August 8, 2025 • 52 mins
We all go off from time to time, but do we ever stop to ask, “Why?"
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Enjoy the message. The series is called Triggered.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
This is week four and I just trust that you
came expecting today for God to speak to you.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Let's look at.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Second King's Chapter five. I'm gonna give you my title
right up front. Title of this message is why I
went off touch Somebody tell him.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It's a long story.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
When I first decided to preach on this topic of triggered,
I figured that it would help me personally and then
we could do group therapy. But I wanted to do
it from the Word of God because I am not
a psychologist, certainly not a neuroscientist or anything. That I
interviewed a neuroscientist a few days ago and that is
(01:04):
now on the Elevation Church YouTube, so you can go
and watch that. I asked her questions related to the
clinical reasons that sometimes we do the things that we
do and had a conversation with her about not just
understanding things with cliches and jargon that we sometimes used
to cover up our lazy thinking, and sometimes we spiritualize
(01:25):
issues that are practical in the same time sometimes try
to sell things.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Practically that are spiritual.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
And so it's just a great talk that's on the
Elevation s Chirchs YouTube and you can check that out.
But this week I want to share a character study
on a Bible character.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Who is so familiar to me.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And by that I mean not only have I read
this story quite a few times, but I feel like
I know this guy.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I feel like.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I've met him one time in the mirror, and certain
things about him really spoke to me, And so I
just pray that the same will happen for you today
as I read this text. I want to just tell
you the spoiler alert right up front. Naymon in Second
King's Chapter five has leprosy and gets healed.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
But that's just the headline, and so there's a lot to.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Learn in the midst of it, and I want to
read a few verses and kind of drop in and
explain and move along in this narrative. The Bible says
in Second King's chapter five.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Verse one.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Now, Nayman was commander of the army of the King
of Aram. He was a great man in the sight
of his master, and highly regarded because through him the
Lord had given victory to aerm It's interesting the way
that is phrased, because it says it wasn't by him
(02:53):
that the victory was one, it was through him. And
I think understanding that is very critical if you were
to have any hope of remaining sane in your life,
just to know that God's going to do it through you.
You know, half of the time that I'm messed up
is because I'm trying to do it for God and
He's trying to do it through me. But he can't
do it through me when I'm trying to do it
for him, and so I just start forcing situations, and
(03:17):
then I'm frustrated and irritated and agitated, and I'm mad
at everybody and everything because I'm trying to do stuff
for people and for God that God would like to
do through me if I would yield myself and yield
my will. And this is even more interesting because Nayman
is not an Israelite. He's not one of these chosen
people as they understood it at the time. He's actually
(03:39):
a commander of an enemy army from Aram that would
consistently raid the Israelites and not only do damage to
their crops, but many.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Times take their people away in bondage.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
At the end of one of these raids. The Bible
says he was a great man in the sight of
his master, and highly regarded because through him, he was
highly regarded because of what he did. He was highly
regarded because of the results that he achieved. He was
highly regarded because of the outcomes that were brought about
(04:13):
through his skill set. And so he was a great
man in the sight of his master, and highly regarded
because through him. I'm reading it over and over on purpose,
because it's so profound that if we skim the surface
we will miss the meaning. He was a great man
in the sight of his master, and highly regarded because
(04:33):
through him the Lord had given victory.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
To aerm and he was a valiant soldier.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
But he had leprosy and incurable skin disease, a non
lethal form of it in this case, but a problem.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Nonetheless, he was great.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
But and depending on when you see someone in the
setting that you meet them in, you might sometimes more
acquainted with their victories than their vulnerabilities. That's why I
advocate just a little bit of time dating, just a
little bit of time to see them.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
In pressure filled situations, just a little.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Bit of time out of the candlelight, under the harsh
neon glow of some of the trials of life. Just
a piece of advice. But I can't prove it in
the Bible. But I think you know, depending on where
you see someone determines what you see.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
And I realize that's more and more now because I.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Think people think that they should behave in front of
a pastor. So when I meet people, a lot of
times I realize I might not be meeting the truest
version of them, do you know what I mean? They
might not always speak in Hebrew and Greek, they might
sometimes speak in other tongues. But when when I really
want to know about somebody, especially on staff, I don't
(05:54):
go off of my first impression, because I don't really
trust my first.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Impression of people any more. I used to. I used
to say I have discernment.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Now realize that a lot of what I thought was
discernment was really me just vibing off of somebody, or
maybe they reminded me of somebody, And I didn't like
some people that were really cool, consistent people, but I
thought they were boring. But the reason they were boring
is because they're not always having to create drama in
their life. And I found out that drama works good
in movies, but in real life, I don't want the
ticket to that show.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So now am I preaching already? This is just the
first verse.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And what I learned about myself is I need to
ask others.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I need to get references.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And at times i'll meet somebody on our staff and
it's not a small staff, and I don't know everybody
on the staff anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I used to.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I used to hand select people, and oh man, when
I hired the first staff member, I got the opportunity
to spend just hours and hours getting to know him,
so I knew his strengths and weaknesses pretty well.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But now I will ask someone about someone.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I ask somebody that works with them and has had
to work with them in a pressure hopefully if I can,
if I can get somebody that has had to work
with them when there was a deadline involved, or has
seen how they managed a disappointment, you know, and how
they treat others and things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
So I will ask how is so? And so let's.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Say that I wanted to know about JT.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I would ask. I would be like, hey, how's JT?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And I would wait for the person who knows them,
not the person who met them, but the person who
knows them to I would wait for them and see
how long they hesitate before they answer the question, because
I want to see how long they're going to scroll through,
you know. And sometimes people will say the right thing,
(07:44):
but it's the inflection in their voice they say it
with that lets you know there's something else. I'd be like, hey,
I've noticed JT on our staff. He seems like he
seems like a great guy. And if the person's voice
goes up when they answer.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
You got pay attention to that. And so it's like
how's JT? And they'll go, oh, he's great.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And when they hit that falsetto like unnatural soprano note,
he's great, it's the.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Sounds like axel rose, you know. Up there. I'm like,
but what everybody say?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
But what? Because one thing that has really helped me
in ministry and in life is to realize that everybody
has two eyes, two ears, one nose, one neck, most
people two arms, two legs, and everybody has at least
(08:46):
one But he was a great man. But it's in
the Bible, people, I'm not making it up. It said
that this great man.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
He's great.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But the problem with being a preacher is I can
see your eyes.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I can see your ears.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I can see whether or not you're taking notes, and
if you don't have a pin out, I'm judging you
so hard right now. I hope you feel the vibrations
of the flames of hell. The issue with this arrangement
is I can't see your but and it's probably better
(09:31):
that way. It's been a lot of my ministry preaching
to people's heads, preaching to people's intellect. And I messed
around and pastored this church now for over twelve years.
And I messed around and got a few straight grays
in my beard, and I messed around and got involved
in a few people's lives. And I messed around and
(09:53):
found out that everybody has a butt. And the only
way I knew it is that a few people showed.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Me there there.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I know it's awkward, and you know, half the reason
that sermons don't really register more than two hours sometimes
is because we're all trying to cover our butt. That's
the strategy most people come.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
To church with. See why, b cover your butt?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You cover it behind a big smile and appraise.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
The Lord in a chanda. You know I could do that?
Do you know what I'm saying? He was a great man,
but he had.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
A skin issue, and nobody can see that on the
battlefield because on the battlefield I got armor. And we
all have something that we use to cover a spot
in our life. Let's be honest, we're not talking about
human anatomy here. You have multiple bucks, You are great
(11:11):
with people, but you don't take care of yourself. You
see what I'm saying. You are really good at succeeding
and really bad at being content.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So I'm successful, but I'm miserable.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I'm killing it at work, but my fifteen year old
do I even have to finish this?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I got a.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Great marriage, I'm great, but I'm not making any money
right now. And I'm a good emotional provider, but financially,
you know, I never learned.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
How to do that.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
The thing about a really good encounter with God, you
can tell when you've encountered.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
God, it will expose.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Your and the way it happens, it'll often be an
unlikely way.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Let's talk about this in three stages. The first is exposure.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Nayman is perhaps changing one day in his own home,
and verse two says, bends of raiders from aarm Remember
he's a captain. He's a commander of these armies from Aram,
which would often go out and take different people captive.
And on one particular such occasion, the raiders from Aram
(12:43):
had gone out and had taken captive a young girl
from Israel. And she served Nayman's wife, and she said
to her mistress, if only my master would see the
prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Of his leprosy.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
And so the Bible says something really important in verse four.
Because you are not blessed based on the word of
God that you hear, or the word of God that
you understand, you are blessed, and your life is changed
in accordance with the word of God that you apply, obey,
and act on. That's why you can hear thirteen years
(13:25):
of teaching and still be mean as the serpent in
the garden of Eden. No That's why you can hear
a lot of teaching about love, but if you don't
make the decision to forgive.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
The teaching about love will be snatched.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Up by the birds of the air and will not
take root in your heart. So verse four becomes really
important if we really want to change, if we really
want to get beneath the surface, and you know, not
just have a skin deep spirituality and a skin deep
relationship with God where we can fake it for a
little while, and we create stages to impress people, and
we have armor that.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
We put on to go out into our job.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
We come home and feel like miserable, miserable people to
live with, or we feel like we don't know how
to be intimate, but we know how to be impressive.
And so as long as people only see us from
a distance, they don't really notice we're starting to cover
our skin and cover our souls and things that are
just leaping out of us.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
At all the wrong time.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Verse four says that Naman went to his master and
told him what the girl from Israel had said. And
this took courage, and it took humility for Naming to
go to his master and show his butt, to show
(14:39):
his vulnerability when he was a man with so many victories.
I just want to stay there for a minute, because
sometimes I feel like we use prayer as an opportunity
to read God our resume, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And while I think it's great.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
To celebrate all the Elias that we killed, sometimes the
giants in us are kicking our butt and we don't
say anything about it until it's too late. And I'm
getting bolder every year I passed her, as I commit
more and more to preaching to the part of you
that you would just as soon hide and never mention,
(15:23):
because I think that's where real help is found.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
And Naman went to his.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.
I mean, this is a servant girl. And Naman is
what a great man?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
A great man. He's a great man.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But he's got these spots that are starting to spread,
and if he doesn't do something soon, there's no telling
what might happen next. And since there are no essential
oils for this particular form of leprosy at this point
in antiquity, Nayman has to take the advice of a
little girl. And now we have a great man going
(16:00):
to an enemy nation in Israel because of the advice
of a little girl. Are you willing to obey God
even if he speaks through something that seems smaller than you,
because I notice a lot of us won't. A lot
of teenagers will listen to me preach and roll their
eyes at their parents. And I don't understand that because
(16:24):
I'm not paying for your college or your bracest.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I'm not even buying you ramen noodles.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
And sometimes I've noticed that men will listen to me preach,
but their wife knows them better than I do and
could say some things that would actually help them. It's
getting quiet, and even the women.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Left me out on that one.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
It's like that, I'm a cancel reflective, y'all, don't help
me with this sermon.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
It's something about exposure and when a spot in your.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Life, everybody says spot a leprous spot, something that is
consuming you that others can't see when it is exposed
by an experience. That's the second stage I wanted to
mention is experience, because things will happen in your life
and you'll come up upon situations that will expose something
that you would prefer to hide. And what you do
(17:17):
next determines whether you get healed. So Naman went to
his master and told him what the girl from Israel
had said. Verse five says that the king said, by
all means go, I will send a letter to the
King of Israel. So Naman left, taking with him ten
talents of silver six thousand shekels of gold. That's like
(17:40):
seventy five pounds of each. So Naman is going to
Israel with his resources to attain healing. He's gonna he's
gonna deal with this like he always deals with things,
because he's a great man. He's a persistent man, prepared man.
(18:01):
He's a powerful man. These other things that start with
the letter P as well and the letter that he
took to the King of Israel read with this letter,
I am sending my servant naming to you so that
you may cure him of his leprosy. There's all kind
of stuff wrong with that sentence. It's like the telephone
(18:21):
game we used to play when you pass a message
along to somebody and it starts out, we're having you
chicken for lunch, and it ends with I'm dying of cancer,
and you pass it down and it only takes three people.
This chain of communication has polluted the message itself because
number one, the servant girl didn't say the king can
heal him.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
It said the prophet can.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And sometimes we run to the wrong people because we
have our own ideas about where our help comes from.
Talk to me, and it's not the king that is
going to have the faith to get him healed. It's
the prophet. His name is Elisha. But the king sends
the commander to the king because you know, this is
(19:03):
to me, the most logical way to get him healed.
We'll go straight to the top. But watch the king's response.
And this is kind of interesting because when the king
gets the letter and Naman shows up with all of
the accumulated wealth that he believes it's gonna take to
get him healed. You know how, we have our own
ideas about what it's gonna take to make a change
in our life. And I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna
(19:26):
do it. I'm gonna go back, I'm gonna get my degree.
I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna get my degree. I'm
gonna eat. I'm gonna eat so much kale it's gonna
be coming out of my nose. I'm not eating gluten
again until twenty twenty four. I'm gonna do hot yoga
and cold yoga and powerlifting.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it all.
Mariema Bible. I'm gonna delete.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Every social media off my phone.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I'm never going on Facebook again.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I've got my face in the book. And he shows
up with a lot of stuff that he thinks he
canna need to get healed.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
But as soon verse.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Seven, as the King of Israel read the letter, he
tore his robes and said, am I God, you want
me to do what?
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I got?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
This friend, y'all, his name is Alex Early. He was
my college roommate and he used to make prank phone
calls in college and they were hilarious.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Most of them were clean.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
We were Christians, but he had the ability to push
people to their breaking point. He was a big fan
of a guy at the time who did prank calls
named roy D Mercer, and this guy was famous for
taking people right to the edge, and so we would laugh.
And we still have these phone calls recorded and one
day I'm going.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
To release them on SoundCloud.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
And these phone calls to me just bring me joy
at times, in my life, because everybody's reaction was the same.
He make up a million scenarios, you know. He would
use this name, this alias Dwyane McGraw Duwaine, and put
a thing over the e because it's French.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
My name is dew Wane McGraw.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
And he'd say, my boy Bobby is throwing up all
over the shag carpet because I came to the.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Grocery store and I bought bad milk.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And they would always say this, no matter what scenario
he made up. One time it'd be Bobby's throwing up
on the shag car. One time it'd be I took
my trousers to your laundromat and they shrunk up and
now they're coming up around my thighs and I look
like a European and you know, but whatever scenario he
would bring up, their response was generally the same. What
(21:16):
do you want me to do about it?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
The king?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
The king is like, you brought me a leopard? Do
you think I'm God? I'm not a doctor, I'm a king.
Have you ever felt like life brought you.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Something that was above your pay grate to handle? God?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
They're doing that thing again where they sit there and
look at me like they always have it together and
they have all the answers. Because I looked at my
kids the other day and said, I am not Google.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I am not a search engine. I do not know. Furthermore,
I do not care. Get out of my face.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night
and replay things that I've said to my kids and
feel so bad that I have to get up and
baptize myself in the baptob.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And get saved again just as I am without one. Please,
Oh Lamb of God, what do you want from me?
I'm only a man? And the King says, I know
what this is.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
This man can I kill and bring back to life.
He's triggered because he is confronted with a situation that
he is unable to transform. And whenever life presents you
with something that you were.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Not equipped for.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
So you got to be a dad and you didn't
have a dad. You got to pay a bill, but
God didn't.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Give you a job.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
You've got to step into something that you've never seen
before with the faith to believe that it's already done.
And it can be exasperating to the point watch this
that you allow your past experience to contaminate your perspective
of the present moment.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Remember what I said.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
The King of Aaron, Benedett the second would often go
and invade Jehoram's land Jahamas, king of Israel. And so
when he gets the letter saying, hey, can you help
my guy name in can you heal my guy naming?
It triggered within him a traumatic memory of the last
(23:35):
time he was attacked, and so he goes off.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Not because of the situation that.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
He's experiencing, but because of past experiences.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Do you ever wonder why you go off?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And it's inexplicable, like the level of the offense does
not match the level of the outrage, and you wonder.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Why what was that all about? Hell?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
You ever with the elevation church sticker on your car
said some words that weren't blessed the Lord, Oh my soul?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
And wonder you know how y'all think Holly is so sweet?
What time in college she was singing a worship.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Song in her Ford contour, and the song said I
was there, I was.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
In the passenger seat.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
The song said, you are so patient with me?
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Lord.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
She didn't get to Lord before she was screaming at
the at the dodge ram that pulled out in front
of her, and she's loud. Holly is like, when she's
up here, it reflects she'll be smiling. But I'm gonna
tell you something about Hollyford.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
What what is that all about? Where did that voice
come from?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
We and then the devil starts telling you all, well,
you know you're not a real Christian, you're hypocrite.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Some of y'all are gonna lose it before the day
is over.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Because of your fantasy football lineup. No, not because of
anything significant to anything having to do with real life
in any way, because of other men that have absolutely
no effect on you other than one hundred dollars at
the end.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Of the season. And you wonder why did I go
off like that?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
It's understandable because we live in not only the age
of anxiety, but if you noticed, we live in the age.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Of outrage too.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
How trendy it is now to just get mad about
anything that you don't like the first time you hear it. Well,
you'll arent going to like this part of the sermon.
I don't think too much, but can I be honest
with you, I don't really care what shoes you were
to church today. No, maybe my perspective is different, but
(26:07):
I spend too much time seeing people's butts to care
about what you have on your feet today.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So I don't have time when teen suicide is.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
In an all time high to check and see if
you're wearing Adidas or Nike, if you got yeezes, or
you want to just do it.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I don't really have time to debate with you.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
About a sluice or a commercial or getting.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Mad about I really don't have.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Time for it up here when people's lives are on
the line. I really don't have time for it in here,
when people are on antidepressants in a rate that's making
them more depressed, but they.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Don't know where else to turn, and we're run into
all kinds of places that.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Are leaving us empty, but we want to fight.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
There will be at least one comment on this YouTube
video about the holes in my jeans? Are you for
real right now? But it triggers something. You're not fighting
me over shoes, You're not fighting me over jeans.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
One moment told me until you save your beard, I
can't watch you anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
This is psychotic, she said. I'm praying for you. I
want to say, I'm praying for you. I'm a fast
forty days. If you're that messed up.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I don't know why I went off.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I think like for me, this is just what I'm
working through, and so this makes you think I'm crazy.
You're right, but I'm going through this season of my
life where I don't want to keep blaming my environment
or consulting things that happened in my life, because the
cross of Jesus Christ gives me a new reality and
(28:14):
it really changes everything in the sense that all of
my life has to be viewed through that lens of
what He did for me and who he says I am.
If I'm not careful, I'll be like the King who,
when confronted with an impossible situation that reminded him of
a past hurt, he inflicted the opportunity of his present
(28:35):
moment with the pain of his past. Do you see
what I'm saying He projected. See every time he dealt
with aerm, it was an attack. And now it's an
opportunity for this man to be healed and see what
God can do. But if what you went through isn't
healed by what Christ did for you, you will treat
(28:56):
the opportunity like an attack.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
And I've noticed that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
But like I spent a lot of my time fighting
stuff that God is actually sending into my life. I
spent a lot of my time fighting against people that
I'm not really mad at.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
It's really not them. Tell the person next to you,
it's not you, it's me. It's me. I'm a perfectionist,
and so.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Sometimes when things aren't just like I want them to be,
or here's what really happens, it really happens with my expectation.
Put that word up there, because when I expect it
to be one way and it's the other.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Like when I went off on my dad a few
years ago, it was because I rented him a house.
I moved him and my mom to Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Well, I didn't move him, I hired movers and then
they got fired because my dad was crazy, and it
was so funny. It really wasn't funny. It's funny now,
can we laugh about it? How ah?
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
But the day I went to see him, and the
story has a happy end, and then we ended up
being together and it was good and all that. But
in between, remember naming gets healed at the end of
this story. But there's some stuff in the middle that
I want to talk to you about. Because in the
middle of that, that whole messy situation with my dad,
I remember going over to check on them one day
and I was so proud of the house that Holly
(30:25):
had found that we rented for them, and my mom
liked it and she was happy, and my dad. The
first thing he said, I walk through though, he said,
this ain't gonna work, Bo, And I know honor your
father and mother and the Lord.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I know that Bible verse, I promise you, I know it.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I even know that that honor is Cavat and Hebrew,
and it can also be translated glory and wait.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
But the only thing I wanted in that moment, I'm
gonna just be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I don't like to be disrespected, and it felt disrespectful
to me, and so I went off. And it really
wasn't what he said, because really what he wanted was
just a few small tweaks. But I couldn't hear that anymore,
you know.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Because my expectation was that he was going to meet
me at the door and give me a big ol' hug.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
And say, my son and whom I am, well pleased,
and the dove with the sin. But he didn't read
my script. What do you do when people don't read
your script? Meet your expectation? And here's where the story
gets good, because I want you to notice that the
(31:38):
same event that triggered the king and made him go
into fear mode, which is usually what's happening when we're
lashing out or withdrawing, because not everybody fights outwardly. Some
of us bobble it up inwardly, and then we never
go off.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
One day, we just.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Tap out, and you wonder, how did they drop like that? Well,
it's usually a series of met expectations. In this case,
the King of Israel, jehosh he's traumatized to the point
that he thinks that everything is a fight. It says
it in the text. See how he is trying to
pick a quarrel with me. That's verse seven. See how
(32:15):
they're looking at me. See they didn't even wave at me.
See I told this is a Southern thing. You're supposed
to wave at people when you drive by them. The
town I grew up in, you waived at everybody. And
the first time that we were driving through the neighborhood
and Holly didn't wave at people. I corrected her. I
was like, what is wrong with you? She's not from
(32:36):
Monks Corners, She's from Miami, and it's a different culture.
It's an inferior culture of rudeness.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
And so.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Anytime that you've been used to in your life, you've
been used to fighting. If life has really been a
fight for you, if you've had to fight for your
mental health, or you've had to fight for your emotional health,
or if you've had to fight through issues of bitterness
and forgiveness because of abuse, if you've had to fight
for your own and fight to make it, or if
you had to fight your own family, when you've had
to fight over and over again, everything looks like a fight.
(33:14):
Everything looks like a threat. Everything sounds like an insult.
Every time somebody doesn't check on you, it feels like abandonment.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
It's the.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Trauma that's being triggered. But what's encouraging to me what
I got up here to tell you about today, Because
this is pretty depressing so far. But the same stimulus
that triggered fear in the King's heart triggered faith in Elisha's.
The Bible says in verse eight when Elisha, the man
of God, heard that the King of Israel had torn
(33:44):
his robes. He sent him this message. Now watch this
the king. The king said, who do you think I am?
You think I can? You think I'm a healer? Elisha said,
I know God is a healer. So watch the Have
the man come to me, and he will know that
(34:05):
there is a prophet in Israel. This man said, where
you see, where you see opposition, I see opportunity. And
the same thing that triggered you to tear your robes
and freak out and fall down in fear triggered Elisha
to rise up in faith. Elisha said, send him to me,
(34:28):
because the word of God is with me. Now Elisha
has an experience to build this expectation on.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Elisha has healed the waters at Jericho. Elisha has multiplied
the widow's oil.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Elisha has spoken to parent wounds, and when that child died,
spoke life and it resurrected from the dead. Elisha has
dug ditches in dry valleys and seen God bring water
from the direction of edom. Elisha has seen God do
things that only God can do. And so when an
impossible situation that is beyond him shows up, Elisha knows
what do.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Bring him here to me. I got something for nameMan.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I heal lepers for breakfast. Bring him to me and
he will know not how great I am, but how
great God is.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
And so watch verse nine. I love this story.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Naman went with his horses and chariots and his expectations
and his leprosy and his greatness and his butt, and
he brought it all because he wanted to be healed.
I know you want to be healed of something today,
even though you've been covering it up. And I know
(35:40):
you use your charisma to cover your cracks. And I
know that nobody knows how dark the thoughts can really
get for you sometime.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
But I've been doing this too long to sit there
and preach to your armor.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Because a business leader walked up to me and told
me that he had to kick his teenager out of
his house.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
He said, we.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Almost got in a fistfight, he said, I swung at
him and missed.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
I realized this has gone way too far.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
And then the man had on khakis while he was
telling me, pleaded khakis, double pleated khakis, no tattoos, but
didn't look like the kind of guy that would swing
on his kid. But I don't even really think you've
(36:35):
seen your own butt until you've been through certain things.
And then the weird thing is we all have short
term memory loss if we have one devotion and read
our Bible one morning.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Now we start.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Judging other people when they flip out.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
And so.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Naming is on the verge of something. I travel a
long way to get here. It's like a ninety mile trip,
and he's got a big crew with him, and he
needs a miracle, and.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
We admire him because.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
He went I do, at least I think to even
get to this point takes faith. And maybe one of
the reasons I don't put a lot of condemnation or
I try not to in my preaching, is because I'm
pretty proud of you who decided to show up anyway.
I know how many things could have kept you from
(37:31):
being here, and I'm pretty proud that you made the
decision to bring your butt to church. Give yourself a
hand for bringing your butt to church. And if you're
watching online, you don't get to clap. It's different. So
nae Man went with his horses and chariots, stopped at
(37:54):
the door of Elicia's house and Elcius and a messenger, Oh,
this is not gonna go well, because Naming is a
great man. And when a great man comes to your
doorstef you give him a great greeting and you welcome
him by name.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Man. I'm a retired This is my last sermon. Y'all
enjoy it. He sent a.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Messenger to say to him, go wash yourself seven times
in the Jordan.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
In the what in the Jordan? You mean that muddy
little excuse for a.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
River that y'all like to celebrate so much in this
nation of Israel, which I don't even like anyway.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
And he didn't even come to the door and name.
It went off.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
No, he literally went off, not in the figurative sense.
He literally decided, I would rather go home with my leprosy.
I'd rather go home and my arm fall off. I
would rather go I would rather die than be disrespected
like this. And when he heard this ridiculous command, he says,
(38:59):
some very important.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
In the instruction. It was a simple instruction. It was
a stupid instruction.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
It didn't make much sense, just like it doesn't make
much sense when God tells you to forgive somebody so
that you can be forgiven. And you want to say, well, God,
if they ask for it, I'll give it. And God
says to you, I'm not talking about what they deserve.
I'm talking about your deliverance. I'm talking about your clean heart.
I'm talking about your clear mind. So if you want
(39:29):
to get cleansed, I need you to do something that
makes no sense, because there is no cure for leprosy.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
It can't be cured.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
It's got to be cleansed, and it can only be
cleansed if you obey this command. And verse eleven starts
so sad, But there it is again. I'm gonna preach
a whole series one day on the.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Butts of the Bible. Stand in front of a miracle standing.
I mean, the guys around him are like, Okay, that's
all we gotta do. Naming.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
You could keep the seventy five pounds of silver and
the seventy five pounds of gold, and you can pass
out the ten sets of clothing.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
And we could go home. We can start back home.
That's easy. Somebody start running the water. Naming.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
You want it hot, You want an extra hot naming.
You want a rubber ducky, get the towel ready. You
want some sunscreen. But it's a funny thing about pride.
It's a funny thing about the small things. It's a
(40:46):
funny thing about something that seems beneath you. Remember the
King was triggered because of something that seemed beyond him.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Am I God? And Naming is triggered because of something
that seems beneath me. You want me to do what?
Uh huh, I'm not doing that. Uh huh.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
No. See, because when your heart is filled with pride,
you try to write your own prescriptions. This is how
I want God to bless me. This is how I
want God to come through. This is how I want
God to heal me. This is how I wanted to
respond this opportunity I want. This is so Naming went away,
angry said, this is two very dangerous words. By the way,
(41:35):
this is this is maybe the two most dangerous words
for you to interpret your life through. I thought, I thought,
maybe those two words are the two words that are
standing between me and peace today.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
I thought, I thought my dad was going to be
grateful for the house.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Now he's telling me about getting somebody over here to
fix the Huh.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
I thought I thought you'd say thank you.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
I thought you'd grow up and play piano and put
you in lessons, I thought, I thought.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I thought he would surely.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Come out to me and stand and call on the
name of the Lord is God. See, many men had
it all planned out, because that's what great men do.
Great men make great plans, and when those plans don't
go the way that they were supposed to go, great
men go off, great women go off. Because I had
(42:44):
this family picture, and here's where you were supposed to stand,
and here's where you were supposed to smile, and here's
where you were supposed to and here's where you were.
I thought, could those two words be standing between you
and healing today? I thought, God says, my thoughts are
not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways.
(43:07):
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so are my thoughts above your thoughts, and my ways
above your ways. But Naman went away angry and said,
I thought that I thought he'd come out to me.
I thought, I thought he would see because I had
this worked out. He comes to me, and then I
(43:28):
give him the gifts and I get the healing.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
This is how this works.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Not this time, name it, not this time, this transformation
is not going to happen on your terms. God's not
going to do it like you expected. He's not going
to be held hostage to what you thought. So I
(43:53):
thought that he would surely come out to me and
stand and call him the name of the Lord is God.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
And waya his hand.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
So he's supposed to wave, he's supposed to wave his
hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.
He doesn't like the place God told him to get healed.
Are not Abna and far part of the rivers of
Damascus better than all the waters of Israel. I didn't
have to come here for this. Couldn't I washing them
and be cleansed. So he turned and went off in
(44:25):
a rage, and one of his servants, this guy needs
a raise, by the way, went to him.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Notice how beautiful the story is told. It's chronicled like this.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Namon went to his master and said, I need permission
to go to Israel. So he went to the king,
and the king said I can't do it. Then he
went to Elisha with his chariots and horses. And now
Namon went off in a rage, and he's about to
He's about to miss the opportunity to be healed because
he is going off. And here's why he went off,
(44:59):
because he didn't go in, and he went off because
he made his decision about what he thought about it,
but he didn't go in. You know, I've noticed something
about myself when I don't go into the presence of God,
when I don't go in and ask God, what are
you doing in this situation?
Speaker 1 (45:19):
When I don't go.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Into myself and seek for the spirit of God to
leave me, I start going off, and then I spend
the next week fixing stuff that if I would have
taken one moment and worshiped, if I would have taken
one moment and sought God's wisdom, if I would have
taken one moment and said, you know what, I don't
want to fight about this.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
I don't want to be right. I want to be healed.
I don't want to prove my own power. I want
to receive your power God.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
And what happens next is really beautiful because some of
you are going to do it today.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Stand with me.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
The servant came to Namen and says something that I
think is very prophetic, and I hope you can hear
it on the level which it is intended. The servant
Chase naming down Naman is on his way.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
Back to Damascus.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
He's gonna walk ninety miles back home with leprosy still
on his skin because of something that seemed too small
and insignificant for a great man like him to do.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
He's gonna spend.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
The rest of his life with this disease because he
didn't want to do what he was told to do.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
And the servant said, hey man, sir.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Nayman, if the prophet had told you to do some
great thing, would.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
You not have done it? Well, of course I would,
because I'm a great man.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Well, if you're a great man, how much more should
you be able to do a small thing? So when
he tells you washould be cleansed, why not give it
a try? You know, you've been fighting so hard justifying
(47:12):
your side of the story and justifying yourself and why
is all right?
Speaker 1 (47:17):
And why is okay?
Speaker 2 (47:18):
But hey man, why not if we already came ninety miles,
if we already came this far, and that profit is
telling you that if you dip in the Jordan you
can be cleansed, isn't it worth a try? You already
(47:40):
went to your master and got the letter. You already
went with your horses and chariots. Now you've now you're
going off in a rage. But verse fourteen is the
happy ending, and I believe it's a new beginning for
many of us today. The Bible says, so he went
down and dipped himself in the Jordan. I'm glad after
(48:07):
Naman went off, he went in, and he went in
not just once, not just twice, not just three times,
not just four times, not just five times, not just
six times, but all seven. Often, when you're in the
process of obeying God, you see no immediate effects of change.
(48:29):
It's not like your skin gets healed a little bit
with every dip.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Woo woo woo.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
You got to have the faith to go through the
motions even when you see no evidence. Go am I
talking to him? You got to have the faith to
go down and pray again, to lift up your hands
and worship and say, I don't feel.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
A thing right now.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
But God is with me, and God is for me,
And who can be against me? And I will not
fear though a host of enemies and camps uponut me.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
I will not be afraid. The Lord is my helper.
I lift my eyes to the hills. My help comes
from the Lord. By your head, and close your eyes
for a moment.
Speaker 2 (49:23):
I believe this is a significant word for someone in
the room who is about to go off.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Maybe you've been going off, maybe you already went off.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
I don't just mean temper tantrums, breaking stuff, throwing pictures
around the room.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
I mean that there is something that God has given
you to do in.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
Your life that seems so ridiculous that you, like naymen,
are at the point of frustration. I want to speak
a word over your life today that in this moment,
the only way to receive healing is through your surrender.
As long as you want to stay in control of
(50:05):
those situations, they will continue to consume you. And that's
what the presence of God is for. This is the
Jordan river that you can dip in seven times. The
Bible says that when he did it, his flesh was
restored like a young boy. Isn't that amazing that the
great man became like a young boy and he was healed?
Speaker 1 (50:30):
And isn't it interesting.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
That God's greatest golden Nayman's life was not to heal
his skin, but to produce faith in his heart.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Lift your hands in this moment, Father, I thank.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
You for every person, and I thank you for every problem.
I thank you for the great things, and I thank
you for the butt. Somebody in this room has an addiction.
Somebody in this room has an illness. Somebody in this
room has a heavy depression, and they see no signs
(51:06):
of change. And they have really, really attractive armor, and
so nobody can see but you what they're fighting with
on the inside, and they keep pushing people away that
you send to help them. In this moment, God, may
(51:27):
this be the first dip in the process of their deliverance.
And thank you for the Cross of Jesus Christ that
we stand under and look to today for our healing
and forgiveness and redemption has already been accomplished. I thank
you that we are not healed, cleansed, or cured by achieving,
(51:48):
but by receiving. Stretch your hands high as you can
stretch them. We receive your grace in this moment, your mercy.
In this moment, healing waters wash over our soul.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
Oh, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Enjoy the message. The series is called Triggered.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
This is week four and I just trust that you
came expecting today for God to speak to you.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Let's look at.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Second King's Chapter five. I'm gonna give you my title
right up front. Title of this message is why I
went off touch Somebody tell him.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It's a long story.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
When I first decided to preach on this topic of triggered,
I figured that it would help me personally and then
we could do group therapy. But I wanted to do
it from the Word of God because I am not
a psychologist, certainly not a neuroscientist or anything. That I
interviewed a neuroscientist a few days ago and that is
(01:04):
now on the Elevation Church YouTube, so you can go
and watch that. I asked her questions related to the
clinical reasons that sometimes we do the things that we
do and had a conversation with her about not just
understanding things with cliches and jargon that we sometimes used
to cover up our lazy thinking, and sometimes we spiritualize
(01:25):
issues that are practical in the same time sometimes try
to sell things.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Practically that are spiritual.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
And so it's just a great talk that's on the
Elevation s Chirchs YouTube and you can check that out.
But this week I want to share a character study
on a Bible character.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Who is so familiar to me.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And by that I mean not only have I read
this story quite a few times, but I feel like
I know this guy.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I feel like.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I've met him one time in the mirror, and certain
things about him really spoke to me, And so I
just pray that the same will happen for you today
as I read this text. I want to just tell
you the spoiler alert right up front. Naymon in Second
King's Chapter five has leprosy and gets healed.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
But that's just the headline, and so there's a lot to.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Learn in the midst of it, and I want to
read a few verses and kind of drop in and
explain and move along in this narrative. The Bible says
in Second King's chapter five.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Verse one.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Now, Nayman was commander of the army of the King
of Aram. He was a great man in the sight
of his master, and highly regarded because through him the
Lord had given victory to aerm It's interesting the way
that is phrased, because it says it wasn't by him
(02:53):
that the victory was one, it was through him. And
I think understanding that is very critical if you were
to have any hope of remaining sane in your life,
just to know that God's going to do it through you.
You know, half of the time that I'm messed up
is because I'm trying to do it for God and
He's trying to do it through me. But he can't
do it through me when I'm trying to do it
for him, and so I just start forcing situations, and
(03:17):
then I'm frustrated and irritated and agitated, and I'm mad
at everybody and everything because I'm trying to do stuff
for people and for God that God would like to
do through me if I would yield myself and yield
my will. And this is even more interesting because Nayman
is not an Israelite. He's not one of these chosen
people as they understood it at the time. He's actually
(03:39):
a commander of an enemy army from Aram that would
consistently raid the Israelites and not only do damage to
their crops, but many.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Times take their people away in bondage.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
At the end of one of these raids. The Bible
says he was a great man in the sight of
his master, and highly regarded because through him, he was
highly regarded because of what he did. He was highly
regarded because of the results that he achieved. He was
highly regarded because of the outcomes that were brought about
(04:13):
through his skill set. And so he was a great
man in the sight of his master, and highly regarded
because through him. I'm reading it over and over on purpose,
because it's so profound that if we skim the surface
we will miss the meaning. He was a great man
in the sight of his master, and highly regarded because
(04:33):
through him the Lord had given victory.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
To aerm and he was a valiant soldier.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
But he had leprosy and incurable skin disease, a non
lethal form of it in this case, but a problem.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Nonetheless, he was great.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
But and depending on when you see someone in the
setting that you meet them in, you might sometimes more
acquainted with their victories than their vulnerabilities. That's why I
advocate just a little bit of time dating, just a
little bit of time to see them.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
In pressure filled situations, just a little.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Bit of time out of the candlelight, under the harsh
neon glow of some of the trials of life. Just
a piece of advice. But I can't prove it in
the Bible. But I think you know, depending on where
you see someone determines what you see.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
And I realize that's more and more now because I.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Think people think that they should behave in front of
a pastor. So when I meet people, a lot of
times I realize I might not be meeting the truest
version of them, do you know what I mean? They
might not always speak in Hebrew and Greek, they might
sometimes speak in other tongues. But when when I really
want to know about somebody, especially on staff, I don't
(05:54):
go off of my first impression, because I don't really
trust my first.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Impression of people any more. I used to. I used
to say I have discernment.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Now realize that a lot of what I thought was
discernment was really me just vibing off of somebody, or
maybe they reminded me of somebody, And I didn't like
some people that were really cool, consistent people, but I
thought they were boring. But the reason they were boring
is because they're not always having to create drama in
their life. And I found out that drama works good
in movies, but in real life, I don't want the
ticket to that show.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So now am I preaching already? This is just the
first verse.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And what I learned about myself is I need to
ask others.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I need to get references.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And at times i'll meet somebody on our staff and
it's not a small staff, and I don't know everybody
on the staff anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I used to.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I used to hand select people, and oh man, when
I hired the first staff member, I got the opportunity
to spend just hours and hours getting to know him,
so I knew his strengths and weaknesses pretty well.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But now I will ask someone about someone.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I ask somebody that works with them and has had
to work with them in a pressure hopefully if I can,
if I can get somebody that has had to work
with them when there was a deadline involved, or has
seen how they managed a disappointment, you know, and how
they treat others and things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
So I will ask how is so? And so let's.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Say that I wanted to know about JT.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I would ask. I would be like, hey, how's JT?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And I would wait for the person who knows them,
not the person who met them, but the person who
knows them to I would wait for them and see
how long they hesitate before they answer the question, because
I want to see how long they're going to scroll through,
you know. And sometimes people will say the right thing,
(07:44):
but it's the inflection in their voice they say it
with that lets you know there's something else. I'd be like, hey,
I've noticed JT on our staff. He seems like he
seems like a great guy. And if the person's voice
goes up when they answer.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
You got pay attention to that. And so it's like
how's JT? And they'll go, oh, he's great.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And when they hit that falsetto like unnatural soprano note,
he's great, it's the.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Sounds like axel rose, you know. Up there. I'm like,
but what everybody say?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
But what? Because one thing that has really helped me
in ministry and in life is to realize that everybody
has two eyes, two ears, one nose, one neck, most
people two arms, two legs, and everybody has at least
(08:46):
one But he was a great man. But it's in
the Bible, people, I'm not making it up. It said
that this great man.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
He's great.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But the problem with being a preacher is I can
see your eyes.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I can see your ears.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I can see whether or not you're taking notes, and
if you don't have a pin out, I'm judging you
so hard right now. I hope you feel the vibrations
of the flames of hell. The issue with this arrangement
is I can't see your but and it's probably better
(09:31):
that way. It's been a lot of my ministry preaching
to people's heads, preaching to people's intellect. And I messed
around and pastored this church now for over twelve years.
And I messed around and got a few straight grays
in my beard, and I messed around and got involved
in a few people's lives. And I messed around and
(09:53):
found out that everybody has a butt. And the only
way I knew it is that a few people showed.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Me there there.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I know it's awkward, and you know, half the reason
that sermons don't really register more than two hours sometimes
is because we're all trying to cover our butt. That's
the strategy most people come.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
To church with. See why, b cover your butt?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You cover it behind a big smile and appraise.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
The Lord in a chanda. You know I could do that?
Do you know what I'm saying? He was a great man,
but he had.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
A skin issue, and nobody can see that on the
battlefield because on the battlefield I got armor. And we
all have something that we use to cover a spot
in our life. Let's be honest, we're not talking about
human anatomy here. You have multiple bucks, You are great
(11:11):
with people, but you don't take care of yourself. You
see what I'm saying. You are really good at succeeding
and really bad at being content.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So I'm successful, but I'm miserable.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I'm killing it at work, but my fifteen year old
do I even have to finish this?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I got a.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Great marriage, I'm great, but I'm not making any money
right now. And I'm a good emotional provider, but financially,
you know, I never learned.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
How to do that.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
The thing about a really good encounter with God, you
can tell when you've encountered.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
God, it will expose.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Your and the way it happens, it'll often be an
unlikely way.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Let's talk about this in three stages. The first is exposure.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Nayman is perhaps changing one day in his own home,
and verse two says, bends of raiders from aarm Remember
he's a captain. He's a commander of these armies from Aram,
which would often go out and take different people captive.
And on one particular such occasion, the raiders from Aram
(12:43):
had gone out and had taken captive a young girl
from Israel. And she served Nayman's wife, and she said
to her mistress, if only my master would see the
prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Of his leprosy.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
And so the Bible says something really important in verse four.
Because you are not blessed based on the word of
God that you hear, or the word of God that
you understand, you are blessed, and your life is changed
in accordance with the word of God that you apply, obey,
and act on. That's why you can hear thirteen years
(13:25):
of teaching and still be mean as the serpent in
the garden of Eden. No That's why you can hear
a lot of teaching about love, but if you don't
make the decision to forgive.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
The teaching about love will be snatched.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Up by the birds of the air and will not
take root in your heart. So verse four becomes really
important if we really want to change, if we really
want to get beneath the surface, and you know, not
just have a skin deep spirituality and a skin deep
relationship with God where we can fake it for a
little while, and we create stages to impress people, and
we have armor that.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
We put on to go out into our job.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
We come home and feel like miserable, miserable people to
live with, or we feel like we don't know how
to be intimate, but we know how to be impressive.
And so as long as people only see us from
a distance, they don't really notice we're starting to cover
our skin and cover our souls and things that are
just leaping out of us.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
At all the wrong time.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Verse four says that Naman went to his master and
told him what the girl from Israel had said. And
this took courage, and it took humility for Naming to
go to his master and show his butt, to show
(14:39):
his vulnerability when he was a man with so many victories.
I just want to stay there for a minute, because
sometimes I feel like we use prayer as an opportunity
to read God our resume, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And while I think it's great.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
To celebrate all the Elias that we killed, sometimes the
giants in us are kicking our butt and we don't
say anything about it until it's too late. And I'm
getting bolder every year I passed her, as I commit
more and more to preaching to the part of you
that you would just as soon hide and never mention,
(15:23):
because I think that's where real help is found.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
And Naman went to his.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.
I mean, this is a servant girl. And Naman is
what a great man?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
A great man. He's a great man.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But he's got these spots that are starting to spread,
and if he doesn't do something soon, there's no telling
what might happen next. And since there are no essential
oils for this particular form of leprosy at this point
in antiquity, Nayman has to take the advice of a
little girl. And now we have a great man going
(16:00):
to an enemy nation in Israel because of the advice
of a little girl. Are you willing to obey God
even if he speaks through something that seems smaller than you,
because I notice a lot of us won't. A lot
of teenagers will listen to me preach and roll their
eyes at their parents. And I don't understand that because
(16:24):
I'm not paying for your college or your bracest.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I'm not even buying you ramen noodles.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
And sometimes I've noticed that men will listen to me preach,
but their wife knows them better than I do and
could say some things that would actually help them. It's
getting quiet, and even the women.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Left me out on that one.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
It's like that, I'm a cancel reflective, y'all, don't help
me with this sermon.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
It's something about exposure and when a spot in your.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Life, everybody says spot a leprous spot, something that is
consuming you that others can't see when it is exposed
by an experience. That's the second stage I wanted to
mention is experience, because things will happen in your life
and you'll come up upon situations that will expose something
that you would prefer to hide. And what you do
(17:17):
next determines whether you get healed. So Naman went to
his master and told him what the girl from Israel
had said. Verse five says that the king said, by
all means go, I will send a letter to the
King of Israel. So Naman left, taking with him ten
talents of silver six thousand shekels of gold. That's like
(17:40):
seventy five pounds of each. So Naman is going to
Israel with his resources to attain healing. He's gonna he's
gonna deal with this like he always deals with things,
because he's a great man. He's a persistent man, prepared man.
(18:01):
He's a powerful man. These other things that start with
the letter P as well and the letter that he
took to the King of Israel read with this letter,
I am sending my servant naming to you so that
you may cure him of his leprosy. There's all kind
of stuff wrong with that sentence. It's like the telephone
(18:21):
game we used to play when you pass a message
along to somebody and it starts out, we're having you
chicken for lunch, and it ends with I'm dying of cancer,
and you pass it down and it only takes three people.
This chain of communication has polluted the message itself because
number one, the servant girl didn't say the king can
heal him.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
It said the prophet can.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And sometimes we run to the wrong people because we
have our own ideas about where our help comes from.
Talk to me, and it's not the king that is
going to have the faith to get him healed. It's
the prophet. His name is Elisha. But the king sends
the commander to the king because you know, this is
(19:03):
to me, the most logical way to get him healed.
We'll go straight to the top. But watch the king's response.
And this is kind of interesting because when the king
gets the letter and Naman shows up with all of
the accumulated wealth that he believes it's gonna take to
get him healed. You know how, we have our own
ideas about what it's gonna take to make a change
in our life. And I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna
(19:26):
do it. I'm gonna go back, I'm gonna get my degree.
I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna get my degree. I'm
gonna eat. I'm gonna eat so much kale it's gonna
be coming out of my nose. I'm not eating gluten
again until twenty twenty four. I'm gonna do hot yoga
and cold yoga and powerlifting.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it all.
Mariema Bible. I'm gonna delete.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Every social media off my phone.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I'm never going on Facebook again.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I've got my face in the book. And he shows
up with a lot of stuff that he thinks he
canna need to get healed.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
But as soon verse.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Seven, as the King of Israel read the letter, he
tore his robes and said, am I God, you want
me to do what?
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I got?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
This friend, y'all, his name is Alex Early. He was
my college roommate and he used to make prank phone
calls in college and they were hilarious.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Most of them were clean.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
We were Christians, but he had the ability to push
people to their breaking point. He was a big fan
of a guy at the time who did prank calls
named roy D Mercer, and this guy was famous for
taking people right to the edge, and so we would laugh.
And we still have these phone calls recorded and one
day I'm going.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
To release them on SoundCloud.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
And these phone calls to me just bring me joy
at times, in my life, because everybody's reaction was the same.
He make up a million scenarios, you know. He would
use this name, this alias Dwyane McGraw Duwaine, and put
a thing over the e because it's French.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
My name is dew Wane McGraw.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
And he'd say, my boy Bobby is throwing up all
over the shag carpet because I came to the.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Grocery store and I bought bad milk.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And they would always say this, no matter what scenario
he made up. One time it'd be Bobby's throwing up
on the shag car. One time it'd be I took
my trousers to your laundromat and they shrunk up and
now they're coming up around my thighs and I look
like a European and you know, but whatever scenario he
would bring up, their response was generally the same. What
(21:16):
do you want me to do about it?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
The king?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
The king is like, you brought me a leopard? Do
you think I'm God? I'm not a doctor, I'm a king.
Have you ever felt like life brought you.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Something that was above your pay grate to handle? God?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
They're doing that thing again where they sit there and
look at me like they always have it together and
they have all the answers. Because I looked at my
kids the other day and said, I am not Google.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I am not a search engine. I do not know. Furthermore,
I do not care. Get out of my face.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night
and replay things that I've said to my kids and
feel so bad that I have to get up and
baptize myself in the baptob.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And get saved again just as I am without one. Please,
Oh Lamb of God, what do you want from me?
I'm only a man? And the King says, I know
what this is.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
This man can I kill and bring back to life.
He's triggered because he is confronted with a situation that
he is unable to transform. And whenever life presents you
with something that you were.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Not equipped for.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
So you got to be a dad and you didn't
have a dad. You got to pay a bill, but
God didn't.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Give you a job.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
You've got to step into something that you've never seen
before with the faith to believe that it's already done.
And it can be exasperating to the point watch this
that you allow your past experience to contaminate your perspective
of the present moment.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Remember what I said.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
The King of Aaron, Benedett the second would often go
and invade Jehoram's land Jahamas, king of Israel. And so
when he gets the letter saying, hey, can you help
my guy name in can you heal my guy naming?
It triggered within him a traumatic memory of the last
(23:35):
time he was attacked, and so he goes off.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Not because of the situation that.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
He's experiencing, but because of past experiences.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Do you ever wonder why you go off?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And it's inexplicable, like the level of the offense does
not match the level of the outrage, and you wonder.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Why what was that all about? Hell?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
You ever with the elevation church sticker on your car
said some words that weren't blessed the Lord, Oh my soul?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
And wonder you know how y'all think Holly is so sweet?
What time in college she was singing a worship.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Song in her Ford contour, and the song said I
was there, I was.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
In the passenger seat.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
The song said, you are so patient with me?
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Lord.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
She didn't get to Lord before she was screaming at
the at the dodge ram that pulled out in front
of her, and she's loud. Holly is like, when she's
up here, it reflects she'll be smiling. But I'm gonna
tell you something about Hollyford.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
What what is that all about? Where did that voice
come from?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
We and then the devil starts telling you all, well,
you know you're not a real Christian, you're hypocrite.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Some of y'all are gonna lose it before the day
is over.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Because of your fantasy football lineup. No, not because of
anything significant to anything having to do with real life
in any way, because of other men that have absolutely
no effect on you other than one hundred dollars at
the end.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Of the season. And you wonder why did I go
off like that?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
It's understandable because we live in not only the age
of anxiety, but if you noticed, we live in the age.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Of outrage too.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
How trendy it is now to just get mad about
anything that you don't like the first time you hear it. Well,
you'll arent going to like this part of the sermon.
I don't think too much, but can I be honest
with you, I don't really care what shoes you were
to church today. No, maybe my perspective is different, but
(26:07):
I spend too much time seeing people's butts to care
about what you have on your feet today.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So I don't have time when teen suicide is.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
In an all time high to check and see if
you're wearing Adidas or Nike, if you got yeezes, or
you want to just do it.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I don't really have time to debate with you.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
About a sluice or a commercial or getting.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Mad about I really don't have.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Time for it up here when people's lives are on
the line. I really don't have time for it in here,
when people are on antidepressants in a rate that's making
them more depressed, but they.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Don't know where else to turn, and we're run into
all kinds of places that.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Are leaving us empty, but we want to fight.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
There will be at least one comment on this YouTube
video about the holes in my jeans? Are you for
real right now? But it triggers something. You're not fighting
me over shoes, You're not fighting me over jeans.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
One moment told me until you save your beard, I
can't watch you anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
This is psychotic, she said. I'm praying for you. I
want to say, I'm praying for you. I'm a fast
forty days. If you're that messed up.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I don't know why I went off.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I think like for me, this is just what I'm
working through, and so this makes you think I'm crazy.
You're right, but I'm going through this season of my
life where I don't want to keep blaming my environment
or consulting things that happened in my life, because the
cross of Jesus Christ gives me a new reality and
(28:14):
it really changes everything in the sense that all of
my life has to be viewed through that lens of
what He did for me and who he says I am.
If I'm not careful, I'll be like the King who,
when confronted with an impossible situation that reminded him of
a past hurt, he inflicted the opportunity of his present
(28:35):
moment with the pain of his past. Do you see
what I'm saying He projected. See every time he dealt
with aerm, it was an attack. And now it's an
opportunity for this man to be healed and see what
God can do. But if what you went through isn't
healed by what Christ did for you, you will treat
(28:56):
the opportunity like an attack.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
And I've noticed that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
But like I spent a lot of my time fighting
stuff that God is actually sending into my life. I
spent a lot of my time fighting against people that
I'm not really mad at.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
It's really not them. Tell the person next to you,
it's not you, it's me. It's me. I'm a perfectionist,
and so.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Sometimes when things aren't just like I want them to be,
or here's what really happens, it really happens with my expectation.
Put that word up there, because when I expect it
to be one way and it's the other.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Like when I went off on my dad a few
years ago, it was because I rented him a house.
I moved him and my mom to Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Well, I didn't move him, I hired movers and then
they got fired because my dad was crazy, and it
was so funny. It really wasn't funny. It's funny now,
can we laugh about it? How ah?
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
But the day I went to see him, and the
story has a happy end, and then we ended up
being together and it was good and all that. But
in between, remember naming gets healed at the end of
this story. But there's some stuff in the middle that
I want to talk to you about. Because in the
middle of that, that whole messy situation with my dad,
I remember going over to check on them one day
and I was so proud of the house that Holly
(30:25):
had found that we rented for them, and my mom
liked it and she was happy, and my dad. The
first thing he said, I walk through though, he said,
this ain't gonna work, Bo, And I know honor your
father and mother and the Lord.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I know that Bible verse, I promise you, I know it.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I even know that that honor is Cavat and Hebrew,
and it can also be translated glory and wait.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
But the only thing I wanted in that moment, I'm
gonna just be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I don't like to be disrespected, and it felt disrespectful
to me, and so I went off. And it really
wasn't what he said, because really what he wanted was
just a few small tweaks. But I couldn't hear that anymore,
you know.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Because my expectation was that he was going to meet
me at the door and give me a big ol' hug.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
And say, my son and whom I am, well pleased,
and the dove with the sin. But he didn't read
my script. What do you do when people don't read
your script? Meet your expectation? And here's where the story
gets good, because I want you to notice that the
(31:38):
same event that triggered the king and made him go
into fear mode, which is usually what's happening when we're
lashing out or withdrawing, because not everybody fights outwardly. Some
of us bobble it up inwardly, and then we never
go off.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
One day, we just.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Tap out, and you wonder, how did they drop like that? Well,
it's usually a series of met expectations. In this case,
the King of Israel, jehosh he's traumatized to the point
that he thinks that everything is a fight. It says
it in the text. See how he is trying to
pick a quarrel with me. That's verse seven. See how
(32:15):
they're looking at me. See they didn't even wave at me.
See I told this is a Southern thing. You're supposed
to wave at people when you drive by them. The
town I grew up in, you waived at everybody. And
the first time that we were driving through the neighborhood
and Holly didn't wave at people. I corrected her. I
was like, what is wrong with you? She's not from
(32:36):
Monks Corners, She's from Miami, and it's a different culture.
It's an inferior culture of rudeness.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
And so.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Anytime that you've been used to in your life, you've
been used to fighting. If life has really been a
fight for you, if you've had to fight for your
mental health, or you've had to fight for your emotional health,
or if you've had to fight through issues of bitterness
and forgiveness because of abuse, if you've had to fight
for your own and fight to make it, or if
you had to fight your own family, when you've had
to fight over and over again, everything looks like a fight.
(33:14):
Everything looks like a threat. Everything sounds like an insult.
Every time somebody doesn't check on you, it feels like abandonment.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
It's the.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Trauma that's being triggered. But what's encouraging to me what
I got up here to tell you about today, Because
this is pretty depressing so far. But the same stimulus
that triggered fear in the King's heart triggered faith in Elisha's.
The Bible says in verse eight when Elisha, the man
of God, heard that the King of Israel had torn
(33:44):
his robes. He sent him this message. Now watch this
the king. The king said, who do you think I am?
You think I can? You think I'm a healer? Elisha said,
I know God is a healer. So watch the Have
the man come to me, and he will know that
(34:05):
there is a prophet in Israel. This man said, where
you see, where you see opposition, I see opportunity. And
the same thing that triggered you to tear your robes
and freak out and fall down in fear triggered Elisha
to rise up in faith. Elisha said, send him to me,
(34:28):
because the word of God is with me. Now Elisha
has an experience to build this expectation on.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Elisha has healed the waters at Jericho. Elisha has multiplied
the widow's oil.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Elisha has spoken to parent wounds, and when that child died,
spoke life and it resurrected from the dead. Elisha has
dug ditches in dry valleys and seen God bring water
from the direction of edom. Elisha has seen God do
things that only God can do. And so when an
impossible situation that is beyond him shows up, Elisha knows
what do.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Bring him here to me. I got something for nameMan.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I heal lepers for breakfast. Bring him to me and
he will know not how great I am, but how
great God is.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
And so watch verse nine. I love this story.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Naman went with his horses and chariots and his expectations
and his leprosy and his greatness and his butt, and
he brought it all because he wanted to be healed.
I know you want to be healed of something today,
even though you've been covering it up. And I know
(35:40):
you use your charisma to cover your cracks. And I
know that nobody knows how dark the thoughts can really
get for you sometime.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
But I've been doing this too long to sit there
and preach to your armor.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Because a business leader walked up to me and told
me that he had to kick his teenager out of
his house.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
He said, we.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Almost got in a fistfight, he said, I swung at
him and missed.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
I realized this has gone way too far.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
And then the man had on khakis while he was
telling me, pleaded khakis, double pleated khakis, no tattoos, but
didn't look like the kind of guy that would swing
on his kid. But I don't even really think you've
(36:35):
seen your own butt until you've been through certain things.
And then the weird thing is we all have short
term memory loss if we have one devotion and read
our Bible one morning.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Now we start.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Judging other people when they flip out.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
And so.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Naming is on the verge of something. I travel a
long way to get here. It's like a ninety mile trip,
and he's got a big crew with him, and he
needs a miracle, and.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
We admire him because.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
He went I do, at least I think to even
get to this point takes faith. And maybe one of
the reasons I don't put a lot of condemnation or
I try not to in my preaching, is because I'm
pretty proud of you who decided to show up anyway.
I know how many things could have kept you from
(37:31):
being here, and I'm pretty proud that you made the
decision to bring your butt to church. Give yourself a
hand for bringing your butt to church. And if you're
watching online, you don't get to clap. It's different. So
nae Man went with his horses and chariots, stopped at
(37:54):
the door of Elicia's house and Elcius and a messenger, Oh,
this is not gonna go well, because Naming is a
great man. And when a great man comes to your
doorstef you give him a great greeting and you welcome
him by name.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Man. I'm a retired This is my last sermon. Y'all
enjoy it. He sent a.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Messenger to say to him, go wash yourself seven times
in the Jordan.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
In the what in the Jordan? You mean that muddy
little excuse for a.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
River that y'all like to celebrate so much in this
nation of Israel, which I don't even like anyway.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
And he didn't even come to the door and name.
It went off.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
No, he literally went off, not in the figurative sense.
He literally decided, I would rather go home with my leprosy.
I'd rather go home and my arm fall off. I
would rather go I would rather die than be disrespected
like this. And when he heard this ridiculous command, he says,
(38:59):
some very important.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
In the instruction. It was a simple instruction. It was
a stupid instruction.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
It didn't make much sense, just like it doesn't make
much sense when God tells you to forgive somebody so
that you can be forgiven. And you want to say, well, God,
if they ask for it, I'll give it. And God
says to you, I'm not talking about what they deserve.
I'm talking about your deliverance. I'm talking about your clean heart.
I'm talking about your clear mind. So if you want
(39:29):
to get cleansed, I need you to do something that
makes no sense, because there is no cure for leprosy.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
It can't be cured.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
It's got to be cleansed, and it can only be
cleansed if you obey this command. And verse eleven starts
so sad, But there it is again. I'm gonna preach
a whole series one day on the.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Butts of the Bible. Stand in front of a miracle standing.
I mean, the guys around him are like, Okay, that's
all we gotta do. Naming.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
You could keep the seventy five pounds of silver and
the seventy five pounds of gold, and you can pass
out the ten sets of clothing.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
And we could go home. We can start back home.
That's easy. Somebody start running the water. Naming.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
You want it hot, You want an extra hot naming.
You want a rubber ducky, get the towel ready. You
want some sunscreen. But it's a funny thing about pride.
It's a funny thing about the small things. It's a
(40:46):
funny thing about something that seems beneath you. Remember the
King was triggered because of something that seemed beyond him.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Am I God? And Naming is triggered because of something
that seems beneath me. You want me to do what?
Uh huh, I'm not doing that. Uh huh.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
No. See, because when your heart is filled with pride,
you try to write your own prescriptions. This is how
I want God to bless me. This is how I
want God to come through. This is how I want
God to heal me. This is how I wanted to
respond this opportunity I want. This is so Naming went away,
angry said, this is two very dangerous words. By the way,
(41:35):
this is this is maybe the two most dangerous words
for you to interpret your life through. I thought, I thought,
maybe those two words are the two words that are
standing between me and peace today.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
I thought, I thought my dad was going to be
grateful for the house.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Now he's telling me about getting somebody over here to
fix the Huh.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
I thought I thought you'd say thank you.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
I thought you'd grow up and play piano and put
you in lessons, I thought, I thought.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I thought he would surely.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Come out to me and stand and call on the
name of the Lord is God. See, many men had
it all planned out, because that's what great men do.
Great men make great plans, and when those plans don't
go the way that they were supposed to go, great
men go off, great women go off. Because I had
(42:44):
this family picture, and here's where you were supposed to stand,
and here's where you were supposed to smile, and here's
where you were supposed to and here's where you were.
I thought, could those two words be standing between you
and healing today? I thought, God says, my thoughts are
not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways.
(43:07):
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so are my thoughts above your thoughts, and my ways
above your ways. But Naman went away angry and said,
I thought that I thought he'd come out to me.
I thought, I thought he would see because I had
this worked out. He comes to me, and then I
(43:28):
give him the gifts and I get the healing.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
This is how this works.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Not this time, name it, not this time, this transformation
is not going to happen on your terms. God's not
going to do it like you expected. He's not going
to be held hostage to what you thought. So I
(43:53):
thought that he would surely come out to me and
stand and call him the name of the Lord is God.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
And waya his hand.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
So he's supposed to wave, he's supposed to wave his
hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.
He doesn't like the place God told him to get healed.
Are not Abna and far part of the rivers of
Damascus better than all the waters of Israel. I didn't
have to come here for this. Couldn't I washing them
and be cleansed. So he turned and went off in
(44:25):
a rage, and one of his servants, this guy needs
a raise, by the way, went to him.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Notice how beautiful the story is told. It's chronicled like this.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Namon went to his master and said, I need permission
to go to Israel. So he went to the king,
and the king said I can't do it. Then he
went to Elisha with his chariots and horses. And now
Namon went off in a rage, and he's about to
He's about to miss the opportunity to be healed because
he is going off. And here's why he went off,
(44:59):
because he didn't go in, and he went off because
he made his decision about what he thought about it,
but he didn't go in. You know, I've noticed something
about myself when I don't go into the presence of God,
when I don't go in and ask God, what are
you doing in this situation?
Speaker 1 (45:19):
When I don't go.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Into myself and seek for the spirit of God to
leave me, I start going off, and then I spend
the next week fixing stuff that if I would have
taken one moment and worshiped, if I would have taken
one moment and sought God's wisdom, if I would have
taken one moment and said, you know what, I don't
want to fight about this.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
I don't want to be right. I want to be healed.
I don't want to prove my own power. I want
to receive your power God.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
And what happens next is really beautiful because some of
you are going to do it today.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Stand with me.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
The servant came to Namen and says something that I
think is very prophetic, and I hope you can hear
it on the level which it is intended. The servant
Chase naming down Naman is on his way.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
Back to Damascus.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
He's gonna walk ninety miles back home with leprosy still
on his skin because of something that seemed too small
and insignificant for a great man like him to do.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
He's gonna spend.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
The rest of his life with this disease because he
didn't want to do what he was told to do.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
And the servant said, hey man, sir.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Nayman, if the prophet had told you to do some
great thing, would.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
You not have done it? Well, of course I would,
because I'm a great man.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Well, if you're a great man, how much more should
you be able to do a small thing? So when
he tells you washould be cleansed, why not give it
a try? You know, you've been fighting so hard justifying
(47:12):
your side of the story and justifying yourself and why
is all right?
Speaker 1 (47:17):
And why is okay?
Speaker 2 (47:18):
But hey man, why not if we already came ninety miles,
if we already came this far, and that profit is
telling you that if you dip in the Jordan you
can be cleansed, isn't it worth a try? You already
(47:40):
went to your master and got the letter. You already
went with your horses and chariots. Now you've now you're
going off in a rage. But verse fourteen is the
happy ending, and I believe it's a new beginning for
many of us today. The Bible says, so he went
down and dipped himself in the Jordan. I'm glad after
(48:07):
Naman went off, he went in, and he went in
not just once, not just twice, not just three times,
not just four times, not just five times, not just
six times, but all seven. Often, when you're in the
process of obeying God, you see no immediate effects of change.
(48:29):
It's not like your skin gets healed a little bit
with every dip.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Woo woo woo.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
You got to have the faith to go through the
motions even when you see no evidence. Go am I
talking to him? You got to have the faith to
go down and pray again, to lift up your hands
and worship and say, I don't feel.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
A thing right now.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
But God is with me, and God is for me,
And who can be against me? And I will not
fear though a host of enemies and camps uponut me.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
I will not be afraid. The Lord is my helper.
I lift my eyes to the hills. My help comes
from the Lord. By your head, and close your eyes
for a moment.
Speaker 2 (49:23):
I believe this is a significant word for someone in
the room who is about to go off.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Maybe you've been going off, maybe you already went off.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
I don't just mean temper tantrums, breaking stuff, throwing pictures
around the room.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
I mean that there is something that God has given
you to do in.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
Your life that seems so ridiculous that you, like naymen,
are at the point of frustration. I want to speak
a word over your life today that in this moment,
the only way to receive healing is through your surrender.
As long as you want to stay in control of
(50:05):
those situations, they will continue to consume you. And that's
what the presence of God is for. This is the
Jordan river that you can dip in seven times. The
Bible says that when he did it, his flesh was
restored like a young boy. Isn't that amazing that the
great man became like a young boy and he was healed?
Speaker 1 (50:30):
And isn't it interesting.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
That God's greatest golden Nayman's life was not to heal
his skin, but to produce faith in his heart.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Lift your hands in this moment, Father, I thank.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
You for every person, and I thank you for every problem.
I thank you for the great things, and I thank
you for the butt. Somebody in this room has an addiction.
Somebody in this room has an illness. Somebody in this
room has a heavy depression, and they see no signs
(51:06):
of change. And they have really, really attractive armor, and
so nobody can see but you what they're fighting with
on the inside, and they keep pushing people away that
you send to help them. In this moment, God, may
(51:27):
this be the first dip in the process of their deliverance.
And thank you for the Cross of Jesus Christ that
we stand under and look to today for our healing
and forgiveness and redemption has already been accomplished. I thank
you that we are not healed, cleansed, or cured by achieving,
(51:48):
but by receiving. Stretch your hands high as you can
stretch them. We receive your grace in this moment, your mercy.
In this moment, healing waters wash over our soul.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
Oh, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!