Hey, they got water up here, praise the Lord. They're just little shot glasses, but they're water. Amen. We'll take it. I got a dry sermon tonight, and I'll need a few of them. Told Brother Coley that I only need about 10 minutes, because my sermon's real short tonight. I didn't think he took me serious. Amen. I am from Arkansas. I'm a genuine hillbilly. Amen. Glad to be. Amen. I'm from the unsolved murder capital of the world, Little Rock, Arkansas. There's all the DNA matches and there's no dental records up there. Amen. Amen. We as a kid, we went to the dentist when you're hurting somewhere. It's the only time we went. If you got your Bible tonight, we're glad to be here. I appreciate you, Pastor, having us in. And I've known Brother Charlie for years, and I count him as my buddy. I count him as my friend, amen. And so many of you around here, I see that it's like a family reunion. It's like homecoming. And I'll tell you this, and then I'll start into this sermon here. I'm always telling something halfway funny before I get going. But I'm optimistic God will do something here this week. I hope you are too. But optimism don't always fix it. Amen. I heard a woman, she had two little boys and they was the exact opposite. And one of them was an optimist. Buddy, everything was going to work out all right. It didn't make no difference what happened. He was a little sweet and syrupy, just make you sick. And then the other was just a pessimist. I mean, nothing pleased him. It wasn't nothing good in the world. He's just pessimistic about everything. She had all she could take. So she took him to the doctor and said, psychiatrist, she said, you gotta do something. These boys are driving me crazy. He said, here's what you do. He said, that boy that's a pessimist, said you get him for this Christmas, get him every toy you can think of he might want, and it'll turn him around. It's pessimism. He won't be so pessimistic. and said that boy that's an optimist said don't give him anything for Christmas this year except a box of horse manure. Wrap it up, give it to him. That's all you give him. I said that'll tone him down a little bit too. So he went by to Christmas to check on that little boy that was so pessimistic was sitting on the front porch and he had toys piled up all the way around him and he said, son, look like you had your good Christmas. He said no, it's the worst I've ever had. He said the guns don't shoot, the batteries are undead, the wheels fall off. He said I hate every one of them. So he said, where's your brother? He said, he's out in the backyard. He went out there and his brother was walking around in the backyard. He had opened that gift, that horse manure, and had the top and just walking around with it. And he said, son, what in the world? Looks like you had a terrible Christmas. He said, no, it's the best I've ever had. He said, I've got a pony if I can find it. Now, buddy, that's optimism. I hope we have some of that here this week. Amen. Amen. Well, I won't be very long tonight. I do. I do seriously have a short message if I can just get it done. Second Kings chapter six in your Bible. And we thank you again for letting us come. And I'm honored. And Brother Coley, man, good grief, what a preacher, man. That guy can preach, preach the pain off the wall. Boy, always does a good job. Never heard him preach a bad sermon. St. King chapter 6 in verse 1. Father, we thank you for your mercy. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm grateful, dear God, to be here tonight. Father, I'm humbled, Father, to be among these men of God in this good church, Father, and this pastor, Father, this family. Lord God, they've seen so much here and done so much here. Father, we're grateful for all the blessings you've given. Pray, dear God, tonight you'd undertake for us to help us see these simple truths from your word. It's in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, I pray you'll give us the words to say. I pray you give us the power to say it, Father. Jesus' precious name, amen. 2 Kings 6, verse 1. Remember, Brother Coley wore me out. Man, that guy has energy, don't he? 2 Kings 6, verse 1 says, The sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold, now the place where we dwell with thee is too straight for us. I've had several leave our church like that. Amen. Amen. All right, I'm done. That's about what I had to say. He said, let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, go ye. And one said, be content, I pray thee, and go with our servants. And he answered, I will go. So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. And as one was fell in a beam, the axe head fell in the water. And he cried and said, alas, master, for it was borrowed. And a man of God said, where fell it? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick and cast it in thither. and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, take it up to thee, and he put out his hand and took it." I want to preach about that for a few minutes. I want you to notice this man was involved in a great work with Elisha there. Had a great leader. They were doing a great job there, brother and sister, but this man lost the axe head right in the middle of the work. Right in the middle of the work, he lost the edge. He lost the power to get the job done, and he lost it right in the middle of the job. He lost, and I want to preach about that for a few minutes tonight. This man lost his, and you know what it is. Like I said, it represents the power to get the work done. And I want to preach tonight for just a few minutes on what to do if you lose your edge. Amen? What to do if you lose that thing. Now, he could have done what Baptists done. He lost the power to cut wood. He lost the power to cut anything. But he could have done what most Baptists done, and that would be just kept swinging. Amen. He could have just kept right on swinging. Doesn't make any difference if you're getting anything done or not, at least you're in the business. That's what most Baptists would have done, kept swinging right in there, pretending to get something done. He could have made a lot of noise. He still had the stick. He could have made a lot of racket. He could have sweat and been worn out when the day was over. I mean, wore slap out. But he wouldn't have made a dent in a tree all day. What happened? Lost the edge. He lost the power, brother and sister, to get the job done. I remember when I first got saved, I didn't think I'd hit the ground for three weeks after I got saved. I was so saved, and I was so glad to be saved. I was saved, boy, I'm telling you from head to toe, I was saved, and I just glided around, man. Everything was good. I saw God everywhere. I saw, I'm not talking about literally, I'm talking about man, I see God in this and I see God in that and I hear the Lord. I mean, I went up the first night, I got saved, four of my lost friends in the car and I said, three, I think it was three. I said, boys, I said, let me tell you what happened to me last night. They was all lost just like I was before. And I said, they said, let me, and they said, you go ahead and tell us. And I said, man, I got saved. I said, the Lord, I asked the Lord to forgive me last night. And he saved my soul and changed my life. And I said, you guys are going to hell. He'll do the same thing for you if you'll let him. And man, all three of them bowed their head in the car and got saved that night. I said, man, this is easy. There ain't nothing to this. But man, when I first got saved, I had the edge. And then I lost it. I lost it for several years, didn't get it back. And boy, I'm telling you what, you don't accomplish much without the age. Now listen, God's given you and I a great work to do. Reach the lost. Build this good church. I think you guys are going to build a new one, aren't you? Somewhere? Yeah, praying about building. I'm an optimist. I believe you will. I believe you get a church and a pony, amen? Build this good church. Hey, how about this? Keep the old-time religion alive. Man, it's a great work God's given us to do. Nowadays, brother and sister, churches learn, and they're not making a dent, boy, they're not making a dent. The old folks used to say it was His touch. And some of the old folks used to say it's the Lord's hand. And some of them say it's the Lord's presence. I don't care what you call it, but it's still available. And it still will get the job done. But we've learned how, churches have learned how now to operate without God's touch. God's people out here in the seats have learned how to operate without God's touch. We got enough programs and traditions in churches nowadays, we can go on without God. And a bunch of them do. We've learned to operate without God's hand on it, without God's touch on it. And brother, sister, we need it back. So I'm just going to pick up where Brother Coley left off. He changed his sermon, I can too. Amen. But we can sing without it. We can sing without that edge, boy. We can teach without it. We can preach without it. We can do Sunday school without the Lord. You can be like Samson does. He'd go out one day and said he wished not. He wished not that the Spirit was gone. He didn't even know the Lord was gone. And you can get up and go to Sunday school, you can get up and go to church, you can get up to preach, and you don't even know God's left. Brothers and sisters, I'm telling you, we have learned how to operate without it. You know what I get tired of? I get tired of preachers that have no confidence anymore in the book. They think they've got to have a three ring circus and think they've got to have a big show to get the job done. The gospel will still do the job. It'll still do the work. Well, I got three, four things, two or three things to say about that. And I'll quit real quick tonight and let y'all get out of here in about five minutes. Amen? Possibly not. I want to say number one, brother and sister, this man lost his edge, but I want you to notice his concern. Down in verse five is one who's felling a bean. The axe head fell in the water. He cried. He said, Alas, master, it was borrowed. The first thing he did was realize it was gone. And he immediately realized something was missing. Could you not think that if you swing an axe head and the head flew off, you might think something's not there? You'd be surprised the Baptist said don't. He knew things was different. He knew he couldn't keep going on like that. He knew he was out there, but I can't keep working like this. Something's got to be done. He cried and said, Master, it's gone. I've lost it. It ain't here anymore. His work didn't have the same ring to it everybody else's did. Everybody around him knew it, too. Everybody around him knew he didn't have it anymore. Well, they could tell by the sound he didn't have it anymore. Haven't you ever heard a preacher preach that didn't have it? I mean, besides me. I know you have. You heard singers get up and sing, they ain't got it. No, they don't know it. They think they got it. Everybody in the building knows they ain't got it. They're up there just blessing God's people, and everybody in the seat's sitting there, my God, when's this going to be over? You preach a sermon, you preach a sermon, boy, and I'm telling you, it gets on, and God, whoo, God's all over the building. And you say, man, I'll take it out. We've been preaching everywhere, Brother Charlie. You go to the next church and preach it, it don't get off the pulpit. So what's the difference? The edge. Boy, you need that edge. I'm telling you, you need it. But brother and sister, first thing you got to do is admit to yourself it's gone. Hey, all kidding aside now, I ain't got what I used to have. That's where you're going to have to get. You got to admit to yourself first, I ain't as close as I used to be. Man, when a preacher's preaching and they're crying and it's breaking their heart, it's not affecting me like that anymore. It used to affect me like that. Boy, when they're singing that song about heaven and man and everybody's hair standing up on the back of their neck and they're shouting, it ain't moving me. It used to move me. I ain't as close as I used to be. I'm not concerned like the lost like I used to be. I'm not as faithful. It don't bother me as much as it used to to Miss Church. I ain't got what I used to have. Until you admit it, you'll never get it back. First thing he did, he cried out, said, I ain't got it. Lost it. He confessed and it was gone. He said, I don't have it anymore. He told the preacher he didn't have it. My God, give us a being like that. If the truth was told in here tonight, there'd be a half a dozen or two dozen people stand up right now and look at him and say, preacher, I ain't got it anymore. I ain't got what I used to have. I don't get the joy out of it I used to get. I don't feel what so-and-so's feeling. Ain't got it. Give us more men like Jonah. Man, give us Jonah. The ship's about to go down. He said, they said, what in the world's going on? Whose fault's this? Jonah said, it's mine. He said, it's mine. We would have said, my wife's not very spiritual. I wish she was closer so we could be closer. It's probably her fault. You know what Jonah said? Ain't nobody's fault but mine. You know the reason you're in the shape you're in tonight? Because of you. You're the one. Give me some folks like Jonah, and we'll turn the world upside down. Jonah said, it's me. It ain't my wife. It ain't the kids. It ain't the preacher. It ain't the church. It ain't the preacher's tongue. It's me. Like the woman got mad at the preacher, and he's preaching. She hated his guts, and she sent a note to the front, and he picked it up and read it and said, fool! That's all it says, fool! He said, man, I've had a lot of people write me notes and didn't sign their name. He said, here, sign their name, didn't write nothing. Had some of them, preacher. Listen, brother and sister, not only did he admit it, he admitted it to himself first, and then he admitted it to the preacher and everybody. He said, I ain't got what I used to have. It's gone. But boy, look what he did down there, too. Brother and sister, down verse five, he knew it wasn't his to start with. You see what he said, verse five? He said, last master, it was borrowed. It never was mine. You get up and preach a good sermon, you thank God for it, but it never was you. You get up and sing the power of God all over, you thank God for it, but it never was you. Brother said, it was borrowed. Everything we've got, God's gave us. He gave you everything you got. If you get anything done, it's because He gave it to you. It's because of Him. It was borrowed. It wasn't mine. It wasn't mine to start with. The power belonged to someone else. He knew it. I remember the first time I went to Amarillo and preached, and I never really had been to very many meetings, and I went out there and preached, and I had what I thought was a good sermon. And I got up there and preached, and I'm telling you, it was the biggest dud I ever heard in my life, Brother Charlie. I heard it later, good grief, I don't see how they sat there. Just a dud. You preachers, we kick ourselves all the way home when we preach a dud, don't we? All the way home, I kick myself when I preach a dud. And I preached several of them. I went back to the hotel that night, and I got down there, and I cried, brokenhearted. I was off this mess I heard, and I said, Dear God, help me. I said, Lord, what in the world are they going to think of me if I come here and that's the best I can do? And boy, just almost a clear voice, the Lord said, I don't care what they think about you when they leave there. He said, what are they going to think about me when you leave there? It ain't about me and you. It's borrowed. Everything we got is borrowed. The Lord gave it to you. Amen. The power belongs to somebody else. We need to realize we don't have what we used to. Sometimes we need to do that. And then you need to realize it wasn't you to begin with. And you need to realize you can't keep operating in the flesh. I'll tell you something else about that. He said it was borrowed. I don't believe the guy would have loaned it to him if he hadn't thought he could trust him with it. Amen. He gave it to you. He thought you could trust him with it. I want to say this, brother and sister, you notice his concern, but to get it back, look, he had to go back. In verse six, he said, the man of God said, where fell it? He showed him the place. He said, show me where you lost it, and we'll get it back. And he didn't stand there like a girl. Oh, gee willikers, I don't know. He knew exactly where he lost it. He was standing there like some sissy. He said, I'll show you the place I lost it. And most of you do, too. Most of you know where you lost it. You know what my daddy'd say? My daddy'd say, son, let me ask you something. Have you got what you used to have? Are you as close as you used to be? Where it just ate you up, you would just eat up with it? You say, well, I ain't got it like I ought to have that. You know what my daddy used to tell us? Daddy'd say, well, where's the last place you had it? Where's the last place you had it? Daddy said, take me back where you lost it. I said, Dad, if I knew where I lost it, I'd find it. He said, take me back. He'd always say, where's the last place you had it? Let me ask you, where's the last place you really had it? I mean, buddy, when you really had it. Do you remember that? He said, take me back. He took him back. So he knew where he lost it. He knew what he was doing when he lost it. He knew when he lost it. You remember the last place you had it, don't you? Some of you lost it when you did one thing. I've seen, I've had them in our church lose the touch of God by one act. And they lost God's touch. I've seen them say one thing and lose God's touch. I've seen it. Some of you lost it, boy, when you said, I ain't gonna give it up. I ain't gonna quit it. Y'all preach about Facebook all you want to, I ain't quitting. You won't have his touch either. Preacher showing the old country preacher's new church with all the silver and gold and all the trimming in it. That old country boy just walked through there and just wondered. That old preacher said, I guess we can no longer say silver or gold, have I none, can we? The old preacher looked around and he said, no, you can't say rise up and walk either. Lost something, didn't you? Some of you lost it when you said I ain't gonna give it up. Some of you lost it when you wouldn't give up your music. Preacher hit it while I go. That rock and roll is trash. There ain't been no rock and roll anyway since the 70s. What that mess is now, they just do, it ain't music. Stupid stuff. I heard some kid playing something the other day, I couldn't even understand what they say. I told our kids, I said, you knuckleheads, I said, at least music back in our day made sense. We sang Jeremiah was a bullfrog. I ain't sure I was made no sense either. Say, brother Jim, I don't fool with that. I like that country music. Tammy Wynette, stand by your man. She's married five times. She'd stand by your man if you didn't watch her. The guy at our church told me, he said, oh, country music is different than all the others. It's about real life, brother Jimmy. It's about real life issues. I said, son, I puke, throw up every now and then, but I don't want somebody writing a song about it. That's real life issues. Some of you lost it when you didn't dress like a Christian ought to dress. I ain't going to get on that. I'll let your pastor do that. But you know what's right. But I can tell you what's wrong. I went down to San Antonio and took our kids to Six Flags, and that was the years of the belly shirts. I've never seen such in my life. Everybody had a shirt that showed their belly, all the girls. And I'm telling you, they were not hindered by size. Some of them had lots of belly to show. I thought, my God, you ought to keep them out of them departments where they sell that stuff. We got to the fair there, and they had a sticker, a ruler up there that said, if you're under this, you can't ride this. I think they ought to have one of them in those departments. If you weigh over this much, you can't buy this. But I'll tell you this, if you're not careful with your dress, you lose God's touch. I will say that. I ain't going to tell you what's right and what ain't. Your preacher will. And you know, your preachers told you. Some of you, the company you keep, it's going to cost you the edge. You find you somebody in this church, young people who loves God, who's interested in the same. You find somebody who's interested in the church and interested in being in the church. If you're not, they'll cause you to lose the edge. You be careful who you hang out with. They'll mess you up. Find the wrong bunch. parrot that went out with the crows. He got out of his cage and went out with the crows and flew over the cornfield. They was all eating corn, having a big time. Farmer came out there and seen them crows and threw up his shotguns and just emptied it into that bunch, eating his corn. And that parrot got winged, man, broke his wing. He barely got back to the cage. Farmer went up and looked at him. He was bleeding. And he said, what happened to you? And he said, bad company, bad company. That's what's going to get some of you, too. The language you use gonna cost you the edge. Be careful, daddy. Be careful, mama. Be careful, dad, how you use that language. It'll cost you the edge. It'll cost you the Lord's touch. You be careful with it. An unforgiving spirit, boy, that'll cost you the edge. It ain't worth it. It ain't worth it. I have a fault. I can get mad. I can get as mad as anybody can get real quick, but I can't stay mad at nobody. I try, I cannot stay mad, I just can't do it, it hurts. It ain't worth it, brother and sister, good grief. Unforgiving spirit, it costs you the edge every time. Who is it you don't like? Now brother, he preached about it a little bit a while ago, you know what you can do? You can keep going through the motions with no power, no touch on your life. You can go right on through that, or you can go on through trying to live off your mama's touch. Like the preacher said, you can live off your daddy's touch. You can live off the preachers. You can live off the church's touch. They got a little touch on them. You can go ahead and borrow from them or you can get it back. Which one you reckon you ought to do? Over in Arkansas, I don't know why it got named Alabama, brother, but it did. And when I was a kid in Tennessee raised up, we had a thing called Alabama credit card. You remember that? It was about that long. piece of garden hose. And you take your can and you stick it in a gas tank at night, a couple of pools, and we get gas. We call it Alabama credit card. Use it everywhere you go. You say that's funny, Brother Jim. Well, it is. But I'm going to tell you, what's your spirituality? Some of you have been cycling off of people on your road for the last year. You ain't got none of your own. You've been siphoning off your wife. You've been siphoning off your husband. You've been siphoning off your pastor, your friends. You ain't had anything to walk. You ain't got it anymore, and you know you ain't got it. You can get it back, or you can keep on siphoning. We had a family down the road, and everybody, everywhere I preached, they'd know about them. But their name was Clymer. Most all of them are dead now. But my mama, we'd go when we was kids. We was all poor. Everybody was poor. We lived on a gravel road in Tennessee. We walked everywhere we went. We didn't have a car until I was a big old boy. But we'd walk everywhere we went, and my mama, she'd say, you go down to so-and-so's and borrow us a cup of sugar. We'd go down and borrow a cup of sugar, and mama would make us a sweetbread or something, make us a little cake or something. Or she might say, you go over to so-and-so's and borrow a cup of flour. And the next week, they might come over to your house and borrow a cup of flour, borrow some butter or some sugar. It'd just go around. But my mama, she'd tell me, she said, now, the climbers live down at the end of the road. She said, don't you go down and borrow from me. I said, how come, Mama? She said, son, they got less than we got. She said, they ain't got enough to give you. She said, they'll try. But they ain't got enough to give you. She said, they can't help you. Don't go down there and take what little they got. Because they ain't got enough, she said, to keep themselves alive. Boy, we are on revival this week. Hoping to have revival. I'm hoping to get picked up. I'm hoping to get revived. Listen, if we need a little extra dose of the Holy Spirit, Can we get any from you? Or do you not have enough left to even keep yourself alive? Some of you ain't got enough left tonight to put a smile on your face. Some of you ain't smiled since I got up here. So what is it? You ain't got nothing left. You ain't got enough to keep you and your family alive. But daddy, your kids, they probably looking to you for some. Mama, those little girls are probably looking to you for some. How in the world, how in the world are they going to get any help from you? Don't you reckon you ought to come get it back? Now you keep, I like that right there, that's fine. If you want to come, you come. But I want to say one more thing about that before I quit. He got it back, brother and sister. But he got it back supernaturally. The Lord gave it back. The axe head floated. Brothers and sisters, they don't do that by themselves. He got it back, super. No man could give it back to him. Your mama can't give it back to you. Your daddy can't put it back in you. Your preacher can't put it back in you. Your leaders can't put it back in you. Your friends can't put it. If you get it back tonight, you'll get it one way. And that's by coming to the altar and saying, God, I ain't got it. I don't have what I used to have. I don't feel what I used to feel. Lord, would you give it back? Would you restore to me the joy of thy salvation? Could I have that touch one more time? Well, I'm telling you, if you get it back tonight, you'll have to come deal with the Lord. Here's some things the text don't say. I bet when he got it back, I bet he took better care of it. Woo! I bet when he got it back, boy, it felt good to get something done again. I bet when he got it back, it felt good, boy. Good show to take a lick out of that tree. Don't you I bet when he got it back. He sure took better care of it Churches tonight our church your church. It'll make any difference churches are full of people who wants really had it But be honest with you tonight. They're not happy and Most of their happiness and joy at church they fight They smile where they're supposed to smile. They know the spot in the song. They're supposed to raise her hand. I but they're not happy, they don't have the joy they used to have. I'm talking about some folks who really had it, and they're not bearing fruit anymore, they're not bringing anybody to church, they're not leading anybody to Christ. They used to have it, they used to really have it. I asked you tonight, here in Alabama, same in Arkansas, you lost something, didn't you? What are you gonna do about it? We're in revival this week. Would it be good to get it back tonight? and you would have to deal with it the rest of the week. Oh, brother Jim, I still feel the Lord's presence. I ain't lost the Lord. I didn't say feel his presence, brother and sister. I'm not talking about his presence. I'm talking about his power. You say, well, brother Jim, God still answered my prayers. God answered children of Israel's prayer in the wilderness. He gave them water. He gave them quail. He gave them food. Their shoes didn't wax old on their feet. God answered their prayers all the way through the wilderness, but they were never where God wanted them to be. You think because God still hears your prayers that you're where God wants you to be? You're not. You're not unless you get it back. Lord, I want it all. I want it back. Well, there's only one cure tonight, and that's first to admit it's gone. I ain't going to that altar, they'll think I ain't got it. They already know you ain't got it. I'm going to the altar here in a little bit. Admit it's gone. Then confess it's gone. Go back where you lost it. And ask God to give it back to you. God will give it back to you.