(Sunday) God of the Impossible: Miracle Beyond the Miracle

In this episode of The God of the Impossible series, we dive into the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5—a powerful, raw look at what happens when God uses an outward miracle to reveal a deeper, inward one.

Naaman has everything our world chases: success, influence, respect, and power. But there’s a “but” in his story—he’s a leper. No status, money, or connections can fix what’s eating him alive. Sound familiar? On the outside things may look good, but inside there’s pain, fear, or something you can’t fix on your own.

Through Naaman’s journey, we explore:

• How God often starts miracles through unexpected people (like a forgotten servant girl).
• Why our pride can be the biggest barrier between us and what God wants to do.
• What it really looks like to obey God when His way doesn’t make sense or match our expectations.
• How an outward change (healing, breakthrough, answered prayer) is often just the doorway to the real miracle—a changed heart and a transformed life.

If you’re praying for God to fix something in your life—your health, your family, your relationships, your future—this episode will challenge you to ask:

What if the miracle I want isn’t the only miracle God wants to do?

This conversation is anyone who’s tired of surface-level faith and wants to see how God works in impossible situations to change not just circumstances, but us.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

As we continue in our sermon series, the God of the Impossible. This summer we've been looking at the life and the times of the prophet Elisha and how God stepped into impossible moments in his life to reveal his own character, not Elisha's character, but the character of the living God. Today we're going to look at one of the great stories of a man named Naaman. And the message titled this morning is this Naaman, The Miracle Beyond the Miracle. The Miracle Beyond the Miracle. 2 Kings chapter 1 or chapter 5. We'll read verse 1. It's a long story. I won't read the whole text, but I'm going to invite you to keep your Bibles open because we'll work through the story together. Verse number 1, Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor. Because the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor. But he was a leper. Father, in the next few moments, speak to our hearts. In Jesus' great name we pray. Amen. Oftentimes when we think about the great miracles of God, we think about those miracles that impact our outward circumstances. And they are great. And oftentimes when you and I pray and we're asking God to do a miracle in our life, it's because there is some type of circumstance that is aggravating our life or has frustrated our life or has brought us to an impasse in our journey. And God is gracious to step into those outward circumstances, be it our family struggles or our financial need or relationships that are strained? God, we need a miracle here. And God so often does that. But what if the miracle that God does on the outside is actually just a doorway to a greater miracle on the inside of our life? What if the miracle we're praying for is just simply the catalyst to a greater miracle that God is longing to do in our life? Because as wonderful as the miracles are, that changes our outward and possible circumstances, there is a greater miracle that God desires to perform in each of our lives. And that is the transformation of our heart. And when we look at Naaman's life, we look at a story of healing, a miracle. A miracle that had to be a God miracle because there was no answers for him medically. Society had no cure for his situation. But God did, but it wasn't just the outward miracle that God was interested in. It was an inward work that God was longing to do in his life. And I might submit to you this morning that whatever circumstance and trouble and frustration and impossibility you're facing and you're praying about, I believe God hears and God cares about that. But I believe there actually may be something beyond that miracle that would be a greater miracle that God wants to work in my life and in yours. The story of Naaman is such a story. Let me give you a little bit of background about Naaman. Naaman was a successful military commander, but not for Israel, rather for Syria. He was a Gentile, which is a beautiful beginning to the story of miracles, that God's grace is not just confined to a few, that God's miracle-working power is available to all who will call upon the name of the Lord. The Bible says that he had power and wealth and he had influence. Naaman was a man who had everything that the world admired. This was the guy, men that you would want your daughters to grow up and marry a man like Naaman. He was a man of character, he was bold, he was a leader, he was courageous. Men saw his life and they followed his leadership. Moms, this is the man that you would hope your sons would grow up to be. A great leader, successful, worked hard. God's hand was upon him. But the scripture introduces him not only with all of his successes, it notes one terrible problem he had in verse number one. It says, in spite of all his successes, and even the fact that the hand of God was upon him, he was a leper. But he was a leopard. And that little word, but changes everything in our life, doesn't it? Naaman had the medals on his chest. He had servants in his house, he had the respect of his king and of his nation, but he carried a disease of leprosy that had no cure and no amount of money, no influence, no success that he could brag about would change the condition that was eating him up on the inside. Naaman's story reminds us that every one of us have a place where our strength, our resources, our abilities, and even the abilities of humanity around us, it runs out. And our only source, our only place of hope is to go to the Lord. I want to remind you of that because some of you are there. Some of you are wrestling with that or frustrated with that or trying to leverage through this. But I want to remind you that when you come to the end of your strength, and maybe if you would be wise and I would be wise before we come to the end of ourselves, we would pause and say, There is help for us in the name of the Lord. And so even though everything looked successful outwardly, Naaman a good man had a bad problem. A problem that needed a miracle. But its problem, as we'll discover, wasn't simply leprosy, it was a heart that needed to be transformed. So let's walk through this great story together. I want to give you a few principles that I think will help you as we walk through this incredible story about the miracle after the miracle. And the first truth that I want you to notice is this God often begins miracles in our life through unexpected people. Can anyone testify of that this morning? Can anyone look back at a course in your life where God sent someone into your life that you were not expecting or you would not have chosen, and God actually used them to begin a great work in your life. The story goes like this in 1 Kings chapter number 5, that Naaman no doubt had been at home and he was frustrated and worried and concerned because though he was outwardly successful and his resume was great and he had the admiration of an entire nation and the king, there was this inward problem and it was leprosy. And leprosy was a death sentence in the ancient world. There was no hope, there was no cure. And matter of fact, if you this was a Jewish person and they were known to have leprosy, they would have been set outside of the community because of how contagious it truly is. But in this moment, Naaman is fortunate that he is a Gentile and he's not under that same for wording law. So what we discover is now he is apparently talking to his wife. And he says, I don't know what we're gonna do. I don't know what our next steps are. There's no cure. It's spreading, it's growing, it's gonna be debilitating. We gotta get help. What will we do? Well, it just so happens that in Naaman's house is a servant girl that we discover in verse number three. A servant girl who was actually, it's just a nice way to say, a slave to Naaman and his wife, who was an Israelite, who had been taken captive by Naaman's army in a previous battle. She had been ripped out of her home, away from her land, and now she was made to be a slave in Naaman's house. Of all people who are unqualified to speak to this, who seems to be the most unexpected of all voices, there is a slave servant in the house who overhears the conversation when Naaman and his wife, and notice what she says in verse number three. Then the servant said to Naaman's wife, If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria, speaking of Elisha, he would cure him of his leprosy. This nameless slave girl who'd been ripped from everything that was beloved and she cared for. She could have been bitter, she could have been resentful, she could have been silent, she could have quietly laughed and mocked and said, Good for you for doing what you did for me. But instead, her compassion and her mercy and her confidence in a God that she probably didn't understand a whole lot about and why things were going on in his life, it rose up and he goes, she goes to her owner, her slave master, name his wife, and says, Oh, oh, I wish for one thing. I wish like crazy that he could find the prophet in Samaria because God uses him and he would be healed. One sentence, one act of compassion, one moment of courage, and God would use it to begin a miracle that would eventually change not only Naaman's outward circumstances, but his life forever. Here's the truth I want you to see. The impossible often begins when someone that the world barely notices begins to function in what God has called them to. Can I say this to you? Don't think that just because you are not of status or that you do not have this degree or you do not have this title, that your voice in the work of God does not matter. That one sentence, that one word of encouragement, that one prayer that you offer, that one verse that you speak into someone's life, it may be the catalyst that begins to move them to a miracle that God wants to perform in their life. And can I tell the rest of us that let's not allow someone's status to determine our availability to hear what God may say through them in our life. I have just come to learn I can learn something from anyone. If they have a PhD or if they don't even have a GED. If God has a word for me through them, I want to open up my ears and hear what the Lord says. Can I get an amen? Never underestimate a conversation or an invitation or a prayer. You may be influencing towards the miracle that God wants to do. So Naaman, the scripture says, and I'll hurry through this. Naaman hears about this. He goes to the king of Syria and says, Hey, there is a prophet in the land of Israel that apparently God works through, and I've been told that if I go see them, that God will heal me. And the king of Syria is touched by this, and he says, All right, we'll do that. And he says, What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna write you a letter of introduction, take it to the king, and we're gonna take him an offering too. And he loads them up with 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten new garments of clothes. Let me put this in context. In today's market, it would be more than 10 million dollars that he loads Naaman up, and he says, Now go to the king of Israel, present yourself, and let's see what God will do. Well, Naaman and his entourage show up at Israel. They go to the king's palace and they said, Hey, we're here. This is what we're asking you to do. The king of Israel freaks out because he's like, I don't know why you're here. Am I God that I can heal you and I can deliver you? And he actually tears his clothes because he thinks it's a setup. Oh, if I had time, I'd preach for a little bit about how there comes a moment when your government, when your banker, when your lawyer, when your doctor, they do not have an answer. But in those moments, that's the opportunity where the church can rise up and say, they may not have an answer there, but there is a voice in the house of the Lord that still brings healing, that still works miracles, that nothing is impossible for them. And Elisha hears somehow that Naaman has gone to the king. The king is stressed out, the king doesn't know what to do, he thinks it's a conspiracy theorist. And Elisha sends word, hey king, send Naaman to my house. God's gonna heal him. And now here comes Naaman and his whole entourage: horses and chariots and mules and servants and all the people that would come with him, loaded up with 10 million bucks. I'm telling you, a preacher's about to get paid this morning, I'm telling you. And so he shows up, and no doubt, he's saying to himself, Naaman that is, this is gonna be great. God is at work, and God's gonna do something miraculous to heal me of my condition. Pick it up, if you will, verse number nine. And it says, So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. He knocks, and Elisha doesn't get up and go to the door, but rather he sends a messenger to him. The prophet doesn't even come to the door. I don't know why. Maybe he's in prayer, maybe he's watching the World Cup. I don't know what's going on, but he doesn't even show up for the entourage, the parade that just showed up. This mighty man of valor, this man that God has used before. But the servant shows up, like, Hello? Yeah, is Naaman here? Or is Elisha here? Yeah, yep. He sent me word to tell you what to do. Verse number 10 goes on to say, and the messenger said to him, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be made clean. Verse 11, so Naaman said, Hallelujah, let's go do it, fellas. No, if you have your Bibles, that's a much different story. But Naaman was angry, and he went away, saying, Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and he would wave his hand over the place that I have leprosy, and he would cure it, and now he tells me to go and wash in this Jordan River. Are not the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in them and be clean? So he turned and he walked away in rage. Here's the second thing I want you to see this morning. Is not only does God use unexpected people, but oftentimes in our circumstances, what he exposes is not just his miracle working power, he exposes the pride of our own heart. Naaman had arrived at Elisha's house with all this confidence in the power of God through this man named Elijah. And he had predetermined how God, watch this, he had predetermined how God was gonna do this and what Elisha should do. Elisha's gonna come out, there's gonna be a big celebration, there's gonna be a worship team, there's gonna be all this multimedia. Elisha's gonna stand up and I'll stand before him. He's gonna wave his hands like this, he's gonna preach some dynamic message, and all of a sudden it's gonna be gone and it's gonna be great. And he says, and the guy didn't even show up. The guy didn't even go to the door. Naaman wanted a miracle, but he wanted a miracle on his own terms. He wanted a miracle that he could control, he wanted a miracle that matched his expectation. But instead, Elisha never even came outside the door. And Naaman was furious. Why was he furious? Because the problem wasn't the river, the problem wasn't even the order, the problem was his own pride. And friends, is it not true that oftentimes it is our pride that is the barrier to the miracle that God is trying to work out in our life? We say, I will not do this. It has to be that way. Anybody ever found themselves in a position where you said, I won't ever do that? I wonder if Naaman on the way over saw the Jordan River and if you know anything about the Jordan River in this part of Israel, southern part, it's not beautiful. It's nasty. It's like muddy orange, it's like you step in the river and you can't see your feet when you're ankle deep. And it wasn't even like cool water, it's like hot water, like no one wants to get in there. And you can almost imagine at some point Naaman saying to his servants as they're making their way to Israel, look at that old nasty water there. I wouldn't get in there for nothing. You never catch me in there. Anybody ever had one of those moments in your life? Like, I'm never gonna drive a minivan. No way, I'm too cool. Too many mans later, I can tell you, Toyota makes a pretty good one, actually. Have you ever said something like this? I'm telling you, when I'm a parent, my kids will never act like that. Yeah, right. Tell you, if I was in charge, I'd do this. Then you're promoted and you realize, well, I hope no one remembers what I said. Friends, sometimes the greatest obstacle between us and the miracle is not our situation. It's our lack of surrender and to humble ourselves before the hand of Almighty God. Naaman's leprosy was visible, but his pride was hidden, and it was really hindering what God wanted to do. We've all come to God with these types of expectations. God, I will follow you if you will do it this way. God, I need you to fix this relationship, but this is how I need you to do it. God, I need you to get me a promotion. I need more money, I need this issue to be resolved in my life, and this is how you should do it. And we almost act as though God becomes a divine holy butler in our life, and we get to choose the pathway of God. And then when God doesn't do it the way we want Him to do it, and His plans are different than ours, and His way does not look like a way we would ever choose for ourselves, we find ourselves not unlike Naaman, but we find ourselves angry at the whole process. And Naaman is ready to walk away. God whispering to some of you, I want you to forgive them. No, God, I'm not forgiving them. I want you to make the phone call. I want you to be appealing. No, no, no, God. I want you to resign that position. No, no, God, that's not. You give me the position first, and then I'll I want you to confess the sin to a brother that you may be strengthened and finding, no, no, God, I'm not doing that. And how many of us? Maybe no one else. But can I be honest enough to tell you there have been times in my life I have worked out of church services stomping with God. No, God, I'm not doing that. I know that. And I'll try to figure out every excuse. Oh, that's the devil trying to trick me into that thing. How? I'm not, I'll figure, and I'll go back and I'll go back to my Syria and I'll figure it out myself. But here's the problem there comes a moment in your life when you recognize there is no figuring out on yourself, and what I actually need is God. But if I'm not careful, my pride. And there enters the second great servant, the unexpected, when one of his servants comes to him, and notice if you will, as he's walking away. Verse number 13. But his servant came to him and he said to him, Naaman, my father. If this would have been a great word or a difficult word that the prophet had spoken to you, will you not do it? Hasn't he actually said to you, Wash, and you'll be clean? The servant walks up to him and he approaches him and he says these words. You just need to humble yourself and recognize this is in God's hands. See, what we discover is not only does God use unexpected, and not only does God reveal our heart, but God will also give God's grace as we humble ourselves in obedience. And he says, if this was hard, which is to say, Naaman, if this was hard and you had to do all of this or pay all this or fight this battle or build this monument or offer this altar or offer, then you would have done it, and this is the problem, then you would have received credit somehow because you were a part of the miracle. That somehow it was you that made it happen. And maybe there are moments in our journey where God says, I am going to do this my way, so the only way, and the only one who can get glory is me. So that in six months or six years or sixty years, you won't look back, or your family. Say, boy, granddad was so strong and he fixed it. And mom and dad, man, they fought through it, and they just they ran, they'd just sit back and say it was hopeless. And all we did was humble ourselves before God and obey God, and that became the doorway to the miracle that God was wanting that I needed so badly to do. And the servant said, Wouldn't you have done it? And Elisha or Naaman said, Yes. In a moment of broken, honest humility that had no logical explanations as to why it happened, Naaman says to his crew, Come on, let's go to the Jordan. I wonder if there's any ready anyone here ready to go to the Jordan today. You have thought, you've been angry, you've been mad, you've been resentful even towards God. And maybe somehow my voice can be the voice of God to you as his servant, saying, If God asks you to do something difficult, you probably do it. But he's simply asking you to wash and to obey. He goes into the Jordan River there, he walks out in the murky, brown, nasty water. And he dips once, comes up, nothing. Dips twice, nothing. Third times, nothing. After six times, there's nothing. But notice verse number 14. So when he went down and he dipped himself a seventh time in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, his flesh was restored. Like the flesh of a little child. He was clean. Naaman, it isn't that the problem is too difficult. The problem is that you are too prideful to humble yourself and simply obey God and what He's asked you to do. And if you will, He will. And I know in my tribe and in my theological umbrella that I am under, we oftentimes want to build out something on the number seven, and there is good meaning for numbers and what they mean. But I believe in this context it isn't about the magical number of seven. I believe it's about a humble, consistent humility and obedience to what Christ has called me to do. That I'm not obeying once, and if it doesn't work out, I'm moving on. If I don't do what God, if God, I'll do it two or three times, but if God doesn't open the door by that second time, I'm walking away. I believe there is something to be said about consistency and our obedience and our humility before God. God, I trust you, nay, though I don't understand you. Oh, can I get a little amen from someone in the house? You may not need this, but this preacher needs it today. You may not need this word, but I need to be reminded of the value of consistent, humble obedience time after time. And I want to make some very important clarifications here. The river had no magical power or miraculous power in it. If it was like the Western, modern, charismatic church today, we'd be bottling that stuff up and selling it in our foyers. There's no magic or miracle in the water. The miracle was in the power of God that begins to flow through a servant who humbles himself to simply obey. Obedience did not even earn the miracle. It simply opened Naaman's heart to receive the miracle that God had for him. Too often, though, the story of Naaman now ends here. He obeyed God, he got his miracle, he's got great skin, his wife's gonna be jealous, he's gonna go back home, and he's gonna live a great life. Amen. God bless you. See you Wednesday night. But that's not the end of the story. That's the miracle that leads to the greater miracle. As far as Naaman was concerned, the work was done. What he wanted, God changed my outward, changed my condition, changed the circumstance. That will be enough. And God says, I will start there, but I won't finish there. Because the miracle that God performed outwardly led to the miracle that God performed inwardly, which is this. It was the miracle of a changed heart. The changed heart. Remember, Naaman, who left Elisha's house in fury, now stands in the river, humbled, but not only is he cured outwardly, now his heart has come to discover the love and the mercy and the kindness of the living God. Notice, if you will, verse number 15. Naaman goes back to Elisha's house, dripping wet, mud dripping off his sandals. And he knocks on the door and says, I need you to know not only did God perform a miracle outward, but God did something inward. Verse number 15. Now, listen to this now. Now I know that there is no God in all the world except the God of Israel. The miracle was not just that his skin was restored, the greater miracle is that his heart was awakened to the living God. The man who once trusted his own power, his own position and success, now recognizes the greatness of God, the God of Israel, and he wants to know him because he has experienced him. What if the miracle you're longing for, that there is a miracle beyond that miracle, beyond just changing the circumstances that we desperately need? What if there is a secondary and a greater miracle that God says in changing that outward? What I'm ultimately aiming for is to see a change of your heart that you will know I am God and you will love me. How many of us are guilty? God, change this. God, answer this prayer. God, open this door. God, heal my blank. And God does. And for a moment we have this epiphany in our own faith. Oh, God is able, God is good. But here's the last thing, and I'll close with this. The miracle that went beyond the miracle wasn't just that he had a changed heart, but that changed heart led to a transformed life. Naaman comes back and he dripping wet and healed, and his skin's beautiful. He's had this encounter and this experience with the living God that he'll never be able to deny. He says, I have now experienced God, his grace, his love and mercy. What a day! What a wonderful worship service we had at Grace Fellowship. I walked in overwhelmed, fearful, anxious. And God spoke to me. My circumstances and the events of my life began to shift. And in that I saw God, what a great day. And then we walk away and we go back to our work-aday world and we show up on Tuesday and we've almost forgot about it. And certainly in a month or two we have just gone sort of back to the old way. But Naaman said, a changed heart brings forth a transformed life. He says to Elisha, I got to go back to Syria, but I'm going to go back different in my life. And he says, Would you mind? Watch this, watch. Would you mind if I dug up a bunch of dirt here from Israel and I put it on my mules and I took it back to Syria, so there I may worship the Lord God. Again, I don't need you to get a shovel and come to Grace Fellowship. In this Naaman is saying, everything I have built my life on to this moment is of pagan idolatry and my own success. But now there is a new foundation. Now there is a new place that I'm going to root my life and I'm going to build my life. And he says it's this outward picture of the dirt of Israel where I encountered God that from this point on I will be a worshiper of the Lord my God and I will build my life for his glory. See, the miracle of Naaman isn't just that he was healed of the outward circumstance, is that his heart was changed and his life was transformed. And maybe the circumstance and the fighting and the frustration and the mountains and the valleys and the struggles that you're experiencing. Yes, God sees that. Yes, you're crying out to God for that. And I believe God will step into that. But what? What if there's a miracle beyond the miracle? What if there's something that God wants to do deep in your heart? What if there's something that God wants to do through that miracle on the front side that transforms you from generation to generation? And that you look back and say, in the summer of 2026, when all hell had broken loose and I had no answers, I called upon the Lord and concerning all those things, and he heard my cry and he changed and he made ways where there were no ways. He quenched the fire, he calmed the storm. But in all of that, he did something even greater. He revealed himself to my heart. My heart was humbled and my life was transformed. That is my prayer for us. Not that God would just simply remove the difficult circumstances and the impossibilities of our life, but in doing that miracle, he transforms a greater miracle in each of our hearts that transforms us for life.