The Edge Is Borrowed

Well, you're very kind. It's an honor to be here. Kind of figured out why I feel at home here: you all have hurricanes. You're used to swirling masses of hot air. So that's why I fit in so well. I just feel so blessed. Thank you so much for all your kindness. And it's been a joy for my wife and for me to be here. She loves coming back home. She's on a nostalgia trip when she pulls up on these grounds. We were walking last night from dining back up here, and where there used to be cabins right over there, she was telling me all the places and things — a lot of memories that she has here. And I thank this district for everything you did to make her a wonderful lady of God. Your fingerprints are on her life. And I'm blessed because of what you've given to her. And I thank you for that. Amen.

And it's just a joy to be here with your leaders. I do thank you for all your kindness. I have so many friends in this room, populated all over the room, and I thank God for you. None closer than my brother from another mother, Gary Randall. I saw you slip in back there, bud. I love you. It's good to see you. Amen.

I'm going to read today from 2 Kings chapter 6. 2 Kings chapter 6. I will read beginning in verse number one. Amen. 2 Kings 6 and 1 says this: "And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. 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." It's a building program, Pastor. It's right there in the Bible. "And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go." You can tell how wise the prophet was. They said, "Let's have a building program." He said, "Y'all go have a great time." And they said, "Why don't you come with us?" "Okay, I'll go." So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. "But as one was felling 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 fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it."

We preach today on this subject: The edge is borrowed. The edge is borrowed. Amen. You can be seated. The Lord bless you.

When you consider it with logical analysis, the mission as given was, for all practical purposes, impossible. Oh, there was no question that it would be carried out. We're told that in no uncertain terms — Matthew 24:14: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." So the what of the mission is without debate. It is the how of the mission that is nearly overwhelming in magnitude.

Matthew's record of it may be more famed, but Mark's account is in some regards even more striking due to it being so concise. I didn't give you this one, but we all know it: "He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." I mean, that rolls off the tongue quite readily. But consider that with me for just a moment. There was nothing easy about the task that He gave them. The world population at that time is thought to have been somewhere around 300 million people — preach the gospel to every creature. This little ragtag group of a few hundred at most were being tasked to proclaim this gospel to 300 million people that were scattered far across a world with countries and civilizations that the average first-century Judean didn't even know anything about. And there were no effective means of rapid transportation between the nations other than sailing vessels for coastal areas, and even those were less than reliable. Communication for them was restricted to written form — nothing more than quill on papyrus, physically transported across the miles by human courier. The Roman Empire, with all of its wickedness and oppressive policies, extended to the boundaries of the disciples' known world. There was no historic Christian tradition on which to depend. Rather, these individuals were sent into a Christless world that had never, in some parts of the world, even heard of Jesus Christ, to proclaim the power of a crucified carpenter to people who did not know of Him.

And those doing the proclamation — well, a somewhat hodgepodge gathering of largely uneducated, poorly funded, newly saved individuals with little or no formal training. They had no pastors on whom they could lean. None of them could schedule a Starbucks meeting with an elder to draw on his years of experience. There were no such years. They couldn't turn to the pages of the New Testament to examine the pattern there. There was no New Testament. There were no books, no scrolls, no writings in a local Christian bookstore to guide them. Hey, they couldn't even Google. They were the first, the only ones to that point ever to try their hands at preaching the gospel, planting a church, winning the lost, discipling the converted, etc. And to that group He says, "Go preach the gospel to 300 million people with no transportation, no communication. Best of luck."

And yet, two chapters after the day of Pentecost, it was said of them that they had filled Jerusalem with this doctrine. It is of this group, with no advantages and two and three-quarter strikes against them, that nothing less than the eternal Word of God records the following when they arrived in Thessalonica, in Acts 17:6: "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also." How? I can answer that: they were not left to their own abilities, their own ingenuities, their own ideas, their own programs, their own personalities, or their own charisma. This group had the edge.

I'd preach to you today that our mission is the same. We have the same mandate. And it's going to get ugly right now, but to be honest — let's just be honest — we have not accomplished it yet. Preach the gospel to every nation: yeah, we've pulled that off, I guess. But to every creature — clearly the internet and media has made this practical in ways previously unimaginable. But it's still not an easy task.

Y'all listen to me. We face a world population of 8.2 billion souls. That number is almost beyond comprehension. China and India alone each have over 1 billion inhabitants. The world's population is growing at an annual rate of 75 million people. And we've set a goal to say 1 million in a year — and it's growing by 75 million a year. I'm not downplaying; God's doing wonderful things, and I'm not naive enough to think that everybody in the world is going to be born again. I know that. I'm just saying the task we have is incredible.

We face an ever-increasingly secular and amoral culture, one in which truths as basic and easily comprehended as one's own gender — a concept elementary since the world began — is now confused and twisted until academia in our world declares that there are at least a hundred genders with which a person can identify. Perversion and wickedness are advancing at a pace that's hard for us to comprehend. The world is changing around us, as long-established cultural mores are being discarded as archaic and oppressive. Our nation seems to me to be more divided than I have ever known it in my lifetime. We thought we were divided with masks and no masks. We thought vaccine or no vaccine was divisive. But we are divided in our culture. Group identities based on race and gender and political parties have segmented our society into warring factions which refuse to ever see the good in anyone outside one's own tribe. Our harvest field is filled with selfish and non-committed individuals who scoff at the idea of sacrificing for something greater than oneself, or setting aside one's own comfort or desires or ambitions for the greater good.

And what we're tasked to do: in that divided world, we are to grow a united church. In that corrupt world, we are to maintain a holy church. In that self-centered world, we are to develop a consecrated church. And it hardly sounds possible. But to any in the 21st century who might get discouraged about the magnitude of our mission, I tell you: what was true of the early church is true of the latter-day church. We have the edge.

I am tired of us being compared to the rest of the Christian world. I'm tired of us reading statistics that apply to every nameless group of Christians out there and thinking that works for us. Learn what you can learn — but you hear me: there's something different about the apostolic church from the rest of Christendom. I will not be bashful. I'm not saying we're better. I'm not saying it's about us. It's not about us. But there is a power that is resident in the apostolic church that does not exist in the rest of the Christian world. Don't tell me our task is impossible. He wouldn't have given it to you if you couldn't do it. I preach to you today: this gospel will be preached to every creature. I preach to you today, this gospel will be preached in every nation — because it's not up to us. It's not up to us. We have the edge.

We're not expected to do it on our own. God didn't hand us this mission and say, "Best of luck to you. I sure hope you can get enough talented people to pull this off. Good luck. Gather your ministry team around you. Get somebody that's good with social media, and get somebody that's good with graphics, and get somebody that's good with music, and get somebody that's good with organization." I'm for all that. And that'll work if I was trying to grow a club. We're trying to build a church.

Okay, I'll say it this way: I'm all for your talent, but God doesn't need your talent as much as we need His power. Is that making sense? Get all the talented people you can. But when it comes down to it, the only way we're going to reach this world is with the power of the Holy Ghost. The only way we're going to reach this world and have a revival is if God does it. All our talent pulled together can't begin to build a church. But the Lord Jesus is on our side. I'm pretty sure we're not even in charge of this thing. I'm pretty sure I read where He said, "Upon this rock, I will build my church." I'm pretty sure I read where He said — in Ephesians — "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us."

I'm almost certain that just after that great and weighty commission to reach the world was given, the Bible said this — and here is our hope — in Mark 16:20: "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." Listen, I think you ought to do the best you can do. But you preach your prettiest sermon, and it's not going to do anything if the power of the Holy Ghost doesn't work with us. I'm preaching to somebody to lift your head up. Don't get discouraged by the world around us. Be encouraged by the God above us. The Lord is on our side.

The simple fact is that, on our own, reaching this world with the gospel would be an insurmountable task. But we're not on our own. We're not on our own. Amen. We are not on our own. Thank you — you learn quickly.

His church cannot be compared to any political movement or initiative. His church does not parallel any other group in the earth. You can't look at growth statistics for anything else and try to apply that to the church. I'm going to go one step even further: you cannot look at statistics for the greater world of Christendom and try to apply that to the church. The church — not a church, the church. Let me prove that to you. Watch this. The church growth gurus tell you that when your parking lot is 80% full, you can't get anybody else to come. The church gurus will tell you, when your pews are 80% full, you can't get anybody else to come; the guests won't come. If they see your church is 80% full, if they can't find a seat, they will leave and won't come back. Well, you better tell them four dudes carrying that fellow on a bed that — because when they heard Jesus was in the house, a full parking lot didn't scare them. When they knew there were miracles there, having to walk half a block to get there didn't scare them. When they knew there was an answer for their friend there — nothing kept them; they tore the roof off the house. I'm just saying to you that the power of God makes His church different. It makes the apostolic church different from everything else in the world. We have something they don't have. We have the edge.

Here's what I know: no matter how hard this task may be, His church is going to advance. No matter what, His church will grow. His church will proclaim the gospel. So here we go. I'm going to risk it. I'm a big old boy. I will spend the next little bit positioning myself to be criticized for candy-stick preaching, but it's a risk I will freely bear, because I want to speak to us, to remind us of a couple of things today. But I especially want to invest in these younger members who are here today. I want to talk to some of this outfit over here. I'm so proud of you. I thank God for some of you younger folks. And if you're older over here, I just complimented you — just let it go. And I thank God for all these young people I see up around this altar praising God at night. I thank God for young people, young adults, that are the first ones up in the altar. I thank God for you. I'm not preaching down to you. Don't number me among those folks that think this youth group today is all falling apart and it's all just about to crumble. I don't believe that for a heartbeat. The Lord would not have positioned this group in this time if He didn't believe they could carry out this mission. But I do want to preach to some of you younger adults. I do want to preach to some of you folks that are a generation behind me on this journey. I want to remind you of something today. I want to remind you of what God has given you to carry out this impossible task. So call it candy-stick preaching if you want. I care not. Here's what I'll tell you today: we've got an edge.

You know why? Because we have the name of Jesus. One reason we can be assured of victory is that we go in a name higher than every name that's named. I charge you, young people: don't be ashamed of the name of Jesus. Bow your head in a restaurant and pray, and pray in the name of Jesus. When you meet somebody in Walmart and they're hurting, don't you be afraid to lay hands on them and pray in the name of Jesus. We've got something that the others don't have. We've got something that the greater Christian world's cast aside. We have the power of a firm belief in the name of Jesus Christ. We've got the edge, folks. Use that name. Hallelujah.

When that angel first whispered to Mary what her baby was to be called — when that name was given to Joseph, when that name was confirmed to him — there was unleashed into the spiritual atmosphere a new power that had never been experienced before. I'm getting old. I'm getting grumpy. I admit it. I recognize it. It's a club. I told my wife this morning — or was it? Yes — whenever you had the music playing, we were talking about it. Maybe it was last night. I don't remember. Just some song was playing, and it was "Yahweh" this and "Jehovah" that, and Yahweh this and Jehovah that. And I thought, you know, there's nothing wrong with the song. It's all right. If it's your favorite song, God love you. I told her, I said: I wish some of the Old Testament prophets could be here today, because they'd go, "What are you doing? For centuries, we wanted to know the revealed name of God. For centuries, we begged to know that name. And the only name we had — that Yahweh thing — we weren't even allowed to say. And finally, He gives you the name. And instead of singing 'Jesus,' you want to jump back and sing about Jehovah." I got nothing wrong — if it's your favorite song, God love you. I'm just saying: you need to fall in love all over again with the matchless, powerful name of Jesus. We've got something nobody else has. We are the people of the name.

Hear me well: when that name is spoken, sickness cowers in submission. Doctor's expertise melts away. Death knows it must bow and surrender to its supremacy. Every devil in hell takes a step backwards when the simplest little weakest, uninformed, uneducated saint says, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus." It's not about us. It's about that name. Come on, church. You want to know how we're going to have a revival? We're going to preach the name. You know how we're going to have a move of God? We're going to sing in the name of Jesus, preach in the name of Jesus, pray in the name of Jesus. That's why we can do it. We have the edge.

Goliath, you're a pretty good-sized boy. Nine and a half foot tall, field-dressed about 450. You're a big boy. You got a spear, and the shaft of that thing's like a weaver's beam. Yeah. By every measure, I really should have no hope in this conflict. But see, here's the problem: you come to me with spear and shield, but I come to you with something far more powerful than what you've got in your hands. I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. Hey, culture: you may be wicked, but I come in the name of Jesus. Hey, society: you may be mocking us, but I come in the name of Jesus. You can give me statistics — I've got the name. You can give me trends — I've got the name. You can give me obstacles — but I've got the name.

Hey, Peter. Hey, John. You've only had the Holy Ghost for a few days. You're standing there at the gate Beautiful, looking at a man who's been lame since the day he was born. He's been lame since before you talked in tongues. What are you going to do? I ain't got much. Silver and gold have I none — but I do have something. I've got the edge, in the name of Jesus. Rise up and walk. And when that man went leaping and dancing into the temple, Peter made it clear what had done the work, in Acts 3:16: "And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong." It's not about us. It's not about our reputation. It's not about — I got nothing to offer, but I've got a name that's higher than every name that's named. I charge you, young people: stay in love with being baptized in Jesus' name. Stay in love with being people of the name. Don't you ever lose the wonder of that — that we have the name of Jesus.

It's not some magical phrase. It's not a divine abracadabra. We don't pray and then go "hocus pocus" in Jesus' name. It's not some magic phrase we say. It declares the authority in which we operate. When our ambassador steps into the throne room of a foreign power, he says, "I come in the name of the President of the United States." He may not be anything, but that guy that's behind him's got a pretty big army at his disposal. So he goes with the delegated authority of the leader of his country. When I lay hands on that sick person and pray, I am going with the delegated authority of the King of kings. It's not my own strength. I have His authority behind me. When I say "in Jesus' name," I am merely putting hell — I'm putting that sickness, I'm putting that problem — on notice: you don't have to deal with me, but behind me there's One who's greater than everyone that's ever been. It is the name.

I just want to encourage you today. You can grow a church. You've got the name of Jesus. You can build a church in that city. You've got the name of Jesus. You can lead your family in righteousness. You've got the name of Jesus. So the Scripture says, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." I charge you, young preacher: preach in Jesus' name. Singers, sing in Jesus' name. Sunday school teacher, teach in Jesus' name.

I don't know how to say this without just saying it. I don't see other religious groups bashful about who they are. I've been in airports when it gets to be those five times of prayer, and you'll see Muslim worshippers roll out their mat right in the middle of the airport. They don't care who sees them on the plane. They don't care who sees them — if it's time, they are not embarrassed to be associated with that name of Muhammad. I'm not throwing rocks at them. I'm just saying they're not ashamed to be associated with it. Brand Jesus on my spiritual wardrobe. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. This name marks us. This name is who we are. And I will not be intimidated to declare that we are people of the name. That name is our edge.

Point number two: His Spirit is our edge. Amen. The edge we have is that we are filled with the Holy Ghost. The moment that someone breaks out speaking in other tongues, and we know they've received the Holy Ghost — let's not forget what the Bible said of that moment: "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Luke 24:49: "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." This experience is one of power. That word "power," of course, comes from the Greek word dunamis. Everybody talks about, well, that's where we get "dynamite." It has a much richer meaning than that; it's a lot better than that. That word dunamis literally means the inherent ability, or the nature, of something. That is to say: the dunamis of an elephant is strength. The dunamis of a cheetah is speed. Whatever is inherent to that entity, the essence of who it is — that is its dunamis. The Lord said, "Ye shall receive dunamis." You will receive My essence. You will receive the inherent identity of who I am. I will put in you the essence of who I am. That's why I say: when you get up and preach, you're preaching with the essence of Jesus Christ inside of you. When you walk in that hospital to pray for somebody that the doctors have given up on, you carry the dunamis, the essence. You carry the absolute essence of who God is, the inherent ability. That's why, when that little woman with the issue of blood touched him, Christ turned around and said, "Virtue — dunamis — has flowed out of me." The essence of who I am reached out and touched somebody. When you got the Holy Ghost, He put His dunamis — He put His dunamis inside of you. The essence of who He is resides in you. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power" — dunamis — "and of love, and of a sound mind." We received, in our spiritual birth, an infusion of the inherent essence and ability of God.

When you step to the pulpit, you do so with power. When you walk into that living room to teach a home Bible study, you do so with power. When you get up to sing a song on the platform, you do so with power. Watch this: when you stand and raise your hands in the pew to sing, you do so with power. Dunamis doesn't just reside on the platform. Dunamis resides inside of you. Because if we don't do it with His power, we're just going to get what we can produce.

Paul, you stood on Mars Hill in Athens, and you preached a masterpiece. I mean, it was eloquent. It was brilliant. It was well-reasoned. It was culturally relevant — an unknown god; he quoted from a Greek poet there in the middle of it. And yet — I mean, it was a good sermon. It scored 9.5 on the homiletics and hermeneutics meters. It was good. He got an A+ in preaching class at Bible school. It was quality. But I want you to find me any place where he went back to visit a church in Athens. Ain't no epistle to the church at Athens, no book of Athenians — because he gave his best effort and got nothing. So he leaves there, and his next stop is Corinth. You can read it for yourself. He left Athens, he went to Corinth, and somewhere along the way he said this, in 1 Corinthians 2:4: "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." He said, "I tried it with what I could do in Athens, and I got nothing. So I'm going to walk in, and I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." And that greatly educated man walked into Corinth and preached Christ, and preached with power, and there was a church planted.

I'm not telling you to dumb down what you're doing. I'm telling you to power up what you're doing. We're not going to do this in our own strength. We're not going to do this because we got the neatest little sermon offline. We're not going to do this because ChatGPT cleaned up our verbiage. Call me old if you want to, but if ChatGPT is preparing your sermons for you, you need to repent and get back on your face and get a word from God, and get up and preach in the power of the Holy Ghost. We're not going to do this in man's wisdom. We're not going to do this with man's strength. We've got to have the power of the Holy Ghost.

When I was pastoring, I had a family — I was up preaching one Sunday. I had a family walk in the back door. Everybody ought to get to sit on the platform occasionally. Really — you ought to get to see what we see. I look back: a family came in the back door — husband, wife, two kids, teenagers — and they walked in. And when they walked in the door, they kind of froze. The usher tried to offer them a seat. And have you ever watched a conversation unfold, and you can't hear it, but you know what's being said? That's what's going on. Because I look back there, and the husband was going to his wife, and she was like — you could hear the whole thing going on without any words being said. He was like, "Come on, let's go in." She'd go, "I ain't going in. Place is crazy. People are nuts." I'm up here preaching and screaming and going crazy, and she's just like — and he's like — she's just — folks, at that point I don't even know which testament I'm preaching out of. I am so distracted. I don't know what I'm saying. I don't know what's going on. I'm just focused on them, and I'm pulling for him. You know, I'm rooting for him. I want to go to that "wives, submit to your husbands" verse, you know, and see if I get her in there. Just something. They finally reached a negotiated settlement. They didn't come on in, but they didn't leave. They just stood against the back wall back there while we had church.

When service was done, I made a beeline to try to catch them, but they were closer to the parking lot than I was, and they got out of there before I could catch up with them. We didn't have a visitor card. We didn't know who they were. I didn't know. But the next Sunday they came back. And the next Sunday they didn't stop back there. They walked in and sat down about right up here. When I got done preaching that next Sunday, they were the first ones in the altar. And all four of them repented. We baptized all four of them. And they all spoke in tongues coming out of the water and received the Holy Ghost. Now — yeah, thank God, it was awesome. Once I knew they was hooked, now I want to know what was the conversation going on back there in the back. So I asked him — we'll call him Bob; it's not his name — I said, "Bob, last week you came in, you stand back yonder — what was going on?" He said, "Oh, man." He said, "We walked in. Here's what you got to understand: my wife's a little weirded out by it all." I said, "I get it." He said, "But here's the thing: two years ago, we visited a little church in outstate Missouri. That's what you call it in the country — it's 'Missouri' in the cities, 'Missourah' outstate. We visited a little country church out in Missouri. We never felt anything in our lives. In fact, it scared us. We left. But," he said, "our marriage was on the rocks. Our kids are strung out on drugs. We're all messed up. So we're living here in the city now. We said, 'We got to find a church like that.' So," he said, "for two years, we've been going to a different church every Sunday, looking for what we felt in that church. We never found it. But when I walked in the back door back there, I told her, I said, 'Honey, it's here. You feel that?' She was still a little weirded out, but when we got home, we said, 'We've been looking for this for two years. We can't go any place else.' I'm persuaded that's the power of God."

And they walked back in the next Sunday. Today, their kids are off drugs. He's a licensed preacher. Their son's a youth pastor. You want to know why? It wasn't because I preached good. It wasn't because our building was pretty. It wasn't because we had a good hostess. It's because they walked in and found the edge. They walked in and felt the power of the Holy Ghost. I'm telling you, the church — His church — can do something no one else can do, because we have the power of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit is our edge. His name is our edge. The Spirit is our edge.

We'll see if you've learned anything yet. This doctrine is our edge. Perhaps nothing so distinguishes us from the rest of the religious world than the truth of the gospel we preach. Multitudes of Christians will pray in His name. There are millions who have received the Spirit. But His church is singular. There's nothing else like it. This church — listen — this church is not bounded by organizational lines. It's bounded by doctrinal lines. His church is not defined by the United Pentecostal Church. The United Pentecostal Church is defined by His church. But the doctrine of the oneness of God, the doctrine of the death, burial, and resurrection, the doctrine of the new birth, the doctrine of a holy life — don't try to tell me our separation keeps us from growing. Doctrine doesn't hold us back. Doctrine propels us forward. Hey, young preacher, stop letting hell lie to you and tell you if you just gave up on some things, it'd be easier to grow a church. No — it might grow a congregation, but you're not going to grow a church.

I'm kind of feeling my Cheerios right now. When I was teaching in Bible school, I had a young man ask me a question once. He said, "Brother Graham, I don't get it. How come it seems like sometimes, when you see some guy that just lays aside holiness and lays aside everything, his church grows so fast?" I said, "Well, number one, that's not always true. You hear about the few that do that. You don't read about the ones that fall clean apart. But even for those that do, I can explain it to you. Thank you for asking. When Peter writes his epistle, he talks about those people that turn their back on the truth. And he likens them to two farm animals: a dog that returns to its vomit, and a sow that returns to the wallow — the mire and the wallow. Folks, I grew up around farms, and this is what I know: dogs and hogs, they have whole litters of offspring. Sheep have one or two. If I wanted pews full of puppies and piglets, I'll preach anything I want. But He didn't call me to be a dog catcher. And He didn't call me to be a hog farmer. He called me to be a shepherd. I'm going to preach the doctrine. It doesn't hold us back. It sets us free. I charge you in the name of Jesus, young man: this doctrine is our edge."

Acts 2:42: "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." That order was not by chance. It was doctrine first. I don't care how warm the fellowship is in a congregation: if it's left the doctrine, it's not a church. I don't care how many prayer meetings they have: if they don't have the doctrine, it's not a church. I don't care how pretty the building is or how good the programs are: if you don't have the apostles' doctrine, it's not a church. There is no other way to build the church. Only pure doctrine converts sinners. Romans 6:17: "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." Obedience to the doctrine is what sets servants of sin free. 1 Timothy 4:16: "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." If you don't preach this doctrine, you're giving people a false hope.

Okay, I'm going to get ugly now, for sure. I can't tell you how it sickens me to hear the deception puked out of the mouth of some apostate who tries to tell me that our dogmatic approach to doctrine is simply because we haven't matured yet: "Well, when you grow up a little bit in Christ, you'll understand grace like we do, and then you won't believe all that stuff you preach is necessary. You just need to mature a little bit." Well, let's see what the Scripture has to say about those that waver on doctrine. Ephesians 4:14: "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine." Mature saints don't change their doctrine. Children get tossed around. It's not the mature who move from doctrine to doctrine. It's children. They are deceived into doing so. But we won't — listen to me; I'll say it as plain as I know how to say it: we are not going to carry out the Great Commission, we are not going to reach our world, with anything less than John 3 and Acts 2. Preach it. Believe it. Love it. Preach it. Believe it. Love it. Hey, young man: preach it. Believe it. Love it. This is our edge. We've got the edge. The edge we have is His name. It's His Spirit, and it's His doctrine.

But here's what you've got to remember: the edge is borrowed. Bring me that. You got good urgent care down here. When the son of the prophet was felling a tree, his axe head flew off and landed in the river. The loss was no small thing. How else were they going to fell the beams they needed for their new college dorm? It just got longer and more difficult — but that wasn't the end. I'm not discounting the loss, but folks — I mean, let's be real — even without his axe head, he could have borrowed his neighbor's axe, couldn't he? I mean, it would have slowed things down, but they still could have done it. He could have taken turns with somebody else. He could have been the designated wood carrier and just carried everything that other people cut down. The problem is not that he felt like, without it, he lost some efficiency. It wasn't that, without it, he felt like he couldn't be as productive as he might have been before. The thing that drove him — it was not that he felt like people were going to — he was going to be embarrassed if people saw his empty axe handle. No. What drove him to distress — his cry is instructive: "Alas, master! It is borrowed." You don't understand: it's not mine to do with what I want. I'm just using it for the One who owns it. I've been entrusted with something that I can't afford. I don't have the ability to replace it. If I don't have this, I don't have anything. How am I going to go back to face the one who gave this to me and say I let it go? And you don't understand, master: this was used by generations before me. On that handle are the fingerprints and scars of old elders that I admired, that sunk this thing deep into the woods of their generation long before I ever touched it. How can I face that elder and say, "I know it worked for you, but I threw it in the river because I read in Charisma magazine that you could do the same thing with an empty axe handle"? Okay — you don't understand, master. The reason I can't suffer this loss is because it wasn't mine to lose. It wasn't mine to do with carelessly or haphazardly. It was not mine to take liberties with. You don't understand, master: somebody higher than me gave this to me. Somebody older than me already used this. I can't possibly get away with getting rid of this. It's not mine to lose.

I would choose to remind you today that this is His church. Stand with me; I'm going to quit. This is His church. The edge we enjoy in this spiritual conflict is not our own. The name, His Spirit — it's Him. The doctrine — it's His. But we have been given this truth in trust, both by the Owner and by those who used it long before us.

Maybe just a couple of years ago or so, Paul Price passed away — old Brother Elder Price, out in California. To the best of our knowledge, Brother Boyd, he was the last living credentialed preacher who was licensed at the merger, and he's gone now. There are no longer any direct points of contact between anybody here and the founding of the United Pentecostal Church. You may know somebody who knows somebody. You may. But you don't know anybody that was there. Somewhere on that handle are Paul Price's fingerprints. But I don't have to go to the West Coast. I could have done it here, if I chose to: just think back a few years ago to elders that sat on these pews next to you. They weren't strong enough to swing it anymore, but sure enough, their fingerprints are on it. The only reason you have what you have is because somebody handed you an edge that they paid a price for. How dare hell try to tell me that there's a better solution than — than to cast it aside? No. If I ever see that axe head go in the river, I'm going to find me an elder and say, "You got to help me get it back. You got to help me get it back. I can't do this without the edge. It's not mine."

I hope I'm not out of school here, but we're here in the city of Ocala. I stay in touch — I talk to Brother Williams every now and then. We chat, and he's told me in glowing terms how great the church is doing, how wonderful the saints are. Are they here? I don't know if he's even here this morning. Whatever. You here? Where you at? There you are, man. That man talks about you like you're the cross between Albert Schweitzer and Mother Teresa. And I don't know you well enough to do what I'm about to do. But my brother: if you ever wake up one Sunday morning and there's this little voice whispered in your head, saying, "Man, it'd be easier to swing that thing without that edge on it" — I charge you in the Holy Ghost, sir: before you cast that thing aside, you walk in his office, and you see the fingerprints that he left on what he handed you.

I preach to every young adult: don't you cast aside what the elders gave you. Don't throw it aside. This edge is not yours. This edge is not yours. It's got the battle scars of generations that brought it to us. I'm going to grip this thing tighter than ever. We've got to reach the world, and we're not going to do it without the edge. I wish you'd throw your hands up and begin to cry out to God.

I'd like for the first people in this altar to be people that are under the age of 40. I wish young adults and young people would come flooding down to this altar and give some assurance to those of us that are on the other side of 60, to say: "You don't have to worry, Brother Graham. I know your days are numbered. You're not going to be preaching like this forever. But don't you worry, sir: I love this. I love this. I love this. I love this. When you're dead and gone and buried in the grave, we're still going to be preaching the name of Jesus. We're still going to be preaching Holy Ghost infilling. We're still going to be preaching one God doctrine. We're still going to be preaching separation."

Now, now I need some elders to come on down here. You're already on the other side of 40. I plead with you: come down here. Lay hands on these kids. Lay hands on these young adults. Put that axe in their hands. Put that edge in their hands.