Sunken to be a Showcase | II Kings 6:5-7

There is an exegetical invitation I want to extend to you, and I pray that you accept. You've been invited to fellowship with me to the book of 2 Kings. 2 Kings. Chapter number 6. 2 Kings chapter number 6. I do my best, I do my best. She beat you to it, she already said Christmas. 2 Kings chapter number 6. We'll begin reading around verse number 5. Word of God reads, as one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. And he cried out, 'Oh my master!' It was Barak. Then the man said— man of God asked, 'Where did it fall?' When he showed him the place, the man of God cut a piece of wood, threw it there, and made the iron float. Then he said, 'Pick it up.' So he reached out and took it. That's enough. You may be seated. We thank God for his word and for the perpetual nature that lies there within. For a few moments this morning, I want to talk from the subject Sunken to Be a Showcase. Sunken to Be a Showcase. 2019, they remade a movie and made billions off of the movie The Lion King. The strange thing is that in 2019, they remade The Lion King and made billions off of something that was remade. The original Lion King came out in 1994, but in 2019 they made billions from remaking a story. It's a concept in literature called dramatic irony. In dramatic irony, the people who are watching the drama already know the outcome to the story, but the characters in the story don't know what's happening. Translated in The Lion King in 2019, we knew that Simba would end up being the king, but poor Simba in the story didn't know that he would end up being the king. We— when Scar took over and killed Mufasa, Simba perhaps thought the story would end right there, but for those of us who knew the story, we knew that Simba would end up being the king. Come here, child of God. Many of us are in stories right now and we don't know the outcome to the story, but can I go ahead and give you the spoiler to the story? That no matter where you are right now, if God is on your side and if God is in you, you will end up being where God wants you to be despite what's going on right now. In other words, it might be down now, but just give God a little bit of time and you will rise again to the place where God wants you to be.

God is too good of a God to allow his children to remain in a sunken place.

If you have allowed the enemy to make you believe that this is the end of your story, you can stop now and tell the devil, the devil, you are a liar. Because I am the righteousness of God.

I am the head and not the tail. I am above and not beneath. And I want to let you know, devil, and I want to remind myself that by the time this story is over with, you will see that God is who he said he is. And I want to know this morning, is there anybody who believes by faith that God will get the glory? No matter how bad your story is, there is a good ending for your story because God is good. And even though things may be bad, God is too good to let it stay bad. Translated, he gonna get you back up again. This too shall pass. You have a future. Things are going to get better. Things are going to get brighter. You shall rise. You shall live.

2 Kings chapter number 6. We see Elisha, the protégé of Elijah, has this school or academy of prophets. He's the dean of this school of prophets. The school is getting too big now. And so one of these young mentees says, Master, getting too big for us to stay in here. Let us build more space. They went down to the Jordan, start chopping wood to build more space for this new dormitory that they were staying in. But when they were building and chopping, an axe head fell off and it went into the water. And the man was—

must have been a college student because he didn't have the money to buy his own axe.

The axe that he had was borrowed. And so now he's in trouble because he got a borrowed axe that's expensive that he done lost in the water. He said, master, I done lost this borrowed axe. I'm gonna be in the world of trouble. Elisha, whose name means God saves, took a stick, threw it in the water, and the axe head that was sunken came back up again.

Can I tell you something today?

That the axe is not the story, but the axe head was pointing to the power of God.

The axe head was just a ploy in the story to showcase the power of God in Elisha. Translated, that sometimes God will allow your axe head to sink, not just so you can lose an axe head, but when people see that you lost something and see that God restored you, you will not look at tax head, but you will look at God. Is there anybody in here today who went through some sickness and now your story ain't about your sickness, but your story is about a God who can heal your sickness? You've been broke and it wasn't about your finances, but by the end of the story, your place of brokenness just showcased God's ability to provide. Is there anybody in here today who got some sunk and stuff in your life, you need God to restore it. Well, let me give you some good news: keep on living and don't die, and you will see how God gonna take over this story.

And here is the thesis that I've worked on this week. Y'all see my hands? That mean you better like it. What sinks won't steal the story, but what sinks will reveal who's the star. Y'all ain't like it good enough, let me put my hand right back up. What sinks ain't gonna steal the story, but what sinks will reveal who the true star is in your life.

No matter what has sunken in your life, what's sunken ain't gonna be what the story is about. But what's sunken is going to confirm that God's hand is upon you. What sinks in your life is just going to be the start of people seeing the Savior with his hand on you. I don't care how bad it looks right now, I don't care how bad it feels right now, but just keep on watching the story and you're gonna see something revealed about God. If you're lost right now, you're gonna figure out that God is someone who can find you. If you're going without right now, you're gonna find that God is someone who can provide for you. If you got sickness in your body right now, the doctor ain't gonna get the last story, but God is going to come in and say that when your medicine don't work, when your blood pressure won't come down, I got another touch. That when your pills don't work, I can touch and heal your body. I don't care what what the bank said about your credit score. If I am in your life, I've got more power than the bank. Don't you let nobody tell you how your story gonna end. You got a God who sits high and he looks low, and he has all power in his hand. Has he shown himself to anybody in the house? Has he ever taken over the story for somebody in here? Has he ever came into your story, and when people talk about you, when they just don't stick around for the rest of it, they see that God's got his hand together.

I want an answer for us today. If sunken stuff is going to end up being a showcase, how do I position myself while it's sunken? I'm going to tell you that I'm going to crank my car up and head up 167. All right. This text teaches us that when you're dealing with something sunken, you must have a thoughtful invitation. The miracle in the text started with the right invitation. Uh, when they went to go build more space, the man said, Master, whose name is Elisha, which means God saves, will you please come with us? Uh-huh. Y'all missing already.

They wanted to go build, but he had sense enough to say, I'm not gonna go build by myself, but I need somebody who has more power than I to take this journey with me. Because if he would have just went by himself He don't know nothing about picking up axe heads out the water, but if he got the right person with him, no matter what situation he finds himself in, there's always going to be a solution because he invited the right person.

Not only what shouts me is that he had a thoughtful invitation But I'm also thankful that Elisha, whose name means God saves, said, I'm gonna go with you. Aren't you thankful today that there is nowhere that you're going that you don't have a God saves that agrees to go with you?

Is there anybody listening to me this morning who's taken some journeys in life, and you have the testimony today that there has never been a place that I've gone in my life that I was not abided and accompanied with the presence of God. And I am where I am today not because of what I could build, but I had somebody who can be right there with me that even when I had some issues, there was somebody to fix my problem.

Here it is. Because of the right invitation, this man was able to come out of a situation that Elisha had nothing to do with. Come here, come here, come here, come here. If you read the text It was, uh, the mentee prophets chopping wood. They chopped wood and their axe head fell into the water. Elisha wasn't chopping no wood. It was the man who was chopping wood and his axe head went into the water.

But even though it didn't have nothing to do with Elisha, Elisha made something that wasn't his business his business. Who am I talking to today? There are some acts that are something in your life and it didn't have nothing to do with God, but God came and fixed the problem that he didn't have nothing to do with. And you are acting real saved this morning like you ain't never chopped no tree and your axe head fell off. But I will speak for myself, I've chopped some trees several times and God ain't have nothing to do with it falling in the water. But even if he didn't have nothing to do with it falling, he had everything to do with it getting back up again. Who am I talking to today? You've gotten yourself in some stuff, you've gotten yourself in some mess, but God has a way of putting himself in business and resurrecting anything something that he didn't kill. Y'all must have forgot all the mess you done done. You must forgot all the stuff you done did. You must forgot all the circumstances you got yourself in by doing what you ain't have no business doing. But look at you in the house of God today, and you want to sit there and look at me like it was you who went in the water and got your axe head up. But it was a God who came on a journey with me and picked me up even when I fell down. He got me out of what I got myself in because he came on a journey with me.

Elisha ain't have nothing to do with that man's axe head falling off. It ain't mine.

I ain't tell you to borrow it. I didn't tell you to swing right there. I just came with you. But here's the word for you today. When God is with you, he gets in your business, he gets in your mess. And I want to bring him with me on the journey because he gets in my mess.

This text teaches us that we only go as far as we go, not based on how far I can go. But how far I can get carried. Lord, y'all missing me today. It's painted in nature in what's called a suckerfish. It's a suckerfish who's in the water, really an irrelevant fish. It's small, can't fight for itself, can't do nothing. It's just called a suckerfish. A suckerfish is irrelevant, small, can't do nothing for himself, but it is a well-traveled fish. But it's small, insignificant, can't do nothing, but it's a well-traveled fish. Let me tell you What I found out about a suckerfish—

a suckerfish may be dumb, it may be small, it may be irrelevant, but a suckerfish got sense enough to get on the back of a shark. And because it got sense enough to travel with the right people, it goes farther than what it can ever go. Who am I talking to in Pilgrim Ranch? It ain't about how far you gonna be able to figure figure it out. But as you get on the right back, you'll be able to go places that you never thought you can go. You'll be able to see things that you never thought you would be able to see because you got on the back of a shark. Who is your shark? My shark is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Who is your shark? My shark is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Who is your shark? My shark is the one who died one Friday, stayed dead 3 days and 3 nights, and early Sunday morning got up again. And no matter where you don't want me to go, because I'm on the shark's back, I'm going somewhere in life. And I don't care who don't like it because you ain't my ride. People who talking against you, people who don't want you to be blessed Oh well, because I'm not traveling by myself. You shouldn't have let me meet Jesus. And now since Jesus has met me, now Jesus carries me. That's for all these mad folk who mad about what God want to do in your life.

I gotta move, I'm preaching too slow. See, the thoughtful invitation. But on this journey, and with sunkenness, that's going to end up in a showcase. It teaches us that it transcends interruptions. All right, transcends interruption. Other words, $5 way of saying it goes over interruptions. It supersedes interrupts. It doesn't even care about interrupts. It outlasts interruptions. Where are you getting this from, Gavin R. Hams? The plan to build was established in verse 2. I started reading in verse 5. And pretty much every Sunday it seemed like I'm giving us a math lesson. And on the number line, 5 comes after 2. It's 3 whole jumps. 2, 3, 4, 5. I learned in Winfield. 5 comes well after 2. The plan to build was established in verse 2, but a problem came in verse 5. And ain't that just like life? God has given us many assignments, but oh, verse 5 is gonna be somewhere on your journey. I can see in this text if it was not a noble cause that these men had. But it had to have been noble because the man of God consented, which put his seal on it and his authority on it, which means that just because— help me, Holy Spirit— just because there is an interruption does not change God's intent. When you have a plan to expand and grow, verse 5 is sometimes confirmation that God is in your journey. Has there been anybody here today had plans on expansion, right? You had plans on growth. You've planned— plans on doing things God's way. You had plans on getting blessings that God had, and verse 5 came in your life. You were on the process of growth, you were climbing the ladder, but you had verse 5 come up in your life. And now that you're in verse 5, you think that the plan is over. But here is the blessing. Y'all ready? Verse 5 can't stop the plans of verse 2.

Lord, I did all that buildup and y'all looking at me like I ain't just get a haircut. You had the plan in verse 2, you get to verse 5 and you think that verse 5 done cancel your verse 2. But God sent me down here today to let somebody know who may be in verse 5 that if God gave you the word in verse 2, keep on living till you get past verse 5. Because verse 5 don't mean the story is over. Verse 5 means it's just getting started. And somebody may be in verse 5 right now. You're discouraged, your heart is down, you're disappointed. But God said, mess around and wait to verse 7. Because in the morning you will see that I got something for you. Don't let this interruption make you forget about God's intent.

You have not been stopped. You just—

in verse 5, I don't know who I'm talking to today— you thought that God's plans for your life were over, but God says you just in verse 5, if you can make it to the next few verses, you will see that it was just temporary. And the psalmist was right, that weeping just endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Don't let the midnight make you think that it's all over, but God says there will be glory after this, there will be life after this. I just need you to keep on believing.

Lord have mercy. Y'all see the miracle of the axe head coming up out of the water. But can I tell y'all something about the Jordan River? I ain't talking about the Jordan Boston River either. I'm talking about the Jordan River in the Bible. Jordan River was a rushing river. It was uncrossable because it was a violent river.

So when the axe head went in, what could have happened is that the axe head could have went too far out of reach. But God got in a violent river and stopped the river from flowing too far. That way, that what God had for them was not too far out of reach.

Y'all know what a dam is? I ain't cussing. A dam is when in violent water They put a wall up to stop the river from flowing too far. In 1930s, during the Great Depression, Colorado River was a violent river, sort of like the Jordan River. And so they built what we know today as the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam is one of the biggest, most architectural historical designs at the then United States architecture. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, this violent river was flowing. They were in a depression, right? Which means that the economy was bad.

But they built a dam, kind of like God did right here. He built a dam to stop the water from flowing too far. And guess what happened?

After they built the Hoover Dam, not only did it stop water—

actually, what else it did? It gave more power to everybody else around it. And not only will God stop your water, but God will always give power. He ain't just gonna do the blessing, but he'll give you more anointing. He won't just give you the breakthrough, but he'll give you more praying power than what you used to pray. Tweet prayers. Now you know how to get a prayer through because God gave you power when he built the dam. Has God ever done something in your life so good that you came out and said, I got some power now? The devil thought this was going to stop me, but I done messed around and got a prayer life. I done messed around and got closer to God. I done messed around and opened up that word because he not only built the dam, but he also gave me more power.

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. He got through the interruption. God built the dam and stopped the axe head from flowing too far. Because what could have happened, since the Jordan River is so violent, and once it fell, it could have traveled too far.

But God stopped it from going too far. And that's somebody's word today. You think you done lost your axe head, but God said it ain't too far gone. It's still in my reach. It's still right there. It ain't going too far. God says what he has for you, it is for you. And I don't care how fast the river is, it's yours.

I didn't raise my voice too much. Let me give you this last and go drink the rest of my water. Do y'all care what I have— what else I have to say? Text lastly teaches us— on my way up 167, I'm going north today— it's about a thorough involvement. Reading this text, when you're trying to prepare, you gotta see God in the old simple stuff. Wow. Let me tell you what dawned upon me, and it shouted me. It ain't gonna shout y'all because stuff I like, y'all never like.

Elisha.

Is a prophet and a professor of prophets. These other prophets, apparently they know a little bit about building. Elisha, as a prophet whose name means God saves— a prophet's responsibility is to be the mouthpiece for God. A priest goes to God on behalf of the people, but a prophet comes to the people on behalf of God. Translated, a prophet's job and expertise is in being a mouthpiece for God. When the axe head fell in the water, the man said, Elisha, our master, It was boring. I got a critical question.

If I'm Elijah—

y'all know I can be very sarcastic— if I'm Elijah, I'm telling him, man, I'm a prophet. What your axe head got to do with me? When he chopping the tree down And the axe head fell into the water.

The man said, God saves, please help me. And he found that a prophet who represents God cares about even the common stuff that goes on in my life. That man taught me something. That no matter what's going on in my life, I may think I'm the content expert, but every situation I get in— Master, can you help me with this? I know, I know what I'm doing, I thought I did, but I need you to intervene in this. I need you to do more than just the supernatural. I need to do you— to you to do the natural in my life.

And the problem with many of us today is that when we have trees, when we lose accidents, we think that's too small for God. We think that's too out of God's character. We think God don't care about that.

But God says, I can do something in your natural, and if you let me in your natural, I can do the supernatural in your life. And miracles—

you better like this too. Miracles are the marriage between the miraculous and the mundane. Y'all ain't like that either.

A miracle is simply a marriage between the miraculous and the ordinary, between that stuff that don't matter and put it in God's hand, and God can do the extraordinary in your life.

And my challenge for you today, on my way to my seat: no matter what it is, put it in God's hands.

No matter how small you may think it is, bring God into it. Call on God first before you go to Facebook. Call on God first before you gossip about it. And when God comes into the natural, he can do the supernatural.

He can take rods and part Red Seas.

He can take slingshots and defeat Goliath. He can take wooden crosses and save souls because he'll take the ordinary and do the extraordinary with it.

I'm done. I'm done.

Can I—

since my job, I looked at my ordination license the other day and says Gavin R. Hams. Ordained to preach the gospel. So I want to make sure every time I stand up here, I try to preach the gospel.

Come here.

Elisha, whose name means God saves, was in— he was the prototype of God, of Christ. In this text. He's not God, but he's a prototype. He's an illusion of it. He's a foreshadow. A man got— he, he lost his accent because of what he did, but he did it and called on God's Savior. The man said it was borrowed, so when he lost— stay calm, Gabby— when he lost the ax head, he had a debt.

He had a debt to pay. The man got himself— I wish I could hoot— he got himself into debt. But God saves. Let the axe head go down and got the axe head back up again. He could have prevented the axe head from sinking if he wanted to, but he let the axe head go down so he can bring it back up again. And when God saves, let something go down and brought it back up again. The man's debt was paid. And this man in the text ain't the only one who got his debts paid. I'm looking at some people in the house today who got their debts paid because God let a man go down and brought him back up again. Who is this axe head? His name is Jesus the Christ. And one Friday, God let him go down. But 3 days later, he got him back up again, and now your debts are paid. Is there anybody who got a 'my debts paid' high praise in the house? If you know your debts are paid, won't you just tell God thank you? Because I got myself in it, but you got me out of it. I didn't have nothing to do with my getting out of it, but thanks be to God because you let a man go down and brought him up again. I have eternal life because you let him go down and brought him up again. I can face tomorrow because you let him go down and brought him up again. I will get through this. I ain't seen my best days yet. The latter shall be greater than your former. Is there anybody who got a praise of faith to know that the best is ahead of You ain't through living, you ain't through thriving, you ain't through being blessed, you ain't through succeeding. The best is yet to come.

The suckiness is just a showcase. Thank you.

God done set you up to show himself off. If you don't believe me, just watch. Just wait for the rest of the story. Just keep on living and watch what God does.

Let me find my peppermint.

That axe head was a showcase, just simply to confirm that there was the power of God present. Which means that God will let anything happen for him to get glory.

And somebody may be in the anything happening place in your life, but he'll use that to get the glory. I offer Jesus to you today.