The Gift of Gratitude (2)

Good morning, CHURCH!

Welcome to FFM where we are here to connect people to the love of God through biblical teaching, loving community, and relational small groups.

(Church joke of the day)

Two boys were walking home from church in a small town out in the country.

The message that the pastor taught was a strong teaching on the devil.

One of the boys said to the other, “What do you think about all this Satan stuff?”

The other boy said, “Remember when we were little and thought that Santa was real, and one day we realized that Santa was our dad?

“Yeah!” Said his friend.

“Well, it’s probably the same thing. The devil is probably your dad.”

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Pray (Lord help us to see you as new and fresh through your word today.)

Let’s go to the book of James 4:1 NIV for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

Last week during the wisdom vaccination we talked about the profound mystery of Christ and the church.

We all exist to be the bride of the bridegroom.

We are only ever fulfilled when we are married to our God.

Today I want to talk about the mystery within our earthly marriages that takes place.

My wife says, “God must have jokes. Putting a man and a woman together to become one.”

Oh, sure it’s a wonderful thing putting a man and a woman together in the beginning of a relationship.

Early on he makes her feel so loved which is her priority need.

And early on she makes him feel so respected which is his priority need.

But what about when the endorphin induced blinders ware off?

And all of a sudden some of his actions don’t make her feel as loved.

And some of her actions don’t make him feel as respected.

What happens? I’ll tell you.

Quarrels!

James says this:

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

James 4:1 NIV

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?

She has a desire within her to feel loved which comes from her feeling like she is his number one priority.

-He listens to her. (She feels listened to.)

-He values her. (She must feel valued.)

-He loves her every minute of every day. (She must feel loved.)

He has a desire within him to feel respected which comes from him feeling like she looks at him with high regard.

-She talks to him respectfully. (He has to feel it’s respectful.)

-She values who he is and what he does. (He has to feel that she values him.)

-She respects him every minute of every day. (He has to feel that.)

Apostle Paul seemed to know this by the inspiration of Holy Spirit.

And he ended Ephesians chapter 5 with this:

Ephesians 5:33 NIV

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

there is something in a man that automatically makes him want to take care of his own needs.

He remembers every detail about his own life.

But we have trouble sometimes remembering small details about our wives.

And Paul didn’t follow up with the woman needing to love her husband like she loves herself because it’s innate in her.

She automatically does.

She knows the details about herself and the details about him.

Paul told her to respect him because God knew that was the thing that most makes a man feel loved.

As a matter of fact when a woman expresses to her husband that she loves him, it computes to him that she respects him or thinks highly of him.

And this will keep the quarrels out of your relationship.

Husband expressing your love for her in the midst of every difficult conversation.

And wife expressing respect for him in the midst of every difficult conversation.

Let’s get into today’s message.

Today we are in week two of the series:

The Gift of Gratitude wk.2

Today’s message title is:

The Gift of Gratitude

In this series we are talking about how expressing gratitude is a gift.

And today we will actually talk about expressing that gift of gratitude with an actual gift.

Our text of scripture for today will be 2 Kings 5.

The passage is about Naaman, this big-time commander for the army of the king of Aram.

In the 8th century Aram was the name of a south Syrian kingdom.

You may have heard of its capital city. (Damascus)

But there was a big issue with Naaman.

Naaman had leprosy.

Point #1

The anticipation.

It just so happened that Naaman’s wife had this little Israelite girl that had been taken captive during a Syrian raid.

The servant girl noticed Naaman’s leprosy, so she spoke up and told Naaman’s wife that if he would go see the prophet who is in Samaria he would be cured of his leprosy.

We see this in:

2 Kings 5:3 NIV

She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

So, Naaman talked to his boss the king of Aram and the king was in agreement with him to go see this prophet of Israel.

The king of Aram texted the king of Israel.

“I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

The king also sent Naaman with a bunch money and gear as a token of appreciation and to honor the king.

We see this in:

2 Kings 5:5 NIV

“By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.

It stood out to me that in anticipation of receiving from the prophet and from the God of the prophet, Naaman’s king sent him with a gift to give.

How often do we show up to receive from the Lord without a prepared gift?

A prepared gift is something that you have thought about.

It’s not a spare of the moment thing.

It’s not just the crumbs left over in your pocket.

It is generous and thought about ahead of time.

Point #2

The disappointment.

When the king of Israel read the text, he got scared and mad.

He tore his robes (grieving) and said to the people around him, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life?

Why is this dude sending someone to me to be cured of leprosy?

I think he is trying to pick a fight with me!”

The king must have forgotten that there was a prophet in his town that God does miracle through.

Thank God for Naaman that the little girl that was captured in the raid didn’t forget about the prophet.

The news spread that the king was angry, and someone put it on Instagram and Elisha the man of God saw it one morning when he was scrolling on the gram.

2 Kings 5:8 NIV

When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

So, we see that Elisha had one of his boys who knew one of the king’s boys get a message to the king of Israel.

“Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

It sounds kind of cocky, but:

I don’t think Elisha’s cockiness was in himself.

I think his cockiness was in his God.

Are you so used to exercising your faith in God that you can put God’s power on display boldly like that?

The king of Israel who had been frightened by the contact now texted the king of Aram and said go ahead and send him, we’ll take care of him.

So, Naaman shows up at Elisha the prophet’s crib with his posse.

But Elisha didn’t even come out and greet Naaman.

Elisha the prophet sent one of his workers to answer the door and gave him a message to Naaman.

2 Kings 5:10 NIV

Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed.”

Naaman felt disrespected by the fact that the prophet didn’t even come and greet him.

Remember Naaman was this big-time military leader.

Are you ever so prideful that it gets in the way of your blessing?

Naaman told his posse, “I thought for sure he would at least come outside and call on the name of the LORD his God and wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.”

Naaman said, “I could have stayed in Damascus and bathed in the rivers there.

The water in our rivers are better than the water in the rivers of Israel anyway.”

And Naaman broke out with his posse upset. (Chuckin-Deuces)

Point #3

The excitement.

As they were about to leave one of the OGs in his group pulled him to the side.

2 Kings 5:13 NIV

Naaman’s servants 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, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!”

“Are you going to let the fact that he didn’t do it the way you thought in your head that he would do it stand in the way of your blessing?”

How many times has God sent us instructions to help our situation and we refused to obey it?

So, Naaman listened and went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as Elisha the prophet told him to.

Let’s give Naaman some props hear and learn a lesson from him.

When wisdom spoke, Naaman listened and repented meaning he changed his mind.

Now instead of leaving mad and still with leprosy, he decided to obey.

And look what happened when he had fully obeyed.

2 Kings 5:14 NIV

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.

Now, let’s learn another lesson from Naaman.

When Naaman received the manifestation of his blessing or the manifestation of his obedience to the man of God the natural response was giving back what he could.

2 Kings 5:15 NIV

Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

Two things hear.

First; the healing that Naaman received caused him to believe in the God of Israel and denounce the God’s of Syria.

If you read a little further ahead you’ll see that Naaman was even worried about carrying out his job as an assisting to the king because the king sacrifices to other god’s and Naaman has to be by his side while he offers these sacrifices.

Elisha told him to go in peace and that it would be okay because God knew his heart.

Second; and this is my burden for the message today.

Naaman knew that:

God I can’t give back to you what you gave to me, so please accept this gift from your humble servant.

God has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness.

There is nothing that we have to give to him that compares to what he has given to us, but we need to at least offer our best prepared gifts to him.

If you’re watching online or here in the building, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now?

Do me a favor if your watching this and your in a position to type, tell us in the chat what the Holy Spirit is saying to you right now.

We would love to read it and pray for you.