What Defines You?
Strong: Courage over Fear • Sermon • Submitted
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· 538 viewsIf we're not careful we will let the world define us any way it chooses. We forget that God our maker is the only one that should define who we are and purpose for which He made us. As God's children we are more defined by his past instead of our own. God has now set our course and we are a vital part of his story. When we learn to let God define us it is easier to see through our past and into our future.
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Introduction: (Defining the pain)
The Story of Rahab
I want to tell you a story about a little girl who grew up in the big city.
This was a rough place; a godless city.
As in every big city there was not enough jobs and not enough things to do.
She got hooked up with the wrong people and found herself pulling tricks to survive.
She spent every day being abused by people and discarded as trash.
It became a way of life for her; not one she was proud of, but one in which she learned to function.
She’s a woman now.
She, like any other person in her situation, would dream of getting out: getting out prostitution, getting out the city, getting out of this life.
She would hear about other places, other people, other gods and knew there had to be something better out there.
This woman’s name is Rahab. She lives on the wall in a place called Jericho.
People have been talking about the power of this God from a people called Israel.
A God that cares and takes care of his people. She would dream of meeting this God and these people one day, knowing they were headed her way to take the city.
Some were frightened but she found herself getting excited about the possibility.
The King of Jericho
The king had also been hearing of this people and their great God.
But the king was not like the prostitute. He loved the city that he had created through his vision and leadership.
The city of Jericho had been his salvation providing everything he needed for peace, safety, and tranquility.
He wasn’t ready to let that go. He wasn’t trying to escape.
As a matter of fact he was willing to fight to the death to keep his way of life.
But what the king didn’t know is he was fighting for something that was already lost.
Judgement had already been announced. It was just a matter of time.
One of these people will die for life that has already been lost.
One will be saved because she is willing to lose her current life to save it.
We find ourselves in the same situation today.
People are fighting so hard for a life on which God has already pronounced judgment. And they are willing to die trying to keep it.
But every once in a while you find a Rahab. One that is willing to lose the current life so they can truly life.
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matt 16:24-25
Like Rahab we have a choice to make as well: Live the current life of this world, or be willing to lose it so we can really life.
Rahab did not let this world define her even with her past and her unseen future she took a leap of faith that changed her life and your forever.
Josh 2:1
1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.
2 And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” 3 Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.”
Joshua 2:2-3
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.”
6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. 7 So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.
Joshua 2:6-7
Biblical Understanding: (Defining the passage)
Don’t be defined by your past.
Don’t be defined by your past.
Your past doesn’t define your future.
Your past doesn’t define your future.
8 Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof
“The world defines you by your past because that’s all they know. God not only knows your past but also your future.”
“The world defines you by your past because that’s all they know. God not only knows your past but also your future.”
Rahab was not a prostitute anymore. she is now a servant of God.
Josh 2:
She is no longer a servant to the king of Jericho, but to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Let God’s past define your future.
Let God’s past define your future.
9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
Josh 2:
10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
God’s track record is much better than ours.
Be defined by your faith.
Be defined by your faith.
12 Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign 13 that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”
Joshua 2:
Put your faith in something bigger than yourself.
Put your faith in something bigger than yourself.
Faith is only as strong as the object of that faith.
Genuine faith involves the whole person
Genuine faith involves the whole person
(Martin Loyd-Jones, Pastor of Westminster Chapel in London for 30 years.)
Intellect - Truth is revealed. Faith that is based on facts.
Emotion - The heart is stirred by the truth. Feelings.
Will - The will is moved to act in obedience to God.
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Heb 11:
Warned of future event and believed because of the source of the intel.
Was moved in his heart with reverent fear.
Enacted his will in obedience and constructed the ark.
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. 16 And she said to them, “Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.”
17 The men said to her, “We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear. 18 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.
Joshua 2:15
Josh 2:17-
19 Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.
Be defined by your courage.
Be defined by your courage.
The Lord defines you by your courage.
The Lord defines you by your courage.
Courage is displayed when your faith turns into action.
Courage is displayed when your faith turns into action.
21 And she said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
Josh 2:21
Rahab hung out the red cord immediately.
Her life changed the day she believed.
She was fully convinced in the future of the Lord.
Courageous actions save other people.
Courageous actions save other people.
Rahab had about two weeks to save her family.
Rahab got busy gathering her family into the house of safety.
The Passover
Courage says if you can help you should help.
Next Steps: (Defining the process)
When you enter into God’s story, you are defined by his past, his present, and his future.
When you enter into God’s story, you are defined by his past, his present, and his future.
Let the truth of God’s past determine your future.
Let your faith in the future move you to action today.
Base your faith of the evidence of the past and it will produce courage for your present.
Base your faith of the evidence of the past and it will produce courage for your present.
Let the truth of God’s future move you to be courageous to save others.
Courage over fear will give you the strength to save others.
Courage over fear will give you the strength to save others.
