Sermon

The Refinery (Week 3): Resurrecting My Cutting Edge - TWCC 6-21-26 9:30 am

The Way Community Church Podcast

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  1. [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Way Community Church Podcast.

  2. [SPEAKER_00]: Our mission is to show people the way to life with Jesus.

  3. [SPEAKER_00]: My name is Darahal and I am the pastor of the Way Community Church.

  4. [SPEAKER_00]: If you would like to join us as a member, or if you simply need prayer, or if you want to worship through giving, you can find the links and the transcription of this podcast.

  5. [SPEAKER_00]: is where we're going to be tonight.

  6. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to reverse his one through seven in your hearing.

  7. [SPEAKER_00]: If you were here last week and at the 930 service, I want to thank you for embracing the virtual assignment.

  8. [SPEAKER_00]: Last week, I appreciate you all so much for allowing me to agree to you in that way and sharing me with our mother church over at EBC so I can go and celebrate.

  9. [SPEAKER_00]: of Bishops and aversory, but I pray to you who blessed by the message today and I want to bring a punctuation to our refinery series today.

  10. [SPEAKER_00]: In the second king chapter six, verse 1 through 7.

  11. [SPEAKER_00]: If you have the Bible app search events, you should find the way community church and these notes will be there.

  12. [SPEAKER_00]: For you, the word of the Lord says our second king of six, one through seven, the North American Standard Bible, now in the sons of the prophets, say it to Eli Shum.

  13. [SPEAKER_00]: behold now, the place before you, where you are living, is too crap for us.

  14. [SPEAKER_00]: Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let us each take from there a being, and let us construct a place there for ourselves to live there.

  15. [SPEAKER_00]: So He said that as Elijah go, then one of them said, please agree and go with your servants.

  16. [SPEAKER_00]: So he went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees, but it happened that as one of them was cutting down a bean, the axe head fell into the water.

  17. [SPEAKER_00]: And he cried out and said, oh, my master, it was borrowed.

  18. [SPEAKER_00]: Then the man of God said, where did it fall?

  19. [SPEAKER_00]: And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float.

  20. [SPEAKER_00]: Then he said, pick it up for yourself.

  21. [SPEAKER_00]: So he reached out his hand and took it.

  22. [SPEAKER_00]: I want to conclude our series, the refinery preaching to the heart and experience of me and with this thought in mind, resurrecting my cutting edge.

  23. [SPEAKER_00]: You may be seated in the presence of the living God, resurrecting my cutting edge.

  24. [SPEAKER_00]: is the belief that my age is connected primarily to my success, my stature, my stuff, my sexual exploits or my strength.

  25. [SPEAKER_00]: But the big idea I want you to appreciate today is this, the age of my effectiveness has more to do

  26. [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to say that with me on the count of three, one, two, three.

  27. [SPEAKER_00]: The edge of my effectiveness has more to do with the spirit's power than my own abilities.

  28. [SPEAKER_00]: So to every man, afraid that time will rob you of your cutting edge, I say to you that the secret that makes you special is natural success.

  29. [SPEAKER_00]: It is not your stuff, it is not your sexual exploits, and it is not your strength, but it's God's spirit in you.

  30. [SPEAKER_00]: Paul said in a second Corinthians, for 16, therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day.

  31. [SPEAKER_00]: which is to say, man, you can get better on the inside even as you get older on the outside.

  32. [SPEAKER_00]: I think that should be the focus of every man that is to leverage every day God gives you to get a little bit better.

  33. [SPEAKER_00]: And we had this conversation last week about being better man and we appreciate it the truth that I cannot become a better man in isolation.

  34. [SPEAKER_00]: It really requires a community of men who are after the same thing.

  35. [SPEAKER_00]: And we looked at our thing, verse, five men's ministry, Proverbs 27 and 17, that has ironed sharpens iron, so does a free and sharpening, or improve the countenance of his brother.

  36. [SPEAKER_00]: And there are few thoughts there that I share in that is, is that criticism improves my character.

  37. [SPEAKER_00]: Dialogue improves my discernment.

  38. [SPEAKER_00]: The sparks that fly when iron sharpens iron improves my sharpness and my edge improves my efficiency.

  39. [SPEAKER_00]: So we've been following this theme in honor of the refinery of how metals are purified through the refiner's fire.

  40. [SPEAKER_00]: These metals are heated to the point that they melt to a bright orange color, kind of like lava.

  41. [SPEAKER_00]: And as they are heated to that level, the drops and dirt in the metal begins to be apparent, separate from the melted metal ore. And the refiner would then scoop out the impurities in that metal, pour it into a mold,

  42. [SPEAKER_00]: for its intended future use and allow it to cool in that mold as it begins the process of becoming the ax head that the refiner is making it into.

  43. [SPEAKER_00]: Then it will be beaten, hammered, tempered, reheated, dipped in oil, dipped in water.

  44. [SPEAKER_00]: Over and again, the refiner is shaping

  45. [SPEAKER_00]: Once the axe has been refined, once the axe has been molded, then it needs to be sharpened.

  46. [SPEAKER_00]: And it can be sharpened against a stone, it can be sharpened against a piece of leather or it can be sharpened against another piece of metal.

  47. [SPEAKER_00]: And that is a picture of what Brotherhood and the Christian faith looks like this mutual sharpening.

  48. [SPEAKER_00]: And so today we follow that metal from the refiner's fire.

  49. [SPEAKER_00]: that is sharpened through interaction with other men.

  50. [SPEAKER_00]: Now we see that same ax head being used to build something for God's glory.

  51. [SPEAKER_00]: From verse one down to verse number three, there's a community of men, and the text calls them prophets.

  52. [SPEAKER_00]: And as an aside, I wanna add to our list of God- given authority, man, that we're not just priests, but we're also prophets.

  53. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, when I say priests, I mean the one who functions in a way to keep the relationship between God and man and good standing.

  54. [SPEAKER_00]: When I say prophet, I mean the one who understands the revelation of God and therefore mediates wisdom from God to the people under your leadership and authority.

  55. [SPEAKER_00]: And the truth is, as the text implies, you cannot be a prophet of the word if you're not a student of the world.

  56. [SPEAKER_00]: So these group of men in the second king's six, they get together and a study guy's word together.

  57. [SPEAKER_00]: And as their study, the group starts to grow.

  58. [SPEAKER_00]: And the group outgrows the space that they're studying in.

  59. [SPEAKER_00]: So the men come to their spiritual leader, Alisha, and they say to him, Sir, we need a bigger space.

  60. [SPEAKER_00]: here's the solution.

  61. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go down to the river, let's cut down some trees and let's use the timber from the trees to build a bigger place of worship and study because we are hungry for the word and we need it in community in order to function in our God-given role as prophets.

  62. [SPEAKER_00]: That's why we have light groups here to make community church.

  63. [SPEAKER_00]: That's why we emphasize the truth that men are responsible for collaborating with other men to build up a place for fellowship and study and worship and community, which is why it's so important that we have men in this church who are not just serving, but who are being refined as you grow.

  64. [SPEAKER_00]: And so when it comes to our cutting edge, me and there are a few things from this text and from my heart that I want to lay at your feet.

  65. [SPEAKER_00]: And the first is this, I may lose it as I use it.

  66. [SPEAKER_00]: The story says that the man is using the accent.

  67. [SPEAKER_00]: He's not using it for personal gain.

  68. [SPEAKER_00]: He's not using it for notoriety.

  69. [SPEAKER_00]: He's using it for God's glory and the good of other brothers.

  70. [SPEAKER_00]: And while he's using his cutting edge, it flies off the handle and he loses it while he's using it.

  71. [SPEAKER_00]: It is often been said of gifts, abilities, and resources if you don't use it, you will lose it.

  72. [SPEAKER_00]: And because that is logical, it is disorienting to lose something as you're using it, isn't it, man?

  73. [SPEAKER_00]: You can be using your eyes and then one day your eyesight gets blurry.

  74. [SPEAKER_00]: You can be using your mind and then one day your memory starts to slip.

  75. [SPEAKER_00]: You can be using your energy and then one day, you can feel drain beyond what one night of good sleep is able to recharge.

  76. [SPEAKER_00]: And what we learn about being men is the harsh reality that I can be using my edge.

  77. [SPEAKER_00]: And in the middle of using something I've always used, I can lose it without prior warning.

  78. [SPEAKER_00]: So what happens when I'm using my tools to build God's kingdom and then I lose those tools in the process of doing the very work I thought would glorify God and be good for other men?

  79. [SPEAKER_00]: What happens in the text is he doesn't just lose the tool but in so doing he loses his ability to be effective.

  80. [SPEAKER_00]: Let the church say effective.

  81. [SPEAKER_00]: Because in this text, in this job, the ax head represents the power to get the job done.

  82. [SPEAKER_00]: So you can come up to the tree, but you can't just say, in Jesus' name, fall tree.

  83. [SPEAKER_00]: You don't fall in Jesus' name, but you need the edge of effectiveness and a tool in the hand of a man who's willing to do the work to help it fall in Jesus' name.

  84. [SPEAKER_00]: And when he loses the tool, he loses his edge.

  85. [SPEAKER_00]: He's not as effective as he once was.

  86. [SPEAKER_00]: Revan Adrian Robinson, a very own said, no man can chop down trees by flailing at them with an axe handle.

  87. [SPEAKER_00]: It takes the sharp biting power of the axe head to eat through the wood and fill the tree.

  88. [SPEAKER_00]: There are men under the sound of my voice who from the process of aging or an accident that caught you off guard or exhaustion from overworking or a traumatic experience from your boyhood who have lost a tool you need to be the man you know you're called to be.

  89. [SPEAKER_00]: And as soon as you commit your heart, the be a man of God, I'll come to tell you that when you commit it to building something for God's glory and the good of others, you may know how it feels brother to lose your edge and the process of using your edge.

  90. [SPEAKER_00]: Which you mean, Reverend, you can be serving God and serving people and lose your desire.

  91. [SPEAKER_00]: Lose your focus, lose your confidence.

  92. [SPEAKER_00]: Lose your peace, lose your job or source of income.

  93. [SPEAKER_00]: Lose your passion, lose your direction, or after a mistake you never thought you would make, you lose your self-respect.

  94. [SPEAKER_00]: But don't let the fear of losing your age, keep you from losing your age.

  95. [SPEAKER_00]: And Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable of talents where this owner gives five talents to one man, two talents to another man, and one talent to a third man.

  96. [SPEAKER_00]: When you hear talent, don't think ability think resources money.

  97. [SPEAKER_00]: And the text says that the one with one was so afraid of losing it that he didn't use it.

  98. [SPEAKER_00]: Matthew 25, 25 said, and I was afraid, so I went away and did what?

  99. [SPEAKER_00]: Heard your talent in the ground.

  100. [SPEAKER_00]: Man of God, you gotta use what you can to do what you can, while you can, because I'd rather lose my abilities, while using them than to bury them in fear.

  101. [SPEAKER_00]: Is there any man in this house who can testify Reverend, I ain't afraid to lose, I ain't afraid to get old, and I ain't afraid to die.

  102. [SPEAKER_00]: What I am afraid to do is to fall short of God's calling on my life because I left fear, keep me from putting my axe at or.

  103. [SPEAKER_00]: You may lose it, even as you use it, but then number two, here's another truth from the text.

  104. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't own it, so I must account for it.

  105. [SPEAKER_00]: I've been a man long enough to know.

  106. [SPEAKER_00]: You can't be a man who's worth half his weight and goal if you are not accountable.

  107. [SPEAKER_00]: Accountability is a must.

  108. [SPEAKER_00]: And the text says while he's using the tool, he loses the tool and then in verse number five, he cries out to his spiritual leader, master.

  109. [SPEAKER_00]: It was borrowed.

  110. [SPEAKER_00]: What's the mean, Ralph?

  111. [SPEAKER_00]: Man, we don't own our cutting edge.

  112. [SPEAKER_00]: We only borrow it.

  113. [SPEAKER_00]: Which means we're accountable to return the axe head back to the one who molded it and who gave it.

  114. [SPEAKER_00]: But I respect this man, you know what?

  115. [SPEAKER_00]: Because by admitting that the ax head was gone, he also admitted that he knew it was getting loose, but he didn't stop to make it tighter.

  116. [SPEAKER_00]: He put his pride to the side.

  117. [SPEAKER_00]: And by admitting that it flew off, he also admitted I didn't make sure it was all tight enough.

  118. [SPEAKER_00]: Truly, one of the hardest things for any of us to do,

  119. [SPEAKER_00]: is to admit failure.

  120. [SPEAKER_00]: We want everybody to think we're on top of everything that we don't need nothing, that we're incomplete control.

  121. [SPEAKER_00]: And so we'll keep acting like nothing is wrong.

  122. [SPEAKER_00]: Even though the whole time we knew the ax head was slipping and we didn't pause to make sure that we tightened it back on before it was lost.

  123. [SPEAKER_00]: Could you imagine if this man is chopping down the tree

  124. [SPEAKER_00]: And as he's doing it, he feels it slipping, but he don't stop the fixing.

  125. [SPEAKER_00]: And he continues until the ax head flies into the water, but because he's so full of pride, he acts like he don't see the ax head in the water, and he keeps going through the motion of swinging the handle, even though the handle don't have an ax

  126. [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to come here, man, to God.

  127. [SPEAKER_00]: Don't you know that the people around you see you and they love you so much?

  128. [SPEAKER_00]: They can tell that you just going through the motions, that you swinging in the ax handle, that don't have an edge on it, and they don't want to hurt your feelings by telling you that you're lost at edge a long time ago.

  129. [SPEAKER_00]: So they pray and please hold in spirit.

  130. [SPEAKER_00]: Convict his heart to be honest and be humble, that he lost it.

  131. [SPEAKER_00]: So he can found it.

  132. [SPEAKER_00]: He's an inner man who's tied a living in your pot.

  133. [SPEAKER_00]: Try to act and like you'll know something that you know you'll also know how I'm gonna go Swinging the axe head with no edge Just going through the motions Waking up but not showing up Just going through the motions

  134. [SPEAKER_00]: You know you lost it long ago, but you show a shame that's so powerful of the meeting you and got it all together, that you were rather keep swinging or ax him to with no ax head than to stop and say, I lost it.

  135. [SPEAKER_00]: On this mean, don't go through the motions when they know deep inside, they've lost their edge.

  136. [SPEAKER_00]: healthy men, don't go through the motions when they know deep inside of lost my edge, they get killed.

  137. [SPEAKER_00]: The only shame in losing your edge is to become so ashamed that you let Plot Pride make you hide in planes they like.

  138. [SPEAKER_00]: We see you, bro.

  139. [SPEAKER_00]: We just respect you too much to tell you.

  140. [SPEAKER_00]: We want the Lord to show it to you.

  141. [SPEAKER_00]: We need a man you respect the open your eyes to see it.

  142. [SPEAKER_00]: because we don't want to bruise your ego, trying to help you retrain what you lost.

  143. [SPEAKER_00]: On to the hear me, man, you're not the first man to lose his edge serving God.

  144. [SPEAKER_00]: Adam lost his edge by fulfilling off a forbidden craving.

  145. [SPEAKER_00]: Noah lost his edge at the bottom of a wine bottle after he survived the flood.

  146. [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham lost his edge because he was so insecure, it made him a liar.

  147. [SPEAKER_00]: Samson lost his edge because he broke all of his vows.

  148. [SPEAKER_00]: Not just getting his hair cut, David lost his edge after too much success made him arrogant enough to start to count God's people.

  149. [SPEAKER_00]: And my question for every man under the sound of my voice is where did you lose your edge, man of God?

  150. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose your edge with a double shot neat of your favorite liquor of choice?

  151. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose your edge when an injury changed?

  152. [SPEAKER_00]: What you were able to do

  153. [SPEAKER_00]: your body, did you lose your edge in the arms of a sidepiece when you had a main course at home?

  154. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose your edge after a career change?

  155. [SPEAKER_00]: May it you stop doing what you was good at and have to learn something you never did before?

  156. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose your edge when sports gambling became legal?

  157. [SPEAKER_00]: And now you're always down there with the bucket.

  158. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose your edge at a strip club?

  159. [SPEAKER_00]: Looking at merchandise?

  160. [SPEAKER_00]: You can only sample, but never own.

  161. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose your edge in a dime bag?

  162. [SPEAKER_00]: that sticky itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk itk it

  163. [SPEAKER_00]: The ad you lost was never yours to keep.

  164. [SPEAKER_00]: It was alone from God.

  165. [SPEAKER_00]: And the longer you go on pretending, you still got it, when you know you don't, the harder it's gonna be to find it again.

  166. [SPEAKER_00]: Because you'll imagine if this man was swinging his act head, lost the axe head into the water and kept swinging in pride, going through the motions for another day or two, he would have forgotten where it failed.

  167. [SPEAKER_00]: Going through the motions too long, what mean it's gonna be more difficult to find where you lost it.

  168. [SPEAKER_00]: But if you can be honest, as soon as you realize it's gone, and you can say, Father, I stretch my hands to thee, no other help I know, and you can reach around to some brothers in your vicinity.

  169. [SPEAKER_00]: Here is what you will find.

  170. [SPEAKER_00]: You will find that the men in your life love and respect you so much that you are humble enough to be honest, and they'll come along side you, help you find it and not judge you for losing you.

  171. [SPEAKER_00]: Here's a major key, and I'm going to move on.

  172. [SPEAKER_00]: It's better to admit you've lost it than to face God without ever looking for it.

  173. [SPEAKER_00]: You are going to have to account and it's better to admit you lost it than to face the one you owe it to.

  174. [SPEAKER_00]: Knowing it was gone, but I never stopped the look for it.

  175. [SPEAKER_00]: When it comes to our edge, man, I may lose it as I use it.

  176. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't own it, so I must account for it.

  177. [SPEAKER_00]: Number three, and I'll bid you a do.

  178. [SPEAKER_00]: When I lose it, Jesus can resurrect it.

  179. [UNKNOWN]: Oh!

  180. [UNKNOWN]: Oh!

  181. [UNKNOWN]: Oh!

  182. [UNKNOWN]: Oh!

  183. [UNKNOWN]: Oh!

  184. [UNKNOWN]: Oh!

  185. [SPEAKER_00]: You are in rev.

  186. [SPEAKER_00]: You're making this up.

  187. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't see Jesus in this text, and I don't see a resurrection in this text.

  188. [SPEAKER_00]: In the words, Arrafiki, to symbol when he can see move fossils with image in his reflection.

  189. [SPEAKER_00]: Look, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

  190. [SPEAKER_00]: In the name you see in the Bible, this is in the side.

  191. [SPEAKER_00]: In the name you see in the Bible with an EL in it, points back to Elohim.

  192. [SPEAKER_00]: So all of God's name, El Shadai, El Shalom, El El Yonge.

  193. [SPEAKER_00]: And in any human name, you see with an EL in it, Jai El El Ayjah, El Ayshah, Daniel, all have Elohim in the meaning.

  194. [SPEAKER_00]: El Ayshah's name, I know it, because my middle son's middle name is El Ayshah.

  195. [SPEAKER_00]: It means God is my salvation.

  196. [SPEAKER_00]: If you flip over to the New Testament, an angel told Joseph, you gon' name that child Jesus because he's gon' save his people from his sins, from their sins.

  197. [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus' Hebrew name transliterate into the English is yes, sure, and it means God saves.

  198. [SPEAKER_00]: So in this text, we got God's mouth, my salvation, and born in Bethlehem, we got God's saves.

  199. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

  200. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

  201. [SPEAKER_00]: We see Jesus in the pre-figure of Elijah.

  202. [SPEAKER_00]: What about a resurrection realm?

  203. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't see no resurrection.

  204. [SPEAKER_00]: You sure?

  205. [SPEAKER_00]: The text says he's swinging the axe, it falls in the water, it goes under the surface to a point where he can't see it.

  206. [SPEAKER_00]: He runs to salvation, salvation, I need help.

  207. [SPEAKER_00]: Salvation comes, cuts off a stick, throws a stick in the water and the spirit override science and the iron head resurrects from the dead.

  208. [SPEAKER_00]: That's a resurrection, somebody asked me how I know, because aware it was resurrected from.

  209. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, when you think X had in water, I don't want you to think about a Jamaican beach or a death stand or a anti-gua or whatever you have been and your abuse while coming to go.

  210. [SPEAKER_00]: This ain't that clear water that you can walk out into and it can come up to your ways.

  211. [SPEAKER_00]: And you can see it down to the bottom.

  212. [SPEAKER_00]: The Texas, this is the Jordan River.

  213. [SPEAKER_00]: This is dirty water.

  214. [SPEAKER_00]: But it's not just dirty water, it's also divine water.

  215. [SPEAKER_00]: Cause back in Joshua chapter 3, verse number 17, God in heaven stopped the waters of the Jordan River, so that his people go walk across the basin of the river on dry land into the promised land.

    Joshua 3 chapter mention

  216. [SPEAKER_00]: One chapter ago and second Kings chapter five naming this power for man of the era me and army was so offended That the man of God told him to dip in the Jordan and order to heal his dermis and Epidermis from the leprosy because He said the Jordan river is a dirty river, but when he went in that dirty river and dipped himself seven times He realized it's a dirty river, but it's also a divine river

  217. [SPEAKER_00]: And in way over and Matthew chapter three when Jesus walks up to the river He's gonna be baptized in this same river by John the Baptist here's how I come to tell you I know you lost your edge somewhere that is dirty So you can see it to go get it for yourself But the sound of news is the place where you lost your edge is a place that God has worked a miracle before and it's a place that God

  218. [SPEAKER_00]: When I work on Miracle again, is there anybody who knows it's no darkness that my God can't help me find my edge.

  219. [SPEAKER_00]: You ain't the only man who's been to the darkness.

  220. [SPEAKER_00]: You ain't the only man who lost his edge under some dirt.

  221. [SPEAKER_00]: You just got to know God can work on Miracle in your Jordan River again.

  222. [SPEAKER_00]: What blows my mind about the story is the man is using an ax head to cut down a tree and lose his head's edge.

  223. [SPEAKER_00]: But when he goes to his leader, his leader cuts off a stick and throws it in the water.

  224. [SPEAKER_00]: If you read it too fast, you're missing.

  225. [SPEAKER_00]: There are two cutting edges in the story.

  226. [SPEAKER_00]: One is an ax head that's lost.

  227. [SPEAKER_00]: The other is a pocket knife that was never lost.

  228. [SPEAKER_00]: One was to cut down a tree.

  229. [SPEAKER_00]: The other was to cut off a stick.

  230. [SPEAKER_00]: Elijah sold us to qualification to be a leader of men.

  231. [SPEAKER_00]: When he comes to him and said, I lost it, Elijah didn't judge him.

  232. [SPEAKER_00]: Elijah said, where did you lose it?

  233. [SPEAKER_00]: When he showed him where he lost his edge, Elijah pulled out his.

  234. [SPEAKER_00]: And said, don't worry about the fact that you lost your edge because always got mine with me.

  235. [SPEAKER_00]: And he cut off a stick.

  236. [SPEAKER_00]: And he exchanged a stick for the cutting edge.

  237. [SPEAKER_00]: Which you mean, Reverend?

  238. [SPEAKER_00]: Every man in here ought to be grateful for a man who can know your truth and not judge you for it.

  239. [SPEAKER_00]: Every man in here who's ever lost your edge head ought to be thankful for a man who always had a pocket knife.

  240. [SPEAKER_00]: Is there a father or an uncle or a coach or a mentor or a teacher?

  241. [SPEAKER_00]: that you could always run to when you were in trouble and they always had what you needed.

  242. [SPEAKER_00]: You ought to give God praise what a pocket knife deliverance in you.

  243. [SPEAKER_00]: He throws the tree, the branch, the stick, the wood, and the iron flunks.

  244. [SPEAKER_00]: It shows us that whenever you apply the cross, you can always recover what you thought was lost.

  245. [SPEAKER_00]: The Resurrection happens on the Old Rugged Cross.

  246. [SPEAKER_00]: Christianity is about Resurrection, let the church say Resurrection.

  247. [SPEAKER_00]: What that means is Christianity is not a weak man's religion.

  248. [SPEAKER_00]: Christianity is not a white man's religion.

  249. [SPEAKER_00]: Christianity is not a religious man's religion because Christianity is not a religion at all.

  250. [SPEAKER_00]: Christianity is about resurrection through relationship.

  251. [SPEAKER_00]: and Christianity is for real men, to find a real resurrection in Jesus, I'm done.

  252. [SPEAKER_00]: Are they in the men of God in the house who can testify forever?

  253. [SPEAKER_00]: You ain't the only one who's ever lost your age and you needed a resurrection to get it back.

  254. [SPEAKER_00]: We ought to rejoice in this room for the power of our Savior that can heal resurrection now, cutting it.

  255. [SPEAKER_00]: Every man in his room, I want you to get in your mind.

  256. [SPEAKER_00]: What did you lose?

  257. [SPEAKER_00]: What did you lose?

  258. [SPEAKER_00]: And where did you lose it?

  259. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose some money?

  260. [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he has some money saved and he was keeping it for a rainy day.

  261. [SPEAKER_00]: You saw what you thought was going to be a great business opportunity.

  262. [SPEAKER_00]: So you decided to invest the money thinking if I want to make some shape, it won't be short.

  263. [SPEAKER_00]: And then trying to invest and expand your streams of income, you probably lost more money than you ever imagined you could.

  264. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose self-respect?

  265. [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you did something you said I never do.

  266. [SPEAKER_00]: And you sunk to a place in your life so low,

  267. [SPEAKER_00]: You end up doing what you said you would never do.

  268. [SPEAKER_00]: So now you can't even look at you in the mirror anymore.

  269. [SPEAKER_00]: What did you lose?

  270. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose the confidence of your family?

  271. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you hope that your children would grow up and honor you for your sacrifice?

  272. [SPEAKER_00]: But they looked you dead in the eye?

  273. [SPEAKER_00]: And this respected you?

  274. [SPEAKER_00]: What did you lose?

  275. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose the light in that woman's eye when she looks at you?

  276. [SPEAKER_00]: She'll look at you this time, and you think it's because you're not this time.

  277. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose a job?

  278. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you lose some influence and some power?

  279. [SPEAKER_00]: What did you lose?

  280. [SPEAKER_00]: You know you feel like it's lost, because that's what you used to define the man you thought you were.

  281. [SPEAKER_00]: And now you don't know how to define yourself as a man without it.

  282. [SPEAKER_00]: What is it?

  283. [SPEAKER_00]: Get it in your mind.

  284. [SPEAKER_00]: Do you have it?

  285. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray.

  286. [SPEAKER_00]: God and Heaven.

  287. [SPEAKER_00]: We come before you humbly, honestly.

  288. [SPEAKER_00]: Apologize them for the time we wasted to have this conversation.

  289. [SPEAKER_00]: We know we lost our cutting edge, but it just was easy to go through the motions.

  290. [SPEAKER_00]: We were already going through the motions and when we became less effective, we didn't have to humility to stop the key hill.

  291. [SPEAKER_00]: So we apologize for time wasted, but we thank you for open arm, for open door, for access back to you through your surrogacies.

  292. [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, what we've lost have shown us to harsh reality, that even if I'm a man of God, I am not God,

  293. [SPEAKER_00]: We are limited.

  294. [SPEAKER_00]: Our knowledge is limited.

  295. [SPEAKER_00]: Our ability is limited.

  296. [SPEAKER_00]: Our time is limited.

  297. [SPEAKER_00]: Our energy is limited.

  298. [SPEAKER_00]: Our influences limited.

  299. [SPEAKER_00]: Our money is limited.

  300. [SPEAKER_00]: But you are God.

  301. [SPEAKER_00]: You are without limited.

  302. [SPEAKER_00]: And so we rest in you.

  303. [SPEAKER_00]: And we trust that you are able to resurrect

  304. [SPEAKER_00]: We believe that you can renew our inner man and redefine how we define true manhood.

  305. [SPEAKER_00]: Not from the outside of you, but from the inside of you.

  306. [SPEAKER_00]: We thank you for your power and Jesus name.

  307. [SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

  308. [SPEAKER_00]: Give the Lord a hand clap of praise if you would charge.