of axeheads and fishnets

II Kings 6:1-7 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Behold now, the place before you where we are living is too limited for us. (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." (3) Then one said, "Please be willing to go with your servants." And he answered, "I shall go." (4) So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. (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." (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. (7) He said, "Take it up for yourself." So he put out his hand and took it.

Recently I shared this text with the Church I pastor as I shared the burden the Lord had placed on my heart. I began by simply sharing that the man with the axe head was faithful in trying to follow through but could not. In the middle of being faithful and being a servant, the head of the axe he was using had become loosened and fallen into the water. For the would-be lumberjack this was a great travesty. The objective would not be reached, the valued head was lost. There was no hope.

The second man was Elisha, a prophet of God. He was called and anointed by God to be his conduit, to be His voice, to deliver His message and share His vision.

The Servant saw the lost axe head as time to quit and pack it up for all was lost. Elisha, God’s man had a different vision. He was something that may other would not have had the vision for. He saw a stick as the answer. If it was common for a stick to float iron up from the river bottom, then the servant would have thrown a stick in the water. But he did not have the vision for this. The prophet did have a vision. And it was on that was not conventional. Now if he was to have asked the axeman about this he would have told him that it would in float. This is true for us too. We say that it won’t float about many things because we do not have God’s vision. We know that God’s chosen men present God’s plans and not mans, but we hear it all the time that “this won’t float pastor” or “we have tried it before and that won’t float!”


Then I presented to the Church the direction I felt the Lord was moving the Church and the plan that He had laid on my heart to accomplish it.

After this I shared from the Book of Luke


Luke 5:1-9 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, (2) and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. (3) Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. (4)
When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep
and let down your nets for a catch.” (5) But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” (6) And when they had done this, they caught a great
number of fish, and their net was breaking. (7) So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. (8) When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (9) For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken;

From Here I explained to the Church that we needed to quit dragging our feet in reaching the community for Christ and to let down our nets and trust Him.



This is the jist of it. let the comments begin.