The Gamut of Faith

1. INTRODUCTION
1. (Life of Elisha)
2. Good morning! My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here at Renovation Church.
1. I think one of the harder things to understand about the Christian faith is the full range of emotions, joys, and trials we experience in this life.
3. Many of us start off our faith in utter joy, and then we experience trials, and valleys, and then some more mountaintops, followed by a valley.
1. And it can all be rather confusing especially if you don’t have a broad understanding of how God works.
1. This is part of why I think it’s really important to read the entire Bible, and part of why we try to teach through entire books from all over the Bible.
1. If you just pull out random verses of the Bible every Sunday, you can end up accidentally developing an only half-true version of God…
2. But when you read this whole book, you begin to clearly see that God’s people experienced mountains, and valleys, and everything in between.
1. They experienced the entire Gamut of Faith.
1. (The Gamut of Faith)
1. And that’s what we’re going to talk about this morning.
2. Gamut just means the entire range or scope of something.
1. Like all of the notes on the scale (was its original meaning)
2. And in your walk with Christ, you’re going to experience the full gamut.
1. And today we’re going to see a microcosm of that in just one story
2. BLESSING
1. 2 Kings 4:8-17
2. Page 252
1. We are continuing in our Summer Series on the Life of Elisha the prophet.
1. I think one of the great blessings of spending time studying Old Testament Narrative is that it shows us real people dealing with real problems, and how God meets them in it.
3. (2 Kings 4:8-17) – NIV
4. 8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
   11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”
   She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”
   14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.
   Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”
   15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”
   “No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”
   17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
1. Okay, what we’re going to see as we progress through 30 verses today is the Gamut of Faith.
1. And firstly, this woman experiences a blessing.
1. (Blessing Slide).
2. In the ancient world, there was a major stigma with not being able to have children.
1. And not to mention, there is no social security.
1. It was your sons that took care of you in your later years, and they continued your family line, and took care of your property and the family inheritance.
1. So this woman is missing a lot.
3. And certainly for years, she must have felt the pain of infertility.
1. As many of you in this room have felt.
1. It’s deeply person and painful.
2. And so when Elisha says, “about this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms”
1. She basically says, “Don’t mess with me like that. You better not be playing with me! Not on that!”
1. But Elisha is not, and a year later, she is blessed with the blessing of all blessings, a child.
5. So what can we learn about blessings from this story in 2 Kings?
1. I think one principle we could draw from it is this:
1. We can’t make God move, but we can make room for Him to move.
1. Christianity is not a formula. It’s not paganism.
1. You can’t procure God’s blessing simply by giving a certain amount of money or hitting a certain attendance percentage at church or getting a streak on your Bible app
2. But, that being said, you can make room for God to move.
1. We discussed this when we taught through Colossians a couple of years ago, and we said:
1. (Sailboat Graph)
1. Some people feel like the way to see God’s blessings and goodness is to paddle themselves and work really hard, so they can earn blessings.
2. On the opposite end of the spectrum, others feel like, “Nah, just sit back (like on a raft) and God will do all the work”
2. But really a balanced, Biblical perspective to spiritual growth and blessing, is that you’ve got to have your ship out on the water, and sail up, but then the wind is gonna do what the wind is gonna do (and God is going to do what God is going to do).
1. But you’ve got to have your sail up!
6. And one of the things I don’t want you to miss about this woman is she making room for God (her sail is up!) before the blessing!
1. Verse 8 tells us that she honors God’s servant Elisha and invites him for a meal whenever he was in town
2. Verse 10 tells us that she even makes a permanent room for him so he can stay there whenever he is passing through.
1. This is more than hospitality.
1. It’s a metaphor for making room for God to be in and work in your life.
1. It’s putting up the sails.
3. And so if you want to experience more of the goodness of God (more of God’s BLESSING) in your life, my question for you right now is are you on a raft or a sailboat?
1. Are you just floating through life waiting to be blessed, or is your sail up?
1. Are you pursuing God?
2. On your knees in the morning?
3. In His Word at night?
4. Are you listening in silence in the car?
2. How is he going to move if your ears are plugged and your sail is down?
3. TESTING
1. All right, let’s keep reading because now we’re going to hit a second stage on the Gamut of Faith
2. 2 Kings 4:18-24
3. Page 252
1. The woman is blessed with a son, but here comes the trial
1. We left off at verse 18
4. (2 Kings 4:18-24) – NIV
5. 18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”
   His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
   22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
   23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”
   “That’s all right,” she said.
   24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.”
6. (the Gamut of Faith)
1. Ooof.
1. Can you even imagine the pain of this? Some of you maybe can.
2. God blesses you with a new relationship, and then it’s over.
3. God blesses you with health, and then you get diagnosed with an illness
4. God blesses you with your dream home, but then you lose it.
7. This happens. It’s real life. Many of us have been there.
1. And for a lot of us it shakes our faith.
1. In part because a lot of us get stuck in this transactional, paddleboat-like faith that says, “If I do this for God, then He owes me”
1. (Testing Slide)
2. And so then… when the trials come… or the testing phase comes, we can’t figure it out…because He owes us!”
2. But these Biblical stories remind us that we live in a fallen & complex world.
1. One with sickness, and sin…death and demons…brokenness and betrayal.
1. Even in the story right before this one (the one with the widow and the jars of oil)…remember that widow’s husband was a prophet (to Elisha himself!), but he DIED…leaving his family in debt.
1. And that doesn’t mean that God isn’t good, but it does mean that this world is broken.
1. Your faith does not shield you from pain.
3. And as we’ve taught often here over the last year or two, there can be lots of different reasons we experience suffering:
1. Some of our suffering comes from the fact that we live in a fallen world.
2. Sometimes when we suffer it can because of our own sin and poor choices.
3. Sometimes it’s because of spiritual warfare and spiritual evil attacking us
4. Other times God is disciplining us.
5. Other times He might even be pruning us (which we gave a whole message when we did John 15 last winter)
6. Other times, He’s testing us.
1. And in those times of discipline, pruning, or testing, God’s intention is to grow us.
4. And so you absolutely will experience periods of testing and difficulty.
1. But if you trust God through them, you will grow because of them.
8. I read this in a book last year, and I thought this was fascinating, but back in late 1980’s they launched quite the experiment in the Arizona desert called, “Biosphere 2.”
1. (Biosphere)
2. It was and still is the largest attempt to build a closed artificial ecosystem as a way to prepare for building an ecosystem in outer space.
1. There were many failures, but one of the most interesting failures were the trees.
1. Many of the trees they planted to create a rainforest ecosystem grew rapidly, but then they fell over before reaching maturity.
2. What they realized is that they didn’t factor in that young trees need wind to grow properly.
1. Because, when the wind blows (and the storm comes), it bends the tree, which tugs at the roots on the windward side and compresses the wood on the other side.
1. In response, the root system expands to provide a firmer anchor where it is needed…
1. And actually, the compressed wood cells change their structure to become stronger and firmer to weather a storm next time around.
3. And in many ways, humans are similar.
1. (Testing Slide)
2. If the wind never comes to your life…and you rarely go through a testing phase of your faith, you too will wither when a real storm comes your way.
9. And so you will experience pain and difficulty
1. Sometimes in hard places.
1. This woman in 2 Kings 4 had everything (land, servants, money, home, husband)…expect what?
1. A child.
1. And yet where was she tested?
1. In that very tender spot.
2. You will feel testing sometimes…even in the most tender places.
1. In your marriage, with your kids.
2. Perhaps your mental health.
3. Your career.
1. Especially, if you’re putting your identity in something other than God, expect to be tested there!
2. You know that phrase “God will not give you more than you can handle?”
1. It’s not from the Bible.
1. God will absolutely sometimes give you more than you can handle, because for a lot of us, it’s in only in those really difficult circumstances that we actually learn to surrender.
1. One of my favorite Charles Spurgeon quotes is this:
2. (SpurgeonWave)
1. And I always think of this image when I think about it
3. If you think about it, the Bible doesn’t describe a God who sits in heaven like a philosopher and explains every reason behind our suffering, but the Bible describes a God who enters into our suffering.
1. And He is there with us.
1. And knows suffering.
1. And He can redeem, suffering.
1. Which brings us to our next section.
1. Let’s keep reading.
4. RESURRECTING
1. 2 Kings 4:25-37
2. Page 252
1. The mother has just set out to go and find Elisha the prophet
3. (2 Kings 4:25-37) – NIV
4. 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
   When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”
   “Everything is all right,” she said.
   27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
   28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
   29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
   30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.
   31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
   32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
   36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
1. (Resurrecting Slide)
1. The woman has now hit a different part of her faith journey: the resurrecting stage, where God seems to be making something out of nothing again.
1. From blessing, to testing, to resurrecting.
1. And this is a journey you will experience many times over, my friend, in your walk with Jesus Christ.
2. especially for the many of you that are younger in this room.
1. The more you can know this now, the better you’ll be able to keep walking with God as it happens.
5. And I think there’s plenty we can learn from the Shunammite woman and how she reacts in her stage of testing and trial.
1. Firstly, look at how she just pursues God in her trial.
1. She doesn’t bury the boy, doesn’t even tell her husband what’s happening, she just saddles up the donkey, and is going to SINGLE-MINDEDLY pursue the man of God.
1. She reaches Elisha, and she grabs hold of his feet, and she won’t let go.
1. My friends, in your trials, chase after God like that.
1. Get down at his feet and don’t let go!
2. Too many of us, we get in that testing phase, and the trials hit us right in the face, and we do everything BUT run after God.
1. Some people try and numb the pain with the bottle or streaming or doom scrolling.
2. Others go into research mode, and they read every book, and every article.
1. But listen, you can go to every friend, you can go to every AI tool, you can ask every expert, but the only place you will find resurrection, is Jesus Christ.
3. So saddle that donkey up, and start chasing after God again…asking him to resurrect you out of your trials.
1. And even if He doesn’t…
1. Remember, we believe in the greater resurrection.
2. Some of you may know the famous hymn “It is Well with my Soul”
1. It was written by a Chicago man named Horatio Spafford who worked with the great evangelist DL Moody back in the 1800’s
1. And Spafford put his wife and his 4 young daughters on a ship to go to England where they would be vacationing and helping with a DL Moody Outreach, one in which he would soon join them.
1. And as the mom & 4 kids were going across the Atlantic, their ship, tragically, crashed into another vessel.
1. 226 people died, including all 4 of Spafford’s children.
2. His wife survived, and when she got to London, she famously telegraphed him two words.
1. “Saved Alone”
2. And so he got on a boat to meet his wife in London.
1. As he was going across the Atlantic Ocean, he heard a knock on his cabin door. The captain of the vessel said to him, “Sir, this is approximately where the accident took place, and all your children perished”
3. And when the captain knocked, Spafford happened to be in his room, reading this very passage from 2 Kings…where the woman lost her son, and when Elisha first asked her, “All you all right?”
1. In the King James, the version Spafford would have had, she responds. It is well”
1. It is well.
1. And on that day, he wrote his most famous song (that the Lord has used so powerfully)
2. And the woman of 2 Kings is saying, “Lord, I need you to move. I need you desperately.

……..

1. But, ultimately, at the core, in my soul…it is well.
1. Because I know you.
2. Because I’m saved.
3. Because eternity, where wrong is made right, and death is turned back into life…is coming.
1. It is well, with my soul.

(3rd service skip to non-italicized Gospel)

1. BAPTISMS
1. (Baptism Slide)
2. And one of the ways we look to the resurrection of that coming life is through baptism
3. So, at this point I want to call out Baptismal Team on stage.
1. As we are going to celebrate a baptism at this service
4. Baptisms are a visual reminder that God’s Son, Jesus Christ has paid for our sins.
1. And by our faith in Him, we were forgiven, washed clean.
1. And not only that, that God has raised us up from the dead and given us new life.
2. Baptism doesn’t save you.
1. But it is such an important symbol of his love.
3. Every person you see baptized at Renovation Church is baptized by sponsors (people who’ve had a spiritual impact on them)

Baptisms

9:00: Ryan Smith
10:15: Brittany Wood, Miranda Sawvel
11:30: none

1. GOSPEL PRESENTATION AFTER BAPTISM
1. (The Gamut of Faith)
2. Thank you for your testimony(s).
1. These stories of resurrection are so important because what God did for this boy in our passage, He can do in your life.
2. And listen, at your death (and we’re all going to die someday) whether we want to think about it or not…
1. God can raise you back to life…to eternal life with Him in heaven!
3. But how?
1. That’s perhaps the biggest question of life…the most important one.
1. What will happen when you die?
1. For all of our modern-day therapy, and stress relievers, and smart-watches that tell you when to do your relaxation-breathing…
1. Humans can’t seem to get rid of the fear of one thing…death.
4. But Jesus came to conquer death
1. And He conquered death firstly Himself.
1. He was killed on a cross, and 3 days later, He rose again…proving that He did what His father in Heaven wanted Him to do.
1. Which was to die in your place for your sins.
2. God in his love for you, allows that punishment to go on His Son Jesus.
1. So that you can be saved.
1. And if you would put your faith in Him and turn your life over to Him, God can save you.
3. But you have to offer your life up to God to save you.
1. We must acknowledge that if we don’t give our lives to God…
1. …we will not resurrect to new life and heaven
1. But instead we will go down to eternal separation from Him…to hell.
2. And so I urge you, with the utmost seriousness that I can, to trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation and future resurrection.
5. In fact, I want to give some of you the opportunity to turn your life over to God today.
6. Let’s just have everyone bow their head and close their eyes.
1. If you’ve never done this before, and you want to believe and Jesus and turn your life over to Him
1. I urge you to respond.
1. If that’s you, as a way to mark this day, and tell Him that you believe, I want you to stand up where you are right now.
2. Everyone has their eyes closed, so don’t think about that.
1. If you need to tell Jesus that you believe, and you need His forgiveness…
2. If you’re ready to surrender to Him…
1. Stand up right now.
7. For those of you standing, we want to pray with you.
1. Repeat this out loud after me…whether you’re a brand-new believer or have been one for quite some time.
8. Repeat after me
9. Dear God
1. I confess to you, that I have sinned against you.
2. But God I believe, that you sent your Son Jesus, to take my place
1. And God I thank you, for forgiving my sins.
3. And now I commit, to following you, with my life.
10. Amen, you can have a seat.
1. For those of you that stood up…
1. Important decision, need resources, what to do next.
2. I’m going to pray and close the service in a second, but for the TWO/THREE of you that stood up, come see me after.
11. Let me pray