Think Less, Do More
Notes
Transcript
Kids Class
Kids Class
1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. 2 The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all. 3 The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:5-
Sermon
Sermon
Good morning! Thank you so much for tuning in this morning, I pray that you and your loved ones are doing well this beautiful Lords day, and I hope that you are taking time today to worship our incredible God from your homes this morning with singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs and that during this time of being home with our families that your time has been filled with prayer.
If you have your Bibles with you this morning, our text is going to come from if you would like to be turning there we will be reading from there shortly.
Did you know that the human mind is absolutely incredible? Think about all the things that our minds are able to do. At this very moment your brain is processing not only the words that I am speaking, but it is also reading my facial expressions and my tone of voice to give to you perception of what I am saying. At the same time, your mind knows where you are, who you are with, what you are currently touching, and the pressure that exists across the spectrum of your skin, muscles and bones.
Not only is it processing all of that input simultaneously, it is also holding on to a life time of memories. And though sometimes we might feel as if our memory is not very good, studies have shown that the human brain has the ability to store 1 quadrillion bytes of data, or one petabyte, enough to store 4.7 Billion Books or 13.3 years of High Definition TV recordings!
A study of US scientist
No wonder David proclaimed “I am fearfully and wonderfully made!
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
The ability to think, to process information is what makes us distinctly human. It is a key component to God’s gift of free will to mankind, the ability to choose whether or not to love and serve God.
But what we are going to see today from the story of Naaman from 2 Kings chapter 5, is that our minds also can often be the biggest stumbling block in our relationship with our God.
*Read the text*
If you were able to join us last week, you will recall that we learned about the woman who had been suffering with bleeding for 12 years, and how that condition made her a social outcast. And after having tried everything and spending every dollar she had, she came to Jesus with the faith that if she could just touch his garment she would be made well.
Here in 2 Kings we read about Naaman. A captain in the Syrian army, a respected man, a valiant warrior, a man who had the respect and financial resources available to him from the King himself. But as we all know when it comes to disease, none of that matters does it? And in the case of Naaman, though he had status and money, he had something that none of that could fix.
Leprosy is a disease of the skin that eats away at the flesh. There are stories of some lepers who had it so bad that they no longer had noses, or ears, or sometimes even eyelids. This painful disease would of course leave people desperate for any kind of hope that they could find.
This morning we are going to look at Naaman’s journey of faith this morning as he travels from an initial glimmer of hope, to seeking help, to eventual obedient faith.
Initial Hope - v3-5
Initial Hope - v3-5
In our text this morning we read in v.2 that within the household of Naaman lived a Jewish slave girl. And she is truly the unsung hero in the story of Naaman, because it is her who supplies the small amount of hope that Naaman needed to seek help for his disease.
Instead of being bitter at her captivity, she provides information about a prophet in Samaria who can cure leprosy.
Now imagine, if in this current climate that we heard news of a person who had developed a vaccine for the Corona Virus. We would do what we could to obtain it right?
And that is exactly what Naaman does, he
Seeking Help - 6-9
Seeking Help - 6-9
Immediately begins the process of trying to obtain healing from his disease.
He goes to the king and tells him of this wonderful hope that he has to be cured, the king writes a letter and sends with him all kinds of gifts of silver, gold and clothing with him.
And Naaman goes to the king, delivers the letter, but is met
Obedient Faith - 10-14
Obedient Faith - 10-14
He is told what he must do. “Go and dip 7 times in the Jordan and you will be clean.”
Yet
And Namaan rejoices and Cries out “Yes! At long last an answer for what ails me!”
No, that’s not what happens at all, instead Naaman allows his own mind to get in the way and goes away in a rage.
You see all the way down here Naaman has had time to think about how this is going to go. In his mind the prophet would come out, appeal to God, wave his hand over the leprosy, and he would be clean.
Conclusion
Conclusion
How is this applicable
Oh how can we make application of this truth?
The ways are numerous are they not? Where in your life are you trusting your thoughts over the word of God?
How often do we say things like:
“I thought my secret sin wasn’t hurting anything.” When God’s Word says that
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Or what about
“I thought sleeping with my partner outside of marriage was alright because I love them.
Or “I thought being homosexual was alright as long as it is monogamous.”
Or “I thought cheating on my wife was alright because I’ve found my true love.”
when God’s word says “
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
1 Cor
“
The human mind is an incredible gift that God has given us that allows us to reason, to experience the world around us, and to think critically about who we are and what we believe. It gives us the capacity to love, to care for others, to build hospitals, make medicines, to protect one another. Yes the human mind is truly incredible.
But as great as it is, it pails in comparison to the mind of God.
Sure we have an incredible storage capacity of 1 Petabyte of data, but God has unlimited resources.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
How
*Story of planning a day of fun*