In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of brokenness and humility in the Christian walk. He uses the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 as an example of how even a small and meager offering can be multiplied when surrendered to God. The preacher encourages believers to have faith in the finished work of Christ and to fully trust in God's promises. He warns against having an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God, using the example of the Israelites who missed out on entering the promised land due to their lack of faith.

I just humble myself, God, before you right now. Lord, I recognize my need, I recognize my need. I pray that you would just collect all my thoughts, Lord, every... the smallest thing that you've told me about this material, that I wouldn't leave it aside, I wouldn't forget it, Lord Jesus. That this would be more than just material. That God, somehow, this morning, you would help me to be an expression, somehow, of your heart, Lord. And that we could really gain ground, we could move forward in your kingdom, Lord Jesus. God, as Charlie has just shared with us this morning, we know there's such a need, God, there's such a need. So I ask you, God, stir our hearts, Father, stir our hearts this morning. Help us, Father, to make some good decisions this morning. To see some things clearly, Father. We just ask you for that. Holy Spirit, we just invite you to increase the manifestation of the presence of Jesus. Lord, I need you with me right now. I need you to walk me through this, Lord. Thank you, God. I just pray for this church, that you would just pour out your spirit here. That you would do good things, God. That you would just soften each heart. You would just continue to deal with the young people, the children, Lord. Continue just to expand that vision, Lord Jesus. I pray that you would just give the leadership wisdom. Give them wisdom, God. We just ask you to stir the hearts of these people. Unite them, God, for the purpose of going deeper in you, Lord. Of seeking you more fervently, Lord Jesus. God, I pray you just take us all to new places. God, if we've left anything behind, help us to revisit those high places, those altars that you've established, and then to move on forward, God. Help us, God. Help us, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord. I just pray that you would just help us. God, we just need your spirit, Lord. We need your spirit. Holy Spirit, just minister and magnify Jesus. Minister and magnify Jesus. God, oh God, I just pray that you just give us your heart today, Lord. Give us your heart. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. We just glorify you, Lord. We glorify and we magnify you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Oh, we'll praise you, Jesus. We need to be in your presence. We need to be in your presence. Lord, I don't want any road about this. God, I pray for just a spirit of transparency and naturalness about this moment for each and every one of us. We want reality, Lord. We don't want just to go through the motions. We don't want just church, Lord Jesus. Oh, help us this morning. Help us this morning. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus. We need a visitation. God, from you, hallelujah. Hallelujah. God, help us to believe you for the highest, the best this morning. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. We love you. We love you. We love you. Praise your holy name. Praise your holy name. You're just so precious to us, Lord. You're so precious to us. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God. Lord, just let us be like John that just is leaning on you, just leaning close to you. Thank you, Lord. Lord, I just pray that you just throw a spirit of prayer in this place that you would just open our hearts to cry out to you in a fresh way. Thank you, God, to recognize our need. Our need for you. Lord, we're desperate without you. Thank you, God. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen. This morning what I'd like to share with you is I guess the title of it I'll give you is Brokenness, the Road to Revival. Brokenness, the Road to Revival. And, you know, there's a lot of talk about the need for revival today in every quarter of the church, every part of it. And there's a lot of different methods, a lot of things being presented as things that would prod and help us to get there, to restore the church to what she's supposed to be. And yet in my way of thinking and what I've discovered in my own personal life and what I've seen in the Scriptures and through the history of the church, that if you had to reduce it to one thing, I believe you could sum it up in brokenness and those characteristics that are synonymous with a broken heart. Humility and a yielding, a complete surrender and yielding to the control of Jesus. A fresh surrender. Amen? So let me read my introductory statement here. What is it that continues to postpone a mighty visitation of the Holy Spirit? Why are so many of our meetings still powerless and barren? I believe the great hindrance in our midst is ourselves. You know, so often the church, and if you listen to some of the Christian radio, you can kind of come away with the impression that the thing that is hindering revival, that our nation being what it's supposed to be, are those dirty homosexuals out there. That liberal agenda, the media. And don't get me wrong, or maybe even the man that's living in the White House. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I, as much as any of you, want to see some changes in those areas. But just as Charlie has already stated this morning, the major hindrance, the thing that is holding back revival, I would say, first and foremost, without a doubt, is the church. She is the White House. And if we were to reduce that circle, make it a little smaller, I believe it would be each one of us. You know, I can have a burden for revival, but if I see you as part of the problem, I'll always be frustrated. Because I can't fix your heart. I can't fix my brother and sister's heart over here. The only thing I can really do something with is between me and Jesus and my own heart. Isn't that the truth? And we've got to stop looking so much at others. There's some meat out there. Just like Charlie said, that stirs and triggers the alarm. But we've got to ask ourselves then, why? Why is my circle of influence still just as powerless and has as many problems as some of these other areas? We need to look inside. Amen? So I believe the great hindrance in our midst is ourself. Many of us have not come to the end of ourselves in brokenness and childlike humility. The church as a whole is not united in recognizing its own spiritual poverty. We talk a lot about unity in the church today. We need to be united around this. We need to be united. We need to pull together, pull around the walls. I'll tell you where the number one place where there is very little unity but yet where we absolutely desperately need it is a real recognition of our own spiritual poverty. How bankrupt we have become. We need to agree on that. You can get a lot of church folks to agree about this problem out here, about that problem out here, and the need over here, and the need for unity here, but you try to get them to agree on being truly united about our own spiritual poverty. And boy, here comes the excuses. Here comes the reasonings. Here comes all the stuff. This is the place where we need help. Standing in the shadow of broken promises and frustrated plans, many still refuse to admit their own failure. Many are seeking and scrambling for some new method to remedy the church's dilemma when all God wants is a little honest humility and brokenness. Where brokenness is, the Spirit of God is always present. Where a deep sense of need is recognized, the I love you of the Father is always heard. Hey, if we've come anywhere in the kingdom, this is how we've got there. It works just the same for the church at large. It will work exactly the same for our nation. We've got to recognize our need. Amen. Until we recognize that we're sick, you don't cry out for the physician, do you? Brokenness, it releases the blessings in the presence of God. Turn with me to Isaiah 57, 15, and I know you all are very familiar with these verses, but it doesn't hurt to look at them again, does it? Isaiah 57, verse 15. Now, here it is, plain and black and white, that this is the crutch of the issue concerning revival. For as thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in a high and holy place. Who does He dwell with? With Him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Who is revival promised to? Those who are broken, who are lowly and humble. Those who freely admit that they need help, that freely admit their own spiritual poverty. That's where the promise of revival rests. Psalms 34, 18. The Lord is near, He's near to those who have a broken heart and save such as have a contrite spirit. James 4 tells us that He is opposed, He resists the proud, but He gives grace, His power, to live the Christian life, to live a holy life, to be one of His disciples, to those who are humble. Psalms 51, 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. These, O God, You will not despise. Is there reluctance within you? Are you concerned that God would not receive you freely? Come in humility. Come with brokenness. The promise of God says, He will not despise you. He will not reject you if you come humbly. Isn't that precious? That's good news. And it takes so little just to reflect on where we really are and we'll be there. You know, in Leviticus 2, it talks about the sacrifices that the people could bring and they were to be made of grain and oil and there was frankincense that was applied to them and they were put on the fire for a sweet-smelling aroma. But you know what? It was not just any grain. It was crushed, broken grain. This is the sacrifice that God delights in, brokenness. Turn with me to Matthew 26. And we'll just establish a real quick truth here in the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Matthew 26. We're all familiar with this story, the Passover meal previous to Jesus' crucifixion when He's discussing the soon-coming betrayal, I mean, by one of His disciples. Verse 26, And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, Take, eat. This is my body. In a sense, by that one expression of breaking the bread, Jesus was summing up the whole purpose of His life. He came to be that broken bread that we might be filled, that we could freely have access to the Father. His whole life was an expression of brokenness. Salvation flowed through the broken body of Jesus Christ. Everything comes through brokenness. And it's interesting as you trace that broken loaf through the Gospels, every time we'll see miracles start happening. Do you want changes in your life? Do we need changes in our church? Changes in our country? The secret is in that broken loaf, in that crushed grain. Let's look over at John 9.11. Am I looking at that right? Well, I've obviously made a little error here. Turn with me to Luke 9.12. Okay, here's where we find the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Verse 11, But when the multitude knew that they followed Him, and He received them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing, speaking, of course, of Christ, when the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and countries, and lodge, and get provision, for we are in a desert place here. Verse 13, But He said to them, You give them something to eat. See, this is always the call of Jesus for those who are needy around us. He wants to be an expression of love through us. He says, you feed the people around. But look at the answer that they gave Him. And they said, We have no more than five loaves and two fishes unless we go and buy food for these people. Isn't this the way that the modern church so many times tries to take care of the problems of feeding those around us? Is, hey, we don't have the money to go and buy. In other words, if we had enough money, we could fix this problem. So often, the church tries to fix spiritual need by throwing money at it. This is the situation our country is in so often. You know, we've got to be very careful that we're not trying to fix a fractured, stained wound in our country and in our church by trying to throw money at it. It isn't going to get fixed in the White House, it gets fixed in the church house. Amen? And I don't know if you could call it much of a White House. As I heard one brother say not long ago, it's more of a black house today than it is a White House. We need to seek God and not just superficially heal our needs. Okay, verse 14. Let's jump back to verse 13. But he said to them, You give them something to eat. And they said, We have no more than five loaves and two fishes unless we go and buy food for all these people. For there were about five thousand men. Then he said to his disciples, Make them sit down in groups of fifty. And they did so and made them sit down. Then he took the five loaves and two fishes and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitudes. So what do you have here is just a small, meager thing that once Jesus lays his hands on it, blesses it, and breaks it, suddenly a multitude can be fed. This is through the simple things, the simple things like one Christian's life being totally broken and surrendered to God, that deep and moves in great multitudes. Isn't this what he did with the 120? That's all it took. It wasn't a big, modern church machine that ushered in the great revival of Pentecost. It was just a handful of broken servants. We need to discover this truth again, folks. We really do. Luke 24, 30. So we followed that broken loaf once. Here's another place we'll find it. It's in Luke 24. I'm sure you already know where I'm going. 24 verses 30 and 31. Jesus traveling with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Now, it came to pass as he sat at the table with them that he took bread, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished from their sight. What releases the revelation for us to see Jesus like he truly is? Brokenness. You know, if you've got pride in your life, you can't see Christ as the Savior that he wants to be to you. You may need healing in your life, but there's an issue of pride, and that pride is hindering you from having your eyes opened to really see him and trust him in that way. There may be varied needs in your life, but that pride is getting in the way from you having that full revelation of Jesus Christ. Look inside your heart. Is there something there that is obscuring your vision of Christ so you can't see the Savior that he truly is? See, he's not any different than he ever was. He's still just as willing, just as ready to change our life radically as he ever was. Almost always the issue is us. Something's got in the way. This brokenness that releases the blessing and presence of God is nurtured and deepened with each new act of yielding obedience to the Spirit of Christ. How do we grow in this brokenness? What is God telling you to do today? What is his Word for today? Have you heard a prompting when he tells you to do something? That's how brokenness is nurtured. Obey that Word. And then obey the next Word. See, brokenness is cultivated in inches, if you will, by steps. But you obey each word of the Spirit and your heart becomes more sensitive, softer to his voice, more yielding and pliable to his commands. Likewise, a hardness and coldness of heart, a numbness of spirit, is nurtured with every new act of disregard for the Holy Spirit's promptings. A broken and tender heart towards God is lost by inches. Little by little, a tender heart is surrendered with each bad choice. Did you once walk with Christ in a way where you were just so tender to the voice of God? I mean, we've all been there, haven't we? If we really came to Christ, where you could hear the subtlest voice, the smallest thing would sometimes trigger just the wells of compassion within you. But all of a sudden, that stopped. And you look back and you go, well, what happened to that? Where did that go? And it didn't happen just with one choice. It happens with a series of small choices that we make throughout days and weeks and months and years. So we can't even figure out where it was that we got off track. And so, to return to the path of brokenness, we need to start with the Word of the Lord for you today. What is God saying to you? That may be varied things. God may be individually speaking lots of things about something about your job, your marriage, your children, choices that you're making with brothers and sisters in the Lord. Some decision that He's... something that He's trying to put His finger on. You need to say, yes. You need to say, yes, I agree. Quit turning a deaf ear to those things. Get back on the path of brokenness. Some of the routes and routes to a hard heart. Let's look at a couple of these. Just some of the ways that we can look in the Scriptures how a hardness of heart, a lack of sensitivity was brought forth in people in the Scriptures. Turn with me to Numbers 12, 1-10. Now, this is the story of Aaron and Miriam's discontent with Moses' choice of a wife. Chapter 12, verse 1. Then Miriam and Aaron spoke... Let me see. Let me... Let me save that one. Let's turn to Hosea 10, 12 and 13. I'm sorry to make you... Too much back and forth. We'll get right over there. Hosea 10, 12 and 13. Serve for your self-righteousness. Reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground. For it is a time to seek the Lord till He comes and rains righteousness on you. You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies. Why? Because you have trusted in your own way in the multitude of your mighty men. Self-dependence is a sure route to a hard heart. At one time when you were first young in the Lord, tender to the Lord, you trusted fully. You hung on Him for every bit of strength. And a little bit of confidence comes. Some things get removed out of your life that were a real obstacle, that were causing crises. Things smooth out and you begin to rely upon yourself. Self-confidence. Trusting in your own strength. It starts so subtly, but it will produce a hard heart. This is why so many times people are prayerless. You want to know what prayerlessness is? It is the fruit of self-dependence. When I know that I can't make it through the day without Jesus, where will I be first thing in the morning? On my knees asking Him for grace. Now when I feel like I can handle it, I get up and go on my way. I don't have to ask Him because I've got it together. Do you see? You go to the throne of grace when you recognize that you cannot do it by yourself. And when you quit going to that throne of grace, that's a sure sign that self-dependence has started to be nurtured. Hardness of heart is starting to grow. And the brokenness that all those promises of blessing and revival come with is slipping from you. Jeremiah 4.3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground. You need to be broken, is what He's saying, just like in the last passage. Break up your fallow ground and do not sow among thorns. And do not sow among thorns. Now what this reminds me of is Matthew 13.22. Remember the third seed? It was the definition of hedonism that Charlie gave us. It's just that kind of stuff. See, you're loving Jesus in the beginning. You're seeking Him with all your heart. But pretty soon the entertainments and the amusements of the world start slipping in and distracting you. And as you become more sensitive to them, your heart becomes harder to Christ. You know, you cannot enjoy fully all the things that this world offers, and I believe enjoy all the things that God offers. One inevitably will rob the strengths from the other. You cannot love two masters. Amen? So with the exhortation in Jeremiah 4.3, you break up the fallow ground. You've sown among thorns. Break it up. Get that out of there. Get those thorns and those thistles that are choking off the life of your Christian walk and making it unfruitful. Get rid of that. Put those things aside. In Hebrews 3.8-13, so the self-dependence is the route and root of a hard heart. The cares and worries of this world, as you entertain those things, they are both the route and the root of a hard heart. Let's look at another of the root of unbelief and how that affects it. Hebrews 3.8-13. Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness. You know that one verse right there? You know what that just presents? That pre-assumes the fact that it's our choice if our hearts are hard or not. By the very exhortation, do not harden your heart, pre-assumes that it's us that have a lot to do with it. Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the days of trial in the wilderness. When he's talking about the children of Israel that came forth from Moses into the promised land that never got there, that died in the wilderness here. Where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works forty years, therefore I was angry with that generation and said, they always go astray in their hearts and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Beware, brethren, beware, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. The foundation of the Christian walk is a faith in the finished work of Christ. What the Word says about Jesus, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and the promises that flow from Calvary, we must heartily believe. This is why many, many of the children of Israel never made it into the promised land. In spite of glorious miracle, time after time again, when God says, come on over into the promised land, the land that flows with milk and honey. And for me, I believe this is a perfect type of revival of the blessing. You know, in normal times, or there's times where the church that we've grown up that we would call normal, when a cluster of grapes is only this big, God wants to bring us over into a land with clusters of grapes that cannot be carried hardly between two men on a staff. That sounds like a revival to me. God says, come on over in it. And yet, what did they do? They saw more clearly, they believed more strongly in the obstacles, the mountains, the giants, than they did in the Word of God. And then, they chose to not believe the promise of God, and their hearts started to harden. It started to harden. Do you see how a hard heart develops in us? What has God been saying to you? I bet without a doubt that there are many promises that the Spirit is trying to be prompting to people in this congregation. He says, I want to do this in your life. I want to do this in your life. He's been saying it week after week, month after month, year after year. He says, I'm ready to do it if you'll let me. And yet, for us to get our eyes off Christ and start getting them on the circumstances, and then we start hardening our heart in unbelief. It's a frightful place. The Scripture says it's an evil heart of unbelief. Amen. Unbelief. Let me give you a picture or an analogy of what I believe God communicated to me this last week of what a hard heart is, what the lack of this brokenness is. You know, I was... The Lord reminded me I've got a tooth that needs to be fixed. It's been needing to be fixed for a long time. You know, some people, their teeth are real sensitive. And if something goes wrong, they've got to go to the dentist that day. And I've always kind of looked at it, well, I'm kind of glad. They don't bug me much when there's something wrong. And I've almost looked at it as being, well, I can pick and choose the time I want to go. But just in a moment, the Lord used that as an illustration of how we do. There's an unsensitiveness. It's not a tenderness there anymore. And some of us have even esteemed that as a good thing. Our life doesn't come crashing to a halt when something's wrong in our spirit, when there's some rottenness in our heart. And we can keep on going. I'll tell you, that's not a blessing. That's not a blessing. See, a lack of sensitivity is not a blessing. You know, I've been in fellowships where people say, oh, so-and-so. Every time something happens, they just fall completely apart. And I know we do need to be a people that have endurance and perseverance. But I'll tell you, the person that just collapses and falls on Jesus over the slightest little thing is a whole lot better off than that brother or sister that nothing stops them. Business as usual. Keep on going no matter what's in their life or what's not in their life. Well, the Lord used that as a stepping stone to remind me of another thing. And this is what I want to present today as a picture of the lack of brokenness. And that is the disease leprosy. You know, there's lepers all throughout the Bible. Some years ago, I did a little study about what the root of this was, and I was really surprised. Do you know what one of the main effects of leprosy is? It's that the sensory nerve endings deteriorate and they're no longer sensitive to heat or injury. And so as a result, one aspect of leprosy where you see, if anybody, probably Dan has seen some of the folks in India that are just eating up with it in different parts of the world still in today, but they won't have any fingers. They won't have any toes. Even whole hands will be missing. And this isn't actually caused by the disease leprosy, but the lack of feeling that comes. So they can repeatedly burn and cut themselves and injure themselves till this all becomes infected and eaten up and just literally rots off or has to be cut off. This is a perfect picture of what the lack of brokenness in our lives looks like. It is something within our heart, a numbness, a canker, a wound that is no longer sensitive. We can repeatedly wound ourselves with sin and rebellious lifestyles. We can hurt others around us and not even be sensitive to us. Sensitivity is all gone. Leprosy, a picture of hardness. Now let's back up and look at Numbers 12, and I'll show you another route and route to a hard heart. Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And let me just say this is another route, a sure route to a hard heart is a critical spirit. It is that kind of spirit that is always looking at other people and picking everything apart, criticizing and talking. And I'll tell you because it never stops there, and that's what we see right here. First it was with Miriam and Aaron, it was just a criticism of what Moses did, but it didn't stop there. So they said, it goes a little farther, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also and the Lord heard it? So they went from a little criticism of a choice that Moses had made for a wife, now the question is authority and leadership. Suddenly he was no longer a worthwhile leader. See this is how the heart is hardened by inches. You take one step, you say a few things that you shouldn't, you know the Spirit told you to be quiet, but you say them anyway, and you keep on saying them. And then pretty soon before long your heart becomes harder and you can say other things. You can bring division into the church in between families and loved ones. And this thing just keeps on growing. Jump with me down to verse 9. So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and he departed. He quenched the Spirit. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned towards Miriam, and there she was, a leper. See, it started, if you will, with a little criticism. Then it was very divisive. It kept on going. And pretty soon she was white as snow like a leper. It broke out all over. This disease that is such a perfect picture of a hard heart. Of no, there's not sensitiveness there anymore. She can feel wound and hurt without even feeling it. And she doesn't know where she's at. Turn with me to Leviticus 13.44. And let's just take a look at what leprosy does to you according to the Old Testament. And I believe it's a perfect type of shadow for what still happens through a hardened heart that lacks brokenness in the church today. Leviticus 13.44 Now let me just say here, in this situation, part of the Levitical code was if anyone questioned that they had this disease, they were to go to the high priest so he could examine the spot and do different things to see if this was truly leprosy. And let me just remind us all that the high priest is here today. Our high priest, Jesus Christ. And let us be sensitive, because I believe as we're reviewing this material, he may perhaps be examining our lives and putting his finger on something that says, yes, this is a leprous spot here. Or no, this is clean going away. But we'll see what the result of here was when leprosy was truly identified. Verse 44 He is a leprous man, he is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean. His sore is on his head, now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, unclean, unclean. Verse 46 He shall be unclean all the days he has the sore. He shall be unclean. Let me just say to you, as long as you have a hard heart, you are unclean. You are restricted from the blessings and promises of God. And he shall dwell alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. This is why we need to be very careful. Beware, the author in Hebrews says, beware that you harden your heart, because the deceitfulness of sin will steal the blessings of God for you from you little by little. One of the byproducts of this state of leprosy for the children of Israel was if they had a business, even in the culture during Jesus' day, this was all lost. They could no longer function in society as they had before. The very business, the very trade, vocation that brought a blessing to the family was now cut off from them because they could not function in society. The access to their family, their loved ones, the inheritance, their property, all of this was lost because of this leprosy which is such a picture of a hard heart. And you tell me if that isn't exactly what happens with people. As their heart continues to grow harder inch by inch, they will eventually lose everything if they're not careful. And then there's the standing in the household of faith. They're to be outside the camp. Now some of you may have experienced this or know others that have and who have given this complaint. There'll be a meeting where the Holy Spirit is moving through the place. No, they're not on the other side of the road there. They're in the congregation. They're in here with you. But the Holy Spirit is moving and surging through the place. People are having their lives touched, needs met. God is manifest and doing things. But they can sit back there untouched. They don't sense anything. They don't feel anything. And they will actually go a step further and criticize those people. What are they getting all worked up about? This is just a show. And they don't realize that they have had this hard heart that has put them outside the camp. And they're not even sensitive to what God's doing. He can be right in your midst doing marvelous things and you not even feel it. Frightful, isn't it? Leprosy. Puts you outside the camp. Let's take a look at the steps back to a broken heart. I think we've got the idea, haven't we? What the lack of brokenness does and what it's like. This ugly sore that separates us from everybody. Turn with me to 2 Kings 5 and I want us to take a look at the story about another leper. We're all familiar with the story of Naaman. Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master. Because by him, the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but, that one little but, he was a leper. A lot of things, he was doing a lot of things on the outward. Looked good, it really looked good all on the outside, but he was a leper. It all looked good on the outside, but in here, in here, there was a problem. And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife. Then she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy. And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel. But, if there were the children here, I would just remind them about how useful they can be in the kingdom. Isn't it precious to see this little girl? She's been the mouthpiece of God. In Elisha's absence, no one else is there to tell them about the healing power of Jehovah. She steps up and reminds them. Precious. Then the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of kings. So he departed, excuse me, the king of Israel, so he departed and took him with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman, my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy. So this one king sends his favorite, his general, the captain of this great army, to the king of Israel to see if he can take care of his leprosy, see if the story was true. Verse 7, And it happened when the king of Israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and make alive that this man sends a man to me heal him of his leprosy? Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks to quarrel with me. He thought he was setting him up to bring a conflict or an occasion with him. But here, what this just underlines, underscores, is that for God to change this in our hearts.