Today we are going to read a portion of the Word of God that has been touching my life and it's in Luke 7:1. The Word says: “As soon as Jesus had finished speaking to the people, he entered Capernaum. There was a centurion there whose servant, whom he valued highly, was sick and about to die. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal his servant. When they arrived before Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him.”

We see in this story that there's a man and it specifically says that he was a centurion—a soldier, a commander—in charge of soldiers. But he was going through hardship and he had a problem at home. Something was happening in his house and it says that he heard about Jesus. We see that the Lord has just finished speaking about the parable that we talked about last time; the story about the wise man and the foolish man. To the wise man who built his house on the rock, the Lord says "he resembles the one who hears my word and puts it into practice." He is a wise man who hears the word and puts it into practice and obeys it. That is the wise man. That is the prudent man. The one who not only hears, but also puts the Word of the Lord into practice.

We see that this man, the centurion, had a problem. He said that his servant, whom he greatly valued, is sick.I want us to read in Matthew 8 to see what was happening to this servant. Matthew 8:5 tells the same story, but in different ways. The Word says that when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him, asking for help. We see that it changes a bit here, because it says that the centurion had an encounter with Jesus and asked him and in the other place it says that he sent people to ask the Lord to come and heal his servant. "Lord, my servant is lying at home." What was wrong with the servant? I want us all to read this. What is wrong with the servant? Paralysis. So, it's similar to the story of the paralytics we've been reading about. We've seen the first paralytic and then the second paralytic whom the brothers brought to the house and broke through the roof. This is an example of a servant who is paralyzed and cannot walk. He is a servant who has reached a condition where he is suffering terribly.

As I was meditating on this passage I was praying, “Lord, this man was a high-ranking official, right? He had a position, but he hears about Jesus and he goes out and sends people to ask Jesus for a favor. And I thought, “Yes, this man should have humbled himself and asked Jesus himself.” If we read a little more in Luke, we see what this man did. He deserves something as stated from Luke 7:4, right? Let’s look at the example from Matthew and see the illness this man suffered from. Here in Luke, it doesn't specify what he had. It only says that he was sick and that he was suffering terribly.Then it says that men had been sent to ask Jesus to perform a miracle. In Luke 7, these men present themselves before Jesus and tell him about this man: "This man deserves your help. He loves our nation so much that he built us a synagogue."

So Jesus went with them and He wasn't far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to Jesus, "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even dare to come to you,but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one,” go,’ and he goes, and another, ‘Come,’ and he comes." “I tell my servant, "Do this," and he does it. So this man was used to giving orders like saying, "Do this," and it gets done but we see that he doesn't present himself that way before Jesus. Instead, he goes and says, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. I am not worthy that you should do anything for me."

Imagine hearing something like that from a soldier who is a high-ranking police commander. He's surrounded by all these people and he approaches Jesus humbly asking Him for a miracle for his servant. We could title this sermon “the boss and the servant”. Then you look and see that the Lord also gets involved in the work. We see that the Lord is there. This man has a servant who worked in his house. We don't know how it happened or what happened to him, but he's sick. He's fallen into a condition where he can't fulfill his duties. This man must have been a high-ranking servant because it says that he tells his servant, "Do this," and he does it.  So we see there in the Word that he was an obedient man, a man whose boss would tell him, "Do this," and he would do it. The boss would tell him, "Do this," and he would go to such and such a place and do it.

So, when I meditated on this passage, I was thinking that’s how the Lord deals with us in many areas of our lives. How many of you have bosses? How many of you have good bosses? Probably very few but, we will always be under authority. This man is saying, "Jesus, I myself am subject to my authorities. I do what they want, but I also tell these people, 'do this,' and they do it. And when I tell my servant, 'do this,' he does it too." So we see that it's something like a hierarchy that Jesus is teaching us about. Jesus is teaching those who are following him and he’s telling them, "Look at this man, this man has soldiers under his command, and they obey him." So many times we are those who obey the Lord the least, right? Because the Lord tells us to do something, and unlike high-ranking commanders, we say, "This verse shouldn't go here. It shouldn't say this in this Word." And we even want to change the Word. But we see that this man, upon hearing about Jesus, approaches him and says, "Lord, just say the word, and my servant will be healed." This man is focusing on Jesus, not on his own resources, because he could not have done it himself even if he had money to do it. Think about it, he had already spent money on his servant. Perhaps he had exhausted all his resources and he hadn't been able to heal his servant. And then he hears about Jesus and says, "Go and tell him to come and heal my servant."

I love Jesus' attitude, because it says that when they tell him who this man is, Jesus goes and says, "Come, I will go with you to heal that man’s servant." But what caught my attention here in this passage is the centurion's faith. What did Jesus see in this man that allowed him to say, "What great faith you have, man! I have never seen such great faith as this man had. Not even in Israel have I seen anyone with such faith as this man." How many of us want to have that kind of faith? But we can see in the Bible what those qualities were that Jesus saw in this man that allowed him to say, "Man, what great faith you have!" And he says to everyone there, "I have never seen such great faith, not even in Israel." Why? Because many people questioned what Jesus was doing. Many people questioned the way Jesus did things. And many said that he was Lord, but in the end, they didn't do what Jesus told them to do. That's why the Lord says, "Why do you call me Lord and not do what I say? Why don't you practice what I tell you?" They didn’t see things happen because they heard the word, but they didn't put the Word of God into practice.

So, we see this man who hears about Jesus. and he says he was a Roman man. And we know a little bit about Paul's life when he was a Roman leader, when he walked as a centurion as well. What was Paul doing with his life? He was persecuting the church. What did Paul do with those who were preaching the Gospel, He killed them! Think about the change in this man. Imagine the transformation of this man's mind, after hearing the Word of God. This was a Roman leader accustomed to subjugating people. This man wasn't used to loving servants. These people were used to just replacing a sick servant with another one. They were used to solving a problem at work by telling them, "you're no longer employed here, you're leaving, and someone else will come in," There's no love there, right? Well, if you don't want to leave. If you don't like the job they will tell you “go, the doors are open.” Why? Because there's no love for an employee. There is no love for a servant.

But we see that something had happened in this man's life. It strikes me because it says that when they went to Jesus, they told him, "This man has a servant whom he greatly values." This man had developed a relationship with his master. They had become friends. Their relationship was no longer just that of servant, but of friendship. And then this servant gets sick.

"The Lord tests our faith many times at work, at home, and in our families to see how far we will go to put God's word into practice."

When I started working where I’m at now, my boss was very demanding and he had these crazy ideas that you couldn’t even imagine? There were times when he would say to me, "Mrs. Maria, I want you to make me a smoothie." Imagine at work and having to make a carrot smoothie or a papaya smoothie or a beet smoothie. He would tell me exactly how I had to make it. And when I made it differently, he would say, "You did something wrong because it didn't turn out the same." And I would say, "I did it like the doctor did." But there was something I didn’t put in that smoothie and he knew I'd made it differently. Other times he'd get the urge to eat sweets and he'd say to me, "Doña María, come here. Look, they sell some sweets over there and I need you to go buy them for me." One time almost sent me to the presidential residence. It was really sunny and hot and I walked and walked following the directions he gave me. I walked and walked and walked and kept thinking, "why didn't he send me to the mall if they sell sweets there?" I eventually got there and arrived all sweaty. I asked about the candy and there were some small bags for sale. I said, "Look, my boss wants some of these candies, but he only wants five." But the lady said, "But your boss is crazy; we don't sell them in fives here." So I called him and said, "Sir, look, the girl told me you don't sell them in fives." He said, "What do you mean you're not going to sell them in fives, Mrs. Maria? They have to sell. Tell them I only need five." And I looked at the girl and said, "My boss says he only wants five." And then she tells me, "No. Tell him no.  We don't sell in quantities of fives here." We were on the phone for a while and I was standing there—I don't know if you've ever felt stupid—feeling stupid.

Because sometimes he'd tell me, "Go buy me some cheese and tell them at the supermarket I only want four ounces." And I'd go to the supermarket and say, "Look, my boss wants blue cheese but he only wants four ounces." "Are you crazy, ma'am? Your boss is crazy! We don't sell it like that here. If you want it, you have to buy the whole pound." "But he says he only wants four ounces." I would say. And then he'd tell me, "Go get me a blackberry." And I'd say, "What's a blackberry?" And there was his secretary so I'd ask her what a Blackberry is. I didn't know what that was, much less blue cheese. And then he'd tell me, "Go." And then she would translate what he was saying to me. She'd say, "This is what he wants Mrs. Maria." She'd send me pictures and say, "This is what He wants."

I love it because, in many things in our lives, the Lord sees what we do and how we do it. The Word says that faith without works is dead and if we say that we love the Lord and that He is our Lord, but we don't obey what He tells us to do, then that faith isn't true. It’s not true because the faith that is placed in the Lord is the faith that obeys.

So we see that this man believes that Jesus can perform a miracle for him, and he sends his servants to tell Him, "To come to my house and perform a miracle for my servant." The love this man had for his servant was great and I said, "Lord, how wonderful to see how Your Word can change someone's heart. Amen." It’s a miracle because the Romans were known for being harsh, proud, and arrogant. But something had happened to this man. He had heard about the God of the Jews. He had heard about the God who performs miracles. For the Romans, the culture wasn't about loving their servants, it was about commanding them. But in the kingdom of God, servants are held in high esteem. Amen.

The Bible says that when someone in those times didn't have a relative but they had a servant who had worked for them for a long time, that servant even had the right to inherit his master's entire estate. Imagine! That's what happened to Abraham because he couldn't have children. And when the Lord told him that his inheritance would be great, he said, "Lord, but why are you going to give me an inheritance if I don't have a son? And if I die, that inheritance will remain with my servant." That was a principle of the kingdom of God. It wasn't from the Romans. Because love doesn't come from man, it comes from God. Love comes from God, it doesn't come from us.

And we often are like that Roman, hard hearted and often proud. But when the word enters, the word can overcome everything, amen. So we see that this man had experienced hearing the Word. But he not only heard it, he also obeyed the
Word of God. And look at what these men said about him when they got to Jesus. They said, "This man deserves that you grant him what he's asking for. He values the nation so much that he has built us a synagogue." What had this man done for the Jews? What happened in the synagogue? The Word of God was studied, prayers were offered to God, and this man had seen the people's desire to worship their God so he built them a synagogue.

Perhaps this man never thought that what he was doing would have any affect on his life when he encountered Jesus. He didn't do it thinking, "I'm going to build this synagogue so that God will forgive my sins," but rather he was a pious man, a kind man, a man who had compassion for those who were sick. And when his request came before Jesus, the Lord was amazed when these people began to talk about Him. They said, "He is a man who values his servant. He is a man who loves the nation of Israel. He is a man who loves them and thinks of them, takes care of them," even though it wasn't His custom. Because it wasn't this man's custom to do these things. Rather, they were used to subjugating people, to mistreating them and beating them. But something had changed in this man.

And now this man, who perhaps came with that kind of a mindset, has now experienced God's love in his life. Why? Because he had heard the Jews, I imagine. He had heard about this God who performs miracles. He had heard about this God who makes a way where there is no way so that his people can pass through. And he had heard about a God who tore down fortresses to give his people their inheritance. He had heard about a God of love, a God who cared for His people and covered them as they wandered through the desert. He had heard about a God who had come to make His dwelling with them on earth. He had heard about a God who, when the Jews were in the desert, made manna fall from heaven.

When he was given the chance to stand before Jesus, he considered himself unworthy to be before such a great God. This man saw Jesus as someone greater and superior to himself and he is saying, "I am not worthy that you should come to my house, I am not worthy, Lord." Because it says that Jesus was going with the crowd to see what was wrong with the servant. But when he got close, the man said, "Don't go, it's not necessary for you to come all the way to my house, just say the word." Imagine what this man had just understood! He understood that there was power in the word that Jesus spoke. He had understood that the Word of God is living and powerful. So when he says, "Just say the word and my servant will be healed," imagine the faith of this man. I was amazed when the Lord was teaching me this and I said to him, "Lord, I want to have that faith, I want to have that man's faith. Lord, help me, because many times, Lord, I have acted irreverently in your presence and to your word." We can see how reverent this man was before Jesus. Today, we live in a world full of irreverence toward the things of God. It's a world where mentioning the name of Jesus is treated as if it were Mel Zelaya's name. Sometimes, Mel is even shown more respect. Because many times we are irreverent before the Lord. Many times we are irreverent toward the word of God. And that can be seen not only here, but everywhere.

Sometimes I see things and I say, “How can they make jokes about the things of God?” There's TikTok now, which they call good? They make fun of the Word of God and they make fun of the church. They make fun of something that is so holy and so pure to God. We need to change our minds and  see the things of the Lord in a different way. Because this man wasn't irreverent. He was respectful before Jesus. He said, "I am not worthy," to Jesus.  How many of us here have felt unworthy of such great love Jesus has for our lives. We need to understand that what we’re doing today, we didn't earn the privilege to be able to do this. However, today the Lord is giving us the opportunity to be people chosen by God to proclaim the praises of the Lord. Before Christ, it was a privilege only for the Jews and the people of Israel. They were God's chosen people and those who had been called to be priests in the house of the Lord. They were the privileged ones. But today, you and I have been called by Him and chosen to be a people who praise the Lord. Today we see so much irreverence toward praise and toward the Word of God. There are people who only go for the praise music, saying things like, "I only like the choruses," and when the sermon comes, they run away, saying, "Oh, the sermon makes me sleepy." Imagine that! Many times you can see that irreverence toward the Word of God in the churches. But this man is saying, "Lord, just say one word." How often do we come to hear a word from the Lord? How often do we approach God in prayer with the hope that the Lord will speak to our hearts? Do we believe that if He brings forth a word into our lives today, that He can do something new in our hearts? This man was aware that Jesus could perform a miracle in his life and that all it took was a word from Jesus' mouth for something to happen in his house. Imagine this man's faith. "Just say the word, Lord and something will happen." This man had certainty been in the Word of God, but we can also see that his actions were accompanied by faith. He was a compassionate man, a man who had mercy on those in need.

Let's go to James 2:14 where it talks about faith and works. "My brothers and sisters, what good is it for someone to claim to have faith if they do not have works? Can such faith save them? He's talking about people saying, 'I have faith, but that's as far as my faith goes, I don't do anything and I don't say anything.” So, James is speaking and saying, "Faith without works is dead." He says, "can such faith save them?" "Suppose a brother or sister has no clothes and lacks daily food. If one of you tells them, 'Go in peace, keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is that? Likewise, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." We cannot say that He is our Lord if there is no obedience to the word of God. We cannot say that we believe in Him if we are not submitted to his authority. We cannot say that we have faith if we want to live as we please. This man is saying, "I have people under my care and I tell them to go, and they go”. He is getting to know who Jesus is and he knows that Jesus is above all things and that Jesus has angels at his service. He is a simple man, but he is also subject to authority.

So I was meditating on this and it's like when a couple gets married and one of them says, "I love you, but I don't want anything to do with you”. “I love you, but that's it, I'm not going to do anything for you”. “I love you, but I'm not going to do your laundry”. I love you, but I'm not going to cook for you. I love you, but around the corner I see someone more presentable and now I'm going to go with them.” He also gives the example by asking, “how can you say you have faith if your brother comes to you in need, and instead of providing what he needs, you tell him to go and be well. You say, “Eat well, eat your fill.” But he needs to be fed. Maybe that person doesn't have anything to eat or have the money for medicine. Maybe that person doesn't have the means to meet that need but we do  because we've been saving. But we think that nobody should touch our savings because it's for our future.

So, what good is it, if he says, to claim to have faith if it's not accompanied by our actions? This man not only had faith, but he loved God. He loved the word of God. He loved his servant, the man who had served him for so long. As I meditated on this I said, “How many times Lord, have illnesses come into my life and brought limitations that prevent me from serving you diligently?” I imagine this man must have been diligent in his work. He was a man who swept well and mopped well. Today it's not so  unusual that men do chores too. But in older times, the old ladies used to teach that men shouldn't even lift a finger, much less cook. But now there are men who cook too. There are men who also have to do the laundry and help with the housework.

We see that this servant is sick and suffering terribly because he can't fulfill his responsibilities. How many of us today, as servants of God, need healing in our hearts? How many of us can say, "Lord, I remember how I used to be. But something happened in my life, Lord. Something happened and now I'm not as diligent in what I do. I'm not as diligent in my relationship with you. I'm not as diligent for you Lord, but I know Father, that you can do the work in me. I know that you can heal me. I know that you can touch my life with your Word and that something is going to change in my life”.

This man is experiencing something so wonderful and the Lord is amazed at him. Let's continue reading there in James 2:18: "However, someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Well then, show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe there is only one God, even the demons believe it and tremble. How foolish you are, trying to convince yourself that faith without works is just a trifle. Our father Abraham wasn't declared righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar. He was declared righteous because of his faith, and you can see how his faith and his deeds worked together."

We can't say we have faith if our actions demonstrate otherwise. When our heart isn’t connected in devotion. If there isn't that passion for God. If there isn't that intimacy with Him, how can we say we have faith if our actions say otherwise? We see that when the Lord comes into our lives, He comes to heal and restore back what once was there. This man used to serve, but now he couldn't serve his master. But that didn't mean he wasn’t still important to his master. That didn't mean he was no longer highly esteemed. The Centurion is pleading for his servant. He was praying and asking, "Lord, heal him. Heal him, Lord, restore him, do something new in him."

If you look further ahead in Luke, when Jesus heard this he was amazed. He turned to the crowd following Him and said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." “When the messengers returned home, they found the servant who had been lying prostrate was now standing upright.” (Luke 7:10). Amen! And they gave glory to God! How many times in our lives have we felt paralyzed and said, "I can't get out of this.” But then a word from the Lord comes into our lives with the power to restore and to heal, and lift us up. How many of us have experienced this?

So we see that these men returned home after completing the task they had been given. When they arrived back, the servant was healed! He had been cured. He was no longer bedridden and not able to get up. Immediately this man was ready to make his master coffee. He was ready to attend to him and serve him food as I imagine those were his duties. But we see the power of the Word. We see the power of faith and how it can generate a miracle in the hearts of those who come to Jesus.

"This man was able to see that miracle because he was a man who loved the Word of God. He believed it and obeyed it."

He didn't do things out of fear, but he did things out of love. Many times we follow rules out of fear of what people will say, what people will do, or that one day we will go to hell. Many times we are afraid of that. But it is different when we begin to enjoy doing what we do for the Lord, because He loved us first. He showed His love for us even when we were sinners.

So think about how this servant must have risen after being prostrated for so long, rising to fulfill his responsibilities. We were singing, "The time has come, the hour has arrived when the church rises to worship." We were singing, "This is the time." Do we believe that this is the time, that this is the hour when the Lord has come to raise up His church, when He has come to restore, when He has come to heal His people, so that His people may fulfill the responsibility entrusted to them. And what has been that task entrusted to us? To go and take the word to those who need it, amen.

We were also singing, "I will not be silent, I will not be silent." What will we not be silent about? We will not be silent about speaking the word of God because it is the word of the Lord that can do the work in the life of man.  It is the word of the Lord that can change and transform the lives of families. It is the word of the Lord, not our many words. Sometimes we are accustomed to saying many words, but it is not the many words. This man says, "Speak the word, speak one word, and my servant will be healed." How many of us need a word from God? A word that the Lord brings to our hearts. A word that can do the work in our lives. This man said, "Just speak the word, Lord because it is not my words, it is the word of the Lord”. It is the Word of God that does not return empty. It is the Word of the Lord that does the work. It is His Word that comes to change.

He says in His Word, "Who is it that loves me except the one who takes my commandments and obeys them." That is the one who loves. That is the one who shows it. If we want to show our love to the Lord, we have to obey His word. Let us obey what He says in His word. That is the best way to show Him that we love Him and that we believe in what He says in His word. When we do, something powerful can happen. However, for that to happen, we really need to understand the authority of Jesus and understand that we are called to be under His authority. In order to be subject to that authority, we must learn to obey and we must learn how Jesus wants us to honor Him. That is why the Word says, "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." "Husbands, love your wives, for this is pleasing in the sight of God." "Wives, submit to your husbands, for this pleases God." That is what pleases God, not what pleases me, not what Sister Maria says, not what the pastor says, it is what the Word of God says.

Many times we do want to see miracles in our homes but we don't want to accept His authority? We don't accept anyone telling us what to do so we don’t often see those miracles? We see that this man was able to see a miracle because he was a man who understood that Jesus was above him and that the name of Jesus was a name above every name. He was a man who could see the power of God manifested in his life, in his family and in his home with His servant. Now we see that there is quite a lot of irreverence in this world. We see that irreverence or reverence for the Word of God shows us who is in charge in the house. Many times it's the children, right? Many times it's the child who says how things should be done in the house. Now we see that many things we’re doing are not in the word of God.

"If we are reverent to the Word of the Lord, we will obey His Word"

We are to live according to the word of God and not according to what man says. I cannot say that I love God when I do things the way I want to do them. An example would be when the Lord comes and says, "There is Mary asking for a miracle, there is Mary wanting something to happen in her life, but I told her to do this and she hasn't done it." How many times have we been through that? We go and ask for advice, and we are told the word of God, and you get home and say, "Oh, the pastor doesn't know what we're going through at home so we should do it this way." But we see that obedience to the Word of the Lord is what can make a difference in our lives. So we see that when we talk about faith, we are talking about something wonderful and also something spiritual. Something the Lord teaches us through this example is that we cannot say we have faith if there is no love for God, no respect for God, or no reverence for the things of God. If we don’t, then there is no love. I admire men who, because they love their wives, they carry their child's diaper bags around and because they love their children they take them everywhere. Only the love of God can do that to a couple. We cannot do God's will in our own strength but only with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who places love in our hearts. We cannot please God doing our own thing.

So we see, as James said, that faith without works is dead. I want us to turn to Joshua chapter 2 as we conclude. We're going to look at another example of faith. In Joshua 2:11, it says: "That is why we are all fearful and disheartened before you. I know that the Lord, I know that the Lord God is God in heaven and on earth. Therefore, I ask you now to swear in the name of the Lord that you will be kind to my family, just as I have been kind to you. I want you to give me a sign as a guarantee that you will spare the lives of my parents and my brothers and sisters and all who live with them. Swear, swear that you will save us from death."

Like the centurion we spoke about earlier, we see this woman who wasn't one of God's people either. She wasn't one of God's people, but she had heard about God's wonders. When the people of Israel were about to take Jericho, the Bible says that the spies went into Jericho. They were spying around to see what was going on inside of the city and how strong it was. Then they came to this woman named Rahab and it says that she hid them on the roof of her house. When the king of Jericho realized that someone from God's people had come into Jericho, he went to her and said, "Give us those men because we know they are in your house." But this woman did not betray them because she had heard that God was going to give Jericho into their hands.

And it says that when they were there, she went up to them and said, "We are all terrified and disheartened before you. I know that the Lord God is God, both in heaven and on earth." This woman had heard of their God. And when those men who were going to conquer that city arrived, she took the opportunity to say to them, "Swear to me that you will save my parents, swear to me that you will save my brothers, swear to me that you will have mercy on everyone in my house." And then it says that they told her, "since you have had mercy on us, we will have mercy on everyone in your house." But it didn't stop there; they told her what she had to do and she obeyed their word. Look what it says in verse 17. Let’s read it: “The men said to Rahab, ‘We will be released from the oath we swore to you if, when we conquer the land, we do not see this scarlet cord tied to the window through which you let us down.’ Furthermore,  your parents, your siblings, and the rest of your family  should stay in your house.”

Just think of what they told her. When we come back to spare you, everyone must be in your house—your parents, your siblings, and everyone must be inside with you. The nineteenth verse says that if someone leaves the house at that time, they will be responsible for their own life and the Israelites would be innocent. They would only be responsible for the safety of those who stay in the house. "If anyone dares to lay a hand on you or anyone in your house, his blood will be on our heads. But let it be known that if you denounce us, we will be released from the oath. We will be released from the oath you made us take." "Agreed," Rahab replied, "let it be done just as you have said."

This woman heard about this Almighty God. This woman, who was not of God's people, believed the Word and believed that God was greater than the people to whom she belonged. She believed that there was a God who could do something wonderful in her life and the lives of her family. She obeyed, and if you read further on, you will see that when the Israelites conquered Jericho and this woman was with her family in her home waiting for them to come and save her. How many of us are waiting for Christ to come and save us and rescue us one day? We are waiting like Rahab but there is a responsibility we must fulfill and that is to stay at home. Because it says, "Whoever goes out, they're in danger out there." But we see that this woman obeyed and by faith believed in the God of those men who were going to conquer Jericho. And I love it because it says, "We are afraid. Not of the people of Israel, but of the God of the people of Israel," and she decided to cross over to the other side.

How wonderful the Lord is! Imagine what faith can do. It can move us. It can bring about a change of mindset. It can bring about a change of habits. This woman left her habits.  This man left his habits to now be in the kingdom of God, and now this man and this woman could enjoy that salvation. Hallelujah! How great the Lord is! Today we can see that God gives us the opportunity to experience the wonderful things that only He can do in our lives. But how many of us are waiting? How many of us are waiting for Christ to come? How many of us are waiting and believing in the Word of the Lord? If we are believing, then we are moving in faith. We are moving and doing God's will. We’re not doing what we think, but what His word says. Amen.