We're gonna read one verse here, and we have that slide ready, guys, I believe. So the title of my story tonight is Three Servants and a New Camel, all right? That's my story tonight, and we're gonna go to 2 Kings chapter five and verse number one, and I'm gonna read this one verse here in 2 Kings five and verse number one, and we'll jump into it here tonight. 2 Kings 5 verse 1. Here's what the Bible says. Now Naaman, captain of the hosts of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. All right, my story tonight is about a guy whose name is Naaman, captain of the hosts. Who is he? No, no, no. You see, the captain of the host means he's like the most powerful military leader in the whole country of Syria. So you have to say his name very powerfully. He is Naaman, captain of the host. Who is he? Yes, the Bible says that he's a mighty man in valor, an incredible warrior, an incredible leader, but he was a leper. A leper is someone who has that terrible disease of leprosy. Leprosy is a disease where your skin starts to die. And as your skin starts to die, it actually starts to fall off. A lot of people with leprosy, their skin would die and their fingers would just fall off. In fact, many times their legs would just come off, their hands, their arms, and many times their nose would come off. Can you imagine if you had leprosy and you were like, And you look down and there's your nose right there. That's a bad day right there, you know what I'm saying? Damon had this disease and back in these days, there was no cure. There was no solution. In fact, this solution has only been around for a couple of decades. So for thousands of years, there was no cure for this disease. Also, leprosy was extremely contagious. If I had leprosy and I kind of bumped up against one of you, you would get leprosy. And that's why in the Bible times, if you had leprosy, you had to move out. You had to quit your job. You had to move out of your city. You had to leave your house. You had to leave your family. And you had to move outside of the city and only with other people who were lepers. In fact, if you tried to come into town, if you were a leper, it was legal. for people to pick up rocks and throw them at you as hard as they want to. Why? Because everyone's so afraid of this terrible disease of leprosy. In fact, I was in the Philippines a few years back, and I met a pastor who pastors a church in a leper colony. Terrible disease. In fact, thankfully, he says his people are what's called negative, means they don't have the disease, but they still have scars and missing body parts from this terrible disease. And name in this mighty man of God, the captain of the host, He got leprosy. And man, I'm sure he tried to go to every doctor he could try. He tried every essential oil he could find, and nothing was curing of his disease. But the Bible says that Naaman's wife had a maid. She was just a servant girl. In fact, in this story, you'll see there's three servants that are pretty important. And this wife, this servant girl, she said, If only Mr. Naaman could go to Samaria. Over in Samaria, there's a prophet of God. He could heal me. Naaman's like, are you serious? There's someone in Samaria that could heal me? I'm going. So he writes a letter to the king of Samaria. The king of Samaria is sitting there on his throne. He gets this letter and the letter says, my name is Naaman, captain of the host, and I'm coming to be healed of my leprosy. What? I can't heal. Wait a second. Captain of the host. He's in charge of the army. This is a trick. Oh, I don't want to fight this Sears man. He gets so upset. The Bible says he rent his clothes. That means he ripped them. You say, why did that happen? Well, it happened a lot in the Bible. People got upset and they ripped their clothes. I don't know about you, but if I'm upset and I go, aah, and I rip my clothes, my day gets worse. You know what I'm saying? But that's what they did. They ripped their clothes. They're like, oh, man, the king is really upset. And so he didn't know what to do. Well, meanwhile, God spoke to the prophet of God. He was in his house. His name was Elisha. What's his name? Elisha. Elisha was there. God tells what's happening. He says, hey, king, whatever name it comes to town, just send him over to my house. Well, sure enough, Naaman came to Tabor. He had all these servants with him. He had all of this real gold with him, worth a ton of money. He had a lot of silver, which is not always worth money, but it's also cool because It's shiny. And he had all these changes of clothes and he brought these chariots with horses and this huge group of people pulled up in front of the palace. And I'm sure the king was kind of nervous. He's like, um, um, Mr. Naaman, go to Elisha's house. He's gone. Well sure enough, Naaman, the captain of the host, he pulled his horses and chariots and servants and gold and silver and clothes. He pulls up to Elisha's door and Naaman comes up and knocks on the door. You know, if a really important person came to your house, you know, like the governor of Missouri, you know, like the president, you know, like Pastor Digg, you know, someone super important like that. If they came to your house, you would answer the door, right? Well, not Elisha. Elisha never even came to the door. In fact, he just sent his servant. And by the way, we do know the name of his servant, and his servant's name is Gehazi. What's his name? There's a Z in there. Starts with a G and there's a Z. Let's say it one more time. His name is Gehazi. What is it? You're going to want to remember that name. Gehazi comes. He opens the door. He's like, oh, Mr. Naaman, the prophet Elisha said, if you want to be healed of your leprosy, then go to the Jordan River, dunk seven times, and God will heal you. OK, bye. And he closed the door, left him standing outside. He's like, are you serious? He didn't even come speak to me. Oh, he starts getting angry. He's like, are you kidding me? The Jordan River? Man, that is a nasty river. And boy, it was. It was like muddy and just disgusting. He says this. He says, how come I can't go wonder rivers in my country? Like the river Far Far. I always love that word right there. He's like, I want to go to Far-Far. He's like, he gets angry. He's like, man, he's like, that is it. Man, I'm leaving. I'm going all the way back home to Syria. Now, remember, one guy you don't want to make mad is the guy in charge of the other country's army. But he's angry, and he's getting ready to leave. But he himself has our third servant. He has a brave servant that decides to speak up. You say, why was he brave? Because when the master's mad, you kind of want to stay away, because he might hurt you. And so he's like, Mr. Naaman, oh, please don't hurt me. You know, Mr. Damon, if he would have asked you something really, really hard, like climb to the highest mountain and find the golden potato. No, he didn't say that. But if he'd asked you something really hard, then you would have done it, right? And Damon's like, well, you know, I would have tried. He's just asking you something simple. So maybe you should try it. It might work. Please don't hurt me. His name is Anger. He's furious. He's like, ah! Might as well give it a try. And so he heads over to the Jordan River. He walks up that Jordan River. He pulls his chariots, his servants, his gold, his silver, which is amazing because it's shiny. And he has to change the clothes. All these people. He pulls up to the Jordan River, walks up to that river, Man, that river stank. That was a nasty river. Man, it hit all kinds of grungies and floaties. You know what that is? I don't know. It was just nasty, all right? He's like, how is that going to heal this? Might as well try. So he takes one foot. He steps inside. Takes his other foot steps inside. I mean, can you feel the mud ooze between your toes right there? He is inside this river he gets ready to dunk down and He comes up out of the water he looks down at his skin hey, you know what happened nothing He's like guys Didn't do any good. It didn't work. They're like, Neyman, he said seven. You gotta do it six more times. All right, here he goes. Two, three, four, five, six. And after the sixth time, he looks down at his skin. You know what happened? Nothing. Maybe he had some moss that oozed off of his arm. Guys, it didn't work. They're like, name it. That was only six. You got to do it one more time. Here he goes. He comes up. After that seventh time, he looks down at his skin, and the Bible says his skin was like the skin of a baby. Is that good? Yeah, that's good! It was brand new. It was completely clean. Now, just so you guys know, if I had the disgusting, terrible, contagious disease of leprosy and I was healed, I would be excited about that, man. He's running all over the place. He's like, can you believe this? Can you believe this? My skin is back. Oh, look at that. This is fantastic, man. He goes running all the way back to Elisha's house. And he comes up. He pounds on the door. This time, Elisha answered. He answered. Elisha, hey, my nose is back. This is fantastic. I'm completely healed, Elisha. This is incredible. You stayed right. Hey, guys, bring in the gold. You're going to be rich, man. Bring in the gold. Elisha's like, wait, wait, wait, wait. I didn't heal you. It was Jehovah God, the God of the Bible. He's the only one that could have healed you. That's great. Guys, bring in the gold. Oh, you got some stuff coming for you. Hey, wait, wait, wait. God says we're not supposed to take any of that. He's like, what? Yep, God said not supposed to take any of that. Meanwhile, behind Elisha was Elisha's servant. Anybody remember his name? Starts with a G, has a Z in there somewhere. Anybody remember his name? Anybody remember? Do you remember? Talk to me. Gehazi. Oh, I'm hearing it. Say it again. Gehazi. Yeah, Gehazi. Gehazi is like in the background watching. He's like, oh, man, look at that gold. Oh, that silver. Look at those new clothes. I would look good. None of it? How about just a little bit? Let's play a little bit right there in my mind. None of it? And Sheriff Naaman turns around and he leaves. Gehazi's like, are you serious? Man, I was almost rich. I got an idea. So he waits a little bit. And then a little bit later, he goes and he catches up with Mr. Neyman. He catches up with him. Hey, Mr. Neyman! How you doing? Wow. Look at that skin tone. Wow, what kind of moisturize. That's impressive right there. That's just unbelievable. You know what, Mr. Neyman, while you were gone, a couple of guys stopped by the house. And I was supposed to come get some of that gold and silver. Oh, you want some, Neyman said? Here you go. And he gives him some gold. Gives him some silver. Gives him some gold. Gehazi's like, thank you. You have a good day. I'm rich. Oh, this is great. I'm going to buy me a new camel. This is going to be great. OK. OK. He goes and he hides it. He's like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This is fantastic. Well, meanwhile, Galpot Elisha was going on. Elisha's like, hey, Gehazi. Yeah? Where you been? Oh, you know, nowhere. Gehazi, did you go find Naaman and take some of that gold and silver and clothes that God said not to take? Man, how does he always know everything? He's like my mom. He knows everything. Yeah, Gehazi, because you disobeyed God and because you got greedy, the leprosy that was on Naaman is now gonna be on you. And the Bible says until the day of Gehazi's death, he had name was leprosy, generation, his whole family got it. Isn't that a crazy end of the story? That's just crazy. It was such a crazy story until, man, what happened there? Why did Gehazi get Naaman's leprosy? Well, first of all, because he disobeyed God. But secondly, because he got greedy. There's a lot of believers I find greedy. Never enough. Oh, look at that gold. I can make more money. I can make more. Man, I'm really good at this. I can make more. I can make more. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says we should be the opposite of greedy. You know what the opposite of greedy is? The word is content. Philippians 4.13, we're supposed to learn to be content. You know, it doesn't come naturally. We have to learn. No matter the age, we all, we have to learn to be content. Here's what content means. Content means this. I'm gonna be happy with what God's already given me. That's what it means. Hey, if I get that new bike, that is great. If I never get it, that is great. Because I'm happy with what God has already given me. Man, if I get that new car, that would be fantastic. If I don't get that new car, that would be fantastic. Why? Because I'm content. I'm happy with what God has already given me. Hey, if I get that new house, that would be amazing. If I never get that new house, that would be amazing. Why? Because God has blessed us so much. Do you realize how much God has blessed you? I think we have not, and sometimes because we don't realize that, we get greedy. Man, we're having leftovers again? Mom, we ate this last week. You ever see a little kid at the store? Mom, I want this toy! Buy me this toy! And they're like rolling on the floor of Walmart, begging, screaming, throwing a fit to get this toy. You know what that's called? That's called greedy. You know, God says, no, learn to be content. Hey, if I get that thing, that's great. If I don't, that is great because I am happy what God's already given to me. You know what, kids, especially, you don't need things to make you happy. You know, if you wanted to, you could go outside and you could play for like five hours with a stick. If you wanted to, you see, things are not what we need. What we need is just the right attitude. We need to learn to be content. You know, adults, I tell you, I wonder what we've missed out on doing for the Lord because of our greed. I gotta make more money. No, no, that's not enough. No, I gotta make more. There are some people who take another job, I'm not saying it's sinful, but it could be, take another job, their only focus is the money, and God is an afterthought. Is God an afterthought in the monetary, financial decisions of your life? Or have you said, you know what? I'm content. I'm content with what I have. I'm going to live for God and I'm going to be smart about it, but my first focus is God. You know what, God? If I never make another dollar, I'm happy with what you've already given me. I was in the Philippines, I mentioned. I met a 7-year-old boy who stood there in a pair of shorts. No shoes, no shirt. He was too poor. He's an orphan boy and he was smiling from ear to ear. You know why? Because that day he got to eat. You know what he ate? One bowl of rice per meal. No, per day. The same thing that he eats every day of his life. But he was happy because he got to eat. He didn't starve. And the missionary's like, hey, it's late. It's at night. Go to sleep. The boy ran off. He didn't go home. He was homeless. He didn't go to a trailer. He didn't go to an apartment. He went to sleep in a graveyard, a place where they buried dead people. You say, why? It's the only place he wouldn't get kicked out of. And we here in America, are so spoiled. I mean, we can turn a faucet on and the water runs forever. That's incredible. Yet it's never enough. Never enough. Man, look what they got. I don't have that. I've got to make more and more and more. And that's called greed. And Gehazi's greed caused his life to be messed up. It affected his family. It affected generations after him because he did not learn to be content. Maybe there's someone inside of you that says, Lord, I need to stop and just say, God, I'm happy with what you've already given me. You have given me so much. I'm going to be happy with that. Learn to be content. The second thing, and I'll be done, is Naaman had a disease he could not cure. What was the disease? Medicine. Man, he could try the doctors. He could try medicine. Nothing was going to cure it. And the only way his physical disease was cured, who cured him? It was God. You know, we have a disease as well. Oh, it's not a physical disease. It's a spiritual disease called sin. And but we can try to get rid of our own sin, but it doesn't work. We can try scrubbing. We can try doing good works. We can try going to church. We can try being a good kid. We can try being a good parent, but none of those things will take away our sin disease. We cannot cure ourselves just like Naaman could not cure himself. We cannot cure ourselves. The only answer is God. And you see, the Bible says that all of us have sin, and because of our sin, we can't go to heaven, but that's the reason Jesus came. Jesus is the cure. He is the answer to save us from our sin. And if you're here tonight, and you say, Dave, I know about that. You can know about that, but still have never received Jesus as your Savior. Naaman could have said, hey, I know how I can be cleansed. but I'm not gonna do anything about it. He would have stayed in his misery. Do you realize that you can know how to be saved, but if you never receive Jesus as your Savior, then you will stay in your misery. Is there someone tonight that says this, Brother Dave, I know I am a sinner, and I have never, I have never received Jesus as my Savior before, and tonight, I need to do that. This Sunday night at church, I need the cure. I need to receive Jesus as my Savior because I've never done that before. Friend, if that's you tonight, I encourage you tonight to receive Christ as your Savior. And if you are saved tonight and God is speaking to your heart about this area of being content, I hope you'll get your heart right with the Lord about it. Let's close our eyes for just a moment. I wonder tonight, can we have a pianist come up for an invitation tonight? We can close right for just a moment. I wonder, is there someone here tonight that would say this? Brother Dave, you talked tonight about being content. And God spoke to my heart about that. And I need to talk to the Lord about being content. If that's you tonight with your eyes closed, would you raise your hand? God spoke to my heart about being content. If God spoke to your heart about that, would you raise your hand tonight? I appreciate that. You can take your hands down. How many of you would say this? Brother Dave, I don't know that I'm saved. I don't know that I'm on my way to heaven and I need the cure. I need Jesus to save me from my sins so I can go to heaven. If that's you tonight with your eyes closed, would you raise your hand? And God bless you. I see a hand right there. Anybody else? Brother Dave, I don't know that I'm saved. I need to see Christ as my Savior. Just slip your hand up. Anybody else? I think I've seen a couple hands. That's wonderful. God bless you. Anybody else?