It’s A Family Affair! (Part 9)

If there is one thing that is important to almost every human being it is family.  In this series we are taking a look into the word of God to see the heart and will of God, not just for our lives, but also for our families.  We discover without doubt that it is the perfect will of God for us and our whole house, in other words family, to be saved!  Beloved, it is with this confidence that we pray bold, faith-filled, prayers for our families to be saved, and that we fulfill our destinies together in Christ together, as a family!

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It’s A Family Affair! (Part 9)

In this episode, we’re going to be concluding our series titled, It’s a Family Affair. Before we do that, we’re going to do what we always do and that is to takes time to acknowledge God. I thank you, Heavenly Father, for the opportunity to get at the feet of your son, Jesus and to hear Him. I thank you that you, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, has given to each and every one of us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, the knowledge of Him, and the eyes of our understanding being enlightened that we may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe according to the working of His mighty power.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, that you’re going to expound on the scriptures to us about the things concerning yourself, Lord. I thank you that you’re going to cause us to comprehend the scriptures. I thank you that as we abide in you and your word abides in us, Lord, not only do we bear much fruit that remains, but whatever we ask and desire, you are doing. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Salvation: He is the living word. He’s not just the teacher of the word that He is also, but He is the word. So who better to define it than the creator, the manufacturer?

Before we get into the final bits of this series that God has for us and recap a bit because I know we’ve had a gap in between, I want to dedicate this episode and even this series to my granny who went to be with the Lord. She almost lived to be 100 years old. She certainly was filled with 100 years of wisdom. She’s one of the wisest women I’ve ever known in my life. God has used her to teach me so many things. I’ve thought about what she would want me to do. It certainly wouldn’t be to continue to grieve. It would be to give because that woman’s language of love was giving, unquestionably. If you knew her, you knew that.

I wanted to give you all some of the wisdom she shared with me. She’s taught me so many things. She’s a woman of wisdom and of worth. I literally could not even count them if I wanted to and not even bring every one of them in to recall now. The one that I’ll share with you is one of the things that relate to this particular series that we’ve been on now and that God has had us focusing on His family. One of the things she taught me and I want to give this gift to you is that family extends well beyond the borders of your home and your bloodline. I know that she was right and I don’t say this because she was my granny and I love her dearly. I say this because Jesus revealed this truth in His word to us.

If you take a look at Matthew 12: 47-48 and I believe this is out of the New King James Version, it says, “While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to him, ‘Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak with you,’ but He answered and said to the one who told Him, ‘Who is my mother and who are my brothers?’ He stretched out His hand towards His disciples and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother.’”

Jesus is the creator of all things. Nothing was made unless He made it, the Bible tells us. If you make it, you certainly can define it. He is the living word. He’s not just the teacher of the word but He is also the word. Who’s better to define it than the creator or the manufacturer? He manufactured family. Jesus says our family does extend beyond our bloodline and the border of our homes, to all those who are doing the will of God, the bride of Christ, the church of Jesus Christ. All we are truly and insincerely mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. His family is big. We have a family we haven’t met yet and probably won’t meet until we get to heaven. I wanted to give that to you in honor of her because her love language is to give.

Let us continue on now and even finish up our series. If you’ve been with me on this journey, you know that our key scripture comes out of Acts 16:30-31 and it says, “He brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.’” Household speaks of family. God had us lay this foundation early on in the series. If you haven’t had a chance to hear it, I want to encourage you to hear it. Any time you feel the need to go back to it and be strengthened in the area of family and in your faith, keep hearing and hearing.

Remember, faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. We want to keep hearing. It’s not redundant but necessary. That is the ordain way of God to impart to us faith. Faith is not something you conjure up or work to try to get. Faith actually comes to you when you get at the feet of Jesus and you hear Him, which is what you’re doing now. I’m always praying that God moved me out on the way and come yourself. No one wants to hear for me. I don’t even want to even hear from me. Let’s hear from Jesus Christ himself by His spirit in us.

We saw how not only is family important to God, but it’s something that is of first importance to Him. We saw that even more so as far as priorities are concerned. Marriage is a priority to God. We established that through the word of God. We watched how God delivered not only Noah, even though the Bible says God had this covenant with Noah, it says that He saved Noah and his entire household which is his family, and even in-laws were included in that. That’s family as well.

We looked at Exodus and we got to see the children of Israel and how God told them, “Prepare a lamb for a sacrifice, one lamb per household.” We know that this lamb was a shadow of the substance of Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn’t want to just save you and me, and this one and that one. He wants the whole family to be saved. That’s His will. We saw that on the night of the Passover that the Lord brought the children of Israel out, save them and their entire household.

We’re going to be finishing up this series looking at someone you may be familiar with in the scriptures named Rahab. You can go to the book of Joshua where you’ll find the testimony of this woman who God used in a phenomenal way to save not only herself but her entire household. First let’s look at 2 Peter 3:9. It says “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness but as a long-suffering toward us. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

God let me know that all means all. The so-called deserving and the undeserving, the qualified and the disqualified. Remember that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Another Bible verse God gave me on the heels of that one was John 3:16-17 when Jesus Himself said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son,” and He was speaking of Himself, “That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

Look at the Holy Spirit’s choice of language. Look at what the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God, God in the flesh, God himself is saying right to us that whoever believes. That is your convicted felons, your runaway team, who’s in homosexuality, who’s pregnant and is like, “She wasn’t married.” That’s the one that’s now married in her fifth husband. I mean everybody. God said whoever believes. He doesn’t want anyone to perish. That’s the self-righteous, the proud, the jealous and envious. Those are the more silent but deadly sins. He wants to save us all.

I love how God chose to use the word world repeatedly. That is all-inclusive, any and everybody in it. God sent Jesus to save us all. The gift of salvation can be received by anyone at any time. There are no caveats or condition precedents that must be met. There’s none of that. God wants to save the entire world. He doesn’t want anyone to perish. Hell is not an existence for souls to inhabit the space. That place was prepared for Satan and demons, not human beings, so let’s go home. Heaven is our home, not right now, but when God is ready. Let’s go stay and reside there forever, and allow God to save us. Let’s consent to be saved. That’s all it takes.

Salvation: All the gifts of salvation can be received by anyone at any time. There are no caveats. There are no condition precedents that must be met. God wants to save the entire world.

Let’s look at Joshua. We’re going to start with Joshua 1 because as I was going through with God, He had me start there. I hardly ever do this if you’ve been with me on this journey but I have Joshua 1. I’m going to read a bit to you and it’s out of the message version. I actually liked the message version but I don’t often use it on the show if you’ve been with me for some time. Now I’m doing it right out of the box with God whenever He wants to do that. It says, “After the death of Moses, the servant of God, God spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant, ‘Moses my servant is dead. Get going, cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country that I’m giving to the people of Israel. I’m giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on just as I promised.’”

What God pointed out to me was that Joshua who represents Jesus was the one who was able to get the people to cross over into the Promised Land. Jesus is the only one who’s able to take us from pending prayers and petitions before God to possessing the fullness of all God has for us. He’s able to do that. Moses was not. We know that Moses represents the law. God gave those Ten Commandments through Moses. Moses is the servant, Jesus is the Son. What the servant couldn’t do, the son has done.

You may say “There’s no need for Moses. He did this and that,” but all of that is wrapped up in Jesus. Even Moses in some regards was a picture of Jesus as far as being able to deliver them. You notice how Moses went before Pharaoh. There were many plagues of judgment and words of rebuke and correction for Pharaoh. He seemed sometimes to be ready to break and do the right thing, and pride would rise up and take over again in him.

That very last thing that God instructed them to do was that lamb being slain, which is literally the shadow of Jesus Christ who God said, “This is the lamb of God.” Not the one that people picked out without blemish but the one that God Himself before the foundations of the world chose to be slain for our sins, sparing us but not sparing His own son, which is why I love the Bible verse Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

The lesser is always included in the greater and Jesus is the best that God could possibly give, and with Him, the lesser is included in it. I don’t mean lesser in a demeaning way, but I want to put the things in perspective and I am being truthful. I’m being respectful but I’m being honest. Everything else is lesser, no matter how important it is. I often say this. If it’s important to you, it’s important to God, but Jesus is the greater and the greatest included in the lesser. God revealed it to me. If someone gives you $1,000, you can’t have an attitude like, “I need $100.” $100 isn’t $1,000. Several hundreds are in a thousand.

The lesser is always included in the greater. Whatever petitions and prayers you have before God, knowing that if he didn’t hesitate to give you His best when we’re at our worst, what would make Him ever hesitate to give you the lesser? Nothing would. It’s His joy that God gave and He gave it freely. I love the fact that He gave it when we were at our worst because it shows that God’s love for us is unconditional. Thank God it is, so I praise Jesus for that unconditional love. God wanted me to point that out.

It takes Jesus. It takes Him. It takes the son of God, not the servant. It takes the grace of God, not the law to get you from a place of pending petitions before God to possessing all those possessions inside of your promised land. It takes Jesus to do that. It takes the favor of God to do that. It does not take dotting I’s crossing T’s. That was the old covenant. Thank God that has passed. Now, we have this new covenant of the grace and peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is able to get you into the Promised Land.

Let’s take a closer look at Rahab right in her story and see that this desire God has to save the world and anyone whoever would believe that He means what He says. He means when he says that so-called qualified and the so-called disqualified. Here we are in verse 2, “Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly saying, ‘Go view the land, especially Jericho.’ They went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab.”

I’m liking already the little bit of drama here. Rahab is a prostitute. That’s what people are considered immoral. That was a sin against God. I love how God is going to use this woman. We’ll even go to Matthew and show how the grace of God is so much greater than anything that we do wrong or we don’t do, that we refrain from doing, that we shouldn’t do what’s wrong. The Bible says, “Where sin abounds, the grace of God much more abounds.” It’s so true and you can see it everywhere in that Bible from beginning to end. You can see it in the life of Rahab.

They lodged there and it was told the king of Jericho saying, “Behold, men have come here from the children of Israel to search out the country.” Joshua is sending these people over into Jericho because God says this is the Promised Land. God has promised them and they’re going to take it, but there are people possessing it. There’s some opposition, but it doesn’t mean God didn’t call you to possess it.

Salvation: It takes the grace of God, not the law, to get you from a place of pending petitions before God to actually possessing all those possessions inside of your promised land.

That’s what’s happening here. It’s been found out that these spies that Joshua has sent to spy out the land before they go in and possess it has been spotted. Not great news for the spies. It says, “The king of Jericho sent to Rahab saying, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house for they have come to search out all the country.’ The woman took the two men and hid them. She said, ‘Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. It happened as the gates were being shut. It was dark that the men went out. Where the men went, I do not know. Pursue them quickly for you may overtake them.’”

Rahab is lying, but she had brought these men up. He hid them under some stalks of flax that she laid on top of her roof. I’m going down to verse 8, “Before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the man, I know that the Lord has given you the land.” Look at this woman. She was not dotting I’s and crossing T’s in her behavior, but look at the heart of this woman for God. She had more faith than that generation before Joshua because they were saying, “We’re like grasshoppers in their sight.”

They were supposed to go in and possess the land a whole generation sooner but were afraid to do so. Here comes this generation after them which Joshua was a part of and Rahab who is a Gentile. She is not a Jew. She doesn’t serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but this woman is saying with certainty, “I know that God has given you the land.” This lady has moved from hope, which is God ordained. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. You have to have hope. Hope precedes faith but I’m saying this woman had hope and faith. She’s rocking out with both. She’s not dotting those I’s and crossing those T’s with her behavior, but her heart is one for God. We can clearly see that.

She says, “God has given you the land.” She literally called him the Lord. This lady is on it. She’s heard about God. She’s told them that the terror has fallen on all of them in that land. All the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. 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 the two kings of the Amorites. They destroyed them.

In verse 11 it says, “As soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. Neither there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, because the Lord, your God is the God in heaven above and on the Earth beneath.” This woman believed and God said, “Whosoever.” Let me include in whosoever, the convicted murderers, prostitutes, drug dealers, gang bangers, gamblers, drug and pornography addictions. I love this blank chick that God gave us because, is it just Rahab who hasn’t gone a day dotting every I and crossing every T?

I am continuously grateful for the grace of the living God. Rahab was somewhere saying, “Amen, praise Jesus.” Rahab says to them now, “Therefore I beg you, swear to me by the Lord since I have shown you kindness that you also will show kindness to my father’s house and give me a true token and spare my father, mother, brothers, sisters and all that I have and deliver our lives from death.”

This woman had faith in God. I imagined she touched God’s heart like that lady who touched Jesus when she touched the hem of His robe. She was in the middle of breaking the law, bleeding. She weren’t supposed to even be in public back then. She had went beyond a normal menstrual cycle. She hemorrhaged continually even for years. She had no business out there in public according to the law but she reached out and touched grace.

When she reached out and touched grace, there were no regrets. The men answered her, “Our lives for yours. If none of you tell this business of ours, it shall be when the Lord has given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” She let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the wall for that city. She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there for three days so they’ve returned. Afterward, you may go your way.” She knows the city because she’s been living there.

The man said to her, “We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear. Unless when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window to where you let us down, and unless you bring your father, mother, brothers and all your father’s household to your own home.” I love it. They say in a few verses or a few lines down, “Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.”

She said to them in verse 21, “According to your word so be it. She let them away and they departed.” She bound the scarlet cord in the window. Scarlet red, representing the blood of Jesus. This woman put faith in the God of Israel, which is Jesus himself. She put faith in the blood of Jesus in a sense that scarlet cord outside her house represents pleading the blood of Jesus over your family and your house. Prayers being lifted up to God over your family and over your house. The destroyer is having to pass by not just you but all that’s in your house. Those prayers are not in vain.

That labor of love, God will never deny or reject. He will make certain of it. He’ll make certain you see them on the other side. When you go to reside for good in heaven, they’ll be there with you, thanking God for you. In continual awe and adoration for not only God, but also for you. They definitely will be doing that.

We go to Chapter 6 and this is the infamous chapter where the walls of Jericho fall. They fall not by might or power but by the spirit of the living God. We know that if you’ve read the story. I love how Joshua says to the people, “Shout for the Lord has given you the city.” It’s the same faith that was in Rahab. It is not only knowing that God will do it, but whatever God promises is as good as done. It is finished. It’s the same faith as a picture of Jesus Christ is crying out, “It is done.”

These people are speaking and God said, “Call the things that are not as though they were.” Not to even say it’s going to happen. No, it is finished. It has happened. God has done it. The work is done. God goes before us and then He declares the end and the beginning. This is not a lie, being presumptuous or proud. That is a demonstration of the fruit of faith.

Salvation: It is the perfect will of God that you, and your whole family be saved! Therefore, declare with confidence, “As for me and my house, we shall be saved and serve the Lord in Jesus name!”

The faith of God speaks and so the Bible tells us that in the New Testament. This woman had faith. She had a heart for God. It showed you that even in having a heart for God, sometimes it’s a process for that behavior to line up. It’s a lifelong process. I don’t think we ever get off the potter’s wheel. I’m always telling people it’s me and the need for prayer. To this day, when I put my right foot in front of my left, when I walk, it’s always on the ground. I’m never levitating or floating in the air. There you have it. As human as you are, you need God as much as you do, maybe even more.

I love that God is full of grace, love and mercy. I say that He’s not only full of love but he is love. Now it says, “The city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, in and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent.” It’s wonderful. We’ll skip down to verse 20 and it says, “The people shouted when the priest blew the trumpets. It happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout that the walls fell flat down.”

I told you that wasn’t by might or power, but by the Holy Spirit. A shout of praise and everything the enemy build, fortified, high and lifted up, came down like it was nothing. It’s amazing. God always uses the weak things to confound the strong. He always takes the simple things and confined these proud, puffed-up people with intelligence. He could have been anyway but I love the way that He is. I’m going to go to verse 21 and it say, “They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old oxen, sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword.”

Joshua had said to the two men who had spat out the country, “Go into the harlot’s house.” I love that they keep calling her that because it is a continual reminder that everything that we have and everything that God does for us is not because of us. It’s because of Him and because He never changes, that truth will never change. Sometimes, we feel like we love God. Sometimes we’re like, “Crucify Him.” Let’s be real. Out of our mouth is coming out of our actions. Real faith is having faith in the faithfulness of God.

The fact that He doesn’t change, He doesn’t let anyone change Him. You have good days and bad days. I have good days and bad days. We may be up and down with God, but He’s consistent with us. He never changes. He’s not letting that change Him. He loves us. Good days, He loves us. Bad days, He loves us. As a matter of fact, on bad days, the grace of God increases because where sin abounds, the grace of God much more abounds. God is nearly unbelievably good. If there’s anything you want to say, “God, increase my faith in.”

I believe you are as good as you are. You know what I’m saying because that’s where the real faith is. If we had faith in that, then I feel like in every other area, the faith would be there. If we can get that foundational faith, that faith in this part from which all other faith springs that God loves us unconditionally. He is who He says He is. He’s faithful. He is love. If we can get faith in who He is, it would be nothing to believe what He’s going to do.

That part would be easy. I’m thinking about focusing faith on the things that matter. I think the focus should be on the faithfulness and love of God. I love it that they keep referring to her as a harlot because God said that whosoever believes would be saved, them and their house. It says, “Go into the harlot’s house. From there, bring out the woman and all that she has as you swore to her.” The young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all that she had. They brought out all the relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel.

Rahab still dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. God didn’t leave her like that. We got to remember that behavior modifications are a fruit of faith in Jesus. They are fruit from our father. He does the work. Unless the Lord builds the house, the labor is labor in vain. That applies to everything. No one gets free from an addiction by sheer will or the desire to do so. It goes well beyond that. If God doesn’t build that house of freedom, the labor is labor in vain.

Even though that’s the will of God, everything is a fruit. Jesus said it, “God is the vine dresser.” He’s the vine, we are the branches. “If you abide in me and I abide in you,” that’s how you bear fruit. You don’t force, make or strive for fruit. You don’t go running the rat race to obtain the fruit. You don’t step on people to get the fruit. You bear fruit and no one can give glory to anyone but God, and that’s how God wills it to be so. Praise God, chill out as a branch, and let God do all the work.

We see in the book of Matthew 1 where they list the genealogy of Jesus Christ. I wanted to end by saying God didn’t leave her like that. Once she believed in the Lord, Jesus Christ, the God of Israel, God didn’t leave her like that. It talks about a few women in there. I think four, approximately. In verse 5 it says how Solomon has begotten Boaz by Rahab. You may remember Boaz from the book of Ruth. Boaz begot Obed by Ruth. Obed begot Jesse and Jesse begot David the King. Even people who are not born again know about King David. They’ve heard the testimony of David when he fought Goliath, not by might or power but by God’s spirit. We know that who knows the story.

I love that God didn’t leave it like that. He had this woman marry someone who was an Israelite. She and her whole house was saved. Now she’s in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. You notice then the Holy Spirit talking about her didn’t say Rahab the harlot. You can come to God in whatever condition you’re in. Come to God as you are and leave it up to God to make sure you don’t stay that way, in the ways that He knows transformation is needed.

Don’t even judge yourself, let God take care of it. He knows what needs to be done. He knows when it needs to be done. Chill out. I keep telling people God is not petty. God wants to have this big, huge everlasting eternal family reunion. The more, the better because God is so full. He will never exhaust His supply. He wants everybody there, so chill out, come and join us. It doesn’t matter what you did. You’re not joining anybody but a bunch of people who for the grace of God would be in hell as well. No one can judge you. That’s real talk, just come on in.

If someone hasn’t made Jesus the Lord of their life, I want to give you the opportunity to do that and pray with and repeat after me. Lord Jesus, I thank you for going to that cross and dying for my sins. I thank you that salvation is not something I have to earn. I thank you that I don’t have to look or sound a certain way. It’s not about dotting I’s or crossing T’s. It is about you, Jesus Christ.

It is about what you’ve done at that cross. It is about your love God for me and sending your son. It is about your resurrection, justifying me and making me holy as you are holy. I received this gift of salvation. I receive your abundance of grace. I receive your gift and your robe of righteousness, Lord. I believe you are the son of the living God that God sent into the world to save me.

I ask you not only that I would be saved this day, but me and my whole house, and that you don’t just be our saviour but I pray you be Lord and cause us to bear much fruit for your glory and the good of your church. In your name, Jesus, I pray and celebrate. Amen to that. I love you all very much. You are family. That’s not cute like cliché, but we are family. I love you guys. Thank you for continuing to be with me on this journey. I’ll be back when God gives me more in talking to you soon. I love you so much.

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