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The the the the the the the the the the You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You Oh Oh Oh You 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 Oh Oh 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 Is Is Is Is Is Do You