Distorted | Week 6 | Message · Rewind

Distorted | Week 6 | Message · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Jul 16, 2025

Big Idea

God helps the humble, not the hustler — He doesn't wait for us to earn His help, He meets us the moment we admit we can't help ourselves.

God isn't waiting for us to get it together before He shows up — He meets us the moment we admit we can't fix ourselves. The story of Naaman shows that pride blocks God's help while humility opens the way, and real healing always begins where our hustle ends.

Key points

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1The popular belief that "God helps those who help themselves" is not in the Bible and actually distorts how grace works.
Pastor Bill cites a Barna Research survey showing most Americans, and even most Christians, believe this saying is scripture. He names this hustle mentality as a form of legalism where our actions come first and God simply reacts, which he says tears people up because none of us can ever be good enough, smart enough, or successful enough.
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2Naaman came to Elisha wealthy, powerful, and expecting to earn his healing, but pride almost made him walk away.
Pastor Bill walks through 2 Kings 5, describing Naaman as a mighty Aramean general with leprosy who arrives with servants, chariots, and mounds of silver, gold, and clothing expecting a grand ceremony. When Elisha's messenger simply tells him to wash seven times in the Jordan, Naaman gets angry and stalks away because it doesn't match what he expected for all his effort.
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3Naaman's officers talked him into obeying anyway, and it was in that humbled obedience that healing came.
His servants reason with him that if the prophet had asked something difficult he'd have gladly done it, so why not obey something simple. Naaman dips himself in the Jordan seven times, is healed, and returns not just cured but declaring he now knows there is no God but the God of Israel.
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4The real goal was never the healing itself — it was Naaman coming to know the Healer.
Pastor Bill stresses that Naaman went looking for a cure and left with a relationship with God. He explains that humility isn't a personality trait some people have and others don't; the Bible commands us to humble ourselves because it's a choice, not a feeling.
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5Pride shows up in two forms — confident pride and defeated pride — and both block what God wants to do.
He describes successful pride as walking around feeling like you've earned your way, and unsuccessful pride as believing you're too much of a failure for God to use you. Both are still about self rather than trust, illustrated by his own story of arguing with his friend Randy over the word "infarction" instead of just trusting he was wrong.
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6Healing begins where the hustle ends — obedience to something that feels disconnected from our problem is where trust is proven.
Pastor Bill explains the number seven in Naaman's washing means completeness, showing God wanted total trust, not a formula for the cure itself. He connects this to Jesus reading Isaiah's prophecy in His hometown of Nazareth in Luke 4, where the crowd's pride and sense of entitlement kept them from receiving what they wanted from Him.
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7Doing the right thing for God doesn't mean the road gets easier, and wrestling with that gap is part of the walk of faith.
Pastor Bill shares Rock Point's own costly decision to send out 1,500 people and 600 leaders to plant the church Echoes, which led to lost giving right as building costs and interest rates rose. He admits he still wrestles with expecting God to make obedience easier, and that the real issue was not what they did but what he expected God to do afterward.

Application

Pastor Bill's charge is to stop hustling for God's help and instead humble yourself enough to actually obey what He's already asked.

Ask where you're trying to earn God's help
Notice where you're treating God like a transaction instead of receiving His grace, and admit the places you're hustling instead of trusting Him.
Name where pride is blocking your trust
Whether it's confident pride or the pride of feeling like a failure, identify what's keeping you from obeying what God has clearly said to do.
Obey the thing that feels disconnected from your problem
When God asks for something that seems unrelated or even a little foolish, like Naaman washing in the Jordan, do it anyway rather than demanding it make sense first.
Grow in biblical community
Get into a group, like a Monday night group, with others who will challenge and support you, since Naaman needed his officers to help him obey.
Live intentionally with your time, talent, treasure, and testimony
Honor God with your resources and generosity toward the church as one concrete way of trusting Him completely rather than partially.

Take it into your week

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7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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Day 1

Naaman had everything the world uses to measure a person's worth. He was a great military commander, a man of valor, highly regarded by the king of Aram. And yet, tucked at the end of that impressive résumé, three words change everything: he had leprosy. Pastor Bill pointed out that this is exactly where so many of us live — accomplished on the outside, quietly undone on the inside. We carry the title, the track record, maybe even the respect of people around us, and still there is something we cannot fix no matter how hard we push. The opening verse of this story does not waste a word. It sets up a man who has every reason to believe that if anyone can solve his own problem, it is him. He has resources, rank, and relationships. But leprosy does not care about any of that. Neither does the deeper need underneath whatever we bring to God. The good news hiding in this uncomfortable setup is that God is not waiting for Naaman to become more impressive before He acts. He is already moving — through a small, unnamed servant girl — long before Naaman even knows to ask. That is the kind of God we are dealing with. He meets us in the gap between what we can do and what only He can.

For reflection

Where in your life are you most tempted to believe that your résumé — your effort, your track record, your competence — should be enough to fix what is broken?

Pray

Pray for honest eyes to see the gap between what you can accomplish and what only God can heal.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Think of a time you watched someone do something the 'hard way' when an easier path was right in front of them — sometimes the simplest instruction is the hardest one to follow. That tension is at the heart of Naaman's story in 2 Kings 5.

Discussion questions

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In 2 Kings 5:1, Naaman is introduced as a great and honored commander — but the very next phrase is 'he had leprosy.' What do you notice about how the passage sets up the gap between his accomplishments and his need, and why do you think that contrast matters for the story that follows?
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When Naaman finally arrives at Elisha's door, the prophet doesn't even come out to meet him — he just sends a message to go wash in the Jordan River seven times. According to this message, what was it about Naaman's reaction that nearly cost him his healing?
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Pastor Bill pointed out that the Jordan River had nothing obvious to do with curing leprosy — and yet that was exactly the instruction Naaman was given. What does it suggest about the nature of God's help that His instructions so often seem disconnected from the actual problem we bring to Him?
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After he's healed, Naaman says, 'Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.' Pastor Bill observed that Naaman came looking for a healing but walked away knowing the Healer. How does that shift — from fixing a problem to finding a relationship — change the way we might think about what God is actually after when He's at work in someone's life?
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In Luke 4:27, Jesus brings up Naaman's story while speaking to people in His own hometown — people who already considered themselves close to God. What do you think Jesus was trying to surface by choosing that particular example, and what does it suggest about what 'entitled pride' can look like in people who already believe?
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Pastor Bill described things like getting into God's Word, growing in community, and living generously as our 'Jordan River' — not a checklist to earn God's love, but an invitation to step into where He works. How might a community like ours help one another move from hustle toward that kind of humble, complete trust?

Pray together

Humility over hustle — that we would release our grip on earning and open our hands to receiving whatever God has for us

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Topics

Grace vs. Earning Naaman's Healing Pride and Humility Trust and Obedience

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