Regain Your Spiritual Edge

April 27th 2025

Series:Elisha

Sermon Title: Elisha – Regain Your Spiritual Edge

Topic:Journey through the life of Elisah to learn how he became an incredible man of God.

Key Passages: 2Kings 6: 1-6

Topic: Elisha, Miracles, Lost

Sermon Blurb: In today’s message, we will learn how to regain our spiritual edge.

***1st week ODD months add communion & target message at 15 pages.

***1st week EVEN months add space for dedication, baptism, or ministry highlight & target message at 15 pages.

***Green in sermons means illustration, something we are looking for a response from, and/or a picture that goes on the screens.

***Yellow means what is yellow will be on the screens and in the handout.

Dedication, Baptism, or Ministry Highlight (1st Sunday even months):

TEAM TEACHING WEEK!!!

Sermon:

Hello Family Church!

Family Moment –

Start with something personal from your family life recently to help people get to know you.

Celebrate salvation / re-dedications / baptisms last week.

Today we are back talking about a great man of God named Elisha.

For those of you who are new to Family Church, we have been walking through the Bible story about this guy for a few months.

Elisha was a GREAT man of God who did all kinds of miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of him.

But the part about Elisha that I LOVE is that he is just like so many of you!

He was a REGULAR guy who worked in a normal job.

Then, one day, a Godly man asked him if he would follow him.

And Elisha chose to say YES!!!

He followed a Godly man for years and then became a great, godly man because of that choice.

And let me just encourage you, if you missed ANY of these past sermons, to go to our website or download our app and listen to them because they have all been so powerful!!!

PAUSE

Today, we are going to learn about how we get our edge back.

Maybe you are here today, and life just feels blah.

Maybe you feel like there is no hope.

Maybe you feel dull, broken, or lost.

Sometimes, life just changes.

And it isn’t like it used to be, and we do not know why.

Sometimes something that was once important to us just doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

Sometimes, we just slowly let the important things slip away.

PAUSE

I am curious today if anyone out there is like me sometimes.

Is there anyone out there that sometimes finds themselves looking for things they misplaced?

I know for a fact where I placed my tools…but they are not there.

I know I put my keys on the shelf like always, but they are not there.

Can you raise your hand if that has ever happened to you?

Or can you raise your hand of your spouse who is that way….

Did you know that not only can we lose our mind at times, but we can also lose something spiritual at times?

We can all go through seasons where spiritually….

We are just not feeling it.

A time when we lose our passion for God.

We have lost the desire to pray.

Lost the desire to read our Bible.

And I know this does not apply to any of you here because the preaching is so amazing…

But sometimes, we even lose our desire to come to church.

Maybe you still feel connected to God, but you have no joy in life.

Maybe you have lost your desire to try to do good in school.

You go to work, but you have no desire to try hard.

You feel like you have lost your edge along the bumpy road we call life.

How do we get what we have lost???

How can we get back on track?

How do we go from no burning fire inside us to ON FIRE for God again?

PAUSE

Let’s open our Bibles and see how God tells us we can get our edge back.

Grab your Bibles and open them up to

2 Kings 6

And by the way…..

New Person Bible Connection:

If you do not have a Bible, that is ok!

After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!

Just go to ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE and get one for FREE!!!

PAUSE

As you are getting to 2 Kings 6 let me give you a little background to help set the stage…

Remember, Elisha's life started out simple.

He was a farmer.

He was not in prophet school.

He was not looking to become some amazing man of God.

He was a regular guy doing a regular job.

But as we have seen over the past few months, he grew up into this amazing man of God who has done countless miracles through God’s power working through him.

He ends up doing twice as many as his mentor, Elijah.

He did more miracles than anyone else in the Bible but Jesus himself!

Stop and think about that for a second.

How did this regular farm kid go from farm kid to the one person who has done more miracles than anyone but Jesus himself?

How does that happen?

How do you go from farm kid to world changer?

How did Elisha do it?

PAUSE

It started with this regular farm kid taking one step of faith!

Elisha, left being a farmer.

He went back and burned up his farming equipment!

It starts with him saying, “There is no Plan B in my life; there is only Plan A.

There is only follow God even when I don’t know all the details!”

It continued with him learning from a great man of God following him NO MATTER WHAT!

Never giving up on serving Elijah.

And he served SO WELL that Elijah that God gave him a DOUBLE portion of the Holy Spirit!

Then, Elisha’s life was all about serving people and trying his best to lead people toward God.

PAUSE

With that back ground we will jump into 2 Kings 6 starting at verse 1….

But today I am excited because I am going to team preach this message today!

Would you all welcome SPEAKER 2 today!!!

SHORT intro guest preacher…

Thank you Pastor,

Let’s dive into the Bible today.

I want to read the passage, and then we will circle back and walk through it slowly.

2 Kings 6: 1-6. 1The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us.

2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.” And he said, “Go.”

3 Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?” “I will,” Elisha replied.

4 And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees.

5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”

6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?”

When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

Stop reading there.

That is our story today.

Let’s break this passage down today and see what God has for us.

Go back to verse 1, it says this…

1The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us.

2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.”

Stop there.

Let’s make sure we all have this in context.

Verse 1 says a school of prophets is learning from Elisha.

And the school is growing!

So, they do not have enough room, and so they so let's expand!

They said let’s each build a place…

Sounds kind of like Family Church over the last 7 years?

Right?

We have gotten to this exact point numerous times throughout the years.

And when have expanded!

We have gone multi-site!

PAUSE

These prophets say let’s go build a building for us to meet in.

And I love this!

Here we have a bunch of guys that want to be a prophet one day.

But they are willing to do whatever it takes to learn.

Let me pose a question to you all; you will see this in your notes.

Will you do anything to become a Godly person?

Repeat

Elisha was willing to give up everything.

These men were willing to build a school by hand.

What are you doing to grow in your relationship with God?

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading…Verse4

4 And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees.

5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”

Pause there. Prophets do not usually need building tools.

So, this one guy borrowed an axe.

No big deal, right?

And while he was chopping down a tree, probably the wrong way because he was NOT a builder, the axe head flew off!

And he had BAD luck, and the axe head didn’t just fly off into the woods.

It flew off into the river they were working by!

BAD LUCK!

But the question is…

Why get all bent out of shape?

It is just an axe head.

Why was he so nervous about it?

Well, back in those times, iron was very valuable, and it was hard to come by.

This guy was like a college student today.

He was likely very poor.

I would bet he normally slept on a couch and ate Roman Noodles…

No…that one didn’t connect???

Roman noodles….

Nope….Let’s try another joke.

He had borrowed this axe head, and he couldn't pay it back.

He was what we call a "non-profit …….get it….prophet."

Come on you have to work with me; because I love my jokes!

Campus Pastor.

Wow….rough jokes… I think I better step back in…

This guy doesn't have much, and he loses this axe head, and then what happens?

Verse 6

6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?”

When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

Elisha can even defy the laws of gravity and brings this man’s axe head back!

That is what a miracle is.

Something that cannot be explained because it defies everything we know to be true! And I LOVE this miracle story because of what it shows us about our God.

This shows me that God even cares about the little details in our lives.

Which brings me so much comfort.

God isn’t only a God of the BIG things.

He is God of the little things.

Here is the point…write this down…

God cares about every detail of our life!

No matter what you're going through, God cares.

If you are in pain, God cares. If you've got a test coming up, God cares. If your car won't start again, God cares.

If you’re scared that you will not do well this week, God cares.

If you're on the phone telling the other person you can’t find your phone, God's laughing, but he cares.

Our God cares about even the little things.

PAUSE

Let me point something else out.

Here at Family Church, we discuss the fact that our job as followers of Jesus is to make disciples who can make more disciples constantly.

Elisha was clearly a disciple of Elijah.

Now you see in this passage Elisha is discipling some other men.

Elisha apparently built a school for prophets, and there were so many of them that the school outgrew it.

So, he was taking this disciple-making to the next level!

So never forget…

Old Testament or New Testament…

We are ALL called to invest in other people.

We are ALL called to make disciples.

ADD A PLUG ON THAT IS WHY WE TEAM PREACH WITH WHO EVER YOU ARE…

Ask others to let you know if they would like to learn how to preach!

PAUSE

Now let’s shift and look at the Spiritual side of this passage.

God knows how to help you find what you didn't mean to lose physically, like an axe head, but also spiritually.

Some people here today have lost something of a spiritual nature, and you may not realize it yet.

Or maybe you do.

But our God can help us restore anything.

Our good God knows how to help you find what you didn't mean to lose.

Now, as we talk about losing the axe head and losing the edge, I want to show you metaphorically how this could apply to your spiritual life.

I really want to encourage you all to ask yourself this question, it is also in your notes:

How have I lost my spiritual edge?

Repeat

I want everyone to be honest and ask yourself that question.

Don’t be above asking yourself the hard questions.

Be honest and say, "How have I lost my spiritual edge?"

Now, I am sure some folks here today may say, "I haven't lost my edge. I am just as sharp as I have ever been. I am just as passionate about God today as I have always been!" And if that's you, I celebrate with you and thank God for you. Continue to do what you're doing to keep that spiritual connection.

But it is my guess that for many followers of Christ here today that you might honestly say there was another time in your life when you were more into the things of God than you are today.

For others, if you ask yourself this question you might realize that you have lost your edge, you lost passion because of your friends. There was a time when you had committed Christians around that helped build you up. But over the years that has slipped away. You didn’t mean for it but it just happened!

You've lost your edge because of the friends you chose.

For others, there was a time when you were excited to come to church! You LOVED serving in our church and you had the thrill of being used by God, making a difference with your gifts! Then you got busy and you stopped, it was only for a season but you are still not serving. You miss it; but you’re afraid to go back.

Some of you, there was a time when you had a passion for prayer. I mean, you would even get up early and you would pray. And now, quite honestly, you may pray over a meal and every now and then when someone is watching or you may pray about the big things, but the truth is, you haven't prayed in a significant way in a very long time.

Some of you, when you first came to know Jesusyou really loved to share your faith with other people! You had a deep love for those who were outside the family of God. But something happened along the way, and you let that passion go.

Maybe you have just noticed that your core principles have eroded. Years ago, you had strong Christian values but then as you got to college and learned some different ways of thinking…. You changed…

Maybe you still read you Bible, you still pray every day. But there is no passion in it. That is just want you do. You do not have a BURNING desire inside you to spend time with God. It is more routine than it is love.

How have you lost your spiritual edge?

The reality is that it can happen to anyone because we have a spiritual enemy whose mission is to steal, kill, and destroy everything that matters to the heart of God.

Now there might be one or two super saints out there that can say they have never lost their spiritual edge; but I would not be one of them.

We all go through tough times..

Sometimes we willing walk into hard times…

Sometimes hard times fall on us…

PREACHER #2 you want to share a time in your life when you seemed to lose your spiritual edge in life?

ADD AN EXAMPLE of you losing your spiritual edge

And the reason it's so quiet right now is because many of you can relate.

You've become a full-time parent and a part-time follower of Christ.

A full-time business person and a part-time follower of Christ.

A full-time studentand a part-time follower of Christ.

A full-time athletebut a part-time follower of Chris.

You didn't mean to lose your edge, but you did.

You didn't mean to stop praying with your spouse, but you did.

You didn't mean to fall back into the old patterns and become addicted again, but you did.

You didn't mean to drift out of love and intimacy with your spouse, but you did.

You didn't mean to end up pursuing the emptiness of material possessions, but you did.

You didn't mean to become a part-time follower of JESUS, but that's what happened.

You lost your spiritual edge.

PAUSE SO….

What do you do when you're swinging away, and the edge flies off?

What do you do when your life takes a turn and FLIES OFF the path…and you think you can NEVER get it back!

Maybe today….you did something…..

You did something BAD….

And you think that God will never forgive you.

You think what you have done is so bad that there is no chance God will ever let you return.

Maybe you did it on purpose because you were so mad at God and wanted to defy him….and you feel so lost today.

If that is you, I want you to know something.

There were a LOT of our Biblical heroes with issues!!!

Noah, who saved mankind in the flood, then got drunk, and it led to some bad sexual stuff!

Jacob, God’s chosen leader, lied and manipulated people.

Moses, the man who led God’s chosen people out of slavery, murdered a man out of anger.

Rahab, a woman in Jesus' ancestry tree, was a prostitute.

David, a man God said was after God’s heart, had an affair and then killed the woman’s husband to conceal their love child.

BUT hear me church….

God forgave ALL of them!

God did amazing things through ALL of them!

And they are Biblical heroes today! There is nothing that can keep you from God!

But how do we recover from MAJOR errors in life???

How do we recover from losing our edge?

How do we come back when it seems ALL hope is lost…

Let’s go back to this passage and see how. Verse 6…

6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?”

Let’s talk about

How we get our edge back: Step 1 - Be honest about where I lost it.

Be honest about where you lost your edge.

Elisha asked, "Where did it fall?"

In other words, the axe head isn't gone; it's just where you lost it.

Where did it fall?

And I would ask you: Where did you lose it?

Where did you start to lose your spiritual edge?

And maybe you will find yourself saying…Oh, yeah, I remember when I took a wrong turn.

I made some friends that were probably the wrong friends.

I started dating the wrong person.

I started going to the wrong places.

You used to pray, and you stopped.

You used to read the Bible, but you stopped.

You used to be a tither, and then you kind of got behind, and then you just stopped.

You used to be on the serving team, and life got busy, and you stopped…..

You used to, and then you stopped.

For me, I'll just be gut-level honest with you.

It got more wrapped up in doing church than being a disciple of Jesus!

As a pastor, I got pulled into that world’s view of church and forgot about God’s!

I could not get my edge back until I was honest about where I lost it!

Be honest about where you lost it.

The second thing that I believe this text would teach us is this:

How we get our edge back:

Step 1 - Be honest about where we lost it.

How we get our edge back: Step 2 - Surround yourself with Godly friends.

Surround yourself with Godly friends.

I cannot tell you how many times my Godly friends and my Godly spouse have helped me recover my lost spiritual edge.

Look at it again….verse 5…

5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”

6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

7 “Lift it out,” he said.

Everybody say, "Lift it out."

Tell the person next to you, “Lift it out!”

Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

Then the man reached out with his hand and took it.

Lift it out.

Elisha was there to help this man get his edge back.

Elisha was there to show this man the power of God when he thought all hope was lost!

Elisha was there as a friend to guide him back to God because with God, nothing is lost!

But don’t miss the end of this passage.

Elisha didn’t lift it out of the water.

God didn’t lift it out of the water.

God brought it up just high enough that this man could see it.

And then a good friend said, “Lift it out!”

YOU need to lift it out.

YOU need to take the step and choose to change.

YOU need to choose to grab your life and change.

God wants you to take back what you lost as He brings it back within your reach.

But you need to take the step!!!

You need to CHOOSE to grab it!

PAUSE

Campus Pastor…

This is so true, church…

Let me just say…

The moment you start to think, "Maybe I can get it back!"

I can promise you there will be a voice in the back of your head that says,

"Oh, no, you can't get it back again. It's been too long, and you've gone too far. You've done too much and you can never have it back. After all you've done, you could have it back."

And that is the voice of the enemy…that is not the voice of God.

Don’t listen to it!

It's not too late to be the person that you could have been.

It's not too late to get back what you thought you could never have again.

It's not too late to have what you used to have and have even MORE with the power of our good God.

You haven't gone too far!!!

You haven't done too much!!!!

Our God specializes in helping you find what you didn't mean to lose.

God is going to bring it within reach BUT YOU have to lift it out!

You've got to go after it and get it.

PAUSE

You do what this prophet did.

You step into the river and grab the axe head that is somehow floating. That doesn’t make any sense.

Just like what we have seen in prior weeks that made NO SENSE!

But you step out in faith, and you do it.

When God causes what you have lost to come within reach, you reach out and grab it.

You do what you can do…

AND you trust God to do what you cannot do.

God wants to help you get back what you didn't mean to lose.

GO back and do what you once did, as Jesus called you to do.

And then trust Jesus to do what you cannot do.

Our God is a God of restoration.

No matter how far you drift from God, you can turn back to him!

We serve a God who specializes in helping people find what they did not mean to lose.

That's how good our God is. When he makes the axe head float, you lift it out.

So, church, here is our life application for this week.

Life Application: Examine your life to see where you may have lost your spiritual edge. If you cannot find anything, ask someone close to you to be honest with you. Then ask God to help you get it back and follow wherever he leads! As a result of today’s message, I will _________________________.