2 Kings 6, verse 1, a familiar story if you read your Bible, amen? And the son of the prophet said unto Elisha, behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too straight for us. That's the world's problem right now for us. We're just too straight for them, amen? Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, go ye. And one said, be content, I pray thee, and go with thy service. He answered, I will go. Always good to have the man of God along. I recommend you doing something, you invite him in on it, amen? So he went with them, and when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was fell in a beam, the axe head fell into the water. And he cried and said, alas, master, for it was borrowed. And the 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 he took it. I suppose we're having revival here this week. I suppose that's what we need. Anytime you see our people, our Bantababish Church, we need revival. We're always looking for it, we always need it, and so I pray that's probably why we're meeting here tonight, is to have revival. And so, I figure I'll just preach a little revival message, amen? I'll preach about this guy here. Notice he was involved in a great work. I mean, would you not say so? The greatest prophet of the time, he had the best leader of the time, and they were doing a great work for God, and they had everything going on, and this man lost his edge. You'll need it. You say, what is the edge? The edge was the power to get the job done. I mean, without that edge, he had nothing. He wasn't gonna do anything for God or anybody else without that edge. And every now and then, you got to have that, brother and sister. It represents the power for the job. Now, he could have been a Baptist. The average Baptist would have just kept on swinging. I mean, with or without it, it wouldn't make no difference. He just kept on swinging, acting like he's getting something done. And he could have made a lot of noise. And at the end of the day, he could have been sweating and wore out, but he wasn't going to make a dent in a tree after he lost the edge. And I'm telling you, you won't make a dent either without it. I know some folks make too much of it, brother and sister, but you got to have God's touch. You got to have that touch on your life, and you need it. I need it. You need it to sing. You need it to preach. You need it to minister. You need it to do it. I used to pick cotton when I was a kid over in West Tennessee here. And over in the delta over there, we picked and chopped cotton till I was grown. My wife did too. But every year we start picking cotton and it'd be the same story every year when we started in Brother McAfee. We get out there and we was all just getting going again, had that nine foot cat head bead bottom cotton sack dragging it through there, picking cotton. And there's always somebody out there talking about what they picked last year. Man, you should have been here last year. And some talk about what they used to pick and years gone by. And if some thrashed around out there and made enough noise, you'd think they was the only ones in the field. But at the end of the day, we had to go way up. And when we weighed up, you know, some of them didn't have anything in their sack. I mean, not much, Brother Delaney, in their sack. And you know something else, too? We had a way boss. You know, he did say the fields were white under harvest. Pray you there for the Lord the hardest that he'll send forth labors in his harvest. You are supposed to be in the field. But we had a weigh boss, and when we weigh up our cotton, we got three cents a pound. And if I picked 100 pound, I'd get $3 for a day's work. I'd pick 200 pounds, so I'd make $6 a day. He said, is that all you can pick? I don't know. My daddy said, if you pick 200 pound, you can go home. I don't know what I could have picked. I went home. $6. But we had a weigh boss, and he'd write down, every time we'd weigh a sack of cotton, he'd write it down under our name, and we'd get paid for it at the end of the week. Everybody, we kept our own little book. I had me a little book and a pencil, and when I'd weigh up my little cotton, I'd, 60 pounds, I'd put that down. And everybody kept their own tally. But you know what, at the end of the week, it didn't matter what was in my book. The only book it counted was the bosses. And he was writing it down. And you can say you've done this, or I do that, and I carry this around, but one day we'll be at the scales. And one day we'll see what the master that got wrote in his book. And that's the only one that really matters, amen? Some people make enough rackets, you'd think they's the only ones in the field. And you know what we can do, brother and sister? We can run up and down the road buses, I'm not against it. We can pick people up, we can street preach, we can pass out trash, we can go like blind. At the end of the day, we can be slapped more out. But without that edge, you won't get the job done. Without that touch of God on what you're doing, brother and sister, you can't do it. God's give us a great work to do. To reach the lost right here. To build a church. To keep the old time religion alive. That old singing and preaching is leaving here. Thank God for the old time religion. We need some of that. But we can make a lot of noise and keep going and doing, but we won't make a dent in this community. Brother and sister, without the touch. The old folks used to say it's his touch. Some of them used to say it's the Lord's presence, his power. I don't care what you call it, I know you need it. And I know what it's like not to have it. I do know that. Churches have learned how to operate without the touch of God. While we got enough programs in place now and things going on, we can go right on without the touch of God. We can have church where they say, do you know you can sing a song without God's touch? You can teach a Sunday school lesson. You can preach a message. Believe me, I've been there. You can preach a message without preaching to the Lord. It sure is different. I get tired sometimes of seeing preachers with no confidence in the Bible, and no confidence in the Lord, and they think they gotta put on a three ring circus to draw a crowd. Hey, the old book will still do the job. It'll still get the job done. Some people go out like Samson. They go out and don't even know they've lost the touch of God. The Bible said he went out and he whisked not. That the Lord, the Spirit had departed from him. He didn't even know what he was on. But boy, I'll tell you what I've seen. I want to preach about that for a few minutes tonight on what to do if you lose your edge. Not quite as sharp as you used to be for a long time. If you don't feel the Lord like you used to, and it don't seem to move you like it used to, and you're not as close as you used to be, I'll preach on what to do if you lose your edge. And don't sit there and act like you never have, because you have. I've sure done it a time or two, amen? Everybody has. I'll preach on what to do if you lose your edge. Number one, notice his concern. As soon as he lost it, he cried out. He said, hey, I ain't got it. I've lost something. But when the first thing he did, he realized it was gone. He knew things were different. I mean, that first swing after that thing was gone, you know something's different. Your work just don't have the same ring to it it used to have. He lost something there that day, and he knew he couldn't keep on going on like that, brother and sister. It just didn't have the same snap it used to have. You ever do that? I know you guys have probably done it. I know Brother Delaney's done it, and the preachers have all done it. You go to a place and you sing a song or something, and Sunday's just about swinging on the chandeliers. Tear the place down. You preach a message, and God get on board, and people jump in pews. It's good in church. And you say, man, I'm taking that one on the road. That's a good message. That's a good song. You get to the next church and try it, and they sit there looking at you like a tree full of owls. Say, what's the difference? Something's different. Amen. The things ain't the same. You say, Brother Jim, I've done that sometimes. Well, first thing you need to do, brother and sister, if you want to have revival this week, is admit that you lost it. Ain't no crime to say you lost some of it. I didn't say lose your salvation. I said, somebody lose that touch. I don't have the power of God like I used to have. I'm not as close as I used to be. Brother Jim, I can't keep going on like this. This is in the flesh. You can't do that forever, brother and sister. You got to do something about that. When I first got saved, I got saved one night about 10 o'clock. I got my mom. I said, you got to take me over to see the preacher. I said, I'm lost. I'm on my way to hell. And I was afraid I wouldn't make it to morning. So I got up, went and seen the preacher, woke him up, got him out of his house. He took me over to the church office and led me to Christ, showed me how to be saved. And I got gloriously saved that night. Next night I went and told my friends, I said, man, I got saved last night. They said, what? I said, man, I was going to hell. I said, matter of fact, you are too. And I said, I got saved. I asked the Lord to save me. I said, that's what every one of you need to do. And three of the four bowed their head in the car and got saved that night. And I said, man, this soul winning's easy. Anybody can do this. But the thing was, I had something then. And after a little while, the old crowd started coming back around. And I started running with some of the old crowd, and I started missing church. And you know what I found out a little bit later? Didn't have what I used to have. I missed something. First thing he did, he had enough concern. Brother, sister, he said, I ain't got it. Admit to yourself. And then he confessed it was gone. It's one thing to admit it to yourself. It's another. He said, preacher, I ain't got it. He said, Preacher, I lost it. I need some help, Preacher. It's gone. The man confessed that it's gone. He cried out, I ain't got it anymore. He told the Preacher he didn't have it anymore. Give us some people like that in church. Like the prophet Jonah. He's on a man in a storm about to capsize a ship, about to throw him over. They said, whose fault is this? And Jonah said, it's mine. I'm the one, it's me. I'm the reason. Wouldn't that be something, church? Church needs revival. Preachers say, I don't know why we can't have revival. And you stand up and say, it's because of me. I'm the one hindering it. Why is your home not closer to God than it ought to be? Your family not as close as it ought to be? Somebody, mama or daddy, it's me. I'm the problem. You give us some folks like that, we'll turn the world upside down. Admit it's gone, then confess it's gone. You don't have to tell me. But it wouldn't hurt you to tell your preacher, give us some men like Jonah. And I'll tell you something else, he knew it wasn't his to start with. See what he done in verse five, he said, alas, master, for it was borrowed. I borrowed that, it wasn't mine. It never was mine. It was always somebody else's. Woo! You get a hold of that, it'll help you in the ministry. It'll help you in church. It'll help you in your home. If you realize it ain't all about you, it never was you. It's always God's grace. Always His mercy. I believe it was Lester Olaf who told a story. Man, I spilled water on my Bible. I'll fix it. Lester Roloff, I think, told a story. He said they had a family that worked for his daddy on the farm, and they were real poor. A little boy named Billy, I think it was. It don't matter. But his name was Billy. He said, little Billy, Billy and them didn't have anything. They didn't have two dimes to rub together. And he said that they were so poor, they chopped cotton all week. And on Saturday, Lester said his daddy would give them a dime. He said, son, you go in there and buy you and Billy a Coca-Cola in the store. And they walk up to the counter. And old Lester threw that dime on the counter and he said, two Coca-Cola's, one for me and one for my friend Billy. Threw them on the counter. He said, boy, that was a great thing. I mean, we don't appreciate that anymore, but I can remember a time when you appreciated Coca-Cola. But he said they did that every week. At least once a month they go in there and he'd throw that dime on the counter and get two cokes for him and Billy He said one day he started in that store his daddy then gave him the dime And he said he started in through the door and said somebody told on his shirt He looked around as Billy He said what Billy he said Lester. He said today. Can I give him the dime? Oh You say, Brother Jim, y'all sure have a good church. You just don't know. It's just the Lord let me pay the dime. It's just God, brother, that does pay the dime. He lets you look like the man. Sometimes He'll let you look like a big shot. He'll let you look like you're more than you are. It's just God let you pay the dime. It was always His. Never was anybody but Him. Amen, Brother Jim. I went down to Brother Stalker's place and preached my first revival. Remember Brother Stalker? Hard head Texan. Yeah, I remember him. He's my buddy. He's one of my best friends in the world. I went down and preached my first revival at his place. Boy, I got up and I let him have everything I had. And it was a message that really went well to church. I said, this is a good here God to use this. I got up there and preached that thing. I'm telling you my words didn't get no further than the communion table there. It was the awfulest mess I ever heard in my life. And I went back to the room by myself. I was by myself that time. And man, I was about crying in the room. And I said, oh, God. I said, if that's the best I can do down here. I said, what in the world do them people think of me when I leave here? They think, boy, he ain't much. And boy, almost in an audible voice, almost in an audible voice, the Lord spoke to my heart. As soon as I said that, he said, son, I don't care what they think about you when you leave there. He said, what are they going to think about me when you leave there? Boy, that's got me a long way down the road. I've used that many a time down the road. How are they going to feel about God when you get done? Amen. He said, Alas, master, it was borrowed. It never was us to start with. It was always Him. God give you a talent and give you something that you can do, do it. But it's Him that promotes you, boy. Amen. You know what? Tonight, we need to realize maybe we don't have what we used to. Every Christian goes there. Don't act like you don't do that. And then realize it wasn't us to begin with. It was borrowed. I need to realize we can't keep operating in the flesh. We're gonna need that touch, but we're gonna need a little revival this week. I'll tell you something else about that. If it's like it was when we was kids, we borrowed stuff all the time, and we loaned stuff all the time. Country people, that's what they did. They were poor, didn't have everything, so you would loan each other stuff. But you always try to bring it back in as good a shape as you got it. I bet you the man that loaned it to him wouldn't have loaned it to him if he didn't think he could trust him with it. Amen. What did God give you? I say this too, notice his concerns. My brother noticed this, to get it back, he had to go back. He said, where'd you lose it at, son? And he took him, he didn't say, oh, gee, I don't know. No, he walked him over, took him right to the spot. He showed him, he knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly where he was at when he lost it. He took him right back to the spot and said, right there's where I lost it. And he got it back for him. He knew where it was. My daddy was bad about stuff. We'd lose stuff all the time. And us kids, we'd lose stuff. Ain't no telling how many hammers and screwdrivers we planted around our house on the farm. None of them ever came up, but we planted them everywhere. And I'd ask daddy, I'd say, daddy, we've lost something. We've lost a wrench. Every time, same answer, every time. Wouldn't answer his question. He'd say, son, where's the last place you had it? Well, let me ask you tonight, where's the last place you had it? Where's the last place you really had it? God spoke to you, you spoke to God, the communion was good, the line was good. I know we're not saved by feeling, but you can feel the Lord's Spirit moving you. Where's the last place you had it? Amen. Some people lost it when they did one act. Some of you lost it when you said, I'm not ready to give up my music. I'll let the preacher preach to you about that stuff. It's his church. But maybe it's the music you weren't ready to give up. That's where you lose his touch. Some of you in your dress, that's where you lose the touch. Some of the company you keep. I tell our folks, I listened to rock and roll all my life. And I never did listen to country music. I never did like it. I was raised on rock and roll, and I laid all that junk down, too. But I never did understand Tammy Wynette and Stand By Your Man, and she had five husbands. She's Stand By Your Man, if you give her a chance. I never did understand that. I told our folks, I said, at least our music made sense. Your music don't make sense today. I said, at least ours made sense. We sing, Jeremiah was a bullfrog. That's weird, ain't it? Maybe ours didn't make any sense. We went to, talking about dress, we went down to Six Flags with our church, and that was the year everybody was wearing belly shirts. All the girls had on belly shirts, and man, I'm telling you, some of them were well-named. The big bellies, they had no shame. We got up, I often thought we got up to those things to ride. The Bible said you ought to be modest. We got up to those things to ride. It said if you're over this tall or under this tall, you can't ride this ride. I thought they ought to put that on some of those clothes racks. If you weigh over this much, you can't wear these clothes. Amen. Amen. Some of you lose it with the company you keep. It costs you the edge. You run, hey, run with some people who love Jesus. Run with some people who want to do it. Run with some kids who are trying to do right. Listen to the right stuff. Go in the right place. Dress in the right way. The language you use sometimes will cost you. It'll cost you, brother and sister. I know y'all, in that company you keep, and keep a bad company, I know y'all heard the story, everybody has, but of a church, they couldn't afford a building, so they bought an old bar. And they converted it into a church. And man, they made it beautiful. They put in all new wood, all new pews, new lights, everything. But the bar had an old parrot in it that they could not catch to save their life. They tried to catch him. They couldn't catch him. He'd fly out in the rafters every time they tried to catch him. And that parrot stayed in there. And they said, we've got to have churches open Sunday. We're going to have church. And so they started. As soon as he started to preach, that parrot flew down off that rafter and lit right there and looked out at everybody. He said, new lights, new lights. And he said, new pews, new pews. And he looked around and he said, same old crowd, same old crowd. Amen. Amen. Well, be careful with the company you keep, amen? I'm going to get out of here and give Brother Mike plenty of time. I'll tell you what it gets you, Brother and Sister, what it gets you quicker than anything, to lose that touch is an unforgiving spirit. You get somebody, well, I don't like them. I heard a guy say, I've cut them off. I don't have nothing to do with them no more. Who in the world are you to cut anybody off? God ever cut you off? Unforgiving spirit, bitterness. That'll cost you the edge. That'll cost you God's touch. But be careful with it. They say bitterness is you sitting across the table from somebody you hate, and you drink poison, and you're waiting on them to die. That's bitterness, brother. It'll kill you. It won't kill them. You can't get rid of them. Good people live forever. And people you despise, they'll live forever. I don't know where you lost it. I don't know if you did. But I expect it's when you put your Bible down. You be careful of that, brother and sister. It costs you the edge. And you can keep going through the motions if you want to. No power, no real joy. You get joy in a little short burst, but no lasting joy. What you need is God to give you that touch, give you that edge back. Put his hand on your ministry, put his hand on your home. That's what you need, brothers and sisters. You put that Bible down. We have a thing up in Tennessee. Well, it's in Tennessee. And I don't know why it got named like that, brother. I'm sorry. It's nothing against Alabama. But we had a thing when we was kids called Alabama Credit Card. And it was a piece of garden hose about six feet long. And if we didn't have any gas, we'd stick it in a tank and fill up our can. And we used that credit card all over Tennessee when I was a kid. You say, that's weird, Brother Jim. Well, half of the people in our church are in that shape. They don't have anything in their tank. Some of them have been siphoning off their wife for 20 years. She's spiritual. Some have been siphoning off their mama and daddy for years. They don't have any. Some have been siphoning off the people on the pew besides you. You don't have anything in your tank. You've been siphoning off them. We had a family down the road, most of these kids, and I told them we'd borrow stuff. But my mom, she said, go down there and borrow me a cup of sugar. And she said, I'll make us a little sweet bread. I said, all right, man, we like sweet bread. It's kind of like cake with no acid, and it's good. And we'd go down and get a cup of sugar, and sometimes our neighbor would come and get a cup of sugar from us or a cup of flour. That's just what neighbors did back then. Nobody had nothing. We all picked and chopped cotton for the other guy. It wasn't our cotton. And so we just borrowed. We borrowed from each other. Helped each other get by. That's what neighbors did. But my mom, she said, you go down the road and get me a cup of sugar. She said, but don't you go down to the climber's house. I said, how come, Mom? She said, son, they're in worse shape than we are. She said, they'll try to loan it to you, but they don't have anything to loan. I said, you'll just hurt their feelings, because they don't have anything to give you. She said, don't go down there and borrow anything from them. May I ask you, this church right here, your church, wherever you go, is somebody in your church need a little spiritual uplift, a little boost? Could they borrow anything off you? Or would the Lord say, no, don't go to that one. He ain't got enough to keep himself alive. She ain't got enough spirit about her to keep herself alive. You can't borrow from them. Brother and sister, I know you'll need that. I know I need it. Everybody does. I'll say this lastly about it. To get it back, he had to go back. But brother and sister, when he got it back, he got it back supernaturally. Amen. God gave it back to him. No man could have got that back for him. God's the only one who could have given it back to him. You can look to mama, you can look to daddy, you can look to the preacher, you can look to your best friend, your spouse, but no man on earth can give it back to you. You'll get it back supernaturally. If you get it back, you'll get it back from him. That's what you do. Mom and dad, the preacher can't do it. You'll have to deal with the Lord. Here's some things the text don't say, but I bet you when he got it back, I bet you he took better care of it. I bet when he got back, Brother Delaney, he got in one of them wedges and drove it on top of that thing there where it wouldn't fly off again. And I'll tell you something, I bet when he got it back, it felt good to be getting something done again. Not just going through the motions, not just sitting on a pew week after week after week, same spirit, no joy. I bet it felt good to get something done again when he got it back. I bet it did. Churches brother and sister tonight our church all churches are full of people who once really had it And now they're not happy They're not bearing fruit So what's wrong brother Jim? You lost something you lost the age. Oh, you can get it back God gave it back to me a few times You can get it back brother and sister You say Oh brother Jim. I still feel his presence. I'm okay. I'm not talking about his presence. I talking about His power. The children of Israel, when they were in the wilderness, God met their needs. Their shoes didn't get old on their feet. My wife's one of them. Her shoes have never got old on her feet. She buys a new pair every week. She loves shoes. But their shoes never got old. When they needed meat, He gave them meat. When they needed water, He gave them water. God met all their basic needs, brothers and sisters. God answered their prayers. But they were miles from Canaan. They were miles away from where God wanted them to be. You get the thing sometimes, because God does still answer a prayer or two for you that you're where God wants you to be. You could be miles from where God wants you to be, and he's still answering your prayer. He's a merciful God. He's a great God. He'll help you even in the wilderness. But just because God doesn't answer prayer now and then, don't you think you've arrived? Don't you think you've, you can quit going now. You're still not where God wants you to be spiritually. Amen. He answered Israel's prayers there. He'll answer yours too. There's only one cure tonight. I'll let Brother Clark do what he wants to about the invitation now or later, it don't matter. You think about it, see what God do with you. There's only one cure, admit it's gone. You don't have to admit it to your spouse or that one besides you, anybody, but you need to admit to yourself it's gone. Or at least it ain't what it used to be. And then confess it's gone. Say, Lord, I don't have it. Maybe go back where you lost it and ask God to give it back to you. That's what we're here for. What we came for, a little bit of revival. We played a game when I was a kid. I told you how poor we was. We was poor. I'm not poor, Malvin, man. People know me, Tennessee. They know our family was poor, bad shape. But we played a game. We didn't have a lot of toys, but we played games. My daddy had a great big old belt. And we would go out in the backyard and play hide the belt. And one person would go hide the belt, and everybody else would hide their eyes and count to 100. And then when he say, okay, ready, we go around hunting that belt. And we walk around that thing. And when you found the belt, you know, it's a pretty good piece from home base. Our front steps is home base. When you found that belt, anybody you could slap with that belt before they reached home base, you got to give them one lick for every year they was old. Oh, it was fun, man. We had a ball. We had a track team. We's the fastest kids in the country. But play that and they slap and maybe we had a ball playing that game. But when you walked around and he had to guide you, the person who hit it would guide you. And we walk around and he said, No, no, no, you're cold. You're you're cold, cold, cold. But when you finally start getting closer, everybody keep walking around to where he hit it. He said, You're getting warmer. You get close, you start looking, he said, You're warmer, you're hot, you're red hot. You knew you was right on top of it. And you grab that thing and start slinging. But if you walk past it, he said, up, you're getting cooler. You're getting colder. You're getting colder. You're cold as ice. What would the Lord say to you? What do you say? You're getting cooler. You're getting colder. You get further away. Or you're getting warmer. You're getting warmer. You're red hot. I'll leave it up to you, preacher.