WEBVTT - Why I Went Off 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:04.640 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.120 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.480 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.520 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.240 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.400 The series is called Triggered. This is week four and 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.200 I just trust that you can expecting today for God 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:27.200 to speak to you. Let's look at Second King's chapter five. 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.200 I'm gonna give you my title right up front. Title 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:37.880 of this message is why I went off touch Somebody 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:43.959 tell him. It's a long story. When I first decided 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.960 to preach on this topic of triggered, I figured that 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.680 it would help me personally and then we could do 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:53.479 group therapy. But I wanted to do it from the 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.480 Word of God because I am not a psychologist, certainly 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:01.560 not a neuroscientist or anything like that. I interviewed a 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.760 neuroscientist a few days ago and that is now on 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.240 the Elevation Church YouTube, so you can go and watch that. 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:12.000 I asked her questions related to the clinical reasons that 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.240 sometimes we do the things that we do, and had 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:18.479 a conversation with her about not just understanding things with 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.600 cliches and jargon that we sometimes used to cover up 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:26.440 our lazy thinking, and sometimes we spiritualize issues that are 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.640 practical in the same time sometimes try to sell things 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.200 practically that are spiritual. And so it's just a great 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:34.240 talk that's on the Elevation Chirch YouTube and you can 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.959 check that out. But this week I want to share 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:41.480 a character study on a Bible character who is so 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:46.080 familiar to me. And by that I mean not only 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.560 have I read this story quite a few times, but 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:54.800 I feel like I know this guy. I feel like 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:59.840 I've met him one time in the mirror, and certain 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:03.160 things about him really spoke to me, And so I 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.040 just pray that the same will happen for you today 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.160 as I read this text. I want to just tell 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:12.919 you the spoiler alert right up front. Naman in Second 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:17.120 King's Chapter five has leprosy and gets healed. But that's 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:21.080 just the headline, and so there's a lot to learn 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.440 in the midst of it, and I want to read 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.639 a few verses and kind of drop in and explain 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.240 and move along in this narrative. The Bible says in 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:34.400 Second King's Chapter five, verse one. Now, Nayman was commander 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.200 of the army of the King of Aram. He was 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.760 a great man in the sight of his master, and 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:44.840 highly regarded because through him the Lord had given victory 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:50.880 to aerm It's interesting the way that is phrased, because 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.600 it says it wasn't by him that the victory was one, 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.600 it was through him. And I think understanding that is 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.520 very critical if you were to have any hope of 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.280 remaining sane in your life, just to know that God's 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:07.520 going to do it through you. You know, half of 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:09.520 the time that I'm messed up is because I'm trying 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:11.040 to do it for God, and He's trying to do 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:12.520 it through me. But he can't do it through me 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.160 when I'm trying to do it for him, and so 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:18.240 I just start forcing situations and then I'm frustrated and 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.120 irritated and agitated, and I'm mad at everybody and everything 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.360 because I'm trying to do stuff for people and for 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.640 God that God would like to do through me if 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.760 I would yield myself and yield my will. And this 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:33.200 is even more interesting because Maemon is not an Israelite. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:37.119 He's not one of these chosen people, as they understood 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.680 it at the time, he's actually a commander of an 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:46.080 enemy army from Arim that would consistently raid the Israelites 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.320 and not only do damage to their crops, but many 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.040 times take their people away in bondage. At the end 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:55.160 of one of these raids. Bible says he was a 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.360 great man in the sight of his master, and highly 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:05.080 regarded because through him, he was highly regarded because of 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.400 what he did. He was highly regarded because of the 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.640 results that he achieved. He was highly regarded because of 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.200 the outcomes that were brought about through his skill set. 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.920 And so he was a great man in the sight 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:21.800 of his master, and highly regarded because through him. I'm 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:23.719 reading it over and over on purpose, because it's so 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.599 profound that if we skim the surface we will miss 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:30.320 the meaning. He was a great man in the sight 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.080 of his master, and highly regarded because through him the 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.680 Lord had given victory to aerm and he was a 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:44.880 valiant soldier. But he had leprosy and incurable skin disease, 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.039 a non lethal form of it in this case, but 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:55.880 a problem. Nonetheless, he was great. But and depending on 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.240 when you see someone in the setting that you meet 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.520 them in, you might be he sometimes more acquainted with 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:06.000 their victories than their vulnerabilities. That's why I advocate just 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.560 a little bit of time dating, just a little bit 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.839 of time to see them in pressure filled situations, just 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:15.880 a little bit of time out of the candlelight, under 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.960 the harsh neon glow of some of the trials of life. 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:22.479 Just a piece of advice. But I can't prove it 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.039 in the Bible. But I think you know, depending on 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.080 where you see someone determines what you see. And I 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:33.480 realize this more and more now because I think people 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:36.120 think that they should behave in front of a pastor. 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.400 So when I meet people, a lot of times I 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.240 realize I might not be meeting the truest version of them, 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:44.040 do you know what I mean? They might not always 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:48.960 speak in Hebrew and Greek, they might sometimes speak in 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.159 other tongues. But when when I really want to know 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.400 about somebody, especially on staff, I don't go off of 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.279 my first impression, because I don't really trust my first 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.240 impression of people any more. I used to I used 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:07.120 to say I have discernment. Now I realize that a 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:09.719 lot of what I thought was discernment was really me 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.320 just vibing off of somebody or maybe they reminded me 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.400 of somebody, and I didn't like some people that were 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.960 really cool, consistent people, but I thought they were boring. 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.040 But the reason they were boring is because they're not 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.480 always having to create drama in their life. And I 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:23.719 found out that drama works good in movies, but in 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.239 real life, I don't want the ticket to that show. 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:31.000 So now am my preaching already? This is just the 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.680 first verse. And what I learned about myself is I 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.320 need to ask others. I need to get references. And 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.120 at times i'll meet somebody on our staff and it's 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:42.320 not a small staff, and I don't know everybody on 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:44.360 the staff anymore. I used to. I used to hand 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.520 select people, and oh man, when I hired the first 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.400 staff member, I got the opportunity to spend just hours 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.800 and hours getting to know him, so I knew his 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:57.200 strengths and weaknesses pretty well. But now I will ask 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:02.280 someone about someone, ask somebody that works with them and 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.520 has had to work with them in a pressure hopefully 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:07.240 if I can, if I can get somebody that has 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:09.120 had to work with them when there was a deadline involved, 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:11.960 or has seen how they managed a disappointment, you know, 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.360 and how they treat others and things like that. So 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.600 I will ask how is so? And so let's say 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:21.880 that I wanted to know about JT. I would ask. 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.160 I would be like, hey, how's JT? And I would 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.280 wait for the person who knows them, not the person 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.560 who met them, but the person who knows them to 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.240 I would wait for them and see how long they 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:38.200 hesitate before they answer the question, because I want to 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.440 see how long they're going to scroll through, you know. 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.960 And sometimes people will say the right thing, but it's 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.600 the inflection in their voice they say it with that 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.480 lets you know there's something else. I'd be like, hey, 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.400 I've noticed JT on our staff. He seems like he 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:55.800 seems like a great guy. And if the person's voice 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.240 goes up when they answer, you got pay attention to that. 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.200 And so it's like how's JT? And they'll go, oh, 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:09.160 he's great. And when they hit that falsetto like unnatural 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.000 soprano note, he's great, it's the sounds like axel rose, 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:21.320 you know. Up there. I'm like, but what everybody say? 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:26.600 But what? Because one thing that has really helped me 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.360 in ministry and in life is to realize that everybody 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:40.040 has two eyes, two ears, one nose, one neck, most 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:46.760 people two arms, two legs, and everybody has at least one. 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:55.880 But he was a great man. But it's in the Bible, people, 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.880 I'm not making it up. It said that this great man, 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:05.679 he's great. But the problem with being a preacher is 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:09.160 I can see your eyes. I can see your ears, 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.560 I can see whether or not you're taking notes, and 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:14.200 if you don't have a pin out, I'm judging you 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:16.520 so hard right now. I hope you feel the vibrations 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:26.680 of the flames of hell. The issue with this arrangement 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:31.720 is I can't see your but and it's probably better 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:35.839 that way. It's been a lot of my ministry preaching 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:42.800 to people's heads, preaching to people's intellect. And I messed 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.440 around and pastored this church now for over twelve years. 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.440 And I messed around and got a few stray grays 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.840 in my beard, and I messed around and got involved 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.360 in a few people's lives. And I messed around and 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:55.839 found out that everybody has a butt. And the only 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:57.600 way I knew it is that a few people showed 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:04.400 me there there. I know it's awkward, and you know, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.240 half the reason that sermons don't really register more than 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.640 two hours. Sometimes is because we're all trying to cover 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.960 our butt. That's the strategy most people come to church with. 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.800 See why b cover your butt? You cover it behind 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.040 a big smile and appraise the Lord in a Chand 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:35.680 you know I could do that? Do you know what 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.160 I'm saying? He was a great man, but he had 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:43.200 a skin issue, and nobody can see that on the 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:49.160 battlefield because on the battlefield I got armor. We all 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:56.120 have something that we use to cover a spot in 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.960 our life. Let's be honest, we're not talking about human anatomy. 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:13.000 You have multiple bucks, You are great with people, but 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.800 you don't take care of yourself. You see what I'm saying. 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:21.719 You are really good at succeeding and really bad at 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:34.800 being content. So I'm successful, but I'm miserable. I'm killing 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:39.560 it at work, but my fifteen year old do I 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:47.559 even have to finish this? I got a great marriage, 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:52.120 I'm great, but I'm not making any money right now. 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:56.440 And I'm a good emotional provider, but financially, you know, 0:11:56.520 --> 0:12:01.000 I never learned how to do that. And the thing 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.880 about a really good encounter with God, you can tell 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:15.040 when you've encountered God it will expose your and the 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:18.760 way it happens, it'll often be an unlikely way. Let's 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:21.360 talk about this in three stages. The first is exposure. 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.120 Nayman is perhaps changing one day in his own home, 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:28.839 and verse two says, bends of raiders from aarm Remember 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:33.480 he's a captain, he's a commander of these armies from Aram, 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:38.440 which would often go out and take different people captive. 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:42.280 And on one particular such occasion, the raiders from Aram 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.800 had gone out and had taken captive a young girl 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:51.160 from Israel. And she served Nayman's wife. And she said 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.600 to her mistress, if only my master would see the 0:12:55.600 --> 0:13:00.080 prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:05.200 his leprosy. And so the Bible says something really important 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.880 in verse four. Because you are not blessed based on 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.960 the word of God that you hear or the word 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.720 of God that you understand, you are base blessed, and 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.160 your life is changed in accordance with the word of 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:24.040 God that you apply, obey, and act on. That's why 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.720 you can hear thirteen years of teaching and still be 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.960 mean as the serpent in the garden of Eden. No, 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.720 that's why you can hear a lot of teaching about love, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:35.840 but if you don't make the decision to forgive, the 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.720 teaching about love will be snatched up by the birds 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:40.480 of the air and will not take root in your heart. 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.280 So verse four becomes really important if we really want 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.880 to change, if we really want to get beneath the surface, 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:50.640 and you know, not just have a skin deep spirituality 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.520 and a skin deep relationship with God where we can 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.880 fake it for a little while, and we create stages 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.160 to impress people, and we have armor that we put 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:00.280 on to go out into our job, but we come 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:03.960 home and feel like miserable, miserable people to live with, 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:06.440 or we feel like we don't know how to be intimate, 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:08.400 but we know how to be impressive. And so as 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:10.560 long as people only see us from a distance, they 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.440 don't really notice we're starting to cover our skin and 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:15.760 cover our souls and things that are just leaping out 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:19.760 of us at all the wrong time. Verse four says 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:25.480 that Naman went to his master and told him what 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:30.280 the girl from Israel had said. And this took courage, 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:35.160 and it took humility for Naming to go to his 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:41.960 master and show his butt, to show his vulnerability when 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.040 he was a man with so many victories. I just 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:49.320 want to stay there for a minute, because sometimes I 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.600 feel like we use prayer as an opportunity to read 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:58.840 God our resume, you know. And while I think it's 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:01.640 great to celebrate all the gol Elias that we killed, 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.160 sometimes the giants in us are kicking our butt and 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.160 we don't say anything about it until it's too late. 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:13.200 And I'm getting bolder every year I passed her, as 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:17.800 I commit more and more to preaching to the part 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:22.160 of you that you would just as soon hide and 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:25.440 never mention, because I think that's where real help is found. 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.240 And Naman went to his master and told him what 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.400 the girl from Israel had said. I mean, this is 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:36.160 a servant girl. And Naman is what a great man? 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.840 A great man. He's a great man. But he's got 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.880 these spots that are starting to spread, and if he 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:48.240 doesn't do something soon, there's no telling what might happen next. 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.800 And since there are no essential oils for this particular 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.440 form of leprosy at this point in antiquity, Naman has 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.440 to take the advice of a little girl. And now 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.760 we have a great man going to an enemy nation 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:05.720 in Israel, because of the advice of a little girl. 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:08.400 Are you willing to obey God even if he speaks 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:15.480 through something that seems smaller than you, because I notice 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:19.040 a lot of us won't. A lot of teenagers will 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.240 listen to me preach and roll their eyes at their parents. 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.760 And I don't understand that because I'm not paying for 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:28.320 your college or your bracest. I'm not even buying you 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:34.240 ramen noodles. And sometimes I've noticed that men will listen 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.520 to me preach, but their wife knows them better than 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:38.600 I do and could say some things that would actually 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:42.560 help them. It's getting quiet, and even the women left 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:47.000 me out on that one. It's like that, I'm ana 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:52.000 cancel reflective, y'all, don't help me with this sermon. It's 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.880 something about exposure and when a spot in your life 0:16:55.920 --> 0:17:01.040 everybody says spot a leprous spots, something that is consuming 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.560 you that others can't see when it is exposed by 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.080 an experience. That's the second stage I wanted to mention 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:11.800 is experience, because things will happen in your life and 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.679 you'll come up upon situations that will expose something that 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:17.720 you would prefer to hide. And what you do next 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:23.600 determines whether you get healed. So Naman went to his 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:25.600 master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.360 Verse five says that the king said, by all means go, 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.320 I will send a letter to the King of Israel. 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:37.000 So Naman left, taking with him ten talents of silver 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.040 six thousand shekels of gold. That's like seventy five pounds 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:45.600 of each. So Naman is going to Israel with his 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:53.960 resources to attain healing. He's gonna he's gonna deal with 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.520 this like he always deals with things, because he's a 0:17:56.520 --> 0:18:01.719 great man. He's a persistent man, prepared man. He's a 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:04.640 powerful man. These other things that start with the letter 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.480 P as well and the letter that he took to 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.480 the King of Israel read with this letter, I am 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:17.040 sending my servant naming to you so that you may 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.120 cure him of his leprosy. There's all kinds of stuff 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.080 wrong with that sentence. It's like the telephone game we 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:23.879 used to play when you pass a message along to 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:26.960 somebody and it starts out We're having jo chicken for lunch, 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.119 and it ends with I'm dying of cancer, and you 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:31.680 pass it down and it only takes three people. This 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:36.960 chain of communication has polluted the message itself because number one, 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:39.239 the servant girl didn't say the king can heal him. 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.240 It said the prophet can. And sometimes we run to 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.880 the wrong people because we have our own ideas about 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:51.680 where our help comes from. Talk to me, and it's 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:53.760 not the king that is going to have the faith 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:55.880 to get him healed. It's the prophet. His name is Elisha. 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:00.800 But the king sends the commander to the king because 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.880 you know, this is to me, the most logical way 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:06.600 to get him healed. We'll go straight to the top. 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:09.480 But watch the king's response. And this is kind of 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.919 interesting because when the king gets the letter and Naman 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:18.159 shows up with all of the accumulated wealth that he 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.760 believes it's gonna take to get him healed. You know how, 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:22.800 we have our own ideas about what it's gonna take 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:25.160 to make a change in our life. And I'm gonna 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:26.760 do it. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna go back, 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:28.439 I'm gonna get my degree. I'm gonna go back. I'm 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.040 get my degree. I'm gonna eat. I'm gonna eat so 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:32.960 much Kal it's gonna be coming out of my nose. 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.400 I'm not eating gluten again until twenty twenty four. I'm 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.480 gonna do hot yoga and cold yoga and powerlifting, and 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:41.560 I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it all. Mariema Bible. 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.080 I'm gonna delete every social media off my phone. I'm 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:45.879 never going on Facebook again. I've got my face in 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:51.359 the book. And he shows up with a lot of 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:53.880 stuff that he thinks he canna need to get healed. 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.119 But as soon verse seven, as the King of Israel 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:58.800 read the letter, he tore his robes and said, am 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:03.400 I God, you want me to do what? I got? 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:05.320 This friend, y'all, his name is Alex Early. He was 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:08.080 my college roommate and he used to make prank phone 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:11.840 calls in college and they were hilarious. Most of them 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:14.920 were clean. We were Christians, but he had the ability 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:16.960 to push people to their breaking point. He was a 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:18.199 big fan of a guy at the time who did 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.119 prank calls named roy D Mercer, and this guy was 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:23.320 famous for taking people right to the edge, and so 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:25.600 we would laugh. And we still have these phone calls 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:27.760 recorded and one day I'm going to release them on SoundCloud. 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.400 And these phone calls to me just bring me joy 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.320 At times in my life, because everybody's reaction was the same. 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:36.320 He make up a million scenarios. You know. He would 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:42.760 use this name, this alias duw Wane McGraw, Duwaine, and 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:44.960 put a thing over the e because it's French. My 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:48.879 name is Dewane McGraw. And he'd say, my boy Bobby 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.960 is throwing up all over the shag carpet because I 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:54.080 came to the grocery store and I bought bad milk. 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.400 And they would always say this, no matter what scenario 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:59.280 he made up. One time it'd be Bobby's throwing up 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:01.080 on the shag carpet. One time it'd be I took 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:04.159 my trousers to your laundromat and they shrunk up and 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:05.920 now they're coming up around my thighs and I look 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:10.520 like a European and you know, but whatever scenario he 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:15.920 would bring up, their response was generally the same. What 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:25.800 do you want me to do about it? The king? 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.919 The king is like, you brought me a leopard? Do 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:35.840 you think I'm God? I'm not a doctor, I'm a king. 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:39.159 Have you ever felt like life brought you something that 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:43.920 was above your pay grate to handle? God? They're doing 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:45.480 that thing again where they sit there and look at 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:47.520 me like they always have it together and they have 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:50.639 all the answers. Because I looked at my kids the 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:55.800 other day and said, I am not Google. I am 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:58.560 not a search engine. I do not know. Furthermore, I 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:00.840 do not care. Get out of my face. Sometimes I 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:03.320 wake up in the middle of the night and replay 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:06.000 things that I've said to my kids and feel so 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:09.439 bad that I have to get up and baptize myself 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:13.119 in the bathtub and get saved again, just as I 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:17.760 am without one plead, O Lamb of God, what do 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:25.440 you want from me? I'm only a man, And the 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:30.240 King says, I know what this is, this man, watch 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.680 can I kill and bring back to life. He's triggered 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:37.960 because he is confronted with a situation that he is 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:42.479 unable to transform. And whenever life presents you with something 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:45.080 that you were not equipped for. So you got to 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:47.639 be a dad and you didn't have a dad. You 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:49.919 got to pay a bill, but God didn't give you 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:52.680 a job. You've got to step into something that you've 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:55.000 never seen before with the faith to believe that it's 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:59.200 already done. And it can be exasperating to the point. 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:05.200 Watch this that you allow your past experience to contaminate 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:10.960 your perspective of the present moment. Remember what I said. 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:16.080 The King of Aaron, Benedett the second would often go 0:23:16.359 --> 0:23:19.720 and invade Jehoram's land jahormas king of Israel. And so 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:22.440 when he gets the letter saying, hey, can you help 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:26.840 my guy name in can you heal my guy naming? 0:23:28.240 --> 0:23:35.520 It triggered within him a traumatic memory of the last 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:40.919 time he was attacked, and so he goes off, not 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:45.840 because of the situation that he's experiencing, but because of 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:49.800 past experiences. Do you ever wonder why you go off? 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:56.240 And it's inexplicable, like the level of the offense does 0:23:56.320 --> 0:23:59.760 not match the level of the outrage, And you wonder 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:05.560 why what was that all about? Hell? You ever with 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:07.960 the elevation church sticker on your car said some words 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:09.879 that weren't blessed the Lord, Oh my soul? And wonder 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:15.679 you know how y'all think Holly is so sweet? What 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:18.680 time in college she was singing a worship song in 0:24:18.720 --> 0:24:22.080 her Ford contour, and the song said I was there, 0:24:22.480 --> 0:24:25.679 I was in the passenger seat. The song said, you 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:31.399 are so patient with me? Lord. She didn't get to 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:36.760 Lord before she was screaming at the at the dodge 0:24:36.880 --> 0:24:40.119 ram that pulled out in front of her, and she's loud. 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:43.080 Holly is like when she's up here a reflect she 0:24:43.280 --> 0:24:45.320 be smiling. But I'm gonna tell you something about Hollyford. 0:24:50.640 --> 0:24:55.959 What what is that all about? Where did that voice 0:24:55.960 --> 0:24:59.719 come from? We? And then the devil starts telling you all, well, 0:24:59.760 --> 0:25:04.760 you know, not a real Christian, you're hypocrite. Some of 0:25:04.840 --> 0:25:06.840