God Uses People: Rahab

I am so glad God changes people and puts them to work in His Church!

 

Several years ago, our praise team needed a drummer in a church where I served as Pastor. These are not easy to find, especially for a Sunday morning ‘gig!’ We played for several months without one, as our drummer, who had played with us for several years, had graduated from High School and gone off to college. Finally, a woman who had started visiting our church told me about her husband. He had been a drummer for many years, playing in bars and ‘honky-tonks,’ and had recently received Christ as Savior. He didn’t seem to ‘fit’ in any church they had visited, and she was worried about him falling away. I set up a time to visit him, and we quickly became friends.

 

I asked him if he would be interested in playing drums for our Praise Team, and he said he would try it – but he was very non-committal, unsure he would like our church.

  

Mike showed up at practice the next week and immediately fit in with our group! He was an excellent drummer and a very kind and gracious person who loved his family and wanted to get involved in a church but didn’t know how. 

 

He played with us for the next several years, sharing bits of musical wisdom gained through years of experience. He taught us, made us laugh with his ‘honky-tonk’ stories, and helped us in a way no one else could have at that time. Too, he learned from us a set of values and beliefs he had not heard before and grew in his faith. He and his entire family were involved in our church until the sons grew up and moved on, and they are still involved in the faith.  

 

It is incredible, isn’t it? God uses people – not just the good people or the ‘religious’ people, but people of faith who respond to His call to service!  

 

There is a Bible story of a woman, Rahab, who had lived as a prostitute in the city of Jericho. She was not a believer but had heard stories of the Hebrew God, who had blessed them and helped them escape from Egypt, where they were held as slaves. 

 

When spies from the Hebrew army came to her house and asked for help as they ‘scouted out’ the city for an attack, she responded in faith and hid them from the city’s police. She helped them for days and even misled the police when they came to her house, looking for the Hebrew spies. As a reward for her service, they promised to spare her and her family when they attacked the city.  

           

On the day of the attack, Rahab hung a red rope out of her window. This was a signal to the Hebrew warriors, who had been told to kill everyone in the city except the family out of whose window the red rope hung. Afterward, Rahab, who gave up her life as a prostitute and the rest of her family, lived with the Hebrew people and adopted their faith in The One God. One of her descendants, Joseph, was married many years later to a woman named Mary, who had a son they named Jesus. Yes, that Jesus is the Son of God, Messiah, and Savior of the world.   

 

Rahab, a former prostitute, was used by God to bring about the Savior of the world!

 

Indeed, God uses people! People with faith who will follow Him. Regardless of past sins or circumstances, when we place our faith in God and listen to His call for service, He can use us for his will to do great things! Let us all learn the eternal truth from this story and from Rahab herself – God uses people to bring about His will!

 

You can best support our Ministry by sharing these podcasts with your friends and family.

 

We also need your financial contributions to make our ministries possible. You can contribute online at https://firstbaptistofindependence.aware3.net/give/

 

If you would like to stay up to date on all things FBC, download our App by clicking here https://a3a.me/firstbaptistofindependence or by Liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/1stBaptist/

 

Thank you for listening. We will see you next week.