The
the
You
Oh
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Well ten go ahead slip up your hand brother Adam will bring you one as always you got the service times they're listed above
Every Saturday or Sunday at 1030 again at 5 30 p.m.
We got Thursdays at 7 2nd Kings chapter 5 tonight
Salvations the baptisms offering totals and tenants for the month and year we got the happy birthday
Everybody was celebrating this month that ships come and gone for the doughnuts, but it'll be back in November
The wedding anniversary there and then of course don't forget to keep working on the Bible memory project
so this Sunday will be part seven of seven so we'll be wrapping that up this Sunday and
Then we had the Mexico money. I think they had like eight Salvations down there
So praise God for that on the back
Don't forget anyone who wants to attend the wedding up in Tempe for Thomas Forte and Charlotte Esser is more than welcome to do
So you got the dates and the information there as well
I still have a few seats left for anybody that would like to go and it's first come first serve. Don't forget
Towards the end of this month Sunday, October 23rd. We're gonna be taking the yearbook portraits
So make sure you come ready to have your photo taken that day
And then we've got the annual chili cook-off coming up on Monday, October 31st
And a couple rules about this is that you can't remember you can't use any pre-made stuff. So don't be make don't use like
Obviously you can use spices and powders, but don't get like the kit
Don't go to Wendy's
Go to Culver's. No, I'm just kidding. Don't go to either those places to get your chili and sure don't go to Pat's
if you bring Pat's chili, I mean, I don't know what that we'll probably have to have a church vote, but
You know the deal it's got to be from scratch
So just don't don't be making make sure everything is you know out of a can
By itself don't be used any kits. Does everyone know what I'm talking about? If you have any questions, just come talk to me
But that's coming up Monday, October 31st. Well the first second third place winners
You got the schedule of song services coming up for the coming week and we're gonna go ahead and count the soul winning going back
to
Monday anything for Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday but today you have one for Wednesday
Today the group
All right with that we'll go ahead sing one more song before we go into the preaching tonight
Oh
You
Can fall along with me from second Kings chapter number five tonight second Kings chapter number five
Second Kings chapter five the Bible reads down name and captain of the host of the king of Syria was a great man with his
Master and honorable because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria
He was also a mighty man in valor
but he was a leper and the Syrians had gone out by companies and brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little
Maid and she waited on Naaman's wife
And she said unto her mistress
Would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his leprosy
one went in and told his Lord saying thus and thus saith the maid that is of the land of Israel and the king of
Syria said go to go and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel and he departed and took with him ten talents of
silver and six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of raiment and he brought to the
The letter to the king of Israel saying now when this letter is come unto thee behold
I have therewith sent name and my servant to thee
but thou mayest recover him of his leprosy and it came to pass and the king of Israel had read the letter that he
Rent his clothes and said am I God to kill him to make alive
That this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy
Wherefore consider I pray you and see how he seek at the quarrel against me and it was so when Elisha the man of God
Heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes
He sent that he sent to the king saying wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes. Let him now come to me
And he shall know that there is a prophet is in Israel
so Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the door of house of Elisha and Elisha sent a messenger out
I'm saying go and wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to me that and thou shalt be clean
But Naaman was wroth and went away and said behold
I thought
He will surely call
Come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord is God and strike his hand over the place and recover
The leper are not Abana and Parfar rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel
May I not wash in them and be clean so he turned and went away in a rage
And his servants came near and spake unto him and said my father if the Prophet had bid thee to do some great thing
Wouldest thou not have done it how much rather than when he say it to thee wash and be clean
Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in the in
Jordan according to the saying of the man of God and his flesh came again like under the flesh of a little child that he
Was clean and he turned
Returned to the man of God he and his company and came and stood before him and he said behold now
Know that there's a no God in all the earth, but in Israel now therefore I pray thee take a blessing of thy servant
But he said as the Lord liveth there before whom I stand I will
Receive none and he urged him to take it
But he refused a name and said sure said shall there not then I pray thee be given to thy servant to mule
Burden of earth for thy servant will henceforth
neither
offer neither burnt offering or sacrifice on other gods
But unto the Lord in this thing the Lord pardon thy servant that when thy master goeth in the house of rim and to worship
There and he leaneth on my hand
I bow myself in the house of rim and when I bow down myself in the house of rim and the Lord pardon I serve
It in this thing and he said unto him go in peace
So we departed from him a little way
Like a haze I the servant Elisha the man of God said behold the mass my master hath spared name in the Syrian
And not receiving at his hands that which we brought but as the Lord liveth
I will run after him and take somewhat of him
So Gehazi followed after name and when a man saw him running after him
He lighted down from his chariot to meet him and said is all well
And he said all is well my master hath sent me saying behold
Even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets
Give them I pray thee a talent of silver and two changes of raiment
Name and said be content take two talents and he urged him and bound two talents of silver and two bags
And two changes of garments and laid them upon two servants upon two of his servants and they bear
Then before him and when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house
And he let the men go and they departed
But he went in and stood before his master and Elisha said unto him
Whence comest thou Gehazi and he said thy servant servant went no whither
And he said unto him went not mine heart with thee when thou
When the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee
Is it a time to receive money and to receive garments and all of yards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and men servants and maid
servants the leprosy therefore of name and shall cleave unto thee and
Under thy seed forever and he went out from the presence his presence a leper as white as snow
It's good a word of prayer dear Lord again. Thank you for the opportunity to be in your house
Thank you for the Bible prayed meet with us tonight. Help me Lord to preach. We ask in Christ's name. Amen
So, of course, there's some real famous stories really a couple of very familiar stories here in 2nd Kings chapter 5
I'm sure people have heard preaching on this before but again
It's definitely worth going over and making notice and things probably nothing new probably nothing you haven't heard before
but again, just something to always be reminded of and
you know beginning and just these first eight verses when you have the story of
The little maid and we first meet name in the Syrian we find out he's a leper
We found out that you know
he's a captain of the king's army and he has
Been used mightily by God to actually execute judgment on Israel of all people and in the process of doing that has taken captive this
little Israel
Israelite girl this little maid who's of the land of Israel and she's now serving in Naaman's house as
A servant unto Naaman's wife and this is always a great story
especially for the kids to to be reminded that you know
God can still use even the smallest among us that God can still use
even children
To do great works for God because if it wasn't for this little maid if it wasn't for this just this little girl
Basically what the Bible saying there wasn't for this little girl
Being and being bold enough to speak up and to say something on behalf of the God of Israel
You know Naaman would have never heard about the fact that there was a prophet in Israel that could heal him of his leprosy
of course, there's this great picture in the story of leprosy being likened unto sin and
Naaman dipping and coming up as a newborn, you know, his skin was as a newborn, babe
It's a picture of salvation being born again, but he would never have experienced that we wouldn't have this great story that great illustration
Never would have been given
Because if this little maid hadn't spoken up so again, it's just a great
Reminder to us that God will use the meekest and even the smallest among us to do great things for him
In fact, you know, it's those that are humble
It's those that are meek that are going to be most mightily used by God
God doesn't use the arrogant the proud the puffed up. God doesn't look down and say well who's got the most?
Status who has the most ability who has the most clout
He doesn't really look for that God looks for the humble the meek
Those that are you know that the world would look at and say well there are nobody so to speak
You know, that's who God chooses to use
The Bible says in James 2 that God has what chosen the poor of this world
Rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that loved me
God has chosen what the poor of this world to be what rich that are rich in faith
God's not worried about our status. God's not worried about how much physical wealth we have
God doesn't care about our physical stature. God doesn't care about how you know what we do for a living
God doesn't care about all these things that the world seems to put so much emphasis on and say this is so important
This is what's gonna make somebody great
This is what's gonna allow somebody to be used mightily by God
God looks at all those things that says that's not what I'm interested in
What I'm interested in is the poor of this world and if you would we know it
But go over 1st Corinthians chapter 1 hold there's a whole, you know
Just section of Scripture that just drives this point home that God uses the meek
And what that should tell us is that in order if you want to be used of God
You have to be humble that humility is what's necessary to be used by God
God resists the proud but give us gives grace unto the humble. Okay?
And notice this little maid, I'll just remind us the story as you're going to 1st Corinthians chapter 1
It's you know, this little maid is that poor girl
I mean think about her situation, you know, you young people who are so
You know get so bent out of shape sometimes about you how tough you have it, you know
I'd serve God but you know, it's it's cramping my style, you know, I serve God, but it's just not cool or whatever
You know, well has anyone abducted you and taken you into a foreign land and made you basically a slave in their house
You know, that's what that's what this little maid whose name we don't even know
That's her that's her position
You know, she was literally taken captive by the enemy hauled away from everyone
She knows and loves hauled away from everything that is familiar to her and is in a strange land probably
You know just going to be a servant in someone's house in the middle of the night
Maybe never even doesn't really have much of a future to speak of and yet she's still there
Willing to serve God because she put God before everybody else and the bite, you know
She is that poor that is what rich in faith
You know, she said to her mistress in verse 3 would God were God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria
Exclamation point there for he would recover him of his leprosy
For he would recover him of his leprosy she said, you know, I know there's a guy in Samaria
There's this prophet I heard a little bit about maybe he should try that
You know that might work out. She said no, he would recover him. That's faith friend
You know, she did not lose her faith in the Lord
You know and when things don't go right in life when things don't pan out the way we want them to
When life isn't just a bed of roses for us, that's not an excuse to get mad and angry and bitter at the Lord
You know God, you know might have other intentions God might have other things for us to do in different circumstances
Life is hard in and of itself, you know
But we should try to have this kind of an attitude that has you know
Still has faith in the God of Israel still has faith that God is still on the throne and can still do mighty things in
Spite of our circumstances and you know, we don't know what this this little maids name is
But you know what? I bet there's gonna be a line there in heaven
You know, you're gonna we're gonna start meeting the those saints of old, you know
Maybe there'll be a place in heaven where like all the Bible characters get together and then we're gonna see this one this one
You know character this little maid here
I don't know if she'll still be a little maid there probably not but we'll walk up and say well, who are you?
And she'd be like, how is that little maid? I mean, she's gonna be someone of note
We're all gonna go. Oh, I heard you know, all these Sunday school stories about you
I've heard so many sermons if I've read that story so many times, you know, we were also very familiar
Of course with the rest of this chapter with Naaman and Gehazi and all that
But it all starts with that little maid who is just rich in faith
Who doesn't let the fact that she's small and meek and doesn't have a big position in the world
You know
She still hasn't given up on God things haven't gone every the way she wants them to but she's still
Rich in faith and she's still being used mightily big by God even unto this day
People are still preaching about her and using her as an example of you know of not losing faith in God
And the fact that God can use the meek because that's who God designs to use
God uses the meek in the world. God uses the weak things in this world. That's what it says in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse
17 he said for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel not with the wisdom of words lest the cross
Of Christ should be made of none effect
And this is the kind of the theme that's going through this passage here where Paul is just saying hey
It's not by wisdom of words. It's not the it's not the the wise of this world
It's not you know, the things that are high and mighty
It's it's the it's the base things the meek things the weak things why it's not the wisdom of words
Why lest the cross of Christ should be none effect you saying look and I go and preach the gospel
I'm not trying to go out there and outwit people, you know, and you run this we're in this a lot
You know, I hear this a lot as you know
People who are trying to go soul winning or new to soul winning
There's this thing and I've heard this from many people on you know
Over the years where they get they feel like they're they're held back from soul-winning because they they're afraid they're not gonna know how to
Answer, you know every man they're not going to be able to go out there and answer every single argument that's coming at them
But here's the thing about that. That's not what you're called to do
I'm not we're not called to go out there and have some theological debate with people
The Bible says a man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject
in the Bible says to avoid foolish questions to avoid stripes and
About the law to avoid these things, you know
We don't have to go out there and know how to answer every Mormon doctrine every Catholic doctrine
All we need to know is the gospel. All we need to know is
The cross of Christ, you know, that's what's going to be a done
That's what's going to have the effect
But if we go out there relying on the wisdom of our own words
You know
Then the cross of Christ is made of none effect and look Paul is somebody that could have leaned on the wisdom of his own
Words, I mean Paul was you know brought up at the feet of
Gamaliel Paul was you know who they laid the clothes down when he they stoned Peter
I mean he was he had clout he was you know, very zealous in the Jews religion
He was somebody that was known and he could he was a big shot and he was very intelligent
Obviously, I mean the man knew the Bible
I mean you read you know read his epistles and he's constantly citing the Old Testament bringing it up
But you know what when he went out to preach when he went out to get people saved
You know what? He preached the cross
He didn't have to go. Oh, you're a you're a you know, you're a Phoenician. Oh, you're a you're from Greece
You're from this you know, you're believing this religion. Well, let me have this clever way of preaching to you
No, it was the cross the cross the cross the cross
We don't have to go out there with the wisdom of words. We just need to go out there meek
Humble with the Word of God with the Holy Spirit and go out there and preach the cross
Verse 18 for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish but unto us which saved it is the power of God
It's not going to be my clever arguments
It's not going to be you know, all the the neat little things that I say it's not gonna be my charisma
It's not gonna be any of these things that's gonna get people saved
It's going to be the cross the power of the preaching of the cross
But
Again, we're looking at the fact tonight that you know
This is little maid somebody who is very meek somebody who doesn't have a lot of clout someone who's very humble
and she's an example to us and
What she's an example of the fact that humility is what's necessary for service that if you're going to serve God
You have to be humble and not expect everything to go the way you want it to go and not get caught up in thinking
You have to be some kind of you know genius to go out there and preach the gospel you don't
Now again, obviously the Bible puts a premium that puts it emphasizes gaining wisdom and knowledge and understanding
We should definitely pursue those things
Right, but you know people are gonna be at all different levels of intellect. Not everybody's gonna be as smart as everybody else
So we should we all take an IQ test in here and say well if you're below this standard, you can't go soul-winning
No, of course not in fact, you know
It's the meek that might go out there and be able to appeal to people that someone who had a little maybe a little bit
more air of
intelligence wouldn't be able to reach
If you look there it goes on here and says
He says in verse 23
Let's just pick it up there or verse 21 for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe for the Jews require sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom
But we preach Christ crucified and the Jews are stumbling back under the Greeks foolishness
But under them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God
That's what we preach say. What's your power when you go out there preach? Is it is it your?
Your your reasoning is it your rational thought is it your ability to make an argument?
Is it your debate skills?
No, what we preach what makes it gives us power is it what we preach is Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God that's our wisdom
And I I'm glad for that
I'm glad that God just you know
Kind of takes the the burden off of us of trying to come up with how to get people saved and says just preach the cross
Just preach Christ just give them the gospel and I'll take care of the rest that God does all the heavy lifting for us
We just have to be faithful to the message
And when that opens the door up to anybody and everybody
That wants to be used by God if they have humility if they're willing to be humble
He goes on to verse 25
but the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men for you see your calling brethren how
That many wise after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called
but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world that confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to
Confound the things which are mighty. I
Mean think about that apply that to our story
The the the weak things are chosen to confound the things that are mighty the weak things
Confound those things which are powerful
You know think about that in context of this little maid we would look at her and say she's weak
She's not you know, she doesn't have me. She's not some physically strong
I mean compared to the captain of the army of the Syrians Naaman is incredibly weak
You know, but here's but you know
and I'm sure Naaman with his leprosy was probably trying he was probably consulting all kinds of physicians and doctors and trying everything to
Find some kind of a way to get rid of that, you know that disease
But it was a weak
timid
Mild little maid that eventually led him to you know being cured miraculously
You know God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty
And the base things of the world's and the things which are despised hath God chosen
You know, we like to we like to read these things as an encouragement to us. They think oh, well, I'm not the mightiest
I'm not you know, I'm despised. I'm not the the most powerful speaker
I'm not the best a most intelligent person. I'm not the strongest
You know, I would identify with being you know, one of the base things of this world, you know
And we would read that and say oh man what an encouragement and it is an encouragement
But you know think about it on the other side too. Not only is it encouragement
It's also telling us that this is what God has required that this is what God has chosen
Not to say that if you are somebody of intellect or influence that you can't be used of God
But what I am saying is this is that without humility
You can't you can't be used by God
You know, if you're the brother of high degree well you rejoice and that you're you're a based because then you can be used by God
You have if you want to be used by God, these are the things that God hath chosen weak things base things
Why verse 29 that no flesh should glory in his presence?
That it is written verse or that verse 31 that according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord
Look anything we accomplish for God in our lives all glory goes to God
Because ultimately who are any of us, you know, we're base. We're weak. We're not many noble
We're not many mighty and you know
And the noble and the mighty of this world are too filled with pride to be used by God
They're so caught up and all what everything that all their power and affluence brings them. They can't be bothered with serving God
And they can have it, you know, and this is something that you see
This is a common thread that you see with those that are used mightily by God. It's humility humility
But without humility you cannot serve God
Go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 2nd Corinthians chapter number 12. Think about John the Baptist among, you know, among men
Men were born among women. There's not risen a greater than John the Baptist
But you know what John the Baptist didn't walk around with his nose three feet above his head
He didn't walk around with his chin in the air looking down on everybody else
John the Baptist said he must increase I must decrease they said oh Jesus is baptizing more than you. He must increase I must decrease
I'm not worthy to stoop down and unlatches, you know his sandal
You know, I have need to be baptized of thee that comest out of me. That's what he said the baptism
He wasn't like oh, it's about time you got here Jesus
Don't you know who I am, you know, he's nobody he knows that
I mean Jesus obviously said that he was the greatest born among men
But he said, you know, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he
But John the Baptist is one that understood this that he must decrease
Or he must increase I must decrease why he that cometh from heaven is above all
And look whatever, you know, whatever skills or abilities we might have, you know
Some of us are probably going to be more better are going to be more better spoken
I'm obviously not one of them some some of us are going to be you know
Better spoken than others some people might have a talent here and might be more intelligent in some area
They may have a skill that they excel in more than someone else
but compared to God
Who are any of us he that cometh from heaven is above all
We should never get so puffed up and arrogant to think anything of ourselves
You know, we should not think above men that which is written
you know, we shouldn't we shouldn't think more highly of ourselves than we ought to and
You know one thing that helped keep us humble is when we realize that he that cometh from heaven is above all
That it's the Lord that we're serving
look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7 Paul said we talked really about how Paul was, you know, and
Definitely somebody with some intellect definitely somebody who had some clout in the Jews religion
But he said in verse 7 and even afterwards after he got saved, you know, this is coming off where he's talking about
You know the revelations that he received and things like that, you know, obviously still somebody's being used
mightily begot by God probably more
mightily used by God than anybody outside of Jesus Christ the Apostle Paul and I'm pretty sure Paul knew that I mean Paul
Realized that he was you know
Used mightily by God as a vessel
Under the Gentiles and look here, but he said in verse 7 and lest I should be exalted above measure
Through the abundance of revelations and said, you know, God's trying to keep me humble
God's trying to keep me down not let me get too puffed up. There was given to me a thorn in the flesh
You know, we don't know what that thorn in the flesh was but it was there was some kind of it's obviously in the flesh
It's talking about there was some kind of physical ailment that Paul had
Maybe there was some kind of physical deficiency. He had people have speculated different things
Nobody knows people have said, you know
Maybe it was you know
his eyesight or he was of a low stature because of some of his other writings in the epistles, you know, or maybe there was
Some kind of a disease that he had or just something but there was this thorn in the flesh
We really don't know what it was
But it was given to him the messenger of Satan to buffet him why lest I should be exalted above measure
Because people, you know when you're going around preaching all these great sermons writing all these great epistles
Paul was somebody even back then I mean he'd walk into these churches. I mean, he's founding these churches
He's winning all these souls. He's discipling people. I mean he was no, right
But you know what God kept him humble
Because you have to have humility to be used by God and if you have humility
You will be used mightily by God so don't let the fact that maybe
You know, you're more among the base things of this world. Maybe we're not
The the greatest at this or that maybe we were a little bit more like that little maid
You know, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's what God has chosen in this world
You know God is
glorified through human weakness
That's what Paul's saying here
He's saying for this thing
I besought the Lord thrice verse 8 that it might depart for me the thorn in the flesh
And he said to me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness
You know when you're weak when you can't do it and then God makes up the difference, you know, God is glorified through that
Most gladly this is what Paul said most gladly
Therefore I would will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me
You know and this to me just reminds me of our story with this little maid
She could have gotten bitter and angry and you know
Rejected the God of Israel, you know abandon her faith forsaken the God of her youth and just said well here
I am in the strange land in the strange house with no hope of any kind of a future
You know what? She's like Paul said I'll I would rather glory in my infirmities because she had some genuine
Humility Paul said therefore I take pleasure in firmities in reproaches and necessities in persecutions
He says he didn't say I put up with these things folks read the verbiage days
I'd say, you know, I guess it just kind of comes with the territory. I get it
I guess if I have to that's not his attitude. He said therefore I take pleasure
He said when the infirmities come when the approaches come when I when I'm you know afflicted when I have
Necessities and persecutions when I'm in distress for Christ's sake he says I pleasure in that
Say Paul what's wrong with you some kind of
Masochist, what's that? You know, you are you you know, you like being punished. What's the matter with you?
He said for when I am weak, then am I strong? What does he mean by that? He's strong in Christ?
And this is what we need to get we need to understand tonight is that humility is necessary to serve God
And it's interesting because this little maid is kind of in and you could go back to the story there in second Kings 5
The little maid is kind of contrasted with the king of Israel, isn't she?
So you have this little maid who's a captive in the foreign land?
You know
She's has complete rich in faith complete confidence that there's this prophet and Samara and Samara that could go ahead and heal
But then you have the king of Israel when the letter is sent to him when Naaman is sent by the king with this letter in his hand and he goes to him and he tells and he's like saying hey healed this guy, you know get take care of this
He rents his clothes and says, you know, am I God to kill and make alive?
You know, he's he's upset. He doesn't go. Oh, yeah
He must be in Elisha
Right, of course. Yeah, no problem. We can take care of that
I mean, he's distraught in our story here. If you look there it says
in
Verse 6 and he brought the letter to the king of Israel saying now when this letter has come unto thee
May hold I have sent therewith name and my servant to thee that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy
And it came to pass when the king of Israel had read the letter that he rent his clothes and said am I God
Kill and to make alive so you can see how he's although a king in Israel
Although mighty although powerful is not rich in faith
Although it has some wealth is poor in faith
He's the complete opposite of the little maid who although has nothing to her name is a servant a slave
Essentially is rich in faith
Here's this full-grown man, you know losing it, you know throwing a temper tantrum basically
Wherefore consider I pray you how and see how he seeketh the quarrel against me
He's like he's just sending down here this letter to pick a fight
He just wants to have a reason to come down here and and and get into it with us and mix it up
but notice verse 8 it says it was so that when a light when Elisha the man of God heard it heard that the king
Of Israel had rent his clothes. He sent to the king saying wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes. It's like what are you doing?
Let him come down to me and
And he shall know that there is a prophet Israel, you know, apparently you don't King but you send with me and at least he'll know
So we see first of all that humility is something that is necessary
To serve God, but if anyone wants to be used of God in this world, you can't
You can't be proud. You can't be lifted up
In fact, God has chosen the weak things
Mm-hmm
But not only that in our story we see that humility not only is it necessary for service
But it's also an S required for salvation and I'll go through this point very quickly in verses 9 through 14 is where you have
Naaman coming to Elijah it says there in verse 9
So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha
so kadik, I mean, he's not just coming coming there like, you know,
Just by himself. I mean he's showing up with horses and chariots
I mean, he's the captain of the army. He's a big shot. He's showing up with a lot of pomp
He's showing up with a lot of grandeur. I mean, it's like
You're not what you're not just wondering who that is. You know, it's it's this somebody with a lot of power
He's got horses chariots and he's standing at that door of Elijah, but notice how Elijah treats him
Elijah doesn't go. It's this big mover and shaker in society. It's this politician. It's the chief of police
It's the it's the it's the fire department it's the mayor it's the city council member it's a senator, you know
It's some, you know big shot politician. Well, let me just go get a picture with them, you know
But that that's what we have a lot and a lot of Baptist churches today
We got a lot of guy a lot of pastors
I just want a chance to shake the president's hand, you know and tell us you tell you to vote Republican
You know because they want to be a big shot Elisha though a real man of God
He just sent a messenger to him versus Ted
Elisha sent a messenger unto him saying no one washed in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come to thee again and thou
Shall be clean
He's basically saying go tell him to take a bath
That's what he's saying like hey go clean up in the river Jordan, he'll be fine and
You would think you know that you would go like oh that that sounds pretty easy. Yeah, great. Thanks
But you know again it comes back to what we talked about tonight humility
It shows us that humility is what's required not only for service, right?
We just went over that but also for salvation right Naaman had to be humbled
You know
It also shows us the character of Elisha that he was a humble person and he wasn't just in
The ministry to try to be somebody or to make a name for himself that he was just there to serve
But focusing on Naaman and the requirement for humility when it comes to salvation
There's a couple things that we can learn from his response so he tells him hey go take a bath
You know, he sends his messenger and it says in verse 11
But Naaman was wroth and went away and said behold
I thought he would surely come out to me and stand to call the name of the Lord and strike his hand over the place
And recover the leper
You know some people they don't want to get saved they want to have a spiritual experience though
You know, this always makes me think of like, you know, the Pentecostal churches
You say why are some of these Pentecostal Pentecostal churches filled, you know, we drive by that one on sunday every sunday morning
that
Victory out of reach one down there or victory outreach. Sorry. I say that wrong
That one that they drive by and it's like they've got a crowd out there
People are standing around outside
It's kind of like why are they drawing across? Look that's just one example. We could go all around this town
We could find all these Charismatics Pentecostals that are running, you know
They don't have the right gospel they don't down there it's a repent of your sins you can lose it. It's not eternal
You know, but they've they're drawn a crowd why because some people they're not interested in salvation
They just want to have a spiritual experience
They just want someone to make a big deal over them. They just want to go there and be made to feel special
And look, there's plenty of churches that will offer that they just want the man of God and the man of God to be made to feel special
They just want the man of God to stand over you and and clap and say
speak in tongues and and get you to have a charismatic experience and they just want to have
a feeling
And they don't want to have to actually humble themselves and and actually just believe what the bible says and take god at his word
Some people just want a spiritual experience. They're not really interested in genuine salvation. It's kind of naman's reaction here
He's angry
Why because the man of God didn't come out and hold his hands up and strike his hands over the place and be be healed
You know, he didn't have a Benny Hinn experience. He didn't take his coat off and slay me in the spirit
You know, they want to go there and see the whole, you know, first two dozen rows fall over and shake on the ground
They're not interested in the gospel
They wouldn't actually wouldn't actually be interested in but say hey, well, here's what the bible actually says about saying enough about that
Let's just speak in tongues and roll around and we could sprinkle oil on each other and have all these
mystical experiences
Do all these spiritual things?
That's what's out there that's why they draw a crowd that's why guys like
Benny Hinn and and all these other charismatics and
Who's that other one the the guy who applies and the guy has to fly in a private plane because he can't fly with devils
copeland
kenneth copeland
Yeah, that's why they draw a crowd because you can go there and have a real spiritual experience
tingles up your spine
But you know, you won't hear this
And you're sure not going to hear the gospel of salvation
Because the gospel of salvation is simple. You're going to hear how you need to repent of your sins and get filled
You're going to hear a bunch of nonsense
a bunch of heresy
You know and people that just want a spiritual experience. They're not going to be satisfied with just plain bible preaching
They're not going to just be plain, you know, uh
Satisfied with just a messenger saying hey, just go go jump in a lake. Basically go jump in the river, buddy. Go take a bath
Go do something simple
You know, and then of course you got
Other people they're not interested in salvation
Because they just want to trust in themselves
Look at verse 12 are not abana and parfar rivers of damascus better than all the waters of israel
You say look i've got rivers in my own land. I've got that are better than this
You know, this reminds me of people that you know would say well, I don't I don't need jesus
Because i'm a good person
I've got my own rivers to jump in i've got my own waters to dip in i've got my own fair works
They got their own things that they can go wash and be clean in right? Yeah, but they're not the ones that
The man of god told you to go wash him that they're not the ones that the preacher the preacher the preaching
Told you to do
It's opposite. It has nothing to do with what river
Or how good it is it's are you obeying the word of god
right
So he turned away and turned and went away in a rage
You know and and you can kind of understand why he's upset. I mean he's dealing with leprosy. He's traveled all this way
It's just that he's not getting the answer that he wants to i'm not saying he's right to be upset
But you know, you can kind of see why he would fly off the handle, right?
But what he has to do is he has to search his own heart and he has to be humbled
You know, he needs to get over it and it's just in humility
You know some people just want a spiritual experience some people just want to trust in themselves
And then you got some people who want to earn salvation, you know, they want to just do things on their own
But notice here he has to
Humble himself, right? He has to just do what he's told, you know, and jordan maybe it was an inferior river
I really don't know
I mean no one seems to argue with him on that point
But you know, he was just told hey if you want to do this
You're gonna just have to humble yourself and go in our meek
You know less than glorious river of jordan. I mean
You know, I guess that I i've been in some lakes that are better than others
I'm sure other people could say that probably not if you've lived here your whole life
right
but if you go if you go to if you ever go to a lake and it's like
Some lakes have that nice sugary sand all the way out you can wade out into it
then you go to some other lakes and it's just like
All that slimy moss and like weeds and stuff. Who knows what i'm talking about
So you can see why a guy might turn up his nose at at jordan and be like, oh man guys
You know, you're it's it's so rocky or it's just got a bunch of moss. It's got all that slime
You know, I could go to these crystal clear rivers over here that are just so nice and clean
But you know you could so you could see how it's he's asking him to what to humble himself
To become as a child in order to become a child of god
So they you know, they finally they talked some sense into him his his uh,
His servants there and they're saying hey, you know, if if he asked you to do something hard
Would you not have done it if he said, you know climb up into this mountain?
But then they said, you know, they've asked he's asked you to do something very easy
So verse 14 it says then he went down and he dipped himself seven times in jordan according to the saying of the man of god
So the picture is this is that you know, don't let a lot the fact that it's the saying of the man of god confuse you
It's what the illustration is. It's the preaching that has to be obeyed in order to be saved
And that requires humility
You know when we go out and preach the gospel
When we as humble servants of god go out and preach
What we're asking other people do is to be humble enough to believe the gospel to believe what is being preached
And that's what naman had to do. He had to humble himself and believe the preaching of the man of god
But notice when he did that when he when he humbled himself and said, you know, it's not about the fact that my rivers are better
It's not about that. I was willing to do some hard thing
It's not about the fact that elijah needs to come out and make a big fuss over me
It's a when he was willing to just humble himself and go dip in there that what it says his flesh came onto him
Came again like under the flesh of a little child and he was clean
And say what does that mean the flesh of a little child? We've all probably heard the expression smooth as a baby's bottom
Right anyone who's ever held a baby, you know that their skin is very smooth. It's it's fresh. It's new
It hasn't been weathered and all everything else that happens as we grow older right and that's what happened
But the illustration is what he's coming up and his flesh is new
Like a little child that's a picture of salvation
Like well like jesus said except you'd be born again except a man be born again he cannot enter and cannot see the kingdom of
god
He has to be made like a new child
He has to become a child to them gave you power to become the sons of god even them that believe on you
We're born again through faith and that requires humility
That's why he said except you become as little children now notice that he said
Jesus said except you be converted and become as little children when you get converted you become as a little child
You know, so it's going to take the humility of a child
to become like to become god's child basically
He said whosoever therefore shall not humble himself as a child
He said whosoever therefore shall not humble himself as this child
Or except whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this child the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven
Who's going to be the greatest?
The one who is humble like a child that's who's going to get born again
And here's the thing, you know, there's going to be a lot of very moral good people in hell, aren't there?
Because they're and why because they're filled with their own pride
They're very proud of the fact that they kept all these commandments
They're very proud of the fact that they died a faithful good catholic
But you know what? They didn't believe the gospel
You know, they had their own rivers to go dip in they had some some nice churches to go have a religious experience in
But they didn't hear that, you know, they didn't obey the preaching of the bible
And there's going to be a lot of good
moral people burning in hell because of their pride
So you can see how important humility is folks. Hopefully
You know if you want to be if you want to serve god
humility
If you want to be saved humility, you know humility is something that we must
constantly be
Practicing in our lives. It's something that we have to learn and put into practice
Here's the thing and i'm going to wrap up the whole chapter here tonight i'll get this going but
You know humility is required to serve humility is required for salvation but also
What I want to ask you tonight is, you know, are you willing to be humble, you know, your humility will be tested
in life
And we kind of see that here in verses 20 through 27, let me get over there I didn't have that in here
but basically you see
in the story that
Uh
Elisha, you know, he's kind of
Challenged with his humility a little bit here too. And then you see Gehazi falling short, right?
Because Gehazi was not one who was willing to just you know
Just be among the humble just remain a humble sort of god. He had his eyes on other things
And this will end here with the story of Gehazi
Because notice in the story that you know when after Naaman gets healed
He comes back and he says in verse
Verse 15 he says and he returned to the man of god
He in all his company and came and stood before him and said behold
Now I know that there is no god in all the earth but in israel now
Therefore I pray thee take a blessing of thy servant. So remember he brought all these riches
So now he wants to give something in return for this salvation this this healing that he's received
You know, and it would have been real easy for Elisha to just say oh, yeah, i'll take that
But you know again Elisha is somebody who has humility
You know, he's there not for filthy lucre's sake
right
And that's something you have to keep mind if you're going to go if you're going to be a genuine servant of god
Especially if you're going to be one who desires to go in the ministry
don't it's kind of a joke to me, but
It's like don't don't join the the the ministry because for the riches of the baptist faith
I mean because you're going to be sorely disappointed
That's not to say that there aren't churches out there that that have well that you know
Have a lot of funds come through them and it'd be but that's why it takes a person a humble person with
Integrity to say well that's for the work of the lord. That's not for me to have a private jet
That's not me for to have the latest and greatest and best of everything and again people can take this to the opposite extreme
And say, you know, the preacher should be you know, the poorest among us, you know, he shouldn't have anything. No
Like david, you know, he he wants poverty nor riches
You know, just you know, give that which is convenient, you know, you're not begging, you know, but you're also not covetous, right?
And so we see that in the story elias's humility is tested a little bit because he has this opportunity
To receive great wealth at the hand of name in the syrian
But because he is a humble servant because he is willing to just live a you know, a lowly life
He's not real interested in having a lot of wealth
He easily turns this down. In fact, and then he insists and he refused
And this is something of course that applies very specifically
To those that would go in the ministry and the bible says and it's a it's a requirement for the bishop and the deacon
To not be greedy of filthy lucre that we're they're not just turning aside teaching things. They are not for what filthy lucre's sake
You know people will begin to rest the bible
and to
you know
stop preaching things or twisting things in the word of god in order to just
Make people feel better or you know to get more people in the door so they can lie in their pockets
And again, i'm not saying every church that does well
That begins to grow and has a large congregation
That doesn't mean that they're bad bad churches aren't a bad or big churches aren't a bad thing
But you know a lot of times especially when you see churches just kind of spring up overnight
And they're just taking off like a weed
You know a lot of times it's because they're not preaching the whole count
They're giving that spiritual experience to everybody and people are more than willing to just come and pay for that
And there's plenty of people out there plenty of people to get up behind a pulpit
And be more than happy to take their money to just continue to preach lies and give them their spiritual experience
I mean good night
Look at the roman catholic church
I mean that's it's got more wealth than like several countries combined
You know, it's I haven't done that man. I haven't looked at that in a long time
But I remember reading about how they have just so much there's like whole african countries that you could just all roll together
Multiple and vatican still has more money than them. I mean they've got
All kinds of wealth it's insane. I mean look at how many catholic churches are there around here?
And they're ornate they're huge and they have all this staff and this clergy and everything
Why because they're willing to just take your filthy lucre
right among other things
And we certainly wouldn't look at that and say oh that's that's the picture of humility
Your humility will be tested but you know, of course, so of course there's the application for
You know those that would be in the ministry, but this is something that could apply applies to everybody
When it comes to serving god and if you would go over to first john chapter two first john chapter number two
Is that you know, you might never have uh an opportunity to sit there
And just you know fleece the flock or you know preach lies for filthy lucre's sake that's not going to be something
Everybody's tempted with is it?
You know, that's something that's going to be
You know
That the the the number of people that are going to be tempted that is a very narrow field, okay?
But you know, we're all tempted with the world we're all tempted with the flesh we're all tempted with the devil
you know, we all have we maybe we're not going to cure great wealth in our life, but
The world is something that could lure us away, you know, the devil could tempt us with things say
Hey, if you just quit serving god
You know if you just you would just take the i'll get i'll reward you
Right, you can have the pleasures of sin
That's why we're warned in first john chapter 2 verse 15 love not the world
Neither the things that are in the world if any man loved the world the love of the father is not in him
for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not
Of the father but is of the world and the world passeth away in the lust thereof
But he that doeth the will of god abideth forever. So we're warned look love not the world
You know the pastor obviously the preacher can't be somebody who's greedy a filthy lucre
Otherwise he'll start to teach things he ought not for filthy lucre's sake
But you say well, what does how does that apply to me? Well, you know
You need to be a humble person because the devil's going to test you the devil's going to attempt that and say hey
Go be somebody in the world
Go out there and love the world and the world of love right back on you
Riches are things that have to be resisted both behind the pulpit and in the pew
Especially, you know, and this is important because we are living in the most peaceful and affluent time throughout all of human history
Okay, and and you say well this doesn't really apply to me
Oh this applies to everybody in the room if you're living in a first world country this applies to you
Riches are something that could steal your heart away riches are something that you could chase after in this life
How do I know because that's what everybody's doing?
In this world and and what we call poor today
Is an absolute, you know joke when it comes to what real poverty looks like
You know, and this is the story you get with gehazi
You know gehazi, of course for sake of time i'm just gonna
Run up run through this you see that gehazi says oh, you know, uh, you know, my lord has relieved the syrian
You know, he didn't take anything from naman
But as the lord liveth, I will take somewhat of him so naman sees this this interaction between or excuse me
gehazi sees this interaction between naman and
Elisha and says elisha, you know, you're blowing it man. Look at all these riches
You could have had you could have gotten some silver a couple changes of garment. What's wrong with that?
right
So he goes after him
and uh
And he and he takes some of him, right?
He takes he says hey he lies and says there's these two men that are
Sons of the prophets that have come for ephraim, you know
Give him a town of silver and two chains of raiment and then
You know naman actually gives him an extra sends it so much so that two of his naman's own servants have to carry it back
with him
And he has more than even he can carry right so he's taking that back with him
And he's chasing after wealth
Basically, he's chasing after naman. He's kind of and it's a picture of you know
Somebody leaving the service of god to chase wealth leaving the work of god to go out and chase
You know
riches
Okay, because remember who gehazi is he's the servant of the man of god now
It never explicitly says it in the scripture, but you know when you think about how things kind of play out in the bible
Joshua, you know was servant to moses
Elisha was servant to elijah you kind of just it's just it's conjecture, but you kind of figure well obviously then gehazi
He keeps coming up. He's always there with elijah. Maybe he must be the heir apparent, you know
Paul had timothy and titus those proteges that he'd taken under his wing
That's who I think gehazi was he was in line to be the next man of god
You know, you know at least to all
for all appearances
Until his true colors came out
Okay
Until it was in his heart really came out and what he was really after was not glorifying god living a humble
Meek existence serving the lord faithfully what he really wanted was wealth. What he really wanted was power
Okay
So he goes after it and he takes it from him
And then of course, you know, he gets cursed here at the end
But my point is this is that look riches are something that you have to resist in this world the lure to become
Wealthy and i'm not saying that if you go out and you work hard and you succeed
And you have wealth that that makes you a bad person
But if you make your life all about money
You know, you're probably not going to serve god the way that you could
And and look people people get caught up in this
People make their life all about money
You know, they get they get involved in these programs
These follow these teachers and other people out there these dave ramsey types and look dave ramsey probably has
That's not the chef is it?
That's that other ramsey i'm always confusing him
But this you know, he goes out there and and this day he probably teaches a lot of practical
I know he teaches practicalism. I've listened to his book years ago
About not being in debt getting out of debt having savings, but then he teaches
Okay, now that you're out of debt become a millionaire so you can help people
Yeah, you know what the problem with that is that all that time you're spending becoming a millionaire so that you can help somebody
Is that you're not helping anyone?
And for all you know by time you you know, you finally make it
Into the big time you have all these million you have these millions of dollars, whatever
So now you're just going to be this great philanthropist
You might be dead by then and it's too late to do anything for anybody
Oh, i'll serve god after I go out and make a cool million just to take the edge off
Yeah, you're going to spend the best years of your life the strength the strongest years of your life chasing after wealth
And then in the end, you're just you're not might not even have opportunity to serve god
You know, i'm all for the practical things that just aren't being taught
That's the problem with this guy is that you know
He just teaches a lot of things that everyone should just been taught in high school that your parents should have taught you
How to balance a checkbook that credit cards are bad how to stay out of debt how to you know, save money and work hard
You know that that's all that's just practical stuff
The problem is is he uses that as a springboard, you know practical wisdom that people just don't know anymore
To then teach them to be you know, buy my next book get involved in my program
Download my app get my pdf files and i'll help you become wealthy
You know, one of the best ways to become wealthy is to sell people get rich schemes
You know
You know download, you know watch this youtube ad at the end just download go to the link
And i'll show you how to how to grow and become rich
Are you going to tell me to run ads on youtube to tell that same thing to other people?
So they'll go down, you know, you know what I mean? It's like that's what they're going to tell you
But then you have guys that come along they want to just use this practical wisdom to then encourage people even god's people to just chase
wealth
And people get drawn away and to chase riches in this life
And i'm all for people working hard and succeeding and doing well and providing for others and that in and of itself is a service
But if we're going to make our life all about riches chasing after money
You know what? We're going to end up missing out on being able to serve god
It's true
And people, you know can look at me cross-eyed all they want
But here's the thing. Jesus said no man can serve two masters
For he will either hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other
Right, isn't that what he said? You can't serve two masters
You'll hate one or love you can't serve them both
He said yeah, but that could be anybody but then he specifically says you cannot serve god and mammon
Which is money
You can't serve god and mammon. I mean, that's why it's a requirement in the ministry
You can't you know, you can't be one who's greedy a filthy lucre
Because you're gonna hate that you if you love mammon, you're gonna hate the commandments of god
You're gonna hate the fact that when you preach hard when you take a stand and people take their money and leave
You're gonna come back. Well, I guess I won't say that again
Well, because you can only love one and or one or the other so which is it going to be?
You know and obviously that goes to the preacher, but you know what that goes for the people in the pew too
If you're just going to make your whole life about just chasing wealth
Then you know what? You're probably going to not serve god to the fullest your full stability to the full extent that you could
People who start oh, i'm just going to skip church so that I can work overtime
You know, I think that's wrong to be skipping church, you know, and i'm not saying every single service
I'm just saying like if you're just going to stop going to church because people do this like well
I would be there on sundays, you know, I'd show up sunday morning, but I got to work
You know, but here's the thing if you would be faithful to god god would bless you
You'd get more done with less if you'd just be faithful to god
I mean that's what we see in the story is you know gehazi is one who goes chasing after riches and is cursed for it
You know if we as god's people that if you want to serve god you have to have humility and you have to resist
The riches that humility will be tested
Chasing wealth brings a curse. I know i'm going long and I got to wrap up
So he goes after him right and I love I love this when he comes back
And he comes back and he you know, he hides all his goodies and then uh
He goes into it like nothing's happened. He just goes in
Verse 25 and he went in and stood before his master. So he's just like
Like no one knows
You know, there's here's a lesson in of itself. Be sure your sin will find you out
You know people think they're so sneaky sometimes
Kids, especially right they do this
They think they're just they just got mom and dad figured out
You know, they know how mom and dad are they know what they do they've studied their habits
They've been observing their behaviors like they know what kind of schedule they keep
they know when they're going to do this and when they're going to do that and they think so if I just a kid's scheme
Say, how do you know that because I was one
That's the thing kids never think about do they we've all been kids
We know how your brains work. We were schemers, too
We were schemers, too
We were schemers too
We were scamps just like you right
And they they're kind of like, uh, you know gehaysi in the story
Nothing's happened
Did you?
Did you get into the chocolate?
Did you go into the you know, the cookie jar and eat a bunch of cookies? Nope
Big old chocolate all over their face or whatever
It's like huh? I think you did
How do they know
And I love his answer here
He goes in and elijah said on verse 25. Whence came whence comest thou gehaysi and he said my servant went no whither
You know and he's lying
You know and and chasing wealth, you know, not only is it going to take the the place of serving god
You know, you're not going to be where you should be you're going to be out chasing wealth
You're going to be like edemus who's you know forsakes paul having loved this pleasant world
You're going to be like those who have coveted after riches and erred from the faith, you know, but it's also going to make you a liar
Oh nice servant no wither you were chasing riches
I mean isn't that don't you think people who will make will try to make money don't they do a lot of that through uh lying
cheating
stealing
You know people cut a lot of throats to get ahead
Pun intended
But they do, you know, you ever think that's a cutthroat industry because they're just they're willing to slice your throat just to get ahead
right
But I want to end on this thought because you know
Maybe some of those things aren't enough to convince you that just chasing wealth and not having humility are worth it
But think about the last verse in the story. It says the leprosy therefore of naman shall cleave unto thee
and unto thy seed
forever
And he went out from his presence as a leper as white as snow
You know choosing
being covetous
choosing wealth choosing riches
Now it's not going to have a detrimental on rob you and have an effect on your life. It's going to affect your children
You know and this is especially if we have children, you know, they're watching our every move. They're watching what's important to us
They're watching
You know where we place our priorities in life and they're going to follow our example
It's not enough to just say
Do this if you're not, you know, you don't you can't be a hypocrite, right?
That that classic line don't do as I say not as I do that doesn't work
Doesn't matter how many times you say that
Do as I say not as I do no, they're going to do as you do
And it's this picture here of naman, you know chasing after wealth and making his life all about riches and not serving god
You know that leprosy
Gets passed on to his children. He curses his own children. It's it's kind of like a picture of you know
People that choose to not serve god with their lives that make other things more important
Then they're shocked when their kids, you know forsake the church when their kids forsake serving god when they get older
It's like well, it's like that stupid, you know, dare ad or drug, you know
Drug anti-drug ad I learned it from watching you
Who knows what i'm talking about, where'd you know the dad standing there with all the paraphernalia
Who taught you to do this you all right?
I learned it from watching you
You know, that's gonna be that's gonna be you
One day, you know when when instead of a box of paraphernalia or whatever you're gonna be holding a dusty bible
be like who
Who taught you to do this?
Who taught you to not read your bible who taught you to not make god important who taught you not to go to church?
You all right. I learned it from watching you
Not reading your bible. I learned by watching you
Not care about the things of god
I learned from why watching you just chase after wealth and talking bad about the preacher behind his back and
And and just saying that you know this or that or the other thing or whatever
Not making church important then you're shocked when your kid doesn't follow through. It's like duh
You know, i'm sure naman was pretty shocked when the leprosy passed on to his children
But you know what it was it was too little too late at that point. It's like well
tough
and again
You think you know this whole thing about chasing but this doesn't apply to me this applies to everyone in the room every single one
of us
Because as I said in a minute ago anyone that's living in this world and it all end in first timothy six go there
If you're living in modern day in america, you are rich. Yes, you
Say i'm not rich. I only have one air-conditioned vehicle
I only live in my I only have tile and half of my house
Think about all the things we just take for granted. I was thinking about I was writing this as like imagine taking a time machine
And going back and taking somebody before the advent of electricity and then bringing them here
And then bringing it, but you know when the sun goes down bring them indoors and when it gets pitch black
Just turning on a light just going over and just doing this
Just going like this
Imagine never seeing electricity and then seeing that
Ah
What is it
It's electricity
They'd lose their minds
In fact, even if you're a kid
In fact, even when little kids do it right they when your kids little remember that your child first discovers the light switch
You know, you're carrying them like and they just want to sit there and go
Imagine going back and finding a with a time machine and getting a grown man
And bringing them into a place like this and then turning on you know
indoor lighting
They they'd lose it or watching a jet fly over for the first time
All you've ever known is walking and maybe a carriage or a horse
And you're seeing these giant steel birds with fire coming out of their wings flying over
But this is the world see it to us that's funny and it is but that's I make the point is that to us we just
think that
That's that we just take that for granted and then when you know when our air conditioner breaks, it's like oh, we're so poor
We've got it so rough and I'm making this point because
Riches we'll steal your heart away from God and we are we are rich folks because we read first timothy six
We think oh that applies to other people this applies to us
Charge them that are rich in this world that are rich those that have wealth is this is everybody in this room
You say no, that's talking about the billionaires of this world
No, because any one of you with your standard of living and your wealth and your income
Went back to when this was written you would have been considered the wealthy
They'd say you eat how many calories in a day
You eat whatever fruit whatever vegetable at any time during the year
You have juice just on demand you have milk by the gallons
I mean good night
We throw out more food in a year than people eat back then throughout most of human history
And i'm getting this out because this is something i've been thinking about
But he's saying here look charge them that are rich in this world. That's me and you
That they be not high-minded
What were we talking about tonight humility?
You know we can get we you know pride will creep in we're so well off we've got it so good
And we started to think oh man, we're really something
That they'd be not high-minded nor trust in another person
That they'd be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living god who giveth us richly all things to enjoy
He's saying he's charging them that are rich in this world what's he saying to charge them he's not saying
Don't be wealthy. He's not saying, you know
Go become a beggar
He's saying look charge them that are rich in this world that they be high not minded nor trust in certain riches
But the living god would give us richly all things to enjoy
That they what be rich in good works
Ready to distribute willing to communicate
Tell the people that are rich in this world that they'd be rich in good works
That they be that they do good right that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate
That's me and you friend
See we read that and say yeah those rich people
Well, who's the rich where is that I mean he's talking to a guy who's leading a church
Where's the rich guy?
out there tonight
If it's not us if it's not you who's the rich guy in our church
It's got to be somebody I mean, why is he sitting here telling timothy? Hey charge them that are rich in this world
It's because there were rich people in the church. There's people that and look back then there probably were some very wealthy people I get it
All i'm saying is if you know comparatively speaking rather than comparing yourself to elon musk and saying well i'm not rich
Maybe you should look back
And go oh when this was written I would have been that person
I would have been that guy, you know with my air pods and my iphone and my watch and my new shoes and
My durable clothes and all these things that we have you're that rich person
It's you
And all i'm saying all i'm charging you tonight is what the bible says to charge you with
Do good
Be rich in good works
Ready to distribute willing to communicate
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come
You know, we should if we have wealth and we do if we're affluent and we are we should use that to serve god
And you're sitting there going no i'm not that that that's i'm not rich, okay
Well, i'll just wait to my thanksgiving sermon then
To remind us all about ingratitude and gratefulness
And taking things for granted we've got it so good
We're so prosperous it's so peaceful there's less wars now than there's ever been
You wouldn't know that watching the television probably
reading the news stream somewhere
But there's more there's less war now less people die in war now than throughout all of history
More people eat more food than they have have a higher
Caloric intake on a daily basis than they have throughout all of history
We are connected to people on the other side of the world through things that we carry around in our pockets
We could talk to people on the other side of the world on a screen in our pocket
I'm, yeah, but you don't understand. I got it so hard. I'm so poor. No, you're not
You're not
And all i'm saying is this is that there's so much more we could have isn't there
There's so many toys. There's so many things. There's so much wealth. There's so much money to be made out there
There's so many pleasures that we could chase and you know what you'll end up being
the haze eye
Oh come back come back
Can I have some of that?
Not where you belong
Not not with the man of god not
You know serving like you're supposed to just chasing after the riches
You say well, I don't want to do that, okay, well then humility
Be willing to be humble be willing to go without be willing to say hey, you know what I don't need all of that
And when you think about what you already have it's a lot easier to say that
You know when you when you when you've got the latest, you know, the latest and greatest phone, right?
You got you got the foot you got the 13 in your pocket
Right, do you need the 14
Yeah, I do because this one's a year old
I know it'll last like five to ten years because it's a quality made product. But I mean
You know, it doesn't have the new camera
It's like
Yeah, but it still has a camera. Have you thought about that?
Like it still has this amazing thing on it, right and look i'm not down anybody gets stuff like that. I mean obviously, right?
I'm, just saying let's let that's not make our life all about chasing those things
These things are very useful tools. These things can help us but we need to understand that you know, we are the rich in this world
You know and rather than being high-minded we should be humble
And rather than just making our lives about going out and chasing more and getting more and not being satisfied with what we have
You know, maybe we should rather as paul instructed timothy, you know
To charge them what to do what to be rich in good works
Don't forsake the assembling don't forsake the soul winning
Use the tools the things that we have used the the the affluence that we have the affluence that we have the prosperity we have
to serve god
Because we could serve god today in a way that a lot of people never could I mean we could just
Hop on these giant thunderbirds that fly through the sky
And go to another part of the world and preach to people that
Otherwise would have taken three to six months to get to if we didn't die along the way
You know, so use those things obviously for the glory of god
And and don't chase after these things the bible says flee these things follow after righteousness godliness faith meekness
You know, I mean good night
We're we've got so much
You know, we're we're at home thawing out 50 pounds of rotisserie chicken right now
There's some people in this world that are and it was given to me, you know
It was it was somebody else was throwing out at a grocery store 50 pounds of rotisserie chicken frozen rotisserie chickens seasoned
I mean ready to go you could drop in a deep fryer you could put them in the oven
You know what i'm not doing is chasing a chicken around a yard somewhere
I'm not raising that chicken, but there's some people in some parts of this world
That's they would look at my 50 pounds of thawing chicken
And you are rich
Man, where did you get all those chickens?
Oh, I just found them someone's getting rid of them
Right, that's the level like i'm just bringing it up because we I just don't think we think about it
Sometimes I think we just take it all for granted
And and what do we find up doing? I want more. I want more. I want more. We're never satisfied
And if that's us not satisfied, we're going to end up living our life like a gehazi
Chasing after the wealth of this world the namins of this world
You know and not being more like the elitists
People who just want to be humble and just serve god that are not in it for a reward that hate covetousness
That just want to serve god humbly. That's who we need to be. Let's go and pray dear lord again. Thank you for
this story
And lord pray help us to be a humble people lord that are content with such things as we have
Help us to understand that godliness with contentment is great gain and lord. I pray help us to use
the tools the things that we have
The the time that we live in lord to to do great things for you and not to just
please ourselves and to and to chase after things that are vain lord, but that we would
be people that are
We're always looking to serve you and lord to be people that are rich in good works. We ask these things in christ's name. Amen
All right. We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go
Four
Is
God
Is
Do
You