I'd like to welcome those that are joining us by the way of the internet at this time, and I thank you for your presence, and we pray for you. And I just want you to know that here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, there's a church that's still holding on to the old ways and haven't changed in the last 51 years. Hopefully, we're getting better. And may the Lord help us to just have a heart to serve Him. And I do request your prayers that you pray for us as we try to reach our community for Jesus Christ. And we have 100,000 homes within 15-20 minutes from our church. And it's a great mission field God has put us in. But we do desire your prayers and need you to pray for us. And we thank God for your presence online. And I just want you to know now, we don't take it for granted and we do pray for you even though we don't know your names, we don't know who you are across the world. People tune in and listen to the messages and I just want you to know that we thank God for you and are praying for you as you stand fast. And the title of the message is, The Heart of a Servant. Do you have a heart of a servant. And this is a good reminder. This passage here is a good reminder of what God expects from each and every one of us. He saved us for a reason and that's to serve Him and to have a servant's heart. And in 2 Kings 5, if you'd like to find your place there, 2 Kings 5, this is another message in the series of unnamed saints and servants. And with the help of God, as we look in this passage here, 2 Kings 5, I like for us to look at three different groups, if you would, of unnamed servants. in this chapter. And each one were placed in a specific time and a specific environment to be used of the Lord to point someone else to Christ. And may we never forget as the reason why we're here. is so that we can point others to Christ. And do you have a heart to serve in that area, to point others to Christ? And one of the servants that group here that we're going to look at in this passage, they're not mentioned by name, but their influence is clearly seen in this passage. Another unnamed servant is a young lady. And God can use anybody. He can use a young person. He can use an adult to get His will done and for us to point others to Christ. And there's no one left out in this passage. And all age groups can be used of God. We can have a heart for God. And then the last group that we're going to look at is a group of unnamed servants who demonstrated a concern for their master's well-being. This story here in 2 Kings 5, many of you have already... there's a name that's come to your mind, the name of Naaman, right? This is the story of Naaman, if you would, here in 2 Kings 5. But the story's not about Naaman. The story's about God. It's about God's love. It's about God's mercy. It's about God's grace. It's all about there is salvation in none other. That's what this whole theme is about in 2 Kings chapter 5. The salvation is of the Lord. Only Jesus can save you. And even though Naaman seems to be the main character here, can I just say that these unnamed servants and saints that they're in a supporting cast role, if you would. But they're the true heroes in this story. They're the ones that are doing the work of God. They're the ones that are holding fast in the hard, difficult times that they're living in. And nobody here is in the greatest situation of their life. Matter of fact, nobody in here that's a servant, an unnamed servant. Things have went probably the way they thought that their life would go, but here they are being used of God. in a great way. You know, you and I may never be the main character, but we are called to be part of the supporting cast, the supporting role, and some of our young people, they put on a skit there for VBS, and I so appreciate their hard work that they put into that, memorizing the lines and all that, but it took more than just somebody showing up and memorizing some lines. Somebody had to write that and someone had to set up the decorations, someone had to create the props and all these things. And there was those that learned the line and were really to communicate those lines and communicate truth to the young people from the Word of God. But what I'm trying to say, it took a team effort. It took everybody being involved, everybody being in their place, doing what God had enabled them to do. You see, in this passage, it's going to take many servants, many servants to get Naaman to a place where his life is forever changed. You know, God has put you and I here to assist the Lord Jesus in reaching our community, our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world. He has put us here to assist Him to get that done. That's why it's so important that we have a heart to serve a heart to be a servant for God and to appoint others to Christ. In 1 Corinthians 3, 9 it says, For we are laborers together with God. Has that crossed your mind this week that you labor with God, that God wants to work in you and through you? and God wants to use you, and God's got a plan for your life, a purpose for your life, and that's to have a servant's heart, a heart that's ready to tell others and point others to Jesus Christ. It says you are God's husbandry, you are God's building. I tell you, I'm glad God's still working on me, aren't you? Let's take a look at this first group here. In 2 Kings chapter 5, this group of unnamed servants, saints, they're not mentioned in the story, but we can see their influence. May you and I be reminded tonight that we too have an influence on others. You may not be the star of the show, but you have an influence. What you do, what you say will influence others, whether for good or for bad. And may the Lord help us to have a right heart when it comes to serving God. In 2 Kings 5, in verse 1, it says, Now Naaman, captain of the host 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. And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman's wife, and she said unto her mistress, Would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. Oh, the first group of unnamed servants that are mentioned in this passage are the parents of this little girl. They're not mentioned by name. They're not even referenced, if you would. But we can see the influence that they had on their daughter. The fact that these parents are not pointed out or not mentioned in this passage reminds us that our time of influence with our children is very limited. We were missionaries in France and I was there with my mom and dad. and we had met this couple and they got saved and they were coming to church and because of the culture there, their mentality, kids started going to preschool at three years old and when this lady, her oldest child had turned three and she said these words and it really stuck with me, it stuck with my parents and she said, I'm glad my job's done. I'm done raising my child. It's the government's job to take care of them now. Can I just say that's not the case. But it does remind us that our time with our children is very, very limited to influence them. toward the things of God, so that they too can develop a heart to serve, a heart to want to point others to Christ. This mom and dad, they didn't have much time with their daughter, but with the time they had, they taught her some good manners. They taught her how to work. They also taught her about some spiritual truths. She knew how to behave. She had been taught work ethics. She knew how to conduct herself, and at a young age, this little girl had some discernment. She knew when it was appropriate to speak, and she knew what needed to be said. When she did get the opportunity to speak, not just anyone, you understand, could have the position of maid in the house of Naaman. You remember Daniel and his companions? I know it's a different story, but the same principles apply here. The king had ordered that a very specific group of young people be chosen to stand in front of the king. And Daniel 1, 4, it says, "...children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had the ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning of the tongue of the Chaldeans." Even old Nebuchadnezzar there, wicked Nebuchadnezzar at that point, He wasn't looking for a lazy person. He wasn't looking for some young person that had no drive, no incentive, didn't want to do anything. Even old wicked Nebuchadnezzar was looking for some young people that were without blemish and were well favored and skillful in all wisdom, cunning in knowledge and understanding science, and that had the ability to stand in the king's palace. Even David said in Psalms 144.12 that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be as cornerstones polished after the similitude of a palace. Hey, there's something to be said in this passage about the influence that this mom and dad had on their daughter. Hey, all they are is just some unnamed servants. That's all they are. They're just unprofitable servants. After you've done your best for the Lord, that's all God said to do is just say, I'm an unprofitable servant. But this situation that this little girl was in was not a good situation. It definitely wasn't the future that this mom and dad had for her or dreamed for her. But you know what? With the time they had, they had prepared her for the worst case scenario. I hear people say all the time, I just don't know, I just feel so sorry for our grandchildren, our children, and what they're going to face because we understand that the days that we're living in, they're not the days that we grew up in. So as parents, it's our job, it's our responsibility to bring up our children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. And can I just say that bringing up our children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord, it still works. Hey, it's worked in every generation. The Word of God is true. Training up a child in the ways of the Lord and the Word of God will never fail our children. This mom and dad, they may never have seen their little girl be what they had dreamed about when they held her in their arms. But you know what? They did not fail her. These unnamed servants, they taught her some spiritual truths. She had a wonderful knowledge of the things of God. And when the situation had presented itself, you know what she was ready to do? She was ready to speak up for the Lord. How many children grow up in Christians' home, but yet they know nothing of the things of God? Oh, they may know a few little Bible stories. They may know more. But you know what? The problem is they know more about the sports superstars of our day. They know more about the baseball classifications there and who's in the lead. They know more about stats. They know about worldly entertainment and every song on the worldly music scene. But I wonder how many children today could leave somebody else to the Lord. I wonder how many children that grew up in Christians' homes could open their Bible up and show somebody else how to be saved. Would they even speak up? Would they even dare to tell somebody about the Lord? I think about our VBS. A young man was sitting with his cousin and this young man had trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior about a year ago. He rode our church bus and he's probably nine or ten years old. He was sitting with his little cousin who was six years old. And as he was sitting with him, his little cousin raised his hand to be talked to during the invitation. And as I went over there and I began to talk to the young man, the six-year-old, I could sense that he just wasn't quite ready there. But I said, Justin, I said, could you tell this young man, could you tell your cousin how to be saved? Would you be able to explain to him how to be saved? And that young man did it. He told him why he needed to get saved. He told him how to be saved. Hey, praise the Lord. There's some young people that know how to lead others to Christ. And this young man doesn't come from a Christian home. What he learned was in church. What he learned was right here, riding the church bus and going to children's church. Bringing up children and nurturing them is the Lord. It's worked in every generation. The Bible says in Proverbs 22.6, train up a child in the way that he should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. Parents, grandparents, future parents in here, we've got several of those. You've got such a limited time to influence your children for good, to influence them toward the things of God. You know, my wife, she didn't grow up in the best environment, if you would, but for a long time, you could tell in their family that just going to church was just a Sunday thing. You know, throughout the week, they weren't much emphasis put on the things of God. I mean, they were Christians. I believe they were saved, but they just weren't a lot of emphasis put on that. But she recalls her grandfather taking the time to raise her up and taking the time to teach her some values and teach her things about the Lord. And it put a fear of God in her that she didn't want to disappoint not only the Lord, but she didn't want to disappoint her grandpa. And he taught her some good things. Oh may the Lord help us. The first set of unnamed servants in this passage, they played a crucial role in getting Naaman to the Lord. Even though they were not on the scene, even though they were no longer around, what they put in their child, was used of God to bring somebody else to the Lord. Oh, they were still reaping. They were still reaping what they had sown in their little girl. I'm telling you, you better spend some time with your children investing in the things of the Lord. Not in material things, but in things of the Lord. You better spend some time with them. Why? Because when you're off the scene one day, when they move out on their own, They, too, are going to have an influence. They, too, ought to have a servant's heart. They, too, ought to be pointing others to Jesus. And I tell you, what you sowed in them, you'll see it again. And may the Lord help us to do that. We have such a limited time to influence. You know, you never know who your child's going to lead to the Lord. You ought to give them every opportunity to grow in the knowledge of God. By the way, that's not going to Christian school that does that. That's your job, that's parents' job, grandparents' job to teach their children, to raise them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. We'd better teach them to walk with the Lord now. The missionary pastor that preached last Wednesday night on our service, he preached from Ecclesiastes chapter 12. In verse 1 it says, Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Hey, while this little girl was young, these parents taught this little girl to set her hope. And the Lord, because the evil days, they came early for this little girl. Oh, we don't know what our children and our grandchildren are going to face in this wicked world, but we can prepare them to serve the Lord come what may. Oh, the second unnamed servant in this passage, it's the little girl. This little unnamed maid, she knew a whole lot about mercy and grace. It's not said, but most likely this little girl's parents are dead. She may have even witnessed their premature death at the hands of the Syrian army. But yet she was resolved to be a witness for the Lord. This little girl could have been filled with anger. She could have been filled with resentment and hatred and bitterness toward her captors, but instead, oh, she was filled with compassion. God was at work in this little girl's life. Oh, when she was being brought up in her house and God was still working on her and in her when she was out of the house. God used the parents of this little girl and the little girl to get Naaman to the Lord. It was a team effort for God so loved Naaman that he prepared a mom and dad to raise a little girl who would not be ashamed of the Lord and would point others to him. Oh, I believe that this little girl was sensitive to the failings of Naaman's wife. I believe that she must have seen and heard Naaman's wife crying over her husband's condition at some point. Oh, and just at the right time, she just had to speak up for the Lord. And there in verse 3, she said, Would God my Lord were with the prophet, that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy." You know, she could have said, would to God I was there. I wouldn't be in this situation. I wouldn't be serving you. I wouldn't be without my parents. Would to God I would have been there. No, she said, would to God, my Lord. Oh, what the God-namen would be with the prophet of Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. Oh, you see this little girl, she had been exposed to the Elisha, the prophet. She had been exposed to the great workings of God through this man of God. And can I just say that you'd better expose your children to the great workings of God while you have the time to do that, because they're going to need to know There's coming a time in their life where they're going to need to know that there's a God in heaven that will not only help them in their time of need, but see, they can point them to others as well. You can invest in taking your children all over the world. You can give them every earthly advantage that you can think of. You can even be the soccer mom of the year if you want to be. But it's in the house of God that they're going to learn about God's mighty work and power in the lives of people. It's through the local church that they're going to learn how God works and they're going to see God do great things in their day so that they can tell others later. This little girl, she didn't learn about Elisha on the ball field. She didn't learn about Elisha playing games or at Disney World. She knew that only God could help Naaman. She knew of only one that could make a difference in his life. Look at verse 4. And it says, And one went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is in the land of Israel. Here again, we've got another unnamed servant. He's taken a message of hope to a lost. And dying sinner, one heard the message, one believed the message, and one took it to someone else who needed to hear that there was hope for them and their situation. Oh, how many people have you taken the gospel to this week? How many people have you been used of God to point to Jesus Christ? How many gospel tracts have you given out? How many times have you talked about the mercy and love and salvation of the Lord to someone else? This little girl, she didn't have much, but there's one thing she had. She had the Lord. She knew He was sufficient for her. He was sufficient for her and that He'd be sufficient for all who believe in Him. Every unnamed person so far in this passage was used of God. to point someone else to the Lord. Do you have a servant's heart? Do you have the heart of a servant of God? Because in your heart it ought to be to point others to Christ. We can all identify with these unnamed servants. That's why there's so many of them in the Bible. We may not all be well known and we may not all have all the advantages that some may have, but one thing's for sure. We can be used of God to point others to Christ. And then we come to another group of people here that are mentioned in this passage. Start reading here in verse 6 with me. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is coming to thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came to pass that when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and to make alive that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go, and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. And in verse 13, here's that last group of servants I want you to take note of. And his servants came near and spake unto him and said, My father, underline those words. Those are words of endearment. That's words of compassion. My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?" How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean. Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he turned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came and stood before him, and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. Now therefore I pray thee, take a blessing, of thy servant. This third group of unnamed servants, what did they do? They reasoned with Naaman. The first group of unnamed servants, they prepared someone else to carry the message of hope. The second unnamed servant that we looked at delivered the message of hope. The next servant repeated what he had heard. And now we've come to this group that's gonna reason with Naaman. Look at verse 13 again, and it says, And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean. Oh, you must see here in this passage that there's a time of preparation. Oh, the parents of this little girl, they prepared her for the task at hand. Oh, they realized that God had a plan and God had a purpose for this little girl. Oh, they may not have seen all their dreams come true for her, but they knew there was a God in heaven that loved her and that wanted to use her in a great way. We see that there's a time of preparation, but there's also a time of proclamation. Oh, this little maid, she brought out She heralded a message of hope. But not only is there a time of proclamation, there's a time to get the gospel out. There's also a time of persuasion. Oh, these servants, what did they do? They persuaded Naaman to simply believe and do what the prophet had told him to do. Oh, what Elisha told Naaman to do was as simple as John 3.16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have. Everlasting life. You see, in order to be healed, all Naaman had to do was believe what Elisha had said. Oh, the message we have to give today, it's a simple message. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Elisha sent his messenger to Naaman. with the message of healing. God has sent us, his messengers, to every lost sinner with the message that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Naaman, like many today, he resisted the message of repentance and faith in God as being sufficient to save him. Many today have resisted that. Many today refuse to believe that. But these unnamed servants, what did they do? They persuaded Naaman to just simply believe what the prophet had told him to do. In 2 Corinthians 5.11 it says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We've been called, if you've got a servant's heart, if you've got a heart to serve the Lord, then you're going to persuade men. It says, but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. Here we see the persistence of these servants. Oh, there's a time to persist. Their affection for Naaman led them to persist, pointing him to the truth. They said, my father. They reasoned with him as a child would reason with their parent. The simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, they reasoned with him as a child would reason with his own father. They could have just said, I'll just let him alone. He's a grown man. Who are we? We're just servants. But the Bible says they entreated him as a father. They simply presented him with the truth. One more time, throughout this passage we see God's servants Every one of them is in their place. Every one of them are doing what God had for them to do. You see, God makes no mistakes in bringing every one of us into a place of service. God has you where you are for a purpose and that's to be a servant for him to point others to Christ. That's the only reason you're here. The only reason. God made no mistakes in putting you where you're at. We go to church, it's to prepare us to be right with God. It's to prepare us to walk with God. It's to prepare us to work with God. But it's out in the field that all the labor is going to take place. We're going to put into practice everything that we hear on Sundays and Wednesdays and Sunday school and God's preparing our hearts so that we can get the message out and point others to Christ. You see, God prepares our hearts. He prepares us to take the message to our community, to our neighbors, to our family, our friends, to our co-workers. That's why we need more church, not less. The Bible says so much the more as we see the day approaching. The day is approaching for the lost as well, just as much as it is for the saved. We need to be prepared. We need to be ready to share the message of hope with the lost and dying world. One of the ladies in our church, she got so stirred up over the message she heard last Wednesday night and she was going to see her dad that weekend that is not doing well and she just said, I have to take that message to my dad. I have to take that message to him. Here we see a servant entreating her father, a child entreating her father with the truths of God's Word. If you don't come to church you won't be reminded of those duties that you have. If you never come to church or you don't come to church very often, I promise you, none of those things matter to you. Because you're not going to be reminded as to what needs to be done. We need to be reminded that we need to take a stand for Him. We need to be reminded that the time is at hand to do His commandments and to make sure that we're right with Him. We need to be reminded that we need to be busy getting the Gospel out. We need to be reminded of what God expects of us. Hey, we're His servants. were to be co-laborers with God. Can I just ask you a simple question? Can He depend on you? Can He depend on you to have a servant's heart? Can He depend on you to be the servant that He wants you to be? Are you willing to prepare yourself? Are you willing to proclaim? Are you willing to persuade others? You have a part in the greatest story ever told. Every servant in this passage had a part to play in reaching one sinner. Can I just simply ask you, are you doing your part? You know, we can't support the number of missionaries that we support here at this church and praying to take on four more this year if we're not given to missions. We can't reach our community with the gospel message, these gospel mailers this year, if we're not doing our part in giving to missions. missions, the bus ministry, soul winning. All that wouldn't happen if these doors were not open. It takes giving of tithes and offerings for all these things to carry on. Can I just ask you, do you have a servant's heart? Are you saying yes to the master? Are you doing your part? Can God depend on you? Will you hear the words, well done, thy good and faithful servant.