Scripture
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.
~Hebrews 11:31, NLT
Quote
God uses imperfect people. It is the only kind He has to work with.
~Elisebeth Elliot
Only two women made the Hall of Faith {Hebrews 11}; Sarah and Rahab. She is one of three women by name who made Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Bathshebba is alluded to but as the wife of Uriah. A strange list don’t you think: a harlot, a woman that pretended to be a harlot so she could sleep with her father-in-law, a despised moabite and a woman who committed adultery. At least two of the four are known gentiles and it is possible that all four were not direct descendants of Abraham. Matthew was writing his gospel primarily to the Jewish people. The family tree must have put the Orthodox Jews into shock. Why were these women with stained reputation included? I think we find the answer in one word–GRACE. No human, with the exception of Jesus, should take heaven for granted because no human deserves to go there. I have absolutely no doubt that every human being is depraved and we all have a vain core at the center. I promise you, when all is said and done, I am no better than Rehab, Tamar, Ruth or the conniving Bathshebba.
So what is the moral of the story? We are all saved alike, by grace through faith. Abraham and Rahab were saved the same way by the same means {Jesus}. Prince or pauper, rich or poor, good reputation or bad reputation; we all come to Christ {Messiah} in repentance and faith. There is only one reason that any of us will be in heaven–that reason is Jesus. So you can put up your note books and stop counting the number of lessons you have taught, or chapters you have read, or visits you have made, or sermons you have preached. Your record can’t help you. It will not get you to heaven; nor will it make you better than your neighbor. Matter of fact, if you put confidence in what you have done, it will mess you up. Listen folks God does amazing things through ordinary people, even broken and messed up people like Rahab and myself. I tend to get mixed up trying to figure this generational stuff out but Rehab was David’s grandmother. I am going to say Great, Great, Great grandmother. This is a credit that most Jews don’t have.
I found this blog in some old notes as I try to reduce the clutter in my office. The clutter got so bad a few weeks back that I got depressed. The above was a sermon, not a blog. I just reduced it to a blog but there is a poem that goes with it and I am pretty sure I didn’t write it but I found it in my notes and it is also in MY POEMS.
MY MOUTH FELL OPEN WIDE, AS I ENTERED HEAVEN’S DOOR;
BUT NOT FROM THE BEAUTY OR EVEN THE DECOR–
IT WAS THE FOLKS I SEEN THERE THAT CAUSED ME TO GASP,
WHY THERE WERE SINNERS EVERYWHERE,
SOME THAT WERE PURE TRASH.
THERE STOOD THE KID FROM 7TH GRADE
WHO STOLE MY LUNCH TWICE.
NEXT TO HIM STOOD MY NEIGHBOR
WHO NEVER SAID ANYTHING NICE.
LOW AND BEHOLD, THERE STOOD OLE HERB–
WHO I ASSUMED WAS ROTTING IN HELL.
SITTING THERE AS BIG AS YOU PLEASE
AND LOOKING INCREDIBLY WELL.
SO I NUDGE ST. PETE–“WHAT’S THE DEAL?”
“I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR TAKE.”
HOW DID ALL THESE SINNERS GET UP HERE?
LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE.
AND PETE TELL ME WHY EVERYONE SEEMS SPEECHLESS,
DO YOU HAVE THE FAINTEST CLUE?
THAT’S EASY SAID ST. PETE,
THERE ARE IN SHOCK FROM SEEING YOU.
Extra
I tried to do this a few days ago but I failed. Michael says it is operator error but I have trouble uploading pic on the apple so I bought another computer. We gave Chloe my old computer from the house and now I will have one in the house and one in the office. I can lord my pics through the HP. We have been doing drive-in worship for close to two years. We never stopped our outdoor service and I am thankful. But due to the covid outbreak, we have been doing only one service on Sunday morning and it is outside. This means that those with pets can bring they pets to church. Winston, Carol and Dewayne’s poodle is regular in attendance. He loves to hear Doug sing. Dewayne says he has a vocabulary of 200 words which puts him right up there with me. He sent me these pics of Winston waiting for him to turn in the drive way so he can tell Carol that dad is home.
…Hey Mom…I am looking
…Hey mom, dad is home…
