Naaman

Good morning, Spring House. It's

a cool day inside the house of the Lord.

And if you're joining us on Livestream, hopefully you're in air

conditioning as well. Well, bless the Lord. God's been

moving this morning and I love that we can always count

on him to move and to speak.

Man, he's always seeming to be up to something really

incredible. And if we will just lean in and pay attention, we get to take

part in it. We don't have to be separate from him, especially because of Jesus.

And so hallelujah, it's good to see you this morning, good to

see your smiling faces before we get rolling this

morning. School time is getting close. It's drawing

close. Which it means, oh yeah, I heard the youth go, oh

yeah, it is happening. And parents say

amen. Yeah, but that means August

is happening. And we're going to resume our midweek gatherings in

August. And so we want you to be a part of our

midweek gathering. And Pastor Barbie is going to be doing a 12 week

series called the Eye of the Needle. And I just want

to encourage you, I want to encourage you if you have the

capacity as you're getting back in rhythm, who loves a good rhythm, you're

getting back, you're getting your family in rhythm

that you would carve out that hour from 6 to 7 on Thursday

night beginning August 7th and come spend time with us, we worship,

there'll be word, it will be rich and you will be blessed. So please make

a part a point rather to come and be a part of this very

special series as we get things back up and running. And of

course we'll be bringing you the information about kids ministry, youth ministry, young adult

ministry as well. But I wanted to go ahead and let people begin to

plot on their calendars to mark this time aside for our, for our

midweek gathering. Okay, well, before we get started

into where we're going to go, I just want to tell you that you're probably

not going to like what I have to say today. And

so, you know, if you came here looking to like me, you're probably not going

to. But Barbie's calendar is open this week and taking appointments between eight and

five. If you have a problem with something I've said or you know, you'd like

to, to discuss it with her, she'd be happy to meet with you.

But aren't you glad at Springhouse Church that we don't just cherry pick portions

of the Word, that we actually believe in, the whole word of God, the

entirety of Scripture. And that means, sometimes it means that

we have to render and examine hard truths in our lives and we actually

have to contend with what hard truth says

as applies to our lives, in our journey. And man, when we turn a blind

eye to those hard truths, we don't look a whole lot like Jesus in those

areas. And I believe that the aim and the goal because of the power

resurrected Jesus Christ is that we look like him. And in order to look

at him, we got like Him. We've got to lean into even some of the

harder parts of scripture and the harder truths of

Scripture. So I'm going to ask you today to not lean out,

to not clock out, but to lean in and ask the

Lord where he might minister to your heart about some of these truths. Would you

look at your neighbor and say, this message is.

Is for me.

Now, if you chose not to look at your spouse, I would like you to

look at your spouse and say, this message is for

me.

There seems to be such power up here because you have no idea what I'm

about to say. We're going to be talking about

a man named naaman today in 2 Kings, chapter

2 Kings 5 · chapter mention

5. And I'm gonna give you guys the highlights of the story

here in just a little bit. I will tell you, we put the sermon

schedule together ahead of time. And you know, of all of the great. There's great

stories all throughout Scripture. Do you agree? And this is also

a great story, but whenever I looked, I was looking about five, six

weeks ago, I was looking ahead and I'm thinking, lord, why in the world

am I teaching on Naaman? I'm gonna change that. And then

I started to walk through the last five or six weeks, some

of you as well. And the Lord said, no, this is, this is,

this was. Aren't you glad that he knows the end from the beginning? Aren't you

glad he just orders our steps and he has ordained today

to be today. So if you'll stand with me, we're gonna read two

scriptures that's gonna lay a foundation for today. And I'd like you to read it

like you believe God can actually do something in your life. Okay? So let's read

together. Here we go. Do nothing out of selfish

ambition or vain, conceived rather in

humility. Value others above yourselves.

Not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the

interest of others and your relationships with

one another have the same mindset as Christ

Jesus. We're going to say that one more time. Here we go. In your

relationships with one another, have the Same

mindset as Christ Jesus. Pride

goes before destruction and a haughty spirit

before a fall. Father, I thank you for your truth, all of

it. I pray, Lord, that you would transform our hearts and our minds

today. Let my words fall to the ground and mean nothing but your stick for

all eternity. We love you today. In Jesus name, amen. You may

be seated. You are a part of the greatest stories ever told.

And part of what makes your story so uniquely wonderful

isn't because you are unique and wonderful though you are, it

is that Jesus Christ chooses to do a work in your life. And

those points in your life where he comes in and he causes change

to happen in your heart and in your life and in your actions, those

are the true testimonies and stories of God's goodness.

Those are the stories we want to share. Those are the stories that

are powerful and will cause kingdom advancement and kingdom change.

You are a part of the greatest story ever, ever told. And

today we're talking about a man named Naaman. Now last week, Pastor

Barbee took us up through Elisha, the transfer of power between

Elijah and Elisha. And Elisha is in full force now. He's full

fledged into his ministry. And this story pops up about this

decorated, this really well decorated

military commander named Naaman.

Naaman was a commander of the king's army

and he was powerful, he was successful, and he was

respected even by the king. But just

like so many leaders, he had an issue. How many know that

your leaders have issues? You're looking at one of the biggest issues

probably in the church right now. I have a lot of issues, but leaders have

issues. And he had an issue. His issue was that he had leprosy.

But we're going to find that he had some other issues as well.

Leprosy is a physical disease that isolates and humiliates.

And the Lord uses this young, a young Israelite servant

girl. And she suggests that there is a man

in Samaria that would be able to heal this

leprosy disease that Naaman is carrying.

This little servant girl, ironically.

Do you see how hope comes not from a king or

a warrior, but from a foreign captive girl.

A reminder that the Lord will use the humble.

Naaman brings wealth and a letter from his

king to impress Israel's king. And so his king sends

him to Israel's king. And Naaman brings this wealth in this letter. And the letter

says to the king, we want your God to heal, to

heal Naaman's leprosy. And the king of Israel

says, as he tears his Robes. Who am I that I would be able

to. To heal this man? There's no way I would be able to do this.

There's nothing in me that could do this. And Elisha catches

word that the king has torn his robe, rend his garments, and

has said he couldn't do this. And Elisha says, I know the very God who

can do this. Send Naaman my way. Send Naaman my

way and he'll be healed of this

leprosy. Well, Naaman

mounts his chariots and brings his entire entourage to

Elijah and Elisha. And it was kind of like, here I am.

Let the trumpets blow. Naaman has arrived,

and I'm here to see the man of God. And Elisha does something

so incredible, he sends his messenger out to meet

Naaman to give him the news. Well, this

infuriates Naaman because Naaman is a proud

dude. He is like a valiant warrior. And

you are not going to pawn off your little weak servant

messenger on me to deliver this news. And

so the servant comes and says, the servant from Elisha says, if you'll dip

seven times in the Jordan, then you'll be healed if you'll go in there seven

times. And Naaman is like, that is the dumbest thing I've ever

heard. And so he says,

you know, he says, basically, I'm not gonna do that.

Why can't the man of God come out and touch me? Why

can't he come and introduce. Doesn't he know that there are other

rivers that are cleaner that I could go in? Doesn't he?

And he basically throws a T. He becomes enraged

and marches along. So Naaman

nearly walks away from his miracle. Oh, how

many times are we close to a miracle? But because of our

pride, because of the things that we contend with in our flesh, and

because the pathway. Listen to this. The pathway God has

chosen for us to receive our healing.

Looks dumb, looks stupid, not something we're willing to

do. And there we thwart the miracle blessing

and yet will still go to the Lord and say, heal me, heal me, Heal

me, heal me, heal me, heal me, heal me.

And so God uses Naaman's servants who

run to him and say, now, Naaman,

if the messenger would have come and said for you to do something, valiant

warrior like you would have proudly stood up and done that,

because it would have brought you notoriety. How much more

then if the man of God says, come and dip in the

river seven times, would you not do that? And this

was a defining moment for Naaman, a defining

moment because he's already thrown a tantrum. Everybody knows how he feels

about what's going on. He's already made a spectacle of himself.

But thankfully we have an example of somebody who chooses the path of

humility. And he chooses the path of humility. And he

goes to the river and he dips in seven times. I can imagine what it

must have been like going out that first time after all that spectacle and the

thing he did. He gets in and he walks out and he's looking at his

entourage and he's got to turn around and do it again

and then do it again. I kind of think God may have been shedding

some stuff off of Naaman in those seven times. Going back again and again

and again. Sometimes God will have you go back again and again and again

and again because he's teaching you in that journey. He's teaching you in that

thing to go back. The sixth time and the seventh

time, healing sometimes looks humble, simple,

uncomfortable. Pride almost cost him everything. And he

finally humbles himself and does that, goes into

the river, and his flesh was restored. God

healed his body. But more than that,

and listen, more than that, his heart was

changed.

Guys, there's nothing better than a changed heart.

In the situations that you're in with relationships,

with work, with ministry, with

spouses, family, there is nothing better than a

changed heart. The problem is that we expect God to change theirs and not

ours. But I believe that

God is in the business of changing our heart. And the ripples

of our change affect others and changes

others. Today we're going to deal with this issue of pride. Aren't you

excited? We're going to deal with the issue of pride. Don't look at your neighbor.

We live in a world where pride is often mistaken

for strength. We applaud self, confidence,

assertiveness, and independence. But in God's kingdom,

pride is not power, it's poison. In

God's kingdom, pride is poison. Pride is what

keeps us from God. Pride is what keeps us from one another.

Pride is an attitude that says, I don't need help.

I know better. I deserve better.

Many of you know my youngest daughter, Nora. We were in an airport together as

a whole family a couple years ago in Minneapolis.

It's a big airport. If you've ever flown through Minneapolis, it's a real big airport.

And we're on the airplane and my daughters had just, you know, they were. My

kids are such great travelers.

Yeah, I was waiting. Thanks, Rhonda. So

my kids have their feet hanging out in the aisle. They're laying down they're flailing

the arms. We've been traveling for a minute and people are trying to

walk by, and I am trying to get them off the plane because we've got

to catch our layover. And I'm going through, and they are just

being very extra. I've got great kids, but they're being

extra on this day. Parents, you can. You know what I'm talking about, okay? And

so I am literally saying, get it together right now. Get up, right?

Do this. Stop doing that. Get out of the way. And the flight

attendants are all coming over to our area and

they're saying, we don't mind. We'll carry her off the plane for you.

We will get their bags. We'll call reinforcements in. And I'm saying,

absolutely not. My kids know how to walk. They're gonna

get up and do what I tell them to do right now. And I'm just

having a moment, right? And I'm not gonna let. Everybody's looking at

me. I'm. I'm telling them what I expect. We're gonna do this my

way. And I get so angry that I grab my bag and I walk right

off the plane without my wife and my four kids. I'm a great husband, let

me tell you. And so I get into that lobby area

and I'm waiting there. Just. I'm saying, get off this plane. Let's go.

We've gotta make our layover. And people get off and

there's a big gap and nobody's coming off. And so I step over to the

gate and sure enough, there's a flight attendant carrying Nora, There's a flight

attendant carrying Lucy. They've got bags and they have radio.

Get. They have radioed one of those Jeeps to come and pick us up

at the gate and drive us to our gate. I was so embarrassed.

I was so embarrassed. The spectacle that these girls would put me through. Oh, my

word. So we get on this thing and everybody's watching

us, and our kids are just going, woo. This is the best thing in life.

And I just wanted to spank every one of them. I'm just telling you. I'm

just so upset. The gate was

literally drive time was about seven minutes away. Drive time.

And we pull up and they are about to close the gate.

Had we not gotten on the Jeep, we would have not made our flight.

What would have, it looked like if I refused to allow them to help us

with that Jeep? And God said, pride,

Kevin, pride.

God has put people in your path and in your life to help you on

your journey. God has put

people in your path because here. And, guys, I know this is a hard

truth to hear. You don't know it all.

And you need people in your path who

can tell you you don't know it all. And

they probably have some information that will help you

on your journey, that will help you in your walk.

But here's the thing. We tend to think, yeah, they don't know it all,

but you don't know it all either. We need each other.

And I would argue that to the degree you think you need to

be in that other person's life, they probably need to be in your life that

much more because God puts us together

in that way. This is what Pride says. Pride says, I'll do this my way.

I'll just do this my way. Pride resists correction,

refuses vulnerability, and often pushes people and

even God away. And it's not always loud and

arrogant. Sometimes it's just the quiet voice that

says, I'm going to do this my way. I'm going to do this

my way. Do we have that video? Praise the Lord.

All right, I want you to watch this. It's not going to seem connected, but

it really is. Can you get me in?

At the gate back there, God said, depart from me, and I couldn't.

Couldn't believe it. But. But I know there's been some mistake. That's why I called

you. I was baptized at 5. My. I think my dad's

a pastor. There's been no mistake.

Your file, it doesn't look too good.

What's in there? My sins. No, no, no, no. Those shouldn't be in there. You

forgave those, remember? I mean, that. That makes sense. That's where the mistake is coming

from. If you're basing it off of, I won't make it in there. There's a

lifetime of evidence against me. No, this. This isn't evidence against

you. It's evidence that you were even saved to

begin with.

And there's nothing in here.

Baptized at 5 and lived an

entire life doing whatever you want.

Partying, sex, gossip.

This is the most we've talked your whole

life. I'm supposed to bail you out now, right?

Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the

life. But so many of us thwart the fact that he's the

way because we do it our whole lives, our own way. And

that's Pride. Pride will separate you from the King

of the Universe, and it will separate you from the people that you're sitting next

to. The People who love you most.

Proverbs 16:18 says this. Pride goes before destruction

Proverbs 16:18

and a haughty spirit before the fall. Pride leads to collapse,

personally and relationally. And, guys, I can't tell you, the

countless ministry people, job people that have had

positions, that have had positions, and they were not supposed to

be out of those positions, but God had to set them down early

because of pride. God had to pull them out of that position. They were not

done running the race. They were not done doing what God had asked them to

do, but God had to set them down because it was either set them down

or let them continue to lead others toward destruction.

Pride. Pride is a booger.

It's a big booger, and if you keep picking at it, eventually it

will come out. Just don't eat it.

Where there is strife, there is pride. But wisdom is found

in those who take advice. Guys, let me tell you the

strife. If you're ever in a situation with strife, the

Word tells us, where there's strife, every evil work abounds.

And where there's strife, there's bound to be pride in the ingredients there.

Because pride leads to destruction. The word also says, God

opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. I

pray every single morning when I wake up. Have you? I have a habitual prayer.

Sometimes that I don't even think about, it shoots out of my mouth. And the

very first thing that I say is, oh, Lord, thank you for your grace and

mercy this morning. It just shoots out of my mouth. I don't even think about

it. It's just an automatic thank you for your grace and mercy this morning.

How do I get grace? He gives grace to the

humble. Now, is he just best friends with the

proud? Is he just kind of tolerating the proud? No, it says,

he opposes the proud.

We're talking about the star breather. And why are

we talking about a hard word? Because, guys, sometimes we make the God

of the universe so soft. He is not a plush

teddy bear. He's not a wish machine. He's not

Santa Claus. He is the God of the universe.

He has given everything on the line for your life

because he loves you. Every single thing on the line, including

his life. Came down, lived the life, perfect life, died on the cross,

rose again. And he says, listen, I oppose the proud,

but I give grace. I give grace to

the humble. Anybody need grace? I need grace in my life.

I need grace in my life.

Many of you know we run Lancaster Christian Academy, my wife and I,

and we had a situation several years ago

where we had a tornado coming in the vicinity of the school. It was the

morning time and one of my lead administrators there, I was not there

yet. And she calls me and she's saying, this is a situation. I said,

yes, you need to lock it down and get everybody room in the into place.

So we do drills and all those things. So she's executing everything the way that

she's supposed to. And she knows where the best places in the building

are for safety. So she's giving direction. We have parents in the building because

it's drop off time. And we have one of our staff members, one

of our staff members who looks right at her and says, I'm not going where

you told me to go. And he breaks out of his classroom from his kids

and goes and grabs his own children, his own biological children, and takes

them into another place of the building to keep them safe. Well, things

carry on. Parents are wondering why he's going in the opposite direction. She's trying to

get him to stop, but he won't listen. So he goes and she continues to

take care of the rest of the thing. So later on that

day, I call him into my office and I said, why

did you not stay with your classroom and listen to what

your authority asked you to do? And he said, because I did not trust where

my authority was telling me to take my kids. And I said,

well, where did you take him? And he told me where he took him. And

I said, here's the thing that you don't know. I know every square inch of

this building and the exact place that you were taking them is the weakest place

in the building. And had a tornado come, that

would be the first demolished point. And the way that our elite administrator was taking

the kids was the safest place in the building. And I looked at him and

I said, I need to know if this were to happen again the same way,

I need to know that your decision making would be different. He looked at me

and said, I do the same thing. And I said, well, today will be your

last day day. Unfortunately,

looking on social media and kind of keeping up with this, this man,

divorced two years later, lost his kids years

later having a rough go at it. Pride

is a booger. Pride is destructive.

Pride will lead to destruction.

But here is where the enemy gets in and twists his little fingers is because

when it comes to the issue of pride, we, most of us have this posture

right here. Who me?

Me prideful me? Who me

would I be? Would I be prideful? And I'll tell you Guys, I.

It took me a long time to understand really what pride was, because I

would go, am I prideful? You know, I mean, is it prideful to say you're

not prideful? You know, I mean, so, I mean, I'm like,

lord help me. And so I want to do a litmus test with you right

now. I want, you know, if you're questioning am I prideful. Okay.

Or if I struggle with it in the context of your relationships, I'm

going to give you a litmus test. And if you have said these things or

you thought these things, or you've said this to the people around you,

then congratulations, you have joined the pride club.

You're too sensitive.

Have you ever said you're too sensitive? You always take

things the wrong way.

I don't have time for this right now.

This is just who I am.

You're the one who needs the change, not me.

I already said sorry. What more do you want?

You're making a big deal out of nothing.

I just. I don't see any of the spouses looking at each other right now.

I shouldn't have to explain myself to you.

I refuse to. We refuse

to. I will not.

I'm done.

If you're honest with yourself, we've all struggled with these to some degree,

but pride often comes in a way that will convince us that

we are incapable of dealing with it in the right way.

Naaman needed healing. He needed

healing and he rides in the town pompous

and ready to receive it. But his status, title, and ultimately his pride

governs his initial response. And I want

us to look at his response. Here it says, naaman went away angry and said,

I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on

the name of the Lord, his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure

me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and

Paphor, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the

waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed? So he

turned and went off in rage. And let me tell you something,

this is the moment when he turns and goes off in rage. This is the

moment in that argument, in that conversation, in that moment,

the moment that sucks everything out of the room is when you have the choice

to choose between pride and humility. It's that gut wrenching moment

that you know inside you need to respond a certain way, but something in

your flesh gets ahold of you and you go a different direction. You decide, I'm

gonna step over here and you begin this process of putting

gaps and spaces between you and the other person, you in the

relationship with people who love you the most. The gaps are created because

you are not willing to budge or bend because of something you think they did

or said. But we are

commissioned to have the mind of Christ when it comes to our

relationships. What would it be like if Jesus looked at you and said, no,

you've gone too far. I'm not bending for you.

My death on a cross is not good enough for you because of what you

did. The way we respond

to one another, the way we treat one another. And this is not just spouses.

Spouses is any relationship. Work, relationships, ministry relationships, church

relationships, friendships, spouses, all across the board. We are

to be as like Christ to one another in our responses, which

calls us to a high degree of humility, even

when they're not doing anything proactive about the situation.

Just because you have a position doesn't exempt you from

walking through and having to deal with tough things, including sin.

In fact, if you're used by God many times, those things are eliminated much more

quickly when he gives you a position.

Naaman is insulted that Elisha doesn't come out in person. He says, I thought

surely he'd come out to me. I'm big, bad, ugly.

Why is he sending me his little pawn? He should be coming out

on his own. Oh, that we would not have a haughty spirit

like that, that we would walk in humility.

Naaman had a script in his mind, and he wanted God to

heal him on his own terms.

And might I suggest that some of us have not received relational

healing in this place because we want to do it on our own

terms. Pride says, this should go how

I imagined. I shouldn't have to do that.

I shouldn't have to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have to say I'm sorry again.

I shouldn't have to listen to them. I shouldn't have to communicate the way they

want to communicate. I shouldn't have to do this. It's beneath me.

But might I suggest to you today that healing

follows humility? When

we lean into humility and we decide to put

Christ in the middle, he begins to do a transformative work in

you and in them that is unparalleled and

extraordinary, that is supernatural.

You want to see that person changed? Approach them with humility

and look and see what the Lord does. Look

and see what the Lord does. You have to admit that there's a

problem before you can address the problem. We were

driving down in Seattle in a van. And the tire

light comes on, and Sherry says to me, we better pull over and get off

the exit. The tire's blown. And I look and I say, no, we're

fine. It's just a little. It's just a little air going out. And we keep

going. And all of a sudden, as we're rumbling around, she's like,

what do you think now? You think the tire's blowing?

No, I'm going to keep going.

Pride he puts people in your life

to speak into things you don't see. He puts people

in your life to be your blind spot.

And so there was the servant. And would you notice if you read this story,

you notice the real heroes in the story, not Naaman, not

Elisha. The real heroes are two unnamed servants.

Servant girl at the beginning of the story, and Naaman servant who remind

them about this God who can heal. I

love that the Lord uses the humble and mighty ways.

I wonder whose voice choosing to use in your

life today. It's probably a voice

that's unexpected. It's probably a voice that's small. It might even be a voice

that you don't want to hear from. But it's the voice

God saying, this is the voice I'm using to change your life.

Because here's the thing, you don't get to choose the way God wants to

heal. He's got the better way. You

might not understand it, might not agree with it, it, but there's a reason.

There's something for you to learn, and there's something for them as well.

The servant says a lot. If Elisha had asked you, Naaman, to do

something heroic, you would have said without a doubt.

Why would you not then go into the river

seven times and be healed? And this is where the

rubber hits the road. He's made a spectacle of himself.

He's, I'm the big bad wolf, and all of this. And he

humbles himself in front of his entourage and goes seven times

into the river. And the word tells us that he

was healed. He was healed. And

this is Naaman's response to Elisha. Afterward, he went

back to the holy man, which was Elisha. He and his

entourage stood before him and said, I now know beyond a

shadow of a doubt that there is no God anywhere on the earth other than

the Israel. Can I tell you that when miraculous

supernatural activity happens in your life, it is for none other than

to make God famous. It is for no better reason than appoint

people to Jesus when he moves in your life, when he chooses to

miraculously heal you. It is so that he can receive the

glory. It's so that he can be acknowledged. And this is what happens

in Elijah's life. What do you think? I'm sorry, Naaman's life. What do you think

the greater healing was? That he was healed from leprosy or that his heart was

healed and he knows the real true God. God wants to

heal hearts. He wants to heal relationships.

And he will use physical things to get there. You notice Jesus

ministry, he always started by healing and meeting the physical needs of the people before

he ever did anything spiritual.

And so that was all the setup. Here's what I want us to

take away today. The greatest healing you will ever

receive is not physical. It's relational. The

greatest healing you will ever receive is not physical,

it's relational. Naaman had it all. Status,

respect, victory. But he was broken.

Leprosy wasn't just a disease of the body. It was a condition that made

people socially unclean, relationally distant,

relationally distant. And this just isn't

Naaman's story. This is ours, too. Pride creeps into

our marriages. It creeps into our friendships, our families, our

church relationships. And you can be winning on the outside and dying on the

inside. You can have success, yet be broken

relationally. And some of you today know what that

type of pain and hurt is. The deepest wounds are not always

visible ones. They come from distance. We used to talk

all the time and we don't talk anymore.

They come from silence, betrayal and broken

trust. Pride fuels conflict.

It keeps us distant. It demands that

others change while refusing to self

reflect. I need nine volunteers to meet me on the

stage quickly.

I know we can count. Spring House, let's go. Which y' all will have a

seat in the chairs, but not the orange one.

Cole, I'm going to have you stand at the end.

Griff, have you stand on that side.

Great. Have a seat. Perfect. One more, Come on. All right.

Thank you. Let's give a round of applause for these good looking helpers.

Griff, Cole, come over here and stand in the center. How long have y' all

been friends? Couple

days. How long have y' all been friends? Really?

Five years. Okay. All of us

have relationships. We've got marriages, we've got best

friends, we've got work, relationships, ministry, relationships, all of these

things. But in every relationship are two human

beings. And the human beings that are in that relationship, guess

what? They're broken. Which means it stands to reason that

in every single relationship, no matter how deep and wonderful it is, there's

bound, at some point, conflict. There's bound to be

conflict. How we handle conflict is

everything when it comes to relational healing, to

where we are with the Lord in terms of our relationships. How we handle conflict

is absolutely everything. And so we're going to pretend for a moment

that these two guys have had some type of conflict and it has caused

them to walk away from one another. So I'm going to let you all walk

away from one another and join the other side of this line.

So these two have had a relational conflict. And what conflict does.

Conflict puts distance between us.

Issues come between us. There's a gap, there's a fracture.

And it would be the desire of Jesus Christ for us to heal

the fractures between us. The enemy rejoices when

it looks like this. The enemy rejoices when there is space,

when there is distance. When there's betrayal, he rejoices.

But God is wooing us to be unified. He's wooing us to be together.

He's wooing us to love one another the way he has loved us.

But here's what happens. We get

into this mindset where Griff's like, well, Cole did such and such,

and he needs to apologize for it. And Cole's saying,

griff said and did such and such, and he needs to apologize for

it. And so we're going to say that

Cole is more prideful up here than Griff

in this particular situation.

And Griff wants to see this relationship restored. Cole wants to

see this relationship restored. The difference is, is one of them wants to do it

their way. The other one's willing to give in and abandon their way, to do

it the way the Lord would want them to. And so

Griff is willing strides toward

coal relationally. Now, if it

was Griff's way, he would be like, okay, I'm going to go over here. I'm

going to walk over here. I'm going to do it this way. But that's not

what Cole has laid out. I want you all to take these signs and just

put them around your neck for me.

In their interaction and in their discourse,

Cole, because of the infraction, has laid out

a bunch of things that Griff must do in

order to restore this relationship. In other words,

Cole has provided hoops for Griff to jump

through in order for the relationship to be restored.

Would you guys pick up those hoops and hold them at, like, shin

level? Like, real low there? Okay, Now,

Griff looks at this, and Cole's saying, oh, will you want to be

reconciled Here are the hoops I need you to jump through. And Griff

goes, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life.

I'm not jumping through your hoops. I'm

not about to. You know how silly this looks? Do you know how

absolutely ridiculous this is that you would make me jump through this

to get to you? In other words, Cole, you're not

worth it. In

other words, Cole, I don't love you enough to jump

through the hoops you've placed up. But here's what

Grif doesn't understand. The hoops that are here

aren't necessarily just by happenstance. Cole has

lived a life of insecurity, with

pain, with fear, with identity issues

from past things, past mistakes, doubt and confusion that

has caused him to not easily trust when there's

been a conflict in the relationship. So because

of these things, hoops have been created for anybody to get

close to him. Now, Cole suffers from having being

isolated most of his life, but, man, can I tell you, if there's

just one person who would love Cole enough to decide, it

doesn't matter what kind of hoops you put, I'm going to jump through them because

I see the value. I see the Christ in you. I love you

enough to jump through the hoops. You'll jump through the hoops. Going to jump through

these hoops. And he will get to you, Cole, no matter how ridiculous

it looks, no matter how ugly it is, no matter what it is, he'll jump

through the hoops and the relationship will be restored.

Now, some of you, some of you, not most of us, but some of

you say, you know what? I would jump through hoops. But then you do this.

You jump through the hoops and you grab the person. You're like, look what you

just took me through. Look what you made me do. I can't believe you made

me do this. And guess what? You cause a more of a severing relationship. But

here's the thing. When he jumps through the hoops, what he does at the end

of it. What'd you see? There's a big bear hug. There's a one

directional focus, and it says, listen, I did all of that crap because I see

you and I love you and I want to be in relationship with you.

I don't have the strength to do that, Kev. I don't have the strength to

jump through this hoop. It's ridiculous. Guess what? That's why you need the Holy Spirit.

I don't have to understand why you need me. To jump through these hoops.

What I'm saying is, I love you so much, it doesn't matter. At the

end of the day, I want to be reconciled. What do I need to do

to be reconciled? I want my relationship with you to grow

deeper in the Lord. What do you need me to do? How many more hoops

do you need me to jump through? And here's the crux. Jesus Christ

jumped through every single hoop we put out there, but he added one.

And he said, after all the hoops you did, I'm gonna add one. And the

one I'm adding is death. I love you so much that I'm gonna die

for you, and I'm willing to do so

every single time. And here's the thing. Come back over

here, Cole. When you're in this position over here,

when trust has been established here and

Cole finally sees somebody who's operating like

Jesus Christ, who says, I love you so much that I just went through all

of that, and I don't care about that. We don't even talk about that. I

am sorry. Look, I jumped through all the hoops, and I'm

still saying I am sorry. Forgive me. Because the

issue should not outweigh our relationship.

It's not important enough to take what God has put together

here, and so the

relationship's established. But guess what else happens now?

There's an opportunity because he's. Grif has jumped through

all of this. Guess what? There's an opportunity for

Grif to say, hey, hey, let's talk about the doubt

that's in your life. And Cole listens

because somebody was willing to sacrifice their ego and their pride to

love him enough to now speak truth about all of these

situations. And it works both ways. It

works both ways. Jesus

jumped through our hoops. And I'm asking you, are there things in

your relationships that you have said, I refuse to do it? And you

just are content with your relationship being. I would tell you, if

Jesus Christ was standing right here, he'd look at you and say, that is not

my will. That is not my will.

He has called us to deep relationships.

He's called us to further. And I'm going to ask you this morning, I commission

to you, are there things separating you and your spouse,

your friends, work relationships? Are there things in the

middle issues that you have allowed yourself to stand by and say, well, until

they do such and such, I'm not budging. Maybe the Lord is inviting you

today to begin jumping through the hoops they put out to

show the essence in the love of Jesus Christ. You guys may

be seated. Thank you so much. Would the worship team come out?

The greatest healing you will ever receive

is not physical. The greatest healing

you will receive in life is relational because it is

eternal. It is eternal. Here's what's going on.

Pride says, beneath me. Love says, I'll

do whatever it takes to reach you.

How many would be bold enough to admit this morning that you

haven't given your all in terms of reaching somebody in your life that you

need to reach? I have my hand up first.

If God says he opposes the proud,

if he says he opposes the proud and your hand was

in the air, why would you want the God of the universe to oppose you?

You need grace. I need grace.

So I need to humble myself in the

sight of the Lord. This is how Jesus loved

us. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death,

even death on a cross.

Three weeks ago, I was speaking on Elijah,

and I was talking about the fire that came down from heaven. And I talked

about the water that he put in the trench because of the faith, the bolstered

faith he had in the Lord. And he took that water and he poured it

on there and poured it on there and poured it on there. In the context

of that message, I shared with you guys some very private

information about my medical journey

and told you that I had a mass on my liver.

And since that time, I've had some tests done. And

there was a point in time where we had read that I had

cancer. But this week, I got

a note from my doctor on Tuesday and said, it is not

cancer. It is benign. There is nothing wrong. That is

good, good news. God

has healed my body, and I praise the sovereign God for

it. On Thursday this

week, on Thursday this week, Sherry and I

had an appointment in my office here at the church with a woman

who two years ago slandered my

name, drug our ministry

through the mud, said all sorts of crazy things about us.

And it was a very hurtful, hurtful season.

And this lady came to meet with us

to say, I want to be reconciled. I am so sorry.

And we apologized, and God created a situation

where our relationship was healed. I want to tell you this

this morning that this week I am more excited

about the relational healing than I am the fact that I don't have

cancer. I am more excited about the relationship in my

life being healed than the fact that he's touched my body. Because here's the truth,

guys. In three years, five years, 10 years, I may have cancer again. I may

have something that happens to my body, my body's going away. But

relationships are eternal. And guys, sometimes

we wait until there's somebody laying in a couch to decide,

I should have let the pride walls fall. And I wish I would

have said. I wish I would have. If I would have done anything to jump

through that hoop that they put there, what was I thinking?

And God's saying, drop the pride now while they're still breathing so I can do

relational work through you, in you, and with you. There

are apologies that need to be made. There are. There's

yardage in relationships that need to be had. Today is a day where, where I

believe that God wants to restore relationships. And we're going to ask, just like

the psalmist says, lord, search my heart. Don't let it be what I

think. But Lord, you identify and put in front of my face. You need to

go, you need to do some business with that person because you're not

resolved. There's stuff down there. There's

nitty gritty stuff. And your pride is stopping you from going any further. And

I've got something huge in your life

relationally with that person. So the choice

is your hard, hard message today because it causes you to actually

have to lay down yourself and surrender your pride and go

to people and do some business, some Holy Spirit business.

But let me tell you, there is nothing greater. There is nothing

greater than being healed relationally. Would you

guys stand with me this morning?

Love says, I'll do whatever it takes. Guys, we.

We know how to shout. We know how to say I love you, I love

you, I love you. I love. We. I love you, I love you, I love

you, I love you. That is such a, such a shallow term

now or phrase. Now, the proof is in the pity.

The proof is I love you. Here's my step towards

you. I love you. I'm jumping through this hoop for you. I

don't have to say it because I'm showing you. Jesus didn't

just go to the cross and stand by side and say, I love you, I

love you. Just wanted to let you. He didn't text you I love you. He

got on the cross and he did what he said he was going to do.

And so this morning, the altar space is over. Love says, I'll do

whatever it takes. I'll jump through every hoop. I'll meet you where you are

because. Because that's exactly what Jesus did for you. So as we sing this song,

if you need to ask the Lord to shed off layers of pride in your

life. And I'm going to tell you, your pastor, I'm the first one up here.

I don't have to go far. I'm right here. But if you need to

have layers of pride shed, you come forward. But let me tell you

something. You can pray all day long in the altar space, which is good because

you need to be equipped with the Holy Spirit. But he's going to give you

some direction, and it's going to mean you're going to have to have some. Some

conversations with some people. Be ready for that. And I can't

wait to hear the testimonies of God's faithfulness as he heals relationships all

over this place. Let's worship.