Seen by God, Used by God

Transcript

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[0:00] but our reading today will come from Joshua 2, which talks about Rahab the prostitute. And Rahab the prostitute is a title that we have given her. And we learned at one of these sessions that she could be called Rahab. Well, George is here.

[0:22] George, what are some names for Rahab the prostitute that would better fit her? Rahab the prostitute? Rahab the prostitute. People who were already vulnerable and forced them into becoming temple prostitutes for worship of this god. And then their children who were born were forced into this temple prostitution just by right of birth. So they would take the vulnerable and prey on them and make them even more vulnerable. And then society would look at them and say, you are a prostitute, you made bad choices. And they would push them away. even more. So anyone named Rahab was actually a victim. And this victim, I want you to hear what she does, because she is not somebody that we should ever push aside or judge harshly. So this is Joshua 2, and this is what our students learned while they were at Unite. Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho. So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night. But someone told the king of Jericho, some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land. So the king of Jericho, who was the king of Jericho, came to the house of Rahab and stayed there that night.

[2:25] Jericho sent orders to Rahab, bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land. Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn't know where they were from. They left the town at dusk as the gates were about to close. I don't know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.

[2:53] Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out. So the king's men went looking for the spies along the road, leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king's men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut. Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them. I know the Lord has given you this land, but I don't know where it is. I don't know where it is. I don't know where it is.

[3:25] I don't know if you heard them. I heard them. I heard them. I heard them. such things? For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below. Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family, since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families. We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety, the men agreed. If you don't betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you when the Lord gives us the land. Then, since Rahab's house was built in the town wall, she let them down by a rope through the window. Escape to the hill country, she told them. Hide there for three days from the men searching for you. Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way. The word of the Lord is in the Bible, and it's incredible. These are some of the things that our children grappled with at Unite. Amongst the playing, the color games, the slip and slides, the beach day, or the, sorry, the water park day, they were learning big, important, heavy things, like this, this unassuming prostitute who had been rejected and hurt her whole life.

[5:21] whole life, standing up in courage and doing big things for the Lord. And that was a theme of this week, that no matter what your story, God sees you, and God is with you, and God is on your side, and in return you can do big things for the Lord. And I think that each of our kids learned that in some way, but I will let them recap for you what they learned.

[5:55] Go ahead and introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Kiara Eklund. Kiara, what was your favorite part of your time at Unite? I'd say that my favorite part was definitely the big games that we had in the field. Such as when we did the slip and slide. I had a lot of really fun running in there with everyone.

[6:27] Did you get any bubbles in your eyes from the slip and slide? Definitely all of them were my face. What was your least favorite part of the week? My least favorite part was definitely doing one of the other games. The color dust fight. I think that's what it was called. Where I got a bunch of the yellow dust in my eye. That was... Ouch.

[7:03] What is something that you learned? I learned... Something that I learned during one of the times that I was in the military. I remember one of the things we were talking about. How God might give you something to do. How God might give you something to do. that was challenging or did you have any challenges during the week I don't think actually challenges I can think of mm-hmm what is one thing that you took away from this experience I think I took away that the there are so that there's still so many people more like Christians that are my age I think at school a lot I don't think there's like that many people who like understand what I'm going through and I think that's what I'm trying to do and I think like the I guess like the Christian side of me mm-hmm so yeah it to be in an environment we're like everyone understands you and like I kind of there for some reason yeah it is a really unique experience just being in a whole huge room of other Christians um out of all of the midday activity for some reason Which one was your favorite?

[9:09] My favorite was... again, the slip and slide. I've always loved doing slip and slides. And I thought running up there with Lila and I was really fun. My favorite. Is there anything else that you would like to share about your time at Unite?

[9:34] I'd say that it's just really worth going. And it's really fun to just be there worshiping with everyone. Like meet new people. And just become closer with your youth group. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Kiara, thank you for your sharing. Thank you.

[9:57] Yeah. What was your favorite part of the week? My favorite part of the week was the live worship in very big groups in the morning and the evening. What was your least favorite part? I didn't really have a least favorite part. Maybe some of the free time periods were kind of long. So...

[10:27] Yeah. I went slowly. So I got bored almost. But that wasn't really a bad thing, I guess. Fair. Okay. What is something that you learned? I think I learned that even when you reread something in the Bible, or specifically parables, you still learn something new each time. Like some of the parables that the guest speakers preached about, I had heard before. Like the one with the older brother and the younger brother, the two sons. I still learned something new from the older brother's perspective, even though I've heard that parable before. Yeah. There's more to learn. Yeah. I love that. That's why the Bible is called a living word. Because no matter what time in history we live in, and no matter how many times you've heard it, it still speaks. And its truth is still there. And it's applicable.

[11:31] Was there anything you learned that was challenging? Or was there any time during the week that you felt challenged? Maybe on the last night, I think, they were talking about going back and keeping up a relationship with God and doing kingdom work, like when you get back to your life. Yeah. Yeah. I think the realization that it was going to be a lot harder to keep up a relationship with God and do his work when you get back and you're not in an environment set up for that was kind of challenging.

[12:12] I was kind of scared that when I got back, things would go back to how they were before. So that was challenging. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Has there been anything that you've done to keep up the relationship?

[12:32] Yes. Well, I brought with me to Unite a journal, which I didn't use that much, maybe like once or twice. And I actually have it behind me. But I've been writing more in that and sketching more when I read the Bible, because it helps me. And then it's more engaging. And actually writing stuff down helps me remember better. So rather than just reading and kind of remembering it, I write down what I learn. Nice.

[13:06] What is one thing that you took away from this experience? I guess the reminder that God always loves us no matter what and that it's never too late to repent. You're never fully lost because he's always going to come looking for us. Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely.

[13:31] Out of all the midday activities, which was your favorite? Like the ones that we... Yeah, like there was the slip and slide, the color wars, the water park, the bubble dodgeball. And... Yeah. Oh, the Alaskan youth games.

[13:55] I think I liked the slip and slide the best, partly because it was really hot outside. And so that had the most water. So that was fun. Yeah. Excellent. How about, is there anything else that you would like to share about your time at Unite?

[14:17] No, I don't think so. It was a really great experience. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Lila. Thank you. Can you tell us your name for anyone who might be visiting or who doesn't know? Hi, I'm Nathan. I was part of the group that went to Unite a few days ago or like a week ago. So, yeah.

[14:48] What was your favorite part of Unite? I think my favorite part of Unite was hanging out with Edgewater, which is the youth group that we sponsored by hosting the yard sale at the church a few months ago. So, and like getting to hang out with them and just in general having fun.

[15:08] Excellent. Did you have a least favorite part of your week? Yeah, my least favorite part was stepping on a bee at the water park. And it was very unexpected. And I think it was unexpected for the bee too. So, that really sucked.

[15:26] What is something that you learned? I think I learned that even though we sin, God will still love us and he'll still welcome us with open arms. Was there anything this week that you learned that challenged you or any part of the week that was challenging? I think probably the most challenging part of my week was running the 5K. The 5K that we ran was for the free organization that's all capitals. And the free organization is helping to try to combat sex trafficking all around the world. And the 5K was hard. I only did half, but I did my best. So. You did a great job. Thank you. You actually made it and you made it more quickly than about half the people. So, that was good. Nice.

[16:27] What is one thing that you took away from this experience? I think what I took away from this experience is that it's better to have more people to hang out with and have fun and talk about God and just go places with more people. Because it's better to have more people.

[16:53] Nice. Excellent. And I'm going to throw on one more question. Out of all of the midday activities that you did, which one was the best? Definitely the color games. That was very fun. Just throwing powder at people. Colored powder. So.

[17:11] Excellent. How long did it take you to scrub the color powder off? A few days. Because like I didn't have a lot of time to do that. I didn't have very good soap at the dorms. So, when I got home in the shower, I was just like, ah, trying to get it out.

[17:26] Excellent. Well, thank you very much, Nathan. Yeah, no problem. What was your favorite, oh, actually first, can you say your name just for anyone who is new or visiting? Okay. I'm Katya. Hello. Katya. What was your favorite part of the week? It was probably the worship. And I felt close to God. And there was like a lot of people there. And everyone was worshiping. And I could feel everyone feeling close to God around me. And I felt the Holy Spirit in a way that I hadn't really felt before. It was really powerful.

[18:10] What was your least favorite part of the week? The week was pretty good. I didn't really have. Like. A great. horrible part but i had to get up before eight pretty much every day and that wasn't exactly fun what is something that you learned god's love is all that matters i didn't really have anyone like preach this at me necessarily it was just through all the sermons i kind of re-realized that but there might be like everything going on around me in my 14 year old life sometimes it gets a little crazy but if i step back god's love is all that matters yes was there anything you learned that was challenging or was there any part of the week that challenged you the last speaker we had was basically preaching about how we needed to take action and how like i don't know belief without action is i forgot the word is but yeah and so he was telling us that we need to take action and it's easy okay it's not easy to say you're going to action to take action but it's a lot easier to say you're going to than actually to take action and i'm still struggling to get behind that i do need to take action and it's it's a challenging thing to accept and also do yeah i think that uh speaker was bryant garcia and if anyone out there has never heard him preach

[19:41] uh you should go look him up because i i'm pretty sure he'll challenge everyone um what is one thing that you took away from this experience again like i said before god's love is all that matters but also i'm not realizing there's a sermon that said kind of along those lines it was about how christ's or it was about the parable of the house bit on the sand and hospital on the rock and how if we build a firm foundation in christ there might be crazy stuff going around in the world but nothing can change that and that's the thing that's really interesting about that is that we have a firm foundation in god and so it was it's kind of cool to know that god has your back no matter what amen out of all the midday activities which was your favorite probably the slip and slide because there were like bubbles on it i went on it about like five times or something and yeah did how many times did you get soap in your eyes not very often because i mean a couple times but i would like come out with my face and everything covered in bubbles but i'd close my eyes and cut a wall around until i found the pool and then i would wash my face off and then i could see again on a scale from one to ten how dirty was that water in the pool i just said how i washed

[21:01] my face off with it but it was like a six or a seven um is there anything else that you would like to share about your time at united i shared a lot of what i learned but i also had the chance to redevote my life to christ and i'm still rejoicing that and it just it felt like i don't know kind of a weight off my shoulders but also it felt really nice to do because i it was something i'd want to do for a while yeah well i want you to know that i am rejoicing with you as i'm sure our whole church family is but yeah that that night that you're talking about was powerful and everyone whether they were at united or whether they're here or anywhere god is never far from you and is always loving and willing and joyful at people who come closer to him so thank you katya for sharing your experience you're welcome katya katya katya katya katya So tell us who you are for those who might be visiting. Hi, my name is George Nelson, and I'm a member of Foothill Covenant Church.

[22:23] What was your favorite part of your week at Unite? My favorite part of the week at Unite was when everyone in the big gymnasium stepped forward and opened their hearts to God and Jesus for the first time. That was really spiritual, and I really resonated with it.

[22:50] That really was a beautiful moment. Yeah. Do you have a least favorite part? My least favorite? My least favorite part was when we went to the water park, because there were only really three, well, technically four, but two of the slides were basically the same, rides that weren't just for little kids and that teens and adults could enjoy. And I only was able to go on two of them, and I was only able to go on one of them more than once, which was the Lazy River, because it was so crowded. So it was a pretty big letdown. The rides weren't really that good, and there weren't very many.

[23:28] What is something that you learned at Unite? Well, I learned a new side of the story about Rahab the prostitute, and I learned that there are more names we should call her now, like Rahab the hero or Rahab the victim, because she was actually a victim of many sexual assaults. So if you remember how much you were sick for her her life life for her her life for her life for her life for life life life for life for life for life for life for life But even though we know it's a mascot, but we didn't get to see that, so that was very sad.

[24:35] That was sad. I agree. What is one thing that you took away from this experience? Well, one thing that I took away from this experience is that I really need to be doing stuff like reading the Bible and praying more often in my day-to-day life.

[24:55] That's a good goal, I think, for all of us. Out of all the midday activities, which was your favorite? My favorite midday activity was the color games where we basically were on a giant field and we were throwing color powder at each other and it was super fun. Although, unfortunately, I got a little lost and I joined a little late, but I still had fun. Yeah, I saw you at the end of it. I think we'll have pictures to share, but you got your fair share of color, for sure, even joining late. Yeah. Is there anything else that you would like to share about your time at Unite?

[25:38] Well, for anyone who ends up going there, I want you to know that there are multiple soda dispensers and an ice cream machine in the cafeteria. So, make of that what you will. Thank you so much, George.

[25:54] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. to know where they are with God and let them know where you are with God too because no matter how young or how old you are God is pursuing you relentlessly and passionately and so it's a much better experience like Nathan said to share that with a big group than to walk that alone so thank you for listening to our time at Unite.