED THE OPPORTUNITY TO KNOW GOD.

Imagine Rahab’s inn…bustling with activity, a place that provided constant contact with travelers and visitors to Jericho. It was also a useful place to add current information to childhood stories about Israel and their God. She learned from one traveler that the Israelite laws were different than what she knew. From another...Purity of body was important…so no adultery. From another....Taking a day of rest was important....so every seventh day they did no work at all. From still another...Swift punishment paralleled the crime but required two witnesses.

She learned that the Israelite God was different. He was bigger than other gods. Israel said he had created everything. This was interesting to Rahab…she was familiar with her local gods. People in Jericho worshiped many gods but gave special prominence to the god of the moon, from which the city probably got its name.

(The name “Jericho” may be connected to the ancient name of the Canaanite moon god. The Hebrew words for moon, month, or new moon, and Jericho are very similar. Others associate it with the word for spirit or smell, assuming that the pleasant fragrances of the fruits and spices which grew in this oasis occasioned the name of the place.

Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Jericho,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1118.)

She learned that the Israelite God seemed to be a God of love, but far different from the goddess of love widely worshiped in Canaan. And He was certainly powerful but also gentle and protective.

The Israelite God was also true…he kept His word! Merchants had heard the Israelites talking about promises their God had made hundreds of years before, promises he was now keeping. On the other hand, the gods Rahab knew were very inconsistent, and unpredictable. And in her quiet thoughts she may have sometimes wondered if the nature of the “gods” was not simply invented by the priests to get what they wanted. But such thoughts would have sounded heretical, so she never even whispered them to her nearest friends.

Rahab was intrigued by the different customs and superstitions she saw in travelers from many cultures. But this group was different, even fascinating. Above all, she was captivated by their God. She wondered what it would be like to be a woman among these people, a woman respected.

1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 121: Arguing by Example

ARGUING BY EXAMPLE

Topics: Arguments; Example

References: 2 Timothy 1:13; 1 Peter 5:1–4

One example is worth a thousand arguments.

—Thomas Carlyle, Scottish essayist (1795–1881)

Rahab didn’t have just one…she had many…and she was beginning to make up her mind about this foreign God…could He be more to her?

1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 131: Buckle up Warning

BUCKLE UP WARNING

Topics: Behavior; Change; Consequences; Fear; Illumination; Knowledge; Perspective; Repentance; Spiritual Formation; Spiritual Growth; Warnings; Wisdom

References: Luke 19:1–10; John 13:35; 1 Corinthians 8:1–2; James 1:22

My brother-in-law would never wear a seat belt in the car. I berated him for it. Then one day he picked me up at the airport, and he had on his seat belt and shoulder harness. I asked, “What happened? What changed you?”

“I went to visit a friend of mine in the hospital who was in a car accident and went through the windshield,” my brother-in-law said. “He had two or three hundred stitches in his face. I said to myself, ‘I’d better wear my seat belt.’ ”

“Did you not know that if you didn’t wear your seat belt you would go through the windshield if you had an accident?” I asked.

“Of course I knew it,” he said. “When I went to the hospital to see my friend, I got no new information, but the information I had became new. The information got real to my heart and finally sank down and affected the way I live.”

—Tim Keller, “Unintentional Preaching Models,” Preaching to the Heart, Ockenga Institute of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Let me ask you…have you taken every opportunity you have to know God? Are you spending time in your Bible, not to prove a point or add to trivial knowledge, but rather to really get to know the God who loves you? Are you taking the opportunity to know His ways, His will, and His purpose for your life? Or are you waiting for when the bottom drops out of your world before you decide to buckle up in the safety of Jesus! Each day we wake up we have a new chance to make that relationship with Him a greater reality....have you taken that opportunity this week?

(Illustration about taking a chance)

SHE GRIPPED THE OPPORTUNITY TO DECIDE.

That was then, but now the Israelites were poised on the East bank of the swollen Jordan. They were evidently going to cross when the water receded. They had been wandering the southern desert for forty years, but in the last few months they had rounded Edom, south of the Dead Sea, and defeated the two powerful Amorite kings, Sihon and Og. Who could stop them?

Then it happened it happened. Two men appeared at her inn wearing distinctively Israelite clothing. What should she do? If she reported them to the king of Jericho, she would be hailed as a hero. But for what? Something inside her stirred and she wondered “If I help them, how might my life change? Perhaps this God of Love which they serve has a place for me too?!”

She made her decicion. She offered them protection. Unfortunately, the king’s watchmen had also taken note of some strangers with peculiar dress and reported their presence to the king. Rahab warned the men that they must hide immediately. Then she pointed the king’s men another way. When she was able to return to them, she reported that the people of Jericho were terrified because of the reports of what “the Lord your God, God in heaven above and on the earth below” had done.

(NLT)

12 “Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.”

She requested two things—an oath and a sign. Then, the next day she hurried them safely away.

She did not know this opportunity would arise. But when it came she acted very quickly on the tiny bits of information she had gathered and pondered.

1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 118: His Sister’s Faith

HIS SISTER’S FAITH

Topics: Apologetics; Conversion; Example; Salvation; Witnessing

Reference: Acts 1:8

Blaise Pascal, one of history’s greatest scientists, was not converted through his scientific queries. Rather, when the scientist’s carriage was once suspended on a bridge and the man was hanging between life and death, the only thing Pascal could think of was the Christian conviction of his sister and her witness of Christ.

Pascal was the inventor of the barometer. He was brilliant as a philosophical scientist. But the one thing that kept piercing his heart till he surrendered his all to Christ was the Christian witness of his sister.

—Ravi Zacharias, “Absolute Truth in Relative Terms,” Just Thinking podcast

What was it about God that made you decide to follow Him? Was it hearing of the miracles He performed? Was it seeing how He helped others? What was it that made you say “YES!” to Jesus....to giving Him a chance in your life? Take a moment and just briefly share with the person next to you what brought abut that decision and how your life has changed because of it.

SHE GRIPPED THE CHANCE TO BE REWARDED.

When Jericho melted in fear at the news that the Israelites had miraculously crossed the Jordan, Rahab breathed an excited prayer of anticipation to this new God up there. “They are coming, God. Please protect me and my family in whatever happens.”

The warriors of Jericho were so focuesed on the Israelite approach and strange marching around the wall that no one noticed all of Rahab’s relatives waiting with her at her house. Rahab had nothing but an opportunity, nothing but a chance, but her faith led her to risk and rescue not only her own life but also the lives of her family.

CONCLUSION

Bibles were scarce during the Communist oppression in Russia. I once read of a man in Eastern Russia who felt that if he could somehow get to Moscow he would be able to get a Bible in Red Square. After traveling three thousand miles, he “happened” to arrive at the Square just as a Bible peddler show up, and they “happened” to find one another. He got his Bible and returned home.

Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes Why God Responds to Faith

Why God Responds to Faith

Houston pastor John Bisango describes a time when his daughter Melodye Jan, age five, came to him and asked for a doll house. John promptly nodded and promised to build her one, then he went back to reading his book. Soon he glanced out the study window and saw her arms filled with dishes, toys, and dolls, making trip after trip until she had a great pile of playthings in the yard. He asked his wife what Melodye Jan was doing.

“Oh, you promised to build her a doll house, and she believes you. She’s just getting ready for it.”

“You would have thought I’d been hit by an atom bomb,” John later said. “I threw aside that book, raced to the lumber yard for supplies, and quickly built that little girl a doll house. Now why did I respond? Because I wanted to? No. Because she deserved it? No. Her daddy had given his word, and she believed it and acted upon it. When I saw her faith, nothing could keep me from carrying out my word.”*

What are you carrying by Father God’s window? Are you carrying the things of faith....are you revealing a life that believes God can do what He said?

In what direction is faith leading you? Is God giving you an opportunity to know him? to decide for him? to be rewarded by him? Risk all, and succeed just like Rahab.[1]

Amen!?

From the very beginning we were made in the image of God. If He is faithful…then we should have that faith as well. Lets remind ourselves of His faith as we sing our closing hymn… Great is Thy Faithfulness.

[1] James R. Girdwood, Book of Hebrews: Blueprints for 30 Messages Built upon God’s Word, ed. Bob Buller, Solid Foundation Sermon Starters (Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing, 1999), 55–56.