Hey, if you have a Bible turn
with me to 2 Kings chapter 6 I want to preach to you a
message that I'm calling, get a grip. Get a grip. Could you help me
preach my sermon? Find someone around
you, it could be in your living
room, even your cat if you need to, if you don't
have anybody else in the house, tell them get a grip. Get a grip. But better than
telling you how-- better than telling you
that you need to get a grip I want to show you
how to get a grip. I want to show you
and talk to you about what to do when you
feel like you're slipping. I want to talk to
you about what to do when you feel like what
you're holding is too heavy and like you are cracking up. And if there's no one
else who needs a sermon, I'm going to preach this
entire thing just to me, but if there's maybe
just one or two people in the church today
who feel, or have ever felt like what you've
been tasked with carrying is more than you
can hold then, I hope this message encourages
you in Jesus' name. 2 Kings chapter 6, I love
this passage of scripture. I've preached on part of
it but not the whole thing and so we're going to
just see what happens. It says in verse 1, "and the
sons of the prophets said to Elijah, 'see now the place
where we dwell with you is too small for us.' This was a school
of the prophets, we've talked a little bit
about them in this pulpit. There was a school of
ministry, basically. It was a training
ground for people who wanted to be used to serve God. Elijah used to think he was
the only one who loved God. It's easy to think that
sometimes, I'm the only one, I'm the only one. And God's like fool
there's so many more you don't even know about. I'm doing so much more in the
world than you're even aware. And so then his
padawan, Elisha, began to devote himself to training
up all the other ones, all the other people who loved God. And so there's a
ministry school. And this ministry
school was obviously growing because the
sons of the prophets were like, hey,
we're not ungrateful, we just don't have any room. There's 84 of us in this
three bunk bed situation here. And I love it because
at one point obviously the house was sufficient. Some of us have outgrown
things that used to fit us. And there's great
power in recognizing when you no longer fit
in something you're trying to fit in. It's not that it's bad,
it's just that we've grown. And so here they are saying
we need better accommodations. And that, by the way, is one
of the things in our heart, as we continue to come
around our internships, and we can continue to
come around our college. One of the things that God
has really put into our hearts is to make dorms available. And I'm not sure what this
is going to look like. My prayer is that we would
somehow find the opportunity to purchase and own some
lodging within walking distance to the campus that I'm preaching
from so that when we have students from
around the country, as we will welcome shortly here. When we have interns from around
the country and even the world coming to serve God here at
Fresh Life Church that we would be able to make it
easy for them to have a place to live. (CROWD CLAPPING) Come on. Your with me on that dream. I'm just really believing
God has a situation for us to come into. A building we did not build,
a field we did not plant, but that we will get
to enjoy and see God use to see a generation
trained up and released to make a difference in the kingdom. And so do pray with me in
that, towards that end. But these ministers they said
we don't want to complain Elijah but we need more room. So look at this, verse
2 they didn't just bring a problem they
brought a solution. "Please let us go to
the Jordan, and let every man take a beam
from there, and let us make there a place
where we may dwell." And he answered, awesome. Isn't it great, leaders, when
you have someone under you who doesn't just bring to you a
problem but is also proactive and thinks out the solution. If you want to make
your boss's day don't just come into
his office and tell him what's wrong with
the organization, do some thinking
on your own time and present to him four options
that could be the way forward through this difficulty. Anybody can point out the
thing that's not going right. If you bring that to
your overseer, your boss she may have known
that for months right? The question is, what are we
going to do about this problem? So be proactive. That's not my sermon
but it's helpful. (CROWD LAUGHS) Verse 3, "then one said,
'please consent to go with your servants.' And he answered. 'I'll go.' So he went with them. And when they came to the
Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was
cutting down a tree, the iron ax head
fell into the water; and he cried out and
said, 'Alas, master! For it was borrowed.' It's not really how
anybody talks anymore but it's pretty good
to read isn't it? "So the man of God said,
"Where did it fall?' And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick,
and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. That's why they wanted Elijah
to come with them on this field trip. He was a handy guy to
have around in a pinch. Verse 7, "Therefore he said,
'pick it up for yourself.' So he reached out
his hand and took it. Now the King of Syria was
making war against Israel; and he consulted with
his servant saying, 'my camp will be in
such and such a place.' In one translation
of the Bible it says my camp will be
hither and thither. I love that phrase,
hither and thither, I've always liked it
when I come across it. "And the man of God sent to
the King of Israel saying, 'beware that you do
not pass this place, for the Syrians are
coming down there.' And the King of
Israel sent someone to the place of which the
man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and
he was watchful there, not just once or twice. So Elisha is not as
good at finding access, he's also like a
super predator drone. Like figuring out
reconnaissance wise what the enemies are
doing and reporting it to his King who could
then be two steps ahead of the Syrian commander. "Therefore, verse 11, the
heart of the King of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing;
and he called his servants and said to them, 'will you
not show me which one of us is for the King of Israel?' He thought he had a traitor
in his midst, but he didn't. "One of his servants
said, 'none my Lord.' We're all on your team. "O King; but Elisha, the
prophet who is in Israel, tells the King of
Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom." He's that switched on, he's
that in touch with the spirit. "So he said, 'go
and see where he is, that I may send and get him.' That's code for kill him, FYI. "And it was told him, saying,
'well he's in Dothan.' Which is about 12 miles
away from Samaria. "Therefore he sent horses
and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night
and surrounded the city. And when the servant
of the man of God arose early and went
out, there was an army, surrounding the city
with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him,
Elisha's servant said, 'alas, my master! What shall we do?' This is much bigger
than an ax head, we're about to lose our heads. So verse 16, "so he
answered, 'do not fear, for those who are with us are
more than those who are with them.' and Elisha prayed, and
said, 'Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.' Then the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to
him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, 'strike this people,
I pray, with blindness.' and he struck him with
blindness according to the word of Elisha." And father we thank
you for these truths contained in this text. We thank you for
what you're trying to speak to us through it. And we pray now, what Elijah
prayed for the servant to happen to ourselves. That you would open our eyes up
to see what we can't see that's right in front of us, as plain
as the nose on our faces. Bless this time
of Bible study now and bless every
single person who has made space in their heart,
their life, and their schedule for your word this
Sunday, or whatever day it is this week as they're
listening to this message. And I pray this in
Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. These two stories,
they don't seem like they belong connected
to each other, right? They're all in one fell swoop
and I'll show you in a minute how they're connected. But it almost-- like reading
the one is like the ax head is such a small thing. Why would you even
bother God with this? This is like-- this doesn't
even belong in scripture. It's like how did that
accidentally-- like were they worried the Bible wasn't
going to be long enough? Like that does not
belong in the Bible. And then-- and you
see the other one and it's like such a big thing. And what are we to
make of all of this? I was thinking
this week about how my wife and I, who
have been married for 17 years, this year. How we have-- Yeah it's
amazing, she's the best. How we have lived in
three different states, we've had five children, we have
lived in five different homes. And the most recent home
that we've lived in, the home that we live in
today, we have lived in, this fall it'll be 10 years
since we built this house and have lived in it
and have put down roots. And you think about
that like, in many ways, you know we've, over the
years, felt growing pains. And felt what the
sons of the prophets felt like the house has gotten
a little too small for us. Sometimes the walls come in. There's just--
when we moved in we didn't have as many people
living in it as we do now. So I mean it's just like
every couple of minutes you're bumping-- it's hard to go somewhere
not bump into somebody. If you ever felt that this
house is too small for us. But we for two reasons
have never left the house and may never leave the house. And that's for, first
of all, an emotional one and the second one just
a really practical one. Emotionally we
had a daughter who went to heaven while
we lived in that house and so it's challenging
for any one of us to think about living
anywhere else because of the memories associated. And to have to live
somewhere else where we don't have any memories. And there's a door we're
like all the kids heights, and of course my
daughter who's in heaven, her heart stops at the last
measurement we took of her. But so you know, it's like
when you lived here, you know. Like that's one reason
we've never moved, we've never left that
house because it's like Lena lived here. She was-- she woke
up here the morning that she went to be with Jesus. And so you know it's like we
might be tight, it might be, it might be but you
just hold on kids you're going to be out of here. It's going to feel real good
which is Jennie and I in here. You can come over and visit
any time you want, bye. And so yeah Lena lived here. It's emotional right. But then the second
reason, and just really practically
speaking, I was thinking about is I am just
too lazy to ever move again. I have PTSD from all of
the moves I have ever made. I sometimes get a little
twitchy tick in my eye just thinking about moving. I'll pass a moving
truck and see boxes and I'm like ain't
nobody got time for that. I just-- the devil is a liar. Like I'll start thinking-- I'm like no, I'm not moving, I'm
not doing it, I'm not doing it. And I told you my wife has
had five children which is impossible to
believe when you see her because she looks like-- doesn't look like someone who
would have had five children or be someone old enough
to have five children. But every one of those
kids got her a get out of moving free card, right? For a whole year she didn't
have to do nothing, right. I get it, right I'm not saying
it's a wonderful easy thing to have a baby. I'm just saying I can't lift
anything over 10 pounds, I'm so sorry. It's a wonder-- it's the baby,
it's the baby, it's the baby. For nine months you can
do anything and then once you know-- mom's recovering, is postpartum,
I still can't carry anything. So all of these
moves California, from New Mexico, and
New Mexico to Montana, and all the three
different places we lived in Montana, right
it's all fallen to me. And any friends I can
muster, blackmail, bribe, swindle into helping me out. Right, that's a lovely
thing like any friend you know who has a truck right. It's like just, OK
can you help me? It's like I'm busy,
what day is it? All of them, I'm busy all
of them, all of them days. Right, you start going
through the list in your head like who could I
call that I've not called to help me lift
this couch just move it. The other thing I should
tell you about my wife is that she is a chronic
furniture re-arranger. Just constantly wanting to move
stuff around, like this bunk bed would be good in there. Well you know what that means
honey, that means disassembly, is what that means. And so like I have
so many memories of trying to move things like
with one of my tiny children's help. Like help me move this
thing, like dad this is going to kill me. And then like in
between babies, I'd have to schedule
like hanging a TV or something in between babies. With like a one month
you know window of time before I got her pregnant again. And now I can have you
help with heavy things and then we can get
back to procreating. But that's been our
life and honesty here, and it's wonderful now
because Olivia is a teenager and she's strong. And so it's like she
resents ever-growing up because she's had to become
like my moving friend. And she's, don't tell this to my
wife, is stronger than Jennie. And so like I don't even
ask Jennie to help anymore. I'm always asking Olivia to
move stuff or hang stuff or hold this while I drill this in. I have memories upon memories
of Livie with the whites of her eyes showing, trying to
get something upstairs, or 'dad it's slipping'. Like and I never have worked
out whether it's better to put her at the
bottom of the stairs or the top of the stairs
going up-- really there's no, there's no winning
you know what I mean. And just dad it's slipping,
dad it's too heavy, dad it's slipping
trying to put the-- The worst I can remember
was the basketball hoop, putting that together. I don't know why I ever
bought a basketball hoop. I don't even like basketball. I'm wearing Air Jordans but
they're not for basketball. The staff bought me
these for my birthday. I don't play basketball. I tried yesterday,
it would just be relaxing to shoot
hoops for a minute and I think like six
times later one went in and I was like that's
not really my thing. And so I went back
to reading a book. But I remember distinctly
like putting this frame up and trying to like-- Olivia's holding
it and I'm trying to torque the thing down. And she's like dad it's
slipping, I'm like, don't drop this thing. I don't even know where-- what do I do then? What do I do then? I got to take this
thing back to Costco? I know they have really
good return policy, but how am I supposed to get
this whole basketball thing, assembled halfway, to Costco. Anyhow, it's one
thing to be holding something heavy physically
and feel it slip. It's a terrible feeling when
you feel it going through hands either because it's too big,
it's too heavy, too slippery, or there's just not a good
place to get a handhold. Like a foosball table, have you
ever moved a foosball table? Jeez, right it's horrible too
because as you're doing it the things are falling
out, it's like hey, I should tape those down. No, I'll be fine. Always tape them down. But what about when something's
slipping through your fingers emotionally, what about when you
can't get a grip on something spiritually? What about when you just
feel that sensation of I'm trying my hardest it's just
going through my hands, I'm losing my grip. I'm losing my edge maybe. I'm cracking up here. I feel like my grip on
reality is the problem. I have found myself saying
to myself more times, more variations of
Levi get a grip. Where I just feel
like something is more than I can bear, something. The pressure, demands,
the relationships, caring enough for
all the people that are attached to me in
some way or another, having enough to give. How do you get a grip
when you've lost one? Because sometimes even just
the self-talk is not enough. Like I find myself like Kevin
McCallister in the basement sometimes, it's
only my imagination, it's only my imagination,
it's only my-- And then, nope, that
furnace actually is Lucifer. It really is. Right, the situation is just
too much and get a grip Levi, snap-- If anybody's with
me at all, just say amen so don't feel
completely alone up here. But sometimes it just feels like
life and what I have to give, these two are not compatible. So what do you do when you
feel like your grip on reality is slipping. What do you do when something
has flown through your hands? Well we have come
to the right place because this cat
swinging the ax, is like me playing basketball. He was clearly not a
good home builder, right? What is he doing trying
to take a tree down with this loose ax head? Well we find some
lessons that I think we can apply to
our lives that'll help us snap out of it when we
feel like things are slipping. The first thing I see
this text telling us, is that little things clearly
can cause big problems. And a lot of times
in life it will not be the huge, disastrous,
massive things that are going to
actually bring you down. It's going to be the slow steady
accumulation of little things. It's the pinpricks. I distinctly heard God
tell me this past year, that's not the problem. As I would naturally,
in my mind, when I would look at my mental
state or emotionally, finding myself at a place where
I felt like I was drowning, and I would
immediately think well it's got to be just like--
well sure, like I mentioned a minute ago, grief, the
death of my daughter. And I remember God saying,
Levi, that's not the problem. Those big things you've dealt
with, you've focused on, you've gotten the prayer,
you've gotten the counseling, you've gotten the healing
in those big things. That's not the problem. It was the little things. It was just the
accumulation of demands. It was the, yes when I maybe
should have prayed more before giving the eventual
no that I probably should have given. It was taking the time
to be quiet in prayer before going into
a difficult season. Having the right
mentality, God said to me Levi, not that's
not the problem. You've got to look to, at
times, the little things. In this situation,
this guy's stressed out this guy's freaking out. It was a little thing, but
it led to a big problem. Why? Because now he's got
to pay for this ax head because he borrowed it. He lost an ax, so he's
not only getting behind on the work project,
but he's got to repay this dude's ax
that he borrowed, right? Because the law was
clear, this is Exodus 22, "if a man borrows anything
from his neighbor, and it becomes injured or
dies," or he accidentally chucks it into a pond. "He shall surely make it good." So he's thinking, I got
to make this thing good. And apparently
loose ax heads was like a real issue in that day
because there was even law given in the Old Testament
scripture on what happens if you're
chopping a tree down and the ax head goes flying
off of the ax handle. Look at Deuteronomy
19, "when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor
to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the
ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips
from the handle and strikes his neighbor
so that he dies-- he shall flee to one of
these cities and live;" It's amazing God thought
of everything, right? And obviously they needed some
better technology on their ax handles. I think you can drive a
nail into the top of it, it'll make it wider. But this guy's panicking
because I got to-- I got to replace the ax. And so I'm going to
have to work and I'm going to have to get some
money to pay for this. But then I still
don't have a beam, I still haven't cut down a tree. And so he's just-- it's
just little things that is causing this big problem. I guess he should be grateful
he didn't murder anybody, but he's still got an issue. And so little things
can cause big problems. Second thing, jot this down. Bad things can happen when
you're out doing good. This text is reassuring
to me because this guy wasn't here making mess. He was trying to build a
house for missionaries, like this is a good thing. And now he's got
this crisis, he's got this difficulty,
this dilemma, and he was on the
way to doing good. I think sometimes
we underestimate the blow-back that will come
our way when we try and do good. When we are seeking to
serve God we sort of expect like that God's
going to look out for us. As though God operated on karma,
and you put enough good energy out there and just good
things are going to come. And I have found over the years,
many Christians are stunned, and surprised, and
horrified even when the exact opposite happens. And as you begin to try
and clean your life up, as you begin to start
making better decisions, as you begin to try
and, gasp, serve God. Telling somebody about
Jesus, inviting someone to come to church with you,
trying to encourage someone who's discouraged. You kind of like are
expecting good to come back. And oftentimes it's
just the opposite. And we are surprised
but if we come to Jesus we'll hear
him saying look if you're trying to follow
me, what happened to me. The world killed me, and you're
calling yourself a mini me. So you should not be surprised
when as you're doing good, bad things actually
come your way. You should rejoice
in those moments because blessed are
you who are persecuted for righteousness sake. So far from asking
the question, what did I do wrong that this
hardship has happened to me. Maybe you could ask
yourself the question, what did I do right that the
enemy sees me as a threat. He's trying to
snuff out my light. I know one thing's for sure,
don't in response to that, turn it down. Turn it up. Turn it up. Turn it up. Turn it all the way up. I'm going to blaze
10 times brighter when I feel like the enemy is
trying to put out my light. That's the second
thing you need to know. Third thing, jot this down. I saw this in the past,
if it matters to you, it matters to Him. I don't know why,
but somehow it just encourages me so much to no
end that this story ended up in the Bible. Why? Because I think God wants
to emphatically say to you, I care about your lost ax head,
I care about your lost iPhone, I care about the
Microsoft Word document you've been in hour
upon hour upon hour that crashed for some reason and
you saw the demonic beach ball and when you rebooted the
system there was no restored, recovered file. And so now you
are ready to cuss. I'm just autobiographically
talking about my week. I think God cares
about the fact that you can't find your
backpack and the fact that your favorite shirt has
an oil stain on it because you were eating a salad because
you were trying to make better eating decisions and that
flipping balsamic vinaigrette now is perpetually a reminder. My wife says baking
soda is the answer. All I'm saying is I just
am thankful that God cares. And sometimes it's not
the big stuff to me that really causes me to
feel like I'm slipping and causes me to feel
like I'm cracking up, it's sometimes the
smallest little things. It's the fact that you go and
there's no clean underwear in the drawer. And you're standing there
going like, now I'm not going to have any underwear on today. And you just start to feel
like, I just can't do it. I can't do it, I can't
face it, no more. I'm leaving, I'm
quitting, I'm going-- it's just like-- and I think God
just goes, hey it's an ax head, I know it's a problem, I care. I care about you. I care about your
week, I care about-- if it's big to you,
it's big to Him. And God in the scriptures,
puts a man of God about to be killed
by assassin's right next door to a lost ax head. And Elisha deals
with both situations with the same amount
of intensity and faith. And God cares. Nothing is small to Him
and nothing is big to Him. If it matters to you,
it matters to Him. What did I say last week? He approaches us like a child. When [INAUDIBLE] comes
to me with a situation, I want to listen. When Clover has a
problem, it matters to me. I realize, with
perspective, it's not that big of a
deal honey but I don't want to belittle
her or condescend her because she cares about
her little fairy house, I care about her
stupid fairy house. I care-- because I
care, it matters. So your situation isn't
bothering your Father in heaven. Or you can't pray about
that because God's worried about Afghanistan. Look God's not worried
about anything. He sees the end
from the beginning, he knows how he's going
to use all these things. So don't be afraid,
don't be worried about bringing your little
petty things to him. Your little scheduling
thing to him, your little relational
thing to him, and as you're honest with God
and you don't try and sanitize your prayer life. And you don't try
and always come to God speaking
in the King James with like four these
three thous and two thus. Like God's going to be
like, whoa look at that. And you just say, God I'm really
struggling with lust right now, and I'm super mad, and I almost
cussed at my four-year-old. Like I'm just telling you
God is going to be like, thank you I saw it too right. So you don't do that
and then be like, yes thy merciful bequeaths
things, like he's like that's not normal. Just to be honest with him, to
cast all your cares upon Him. If it matters-- to
just encourage you-- to you, it matters to Him. He can handle the ax head
next to the disaster, he can handle Haiti
alongside the fact that you're just overwhelmed. And you feel bad because
you're overwhelmed because how dare you be overwhelmed while
an earthquake is killing all these people in Haiti. Guess what, they can just
go right next to each other and let God sort them
out in your heart. And you-- it doesn't
mean you're a bad person, it just means you're a
human being with limits, with thresholds. And yet it is awkward to
carry a foosball table down a set of stairs. It just is. All right number four, I see
from this passage everything in your hands is borrowed. I love that what the servant
was carrying was not his and he acknowledged that. The first thing that came out of
his mouth was, "alas my master, it was borrowed." It went into the water, I
can't get can't get it back and I'm thinking
about the owner. I'm thinking about
the fact that I got to go talk to this fool,
who loaned me his ax head and be like, I am
such a bad lumberjack that I lost your ax head. I am not Paul Bunyan,
I am so sorry. He's immediately thinking
through the lens of, what I had was a gift, what
I had was borrowed and so should you. In fact John the Baptist gives
us this, he said and John 3:27, 'no one can receive anything
unless God gives it from heaven.' So we should have the
frame of reference in life, that a boat, a
car, our job, our health, our citizenship, what name is
on our passport, all of it, it's a gift. The air in your lungs is a gift. You're not a self-made man. You're not a self-made woman. I realize that you might
have made some good decisions along the way but
it's really hard to make stuff without breathing. And you didn't give
yourself lungs. You didn't choose to
be born in the year that you were born in, to the
family that you're born in. Everything you were
given is a gift. And far from being a
dis-empowering thing, I think it's a wonderfully
freeing thing to remember this. First Corinthians
4:7, "what do you have that God hasn't given you? And if everything you
have is from God, why would you boast as though
it were not a gift?" So not only does
this take us away from the place of bragging,
because news flash, whatever you did, it was with what he
gave to you to do those things. So it puts you into
the place of going, I can't walk around like a big
shot because I was given a gift and I used that gift. So that's why Jesus told the
disciples, when you come back from doing ministry don't
be like doing the moonwalk like you're Michael
Jackson, but instead say we're just servants, we did
what we were told to do. Whether I was given one talent,
two talent, or five talents God just wants a
return on investment. That's why, as we
said last week, it's not a bad thing
to seek out greatness. In fact, if you were given
Olympic caliber talents it would be a
travesty to flounder in the shallow pool of life. You should seek out God giving
greatness in your business, you should seek out God giving
greatness in your health. But you should do
so not to fill up some deficiency you
have on the inside because you think you're
not as important as James or you're not as buff as Peter. You should be doing so because
God gave me this gift, how could I not use it? I'm not going to brag as
though it weren't his, but I'm not going to think that
me not using that and hiding it in the ground is somehow
going to honor him. When I'm going to stand
before him one day and answer the question,
well, what did you do with what you were given? At the rewards
ceremony that's coming, at the end of life where
God wants to reward you for every talent, for your
ability to work with wood, for your medical prowess,
for your scientific mind, for your analytical
reasoning, for your greatness with numbers, for
your care for people, for your ability to
make the dopest pot roast anyone's ever eaten. Didn't see that coming did you? Neither did I. | here's the thing, God
has given it to you, so you got to work with-- you got to work
out what he put in. That's what you should do. But as you do so, you remember
this is how you stay small in your own eyes. It was a gift. You can shrug your shoulders. You don't have to be that
awkward Christian who's so bad at receiving a complement. Good job. It wasn't me, it was
the Lord brother. It wasn't that good,
it wasn't that good. There was a lot of you in that. So don't be that awkward-- Christians are the worst
to give compliments to. Nice sweater. It was on sale. Awesome. And if you bought
it on full price does that mean you
have a 666 tattoo. Like what is-- God's
up in heaven like, it was on sale
wonderful job brother. Don't be weird. Like 90% of life
can be sorted out if you just don't make it weird. Anyhow, that's a
different sermon. I should do a sermon some
day called, don't be weird. That's going to be-- that's going to be good. I'll have to preach it to
me first, I'm a weirdo. I mean, I really am. All right so the
beautiful thing, this is all me getting
distracted about remembering it's a gift, so I
don't have to boast, the fact that everything
in our hands is borrowed, is that when something is
broken or something's not working right you can go back
to the one who does own it. You can go back to--
like when a product-- isn't it a wonderful
thing to know something's covered by a warranty? And that if it
doesn't work right, you get to call the company and
say, this isn't working right. And if they're doing a
good job as a company, they take ownership of
it and they look out for a way to make it right. As opposed to trying
to get out of it. Which at times sometimes
you'll find companies doing. It's so refreshing when
you call a company say, hey, this that I
bought from you isn't doing what it's
supposed to be doing and they're like
horrified and embarrassed. I remember one time we had
a table that we bought, it was an outdoor table,
outdoor patio furniture. And one winter covered up. It just completely just was--
the finish on it was gone, it was terrible. Called the company up and they
were like that's unbelievable, it should be standing up to
the weather and the elements, even uncovered. A new ones on the way. It's just-- isn't it
refreshing when a company takes ownership over their product? And that-- is as good
as their word is. Well guess what, your Father in
heaven is better than West Elm. So good news. So here's the great thing-- Yeah put that on your
Twitter feed and send it. Like what? Doesn't even make any sense. I love the promise that
this is Jesus' church. So this is just my
personal example. So as a pastor who's called to
lead this church when something goes wrong I get to remind him
that something that he owns is broken. It's so refreshing to me. I will build my church. I go, oh amazing I
work for you Jesus. So then when the
church isn't doing what is supposed to be doing. I could go man, you have a heck
of a problem on your hands. I'm going to be over
here on Saturday, let me know how that goes. No I'm somewhat joking
but I'm also not. Because the problem with
this me, mine, it's all mine, I have to fight, I have to
earn, I have to keep it, is that when it's broken
you have no one to call. But by acknowledging
his sovereign ownership over everything and having
that light handed touch, you get to sleep at night even
when things aren't working out because it was a gift. It was a bad gift
maybe but it's a gift. He gave it to me, he
owns it, it's not mine, I'm not going to
lose sleep over it. So I'm going to entrust
this situation to your care. It is freeing, it
is empowering, it is rejuvenating to know
that everything you have in your hands is
borrowed and it all goes back in the box
when the game is over. That will cause you to
focus your priorities and your perspectives. We don't get to stay on
this Earth infinitely as it presently is. It's a timed test. So we have a set period of
time to do good works that God was dreaming about for us. And whether we honor him or
not is entirely up to us. But to the level and the
extent that we remind ourselves that everything is his and
it was for a purpose that was given to us that
we will have peace and we will have purpose so
long as we're still breathing. All right number
five, this passage tells me that axes don't just
get lost they also get dull. This man trying to
chop down this tree, had he not lost it into the
water and chopped enough wood with it. Then inevitably, as
happens to all axes, he would need to pause
and to sharpen the blade. And maybe the owner
he borrowed it from had just sharpened
the blade up right before. I know that knife-- knife owners-- Knife owners
have to sharpen their blades with stones and with oil. And there are companies
that you can send knives to, to get them sharpened and it's
amazing how great it feels. Like my wife is so
stupidly obsessive about a pair of scissors she
keeps sharp just for cutting gifts, wrapping paper with. If any of us try and cut
it with anything else, she's like don't you
touch my scissors. Those are my special scissors. She like slaps my hands. I'm like, I'm trying
to open a package. Especially not a package,
you get tape adhesive all over the blade you idiot. (CROWD LAUGHING) She doesn't talk to me like
that but that's how I hear it. And so there you have it. Ax blades get dull, is what
I'm trying to get you to see. Ecclesiastes 10:10
puts it this way, "Remember the duller the
ax the harder the work; Use your head: The more
brains, the less muscle." What that means to
you and to me is, that we have to figure
out what it takes to keep our blades sharpened. It's the most natural thing
in the world when you feel like you've lost your edge. When you feel like
it's slipping. To feel like something's wrong. But I don't know one
high capacity person who at times doesn't feel that way. I don't know one person who's
doing something significant in the world, who
doesn't at times feel like, I'm at the end of my rope,
I feel like I've hit a wall, I feel like I just
don't have what it takes to get to the next level. And it's the most natural
thing in the world to feel like you're the only
one and that something has gone wrong when that happens. But I want you to
see it differently. I want you to when you
feel that way go of course, because of all I've been doing. Of course I feel dull,
look at all the trees I've been chopping down. Of course I feel this
way, look at how much God's been doing through me. So now you'll actually begin
to see it as a good thing. You're depleted, awesome. That means you've been doing
something, you've been engaged, you've been serving,
you've been accomplishing, you've been loving,
you've been trying. Now you just need to sit
down and sharpen that blade. Don't throw the scissors away,
don't throw the knife away, get to a company that
can sharpen the blade. Get a stone out, put some oil on
it, and sharpen that thing up. Get a grip. It's a wonderfully
refreshing thing to remember that you're
not stuck where you are. Number six, God can help you
recover what's been lost. God can help you recover
what's been lost. When you lose your
ax head in the water and you go to him, like Elisha
so lovingly said is that, show me where you dropped it. When you go to your father
and you say this has happened, I think this is what he's
gonna say, tell me about it, tell me where you lost,
tell me how this happened. He's causing the man to
retrace his steps now. Well I was standing over-- because the man ran off
right to go find the master. This is the universal sign for
I dropped an ax head in water. Master. Master. Master. And he's like all right
where did you lose it? Now this muddy
water, he can't see so he has to retrace his steps. And sometimes you
doing that will help you to realize your
own conclusions of what you did wrong. Retracing my steps I can
see, I was way too far from where I should have been. This was way too
loose, this is-- there's way too much going on. Of course I feel
like I'm slipping, look at all these bad
decisions I've been making. So retracing your steps,
where did you lose it? Where did you lose is? God's saying to you,
when you tell him I feel like I'm losing it, he's
going where did you lose it? Where did you go wrong? What was the series of
events that led to this? It wasn't just one thing was it. It was this, and this,
and this and now you feel like your
hands are slipping. But God can help you
recover what's been lost. God cares about and
sees and knows your need but he can help you recover
your lost confidence, he can help you recover
your lost energy, he can help you recover
your lost patience, he can help you recover
your lost temper, he can help you recover
your lost self-control. God can help you get back
whatever you've lost. I'm encouraging someone today. And I'm even
telling you that I'm watching God do this in
real time in my life. I feel like the last couple of
years has been such a marathon. And all-- as I look back on
the history of our church, there came a point
when it scared me, where I didn't have the same
passion I've had for preaching. It scared me when I didn't have
the same intensity of vision that I've always had. I've generally been a very clear
and focused, here's the vision, here's where we're going. But I've hit some walls
and come to a place where it's like I don't even
know that I want to come up with another preaching series. I don't know that I want
to brand another thing. I don't want-- know
that I have the desire to communicate at the same
level that I've always had since I was a little boy. And I've brought that to
the father and I've said, I feel like my ax
head has flown. I feel like it's slipping, I've
always had such a clear sense of here's what I'm here
for, here's what I'm good at, here's what I'm
called to, here's-- But sometimes I feel like
I've lost my very soul. Sometimes serving
God I feel like I don't have the same level of
dreams that I used to have. And so I've been
pointing it to the father and I've been saying,
God here's what I feel, here's what's happening. And what's wonderful is to
watch the ax head begin to float back up above the water. And to begin to watch God
not belittle me and say, how dare you not care, how could
you be so stupid to bring that to me, don't you know what's
happening in Afghanistan. But I'm telling you
before your very eyes you are watching somebody
who's told the father what's been lost and Him saying
I'll help you get it back. Come on, I'm just
daring you to believe that the things that
you've lost matter to God and He can't help
you get them back. He's doing it right now. We get to watch God give
us new vision, not just original vision. Sometimes we lose
sight of the vision, he gives us new
vision and new dreams. He can renew your strength. If it's such a weird feeling,
if you've always been strong in an area, to feel weak in it. But God can renew that
strength so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Number seven, what we can
see is not all that there is. We're almost done here
church, what we can see is not all that there is. And this is why I
believe he immediately connects getting back something
that was lost to a story where someone else
needs to get a grip. Gehazi, Elisha's servant
goes out to get the paper. And he looks up and sees the
hills are alive with people who want to kill him. Take that Von Trapp, right? He's like, oh my God
we're going to die. This is the worst thing
ever and this is bad. And so he goes into the
house and he's like master. Master. Master. There's Navy SEALs
soldiers out there and they're going
to kill me and they have machine gun and they-- Well Elisha is like
get a grip bro. You're making me look bad
in front of my friends. He's like, keep it cool. He says, God I pray you
would help him to see. It's like I do see,
that's the problem. I see a huge situation. Now listen, God doesn't want you
to pretend that what you're up against isn't real. It is. It's hard. It's scary, it's bad. You're not stupid
for feeling stuck. You're not wrong for
feeling like I just don't know how much more
I can keep doing this. It's not bad that I
have said, I don't know that I still want to
be the pastor of Fresh Life Church sometimes. I don't know, I could go find
a cabin somewhere and just send a book out by like
an owl once a year and not have to deal with
any of this nonsense. Not have to make decisions
that are unpopular, not have to keep having enough
strength and enough vision, not just for myself, but for
a whole community of people. And so God says, that's not-- it's not bad because what
you're doing is hard. Just like he's not angry at
you for feeling like you're stuck inside your career. Or if you ever felt
like I just, I just-- how can I raise these kids? I'm not even switched
on my own self how can I take care of
his little baby birds to need me to regurgitate
food into their mouths every-- But my point is, what
you can see is real, but it's not all that there is. Open his eyes so that
he might see the unseen. Help him to get a
grip on real, reality. Because real, reality
isn't just your problems. Real, reality isn't
just your bills. Real, reality isn't just
your teenager at school and you being terrified
of the decisions that they're going to make. Real, reality isn't
just the stock market, isn't just the
White House, isn't-- Real, reality is God's kingdom,
God's work, God's will, God's angels, God's
power, God's plan. So Gehazi who's destabilized
because he's lost his ax head here into this situation
is now given the ultimate grip on reality. He doesn't have to say,
it's only my imagination, it's only my imagination. He can see the soldiers but
now God gives him the ability to see past the soldiers too. And above all around angels
ready, angels ready to enforce, open a can on these soldiers
if they so much as make the wrong move. Angels that by the way, did
not show up when Elisha prayed the prayer, angels that
simply became visible when he prayed the prayer. Translation, they
were always there. They were always ready
to do God's bidding. They were always
stationed to keep track of these two men of God
just like there are angels ready to take care of you. Just like God has his
spirits ready to serve you in your moment of crisis. Now what's amazing about
this, and maybe will continue in this
passage next week because there's a whole
second half of this message that I even get to, but
that God has given us what we need to get a grip. Here's the elements, God's
power most important. How do we get a grip? Well we start with His
power, His strength. We don't rely on
our own strength or pulling ourselves
up by our bootstraps. We rely on His spirit, His
son, the worship of Him in those situations. The one who can send the Angels. Then secondly, I
believe it requires relational vulnerability,
relational vulnerability. He had to own up to Elisha and
he could have played it off like, how's your house coming? Awesome, great, actually
I lost the ax head. Who have you told about
your lost ax head? Are you in a group at our
church where you can have people around you on Zoom or in person
every single week going hey, here's how I lost my ax head. Yeah, that sucks, me too,
let's pray for each other. Here's what God's word says. Who have you told
about your crisis? Thirdly, it takes intelligent
choices, intelligent choices. We can't just pray but then
also watch Netflix till 2:00 in the morning every night. You can't just ask
for God's strength but then fill our hearts
with the toxicity of what's on Facebook every single week. We can't not see we have
a part to play in it. Elisha made the ax head
rise but he then told him, reach out your hand
and pick it up. God will never do for you
what you can do for you. You can't make iron float but
you can pick something up. You can't make iron float in
water, that's not even a thing, but you can make your
bed in the morning and you'll feel just
a little bit better. You can spend five
minutes praying and hiding some scripture in your
heart before you go to work. And guess what, you pick that up
and you put that in your heart, you're going to feel better. You're going to
see things better. Only God can raise
the dead but he calls us to unwrap the
one that he resurrected. To being in church and
worshipping together, making smart decisions,
intelligent choices, drinking water. And then fourthly, sometimes
we need professional help. Sometimes when you feel
like you're losing it, feel like your
cracking up, maybe you do need some counseling. Maybe you need to
go to your doctor and find out and get
your blood checked and see if there's something
off in what's dealing with it. There's no shame in that. You wouldn't judge
me for needing contact lenses, which I have
since sixth grade or an asthma inhaler. So why would we put
a stigma on needing to reach out and get
professional help where it's needed. And if you're
doing these things, if you're making these
choices guess what? God's power, relational
vulnerability, intelligent choices,
professional help, God will help you to get a grip. He'll do it. I'm telling you he'll help you
to get the grip that you need. And you've got to do
these things consistently. And what we're going to talk
about next week, so I hope you'll come back, is the
fact that once we have a grip we'll be able to help
others get theirs. In Jesus' name, Amen. Father we pray that you
would speak to us this week about these truths
that we've seen today. Continually remind
us of them so we can walk in the power of them. I pray for those today who
feel like they've got a lost ax head or a loose one. Feel like it's slipping,
it's too heavy. If that's to you I'm
describing and there's just something in your life
that's just too much for you, could you just be honest enough
today to raise your hand up and say, that's happening today. I feel it's loose, I feel it's
slippery, I feel it's heavy, and it's awkward,
and it's clumsy. Father thank you, because
that's proof they've been out there doing something. Thank you for these who feel
stressed and overwhelmed because it is the
proof that we're alive. We're feeling that stress. So now God, would you
flood in with your power, would you make
the iron to float, would you help them to
reach out and to pick it up. They're not alone, they're
not bad, they're not crazy. They're your son
or daughter and you care about what
they're dealing with. You can put your hands down. Jesus we look to you because we
know that as we choose to say, not my will be done
but your will be done. There are angels ready
to strengthen us. Just like the angels that showed
up in these hills above Dothan. Just like the angel that showed
up in the Garden of Gethsemane and comforted your son. We need your ministry. Not what man can do, we
need what God can do. We sit at-- we sit
at a crossroads, the choice is ours we
could either give up or we could look up. And if we look up and
allow our strength to be renewed, if we allow
you to give us back what's been lost, restoring to us
the joy of our salvation, we believe that in exchange
for that disgorgement we will receive good cheer,
new vision, new dream, new anointing. So father would you
do all that for us and more according to
your good pleasure. Thank you for helping
us to hold on when we feel like we're done. Thank you for the
fact that you're breathing new spirit and new
power into our lungs today. And I pray that if anyone today
has come in with a heavy heart, and what they're realizing
even now is that they've just been trying to do
this all on their own, I pray they would see
they don't need to. For you've been
with them all along. And if you're here today and
you've never yet said yes to Jesus, never opened the
door of your heart to him, I pray that you would. The Bible says clearly and
emphatically, he loves you. But your sin separates
you from him. And with that sin
comes a death sentence. That's why there's fear and
anger and pain in the world, because of sin. You don't have to look far
to see the proof of that. But when you look to the cross,
you see the remedy for that. God sent His son
Jesus to die for you and he rose from the
dead on the third day. And he says if you come to me,
I will in no ways cast you out. He will forgive you
and make you new. All it takes is
praying something like, Jesus come into my heart,
forgive me, I look to you, I need you. You could pray that right
now watching on YouTube, watching on Facebook, Jesus
will come into your heart, sitting there in Salt Lake
City, and I pray that you would. So Father your will
be done, not ours. We pray in Jesus' name.
