Sabbath 10/18/14 Daytona Beach SDB Pastor Wray sermon Have You Lost Your Cutting Edge For The Lord? II Kings 6:1-7
The two main characters in this scripture text is the prophet Elisha and the unnamed prophet. Remember that Elisha had been Elijah’s student until Elijah was taken up into Heaven by God. Elisha became God’s chosen prophet and God blessed his ministry. This ministry lasted 50 years and he performed many miracles through the power of God. In our text, the building that the young seminary students lived in and where they were taught by Elisha, was too small. The students asked Elisha could they go chop down trees to build a bigger building. This is the first college dormitory that the bible speaks of to my knowledge. Elisha said they had a good idea and when asked, he said he would go with them. They went to the Jordan River to cut down trees. One student was cutting a tree and the axe head from the axe he had borrowed, flew off into the river and sunk to the bottom. This student had lost his axe head. He had lost his cutting edge and lost his effectiveness for doing his work.
Each of us, who have done work for the Lord, know that there is no greater work. But I ask you, have you lost your cutting edge in serving and working for the Lord? Have you lost your effectiveness in doing the Lord’s work? Were you at one time working with great strength, chips flying everywhere in the air, chopping down trees and building up the kingdom of God? If we have lost our cutting edge, we need to ask God to help us get it back. This passage teaches us some things that will help us get back our cutting edge for the Lord.
When we lose our cutting edge in doing God’s work, we need to remember where we last had our cutting edge. We need to ask “why did we lose our cutting edge?” Was is because we dropped out of Sabbath school? Was is because we stopped going to church worship services on a regular basis? Was it because we became angry or jealous of someone? Was it because we stopped praying or reading the Bible? Did you lose your cutting edge because of some personal sins that have entangled your life? If you have the courage to take a look at your personal spiritual life, you can discover where and why you lost your cutting edge of service to the Lord.
We need to look at our cutting edge in doing’s God’s kingdom work. Have we adopted the motto of the world and say “what can the church do for me? “ It should be “what can we do for the church?” Far too many Christians look at the local church as a place to be served rather than a place to serve. This young student could have avoided all these problems if he had just checked his axe head occasionally to see if it was loose. He could have tightened it and kept on cutting down trees. I suggest that we all need to check our spiritual tools on a regular basis. When you check your spiritual inventory on a regular basis, you can make minor adjustments and keep on serving the Lord. The devil would prefer that you never look at your spiritual life until the repair is too costly and so much damage has been done. But it is not too late for you to make the necessary repair. If you are a Christian, God wants you to be an effective servant in His Kingdom. If you are not a Christian, I invite you to accept Jesus Christ today.
AMEN
The two main characters in this scripture text is the prophet Elisha and the unnamed prophet. Remember that Elisha had been Elijah’s student until Elijah was taken up into Heaven by God. Elisha became God’s chosen prophet and God blessed his ministry. This ministry lasted 50 years and he performed many miracles through the power of God. In our text, the building that the young seminary students lived in and where they were taught by Elisha, was too small. The students asked Elisha could they go chop down trees to build a bigger building. This is the first college dormitory that the bible speaks of to my knowledge. Elisha said they had a good idea and when asked, he said he would go with them. They went to the Jordan River to cut down trees. One student was cutting a tree and the axe head from the axe he had borrowed, flew off into the river and sunk to the bottom. This student had lost his axe head. He had lost his cutting edge and lost his effectiveness for doing his work.
Each of us, who have done work for the Lord, know that there is no greater work. But I ask you, have you lost your cutting edge in serving and working for the Lord? Have you lost your effectiveness in doing the Lord’s work? Were you at one time working with great strength, chips flying everywhere in the air, chopping down trees and building up the kingdom of God? If we have lost our cutting edge, we need to ask God to help us get it back. This passage teaches us some things that will help us get back our cutting edge for the Lord.
- We must admit we have lost our cutting edge:
- We need to determine the exact spot where we lost our cutting edge:
When we lose our cutting edge in doing God’s work, we need to remember where we last had our cutting edge. We need to ask “why did we lose our cutting edge?” Was is because we dropped out of Sabbath school? Was is because we stopped going to church worship services on a regular basis? Was it because we became angry or jealous of someone? Was it because we stopped praying or reading the Bible? Did you lose your cutting edge because of some personal sins that have entangled your life? If you have the courage to take a look at your personal spiritual life, you can discover where and why you lost your cutting edge of service to the Lord.
- We must do our part in recovering our cutting edge:
We need to look at our cutting edge in doing’s God’s kingdom work. Have we adopted the motto of the world and say “what can the church do for me? “ It should be “what can we do for the church?” Far too many Christians look at the local church as a place to be served rather than a place to serve. This young student could have avoided all these problems if he had just checked his axe head occasionally to see if it was loose. He could have tightened it and kept on cutting down trees. I suggest that we all need to check our spiritual tools on a regular basis. When you check your spiritual inventory on a regular basis, you can make minor adjustments and keep on serving the Lord. The devil would prefer that you never look at your spiritual life until the repair is too costly and so much damage has been done. But it is not too late for you to make the necessary repair. If you are a Christian, God wants you to be an effective servant in His Kingdom. If you are not a Christian, I invite you to accept Jesus Christ today.
AMEN