Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes
you deeper into the Word of Godthroughout your week with your
hosts, Pastors Lee and Jim.
It's time to inspire, upliftand dig deeper.
Beyond Sunday starts now.
Welcome back to Beyond Sunday.
(00:32):
I'm Pastor Jim sitting herewith Pastor Lee.
We are the hosts of the BeyondSunday podcast and we also
pastor the church Christ FamilyOutreach here in Amelia,
Virginia, and, as always, I'msitting across from Pastor Lee.
Pastor Lee, how are you doingtoday?
I'm blessed, brother.
What's going on?
How are you, man, doing?
Very, very well, I'm excited toget into today's episode.
We're going to be jumping backinto the Old Testament,
something that I know is nearand dear to you, as you love the
(00:53):
Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Absolutely, man, I really do.
I love preaching from the OldTestament.
I love the New Testament aswell, but I really like how the
Old and New Testament they tieinto one another so beautifully.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
And when you see that , you just understand that God's
Word is truth.
It is absolutely truth.
And you know, today we're goingto be in a story about trusting
God's guidance, even when itfeels like you might be drowning
in some murky waters.
And we'll be in 2 Kings,chapter 5, and we're going to be
dealing with this story ofNaaman and his healing.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, let's get right into it.
2 Kings, chapter 5, verse 1,says this Naaman, commander of
the army of the king of Syria,was a great man, with his master
and in high favor, because byhim the Lord had given victory
to Syria.
He was a mighty man of valor,but he was a leper.
So let's talk about that,pastor Jim.
Neman being the commander ofthe army meant that he was the
(01:51):
number two man in the nation,right?
So Neman's got it going on, youwould think.
Anyway, he's got the reputation,he's got power.
No doubt he and his family arefinancially secure, but there's
a problem that he's facing thatcannot be fixed.
Neman has leprosy, and leprosyis not going to be fixed by
(02:15):
Neman's reputation.
Leprosy is not going to befixed by the authority and the
power that Neman has gained forhimself, and it surely is not
going to be fixed by thefinancial clout that he has.
And maybe there's somelisteners out there right now
that feel like everything isgoing smoothly in your life,
just like it was with Naman,right?
But deep down, you've got thisone thing.
You've got this one issue, thisone problem, this one person,
(02:35):
this one circumstance that notmany other people know about and
, like Naman, your successes inlife are not going to fix the
problem, and so what that meansis that you need a power that is
not of yourself, it's a powerthat's not of your own to handle
the situation.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, I think oftentimes as Christians we can
rely so much and so heavily onour own personal experiences,
especially those who get savedlater on in life.
If you're 35 years old andyou've lived 35 years of life
and you've come to a churchservice or you've had your
experience that's changed yourentire life, it can still be
(03:15):
hard to take all of your lifeexperiences and knowing that you
can trust yourself and say I'mno longer going to trust myself,
I'm going to trust my Lord.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, you bring up a great point, man, because that
person has had 35 years of doingit pretty much their way.
You know, now, coming up as achild in their home they had to
follow rules and everything likethat.
But you know what's the onething that high school age kids
want to do?
They want to break free fromtheir parents.
They want to go live their ownway, right, their own rules.
(03:46):
I remember when Erica and I gotmarried, it's the night of our
honeymoon.
We had just left the church.
We're heading to a halfwaypoint to where our honeymoon was
going to be.
We're going to stay the nightthere at a halfway point.
And it was so weird man ridingdown the road, thinking and we
even said it to ourselves likehow weird this feels that we
don't have to call home andcheck in and tell our parents,
(04:07):
like what time we're gettinghome.
You know what I'm saying.
So like we tasted that freedom,man, and that freedom was so
good, you know.
So I totally get Pastor Jim,what you're saying.
Right.
It's like, especially, you say35, man, think about the person
who comes even later than thatand like 45, 55, 65, 75.
You know, I know at one of ouroutreaches that we did a couple
years ago.
There was a gentleman who,someone from our church, led to
(04:30):
Christ he was 92 years old, Iknow said he never heard of
Jesus, never heard of Jesus.
So think about that man, 92years old, pretty much having it
your way right for 92 years andall of a sudden you've got to
surrender to King Jesus, you'vegot to surrender to Father God
and you've got to realize thatit's no longer about having it
your way.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, and I think something else to look at
specifically for Neman is he hadeverything at his
fingertips—power, status,success—but the one thing that
he couldn't fix was his leprosy.
You know he had to deal withthat, and so what does that do
to his mentality?
You know, like I can do allthese things, but I'm stuck with
this disease.
(05:09):
So what does that do tosomeone's mentality?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I was reading a study book on this, just preparing
for this episode.
And he was a commander of thearmy, which meant he would have
been in public.
He would have been in public'seye.
When you had leprosy youweren't supposed to be around
people, right?
Oftentimes it would cause youto be outcast.
So in the study book I wasreading on this, their take was
they believe that his leprosywould not have been all over his
(05:36):
body, because we know he was inaction, commanding the army.
It says that God gave successto the army through him, so it's
believed that his leprosy washe was able to hide it, so it
would have been somewhere underclothing.
How many times in life do wehide leprosy, if you will?
(05:56):
How many times do we hide sin?
How many times do we hide ourissues?
And that's really, I think,what we're going to touch on a
lot in today's episode is youknow, these things that we hide,
we truly have to give them overto the Lord, and the only way
that we're going to be healed ofthese things, we're going to be
delivered and set free fromthese things, is if we stop
dealing with them in our ownstrength and we just say okay,
(06:18):
god, here it is.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Here it is man that's so good, and it's not just the
surrender and the humility ittakes to do that, it's also
finding what God tells us to doto get rid of it, and being
obedient right, exactly Doingwhat the instructor, god, says
to do, following theinstructions.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So that's going to bring us to 2 Kings, chapter 5,
2 through 5.
And the word of God praise theLord says this Now the Syrians,
on one of their raids, hadcarried off a little girl from
the land of Israel, and sheworked in the service of Naman's
wife.
She said to her mistress, wouldthat my Lord were with the
prophet who is in Samaria, hewould cure him of his leprosy.
(06:54):
So Naman went in and told hisLord Thus.
And so spoke the girl from theland of Israel, and the king of
Syria said go now.
Spoke the girl from the land ofIsrael, and the king of Syria
said go now and I will send aletter to the king of Israel.
So what I'd like to point outhere, pastor Jim, is this girl
who's been seized and now she'sgoing to be a slave to Neman's
(07:16):
wife.
She may be little in size but,brother, she's mighty in
testimony, right, she's beentaken captive and we don't see
that she's bitter to the pointof shutting down.
She obviously doesn't want theworst for Namon.
She's not just like back off inthe corner snickering and
laughing that Namon's got thisdisease of leprosy that could be
(07:36):
spreading.
Oftentimes, leprosy would leadto death back then, right.
So she could have easily juststepped back and been like well,
you know what you took me.
You know you probably harmed myfamily, you harmed my neighbors
and you took me a slave in thatraid.
But instead of remaining silent, instead of being bitter, she
offers hope.
Instead of letting the enemyuse her and harden her heart and
shut her down, she's offeringhope and love in this situation.
(08:00):
So, pastor Jim, there's a lotto learn from there.
But how many times in life haveGod's people remained silent
because we didn't want to helppeople who didn't help us or who
had wronged us?
Right?
So this girl's witness wentfrom her lips all the way to the
ears of a king.
So there's power in ourtestimony.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, and you know she's a child.
The Bible talks to us abouthaving a childlike faith.
You know she's a child.
The Bible talks to us abouthaving a childlike faith.
And I wonder how many times asgrown-ups, right seasoned
experiences that kind of castdoubt on the things that would
be miracles.
So like I'm walking throughlife and there's just no way
that this is going to happen.
But a child walks up and justsays, hey, what about this?
(08:41):
Yeah, why not?
And it's innocent, you know.
So she's just sitting in thecorner and she's looking at this
and she's like, well, whydoesn't he just ask God to heal
him?
Amen.
So scripture talks about havinga childlike faith, exactly yeah
.
So we can learn a lot from thislittle girl saying have you
even considered this?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, from the corner of the room right Chiming in.
Yeah, I think it's powerful.
The point that I want to kindof retouch on and just get your
thoughts on it the words, as Imentioned a moment ago, they go
from her lips to the ears ofNeman and his wife, to the ears
of Neman and his wife, and itgoes from Neman to his king, his
(09:24):
boss, so she says something intheir home and it gets all the
way to the palace of the king,to the one who has the authority
and the power and the say-so tobe able to give Neman the
blessing to go right.
So there's power in ourtestimony and I think far too
often Christians remain silentand when we've remained silent
(09:47):
we don't offer hope, joy andlove.
That should be being offeredthrough our words.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, I think you could also attach it to prayer.
Look at who answers our prayers.
Where does the prayer in myquiet time reach?
The King of Kings.
So sometimes we just need tospeak, be willing to speak out
loud our prayers, our needs, andthe King, who is Jehovah Jireh,
(10:12):
our provider, will provide forus.
He will hear our prayers.
Absolutely, brother.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Moving forward.
2 Kings 5-6-8 says this, myfriends, and he bought the
letter to the king of Israel,which read when this letter
reaches you, know that I havesent to you Naaman, my servant,
that you may cure him of hisleprosy.
And when the king of Israelread the letter, he tore his
clothes and said Am I God tokill and to make alive that this
(10:37):
man sends word to me to cure aman of his leprosy?
Only consider and see how he isseeking a quarrel with me.
But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel
had torn his clothes, he sent tothe king saying why have you
torn your clothes?
Let him come now to me that hemay know that there is a prophet
(10:58):
in Israel.
So I love, pastor Jim, I lovehow Elisha steps up.
When the king chose not to, theking steps back, elisha steps
forward Like hey, wait a minute,we have a chance, king.
We have a chance to show thatthere is a prophet in Israel.
In other words, because there'sa prophet in Israel, god is
(11:19):
still speaking to his people.
So hey, let's see what God'sgoing to do here.
And just like the point thatyou referenced earlier with the
little girl here.
The little girl is all the wayin this distant land, in the
house of Naaman.
She's a slave and she says hey,wait a minute, there's a
prophet in Israel, god can fixthis.
And here we have the prophetthat she's referencing, here we
(11:42):
have Elisha, and Elisha's likehey, wait a minute, wait a
minute, god can fix this, godcan fix this.
You know, I think it's veryinteresting how the king makes
this all about him and it's likewhoa, wait a minute, you trying
to pick a fight with me, youtrying to pick a fight with me,
you know so.
The king tries to make it abouthim, but Elisha steps up.
He's like no, no, no, this isnot about us.
(12:02):
This is the fact that God iswilling to speak through us and
God is willing to do a workthrough us.
Just, pastor Jim, just like heis in the church today, god is
willing to speak through hispeople and use his people to
show that there is a God aliveand well in heaven.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
How many times in our own walk have we hit a wall and
be like man?
Well, this just stinks andwe've made it about us and we've
gotten to our own feelings andwe miss blessings and we miss
opportunities for testimonies tospeak louder than what our
words or actions could ever make, and we need to be reminded of
this too.
So when we're in that funk,it's important to us also as
Christians, that when we see ourbrothers and sisters hitting
(12:40):
this wall, when we see ourbrothers and sisters taking
things personal, we have to bethe ones that come up behind,
put our arm around them andremind them how Elisha's doing
to the king here.
Oh, this isn't about you, lookwhat God can do.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
That's right.
When you hit that wall you gotto get back up.
I remember when I was younger,much younger, just a child and I
was over at my cousin's house.
They had a very wide, openfloor plan, a beautiful home,
and we're running around thehome, the adults are all in the
in the living room, living roomarea and they're they're they're
(13:13):
kind of hanging out andvisiting one another and the
cousins are all running aroundthe house, right, and they've
got a Florida room on one end ofthe house and it was glass
everywhere.
The entire wall of the livingroom and the Florida room and
the dining room just had glasswindows everywhere and the door
to the Florida room, pastor Jim,was shut and it was a glass
door.
I mean just glass everywhere.
It's a beautiful home and mybrother obviously we didn't live
(13:37):
there so he wasn't used to it,so he didn't see that the glass
door was shut.
So he, literally full steamahead, is running from someone
chasing him and hide and go seekand he runs, slam into this
glass door and I rememberwatching it, not realizing glass
was there myself, everythingwas clean, it was daytime out so
light was shining through.
(13:57):
He hits this thing andliterally bounces off of it and
I remember seeing the glass inthe door just kind of flex and
go back and forth Right.
Praise God you can get cut.
Glass didn't break, he didn'tget hurt, other than some pride
and his forehead.
He hit it with his foreheadrunning, running forward, but he
bounced back.
And as you say that aboutpicking one another up when we
(14:18):
run into a wall, I'm reminded ofthat because some pickups are
going to be more difficult thanothers.
Some people are just going toneed a little push forward, some
people we're going to need todrag them up.
You know, some people are downand out, like my brother was.
Some people could be dazed andconfused, but can I just say
that everybody rushed over to mybrother to check on him in
hopes that he was well.
And isn't that a great pictureof the church.
(14:39):
When someone gets knocked down,the church body should be
running over, ready to dowhatever it takes to make this
person get back up on their feet, even if it means we've got to
hold them for a while while theymourn, even if it means we've
got to get under their arms andlift them up spiritually, even
if it means we've got toencourage them in love, even if
we feel like we don't have awhole lot to give.
(15:00):
We've got to give what we cangive.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, the Bible says that God's our refuge and our
strength, right Amen, and thathe's very present in our trouble
.
Yeah, and so it's just a simplereminder of hey, hey, hey,
don't forget who your God is,that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
He's always there when, when you're running into
that wall, when you're runninginto that door, he's there.
When you fall down, he's there.
When people are there to pickyou up, it's because he's there.
He's present.
Yeah, 2 Kings 5, 9 through 12says so.
Naaman came with his horses andchariots and stood at the door
of Elisha's house and Elishasent a messenger to him saying
(15:33):
Go and wash in the Jordan seventimes and your flesh shall be
restored and you shall be clean.
But Naman was angry and wentaway saying behold, I thought
that he would surely come out tome and stand and call upon the
name of the Lord, his God, andwave his hand over the place and
cure the leper.
Are not Abana and Farfar, therivers of Damascus, better than
(15:53):
all the waters of Israel?
Could I not wash in them and beclean?
So he turned and went away in arage.
So it's almost as if Neman islooking for a show.
He wants a type of ceremonialprocedure in order to make this
thing official.
But what he missed is that theword was sent, directions to be
(16:14):
healed of the leprosy wasdelivered, but Neman I know he
wanted the healing, but it'slike before the healing.
He even wants the healing tocome with pomp and circumstance.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, he asked for healing, but because it wasn't
what he thought it should looklike, he rejected it.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've seen
people in counseling and theywant their marriage healed.
But no, no, no.
I want my husband to get right,but only if it comes in these
terms.
Or I want my wife to get right,but only if it comes in these
terms.
And the thing is, is that God'sways are higher and greater
than our ways?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
We are a people that when we think of miracles, we've
so glorified and made miraclessomething out, to be something
spectacular, and we forget thatmiracles are in the everyday,
even in the mundane.
What we would call mundane aremiracles.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I like to say that waking up is a miracle.
Exactly, I don't have theability, the know-how, the power
or the authority to make mybody healthy enough to wake up
every day.
I mean, if we did, no one wouldever die, right, we would just
continue to make sure we woke upall the time.
So I'm thankful that God haschosen to give me another
(17:26):
opportunity to do today betterthan what I did with myself
yesterday.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, and because we take for granted the miracles
that are what we would saymundane, we don't see the
grandeur of those big like ohman, that person was paralyzed
and now they're walking.
What that does is it createsthis doubt that speaks louder
than what we think.
God is speaking to us.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, and I think what it has done is it has
minimized the observance ofmiracles, and we have miracles
around us all the time, butwe're not seeing them because
it's not coming in the fashion,the form, the pomp and
circumstance that we haveexpected miracles to come and if
we're not careful, that cancause us to doubt God's plan
when it doesn't look like whatwe imagined it to be right.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
But trusting means obeying His voice, even when
others question what we're doing.
And the question really iswhere are you struggling to
trust God's life?
Where are you struggling totrust God's call because of
doubts or pressures that you'reexperiencing?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yeah, yeah, 2 Kings 5 , 13 and 14 says this.
But his servants came near andsaid to him my father, it is a
great word.
The prophet has spoken to you,will you not do it?
Has he actually said to youwash and be clean?
So he went down and dippedhimself seven times in the
Jordan, according to the word ofthe man of God, and his flesh
(18:50):
was restored like the flesh of alittle child, and he was clean,
amen.
I mean, it was the servants whocame to him and was like hey,
knock, knock Anybody home.
Come on Naman.
Like, wake up, call man.
This thing that he's asking youto do, is it not a great word?
I mean, look how easy it is.
Just go down there and dipseven times in this water.
Imagine the faith that it takesfor Neman to go down each time
(19:13):
only to come up not yet clean.
Right, the first dip throughthe sixth dip, every time he
came up.
And not only is he coming upwith his leprosy still on him,
pastor Jim, but every time hecomes up with his leprosy still
on him, people are looking athim and he's like man.
Here are these servants, hereare these people right, and I'm
(19:34):
going down.
I'm doing what the man said.
I'm coming up and I'm still notclean.
And maybe you feel as thoughpeople are watching you, and the
truth is our lives are living,breathing, walking testimonies.
Yes, people should be watchingus.
That's why we have the light ofChrist shining from us that we
don't light a lamp and hide itunder a bed or a table right, we
(19:58):
keep it in the wide open, as acity, out on a hill, pastor Jim.
So here's my question, as wekind of head towards the end of
this podcast, this episode,here's my question what do
people see when they look at you?
What do they see when theywatch you go through something
extremely difficult?
How do they see you react?
(20:19):
How do they see you talk toother people?
How do they see you treat andlove and forgive people and show
mercy and grace to people?
Neman would go down, he'd comeup and people were watching him.
Pastor Jim, they were watchinghim, but praise be to God,
brother.
On the seventh time it was asElisha the prophet said it would
be.
He was clean, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Neman was ready to quit, frustrated by a simple
command Ready to go back home,just go get in the water, yeah,
dip seven times, you know.
So often I think and I canrelate to this, you know I've
been in positions where Ibelieve God has called me to do
(20:58):
something and I begin toquestion it, ready to just quit
and ready to be frustrated, inthe moment of it not being what
I thought it was going to be,feeling like I'm drowning,
feeling exhausted, feelingdistant, getting depressed, and
I think that, a lot like Neman,when he was just ready to quit,
(21:19):
all of the things that was beingput into his head was just
clouding his vision.
Right, the enemy was justpouring frustration into his
mind and causing him to doubt,and what he was failing to see
is that obedience was the avenueto his healing.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, yeah.
If you're wavering on the linecalled faith this morning, can I
just encourage you don't throwin the towel.
Do not throw in the towel.
Naman was ready to throw in thetowel.
He was ready to turn around andgo back home.
Just as simple as it was forNaman to go down there and dip
(21:58):
in that water seven times.
Can I tell you that no matteryour need, no matter what you're
your need, no matter whatyou're struggling with, no
matter the fight or the battle,I'm just going to tell you this
Get into prayer with GodAlmighty, Get into the Word of
God.
And it is that easy, it isabsolutely that easy to read the
Word and then trust in theSpirit's power, the Holy Spirit
(22:19):
of God living in you as aChristian, to give you the power
, the ability and the authorityto walk out the Word in your
life.
Don't throw in the towel, myfriends.
Do not give up.
It is as simple and easy aslistening to the instructions
and doing what the Father hassaid to do.
Don't let your expectationsblock your miracle.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
You know, james says Expectations block your miracle.
You know, james says stayhumble before the Lord and he
will exalt you.
You know, and Naaman, hehumbled himself, he ignored his
doubts and he obeyed, and justlike the servant girl's faith,
we need to fix our eyes on God'struth, not the voices of fear
(23:02):
or failure, or even whatnaysayers might say.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Let me point this out you mentioned again, because
here we are at the end of thestory.
Here we are at the end of thispart of Neman's story, if you
will, of his life.
We're at the end, but we'rementioning something, we're
mentioning someone from thebeginning and I think that's a
great, great point that you justreferenced this girl.
(23:26):
Naaman, is here at this rivergetting instructions by the
prophet Elisha, because therewas a willing servant girl that
was willing to share faith inGod.
If she doesn't do that, pastorJim, he's not healed of this
leprosy.
God.
If she doesn't do that, pastorJim, he's not healed of this
(23:46):
leprosy.
But God had strategicallyplaced someone in Neman's home
that would be a mouthpiece, aninstrument of God for this man,
neman, and because of it he'sgoing to go back home clean and
there's going to be a mightytestimony.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, and I think that what we can apply that to
is, if you hear a word from theLord or if you feel a tugging in
the spirit to go say somethingto somebody, don't let the enemy
talk you out of it.
Give that word.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Father, we thank you so much for this moment, this
episode that you have given usto share with the listeners,
this moment, this episode thatyou have given us to share with
the listeners.
So much happening here in thispart of 2 Kings, chapter 5, more
than what we've even touched onhere.
So I pray that your Holy Spirithas been ministering to our
listeners and that you areteaching them how they can apply
(24:36):
this text to their lives rightnow as well.
Father, you are wonderful, youare glorious, you are the mighty
, mighty one.
We lift all of this up in thename and the blood of Jesus, and
everybody, friends, saidtogether amen and amen Until
next time.
God bless you.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes
you deeper into the Word of Godthroughout your week with your
hosts, Pastors Lee and Jim.
It's time to inspire, upliftand dig deeper.
Beyond Sunday starts now.
Welcome back to Beyond Sunday.
(00:32):
I'm Pastor Jim sitting herewith Pastor Lee.
We are the hosts of the BeyondSunday podcast and we also
pastor the church Christ FamilyOutreach here in Amelia,
Virginia, and, as always, I'msitting across from Pastor Lee.
Pastor Lee, how are you doingtoday?
I'm blessed, brother.
What's going on?
How are you, man, doing?
Very, very well, I'm excited toget into today's episode.
We're going to be jumping backinto the Old Testament,
something that I know is nearand dear to you, as you love the
(00:53):
Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Absolutely, man, I really do.
I love preaching from the OldTestament.
I love the New Testament aswell, but I really like how the
Old and New Testament they tieinto one another so beautifully.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
And when you see that , you just understand that God's
Word is truth.
It is absolutely truth.
And you know, today we're goingto be in a story about trusting
God's guidance, even when itfeels like you might be drowning
in some murky waters.
And we'll be in 2 Kings,chapter 5, and we're going to be
dealing with this story ofNaaman and his healing.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, let's get right into it.
2 Kings, chapter 5, verse 1,says this Naaman, commander of
the army of the king of Syria,was a great man, with his master
and in high favor, because byhim the Lord had given victory
to Syria.
He was a mighty man of valor,but he was a leper.
So let's talk about that,pastor Jim.
Neman being the commander ofthe army meant that he was the
(01:51):
number two man in the nation,right?
So Neman's got it going on, youwould think.
Anyway, he's got the reputation,he's got power.
No doubt he and his family arefinancially secure, but there's
a problem that he's facing thatcannot be fixed.
Neman has leprosy, and leprosyis not going to be fixed by
(02:15):
Neman's reputation.
Leprosy is not going to befixed by the authority and the
power that Neman has gained forhimself, and it surely is not
going to be fixed by thefinancial clout that he has.
And maybe there's somelisteners out there right now
that feel like everything isgoing smoothly in your life,
just like it was with Naman,right?
But deep down, you've got thisone thing.
You've got this one issue, thisone problem, this one person,
(02:35):
this one circumstance that notmany other people know about and
, like Naman, your successes inlife are not going to fix the
problem, and so what that meansis that you need a power that is
not of yourself, it's a powerthat's not of your own to handle
the situation.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, I think oftentimes as Christians we can
rely so much and so heavily onour own personal experiences,
especially those who get savedlater on in life.
If you're 35 years old andyou've lived 35 years of life
and you've come to a churchservice or you've had your
experience that's changed yourentire life, it can still be
(03:15):
hard to take all of your lifeexperiences and knowing that you
can trust yourself and say I'mno longer going to trust myself,
I'm going to trust my Lord.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, you bring up a great point, man, because that
person has had 35 years of doingit pretty much their way.
You know, now, coming up as achild in their home they had to
follow rules and everything likethat.
But you know what's the onething that high school age kids
want to do?
They want to break free fromtheir parents.
They want to go live their ownway, right, their own rules.
(03:46):
I remember when Erica and I gotmarried, it's the night of our
honeymoon.
We had just left the church.
We're heading to a halfwaypoint to where our honeymoon was
going to be.
We're going to stay the nightthere at a halfway point.
And it was so weird man ridingdown the road, thinking and we
even said it to ourselves likehow weird this feels that we
don't have to call home andcheck in and tell our parents,
(04:07):
like what time we're gettinghome.
You know what I'm saying.
So like we tasted that freedom,man, and that freedom was so
good, you know.
So I totally get Pastor Jim,what you're saying.
Right.
It's like, especially, you say35, man, think about the person
who comes even later than thatand like 45, 55, 65, 75.
You know, I know at one of ouroutreaches that we did a couple
years ago.
There was a gentleman who,someone from our church, led to
(04:30):
Christ he was 92 years old, Iknow said he never heard of
Jesus, never heard of Jesus.
So think about that man, 92years old, pretty much having it
your way right for 92 years andall of a sudden you've got to
surrender to King Jesus, you'vegot to surrender to Father God
and you've got to realize thatit's no longer about having it
your way.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, and I think something else to look at
specifically for Neman is he hadeverything at his
fingertips—power, status,success—but the one thing that
he couldn't fix was his leprosy.
You know he had to deal withthat, and so what does that do
to his mentality?
You know, like I can do allthese things, but I'm stuck with
this disease.
(05:09):
So what does that do tosomeone's mentality?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I was reading a study book on this, just preparing
for this episode.
And he was a commander of thearmy, which meant he would have
been in public.
He would have been in public'seye.
When you had leprosy youweren't supposed to be around
people, right?
Oftentimes it would cause youto be outcast.
So in the study book I wasreading on this, their take was
they believe that his leprosywould not have been all over his
(05:36):
body, because we know he was inaction, commanding the army.
It says that God gave successto the army through him, so it's
believed that his leprosy washe was able to hide it, so it
would have been somewhere underclothing.
How many times in life do wehide leprosy, if you will?
(05:56):
How many times do we hide sin?
How many times do we hide ourissues?
And that's really, I think,what we're going to touch on a
lot in today's episode is youknow, these things that we hide,
we truly have to give them overto the Lord, and the only way
that we're going to be healed ofthese things, we're going to be
delivered and set free fromthese things, is if we stop
dealing with them in our ownstrength and we just say okay,
(06:18):
god, here it is.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Here it is man that's so good, and it's not just the
surrender and the humility ittakes to do that, it's also
finding what God tells us to doto get rid of it, and being
obedient right, exactly Doingwhat the instructor, god, says
to do, following theinstructions.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So that's going to bring us to 2 Kings, chapter 5,
2 through 5.
And the word of God praise theLord says this Now the Syrians,
on one of their raids, hadcarried off a little girl from
the land of Israel, and sheworked in the service of Naman's
wife.
She said to her mistress, wouldthat my Lord were with the
prophet who is in Samaria, hewould cure him of his leprosy.
(06:54):
So Naman went in and told hisLord Thus.
And so spoke the girl from theland of Israel, and the king of
Syria said go now.
Spoke the girl from the land ofIsrael, and the king of Syria
said go now and I will send aletter to the king of Israel.
So what I'd like to point outhere, pastor Jim, is this girl
who's been seized and now she'sgoing to be a slave to Neman's
(07:16):
wife.
She may be little in size but,brother, she's mighty in
testimony, right, she's beentaken captive and we don't see
that she's bitter to the pointof shutting down.
She obviously doesn't want theworst for Namon.
She's not just like back off inthe corner snickering and
laughing that Namon's got thisdisease of leprosy that could be
(07:36):
spreading.
Oftentimes, leprosy would leadto death back then, right.
So she could have easily juststepped back and been like well,
you know what you took me.
You know you probably harmed myfamily, you harmed my neighbors
and you took me a slave in thatraid.
But instead of remaining silent, instead of being bitter, she
offers hope.
Instead of letting the enemyuse her and harden her heart and
shut her down, she's offeringhope and love in this situation.
(08:00):
So, pastor Jim, there's a lotto learn from there.
But how many times in life haveGod's people remained silent
because we didn't want to helppeople who didn't help us or who
had wronged us?
Right?
So this girl's witness wentfrom her lips all the way to the
ears of a king.
So there's power in ourtestimony.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, and you know she's a child.
The Bible talks to us abouthaving a childlike faith.
You know she's a child.
The Bible talks to us abouthaving a childlike faith.
And I wonder how many times asgrown-ups, right seasoned
experiences that kind of castdoubt on the things that would
be miracles.
So like I'm walking throughlife and there's just no way
that this is going to happen.
But a child walks up and justsays, hey, what about this?
(08:41):
Yeah, why not?
And it's innocent, you know.
So she's just sitting in thecorner and she's looking at this
and she's like, well, whydoesn't he just ask God to heal
him?
Amen.
So scripture talks about havinga childlike faith, exactly yeah
.
So we can learn a lot from thislittle girl saying have you
even considered this?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, from the corner of the room right Chiming in.
Yeah, I think it's powerful.
The point that I want to kindof retouch on and just get your
thoughts on it the words, as Imentioned a moment ago, they go
from her lips to the ears ofNeman and his wife, to the ears
of Neman and his wife, and itgoes from Neman to his king, his
(09:24):
boss, so she says something intheir home and it gets all the
way to the palace of the king,to the one who has the authority
and the power and the say-so tobe able to give Neman the
blessing to go right.
So there's power in ourtestimony and I think far too
often Christians remain silentand when we've remained silent
(09:47):
we don't offer hope, joy andlove.
That should be being offeredthrough our words.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, I think you could also attach it to prayer.
Look at who answers our prayers.
Where does the prayer in myquiet time reach?
The King of Kings.
So sometimes we just need tospeak, be willing to speak out
loud our prayers, our needs, andthe King, who is Jehovah Jireh,
(10:12):
our provider, will provide forus.
He will hear our prayers.
Absolutely, brother.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Moving forward.
2 Kings 5-6-8 says this, myfriends, and he bought the
letter to the king of Israel,which read when this letter
reaches you, know that I havesent to you Naaman, my servant,
that you may cure him of hisleprosy.
And when the king of Israelread the letter, he tore his
clothes and said Am I God tokill and to make alive that this
(10:37):
man sends word to me to cure aman of his leprosy?
Only consider and see how he isseeking a quarrel with me.
But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel
had torn his clothes, he sent tothe king saying why have you
torn your clothes?
Let him come now to me that hemay know that there is a prophet
(10:58):
in Israel.
So I love, pastor Jim, I lovehow Elisha steps up.
When the king chose not to, theking steps back, elisha steps
forward Like hey, wait a minute,we have a chance, king.
We have a chance to show thatthere is a prophet in Israel.
In other words, because there'sa prophet in Israel, god is
(11:19):
still speaking to his people.
So hey, let's see what God'sgoing to do here.
And just like the point thatyou referenced earlier with the
little girl here.
The little girl is all the wayin this distant land, in the
house of Naaman.
She's a slave and she says hey,wait a minute, there's a
prophet in Israel, god can fixthis.
And here we have the prophetthat she's referencing, here we
(11:42):
have Elisha, and Elisha's likehey, wait a minute, wait a
minute, god can fix this, godcan fix this.
You know, I think it's veryinteresting how the king makes
this all about him and it's likewhoa, wait a minute, you trying
to pick a fight with me, youtrying to pick a fight with me,
you know so.
The king tries to make it abouthim, but Elisha steps up.
He's like no, no, no, this isnot about us.
(12:02):
This is the fact that God iswilling to speak through us and
God is willing to do a workthrough us.
Just, pastor Jim, just like heis in the church today, god is
willing to speak through hispeople and use his people to
show that there is a God aliveand well in heaven.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
How many times in our own walk have we hit a wall and
be like man?
Well, this just stinks andwe've made it about us and we've
gotten to our own feelings andwe miss blessings and we miss
opportunities for testimonies tospeak louder than what our
words or actions could ever make, and we need to be reminded of
this too.
So when we're in that funk,it's important to us also as
Christians, that when we see ourbrothers and sisters hitting
(12:40):
this wall, when we see ourbrothers and sisters taking
things personal, we have to bethe ones that come up behind,
put our arm around them andremind them how Elisha's doing
to the king here.
Oh, this isn't about you, lookwhat God can do.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
That's right.
When you hit that wall you gotto get back up.
I remember when I was younger,much younger, just a child and I
was over at my cousin's house.
They had a very wide, openfloor plan, a beautiful home,
and we're running around thehome, the adults are all in the
in the living room, living roomarea and they're they're they're
(13:13):
kind of hanging out andvisiting one another and the
cousins are all running aroundthe house, right, and they've
got a Florida room on one end ofthe house and it was glass
everywhere.
The entire wall of the livingroom and the Florida room and
the dining room just had glasswindows everywhere and the door
to the Florida room, pastor Jim,was shut and it was a glass
door.
I mean just glass everywhere.
It's a beautiful home and mybrother obviously we didn't live
(13:37):
there so he wasn't used to it,so he didn't see that the glass
door was shut.
So he, literally full steamahead, is running from someone
chasing him and hide and go seekand he runs, slam into this
glass door and I rememberwatching it, not realizing glass
was there myself, everythingwas clean, it was daytime out so
light was shining through.
(13:57):
He hits this thing andliterally bounces off of it and
I remember seeing the glass inthe door just kind of flex and
go back and forth Right.
Praise God you can get cut.
Glass didn't break, he didn'tget hurt, other than some pride
and his forehead.
He hit it with his foreheadrunning, running forward, but he
bounced back.
And as you say that aboutpicking one another up when we
(14:18):
run into a wall, I'm reminded ofthat because some pickups are
going to be more difficult thanothers.
Some people are just going toneed a little push forward, some
people we're going to need todrag them up.
You know, some people are downand out, like my brother was.
Some people could be dazed andconfused, but can I just say
that everybody rushed over to mybrother to check on him in
hopes that he was well.
And isn't that a great pictureof the church.
(14:39):
When someone gets knocked down,the church body should be
running over, ready to dowhatever it takes to make this
person get back up on their feet, even if it means we've got to
hold them for a while while theymourn, even if it means we've
got to get under their arms andlift them up spiritually, even
if it means we've got toencourage them in love, even if
we feel like we don't have awhole lot to give.
(15:00):
We've got to give what we cangive.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, the Bible says that God's our refuge and our
strength, right Amen, and thathe's very present in our trouble
.
Yeah, and so it's just a simplereminder of hey, hey, hey,
don't forget who your God is,that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
He's always there when, when you're running into
that wall, when you're runninginto that door, he's there.
When you fall down, he's there.
When people are there to pickyou up, it's because he's there.
He's present.
Yeah, 2 Kings 5, 9 through 12says so.
Naaman came with his horses andchariots and stood at the door
of Elisha's house and Elishasent a messenger to him saying
(15:33):
Go and wash in the Jordan seventimes and your flesh shall be
restored and you shall be clean.
But Naman was angry and wentaway saying behold, I thought
that he would surely come out tome and stand and call upon the
name of the Lord, his God, andwave his hand over the place and
cure the leper.
Are not Abana and Farfar, therivers of Damascus, better than
(15:53):
all the waters of Israel?
Could I not wash in them and beclean?
So he turned and went away in arage.
So it's almost as if Neman islooking for a show.
He wants a type of ceremonialprocedure in order to make this
thing official.
But what he missed is that theword was sent, directions to be
(16:14):
healed of the leprosy wasdelivered, but Neman I know he
wanted the healing, but it'slike before the healing.
He even wants the healing tocome with pomp and circumstance.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, he asked for healing, but because it wasn't
what he thought it should looklike, he rejected it.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've seen
people in counseling and theywant their marriage healed.
But no, no, no.
I want my husband to get right,but only if it comes in these
terms.
Or I want my wife to get right,but only if it comes in these
terms.
And the thing is, is that God'sways are higher and greater
than our ways?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
We are a people that when we think of miracles, we've
so glorified and made miraclessomething out, to be something
spectacular, and we forget thatmiracles are in the everyday,
even in the mundane.
What we would call mundane aremiracles.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I like to say that waking up is a miracle.
Exactly, I don't have theability, the know-how, the power
or the authority to make mybody healthy enough to wake up
every day.
I mean, if we did, no one wouldever die, right, we would just
continue to make sure we woke upall the time.
So I'm thankful that God haschosen to give me another
(17:26):
opportunity to do today betterthan what I did with myself
yesterday.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, and because we take for granted the miracles
that are what we would saymundane, we don't see the
grandeur of those big like ohman, that person was paralyzed
and now they're walking.
What that does is it createsthis doubt that speaks louder
than what we think.
God is speaking to us.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, and I think what it has done is it has
minimized the observance ofmiracles, and we have miracles
around us all the time, butwe're not seeing them because
it's not coming in the fashion,the form, the pomp and
circumstance that we haveexpected miracles to come and if
we're not careful, that cancause us to doubt God's plan
when it doesn't look like whatwe imagined it to be right.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
But trusting means obeying His voice, even when
others question what we're doing.
And the question really iswhere are you struggling to
trust God's life?
Where are you struggling totrust God's call because of
doubts or pressures that you'reexperiencing?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yeah, yeah, 2 Kings 5 , 13 and 14 says this.
But his servants came near andsaid to him my father, it is a
great word.
The prophet has spoken to you,will you not do it?
Has he actually said to youwash and be clean?
So he went down and dippedhimself seven times in the
Jordan, according to the word ofthe man of God, and his flesh
(18:50):
was restored like the flesh of alittle child, and he was clean,
amen.
I mean, it was the servants whocame to him and was like hey,
knock, knock Anybody home.
Come on Naman.
Like, wake up, call man.
This thing that he's asking youto do, is it not a great word?
I mean, look how easy it is.
Just go down there and dipseven times in this water.
Imagine the faith that it takesfor Neman to go down each time
(19:13):
only to come up not yet clean.
Right, the first dip throughthe sixth dip, every time he
came up.
And not only is he coming upwith his leprosy still on him,
pastor Jim, but every time hecomes up with his leprosy still
on him, people are looking athim and he's like man.
Here are these servants, hereare these people right, and I'm
(19:34):
going down.
I'm doing what the man said.
I'm coming up and I'm still notclean.
And maybe you feel as thoughpeople are watching you, and the
truth is our lives are living,breathing, walking testimonies.
Yes, people should be watchingus.
That's why we have the light ofChrist shining from us that we
don't light a lamp and hide itunder a bed or a table right, we
(19:58):
keep it in the wide open, as acity, out on a hill, pastor Jim.
So here's my question, as wekind of head towards the end of
this podcast, this episode,here's my question what do
people see when they look at you?
What do they see when theywatch you go through something
extremely difficult?
How do they see you react?
(20:19):
How do they see you talk toother people?
How do they see you treat andlove and forgive people and show
mercy and grace to people?
Neman would go down, he'd comeup and people were watching him.
Pastor Jim, they were watchinghim, but praise be to God,
brother.
On the seventh time it was asElisha the prophet said it would
be.
He was clean, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Neman was ready to quit, frustrated by a simple
command Ready to go back home,just go get in the water, yeah,
dip seven times, you know.
So often I think and I canrelate to this, you know I've
been in positions where Ibelieve God has called me to do
(20:58):
something and I begin toquestion it, ready to just quit
and ready to be frustrated, inthe moment of it not being what
I thought it was going to be,feeling like I'm drowning,
feeling exhausted, feelingdistant, getting depressed, and
I think that, a lot like Neman,when he was just ready to quit,
(21:19):
all of the things that was beingput into his head was just
clouding his vision.
Right, the enemy was justpouring frustration into his
mind and causing him to doubt,and what he was failing to see
is that obedience was the avenueto his healing.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, yeah.
If you're wavering on the linecalled faith this morning, can I
just encourage you don't throwin the towel.
Do not throw in the towel.
Naman was ready to throw in thetowel.
He was ready to turn around andgo back home.
Just as simple as it was forNaman to go down there and dip
(21:58):
in that water seven times.
Can I tell you that no matteryour need, no matter what you're
your need, no matter whatyou're struggling with, no
matter the fight or the battle,I'm just going to tell you this
Get into prayer with GodAlmighty, Get into the Word of
God.
And it is that easy, it isabsolutely that easy to read the
Word and then trust in theSpirit's power, the Holy Spirit
(22:19):
of God living in you as aChristian, to give you the power
, the ability and the authorityto walk out the Word in your
life.
Don't throw in the towel, myfriends.
Do not give up.
It is as simple and easy aslistening to the instructions
and doing what the Father hassaid to do.
Don't let your expectationsblock your miracle.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
You know, james says Expectations block your miracle.
You know, james says stayhumble before the Lord and he
will exalt you.
You know, and Naaman, hehumbled himself, he ignored his
doubts and he obeyed, and justlike the servant girl's faith,
we need to fix our eyes on God'struth, not the voices of fear
(23:02):
or failure, or even whatnaysayers might say.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Let me point this out you mentioned again, because
here we are at the end of thestory.
Here we are at the end of thispart of Neman's story, if you
will, of his life.
We're at the end, but we'rementioning something, we're
mentioning someone from thebeginning and I think that's a
great, great point that you justreferenced this girl.
(23:26):
Naaman, is here at this rivergetting instructions by the
prophet Elisha, because therewas a willing servant girl that
was willing to share faith inGod.
If she doesn't do that, pastorJim, he's not healed of this
leprosy.
God.
If she doesn't do that, pastorJim, he's not healed of this
(23:46):
leprosy.
But God had strategicallyplaced someone in Neman's home
that would be a mouthpiece, aninstrument of God for this man,
neman, and because of it he'sgoing to go back home clean and
there's going to be a mightytestimony.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, and I think that what we can apply that to
is, if you hear a word from theLord or if you feel a tugging in
the spirit to go say somethingto somebody, don't let the enemy
talk you out of it.
Give that word.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Father, we thank you so much for this moment, this
episode that you have given usto share with the listeners,
this moment, this episode thatyou have given us to share with
the listeners.
So much happening here in thispart of 2 Kings, chapter 5, more
than what we've even touched onhere.
So I pray that your Holy Spirithas been ministering to our
listeners and that you areteaching them how they can apply
(24:36):
this text to their lives rightnow as well.
Father, you are wonderful, youare glorious, you are the mighty
, mighty one.
We lift all of this up in thename and the blood of Jesus, and
everybody, friends, saidtogether amen and amen Until
next time.
God bless you.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.