Silas Fox delivers a powerful sermon titled 'The Axehead,' drawing from 2 Kings 6 to illustrate the themes of loss, restoration, and divine power. He emphasizes the significance of the lost axe head as a metaphor for Israel's current state and the hope of their future restoration through Christ. Fox encourages believers to recognize their own need for God's power in their lives, likening the axe head's return to the potential for sinners to be lifted from despair through faith. He stresses the importance of preaching with authority and the necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit to effectively serve God. Ultimately, the message is one of hope, restoration, and the transformative power of God in the lives of believers.

So glad Brother Fox could be with us. This is his first visit to Bob Jones University. Our hearts have been refreshed by his unusual ministry, and we've been blessed by the Word of God as he's opened it to us. Brother Fox, we're so glad to have you, and you have about 45 minutes this morning. Good. Well, say, it's been a blessing for me to be here. See all this young life, la la. It sort of pepped me up. All these colors floating around, young people. God bless every one of you. The possibilities, and you know, I was young once. What do you know about that? Well, so glad to be with you. Now, we're going to take an Old Testament topic this morning, and it's in Second Kings. May the Lord make it a blessing to you. Second Kings, chapter six. It is said in Luke that John the Baptist would go before the Lord in the spirit of Elijah. So Elijah and John the Baptist are joined. Therefore, it's very easy to see that those, that the one who followed John the Baptist, Christ, would be allied with Elijah, Elisha. So many similarities. And so here are the miracles, the miracles of Elisha. Elisha was a double son. He was a firstborn. He said to Elijah before Elijah went up to heaven, give me a double portion of your spirit. That's what I'm after. And the double portion belonged to the firstborn. That's according to Deuteronomy. So Elisha stands before us as a firstborn, looks forward to the firstborn, the Lord Jesus, and so on. And his miracles, now Elijah's miracles, I think, total about eight. And being, having a double portion, the number of Elishas are about 16. That's how it works out. Beautiful. Oh, I like to preach on them. Yeah, I like to preach anything in the word of God. It's a great book. The greatest book in the world. Never found a mistake in it. No contradiction. Perfect book. Now, 2 Corinthians, that is 2 Kings chapter 6. And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too small for us. We're growing. 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, that's fine, this Bible school increasing, go on. And one said, be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, yes, yes, I will go. So they went with them. He went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. Work was going on. But then tragedy, not a tragedy, but a little interruption came in. As one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water. And he cried and said, alas, master, it's borrowed. What am I going to say to that fellow at night if I can't return his axe head? The man of God said, where fell it? Don't worry, don't worry. Where did it fall? The Jordan's there, it's a rushing river. Where did it fall? And he showed them the place. And he cut down a stick. Elisha used means here. Here's a stick. He cut down a stick. A stick to get a stick. And cast it in thither, and the iron did swim. The big part? The iron did swim. Is that what it says? Yeah. You Christians believe, well sure, iron can swim. Not naturally, that's right. But when God is in it, it can swim. What's the big idea? But it's not scientific. Well, who said we're preaching science? Science isn't our textbook. But, but, now don't but. Just believe. The iron swam. Isn't that great? This has caused a lot of laughter, they say, in the universities. Believe the Bible, huh? The iron swam, yeah. Why couldn't it? And it did. Now, I want to treat this subject, if I can, in three ways. One, whenever you read the Bible, try and get the prophetic element as well. Get the personal elements, the message for you, the historic part. Take that in. And then try and see Christ in it. The Bible is crystal centric. And also, get the prophecy in it. But you say, hey Mr. Fox, is there any prophecy in this? Yeah. I want you to look at that axe head that was lost and went down prophetically. Turn to Jeremiah 51. Have to get the key and then the door unlocks. Chapter 51 of Jeremiah. Speaking of the Jews, God says of them, uh, no, I think he said, no, it says 51. Yes. I'll find it, friends, no hurry, is there? We'll get it. Uh, chapter 51, that's right, and verse 20. Speaking of Israel, thou art my battle axe and weapon of war, for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms. With thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider, and so on. With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman. God's instrument, the instrument in his hand, one of them nationally, Israel, to break the nations in pieces. And he will. Now, here's a picture of that axe head. Instead of being in the, in the place it should be, it got away and it went down and sank. Was unusable for the time it was there, down in the mire. Now that's the position of Israel today. Three things about Israel in the New Testament. One, the kingdom of God is going to be taken from you and given to another nation. The kingdom of God was for hundreds of years in the hands of the Jews. The Bible, an old Jewish book, God's mercy to the Jews. The history in the Old Testament, Jewish. That's done. The Jews are no longer in a special relationship to God for his work just now. They're down. This axe head was off the handle. Well, the Jews are off the handle. They're away from God, and the kingdom of God has been taken from them. Those special privileges they had. Second, the Jews are blind. The 23rd chapter of Matthew, ye shall not see me, you Jews. You can't see me until you say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. So from the time of the death of Christ, their rejection of Christ, until today, the Jews are in blindness, spiritually. Romans 11.25 says that blindness in part is not there forever, and there is a remnant by grace. They're not all blinded. No, the Gospels bring preach to Jews, many believe, but speaking generally, they're blind. Blind to the grace of God and can't see Christ until the time comes when they lift their eyes and they'll see him. And they say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 1900 years of blindness. And so that axe head speaks to us of that. And the third thing about the Jews is, your house is left unto you desolate. Now the other house of God, the church of Christ, now isn't desolate. We belong to the church of Christ, the house of God. And that's not desolate. It's blessed and full, God's using it and so on. But the Jewish house is desolate. What an awful picture of a house, desolate. Vermin in it and so on. We sorrow as we look at such desolate houses. Now then, here's the point. The lost axe head came up and was again used. Israel is yet going to come up. Say amen to that. Amen. Israel is going to come up. When? Well, in the future. Christ comes and takes his church away and this wonderful age era ends. Then comes the great tribulation in which the Bible gives us reason to believe that two-thirds of the Jewish nation will perish. But he'll bring a third through the fire and they'll be his people. He'll appear to them. They will see him. They will say, what are these wounds in thy hands? They'll look upon me whom they've pierced. Think of that. And they'll mourn. Then the spirit of grace and supplication will be poured out upon them and outpouring for the Jews. And they'll turn to the Lord. Then it goes on to say, and a fountain shall be opened for them for their sin and uncleanness. That's why we Gentiles, we sing it. It's all right for us to sing it, but really it belongs to that other period. And it's mentioned in Zechariah 13. There is a fountain filled with blood. The connotation, the real, is taken from Zechariah 13 in connection with the conversion of the Jews. Oh, what a great future. They're going to be God's earthly people. We'll be the heavenly people. Now then, therefore, the axe head that went down and came up, and it came up through the power of Elisha. Elisha, the one whose name means the salvation of God. And so then, through the power of Christ, the Jewish nation will yet, those who remain, turn to Christ, turn to God and be saved. That's great. Now we leave that. And there's another way in which you should look at this lost axe head. Look at it. Well, you could look at it to preach the gospel from it. That axe head got out of its place. It went down. It sank down in the mire, the waters of Jordan, the waters of judgment passing over it. It was down. It was hopelessly down. That's what it looked like. And there was sorrow about it being down, it being lost. Well, that's true of the sinner. Apply that now to the sinner. He's out of place with God. He's far off. And he's sunken in sin. The Bible maintains that all are under sin, Jew and Gentile. That's the position of the sinner. Waters of judgment rolling over him. And so on and so on. Down in the mire, down in the dirt. And it would look as if he's never come up. As we look around today, look at some as we see and hear of them. They're down, they're gone, they're hopelessly off from God. Can they ever be brought back? Well, they can, because we've got the great power of God at our disposal. And there was sorrow about that axe head. Alas, Master, I borrowed it. Look at the sorrow in the world today. Look at the sorrow in the penitentiaries. Oh, look at this. What about these graveyards we have? Look at the sorrow they cause. All because of sin. The broken homes, the children out of order. Well, this is sorrow, the sorrow of sin. Now, can the axe head that's down come up? Sure. Sure, when you're saved, you come up. There's power in the blood, power in the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation. Say, I wonder, does that pianist know that one? He lifted me. Hey, where is she? I don't see her up there. Oh yeah, there she is. That's good. That fits in. Power of God lifted that axe head. In love, am I, is it too high? No. In loving kindness, Jesus came. I don't know the rest of it. And from my position of being down, he suffered on the cross to save me. And when I took him as my own, in grace, he lifted me. From sinking sands, he lifted me. Isn't that great? From sinking sands, he lifted me. Hey, where have you gone? From plains of night to shades of light, he said, came up and the work went on again. That's great. And preach the gospel from this. And by the way, we mustn't forget to emphasize here, it wasn't done just by a word. Means were used. The means mentioned here is, he showed him the place where it sank, and then he cut down a stick. 127 times in the Old Testament, that word stick has been translated tree. So a tree was cut down. The bite of an axe fell on a tree, and the axe head came up. Have I got something there? Have I got something there? The Lord Jesus Christ, God's tree. The bite of an axe fell on him. O sword, awaken against my fellow. That's the cross. The blow that you deserved, and I, fell on Christ. And so something happened to bring up the axe. I mean, a tree was cut down. I don't know how it actually happened, the details aren't given. As he threw that piece of wood in, did it descend into the bottom and grip the axe head and bring it up? I can't say, maybe. Or was the throwing in, and just as it struck the water, God's power came in and raised up the axe head? Well, the answer isn't fully given. It's there. The axe head came up and swam. That's wonderful, that's the real message, isn't that great? Praise the Lord. And if you've trusted Christ, you've come up too. You're on the top. And again, it was joined to the axe head, and there was a purpose in it. The work of God continued. God had work for that axe head to do. And after it came up, it did it. But don't forget, join to the cutting down of a tree. We want to thank Jesus Christ. Oh God, we thank you for Christ. And we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you were bruised for us. What is that hymn? Wounded for me. Have you got just a verse of that? That's it. Now we're going back to fundamentals. Wounded for me. Wounded for me. There on the cross, he was wounded for me. Gone my transgressions, and now I am free. Oh, because Jesus was wounded for me. Just play it again. You wouldn't understand what I'm singing, but it's the same thing. Na Koraku, Na Kaisilvamida, Gaipur, Gaia Patsa. This is out there in India, this piece. Been a great year. Telugu, that's Telugu. Hey, you people only speak one language. Well, hey, don't forget in India, 16, 17 major languages and many dialects. And this is the South Indian language of Telugu. very beautiful. It's called the Italian of the Eastern languages. Always has a nice ooh at the end. Good language. It only has 450 characters. No trouble at all to learn that. I and my wife learned it. My wife cried one day at the language class. She said, I'll never get it. Sure you'll get it. She did get it. She got it so well. She was my secretary for 25 years on the paper I run in India. A monthly paper called Christ of the hope of the Christian. And she could read letters from the Telugu that others couldn't read. She knew it so well. She was never very free in speaking, but she could understand and she could write. 25 years my secretary. That paper is still going on friends. It's in its 52nd year. Dear brother Joseph, the Indian who's taken it over, he said, brother Fox, he said, we want to tell you now, you're away from India, but until you die or until Christ comes, we want you to keep on sending out articles. We'll do the rest. So I've got a life job until first either I die or Christ comes. I don't know when it's going to take place. So I keep on sending out articles and they keep on sending out the paper. They do all the rest of the work. Pray for that paper if the Lord lays it upon your heart. Thank you. Now the axe head came up. That was good. Man's down, but by the death of Christ, the love of God and faith in the savior, they can come up. He lifts us, puts us amongst the princes. Wonderful. Our sins are forgiven. Now we leave that and go to a point which we should stress perhaps more, and that is take the picture of the lost axe head and apply it to Christian service. In this way, supposing that young fellow being afraid to speak out and the axe head flew and fell, fell off and flew and went into the river, but he didn't say anything about it. He could have covered it up. Now here's a question you can give me an answer. You don't need to say it, but it's very obvious. What would be left to him after the axe head went into the river? What would be left in his hand? Well, the handle. And he could have covered up, you know, by just tapping the woods with the handle. I don't want to tell anybody, get in trouble. So he could have worked all afternoon hitting the trees with the handle. The power gone. That which cuts down the trees, that which bites into the wood, that which makes an impress, gone. But service, yes. Activity, yes. How's your Sunday school class? Oh, it's going nicely. A lot of work has no power in it. Powerless preaching, grammatical preaching, doctrinal preaching, homiletical preaching and so on. But there's no power. That's what's missing. Sunday school teachers, no power. Churches, no power. We shall have our regular Wednesday prayer meeting. Whenever I hear that word regular, I said, oh God, I say to myself, make them irregular. They're so regular, they're dead. Power, power, power. When Christ preached, right away they noticed something. Turn with me to the end of what we call the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7. And so it came to pass, 528, when Jesus had ended those teachings. The people were astonished at his doctrine. And not only at the doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority. He knew what he was talking about. They could feel it. They could sense it. They could understand it. He spoke with authority and not as the scribes. La, la, la, la, la, la. How do you speak? Is the power of God upon you in your service, minister? When you talk to somebody, when you testify to them, are you reaching them? Are they listening to you? When you preach, does your audience listen or fidget or fume or go to sleep? Could be. Don't allow it. And so we must preach with power. Two more references I want to give you about power. Paul had a physical weakness. He prayed three times. He didn't pray four times, just prayed three times. And he got an answer, not the one that he expected exactly. God said, I'm not going to take away that weakness. I'm just going to leave it there. But listen, Paul, I'm going to give upon it, pour into your life more of the grace of God. And it's allowed, and here's a lovely sentence. I wonder how true it is. You can ask yourself this morning in your own, about your own experience. Second Corinthians, I think it is 13, that reference comes. And he said, God said, I'm going to leave it there with you, that the power of God may rest upon you. Isn't that good? The power of God. It's in the ninth chapter or the 10th chapter of second Corinthians. Or the 11th chapter or the 12th chapter or the 15th chapter. You'll find it. Now he says, I glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. That's the verse. Hey, what is that? The power of Christ. That, is that noise? No. Some, some people feel that noise is power. One fellow began that way. After a while, after a while, after a while, he disappeared from the pulpit. Good thing. Noise isn't power. The power of God at times can be manifested in noise. Yes, raise your voice. There are times you have to. But differentiate between power and noise. Power and excitement. The power of God. What is it? Just what it says, the power of God resting upon. We had a visitor from Keswick in England one time, visited India at one of the conventions. The dear fellow who was very forward in that convention was a very vivacious and well, he was an explosive type, a noisy type. And he thought that was power. When he preached, and he could preach at times. Well, this dear fellow from Keswick, he'd get up in the pulpit, hardly had, hardly gesticulations, is that the right word? Hardly had, no, what's I want is this, hardly a gesture. And he'd only, he wouldn't speak 27 minutes, he'd speak 25 minutes, not 26. And wouldn't raise his voice, and he wouldn't move around the pulpit. And you might say, and that dear Methodist man came to me after, he said, Brother Fox, he said, how can God use a man like that? I said, I know what you're thinking. There's no, there's no noise and explosion in what you're doing, and so on, not your method. But yet we all had to admit that the power of God was upon that man. We got blessing through his ministry. Students, you're only young yet, but learn in your early life about the power of God resting upon you. If you're right with God, right with Christ, you know him. And he has anointed you with his Spirit. Then there'll be with you an aura. There'll be with you an element of the power of Christ. Now when you buy Channel 411, I don't know, maybe 412, I forget. I did buy it when I was in Paris one time, gave a bottle to my wife. But Channel doesn't make a noise, but it makes itself known. When you put a little bit of that on and come into the room, people notice it. Why don't you be noticeable for Christ? The power of Christ resting on you. And 1 Corinthians 4, here's the third reference I'll give. 1 Corinthians 4. By the way, I'll give you that reference. It's 2 Corinthians 12 and 9 about the power of Christ. Now 1 Corinthians 4, here's a lovely comment. Paul says, when I come, I'm going to come to you. You're having trouble in that church. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 19. I'll come to you shortly, if the Lord will. And when I come, I will know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. Then he says, verse 20, for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. It's not blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, murr, having all the answers. No. The kingdom of God is in power. That's good. The power of Christ. Well, now you see so much activity, no power at all. Well, now that must be corrected. You must get down before God and bring in, make sure the power of God is evident. Power in the pulpit, power in the pew, power in the prayer meeting, power in the factory, power in the office where Christians work. Power! That's what it is. Well, thank God the fellow confessed that he'd lost the axe head and he got it back. Preaching is like using an axe. You say, where'd he get that? Matthew chapter 3. When John began to preach, he said, now listen, you Jews, don't have the idea that because you are uh, children of Abraham, that, uh, you're all right. The axe is to be laid to this tree. In my early days with the French Canadians in, uh, northern Ontario, my, you saw real, uh, woodsmen in those days. They didn't use the saws. In that camp we had, they came in at seven o'clock in the morning and boy, the stacks of wheat pancakes and then fried, uh, uh, fried bacon, poured over it all fine Canadian maple syrup. Axe is laid to the tree. Learn to swing an axe in preaching. Every swing should result in a bite into the tree. Hey, do your sermons bite? Do they get in? Do they find the mark? Do chips fly? Do trees fall? These are things we don't get in homiletics class. We may do, but they belong to them. The art of preaching for Jesus must use the axe. The axe must be sharp. There's a verse in, uh, the, uh, it would be bad if we had a blunt axe. I'll give you that verse, you can refer to it. It's in Ecclesiastes and it says about chopping, uh, says about using an axe. In Ecclesiastes, it says if the axe be blunt, then you must bear to and use more power. Yeah. Ecclesiastes. I won't bother to look for that one. We'll find them after a while. So if the axe is blunt, what an awful thing to have to swing a blunt axe. No good. Now use the word of God, that's sharp. And it bites, it goes in, it enters. God can use two-edged sword. Very sharp. When you swing it in the power of the Holy Ghost, great things can happen. People like giant trees, proud, indifferent, challenging God, they'll fall in humble repentance and faith. Oh, what a wonderful work it is to preach. How blessed are the feet of them who go forward, who preach the gospel of peace. How I've seen it in India. I, I've had to face, it's a different life for me. Here you preach and you're sort of accepted, you preach to crowds and you don't expect interruptions. In India it is not so. You're on their ground. Over here I watch Mohammeds, what they're going to do. Another eye on the Hindus this side, another eye on God. I said that knowingly. Sometimes get into the, no, no, no, no. That means look out. Ends with a riot, God keeps you and so on. But oh, to preach and to have people listen. We've seen that too. Some of these things remain with me, 50 years experience. I remember one night and we only had a gas light of a hundred candle power. They were all gathered and how well they listened. We preached unto them in their own tongue, Christ and him crucified. At last a man rose up, sir, I want to ask a question. I said, go ahead. He said, how long have you known this message? Oh, I said, I've known it quite a few years. How long have your people known it? Yes, they've known it for centuries. I said, go ahead. I know what you're going to say. He said, why didn't you bring this message before? You've never been asked that question here. Why didn't the message go before? Kerry was the Englishman that went out from England. That's only 150 years ago or so. Why didn't they go before? They were singing hymns in England. Christians. I've been very much helped by reading the life of the man that went from United States here to Burma, Judson. Well, that's a hundred years or so. Why didn't some go before? Singing hymns, praying, having meetings. One reason, of course, it hadn't, it was not God's time. The countries then were, they had this scene warfare, fighting with one another. But, uh, the other reason is that we didn't, I told that fellow, well, you asked why we didn't come before. We didn't love you enough to come. I told him plainly. But we're here now. What are you going to do with the message? Well, that's it, friends. No power, no outreach, no vision. It seems if the axe head is off the handle, well, now it can come back. Here's Elisha. The axe swam. Christ has come. Anything's possible now in divine grace. And I like this little portion that when the, we read the axe head swam, then we read something else. He said, uh, in this sixth chapter, the iron did swim, therefore said he, take it up to thee. No need of a miracle after the miracles happened. The miracle was to bring it up. Now, hey, you take it, young fella. We don't need to pray for the Holy Ghost to come now. No, that's wrong. I don't believe in it. Oh God, send the Holy Ghost. Wrong. Oh God, send a savior. That's wrong. He's come, done his work. Oh God, raise Christ from the dead. That's over. You can't pray that prayer now. Oh God, send the Holy Ghost. You can't pray that scripture now. He's here. He came at Pentecost in a new way. John 7, 37 to 39. This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, because the Spirit was not yet given. That's dispensational truth. Before Christ died and rose again and sent the Spirit, the Holy Ghost was not given. What, what, what? Yes, the Holy Ghost eternally was in the Old Testament, but now he's been given because of Christ, given in a new way. Just think of that. The Holy Ghost was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified. Christ died and rose again, was glorified and sent down the Holy Ghost. Anything's possible in your life now. It wasn't possible in the days of Samuel or David. We're living this side of Pentecost. What a wonderful provision is ours. What a wonderful power is ours. And when the axe head swam, well, all he had to do was take out his hand, put out his hand and take it. This morning, if you want power in your life, you realize you haven't got power. You're, you belong to Christ, you've trusted him, and you've received the Holy Ghost. You, you're a child of God and you've had the witness that you're the child of God, witnessed by the Spirit within, but you don't seem to have power. Your life isn't filled with the power of God. Well, that's where you just come in and know how to take it. Just take. There's a hymn in England they sing so beautifully, I take, he undertakes. Learn to take. John 1, 16, I referred to yesterday. Of his fullness have we all received. They used to tell, and they published it too, that a fellow who had never traveled the Atlantic, one time going over in the Queen Mary, that was in a paper some time ago, this fellow, perfect stranger to travel, took with him cheese and crackers and took it aboard because he said, boy, this thing's gonna take six or seven days across the Atlantic, must have some food. Didn't say anything, took cheese and crackers on board, and when he got hungry, he bit into them. Great. After two or three days, he did feel like a little different diet, and he noticed bells would go and people would come and go, but he was not experienced traveler, didn't want to make trouble, but when he knew that the boat was to land the next day, he got brave. He said, sure, I'm gonna have one meal on this ship anyway before I get off. When the bell rang and he saw people going, they were going somewhere, he went in, joined the crowd, went in, and to his amazement, when he went in, he was asked his cabin number, and the fellow said, your seat is right here. He was amazed then, why should they say my seat? And they put him down. Boy, he had everything from soup to nuts. That's what they say when you take a full, take full use of the menu and go from, you start with soup, then you go to fowl, then you go to fish, then you go to some meat, and then you go to sweets, what they call sweets, and so he filled up, ending up by coffee and cheese and crackers. He took it all. I met a fellow in the boat sometime just coming out from the dining room. He was going on military service to Palestine with a group. Young fellow. He was beaming. He says, I did it today. I said, what? He said, I went right through the menu. Do you know that after the meal was over, this fellow, he said, well, we better get ready to part with our money. But nobody came to the table and gave him a bill. And at the door, he was bowed up, very glad to see you come today. We had a place, yes, your place is here. He says, how about this? Last, he couldn't stand any longer, went back to the steward. He said, now listen, I've eaten your meal. Tell me how much I have to pay. I beg your pardon? Well, tell me now. I want to, can't sleep with this thing hanging over my head. Well, the man says, don't you understand that, uh, that, uh, meals are included in your thing? Didn't you buy a ticket? Yeah. Well, didn't you understand that your meals, three a day were included in your, what? He only learned of it the day before landing. What a flat tire. What a dumbbell. Now that was published in the Christian Herald London. It does happen sometimes, people just don't understand that it's included. And they're rather retiring. They don't like to go to the table, join the crowd, or might be asked this or that. And so they lose, just think of losing three meals every day, already paid for, on the, uh, Queen Mary, and only enjoying it the last day. Well, I don't need to explain that, do I? I don't need to apply that, do I? Doesn't it fit in somewhere? You have all the power of God, the fullness of Christ, and a wonderful resurrected Christ at your disposal. The Holy Ghost has come. All you have to do is open your heart, more fullness to him. Mind you, if you're a true believer, you've already received the Holy Ghost, don't doubt about that. But you're not filled with the Holy Ghost. Why aren't you? That's where you come in. Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy Ghost. I want to be used of thee. You can make that decision today. We're going to close now. Something I was going to say, now I've forgotten it. Uh, do you know that one, He Will Hold Me Fast, Sister? When I fear my... Boy, that's good, she knows it, yeah. That's number one in Alexander's number three book. You see, I'm 60 years behind, and you sing the old ones. When I fear my faith will fail, He will hold me fast. When I fear I cannot, He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast for my sake. Just trust him, don't be afraid. Take all he wants to give you. Don't take beyond the Word of God, no, no, no. Just take all he wants to give you. You'll be all right. God will use you. Trees will fall before you, and you'll be a blessing. Channels only, blessed Master, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us, thou canst use us every day and... I don't know what the time, well, hey, it does. 11 39, that's all it says. I've got another hour, have I? Well, we're going to pray. Awful nice to be with you. The axe head went down. Thank God it came up. Everybody was happy, and the work went on. Now we're going to pray. I'll pray for you, you pray too. Oh God, all the riches in Christ that is ours. It says when Joseph was in the famine time in Egypt, it says they stored so much corn. They used to count it at the beginning, but it says, and Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea very much until they left numbering. Sir, we can't, no, it couldn't count anymore. It was there, there, there in abundance. Now why don't you live in his abundance? Paul says that I might preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. You can't count it. Well, that's all yours. Just take it. Now, Father, we're going to pray, and I want to thank you for this invitation down here. This is great. I never, never was down here before. And to see all the young people has been a great encouragement. We pray for every one of them, and for all the teachers and staff. What an undertaking. Help those that are in charge and have the burden, but they don't have the burden, they put it on thee too. Lord, bless this place. May Bob Jones University continue and be a blessing in thy hand. For Christ's sake, Lord, God bless. Now I thank thee and, uh, commend the dear ones to thee. Commend this message. The power of Elisha, the power of God. That was a miracle. Didn't seem possible. An axe had to swim. Well, it did. Did the, uh, did the tree go down into the shelf of the axe? I don't know. The axe belonged to the mineral kingdom. The, uh, the tree belonged to the vegetable kingdom. Oh God, thy dear son belonged to heaven, but he came down here for us, we think. We love him because he first loved us. Sister, Old Black Joe, just a bar of Old Black Joe. I love him. I love him because he first loved me and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree. We tell this morning we love thee. We'd like it to be more, uh, uh, powerful, but we do say we love thee. Lord Jesus would love thee. My Jesus, I love thee because thou first loved me and purchased my pardon on the cross on thy brow. If ever, Lord Jesus, Father, back at home, that's all. Do thy work. We'll give thee all the glory. Accept our thanks through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.