Keion Henderson - The Sequel

Right where we left off, for those of you who were not here Sunday, we talked about God naming Naaman, who had received leprosy, and he received his healing because of a little girl who was Naaman’s wife’s handmaid. The Bible says she was a servant, but really, she was a concerned child. Instead of allowing her circumstances to change who she was, she remained that concerned child and said, «If my master can get to the Prophet, then he could be healed.» The Prophet she was speaking of was Elijah.

So, we’re going to pick up right here at 2 Kings chapter 5; go to verse 20. This is the second part of this story, and I’m going to show you how two people can go through the same thing and have different outcomes. This really is a story in and of itself-a continuation. It might sound like two different things, but it is actually something we can relate to, and I’ll use a term in a minute. If you go to 2 Kings chapter 5 and go to verse 20, if you’ve got it, say «Amen.»

Look at what verse 20 says: Gehazi, the prophet Elijah 's servant, thought, «Look, my master did not accept what the Syrian Naaman offered.» So, what is happening is Naaman offered his master gifts in exchange for the healing, and then Elijah said, «I don’t want your gift because I did what I did so that God would get the glory. If you 're going to do anything, give it to God, because I don’t want what’s here.» Somebody say, «I don’t want what’s his!» As certainly as the Lord lives, I will run after him and accept something from him! He 's basically saying, «Well, my master didn’t take it; I’m going to go get it.» He says, «I’m going to go get it.»

So, Gehazi ran after Naaman, and when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him and asked, «Is everything all right?» Gehazi answered, «Yes, everything is fine.» Watch how Elijah, my master, sent me to give a message to you. He says, «Look, two servants of the prophets just arrived from the hill country, and I want you to give me one of your talents of silver and two suits, if you don’t mind.» Naaman said, «Please accept not one, how many does he give him?» «Please accept two talents of silver!» he insisted and tied up the two talents of silver in two bags along with two suits of clothes and gave them to Gehazi, who carried them for Gehazi.

When he arrived at the hill, he took them from the servant and put them in the house and sent the men away. I told you that this is actually the second part of the first part. I want to preach over the next few moments on this subject: «The Sequel.» I just want to talk about the sequel and show you how two parts of a movie can have different outcomes in the same circumstance.

You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. One of my favorite movies to watch is «The Godfather.» If you put it on right now, I can watch it while I’m preaching to you. There’s just something about that movie; it invokes a thought process within me. I’m not advocating for crime and all of that kind of stuff, but it shows you that if you’re ever going to do anything on a large scale, you have to be strategic in your thoughts. To last a long time, you’ve got to stay out of people’s business. It gives you a whole different approach to life. Sometimes, like me, I anticipate the sequels, but sometimes they’re not as good as the first one. Have you ever seen that? You know, movie one was great, then you saw movie two, and it was okay, but it didn’t have anything on the first one? Sequels don’t often live up to the original; sometimes they let you down. However, in good cases, like «Rocky» and other movies, it doesn’t matter if it 's number one, number two, or number three — they’re always good because there’s a rhythm that must accompany a sequel.

So, this is the sequel to the original text we talked about on Sunday. What happens here is starkly different from what happens in the first one. In the first story, Naaman came with leprosy and left healed; however, the servant we’re discussing, Gehazi, will have leprosy by the time we reach the last verse of this chapter. What 's amazing is that they are both servants. The little girl and Gehazi are both servants, and they both serve two important people. How is it that one of them leads their master away from sickness while the other contracts the sickness of the master? Something has to happen that is starkly different in one episode than in the other.

Naaman is joyous in this text; Gehazi is jealous. I can tell you that wherever you find jealousy, you will find disease. Wherever you find jealousy, you will find disease. Whenever you find someone who wants…