Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow / Livestream
Josh Watt raved about his time as a math major at Grand Canyon University more than 20 years ago.
But one regret that lingers with the North Mountain Redemption pastor is not following men and women who were living their lives in the manner he wanted to live instead of hanging out with his friends.
Watt stressed to students at Monday’s Chapel service at Global Credit Union Arena that God goes through the ugliness of your life to bring you into a story of redemption.
“In this room right now, there are secrets, there are sins, there is lots of suffering, and there are scars already in your young life,” he said.
In following the Hall of Faith theme for the 2025-26 season, Watt uses Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute, as an example of someone who was far from perfect but was hailed for displaying remarkable faith in following God – especially under duress.
“As you're looking for heroes of the faith, you want to find men and women who are real and authentic about who they are apart from Christ,” Watt said. “You don't want to find phonies, people who church it up.”
Hebrews 11:31 states: “By faith, the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”
Joshua sent two Israelite spies to view the land – specifically Jericho. They lodge at Rahab’s home but are sought by the king of Jericho.
Rahab does not cave in and give them up even though she is not Jewish. But she does realize that God has given the Israelites the land and knows of His past powers, so she asks for her family’s safety in exchange for protecting the spies.
“(Rahab) says, ‘I know your God is coming in. And our people are afraid, and I know that your God is loving. Will you ask your God to be loving on my behalf?’ " Watt said.
Rahab instructs the spies to escape by a rope from a house window to the outside of a city wall, telling them to head toward the hill country so the pursuers will not find them. They stay in the hills for three days, as told by Rahab, until the pursuers have left.
“Faith is acting upon what you know about God, no matter how little that knowledge is,” Watt said.
Watt stresses the Bible is not merely a manual for life, but a story with a hero, a central character.
Rahab follows the people of God and eventually becomes a distant great-grandmother of Jesus Christ.
“She's in this long line,” Watt said. “It’s like all these people in line are simply pointing to the ultimate hero of the story,” Watt said.
Rahab managed to save her family as Israel and Jericho were ready for war, following the Israelites’ instructions:
You must hang a red cord from your window. And anyone you want to be saved, you must bring into your house. And when we come into this town and we see red hanging from the window, anyone behind that red will be saved.
“Have you heard that before in Scripture?” Watt asks. “I hope so. How did Moses save the Israelites? He had to put blood of an innocent one over the doorpost, and the angel of death came through. And where there was no blood, God punished and brought destruction. But where there was red blood covering the house, people were saved.
“Have you met the ultimate hero of the story that Rahab's story points to, Moses points to and every person in this book points to – one person, Jesus Christ? You don't get Him by being good. You come into the house where there is red to protect you. How do you do that? By faith.”
Watt concluded the service by emphasizing trust in God.
“God brought you here for a reason bigger than your degree, bigger than your future job, to put you face to face, over and over and over again, with the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Watt said. “Rahab points to Him. You need to be saved. God is coming back, and he's going to bring judgment for the sin in this room, the secrets in this room, the scars in this room, the suffering that's been caused by people in this room.
“But there is one way to be saved. Jesus Christ went to a cross and died and shed innocent blood, so that Rahab, so that I, so that you could simply trust in Him and be saved. That is good news.”
Next Chapel speaker: George Janko, podcaster, 11 a.m., Feb. 9, Global Credit Union Arena. Livestream
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