From Burdens To Breakthrough

We're going to look at one particular guy in the Bible named Naaman, who is as distant from God as they come. And he comes, he meets God, and he receives a breakthrough for this major burden that he has in life. We're going to read through his entire story and talk about what are some of the ways that we can learn from Naaman and really apply it to our life.

Transcript

How we doing? We feeling good this morning? Man, it's great to see a packed house in church this morning, amen? Wow, awesome. Have we run out of chairs? Looks like we have. Amazing. Hey, let's all do something real quick. Can we just all stand to our feet? I know, we're making you do a lot of aerobics today. Can you just turn around to someone that you've never met before? Because I think there's a lot of new people here. Find someone you've never met before. Just introduce yourself. Just go up to someone. We're all friendly here, nobody bites. How good is that? And if you're watching online as well, put a little comment in the comment section. Tell us who's watching, where you are, where you're watching from. That'll be great. Awesome. All right.

Well, church, just before I get into it, I really want to thank you for all your love and your support with the youth ministry, just forever, I guess. Because our youth has really grown from strength to strength. We had a team night on Tuesday and, was it Tuesday or was it Wednesday? Whichever one it was, Wednesday. And I was sharing a little bit about it there. But we've, at youth, we've just introduced connect groups into our regular youth programming. So every second week, we have a connect group at youth. And can I just say that we're starting to see so much fruit in the youth ministry. I mean, before, like we had, we had 10 new kids on Friday night. A lot of them was a part of street peace. We had one guy come from street peace and he's been coming for about two months now. And he invited like 10 other people from street peace on a Friday night. And so, you know, it's just great that we as a church are able to not only just be a great community for church kids to get involved with, but we're also reaching the unchurched as well. And we're giving them the gospel and we're into connect groups where they're having discussions that maybe they haven't had before about life and dreams and what's our purpose in life and what is God's plan for our life. And so, you know, we're just seeing fruit across the board and we couldn't do it without the love and support of the church. So I just want to say thank you church, because you're all amazing.

Yeah. So tonight, well, tonight, today, I'll tell you what, I always get a little bit nervous when I preach. So it takes me a few minutes to rev up into gear. But this morning, I want to talk to you about, I've entitled my message this morning, From Burdens to Breakthrough. From Burdens to Breakthrough. Because I really believe that our God is not an absent God. Amen? Man, our God is the God that wants to move in your life. Amen? Our God is a God that really cares about all the struggles that you may be going through and He wants to move powerfully in your life. But it takes a bit of a relationship, doesn't it? God doesn't always move in the ways that we think that He should move in, and that can be a struggle sometimes. And so this morning, I want to talk about From Burdens to Breakthrough. We're going to look at one particular guy in the Bible named Naaman, who is as distant from God as they come. And he comes, he meets God, and he receives a breakthrough for this major burden that he has in life. And so I want to look at his story. We're going to read through his entire story and talk about what are some of the ways that we can learn from Naaman and really apply it to our life. Amen?

But before we do that, come on, let's just pray. God, we just thank You that You were in this place right now, God. Lord, we just thank You that in every situation in our life, that Father God, it doesn't matter who we are, what our talents are, what our strengths are, God, You always come through for us. Because it's not by our strength that we do anything, but it's by Your strength, God. And so Lord, I just pray that people would be listening this morning to Your Word attentive, and that You would open up people's hearts, and that You would break down walls this morning, God. And Lord, I just pray that as we all come around together the Word, that You would just really rest on us, Father God, that Your Spirit would just be upon us, Father God. Lord, You are everywhere. You are always here. And so God, we pray that our hearts would be attuned to You, Father God. And so we set aside the distractions of this week, and we just focus in on You, Lord. Lord, would You come and speak to us this morning? And Lord, I just pray for myself. I just pray that my words would not be my own words, God, but they would be Your words. Father God, I just pray that everything that I'm about to say would be totally by Your Word, not by my strength. And God, I pray that this morning that we would leave this place closer to You, God, challenged in our faith, and encouraged through our sorrow. So God, come and move in this place this morning. And everyone said, Amen, Amen, Amen.

Well, this morning, church, I want to ask you something. I want to ask you, is there something in your life that if people found out that you had that personality trait, or you had that thing, that they would think of you a little bit differently? You know, for me, one of the things that I don't think a lot of people realize about me is that I am ultra competitive. I come across as a very friendly, very easygoing sort of guy, but as soon as there is a competition on the line, I change to a completely different person. I'll tell you that. I remember the first time that I played a board game with some of my youth leaders. I think they all left that night going, Whoa, what the heck did we just see? What on earth was that beast that just unleashed in Michael? Because we were playing this game, right? And we were, I won't get it. It's a bit technical, so I won't get into details. But all you need to know is that there is a group of good guys, and there is a group of bad guys, and nobody knows who each other are. So the good guys don't know who the bad guys are, the bad guys don't know who the good guys are, and everyone's trying to work it out, right? And so it's like a social deduction game. You're asking people questions. You're looking at how they respond to things, trying to assess if they're lying or not. And the good guys win if they discover who the bad guys are, right? And I remember I was just getting so heated in this thing, because I did not want to lose a single round. And any time that I was a good guy, I was just screaming in people's faces. I feel really bad, actually, because one of our youth kids were there, and it was one of the older youth kids, thankfully. I think I might have scared off a younger one. But I turned to him at one stage, and I was like, You're either one of the bad guys or the biggest idiot I've ever met in my whole life. It just comes out of me. I can't help it. I can't help it. I'm too competitive. I love it. Even on Friday night, we were playing this game called the bin game, right? The bin game. I know, youth, we just take whatever we got in the storage cupboard, and we make a game out of it. The bin game. And so what we do is, it was just a group of the younger boys in our connect groups, and we were all holding hands, and we're standing in a circle around the bin, and everybody starts spinning around the bin, and then somebody counts down, three, two, one, and then everyone's got to try and pull each other into the bin, and if you touch the bin, you're out. And of course, I'm 30 years old. I'm stronger than all these 12-year-olds that are in this group. And so I was not going to lose to a bunch of 12-year-olds. So every single round of this game, I just, whoever was on my right-hand side, just boom, you're out. Boom, you're out. Boom. And I think a couple of the youth leaders were looking at me like, Okay, Michael, I think you might need to chill a little bit. And there was this one guy on my left, and I think he was loving life, because he was like, Oh, he's just using his right the whole time. I'm never going to go out. So I just, I carried him to the finals, and then in the final one, I thought, All right, I better ease up a little bit, and I let one of the youth kids win, and they were all like, it was almost like, Have you seen that ad from Old El Paso, where they throw the kid up on the shoulders, because they've discovered the new way to eat tacos? It was kind of like that moment. You know what I'm talking about, that ad? Where they're like, Ah, and they're throwing on the shoulders, and they're all celebrating. It was like that. It's like, Oh, yeah, we beat Michael. But when there's a competition on the line, I am a completely different person.I can't help it. I love competition. Even a couple of us guys, we go and play disc golf sometimes during the week, and I feel really bad, because all the insults start coming out, like someone will throw a shot. Oh, yeah, I guess you didn't eat your Wheat Beaks this morning, mate. That was a lame shot. Just banter, and I love it, and I love it.

But sometimes there's those things in our personalities, where once people find out about it, once they see it, it totally changes the way that they think about us. I remember a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to this guy, and he's a very stoic guy. He's a very serious guy. I've tried to play board games with him before, and he's like, No, no, I don't play games. I don't do any of that. I'm not into that. Just a very serious guy, right? And I was talking to him, and I was like, Oh, you know, what are you up to in the school holidays, and what's going on? And I could tell there was something he wanted to say, but he was kind of holding back about it, and I was like, Oh, you know, what have you been up to? And he starts telling me that he's been building some model train sets, and it just caught me off guard. I was like, Oh, it's a very serious guy. He's a stoic, very serious guy, and he's telling me he's building model train sets, and he's telling me he's got little trees, and he's making little mountains, and he's making this little village. And I was like, Oh, this guy is a big softie, you know, when you think he's very serious and very stoic, and he becomes a big softie. No, I won't name names on who that is, but he did play really well on the keys this morning, so good job to him.

So sometimes you just find out these things about people, and you go, Oh, wow, I didn't know that about people. It just changes how you think about them a little bit. I think my youth budget just got halved in that one comment. No, but you know, but sometimes, those are the fun things. Those are the fun things. Those are the nice surprises that you like finding out about people, but more often than not, isn't there just sometimes some uglier surprises that you find out? Like, I come from a corporate job before I was at work, very high level, very high stress situation, and the thing that always caught me off guard with people is that they would try and make you think that they were the most successful person on this whole earth. Like, they would be salespeople doing sales of three, five hundred million dollars a year, very high successful people, and they would have the biggest houses, and they'd show you photos of these big houses that they've got. They'd drive these flashy BMWs, limited edition paint job BMWs, and they would show that off to you, and they'd kind of present to you the fact that they've kind of got their life all together, but then you would have conversations when they're a little bit more socially lubricated, when their walls are down at the company retreat. It wasn't me, by the way. I'm just putting that out there, but they would be, and then you'd start to see the more real side, and then as they're talking, you would start to realize that this lifestyle that they're trying to show you is really not all that true because they're massive in debt, interest rates are up, the kids are out of control, and they've got a lot of pressure in their life, and if they're honest, they're really struggling with dealing with the pressure, and so they're showing you one side of their life, and they're saying, wow, look how successful I am, but it's only a cover to show the real pressure that's going on on the inside, and isn't that human nature, where we can have these burdens, we can have these afflictions, and we can try and cover it up, yeah, because we don't want anybody to know about them. We don't want anybody to think differently about us, but I want to tell you this morning that our God is a God that wants to move in those burdens, amen. The only way that you can get rid of those burdens is by our loving Father, amen.

So we're going to look at this guy, Naban, who had a pretty big burden. I'm going to look about how he got his breakthrough and learn from it.

'The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. ' 2 Kings 5:1 (NLT)

So if you've got your Bibles with you, why don't you open up to 2 Kings chapter 5, verse 1. If you've got your phone, pull out your phone, get the Bible app. If you don't have the Bible app, download it right now. Get that thing on your phone. It could change your life. Or buy a physical Bible, $10 out there. That's probably a better choice. You're not going to get distracted by Instagram when you're trying to read the Bible. So in 2 Kings chapter 5, verse 1, it says this. It says, The King of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.

Let's pause there. This is such a wild start to a story in the Bible. This is by far the most bonkers way to start a story in the Bible. Because let's think about the context here. All right, we're talking about a king and a general in the nation of Aram. Now you might go, Aram? I've never really heard of that country in the Bible before. There's a very good reason. It's because they were the enemies of God. They were the enemies of Israel. They were the ones that were fighting Israel tooth and nail. And in fact, at this point in time, they're actually winning. And God's people, the Israelites, the ones that were sanctified by God, are dying left, right and centre. And they're pretty worried because these guys are coming and attacking them.

And isn't it interesting that we start off this story by saying, the Lord had given Aram great victories. That's basically saying the Lord had given his enemies great victories, which is pretty bonkers. And even it says in that last sentence, Naaman was a mighty warrior. Now, if we look at the Hebrew of the original text, this phrase, mighty warrior, which some translations translate to man of valour, it is a phrase that is only attributed to the highest quality of men. It is like this person is the standard of which you should measure yourself. That's the kind of idea it's trying to put into your head. It's saying, this is a man of valour. This is a mighty warrior. This is as good as people can get. But yet he had leprosy. And isn't it so true that sometimes the people that come across as the mightiest of people, the mightiest warriors, the most successful businessmen, the people that think they've got it all together, the ones that have got favour with the king, they're the ones that sometimes can suffer with the biggest things that we don't even realise.

Because if you don't know about leprosy, leprosy is a terrible disease. We still don't have a cure for it today, even with modern medicine. It's basically a disease where it starts rotting your flesh and your flesh and your skin and your muscles start to just wilt away. They start to deteriorate. And in some extreme cases, sometimes people's whole limbs start falling off just because the body is wasting away. And there's no cure. And here is Naaman, a general of the enemy of God, and he is described as this mighty man, but yet he suffers with leprosy, an incurable disease. And he's probably thought to himself, well, this is just my lot in life. This is what I'm living with. This is my existence now. And sometimes how easy it is is it for us to slip into that mentality as well. We can just go, well, this is just my personality. And this is just something that I've got to deal with now. There's no way of changing this. I am who I am. I've got that anger issue. I've got that family issue. I've got that financial issue. And this is just how I am right now. But what I want to remind you this morning is how God wants to work in that, just in the way that he works in with Naaman, this incurable disease.

'At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.” So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.” But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.” ' 2 Kings 5:2-8 (NLT)

Because we read on. Let's read on to verse 2, 2 Kings chapter 5, verse 2, it says this. At this time, Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel. And among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman's wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her mistress, oh, I wish my master would go see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy. Verse 4, so Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. Go and visit the prophet, the king of Aram told him. I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel. So Naaman started out carrying as gifts, get this, carrying his gifts, 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, which by the way equates to about 9 million dollars in our currency today. It's a pretty good gift, I would say. And 10 sets of clothing, you know, just as a little bonus on top. Verse 6, the letter to the king of Israel said, with this letter I present my servant Naaman, I want you to heal him of his leprosy. When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, am I God that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he's just trying to pick a fight with me. But when Elisha, the man of God, now Elisha is a prophet, Elisha is the mouthpiece of God in Israel. God wants to tell humans something, he does it through Elisha. Verse 8, but when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him. Why are you so upset bro? What's going on? Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.

Now this is just such an interesting passage church. This is so wild because these two nations are at war. Israel and Aram are at war and here we've got God's enemies, Aram, sending a letter to Israel going, hey, I know we're at war right now, but would you mind healing our top general? Because he's got this disease, it's probably going to be the end of him. We really need to heal him. Is it all right if you guys would heal him? We heard that you could. And so the king of Israel is going, what mind games are these guys playing? Who am I that I can heal this guy, right? For so many reasons. Not only because one, he doesn't believe that he can physically, but two, he doesn't believe that he probably should because it's the top general of his enemies that has been killing all of his warriors, right?

But I want to look at like where Naaman is positioned in his life right now. Because Naaman, he's got to be a pretty top quality character. Because let's think about this for a second. Here is a guy that has leprosy, a highly contagious incurable disease, but yet he has favor with the king. Yet he's just chatting to the king like it's nothing. Like this disease that he doesn't have, if he were to touch the king, the king would be totally like you're a walking dead at that point. But yet he has such strong relationship with the king. He obviously is the type of guy that is used to controlling the situation around him. It's probably what made him a good general, being able to control a battlefield. He's being controlled this affliction and he's not really letting it hurt his standing in life. He's got all these pounds of silver, all these pounds of gold. He's obviously very rich, very successful. He's got favor with the king. And so we look at this guy and we go, well, it's almost like he doesn't have leprosy at all. I mean, he kind of looks like he's living the dream.

But who knows that people can seem to be living the dream, but they've got that one affliction. They've got that one thing inside of them that just totally robs the joy out of everything that's going on. Because Naaman probably wouldn't been able to take a wife. We don't know that for sure. The Bible doesn't tell us, but we can imagine if you've got this highly contagious disease, you wouldn't be able to take a wife. Your family's probably disowned you. You wouldn't be able to have kids of your own. So it's probably a very miserable life, even though kind of seems like he's got things going on around him. It's probably a miserable life.

But isn't it so cool that the moment he gets a godly relationship in his life, there's hope. See, Naaman had spent his entire life trying to control this situation. All right, I've got this affliction. I've got this thing going on in my life. He's made all the money. He's made all the relationships. But there's still this big thing inside of him that is eating away at him. And it takes the maid, a servant girl from Israel that knows God, to speak into his life. And suddenly there's hope in the situation. And isn't that so true with people in our lives today? People can look like they've got it all together. They've got the money. They've got the relationships. They've got the job. But I know that there are so many people that are miserable even through all those situations. And so it's up to us to be like that maid girl and to bring the relationship of God into people's lives. Amen?

Because think about this, right? This girl, I mean the Bible puts it very politely, was a maid that was given to Naaman's wife. But what is that? That's slavery. This is a slave girl. She's been uprooted from her house. She's been taken into Naaman's house, forced to serve the very people that are responsible for uprooting her life, for probably killing her family, killing her friends, and really giving her no hope. But what is the language that she has? What is the language that she says in the Bible? I love what she says. I mean she says, oh I wish my master, I wish my master would go see the prophet in Samaria. I wish that my master would go see the prophet in Samaria to get healed. And we just see the heart of this little girl. And we just look at her heart and we go, oh wow, that is so beautiful that even though that she's been uprooted out of her life, she's been forced into slavery, but yet she still has this care for Naaman. She still has this way where she's going, oh I wish you would be healed of this thing. Isn't that such a beautiful heart to have? And don't you know, church, that there are so many people in your life that need you to have that heart, because you might be the only godly relationship that they have in their life. They might have these afflictions that they're just waiting for you to come and bring that sweetness of spirit into their life and just say, hey do you know about a God that could actually heal you, that actually do a work in you? Isn't that such a beautiful thing when we do that, church? And so I want to encourage you.

1. Relationships

The first thing that we can learn about Naaman is that it's all about relationships. We have to have relationships with people, and Naaman had all the right relationships in his world, and you might feel like you've got all the relationships that you need, but let me tell you this right now. If you do not have a strong godly relationship in your life, there are just some afflictions that you are not going to get healing in. We need to have people around us that are supporting us, that are like this maid girl and going, hey have you heard about this God? Have you heard about this God that can actually bring healing to the affliction and the pain that you have?

Like I look at my life personally and I just go, without the relationships that I've got in my life, I would not be the man that I am today. I would not be the husband that I am today. I've got so many people in the church. If I'm ever feeling like I'm struggling or I'm lonely or I'm just going through some things in the life, I love the fact that I can just pick up the phone and call Pastor Adrian or Pastor Frank or Pastor Fua or many people in this church. I've got friends from previous churches that are now serving as youth pastors over in other states and other cities, and I can call them up and go, hey man, I'm just struggling. Can you just speak some truth into my life? Can you just speak some godliness into my life? Because some of you might look at me and go, oh he's a pastor. He's got it all figured out. He's got it all together. Guess what? Don't have it all figured out. Don't have it all together. No pastor does. You might seem it, but even pastors need those relationships so strongly. In fact, every single Christian needs those relationships. They need that person that even when they're not thinking about it, are going to speak into their life and go, yes but God can bring healing to this. You might be going through a family situation. You need those people that are going, but God can move in your family. But God can do this. Amen.

We've got to have relationships, but you know what? It's actually up to you. You've got to take responsibility for it. No one's going to form those relationships for you. Let me tell you, every single staff meeting that we have as pastors and staff of this church, we are always talking about ways that we can get people more engaged, ways that we can get people more involved, more connected to this church. But ultimately, the pastors can do all of these different things. We can run all of these different programs, but the responsibility is on you. So if you're coming to church and you're feeling like, I don't know if I have that deeper relationships, can I encourage you? Go talk to someone that you do not know today and just introduce yourself. I promise you every single person here is friendly. I promise you we're like family here, but it's up to you. You've got to take responsibility and go, all right, if I don't have those relationships, I'm going to take responsibility for it. Amen.

Because look at the stark contrast between Naaman, an enemy of God, who has this godly relationship, and the king of Israel, who is meant to be the standard of which all Christians are living, right? And the king of Israel, in this story, what happens? He's being asked to go heal this guy, Naaman, and he starts tearing his clothes. He goes, how are we meant to do this? And the prophet, the mouthpiece of God, Elisha, is almost mocking him in a way and be like, what are you worried about? Come on, you know that we can do this. Come on, you know that our God can do this. So what are you talking about? And isn't it funny that the king of Israel, the one that should have had the relationship with God, did not have a relationship with God, and suddenly everything was way more stressful than it needed to be. Isn't that so true in our life, church? When we're distant from God, man, does everything seem more stressful. Man, does everything seem more stressed out. We need that person in our lives, amen, to go, come on, but God, but God can do this in our lives, amen? Come on, we need those relationships.

2. Actions

Everyone say point two. Point two. Point one, you need relationships. Point two, we need to be people of action. Let's read on in Naaman's story. It says this in verse nine. It says, so Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha's house. Very simple verse. You might overlook this, but you've got to remember is that this guy is carrying nine million dollars worth of silver and gold. That's a lot of silver and gold, and silver and gold can be quite heavy. And the city of which Naaman is living in, and the city that Elisha is in, the guy that he's visiting, is about 160 kilometers. And you've got to think that their roads are not like the roads that we have today, right? It's not an easy flat surface. It's up through mountains, through valleys, especially that area of the world in the Middle East. It's a very mountainous range, and so it would have been very hard for this guy to actually travel and go see Elisha. And put on top of that, that remember this is the general of their enemies. This guy is a wanted man. I mean, he's probably going through towns where he's probably got people looking at him like, oh okay, there goes the guy that killed my brother in that war, you know? There's that general that sent a legion to go destroy my friend's city across the way. Like, he's going through enemy territory. He would have been hated, and he doesn't have his army. He doesn't have the king's army and resources protecting him. He's got a few horses, and he's got a few chariots. But isn't it so cool that once he hears a whisper that God can do something in his life, he goes, all right, I'm going to take all the money I've got. I don't care what the journey's like. I'm going to go out, and I'm going to chase this thing down. Amen, church? And I think that sometimes we could learn from that. I think sometimes as Christians, we can get a little bit comfortable, and we can go, God, why can't you just deliver this miracle to me on a silver plate? But that's not the way that God works, you know? Come on, church. We've got to be believers that are not afraid to get up and go through a bit of a journey, amen? We've got to be people of action. God might have put something on your life. God might have spoken into your future, and you might be feeling like you're waiting around for God to actually deliver that. But can I encourage you this morning? Hey, we've got to be people of action this morning, amen? We've got to be people of action. We've got to go out and chase that thing down for ourselves, amen?

Turn to the person next to you and say, I'm chasing it down. Chasing it down.

'What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ' James 2:14 (NLT)

I love what it says in James chapter 2 verse 14. It says this, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? You know, I love that our God is a God that, we can have all the faith in the world. We can believe that God is going to come through, but if we don't actually put it into action. Actions speak louder than words. We all know this. If we don't put it into action, how much do we really believe, amen? How much do we really believe that God's going to come through unless we have the action?

And so can I encourage you, you know, some of you might be praying for a financial breakthrough right now. Can I encourage you? One of the greatest ways that God can provide in your financial breakthrough is just by starting to apply for jobs. Starting to apply for that pay rise. Starting to apply for, just see what's out there. Just to start searching. See what doors are open there. I mean, God cannot open a door unless you know what those doors are, amen? And sometimes God just comes through with these miracles that blindside us, but most of the time, come on church, if we're honest, most of the time it requires us to actually get up and go chase that thing down, amen?

You know, I remember when I first got out of university, right? I remember I was hunting for jobs left, right and center. I would search every single day. I would get up and I would go out and I'd be like going on LinkedIn, going on Seek, going on just trying to find as many jobs as I can. I went through many interviews. I went to many different places to try and get a job. You know, I really think that there's something in that where God really likes us chasing it down, you know, and going, yeah, God, I'm not afraid to put my faith into action because I had all the faith in the world that God would provide, but it needs to be followed by action, amen? Got to be people of action.

3. Trust

Everybody say point three. Point one, you've got to have relationships. Point two, you've got to be people of action. Point three, we've got to trust. We've got to trust.

'But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.” But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage. But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” ' 2 Kings 5:10-13 (NLT)

Let's keep reading on Naaman's story from verse 10. It says this, but Elisha, now remember, Naaman has just got to the door of Elisha and he's waiting at the door. So here's how Elisha responds. He goes, but Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message, go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored and you will be healed of your leprosy. Seems pretty simple. Verse 11, but Naaman became angry and stalked away. I thought he would certainly come out to meet me, he said. Now remember, this is a general. He's used to people treating him with respect. He says, I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord, his God, and heal me. Aren't the rivers of Damascus and Abana, which are two rivers in his hometown, better than any of the rivers in Israel? Why shouldn't I wash in them and be healed? So Naaman turned away and went away in rage. 13, this is where the relationships come into play again. But his officers tried to reason with him and said, sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says, simply go and wash and be cured.

Now this is a time old tale, isn't it church? When we pray to God and we say, God, will you move in this particular way in our life? God, I'm struggling with this affliction. And we say, God, will you come through in our life? And then God turns around and says, yeah, okay, I will. But it's going to be through this way. And we go, no, no, God, what are you talking about? No, God, anything but that, please. Anything but that, God. Because who knows that more than anything, God just wants our heart. God wants our heart. God wants our trust. God wants our faith.

Because I think about Naaman's situation and we go, why? Why the Jordan? Why bathing in this river? Why is that important? Well, if we think about Naaman's life, think about it this way. Here's a guy that commands respect wherever he goes, even though he's got leprosy. He commands his armies. He commands respect to the king. So you've got to imagine this guy is probably going to try and cover up all signs of leprosy that he has on his body. So you can imagine that he probably wraps up his arms and his clothes each morning, puts on his suit of armour to command respect, that even though I've got this affliction, I'm still the general commanding respect. You can imagine that maybe he had a hood to kind of disguise his face, because a lot of the time with leprosy, the deformities that start to form on the face are pretty horrific. It's very sad to have leprosy. So you can imagine maybe he's tried to cover that as well. Well, what does the Jordan, what does washing in the Jordan force you to do? It forces you to take that armour off, forces you to unwrap all of those bandages and expose the shame, the hurt and the pain that you've been dealing with all of this time. You see, it wasn't about that the water was so clean, that the water was so special in the Jordan, that it was going to heal him. That's not what's going on. You see, we can look at the outward appearance, but God's looking at the heart. God's looking at what's going on on the inside. And God wants to know, Naaman, are you going to trust me with all of this shame? Are you going to trust me with all of this hurt? You have a personality that's very controlling, that is used to controlling a battlefield, used to controlling respect from people. Are you going to be the type of person that is willing to bear it all before me and go, I'm willing to expose my shame? You've had a lifetime of hiding it, a lifetime of trying not to get people not to notice it, but are you going to bear it all before us? And isn't that such a beautiful thing? Isn't that such a beautiful thing, church? But it can also be hard, because really in this moment, God is asking him to do the very thing that he doesn't want to do, because it's a hard thing. And isn't it so obvious? Because even the officers around him are going, dude, what are you talking about? This is a really easy thing to do. Why are you freaking, why are you getting so angry about this?

But God knows the buttons to push, doesn't he? He knows how to ask you to do that thing that's going to get you angry. And you might not even think you're that angry of a person. You might not think that you're bitter, but then God comes and asks you to do something. And all of a sudden that anger starts to bubble up and you go, whoa, where did that come from?

Some of you might know that Gabs and I have been on a bit of a trust walk with God at the moment with our family business and finances and things like that. And you might also know that we've got a baby Jew in February, which we're so stoked about. I can't wait for that little kid to come, but who knows that babies are expensive. Babies are expensive, man. I walked into baby bunting and I was like, this is highway robbery. What are these people doing? It's just a little playmat. Why is it $200? It's ridiculous, right? And so me and Gabs have been putting some budgets together and putting some money aside to really make sure that we've got enough for the baby when it comes along the way. And I remember a couple of weeks ago, we finished up at youth on a Friday night and we went to Macca's afterwards, as we always do, because even though the food at McDonald's is disgusting, kids go nuts for it. I don't understand it. So we all went out to Macca's and we're at Macca's and I'm thinking to myself, I'm not going to eat anything here. Just don't have the money for it right now. And then I look over and there's about five kids that just aren't eating anything. And I go up to them and go, hey guys, you got any money for food or anything like that? And they're like, no, no, we don't have any money. And I know that these kids come from pretty, pretty broken homes. So I know that, okay. And I'm like, oh, have you guys eaten any dinner or anything? And they're like, no, we haven't eaten since breakfast. And I was like, okay. And the Holy Spirit just imparted that thing into my heart, like He always does. And God was just like, I just want you to go buy them dinner. Buy them dinner. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm going, God, I can't do that. I've just got like my last a hundred dollars in my account. How am I going to, what am I going to do? I've got bills coming up. God, I can't let go of this money. But the Holy Spirit's just going, nah, just trust me. Just trust me. Just trust me. And there's so many things that it is very easy for me to trust God in my life. But He knew that little button. He knew where it was. He knew the thing that I was most not willing to do. And God often goes, yeah, but I want you to do that. I want you to do that. So I went, okay, God. Bought these kids meals. And I didn't want to be a guy because, I mean, who knows that the Bible says that God loves a generous giver. So I didn't just pull up the loose change menu and go, all right, God, I see there's a big Mac meal for $7 on special. No, I just opened up the menu and I went, all right, guys, just pick whatever you want and we'll get it. Ended up costing me like $70 or something. I was like, whoa, these guys can eat. These guys can eat.

But do you know that there has not been a single moment, not then, not ever, where I've ever been without finance. Every bill that's ever come in, being able to pay. Every food that I've wanted to put on the table, being able to do it. Because God provides for us always. Not if, not but, not maybe. God will always provide for us. Maybe not in the way that we expect, because who knows that Naaman really wanted him to just wave his hand and go, oh, abracadabra, there you go. You're healed of all your leprosy. And we can come to God sometimes and we can come with these expectations, can't we? But who knows that God doesn't care about that. He just knows the very thing that you don't want to do. He knows the thing that still you're wrestling with in your heart. And He goes, yeah, give me that. Give me that. And you'll get your breakthrough. But it's hard, church. It is very hard.

'So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed! Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.” ' 2 Kings 5:14-15 (NLT)

We read on in Naaman's story. It says this in verse 14. So Naaman went down to the Jordan Ripper and he dipped himself seven times as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became healthy as the skin of a young child and he was healed. And I love this in verse 15. Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him and Naaman said, wow, now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. And this is the power of God, church. This is the power of what God can do in our life.

But there's one quick note before we finish up that I want you to take away. Why seven times? Why does God ask him to go in seven times into the river? Now, a lot of theologians would tell you, well, seven is the number of perfection and he's wanting this healing and yeah, that is true. But also I think there's some other layers to this as well. Because imagine Naaman's mentality in this moment. He's exposed himself, his shame before God. And with leprosy, you've got open wounds all across your body. That's deteriorating. Now, they didn't have the medical knowledge that we have today, but they sure knew that if you put open wounds in dirty water, it's going to get infected. It's going to be a bad time. And that's probably partly why he's mentioning the other rivers in Damascus. He's going, well, they're much cleaner. Shouldn't I just go bathe in those? You can tell that on his mind. He's thinking if I dip into this river with open wounds, there's a high chance I'm probably going to get infected. And so imagine his mentality when he dips in one time, comes back out and there's still no healing. Okay. I've just risked myself with infection, but that's all right. They said seven times. So he dips in again and he comes back out and nothing's changed. And he goes, okay, this is, if this doesn't work, then I'm in a real bad spot here. And he goes in a third time. He goes in a fourth time. He goes in a fifth time, sixth time. And I bet he's probably so nervous out of his mind going, if this doesn't work, I'm in a worse position than when I started. And isn't that our prayer sometimes, church? That can be our heart. We can go, oh God, if you don't come through, I'm actually going to be in a worse spot than when I actually started. God, are you sure? Are you sure that this is what you asked me to do? Are you sure that this is the way to break through? But church, come on. If you just go in that seventh time, if you follow through until you see the breakthrough, you can't give up church. You cannot give up.

4. Endurance

See, we've got to have relationships just like Naaman did. We've got to have trust just like Naaman did. We've got to be people of action, but we've also got to have endurance as well. And what Naaman's teaching me in my life is that even when I don't see it on the first time, even when I pray to God and I'm crying out to God, and I feel God fill me again, and I feel that peace. And then I wake up Monday morning and I go, oh, but nothing's really changed yet, God. Who knows that God's calling us to just go and dip in the Jordan again and again and again and again until we see our breakthrough. Amen. Come on, this is what we've got to do. You can't give up. I know that there are families here that have been praying for their children and going, oh God, I need you to move in their life. And then a few months happen and you go, God, where were you? Hey, God's still moving. God's still acting. Hey, God's still in that situation. But we got to go back to the Jordan and again and again and again until we see our breakthrough. Amen. And that's what's so great about being a part of a church and community is that when we bear our struggles with each other, when we open up with each other and we say, hey, this is what I'm struggling with. We can rally around each other. Amen. And just go, hey, I know it's tough. I know it's difficult. I know that you've been praying for a while now, but come on, just go back again and again and again. And I promise you, God is going to come through because our God is not a God that deserts us. Amen. He isn't.

'Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” ' Deuteronomy 31:8 (NLT)

I love what it says. I love what it says in Deuteronomy 31 verse 8. The Lord himself goes before you and he will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Amen. Church.

Our God is a God that never leaves us. So I know there are some of you this morning that have been praying, praying for that breakthrough. Don't give up church. Don't give up. Amen. Come on, turn to the person next to you and say, I'm not giving up.

Because even though we might not realize it, church, going through that season is one of the best things that you can ever do. It's one of the most painful seasons you can go through, but it's one of the best things that you can ever do. You know, let me tell you, I'm a worshiper at heart. Yeah. I love worshipping God. I love being up on stage, playing guitar, singing, worship leading with all of you equally as much as I love just being at the back of the room on my knees, hands raised, being in my room at home, nobody around, just me on a slightly out of tune acoustic guitar, just worshipping God. I love worshipping. But you know, the only reason I find it so easy to step into worship now is because of one season that God put me through when I was a lot younger. And I remember there was this time when I was a teenager and I was coming to church. I just get involved with our youth ministry and I was starting to really worship for the first time. And who knows that when you first start to worship and you first start to meet God and start building a relationship with God, there's a lot of healing that goes on. And sometimes you can have these moments where you just come into the presence of God and there's the power of God just falls so strongly upon you. And it's just like, wow, this is awesome. So every single service that our church was doing, I was there. Every single youth moment, we used to do 24 hour prayer meetings where we just go through all day, all night. And I loved it. I was there. But then I remember God whispered into my ear one day and he said, you know what, right now, Michael, you're actually worshipping my presence more than you're worshipping me. You view this as transactional. You're just coming to church to be filled up with me. You're not actually worshipping me. And so God did this really weird thing where he said to me, all right, until you can learn to do this, I'm going to withhold my presence from you. It was so strange church. I was a 16 year old kid and I would rock up to church services and I would feel absolutely nothing. I would open up my word and it was like, God was just not even there. I would go and pray to him and I felt no reply. It was like the door was just shut and it was like a screen door where I could see God was on the other side, but there was no communication. There was no response. And this went on for a whole year church. And I remember I started really thinking, I was like, oh flip, have I got this really wrong? Is Christianity even real? Does God actually exist? Have I just kind of fallen for this big lie? But you know what I did church? I kept going back to the Jordan over and over again. I kept dipping in. Even though I hadn't seen the breakthrough I was waiting for, I just kept dipping in because God didn't tell me that he was going to withhold it forever. He just said for a season. And so I went, all right, God, I'm going to hold you to that. God, I'm going to trust in that. God, I'm going to put all of my faith on that. Every day I kept reading my Bible. Every day I kept praying. Every moment I could, I would come and worship with God. And even though I didn't feel anything, I just kept powering on, kept going on. Even though I didn't see the breakthrough, kept on going, kept on going, kept on going, kept going down to the Jordan until one year, sorry, one day after a whole year of being like this, I remember it so clearly. I was in this church service on a Sunday morning, nothing special, nothing obvious, but I was just on my knees crying out to God. I remember just God whispering in my ear. And it was the first time I'd heard God after a whole year. And God said, thank you. Wow. Now you'll know what a true relationship with me feels like. And then it was like the heavens opened up and I got the most powerful touch of the Holy Spirit that to this day I've ever experienced in my whole life. And now church, whenever life gets tough, whenever things are going on, it's like the resistance bands have come out and all of a suddenly I feel so much stronger than I used to before. There is not a single thing that the devil can do to me. There is not a single thing that can happen to me that'll take away my faith because of that year that I went through where I just kept going down to the Jordan, dipping myself in, day in, day out, day in, day out, kept on going, kept on going. Yes, it hurt. Yes, it was stressful. Yes, I feel like God was distant sometimes, but it grew in me an endurance church that I will remember for the rest of my life. And now there's nothing that can happen that can take away my faith. Amen. And God wants to do the same thing with you. God wants to do the same thing with you. And so you might be sitting here and you might be thinking, yeah, but I'm just hurting. I'm so sick of this thing. I know. I know. It's tough. It really hurts. It's really tough. But come on. This is why we come to church. So we can speak into each other and go, just keep on coming down. Keep on coming down to the Jordan. You will see your breakthrough.

So this is what I want to do right now. If everyone could just bow their heads, close their eyes. If anything that I've said this morning is really resonating with your spirit, whether you realise that, like Naaman, you need to have strong godly relationships in your life, or maybe you just need to be people of action. You feel like God's called you to something, but you're just struggling to have the faith to actually get up and go and chase it down. Or maybe God's asked you to do something and you're struggling to trust the way in which God has asked you to do it. Or maybe you've just been going through the fight day in, day out, and you're starting to lose endurance and you're just saying, oh Michael, I just need a breath of fresh air right now. If any of that is resonating with your spirit today and you just want to respond to God in this moment and say, yeah, that's me. God, would you come and move in my situation? Would you just raise your hand wherever you are? Because I want to pray for you and I'd love to know who I'm praying for. Don't be shy. Don't be afraid. There's hands all over this place. I'll give you another 10 seconds if that's you and you're saying, yeah, I just need a bit more strength in my relationship, in my ability to go out and chase it down, my action, my trust or my endurance. If that's you, just raise your hand wherever you are. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. All right, you can put your hand down. Thanks for letting me know.

I'm just going to pray right now and we're all going to believe with you as a church, as your family here this morning, that God's going to move powerfully in your situation. Amen. Come on, let's pray. God, we just thank You. God, we just thank You that in every circumstance that You are always there, that You are right beside us, God. That even though we might have these burdens, even though we might have these afflictions, God, that You care so deeply for them. And so God, I just pray of everybody that raised their hand right now. Father God, would You just come and move in their situation? God, give them their godly relationships, their church family, Father God. Lord, call them to action. God, help them trust in You. God, give them the endurance to keep going down to the Jordan over and over again. Father God, would Your Holy Spirit just come and wash over people right now this morning, God? Would You fill them up with Your peace, Your trust? God, would You just unlavish Your grace upon them, Your mercy upon them? Father God, I've seen it in my own life that You have never failed us yet. You have never let us down. So God, I pray for every single person. Father God, would You remind them this morning that You are not a distant God, but in fact, You're closer than our own skin. And so You see every tearful night, Father God. You see every single broken heart. You see every single situation. You see every single moment of agony and sadness and pain. And God, You care about it. And in fact, You're doing something about it. And so God, would You remind people of that this morning? Would Your Holy Spirit just wash over them right now? Holy Spirit, would You just wash over them right now? Just fill them up again. Fill them up again. God, we just thank You for what You're doing in this church. God, this church is going from strength to strength to strength. God, I just pray that the prayers that are being prayed this morning would lead into testimonies that are just going to refuel what You're doing in the city of Frankston, Father God. Lord, just like Naaman, would we know that in our breakthrough that there is no other God except the God of the Bible. The God that sent His Son to die on the cross. And Lord, would this always be on our lips, ready to share the gospel at every moment, Father God. Lord, we just thank You for who You are. You are such a good God. We thank You that You're changing lives right now, God. Lord, we thank You that You are such a loving Father in our lives. And so God, we give You all the honour and all the glory. We give You all the praise for You alone are worthy, God. We just love You, God. We love You, we love You, we love You, God. And so we pray all this in Your name and we ask You to move. And everybody said, Amen. Come on, let's give it up for God right now.

Just before we finish, God, just before we finish, church. I know I've gone a little bit over time, so my apologies. But there's free coffee out there, so you can't be angry when there's free coffee. Can I just encourage you, church, if you're going through something, talk to someone. Come grab a pastor. Don't do it alone. That's why we're the church. That's why we're family. Amen.

Thank you, church. Awesome. Let's give Michael a hand. Thank you, Michael. Great word. Can I say this just before we go? This Wednesday night, I was thinking this, sometimes we promo stuff and all this. The church is not a shop and we're not selling stuff. What we are is a family. We're a community of people. And can I encourage you, what he talked about their relationships. My whole life, I've been blessed to be in churches where I've built really deep relationships with people. And I haven't always gone according to plan, but I've needed them in my life. And so one of the reasons we're doing Wednesday nights is because we want to help each other build relationships with people that you can go, hey, I can trust, I can open up, I can take action, I can see God do stuff. So Wednesday night, can I encourage you? Come along if you haven't been, I mean, many of us have been coming, but come along on Wednesday night to free dinner. You get to meet people. And then all of the courses we're running are about us getting to build relationships and delve deeper into how do we deal with issues. And you get to talk with other people. The Alpha course, the Culture course that I'm running, it's really about you. And I get to share from the heart about what God's done in my life, what he wants to do in our church, and therefore what he wants to do in your life. And then you get to talk about it with others. So can I encourage you? Give it one night and see how you go. You can invite family along, build relationships, and you never know, you might build some lifelong relationships. Isn't that right, Darrell? We've been, people all across this church, building relationships.

Last night, we had someone drive down the road and just feel called to come along to this church. He just felt like, I've got to be there. And he rocks up to our service and just felt like, I don't think he's a Christian yet, just was like blown away. And then we invited him to Wednesday night. He's coming to the Alpha course on Wednesday night. And so God's moving. He wants to move through you.

Is that all cool? So thank you, everyone. Give Michael another hand. We love you guys. God's doing great stuff in our church. Go have a great rest of the day. God bless you.