And the Iron Did Swim

In second Kings in chapter 6 we find the prophet Elijah out in the forest Chopping wood with his disciples the sons of the prophets and an accident occurs as we see picking up the story in first five But as one was fell in a beam the axe head fell into the water And he cried and said alas master for it was borrowed and the man of God said Where it fell it and he showed him the place and he cut down a stick and cast it in thither and iron did swim I Remember years ago. I was standing beside a lake with a man whom I'd been witnessing to for some time and he just refused to believe the Gospel or God or Christ or anything? He was a real skeptic Finally, he pointed to a picnic table and said I'll tell you what if God can make this picnic table Float up in the air and spin around Then I believe in Jesus Well, it's not that God couldn't make that picnic table float after all He made the iron to swim for Elisha, but it's probably a good thing God didn't make that picnic table rise for that man Because if he had he would have probably given him such a jolt that he'd had a heart attack And just end up going to hell quicker than his usual time Now we church folks are like that skeptic because we can read a Bible story about God Making an axe head float for Elisha, but we don't believe he can do that today for us Why is that? Isn't he the same God today as he was back then? Isn't our God the God of Elisha? We only partly believe it because if we really believed in a God like the one in our Bibles There's no telling how much trouble we'd give the devil and how much we'd shake the community in which we live for God But we just don't believe God can't do those kind of things anymore. I'll tell you what I mean.

I was sitting for my oral exam for my PhD and I was being interviewed by two of my seminary professors and I made the comment to one of them that in the book of Acts the early church acted differently than us today Why they even went out and turned the world upside down Because they were so full of the Holy Ghost and I said, why can't we do that today and my professor? Answered me matter-of-factly with the words that was for that time. God doesn't work like that today But you know friends that's the general consensus Today in our churches it will that might be the case here in America because of her unbelief But God is making the iron swim in China and Africa and Afghanistan We're Christians believe that with God all things are possible But we don't believe that God can make the iron swim in our churches today But we don't believe he can make the iron swim in the salvation of our young people today But I believe friends if we got serious enough with God and believe God to be the one who he says he is That the iron will swim for us today But we have to believe it's like the question Vance Havener used to ask if we serve such a dynamite God Why are so many of us live in firecracker lives? Listen friends God isn't deaf and he ain't broke and he ain't dead and his arm is not too short to save But we had to believe God is he it's who he says he is And we must lay hold of him by faith in desperate prayer Then expect him to do what we can't do even with all our money and manpower God is looking for faith 2nd Chronicles 169 declares For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro Throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him Listen God's eyes are continually searching the earth for those rare individuals Who believe God's Word is true and that God is true to his word men like Moses and John the Baptist Luther and Calvin a Whitfield and Wesley a Finney and Moody a man who live in a different Atmosphere than other mortals a man who have annihilated self with the cross and whose lives are broken alabaster boxes from which fragrances rise to the heavens from the broken pieces of selflessness self-sacrifice and self-crucifixion God is always on the lookout for such men And I believe that God likes to make the iron swim because every time he does he receives glory from it He's looking for some men and women today of faith to see him bear his arm and show himself strong a Brother-pastor the reason why the iron isn't swimming down the aisle of your church is because of your unbelief But if you let God get a hold of you like he wants to get hold of you and have faith There will be some explosions in your church that will awake your people out of their slumber Because God is a dynamite God. He's looking for a fuse to light Will it be you I believe our young people today would like to tell about the time that when the church stood on the brink of eternity and Heaven sat down in the sanctuary as God moved in their midst and they saw the iron swim While God was at work in the salvation of souls Let us pray