No Blacksmith's
PPT 1 Series Title
Gods best version of me
What does the best version of you look like?
Happier?
Thinner?
Better relationships?
PPT 2 Today's Message Title
We began our series two weeks ago talking about how God's call is always forward, and you will remember I used the example of a cars gears and asked are you in park, neutral, reverse, or drive? God's best version of you is being in drive. Moving forward, growing in grace, not stuck in a spiritual rut.
Then last week, not only do we need to be reaching forward, but we also need to be very aware that we don't let slip the things God has already given us.
The thief comes for to steal...
Steal what? I am often amazed at how quickly it seems some people forget what was preached. Sometimes it is probably a failure on my part, but I also recognize from Mark 4, the parable of the sower, that there is an enemy who wants to keep God's word from being implanted in your life and producing fruit. Often we think the word is only stolen from unbelievers, experience has taught me otherwise. In fact I think it is stolen more from Christians than it is from those outside the kingdom. The reason is we are exposed to it more than they are, if you are a thief you go where you can make the biggest haul.
Not only the word but sometimes callings and giftings are stolen from people. I know the bible says the gifts of God are irrevocable, but Paul also said to Timothy, "Stir up the gift that is in you..." Timothy hadn't lost it per se, but it was dormant in his life, some things can be so dormant as to make us doubt they exist. The enemy wants to steal any deposit God makes in a persons life. To show you that in the scriptures we looked at a passage in 2nd Kings, and we will be going there again, but first I want to lay out some of our future messages by just talking about what God's best version of you looks like.
You pray with unction.
You serve with compassion
You walk in love
You are full of praise
You are fired up and raring to go.
Here is a word picture of God's best version of Zion:
PPT 3
Isa 52:1 Awake, awake, Clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion; Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city...
It is clothed in strength, it is clothed in beautiful garments.
Clothed in strength, that means being full of the Holy Spirit, living a life that God's presence is being manifest through.
Clothed in beautiful garments, can mean a lot of things, but it means in general you are spiritually dressed sharp. The garment of praise, the beauty of holiness, the joy of the Lord, in the words of Billy Crystal we would say, "You look mah va lous!"
Last week we began looking at a text in 2nd Kings and we are going there again because we have much more to glean from that passage.
PPT 4,5 Text
2 Kings 6:1-7
2Ki 6:1 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Behold now, the place before you where we are living is too limited for us.
2Ki 6:2 "Please let us go to the Jordan, and each of us take from there a beam, and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live." So he said, "Go."
2Ki 6:3 Then one said, "Please be willing to go with your servants." And he answered, "I shall go."
2Ki 6:4 So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
2Ki 6:5 But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, my master! For it was borrowed."
2Ki 6:6 Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw [it] in there, and made the iron float.
2Ki 6:7 And he said, "Take it up for yourself." So he put out his hand and took it.
The point of that message was that a believer can be actively involved in the work of God and his cutting edge can be lost. So while the overall theme of this series is pressing on for the upward call of God, we need to take a little time and be sure that we don't lose what we have already gained. That we don't let the current of the river of life dull our cutting edge, or take from our hands the weapons of our warfare as listed in Ephesians.
I pointed out that an axe is a tool that gives a mechanical advantage for felling trees and splitting wood.
Today I want to talk about how it was lost, and a little bit about axes in general.
An axe has two parts wood and cutting edge. Forgetting the wood for now lets talk about the metal. It is dug from the earth, heated to be purified of worthless dirt and other useless materials, pounded and shaped by a man trained in the arts of making tools and weapons. He sticks it in fire, uses bellows to super heat till it is malleable, hammers and shapes it, trims and sharpens it, finally he polishes it and at last it is a superb tool or weapon.
Isn't that what God wants to do with all of us?
He takes us from the earth. (The world)
Cleans us of dirt. (Salvation)
We are pounded and shaped by men trained in the arts of making weapons. (Pastors, teachers etc.)
Stuck in the fire not to be destroyed but to be shaped. (Work of the Holy Spirit)
Cutting edge is also the work of God and not of man.
Last weeks message was entitled, "Don't let the river take what you pursued God for." And we talked about how life is like a river with a current that always wants to go in the wrong direction. Living for God is swimming against the current.
Now I want to talk about how this man lost his cutting edge.
Ready?, he lost it because he wasn't practicing due diligence.
What do I mean by that?
Ancient axes were made by hand and weren't perfectly machined as they are today. But even today's axes almost always have a wedge that expands the wood where the metal is (illustrate with an axe) and forces the axe head to stay connected. In ancient times the metal would have been held in place with leather straps that were wound on tightly and then wetted to make them expand, as the water dried they would shrink and hold even more firmly. Over time the leather would loosen and become unless for holding and its owner would need to pay attention to it and remoisten it from time to time.
Most likely what made this man lose his cutting edge was failure to maintain his weapon
PPT 6
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Failure to maintain his axe, not adultery, not drunkenness, not riotous living, not drugs or gambling, failure to maintain his weapon, that is what caused him to lose his axe head.
How do you maintain spiritual weapons. You lubricate with prayer. You use them. You give them a challenging to tree to attack. You don't let them rust through inactivity.
That's the simple answer, now let me point out something more insidious. Let's go to 1st Samuel
PPT 7 - 11
1Sa 13:1 Saul was [forty] years old when he began to reign, and he reigned [thirty]-two years over Israel.
1Sa 13:2 Now Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel, of which 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, while 1,000 were with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin. But he sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent.
1Sa 13:3 And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of [it.] Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear."
1Sa 13:4 And all Israel heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines. The people were then summoned to Saul at Gilgal.
1Sa 13:5 Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance; and they came up and camped in Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
1Sa 13:6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were hard-pressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits.
1Sa 13:7 Also [some of] the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he [was] still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
1Sa 13:15 Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.
1Sa 13:16 Now Saul and his son Jonathan and the people who were present with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin while the Philistines camped at Michmash.
1Sa 13:17 And the raiders came from the camp of the Philistines in three companies: one company turned toward Ophrah, to the land of Shual,
1Sa 13:18 and another company turned toward Beth-horon, and another company turned toward the border which overlooks the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
1Sa 13:19 Now no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, "Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears."
1Sa 13:20 So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe.
1Sa 13:21 And the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the hoes.
1Sa 13:22 So it came about on the day of battle that neither sword nor spear was found in the hands of any of the people who [were] with Saul and Jonathan, but they were found with Saul and his son Jonathan.
So we read of a strategic military strategy employed by the Philistines:
1Sa 13:19 Now no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, "Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears."
The enemy doesn't want us to have a cutting edge out of concern for their own personal safety. Not that the enemy is afraid that we will be able to kill them, but that we would take territory from them. You see in the battle between light and darkness, it is not a war to see who can kill, but who can control territory.
Earlier in the passage we read how the Philistines sent raiding parties in, and they went in 3 swooping direction into the land of Israel. Also the Jews were allowed to have instruments for farming, but not for warfare. The idea is the Jews grow crops and the Philistines steal them. Raiding parties came and went in Israel with little restriction because the Jews didn't have weapons.
This is an ancient strategy that has been used over and over again by the enemy. Listen to Deborah's victory song:
PPT 12
Jud 5:8 When they chose new gods, war came to the city gates, and not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
The enemy is always going after the churches cutting edge or instruments of warfare.
For centuries the bible almost disappeared. (Sword of the Spirit)
But today it is here, but it is mocked and reviled by men whose names begin with Reverend Doctor.
The secular world here in the united states has become as vicious as Communists in their attack
On the word of God.
The gifts of the spirit are openly ridiculed by preachers.
The devil whispers in the ears of Pentecostals don't pray in tongues, it's silly.
It was so silly 3000 were saved on the day of Pentecost.
You will notice the attack strategy of the Philistines was twofold. 1. Remove their weapons
2. Remove the people who know how to make weapons and or sharpen them.
God's best version of you is full of the Holy Spirit.
You don't have to speak in tongues to be full of the Holy Spirit. Lots of people in the bible were full of the Holy Spirit before the day of Pentecost. Tongues is a discussion for another day, my emphasis today is that there is an attack on the gifts of the Spirit particularly speaking in tongues, that has been orchestrated in hell so that the devil can send out his raiding parties. Where ever you are in God, whether you speak in tongues or not, be full of the Holy Spirit. Keep your axe and keep it sharp.
Timothy stir up the gift that is in thee.
God give us blacksmiths in an age when they are under such attack. The call to ministry is the highest call there is. I appreciate Doctors, and police, and counselors, and teachers, but there is no higher calling than to be in the service of God. We live in an age where fewer people seem to be responding to the call, and perhaps it is because too many preachers have gotten caught up in the pursuit of money, or politics. It is but another evidence that the devil is after the spiritual blacksmiths.
Some of you need to be more diligent about maintenance of your axe.
We have a lot of gun owners in this church. There are some gun owners that have them as show pieces. Kind of like sword collectors.
Then there are people who use them, clean them, practice with them, appreciate and value them, and show it by the way they keep and maintain them.
Is the Holy Spirit an ornament in your life, or are you actively working with Him to grow, and touch others for the Kingdom?
Close: I need to work my cutting edge.
