A run from Zakopane to Sopot, and the memory of a grandfather who once covered a similar distance by bicycle, that is where this message about the power of the stories we carry begins. The book of Joshua sets two such stories side by side like mirror images: Rahab, who was on the outside and ended up at the very centre, and Achan, who was on the inside and ended up outside (Joshua 2 and 7). What made the difference was not background, family or past, but a single decision made on a particular day. Listen in and answer the question Joshua leaves with the whole nation: whom will you serve today?
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Joshua 2:9-11 Rahab tells the spies what she has heard about Israel's God. What was her faith based on, and what does her confession that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below mean?
- Rahab lived on the margins of society, while Achan was an insider in Israel with a long family history. What made their stories turn out so opposite?
- The speaker stressed that Rahab did not just believe but risked her life by hiding the spies. Why does genuine faith have to go hand in hand with action?
- Achan knew what was forbidden, yet he hid the plunder in his tent. In which areas of your life is it easiest for you to believe the right things but act differently?
- The sermon says your past does not define your present; your decision to trust God now does. What in your past makes it hardest for you to accept this truth?
- Joshua called the people to choose this day whom they would serve. What concrete decision to trust God can you make this week instead of putting it off?
