Sermon Tone Analysis

RECOVERING YOUR LOST SPIRITUAL VITALITY

*Reconnecting With God*

*Part 3 of  3*

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Week 3 - September 24, 2006

*                                                                                                                                      *1633 words

 

This morning we’re looking at the final part of our three part series which began by asking the question : How do I re-connect with God when I’ve been in a spiritual slump; when I’ve lost the  cutting edge of my faith in my relationship with God.

I suggested we need to do the four things the man in the story of the lost axe-head did in order to regain our passion, our commitment to God, that we had when we first came to faith in Jesus.

The first thing the man did and what we also need to do if we’ve lost our spiritual cutting edge, is to admit we’ve lost it; we admit we’re not as close to God as we used to be; secondly we acknowledge where we lost it.

In the story of the lost axe head the man acknowledged the exact spot where he lost his cutting edge; thirdly it’s the step of faith – we expect God to give us back what has been lost.

We must believe that God can and will and wants to bring us back to Him in a close relationship.

We’ve got to believe it, we’ve got to have faith.

The last thing we need to do, and that we’re considering this morning is to:

* *

*4.

Reach out and receive Him.                                          *

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You admit you’ve lost it, you admit where you’ve lost it, you expect God to give it back to you and then you reach out and you receive it.

You accept what God wants to give you by His grace because it’s all by grace anyway.

Today we’re going to remember God's greatest gift to us as we take communion.

2 Kings 6 says /”’Now get it,’ Elisha told him.

And the prophet reached in and grabbed it.”/

Do not miss this important point.

The God who did this miracle – piece of iron at the bottom of the Jordan river and the God who miraculously floats it back up to the top so He can take it back could have just as easily have taken it another 15 feet, brought it up out of the water, through the air and put it in the guys’ hand if He had wanted to.

But He didn’t.

He just brought it to the top of the water and said, Now you reach in and grab it.

What’s the point?

You have to do your part.

You have to do your part in coming back to God.  You’ve got to reach out and receive it.

Look at Revelation 2 again.

Here’s how you reach out and receive it.

Jesus says, /“The love you had at first is gone.

Remember how far you have fallen.

Return to Me and change the way you think and act and do what you did at first.”/

Three things.

If you’ve been distracted and disconnected from God do these three things.

First you remember.

What was it like when I was close to God?

You think about how good that felt and how great it was to be in the centre of God's will with a clear conscious and knowing the joy of being connected to God.

You remember those good times.

You remember how far you’ve fallen.

Second, you return.

Take the steps back to Me. 

 

            Third, you repeat.

Do the things you did at first.

Did you know that these three steps work in any relationship?

It’s not just a relationship to God but it’s the key to restoring love in any relationship.

Within a relationship, love comes and goes.

Love is a choice.

It’s because you’re choosing not to love.

It’s not something that’s uncontrollable in your life.

You’ve chosen not to.

He was an idiot or she was an idiot or you both were and you’ve stopped loving each other!

Love is always a choice.

If you choose to not love you can also choose to love again.

How do you restore a lost love in a marriage that’s gone dead?

You do the exact three same things here.

You remember what it was like when you first got married, when you first started dating.

Why did you fall in love with them in the first place?

What attracted you in the first place?

What excited you and what was it that you found so appealing and attractive?

You remember those good times when you had the good times.

And then you return to that relationship.

You don’t wait for them to come back to you.

You go back to them.

Take the steps to move forward.

Then it says you do the things you did at first.

You know why you lost your love for that person?

You’re not doing the things you use to do.

You don’t send flowers any more.

You don’t make the phone calls.

You don’t spend time together.

Instead you sit around and make bodily sounds you would never have done in the early days.

From both ends of the body!

And if you want to restore the love in a relationship you need to do the things you did at first.

Buy little presents and act in loving ways and do loving things.

That’s what brings the love back.

And that’s what brings the love back to Jesus Christ.

You need to do those things you use to do when you were so in love with God, when you were close to Him.

If you don’t get anything else I say, I want you to get this.

*You are as close to God as you want to be.*

You can’t blame it on anybody else – your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your husband, your wife, your parent.

You are as close to God as you want to be.

If you’re not close to God, guess who moved?

People who are connected to God, people who are blessed by God, people who have God's power in their life, people who are used by God, do you know why they have that?

It’s because they want it!

They desire it!

They crave it!

They long for it!

They want it more than anything else in the world.

I want to be close to God.

You know why God uses me?

You want to know why God's hand of blessing is on my life?

It’s because I crave it.

I want it more than anything else in the world.

I want to know and love God.

Nothing else even comes close including loving my wife who I would die for.

But it’s nothing compared to what I want of God in my life.

That’s my choice.

And it’s your choice too.

Do you want God to bless you?  Do you want God to do miracles in your life?

Do you want to sense His presence and His power?

Then you need to just make the choice.

Because people who are blessed by God desire it with all their hearts.