SPEAKER_00: I love this story that we're going to read today about a Syrian general.
SPEAKER_00: A Syrian general who was an enemy of Israel, but God brings him into covenant community.
SPEAKER_00: Before I read the story, here's some of the things I want you to look for.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the things I want to highlight.
SPEAKER_00: First, there are three ways that this man, this man named Naaman, three ways that his pride are an obstacle to salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Then there are three ways that God teaches him humility so he can receive grace.
SPEAKER_00: So three ways his pride is an obstacle, three ways God teaches him humility.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, how can God use you and me to be messengers of hope to those around us?
SPEAKER_00: So let's read from God's word, 2 Kings chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria.
SPEAKER_00: He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Syrians, on one of their raids, had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife.
SPEAKER_00: She said to her mistress, Would that my Lord were with the prophet who was in Samaria?
SPEAKER_00: He would cure him of his leprosy.
SPEAKER_00: So Naaman went in and told his lord, thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
SPEAKER_00: And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.
SPEAKER_00: And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and make alive?
SPEAKER_00: That this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?
SPEAKER_00: Only consider and see how he's seeking a quarrel with me.
SPEAKER_00: But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes?
SPEAKER_00: Let him come now to me, that he may know there is a prophet in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house.
SPEAKER_00: And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.
SPEAKER_00: But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand, call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper.
SPEAKER_00: Are not Abanah and the Farpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?
SPEAKER_00: Could I not wash in them and be clean?
SPEAKER_00: So he turned and went away in a rage.
SPEAKER_00: But his servants came near and said to him, My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you.
SPEAKER_00: Will you not do it?
SPEAKER_00: Has he actually said to you, Wash and be clean?
SPEAKER_00: So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God.
SPEAKER_00: And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
SPEAKER_00: Then Naaman returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him.
SPEAKER_00: And Naaman said, Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: From now on, your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any God but the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you that events like this that took place several thousand years ago are full of the same truth that we need to hear today, that human beings really haven't changed much since the time of horses and chariots, that men and women like Naaman, like us, struggle to receive you as Lord because of our pride.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you that you pursue us, humble us enough to receive you as Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Holy Spirit, would you do your work in our proud hearts?
SPEAKER_00: Humble us enough to hear your word and what you may say to each of us today, I ask in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So, as I said, there are three ways I see here that Naaman's pride is an obstacle to his salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Did you notice in verse one that his victories aren't really to his own credit?
SPEAKER_00: It says it's God who gave Syria victory.
SPEAKER_00: Might be surprising.
SPEAKER_00: God gave victory to Israel's enemy over his own people.
SPEAKER_00: And that's because God is the sovereign king of the universe who can even use the enemies of God's people to punish his people when necessary.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, Naaman doesn't yet know this God, this God who deserves the credit for his success.
SPEAKER_00: Before he can come to faith, God has to deal with these three obstacles, these three sources of Naaman's pride.
SPEAKER_00: His position, his possessions, and his power.
SPEAKER_00: You see, successful people in this world often have influential positions and significant possessions and considerable power.
SPEAKER_00: And so their neediness can be invisible to them.
SPEAKER_00: But God is merciful enough to allow even comfortable people to feel needy, to bring hardship into our lives, to shake us up.
SPEAKER_00: Remember when Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_00: Was he saying that God doesn't want rich people in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
SPEAKER_00: What he was saying is that the wealthy are often cushioned from the reality of how much they need to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Human beings don't want to admit that we are a savior.
SPEAKER_00: And so human pride is a problem for the wealthy or the poor.
SPEAKER_00: But see, the wealthy have the added problem of the packing peanuts around their life.
SPEAKER_00: Those things that make them feel comfortable enough without material needs, so they don't feel as needy.
SPEAKER_00: In your Revelation 3.17, it says, You say I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.
SPEAKER_00: But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
SPEAKER_00: It's God's mercy when he shows us those things.
SPEAKER_00: It was God's mercy to Naaman, who was a rich and prosperous and successful man.
SPEAKER_00: But there was one thing that his power and his possessions and his position could not do.
SPEAKER_00: It could not cure his leprosy.
SPEAKER_00: The one thing in his life he could do nothing about was the opening for the gospel to enter into his heart.
SPEAKER_00: But God had to kill his pride to make him humble enough to see his Savior.
SPEAKER_00: You see, even as leprosy, leprosy causes numbness in your body.
SPEAKER_00: And so, even though leprosy had numbed his hands and had numbed his feet, Naaman's pride had numbed his heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so God didn't want to heal his body and leave his heart untouched.
SPEAKER_00: Look at how Naaman relies on his position, possessions, and power.
SPEAKER_00: He gets the word to go to see this prophet, Elisha, who could cure him.
SPEAKER_00: But first, he goes to two kings.
SPEAKER_00: To get a powerful cure, he thinks he needs to go to the powerful.
SPEAKER_00: So he uses his position of influence to go to the king of Syria to get a letter that he can take to the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know how many of you can walk up to a king or president and get a letter.
SPEAKER_00: But he has that kind of access.
SPEAKER_00: And he uses it because he wants to make sure that he gets the attention he deserves when he arrives in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: The second thing he uses is his possessions.
SPEAKER_00: To make sure he gets his cure, he brings four million dollars with him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the equivalence of those amounts of gold and silver in today's money.
SPEAKER_00: He is going to spare no expense.
SPEAKER_00: If he has to bribe people along the way, if he has to pay Elisha for the cure, he's willing to pay four million dollars.
SPEAKER_00: Third thing he uses to get his cure is his power.
SPEAKER_00: When he arrives at Elisha's house, he doesn't come up alone.
SPEAKER_00: He brings horses and chariots.
SPEAKER_00: And he stands in front of Elisha's house and demands to be cured.
SPEAKER_00: And Elisha sends a servant out instead of coming out himself.
SPEAKER_00: And Naaman is furious at the insult.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I thought he would surely come out to me.
SPEAKER_00: Naaman is saying, doesn't this twerp know who I am?
SPEAKER_00: How dare he send a messenger to a man like me?
SPEAKER_00: Naaman uses his anger and a show of military force to bully Elisha and to demand his healing.
SPEAKER_00: And God's not going to play along.
SPEAKER_00: God wants Elisha to be cured by grace alone.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why every one of his strategies fails.
SPEAKER_00: The letter that he brings just puts the king of Israel into a self-centered state of panic.
SPEAKER_00: The money is rejected by Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: The general's show of force and shouting and demands get him nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I don't know about you, but usually, especially in a city like this, position, power, possessions, they can get you pretty far.
SPEAKER_00: They can get you most of the things you want and many of the things you need.
SPEAKER_00: People in this city rely on position and possessions and power.
SPEAKER_00: But they don't work for Naaman.
SPEAKER_00: And they won't really work for us.
SPEAKER_00: Not about the things that matter.
SPEAKER_00: Think about how hard that must have been for Naaman.
SPEAKER_00: How hard it must have been to see all of the things that had brought him success for decades fall flat.
SPEAKER_00: And that was God's love being expressed to Naaman.
SPEAKER_00: You see, God is not going to allow this successful, proud, arrogant man to be healed using his own resources.
SPEAKER_00: Naaman's body and soul are healed by grace alone, because that's the only way God saves people.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at three ways that God teaches Naaman humility.
SPEAKER_00: His first lesson in humility was the leprosy itself.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: When life is going well, when we're enjoying success, when all the trains seem to be on time, that's when we don't seem to make time to pray, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: That's when we seem to forget the Lord who has blessed us, and instead we devote ourselves to enjoying the blessings to their fullest.
SPEAKER_00: And then suddenly your child gets sick, and you're laid off from work.
SPEAKER_00: And the big TV in your living room and the nice car in your driveway aren't much help or comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly the crisis that confronts you is what captures all of your attention.
SPEAKER_00: And the things that once satisfied you and captured your heart lose their luster.
SPEAKER_00: And then you cry out to God for help.
SPEAKER_00: And so for Naaman to understand his helplessness, he needed something that he was helpless to solve.
SPEAKER_00: God used leprosy to make Naaman aware of his mortality.
SPEAKER_00: Giving him a problem that his position, possessions, and power could not solve.
SPEAKER_00: We all hate to be needy.
SPEAKER_00: We hate to feel helpless, but God only saves the helpless.
SPEAKER_00: God makes himself visible to us through our neediness.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Yahweh and Jehovah are two ways that we pronounce God's covenant name, the name I am.
SPEAKER_00: And the name I am is a strange name because it's like an unfinished sentence.
SPEAKER_00: God told Moses, My name is I Am.
SPEAKER_00: You are what?
SPEAKER_00: Is the question that is implied.
SPEAKER_00: But the beautiful thing is our need fills out the sentence.
SPEAKER_00: God's name I am is like a blank check.
SPEAKER_00: And it's filled in with our needs.
SPEAKER_00: Our needs are like eyeglasses that help us see God's character.
SPEAKER_00: Jehovah Shalom means I am your peace.
SPEAKER_00: Jehovah Jairah means I am your provider.
SPEAKER_00: And for Naaman, he sees Jehovah Rapha.
SPEAKER_00: I am your healer.
SPEAKER_00: But he needed to know how much he needed healing.
SPEAKER_00: His second lesson in humility is the little messenger girl.
SPEAKER_00: There's this clear contrast that you can see in verses one and two.
SPEAKER_00: The great man, Naaman, and then the girl who is a little girl in verse two.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Naaman is powerful and rich, and she is powerless and penniless.
SPEAKER_00: He's a man with great freedom who can live independent from God.
SPEAKER_00: She is a slave with no freedom who depends on God fully.
SPEAKER_00: And she is precisely the instrument that God uses in this place and time.
SPEAKER_00: So don't ever think that God can't use you wherever you are, whatever circumstances you are in.
SPEAKER_00: There's another interesting contrast in here, verses 2 and 14.
SPEAKER_00: The word little girl, and then in verse 14, after Naaman is cleansed, his skin is like that of a little child.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same word.
SPEAKER_00: You just add ah to make it feminine.
SPEAKER_00: And so this great man becomes a little child, just like the humble girl that points him to his Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Naaman had to become a little child.
SPEAKER_00: Just like all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Just like all of us have to become like little children to receive the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so Big Bad Naaman is born again.
SPEAKER_00: He becomes a little boy in God's family after his third lesson in humility.
SPEAKER_00: This inexplicable bath.
SPEAKER_00: Big Naaman is a big man with a big disease, so he wants a big expensive cure, right?
SPEAKER_00: But God tells Naaman to do a very simple and humble thing.
SPEAKER_00: To just go wash in a foreign river, in the Jordan River.
SPEAKER_00: And this is hard on Naaman's pride.
SPEAKER_00: But to receive healing by grace alone means that you have to leave your position and your possessions and your power on the banks of the river and get in the water.
SPEAKER_00: It has to be that way.
SPEAKER_00: So that we get none of the credit.
SPEAKER_00: And we know it is all by grace.
SPEAKER_00: But this is the reason that we struggle to bow the knee to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reason that all of us struggle to receive a Savior because we would much rather have a salvation that we can earn.
SPEAKER_00: We want God to owe us something.
SPEAKER_00: We want to know that we did something to earn God's favor.
SPEAKER_00: And then that helps us look around at the unfortunate ones who haven't yet been enlightened like we have and found their way into the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, by grace you have been saved through faith.
SPEAKER_00: This is not your doing.
SPEAKER_00: It is the gift of God.
SPEAKER_00: It is not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
SPEAKER_00: You see, God set up everything about Naaman's healing so that Naaman and everyone else would know without a doubt that it was Yahweh alone who deserves praise and glory.
SPEAKER_00: Naaman has to depend on God's word alone to be healed.
SPEAKER_00: He receives no explanation for why he has to go into a muddy little river to wash seven times.
SPEAKER_00: It seems ridiculous to him.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, when I was an atheist for 10 years, it sounded ridiculous to me that some Jewish guy who died on the other side of the world 2,000 years ago had anything to do with me.
SPEAKER_00: That anything that he did 2,000 years ago could do anything about the things that I knew I was struggling with in my own heart.
SPEAKER_00: That I could be forgiven of my sins, that I could have lasting peace and eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: It sounded crazy to me.
SPEAKER_00: But it was true.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 1, Paul writes, for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_00: This is a stumbling block to Jews, and it is folly to Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
SPEAKER_00: God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
SPEAKER_00: God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
SPEAKER_00: And so God uses a weak slave girl to help mighty Naaman.
SPEAKER_00: God uses the foolishness of bathing in a dirty foreign river.
SPEAKER_00: God uses these things to show Naaman his pride, to strip it away so he'd be humble enough to receive salvation by grace alone.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we read, Naaman finally stops fighting, he gets his bath, his flesh is restored, and he is made clean.
SPEAKER_00: Did you notice twice it says, his flesh was restored, and he was made clean.
SPEAKER_00: It's not talking about the Same thing.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Naaman was not only made clean on the outside, his flesh restored on the outside, but he was made clean on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: He was purified.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know Naaman's healing was internal as well as external?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I seem to be doing threes today.
SPEAKER_00: I see three things that are evidence that Naaman's conversion is real.
SPEAKER_00: First, he returns to thank Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: You see, from Elisha's house, he went down to the Jordan River.
SPEAKER_00: And if he was going to go home to Syria, he was already partway there.
SPEAKER_00: He could have just continued home.
SPEAKER_00: But instead, he backtracks.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of going on to Damascus, he returns to Elisha to thank him.
SPEAKER_00: This reminds us of when Jesus healed ten lepers, and one of them went back to thank Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In Luke 17, the leper threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him.
SPEAKER_00: And he was a Samaritan.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus asked, Has no one else returned to give praise to God except this one foreigner?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, Rise and go, your faith has made you well.
SPEAKER_00: Naaman and this Samaritan, two foreigners, both healed of leprosy, by grace through faith.
SPEAKER_00: And their response was gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: Besides gratitude, we see Naaman return to thank Elisha, and then we see the second sign of his conversion in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: He says, please accept this gift from your servant.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_00: Naaman is calling himself the servant of Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: The same man who was trying to bully Elisha just minutes before is now saying he's his servant.
SPEAKER_00: He has been humbled, and he calls himself your servant five times in this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's interesting if you look through the chapter that the humble servants are the only ones who see things clearly in this whole story.
SPEAKER_00: The powerful are the ones who are always getting things wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Naaman and the king of Israel both end up looking foolish, and it's the slave girl and Naaman's servants who are the wise ones, just like we read about in 1 Corinthians 1.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the servants see the wisdom of following Elisha's instructions, and they gently encourage him to do it.
SPEAKER_00: And Naaman's pride had blinded him.
SPEAKER_00: But he becomes a little servant boy, just like the little servant girl who first pointed him to his cure.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to spend the rest of our time talking about her, about this young girl from Israel.
SPEAKER_00: She's the real hero of the story, I think.
SPEAKER_00: You see, God gives us opportunity, like her, to be messengers of healing and hope.
SPEAKER_00: This girl was different than the other slaves who were captured from other lands and brought to Syria.
SPEAKER_00: She was a covenant child, like those boys who were baptized this morning here.
SPEAKER_00: She was a covenant child who grew up hearing the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: She had many of the same blessings that the children in this church have.
SPEAKER_00: This slave girl would have attended Passover celebrations every year before she was captured, hearing about Yahweh's mighty deeds in the world, so that when she herself was out in the world, she knew to tell this Gentile general about her God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, no one is too far outside of God's household to be invited inside.
SPEAKER_00: And we all have the opportunity to make that invitation.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to have the answers to your neighbor's problems.
SPEAKER_00: This girl didn't know how to cure leprosy, did she?
SPEAKER_00: She had no power to do it, but she knew where to point him.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know where to point the needy people, the hurting people around you?
SPEAKER_00: This woman, this young girl is remarkable.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't want to be in Damascus.
SPEAKER_00: She was a slave.
SPEAKER_00: And you might not be excited about living in the DC area.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your spouse's job brought you here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the military brought you here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your parents drug you here.
SPEAKER_00: You are not here by accident.
SPEAKER_00: And this little girl was not in Naaman's household by accident.
SPEAKER_00: One of the stories she would have grown up hearing about was Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: Just as our children still hear that story in Sunday school, Joseph, who was brought as a slave to a foreign land, like her, brought to the strange land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And this girl knew that even in her slavery, her loving father remained in control.
SPEAKER_00: She surely remembered what Joseph said to his brothers.
SPEAKER_00: You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
SPEAKER_00: And she would remember the way that Joseph earned the respect and trust of the Egyptian leaders.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that's how she earned the right to serve the wife of the most powerful general in Syria.
SPEAKER_00: Despite that good position, she was still a slave.
SPEAKER_00: A slave whose parents may have been killed right in front of her when she was captured?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they became slaves themselves.
SPEAKER_00: She was forcibly separated from her family and her homeland, never to return.
SPEAKER_00: She had lost so much.
SPEAKER_00: And by speaking up, she could lose even more.
SPEAKER_00: Do you realize she was taking a risk?
SPEAKER_00: What if Naaman and his wife decided that she was a little too bold in speaking up about Naaman's illness, about mentioning it out loud?
SPEAKER_00: Or what if the cure didn't work?
SPEAKER_00: How would they treat her then?
SPEAKER_00: She could lose her current job?
SPEAKER_00: She could lose her life.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe you're too scared to speak up to someone.
SPEAKER_00: I often am.
SPEAKER_00: What are you scared you might lose when you talk to that coworker, that neighbor, that kid at school about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: There are needy people all around you.
SPEAKER_00: Empty, lost people.
SPEAKER_00: Not just the homeless on the street.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the person who looks like they have it all together, at work or at school.
SPEAKER_00: They might be good at hiding their needs behind nice clothes and comfortable lives.
SPEAKER_00: But pay attention.
SPEAKER_00: Pay attention to the people around you.
SPEAKER_00: Because you could be a messenger of hope to those people around you.
SPEAKER_00: Get close enough to them.
SPEAKER_00: Find out where they're hurting, be their friend, ask good questions.
SPEAKER_00: When you say to that coworker or classmate, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: and they say, I'm alright, don't just leave that.
SPEAKER_00: That was an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: When someone says, eh, I'm alright, say, wow, it sounds like maybe you're not doing alright.
SPEAKER_00: Would you tell me more?
SPEAKER_00: Walk through that door.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus walks through it with you.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: This girl had faith.
SPEAKER_00: This girl had faith in God when most of Israel had abandoned their faith in Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: They had chased after foreign gods.
SPEAKER_00: But this girl had held on to her faith.
SPEAKER_00: She knew about Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: She knew about the prophet who could heal Naaman.
SPEAKER_00: Even the king of Israel didn't believe in Elisha's ability to cure.
SPEAKER_00: The king acts with disbelief and selfish concern for his own skin.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the young slave girl who is the light of hope in Damascus, who loves her enemy and speaks truth to him.
SPEAKER_00: She foreshadows what Paul writes in Romans 12.
SPEAKER_00: Repay no one evil for evil.
SPEAKER_00: Never avenge yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Leave it to the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
SPEAKER_00: If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
SPEAKER_00: Do not become over, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
SPEAKER_00: And so this little girl loves her master and does good to him.
SPEAKER_00: She could have been angry towards the leader of the people who had captured her, killed her family and friends.
SPEAKER_00: She might have even enjoyed his suffering.
SPEAKER_00: If I were in her shoes, I would have been angry with Naaman and bitter toward God.
SPEAKER_00: And yet she speaks up with courage, testifies about the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: And God honors her with it.
SPEAKER_00: He includes this humble little girl in this book for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And I look forward to meeting her, hearing more about her story.
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of what Jesus said: whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
SPEAKER_00: Through her faith, this humble girl is exalted.
SPEAKER_00: And the general who had exalted himself for years was humbled.
SPEAKER_00: But first he had to see that his pride was a sin, an obstacle to him becoming a child who trusts God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And so, if you're going to be that kind of messenger, I do need to ask if you have left your pride on the banks of the river.
SPEAKER_00: Your position and possessions and power.
SPEAKER_00: Have you dropped to your knees and admitted that you need a savior?
SPEAKER_00: I know you're not living your life the way God says you should.
SPEAKER_00: I know you're not.
SPEAKER_00: Because none of us are.
SPEAKER_00: Heck, we don't even live our lives the way we think we should.
SPEAKER_00: We don't even live up to our own standards, let alone God's.
SPEAKER_00: We're all guilty of the same sins we see in Naaman.
SPEAKER_00: We use our resources to distance ourselves from God and from other people, and we don't recognize that everything we have was a gift from God.
SPEAKER_00: The sin of pride and self-reliance are woven deep into the muscle of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: But when you humbly ask God the Father to forgive you, he will.
SPEAKER_00: When you believe that Jesus died to remove the guilt and shame of your sin, he does.
SPEAKER_00: If you ask the Holy Spirit to give you the gift of faith to see Jesus as Savior, then the King of the universe becomes the King of your life.
SPEAKER_00: And then God calls you his child, his little child.
SPEAKER_00: But he also calls you a prince and a princess and an heir to the king of the universe.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have the security and peace of knowing that you're his beloved child?
SPEAKER_00: Like that little girl.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you do, because you can't lose that status.
SPEAKER_00: No matter where God might take you, no matter what hardships may come into your life, you can't lose your salvation because what God has made, men and women cannot break.
SPEAKER_00: And then God will put you in places where you can speak up, like this little slave girl, and tell others about the hope you have found in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go to him now in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for saving Naaman.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that the blood of Jesus washes away the sin and the shame and the death of anyone who humbles himself.
SPEAKER_00: Whether hundreds of years before Jesus was on the cross or thousands of years after, there is only one source of salvation and hope and healing, and it is the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Father, I pray that you would send the Holy Spirit into the hearts of any who have not yet humbled themselves like a little child to receive Christ as Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And Holy Spirit, would you encourage those of us who are struggling, who are carrying about a sickness or a burden like Naaman, that you might bring healing and hope?
SPEAKER_00: And Father, would you embolden us, encourage us, strengthen us to speak to those around us about the hope that we have in Jesus, that they too might know him as Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: We pray in Jesus' name, amen.