Speaker 1: Welcome to everyone who's worshiping with us here today. As
Speaker 1: you take your seat, just say hello to the person
Speaker 1: sitting next to you. Maybe you came in late and
Speaker 1: you can't get to speak to anyone. Let us know
Speaker 1: in the chat where you're joining us from. I'm so
Speaker 1: happy that you are here. Here I am again. It
Speaker 1: feels like I was just on this stage. I know
Speaker 1: you love me, but let's be honest. Stephen Ferdick sermons
Speaker 1: in January. There's something special. I don't know. There's something
Speaker 1: about January that just lights a fire in him and
Speaker 1: I feel like he, like God, just just has this
Speaker 1: like direct connection from his mouth to my heart and
Speaker 1: even gets up here and reads a Charles Spurgeon sermon
Speaker 1: and we're all I'm like, I don't even mind. Why
Speaker 1: am I getting up there? That was great? We can
Speaker 1: all go home. Just think of me preaching today, like
Speaker 1: we interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement.
Speaker 1: Because I do have a special announcement. I also have
Speaker 1: a word from God that I believe He's given me
Speaker 1: to speak to you today. So thank you for letting
Speaker 1: me interrupt. And I'm going to try as always to
Speaker 1: stay in the flow. Of what our pastor has been
Speaker 1: teaching us in the past few weeks. So first though
Speaker 1: the announcement you might have seen it. We talked about
Speaker 1: it a little bit in the welcome. But today I
Speaker 1: am releasing a brand new study that I did just
Speaker 1: for our church. It's called Essentials. It's for everybody. Did
Speaker 1: you know that we have over fifteen hundred different groups
Speaker 1: in our church, community groups, we call them E groups,
Speaker 1: And what God is doing in these communities is incredible.
Speaker 1: They gather together even when we're not all coming together
Speaker 1: to do a study, to talk about the sermons and
Speaker 1: what God is teaching them. And I got to meet
Speaker 1: with all of our E group leaders this past Thursday
Speaker 1: night and we prayed over this study, and we prayed
Speaker 1: for you, and we are ready for you because over
Speaker 1: the next several weeks, we are going to sync up
Speaker 1: as a church, and we're going to go back to
Speaker 1: the basics. I think a lot of times when people
Speaker 1: think of a Bible study, maybe they get a little
Speaker 1: bit intimidated. They think about maybe learning something new, like
Speaker 1: studying the Book of Revelation to learn about the end times,
Speaker 1: or maybe studying the Gospels or a specific character in
Speaker 1: the Bible like Elijah. Now this is not that kind
Speaker 1: of study. Those are really great things to study, but
Speaker 1: that's not what this is. This is a study that's
Speaker 1: going to call us back to the simple things, the
Speaker 1: basic practices of a believer in Christ. Stephen preached a
Speaker 1: sermon about ten years ago. I don't know many if
Speaker 1: some of you probably weren't here. You can't even go
Speaker 1: find it online. But he preached this ern about ten
Speaker 1: years ago and he set a line that impacted me.
Speaker 1: I never forgot it, and this is what he said.
Speaker 1: He said, deep is doing and that line changed the
Speaker 1: way I thought about my relationship with Christ. The Bible
Speaker 1: is a book that calls us to action, and if
Speaker 1: we want to drop that trash and hold on to
Speaker 1: the truth, like we've been learning, we have to do
Speaker 1: what the Bible says. Knowing about the Bible doesn't get
Speaker 1: you anywhere if you don't put it into practice. So
Speaker 1: this January, we are going to go back to the
Speaker 1: basics of our faith. We're going to look at what
Speaker 1: the Bible says about prayer and worship and how to
Speaker 1: hear God's voice, and we're going to put what we
Speaker 1: learn into practice, and we're going to be able to
Speaker 1: come together and talk about what God is tea in
Speaker 1: our groups, and it's going to be really great. I mean,
Speaker 1: how much better would our lives be if we actually
Speaker 1: just did the things that we already know that we're
Speaker 1: supposed to do, right, Like, we already know that eating
Speaker 1: vegetables and drinking water results in a healthy body. We
Speaker 1: know that limiting our time on screens aids and our
Speaker 1: mental health. We know that being kind to others results
Speaker 1: in better relationships. But we don't always do the things
Speaker 1: that we know. Knowing and doing are two different things.
Speaker 1: And I just thought, in a month where everyone is
Speaker 1: focusing on body goals and personal goals, I just wonder
Speaker 1: what are your spiritual goals? And So this is your
Speaker 1: invitation to join an e group and together we are
Speaker 1: going to put the Word of God into practice in
Speaker 1: our everyday lives. Whether you've been a believer your whole
Speaker 1: life or your new to this whole Christianity thing. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be amazing. So I'm not going to preach about
Speaker 1: the importance of community community today. I might mention it
Speaker 1: because I think I mentioned it in every sermon that
Speaker 1: I preach, because I believe in it. I think it's important,
Speaker 1: but I just want to give you this Personal invitations
Speaker 1: is the last thing I'm going to say about the study.
Speaker 1: I want to invite you to join us over the
Speaker 1: next couple weeks. It's only six weeks long, and we
Speaker 1: have groups for everyone. Even if you don't live in
Speaker 1: the Charlotte area. You have no excuse because by now
Speaker 1: we're all experts at Zoom and we have as many
Speaker 1: Zoom groups as we do in person groups. All right,
Speaker 1: So that's my special announcement. You'll be hearing more about
Speaker 1: how to actually get into one of these groups at
Speaker 1: the close of our message. Of my message, are you
Speaker 1: ready to get into the word? All right, well you
Speaker 1: pray with me. Lord. We have all come to this
Speaker 1: place today. We've joined across all of our campuses and
Speaker 1: in our homes, and we invite you into this place.
Speaker 1: We invite you into our homes, and most of all, God,
Speaker 1: we invite you into our hearts. Today. We need a
Speaker 1: fresh word from you. God. I know that there are
Speaker 1: many who are here today who are sick. There are
Speaker 1: many who are under the sound of my voice who
Speaker 1: are grieving, many who need encouragement. And God, we have
Speaker 1: set aside this time to hear from you, which you
Speaker 1: block out every distraction and when you speak to us. Now,
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, come, we want to hear from you. Since
Speaker 1: Jesus name, I pray Amen. When I think about how
Speaker 1: Stephen has this special fire in January, it makes me
Speaker 1: think how there are basically two kinds of people in
Speaker 1: this world, those who love January and those who hate it.
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you, I'm not a fan.
Speaker 1: I don't like change. Abby was asking me, if you
Speaker 1: could take a month out of the year, which one
Speaker 1: would you take out. I think I would take out
Speaker 1: January because I don't like to get rid of stuff.
Speaker 1: I don't like to think about how bad I've let
Speaker 1: my house get over the holidays. I don't like to
Speaker 1: think about how tight my pants have gotten over the
Speaker 1: past few weeks. And to me, that last week of December,
Speaker 1: it's kind of glorious, you know. It's like this time
Speaker 1: warp of eating and traveling and just being with people
Speaker 1: you love, being lazy, and those are just all things
Speaker 1: that I really enjoy. And then January first rolls around,
Speaker 1: and everything that I've been ignoring for the past few
Speaker 1: weeks seems to just be calling my name. And it
Speaker 1: totally stresses me out, Like everything just feels so complicated,
Speaker 1: and I feel overwhelmed, and I don't know where to start,
Speaker 1: Like should I set a personal goal? Should I set
Speaker 1: fitness goals? Should I set goals for my kids? Should
Speaker 1: I clean out closets? Should I organize the house? Should
Speaker 1: I make a photo book of the holiday? Should I
Speaker 1: plan healthier meals for the week? Should I journal and
Speaker 1: reflect over the past few years? And then the stubborn
Speaker 1: side of me says, well, I mean, everybody's gonna start
Speaker 1: eating healthy now, so I'm not gonna do that now.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be like, come on, you're a
Speaker 1: stubborn person out there. You're like, I'm gonna diet in January?
Speaker 1: And then I just feel paralyzed. Is anyone else out
Speaker 1: there in January can overwhelm you? Let me know in
Speaker 1: the chat. And my husband he's not raising his hand.
Speaker 1: It's because I'm married to a person who loves change
Speaker 1: and he loves January. It's kind of frustrating. But one
Speaker 1: of the things that I have learned from him over
Speaker 1: the years is that sometimes I actually remember this one
Speaker 1: January we actually sat down and he helped me. He
Speaker 1: was like, you know, don't don't make resolutions, like what's
Speaker 1: let's do one thing you want to change for the
Speaker 1: next week, two weeks, three weeks. And what he's taught
Speaker 1: me is that sometimes the most complicated problems actually have
Speaker 1: a simple solution, not necessarily easy, but simple. And instead
Speaker 1: of getting overwhelmed by all of the things that I
Speaker 1: need to work on, I need to start simple and
Speaker 1: go from there. Like we all know that if we
Speaker 1: want to get out of debt, it's debt is very
Speaker 1: complicated problem. But every debt expert will tell you, Elijah
Speaker 1: Dave Ramsey will tell you pay off the smallest debt
Speaker 1: first and go from there. Or if you want to
Speaker 1: clean on your garage, you start by making three piles, right,
Speaker 1: you have your your keep pile, your giveaway pile, and
Speaker 1: your trash pile. So I'm learning, rather than to be
Speaker 1: overwhelmed with all of the things, I'm learning to start simple.
Speaker 1: And that's what I want to talk to you about today.
Speaker 1: The title of my message is say yes to simple.
Speaker 1: And I want to look at a little short story
Speaker 1: found in the Book of Second King's chapter five, So
Speaker 1: a story about a man who had a very complicated
Speaker 1: problem you can turn there with me, or you can
Speaker 1: just follow along on the screens. Got mine pulled up.
Speaker 1: I'm going to read to you from the New Living
Speaker 1: Translation today. This is what Second Kings, chapter five, verse
Speaker 1: one says. The King of Aram had great admiration for Nayman,
Speaker 1: the commander of his army, because through him, the Lord
Speaker 1: had given Aarum great victories. But though Nayman was a
Speaker 1: mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. Here we have a
Speaker 1: mighty warrior on the outside, but underneath his armor he
Speaker 1: was suffering. And in this story, we're gonna watch Nayman
Speaker 1: walk through a progression of healing. Spoiler alert. He gets
Speaker 1: healed at the end. But between verse one and verse nineteen,
Speaker 1: Nayman is going to learn that the greatest obstacle that
Speaker 1: he has to face is not his disease. It's not
Speaker 1: his bank account, it's not the people in his life.
Speaker 1: The greatest obstacle standing between Naman and his healing was Naman.
Speaker 1: Nayman's disease was complicated though. He had a skin condition
Speaker 1: that starts off small, but gradually sometimes over the course
Speaker 1: of many years, it gets worse and worse, and leprosy
Speaker 1: in the Bible was often used as a generic term
Speaker 1: for skin disease, that in Israel, if you had a
Speaker 1: skin disease, you were considered unclean. Now, name And is
Speaker 1: not an Israelite, but his condition was serious. The Bible
Speaker 1: tells us that he was suffering. He could die from it.
Speaker 1: And it's also leprosy was contagious, or they thought most
Speaker 1: of the time that it was contagious, and so you
Speaker 1: had to keep it covered because if you exposed it,
Speaker 1: you'd have to go back and trace everyone that you
Speaker 1: were around and tell them that they had been exposed,
Speaker 1: which we all know is rather humiliating and complicated. Complications
Speaker 1: is also it's a hospital term. It means that it's
Speaker 1: not just the disease that you're fighting, it's infection from
Speaker 1: the disease, or organ fatigue or mental stamina, or the
Speaker 1: side effects from the treatments. And we can assume that
Speaker 1: name And had tried all kinds of treatments and that
Speaker 1: he had come up empty, and that he's suffering underneath
Speaker 1: his mighty armor. And I just wonder if there's a
Speaker 1: healing that you need, or maybe a problem that you have,
Speaker 1: or maybe a change that you would like to make.
Speaker 1: In your life, but it just feels too complicated to fix.
Speaker 1: And you've tried, You've tried, You've tried to work on
Speaker 1: the relationship, but then you go to counseling, you start
Speaker 1: dredging up the pass and things seem to be getting worse,
Speaker 1: not better, no matter how hard you try. You've prayed
Speaker 1: about it, you've thought about it, you've journaled about it,
Speaker 1: you've even sought professional help. But you, like name In,
Speaker 1: find yourself fighting this issue that seems to be getting worse.
Speaker 1: And I have to tell you that the enemy wants
Speaker 1: nothing more than for us to focus on the complications
Speaker 1: of our problems. He wants to keep us focused on
Speaker 1: whose fault it is, or what caused it, or if
Speaker 1: we deserved it, or what people will think or how
Speaker 1: people will react, or why is it is happening. But
Speaker 1: something amazing happens in this story, and God gives Nayman something,
Speaker 1: because God gives name In something simple to do in
Speaker 1: the face of a very complicated situation. So today I'm
Speaker 1: going to call you back to simple and I want
Speaker 1: to walk you through this story, and I want to
Speaker 1: show you three simple things that Nayman had to do
Speaker 1: to experience healing in his life. And here's the thing, though,
Speaker 1: you can't confuse easy with simple. Easy and simple are
Speaker 1: not the same thing. In fact, every time that name
Speaker 1: it is going to take one of these simple steps.
Speaker 1: There is something easy that he could have done. But
Speaker 1: if he had gone with the easy way, he would
Speaker 1: have never received the healing that he needed. Let's look
Speaker 1: back at the story. I want to read verse one
Speaker 1: again so we can get in the flow. The King
Speaker 1: of Arim had great a admiration for Naman, the commander
Speaker 1: of his army, because through him, the Lord had given
Speaker 1: aarm great victories. But though Naman was a mighty warrior,
Speaker 1: he suffered from leprosy. This guy had it all. He
Speaker 1: was the commander of the army, and even though he
Speaker 1: was not an Israelite, the Bible tells us that the
Speaker 1: Lord had given him great victories. Even the king admired him.
Speaker 1: He was the man. Do you have anyone in your
Speaker 1: life that from your perspective, it looks like they have
Speaker 1: the perfect life? Maybe someone you follow on Instagram, maybe
Speaker 1: a family member, a neighbor, celebrity. They have a great body,
Speaker 1: a great marriage, they have success in their job, they
Speaker 1: drive a nice car and from the pictures that they
Speaker 1: post and the house that they live in and the
Speaker 1: clothes that they wear, they look like they have the
Speaker 1: ideal life. Can you think of a person in your
Speaker 1: mind that looks like that? Okay, The truth is that
Speaker 1: no one is exempt from suffering, no one. You can't
Speaker 1: be good enough to avoid it. You can't be rich
Speaker 1: enough to buy your way out of it, you can't
Speaker 1: be smart enough to evade it. At some point, everyone suffers,
Speaker 1: no matter how amazing they make their life look to you. Obviously,
Speaker 1: suffering comes in all shapes and sizes, right, It comes
Speaker 1: in short bursts and long hauls. It comes in the
Speaker 1: form of loneliness, addiction, illness, and hardship. It can be
Speaker 1: something beyond our control, or something someone else caused, or
Speaker 1: something we caused ourselves by a series of bad decisions.
Speaker 1: But as I thought about this story, and I thought
Speaker 1: about Naymen and how we all have some kind of
Speaker 1: hardship in our lives, I came to the conclusion that
Speaker 1: although we do all suffer, the people who I think
Speaker 1: suffer the most are the people who suffer alone, the
Speaker 1: people who pretend like everything is fine. Nayman suffered from leprosy,
Speaker 1: and the thing about leprosy is you can cover it
Speaker 1: up at least for a little while, especially if your
Speaker 1: job requires you to wear armor. When I read between
Speaker 1: the lines of the story, I wonder how long Naymon
Speaker 1: tried to pretend like he was the mighty warrior that
Speaker 1: everyone thought that he was. And I think about how
Speaker 1: the world we're living in right now is scary because
Speaker 1: it has never been easier to pretend like everything is okay.
Speaker 1: We don't just have a photoshop. We have live filters
Speaker 1: to cover up our wrinkles and our acne, to give
Speaker 1: us better physique, to make our faces look flawless. We
Speaker 1: can post a picture of our clean house and our
Speaker 1: beautiful relationships and make our lives look amazing to everyone
Speaker 1: who's on the outside looking in. And this story is
Speaker 1: about Naymon's healing. But before he even gets to the
Speaker 1: profit to get the instructions for his healing, he has
Speaker 1: to take a few simple steps. And the first thing
Speaker 1: that Nayman has to do is accept his situation. When
Speaker 1: we pretend, we delay our healing and prolong our suffering,
Speaker 1: we cannot move forward towards healing, towards the change that
Speaker 1: we need until we have accepted our situation. Except that's
Speaker 1: the first point, and it's complicated. But when we resist
Speaker 1: acceptance and we continue to pretend to everyone else and ourselves,
Speaker 1: we don't have to take any steps toward change, even
Speaker 1: if you're suffering. Even if you're suffering, is a situation
Speaker 1: that won't change your attitude towards it can. Acceptance means
Speaker 1: that I stop blaming others for my situation. Acceptance means
Speaker 1: that I stop shaming myself for the decisions that I've made.
Speaker 1: Acceptance means I stop asking whose fault this is or
Speaker 1: why what is this happening to me? Acceptance is the
Speaker 1: starting place for true change. But you can't stop there
Speaker 1: because if you stop with acceptance, you're gonna become pretty depressed.
Speaker 1: Two weeks ago, Steven stood on this stage with trash
Speaker 1: bags in his hands, with actual trash in the trash bags,
Speaker 1: and he painted for us an unforgettable picture of how
Speaker 1: we hold on to trash and it makes us unable
Speaker 1: to embrace the truth. And I think sometimes acceptance means
Speaker 1: identifying what's in those trash bags. I'm bitter because of
Speaker 1: what happened to me. I'm addicted to scrolling because it
Speaker 1: makes me. It makes me not have to think about
Speaker 1: my own pain. It numbs me. I work late because
Speaker 1: I don't want to face my failing marriage. And you
Speaker 1: know what's funny about pretending You may be able to
Speaker 1: fool those on the outside looking into your life. You
Speaker 1: may even be able to fool yourself, but you cannot
Speaker 1: fool those closest to you, because you smell like trash.
Speaker 1: You're holding it. And you know, I think the people
Speaker 1: that we think were hiding our problems from a lot
Speaker 1: of times, not always, but a lot of times, the
Speaker 1: people who really care about us, they're already praying for
Speaker 1: us about it. You might think you're hiding your addiction
Speaker 1: from your spouse, but she knows something is not right
Speaker 1: with you, and she is already praying for you. And
Speaker 1: Nayman's servant girl knew about Nayman's problem. Look at what
Speaker 1: she said. First two At this time, the uh the
Speaker 1: Aramian raiders. I don't know why, I just got stumbled
Speaker 1: up on that. I invaded the land of Israel, and
Speaker 1: among their captives was a young girl who had been
Speaker 1: given to name N's wife as a maid. One day,
Speaker 1: the girl said to her mistress, I wish my master
Speaker 1: would go see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal
Speaker 1: him of his leprosy. Nayman was the winner of many
Speaker 1: hard battles, but the hardest battle that he would have
Speaker 1: to fight was the one within himself. When he accepted
Speaker 1: that he had an issue, then he was able to
Speaker 1: listen to the people in his life and decide to
Speaker 1: go for help. So the first step is acceptance. The
Speaker 1: next simple step that he had to take he had
Speaker 1: to ask for help. Verse four. So Nayman told the
Speaker 1: king what the young girl from Israel had said, go
Speaker 1: and visit the prophet. The king told the King of
Speaker 1: Arim told him ask. The easy thing to do would
Speaker 1: be to isolate. Nayman could have just stayed in his
Speaker 1: house and suffered alone. We know he was a wealthy man,
Speaker 1: so he'd most likely exhausted every avenue of local healing
Speaker 1: that he could find. And now he has to ask
Speaker 1: for help. Now, before we go any further, I feel
Speaker 1: like I need to clarify that I said ask for help.
Speaker 1: I did not say announce that you need help. Announcing
Speaker 1: is easy because it's vague, and it gains us temporary
Speaker 1: attention and pity from others. But it does not bring
Speaker 1: us any closer to change. I also did not say
Speaker 1: hint that you need help. Hinting is easy because it
Speaker 1: puts the work on someone else. Asking is also not
Speaker 1: the same thing as complaining. Asking is specific. Naman didn't
Speaker 1: put it on Facebook. He went to his boss, the king,
Speaker 1: the person who respected him. I imagine it was a
Speaker 1: pretty hard conversation, and he said, I need to go
Speaker 1: see this prophet and see if I can get healed.
Speaker 1: You can either ask and receive help, or you can
Speaker 1: isolate and suffer alone. And I can tell you right
Speaker 1: now that the enemy wants you to isolate. He wants
Speaker 1: you to withdraw from the people that you love and
Speaker 1: who want to help you. And if Namon had isolated,
Speaker 1: he would have died alone. There's a verse in James
Speaker 1: five that says, confess your sins one to another, and
Speaker 1: pray for each other that you may be healed. This
Speaker 1: verse doesn't mean that confessing your sins to a friend
Speaker 1: heals you of your sins. What it means is that
Speaker 1: you find healing when you verbalize what is going on
Speaker 1: in your life with someone that you can trust, not
Speaker 1: posts verbalize with an actual person. I just want to
Speaker 1: make sure that we're all clear on that. I feel
Speaker 1: like the pandemic has complicated what we call church. A
Speaker 1: lot of people now feel more comfortable watching church online
Speaker 1: than they do attending church in person. And there's many
Speaker 1: reasons for that. I mean, the obvious one is people
Speaker 1: are afraid of getting sick or if unintentionally, spreading the virus,
Speaker 1: and that's valid, I get it. The problem I have
Speaker 1: with that is that some of those same people, it's
Speaker 1: confusing to me because it's complicated because I hear them
Speaker 1: using this as an excuse for not coming to church
Speaker 1: or for not even like bothering to sit down and
Speaker 1: watch it, like actually watch it, not just like have
Speaker 1: it on in the background. And then and then what's
Speaker 1: really confusing to me is that I see them at
Speaker 1: my kids' sports games and at the mall and at restaurants,
Speaker 1: and they come up to me and my husband like, Okay,
Speaker 1: fast see it. It's really confusing for me. But but
Speaker 1: I'm not going to stay there for too long. I
Speaker 1: don't think that COVID is the only thing that has
Speaker 1: complicated church. I ran into a church member a while back,
Speaker 1: and after having some small talk, I asked him. I said,
Speaker 1: how's your wife doing? And he looked down at the
Speaker 1: ground and he said, well, actually we are divorced. And
Speaker 1: I you know, I hadn't seen him in like eighteen months,
Speaker 1: and so I said, oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.
Speaker 1: And he went on to tell me how the past
Speaker 1: year had been the loneliest period of his life. And
Speaker 1: he said that steven sermons were one of the only
Speaker 1: things that we're keeping him going, that we're bringing life
Speaker 1: to him. And I said, oh, I'm so glad that
Speaker 1: you've come back to church. And he said, oh no, no,
Speaker 1: I just watched online in my apartment and I said, oh,
Speaker 1: you got to come back to church and be around people.
Speaker 1: And then he said one of the saddest things anybody
Speaker 1: has ever said to me. He said, the thing is
Speaker 1: that I'm just too ashamed. He said, I can't face people.
Speaker 1: He said, for years, we just pretended like everything was okay.
Speaker 1: We came to church together, and he said, we did
Speaker 1: everything we could. We tucked to our campus pastor, we
Speaker 1: went to counseling, but in the end, we just could.
Speaker 1: I didn't make it work. And in that moment, I
Speaker 1: didn't know what to say, and I tried my best
Speaker 1: to tell me you had to come back to church.
Speaker 1: I probably wasn't very convincing because I don't think very
Speaker 1: well on my feet. But now I've had several months
Speaker 1: to think about it, and that's how I am. Anybody
Speaker 1: anybody else like you walk away and you're like, I
Speaker 1: should have said this, Here's what I should have said
Speaker 1: to him, Here's what I wish I had said. Pastor
Speaker 1: Stephen and I started this church so that people could
Speaker 1: have a place to find help and healing. Everyone comes
Speaker 1: with their own story, their own baggage, their own mistakes,
Speaker 1: their own secrets, and we hope that when you come
Speaker 1: into this place you feel nothing but love and acceptance
Speaker 1: and support for whatever you're going through. We're all going
Speaker 1: through something, but we cannot give you that. If you
Speaker 1: stay away. You do not have to suffer alone. You
Speaker 1: don't even if you're unable to attend one of our locations.
Speaker 1: We have chat hosts, we have people standing by ready
Speaker 1: to pray with you. We have groups for you to
Speaker 1: be able to connect with actual human beings. But we
Speaker 1: cannot do that if you watch alone and you never
Speaker 1: let us know that you're here. That's why we say
Speaker 1: put it in the chat. Put it in the chat.
Speaker 1: Put it let me know that you're here. Go ahead,
Speaker 1: put it in the chat. Tell us that you're here.
Speaker 1: Sometimes asking for help means talking to a trusted friend.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it means asking your campus pastor to help you
Speaker 1: find a professional counselor. Sometimes it means join a group
Speaker 1: and asking for prayer. Sometimes it means coming back to
Speaker 1: church and looking people in the eyes. And none of
Speaker 1: those things are easy. Hiding and pretending is easy. Asking
Speaker 1: is simple. So Naeman takes his letter from the king,
Speaker 1: and he gathers up all these gifts, gold and silver
Speaker 1: and beautiful clothes, and he gets his entourage together, and
Speaker 1: they travel down to the land of Israel. And look
Speaker 1: with me at verse nine. So Naymon went with his
Speaker 1: horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha's house.
Speaker 1: But Elisha send a messenger out to him with his message,
Speaker 1: go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan river.
Speaker 1: Then your skin will be restored and you will be
Speaker 1: healed of your leprosy. A simple direction, right, But Naymon,
Speaker 1: our mighty warrior, you know, he's probably a very passionate person.
Speaker 1: You have to be if you're a mighty warrior. He
Speaker 1: was not happy with this direction. Look what happens verse eleven.
Speaker 1: But Nayman became angry and he stalked away. I thought
Speaker 1: he would certainly come out to meet me, he said.
Speaker 1: I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy
Speaker 1: and call on the name of the Lord, his God
Speaker 1: and heal me. Aren't the rivers of Damascus and Obama
Speaker 1: and the farpar better than any of the rivers in Israel?
Speaker 1: Why shouldn't I wash in them and be healed? Why
Speaker 1: it come all this way? So Nayman turned and went
Speaker 1: away in a rage. Namon is so angry because this
Speaker 1: is not how he thought his healing would come. They're
Speaker 1: been angry because it didn't turn out the way you thought.
Speaker 1: Naymon wanted attention, Namon wanted rama, and what he got
Speaker 1: was a simple instruction something in fact, we're supposed to
Speaker 1: do every day. Wash. For some reason, it's a hard
Speaker 1: thing for certain people. It's a simple thing. Wash and
Speaker 1: be healed. Naymon said, I thought, you know how many
Speaker 1: times those two words have gotten me into trouble. You see,
Speaker 1: I am a best case scenario kind of person. And
Speaker 1: Stephen and I we love to hike. Nothing big. We
Speaker 1: live in Charlotte, so there aren't exactly like peaks to
Speaker 1: climb in our backyard, but we like to go for
Speaker 1: little hikes. And so one year for Christmas, I thought
Speaker 1: it would be awesome to include the kids in our
Speaker 1: little hikes. It could be like a family thing. So
Speaker 1: I got them all hiking boots, and I got them
Speaker 1: those backpacks with the straw the little water bladder in
Speaker 1: the back. It wasn't anyone's favorite gift that they received
Speaker 1: for Christmas, but I was okay with that because I
Speaker 1: knew the gift was going to be in the experience
Speaker 1: that we were gonna have together. Right, So finally February
Speaker 1: came around and we went to this mountain house and
Speaker 1: the night before our hike, I studied the map and
Speaker 1: I figured out which trail we were gonna take, and
Speaker 1: I got I got everyone's bladder filled and their bags
Speaker 1: that sounds funny, and their bags packed with snacks. And
Speaker 1: then the day I made sure everyone had the right
Speaker 1: socks on because I just I didn't want anything to
Speaker 1: get in the way of our fun. This was gonna
Speaker 1: be fun. So five minutes in the question started and
Speaker 1: now these are not preschoolers. Okay, my kids are teenagers
Speaker 1: and almost teenagers. So the questions start how long is this?
Speaker 1: And they're like, wait, we're just walking. You and dad
Speaker 1: do this for fun? How far is this walk? When
Speaker 1: are we gonna eat? My hands are cold? Can I
Speaker 1: take my jacket off? Then they started fighting, like literally
Speaker 1: every conversation somehow turned into a fight or a competition.
Speaker 1: And finally, several hours later we returned to the house
Speaker 1: and everybody like dispersed and like went their separate ways.
Speaker 1: And I went and found Stephen, and I said, that
Speaker 1: wasn't how I thought it would go on. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think that the biggest mistake I make as a
Speaker 1: mom is planning how I think my kids' lives will go.
Speaker 1: They're gonna play this sport and they're gonna play this
Speaker 1: instrument because I wish that I could do those things.
Speaker 1: And they're gonna get good grades, and they're gonna take
Speaker 1: ap classes, and they're gonna go to college, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna get married, and they aren't gonna make any mistakes
Speaker 1: because I they're wise, loving mother. I am going to
Speaker 1: to guide them through all the twists and turns of life.
Speaker 1: And then when things don't go according to my plan
Speaker 1: because they're human beings. I pray, and I tell God
Speaker 1: how he can get them back on track. Like God
Speaker 1: and I have good ideas. I have good ideas. God
Speaker 1: give them a teacher this year that will make them
Speaker 1: love learning again. God send a good church going family.
Speaker 1: Family perhaps goes to our church to move into the
Speaker 1: house next door. And God, if they could have kids
Speaker 1: our kids' ages. And I think God is sitting up
Speaker 1: in heaven going holly. Telling me what to do is
Speaker 1: not prayer. And then and then I get angry. Have
Speaker 1: you ever gotten angry because things didn't turn out the
Speaker 1: way you thought? I thought college would be fun. I
Speaker 1: thought marriage would make me happy. I thought a new
Speaker 1: job would make me fulfilled. I thought we could save
Speaker 1: our marriage. I thought if I ate healthy, I would
Speaker 1: never get sick. I thought if I went to rehab,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't struggle anymore. This was not how Nayman thought
Speaker 1: he would get his healing. You know what Naymon was thinking? Magic?
Speaker 1: He said, I thought the prophet would come out and
Speaker 1: meet me and wave his hands over me, and I
Speaker 1: would be healed. Have you ever gotten angry because magic
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't show up. I hope that's not a sacrilegious
Speaker 1: thing to say. I don't mean to offend anyone, and
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that. There are times when God heals immediately,
Speaker 1: But in my experience, God is more concerned about my
Speaker 1: soul than he is about my physical problems. And Naman
Speaker 1: had some soul work that he needed to do. And also,
Speaker 1: in my experience, and this is just how it happens
Speaker 1: with me, God requires me to participate in my own healing.
Speaker 1: That's why he does not do abra cadabra over my situation,
Speaker 1: because if he did, I would just end up right
Speaker 1: where I started, because I never had to do any
Speaker 1: work to make the change. And Naman went off in
Speaker 1: a rage. He was this close, he was on the
Speaker 1: verge of relief from his suffering, and he was going
Speaker 1: to walk away. Have you ever noticed how anger is
Speaker 1: actually comforting. Think about this for a second. When I'm angry,
Speaker 1: someone or something caused me to become angry, right, it
Speaker 1: takes the flame off myself. We all know that anger
Speaker 1: is a secondary emotion, and it enables me to take
Speaker 1: the focus off of me and place it on someone
Speaker 1: or something else. Naymon was offended. He was an important man,
Speaker 1: a mighty warrior. He had a letter from the king,
Speaker 1: and he had gold and silver and gifts, and the
Speaker 1: prophet didn't even bother to come out of his house.
Speaker 1: This really resonated with me because I think that we
Speaker 1: have become the most offendable generation ever. And just take
Speaker 1: a stroll on the comments a Facebook or YouTube or
Speaker 1: Instagram or online newspaper. You cannot say anything without someone
Speaker 1: getting offended. And I get offended. And I find in
Speaker 1: my life as long as I stay offended, as long
Speaker 1: as I stay angry, I'm just deferring all growth in
Speaker 1: my personal life. But anger is comforting because I don't
Speaker 1: have to face myself. And I think that the reason
Speaker 1: that Nayman didn't want to dip in the water was
Speaker 1: because he didn't want to expose himself. For so long,
Speaker 1: he's been covering up his leprosy under his armor, and
Speaker 1: now in order to be healed, he has to take
Speaker 1: it off and dip in the river, and maybe everyone
Speaker 1: would see just how bad his situation really was. We're
Speaker 1: getting to our kiverse. This is truly the best part
Speaker 1: of the story Verse thirteen. But his officers tried to
Speaker 1: reason with him. Aren't you glad he didn't go alone?
Speaker 1: And they said to him, sir, if the prophet had
Speaker 1: told you to do something very difficult, you would have
Speaker 1: done it. Now it's implied here that Namon said yes
Speaker 1: to this question, to which I am going to call BS,
Speaker 1: not belief system or blanket statement like pastor Stephen has
Speaker 1: been done. God. This is like the real BS. Damon
Speaker 1: wouldn't have done something difficult. He's just making an excuse.
Speaker 1: This is difficult. Just because something is not physically difficult
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's easy to do. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: His friends, the officers, well I like to think they
Speaker 1: were his friends. They were his officers. Let's assume they're
Speaker 1: his friends. They use it against him, and so they say, well,
Speaker 1: I lost my place here, all right. They say, oh, oh, well,
Speaker 1: if you would, if you would do a hard thing,
Speaker 1: look at verse thirteen. So you should certainly obey him
Speaker 1: when he says, simply go wash and be cured. Anger
Speaker 1: is easy. Obedience is simple. Last week Stephen talked about
Speaker 1: when when never meet? Now were you here? And he said,
Speaker 1: you keep asking God to explain, and he just wants
Speaker 1: you to obey. You can be angry that this is
Speaker 1: not how you thought. But if you can get past
Speaker 1: your anger, stop trying to find an explanation and just move,
Speaker 1: that's where you find your healing. The final sim thing
Speaker 1: that he had to do, he had to act, And
Speaker 1: I feel like God sent me here to ask you today,
Speaker 1: will you say yes to simple Here's how the story ends.
Speaker 1: So Naymon went down to the Jordan River. He did it,
Speaker 1: and he dipped himself seven times as the man of
Speaker 1: God had instructed him, and his skin became as healthy
Speaker 1: as the skin of a young child, and he was healed.
Speaker 1: He got healed seven times. He had to dip, which
Speaker 1: is interesting. It's interesting that the prophet didn't just say
Speaker 1: go wash one time, and the Bible doesn't say, we
Speaker 1: just read the whole verse. That his healing was gradual,
Speaker 1: like you know, each time he dipped it got a
Speaker 1: little bit better. I don't know. I know sometimes in
Speaker 1: my life I see progress and sometimes I don't. The
Speaker 1: point is that you simply keep obeying. Last week, Abby
Speaker 1: and I went to Target and we were walking in,
Speaker 1: and as we were walking in, this lady was walking
Speaker 1: out at the same time, and she said, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: Holly Fredick, and I turned to see who had called
Speaker 1: my name, and I realized it was somebody that I
Speaker 1: didn't know, and I said hi, and she told me
Speaker 1: that she attends our Valentine location and then she said, actually,
Speaker 1: we moved here to be a part of the church
Speaker 1: a little over a year ago. I said wow. And
Speaker 1: then I said, well, how did you find the church?
Speaker 1: She said, I was going through a really dark time,
Speaker 1: dark period with one of my kids. And she said,
Speaker 1: I was really struggling. And so one day I just
Speaker 1: googled spiritual quotes. I guess whose quote came up, not mine.
Speaker 1: Stephen Verdick. And she began watching the sermons online and
Speaker 1: she said that something in her just stirred, something she
Speaker 1: just couldn't ignore, and she knew that they needed to
Speaker 1: move their family to Charlotte. So she did it. She
Speaker 1: and her husband, they made it happen. And I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: that's so awesome. And I said, how's your son doing
Speaker 1: and she said, he's still struggling, But I know this
Speaker 1: is where we're supposed to be. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: think the simple step that they took was the move.
Speaker 1: We all know there's nothing simple about a move. I
Speaker 1: think the simple step was the day she googled spiritual quotes.
Speaker 1: Then you know what another simple step was that she took.
Speaker 1: She said, she came here and she signed up to
Speaker 1: volunteer in Ekaz. She didn't come and sign her son
Speaker 1: up for an E group. She signed herself up. Blaming
Speaker 1: and hiding and anger only bring temporary relief, but change
Speaker 1: is possible when you take a simple step, she said.
Speaker 1: This is what she said about our son. She said,
Speaker 1: he's come to church once, but I know this is
Speaker 1: where we are supposed to be. She's still dipping. I
Speaker 1: don't know how many times she has to dip. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's seven or seventy seven. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if all you needed to hear me say
Speaker 1: today is keep doing what you're doing, don't give up.
Speaker 1: And if that's you, keep doing it, keep showing up,
Speaker 1: keep dipping. You can do it. And also, I know
Speaker 1: I told you that this was not a sermon about
Speaker 1: joining in an E group. But there is a simple
Speaker 1: opportunity for you, a simple step that you can take
Speaker 1: to join a part of a community of people who
Speaker 1: are on a faith journey just like you. And I
Speaker 1: told you we're gonna spend the next six weeks studying
Speaker 1: the essentials simple not easy, simple practices that are the
Speaker 1: foundation of our faith. Now is the time to move.
Speaker 1: Stephen told us last week, one immediate action is worth
Speaker 1: a thousand good intentions. The message today is not easy.
Speaker 1: It is just the question, what simple step do you
Speaker 1: need to say yes to when you feel prompted to
Speaker 1: do something simple? That's God. The enemy wants to keep
Speaker 1: you in complication and confusing. God loves simple, and I
Speaker 1: believe that he is prompting hearts under the sound of
Speaker 1: my voice right now with a simple step that you
Speaker 1: need to take. Let me show you one more verse.
Speaker 1: This one's in Luke chapter four, and Jesus opens up
Speaker 1: the scrolls in his own hometown and he begins to teach.
Speaker 1: But what he taught was the opposite of what the
Speaker 1: people were expecting. It wasn't what they thought he was
Speaker 1: gonna say. And he ends his teaching by saying something
Speaker 1: I just want to point out to you Luke for
Speaker 1: twenty seven, Jesus said, and many in Israel had leprosy
Speaker 1: in the time of Elisha the Prophet, but the only
Speaker 1: one healed was naman Assyrian see Jesus is preparing the
Speaker 1: people for God's grace, and he's telling them that God
Speaker 1: heals Jews and gentiles. It makes them angry, right, it
Speaker 1: wasn't what they thought. They got angry. But when I
Speaker 1: was reading this verse and I was thinking about Nammen
Speaker 1: and how he got his healing, he went after it.
Speaker 1: He acted, He made a journey into a foreign land,
Speaker 1: and he pushed through the temptation to blame and hide.
Speaker 1: He pushed past his anger, and he received the healing
Speaker 1: that he needed, the relief from his sufferings. And the
Speaker 1: Bible tells us. Jesus says that there were many leopards
Speaker 1: lepers at that time who lived in Israel. Maybe there
Speaker 1: were leopards too, I don't know, but there were many
Speaker 1: lepers who lived in Israel. Perhaps some of them lived
Speaker 1: within walking distance of Elishah's home. But Naymen was the
Speaker 1: one who went after his healing. There were some people
Speaker 1: that may have been right in his backyard suffering. And
Speaker 1: it got me thinking, how sad it is that many
Speaker 1: of you who are watching this message right now will
Speaker 1: leave and go out of these doors or shut off
Speaker 1: your computer, and you will walk away from your healing.
Speaker 1: But that does not have to be you. Maybe you're simple. Yes,
Speaker 1: is to to Jesus for the first time. He died
Speaker 1: on the cross for our ultimate healing. He died to
Speaker 1: forgive us of our sins, and that he rose from
Speaker 1: the grave so that we could be free. And if
Speaker 1: that's you, anyone, under the sound of my voice, I
Speaker 1: want to give you the opportunity to give your life
Speaker 1: to Christ, which you all stand with me at elevation.
Speaker 1: We like to pray this prayer out loud together so
Speaker 1: that nobody feels weird or left out. But for some
Speaker 1: of you, this prayer is going to be special. Spow
Speaker 1: our heads and close our eyes. Heavenly Father, would you
Speaker 1: repeat after me, Heavenly Father, I believe that you are
Speaker 1: the savior of the world, and that you died and
Speaker 1: rose again so that I could have eternal life. Forgive
Speaker 1: me of my sin, make me new. Right now, I
Speaker 1: place my faith in you, and make you lord of
Speaker 1: my life. In Jesus' name. Amen. If you just prayed
Speaker 1: that prayer for the first time, or maybe you prayed
Speaker 1: it to signify that you're coming back to God, would
Speaker 1: you just raise your hand. We want to celebrate you.
Speaker 1: We have a Bible that we want to give you.
Speaker 1: Raise your hand if you're in the chat, put it
Speaker 1: in the chat. I see you back there. We have
Speaker 1: a Bible that we want to bring to you. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: And now as our campus pastors come, I just want
Speaker 1: us to all pray one more prayer out loud together.
Speaker 1: All right? Are you ready? Would you say this with me? God?
Speaker 1: Show me simple, I will obey. Thank you, Lord, God.
Speaker 1: We're looking to you this week. We're listening and we're
Speaker 1: watching for your simple promptings everywhere. Thank you for your
Speaker 1: grace that saves us. Thank you for your grace that
Speaker 1: heals us. Thank you for your patience with us God.
Speaker 1: This week, today we're going to act. Thank you for
Speaker 1: this church Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast,
Speaker 1: there are a couple things I'd love for you to do.
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You
Speaker 1: can also help us reach others by investing today at
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org. Slash give and thanks again for joining
Speaker 1: us on the Elevation Podcast