WEBVTT 00:00:32.509 --> 00:00:33.149 All right. 00:00:34.509 --> 00:00:35.390 Very good. 00:00:35.710 --> 00:00:41.549 I'm excited to be here today and be into week number three of a series called Elisha. 00:00:41.710 --> 00:00:43.469 How many guys are enjoying this series? 00:00:43.629 --> 00:00:51.070 I hope somebody is because it is challenging me, it is pushing me, it is building up my faith, and I hope it's doing the same for you. 00:00:51.149 --> 00:00:55.710 Today I brought my axe, as you can see, and we're gonna dive into it in just a minute. 00:00:55.870 --> 00:01:03.869 But before we do that, I want to look right at the camera and look into the audience and say if you are a guest, if you are new to relate, we're so glad that you're here. 00:01:03.950 --> 00:01:11.469 It's our honor uh to have you, to host you, to be able to do to do church with you, to be able to do life with you. 00:01:11.549 --> 00:01:14.030 Uh for those who are will stick around for a little while. 00:01:14.189 --> 00:01:19.870 We're so thrilled um that you're here and so excited about what God is doing. 00:01:20.030 --> 00:01:23.390 If you haven't noticed, how many of you noticed anything outside today? 00:01:23.549 --> 00:01:24.909 Actually, there's some things going on. 00:01:25.069 --> 00:01:26.109 I'm not talking about the weather. 00:01:26.269 --> 00:01:27.469 Everybody keeps mentioning the weather. 00:01:27.549 --> 00:01:28.670 The weather's good. 00:01:29.310 --> 00:01:30.590 Excited about that. 00:01:30.670 --> 00:01:34.750 Um, in fact, I I I said last week, we two weeks ago we were in St. 00:01:34.829 --> 00:01:41.150 Louis, and we were when we arrived, it was in the 60s, and so it's really hard for me to get excited about the 80s. 00:01:42.670 --> 00:01:44.189 Y'all can though, it's fine. 00:01:44.349 --> 00:01:49.709 Um the parking lot is looking really, really different outside. 00:01:51.469 --> 00:01:53.069 Thank you to Brother Eddie. 00:01:53.230 --> 00:02:04.189 I don't see him right this second, but he has been so helpful in helping to get organized around uh planning and the uh it's complicated. 00:02:04.349 --> 00:02:06.510 There's lots of complicated things happening. 00:02:06.670 --> 00:02:11.949 So um thank thank you to uh to Eddie and his family. 00:02:12.110 --> 00:02:22.590 You guys are amazing and uh helping to put in the parking lot, the lamps, soon that will all be sorted, and we'll be able to come in at night and have light and also be able to know where to park. 00:02:22.909 --> 00:02:28.110 So uh next week things will look much, much, much different, even though they are already looking different. 00:02:28.189 --> 00:02:29.310 So let me dive in. 00:02:29.389 --> 00:02:30.750 I don't want to take too much time. 00:02:30.829 --> 00:02:32.509 I want us to I want to just start with a question. 00:02:32.670 --> 00:02:33.949 Have you ever had a week? 00:02:34.030 --> 00:02:36.269 Uh maybe it was this week, maybe it was this morning. 00:02:36.430 --> 00:02:40.750 You ever had a day where uh everything started off with let's go. 00:02:40.910 --> 00:02:52.990 All right, I'm excited about this moment, this day, this uh this week, and then you get into it just a short, you you start off, and then all of a sudden it is a oh no. 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:55.709 You go from let's go to oh no. 00:02:55.870 --> 00:02:58.029 And sometimes that's me on Sunday mornings. 00:02:58.110 --> 00:03:02.269 I'm all dressed, we're ready, we're all packed up, we're going to church, we're on time. 00:03:02.509 --> 00:03:06.189 I have time to stop for a kalachi, and that's perfect. 00:03:06.269 --> 00:03:07.230 I've got everything per. 00:03:07.709 --> 00:03:13.550 And then I realize I left my phone at home and I'm halfway to the church, and I'm like, oh no. 00:03:14.269 --> 00:03:22.189 I then it puts turn it puts everything behind schedule because I have to turn around and go home back to the house, get my phone. 00:03:22.350 --> 00:03:30.029 It it those moments where everything is going according to plan, and then all of a sudden the plan is not, and the the plan's all off. 00:03:30.269 --> 00:03:33.949 You ever been um set for a road trip with the family? 00:03:34.029 --> 00:03:39.629 And maybe it's in the middle of summer, and you guys, everybody's in the car and packed up, and we're perfect and ready to go. 00:03:39.709 --> 00:03:50.750 You got the right music on, and you get about 15 minutes into the trip, and then the AC stops working, starts blowing hot, and you're like, oh no. 00:03:51.629 --> 00:03:58.430 This went from being perfect to all of a sudden, oh no, now we're in big, big trouble. 00:03:58.589 --> 00:04:01.629 This happens uh if you have little kids, you know this. 00:04:01.790 --> 00:04:09.230 Uh, you might be having the best family day of all time, and then here comes one of the kids, says, Dad, I got something to tell you, but don't be mad. 00:04:10.430 --> 00:04:12.910 I don't want you to be mad, but I got to tell you something. 00:04:13.069 --> 00:04:16.829 That's when we go from let's go to oh no. 00:04:17.550 --> 00:04:21.629 And um today, this is what happens in our story. 00:04:21.790 --> 00:04:27.310 In fact, last week and this week were in similar stories, but today I brought another tool. 00:04:27.389 --> 00:04:32.509 Um, if you'd noticed the last three weeks, we talked about a plow and then a shovel. 00:04:32.750 --> 00:04:36.750 If you've missed those weeks, you gotta um go back and listen to them. 00:04:36.829 --> 00:04:41.870 And it this is a this is a series about doing the work and about having faith that moves. 00:04:41.949 --> 00:04:45.230 And uh this week, as you can see, I brought an axe. 00:04:45.470 --> 00:04:48.350 Maybe you notice there's something wrong with my axe. 00:04:48.670 --> 00:04:51.150 Some of you, you might that's not an axe. 00:04:51.389 --> 00:04:55.470 Although I came up on Keaton a minute ago and he just said, Whoa, hold on. 00:04:56.350 --> 00:05:08.590 Because it looks like a weapon, but if this is your axe, I will say this that no matter how much I swing this, no matter how hard or how much effort I put into this, I'm not chopping down a tree with this. 00:05:09.069 --> 00:05:12.590 And so technically, it is part of an axe. 00:05:12.670 --> 00:05:28.750 You could say it's a broken axe, you could say it's an axe with something missing, and I could do the work, I could go through the motions, I could swing it, I could put my back into it, I could really get to chopping with it, but we're not gonna break or chop, we're not breaking down any trees with this. 00:05:30.270 --> 00:05:36.590 And yet, this is kind of the moment where we find the prophets this week. 00:05:36.670 --> 00:05:58.189 And I say prophets because Elisha, we know that week one we talked about how Elijah uh left Elisha and and put his mantle on him, and then he went and started doing the work, and um Elisha eventually gets together with some other younger prophets, and he's training them. 00:05:59.150 --> 00:06:05.790 And um, I want to give you some context in the story today before we read the verse. 00:06:05.870 --> 00:06:11.790 I I need you to see that Elisha is with a group of prophets, and things are actually going really well. 00:06:13.150 --> 00:06:20.750 And um they are built, he's training these, I would say disciples, but prophets. 00:06:20.830 --> 00:06:24.350 He's training them how to follow God, maybe how to hear from God. 00:06:24.509 --> 00:06:39.389 We don't get a lot of details about this, but we do know that in those times there were like schools of prophets and groups of prophets, and so Elisha is with them, and the outlets just call it a Bible school or a prophetic school. 00:06:39.550 --> 00:06:43.949 The school is growing, the prophets are growing, they're they're having some momentum. 00:06:44.110 --> 00:06:56.189 This is that place where they're saying, let's go, because one of the young prophets comes to Elisha and says, We are growing and we need to build, we need to cut down some trees and build the school bigger. 00:06:56.350 --> 00:07:06.590 And so, like what happens at the church, like how the place we've been in, let's grow, let's build, let's make, let's develop, let's push forward, let's go. 00:07:06.830 --> 00:07:18.990 And as soon as the prophets get out in, they go that they go down by the stream, by the river, they start to cut down trees to build this vision, to charge into the future, to see what God can do. 00:07:19.150 --> 00:07:22.509 And as soon as they get there, the axe breaks. 00:07:22.750 --> 00:07:33.389 That might not seem like a big deal, but in those days, the ax this was a uh a piece of technology that was one of the um better pieces of technology of the time. 00:07:33.870 --> 00:07:38.030 So, right in the middle of let's go, it turns into oh no. 00:07:38.110 --> 00:07:49.150 And I think that you might have had that day or that week, or sometimes we get into a season where we thought things were going a certain way, and all of a sudden it's off. 00:07:49.870 --> 00:07:54.189 Everybody go back home, everybody uh take a deep breath. 00:07:54.350 --> 00:07:59.870 We'll we'll we'll rebuild this thought later. 00:08:00.350 --> 00:08:03.069 So here's we're gonna read in 2 Kings chapter 6. 00:08:03.230 --> 00:08:07.069 That's what we're picking up this week, 2 Kings chapter 6. 00:08:08.590 --> 00:08:14.030 It says, when they arrived at the Jordan, the prophets began cutting down trees. 00:08:14.189 --> 00:08:19.310 But as one of them was cutting a tree, his axe fell into the river. 00:08:19.629 --> 00:08:22.509 And his response, oh sir. 00:08:23.150 --> 00:08:31.310 Now let's just stop there for a second because I noticed that some of you might think, oh sir, it's not a big deal, but it's a lot better than what some of you say. 00:08:31.389 --> 00:08:35.549 If your axe head came off, it would not be, oh sir, it would be oh. 00:08:37.629 --> 00:08:38.750 Just saying. 00:08:40.350 --> 00:08:43.710 Oh sir, he cried, it was a borrowed axe. 00:08:43.870 --> 00:08:48.830 So here we it gets even more complicated that I haven't just lost my axe. 00:08:49.870 --> 00:08:54.350 It's a borrowed axe, and we're gonna unpack that in just a little bit. 00:08:54.590 --> 00:08:55.470 Where did it fall? 00:08:55.629 --> 00:08:56.429 The man of God asked. 00:08:56.590 --> 00:08:58.909 So Elisha asks him, Where's it? 00:08:59.070 --> 00:09:00.509 Where's the axe head at? 00:09:00.750 --> 00:09:09.789 And when he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick, threw it into the water at that spot, and then the axe head floated to the surface. 00:09:09.950 --> 00:09:15.870 Uh, the King James Version says that the axe head began to swim to the surface. 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:21.070 Grab it, Elisha said, and the man reached out and grabbed it. 00:09:21.389 --> 00:09:25.950 So this is like three verses, the whole Bible. 00:09:26.110 --> 00:09:38.350 This is three verses, and I think my immediate response compared to like last week when he says, Feel we we have armies on the line, we've got uh a battle to be won. 00:09:38.509 --> 00:09:57.470 All the children of Israel are in danger of being, we were against going up against a big nation of Moab, and uh there's there's no water, everyone's this is this seems very small compared to that, because now we've got a guy who's lost an axe head that puts the work on on pause, I would say. 00:09:58.590 --> 00:10:04.269 At the very least, it puts it throws off the day, but this is nobody's life's in danger. 00:10:04.590 --> 00:10:14.990 It doesn't feel like anyone is uh is deeply in danger at this moment, and yet why is this why is this miracle? 00:10:15.149 --> 00:10:25.950 It is a miracle because axe heads don't swim, axe heads don't float, iron does not float, it sinks and it's lost, probably, at least to the degree that we understand it's gone. 00:10:26.110 --> 00:10:27.789 He can't get it, he's very upset. 00:10:27.950 --> 00:10:32.590 This is uh now he's lost something that he is gonna owe. 00:10:34.909 --> 00:10:38.190 We've seen Elisha do a lot of things up to this point. 00:10:38.269 --> 00:10:40.830 You can go back and read the last few chapters. 00:10:41.310 --> 00:10:50.509 Elijah and Elisha, this miracle doesn't really fit into the momentum of the rest of the miracles because we he parts the Jordan River. 00:10:50.590 --> 00:10:53.149 At one point, the river splits. 00:10:53.789 --> 00:10:58.190 At one point, he brings back to life a dead child. 00:10:58.509 --> 00:11:24.110 He multiplies oil, he multiplies food and saves the day, he saves lives, he saves armies, he saves the nation, and then here's a guy who loses an axe head, and Elisha steps in, and a miracle from heaven, here comes something that God and the writers think they need to know about this. 00:11:24.990 --> 00:11:27.149 Why is this important? 00:11:28.430 --> 00:11:33.470 I think, and this is what this is the first thing that I I hope lands with you today. 00:11:33.710 --> 00:11:42.190 I think that this is here so that we can see that God cares about even the small things. 00:11:44.909 --> 00:11:48.990 Maybe the things that we didn't think mattered, maybe they do matter. 00:11:49.149 --> 00:12:01.550 Maybe there's some things in your head and in your heart and in your life, and you've just thought, oh, you know, God's got more important things to do, to deal with, to take care of, to provide miracles for. 00:12:01.789 --> 00:12:08.430 In the budget of heaven, this doesn't compare to the rest of the things that God should be concerned with. 00:12:09.310 --> 00:12:16.990 And so we disqualify ourselves, and so we are taking notes today, and so pull out your notes and write this down. 00:12:17.149 --> 00:12:19.870 God's not too big for the smallest details. 00:12:21.470 --> 00:12:38.669 Of course, some of the smallest details make the biggest difference, and this, I think, is one of those cases where it is a small detail, but also the axe head in 9th century BC, iron was rare and expensive. 00:12:38.909 --> 00:12:41.710 Most people could not afford an axe. 00:12:42.350 --> 00:12:54.909 You couldn't just go and get an axe and and be able to build things, and yet the young prophet borrowed an axe, likely from uh, likely from one of the wealthy people who lived nearby. 00:12:55.070 --> 00:12:58.110 And for him to lose this meant that he would owe a debt. 00:12:58.190 --> 00:13:07.789 And in those days, if you owe this kind of a debt that wouldn't be able to be paid, like he might not be able to pay back the cost of an axe in years. 00:13:07.950 --> 00:13:21.870 And so, this is in those days how people became indentured servants, how they became slaves intentionally to pay off debts, not because they were less than other people, but because they owed a debt that needed to be paid. 00:13:22.110 --> 00:13:31.950 And so this very small thing, now you see why his immediate response was this is a borrowed axe. 00:13:32.269 --> 00:13:38.509 This is big, this is a big deal, but it's a big deal to me, maybe not to anybody else in that place. 00:13:38.669 --> 00:13:40.430 Oh, we could go borrow another axe. 00:13:40.509 --> 00:13:42.590 We could go, we could continue building. 00:13:43.470 --> 00:13:53.149 There's some things that you feel like this is only a big deal to me, and you uh exempt yourself not just from prayer but from care from God. 00:13:54.190 --> 00:13:55.710 I do it, you do it. 00:13:56.509 --> 00:14:16.269 And I think um this story, more than all the other things that happened in Elisha's life, with his calling, with the miracles and the the nation-moving uh stories that we're reading, this one reminds me that if it matters to you, it matters to God. 00:14:17.389 --> 00:14:24.509 There's some things that you need to hear this, you need to hear me say this, that if it matters to you, it matters to God. 00:14:25.950 --> 00:14:33.070 And I feel like this you you have to wonder why are certain stories, why does Jesus say certain things? 00:14:33.230 --> 00:14:34.350 Why, why are they there? 00:14:34.509 --> 00:14:42.990 They're that they're there so that we know, so that we can carry the promise, so that we can carry the impact of understanding how God sees us. 00:14:43.310 --> 00:14:46.590 So it seems to me that God wants us to know that He cares. 00:14:47.070 --> 00:15:10.350 The same God who oversees nations and built and created the world and said, Let there be light, the same God who does miracles, signs, and wonders to save nations and build people and raise the dead, the same God He cares enough to stop everything and pull an axe head out of the river. 00:15:11.870 --> 00:15:15.310 So, what could he do for us if that matters to him? 00:15:15.870 --> 00:15:22.509 The same God sees us, he cares more than you can imagine. 00:15:22.830 --> 00:15:23.789 He cares about you. 00:15:23.870 --> 00:15:28.029 Jesus said, even the very hairs on our head are numbered. 00:15:28.350 --> 00:15:39.629 In Matthew chapter 10, Psalm 34, David says that the Lord is near the brokenhearted, even just the heartache in your heart, and that you think, oh, I'll just deal with it. 00:15:39.870 --> 00:15:40.909 I'll get over it. 00:15:40.990 --> 00:15:45.310 I don't uh this this is for me to bear, this is for me to handle, for me to carry. 00:15:45.470 --> 00:15:55.870 I don't need to tell anybody else about it, and yet God makes it clear over and over and over that he cares, that it does matter, that it's not too small. 00:15:56.110 --> 00:15:59.870 1 Peter 5 7 says, Cast your cares upon him. 00:16:00.190 --> 00:16:08.430 Why somebody knows because he cares for you. 00:16:11.149 --> 00:16:16.590 Psalm 56, David said, You you even put my tears in your bottle. 00:16:17.310 --> 00:16:34.430 There's some tears you may have cried that you don't think anybody sees or anybody cares, and it's just a a dark place in your in your memories and in your thoughts and in your heart and your past, and yet God sees every one of them and has accounted for them. 00:16:35.389 --> 00:16:39.389 I see this in you and in me. 00:16:40.269 --> 00:16:47.870 So I'll just let you guys give you guys a little picture of what when you come to talk to me about an issue that you have. 00:16:48.029 --> 00:16:50.509 I'm I'm your pastor, I I welcome it. 00:16:50.590 --> 00:16:52.669 I want to pray with you, I want to care for you. 00:16:52.830 --> 00:17:10.669 We have a team that loves to take care of needs and people, and we want to get into it with you, and yet all I can't, at least 50% of the time, when someone comes up and I can tell they something's heavy on them, you're holding something heavy, and it's just weighing on you. 00:17:10.829 --> 00:17:20.990 So often, you know what your first thing you say to me is, Pastor, I know you're busy, but if I if I could just have like just if you have one minute, you have two minutes. 00:17:21.149 --> 00:17:22.669 It never takes one minute or two minutes. 00:17:22.750 --> 00:17:31.149 And I always always have more than two minutes, but I gotta tell you, that's almost all we gotta get over that first hurdle of you feeling like you're bothering me. 00:17:31.309 --> 00:17:35.469 And if you feel like you're bothering me, how does that mean how do you approach God? 00:17:35.709 --> 00:17:43.229 When God's here for you, I'm here for you, we're here for each other, and yet we don't want to bother not just the pastor, we don't want to bother people that are small groups. 00:17:43.309 --> 00:17:49.869 I don't want anybody to like pay attention to me or think I'm needy or think I have a problem, or and we think the same thing about God. 00:17:50.029 --> 00:17:51.309 You know how I know that? 00:17:51.789 --> 00:17:57.549 Because whenever we we can be, I've been many times in a small group in freedom. 00:17:57.709 --> 00:18:02.429 We we're we're sitting pouring out their people with tears, and yet someone will start to talk, and you know what they'll say? 00:18:02.509 --> 00:18:03.389 They'll say this. 00:18:04.189 --> 00:18:09.949 You know, I know what God says about me, I know what God thinks, and you know, but I'm I am hurting, but I I already know what. 00:18:10.109 --> 00:18:16.509 And we kind of like we go around ahead of our feelings, and we just chop our own thoughts off. 00:18:16.750 --> 00:18:24.349 We chop our own feelings off and saying, Well, I already know the answer to this, but it doesn't change how I feel, but uh I'll just deal with it. 00:18:26.509 --> 00:18:40.589 Even now, you we sit in service, we sit listening to the word of God, we sit listening to hearing that God cares about us and that he wants to take care of us, and that even the smallest details matter, and yet we just kind of sweep the thoughts away. 00:18:44.349 --> 00:18:53.629 And we have created a little space for ourselves where, well, you know, it'll it'll it'll fix, I guess, maybe sometime. 00:18:53.869 --> 00:18:55.869 If I'm lucky, I'll be able to. 00:18:56.029 --> 00:18:56.829 I don't know. 00:18:57.709 --> 00:18:59.789 And we just don't have hope for it. 00:19:00.189 --> 00:19:01.709 We can't hand it to God. 00:19:01.869 --> 00:19:07.389 Let me ask you this is name something that's too big for God. 00:19:10.189 --> 00:19:11.469 No, no, you can't. 00:19:11.629 --> 00:19:18.990 Name something that's even a little big for God, all the things are small for God. 00:19:19.149 --> 00:19:28.189 So when we try to say that, oh, this is just too little for me to to to to hand to God, this is too little for God to even think about, all the things are too little for God to think about. 00:19:28.829 --> 00:19:34.669 All the big things, all the things that are like mountains to us, they're just little to God. 00:19:34.829 --> 00:19:42.589 And so when we think that our thing is too little for God, actually, we're just we're hiding this thing from God because it's too small for him. 00:19:43.469 --> 00:19:46.829 That's I I think this story is an urge. 00:19:46.990 --> 00:19:52.109 This story is a prompt to tell us, to tell his people, hey, I got you. 00:19:52.750 --> 00:19:56.750 It's just an axe head, it's just something that it's just your problem. 00:19:56.990 --> 00:19:58.349 No, it's our problem. 00:20:01.069 --> 00:20:16.669 This kind of reminds me of whenever my kids were little, and um, so Grace in particular, because Jake never did tea parties, but Grace would have Grace would get dressed up, and the I'm telling you, I'm telling you this for a reason. 00:20:16.829 --> 00:20:18.909 These tea parties were serious. 00:20:19.869 --> 00:20:30.029 It was all pretend, no real tea, and all the attendants to the to the tea party, besides Grace and I were stuffed animals. 00:20:31.309 --> 00:20:34.589 It was all pretend, but it mattered to her. 00:20:34.909 --> 00:20:37.229 And if something was not right, we had to fix it. 00:20:37.469 --> 00:20:40.509 We had to get it all right, and we had to make sure it was just perfect. 00:20:40.669 --> 00:20:57.069 And I think sometimes if I would be that concerned, I my heart, I would I was in, we were in tea party mode, even though like in the the the scheme of the world, this didn't affect anybody but us two. 00:20:58.750 --> 00:21:01.869 You think God doesn't care about the things that you care about? 00:21:02.189 --> 00:21:04.109 You're his child, you're his kid. 00:21:04.189 --> 00:21:09.389 If your accent falls off, if if something concerns you, it concerns him. 00:21:11.789 --> 00:21:16.189 You have a bill that's due, and you think God cares. 00:21:16.509 --> 00:21:19.469 You have a health issue, you got a pain that you think nobody else wants to. 00:21:19.789 --> 00:21:24.349 Everybody's tired of hearing about my the pain in my knee, the pain in my hip, the pain in my back. 00:21:24.509 --> 00:21:28.429 Everybody's tired of hearing about the the issue with the HOA that I've been dealing with. 00:21:28.589 --> 00:21:32.029 Everybody's tired of hearing about this person or this thing. 00:21:32.349 --> 00:21:33.549 God cares. 00:21:36.349 --> 00:21:38.589 You may think it's too small or too insignificant. 00:21:38.669 --> 00:21:41.949 So we're gonna move on from this thought, but I need you to take it with you. 00:21:42.109 --> 00:21:46.509 So, what is the small thing that's keeping you from your destiny? 00:21:46.669 --> 00:21:58.349 In the cases of the prophets, they needed to build, they needed to build onto the school, they needed to move forward, they needed to grow, they needed to reach more people and serve God more, and it was all held up by just an axe head. 00:21:58.990 --> 00:22:06.990 What's the thing that's holding your whole life up, or your ministry up, or your relationship, or your faith, or your finances? 00:22:07.149 --> 00:22:14.349 What's the thing that it's kind of fallen off and it's it's got you all messed up and it's just messing you up? 00:22:16.990 --> 00:22:21.149 There's something that you've lost in your life that God wants to restore. 00:22:22.189 --> 00:22:25.869 Okay, so before we just dive too deeply into this, I need you to know. 00:22:26.509 --> 00:23:27.069 that this is not the thing that uh this is not uh someone who's past someone who's already gone that you can never get back this is not something that is absolutely broken and gone i'm talking about the things that are there they feel lost or they they've they've been hidden or you but they can be restored there are some things that are not too far that they can't be restored there's the there's another message for the grief of losing that God can restore your heart but this is I want to talk about the things that you think are lost but God's saying I can restore them maybe it's a lost uh relationship I can't tell you how many how many people how many of us we went through covet and we went through 2020 and 2021 and all the politics and all the things and we have relationships that well I just don't talk to them anymore because something stupid that was put on Facebook and now we feel like that relationship is lost. 00:23:27.309 --> 00:23:42.109 Maybe it's something uh a relationship with a kid that oh I said something I shouldn't have said or they said and then all of a sudden we had this just stupid conflict between us and now I don't know how to fix things. 00:23:42.429 --> 00:24:03.949 This is something that you kind of know where it is it's over there and it feels lost and it feels broken but it's still restorable maybe it's a lost peace of mind or hope for the future or something so bad happened that you think I don't think we can recover from this. 00:24:04.189 --> 00:24:22.269 But you can maybe it's lost urgency or a lost desire to live in holiness and you've just it's so many times you've messed up so many times you're having a hard time imagining yourself getting restored to a place where God can use you. 00:24:22.429 --> 00:24:58.509 Or maybe it's lost thoughts of ministry or your calling which we talked about two weeks ago or maybe it's loss of spiritual passion where one at one point you used to come to church and your heart was so into it and you had you were passionate about living for God and serving God and reading your Bible and spending time in prayer and spending time in worship and evangelizing and sharing your faith and now you just I guess it's time for church I should probably read my Bible I have a uh I haven't I haven't been reading too much. 00:24:58.669 --> 00:25:00.189 Where is my Bible? 00:25:02.109 --> 00:25:03.789 Maybe it's your spiritual passion. 00:25:03.949 --> 00:25:12.909 I even as a pastor and I've been a pastor since I was 20 years old in one uh form or fashion and now I'm 47. 00:25:12.990 --> 00:25:57.389 So many years of serving and standing up and teaching messages and preaching and and pursuing God and when I was 25 years 20 years old I was so passionate about we're gonna change the world this youth group is we're gonna see these kids' lives change and God's gonna bring miracles and their hearts are going to change and I was so excited about every decision and I was so excited about every event and youth camp and then as time went on it's like do I have to go to youth camp as time went on it it the passion that I once held I find myself in moments where I'm like I'm reading my Bible because but it's because I have to preach a message on Sunday. 00:25:57.549 --> 00:26:13.789 Well I better go find something to preach I better know what I'm talking about and then it's not about my relationship with God and the ministry being an outflow or an overflow of my passion for the Lord. 00:26:13.869 --> 00:27:14.829 It's more just a job so when I recognize that I have to get back what's lost and so it is very possible if it can happen to me that at some point I'm not a full-time pastor but I just become a part-time follower of Jesus where I'm just oh I gotta preach a message I gotta do all the things I got a long checklist of duties to perform and where's your passion where's where where are the things that have been lost because to me that's what it looks like if I'm the prophet and the axe head falls off and we just keep chopping no we've lost the sharpness we've lost the point we've lost the edge that brought us here we've lost the reason for even being at the river and yet we just keep going through the motions and it's tiring and it's relentless and it's unfruitful and it's pointless. 00:27:15.069 --> 00:27:16.509 Why am I even going to church? 00:27:16.669 --> 00:27:18.349 Why am I even doing this? 00:27:18.669 --> 00:27:28.990 There is no point you've lost the point it's time to get the point back it's time to expect God. 00:27:29.149 --> 00:27:39.309 God's saying I can help you I'm ready to help you I want to help you God can help us find what's lost that's the point of this message. 00:27:39.469 --> 00:27:41.869 So how do we how do we do that? 00:27:42.269 --> 00:27:54.189 I think there's some even if it's just short passage there's some very clear direction for how we re uh rekindle or restore what's been lost. 00:27:54.429 --> 00:31:21.629 Number one and I'm gonna give you two number one we're gonna be honest about how we got here we I see honesty in multiple ways from the young prophet who loses the the very first honesty that he we see him say oh sir it was a lost boy he he doesn't hide that he lost the axe head he doesn't go hide the the handle and think well I I didn't have an axe what axe I think so I think you're thinking of somebody else how often do we try to hide or pretend like nothing's lost he doesn't do that he immediately he says I've lost my axe oh sir the second the second part of the honesty I think is even more important and it is this it says the man of God asks where did it fall and he points it out so for us what does that mean number one I have to be honest with the fact that okay I've lost something I know that I don't have the passion the hope the the energy that I don't have the the direction or the vision or the I don't have what I used to have that's the first part the second part is this that I know where I lost it I can be honest enough with myself to say okay if this is where I lost recovery starts with honesty about where you lost it if I'm standing in a place where I realize I've lost my passion for preaching or ministry or my relationship with God then I have to say okay I recognize that I'm not I'm not doing what I was I have to get back to where I was I have to rekindle my first love you have to be honest with yourself what about you what would that look like maybe you're you're in a place where you've lost your way and um you you've lost your way maybe in your marriage or in your relationship and maybe it started when you got into another relationship that you never should have had in the first place maybe it started before you got married and you started dating someone that you never should have been dating in the first place and you lost something I've seen many I said I've seen a lot of people give up a calling and give up the direction of the life that God put their life on a direction and as soon as a a young girl comes along okay all right hey what calling I don't I don't need a calling I need a girl or a guy here comes a young guy who acts like he knows what he he he's living for he's living on purpose and the young ladies will just trade off their future trade out their calling maybe you're maybe you feel like I lost my calling or my freedom when a secret habit took control if you can think across your life think across the last years it's not hurting anybody but that took something from you maybe you lost your peace when you started holding on to hurt instead of leaning into God. 00:31:22.189 --> 00:31:53.709 You might think I lost my joy when you started comparing yourself to other people and let me tell you that we are under assault from comparison every time you pick up your phone you're comparing your life to someone else's life or your pictures to someone else's pictures maybe I lost trust maybe you feel like you're mourning the loss of trust and you're you've got that urgency in your heart that I just I I don't know that I can ever get that back but God cares. 00:31:55.149 --> 00:33:34.829 I lost in my intimacy with God all these things that we've lost how do we how do we walk in honesty to the point where we are able to get it back how do we do that together as believers I'm gonna tell you something and you're gonna think it's just it's just part of the program it's just what we say it sounds cliche but I am telling you that the the reason we have small groups is not so we can get together and do fun things that's fun it's good you like it I like it the reason we have small groups is so that you can walk close enough to someone else close enough everybody say close you have to get close enough to someone that they can see the real you because right now sitting in the sitting in these rows sitting in church on Sunday morning you walk in and say hey brother hey sister that's very easy to keep a mask on it's very easy to not be honest we can sit here and look great and smell great and everybody's great having a great day small groups is so that you can sit with someone for a few weeks long enough to where you can say I think so and so doesn't have it all together maybe I can help maybe we can lean on each other and we can confide in someone long enough and hey can I tell you something can I tell you what I've been struggling with this week be honest with where you lost it. 00:33:34.909 --> 00:36:24.590 That's what the prophet does and watch what Elisha does Elisha tells him get it back so our second the second point after all after being honest about how we got here number two you have to take it back because God can do the miracle of making the axe head swim God could do the miracle of bringing water when we just need water God could do the hard part but you still have he what does he tell the young prophet he says now reach out there and grab it he could have just stood there and said I lost my axe and then Elisha could have it says he cut a stick and threw it out where the so evidently it was far enough out there he must have really been swinging back and the w the axe head flew off into the river he could have threw the stick and if he could make it swim he could have made it fly over and go back onto the axe but he didn't he said now grab it so he brought it close enough but not so close that he didn't have to reach his hand out and pick it up there's a part God wants us to participate in the miraculous God needs you to step he doesn't need you to do the miracle he needs you to stretch your arm out he needs you to reach out and be part of what's happening when the prophet showed the place Elisha cut a stick and threw it there and made the iron float lift it out he said this is the part that a lot of us get stuck on God provides a way God gives us an opportunity for the miraculous he gives us an opportunity to be restored in all the things we talk about and it says that he tells him now take it back lift it out and what happens I think is this God does the miracles behind the scene and then as soon as we get ready to reach out as soon as we get ready to step out okay I guess I'll go to small group I I'm gonna find someone to share this with I'm gonna open my heart I'm gonna build trust with someone and you've already got someone picked out in the church I think that I think I think we could connect Vernie I think that I I've seen you on the keyboard I think you're great I think we need to talk I feel I feel connected and then you know what happens the devil steps out and he says that guy don't care about you look at him he's on stage he's like playing the keyboard he's got his act together he don't have any problems he's gonna laugh at you if you tell him your problem if you tell him what you're worried about and that you've lost something and that you're concerned and you have a problem he's gonna look at you like you're garbage. 00:36:26.750 --> 00:36:58.590 And then any friendship that you might have any any relationship any any healthy thing that could it's all going to be lost because then he's gonna see how much of an idiot you are that's what we start thinking and the voice of uh the accuser begins to just put the wrong thoughts in our head and we start double guessing second guessing we start rethinking no I can't I can't do that and we sit in small groups or we we we start sweating and our heartbeat goes up thinking about I don't know how to do this. 00:36:58.670 --> 00:37:10.430 I can't do this I can't go to the small group I can't go to church I can't sit on the I can't sit on a closer row I can't sit next to somebody and you all these things that we know we should just reach out our hand and grab it. 00:37:10.590 --> 00:37:30.430 Maybe it's having a conversation with someone on the way out no I gotta get out of here I can't talk to anybody so I'm challenging you to get it back let God restore the things he cares about the things that he's accounted for and so with God it's not too late. 00:37:30.590 --> 00:37:37.150 First Peter chapter 5 verse 10 I'm gonna invite the band to join me back on stage and we're gonna get ready to close but you need to hear this. 00:37:37.789 --> 00:37:50.110 And the God of all grace will himself restore you and make you strong firm and steadfast you think it's been lost I can't get back there. 00:37:50.349 --> 00:39:12.990 I can't be who God made me to be because I made a mistake he can restore you but recovery is not the end he doesn't just recover us so that oh got my axe back everybody no he restores us so that we can get back to work why does why does Elisha throw the stick out into the water and make the axe head come up and say get your axe head back because there's work to do God restores us God saves us for the good work that he prepared ahead of time for us to do you're here for a reason God wants to heal you and restore you and rebuild you and get you back to a place of passion and hope and love and all the fruits of the spirit and all the work of the spirit that he's doing in you is a is for a purpose because we have work to do this is a working when we read about Elisha I don't think it's an accident that we go from a plow to a shovel to an axe working implements that faith is a working endeavor that there's something God needs us to do and we lose the the not just the passion but the urgency of it because we don't think oh God's coming back and the church needs to be ready and there are dying people there are people on their way to hell the work we're doing matters. 00:39:13.230 --> 00:39:19.950 The life you live matters your heart being healthy matters because it means that we can do what God asks us to do. 00:39:20.190 --> 00:39:30.110 You going to a small group matters because your children are depending on you because the people in your community are depending on you beyond you just feeling better about yourself. 00:39:36.430 --> 00:41:28.829 This is not just a story of a prophet who helps someone find their axe that's lost this is not just a series of stories about miracles this is the gospel the by this is the Bible throughout that God sent his son to rescue us and restore us who are broken who are lost in Luke chapter 15 Jesus tells a story about a shepherd who has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off and is lost in fact the Bible's full of stories about lost things because God cares about lost things and the shepherd leaves the 99 to go find the one I also think it's interesting that I don't uh I don't fully understand when you read just it you have to really dig into the the the context of those few verses but why does Elisha take a stick and cut it and then throw a stick into the water I don't know exactly but I do know this that God sent his son on a piece of wood to rescue us and to restore us in the same way that Elisha takes a piece of wood and throws it out into the water to restore something that's lost God sent his son to restore us and so today whatever you've lost whatever's been lost God can restore he can bring it back and help you find the thing that you may have even given up on it so we're gonna close in prayer and I want you to I want you to be honest enough with yourself to say okay God I'm ready for you to restore I don't know how you can do it. 00:41:28.910 --> 00:42:39.070 I feel like it's impossible but I'm I'm ready to give it to you so I want us to close would you stand on your feet and let's let's reach out to God with an expectation of faith that He can restore every lost passion every lost hope every lost relationship every lost thing can be restored so I'm gonna pray for you and then we're gonna worship before we dismiss Father we thank you for restoring every lost thing that you would you are giving us confidence God thank you for building our confidence and building our faith in your desire to take care of us to provide for us to restore us to the the place that you can use us for a good work we trust you with our hearts we trust you with our mind we trust you with our relationship in Jesus' name now Lord help us to take it back empower us by your Holy Spirit to take you back with the trust you know we can be all you're saying