In Spite Of

Why We Gather: A Church of Unlikely Stories

We do not gather here because our building is impressive or because any of us have perfect resumes. We gather because we have a great King, one who surprises us by where he looks for his people. Charles Redwine began today by inviting us to imagine what we would do if some of the most marginalized people, like those struggling on the streets or with addiction, were brought right into our pews and asked for shelter. Would we receive them? Are we as welcoming as the women God used in Scripture?

"I hope that we as believers can be as good as prostitutes. I hope we can live as Rahab lived in the book of Joshua."

Rahab's Boldness and God's Long Memory

Charles Redwine led us through Joshua 2, where Rahab, a prostitute, chooses to hide Israelite spies, defying her own king. He read the text directly, highlighting her courage and her cleverness, even as she lied to protect the spies. He did not skirt the uncomfortable details, her profession or her lie, but confronted them head-on, asking what it means for God to use someone like Rahab.

Rahab's confession stood out: she knew about what God had done at the Red Sea forty years before (Joshua 2:8-11). Even after decades, "the dread of you has fallen on us," she said, recognizing the God of Israel as true.

"Here's this prostitute that knew that God was God. She knew that God was coming for the land from what she'd heard four decades before."

For Charles Redwine, Rahab isn't just a convert; she is the example of someone who, against all odds and reputation, steps into God's story. She pleads not just for her own rescue but for her whole family, challenging us to consider how grace ripples out.

The Scarlet Cord and the Family Tree

In Joshua 2:12-21, Rahab ties a crimson cord in her window, an act of immediate obedience that became a signal of salvation for her family. Charles Redwine compared this moment to the Passover, where the blood over Israel's doors marked them for protection.

"God used a prostitute to save people. I'd say that she was probably the first convert of the Gentiles there in that land."

He then pointed us to Matthew 1, showing that Rahab not only survived but became an ancestor of Jesus, marrying into Judah's line and mothering Boaz, who in turn fathered Obed by Ruth. He lingered over the genealogy, carefully naming the five women included: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. All but Mary, he noted, had stories marked by loss, scandal, or deep brokenness.

"We wouldn't have had Jesus without a Rahab. Amen."

Jesus and the Women on the Margins

Charles Redwine widened the view, bringing us to John 4 and John 8. Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at the well, an outcast among outcasts, and sits down, tired, waiting for her. He breaks every social rule by speaking to her, and then reveals that he is the Messiah. She is the first to hear him say it outright.

"A woman who's had five husbands, living with a man, and Jesus says, 'I am the Messiah.' I'm sorry if you're a woman like that. ... You're as special as Rahab."

Then to John 8, where a woman caught in adultery is dragged before Jesus. The accusers press for judgment, but Jesus turns the test around, kneeling in the dust. When all have gone, he looks at her and says, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and do not sin anymore."

Charles Redwine described the image of Jesus alone with her, alone with each of us in our moments of shame, not to crush us but to offer freedom and a future. He returned to the question: will we, as his church, be the place that welcomes those who have fallen?

Real Community, Real Struggle, and the Grace That Pursues Us

He shared from his own experience in ministry and referenced recent gatherings for grief and reflection in the church, showing how community is built not on perfection but on honesty about our hurts. He warned us not to believe the lie that our past disqualifies us or that the enemy will stop pursuing us. Instead, the church must be, first and always, a home for sinners and strugglers.

"If you faltered as a Christian, would you come walking in that door and sitting in these pews today? ... This has to be a church. This has to be a place where sinners come, not just the holy."

Specific Challenges for Today

Charles Redwine offered four direct challenges, especially calling women in the congregation to rise to the moment:

1. God uses us in spite of ourselves. Do not discount the gifts you have; God may be waiting for you to offer them.
2. God never leaves us in our sin. Grace pursues us, and the church supports us.
3. God remembers where we have been, but loves us fully. Do not live in the past the enemy wants you trapped in.
4. God calls women to stand up in our culture. As Esther, Rahab, and others did in their day, women are called to speak, to lead, and to challenge systems that harm the vulnerable, especially in a world that might devalue your worth or silence your voice.

He also called on men to lead well in homes and families, and concluded that the future of the church and society depends on both women and men responding in faith.

"Be bold like Rahab. Because she knew 40 years ago what God had done. And we need to be the people of our culture today because it's not going to get any better."

Living It Out: Church as Family for the Fallen

Our family doesn't exist so the already-perfect can maintain appearances. We are here to be a real home for the broken and the searching, to create space where grace leads, truth follows, and no one is left behind. If you think your past puts you out of reach, hear today that God is not waiting for you to become worthy, he is reaching for you now, in spite of it all.

Discussion Questions

1. When you picture Rahab or the woman at the well, what emotions or judgments first come to your mind? How has Charles Redwine's sermon shifted your perspective?
2. What would it look like for our church family to become more welcoming to those whose stories, like Rahab's, might unsettle us?
3. Where do you most need to remember that God chooses to use you "in spite of" your failures or doubts?