Title: What to do when you are stuck in a rut
Text: 2 Kings 6:1-7
Introduction
“The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go up to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole and let us build a place there for us to live.” And he said “Go.” Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?” “I will,” Elisha replied. And he went with them.
As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh, my Lord,” he cried out, “it was borrowed.”
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. Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.”
Our Object today and every Sunday is to apply the passage of scripture to our lives
What is the application of this passage?
We should return anything we borrow- before we end up losing it.
Real application
Sometimes setbacks happen to us in life and we need to know how to respond!
Title: What to do when you are stuck in a rut (spiritually speaking)
We don’t go and deliberately get ourselves stuck in a rut. But it happens.
Sometimes we are out there trying out best for the Lord and all of a sudden something unexpected happens and next thing we know we are thrown off track.
•We end up hitting a wall
•We get sidetracked
•We lose our focus
What do we do when we get stuck in a spiritual rut?
•Maybe you are stuck in a spiritual rut and you know this message is for you
Or
Maybe you are not stuck in a spiritual rut and you are saying to yourself-
I don’t ever plan to be stuck in a spiritual rut so this message doesn’t apply to me
Well Nobody ever plans to be stuck in a spiritual rut yet it still can happen to any one of us
If you need proof look at how our scripture passage starts
“The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go up to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole and let us build a place there for us to live.”
•This company of prophets are all anti-spiritual ruts
This place where we meet is now too small for us- We better get to building a bigger place… Why? So we can continue to grow.
If we don’t find a bigger place and instead stay here -we could easily end up in a spiritual rut.
- everyone thought it was a great idea so they go off together to build a bigger place.
•Elisha
If we are going to go somewhere else and grow we need the right leader to lead us/ to keep us on our toes.
So they ask each other the question “Who do we know that is more passionate about growing than we are? Elisha!
So one of them invites Elisha to come with them and he agrees to it.
Why? Maybe He is excited about leading a company of prophets that wants to grow.
Then all of a sudden tragedy happens!
As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh, my Lord,” he cried out, “it was borrowed.”
We don’t know the reason why the axhead fell off but we do know it wasn’t because he was doing something he should not of being doing.
As he was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water…
Application
As we try to go about doing the work of the Lord sometimes through no fault of our own the unexpected can happen…
Suddenly everything that can go wrong- does go wrong
Specific situations
You are trying to do the work of the Lord but suddenly something bad happens to you and now you find yourself stuck in a spiritual rut
You never intended this to happen but it did!
Maybe it happened because
•Your boss comes against you…
•Your family falls to pieces
•Your health gets worse
•You lose your job.
•Your bills start piling up
•Life suddenly gets too busy
•Maybe some sin has got a hold of you
•Your friends don’t approve
•Maybe another Christian disappointed you
You find yourself today in a place where you have lost your axhead!
You find yourself no longer doing anything for the Lord that really means something.
You find yourself stuck in a spiritual rut!
What do you do when you find yourself in a place you don’t want to be?
Our passage gives us the answer
“Oh, my Lord,” he cried out, “it was borrowed.”
The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, 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. Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.”
Notice
First of all we have got to cry out to the Lord for help.
We can’t make the mistake of pretending to ourselves and to others that nothing is wrong.
If something bad happens and we find ourselves stuck in a spiritual rut we need to admit it/acknowledge it
As men in particular
We are not very quick to admit when we are stuck in a spiritual rut
We could be stuck in a spiritual rut for years and years and never admit it.
So why do we find this man in our passage admitting something terrible was wrong immediately?
It turns out the ahead wasn’t his to begin with – Instead we are told it was borrowed!
Here is the application (Some of us are not going to like this application)
Everything that you and I have -we have because we borrowed it!
It’s all been borrowed from God
Nothing is mine- nothing is yours – it’s all God’s!
God owns everything and he lets us borrow it for a time
It’s not my ministry - it’s God’s ministry
It’s understandable to be stuck in a spiritual rut but it doesn’t make it ok!
Whatever we have lost spiritually in our lives we have got to get it back
We borrowed it from God and we need to give it back to him!
Ref: Parable of the talents
How do you get your spiritual fire back?
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. Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.”
You have to identify the place where we first lost your passion for God.
This may be easy for some of us. This may be hard for some of us.
This may have happened recently for some of us. That may have happened years ago for some of us.
I was really on fire for God and then this happened and I never really got over it.
Maybe someone did something to you or said something to you and it has still left a negative spiritual affect on you.
Sometimes it can be a combination of different things.
But it’s important to try and identify those moments. Why?
God heals us by bringing us back to those moments and he helps us to edit the memories.
He wants to bring those moments back to the surface so he can heal us. So that a miracle can happen
If someone has hurt us then we have to forgive that person. That does not mean we are saying that what they did wasn’t wrong. It just means we don’t want that person to keep us stuck in a spiritual rut.
Lastly and this is something which is clear in our passage.
The only person who can get me out of a spiritual rut is myself..
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. Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.”
Although Elisha was a man of God notice he did not pick the axhead out of the water. He told the man to reach out his hand and pick it out for himself.
You can’t get me out of a spiritual rut and I can’t get you out of a spiritual rut. We have to reach out for ourselves.
God offers us today another opportunity to get back into the race but we have to reach out our hand and take what God is offering us.
Prayer
Maybe you are here today and you are in a spiritual rut. It’s important that you recognize how you got to the place you are today. Maybe you need to forgive someone. Maybe you need to forgive yourself. Remember God will help you to do what it is you need to do. We can only move forward if we take a hold of what God wants us to do. He wants to set us free. He wants to finish the work that he started in us.
