Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Cost Of Going Off (Robert Madu)

Episode Date: May 2, 2022

Put your passion in the right place. In “The Cost Of Going Off,” Pastor Robert Madu of Social Dallas church reveals how our misplaced anger could cause us to forfeit our promise. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. How y'all doing, Elevation? Now, if this is your first time here, first time in a long time, and you're confused right now, you're like, yo, Pastor Stephen looked different. Let me help you a little bit. I am not Pastor Stephen Furrick.

My name is Robert Maddo. And I'm home. I'm home. And the reason there was no introduction is because you don't introduce family. I'm part of the Elevation family. and I've had the privilege to come to this church now the last three or four years, and it is always just the highest honor to be here. How many know you are a part of the greatest church on the planet?

Like, y'all are crazy blessed. And I'm not just saying that. As a matter of fact, the reason Pastor Stephen is not here, and Pastor Holly's not here, and some of the team is elevation nights are happening right now in so many different cities. and if you need empirical evidence for how awesome this church is, you realize people across the nation are paying to pack out arenas for what you get for free.

Y'all are crazy blessed. And that's a gift that should not be taken for granted. I pray you never take this church for granted. I pray you never take your pastors for granted. Who are two of the greatest people, not just leaders, but people on the planet. So right now, in case they're watching, which I have the strange suspicion, might be. Can we let Pastor Stephen and Holly Ferdick know how much we love them, how much we appreciate them? Come on, y'all can do better than that across every location. Ethan.

Help me thank God for your pastors, for your leaders. I absolutely positively love them so much. I bring you greetings from the great country of Texas. And my wife, Taylor, she sends her love. She is holding down the fort at home a year ago. In fact, we just celebrated our one-year anniversary. planted a church called Social Dallas. And we're seeing God do incredible things. But here's another thing you need to know about your pastors a year ago when we launched out to plant this church. One of the first checks that we ever received as we were just stepping out on faith was from your pastor saying, I believe in you and I'm sowing into you. Come on. You have an incredibly generous leader. And he just did it. Didn't put it on TikTok and nothing just.

Just blessed us and I love them so much and counted a privilege to be here. And I can't wait to preach the word if you're ready to hear it. Did you come to get a word from God? You're telling me, if you feel like hearing it, like I feel like preaching, it's going to be good in here today. I want you to go with me to Second Kings today, Second Kings chapter five. And I want to look at verses one through four and then we'll hop down to verse number nine and go to verse 14. But 2nd Kings chapter 5, starting at verse number one. When you're ready to read it, say, yeah. If you're not ready, you need some time to find it. Say, hold up. I heard those holdups. I'm going to wait for you. I'm going to wait for you. I know that's Old Testament. It's stressful

for some of you out. Second King's chapter 5. And I really believe this is a word for somebody who's in this place watching online, but this is a word for our culture. And I know it's going to speak to you. Starting at verse number one, it says, now, Naiman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Now, bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel. She served Naiman's wife. She said to her mistress, if only my master would see the prophet who was in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.

Naman went to his master and told him what the young girl from Israel had said. Verse 9, it says, so Naiman went with his horses and his chariots and stopped at the door of Elish's house. Elijah sent a messenger to say to him, go wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed. But Naiman went away angry and said, who? Those two words right there are the tension in the entire text.

Those are, I thought, come on, it's just us talking. Have you ever got in trouble or got frustrated or agitated or angry, not over what happened in your life, but over what you thought was going to happen and what actually happened? Come on, I'm the only one? Like, I thought you were coming to help me. You were actually coming to hurt me. Yeah. I thought I was getting a raise. Oh, y'all firing me? Okay, okay. I thought that you were about to propose. Wait a minute, you're breaking up with me? Come on, am I the only one? Does ever gotten frustrated or angry, not because of what was happening, but because of a preconceived notion and idea of what you thought.

He said, I thought. He would surely come out to me and stand and call him the name of the Lord is God and wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not a bina and far apart in the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash them and be cleansed? So he turned and went off in a rage. And Amon's servant went to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing,

would you not have done it? How much more than when he tells you to wash and be cleansed? So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times as the man of God had told him and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. Can you say amen? I love this passage. But what got my attention is that when Namon gets the prescription for his healing that will stop the leprosy. His immediate reaction was anger. And the Bible says that he turned and went off. He went off. I want to preach to you today at Elevation Church for about five and a half hours. Using this as a title, The Cost of Going Off. The Cost of Going Off. Quick Sermonic Disclaimer. have never gone off or been tempted to go off, I don't have a message for you today.

If you have never, ever been tempted to go off on somebody, if you have never responded to an email or a text message with all caps, if you have never had somebody say something so sideways to you that your nose began to flare and your eyebrows got furled and your heart began to palpitate. If you have never been driving behind somebody that was driving so crazy that you had to pull up next to them at the stoplight just to look at them. You ain't never done that. I ain't got a word for you today. Just gone, go home, log off. If you've ever gone off, had rage or anger, I want to talk to you today. This is going to be good. Would you bow your heads? Let's pray a long prayer. God, you are awesome. speak today. Amen.

Are there any parents in the house today? Any parents? Can I see your hand? Come all the parents make some noise. Let me try something different. Are there any single people without kids in the house? Y'all make some noise. What's the difference in the screams? See, the reason y'all got all that energy

See, because you ain't in the fight of your life. You don't know the pain. You don't know the struggle. It is to raise little humans. You don't know what we're going through. Of course you can, wha! Because you don't know. Parents, I had y'all scream first because I need to see what my support group is.

Hey. Can we be honest, parents? There is nothing more challenging. There was nothing more daunting. Yes, it's rewarding. But there was nothing more daunting than parenting. trying to raise little humans. I have often said, often said,

that if you're struggling to have a prayer life, have some kids. Just have some kids. And I promise you will pray real quick. If you want to be an intercessor, then just have a bunch of kids. And I'm telling you will learn how to call on the name of the father,

the son, and the Holy Spirit. You will make a trip to Costco and get a big bottle of anointed oil and find you a prayer closet because parenting, it is the fight of your life. I'm telling you this because I know, I know. Let me show you my family. We have three little humans.

We have three kids. Can you put up that picture of my family? I want you to see, I want you to see my family. There it is right there. That's my bride and those are our kids. Watch the ages. Here we go. Seven, six, and four.

Yeah, pray for your boy. Pray for your boy. It's not just their ages. Those are the times that they wake up throughout the night. And I'm in the fight in my life. And I'll be honest with you today. I'm scared. I'm scared a little bit because there's nothing more that I fear.

There's nothing more that I fear than projecting onto these little humans my own idiosyncrasies and my own deficiencies. Like, I don't want my crazy to cap their capacity. You know, I want them to be all that God has created and called them to be. It is challenging to raise children. And shout out to all y'all. if you got teenagers too. Hadn't even got to that stage yet.

That's a whole another thing right there. You realize in the Bible, in the Bible, we only hear about Jesus from birth to 12, and then boom, he shows up on the same at age 30. Even the Bible don't even tell you about Jesus' teenage years. He's just like, you're on your own. It's a challenge. It's a challenge to parent.

And so I pray. I call on the name of the Lord. Lord, and I also look for resources to read. And I was recently reading a book, and the title of the book was Parenting from the Inside Out, Parenting from the Inside Out. And what the book postulates is that parenthood can and will trigger the unprocessed emotions of your childhood. Parenthood can and will trigger the unprocessed emotions of your childhood. So what the book says is that if you can heal the child that's an element,

every parent, then that parent will produce healthier children. So this is the book that I'm reading before I take my youngest to kindergarten. First, this is what I'm reading before I take him to his kindergarten class. And I'll never get it. I walk into the K-5 class and his teacher's there and I'm looking through the room. And all of a sudden, I saw something in the corner that I've never seen in the classroom before. I saw this small whiteboard and all these little markers, all these colors. And I asked the teacher, I said, what is that?

she said um that is the calm down corner said excuse me she said that is the calm down corner she said these kids are young their brains are still developing because sometimes their emotions get the best of them and whenever they're having a moment they can go to the calm down corner and pick out whatever colors they want and they can process their emotions on the board she said that's the calm down corner. And as soon as she said it, I asked her, are these just for the kids? Or can parents use the calm down corner? Oh, I'll be honest. In this climate we live in, I need a calm down corner. Oh, don't look at me like that. You need a calm down corner. As a matter of fact, I think our world right now needs a calm down corner. Is it just me? Does it seem like everybody is on edge?

Everybody is going off. Everybody's patience has worn thin. In fact, I was studying for this message, and I saw this article, and I love the title of this article. It says that, watch this, that adults are throwing tantrums. In restaurants, planes, and at home blame the pandemic. They said, now more than ever in our world at restaurants, at airlines, the customer service industry doesn't know what to do.

They're calling in for extra security because everybody, is on edge. Everybody's going off. Everybody's blowing up. All of us went through a trauma collectively called a pandemic, and you are naive if you don't understand how that's affecting your emotions and what's triggering you and what's making you go off. So today I'm going to ask you a question that maybe a preacher has never asked you in church today. I want to know, how's your anger? How's your anger? What I love about this message today is that nobody can dismiss this message. I don't care what campus you're at. I don't care who you are, where you're watching this from. You cannot dismiss this message because I want to talk about anger. And in what

comes to anger, anger is a universal emotion. Yeah, this is in a message you can say, oh, I know three people that need this. I'm going to send it to them. No, no, no, no, no. Anger is a universal emotion. When it comes to the issue of anger, the question is not if you are going to get angry. The question is when you get angry. What are you going to? to do when those feelings of rage well up inside of you. Ooh, how's your anger today? Everybody has to face this message today. As a matter of fact, you came in the world angry.

Oh, yes. Not a single baby came into the world calm and collected saying, I'm not going to yell. I would just like some milk right now, please. No, you came into the world going out. Screaming and raging. And now we're doing it as adults. What are we going to do? about this issue of anger.

Look at your neighbor, say, I know this for you today. I know this is for you today. What do you do? What do you do when you get angry? Let's talk about it. We're just talking. What do you do when you get angry?

You yell, you kick, you scream, you punch a hole in the wall, you use profanity, you cuss, don't answer. No, what?

No, for real, what do you do? When you get out, you explode? Oh, do you leave? Do you leave? You're a stormtrooper, just leave. Then stay-at-home shelters messed up all y'all stormtroopers. Because you couldn't go outside. You had nowhere to go.

What do you do? Do you just go off and yell up? I want to talk first to all of you, eruptors. Eruptors, yeah, because y'all listen to this message. Eruptors, o'ruptors, ooh, y'all are crazy. Because whenever y'all get mad, we know about it. And we know it quickly because you, you, Explode. Irruptors, y'all go off. You will throw a stapler across the cubicle. You will throw a chair. You erupt. And eruptors, y'all are funny because after you go off, you look back at yourself once you calm down for a minute and you go, oh my goodness. Did I just do that? Did I just walk up on stage and slap? Did I do that? Did I do that? Did I do that? Because once you come down, you realize what in the world did I just do? And I laugh at y'all. I laughed at y'all. I laughed at y'all because,

You are crazy. You are crazy because you understand, it is impossible for you to function in wisdom and anger at the same time. That's why the book of Proverbs, the book of Proverbs is replete with scriptures about anger, about anger and how you handle it. I love this verse. In Proverbs 14, it says,

people with understanding control their anger. A hot temper shows great foolishness. Translation, you are cray cray. when you get angry. And I laugh at you eruptors when you explode. I judge you eruptors when you explode. I do. You know why?

Because I'm not an eruptor. I am what you call a stuffer. And stuffers, we are different than those eructors. Because stuffers, whenever we get mad, we don't kick, we don't yell, we don't scream. We just calmly say, even when you ask us, are you mad? We will look at you and go, no. I'm not mad. No, no, I'm fine.

I am fine. It's okay. It happens. And all while we're saying it, we are ruminating and rehearsing over every single thing that you did. We cannot believe you had the nerve and the audacity to do it. And we are smiling, telling you, I'm fine. But all the while we are pushing it down into the basement of our soul until it becomes a cantangorous cesspool. of bitterness and we will isolate and pull away emotionally all while we're smiling and saying i'm fine oh

and stuffers might be worse than eruptus because all that stuffing your physical body can't even handle the stuffing do your research scientists and the medical community will tell you that anger does more damage to your physical body than grief or anxiety anger will give you a heart attack Anger will destroy your nervous system. Anger will mess up your blood pressure. Anger will aid you. Oh, yeah. You can forget about all that exfoliation.

Just keep getting mad. You'll mess up your skin and your life. Stuffing down the anger and even eruptors and even stuffers become eruptors. So I had the inevitability of anger and I can't erupt. And I can't stuff. then what do I do with it if it's coming? I've learned that anger is much like having a toddler in the car. How many of you know, you don't want that toddler behind the steering wheel, eruptors.

You also don't want that toddler in the trunk, stuffers. What you want is to put that toddler in a car seat, buckle in. and periodically check in the rear view mirror to make sure it is in its proper place. God says, I want you to use that emotion that I gave and created anger to be in its proper place. Anger has a proper place. But if anger is not in its proper place, hear me, you will destroy your destiny. You will mess up the call of God on your life. You will forfeit your purpose if you don't get your anger.

anger in its proper place. You don't believe me? Ask Moses, who missed out on a promised land that he was able to see but not enter into. Why? Because of the frustration, the agitation that made him go off. I'm wondering today, are you forfeiting your promise? Because you haven't put anger in its proper place. I love the Apostle Paul. Y'all good? I love the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter four. in brevity actually gives us the biblical worldview of anger. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 26, look what Paul says. He says, be angry and do not sin. He says, do not let the sun go down on your wrath.

In other words, when it comes to anger from a biblical perspective, the goal is not to get rid of the anger. God does not call for you to just stop getting angry. No, because he just said, be angry. Let's do a Holy Ghost two step on that right there. Paul said, you can get angry. He said, but don't let that anger lead you to sin. In other words, anger has its proper place.

Because if you never get angry about anything, then you don't love anything. You don't love anything. As a matter of fact, if you want to check what you really love, watch what you get angry about. Whatever you get angry about is the sign of the thing that you really love. If you care about your image, anytime somebody attacks your image, you're going to explode because that's what you love. Whatever you love is the thing that will get a reaction out of you. get angry. So Christians aren't called to not have anger. As a matter of fact, God says, I want you to have anger, but use anger in its proper place. As a matter of fact, there are things we should see in

the world that actually make us angry. We should be angry about poverty. We should be angry about injustice. We should be angry about people who are abused and marginalized. But we shouldn't get angry just to get angry. We should get angry and say, God, I'm going to be a light in the midst of darkness. I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to make a change in the earth. God, you didn't call me to just come to church and listen to sermons and sing songs off a screen like it's Christian karaoke. No, you call me to bring the kingdom of heaven into the earth and affect every sphere of society that I step into. Let that anger push you to do something. Oh, don't you forget your God that one day cleared a whole temple because they were making it difficult for people to worship God.

And he said, don't you know my house will be a house of prayer? Don't you ever stop people from coming in the house of God and lifting up my name. I will turn over tables and kick people out. I get angry sometimes. So this is not a call to passivity. God says, you can get angry. But make sure that anger is in its proper place. Anger is interesting because what makes you angry doesn't make me angry.

And what makes her angry doesn't make her angry. This is what's intriguing about anger, is that it is ubiquitous, but it is unique. And that's why you have to understand it, because a lot of people will think, well, if they hadn't said it, I wouldn't have done it. No, they don't want to cut me off. No, you saw them. I could have died. And then the funny, whenever you get angry about someone, whenever you go off, we always try

to blame the external factors. But if it's really the external factor, how come what made you go off didn't make somebody else go off? See, this is what we don't understand, that anger. Anger is a secondary emotion. Whenever somebody goes off, it's rarely about what they're going off about. It's always something deeper. As a matter of fact, when it comes to anger, you can't look at anger. You have to look under it because there's always something deeper, which brings me to my text today.

All of that was intro. I'm confused. I'm confused about naming because this is a man who has a leprosy, the incurable skin disease of leprosy, the disease that there is no cure, the disease that starts off in your skin and spreads all over your entire body, a disease that has social ramifications because as soon as you had it, you had to isolate yourself from people, you had to tell people, I'm unclean, you were stripped away from your family, you were stripped away from everybody you loved, and there was no cure for it. This is what name it has. And the prophet of Aisha says, for you to be cured and healed, all you got to go do is take seven dips in the Jordan River.

That's the cure. And his reaction to the cure, what? It's to go off in a range. Come on contextualizing. Can you imagine going to the doctor's office and you got a cold? And the doctor says, that's not a big deal. You're just going to have to take this medicine. Go to nurse station.

She'll give you a prescription two times a day and you walk out the doctor's office grabbed a day. Two times a day. Are you serious? Should you be more concerned about the healing? What are you going off about? Don't look at anger. Look under him. And I think the blues clue to Naman's anger and his rage is in the very first verse. It says that Naiman was highly regarded. He was a commander in the army. Naiman had the thing that everybody in our world seems to be fighting for. Naman had status. Naman was the man. This was not a regular dude. Please understand, Naiman was the man that everybody, when they walked in a room,

they said, there he is, there he is, there he is. Oh my goodness, do you think you'll take a picture? This was a name man. He was on the cover of every Wheaties box. He is the one that every kid wanted to be like, every man desired to be like every woman wanted name it. Naman was the man. He had status. He had a blue check next to his name.

Naman was the man. And the Bible lets you know right up front about his status and who he was. And I think his status is connected to his rage. Isn't it funny today that everybody seems to be obsessed with status? Oh, everybody wants to either be the somebody, beat the somebody, or be connected to the somebody. Everybody wants status. Everybody wants to be known. Everybody wants to be the person that everybody looks at and goes, oh, there they are.

We are obsessed with status. If you don't believe it, talk to a kid today. There used to be a time in the history of a world. You talked to a kid. You say, what do you want to be when you grow up? They'll tell you a fireman, school teacher. Ask a kid today. Famous.

Do you see my TikTok video? Just famous. They don't care. And whatever will get views, they will climb on crates. They will go crazy in the class, do a prank, as long as I can get some status, as long as I can get acknowledged. Not just kids, adults, too. Thinking if I just got that house, if I just got that job, I would be. somebody because we buy into the lie that if I just reached that place, whatever that place is,

that maybe I won't have any issues, maybe I won't have any problems. But Namon is a beautiful picture that status and success does not stop suffering. As a matter of fact, when you get successful, you have to be careful. Because success has a way of sedating you to the point of that whenever you go through suffering, it's generally not the suffering that destroys you. It's the fact that you don't think you should be going through what you're going through. Oh, Naiman had the status. Naiman was the man until one day he came home, perhaps after fighting a battle, and he's in the bathroom, and he takes off his armor.

You know how you do when it's just you in the house in the bathroom? he's looking in the mirror. Who's the man? Nate man. Who's the man? You know how you do when it's just you by yourself. And as he's looking and flexing, perhaps he turns his back to go to his steam shower and he sees a spot on his skin.

And the moment he sees the spot, he knows what it is. Perhaps he falls to his knees in his bathroom, trying to figure out, how can I be such a valiant soldier? And now I've got leprosy. How did this happen to me? How do I have a spot? Can I tell you one of the first things I saw in this text that you have to get today

is that everybody's got a spot. Everybody's got a spot. I don't care how much money you have. I don't care how saved you are. You could have floated into a campus and had manna for breakfast. Every single person has a spot. Some area in your life that makes you get on your knees and say,

God, I need you. Some area in your life that makes you say, God, what is wrong with me? How can I be so good over here? But I got this issue over here. Everybody's got a spot. And don't let anybody successful fool you. Isn't it crazy how you can be so good in the boardroom?

Horrible at home. So good with balancing the budget, but can't stop overeating. You can communicate to thousands, but then not communicate to the one person that you love. Every single person has got a spot. That's why biblically leprosy is a metaphor for sin. Because it is an issue that starts in your flesh. It starts eating itself. And all of us have issues with our flesh, things that we say, God, you are not through with me.

Yeah, everybody's got a spot. And now this warrior is weeping because he's got a spot. And perhaps his wife comes in and sees her husband for the first time in the fetal position crying, going, what is wrong? But before she touches him, she sees it. And she says, it's okay, baby, it hasn't spread yet. It's okay. It's okay. We'll do something.

Just put on your armor. Just cover it up. So nobody will see because, isn't that what we do? Oh, we love to cover up our issues. nobody will see what we're facing. We love to post better than we actually live in because we don't want anybody to see our spot. He said, okay, I'll cover it up.

But I think the walls in Naiman's house were thin. They had to be thin. Because this servant girl from Israel, Bible says she's just a servant girl. We don't even know her name. This servant girl one day perhaps that she's mopping the floors. She goes to Naiman's wife.

and maybe she sees her crying. And this servant girl goes, I know it's not my place to speak. And I know you just brought me here to mop the floors. But I'm telling you, if Naman will go see the prophet in Samaria, I know he'll be healed. When I get to heaven, I want to meet this girl right here. I want to meet this servant girl from Israel.

You know why? I want to meet her because she might not have a name. She's nameless, but she is not faithless. Did you hear what this girl said? She said, I'm telling you, if you will just go see the prophet in Israel, she did not say he might be healed. She didn't say, it's possible purchase. She said, no, no, no, I know he'll be healed if he goes and sees the prophet. This girl was a slave girl from Israel, but she knew the God of Israel. She had a history with God to know that if there's a a situation that looks impossible or incurable, there is a God that you need a call on, a God that opens up blind eyes, a God that opens up deaf ears, a God that can split a red sea, a God that can do the miraculous and the impossible. I don't know who this is for today, but I need somebody to give God some praise if you know that he can still do miracles. He can

still do the things that everybody said was impossible. We serve a wonder working miracle. working God. Oh, see, y'all give me that golf clap like you don't believe it, but I wish somebody that would really testify that's ever been in a situation in your life where it was impossible when the doctors told you there's no way, but somehow, some way God stepped in and showed you that I can do the impossible. I'm so thankful that miracles are not relegated to the past that he still does miracles today. Look at this servant girl. This girl started the whole miracle.

If she didn't speak up, Neiman doesn't get his miracle. She started it. Oh, that's what I wanted to tell you too. Not only do you have to understand that everybody's got a spot, you've got to know that servants always start miracles. Servants always start miracles. The reason people miss out on miracles often is because they don't ever want to get low and serve.

But I'm telling you, servants always start miracles. Oh, I'm so glad Love Week is happening. You ought to be racing to sign up for Love Week. You know why? Because servants always start the miracles. The miracles are not in high, lofty places. The miracles are always in lonely places. You've got to look low.

We miss out on miracles because we're looking in the wrong place. You got to get low. Come here. Don't you understand that God could not redeem us from heaven? That's why Jesus had to get low and put on human skin and sit where we sat and feel what we feel. You know why? Because servants always start the miracles. The king of glory started not robbery to empty himself of divinity and come down from heaven to earth.

And your savior, my God and your God, he washed disciples. people's feet. You know Peter had nasty feet. Look at our God. He got low. Why? Because servants always start the miracles. Maybe you're missing out on the miracle because you become so narcissistic and so consumed with you. You're not serving somebody else. But if you would serve, you would see the miracle. This girl started the whole miracle. Be careful who you look down on. Because you don't know where God will send the miracle to you from. Here's how I know. Nam is leprosy was bad. Here's how I know.

He listened. That's how I know his leprosy was bad. Because he listened to the girl that he would have dismissed. He listened to her. And I love that life will do that. Life has a way of humbling you to a place where you will have to listen to some people that you would have dismissed and looked past.

Life will hit you with some stuff. You were so cool coming in places with sunglasses on inside till life hits you in the gut. And now Naman is listening to the servant. And I love it because he doesn't do it at first. He doesn't go straight to Elishes' house. I wish he would have. But it takes a while, especially when you've been in pride

and you've been pretentious for so long. He actually goes to the King of Israel first with all kinds of gold and silver. And it comes to the King of Israel with an official letter. Hello, King of Israel. Got my official letter. You see my gold. You see my Bentley chariot.

Six horsepower. And he's trying to buy his healing. And I love it because when he gives the letter to the King of Israel, the King of Israel, I didn't read it because I gave you just the abbreviated version. The King of Israel goes off. He's like, what? What am I God? I can't do a miracle. I love it.

I love that the King of Israel, he had the title. but Elisha who was the prophet in Israel, he had the authority. The king of Israel had the position, but Elisha had the power. Can I just parenthetically pause right there and tell somebody who's seeking after a title? Don't seek after the title. Ask God to give you some authority. Don't seek after a position. Ask God to give you some Holy Ghost power.

Because if you've got the power, God will give you the position. If you've got the authority, God will give you a title. The king of Israel had the position. But he had no power. So he thought it was a catastrophe. And Elisha said, no, this is an opportunity. Bring him to me. He'll know there's a prophet in Israel.

So now watch this. Naiman has to go to Elish's house now where he should have gone in the first place. Can you see him? Bentley chariot, nice armor. Going to Elish's house. You know Elisha lived in the hood. Oh, yeah.

And I can see people watching Neiman coming to town. They said, what is Neiman doing in this part of town? Gets all the way to Elish's house. And I love it because Elisha's servant sees Naiman pull up. He's like, name is up there. Do you know how many followers he has? Oh, my goodness.

Elisha, he looks better in person than he does on the gram. He's here. And Elijah's like, calm down. Calm down. Don't be impressed with all that. You don't even know he is falling apart underneath all that armor. Don't let the thin veneer of success fool you.

His life is falling apart. He says, we got to do something. He's here. What do you want to do? He says, go tell him to wash seven times in the Jordan. He'll be cleansed. You're not going to say anything to him? No, you go tell him that if he walks him,

that if he washes seven times in the Jordan, he'll be cleansed. Did you know who that is? I do, but I'm also watching Law and Order. So, go tell him what I said. The servant starts going out. And Lash is like, and put your phone away. I didn't have it out. Goes up to Naman.

Can you see Naman? He's still on his high horse. Like, he's like, hey! Beautiful chariot. Hey Eman Elisha said If you just go wash seven times

You'll be cleansed Naiman says Excuse me Look don't kill the messenger bro He just He told me to tell you if you're going to wash seven times You'll be cleansed Who I am

He does but you know he's a prophet He praying Neiman looks inside He's watch a law and order That's what he does before he pray It's okay, just... The Bible says, he was so upset. Amen, why are you upset?

He's upset for the same reason you're upset because life is not turning out the way he thought. He's upset because of the chasm between his experience and what he was expecting. And any time there's a gap between your experience and your expectations,

sometimes rage and anger is the reaction. I know you can't say anything right now, but I know there's some of you that since 2020, there has been such an anger and such a rage. And you're lashing out on other people, and you are mad at God, not just because of what's happening, because of what you thought.

And you're about to do what Neiman did and turn off and go off and say, forget it. God, I tired and I still lost the business. I came to church and I still went through the divorce.

I was there. I dedicated my child to you. God, they're strung out on drugs. You're about to turn off in the rage. And God told me, to tell you, please don't go off. Please don't go off. If you go off, you're going to miss out on the greatest miracle. If you go off, you're going to miss out on the thing that God wants to do in you and through you.

Don't go off. Neiman was willing to sacrifice his miracle because of the rage. Because life didn't turn out the way he thought. Thank God for the servant. servants always start the miracles. Another servant stops Naiman in his rage and says, Naven, if he would have asked you to do something great,

wouldn't you have done it? Naman, why can't you do something so simple? Do you see the brilliance of what the servant is trying to get Naiman to see? Don't forget, Naiman is a great man. If Elisha would have told him to go kill a thousand men to get his healing, he would have done it. If he would have told him to go fight a lion and rip his jaw in half, he would have done it.

He was a great man. He would have done anything that he could have gotten the credit for. If he could have paid for the healing, he would have done it. He already had the gold. He already had the silver, but he was trying to get him to understand this powerful principle called grace, call salvation. How many, no, you cannot purchase grace. You cannot buy salvation.

It is a free gift that you have to receive. It is a gift that was paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. You can't buy this. You can't earn this. You can't work for this. You just got to receive it and be obedient. Oh, hear me today. Some of you are trying to earn a gift that has already been given to you.

And Naman, the great warrior, Naman who could scale a mountain and kill armies. couldn't do something so simple as splish splash i was taking a bath you laugh but i see it all the time you know how many people reject christianity not because it's too difficult or because it seems too too easy oh that's it just just just confess to my mouth believe in my heart that he's the lord and just all everything's washed away that's it yeah no no man i got at least fast for a week i got at least I was the book of Leviticus. They can't be that easy.

Isn't it funny how we make some of the most simple things complex? I have to find out the last thing I want to tell you, that simple obedience is strength. Your strength is not in your ability, in your degrees and your money. Your strength is directly connected to your ability to obey what God told you. Simple obedience is strength.

Thank God, Naiman. He did with somebody, who's watching this message has to do. Humbolded himself. He said, I got to forget about what I thought. I got to obey, even if it doesn't make sense. And here's Naiman. Going down to the Jordan River.

He was fighting all the way. He said, isn't there clearer water? No. Obey. Your strength is in your obedience. To get off his high horse. take off all that armor covering up his skin that was already falling off. Can you see the crowd looking?

Is that name it? He can hear them talking as he gets in the water. I can see him fighting it. His pride was fighting him all the way. And maybe that's you today. And maybe that's why you haven't surrendered your life to Jesus because of pride. But you've got to get to a place in your life where you care more about what God thinks about you. then you care about the opinions and the applause and the accolades of other people.

Dirty Jordan Rips. He has to dip seven times, which means he can't even stay in the shallow. He's got to go deep. It's the first time. Put yourself there. You know what you would have done. He starts chicken. Nothing's changed.

Come on, isn't that what we do? Isn't that how we sometimes bargain with God? All right, God, I came to church. Where's the race? All right, God, I did it. What you produced? That is religion. That's not relationship.

Religion says, God, I produce. Now you produce. That is religion, not relationship. Relationship says, I trust you. You are God and I am not. I've got to obey, even when it doesn't make sense. I got to obey, even when I don't see evidence of it. I got to do what you told me to do, because my strength is not in my cognitive aptitude.

My strength is in my obedience. And you said, dim, he did the second time. Nothing happened. He dipped the third time. Nothing happened. He dipped the fourth time. Nothing happened. He dipped the fifth time. Nothing happened. You know he wanted to quit on the fifth time. But just like some of you, you got to understand that God is not Amazon Prime. And just because it didn't happen on your time schedule, it doesn't mean that his word is not true. You got to do what he told you to do. He dipped the sixth time. I'm sure he was ready to walk away. All Bible says when he did the seventh time was completely healed. It was restored. everybody's stand watch this don't miss the miracle don't miss the miracle watch

when he got up the seventh time it says his skin was restored and became like a don't miss that that's two miracles it's one thing for my skin to be restored to the way it was before it's a whole another thing for it to go all the way back to when I was a little child look at the greatness of our car he doesn't just restore he says I can not only restore

but I can reverse and take it back to better than it was before oh I don't just want to restore the marriage I can take it back to how it was when you were dating talking about girl you saw I will Take it back And naming

Looking like a little gerber baby Skin healed And the power of the text is not just that his skin Was restored to being a little child Hear me His heart was Oh if we could just have that childlike obedience It says whatever you say

I'll do it It's not trying to flex and show who you are Simple obedience Naman says, now I know of Israel being true God. I'm so glad that he did not allow his rage and his anger, stop him from missing

the greatest miracle of his life. Hear me today. Talking to somebody whose anger is stopping you from receiving the greatest miracle. Maybe you didn't even realize that's what it was and you've been wondering why you've been lashing out on other

people. Why you've been so on edge and going on? Maybe this message gave words to an internal feeling. Hear me today, I'll say it again. We collectively went through trauma together. Many of us are in a hedge filled with rage, but don't let that anger make you miss out on your miracle. Oh, there's a cost to going off.

You will miss out on the greatest miracle of your life. Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit in here. Maybe you're saying, I have a right to be able to be able. You don't know what happened. I'm not denying the hurt. I'm not denying the betrayal. I'm just asking, is it worth missing out on your miracle? Wait a minute.

Who started this miracle? The servant girl from where? Israel. Don't forget who Namon is. This is a pagan. Damon does not worship the God of Israel. He is the. enemy. He's got a slave girl from Israel in his house. Scholars and theologians will tell you

that it is most likely that this girl's family was probably killed and she was taken captive at the command of, do you realize this girl had every right? Soon as naming got leprosy to say, that's what you get. But you now have leprosy. She had everything. Just like, God is paying you back for what you did to me. You took me from my family. You took me from my home. That's what you get. But she did.

This servant girl said if you would just go be healed. Who offers the remedy of healing to their enemy? Of anybody that does that, except for a Savior who hung on a cross and said, Father forgives you. They don't know what they're doing. And if he forgave you, what right do you have to hold on to that anger?

What right do you have to not forgive? As every head be bowed, eyes close. Father, thank you today for your word. God, thank you that you did not respond in anger and rage when it was our sin that put you on the cross. But yet it was your blood that was shed. So, Father, we can't do this on our own. Lord, we need the Holy Spirit to help us to live the values of the kingdom and not this earth.

Let us respond with love. Let us not take the easy route to love those that love us. Let us not take the evil route to do evil to those who love us. But Father, let us reflect your character, which is to love our, God, our purpose. pray today that you would heal hearts of anger, hearts of rage and bitterness. Let healing take place now. Anger that's affecting physical bodies. Let your healing take place now. Heads are still bowed, eyes are still closed. If you're here today and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, whether you're watching EFAM or in any location, I'd love to give

you that opportunity. Heads are still bowed, eyes are still closed. Hear me, you don't have to earn this free gift of salvation. And Haman was trying to buy it. You cannot buy this gift. You just have to receive it. So stop trying to get yourself together before you give your life to him. You can't get yourself together. That's why you need a savior.

So it heads about eyes closed. I don't care of just one person. You'd be worth my flight from Dallas, Texas today. If you're saying, Pastor Robert, include me in this closing prayer, I need to give my life to Jesus. If that's you, would you lift up your hand across every location, even at home right there, In your living room, say, today's my day. I'm giving it in my life.

Just lift it up high enough and long enough to where I can see you. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. I see hands all over this place today. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Come on, let's pray this closing prayer. We're all going to say it as one big family.

Come on, let's say it. Say, Jesus, I need you. I cannot do life without you. Jesus, I know. I'm a great sinner. But I also know. you're a great Savior. So today, I surrender.

I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that you Jesus are the son of the living God. You died for me, you got up from the grave for me, and you're coming back for me. But until that day,

I am walking with you. All that I am is yours. In Jesus' name, Come on, somebody say amen and give God the best hanged type of praise that you got. Oh, come on, you can do better than that. I mean, really praise them today. God bless you, Elevation.

Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at Elevationchurch.org slash give. And thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast. This is an IHeart podcast Guaranteed human