Say Yes to Simple – Sermon Spark Notes!

Speaker: Pastor Holly Furtick

Some of the most complex problems have SIMPLE solutions.

Not EASY but SIMPLE!

2: Kings 5 – Naaman Heals from Leprosy

Naaman is a well-respected commander of the army for the King of Aram.

From the Instagram lens, Naaman has a perfect life and has everything going for him. The paradox is, that Naaman is secretly struggling with a skin condition known as Leprosy.

• During this time, having a skin condition was believed to make a person “unclean.”
• Leprosy was thought to be contagious. Therefore, because it was misunderstood it was stigmatized.

Since Naaman was suffering from Leprosy, he kept it a secret and struggled alone.

• Naaman was fearful of what people would think about him and how he would be treated if they knew.

Naaman hid under his mighty armor and most people didn’t see past the Instagram lens.

One day, Naaman decided to seek help… so, Naaman wrote to the King of Israel and sent the King gifts of silver and gold.

• The story Naaman was telling himself was something along the lines of, “if I go to the King and pay him he will stand on his thrown, wave his magic wand, say AB-RA-CA-DAB-RA, and poof I will be healed.”

Therefore, the brother was shocked when it was NOT this easy.

• First, Naaman learns that the King was not that powerful because he is not God.
• Second, the King told Naaman that if he wanted God to heal him he would have to actively participate in treatment by going to the Jordan River and washing seven times.

Naaman was not happy when reality played out differently from the story he told himself.

Naaman wanted to heal but he didn’t want to have to do the work it took to heal. Naaman wanted miraculous healing.

In the midst of a complicated situation, God gave Naaman a very simple solution to solve his problem.

Naaman was tasked with three simple things to heal in his life.

FIRST: Naaman had to accept his situation for what it was.

• When we ignore or deny our situation we prolong our suffering and delay our healing.
• We cannot move forward and heal until we accept the situation.
• It is complicated but even in situations we cannot control or change, we can always control our attitude.
• We have to stop blaming our problems on others and/or shaming ourselves.

SECOND: We have to ask for help.

• Those who suffer most are those who suffer alone.
• The easy thing to do is isolate. The paradox is God Neurobiologically wired us to live in community and do life with others. We cannot hack this.

ASKING for help is different than ANNOUNCING you need help.

• Asking is specific. When you announce you need help it is very vague. Maybe it gains you temporary sympathy from others, but it does not typically fix anything until you ask for help.
• Also, we CAN NOT just HINT that we need help because that puts the work on others.
• Asking is different from complaining.

We can either ask for help, accept it, and receive it, or we can isolate and continue to suffer alone.

• Satan wants you to suffer alone.
• Satan wants you to withdraw from the people who love you and who want to help.

James 5:16 – “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

• When you verbalize to someone that you are struggling you will find healing.
• We cannot connect with others unless we do our part in the relationship.

Asking is SIMPLE.

Sometimes things will not go according to your plans when you ask for help. Therefore, you may be better off going into things without a plan and without anticipating what will happen.

• People are human and are limited by their humanness. Therefore, they will disappoint you.
• Don’t plan how you think things should go because it will only disappoint you, and can limit the outcome of what is supposed to happen.

THIRD: We have to ACT.

• If God just says “AB-RA-CA-DAB-RA” every time we need healing we will not follow these three steps, learn from our mistakes, and we will probably just end up back in the same situations.

We need to participate in our own healing.

We need to do the work to change.

You can hide and suffer alone for a while, but to heal you must accept help, be vulnerable, and do the work.

Naaman finally goes to the river, washes seven times, and is healed from Leprosy.

• Notice how Naaman did not just have to wash once. He had to participate in this treatment regimen more than once.
• Naaman was not fully healed until after washing seven times. (maybe he was healed a little more each time, but he did not fully heal until after seven times.)

One immediate action is more powerful than one million good intentions.

Naaman was healed because he fought for it!

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