Elisha

Fall ‘25 Sermon Series

8/31/25 – 11/23/25

 

I doubt many of us feel like we’re all that safe from life’s storms.

There’s the large-scale chaos we see on the news – wars and war crimes, natural disasters, political upheaval – but then there’s also the smaller-scale chaos that swirls around us each day. Strained relationships, health challenges, job uncertainty, financial stress: as soon as you feel like life has “calmed down” a little, we all know what happens next!

As I write this, I’m still chuckling about an exchange Sarah and I had with my surgeon during pre-op consultation: “There’s a 1 in 1000 chance we hit your artery, in which case stroke is possible. It's bound to happen someday, but I’ve done over 1200 of these and never hit one yet!” We jokingly responded: “So statistically speaking, you’re saying you’re due to hit my artery?” If we stop and think about it for too long, it can be overwhelming how very fragile we are!

…in one sense. In another sense, we who are in Christ aren’t fragile at all. He is our rock, our stronghold amidst the storm. In him, we are unmoved, even when chaos batters us from every side. Tethered to him, we are unshaken.

 

And that’s what (some of) God’s people experienced in the books we know as 1-2 Kings. On our church’s read-through of these books this summer in our Bible reading plan, I was struck by how very chaotic it all is. One TEDS professor commented that Hollywood wouldn’t make 1-2 Kings into a movie because it would be too exhausting for moviegoers: as soon as we think we’ve been let up for air by a “good king” or a moment of national repentance, the situation quickly devolves again, often into something even worse than before.

But the Lord has given us 1-2 Kings to prepare us for our own chaos. How will we respond when life’s waves crash against us? 1-2 Kings can be a training ground for getting ourselves grounded immovably on God.

 

And that’s what we see some individuals in 1-2 Kings doing. They get themselves grounded amidst the chaos around them – specifically by latching on to God’s word through the prophets. Whether kings, widows, children, or generals, those in 1-2 Kings who attach themselves to the prophets find themselves unshaken amidst storms. Conversely, those who ignore the word of the Lord through the prophets and try to make their own way find themselves swallowed up.

As such, the book titled “Kings” is maybe even more centrally about the prophets. The words of the Lord through the prophets come to pass no matter what any kings do, and the kings are all evaluated based on whether they heeded the words of the Lord through the prophets. And wherever we see individuals or small communities of people (whether kings or commoners, Israelites or Gentiles) attaching themselves to the prophetic word, we see them experiencing abundance of life amidst the death and decay that surround them.

These little sprouts of life and vitality amidst what seemed dead pop up all over the book, and they give us a vision for what could happen on the North Shore if we, too, get ourselves grounded on God’s word amidst our own chaos. Our families, our friendships, and our church community could become places where vibrant life grows up out of soil that had been written off as dead!

 

In 2017, we preached through the narratives in 1-2 Kings focused on the prophet Elijah. I mentioned then that we’d one day pick up with the other major prophet in the book, Elijah’s protégé Elisha – and now that time has come. 

Whereas the narratives dealing with Elijah were often concerned with showing that God is powerful enough to ground us amidst large-scale chaos (geopolitical conflict, kings, armies, etc.), several of the narratives dealing with Elisha remind us that God is also compassionate enough to ground us amidst our smaller-scale chaos. The couple who can’t get pregnant, the person who borrows a neighbor’s tool and then breaks it, the person whose skin disease doctors can’t cure – God cares about all these, too, even if they never make national news.

And as such, we see a hundred ways in which Elisha points us to Christ. Everything from Elisha’s name (which means the same as Jesus’ name) to his miracles (many of which the gospel writers intentionally allude to in their accounts of Jesus’ miracles) to his tender, personal care for people with “small” problems – God has given us Elisha as a forerunner to Christ, reminding us that our Lord cares about us, too.

So I’m praying this fall: “Lord, use this sermon series to build the muscles that we will use to remain tethered to you amidst the chaos you will allow us to endure. As we join the community of faithful people who latch on to your word (in scripture) and who ultimately latch on to your word (incarnate in the person of Christ), bring life and vitality out of what was dead and decaying.”

- Tim Higgins 

Series Schedule

  • 8.31.25 | 2 Kings 2:1-15

  • 9.7.25 | 2 Kings 2:16-25

  • 9.14.25 | 2 Kings 3:4-27

  • 9.21.25 | 2 Kings 4:1-7

  • 9.28.25 | 2 Kings 4:8-37

  • 10.5.25 | 2 Kings 4:38-44

  • 10.12.25 | 2 Kings 5:1-19a

  • 10.19.25 | 2 Kings 5:19b-27

  • 10.26.25 | N/A

  • 11.2.25 | 2 Kings 6:8-23

  • 11.9.25 | 2 Kings 6:24-7:20

  • 11.16.25 | 2 Kings 8:1-15

  • 11.23.25 | 2 Kings 13:14-21