Dr. Ralph Douglas West - The Axe Head Did Swim | 2 Kings 6: 1-7 - The Church Without Walls

0:06 Put your Bibles down and for just a moment give God praise if you don't mind. Now the head clap. Pray. Yeah, there you go. Pray. Thank you, choir, for blessing us today and encouraging us, reminding us that God is the keeper of our soul. We are appreciative for that. Glad to have Brother Miles back this morning. It's not mine to tell his story. He'll have to tell his own story. But we're glad to have him with us on today and we praise God for him.

1:13 While you're standing, take God's word this morning and open it to 2 Kings 6. And over the next several weeks, we'll live with the writing of the historical book, 2 Kings, which will lead us into our marvelous series of messages in the fall, A Trip to the Biblical Zoo. and I want to invite you during the fall to come go to the zoo to listen and watch the animals in the Bible teach us about God's grace. 2 Kings chapter 6, you there?

2:10 All right. the company of the prophets said to Elisha, look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan where each of us can get a pole and let us build a place there for us to meet. And he said, go. then one of them said won't you please come with your servants I will Elisha replied and he went with them They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water.

3:07 Uh-oh. Oh, no, my Lord, he cried out. It was borrowed. oh no my Lord it was borrowed the man of God asked where did it fall when he showed him the place Elisha cut a stick and threw it there and made the iron float Lift it out, he said. then the man reached out his hand and took it. This is the word of God. You may be seated. I want to tag this text.

4:00 The axe head did swim. This story is born out of a human need A good predicament The sons of the prophets Who domiciled together Under the tutelage of their dean Elisha Thank you. outgrew their facilities where they were being trained to continue the prophetic ministry to which Elisha now is leading.

4:50 For those of you who are not conversant with the prophet Elisha, he is the apprentice of Elijah. whose records are preserved in 1 Kings as the firebrand prophet who took a chariot of fire and exodused out of planet earth. leaving behind him a mantle. that was picked up, placed on the shoulders of Elisha. And now Elisha has a double portion of what Elijah had. Elisha is passing on The prophetic ministry Truth telling To these other young prophets The popularity of his teaching The magnetism of his person The charisma of his leadership May have attracted others but what we do know is architecturally where they were living is insufficient.

6:22 This typically happens when things are growing. They outgrow spaces. Now if you're not careful and you've lost your childish imagination every child here knows that I'm talking about something more than a building. They know that when faith expands it requires more room. That when faith expands it requires more room. that when a person grows spiritually, they need more space.

7:15 And so Elisha was asked by the school of the young prophets. They said, our space, ignite has gotten too small. K-Wild needs some expansion. and we want to know, do we have your permission to go down to the Jordan? They have some trees there, but also some space that if we can carve it out, it will be perfect, not just geographically, but aesthetically, for us to build and expand. Elisha said, yes, go, you have my permission. Somebody then said, but will you go with us?

8:08 It sounded exactly like Elisha When word was given to him on four occasions That Elijah was going to die And Elijah told Elisha to stay behind And Elisha didn't do it So he followed him to Gilgal, Bethel, Jordan, and on because he wanted to be in the expanded spaces with Elijah before he charioted out of planet Earth. And so now they made their way to the Jordan. They stopped by the hardware store To pick up some acts Because preachers don't have no money And these are student preachers And we have a few of them here with us And they'll tell you they're always broke I was a student preacher And I never had any money and I was always glad when somebody was kind enough to extend some benevolence.

9:30 And they went by the hardware store and even Elisha, who had been working all these miracles, couldn't work up a miracle of money and so the people who managed the hardware store, y'all just have no kind of appreciation for a store. All right. They said, well, we'll put it on loan, you know. And so they borrowed iron. You got to hear this story in kind of double conscience because if you're thinking of iron today, you say, well, this story is irrelevant to me. These people should have had enough change. We're talking about iron age stuff. where iron is so expensive. It would be the equivalent of some teenager with a learner's permit that walked up to you and asked, can I borrow your Escalade?

10:36 Yeah, now you're getting it. And you're looking at him and says, did you bump your head? And then you give them the keys and you say to them what Shariva's grandfather said to us as carless teenagers driving. If you must have a wreck, could you drive the car first in the ditch? I don't know what that means, but I think I got an idea.

11:21 So it's a story of expense. It's somewhat humorous on a hand. Something else, when you read the Bible, stop being so uptight, taking yourself so serious. And read it and enjoy what you're reading. Don't be one of these Christians, live a lifetime and never read nothing and enjoyed it. Find you some stories, they say, I like that story.

11:47 And so now they are equipped, they are permitted and they're accessing the terrain that they're going to fail the trees to expand so that they can continue to grow. And then you hear a shriek in the middle of all of this singing. I'm working on a building. It's a true foundation.

12:16 And somebody in the middle of that breaks up the count and say, oh, oh, my Lord. Somebody said, dog. Somebody cussed. And you know they did. They said a bad way. They said, oh, oh, my Lord. King James said, alas, alas. NIV sound more like that, oh my Lord.

12:44 Somebody young said, OMG. What happened? Said the axe slipped off. The axe head, the whole axe, no, just the axe head slipped off and it fell into the Jordan. And thus is where the story begins because you don't have to be the brightest bulb on the tree. You don't have to know a lot about the Bible, anything, to know that if the axe head is lost, then the indispensable power necessary for failing the trees has been lost.

13:26 And this morning, this story leaps from the Old Testament pages and touches you on your shoulders sitting in this room and reminds you that if you're not cautious, you too can lose the indispensable cutting edge necessary for you to accomplish the work that God has assigned to you to do. the cutting edge is the power that is needed for service now i'm aware more than many people that i know how we are thinking collectively now for what i do i don't need all of that that's why god the bible and the church is casual to me. I don't need any outside external divine power to help me to do what I'm doing. And you're probably right. When you achieve little, you don't need much.

14:34 When you're mundane and ordinary and you're saying, I like it in the valley, I don't care what the mountain looks like. You don't need as much, but if you have been called up to do something more than what you know you are able to do, you need a power outside of yourself to accomplish that. There are people in this room that don't need to stretch their imagination at all to know exactly what I mean. It could be in the sense of human enterprising, of something that has been tugging at you for years as a vision, maybe something entrepreneurial and everybody around you has told you what you cannot do and yet God has given you a cutting edge and you know that you're able to do it, you just lack the power, then you know what the cutting edge is. You need a power greater than yourself to accomplish what God wants you to do.

15:39 John the Baptist understood this John knew what it meant to have The indispensable cutting edge Of power necessary To accomplish what he had been Specifically called to do His whole life was one thing he was born for one reason he fulfills what Mark Twain speaks about the revelation of knowing of your day of birth and the reason why you were born his whole life sums up in one thing to cut trees to fail systems to bring down structures that get in the way for the coming of the Lord that any system institution, whether it be governmental or political or cultural or religious, needs to come down.

16:43 Anything that prohibits a man or woman from becoming what God has intended them to be. Anything that enslaves a person, those shackles have to be broken. Anybody that is denied access of equality, you got to cut that system down. and there's no such thing as saying that it ain't my responsibility. If God gave you the ax, if God gave you the edge, he expects you to cut at the root of the tree. Those are Bible words. That's what John the Baptist said to the systems that were failing the people to become what God had intended them to be. When the Roman Empire was squeezing the life out of them, John said my ministry is one thing To lay the axe at the root of the tree I have come to destroy Every system that gets in the way From these people becoming What God has called them to be That's what it means to have an edge.

17:58 And yet, if you're not careful, you can lose your edge. But get this, you can lose the cutting edge by being diligent at the work that God called you to do. you can lose preaching preaching isn't that something yeah when you start assuming that you're the inventor and the generator of what god once said you can lose it and some of what passes for preaching today It sounds so eloquent, it's so poetic, but it's about an inch deep and a mile wide. I'm telling you. You can lose it singing You can hit every note And don't move nobody No power to do anything You need a power outside of yourself The Pentecostals were said You need Holy Ghost power You need the Charismatics You need God's anointing the old Baptist said you need the unction whatever it is you know you need a power outside of yourself that's greater than you that call you up to do what God has called you out to do and while they were out cutting Lord have mercy they failed because the axe head had dropped you remember when Paul and Silas came to Thessalonica and the report was this who are those old loud preachers he said we don't know who they are but all we know is they turned the world upside down and said what did they turn it upside down with

20:06 believe it or not they had a scroll in their hand it was just a book but but they called it the word of God and they said that it was powerful and sharp than a two-edged sword and that it could cut through the bone and the marrow and it could interpret the thoughts and the intent of the human heart we need a word that God gives to us that's full of power to change the way that we look at life, live life, and act at life. And so they were cutting, and they heard somebody. alas Lord Doggone And then they said that other word And they said it because they didn't just lose the cutting edge, the indispensable power, the sonic non to do work.

21:30 They said, oh, that ain't what I'm crying about. It was borrowed. It wasn't mine. And we gotta go back to the hardware store and take back to the person, and we was walking out, you know, they already said, I hope you get back. and now we've lost it they reported this they said alas oh my lord i'll be uh-oh we've lost it what was the anxiety attached to it? Because it was borrowed.

22:25 They were engaged in activity. But there's a difference between activity and accomplishment. I always ask people when they tell me what they're doing I always ask one question Have you finished it? I want to challenge you, young people in particular, when you strike out the start, have finish in mind.

22:55 I mean, it'll work for all of us, but have finish in mind. Care what it is, how difficult it is. Sit down first, weigh out the choices, look at it, make sure you count the cost. You sit down and know the expense involved in it. Don't get in it. And six months later, you say, I'm going to jump out of it. No, I signed up and I'm going all the way. I started in the ninth grade. I'm finishing in the 12th grade. I started as a freshman. I'm going to end up in college. I ain't leaving no hours behind. Some of you right now went to school four years and quit in the fourth year and all you got is seven, eight hours sitting up somewhere.

23:49 Go on and finish that thing. Don't finish for me. Don't finish for your children. Don't finish for your mom. Finish for you because you started out on something. because what I have was borrowed. So the ax, I got to move on. So the ax, it falls into the water. It's lost because it was borrowed. It was borrowed. The anointing that God gives to us, these gifts and skills and talents, will be handled differently if we would say these words, I have to manage them because they are borrowed. Now, have you had enough people in here who are arrogant enough to believe that they accomplished what they do on their own? I pray that humility can kiss your cheek somewhere to remind you that whatever we have, God has put it on loan.

24:49 One day we will have to give back. One of my young men at the eight o'clock service, whose mother recently folded up a tent, moved upstairs. Like one of my children came down and typically I don't say anything. I leaned over and I said, tell me why you're here. He said, I'm really here as a testimony. I was listening to the sermon today in point number two where you said that it was borrowed. and that is it never belonged to me and I really came down here to really thank the Lord for lending me my mother as long as he did in order that I could thank him proper for that. I couldn't do it at the funeral. I couldn't do it the week or two after it but I got enough time that I'm able to stand here now and raise up my hand and thank the Lord for giving me a mama on loan.

25:50 And this morning, whatever it is that God has given to you, here's a good time to thank him to say maybe not forever, but I thank you for the loan that you've given to me. Why are you crying? Because it was borrowed. And I don't want the one that lended to me to feel that I'm ungrateful. That I'm ungrateful to him for loaning me such a gift as this. Oh Lord, it was borrowed. Moses testifies about that. We talk about Moses and Moses recognizes at the Red Sea where he's in the face of an impossibility where the sea is in front of him and Pharaoh's behind him and the valleys are surrounding him.

26:42 He's in a kind of divine, divine cul-de-sac. E.K. Bailey used to say it that way. E.K. would say he's in a divine cul-de-sac. And that is him, them with no way out. And then the question was asked, Moses, what do you have in your hand? He said, I have a rod, but that ain't what I need in front of a seat. He said, I gave you everything you need. I gave you my name. I let you borrow it. and I gave you my rod, I let you borrow it. Now use what I gave to you and watch me go to work. It ain't you in the first place, but as me had work, he borrowed it.

27:27 David facing Goliath. David facing a lion. David facing a bear. David, how did you defeat your adversaries when they came up against you, God got in my sling and in my stone. And I said, I've been using this every day and God reminded me, but not the way you're going to use it today because I now have kissed it with my presence and divinity and I'm going to show you how to use these tools as a cutting edge. And remember this, David, it's just on loan. I think you get the point I think you get the point it's borrowed remember that that what you have God has given it to you all alone I got to stop now I got a few minutes left so you get the point let me give you one last thing because I know what you're saying I got the cutting edge it's indispensable and I need it in order to accomplish the work that God has given to me. I got that. And I understand that there are times where you can lose, you can misappropriate the gifts that God has given. I got that. Oh, that's good, but I need to know how do I get it back? I need to know that in the event that I lose it, how do I get it back?

28:58 And this is how you get it back. This is the process of recovery. Alas, oh Lord, dog, OMG is lost. And then the question comes from the prophet. He says, where did you lose it? Now, we don't like to go there because all of us love to say, I don't know where I lost it. But I'm here to tell you, if you had it, you know when you lost it and you know where you lost it. Let me say it one more time. Alas. Oh Lord. OMG. I lost it. But Pastor West, I don't know where I lost my, where you ain't never had it.

29:55 because you got to have it to lose it. And everybody that had it and lost it knew they did. I knew you wouldn't like that. So let me call some witnesses back to the stand. Now, Moses, I called on you earlier because I talked about you borrowed it. But what I didn't say is that you lost it. And Moses said, let me tell you something, after leading people across the Red Sea, After using God's name, I am that I am. After using the rod to open up ways, I misused and lost what was borrowed. When God told me, speak to the rock. And I got mad because I let them people in my congregation get on my nerves. They had been mumbling, grumbling and complaining.

30:50 And I let it get next to me. I got to let it get all up in me And I got mad And all I had to do Is just yell at the rock I just said Rock But that ain't what I did I took the rock And smoked the rock And God said Hold it more I said speak I'll do the judging And now the retribution Falls more on you You can't even make it in All you had to do was speak to the rock. You abused what was borrowed. Let me tell you something. If God says speak, speak. And leave the rest up to him. Wait a minute, you didn't get that. Can I call one more witness? David, where did you lose it?

31:42 You know where I lost it. I lost it when I should have been on the battlefield. But she was so fine. Yeah, but David, you will use your power and your position to rape Bathsheba. You see, we like to say he committed adultery. But David did more than that. David used his power to afflict Bathsheba and then murder Uriah. But I'm telling you something, where did you? He lost it on the rooftop. Oh, but he said, but I didn't lose it there forever. God was able to restore to me the joy of my salvation. Preach Pastor West, I know you like, I know it was left of you, you would leave all these people out.

32:39 But now if that's gonna be your philosophy, you got to carry it all the way through. And that means when your name come up, then you can't ask God to restore you either. But I ain't thinking about your little bitty God. I'm thinking about a God who specializes in things that seem impossible and he can do what no other power can do. That is when you've lost it, God knows how to find it. Lord, where did you find it? He said, well, I've dropped it over here. It's down there. He said, take me to the place. And when he got there, look at what Elisha did. Nothing dramatic. he just said let me cut a stick and now there are four ways that you could read this story time doesn't permit it you could rationalize it and just say where he took a stick and moved it down to the shallow water could have but that ain't what happened you can allegorize it to sit down and turn the stick and the axe head into something that it ain't or you can sit down and you can moralize it and try to come up with some fancy lessons.

33:54 Or you can spiritualize it, however you want to read it. I'm just going to read it matter of fact. The iron fell off in the water. And it's a miracle. And those of you that know about second thermodynamics, You ain't got no hard time Believing this But it don't matter if you know about that or not Have a good day The iron did swim If God Can raise a dead Jesus After three days In the tomb Surely He's able To get some iron out of the Jordan. Now look what Elisha did.

34:48 Elisha cut off a stick and threw that stick toward the iron. And I know some of y'all are too smart. You say, I don't believe that. You ain't got to believe it. You ain't got to believe it. You can take any other of it. But this is my story now. And I want to believe that the iron swam. Let me give you one last line and that is simply this. And so he takes the stick, puts it in the water, and the iron swam. That ain't hard to believe. Since Isaiah 11 says he's a branch. And so I don't know, maybe the branch called the iron, whatever happened. The iron swam. And the same way God got the iron up, God can get you up. Same way God made a way.

35:40 But him out in the wilderness God can make a way for you All you got to do is pray the prayer Take me back Take me back dear Lord To the place where I first received you Take me back Take me back dear Lord To the place where I first believed Then you remember when Andre said it this way Thank you.