Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign to another episode of the Jonathan Project podcast where iron is sharpening iron. And we take the example of David and his good friend Jonathan and their loyalty and friendship as the inspiration for this show. If you would like Jason and me to come out, speak at one of your men's events, you have something going on with youth, your business, you name it, please reach out to us at the Jonathan Project podcastmail.com We also have a free devotional 28 days, about two minutes a day of reading and studying and meditating. But hopefully it pulls you into more. But it's a free resource, something that is hard to find nowadays, something that's good and something that's free and we combine the two and we're willing to share that with you. So that'll be in the episode links at the end of this show. So, Jason, hey, welcome to.
To another episode.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Hey, brother, what's going on? How, how is your day going?
[00:00:58] Speaker A: You know, it's busy as it seems like it always is in some way, shape or form between, you know, kids being out of school, summer camps and, you know, all that rigging, roll and work. So, you know, same as you. How are you doing, man?
[00:01:13] Speaker B: It's going well. You know, I was out working on the old truck. That's why I got to have some water. Yeah, yeah. The battery terminal almost burned down, so, you know, got to keep the old truck going. So.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, you gotta do what you got to do, my friend.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Now I want to give a shout out, buddy. James is listening to all the episodes, trying to catch up while it's Colin.
And so thank you very much for listening. And so that's it, man.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: So glad to see you're wearing one of the three colors of shirts that I own. I'm blue, gray, or green.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah. I feel like that's all that's in my closet. My wife will try to buy something every now and again to throw some color, but pretty much got blue and I got black one, a couple black shirts. So I guess that all. It all works out for all occasions. But I'm excited for, for this episode. Again, it's one of these little. And I love that we've kind of gotten on this the last, you know, few series episodes where pulling out those smaller nuggets, as I would say, of, of those biblical men characters in particular and how they've had really an outsized impact. And this one we're going to talk about Naaman and Elijah and Gehazi in particular. And you know how you can be Chasing a blessing, or what you think is a blessing, you're actually killing a blessing. Yeah. So let you take it away with your initial thoughts here.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: So for everybody listening, this is in 2nd Kings 5, and it is the story of Naaman. And, you know, when you look at the, the, the backstories of these characters, I loved it. So Naaman, by the way, listed as captain of the host of the king of Syria.
All right? King thought a lot of him and declared him to be a very brave man because. And it says in there, because God had given him victories in Syria.
So God gave him victories in Syria, which was actually against tribes of Israel. Right. God uses everybody. He's recorded as being mighty and a man of valor, but also as a leper.
And when you look through the Old Testament, he's the only guy cured of leprosy, period.
So his story goes, and this backdrop kind of falls. He has raids and captures an Israeli girl for his wife, possibly out of Samaria, because that's what later on in the. It says, hey, there's a prophet in Samaria. Right. But this maid is going to come into play in this, in verse three. You know, Colby, I thought, what an incredible young girl. We don't know her name, we'll get to meet her in heaven.
But she had been the handmaid to Naaman's wife, right?
And she maintained her faith in God. And it's very simple, but in one little verse, it kind of sums up. You can draw a lot from her as we head forward, but her attitude of love for her enemy, she literally says, you know, and she wanted him to experience. She wanted Naaman to experience the love of God and his healing. And so she tells him of Elisha, right? Elisha coming right after Elijah.
Yeah, that's how I remember, like alphabetical. Yeah. So, long story short, Naaman goes to the king and he's got direct access to him, and he says, hey, there's a guy. And the king says, go, I'm going to help you out. I'm going to sign a letter to the king of Israel, okay? And I'm going to send you six talents of silver and basically 6,000 shekels of gold and 10 changes of clothing, right?
So six talents of silver, okay, talent, one talent. Colby, did you know that one talent is 20 years of salary?
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Quite a bit of money. Quite a bit. Quite a bit.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: So he sent him 120 years of money, okay, 6,000 shekels of gold. One shekel is about thousand dollars. So it's about 6 million bucks and 10 changes of clothes. Okay. All right, which is cool. Going to flip it.
Then the king of Israel sees this, he gets it and he says, sees this letter and he thinks it's a trick. And he says, man, I can't do this.
Well, verse five, Elijah goes, hey man, send him out to the house.
And he says, send him and he'll know there's a prophet in Israel. All right? It's clear reason why he's going. And it's missionary, which goes back to verse three. Right. So Naaman shows up with all his glory and majesty and her man doesn't even come out to visit him.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: Can you imagine how mad that dude was?
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean so it's an interesting jump off to, to the beginning of the story, you know, and you know, it makes me wonder like how many times have you received a blessing? You know, all this wealth showed up, you know, and you have to fight the battle of wanting more and to see Elijah not come out and greet him. Right.
I think that's where the initial conflict kind of starts with, with the man of the hour, which is, you know, gehazi. And so, you know, one of the things that I instantly take away like especially from, you know, up beginning is the, you know, the pursuit of material stuff. You have to be very careful because you know, the adversary had kind of laid this out, you know, and it's a trap for the man of God because I guarantee and the other thought, you know, naming didn't just show up and people didn't know, you know, a high ranking Syrian person has shown up and we see this so often and this becomes a trap. Why so many people stumble and fall with the faith nowadays is because you have these well known, you know, pastors that have grown, you know, into, you know, well known figures and then they stumble and then people like, ah, you know, they point and see. So that's one of the kind of things I initially see when, you know, I'm listening to the intro and we're going through and you're kind of framing this out. You have to be very careful when you see a big material blessing because the adversaries in the, is in the, in the bushes, he's in the works trying to trip you up with that. So I know everyone was watching and it's probably very purpose of why Elijah didn't come out because he probably was very sensitive to that. But yeah, I did some thinking.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: He says he was wroth with anger. And I looked that up. I was like, you know, I really Want to know about what that means? And it's like this deep, intense anger. And I thought about Naaman. You know, Naaman was used to spending a certain type of currency and it definitely wasn't cash. That man had anger on the, you know, on the shelf, ready to take off.
But so.
And he's like, Elisha sends his servant, says, hey man, tell him to go Washington, Jordan. And his whole story, what you see is, is you see Naaman is doing what the world does. He shows up with his great procession. He's got £450 of silver, he's got all this gold, he's got all these clothes, he's got all these people.
And I mean, think about this. He was able to command a. Or he was deserving or commanded a presence with the king of Syria at will, who then extended his authority on behalf of him to, to the king of Israel. And he got, he, I can't approach a king. You know, so he does that, right?
And, you know, so Naaman goes in, the guy tells him, says, go, go bathe in the Jordan. Right?
And this is what I drew. Some kind of unique things. So Naaman does. And in verse 13, he says his skin was clean, like that of a child. And it made me stop and think about, it's really that simple.
Salvation is that simple. You're washed with the blood of Jesus Christ and you come out a brand new creature. And I think it's. No, it's not missing that. There's a, there's a mention of his skin was like that of a child.
Yeah. You know, and then in verse 15, he goes to Elijah and he says, there's no God but the God of Israel. And that's where the blessing, he's like, take a blessing and Elijah return it, refuses it. And so Naaman makes a commitment to always worship God.
And this is where, you know, we jump off into this thing. But it made me think of the psychology of reciprocation, right?
It. We live in a reciprocal society, an exchange society. I'm good to you, you're good to me, right?
Social exchange theory centers on it for, for anyone who's out there. It actually, when you think about posits that the, the social pressure of that influences people very heavily. They've done a lot of experiments and people are like, they just felt obligated.
And I think it goes back like the king didn't want to accept this because he felt like, man, if I fail, I owe him something. He's going to start a war.
And I think that Elijah didn't come out because the world thinks they can buy stuff. You know what I mean? And God's like, nope, this blessing's free. You're going to be indebted to me. And then Naaman comes out and says, you know what, you're right. You're not taking the gold. Can't take anything, but I'll give you my servitude.
So, and he leaves. But then your, your man shows up, right, gezi, in verse 26.
Go ahead, go ahead.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: No, I, I was just going to say. So, yeah, there's a lot to unpack with, with, with Naaman and Elijah and just the, the context of, of how these two, you know, kind of powerful men are interacting. And then you have this intermediate with Gehazi, which is, is really just a, kind of a contrast. So, you know, one of the things that comes out really quickly is we know gehazi has spent time, very close time, much as Elijah did with Elijah to a very powerful spiritual man.
And you see this a lot, and this again is a trap for man, is that you can be around someone successful for all the wrong reasons and pick up the wrong things.
You know, I'm sure. And the Bible gives us just snapshots of what their relationship was. But he probably saw Elijah do very powerful things in the name of God and move in a certain way. And, you know, he wanted that access of the power. I'm sure he knew the backstory that Elijah had preceded or succeeded, I should say Elijah. And so maybe he thought, hey, if I just stick around long enough, then I'll be in, in charge. But your greed, right? If you allow that, if you don't deal with that, and obviously this was a, a sin that was always festering in, in gehazi is greed.
And you know, if you don't deal with that, it can distort your perspective. And he has probably seen miracles, but he still wanted more, you know, and what Elijah was demonstrating to him probably time and time again is that, you know, God's power is not for sale. This, this is not a fire cell. On how you just quickly get access to God's power. And then looking at Naaman, I think it's very interesting that he didn't go run out and greet him because in the modern era, you see this, you know, people, paparazzi fall around all these famous people. He said, hey, just go wash in this river. And really it was a humbling kind of thing. Are you going to have faith? Are you going to trust or are you Going to rely on your knowledge and your power. So that's another good thing to kind of take out of that. You know, integrity matters in those unseen moments.
And Elijah didn't even give himself a chance to be tempted. That's one of the things that I pull out. Another reason why he probably didn't come out of that house is because, you know, a lot of people criticize the Bible and criticize people when they fall, but these are people. And if you ever read the Bible, one of the most beautiful things about it is that it is a story of broken people finding a true and a living God that loves them and them being able to do things they were created and had talents and, and resources to do. You know, in Jesus line himself, you find a whole wide array of characters, all the way down to even a woman that had been in a part of prostitution.
So, you know, when I look at this story, there's so much to unpack and to move along. But, you know, one of the key themes is you can't have two masters and you can't have a heart trying to choose to serve and to build out a business and focus solely on the money aspect and leave God out of that plan. And, you know, Gehazi is one of these guys that he kind of missed the mark. He was so close to a prophet and to God, but somehow he fell. You know, so it's an interesting story of contrast of, of people that are moving, humility, people are seeking, greed, power. It's a very interesting story.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Well, Ghazi says, you know, in verse 26, he says, I'm gonna run after him and get it.
He took a look at it and he runs. And what he wanted to do was exploit God.
And you know, I think about there's another story in the New Testament about people that wanted to exploit the mercy of God. And that's when they were at the money changers and the people that sold the doves outside the temple and our Lord and Savior, the greatest superhero, decided to cast them out.
How would you like to be standing there and go, hey, I turned my life over to you, but I'm the guy you hit, right? Like it's there. And Gehazi wanted to exploit it. And he goes and he lies. He says, I got two guys coming. She'll just give me one talent and two things of clothing. And all he wanted was 20 years worth of wages.
That's kind of weird, but that's what he wanted. And he says, I'll take that. And you know, Naaman was so indebted.
He really had. He says, man, I've had this great miracle. I can finally. I've had leprosy.
Think about that for a moment. He was married. He couldn't go be around his wife. He had to be separate.
He all, you know, he had all the things that come with leprosy, you know, being ostracized. He was a great man of valor, great courage, all these things, but never could participate in any celebration because he was alone. I think that's where, you know, a lot of people, a lot of people today, especially today, this is this thing of loneliness. And we've talked about that before.
But Naaman, obviously, he experienced it to a degree. You and I may never. Right. And I hope we never do.
But, you know, he had that great miracle of healing. And Gehazi says, I'm gonna make a profit off of that. You know, you gotta be careful.
I think about when you and I wrote the devotional and, you know, we're like, hey, it's free, it's free. 99. You get it?
Because we're tent makers. We got a profession. And this right here, you know, really very leery of taking, taking money for the gospel.
And that's what he was doing.
What would he have done?
What would have happened if Naaman says, sure, okay, well, I bought this blessing and leaves he be in hell.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it's a dangerous trap, right?
It's a very dangerous thing to try to turn a profit off of a power off the power of God. I understand.
And I don't want to leave anyone confused on like their role. Like if you're a pastor or something like that, like, you get it, you, you have to live and you're, you're being the shepherd. We're not saying, not saying that. But there's a, there's another part of it when you're dealing with. And it's the same reason. It's the same sin and idea. When you look at why Jesus got upset and overturned the money changers because the power of overturning sin in the ch. Of. Of the case of Jesus and, and the money changers, that's a power that's only reserved to God. Healing is a power only reserved to God now spreading the message and you know, what pastors do and all the other stuff, I get that. But the healing, that, that is a power of God. And you can't say, well, I'm going to give you some healing, but it's going to cost you $600. Right. Like, you don't have that power.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: That was the problem with, with Gehazi.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: You know, and like with the money changers, they were trying to sell salvation or make a profit off. Make a profit off of covering in the sense.
And I think that, you know, the big blessing for Naaman was he says, man, I'm forever committed. As a matter of fact, Bible records him leaving with two mules laden down with dirt, you know, so that when he went into the temple for the king, he goes, man, I'll put some of that dirt under my knee. You know, they. They believe the gods were provincial and, you know, some demons are right. And he says, I'm going to carry a little bit of your God with me, and that way I'll always have it.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: Yeah. But I also think about, to me, one of the tragedies with Naaman is that yes, he received the blessing, but he also had the final encounter he had, thinking it was in the name of Elijah, was, oh, well, I did pay him for that. So he goes back home and we don't get the rest of the story. If he, if he ever knew what happened with Gehazi and all this stuff, we don't know. But what we could take out of that, it is, it's a trap. It's one of the traps that modern men must watch out for is nobody will know forgetting God always sees. So Naaman had a perspective like, oh, well, I paid for it. And he probably told everyone, like, yeah, there's this prophet there. I gave him a talent of gold and some. Some clothes, and this is what happened to me, right? But God saw. And so he exposed the heart of. Or Gehazi exposed his heart. And then leprosy clings to him and his descendants. A tall order to pay for, you know, thinking nobody was saw because again, Gehazi thought he was going to get away with it. And so he had missed, again, the application of the Holy Spirit and all the things that come with being close to Elijah. And he had this big hole.
Spiritual exposure doesn't equal to spiritual transformation. That's why the Lord and the Bible talks so much. You know, guys out there about your heart has to be transformed. You have to die to your sins every day. None of us are perfect. And, you know, even Gehazi, like, there was probably a chance along that way that the Holy Spirit was probably talking to him like, this is not what you want to do. No, but, you know, God doesn't make us robots, right? And he had a choice. And so his heart hadn't Been transformed. And it can have some very serious consequences for you and obviously for your family. That's a big thing to take away. Something that you do can have impacts on your family, as it did with Gehazi. Go ahead.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: No, I like your point where you say, hey, exposure doesn't equal, you know, just because you're exposed to something doesn't make that like it sinks into you. Right. Doesn't. Doesn't equate that relationship. You know, as you were saying that, I was thinking that's absolutely true. I have seen a whole bunch of superhero movies, but on the 4th, I was trying to do a little sprint with the kids and sprained, you know, or strained a muscle. Right. Like, yeah, doesn't relate.
But the most terrifying part is sin can affect our kids.
Right. Our sin can affect our kids.
And that's what happened with God.
It says it's going to cling to his seed.
And that's a terrifying thought. As a, as a parent, you know, I hear a lot of parents say and, and, and rightfully so. Hey, I would sacrifice for my kids.
Well, Jesus paid the greatest sacrifice for sin. Take that.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: Own that. And then go live that life, you know, in service of him. That, that's great. And then keep, keep all those sins away from your kids or keep, you know, them from being exposed to it through you.
It is, it's a heart wrenching story.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
You know, and I think the other, you know, I just look at, there's so many parallels and kind of concerns for, for, for successful people, men, business owners. Right. There's so many things you need to, I see these little, like, I call them like little traps there, you know, Gehazi was a person who spiritualized a very selfish decision.
He, you know, thought, hey, well, God is giving us this great opportunity in my. And my master, my boss, he doesn't want to take it like this doesn't make sense. You know, I'm sure Elijah lived a very humble life. He probably lived off, you know, the, the generosity of the people. As a prophet.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: The, the little girl says there's a prophet in Samaria.
So if he lived in Samaria, he wasn't real. You know what I mean? Like, that was the worst part.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:12] Speaker B: So no, I agree with you.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: You know, and he just had this very entitled kind of thought Gehazi did as a servant. But it poisons gratitude. All the goodness that he could see out of that great thing that a foreigner has seen the light and the truth and had his life transformed by the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords, he missed that, right? And he now he has this poison where I, I need, I need a little extra, right? Want 20 years worth of, Of. Of pay, you know, as you paid out. And then Proverbs 15:27 talks about it. Whoever is greedy for unjust gains troubles his own household.
And it's funny how that all played out for him, right?
First Timothy 6 and 10, the love of money, right? Not saying that you can't have money, right? And I think this is where I think some Christian business owners, you talk to them, they feel conflicted sometimes.
God is not against you making a living. He's against that living taking over you. And the only thing you're pursuing is the money because that becomes of evils, of cheating people, of stealing, doing wrong things on your taxes. That is that root. You want to keep what you think you deserve, right? And all these kinds of little traps that Gazi fell into, you know, and ultimately what we see is you can't chase God's presence, guys. And you know, ladies, whoever's out there, listen and seek world riches with the same heart, they always are going to be in conflict. That's not saying that you cannot have, you know, fabulous wealth that God has blessed you with. But I think about what Jesus himself said. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into heaven, right? So, you know, Gehazi gives us a lot of warnings there.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: Wherever your treasure, you know, it talks about the treasure. You know, wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart is.
And if you. If the love of that. The love of that money being the root of evil, right? Love is such a very powerful emotion. I mean, it's. It is. We see it throughout history.
We see it in our own lives. You know, you and I both are married, you know, and it's. It's super powerful. The love of money, when you put that love of a tool ahead of everything else, man, that's evil.
That's evil, right? Because you're not taking it with you. Let's just be very candid.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: No, you can't take one diamond to. Because the kingdom's economy doesn't work off of earthly, earthly riches. You know, the cattle on a thousand hills already belong to the Lord. What does he need with our money? And I think a lot of people get hung up on that. And they can look at this and say, well, you know, maybe deserved a little something. He had probably done a lot for Elijah. What was wrong with them taking a little bit of the money that was being offered.
Well, it is again, you cannot take credit in God's kingdom for anything that he has done. We are just merely vessels, right? And what he's looking for is obedience in the heart, a yielding heart that wants to give him the glory that he rightfully deserves. But allow an obedient spirit to be used to manifest and to help people here in this world find that gospel. And Gehazi doesn't demonstrate that. But we as modern folks can do the same thing, right? If we don't work on our heart, which is again, one of these mega themes out of this story is a transformation that born again kind of thing. Like, how do, like Nicodemus ask Jesus, well, how can you be born again? How can, you know, you enter the womb again? He's not talking about that. He's talking about you have to sacrifice the old nature of pursuing your own desires to give those up for a new heart that seeks what God wants for you and trusting that it's the best. You know, we don't know what the outcome would have been, how God could have blessed Gehazi and used him in the future. He would have submitted and yielded his heart. You know, and that's the tragedy, I think that we can fall in, we can miss so many blessings and we don't know the lefts and the rights when we pursue what we think is a blessing and we're actually killing it.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: You know, I think when I, when I read this and I, I think about like an Acts, you know, and I'll, I'll tie this in in a minute. But God says, I'll be a debtor to no man, right?
And salvation is not something that is earned in any way. It's not something we can earn or achieve. It's by grace, by grace alone.
And, you know, I thought that like Gehazi, he was very careful putting.
He was very careful saying, hey, you can buy this, and not worrying about almost putting himself in the middle of the relationship between God and Naaman. Like, Naaman was going back saying, there's no other God but this God that is.
He had a lot of influence. Not only did his physical appearance, but he was a changed heart.
[00:27:09] Speaker A: Yeah, we've talked about that. We've talked about that. Jason, just to interject real quick, like I, I, I, I. That's what I thought about. I was like, the narrative got switched of what happened with the miracle and you robbed God of glory. That was one. That is the big sin, gentlemen. Like you can turn into a multi billion dollar business.
And if you think you're foolish enough to think that you got there with, without God's help, we see how this always goes. Or you could have a mega church. You could have, you know, like he talks about. You could speak with the eloquence of angels and you could sing and you have all these talents. You have the oratory speech. You could be Spurgeon reborn in this generation.
Billy Graham. But if your heart is not transformed and you're not giving God, it's just a matter of time. It's just a matter of time. And. But that's a good point. Sorry, I didn't mean to step on. But like, that is so powerful to me. Like what would the Syrian nation have been like?
[00:28:03] Speaker B: Perhaps.
Who knows, right? Who knows?
Anytime you put yourself in, in the way of someone having a relationship with God, like, that's dangerous ground to be on.
And, and I think, you know, Gehazi did it. You look in the Book of Acts and they had Simon the Sorcerer who's like, man, I see these guys healing. How do I get that? How do I get that power? Let me buy that from you.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: And they were pretty, they were pretty, pretty hot about that. They said, no, man, that's, this isn't for you. This isn't it. This isn't the way it goes.
Because it is, it's, it's about the relationship with Jesus. That's really what it's about.
There's so much about that relationship. I still love the story of the dirt. I say it, I love that story. You've, if you've been listening for a long time, I've told it a couple of times. He goes, I want the dirt put under my knee.
And Elisha goes, get the dirt. He doesn't say anything else. It's like, take the dirt.
God is not bound by dirt. God is not professional. He made the entire universe. He makes it all. He exists outside of it. He exists outside the construct of time.
He's not bound by dirt.
And.
But it was not the big rock in the situation.
[00:29:19] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:29:21] Speaker B: Get the relationship. Get the relationship. You are indebted to God, Naaman. You're indebted to God and that's going to spawn a relationship with you because you're a man of valor. You're used to being independent. And let me tell you about people that are super independent. And I read this and that's kind of like God. It makes sense. In one of the researches it said that People don't ask for help. The people who won't ask for help.
All right. Is the conflict with being self sufficient.
Yep, that's one. But it's also this huge negative feelings associated with debt.
Right. Naaman's pretty independent. He ain't had to ask a whole lot of folks for anything.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: As a matter of fact, when he did ask, he asked the king and he's like. And then the king, he goes, letter to the king of Israel. He's like, man, I can't help you. Tore it up. Rent his clothes.
If you put 10 things of clothes in the same bucket as all that gold and silver, it must have been a rarity.
[00:30:26] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:30:27] Speaker B: I. I don't know. Clothes. Clothing must have been a rarity.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: Yeah. And I'm guessing it was, you know, stuff that you would see in a royal court. But, you know, as we, as we get towards the parking lot here, I, I want to just leave you guys with, you know, it's a powerful thing and probably could spend, you know, another hour, two hours talking about this. But, you know, just on a very practical matter, especially for you folks that own businesses are highly successful, you know, Psalms 5000, 110 created me a clean heart, oh God. It's an anchor, right, that we saw missing in Gazi, that we saw Naaman act upon. He had a transformed heart. He sought out, even though he was like, I don't understand why I got to get into this river. There's great rivers here. He had all these doubts, but he yielded and he had his heart transformed. He was able to be healed. You know, Psalms 139, 23 and 24. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. You have to, guys, crucify your flesh. And sometimes that's looking yourself in the mirror and asking, am I on the right path? Is this the right decision? Is this the right partnership? Is this the right product? Is this the right whatever, you know, and it's tough.
It is tough to find success.
You know, I'll give you a real practical thing that I struggle with all the time is this whole thing with this book enterprise, this whole thing with the podcast, this whole thing with, you know, these opportunities as far as promoting and talking about them.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: Because it's not about me. It's not about anything but trying to find creative ways with the small measure of talents that the good Lord has given me to reach people, reach men's hearts in particular, to be the spiritual leaders that God has asked. And why? Because I believe that you never know the Guy that could transform a community, a state or a nation.
Like the tragedy of Naaman's story is not that he got healed, but to me, there's a sadness that I pick up in the story is that Gehazi got in between him and God potentially. And what could happen in Syria with a great man of influence who only saw, well, I paid for it, versus leaving, saying the God of all creation healed me, which would have been the story. So you have to be careful, guys. And the best way to do this, and we talk about this and I'll wrap up and give Jason the final thoughts is spending time with God prepares you when the temptation shows up. Yeah, all that with Elijah. He didn't need to go out and see all the riches. Hey, this is what God has said. It's not about me. You didn't come to see me, you came to see God. And if you don't prepare yourself, you'll find yourself in all kinds of situations as a successful man or woman and you're not prepared. So Jason, go ahead.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: No, I agree with you and you know, for me personally and I always, you know, I'm probably more like Peter kind of this mostly gas, not a lot of break in my life, but anytime it comes down to you, I tell you what caused me to hit the brakes real quick is, is there God involved, right?
Am I step, am I interfering with what he's got going on?
You know, and, and I think that's for anybody, right? We're definitely, you know, very clear. I'm not against in any way. I fully support full time pastors like that is a phenomenal. God has called you to quite the blessing and I can think of several that are just some of my idols, right.
And they always show up, they're great men.
It's when the love of that supersedes your love of Jesus Christ, you got problems. You're out of order, you're out of, you're out of alignment.
Satan loves it. Not real good for you eternally.
So.
All right, that's it.
[00:34:20] Speaker A: Yeah. That is yet again, folks, another episode of the Jonathan Project podcast. That's what we do. We try to help men, women, folks that are listening to us each and every week with just some practical, real world examples of how God can transform your heart and he can use you no matter where you're at, whatever is going on, to do great and powerful things. If you enjoyed this episode, I encourage you go back, listen to our other episodes. We'll have the archive link how you can subscribe so you never miss an episode, it'll be on this episode trailer. This episode and every episode does come out every Tuesday morning, 6am on the east coast or wherever you might find yourself when 6am on the East coast in the US hits.
Please reach out to us. If you need prayer. You want us to come out and speak whatever it may be that you think that we may be able to pray for you, help you, please reach out at the Jonathan Project podcast gmail.com and the Jonathan Project podcast gmail.com also you will find that free devotional link again. It's another thing just helps you work through some of those titles. It's made for men especially or for a man that you might love in your life. It helps you become a father, better father, husband. Why? Because it's based off the Bible. Not me and Jason's experiences, but the good book. So Jason, thanks for spending some time with me and all right, man.
[00:35:42] Speaker B: Be safe.
[00:35:43] Speaker A: All right, man. Talk to you.
