Naaman

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Good morning, Spring House. It's

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a cool day inside the house of the Lord.

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And if you're joining us on Livestream, hopefully you're in air

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conditioning as well. Well, bless the Lord. God's been

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moving this morning and I love that we can always count

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on him to move and to speak.

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Man, he's always seeming to be up to something really

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incredible. And if we will just lean in and pay attention, we get to take

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part in it. We don't have to be separate from him, especially because of Jesus.

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And so hallelujah, it's good to see you this morning, good to

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see your smiling faces before we get rolling this

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morning. School time is getting close. It's drawing

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close. Which it means, oh yeah, I heard the youth go, oh

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yeah, it is happening. And parents say

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amen. Yeah, but that means August

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is happening. And we're going to resume our midweek gatherings in

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August. And so we want you to be a part of our

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midweek gathering. And Pastor Barbie is going to be doing a 12 week

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series called the Eye of the Needle. And I just want

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to encourage you, I want to encourage you if you have the

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capacity as you're getting back in rhythm, who loves a good rhythm, you're

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getting back, you're getting your family in rhythm

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that you would carve out that hour from 6 to 7 on Thursday

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night beginning August 7th and come spend time with us, we worship,

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there'll be word, it will be rich and you will be blessed. So please make

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a part a point rather to come and be a part of this very

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special series as we get things back up and running. And of

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course we'll be bringing you the information about kids ministry, youth ministry, young adult

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ministry as well. But I wanted to go ahead and let people begin to

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plot on their calendars to mark this time aside for our, for our

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midweek gathering. Okay, well, before we get started

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into where we're going to go, I just want to tell you that you're probably

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not going to like what I have to say today. And

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so, you know, if you came here looking to like me, you're probably not going

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to. But Barbie's calendar is open this week and taking appointments between eight and

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five. If you have a problem with something I've said or you know, you'd like

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to, to discuss it with her, she'd be happy to meet with you.

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But aren't you glad at Springhouse Church that we don't just cherry pick portions

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of the Word, that we actually believe in, the whole word of God, the

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entirety of Scripture. And that means, sometimes it means that

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we have to render and examine hard truths in our lives and we actually

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have to contend with what hard truth says

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as applies to our lives, in our journey. And man, when we turn a blind

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eye to those hard truths, we don't look a whole lot like Jesus in those

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areas. And I believe that the aim and the goal because of the power

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resurrected Jesus Christ is that we look like him. And in order to look

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at him, we got like Him. We've got to lean into even some of the

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harder parts of scripture and the harder truths of

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Scripture. So I'm going to ask you today to not lean out,

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to not clock out, but to lean in and ask the

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Lord where he might minister to your heart about some of these truths. Would you

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look at your neighbor and say, this message is.

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Is for me.

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Now, if you chose not to look at your spouse, I would like you to

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look at your spouse and say, this message is for

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me.

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There seems to be such power up here because you have no idea what I'm

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about to say. We're going to be talking about

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a man named naaman today in 2 Kings, chapter

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5. And I'm gonna give you guys the highlights of the story

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here in just a little bit. I will tell you, we put the sermon

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schedule together ahead of time. And you know, of all of the great. There's great

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stories all throughout Scripture. Do you agree? And this is also

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a great story, but whenever I looked, I was looking about five, six

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weeks ago, I was looking ahead and I'm thinking, lord, why in the world

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am I teaching on Naaman? I'm gonna change that. And then

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I started to walk through the last five or six weeks, some

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of you as well. And the Lord said, no, this is, this is,

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this was. Aren't you glad that he knows the end from the beginning? Aren't you

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glad he just orders our steps and he has ordained today

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to be today. So if you'll stand with me, we're gonna read two

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scriptures that's gonna lay a foundation for today. And I'd like you to read it

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like you believe God can actually do something in your life. Okay? So let's read

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together. Here we go. Do nothing out of selfish

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ambition or vain, conceived rather in

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humility. Value others above yourselves.

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Not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the

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interest of others and your relationships with

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one another have the same mindset as Christ

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Jesus. We're going to say that one more time. Here we go. In your

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relationships with one another, have the Same

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mindset as Christ Jesus. Pride

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goes before destruction and a haughty spirit

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before a fall. Father, I thank you for your truth, all of

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it. I pray, Lord, that you would transform our hearts and our minds

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today. Let my words fall to the ground and mean nothing but your stick for

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all eternity. We love you today. In Jesus name, amen. You may

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be seated. You are a part of the greatest stories ever told.

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And part of what makes your story so uniquely wonderful

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isn't because you are unique and wonderful though you are, it

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is that Jesus Christ chooses to do a work in your life. And

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those points in your life where he comes in and he causes change

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to happen in your heart and in your life and in your actions, those

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are the true testimonies and stories of God's goodness.

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Those are the stories we want to share. Those are the stories that

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are powerful and will cause kingdom advancement and kingdom change.

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You are a part of the greatest story ever, ever told. And

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today we're talking about a man named Naaman. Now last week, Pastor

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Barbee took us up through Elisha, the transfer of power between

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Elijah and Elisha. And Elisha is in full force now. He's full

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fledged into his ministry. And this story pops up about this

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decorated, this really well decorated

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military commander named Naaman.

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Naaman was a commander of the king's army

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and he was powerful, he was successful, and he was

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respected even by the king. But just

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like so many leaders, he had an issue. How many know that

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your leaders have issues? You're looking at one of the biggest issues

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probably in the church right now. I have a lot of issues, but leaders have

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issues. And he had an issue. His issue was that he had leprosy.

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But we're going to find that he had some other issues as well.

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Leprosy is a physical disease that isolates and humiliates.

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And the Lord uses this young, a young Israelite servant

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girl. And she suggests that there is a man

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in Samaria that would be able to heal this

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leprosy disease that Naaman is carrying.

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This little servant girl, ironically.

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Do you see how hope comes not from a king or

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a warrior, but from a foreign captive girl.

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A reminder that the Lord will use the humble.

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Naaman brings wealth and a letter from his

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king to impress Israel's king. And so his king sends

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him to Israel's king. And Naaman brings this wealth in this letter. And the letter

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says to the king, we want your God to heal, to

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heal Naaman's leprosy. And the king of Israel

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says, as he tears his Robes. Who am I that I would be able

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to. To heal this man? There's no way I would be able to do this.

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There's nothing in me that could do this. And Elisha catches

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word that the king has torn his robe, rend his garments, and

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has said he couldn't do this. And Elisha says, I know the very God who

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can do this. Send Naaman my way. Send Naaman my

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way and he'll be healed of this

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leprosy. Well, Naaman

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mounts his chariots and brings his entire entourage to

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Elijah and Elisha. And it was kind of like, here I am.

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Let the trumpets blow. Naaman has arrived,

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and I'm here to see the man of God. And Elisha does something

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so incredible, he sends his messenger out to meet

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Naaman to give him the news. Well, this

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infuriates Naaman because Naaman is a proud

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dude. He is like a valiant warrior. And

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you are not going to pawn off your little weak servant

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messenger on me to deliver this news. And

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so the servant comes and says, the servant from Elisha says, if you'll dip

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seven times in the Jordan, then you'll be healed if you'll go in there seven

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times. And Naaman is like, that is the dumbest thing I've ever

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heard. And so he says,

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you know, he says, basically, I'm not gonna do that.

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Why can't the man of God come out and touch me? Why

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can't he come and introduce. Doesn't he know that there are other

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rivers that are cleaner that I could go in? Doesn't he?

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And he basically throws a T. He becomes enraged

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and marches along. So Naaman

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nearly walks away from his miracle. Oh, how

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many times are we close to a miracle? But because of our

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pride, because of the things that we contend with in our flesh, and

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because the pathway. Listen to this. The pathway God has

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chosen for us to receive our healing.

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Looks dumb, looks stupid, not something we're willing to

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do. And there we thwart the miracle blessing

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and yet will still go to the Lord and say, heal me, heal me, Heal

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me, heal me, heal me, heal me, heal me.

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And so God uses Naaman's servants who

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run to him and say, now, Naaman,

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if the messenger would have come and said for you to do something, valiant

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warrior like you would have proudly stood up and done that,

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because it would have brought you notoriety. How much more

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then if the man of God says, come and dip in the

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river seven times, would you not do that? And this

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was a defining moment for Naaman, a defining

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moment because he's already thrown a tantrum. Everybody knows how he feels

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about what's going on. He's already made a spectacle of himself.

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But thankfully we have an example of somebody who chooses the path of

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humility. And he chooses the path of humility. And he

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goes to the river and he dips in seven times. I can imagine what it

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must have been like going out that first time after all that spectacle and the

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thing he did. He gets in and he walks out and he's looking at his

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entourage and he's got to turn around and do it again

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and then do it again. I kind of think God may have been shedding

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some stuff off of Naaman in those seven times. Going back again and again

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and again. Sometimes God will have you go back again and again and again

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and again because he's teaching you in that journey. He's teaching you in that

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thing to go back. The sixth time and the seventh

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time, healing sometimes looks humble, simple,

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uncomfortable. Pride almost cost him everything. And he

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finally humbles himself and does that, goes into

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the river, and his flesh was restored. God

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healed his body. But more than that,

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and listen, more than that, his heart was

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changed.

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Guys, there's nothing better than a changed heart.

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In the situations that you're in with relationships,

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with work, with ministry, with

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spouses, family, there is nothing better than a

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changed heart. The problem is that we expect God to change theirs and not

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ours. But I believe that

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God is in the business of changing our heart. And the ripples

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of our change affect others and changes

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others. Today we're going to deal with this issue of pride. Aren't you

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excited? We're going to deal with the issue of pride. Don't look at your neighbor.

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We live in a world where pride is often mistaken

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for strength. We applaud self, confidence,

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assertiveness, and independence. But in God's kingdom,

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pride is not power, it's poison. In

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God's kingdom, pride is poison. Pride is what

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keeps us from God. Pride is what keeps us from one another.

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Pride is an attitude that says, I don't need help.

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I know better. I deserve better.

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Many of you know my youngest daughter, Nora. We were in an airport together as

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a whole family a couple years ago in Minneapolis.

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It's a big airport. If you've ever flown through Minneapolis, it's a real big airport.

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And we're on the airplane and my daughters had just, you know, they were. My

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kids are such great travelers.

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Yeah, I was waiting. Thanks, Rhonda. So

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my kids have their feet hanging out in the aisle. They're laying down they're flailing

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the arms. We've been traveling for a minute and people are trying to

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walk by, and I am trying to get them off the plane because we've got

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to catch our layover. And I'm going through, and they are just

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being very extra. I've got great kids, but they're being

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extra on this day. Parents, you can. You know what I'm talking about, okay? And

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so I am literally saying, get it together right now. Get up, right?

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Do this. Stop doing that. Get out of the way. And the flight

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attendants are all coming over to our area and

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they're saying, we don't mind. We'll carry her off the plane for you.

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We will get their bags. We'll call reinforcements in. And I'm saying,

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absolutely not. My kids know how to walk. They're gonna

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get up and do what I tell them to do right now. And I'm just

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having a moment, right? And I'm not gonna let. Everybody's looking at

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me. I'm. I'm telling them what I expect. We're gonna do this my

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way. And I get so angry that I grab my bag and I walk right

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off the plane without my wife and my four kids. I'm a great husband, let

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me tell you. And so I get into that lobby area

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and I'm waiting there. Just. I'm saying, get off this plane. Let's go.

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We've gotta make our layover. And people get off and

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there's a big gap and nobody's coming off. And so I step over to the

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gate and sure enough, there's a flight attendant carrying Nora, There's a flight

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attendant carrying Lucy. They've got bags and they have radio.

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Get. They have radioed one of those Jeeps to come and pick us up

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at the gate and drive us to our gate. I was so embarrassed.

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I was so embarrassed. The spectacle that these girls would put me through. Oh, my

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word. So we get on this thing and everybody's watching

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us, and our kids are just going, woo. This is the best thing in life.

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And I just wanted to spank every one of them. I'm just telling you. I'm

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just so upset. The gate was

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literally drive time was about seven minutes away. Drive time.

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And we pull up and they are about to close the gate.

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Had we not gotten on the Jeep, we would have not made our flight.

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What would have, it looked like if I refused to allow them to help us

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with that Jeep? And God said, pride,

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Kevin, pride.

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God has put people in your path and in your life to help you on

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your journey. God has put

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people in your path because here. And, guys, I know this is a hard

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truth to hear. You don't know it all.

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And you need people in your path who

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can tell you you don't know it all. And

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they probably have some information that will help you

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on your journey, that will help you in your walk.

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But here's the thing. We tend to think, yeah, they don't know it all,

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but you don't know it all either. We need each other.

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And I would argue that to the degree you think you need to

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be in that other person's life, they probably need to be in your life that

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much more because God puts us together

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in that way. This is what Pride says. Pride says, I'll do this my way.

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I'll just do this my way. Pride resists correction,

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refuses vulnerability, and often pushes people and

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even God away. And it's not always loud and

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arrogant. Sometimes it's just the quiet voice that

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says, I'm going to do this my way. I'm going to do this

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my way. Do we have that video? Praise the Lord.

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All right, I want you to watch this. It's not going to seem connected, but

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it really is. Can you get me in?

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At the gate back there, God said, depart from me, and I couldn't.

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Couldn't believe it. But. But I know there's been some mistake. That's why I called

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you. I was baptized at 5. My. I think my dad's

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a pastor. There's been no mistake.

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Your file, it doesn't look too good.

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What's in there? My sins. No, no, no, no. Those shouldn't be in there. You

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forgave those, remember? I mean, that. That makes sense. That's where the mistake is coming

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from. If you're basing it off of, I won't make it in there. There's a

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lifetime of evidence against me. No, this. This isn't evidence against

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you. It's evidence that you were even saved to

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begin with.

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And there's nothing in here.

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Baptized at 5 and lived an

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entire life doing whatever you want.

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Partying, sex, gossip.

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This is the most we've talked your whole

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life. I'm supposed to bail you out now, right?

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Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the

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life. But so many of us thwart the fact that he's the

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way because we do it our whole lives, our own way. And

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that's Pride. Pride will separate you from the King

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of the Universe, and it will separate you from the people that you're sitting next

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to. The People who love you most.

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18 says this. Pride goes before destruction

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and a haughty spirit before the fall. Pride leads to collapse,

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personally and relationally. And, guys, I can't tell you, the

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countless ministry people, job people that have had

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positions, that have had positions, and they were not supposed to

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be out of those positions, but God had to set them down early

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because of pride. God had to pull them out of that position. They were not

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done running the race. They were not done doing what God had asked them to

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do, but God had to set them down because it was either set them down

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or let them continue to lead others toward destruction.

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Pride. Pride is a booger.

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It's a big booger, and if you keep picking at it, eventually it

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will come out. Just don't eat it.

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Where there is strife, there is pride. But wisdom is found

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in those who take advice. Guys, let me tell you the

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strife. If you're ever in a situation with strife, the

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Word tells us, where there's strife, every evil work abounds.

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And where there's strife, there's bound to be pride in the ingredients there.

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Because pride leads to destruction. The word also says, God

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opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. I

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pray every single morning when I wake up. Have you? I have a habitual prayer.

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Sometimes that I don't even think about, it shoots out of my mouth. And the

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very first thing that I say is, oh, Lord, thank you for your grace and

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mercy this morning. It just shoots out of my mouth. I don't even think about

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it. It's just an automatic thank you for your grace and mercy this morning.

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How do I get grace? He gives grace to the

: 00:20:39

humble. Now, is he just best friends with the

: 00:20:43

proud? Is he just kind of tolerating the proud? No, it says,

: 00:20:47

he opposes the proud.

: 00:20:51

We're talking about the star breather. And why are

: 00:20:54

we talking about a hard word? Because, guys, sometimes we make the God

: 00:20:58

of the universe so soft. He is not a plush

: 00:21:02

teddy bear. He's not a wish machine. He's not

: 00:21:05

Santa Claus. He is the God of the universe.

: 00:21:09

He has given everything on the line for your life

: 00:21:13

because he loves you. Every single thing on the line, including

: 00:21:16

his life. Came down, lived the life, perfect life, died on the cross,

: 00:21:20

rose again. And he says, listen, I oppose the proud,

: 00:21:25

but I give grace. I give grace to

: 00:21:28

the humble. Anybody need grace? I need grace in my life.

: 00:21:33

I need grace in my life.

: 00:21:37

Many of you know we run Lancaster Christian Academy, my wife and I,

: 00:21:40

and we had a situation several years ago

: 00:21:44

where we had a tornado coming in the vicinity of the school. It was the

: 00:21:48

morning time and one of my lead administrators there, I was not there

: 00:21:52

yet. And she calls me and she's saying, this is a situation. I said,

: 00:21:56

yes, you need to lock it down and get everybody room in the into place.

: 00:21:58

So we do drills and all those things. So she's executing everything the way that

: 00:22:02

she's supposed to. And she knows where the best places in the building

: 00:22:06

are for safety. So she's giving direction. We have parents in the building because

: 00:22:09

it's drop off time. And we have one of our staff members, one

: 00:22:13

of our staff members who looks right at her and says, I'm not going where

: 00:22:16

you told me to go. And he breaks out of his classroom from his kids

: 00:22:20

and goes and grabs his own children, his own biological children, and takes

: 00:22:24

them into another place of the building to keep them safe. Well, things

: 00:22:28

carry on. Parents are wondering why he's going in the opposite direction. She's trying to

: 00:22:31

get him to stop, but he won't listen. So he goes and she continues to

: 00:22:34

take care of the rest of the thing. So later on that

: 00:22:38

day, I call him into my office and I said, why

: 00:22:41

did you not stay with your classroom and listen to what

: 00:22:45

your authority asked you to do? And he said, because I did not trust where

: 00:22:48

my authority was telling me to take my kids. And I said,

: 00:22:52

well, where did you take him? And he told me where he took him. And

: 00:22:54

I said, here's the thing that you don't know. I know every square inch of

: 00:22:57

this building and the exact place that you were taking them is the weakest place

: 00:23:01

in the building. And had a tornado come, that

: 00:23:05

would be the first demolished point. And the way that our elite administrator was taking

: 00:23:08

the kids was the safest place in the building. And I looked at him and

: 00:23:12

I said, I need to know if this were to happen again the same way,

: 00:23:16

I need to know that your decision making would be different. He looked at me

: 00:23:18

and said, I do the same thing. And I said, well, today will be your

: 00:23:21

last day day. Unfortunately,

: 00:23:24

looking on social media and kind of keeping up with this, this man,

: 00:23:29

divorced two years later, lost his kids years

: 00:23:33

later having a rough go at it. Pride

: 00:23:36

is a booger. Pride is destructive.

: 00:23:41

Pride will lead to destruction.

: 00:23:47

But here is where the enemy gets in and twists his little fingers is because

: 00:23:51

when it comes to the issue of pride, we, most of us have this posture

: 00:23:54

right here. Who me?

: 00:23:58

Me prideful me? Who me

: 00:24:02

would I be? Would I be prideful? And I'll tell you Guys, I.

: 00:24:07

It took me a long time to understand really what pride was, because I

: 00:24:11

would go, am I prideful? You know, I mean, is it prideful to say you're

: 00:24:14

not prideful? You know, I mean, so, I mean, I'm like,

: 00:24:17

lord help me. And so I want to do a litmus test with you right

: 00:24:21

now. I want, you know, if you're questioning am I prideful. Okay.

: 00:24:25

Or if I struggle with it in the context of your relationships, I'm

: 00:24:29

going to give you a litmus test. And if you have said these things or

: 00:24:31

you thought these things, or you've said this to the people around you,

: 00:24:36

then congratulations, you have joined the pride club.

: 00:24:42

You're too sensitive.

: 00:24:46

Have you ever said you're too sensitive? You always take

: 00:24:49

things the wrong way.

: 00:24:54

I don't have time for this right now.

: 00:24:59

This is just who I am.

: 00:25:04

You're the one who needs the change, not me.

: 00:25:10

I already said sorry. What more do you want?

: 00:25:16

You're making a big deal out of nothing.

: 00:25:23

I just. I don't see any of the spouses looking at each other right now.

: 00:25:28

I shouldn't have to explain myself to you.

: 00:25:33

I refuse to. We refuse

: 00:25:37

to. I will not.

: 00:25:45

I'm done.

: 00:25:48

If you're honest with yourself, we've all struggled with these to some degree,

: 00:25:53

but pride often comes in a way that will convince us that

: 00:25:57

we are incapable of dealing with it in the right way.

: 00:26:02

Naaman needed healing. He needed

: 00:26:05

healing and he rides in the town pompous

: 00:26:09

and ready to receive it. But his status, title, and ultimately his pride

: 00:26:13

governs his initial response. And I want

: 00:26:17

us to look at his response. Here it says, naaman went away angry and said,

: 00:26:20

I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on

: 00:26:23

the name of the Lord, his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure

: 00:26:26

me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and

: 00:26:30

Paphor, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the

: 00:26:33

waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed? So he

: 00:26:37

turned and went off in rage. And let me tell you something,

: 00:26:41

this is the moment when he turns and goes off in rage. This is the

: 00:26:45

moment in that argument, in that conversation, in that moment,

: 00:26:48

the moment that sucks everything out of the room is when you have the choice

: 00:26:52

to choose between pride and humility. It's that gut wrenching moment

: 00:26:56

that you know inside you need to respond a certain way, but something in

: 00:27:00

your flesh gets ahold of you and you go a different direction. You decide, I'm

: 00:27:03

gonna step over here and you begin this process of putting

: 00:27:07

gaps and spaces between you and the other person, you in the

: 00:27:10

relationship with people who love you the most. The gaps are created because

: 00:27:14

you are not willing to budge or bend because of something you think they did

: 00:27:18

or said. But we are

: 00:27:21

commissioned to have the mind of Christ when it comes to our

: 00:27:25

relationships. What would it be like if Jesus looked at you and said, no,

: 00:27:28

you've gone too far. I'm not bending for you.

: 00:27:32

My death on a cross is not good enough for you because of what you

: 00:27:36

did. The way we respond

: 00:27:40

to one another, the way we treat one another. And this is not just spouses.

: 00:27:43

Spouses is any relationship. Work, relationships, ministry relationships, church

: 00:27:47

relationships, friendships, spouses, all across the board. We are

: 00:27:51

to be as like Christ to one another in our responses, which

: 00:27:54

calls us to a high degree of humility, even

: 00:27:58

when they're not doing anything proactive about the situation.

: 00:28:10

Just because you have a position doesn't exempt you from

: 00:28:14

walking through and having to deal with tough things, including sin.

: 00:28:18

In fact, if you're used by God many times, those things are eliminated much more

: 00:28:21

quickly when he gives you a position.

: 00:28:24

Naaman is insulted that Elisha doesn't come out in person. He says, I thought

: 00:28:28

surely he'd come out to me. I'm big, bad, ugly.

: 00:28:33

Why is he sending me his little pawn? He should be coming out

: 00:28:36

on his own. Oh, that we would not have a haughty spirit

: 00:28:40

like that, that we would walk in humility.

: 00:28:45

Naaman had a script in his mind, and he wanted God to

: 00:28:49

heal him on his own terms.

: 00:28:52

And might I suggest that some of us have not received relational

: 00:28:56

healing in this place because we want to do it on our own

: 00:28:59

terms. Pride says, this should go how

: 00:29:03

I imagined. I shouldn't have to do that.

: 00:29:07

I shouldn't have to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have to say I'm sorry again.

: 00:29:11

I shouldn't have to listen to them. I shouldn't have to communicate the way they

: 00:29:14

want to communicate. I shouldn't have to do this. It's beneath me.

: 00:29:22

But might I suggest to you today that healing

: 00:29:25

follows humility? When

: 00:29:29

we lean into humility and we decide to put

: 00:29:32

Christ in the middle, he begins to do a transformative work in

: 00:29:36

you and in them that is unparalleled and

: 00:29:40

extraordinary, that is supernatural.

: 00:29:44

You want to see that person changed? Approach them with humility

: 00:29:48

and look and see what the Lord does. Look

: 00:29:52

and see what the Lord does. You have to admit that there's a

: 00:29:55

problem before you can address the problem. We were

: 00:29:59

driving down in Seattle in a van. And the tire

: 00:30:03

light comes on, and Sherry says to me, we better pull over and get off

: 00:30:06

the exit. The tire's blown. And I look and I say, no, we're

: 00:30:10

fine. It's just a little. It's just a little air going out. And we keep

: 00:30:13

going. And all of a sudden, as we're rumbling around, she's like,

: 00:30:17

what do you think now? You think the tire's blowing?

: 00:30:21

No, I'm going to keep going.

: 00:30:25

Pride he puts people in your life

: 00:30:29

to speak into things you don't see. He puts people

: 00:30:32

in your life to be your blind spot.

: 00:30:36

And so there was the servant. And would you notice if you read this story,

: 00:30:40

you notice the real heroes in the story, not Naaman, not

: 00:30:44

Elisha. The real heroes are two unnamed servants.

: 00:30:48

Servant girl at the beginning of the story, and Naaman servant who remind

: 00:30:51

them about this God who can heal. I

: 00:30:55

love that the Lord uses the humble and mighty ways.

: 00:30:59

I wonder whose voice choosing to use in your

: 00:31:03

life today. It's probably a voice

: 00:31:07

that's unexpected. It's probably a voice that's small. It might even be a voice

: 00:31:10

that you don't want to hear from. But it's the voice

: 00:31:14

God saying, this is the voice I'm using to change your life.

: 00:31:19

Because here's the thing, you don't get to choose the way God wants to

: 00:31:23

heal. He's got the better way. You

: 00:31:27

might not understand it, might not agree with it, it, but there's a reason.

: 00:31:31

There's something for you to learn, and there's something for them as well.

: 00:31:35

The servant says a lot. If Elisha had asked you, Naaman, to do

: 00:31:39

something heroic, you would have said without a doubt.

: 00:31:44

Why would you not then go into the river

: 00:31:47

seven times and be healed? And this is where the

: 00:31:51

rubber hits the road. He's made a spectacle of himself.

: 00:31:55

He's, I'm the big bad wolf, and all of this. And he

: 00:31:59

humbles himself in front of his entourage and goes seven times

: 00:32:04

into the river. And the word tells us that he

: 00:32:07

was healed. He was healed. And

: 00:32:11

this is Naaman's response to Elisha. Afterward, he went

: 00:32:15

back to the holy man, which was Elisha. He and his

: 00:32:19

entourage stood before him and said, I now know beyond a

: 00:32:22

shadow of a doubt that there is no God anywhere on the earth other than

: 00:32:26

the Israel. Can I tell you that when miraculous

: 00:32:29

supernatural activity happens in your life, it is for none other than

: 00:32:33

to make God famous. It is for no better reason than appoint

: 00:32:37

people to Jesus when he moves in your life, when he chooses to

: 00:32:40

miraculously heal you. It is so that he can receive the

: 00:32:44

glory. It's so that he can be acknowledged. And this is what happens

: 00:32:48

in Elijah's life. What do you think? I'm sorry, Naaman's life. What do you think

: 00:32:51

the greater healing was? That he was healed from leprosy or that his heart was

: 00:32:55

healed and he knows the real true God. God wants to

: 00:32:59

heal hearts. He wants to heal relationships.

: 00:33:02

And he will use physical things to get there. You notice Jesus

: 00:33:06

ministry, he always started by healing and meeting the physical needs of the people before

: 00:33:09

he ever did anything spiritual.

: 00:33:13

And so that was all the setup. Here's what I want us to

: 00:33:17

take away today. The greatest healing you will ever

: 00:33:20

receive is not physical. It's relational. The

: 00:33:24

greatest healing you will ever receive is not physical,

: 00:33:28

it's relational. Naaman had it all. Status,

: 00:33:31

respect, victory. But he was broken.

: 00:33:35

Leprosy wasn't just a disease of the body. It was a condition that made

: 00:33:39

people socially unclean, relationally distant,

: 00:33:43

relationally distant. And this just isn't

: 00:33:46

Naaman's story. This is ours, too. Pride creeps into

: 00:33:50

our marriages. It creeps into our friendships, our families, our

: 00:33:54

church relationships. And you can be winning on the outside and dying on the

: 00:33:58

inside. You can have success, yet be broken

: 00:34:01

relationally. And some of you today know what that

: 00:34:05

type of pain and hurt is. The deepest wounds are not always

: 00:34:08

visible ones. They come from distance. We used to talk

: 00:34:12

all the time and we don't talk anymore.

: 00:34:16

They come from silence, betrayal and broken

: 00:34:20

trust. Pride fuels conflict.

: 00:34:24

It keeps us distant. It demands that

: 00:34:28

others change while refusing to self

: 00:34:32

reflect. I need nine volunteers to meet me on the

: 00:34:35

stage quickly.

: 00:34:50

I know we can count. Spring House, let's go. Which y' all will have a

: 00:34:53

seat in the chairs, but not the orange one.

: 00:34:59

Cole, I'm going to have you stand at the end.

: 00:35:02

Griff, have you stand on that side.

: 00:35:07

Great. Have a seat. Perfect. One more, Come on. All right.

: 00:35:11

Thank you. Let's give a round of applause for these good looking helpers.

: 00:35:18

Griff, Cole, come over here and stand in the center. How long have y' all

: 00:35:22

been friends? Couple

: 00:35:25

days. How long have y' all been friends? Really?

: 00:35:29

Five years. Okay. All of us

: 00:35:33

have relationships. We've got marriages, we've got best

: 00:35:37

friends, we've got work, relationships, ministry, relationships, all of these

: 00:35:41

things. But in every relationship are two human

: 00:35:44

beings. And the human beings that are in that relationship, guess

: 00:35:48

what? They're broken. Which means it stands to reason that

: 00:35:52

in every single relationship, no matter how deep and wonderful it is, there's

: 00:35:55

bound, at some point, conflict. There's bound to be

: 00:35:59

conflict. How we handle conflict is

: 00:36:02

everything when it comes to relational healing, to

: 00:36:06

where we are with the Lord in terms of our relationships. How we handle conflict

: 00:36:10

is absolutely everything. And so we're going to pretend for a moment

: 00:36:14

that these two guys have had some type of conflict and it has caused

: 00:36:18

them to walk away from one another. So I'm going to let you all walk

: 00:36:20

away from one another and join the other side of this line.

: 00:36:24

So these two have had a relational conflict. And what conflict does.

: 00:36:27

Conflict puts distance between us.

: 00:36:31

Issues come between us. There's a gap, there's a fracture.

: 00:36:35

And it would be the desire of Jesus Christ for us to heal

: 00:36:39

the fractures between us. The enemy rejoices when

: 00:36:43

it looks like this. The enemy rejoices when there is space,

: 00:36:47

when there is distance. When there's betrayal, he rejoices.

: 00:36:50

But God is wooing us to be unified. He's wooing us to be together.

: 00:36:54

He's wooing us to love one another the way he has loved us.

: 00:36:58

But here's what happens. We get

: 00:37:02

into this mindset where Griff's like, well, Cole did such and such,

: 00:37:06

and he needs to apologize for it. And Cole's saying,

: 00:37:09

griff said and did such and such, and he needs to apologize for

: 00:37:13

it. And so we're going to say that

: 00:37:17

Cole is more prideful up here than Griff

: 00:37:22

in this particular situation.

: 00:37:27

And Griff wants to see this relationship restored. Cole wants to

: 00:37:30

see this relationship restored. The difference is, is one of them wants to do it

: 00:37:34

their way. The other one's willing to give in and abandon their way, to do

: 00:37:38

it the way the Lord would want them to. And so

: 00:37:42

Griff is willing strides toward

: 00:37:46

coal relationally. Now, if it

: 00:37:49

was Griff's way, he would be like, okay, I'm going to go over here. I'm

: 00:37:52

going to walk over here. I'm going to do it this way. But that's not

: 00:37:55

what Cole has laid out. I want you all to take these signs and just

: 00:37:58

put them around your neck for me.

: 00:38:02

In their interaction and in their discourse,

: 00:38:06

Cole, because of the infraction, has laid out

: 00:38:10

a bunch of things that Griff must do in

: 00:38:14

order to restore this relationship. In other words,

: 00:38:18

Cole has provided hoops for Griff to jump

: 00:38:22

through in order for the relationship to be restored.

: 00:38:26

Would you guys pick up those hoops and hold them at, like, shin

: 00:38:29

level? Like, real low there? Okay, Now,

: 00:38:34

Griff looks at this, and Cole's saying, oh, will you want to be

: 00:38:37

reconciled Here are the hoops I need you to jump through. And Griff

: 00:38:41

goes, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life.

: 00:38:45

I'm not jumping through your hoops. I'm

: 00:38:49

not about to. You know how silly this looks? Do you know how

: 00:38:52

absolutely ridiculous this is that you would make me jump through this

: 00:38:56

to get to you? In other words, Cole, you're not

: 00:38:59

worth it. In

: 00:39:03

other words, Cole, I don't love you enough to jump

: 00:39:07

through the hoops you've placed up. But here's what

: 00:39:11

Grif doesn't understand. The hoops that are here

: 00:39:14

aren't necessarily just by happenstance. Cole has

: 00:39:18

lived a life of insecurity, with

: 00:39:22

pain, with fear, with identity issues

: 00:39:26

from past things, past mistakes, doubt and confusion that

: 00:39:29

has caused him to not easily trust when there's

: 00:39:33

been a conflict in the relationship. So because

: 00:39:37

of these things, hoops have been created for anybody to get

: 00:39:41

close to him. Now, Cole suffers from having being

: 00:39:44

isolated most of his life, but, man, can I tell you, if there's

: 00:39:47

just one person who would love Cole enough to decide, it

: 00:39:51

doesn't matter what kind of hoops you put, I'm going to jump through them because

: 00:39:54

I see the value. I see the Christ in you. I love you

: 00:39:58

enough to jump through the hoops. You'll jump through the hoops. Going to jump through

: 00:40:01

these hoops. And he will get to you, Cole, no matter how ridiculous

: 00:40:05

it looks, no matter how ugly it is, no matter what it is, he'll jump

: 00:40:08

through the hoops and the relationship will be restored.

: 00:40:14

Now, some of you, some of you, not most of us, but some of

: 00:40:18

you say, you know what? I would jump through hoops. But then you do this.

: 00:40:21

You jump through the hoops and you grab the person. You're like, look what you

: 00:40:25

just took me through. Look what you made me do. I can't believe you made

: 00:40:28

me do this. And guess what? You cause a more of a severing relationship. But

: 00:40:32

here's the thing. When he jumps through the hoops, what he does at the end

: 00:40:35

of it. What'd you see? There's a big bear hug. There's a one

: 00:40:39

directional focus, and it says, listen, I did all of that crap because I see

: 00:40:43

you and I love you and I want to be in relationship with you.

: 00:40:47

I don't have the strength to do that, Kev. I don't have the strength to

: 00:40:50

jump through this hoop. It's ridiculous. Guess what? That's why you need the Holy Spirit.

: 00:40:55

I don't have to understand why you need me. To jump through these hoops.

: 00:40:58

What I'm saying is, I love you so much, it doesn't matter. At the

: 00:41:02

end of the day, I want to be reconciled. What do I need to do

: 00:41:05

to be reconciled? I want my relationship with you to grow

: 00:41:09

deeper in the Lord. What do you need me to do? How many more hoops

: 00:41:12

do you need me to jump through? And here's the crux. Jesus Christ

: 00:41:16

jumped through every single hoop we put out there, but he added one.

: 00:41:20

And he said, after all the hoops you did, I'm gonna add one. And the

: 00:41:23

one I'm adding is death. I love you so much that I'm gonna die

: 00:41:27

for you, and I'm willing to do so

: 00:41:30

every single time. And here's the thing. Come back over

: 00:41:34

here, Cole. When you're in this position over here,

: 00:41:38

when trust has been established here and

: 00:41:41

Cole finally sees somebody who's operating like

: 00:41:45

Jesus Christ, who says, I love you so much that I just went through all

: 00:41:48

of that, and I don't care about that. We don't even talk about that. I

: 00:41:50

am sorry. Look, I jumped through all the hoops, and I'm

: 00:41:53

still saying I am sorry. Forgive me. Because the

: 00:41:57

issue should not outweigh our relationship.

: 00:42:01

It's not important enough to take what God has put together

: 00:42:05

here, and so the

: 00:42:08

relationship's established. But guess what else happens now?

: 00:42:11

There's an opportunity because he's. Grif has jumped through

: 00:42:15

all of this. Guess what? There's an opportunity for

: 00:42:18

Grif to say, hey, hey, let's talk about the doubt

: 00:42:22

that's in your life. And Cole listens

: 00:42:27

because somebody was willing to sacrifice their ego and their pride to

: 00:42:30

love him enough to now speak truth about all of these

: 00:42:34

situations. And it works both ways. It

: 00:42:37

works both ways. Jesus

: 00:42:41

jumped through our hoops. And I'm asking you, are there things in

: 00:42:45

your relationships that you have said, I refuse to do it? And you

: 00:42:49

just are content with your relationship being. I would tell you, if

: 00:42:53

Jesus Christ was standing right here, he'd look at you and say, that is not

: 00:42:56

my will. That is not my will.

: 00:43:00

He has called us to deep relationships.

: 00:43:04

He's called us to further. And I'm going to ask you this morning, I commission

: 00:43:08

to you, are there things separating you and your spouse,

: 00:43:12

your friends, work relationships? Are there things in the

: 00:43:16

middle issues that you have allowed yourself to stand by and say, well, until

: 00:43:20

they do such and such, I'm not budging. Maybe the Lord is inviting you

: 00:43:24

today to begin jumping through the hoops they put out to

: 00:43:27

show the essence in the love of Jesus Christ. You guys may

: 00:43:31

be seated. Thank you so much. Would the worship team come out?

: 00:43:36

The greatest healing you will ever receive

: 00:43:40

is not physical. The greatest healing

: 00:43:44

you will receive in life is relational because it is

: 00:43:47

eternal. It is eternal. Here's what's going on.

: 00:43:51

Pride says, beneath me. Love says, I'll

: 00:43:55

do whatever it takes to reach you.

: 00:44:00

How many would be bold enough to admit this morning that you

: 00:44:04

haven't given your all in terms of reaching somebody in your life that you

: 00:44:08

need to reach? I have my hand up first.

: 00:44:15

If God says he opposes the proud,

: 00:44:19

if he says he opposes the proud and your hand was

: 00:44:23

in the air, why would you want the God of the universe to oppose you?

: 00:44:28

You need grace. I need grace.

: 00:44:32

So I need to humble myself in the

: 00:44:36

sight of the Lord. This is how Jesus loved

: 00:44:40

us. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death,

: 00:44:43

even death on a cross.

: 00:44:47

Three weeks ago, I was speaking on Elijah,

: 00:44:51

and I was talking about the fire that came down from heaven. And I talked

: 00:44:55

about the water that he put in the trench because of the faith, the bolstered

: 00:44:58

faith he had in the Lord. And he took that water and he poured it

: 00:45:02

on there and poured it on there and poured it on there. In the context

: 00:45:04

of that message, I shared with you guys some very private

: 00:45:08

information about my medical journey

: 00:45:12

and told you that I had a mass on my liver.

: 00:45:15

And since that time, I've had some tests done. And

: 00:45:21

there was a point in time where we had read that I had

: 00:45:24

cancer. But this week, I got

: 00:45:29

a note from my doctor on Tuesday and said, it is not

: 00:45:33

cancer. It is benign. There is nothing wrong. That is

: 00:45:37

good, good news. God

: 00:45:40

has healed my body, and I praise the sovereign God for

: 00:45:44

it. On Thursday this

: 00:45:48

week, on Thursday this week, Sherry and I

: 00:45:52

had an appointment in my office here at the church with a woman

: 00:45:55

who two years ago slandered my

: 00:45:59

name, drug our ministry

: 00:46:03

through the mud, said all sorts of crazy things about us.

: 00:46:08

And it was a very hurtful, hurtful season.

: 00:46:12

And this lady came to meet with us

: 00:46:17

to say, I want to be reconciled. I am so sorry.

: 00:46:21

And we apologized, and God created a situation

: 00:46:24

where our relationship was healed. I want to tell you this

: 00:46:28

this morning that this week I am more excited

: 00:46:32

about the relational healing than I am the fact that I don't have

: 00:46:36

cancer. I am more excited about the relationship in my

: 00:46:40

life being healed than the fact that he's touched my body. Because here's the truth,

: 00:46:43

guys. In three years, five years, 10 years, I may have cancer again. I may

: 00:46:47

have something that happens to my body, my body's going away. But

: 00:46:50

relationships are eternal. And guys, sometimes

: 00:46:54

we wait until there's somebody laying in a couch to decide,

: 00:46:57

I should have let the pride walls fall. And I wish I would

: 00:47:01

have said. I wish I would have. If I would have done anything to jump

: 00:47:05

through that hoop that they put there, what was I thinking?

: 00:47:09

And God's saying, drop the pride now while they're still breathing so I can do

: 00:47:12

relational work through you, in you, and with you. There

: 00:47:16

are apologies that need to be made. There are. There's

: 00:47:20

yardage in relationships that need to be had. Today is a day where, where I

: 00:47:24

believe that God wants to restore relationships. And we're going to ask, just like

: 00:47:27

the psalmist says, lord, search my heart. Don't let it be what I

: 00:47:31

think. But Lord, you identify and put in front of my face. You need to

: 00:47:35

go, you need to do some business with that person because you're not

: 00:47:38

resolved. There's stuff down there. There's

: 00:47:42

nitty gritty stuff. And your pride is stopping you from going any further. And

: 00:47:46

I've got something huge in your life

: 00:47:49

relationally with that person. So the choice

: 00:47:53

is your hard, hard message today because it causes you to actually

: 00:47:57

have to lay down yourself and surrender your pride and go

: 00:48:01

to people and do some business, some Holy Spirit business.

: 00:48:04

But let me tell you, there is nothing greater. There is nothing

: 00:48:08

greater than being healed relationally. Would you

: 00:48:12

guys stand with me this morning?

: 00:48:19

Love says, I'll do whatever it takes. Guys, we.

: 00:48:23

We know how to shout. We know how to say I love you, I love

: 00:48:25

you, I love you. I love. We. I love you, I love you, I love

: 00:48:27

you, I love you. That is such a, such a shallow term

: 00:48:31

now or phrase. Now, the proof is in the pity.

: 00:48:35

The proof is I love you. Here's my step towards

: 00:48:39

you. I love you. I'm jumping through this hoop for you. I

: 00:48:43

don't have to say it because I'm showing you. Jesus didn't

: 00:48:47

just go to the cross and stand by side and say, I love you, I

: 00:48:50

love you. Just wanted to let you. He didn't text you I love you. He

: 00:48:54

got on the cross and he did what he said he was going to do.

: 00:48:57

And so this morning, the altar space is over. Love says, I'll do

: 00:49:01

whatever it takes. I'll jump through every hoop. I'll meet you where you are

: 00:49:05

because. Because that's exactly what Jesus did for you. So as we sing this song,

: 00:49:10

if you need to ask the Lord to shed off layers of pride in your

: 00:49:13

life. And I'm going to tell you, your pastor, I'm the first one up here.

: 00:49:16

I don't have to go far. I'm right here. But if you need to

: 00:49:20

have layers of pride shed, you come forward. But let me tell you

: 00:49:23

something. You can pray all day long in the altar space, which is good because

: 00:49:27

you need to be equipped with the Holy Spirit. But he's going to give you

: 00:49:29

some direction, and it's going to mean you're going to have to have some. Some

: 00:49:31

conversations with some people. Be ready for that. And I can't

: 00:49:35

wait to hear the testimonies of God's faithfulness as he heals relationships all

: 00:49:39

over this place. Let's worship.