(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The title of this morning's sermon is Servant to Sellout. I'm referring to a particular character in this passage named Gehazi, someone we're probably familiar with. It's an interesting arc with the character Gehazi, where he starts out and where we see him end and the things that happen in between. When you study Gehazi's life, you see somebody who started out as a servant and then became a sellout and then became a has-been, somebody who was washed up and was living in the past. This is important that we hear this because we're going to come across people from time to time that appear to be on God's side, that appear to be with the man of God, that appear to be in church, that are there for the right reasons, and they'll have everything put together, and they'll look the part, and they'll play the part. But then, over time, what you start to find out about certain people is that they've been in it for themselves the whole time. The whole time that they were in church or ministering for God or working for the Lord or pretending to be on the team, what they're really doing is just trying to get advantage for themselves, to gain themselves. This sounds crazy, but it happens. You preach about this stuff, and you warn people, and people think, yeah, I'm sure that might happen here and there. It's never going to happen to us. You give it time. You stick around. You're going to see it. You're going to see people who attach themselves to a church, attach themselves to a movement, attach themselves to a ministry, attach themselves to a man of God, and they're going to serve. They're going to be a servant just like Gehazi, but somewhere along the line, they're going to show their true colors, and you're going to find out what they really are is a sellout. Their life is just going to end up ending their lives as has-beens, as people have just washed up and are no longer in the fight for God. We don't want to be those types of people. I don't suspect anyone in the room is. We're not trying to find out if anybody is, but here's the thing. When you see it happen, don't let it surprise you because these types of things happen in the Scripture. These stories are here for a reason. There's a reason why Gehazi is mentioned. There's a reason why we are even shown this character in Scripture. I guarantee you there are many other people that are around the prophet Elisha, but this particular individual is mentioned in Scripture, and I believe for a reason. Of course, it says there that in 2 Kings 4, in verse 12, that Gehazi is his servant, and he said to Gehazi, his servant called the Shumanite. We see right out of the gate that Gehazi is one of the servants. He's basically Elisha's right-hand man. As the right-hand man to the man of God here, Elisha, he got to see a lot of things, didn't he? Just in this story, this chapter alone, we're seeing him with the miracle of the oil and the widow, which is amazing. We see, of course, the miracle with the Shumanite woman, where she miraculously has a child when her husband is old and past his child-rearing days, or whatever you want to call it. That was a miracle in and of itself. Even beyond that, when the child dies, he's witness to what Elisha did when Elisha comes back and raises that child back from the dead. It ends there with the miracle about the pot that has death in it. Maybe we need Elisha here for this chili cook-off. I'm sure that won't be said of any of the food here. He's seeing all these miracles. He's seeing five miracles in that one chapter alone. He's right there. He's his servant. He's getting to see all these great works being done by God. He witnessed many miracles just by being associated, by being the servant of Elisha. I'd say that's pretty cool. I'd say that's a pretty neat position. I'd feel pretty privileged if I was a guy like Gehazi who got to get that close to a man of God, where I'm his right-hand man and I'm helping him, I'm ministering to him, and I'm watching him do all these wonderful miracles, doing these great works for God. I would feel pretty satisfied in life with that. A lot of people, their problem is they want to be Elisha. They want to be the one who's getting… The Shumanite woman, she didn't make the little room for Gehazi. She didn't make the little room and put the candle on the table and the bed and the chair. She didn't give him her bread because of Gehazi. That wasn't for him. That was for the man of God. But as a byproduct, Gehazi still bedded from that. That's what he says in that chapter there. Look at verse 30. And he said unto him, Gehazi, say now unto her, behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care. He's a beneficiary of the man of God. Just being his servant, being associated with him, serving alongside him, he gets to reap a lot of the benefits. This is something I can relate to in this regard quite a bit, being the deacon here at this church and ministering down here. You kind of benefit from the fact that we're connected to Faithful Word in Tempe and Pastor Steven Anderson. There's a lot of benefits to being his servant, being alongside him, being in his employment. We have access to a lot of those resources. If we were an independent church and completely on our own, we'd still pay the rent. We'd still go out and knock doors. We'd still preach sermons. We'd still be able to do everything we need to do for God as an independent church. But let's not get in too much of a hurry here. Let's enjoy the ride until we get there. There's some benefits there. There's a full-size van that's nicely decorated out there. We've got the flyers. The invites are getting printed. We're able to do the different things that we do around here, the potlucks and everything. Don't worry. We'll still do potlucks if we ever go independent as well. We're Baptists. That's one of our core beliefs. But I'm just saying, look, there's a lot of benefits to being underneath a man of God, to being alongside him, just being in his presence or being in his service. You get to reap a lot of those benefits. Gehazi is no exception. I mean, he's getting taken care of here. And Elisha notices it. Elisha calls it as he says, she has taken this great care for us. He understands that Gehazi is benefiting from him, from being his servant. He got to witness all those miracles. He got to see all the great works of God being done. It's an honor to be close to certain people. It's an honor to serve in certain ministries. It's an honor to serve certain individuals, people who are men of God, working for the Lord. It's an honor. It's a privilege. It's something that we should cherish. If you would, go over to Matthew chapter 20. Keep something in 2 Kings chapter 4 and go over to Matthew chapter 20. You say, well, you know, I think it's kind of, you know, what a proud statement to say, oh, it's an honor to be close to certain people. It's an honor to desire to be in someone's ministry. Well, what about Jesus and his ministry? And I'm not saying, you know, any of us are like Jesus, that we're at that level. But, you know, Jesus doesn't rebuke that type of an attitude of wanting to be the right-hand man, of wanting to be the servant, of wanting to be, you know, the go-to guy in a ministry or being close to him, being close to the one that God is using. There's nothing wrong with that. That's a good desire. Unfortunately for Gehazi, he lost sight of that. And look at Matthew chapter 20 and verse 20. It says then came to him, of course, Jesus, the mother of Zebedee's children, with her sons worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, what will thou? She sayeth unto him, grant that these my two sons may sit on thy right hand and the other on thy left in thy kingdom. So she's asking, look, when you come into your kingdom, I want my sons to sit next to you. And what was Jesus' answer? You proud woman, who do you think you are? Did he rebuke this? No, now he did. There was a line of questioning, right? Let's read it. He said in verse 22, and Jesus answered and said, ye know not what ye ask, are ye able to drink the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, we are able. He's saying, look, that's a good thing that you desire. I don't blame you for wanting that, but you better understand that it comes at a price. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm drinking of? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? Look, I'm not trying to liken our pastor or myself or anybody else unto the Lord Jesus Christ, but there's a principle here that when you want to get close to somebody that's doing works for God, when you want to associate yourself with a ministry, when you want to attach yourself and get involved in the work of God to be a servant like a hazy, you better mark it down, it comes at a price. It will come at a price to some degree or another. Think of the price that men of God pay to serve God. I've been with Pastor Anderson through a few storms now, and every time I go through one, I always think of these words that Pastor Dave Berzen said to me early on. This is years ago, I can't even remember what battle this was, but Pastor Anderson's going through it, and some of it kind of fell on my lap too. My family, I was getting a hard time for my family. Basically, my one sister just cut off all communication, and I wasn't exactly heartbroken over it, but it did come at a price. I remember saying to Pastor Berzen's expressing that, and it probably came off as a little, oh, it's kind of getting, you know, bothered me. He said these words, and he did say it condescendingly, but it was just a gentle reminder. He said, look, whatever you're going through, whatever you have to go through, just remember, it's collateral damage. He's bearing the brunt of it. There's a reason why the leaders are the leaders. They're there to take it on the chin. Sometimes we know they take the full force of the impact, and some of it kind of spreads off, and we catch some shrapnel too. That's why I'm saying this, that if you're going to get involved in a ministry like this that's doing things for God, that has a strong leader, you better be willing to say, look, I'm willing to drink of that cup. I'm willing to be baptized with that baptism. I'm willing to go through the fire with you. Otherwise, what you'll end up doing is selling out. You'll end up selling out, and then you'll just be washed up, you know. Now, I'm not saying this is the only place you can serve God. You can go serve God in other places. I understand that, but here's the thing. If you want to serve here, you know, there's a pattern that I've noticed over the last, you know, almost eight years is that about, you know, every two years or so, lately it seems like every year, there's some, you know, blow up, some battle, some whatever, something taking place where people have to decide where they stand. They have to decide who they're going to be loyal to, and I've been talking about this, you know, on Thursday nights and elsewhere, but this is an important subject, and I'm bringing it up because I'm just seeing so much of it these days of people who are not, you know, they want to act like the servant. They want to be like a hazy. They want to enjoy all the benefits. They want the care to be taken for them. They want other people to be like, oh, you're with Elisha. You're with, oh, here I've got a space for you too. Oh, I brought you some bread as well, and they want to benefit from it, but as soon as things don't go their way or they see something they want that they can't have, well, you know what, Elisha just goes by the wayside, and they sell out the man of God, and look, Jesus is not rebuking her for this desire. It's a good thing to want that, to say, look, I want to be involved. I want to be as close as I can. I want to help. I want to be on their side. I want to be a blessing, right? They're desiring to be close to the Lord, right? We should all desire that, you know, and what's interesting about, and if you would go over to Luke chapter 14, Luke chapter 14. What's interesting about Gehazi is that Gehazi, you know, it doesn't, the Scripture doesn't explicitly say this, you know, you could disagree with this, and I would have to, you know, give you, you know, I'd have to say, yeah, you might be right about that, but it appears to me that, you know, just from the pattern of way things worked with Elijah and Elisha, that in all likelihood, Gehazi was going to be the next Elisha, that he was probably Elisha's protege. He was the one that was being trained and taught, you know, that was the one that was going to take his place when he passed off the scene, just as Elisha replaced Elijah, okay, and you kind of see that in 2 Kings, it says in verse 3, but Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord where it would be inquired by him? And one of the king, and one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, here is Elisha, the son of Shaphat, okay, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. So Elisha, you know, he went through this process. He's already gone through this. He's already been the servant. You know, he was there when Elijah came. He was plowing with his yoke of oxen, just going about his business, working hard, providing for his family, and, you know, Elijah comes along, throws his mantle on him, and, you know, he sacrifices the oxen and goes and follows him, then you don't hear from him. We just know he's there, but we don't hear a lot about him, because it wasn't about him. His role at that time was just to serve, to just be there, to serve Elijah, and that's what's known of Elijah, or Elisha, is that the way he started out was doing what? Ministering, be a servant, just like Gehazi. You know, servants are exalted in due time. People who serve are exalted in due time, having, you know, usually after they've learned humility. Otherwise, it's for naught. Otherwise, you know, pride goes to their head, and they ruin it, is usually what happens, but servants are exalted in due time. And look, I'm not saying everybody is going to be in the spotlight, but is this behind the pulpit the only place to serve God today? Is this the only place you could ever be exalted, is behind this pulpit? Look, there's going to be a lot of people that get exalted in heaven, far more than any man of God that stood behind a pulpit and preached a sermon. There's going to be people that you've never heard of, people who just lived, you know, just quiet, humble lives. Nobody lifted up their name. They didn't, you know, they didn't have the thousands of subscribers or whatever. They didn't have all the accolades and the praise of men here on earth, but they'll be exalted in due time in heaven if they learn humility here, and they don't sell out and want something that they shouldn't. That's what it says in Luke 14, Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Now, that's a lesson that Elisha learned, but it's not a lesson, apparently, that Gehazi learned. Because we see, and if you would, go back to 2 Kings, 2 Kings 4, is that Gehazi puts his position above his purpose. He put his position above his purpose. He thought the position is what mattered. Having the title, being, you know, being who he was, that's what mattered. No, what mattered was his purpose. That's what made his position important at all. It was the purpose behind it. Do you think they couldn't have found another Gehazi? Do you think there wasn't other people to choose from other than Gehazi that could have done just as good a job as he could have? Sure, there was. They probably would have done a better job. They probably wouldn't have done what he did. But that just goes to show us that it's not about the position, necessarily. It's what purpose does that position serve. That's what we need to put the emphasis on. Not the person, but the purpose. Of course, you know in the story that the Shumanite woman, she has the child. The child dies. Then she goes to Elijah. It says there in verse 24, then she settled and asked and said to her servant, drive and go forward. Slack not thy writing, except I bid thee, so she went and came unto the man of God to Carmel. And it came to pass when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, behold, yonder is that Shumanite. Run now, I pray thee, to meet her and say unto her, is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with thy child? And she answered it as well. So you could see that with Elisha, he has a servant's heart, even though he's got a higher position. He's not the servant. He's the man of God. You know, you could kind of get a sense of this relationship that he had with the Shumanite woman. She's caring for him. He's endeared to her. He sees her afar off, kind of like the parable of the prodigal son. You know, the father was looking for his son to come back. When he turned to his house, he saw him while he was yet afar off. So it's kind of like, you know, Elisha, he's there, he's looking, and he notices her, and he can even recognize her from a great distance, and says, you know, go run to her and ask, is everything okay? So he sends her, and she's saying, hey, is everything okay with your husband? Are you okay? Is the child okay? He's concerned, right? Because he understood that that was his purpose. That was what he was there to do, to minister to people, to care about them. And he was endeared to this woman. But is that the attitude that Gehazi had? And it says there in verse 27, it says at the latter end of 26, and she answered as well, verse 27, and when she came to the man of God, to the hill, she caught him by the feet. So she's throwing herself at his feet. She's desperate for help. She's distraught. But Gehazi came near to thrust her away. That was his heart. Oh man, something must have happened. Something terrible must have happened. I wonder what is this poor woman? Was that it? Oh, get away from her. Get away from him. Dragging. He wanted to come here and drag her away. Kind of reminded me when the disciples, you know, when they wanted to bring the young children to Jesus, that he would bless them, or the parents wanted to, and the disciples said, you know, they said, take them away. You know, they wouldn't let them come. And Jesus said, suffer the little children, for such is the kingdom of heaven. You know, he kind of rebuked them and said, no, bring the kids here. Don't refuse them. Why is that? Because, you know, Gehazi has in his head, it's all about the position. Well, hey, if you want to talk to him, you got to go through me. You know, if there's something I can help you with, because you remember, if you read the story, often Gehazi is, you know, the one that's relaying these communications. You know, Elisha isn't even going to these people and talking to them. He's just, you know, using Gehazi. And so in this instance, he's trying to drag her away, you know, and he's not, he doesn't have the heart of a servant to look and see that there's a real need here, that it's more about the purpose that's being fulfilled necessarily than the position or what people can be profited from, you know, being associated with the man of God. It's about the purpose. And it says, and the Lord, and the man of God said, let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her. And the Lord hid it from me and hath not told me. Then she said, did not desire of the Lord. Did I not say, did not deceive me? And then said, Gehazi, gird up thy loins. Then said he to Gehazi, gird up thy loins and take my staff in thine hand and go thine way. So the other thing you see in this passage with Gehazi is you kind of have to wonder what, what's his problem? Why does he get so bent out of shape? Why does he end up just making a mess at everything? It's because he's, one, I think it's because of his pride. That's why he's not, he can't serve because he doesn't like the idea of, you know, having to be a base in order to be exalted, that whosoever shall be greatest among you shall be your servant, as the scripture says. But he gets, probably gets weary of having to serve this man of God. I mean, he's being told, run here, run there, run here, go, go meet her. Okay, come back. Okay, now run over to her house. Now come back. Tell me that didn't work. Go tell her this. I mean, he's just got, I mean, Elisha was pouring water on the hands of Elijah. That was his job. And you know, whatever many other menial tasks. I mean, they didn't have, you think about it, they didn't have, you know, faucets and things, but they had enough knowledge back then to understand, you know, like it says in the law to use running water to clean yourself. Don't use standing water. So that was his job. And so he's used to it. He's not asking, you know, Gehazi to do anything that he himself has not done or would be willing to do. Saying, look, I'll do the most menial of tasks. There's no job beneath me in the ministry. I'll do it. You know, and that's the attitude that people need to have if they're going to serve God. If they're going to serve alongside a man of God, if they're going to serve along in a ministry and enjoy the benefits of it, you know, they should be willing to serve, you know, and say, there's no task beneath me. I'll do it. Scrub a toilet, take out a trash, whatever. You name the job willing to do it. Not get to this point where we say, well, you know, I've been here long enough. I've reached a certain status. I'm a deacon. You know, that would be really stupid because that's literally what my job is. To serve. That's what it means to be a deacon. To serve. Well, you know, that's something we could all use and apply in our own lives. But Gehazi, you know, he's probably just grown weary of serving and not being the guy in the limelight, not being the guy that's getting all the accolades, not being the guy who gets to do all these amazing miracles. But what did Jesus say in Matthew 23? He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And he goes on and says, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be a base. Remember we just read that in Luke? And he that shall humble of himself shall be exalted. So what's the context of humility here? It's in service, in serving other people. It's a very humbling thing to serve other people. I mean, anybody who goes out soul-winding knows this is true. You know, if you go out and sometimes you knock on your door or you're going to get ready to go and you see people and you see people and you just go, why do I even want to talk to them? You think of all the other things you could be doing. You know, I could be at home taking my baptist nap. You know, I could be getting something to eat. I could be spending time with my family. I could be doing whatever. You know, but we do it because, you know, there's a certain amount. That's why we need that humility so that we'll say, look, we need to serve others no matter who they are and in what context. We need to go out and serve people and get them saved and serve within the church. That, you know, that verse about humility, he that it shall be greatest among you shall be your servant. It's tied in with serving other people, isn't it? That's that being a base. Whosoever shall be a base shall be exalted. It can feel pretty abasing when you're, you know, you're scrubbing a toilet at the church. You know, I've known people in the past that have gotten a hard time from their spouse because it's a, it's, you know, they can look at it and say, well, that's so demeaning. You mean you're volunteering to go down and scrub a toilet? You're going to clean up after strangers in a church? People say, oh, it's so demeaning. Well, it is humbling. I'll say that. It's, it's a humble, it's a humble service to do, and not everyone wants to do it. And some of the most proud, arrogant people that I've, you know, who've turned out to be, you know, like Gehazi are people where that kind of stuff's beneath them. And I've known people like this in ministry. They say, hey, I want to help. I'm willing to do anything. Oh, great. Well, you know, we could use people on the cleaning crew. I don't clean. Well, then you know what? We don't have any use for you. They only want to serve if, you know, the name is going to be in the bulletin somewhere, or if they're going to get to stand up in front of everybody and people are going to know who they are and what they do. Well, you're in it for the wrong reasons then. And you're full of pride and it won't be long until you're abased if that's your attitude. Because, you know, serving others is a very, it takes a lot of humility, doesn't it? And you know what? Elisha had it in spades. Elisha had it in spades. We don't know what kind of man Elijah was, but the little bit you see, he seems like he's kind of a gruff character. You know, when he anoints Elijah, he throws his mantle on him. He says, let me go bid goodbye to my family. He says, what have I done to thee? He just starts walking off like, yeah, whatever, just go do whatever you got to do. What have I done? You know, it was almost, it was kind of against his will. The Lord told him, hey, you got to go anoint him to be in your room and train him up if I have to. You know, I don't know if it's there, but whenever I read that story and I think about Elijah, I kind of get the impression that he might not have been the most friendly guy to be around. You ever have a boss like that? I mean, I don't now. Okay. But I have in the past, you know, bosses who are a little rough around the edges. You know, they might not worry so much about your feelings as they do as getting the job done. You ever had a foreman like that who just wants to get the job done and if he has to raise his voice and yell and stomp on his hat and kick something and call you all kinds of different names to get something done, that's what he's willing to do. You know, serving other people, being under another person's authority is a very humbling thing. Elisha did it though and, you know, I think that's probably what Gehazi's problem is here. Why he was so willing to just sell out Elisha the way he did is because he just got weary of just serving, of other people, you know, benefiting from his service. Gehazi sells out. Go over to 2 Kings 5 and you can kind of see it coming here, can't you? He's kind of lost the purpose behind his position. He's lost sight of the goal of serving others, of caring about others, of helping people whose souls are vexed today. Look, there's people out there today, their souls are vexed. Vexed by sin, vexed by being unsaved, whether they know it or not, their souls are vexed. And you know what, we don't need Gehazi's. People are just like, oh well, if I have to, because it's only a matter of time until you sell out. Until, you know what, you decide, well, I don't want it anymore. You know, that lack the humility to do it. Or, you know, who just are in it for themselves from the get-go. Gehazi sells out and you can kind of see it coming with that Shumanite woman, you know, casting her away. And the fact that when he gets sent there, he's not able to perform the miracle. Now, I don't know all that is in that. You know, there's probably more application we can make there. But remember, Elisha sends him, says, hey, go lay my staff upon his face. And you have to wonder, why didn't that work? Why didn't it work? Was because Gehazi just didn't have the power. God wasn't using him anymore. His heart was wrong. Or maybe it was to show us that, you know, Elisha, you know, if it came down to it, he was willing to go the distance and do everything it needed to take. And that he had the heart of a servant, even as a man of God. That he was still willing to shut at the door and stretch himself upon the child, you know, and pray and cry out to God. The Bible says the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And maybe that was the problem, is that Gehazi wasn't much of a righteous man. And it took a man like Elisha to get it done. But look at 2 Kings 5. We'll see where Gehazi sells out. Now that we kind of got the backstory on who he was, and really the potential that he had, I really think that he was probably going to be the guy that was going to follow in Elisha's steps. I mean, wouldn't that just make the most sense? Why would you have your closest, your right-hand man be anybody else besides the guy that's going to follow in your footsteps? Why would you say, hey, you're going to follow in my footsteps. Now go serve over there while I have this guy right here and show him everything's done. It doesn't make any sense. You know, I can't prove it, but I believe that's the case, just from the way we see how things work, just logically. Gehazi in all likelihood was the next guy. And so it kind of makes the story a little, you know, even sadder. You know, the story of Naaman, the Syrian, who got leprosy, and there was a handmaid of the children of Israel, you know, and she tells him, you know, that there's a prophet, that he could be healed of his leprosy if he went to Israel and saw this prophet. So he goes there, and he goes to the man of God. We'll pick up the story in verse 15, if you're familiar with it. And he, Naaman, returned to the man of God, he and 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, if you remember the story, he comes to the man of God, and Elisha sends his servant. It doesn't say who, but he sends a servant to tell him, hey, go dip in the river Jordan seven times. And he gets all mad. I thought the man of God himself would come down here and tell me. You know, and then his servants have to talk him, you know, talk some sense into him and say, hey, look, if he'd asked you to do some hard thing, would you not have done it? But now he's asked you to do something easy. What does it matter who's saying it? It's not who's saying it. It's the message that matters. It doesn't matter who's saying it, whether it's from his servant or the man of God himself. The message is the same. You just swallow your pride and get over yourself and just go do what you're told. You want to be healed or not. So he goes and he dips and he comes out and says he had the skin of like a baby, like a newborn baby, like a child. Now I'm always wondering about that. Exactly what does that mean? You know, see a big gruff captain, just big strong, you know, soldier, and he's got this baby soft skin. You know, I don't know. Anyway, let's not go off on that. But he turns, he says, behold, now I know there is a God, no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now, therefore, I pray thee take a blessing of thy servant. But as he said, but he said, as the Lord liveth before whom I sent, I will receive none. So he's trying to give Elisha a reward. He's saying, hey, I really appreciate you've done for me. Take this, you know, take this. He says, look, I'm not interested. I thank you, but no, I don't want any. Keep, keep your reward in name and said, shall there not then I pray thee be given to thy servant two mules burden of earth for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice on other gods, but in the Lord. So he wants to actually take, you know, the soil of Israel and go back and sacrifice in the Lord on dirt from Israel, you know, which is kind of a weird thing, but that's, you know, people get saved. They kind of hang on to, they have some weird thoughts about, about how to worship God when they first get saved. He says, in this thing, the Lord pardoned thy servant that when thy master goeth in the house of Rimmon to worship there, I bow down and he leaneth on my hand. So he's saying, Hey, look, forgive me. You know, my master, when I get back, he's going to make me go. It's like, it's like the guy who gets saved, but he's married to the Catholic, you know, he's got the Catholic wife and she makes him go to Catholic church. And he knows it's a big, it's a bunch of mumbo jumbo and it's not real. It's fake. And he kind of goes there just to, you know, keep the peace, which, you know, isn't right, but you know, that's, it was what happens in life, right? And Naaman's kind of in that same position. Hey, look, I know the Lord God of Israel is the true and living God that Rimmon is nothing. Forgive me if I go there and my master leans upon my hands and makes me bow, you know, pardon me in this thing. And he said it to him, verse 19, go in peace. So he departed from him a little way, but Gehazi, the servant of the Lycea, the man of God said, behold, my master has spared Naaman the Syrian and not receiving at his hands that which he brought, but as the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him. So you get the, you get the thought process that goes through his head, how he justifies what he's about to do. Well, you know, I'm, I know Elisha didn't take it, but somebody really should taking something up for him to make him pay, right? He's the Syrian. He's this heathen. He's, he's lucky to even got the chance to know the Lord God. He, who is he to come here and tell, and get this blessing from us and we get nothing in return. This is his attitude, right? You see that there? He says, behold, my master hath spared Naaman the Syrian. Look, he's showing him mercy by not taking things from him and not receiving at his hands which he has brought. He's saying, look, you should take something from that guy should have to pay for the miracle. Now, is that the attitude we should have about, you know, let's apply this to soul winning. You know, I, you know, people apply, this is the attitude people have today in Baptist churches, all across this country. Oh, I'll lead, we understand it's all salvation is by grace through faith. You know, whosoever believeth, it's eternal, but you know what? We're not going to go out there and find them. If they want to know who God is, they can come down here Sunday morning and they can walk this aisle and get down here at this altar. And then we'll talk to them. Then we'll give them the gospel. They need to do their part and come here and see us and pay, pay to have the privilege to come in here and hear us preach them the gospel. That's, you know, that's a wrong attitude. You know, we should freely thou, you know, freely thou has received freely give. It's better to, it's more blessed to give than to receive. We should want to carry that good news to everybody instead of making them have to work for it or something. The privilege of hearing the gospel of grace. It's not of works, but you better work to hear it. It makes no sense. And that's kind of this attitude that he has here and saying, look, he's, you know, he spared him and not receiving at his hands that which he brought. He says, but as the Lord liveth, you know, he's got, he's, this is a righteous endeavor. I will run after him. You know, he's still, he doesn't mind running now. Right. And take somewhat of him. And Gehazi basically sells out, sells out his position, sells out the man of God. So here's what I want to point out about Gehazi is that, you know, Gehazi is a nobody without Elisha. I mean, who's Gehazi? It's nobody. The only reason anybody knows who Gehazi is, is because of Elisha. Because of the man of God that he was attached to. That's it. That's the only reason anybody even knows who he is. That's the only reason he was able to run after this Nahum and the Syrian and make any kind of demands at all. Imagine, imagine if he was just some guy who just, he would just happen to hear about it. Oh, he wasn't a servant. He was just some average, average guy working a nine to five. He sees this whole thing takes place. So I'm going to go get that. You think Nahum would have given him the time of day? He would have said, go pound sand, buddy. You're not getting anything. The only reason he goes along with this and gives something to, you know, gives the silver and the raiment to Gehazi is because Gehazi is associated with Elisha. Without him, Gehazi is a nobody. You know, Nahum didn't come looking for Gehazi, did he? He came looking for Elisha. And Gehazi, what did he do to receive anything from the hand of Nahum? Did he work a miracle? I mean, did he make, is he the one that put all the water in the River Jordan? Is he the one that's got the reputation out there of being a man of God, that his frame has gone abroad and people are coming to be healed of him, that he's being spoken of in other countries? Is it his name that's being mentioned? No. Gehazi is a nobody. And you know what? He sells out. He gets more concerned with lining his pockets than with remaining a faithful servant to God. He sells out. Look at verse 21. So Gehazi followed after Nahum. And when Nahum saw him running, he lighted down from his chariot to meet him and said, is all well? He's like, oh, what are you doing here? Everything okay? And he said, all is well. My master had sent me. He just starts lying now. My master has sent me, saying, behold, even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray, the talent of silver and two charges, changes of garments. Now, I heard something recently. I thought this was interesting. You know, maybe you're reading a little too much into it, but it is interesting. Maybe he kind of gets caught in a lie here. I don't think that's the case, but it's interesting. I'll bring it up. Notice what he says. He says, I prayed the, he says there was two young men come, right? There's two young men. And he says, I pray they give me any talent of silver and two changes of raiment. So he kind of dips his hand a little bit, maybe, you know, why wouldn't you ask for two talents of silver? I mean, what do they both need? Don't they don't, you know, you see what I'm saying? You're getting two changes of raiment for two guys, but you're only getting one thing of silver? Hmm. You know, why wouldn't you ask for, for one for each, right? Maybe not. Maybe, you know, it was just, but, you know, and Naaman said, be content. You know, that was probably something he should have told him earlier. And he said, take two talents. So he kind of, you can kind of see where he's like, well, why are you only asking for one talent? Here, take two. So it's kind of like he's getting caught in a lie. I don't know if Naaman's onto him or not, but those words, right, that he says to be content. Boy, that's his problem, isn't it? That's his problem. You know, that's what leads people to selling out. They want, they desire more. They want something else. They want the fame. They want the recognition. They want the money. They want the position. Whatever it is, they're not content to just serve, to just be the position that they're in and to be grateful and go along with it. You know, we've seen it here. We've seen guys, you know, who've been in the exact same position that I'm in as deacon, and they're not just content to glean from the benefits and go out and start a church and reap the benefits. You know, there's benefits to being sent out by Pastor Anderson. Go ask these guys that have been sent out. You know, if you go ask people who are associated with Pastor Anderson, there's Pastor Anderson listeners in their church. And you know what? Most of those guys are glad for it. They're content, because they know it's not about their position or them, you know, them being the man or whatever. You know, they don't have to be their own man. They're fine with having Pastor Anderson fans who listen to his preaching there, because, you know, there's a lot of benefit that comes with that. You have pretty much ready-made church members a lot of times. But some people, you know, they got to have, they want all that glory from them. So what do they do? They'll cook up some crazy, stupid doctrine to show how different they are from him. Why? Because they're not content. They're not content to just say, thank you. I appreciate it. And just go on and serve God and just be in that position. You know, Naaman probably, that's advice that Gehazi needed earlier. He says, Be content. Take two talents. And he urged him and bowed two talents of silver in his bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they bare them 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. You know, I'm just going to make a statement here. You know, people who really love the man of God, people who really love their pastor, whoever it is, who really love the man of God, they're more willing to give what's needed than, you know, and self-people who are just self-centered and sellouts are more unhappy than to take advantage of the man of God. You know, the man of God, he's willing to give what's needed, isn't he? He's willing to, you know, and people that love a man of God, that want to serve, they're willing to do whatever is needed, right, as I was saying earlier. Nothing's beneath them. They'll serve in any capacity. They just want to be a blessing. And that's the heart the man of God has, too. But, you know, self-centered people, who it's all about them, who are just sellouts, they're more than happy to take advantage of that fact. They're more than happy to just take advantage of a person who's just very generous, very trusting, who gives second chances, third chances, who overlooks transgressions, who, you know, doesn't get offended easily, who puts up with a lot. You know, self-centered sellouts, they'll take advantage of a person like that. And it's unfortunate. But, you know, the worst thing about Gehazi is this, is that he's fake. He's fake. You know, that's like, that's the one thing I can't stand, is fake people, more than anything. It's just, it's like, look, if you don't love God, if you don't love this ministry, if you don't love your pastor, if you don't want to be a part of this church, then don't. I got more respect for a person who just says, you know what, I'm not interested, you know, I just don't want to be a part of this church, and just leaves. It doesn't make waves, doesn't cause trouble, just says, you know what, we're interested in something else. Because at least they're real. At least they're being honest. You can at least respect that, and say thank you, rather than being some kind of a weirdo who, despite hating the church, hating the man of God, and hating even perhaps the Lord himself, wants to just stick around and pretend to be something they're not. They're fake people. You know, and people suffer from being fake to certain degrees, you know. Some people are incredibly wicked, and they're putting on a show, and some people are just, you know, in it for other reasons, for their own self-anggrandizement, for their own profit, and they're just taking advantage of somebody or a ministry. And they're fake, like Gehazi. And you know what, they're liars. That's what they are. You can't be a fake and not be a liar. You're lying to yourself, at the very least. You're lying to everybody around you when you put yourself out there to be something that you're not. I mean, that's what Gehazi was. He's a liar. Look at verse 24. And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house, and he let the man go into part of verse 25. But he went in and stood before his master, went right back into the position, and Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And I love it. Every time I read it, it just puts a smile on the face, because you can just see Gehazi. Life's serving with no hither. Like when you're busted. You know when you bust one of your little kids. That's a rhetorical question, folks. You know, like when the Lord caught Adam in the garden. Why didst thou hide thyself? Who told thee thou was naked? He already knew everything. He busted your kid. You already know. Did you do this? Did you do that? Thy servant did no such thing. You know. Oh, bashful, they can't look you in the eye. They got all these tells. Like, how did you know I was lying? Because it's written all over your face. Because when you hear enough of them, you start to learn what a lie looks like. And I could just see that on Gehazi. It's all over him. My servant went no whither. Busted. And he knows he's busted. He's just trying to lie to save his. I mean, hey, if it was a righteous cause, right? Isn't that how he started out? Hey, I'm going to go. And you know, he should have gotten something from him. You know, he's had, he's been merciful unto him and not taking at his hand, not receiving something. He's spared Naaman. As the Lord liveth, I'm going to go and make this Syrian pay for the miracle. This righteous cause that he was going on. Now he's getting called out on foreign. Oh, thy servant went no whither. Well, why the shame? I thought it was just righteous endeavor that you were involved in. Now all of a sudden he's ashamed of it. You know, he's a liar is what he is. He's trying to just lie right now. You know, the funny thing about sellouts like Gehazi is that they're obvious to anybody paying attention. They're obvious. You can just, you know, when somebody's like this, it's just, it's all over them. And he said, verse 26, went not my heart with thee. He's like, look, I know what you're about. I can see it. It's obvious what you are, Gehazi. You're a liar. You're a fake. You're a sellout. And the man turned again from his chariot. He said, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee. You know, but it's interesting that he says that. I mean, you have to think about Elisha. Elisha, you know, how does he, you know, put yourself, these are real characters. These stories really happened. These aren't just, you know, parables or, you know, stories that somebody wrote to convey some moral truth. This really happened. Pull off this, and Pastor Jack Hiles that. Look, I'm glad for those men of God, everything that they accomplished, but those were their accomplishments. That's what they did. You think that's what they wanted? For them to just do these works for God, like, and then just leave off, and then that's it? They want the next generation to pick up the mantle and keep going with it. Not just remember, oh, I remember when we used to do that. We used to go so-and-so's conference, and this conference, and they took this great stand, and I was there on those courthouse steps that day when, whatever. You know, God is a God of what have you done for me lately? You know, sometimes we use that as a knock. You know, what have you done for me lately? That's the way it is with God. We don't want to be this church that turns into a church that is just living on the good old days, and just trying to, you know, ride, coast on what we used to do. We should always be trying to push forward. Look at verse five, and it came to pass, as he was telling, I'm almost done, the king, how he had restored a dead body to life. I mean, that's a pretty cool story. And behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life cried to the king for her house and for her land. And the guy said, my lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. I mean, what a coincidence. He said, you're telling the story, like, for seven years, and whoever long it's been, oh, and this is her. This is the woman that can confirm the story. Interesting. And the king asked the woman, and she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, restore all that was hers and all the fruits of the field since the day that she had left the land, even till now. Look at how the difference between the Shumanite woman and Gehazi, how it ends with them. She ends up getting blessed, getting all her lands restored. She's taking care of the whole way, because she just loved it. And what did she start out doing? Just loving the man of God. Just made a little room, you know, just put a little candle in there, a little, just trying to give him some bread as he was coming to and fro, you know, doing his ministry, just being a blessing to him. And Elisha looks out for it. The Lord looks out for the whole way. But Gehazi, all he's got is some story and leprosy and a couple pieces of silver and a few changes of garment. He's not getting looked out for. He's cursed. You know, those who honor the man of God are blessed. While the sellouts, the has-beens, all they can do is just stand by and watch. All they can do is stand by and watch. You know, can you imagine being Gehazi in the story? He tells the story. The lady shows up, and he says, oh, well, restore everything to all her land. She just has all her wealth back, which is exactly what Gehazi wanted. Olive yards, sheep, goats, men's servants. He wanted all those things. And he watches someone just like that, right in front of him, get all those things, just that quick, with no backstabbing, no two-faced lying, no pretending to be something you're not, none of that. All she ever did was do what the man of God told her. She set out to just be a blessing. He said, hey, you need to go into Philistine's land for seven years. Leave everything behind. Okay. She went and did it. She trusted him. And she came back, and she gets everything back. Complete opposite of Gehazi, with a completely different outcome. And it says in verse seven, and Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was sick. And it was told him, saying, the man of God is come hither. So let me just conclude by saying this. You know, don't take your position for granted. Don't take your position for granted. Well, you know, I'm not the deacon. I'm not the preacher. So what? Gehazi wasn't the man of God either. You know, and the Shumanite woman wasn't a man of God either. But she was blessed, right? And what was the difference? She was just being sincere, humble, honest, had miracles worked in her life, was blessed beyond measure. She was content with what she had, was content to serve in the capacity that God gave her, was content with such things he had. But Gehazi wanted more, wanted more. Maybe he got tired of telling Elisha stories, wanted to tell his own stories, wanted to be about him. What did he do? He took his position for granted. I'd say he had a pretty cool position. There's a certain glory in that. And here's the other lesson I need to learn, is don't live in the past. Maybe you're not like the Gehazi. Maybe you're the Shumanite. But don't live in the past. Don't be one of these people that just turn into a Gehazi in the sense that all you're going to do is just relive old stories. You know, I want to make new stories. And I don't want to tell all the same old, soul-winning stories that we have. We've got some good ones. We've made some memories out there. But there's more to make. There's stories that have yet to be told. We don't want to just live in the past like Gehazi, these washed-up sell-outs. And I tell you what, if you turn into a sell-out like Gehazi, that's all you'll have. Because God's not going to use a person like that. You know, that was Paul's attitude. What did he say? He said, not that I had already attained, either were already perfect. He said, but I fall after that I might be apprehended for that which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus. He said, I counted myself to be apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things that you are behind. And so often we think that's only about sin, and that's true. We need to forget about the sinful things, confess them, forsake them. But forget about the past victories, the old things. Forget all, you know, leave all that behind and do what? And reaching forth unto the high, unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You know, it's hard to press on and get that high calling if all you're thinking about is all the things, oh, I've already accomplished. As if there's a limit. As if, well, there's only so much I can do for God. I've done everything I can. I'm going to just put a cap on it right there and just, I'll just live on that. That's not Paul's attitude. He said, I, you know, I forget those things that you're behind. I'm not, I'm not, I'm going to sit here and say, I've already apprehended. I'm going to press toward the mark of the high calling. Because no matter how much you strive and how much you put into in this life and serving God, you'll never attain everything. All the blessings, all the reward that God can give you, but you know what? You can get a whole lot more than some other people are going to get. You can be like the Shumanite. She ended up with a whole lot more than Gehazi did. What did he have? Leprosy. That's it. So that's my message this morning. Don't take the position for granted. You know, if you're serving in a, in a, in a menial capacity, you know, God sees that God will bless that, you know, and just give it time and God will exalt all of us in due time. If we do what? If we have humility and serve him with sincerity. Let's go ahead and pray.