Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: The series is called Triggered. This is week four and
Speaker 1: I just trust that you can expecting today for God
Speaker 1: to speak to you. Let's look at Second King's chapter five.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you my title right up front. Title
Speaker 1: of this message is why I went off touch Somebody
Speaker 1: tell him. It's a long story. When I first decided
Speaker 1: to preach on this topic of triggered, I figured that
Speaker 1: it would help me personally and then we could do
Speaker 1: group therapy. But I wanted to do it from the
Speaker 1: Word of God because I am not a psychologist, certainly
Speaker 1: not a neuroscientist or anything like that. I interviewed a
Speaker 1: neuroscientist a few days ago and that is now on
Speaker 1: the Elevation Church YouTube, so you can go and watch that.
Speaker 1: I asked her questions related to the clinical reasons that
Speaker 1: sometimes we do the things that we do, and had
Speaker 1: a conversation with her about not just understanding things with
Speaker 1: cliches and jargon that we sometimes used to cover up
Speaker 1: our lazy thinking, and sometimes we spiritualize issues that are
Speaker 1: practical in the same time sometimes try to sell things
Speaker 1: practically that are spiritual. And so it's just a great
Speaker 1: talk that's on the Elevation Chirch YouTube and you can
Speaker 1: check that out. But this week I want to share
Speaker 1: a character study on a Bible character who is so
Speaker 1: familiar to me. And by that I mean not only
Speaker 1: have I read this story quite a few times, but
Speaker 1: I feel like I know this guy. I feel like
Speaker 1: I've met him one time in the mirror, and certain
Speaker 1: things about him really spoke to me, And so I
Speaker 1: just pray that the same will happen for you today
Speaker 1: as I read this text. I want to just tell
Speaker 1: you the spoiler alert right up front. Naman in Second
Speaker 1: King's Chapter five has leprosy and gets healed. But that's
Speaker 1: just the headline, and so there's a lot to learn
Speaker 1: in the midst of it, and I want to read
Speaker 1: a few verses and kind of drop in and explain
Speaker 1: and move along in this narrative. The Bible says in
Speaker 1: Second King's Chapter five, verse one. Now, Nayman was commander
Speaker 1: of the army of the King of Aram. He was
Speaker 1: a great man in the sight of his master, and
Speaker 1: highly regarded because through him the Lord had given victory
Speaker 1: to aerm It's interesting the way that is phrased, because
Speaker 1: it says it wasn't by him that the victory was one,
Speaker 1: it was through him. And I think understanding that is
Speaker 1: very critical if you were to have any hope of
Speaker 1: remaining sane in your life, just to know that God's
Speaker 1: going to do it through you. You know, half of
Speaker 1: the time that I'm messed up is because I'm trying
Speaker 1: to do it for God, and He's trying to do
Speaker 1: it through me. But he can't do it through me
Speaker 1: when I'm trying to do it for him, and so
Speaker 1: I just start forcing situations and then I'm frustrated and
Speaker 1: irritated and agitated, and I'm mad at everybody and everything
Speaker 1: because I'm trying to do stuff for people and for
Speaker 1: God that God would like to do through me if
Speaker 1: I would yield myself and yield my will. And this
Speaker 1: is even more interesting because Maemon is not an Israelite.
Speaker 1: He's not one of these chosen people, as they understood
Speaker 1: it at the time, he's actually a commander of an
Speaker 1: enemy army from Arim that would consistently raid the Israelites
Speaker 1: and not only do damage to their crops, but many
Speaker 1: times take their people away in bondage. At the end
Speaker 1: of one of these raids. Bible says he was a
Speaker 1: great man in the sight of his master, and highly
Speaker 1: regarded because through him, he was highly regarded because of
Speaker 1: what he did. He was highly regarded because of the
Speaker 1: results that he achieved. He was highly regarded because of
Speaker 1: the outcomes that were brought about through his skill set.
Speaker 1: And so he was a great man in the sight
Speaker 1: of his master, and highly regarded because through him. I'm
Speaker 1: reading it over and over on purpose, because it's so
Speaker 1: profound that if we skim the surface we will miss
Speaker 1: the meaning. He was a great man in the sight
Speaker 1: of his master, and highly regarded because through him the
Speaker 1: Lord had given victory to aerm and he was a
Speaker 1: valiant soldier. But he had leprosy and incurable skin disease,
Speaker 1: a non lethal form of it in this case, but
Speaker 1: a problem. Nonetheless, he was great. But and depending on
Speaker 1: when you see someone in the setting that you meet
Speaker 1: them in, you might be he sometimes more acquainted with
Speaker 1: their victories than their vulnerabilities. That's why I advocate just
Speaker 1: a little bit of time dating, just a little bit
Speaker 1: of time to see them in pressure filled situations, just
Speaker 1: a little bit of time out of the candlelight, under
Speaker 1: the harsh neon glow of some of the trials of life.
Speaker 1: Just a piece of advice. But I can't prove it
Speaker 1: in the Bible. But I think you know, depending on
Speaker 1: where you see someone determines what you see. And I
Speaker 1: realize this more and more now because I think people
Speaker 1: think that they should behave in front of a pastor.
Speaker 1: So when I meet people, a lot of times I
Speaker 1: realize I might not be meeting the truest version of them,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? They might not always
Speaker 1: speak in Hebrew and Greek, they might sometimes speak in
Speaker 1: other tongues. But when when I really want to know
Speaker 1: about somebody, especially on staff, I don't go off of
Speaker 1: my first impression, because I don't really trust my first
Speaker 1: impression of people any more. I used to I used
Speaker 1: to say I have discernment. Now I realize that a
Speaker 1: lot of what I thought was discernment was really me
Speaker 1: just vibing off of somebody or maybe they reminded me
Speaker 1: of somebody, and I didn't like some people that were
Speaker 1: really cool, consistent people, but I thought they were boring.
Speaker 1: But the reason they were boring is because they're not
Speaker 1: always having to create drama in their life. And I
Speaker 1: found out that drama works good in movies, but in
Speaker 1: real life, I don't want the ticket to that show.
Speaker 1: So now am my preaching already? This is just the
Speaker 1: first verse. And what I learned about myself is I
Speaker 1: need to ask others. I need to get references. And
Speaker 1: at times i'll meet somebody on our staff and it's
Speaker 1: not a small staff, and I don't know everybody on
Speaker 1: the staff anymore. I used to. I used to hand
Speaker 1: select people, and oh man, when I hired the first
Speaker 1: staff member, I got the opportunity to spend just hours
Speaker 1: and hours getting to know him, so I knew his
Speaker 1: strengths and weaknesses pretty well. But now I will ask
Speaker 1: someone about someone, ask somebody that works with them and
Speaker 1: has had to work with them in a pressure hopefully
Speaker 1: if I can, if I can get somebody that has
Speaker 1: had to work with them when there was a deadline involved,
Speaker 1: or has seen how they managed a disappointment, you know,
Speaker 1: and how they treat others and things like that. So
Speaker 1: I will ask how is so? And so let's say
Speaker 1: that I wanted to know about JT. I would ask.
Speaker 1: I would be like, hey, how's JT? And I would
Speaker 1: wait for the person who knows them, not the person
Speaker 1: who met them, but the person who knows them to
Speaker 1: I would wait for them and see how long they
Speaker 1: hesitate before they answer the question, because I want to
Speaker 1: see how long they're going to scroll through, you know.
Speaker 1: And sometimes people will say the right thing, but it's
Speaker 1: the inflection in their voice they say it with that
Speaker 1: lets you know there's something else. I'd be like, hey,
Speaker 1: I've noticed JT on our staff. He seems like he
Speaker 1: seems like a great guy. And if the person's voice
Speaker 1: goes up when they answer, you got pay attention to that.
Speaker 1: And so it's like how's JT? And they'll go, oh,
Speaker 1: he's great. And when they hit that falsetto like unnatural
Speaker 1: soprano note, he's great, it's the sounds like axel rose,
Speaker 1: you know. Up there. I'm like, but what everybody say?
Speaker 1: But what? Because one thing that has really helped me
Speaker 1: in ministry and in life is to realize that everybody
Speaker 1: has two eyes, two ears, one nose, one neck, most
Speaker 1: people two arms, two legs, and everybody has at least one.
Speaker 1: But he was a great man. But it's in the Bible, people,
Speaker 1: I'm not making it up. It said that this great man,
Speaker 1: he's great. But the problem with being a preacher is
Speaker 1: I can see your eyes. I can see your ears,
Speaker 1: I can see whether or not you're taking notes, and
Speaker 1: if you don't have a pin out, I'm judging you
Speaker 1: so hard right now. I hope you feel the vibrations
Speaker 1: of the flames of hell. The issue with this arrangement
Speaker 1: is I can't see your but and it's probably better
Speaker 1: that way. It's been a lot of my ministry preaching
Speaker 1: to people's heads, preaching to people's intellect. And I messed
Speaker 1: around and pastored this church now for over twelve years.
Speaker 1: And I messed around and got a few stray grays
Speaker 1: in my beard, and I messed around and got involved
Speaker 1: in a few people's lives. And I messed around and
Speaker 1: found out that everybody has a butt. And the only
Speaker 1: way I knew it is that a few people showed
Speaker 1: me there there. I know it's awkward, and you know,
Speaker 1: half the reason that sermons don't really register more than
Speaker 1: two hours. Sometimes is because we're all trying to cover
Speaker 1: our butt. That's the strategy most people come to church with.
Speaker 1: See why b cover your butt? You cover it behind
Speaker 1: a big smile and appraise the Lord in a Chand
Speaker 1: you know I could do that? Do you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying? He was a great man, but he had
Speaker 1: a skin issue, and nobody can see that on the
Speaker 1: battlefield because on the battlefield I got armor. We all
Speaker 1: have something that we use to cover a spot in
Speaker 1: our life. Let's be honest, we're not talking about human anatomy.
Speaker 1: You have multiple bucks, You are great with people, but
Speaker 1: you don't take care of yourself. You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You are really good at succeeding and really bad at
Speaker 1: being content. So I'm successful, but I'm miserable. I'm killing
Speaker 1: it at work, but my fifteen year old do I
Speaker 1: even have to finish this? I got a great marriage,
Speaker 1: I'm great, but I'm not making any money right now.
Speaker 1: And I'm a good emotional provider, but financially, you know,
Speaker 1: I never learned how to do that. And the thing
Speaker 1: about a really good encounter with God, you can tell
Speaker 1: when you've encountered God it will expose your and the
Speaker 1: way it happens, it'll often be an unlikely way. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about this in three stages. The first is exposure.
Speaker 1: Nayman is perhaps changing one day in his own home,
Speaker 1: and verse two says, bends of raiders from aarm Remember
Speaker 1: he's a captain, he's a commander of these armies from Aram,
Speaker 1: which would often go out and take different people captive.
Speaker 1: And on one particular such occasion, the raiders from Aram
Speaker 1: had gone out and had taken captive a young girl
Speaker 1: from Israel. And she served Nayman's wife. And she said
Speaker 1: to her mistress, if only my master would see the
Speaker 1: prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of
Speaker 1: his leprosy. And so the Bible says something really important
Speaker 1: in verse four. Because you are not blessed based on
Speaker 1: the word of God that you hear or the word
Speaker 1: of God that you understand, you are base blessed, and
Speaker 1: your life is changed in accordance with the word of
Speaker 1: God that you apply, obey, and act on. That's why
Speaker 1: you can hear thirteen years of teaching and still be
Speaker 1: mean as the serpent in the garden of Eden. No,
Speaker 1: that's why you can hear a lot of teaching about love,
Speaker 1: but if you don't make the decision to forgive, the
Speaker 1: teaching about love will be snatched up by the birds
Speaker 1: of the air and will not take root in your heart.
Speaker 1: So verse four becomes really important if we really want
Speaker 1: to change, if we really want to get beneath the surface,
Speaker 1: and you know, not just have a skin deep spirituality
Speaker 1: and a skin deep relationship with God where we can
Speaker 1: fake it for a little while, and we create stages
Speaker 1: to impress people, and we have armor that we put
Speaker 1: on to go out into our job, but we come
Speaker 1: home and feel like miserable, miserable people to live with,
Speaker 1: or we feel like we don't know how to be intimate,
Speaker 1: but we know how to be impressive. And so as
Speaker 1: long as people only see us from a distance, they
Speaker 1: don't really notice we're starting to cover our skin and
Speaker 1: cover our souls and things that are just leaping out
Speaker 1: of us at all the wrong time. Verse four says
Speaker 1: that Naman went to his master and told him what
Speaker 1: the girl from Israel had said. And this took courage,
Speaker 1: and it took humility for Naming to go to his
Speaker 1: master and show his butt, to show his vulnerability when
Speaker 1: he was a man with so many victories. I just
Speaker 1: want to stay there for a minute, because sometimes I
Speaker 1: feel like we use prayer as an opportunity to read
Speaker 1: God our resume, you know. And while I think it's
Speaker 1: great to celebrate all the gol Elias that we killed,
Speaker 1: sometimes the giants in us are kicking our butt and
Speaker 1: we don't say anything about it until it's too late.
Speaker 1: And I'm getting bolder every year I passed her, as
Speaker 1: I commit more and more to preaching to the part
Speaker 1: of you that you would just as soon hide and
Speaker 1: never mention, because I think that's where real help is found.
Speaker 1: And Naman went to his master and told him what
Speaker 1: the girl from Israel had said. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: a servant girl. And Naman is what a great man?
Speaker 1: A great man. He's a great man. But he's got
Speaker 1: these spots that are starting to spread, and if he
Speaker 1: doesn't do something soon, there's no telling what might happen next.
Speaker 1: And since there are no essential oils for this particular
Speaker 1: form of leprosy at this point in antiquity, Naman has
Speaker 1: to take the advice of a little girl. And now
Speaker 1: we have a great man going to an enemy nation
Speaker 1: in Israel, because of the advice of a little girl.
Speaker 1: Are you willing to obey God even if he speaks
Speaker 1: through something that seems smaller than you, because I notice
Speaker 1: a lot of us won't. A lot of teenagers will
Speaker 1: listen to me preach and roll their eyes at their parents.
Speaker 1: And I don't understand that because I'm not paying for
Speaker 1: your college or your bracest. I'm not even buying you
Speaker 1: ramen noodles. And sometimes I've noticed that men will listen
Speaker 1: to me preach, but their wife knows them better than
Speaker 1: I do and could say some things that would actually
Speaker 1: help them. It's getting quiet, and even the women left
Speaker 1: me out on that one. It's like that, I'm ana
Speaker 1: cancel reflective, y'all, don't help me with this sermon. It's
Speaker 1: something about exposure and when a spot in your life
Speaker 1: everybody says spot a leprous spots, something that is consuming
Speaker 1: you that others can't see when it is exposed by
Speaker 1: an experience. That's the second stage I wanted to mention
Speaker 1: is experience, because things will happen in your life and
Speaker 1: you'll come up upon situations that will expose something that
Speaker 1: you would prefer to hide. And what you do next
Speaker 1: determines whether you get healed. So Naman went to his
Speaker 1: master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.
Speaker 1: Verse five says that the king said, by all means go,
Speaker 1: I will send a letter to the King of Israel.
Speaker 1: So Naman left, taking with him ten talents of silver
Speaker 1: six thousand shekels of gold. That's like seventy five pounds
Speaker 1: of each. So Naman is going to Israel with his
Speaker 1: resources to attain healing. He's gonna he's gonna deal with
Speaker 1: this like he always deals with things, because he's a
Speaker 1: great man. He's a persistent man, prepared man. He's a
Speaker 1: powerful man. These other things that start with the letter
Speaker 1: P as well and the letter that he took to
Speaker 1: the King of Israel read with this letter, I am
Speaker 1: sending my servant naming to you so that you may
Speaker 1: cure him of his leprosy. There's all kinds of stuff
Speaker 1: wrong with that sentence. It's like the telephone game we
Speaker 1: used to play when you pass a message along to
Speaker 1: somebody and it starts out We're having jo chicken for lunch,
Speaker 1: and it ends with I'm dying of cancer, and you
Speaker 1: pass it down and it only takes three people. This
Speaker 1: chain of communication has polluted the message itself because number one,
Speaker 1: the servant girl didn't say the king can heal him.
Speaker 1: It said the prophet can. And sometimes we run to
Speaker 1: the wrong people because we have our own ideas about
Speaker 1: where our help comes from. Talk to me, and it's
Speaker 1: not the king that is going to have the faith
Speaker 1: to get him healed. It's the prophet. His name is Elisha.
Speaker 1: But the king sends the commander to the king because
Speaker 1: you know, this is to me, the most logical way
Speaker 1: to get him healed. We'll go straight to the top.
Speaker 1: But watch the king's response. And this is kind of
Speaker 1: interesting because when the king gets the letter and Naman
Speaker 1: shows up with all of the accumulated wealth that he
Speaker 1: believes it's gonna take to get him healed. You know how,
Speaker 1: we have our own ideas about what it's gonna take
Speaker 1: to make a change in our life. And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do it. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna go back,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get my degree. I'm gonna go back. I'm
Speaker 1: get my degree. I'm gonna eat. I'm gonna eat so
Speaker 1: much Kal it's gonna be coming out of my nose.
Speaker 1: I'm not eating gluten again until twenty twenty four. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do hot yoga and cold yoga and powerlifting, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it all. Mariema Bible.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna delete every social media off my phone. I'm
Speaker 1: never going on Facebook again. I've got my face in
Speaker 1: the book. And he shows up with a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff that he thinks he canna need to get healed.
Speaker 1: But as soon verse seven, as the King of Israel
Speaker 1: read the letter, he tore his robes and said, am
Speaker 1: I God, you want me to do what? I got?
Speaker 1: This friend, y'all, his name is Alex Early. He was
Speaker 1: my college roommate and he used to make prank phone
Speaker 1: calls in college and they were hilarious. Most of them
Speaker 1: were clean. We were Christians, but he had the ability
Speaker 1: to push people to their breaking point. He was a
Speaker 1: big fan of a guy at the time who did
Speaker 1: prank calls named roy D Mercer, and this guy was
Speaker 1: famous for taking people right to the edge, and so
Speaker 1: we would laugh. And we still have these phone calls
Speaker 1: recorded and one day I'm going to release them on SoundCloud.
Speaker 1: And these phone calls to me just bring me joy
Speaker 1: At times in my life, because everybody's reaction was the same.
Speaker 1: He make up a million scenarios. You know. He would
Speaker 1: use this name, this alias duw Wane McGraw, Duwaine, and
Speaker 1: put a thing over the e because it's French. My
Speaker 1: name is Dewane McGraw. And he'd say, my boy Bobby
Speaker 1: is throwing up all over the shag carpet because I
Speaker 1: came to the grocery store and I bought bad milk.
Speaker 1: And they would always say this, no matter what scenario
Speaker 1: he made up. One time it'd be Bobby's throwing up
Speaker 1: on the shag carpet. One time it'd be I took
Speaker 1: my trousers to your laundromat and they shrunk up and
Speaker 1: now they're coming up around my thighs and I look
Speaker 1: like a European and you know, but whatever scenario he
Speaker 1: would bring up, their response was generally the same. What
Speaker 1: do you want me to do about it? The king?
Speaker 1: The king is like, you brought me a leopard? Do
Speaker 1: you think I'm God? I'm not a doctor, I'm a king.
Speaker 1: Have you ever felt like life brought you something that
Speaker 1: was above your pay grate to handle? God? They're doing
Speaker 1: that thing again where they sit there and look at
Speaker 1: me like they always have it together and they have
Speaker 1: all the answers. Because I looked at my kids the
Speaker 1: other day and said, I am not Google. I am
Speaker 1: not a search engine. I do not know. Furthermore, I
Speaker 1: do not care. Get out of my face. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: wake up in the middle of the night and replay
Speaker 1: things that I've said to my kids and feel so
Speaker 1: bad that I have to get up and baptize myself
Speaker 1: in the bathtub and get saved again, just as I
Speaker 1: am without one plead, O Lamb of God, what do
Speaker 1: you want from me? I'm only a man, And the
Speaker 1: King says, I know what this is, this man, watch
Speaker 1: can I kill and bring back to life. He's triggered
Speaker 1: because he is confronted with a situation that he is
Speaker 1: unable to transform. And whenever life presents you with something
Speaker 1: that you were not equipped for. So you got to
Speaker 1: be a dad and you didn't have a dad. You
Speaker 1: got to pay a bill, but God didn't give you
Speaker 1: a job. You've got to step into something that you've
Speaker 1: never seen before with the faith to believe that it's
Speaker 1: already done. And it can be exasperating to the point.
Speaker 1: Watch this that you allow your past experience to contaminate
Speaker 1: your perspective of the present moment. Remember what I said.
Speaker 1: The King of Aaron, Benedett the second would often go
Speaker 1: and invade Jehoram's land jahormas king of Israel. And so
Speaker 1: when he gets the letter saying, hey, can you help
Speaker 1: my guy name in can you heal my guy naming?
Speaker 1: It triggered within him a traumatic memory of the last
Speaker 1: time he was attacked, and so he goes off, not
Speaker 1: because of the situation that he's experiencing, but because of
Speaker 1: past experiences. Do you ever wonder why you go off?
Speaker 1: And it's inexplicable, like the level of the offense does
Speaker 1: not match the level of the outrage, And you wonder
Speaker 1: why what was that all about? Hell? You ever with
Speaker 1: the elevation church sticker on your car said some words
Speaker 1: that weren't blessed the Lord, Oh my soul? And wonder
Speaker 1: you know how y'all think Holly is so sweet? What
Speaker 1: time in college she was singing a worship song in
Speaker 1: her Ford contour, and the song said I was there,
Speaker 1: I was in the passenger seat. The song said, you
Speaker 1: are so patient with me? Lord. She didn't get to
Speaker 1: Lord before she was screaming at the at the dodge
Speaker 1: ram that pulled out in front of her, and she's loud.
Speaker 1: Holly is like when she's up here a reflect she
Speaker 1: be smiling. But I'm gonna tell you something about Hollyford.
Speaker 1: What what is that all about? Where did that voice
Speaker 1: come from? We? And then the devil starts telling you all, well,
Speaker 1: you know, not a real Christian, you're hypocrite. Some of
Speaker 1: y'all are gonna lose it before the day is over
Speaker 1: because of your fantasy football lineup. No, not because of
Speaker 1: anything significant to anything having to do with real life
Speaker 1: in any way, because of other men that have absolutely
Speaker 1: no effect on you other than one hundred dollars at
Speaker 1: the end of the season. And you wonder why did
Speaker 1: I go off like that? It's understandable because we live
Speaker 1: in not only the age of anxiety, but if you noticed,
Speaker 1: we live in the age of outrage too. How trendy
Speaker 1: it is now to just get mad about anything that
Speaker 1: you don't like the first time you hear it. Well,
Speaker 1: you'll aren't going to like this part of the sermon.
Speaker 1: I don't think too much, but can I be honest
Speaker 1: with you, I don't really care what shoes you were
Speaker 1: to church today. No, maybe my perspective is different, but
Speaker 1: I spend too much time seeing people's butts to care
Speaker 1: about what you have on your feet today. So I
Speaker 1: don't have time when teen suicide is in an all
Speaker 1: time high to check and see if you're wearing Adidas
Speaker 1: or Nike, if you got yeezes, or you want to
Speaker 1: just do it. I don't really have time to debate
Speaker 1: with you about a sluice or a commercial or getting
Speaker 1: mad about I really don't have time for it up
Speaker 1: here when people's lives are on the line. I really
Speaker 1: don't have time for it in here, when people are
Speaker 1: on antidepressants in a rate that's making them more depressed,
Speaker 1: but they don't know where else to turn, and we're
Speaker 1: run into all kinds of places that are leaving us empty,
Speaker 1: but we want to. There will be at least one
Speaker 1: comment on this YouTube video about the holes in my jeans?
Speaker 1: Are you for real right now? But it triggers something.
Speaker 1: You're not fighting me over shoes, You're not fighting me
Speaker 1: over jeans. One moment told me until you save your beard,
Speaker 1: I can't watch you anymore. This is psychotic, she said.
Speaker 1: I'm praying for you. I want to say, I'm praying
Speaker 1: for you. I'm a fast forty days. If you're that
Speaker 1: messed up, I don't know why I went off. I
Speaker 1: think like for me, this is just what I'm working through,
Speaker 1: and so this makes you think I'm crazy. You're right,
Speaker 1: but I'm going through this season of my life where
Speaker 1: I don't want to keep blaming my environment or consulting
Speaker 1: things that happened in my life, because the cross of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ gives me a new reality and it really
Speaker 1: changes everything in the sense that all of my life
Speaker 1: has to be viewed through that lens of what He
Speaker 1: did for me and who he says I am. If
Speaker 1: I'm not careful, I'll be like the King who, when
Speaker 1: confronted with an impossible situation that reminded him of a
Speaker 1: past hurt, he inflicted the opportunity of his present moment
Speaker 1: with the pain of his past. Do you see what
Speaker 1: I'm saying He projected. See every time he dealt with aerm,
Speaker 1: it was an attack. And now it's an opportunity for
Speaker 1: this man to be healed and see what God can do.
Speaker 1: But if what you went through isn't healed by what
Speaker 1: Christ did for you, you will treat the opportunity like
Speaker 1: an attack. And I've noticed that, like I spend a
Speaker 1: lot of my time fighting stuff that God is actually
Speaker 1: sending into my life. I spent a lot of my
Speaker 1: time fighting against people that I'm not really mad at.
Speaker 1: It's really not them. Tell the person next to you,
Speaker 1: it's not you, it's me. It's me. I'm a perfectionist,
Speaker 1: and so sometimes when things aren't just like I want
Speaker 1: them to be, or here's what really happens, it really
Speaker 1: happens with my expectation. Put that word up there, because
Speaker 1: when I expect it to be one way and it's
Speaker 1: the other. Like when I went off on my dad
Speaker 1: a few years ago, it was because I rented him
Speaker 1: a house. I moved him and my mom to Charlotte. Well,
Speaker 1: I didn't move him, I hired movers and then they
Speaker 1: got fired because my dad was crazy and it was
Speaker 1: so funny. It really wasn't funny. It's funny now, can
Speaker 1: we laugh about it? Ah? Okay? But the day I
Speaker 1: went to see him, and the story has a happy ending,
Speaker 1: and then we ended up being together and it was
Speaker 1: good and all that. But in between remember name and
Speaker 1: gets healed at the end of this story. But there's
Speaker 1: some stuff in the middle that I want to talk
Speaker 1: to you about, because in the middle of that, that
Speaker 1: whole messy situation with my dad, I remember going over
Speaker 1: to check on them one day and I was so
Speaker 1: proud of the house that Holly had found that we
Speaker 1: rented for them, and my mom liked it and she
Speaker 1: was happy. And my dad. The first thing he said,
Speaker 1: I walke through dough. He said, this ain't gonna work, Bo.
Speaker 1: And I know honor your father and mother and the Lord.
Speaker 1: I know that Bible verse, I promise you, I know it.
Speaker 1: I even know that that honor is Cavat and Hebrew,
Speaker 1: and it can also be translated glory and wait. But
Speaker 1: the only thing I wanted in that moment, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: just be honest with you. I don't like to be disrespected,
Speaker 1: and it felt disrespectful to me, and so I went off.
Speaker 1: And it really wasn't what he said, because really what
Speaker 1: he wanted was just a few small tweaks. But I
Speaker 1: couldn't hear that anymore, you know, because my expectation was
Speaker 1: that he was going to meet me at the door
Speaker 1: and give me a big ol' hug and say, my
Speaker 1: son and whom I am, well pleased and the duff
Speaker 1: with the sin, But he didn't read my script. What
Speaker 1: do you do when people don't read your script? Meet
Speaker 1: your expectation? And here's where the story gets good, because
Speaker 1: I want you to notice that the same event that
Speaker 1: triggered the king and made him go into fear mode,
Speaker 1: which is usually what's happening when we're lashing out or withdrawing,
Speaker 1: because not everybody fights outwardly. Some of us bobble it
Speaker 1: up inwardly, and then we never go off. One day,
Speaker 1: we just tap out, and you wonder, how did they
Speaker 1: drop like that? Well, it's usually a series of un
Speaker 1: met expectations. In this case, the King of Israel, jehosh
Speaker 1: he's traumatized to the point that he thinks that everything
Speaker 1: is a fight. It says it in the text. See
Speaker 1: how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.
Speaker 1: That's verse seven. See how they're looking at me. See
Speaker 1: they didn't even wave at me. See I told this
Speaker 1: is a Southern thing. You're supposed to wave at people
Speaker 1: when you drive by them. The town I grew up in,
Speaker 1: you waived at everybody. And the first time that we
Speaker 1: were driving through the neighborhood and Holly didn't wave at people.
Speaker 1: I corrected her. I was like, what is wrong with you?
Speaker 1: She's not from Monks Corners, She's from Miami, and it's
Speaker 1: a different culture. It's an inferior culture of rudeness. And
Speaker 1: so anytime that you've been used to in your life,
Speaker 1: you've been used to fighting. If life has really been
Speaker 1: a fight for you, if you've had to fight for
Speaker 1: your mental health, or you've had to fight for your
Speaker 1: emotional health, or if you've had to fight through issues
Speaker 1: of bitterness and forgiveness because of abuse, if you've had
Speaker 1: to fight for your own and fight to make it,
Speaker 1: or if you had to fight your own family, when
Speaker 1: you've had to fight over and over again, everything looks
Speaker 1: like a fight. Everything looks like a threat. Everything sounds
Speaker 1: like an insult. Every time somebody doesn't check on you,
Speaker 1: it feels like abandonment. It's the trauma that's being triggered.
Speaker 1: But what's encouraging to me and what I got up
Speaker 1: here to tell you about today, because this is pretty
Speaker 1: depressing so far. But the same stimulus that triggered fear
Speaker 1: in the King's heart triggered faith in Elisha's. The Bible
Speaker 1: says in verse eight. When Elisha, the man of God,
Speaker 1: heard that the King of Israel had torn his robes,
Speaker 1: he sent him this message. Now watch this king. The
Speaker 1: king said, who do you think I am? You think
Speaker 1: I can? You think I'm a healer? Elisha said, I
Speaker 1: know God is a healer. So watch this. Have the
Speaker 1: man come to me, and he will know that there
Speaker 1: is a prophet in Israel. This man said, where you see,
Speaker 1: where you see opposition, I see opportunity. And the same
Speaker 1: thing that triggered you to tear your robes and freak
Speaker 1: out and fall down in fear triggered Elisha to rise
Speaker 1: up in faith. Elisha said, send him to me, because
Speaker 1: the word of God is with me. Now Elisha has
Speaker 1: an experience to build this expectation on. Elisha has healed
Speaker 1: the waters at Jericho. Elisha has multiplied the widow's oil.
Speaker 1: Elisha has spoken to parent wounds, and when that child died,
Speaker 1: spoke life and it resurrected from the dead. Elisha has
Speaker 1: dug ditches in dry valleys and seen God bring water
Speaker 1: from the direction of edom. Elisha has seen God do
Speaker 1: things that only God can do. And so when an
Speaker 1: impossible situation that is beyond him shows up. Elisha knows
Speaker 1: what thed. Bring him here to me. I got something
Speaker 1: for nameMan. I heal lepers for breakfast. Bring him to me,
Speaker 1: and he will know not how great I am, but
Speaker 1: how great God is. And so watch verse nine. I
Speaker 1: love this story. Namon went with his horses and chariots
Speaker 1: and his expectations and his leprosy and his greatness and
Speaker 1: his butt, and he brought it all because he wanted
Speaker 1: to be healed. I know you want to be healed
Speaker 1: of something today, even though you've been covering it up.
Speaker 1: And I know you use your charisma to cover your cracks.
Speaker 1: And I know that nobody knows how dark the thoughts
Speaker 1: can really get for you sometime. But I've been doing
Speaker 1: this too long to sit there and preach to your armor.
Speaker 1: Because a business leader walked up to me and told
Speaker 1: me that he had to kick his teenager out of
Speaker 1: his house. He said, we almost got in a fistfight,
Speaker 1: he said. I swung at him and missed. I realized
Speaker 1: this has gone way too far. And the man had
Speaker 1: on khakis while he was telling me. Pleaded khakis, double
Speaker 1: pleated khakis, no tattoos, but didn't look like the kind
Speaker 1: of guy that would swing on his kid. But I
Speaker 1: don't even really think you've seen your own butt until
Speaker 1: you've been through certain things. And then the weird thing
Speaker 1: is we all have short term memory loss if we
Speaker 1: have one devotion and read our Bible one morning. Now
Speaker 1: we start judging other people when they flip out. And
Speaker 1: so naming is on the verge of some travel a
Speaker 1: long way to get here. It's like a ninety mile trip.
Speaker 1: And he's got a big crew with him, and he
Speaker 1: needs a miracle, and we admire him because he went.
Speaker 1: I do, at least I think to even get to
Speaker 1: this point takes faith. And maybe one of the reasons
Speaker 1: I don't put a lot of condemnation or I try
Speaker 1: not to in my preaching, is because I'm pretty proud
Speaker 1: of you who decided to show up anyway. I know
Speaker 1: how many things could have kept you from being here,
Speaker 1: and I'm pretty proud that you made the decision to
Speaker 1: bring your butt to church. Give yourself a hand for
Speaker 1: bringing your butt to church. And if you're watching online,
Speaker 1: you don't get to clap'stif. So Namemn went his horses
Speaker 1: and cheriots stopped at the door of Elicia's house, and
Speaker 1: Elciaus and a messenger, Oh, this is not gonna go well,
Speaker 1: because Naming is a great man. And when a great
Speaker 1: man comes to your doorstef, you give him a great
Speaker 1: greeting and you welcome him by name. Man. I'm a
Speaker 1: retired This is my last sermon. Y'all enjoy it. He
Speaker 1: sent a messenger to say to him, go wash yourself
Speaker 1: seven times in the Jordan. In the what in the Jordan?
Speaker 1: You mean that muddy little excuse for a river that
Speaker 1: y'all like to celebrate so much in this nation of Israel,
Speaker 1: which I don't even like anyway. And he didn't even
Speaker 1: come to the door and name. It went off. No,
Speaker 1: he literally went off, not in the figurative sense. He
Speaker 1: literally decided, I would rather go home with my leprosy.
Speaker 1: I'd rather go home and my arm fall off. I
Speaker 1: would rather go I would rather die than be disrespected
Speaker 1: like this. And when he heard this ridiculous command, he says,
Speaker 1: some very important in the instruction. It was a simple instruction.
Speaker 1: It was a stupid instruction. It didn't make much sense,
Speaker 1: just like it doesn't make much sense when God tells
Speaker 1: you to forgive somebody so that you can be forgiven,
Speaker 1: and you want to say well, God, if they ask
Speaker 1: for it, I'll give it. And God says to you,
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about what they deserve. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: your deliverance. I'm talking about your clean heart. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about your clear mind. So if you want to get cleansed,
Speaker 1: I need you to do something that makes no sense,
Speaker 1: because there is no cure for leprosy. It can't be cured.
Speaker 1: It's got to be cleansed, and it can only be
Speaker 1: cleansed if you obey this command. And verse eleven starts
Speaker 1: so sad, But there it is again. I'm gonna preach
Speaker 1: a whole series one day on the butts of the Bible.
Speaker 1: Stand in front a miracle standing. I mean, the guys
Speaker 1: around him are like, Okay, that's all we gotta do. Nayan.
Speaker 1: You could keep the seventy five pounds of silver and
Speaker 1: the seventy five pounds of gold, and you can pass
Speaker 1: out the ten sets of clothing and we could go home.
Speaker 1: We can start back home. That's easy. Somebody start running
Speaker 1: the water naming. You want it hot, you want an
Speaker 1: extra hot naming. You want a rubber ducky, get the
Speaker 1: towel ready. You want some sunscreen. But it's a funny
Speaker 1: thing about pride. It's a funny thing about the small things.
Speaker 1: It's a funny thing about something that seems beneath you.
Speaker 1: Remember the King was triggered because of something that seemed
Speaker 1: beyond him. Am I God? And naming is triggered because
Speaker 1: of something that seems beneath me. You want me to
Speaker 1: do what? Uh? Huh uh I'm not doing that. Huh huh. No. See,
Speaker 1: because when your heart is filled with pride, you try
Speaker 1: to write your own prescriptions. This is how I want
Speaker 1: God to bless me. This is how I want God
Speaker 1: to come through. This is how I want God to
Speaker 1: heal me. This is how I wanted to respond this
Speaker 1: opportunity I want. This is so Naman went away angry, said,
Speaker 1: this is two very dangerous words. By the way, this
Speaker 1: is this is maybe the two most dangerous words for
Speaker 1: you to interpret your life through. I thought, I thought,
Speaker 1: maybe those two words are the two words that are
Speaker 1: standing between me and peace today. I thought I thought
Speaker 1: my dad was going to be grateful for the house.
Speaker 1: Now he's telling me about getting somebody over here to
Speaker 1: fix the Huh. I thought I thought you'd say thank you.
Speaker 1: I thought you'd grow up and play piano and put
Speaker 1: you in lessons, I thought, I thought. I thought he
Speaker 1: would surely come out to me and stand and call
Speaker 1: on the name of the Lord is God. See, nay
Speaker 1: men had it all planned out, because that's what great
Speaker 1: men do. Great men make great plans, and when those
Speaker 1: plans don't go the way that they were supposed to go,
Speaker 1: great men go off, great women go off. Because I
Speaker 1: had this family picture, and here's where you were supposed
Speaker 1: to stand, and here's where you were supposed to smile,
Speaker 1: and here's where you were supposed to and here's where
Speaker 1: you were. I thought, could those two words be standing
Speaker 1: between you and healing today? I thought, God says, my
Speaker 1: thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not
Speaker 1: your ways. For as high as the heavens are above
Speaker 1: the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts, and
Speaker 1: my ways above your ways. But Naman went away angry
Speaker 1: and said, I thought that I thought he'd come out
Speaker 1: to me. I thought, I thought he would see because
Speaker 1: I had this worked out. He comes to me, and
Speaker 1: then I give him the gifts and I get the healing.
Speaker 1: This is how this works. Not this time, name it,
Speaker 1: not this time. This transformation is not going to happen
Speaker 1: on your terms. God's not going to do it like
Speaker 1: you expected. He's not going to be held hostage to
Speaker 1: what you thought. So I thought that he would surely
Speaker 1: come out to me and stand and call him the
Speaker 1: name of the Lord is God, and way his hand.
Speaker 1: See he's supposed to wave, he's supposed to wave his
Speaker 1: hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.
Speaker 1: He doesn't like the place God told him to get healed.
Speaker 1: Are not Abna and far part of the rivers of
Speaker 1: Damascus better than all the waters of Israel. I didn't
Speaker 1: have to come here for this. Couldn't I watching them
Speaker 1: and be cleansed. So he turned and went off in
Speaker 1: a rage. And one of his servants, this guy needs
Speaker 1: a raise, by the way, went to him. Notice how
Speaker 1: beautiful the story is told. It's chronicled like this. Namon
Speaker 1: went to his master and said, I need permission to
Speaker 1: go to Israel. So he went to the king, and
Speaker 1: the king said I can't do it. Then he went
Speaker 1: to Elisha with his chariots and horses. And now Namon
Speaker 1: went off in a rage, and he's about to He's
Speaker 1: about to miss the opportunity to be healed. Because he
Speaker 1: is going off. And here's why he went off, because
Speaker 1: he didn't go in, and he went off because he
Speaker 1: made his decision about what he thought about it, but
Speaker 1: he didn't go in. You know, I've noticed something about
Speaker 1: myself when I don't go into the presence of God,
Speaker 1: when I don't go in and ask God, what are
Speaker 1: you doing in this situation? When I don't go into
Speaker 1: myself and seek for the spirit of God to leave me,
Speaker 1: I start going off, and then I spend the next
Speaker 1: week fixing stuff that if I would have taken one
Speaker 1: moment and worshiped, if I would have taken one moment
Speaker 1: and sought God's wisdom, if I would have taken one
Speaker 1: moment and said, you know what, I don't want to
Speaker 1: fight about this. I don't want to be right. I
Speaker 1: want to be healed. I don't want to prove my
Speaker 1: own power. I want to receive your power God. And
Speaker 1: what happens next is really beautiful because some of you
Speaker 1: are going to do it today. Stand with me. The
Speaker 1: servant came to Namen and says something that I think
Speaker 1: is very prophetic, and I hope you can hear it
Speaker 1: on the level which it is intended. The servant Chase
Speaker 1: naming down Naman is on his way back to Damascus.
Speaker 1: He's gonna walk ninety miles back home with leprosy still
Speaker 1: on his skin because of something that seemed too small
Speaker 1: and insignificant for a great man like him to do.
Speaker 1: He's gonna spend the rest of his life with this
Speaker 1: disease because he didn't want to do what he was
Speaker 1: told to do. And the servant said, hey man, sir nayman,
Speaker 1: if the prophet had told you to do some great thing,
Speaker 1: would you not have done it? Well, of course I would,
Speaker 1: because I'm a great man. Well, if you're a great man,
Speaker 1: how much more should you be able to do a
Speaker 1: small thing? So when he tells you washouldn't be cleansed,
Speaker 1: why not give it a try? You know, you've been
Speaker 1: fighting so hard justifying your side of the story and
Speaker 1: justifying yourself and why is all right? And why is okay?
Speaker 1: But hey man, why not if we already came ninety miles,
Speaker 1: if we already came this far, and that profit is
Speaker 1: telling you that if you dip in the Jordan you
Speaker 1: can be cleansed, isn't it worth a try? You already
Speaker 1: went to your master and got the letter. You already
Speaker 1: went with your horses and chariots. Now you now you're
Speaker 1: going off in a rage. But verse fourteen is the
Speaker 1: happy ending, and I believe it's a new beginning for
Speaker 1: many of us today. The Bible says, so he went
Speaker 1: down and dipped himself in the Jordan. I'm glad after
Speaker 1: Naman went off, he went in, and he went in
Speaker 1: not just once, not just twice, not just three times,
Speaker 1: not just four times, not just five times, not just
Speaker 1: six times, but all seven. Often, when you're in the
Speaker 1: process of obeying God, you see no immediate effects of change.
Speaker 1: It's not like your skin gets healed a little bit
Speaker 1: with every dip. Woo woo woo. You got to have
Speaker 1: the faith to go through the motions even when you
Speaker 1: see no evidence. Go am I talking to him? You
Speaker 1: gotta have the faith to go down and pray again,
Speaker 1: to lift up your hands and worship and say, I
Speaker 1: don't feel a thing right now. But God is with me,
Speaker 1: and God is for me, And who can be against me?
Speaker 1: And I will not fear though a host of enemies
Speaker 1: and camps upon me. I will not be afraid. The
Speaker 1: Lord is my helper. I lift my eyes to the hills.
Speaker 1: My help comes from the Lord. By your head and
Speaker 1: close your eyes for a moment. I believe this is
Speaker 1: a significant word for someone in the room who is
Speaker 1: about to go off. Maybe you've been going off, maybe
Speaker 1: you already went off. I don't just mean temper tantrums,
Speaker 1: breaking stuff, throwing pictures around the room. I mean that
Speaker 1: there is something that God has given you to do
Speaker 1: in your life that seems so ridiculous that you, like naymen,
Speaker 1: are at the point of frustration. I want to speak
Speaker 1: a word over your life today that in this moment,
Speaker 1: the only way to receive healing is through your surrender.
Speaker 1: As long as you want to stay in control of
Speaker 1: those situations, they will continue to consume you. And that's
Speaker 1: what the presence of God is for. This is the
Speaker 1: Jordan river that you can dip in seven times. The
Speaker 1: Bible says that when he did it, his flesh was
Speaker 1: restored like a young boy. Isn't that amazing that the
Speaker 1: great man became like a young boy and he was healed?
Speaker 1: And isn't it interesting that God's greatest golden Nayman's life
Speaker 1: was not to heal his skin, but to produce faith
Speaker 1: in his heart lift your hands in this moment, Father,
Speaker 1: I thank you for every person, and I thank you
Speaker 1: for every problem. I thank you for the great things,
Speaker 1: and I thank you for the butt. Somebody in this
Speaker 1: room has an addiction. Somebody in this room has an illness.
Speaker 1: Somebody in this room has a heavy depression, and they
Speaker 1: see no signs of change, and they have really, really
Speaker 1: attractive armor, and so nobody can see but you what
Speaker 1: they're fighting with on the inside, and they keep pushing
Speaker 1: people away that you send to help them. In this moment, God,
Speaker 1: may this be the first dip in the process of
Speaker 1: their deliverance. And thank you for the Cross of Jesus
Speaker 1: Christ that we stand under and look to today for
Speaker 1: our healing and forgiveness and redemption has already been accomplished.
Speaker 1: I thank you that we are not healed, cleansed, or
Speaker 1: cured by achieving, but by receiving. Stretch your hands high
Speaker 1: as you can stretch them. We receive your grace in
Speaker 1: this moment. Your mercy in this moment waters wash over
Speaker 1: our soul. Well. I hope you enjoyed the podcast today.
Speaker 1: If you did, there are just a couple things I'd
Speaker 1: love for you to do. Number One, subscribe to our show.
Speaker 1: That way, the most recent episode will always be in
Speaker 1: your feed, waiting for you ready when you are. And secondly,
Speaker 1: if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to
Speaker 1: help us continue to reach others, you can click the
Speaker 1: link in the description and you can give now and
Speaker 1: I'll see you next time on the Elevation podcast