 If you guys have your Bibles and you wouldn't mind turning to 2nd Kings chapter five, 2nd Kings chapter five, that's the passage I'm gonna be reading from here this morning. 2nd Kings chapter five, starting in verse one, and while you guys are turning there, I figure I'll just kind of fill you in a little bit on my background. Obviously from the video, you have a pretty good idea or picture of what it is to be a Navy SEAL, but I will say there was a time where back home in Huntington Beach, California, a girl asked me if it meant that I worked at SeaWorld or something, she said. So maybe here's something you didn't know, SEAL is actually an acronym that stands for Areas of Operation. So it's sea, air, and land. Kind of give you a feel of what my team was doing on land on the last deployment that I was involved in. We were out in Iraq and given the task of hunting down men that make the suicide vest and roadside bombs like IEDs. And while we're out there, we're working with this group called the ISOF, that's the Iraqi Special Operations Forces. And really one of our goals with these guys is to simply teach them how to fight their own fights. So the best way to do that is to only train them on base but actually go outside the wire and fight side by side with them. Well, if you could imagine a whole deployment going by, I'd say pretty good because we've bagged and gagged some bad dudes or making the world a better place. And we're coming up on what looked like just enough time on the calendar to do maybe one more operation. We're really sure if the ISOF is ready for us to pass the baton off to them. So we decided, hey, for this final operation, why don't we try and make it a sort of graduation operation? We'll let them plan the whole thing from the ground up and we'll be there with them just in case things go bad. So they start from scratch. The first thing they need is some mintel. So they find some source on the street that tells them about a man that's an Iraqi policeman by day, but at night, come to find out. He's one of these bomb makers that we're looking for. And so they put this whole plan together, how they wanna approach the house, get in, grab the sky, extract, and it all checks out, looks pretty good. They mentioned one other little complaint to us. They said, hey, look, we realized the ISOF that we get shot at more than seals do and we think we figured out why. And so we're kind of curious what was going on inside of their heads, like, what's up? And they say it's the color of your uniforms. We're like the color of the uniforms, you know, like not the way we shoot, you move and communicate, not the way we put a plan together. You think it comes down to the color of the uniform and they're like convinced of it, so they're changing their mind. They're saying, look, we're wondering if for this final operation, you'd be willing to maybe take off your American colored uniforms. And we got a pile of ISOF uniforms you guys could put on. So all right, let's get this straight, you want us to put on your colors to get shot at more with you. And they're like, yeah, it's like fine, it's not about the uniform, we'll blend in with you guys. So we paint our vehicles up their colors, we got their uniforms on, I've got that uniform on and you know, my dark skin start growing out a little facial hair. I'm looking around and the guys in my team are like, hey, Williams, you really blend in with those guys now, don't you? It's like, I guess I do. On this final off, I'm standing up in the Humvee, that section called the tour, you see it in the movie sometimes, guys kind of halfway out of the vehicle. I've got the 50 caliber machine gun in front of me. And for those of you that don't know, let's just say it's a weapon that could really reach out and touch somebody. I've got my night mission goggles on, I'm just looking through my green little world and going over this mental inventory. As I'm thinking about all the things I know about this night, firing off in my mind. I know my weapon's head spacing time, that means it's ready to go. I know where this guy lives, how we're gonna get in, grab him, extract. But one unique thing I know about this operation that's gonna make it different than every other operation, I know this is the final operation, which also means I know just a matter of days from now. I'll be back in my hometown, Hint to Beach, California, surfing in the ocean. But here's what none of us really knew about that night, was that we were actually being set up the entire time. To get thrown into the worst circumstances we've been in on this entire deployment as we're being set up on an ambush and suddenly we find ourselves engaging in this gun battle for our lives. And it was the team's ability to shoot, move, communicate and do what we do best as Navy SEALs that ultimately led to the possibility of me standing before you alive this morning. But before I touch on how that all played out though, I wanna backtrack just a little bit, share with you my road to becoming a SEAL and I wanna get into God's word. And so, second Kings chapter five, I'm reading from the new King James version and we're gonna be reading about a man that was a commander, a mighty man of valor by the name of Naaman and had there been such a thing as a Navy SEAL during his time this guy would have been one of them. So second Kings chapter five starting in verse one, it says, now Naaman, commander of the army, 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 a leper. And the Syrians had gone out on raids and they brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife and 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 says the girl who is from the land of Israel. So the king of Syria said, go and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed and took with him 10 towns of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold and 10 changes of clothing. Translation, he's bringing the equivalent of millions upon millions of dollars in gold and silver and some apparel. He's prepared to pay this guy off. Do whatever you gotta do, fix me my leprosy. Let's jump ahead to verse nine where we find Naaman en route. He's on his way with horses and chariots. Verse nine says then Naaman with his horses and chariot stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh will be restored to you and you shall be clean. But Naaman became furious. And he went away and said, indeed I said to myself, he will surely come out to me and stand and call in the name of the Lord his God. Wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. Are not the Abon at the far part? The rivers of Damascus far better than all the waters of Israel. Could I now wash in them and be clean? So he turned and he went away and rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him and said, my father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more than when he says to you, just wash and be clean. So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean. Let's pray. Father, we just come before you asking that you would just bless this meeting this time together. Really don't know what people are going through as they come through those doors. There's just all different dimensions of life represented, good times and the bad. I just pray, Lord, that you would be able just to remove just any distractions, any clutter, just debris of life that's going on that they would be able to focus on this time now and that you would speak clearly to them individually. I pray that you would speak to all of us. So just be with us now as your spirit would guide. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So relevance to this passage coming up shortly. But like I said, a little bit of my road to becoming a seal. Fresh out of high school attending a local community college, I wasn't doing too hot that first year. I was feeling almost all my classes and it's my own fall. I wasn't showing up, it's ditching, hanging out with friends, going surfing. And I remember now it's the end of the year it's time to take finals. I'm pulling into that school parking lot and I was at a chance of passing. So I've blown it this whole year, but that's where it hit me as I pull in at Golden West College like, wow, I'm turning out to be a loser, like the kind of guy that no young person wants to be. And so I'm thinking, how do I turn this around? Because all my peers are passing me by. I'm not even the average Joe, right? And so I'm just thinking, I don't wanna live a wasted life. I wanna do something big. I wanna do something significant. I wanna leave my market. So I'm just sitting there in my truck brainstorming. And you know that saying sometimes the greater the need, the greater the result. It's when you're really cold and you need to survive because the weather, the temperature's really gonna get to you. That's the time where you're able to like finally start a fire when it really counts, but you can't do it in practice when conditions are good. So I was just feeling like my backup is up against the wall. I'm desperate. I went out of the spot that I'm in. That's where I started thinking creatively and I caught the vision. Like I know what I'm gonna do with my life. I wanna go become a Navy SEAL. And so sitting there at school parking lot and just thinking, man, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna become a Navy SEAL. So my first order of business is if I'm gonna be a frog man, I don't need to go to school anymore. I started my truck up and took off out of that school parking lot and I never took those tests. And I got to let my dad know some bad news and good news as I presented it. So I'm all in on this, but imagine how this sounds. So I tell my dad the bad news, you know, all that time he thought I was going to school and everything, I might've missed a few days. I'm not passing into my classes. So of course he's like, and the good, it's all right, dad, I got a plan. I got it all figured out. I'm gonna be a Navy SEAL. And so just like any good parent out there, he's just trying to be the voice of reason and kind of sort out the stack here, like, hey son, just so you know, he's telling me, joining the military is not like anything you've ever done in the past, okay? It's not like playing ball or skateboarding or going to some local community college that when he decides you're over it, you could just stop. He says, if you join the military, and maybe then you find out it's not for you. Or suppose you quit and you don't make it through SEAL training, hey, just to be clear, you're still gonna be in the military. And you know what you're gonna do? You're probably gonna get a job, like chip and paint off some boat in Japan. Well those words really stuck with me right there. And for whatever reason, like, that was the perfect motivational speech. That's what I needed. I'm like, I am not gonna be that guy. I'll die before I quit. And so I kinda head out, I start preparing, doing all the running and swimming and days go by. And he invites me inside, invites me into his room, says, all right, you wanna do this, huh? You wanna be a SEAL. So I'm thinking, he's catching on now. Like, yeah, dad, I wanna be a SEAL. He goes, great, well, I set up a workout for you with the Navy SEAL. Check out my computer screen. I'll never forget, as I begin to look over at the computer, I'm thinking, my dad doesn't have any Navy SEAL friends, he doesn't know any SEALs, what is this? And it says in this little one liner, can Chad come out and play tomorrow? So I'm like, play? Like, dad, let me get this straight. You met some guy off the internet, says he wants to play with me and you're arranging all this right now? He's like, he's a SEAL son. I'm like, you can't trust everything. Someone tells you on the web, dad. He goes, no, this guy's a SEAL. I'm like, okay, I'll go meet up with him. Well, as it turns out, there's more of a conversation he had with this man on the phone prior to that email that I had no clue about at the time. I didn't find out for months later, but I'll give you the backstory upfront because it's better that way. So on the phone with him, he's telling him, heck, hey look, my son really wants to be a Navy SEAL, but here's the deal. He has no idea what he's signing up for. He does not know what he's getting involved in. So I'm asking you if you could do me a really big favor. Would you be willing to meet up with my son and what I need you to do? I need you to crush him. You know, just like bury him, beat this desire of becoming a SEAL out of him. And so the guy thought about it for a while and he shot off his response in that email. Can Chad come out and play tomorrow? So off I go, Oceanside, California, where I'm meeting up with, as far as I'm concerned, a Navy SEAL in a beach parking lot and this guy spots me right away. Like, you Chad? Yes, sir? Bubba, I was like, Bubba from that point forward. Long story short, he sends me off on a run out of the wetlands. And so I don't know what the final destination is. The only rules of this game is run away from the ocean, down that dirt trail, out into the wetlands and like civilization is becoming scarce. I'm 15 minutes into it where he says he's gonna catch up with me because he had some gear he wanted to clean up back at the truck. So 15 minutes in when he should be there, I'm looking back and I'm not seeing him. So I keep running and I start getting this idea in my head. Like, hey maybe, maybe I'm too fast for this Navy SEAL. Like, he can't catch up with me. And I remember thinking of the names of my friends. I know the names like Mark and Brian. Like, I'm gonna be bragging to us. Navy SEAL never caught me. And I look over my shoulder again and it is like a scene at a Terminator 2. Do you remember where that guy got like morphine in the night cans and chased down a moving vehicle? Like that's the Navy SEAL, like a T-1000 coming down this show with night cans for me. I'm running as fast as I can. I don't know if you know this feeling where you cannot spit at the wrong moment because it'll throw off your whole rhythm, right? But he is gaining on me. I'm trying to keep the distance. He closes that gap, catches right up to where I am. And I'm thinking we're just running here. No, he gets just ahead of me and just stops and turns on a dime. And I'm greeted by his fist, just sending me for a ride, right into my stomach, getting clothes lined. Feet off the ground. I see sky. I feel the wind knocked out at me before my back even hit the ground. Poof it up all around me and you gotta put yourself in my shoes for a moment here. Because remember at the time, the only intel I had was this. Some guy, my dad met off the internet. Now he's got me on the ground in the wetlands. I'm thinking child predator man, like this is happening. And this is up there. He jumps on top of me now. He's like neon belly just ragged all in me. I still remember that sound of the threads of my shirt just ripping, spit flying out as he's screaming in my face. I don't understand the words he's saying. He's going ballistic, but I feel the spit hitting me in the forehead, the cheek. But then these words do come through. They come through crystal clear. He says, you wanna be a Navy SEAL you better stay three paces behind me. And it was, it's crazy. It's like that moment right there. It's like time stop, pain went away, total clarity of thought. I realized if I quit right now, like this is it, this is for real. If I quit right now, I'll forever be a quitter. Like the way I respond in this following moment is going to be the moment that affects the trajectory of the rest of my life. I felt awful. I just had the wind knocked out at me after running as fast as I could, right? And he's now up on his feet and says it one more time, three paces and he shows no mercy, turns and takes off. And so I really buy into like, this is it, I gotta stay on his heels. And he is running at a very fast pace. I'm making strange noises. I'm just trying to hang in there with them. This goes on for a handful of miles. We finally get to a point after he was trying to shake me where he stops. And he's pacing back and forth and he's looking at me and, you know, keep in mind, I have no idea what is going on inside this guy's head. Like he physically assaulted me back there, right? You know, I'm not gonna route him out though. So he's pacing back and forth. He looks at me like he's one of these cage fighters just waiting for the referee to say the words. Let's get it on. And here I am like this teenage skater punk kid. So I'm just thinking like, I don't wanna fight this guy. So I'm looking down like, okay, no direct eye contact chat, chat, chat. Like you don't wanna set him off. Just use your peripherals, man. All right, don't look him in the eyes. And he breaks this really awkward tension by just shouting out. And he goes, hey, if you were to go another mile or two would you've stayed with me? And I just told him exactly. Just I shrugged my shoulders. Scott, I'll die before I quit. Well, he just gets this big smile on his face. He goes, great. Hey, you wanna meet up again from the workout tomorrow? I'm honestly thinking like, are we gonna dress the flashback this guy just had on the trail? Like what was that all about? You know, so I just agree. Okay, I'll meet up again. And I'm thinking it's gonna be like this every time. But if that's what I gotta do, that's what it takes, right? Well, come to find out. He's getting on the phone after all that. And he tells my dad, look, I know what you want me to do. I gave it a go, I think your son might have what it takes. And I like to start working with him. So from that point forward, I began to meet up with this Navy SEAL, Scott Helvenston. And thankfully, it was no longer this beat down session, right? It became more of a building up. You know, he was preparing me. And in fact, I moved on in life to just be in Bubba till one day he just started calling me junior, right? So really take me under his wing as he's mentoring me. I analyze this guy. It's everything that I wanna be. He's an extraordinary Navy SEAL. He holds all kinds of records. He's a world champion, Panathali. He's the fastest Navy SEAL with SEAL training obstacle course. He's the youngest man to ever make it through SEAL training. He was a SEAL at 17 years old, right? The only way that was possible was because of the childhood that he had. He grew up in dozens of different foster homes. So the military took him at 15, SEAL by 17 years old. He's also the only man to ever beat the beast at the time on this program called Man vs. Beast where he raced a chimpanzee through an obstacle course and pulled the head of the monkey on the monkey bars. All right? You can imagine what it's like to get trained up by this guy. So he got me ready. And so I signed up. I got a date, it's set. I'm ready to go tackle this. And he takes an opportunity, he put it to go overseas again. He's saying, who knows, junior? Perhaps I can make a difference. He's very patriotic. And so the turnaround was very quick for him. I'm already signed up to go. He signs up to go do this thing off in Iraq and he's leaving out the door before I even head out to boot camp. So as he's on his way out, he's on the phone with me. He says, all right, junior, you're about to go do this thing. He's referring to going to Iraq. And he says, hey, I want you to know something though that I've never told anybody I've ever trained before. So I know these next words are gonna be very important. So he says, I know you're gonna make it through seal training. And to hear like that vote of confidence from him when so many times before he used to tell me you never really know who's gonna make it, who's not gonna make it. But now he's telling me, I know you're gonna make it. Like I can't even give you the words of like what that meant to me. I couldn't wait for my opportunity to like prove him right, make him proud and like just to get this thing going. Do what I want it to do, right? Become a Navy Seal. And so we say our goodbyes. He's reminded me of the timeline. He's only gonna be gone a couple months, which is about the same amount of time. I'll be at boot camp. So when I finally get my shot at seal training, which goes down in Coronado, San Diego, he says, I'll be back. We're gonna see him make it through. So we get off the phone. Now he's gone. I just have a handful of days before I go. So I figure if I can't work out with my mentor in person, what's the next best thing? Well, I remember the programs. So I'll just do it on my own. Well, I'm up one day, television on in the background. And as I look over at the screen, I can't believe what my eyes see on the screen because I'm looking at a picture of Scott smiling on TV. I'm like, what is Scott doing on TV again? He didn't let me know he's gonna be on TV for something. He's a phenomenal athlete always getting invited on all these different programs. But the trip to me was like, I thought he's off in Iraq. And so I'm just kind of like trying to figure out what's going on. And as I'm looking at the still image of him smiling, that's when I see in the lower third of the screen, Scott's birth date followed by a dash. And this is March 31st, 2004. And before I could even try and translate what that means, like in my mind, this still image of him smiling, it switches and just cuts right to graphic video footage of a vehicle that's burning in the background, which is the vehicle that Scott was in as it was ambushed. And these insurgents that had done this videotaped everything that they were doing. Very similar to what groups like ISIS do today. And so now I'm looking at these different scenes that it's cutting to as it's gotten through other Americans that were inside that vehicle, they're all dead. They're lifeless. And they're in the streets of Fallujah and it cuts to these different scenes where angry Iraqi mobs are finding sticks and rods and they're trying to do everything they can just to mutilate their bodies. And then they try and drag them through the streets of Fallujah with rope that they wrapped around their legs and they get too tired so they hook them up to vehicles. So they drag their bodies through the dirt streets of Fallujah as if it's like some parade. And they get to the Euphrates River Bridge and string their bodies upside down and they set their bodies on fire. And then they chant over and over a message that they want the Americans to hear loud and clear. As they look into the camera, they're chanting Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans. Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans. I think it probably needs to say, I'll never have the words to describe just what all those like surrounding moments were like. That radically changes you as a human being. You don't go for the same person from there. And I'm not gonna lie, a big part of me wanted revenge. And so I do think that there is a little bit of a lesson that we can extract out of this that has to do with dealing with adversity because the reality is, if you've made it this far in life, wherever you are, whatever stage you're in, you've faced adversity. And a lot of times adversity has to do with outside circumstances that you have no control over, it just embades. And here's the thing, is that you're guaranteed to face more. It's not a matter of if it's imminent, it's when you are gonna face more adversity. And again, it's probably gonna have to do with something that you have no control over. Outside circumstances that come invading in like a tsunami. And so if you have no control over the fact that you're gonna face more, what's the one thing you do have control over? I'd say one of the things you have control over is you are the determiner still of how you are going to respond. You are the determiner of whether or not that adversity you face will be what we could call a wing or a weight. And the SEAL teams, the creeds, has forged by adversity, not failed by adversity. So you determine, will this be a weight that just sinks me, leaves me docked down, never to get back up again? People see you go through it and they say, oh, they're out for the count, they'll never resurface from that. Or do you find a wing in there somehow, which is just a way to get to your feet, rise to the occasion. And so you gotta look for that wing. I don't know what adversity it is that you will face, but I know that much. You gotta look for that wing. You gotta find it. And I'll tell you how I found the wing, looking back, you know, when you lose somebody, one of the last, like one of the things you do is you go back to the last time you were with them, you go back to the last conversation you had with them, it just becomes that much more important. Because that's it, that's all you get. And so as I was kind of going over, like what did we talk about, what was said? That's when I remember what he says, like junior, I know you're gonna make it through SEAL training. Like I kind of had a decision to make. Am I still gonna go through with this? My family's begging me not to, especially after seeing what happened to Scott. It's not too late to pull the pin and pop smoke and get out. You know, am I gonna go through with it? And I think just reflecting on those words, those words that he said to me became the wing. That's what began to forge me through that process. I became determined I'm gonna do this still, but I wanna do it for so much more. I wanna do it in honor of my mentor. I wanna walk in his footsteps. And I'm not gonna, like at the time, a big part of me wanted revenge. That is a fuel. It's not a good fuel to live off of, but that was the fuel at that time. And those reasons were mature along the way, but I'm just trying to be honest. Like that's where I was at that stage. And so I enter into the Navy. I make it through boot camp and finally get my shot at SEAL training. It's part of Bud's class 254. Bud stands for Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL Training. That's where the rubber really meets the road, right? Some of those difficult military training there is in the world. So we're in the class of 173 guys and I do think the numbers speak for themselves. Out of that 173 original, by graduation day only 13 of that original class number still standing there. And I remember exactly where I was at, stepping out thinking, Scott, we did this. I had his name on the inside of my hat going through training. And then I get my family and my friends there. So I'm finally getting this trident, this insignia says, you know, basically, you've done it, you've accomplished it and welcome to the brotherhood. You are SEAL, pinned into your chest. Not only was this one of the happiest, most fulfilling moments of my life, but strangely, very strangely, I didn't talk about it with anybody at the time, but this is not a unique experience just to me because I have talk with SEALs later on. It was like everything seemed to just kind of trickle down hill from that point forward. I just achieved like the highest of highs and now I'm thinking everything should be on the up and up from this point forward. I'm set, I'm in. And it was like everything began to just circle the drain and I couldn't understand why. And it was years later, I heard these words spoken by a Christian philosopher, Ravi Zacharias. I thought, man, those words hit the nail on the head. It's exactly what I experienced graduation day. This is what he says. He says, one of the loneliest moments a man will ever experience is when he's achieved that which he thought would deliver the ultimate and the end, it lets him down. One of the loneliest moments, a personal lover experienced and they've achieved that which they thought would deliver the ultimate in the end, it lets them down. What he's referring to right there is something I believe every man and woman in this room is familiar with at least to some degree and what is it? It's that human condition. It's that whole idea. The grass is always greener on the other side. We're never really quite fulfilled with where we're at. What do you want? I just want a little bit more. And so we buy into the belief that if I could just get this goal, this accomplishment that's in my crosshairs, that target right there, that'll deliver for me. I will feel fulfilled. I will be satisfied. And so we get a target in mind and we see that thing and we hunger after it. And the hunger leads to some good stuff. It leads to the drive, the hard work, determination, the discipline and you get there and you eat it up just like you want it to and you are satisfied just as you thought you would be. But what happens? The satisfaction doesn't last like you thought it would. And so what do you do? Well, you don't panic yet. You just kind of step back for a moment, put on your little thinking cap and as your brain storming, a light goes off. Ah, I know what it is. The reason this didn't give me lasting fulfillment is simple. I didn't go for something big enough. If I really want that lasting satisfaction, I need to raise the bar. I need to go to that next rung of the ladder. So that's exactly what we do. Now we're shooting after something more lofty, thirsting after it, working and getting there, drinking it up. This is the one. You're satisfied. But what happens? You get hungry, you get thirsty all over again. And it's like a vicious cycle and seemingly there just is no end to it all, but there is an end. And that is the whole point to that quote. See, the big question is this, is what happens when you finally arrive at a place where you no longer, like all the previous times before, could just step back and put on your thinking cap and say, I know what I'll do. I'll just go to the next rung of the ladder. Nope, you can't do that this time in the place you're in. Why? Because you're at the last rung of the ladder. You can't say I'll just shoot up from here because there is no more elevation to hit. You're at the peak of the mountain and yet still left hungry and thirsty for more, but far worse than all the other times because now there is no next. And so this is a reality you see in the lives of professional athletes and rock stars and movie stars that have everything the world has to offer. They got all the money they could ever need or want more than they can spend. They got the fame as well, along with the fortune. There's nothing on this earth that their fingers can't touch, right? But as you look at their lives, what's going on? It's like a constant drama that we're reading about or watching where they're destroying their own lives with drugs and alcohol and just throwing it all away. They have the dream job, getting to go to parts unknown who wouldn't trade to be in that guy's shoes and taking his own life. Like, why is he committing suicide? Like, don't you realize what people would trade to be in your shoes? We're just like, we're shocked by it. But maybe what we're not understanding or seeing from the other side of it all is having all the world has to offer really isn't all that it's cracked up to be. We buy into this whole pursuit of happiness and it is an endless pursuit if you're not oriented in the right direction. Jesus, he put it the best way. He says, what's it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but in the end loses his soul? And so I guess you could say, for me becoming a seal, that was my version of, that was my gaining the whole world. And yet still I'm hungry and thirsty for something else. The problem was I gained my whole world but my soul was not oriented correctly. I didn't have a right relationship with the creator but I didn't know that that was the solution at the time. I was just kind of done. I'm done searching. I'm thinking again, like if anything, just get some revenge overseas. Like that's something to look forward to. That's not a good place to be in. So I'm on a team and I kind of play into it, family and friends. You did it, you're a seal. I'm like, yeah, living a dream. Truth more miserable I've ever been in a long time. Can't even think of a time I was more miserable. Since I really felt like I just didn't feel underneath it all I did what a lot of people do. What was it that made me feel? Give me a little stimulation. I adopted the whole work hard play hard mentality. I love that time off, you know, because what stimulated me is to go out, drink, cut loose with the guys. But just the course going way too far with it and just like alcohol destroys so many people's lives. I certainly wasn't immune to it. I got people that are caring about me, loving me saying like, look man, you're gonna get yourself killed or somebody else killed. And I wish I could tell you I felt remorse at the time for the dumb things I was doing. Waking up the next day after a blackout, like not knowing and being informed. Like, you know what you did last night trying to laugh it off is like, oh, I did what? Is it something to brag about? When in reality it's just shameful. It's personal robbery. Everything really came to a head after putting my family through multiple scares and you know, they're pleading with me like, just come to church with us, you know. I'd been to church in a long time. I grew up in a Christian household. I believe in God. I wouldn't ever call myself an atheist. I'd be like, hey, me and Jesus were cool. Like, I'm on that team. But that's just kind of all it was. Christianity to me was just a team. So it's like picking a team like the angels, right? And it's just what I was born into. So I didn't really like know what it was to have this relationship. But I thought that I just kind of already searched that all out. I thought I was good to go. And so my family just pleading with me to go. I realized I put them through multiple scares. I owe them something. I'll punch my card in. I'll go punch my card in at church. And so it was this evening thing they wanted me to go to. I had plans of going out drinking later that night. I had a cake stashed away, ready to go. But I'll go, suffer through it. And once it's all over by nine o'clock at night, we'll get back home. I'll fall off their radar. They'll be so happy I went. They go to bed. And then I'll grab that cake that I'm stashing in their garage in my hometown. And then head out with my friends. My night doesn't even begin until 10 or 11. So we go. And there's a man speaking there that night by the name of Greg Laurie. And he opens up to Second Kings chapter five, what we just read. And so now I'd like to kind of give you my perspective on Second Kings chapter five. So here we are reading about this guy named Naaman, who is a commander who's had great success in battle. He's got this entourage of men that highly respect him. Look at his identity. Here he is, this identity that he has, it's even getting him into high places. He's rubbing shoulders with the king. Name is this mighty man of valor, but he had leprosy. So how serious was leprosy? Well, let's just say it's a little worse than a case of bad eczema, right? Like leprosy during Naaman's time, Jesus looking back, nobody. He says nobody had ever been healed of leprosy during the time of Naaman. He actually used Naaman as an example. And so now kind of circle back and picture Naaman's life this way. So much for all that success. So much for this outward man, this persona, when in reality, underneath that armor and underneath that clothing was really going on. The truth is he's deteriorating. He's falling apart. That guy's a dead man walking. Well, how quickly I relate with that man right there? And I'm sure in a room this size, it's represented here as well. Because when you really think about it, what kind of armor are you putting on? What kind of front or facade is it? When in reality, underneath it all, you're falling apart. You're a certain person in front of your coworkers and family members and friends. But in reality, underneath it all, when it comes down to it, the secret life, man, you're deteriorating. And so I related to that right there, secretly. All right, like I'm listening. And Naaman, no doubt about it, he's tried everything he could do to fix himself with his own leprosy. But remember, Jesus says, nope, that's been possible. Nobody during the time of Naaman. But then this little girl speaks up in his house, right? This little servant girl, she's the unsung hero. Could you imagine if she just never had the bravery to open her mouth and speak up and say, if only my master were the prophet who was in Samaria, he would heal him of his leprosy. Naaman takes hold of that. And he goes to his king. He's got to get the okay from his king because he's about to go to enemy-occupied territory. 150-mile trip. King says, not only am I gonna send you, I'll send a letter with you, right? Bring it along. So he finally gets all the way there. Horses, chariots, entourage, bringing the equivalent of millions upon millions of dollars, gold, silver. He's prepared to pay this guy off. I'll give you my wealth, my riches, just give me my life back. They get all the way to there, to the door. It's something you really have to understand. Like there's some shock value here. What you have to understand about that time, it was a custom of that time. That the more important of a person you were, the farther they would come out to greet you. For instance, if a king's coming to town, what would they do? They wouldn't just be outside their door. They'd be outside the city gates. He would have a welcoming party, right? Like when Jesus came in to Jerusalem and they thought, our triumphant king, he's coming, the entry. They're laying down the palm branches for him, right? And so it's kind of proportional. The more important you are, the farther they come out to greet you. Look at Neiman. He gets all the way there to the door and the guy that he's supposed to see, not only is he not coming out to greet him, he's not even gonna greet him at all. This is total disrespect. Sends a servant to the door just to relay, pass along a message. If you would just go dip yourself in the Jordan River seven times when you come up, your flesh shall be restored to you, you shall be clean. So how does Neiman feel about all this? Well, you don't have to wonder. The Bible says he became furious. I mean, could you imagine he just came all this way with his men? Does this guy have any idea who I, Neiman M, disrespects me like this? I said, if you're wondering what's going on inside of Neiman's head, like I said, you don't gotta wonder. He vents out loud and it's recorded in scripture. As he turns in a rage, he's saying, surely I expected this guy to come out of his place. And he was expecting the red carpet treatment. He thought this guy was gonna roll out the red carpet, put on a big chauffeur Neiman, right? I expected him to come out of his place, to wave his hand over the place, call the name of the Lord his God. As if he's like calling in lightning, right? And like strike the leper, see away. And then goes on about the whole water thing. Like water, I think I haven't tried to wash this off yet. And so he's saying the waters where I'm from in Damascus are far better than all these waters over here, if I could just go wash it off, why not go over there and do it? And so as he's leaving in this rage, if you haven't caught it yet, what's the name of his real obstacle here? It's the same thing for all of us, I think. It's his pride, it's ego. And so he's about to completely miss it. That water just seems like foolishness to him, like why would ever go try and do something like that? And what's really interesting is this, is that the New Testament says that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to who, to those that are perishing. Well, no doubt about it, Naaman here is in a state of perishing, isn't he? He's about to completely miss it. Here's one of the other cool parts of that story, is that his guys, they see what's going on here. And I'm sure they don't know exactly how this all works out, but I think they grabbed onto this bit, they know this much, we need to get our Naaman back in front of that God of Israel, something supernatural's gonna take place. And so they're just doing what they could do as they're running up to him, they're not letting him go that easy, they're pleading with him. And isn't that so much like me getting brought along, right? My family pleading with like, come on, maybe you've brought somebody like that, maybe you're going to the crusade later in the night, thinking if I could just get my family member, my friend, they're button that seat in front of that message about the God of Israel, something supernatural's gonna take place. Well, that's what happens. And so they're just saying, come on, Naaman, look, you know, they're just trying to use logic. You know, if this guy came out, gave you big, some great thing to do, you would have done it. That's true. Like what if you was given some just really difficult tasks that only a mighty man of valor can achieve and it's gonna be, you know, this CrossFit exercise. But if you finish the wad in time, you will be fixed of your leprosy. Name it would be like, show me where to start. But because it was such a simple thing, it just seemed like a foolish thing. But here's the great thing. Nothing these guys said was brilliant. That's just how God uses us though. Sometimes we'll say the weirdest thing and we'll be like, I don't even know why I said that, I shouldn't have even said that. And then that person that you're talking to will be like, you know what? You said this thing and it really spoke to me. It's like, whatever, all right. That's how God works sometimes, right? Name it to size, I'm gonna respond. And so he's about to do what I think is by far the most difficult thing for any man or woman to do. He is about to humble himself. I think he's getting it now. That in order for me to live, I gotta die. I gotta go to my own funeral. And so he's changing direction now, right? He was living in a rage, now he's turning around. A whole lot more than just his feet. He's turning around his heart, his mind, his spirit. I think he's really getting it now. I gotta humble myself before this creator. I think he's understanding now that it's not the water that's gonna wash off my leprosy. I just need to be faithful. I need to be faithful and do what this God of Israel wants me to do and he will be faithful. He's gonna do that heavy lifting. And so he dips himself as we see five, six, seven times. And on that seventh time in the literal Hebrew language, this is how it puts it, that he had brand new skin like that of a baby. Could you imagine just the mess, the filth of leprosy being spotted and blot all the blemishes struck through, comes up and brand new skin wiped away, blotted out like that of a baby. I remember really being captivated, like listening and really relating with Naaman. I was seeing the parallels, right? And then I kind of felt like this is the falling away point. This is kind of like watching a movie that when you got stuff going on in life, going to the movie theater sometimes is like a great little escape. Because for a little bit, you get to just forget about all the clutter and debris of life going on and you get to go into that theater and get your little popcorn and candy and just vicariously through a character. It's a fun ride. And just like most movies where heroes, it's like they face adversity in the beginning, they overcome it, they're forged by it and then it all works out for the hero in the end. And then usually at that point where it all works out, what is that? It's the end and what happens at the end? Well, the credits roll, the movie's over. The lights begin to come back on and now you gotta go back outside that building and go face reality again, right? Well, I wanna make a point that the credits don't roll right there. That just as God provide a way out for Naaman, He's provide a way out for you and I as well. And it doesn't come in the form of dipping ourselves into some water. It comes in the form of Him dipping His Son as Jesus to come down into this world. And so first we have to understand our condition before we could really appreciate the solution. So our condition, it goes like this. Remember Naaman, he's this man on the outside, the armor, the front, the facade that he wears. Remember now, who are you? Be honest, who are you? When you're in your room all by yourself, the lights are off and all you're left with is your own thoughts. We're a certain person on the outside when in reality underneath it all, we got a disease going on as well. So name is disease, leprosy, it was devastating. The consequences of it, it worked out to be death. What's the disease that we have going on underneath it all as you think about it? It's a spiritual condition, that inward man, the disease we have, you can call it S-I-N positive. It's sin, and guess what? The wages of sin is death. Name it couldn't do anything to fix himself of his own leprosy and no person can do anything to fix themselves of their own sin. It is latched on to us, it is stuck to us, right? But remember God dipped His Son down into the world and He lived a holy, perfect, sinless life. So that leprosy is like a picture of our sin. Spiritually speaking, that's us. We're spotted and blotted and blemished and struck through. But Jesus, without sin, He is holy and pure without blemish, perfect. And then He goes to the cross, and at the cross this is where the heavy lifting takes place. Here's a picture for you, He trades skin with you and I. He takes our leprosy as it were our sin upon Himself so that we could be switched and lavished with God's grace and His mercy. Not only does He step in like the true hero sacrificing His life in our place where we deserve to be, but He also rise again from the dead. And that is very significant because it shows He doesn't only have power over sin, He has power over death. That not even the grave can hold Him down. That's kinda crazy, right? Because then He says from that resurrected life, look, just as I have overcome this grave because I live, you also shall live. In other words, we could be forgiven of our sin and overcome the grave the way that He does. And that's where the hope really is in Christianity. And it's unfortunate because the gospel message, which just means good news, I really do feel like it's been warped quite a bit, especially in this day and age. It turns into this whole thing where God or Jesus, some kinda, how can I like breathe life into your hopes and dreams and help you achieve your desires? That's not what it is. Our hope is not in those things. Our hope is in the resurrection, the afterlife. And that's why when you read the New Testament and you see these guys that were literally willing to spread this message, put their lives on the line in the process and just be arrows that go out, shot out, be torpedoes and sacrifice themselves for it. It's because they realize that life isn't about the here and now, it's about the eternal life. It's what's on the other side. And so we need to fix ourselves and really reorient that. You don't come to Jesus to get a better life. You come to Jesus to get saved from your sin because no one else can save you because we are stuck in sin and the consequences of it is devastating. We deserve to go to hell. That's scary, but He's come to save. And so that's what it says of him, that He shall save His people from their sin. But remember for us, like how do we receive it? Because He says, because I live, you also shall live. How do you receive that? Name and receive this gift from God. How do we receive this gift from God? The way you receive it is you gotta do the name and thing. You gotta humble yourself. You gotta go to your own funeral. In order for you to live eternal life, you have got to die. You gotta say the old me, I repent of it. That's a word we don't use outside of the church. So what does repent mean? It means a whole lot more than just sorry or sorry I got caught. Judas was sorry. He was sorry, but he still turned his back on God and went off. It is I'm so sorry I wanna change. I'm so sorry I wanna throw myself upon the mercy of the Lord. Very much like Peter, he did a horrible thing. He denied Jesus. He really blew his witness, right? And Jesus said, do you love me? He threw himself upon the mercy of the Lord. He is sorry and he threw himself into the arms of the Lord. And so that's what repentance is. You look at your life and you say, God, I'm sorry for this life that I've lived. And now I put my faith in trusting you, Jesus, to do what? What are we trusting Jesus to do? We're trusting him to save us from our sin. That's why we call him the savior. So he does the hard part. Our part is to repent and trust in him his part, just like the God of Israel that did the heavy lifting. Jesus does the heavy lifting. He pays for that sin in full, gives you a place in eternity and while you're still here on earth, he gives you a lane to be in. He says, I am with you always, even to the end of this age. All these other pursuits in life will leave you hungry and thirsty for more. Why? Because they can't ever live up to the position we're trying to put them in. If you make that the most important pursuit of your life, the preeminent thing, it's like decaf. It just will not deliver, okay? It just won't. Only God could live up to that role. That's why it's seek first the kingdom of God. That's why Jesus says, if you drink up my living water, you will never thirst again. How is that? All these other things leave you hungry, thirsty for more. He says, you have my water, you never thirst again. You never thirst again in the sense that, once you have it, ooh, you're complete. I have no need for another. I don't have to look to another. And then everything else in life, all of a sudden it becomes just bonus, right? Like it's all secondary. It's all supplementary to life. Your perspective changed. Once I became a Christian, I heard this message and I responded to it. I could go back to being a seal and not be the miserable God that I was before. Why? Because it's taken its proper place. Now it's whatever I do. I don't do it for me, me, me. I do it for thee. Whatever you do in word or deed, you do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus carries with him eternal weight, eternal significance. So if you do something that's temporal in life, but you infuse the eternal one into it, now all of a sudden this temporal thing really does echo in eternity. Now it does have eternal significance if you're a stay-at-home mom, a guy in the corporate world, construction world, like whatever it is, you do it for Christ, seal for Christ. So that's how the whole perspective changed. And so fast forward to that final operation. I wish I had time to hit all the little details, but I wanna make a point that look, I responded to the message that night. I experienced what the scriptures say. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. The old me gone, knelt at the cross, buried with Jesus. And now all things become new. I get a new life that God gives me. Just as Jesus rose new from the grave, like I get that new life. Obviously I came out of that situation alive. I wanna hammer home a point though, it doesn't always work that way. And so in these closing moments, I just wanna give honor where honor is due. We gotta remember that freedom is in free. It's paid for in the currency of our men's blood on the battlefield. One would be Michael Monsour, who's a US Navy SEAL. And when he's at a place called Ramadi, Iraq, providing protection for other SEALs that are out on the road. From another location, an insurgent came running up somehow, got a grenade up there on that roof that he was on. Hit him in the chest, falls in the dark. He's got an exit just a step away. So that grenade, not his problem. He could save himself. There's other SEALs in the roof with him. They didn't have time to get up, make it to an exit. So what does he do? Does he save himself? He also, these guys, grenade. So they know they could take cover and he jumps over the top to cover that grenade as it goes off. And he absorbed the blast of that grenade, all that shrapnel, the metal, and he died. But because of what he did, all these other guys on the roof, they all lived. So I'd say you could mark these words down in history. Greater love has no one than this one that lays on his life for his friends. That's what Mike Monsour did. You know, my friend Scott, as I look back, you know, although all these awful things, you know, killed, hung from that bridge, it wasn't in vain. One of the last things he ever said to me, junior, when I go over there, perhaps I could make a difference. He was over there for a purpose. And I think in his life, I see those words manifested as true as well. He's a reflection of those words of greater love. And then finally, I want you to consider one more the one who spoke those words of greater love. This is a quote, it's John 15, 13, comes from Jesus. And he said those words prior to going to the cross. So please think about the cross this way. Let guys like Mike Monsour, Scott Halvinsen, and so many others that have gone before us and paid the ultimate price, let them assist you to get a clear picture of what the cross is all about. That just as Mikey jumped on a hand grenade, absorbing the blast of that grenade on himself so others could live, when Jesus went to the cross, he absorbed the blast. Not of a hand grenade. He absorbed the wrath of our sin upon himself so we could be shielded, so we could go on to live with him in eternity. Remember that grenade was never Mike's problem. He could have saved himself. Jesus sin was never his problem. It's always us caught in the cross hairs of it, but he covered it for us. As my friend Scott killed and hung from that bridge ultimately for freedom's sake. Never forget that Jesus, he was killed and he was hung, wasn't he? From the cross of Calvary so that we could be set free from the eternal consequences of our own sin. So greater love is known than this, one that lays on his life for his friends. You can see it in men like Mike Monsour and Scott Halvin's sin. And now behold the cross. That's the proper perspective. That king of kings, that Lord of lords. The Lamb of God, it takes away the sin of the world. It says for he speaking of the Father made him Jesus. Who knew no sin, he was sinless. To become sin for us that we might become the righteous of God in him. Why is that word might right there? The word might is there because it's not a default position. It's not just built in to life. The ball's put it in our court. It ultimately comes down to two forms of love. Does your love for sin, which even the Bible acknowledges as fun first season, does your love for sin outweigh your love for the creator? And you say, I choose this over you. Well, sadly, he will grant you your wish then if that's what you want. He's not gonna force you into a relationship. Or do you finally come to a point where you say, you know what? I see what he has already done for me first. He made the first move. We love him because he first loved us. My love for him compels me now just to repent of my sin and place my faith and trust in him. For those that do the reward is great. Jesus says, if you confess before men, I'll confess you before my father was in heaven. If you deny me, I'll deny you. You might say, I'm staying from voting. I'm just gonna stay out of this one. You can't stay out of it. He says, you're either for me or you're against me. He'll say it for you. And so this life here on earth, this time that we have now, this is the proving ground where you show where's your allegiance, where's your loyalty. You are made by God to know him and to have a relationship with him. You know what got in the way of that? Sin. You know what God did? He sent his son down into the world to remove the obstacle of sin, paying for it in full. So he opens up the opportunity again, but remember, you need to respond. You need to do the naming thing or just be puffed up with pride and say, I choose sin over you. But there are consequences that come with it. And so what a move he made though. He didn't know that to us. I don't know. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want that relationship. I mean, talk about loyalty. Talk about love that he demonstrated. If you don't want anything to do with that though, and you choose the other side, the dark side, you want to be a child of wrath instead, like, all right then, he'll grant you your wish. And so the pieces are all out there, but we need to respond.