Dock Resource Kit

Sunday sermon, 23 November 2025

Summary

In the final week of our Formation series, we explored one of the strangest moments in 2 Kings and discovered a powerful truth for discipleship today. Through Jehoash’s half-hearted arrows and the life-giving touch of Elisha’s bones, Phil reminded us that formation is never only about what God does in us, but what God wants to grow through us. We are invited to think big about the part we play now and think beyond ourselves to the people our faithfulness will shape in the future. God places things in our hands and asks us to respond with courage, obedience, and whole hearts, trusting that he will multiply the fruit of our lives in ways we may never see.

Key Points & Takeways

• Formation is never only about you. What God forms in you becomes fruit for others.

• Jehoash shows the danger of half-hearted faith. God invites us to act with courage, not caution.

• Think big means giving God your whole heart in whatever he has placed in your hands.

• Think beyond means recognising that your faithfulness will shape people you may never meet.

• Elisha’s bones show that a formed life continues to bring life long after the moment has passed.

• The richest fruit of your life may be hidden, but God will multiply your obedience.

• Ask, What has God placed in my hand, and will I tap or will I strike.

Dock Discussion Questions

1. Where do you sense God placing something in your hands at the moment? How might you move from tapping to striking in that area?

2. What does thinking big look like for you right now? Is there a place where you need fresh courage, faith, or willingness to act?

3. Who has shaped your life through quiet faithfulness? How might God be inviting you to think beyond and invest in someone else in the same way?

4. Which hidden habits in your life could become seeds of fruitfulness for others? How might you nurture those habits this week?

Long-form, edited transcript

Formation:
Think Big, Think Beyond

2 Kings 13.14–21

This is the final Sunday of our Formation series. Over eight weeks we have walked with Elijah and Elisha through seasons that look a lot like our own. Calling that feels too big. Delays that test patience. Moments when you have faith for others but struggle for yourself. Times when you need God to open your eyes and remind you that his presence is still surrounding you.

This whole journey has been about our discipleship. Not quick fixes. Not spiritual upgrades. Formation. God shaping us to look more like Christ, and forming a church that can stand with courage here in East London.

And today, as we finish the series, we come to another weird and wonderful episode in 2 Kings. Featuring arrows, and bones. A story about what a formed life produces.

Because formation is never only about you. It’s about what God grows in you and through you. It is about the life that flows from your life. What God forms in you today becomes fruit for others tomorrow.

These final moments in Elisha’s story invite us to think big about what God can do now, and think beyond about what God can do long after this moment has passed.

So as we open the passage, listen for this two invitations, and if you want to write something down this is what I’ve titled this talk:

Think big.
Think beyond.

2 Kings 13.14–21

14 Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. ‘My father! My father!’ he cried. ‘The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’

15 Elisha said, ‘Get a bow and some arrows,’ and he did so. 16 ‘Take the bow in your hands,’ he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

17 ‘Open the east window,’ he said, and he opened it. ‘Shoot!’ Elisha said, and he shot. ‘The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!’ Elisha declared. ‘You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.’

18 Then he said, ‘Take the arrows,’ and the king took them. Elisha told him, ‘Strike the ground.’ He struck it three times and stopped. 19 The man of God was angry with him and said, ‘You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.’

20 Elisha died and was buried.

Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.

This is the word of the Lord!

Think Big — The Kings Arrows

2 Kings 13.14–19

So what’s going on, well, Elisha is dying. The prophet who has carried Israel for decades is breathing his last, and King Je-ho-ash comes to see him. Jehoash is not a model king. Like many of Israel’s kings his is faith is mixed at best. But he knows this moment matters. Something sacred is ending.

He weeps and repeats the words Elisha once spoke over Elijah. “My father, my father. The chariots and horsemen of Israel.” In other words, Elisha, you have been our strength. What happens when you go.

And Elisha begins to enact this prophetic picture. He command’s him: Take a bow. Take some arrows. Put your hand on the bow.

Then Elisha places his hands over the king’s hands. And it is a beautiful image of how God works. Our weak hands covered by God’s strong hands. Jehoash’s muddled faith — our muddled faith — covered by God’s steady presence.

A wonderful picture of formation.

Of God at work even when you are unsure, strengthening your courage, teaching you how to stand, to shoot, to trust.

Elisha says, Open the east window.
Then, Shoot. And Jehoash shoots.
“Yes,” Elisha says, “the Lord’s arrow of victory.”

It’s as if God is saying, Elisha may be going, but Jehoash, I am still with you, and I’m inviting you in, your actions matter, your formation will shape the future. I am giving you a chance to step into what I want to do. Partner with me. Trust me.

*Phil pickup a bat*

Then Elisha gives the test.
“Now strike the ground with the arrows.”
In other words, act with faith. Act with courage.

Jehoash taps them three times.
*tap tap tap with the foam bat*

Elisha’s not impressed. Scripture says he was angry. “You should have struck the ground five or six times. Now you will only see part of what God wanted to do.”

And the issue here is not theatrics. It is the heart. Jehoash held back. He played safe.

He tapped when he should have struck.
*slam foam bat on the floor five times*

The challenge for me, when I read this story, is how many times has God placed something in my hands and I have treated it like it does not really matter. How many times have I prayed small prayers or taken safe steps when God was inviting me into something bigger, something that could really bless others.

Think big is not about ambition. This is not a motivational message. It’s an invitation to bring your whole heart to what God asks of you and trust that your simple obedience will make a big impact on those around you.

For some of us, think big means asking God to enlarge your faith again. You’ve seen God at work, but perhaps you’ve just got comfortable, have settled, you no longer expect God to use you. That your faith could strengthen someone else has dropped off the radar. And this story says, pick up the arrows again. Think big. God can and will use you. God wants you back in the fight.

For others, think big means more courage. Maybe there is something in your hand right now. A conversation. A decision. A calling. A quiet nudge from God. And the question is whether you will give God your all.

Think big doesn’t mean do everything. It means that whatever you do do, do it with faith. Give it all can, trusting that God will multiply your obedience in ways you could never imagine.

Like Jehoash God is inviting you to join him in forming the future, but Jehoash missed it.

The question is simple — what has God placed in your hand. Will you tap, or will you strike.

Think Beyond — The Prophets Bones

2 Kings 13.20–21

After the episode with Jehoash the story takes a sudden turn. Elisha dies. No chariot of fire. No whirlwind. No farewell speech. The writer barely pauses. Elisha died and was buried. Full stop.

This is a big contrast with Elijah. Elijah leaves the stage in a blaze of fire and glory. Elisha quietly slides away. But, of course, that’s not quite the end.

Some time later a group of Israelites are burying a man when raiders appear. They panic. They move quickly. They throw the body into the nearest tomb, which happens to belong to Elisha. The moment the dead man touches Elisha’s bones, he stands up and lives again.

And this wild, right. There’s nothing else in Scripture like this. This is not a formula. No magic prayer technique. We’re just shown that somehow Elisha’s life has been so shaped by God, so formed in obedience and full of faith and compassion, that even in death he carries life. That Elisha’s faithfulness echoes beyond his lifetime. That what God formed in him becomes life for others.

And this is the second invitation for us.
Think big, and think beyond.

Think beyond your immediate season.
Think beyond your circumstances.
Think beyond your own story.

Because your obedience today can bring life to someone else tomorrow.

Your habits, your prayer life, your generosity, your truthfulness, your compassion can shape people you may never meet.

Some of you will remember Celia, who passed away a year ago last week. Celia was part of SPS for over seventy years. She first attended here in the late 1930s. She served with six different Rectors and she was part of the small faithful group who welcomed the church plant 20 years ago in 2005.

I want to read you an extract from her eulogy, which you can still find at sps.church/celia

By the late 1990s, however, SPS faced renewed challenges, with its viability under question. Proposals were put forward to repurpose the building. With a small but committed congregation and a dwindling PCC, Celia firmly opposed these changes, believing in a future for SPS as a living, worshipping community.

Celia’s persistence and vision helped lead to a bold decision: a church plant lead from HTB by Ric Thorpe… The plant brought fresh energy, vision, and growth to SPS. Confident that the church was now in safe hands, Celia stepped back from her PCC role, believing her mission to sustain the church for future generations had been fulfilled.

This decision not only secured SPS’s future but paved the way for its ongoing mission. Over the past two decades, SPS has sown into 12 church plants and partnerships and resourced numerous other parishes, embodying Celia’s hope and dedication to “give away things that grow.”

By the time I arrived at SPS Celia’s health meant she was rarely able to attend, and I remember visiting her at home and asking how we could care for her. She smiled and said, “Do not worry about me, worry about the young people.” That was Celia. A woman who thought beyond. While all the change hadn’t been easy, she was a woman who trusted that God uses hidden faithfulness to shape futures she might never see.

And we all get to play our part in the same work. You form younger believers and those to come through the way you pray now, the way you serve, the way you show up, the way you stay faithful when life is hard, the way you carry hope when others would have given up.

I am so grateful for all the people who shaped me, many of them without ever realising it. Leaders who prayed for me. Older Christians who never preached but carried a quiet steadiness around me. People who kept their word. People who lived with integrity. People who encouraged me at exactly the right moment. They thought they were doing something ordinary. Their bones brought life to me. Their faithfulness created space for me to stand.

The truth is, most of the fruit of your life will be invisible to you. That is how the Kingdom works. Seeds in the soil. Yeast in dough. Quiet influence that grows and grows.

Think beyond is not about being remembered. It is about being faithful and fruitful. Your part is faithfulness. God’s part is fruitfulness.

Elisha dies quietly — faithfully — but the life God formed in him kept bearing fruit.

Each one of us too can trust that God will take what he forms in us and multiply it far beyond our reach.

The Fruit Of Formation

So, as we reach the end of this journey with Elijah and Elisha, I think God wants to challenge us about how we are being formed, and to encourage us to think big and think beyond ourselves to what our formed lives begin to produce.

Throughout this series we have seen that formed people become faithful people, and faithful people become fruitful people.

My prayer is that you feel one steps further on your formation journey. In the way you pray at home, more courage at work, more compassion with your family, faithfulness growing little by little — it’s all fruit.

But my prayer is not just for what God will grow in you, but what God will grow through you. What and who, who will find courage because you stood firm. Who will feel seen because you slowed down long enough to listen. Who will rediscover hope because you carried it for them.

This is the richest fruit of formation.

It is generosity that brings life into a home.
It is integrity that reshapes a workplace.
It is compassion that begins healing.
It is hospitality that becomes family.
It is prayer that opens the way.
It is forgiveness that brings freedom.

And just like Elisha’s bones, perhaps the juiciest fruit of your life may be the fruit you never see.

Think Big, Think Beyond

These are not slogans. They are postures that shape how we follow Jesus and how we form others.

And this is a message for every single one of us, and it is also our call together here at SPS — to live out these two invitations.

To be a people who think big about what God can do among us. A people who think beyond themselves and carry the life of Christ into every corner of this city. A people who strike the arrows with faith and whose bones bring life through love, courage, compassion, and prayer.

This is how we make disciples.
This is how we transform communities.
This is how we plant churches.

We’re going to pray now, I want to pray for two groups of people.

1. For those who need to think big again

Maybe there is something God has asked of you. Something he has invited you into. Something you have held back on because you did not feel ready or you felt too tired or too stretched or too unsure of yourself. Maybe this series has stirred something. Maybe this passage has woken something up in you.

You need to hear that God hasn’t given up on his invitation. He’s still asking you to strike the arrow that he’s handing you.

So we’re going to ask for fresh courage today. Ask him to help you think big again.

2. For those who need to think beyond

Some of you have been faithful for years and you wonder whether it has made any difference. You have prayed. You have encouraged. You have served. You have loved. You have forgiven. You have stayed steady in storms that would have undone many others. And sometimes it has felt hidden. Unnoticed. Ordinary.

Hear this. God sees it. God has used more of your life than you realise. Your faithfulness has already raised people to life. Your decisions have already shaped someone else’s story. Your ordinary obedience has carried extraordinary power.

I want to ask God to show you how or who he wants you to invest in. To widen your vision and trust that he will multiply the fruit of your life in ways you could never imagine, and may never fully see.

So, let us pray.

Holy Spirit, form us.
Shape our vision.
Strengthen our courage.
Deepen our trust.
Grow compassion in us.
Build resilience in our hearts.
Make us a people who think big about what you can do.
Make us a people who think beyond our own story and become life to others.

Lord, take the arrows in our hands and teach us to strike them with faith.
Take the hidden places of our lives and fill them with your presence.
Take the habits we choose and let them become seeds of blessing for others.
Take our daily obedience and weave it into something far greater than we can imagine.

Make us a church whose faith multiplies.
Make us a community where people rise to life because your life is in us.
And let the fruit of your formation in us spill out into this city in ways that honour you and draw people to Christ.

We ask this in your name.
Amen.