Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
You could turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Can you believe we're almost finished Hebrews?
I know some of you are. I sure can.
But I mean such magnificent lessons in Hebrews.
And so we're drawing near to the close and we'll be praying about where to go next.
But it's just awesome to see the significance of the entire word of God wrapped into Hebrews,
all pointing to Christ. Today's message is unshakable as you're turned into Hebrews chapter 12.
And in this, I always see this as such an epic scene, you know, as it's described, you know,
comparing Mount Sinai to Mount Zion and the significance of the word of God.
And, you know, we know the word of God shapes all things, right?
He shaped everything into existence.
And he also has the power to shake all things.
And that's what we're going to be looking at.
The way the word of the Lord shapes and shakes all things because he is master over everything
and he holds all things together.
So let's pray and ask the Lord to really pierce thrill and speak to each one of us.
Father God, we thank you for your word and we thank you for your Holy Spirit.
And we just want to rest in that.
Right now, Lord, I want to rest in that.
Lord, I ask you to do all the work here today that I could just be an observer and just
a student here, Lord, just watching you use your word to do
miraculous surgery on each one of us, Lord God, because we want to walk out of here
more like you.
So we ask you to speak to us today in Jesus name.
Amen.
Excuse my occasion.
I'm not sick, I'm something, but I'm not sick, but we'll see.
But I believe the Lord will carry me through this message.
Unshakable, you know, as I was reading through this, we're going to read it in a second,
but I was thinking about how, you know, the word of God certainly does have the power
to shape all things and shake all things.
And then I was thinking about different words that have been spoken, quotes throughout humanity
that really have shaken the world, words that shake the world.
And as the Lord brought me down this rabbit trail, I started to think about
different words that just come to mind of famous people that they spoke different things.
And some of these quotes that we're going to look at won't necessarily
be familiar to you, probably most will, but a lot of times it's really just the messenger
because of what they said.
They said so many things.
In fact, so many of these quotes, they had so many, I had to choose one out of hundreds, you know,
of quotes.
But these impactful words, these people spoke things that really did shake up the world,
really changed the course of humanity in many cases.
So let's take a look at some of these.
And the first one, I don't even remember this guy's name, but he was one of the founders of
this country, and maybe you did, but I just remember the words like the back of my hand.
If you could put that up, Pat, the first one.
And this is Patrick Henry, give me liberty or give me death.
You've heard of that one right before.
And this, of course, is the revolutionary war where our forefathers were forming America.
And as a revolution against Great Britain.
And so they laid so much aside, they laid it all down.
Many of these were very wealthy people, and they said, I would rather be poor and stand
for what's right than be oppressed by a religious oppression and a kingship that isn't Godly,
you know?
And then how about the next one?
We have Abraham Lincoln.
I mean, you know, you look him up and there's so many quotes of his and many aren't really
his or their paraphrases, but he did say this and let's face it.
His major claim to fame is the abolishment of slavery.
And here he says, those who deny freedom to others deserve it.
Not something happened to themselves, but for themselves.
In other words, you can't be free if you want someone else to be enslaved.
He had so many amazing quotes, but that was just one which isn't fully there.
But you get the idea that he was all about, you know, abolishment of slavery.
There's been a lot of critics that have come along and said, well, really, yeah,
he was all about the abolishment of slavery.
If you look him up, his family were all into this and he learned it from his mom and dad.
So how about the next one?
Gandhi.
Okay.
And interesting enough, of course, he was the he was in India and he was leading a peaceful
revolution against Great Britain, trying to free their country from oppression, imperialism.
And he was a student of Christianity, of Islam and many things.
So but he had a lot of wisdom as a result of studying the word of God.
And I'm not saying that it was spirit filled, but certainly it was truth.
And he said, the week can never forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
I like another thing which coincides really with this message.
He says, in a gentle way, you can shake the world, you know.
And so Gandhi certainly is an image to everyone of peaceful protest and also in prayer overturning
the structures of society.
Right.
How about another one?
Winston Churchill.
He was an orator.
I mean, that guy had so many things he said and wrote were just phenomenal.
Of course, he led he led Great Britain when they were being bombarded by Nazi Germany.
Night after night, they were shelled.
And I don't know how London even remained after all the bombings they went through day
after day, night after night.
And yet he led England to stay stand against that evil dictatorship of Hitler.
And he said, never, never, never give up.
And of course, he said many other things.
But really that again, it's not just the words.
You might not know those words, but you can picture him of being this this
catalyst for his country to stand up against dictatorship and against being a victim of
Nazi Germany.
Winston Churchill.
I like another one.
He always he said, if you're going through hell, keep on going.
I love that because we all go through a taste of hell on Earth sometimes.
But just keep going because God will bring you out of it.
How about this Neil Armstrong, one small step for man, one giant step for mankind.
I heard some giggling there.
We're not getting into conspiracy theories to see the today.
But certainly it made an impact on society, didn't it?
Because wow, we landed on the moon.
I mean, it was phenomenal to think that mankind could actually do that.
Okay.
Moving right along.
JFK was another one.
I mean, I, you know, he spoke so many amazing things.
And the one, of course, is ask not what your country can do for you.
Ask what you can do for your country.
What a right wing thing to say.
But anyway, I mean, really, I love those words because really it's a mindset that has been
completely lost now for generations.
Isn't it?
It's like all that gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme.
But anyway, so that was JFK.
Again, he had many other things.
And also, Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
His day is coming up next week.
And certainly his speeches are just so powerful.
And so much passion there because of what he was standing for.
The turning over of racial injustice in this country.
And I have a dream.
I really implore all of you, hey, all these people, by the way, have had their flaws.
Every single person we've looked at so far have all had flaws.
But when you get a chance, just watch some of his speeches.
They're so emotional.
I've cried watching that one that when he was saying, I may not get there with you.
And can you imagine he would actually die that very night?
It's just phenomenal.
Some of his speeches were so drenched with emotion and raw zeal to see freedom.
How about Ronald Reagan?
Now, he said a lot of amazing things.
But I think this is certainly one of his most famous statements.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
And he was in Berlin saying, let's stop separating people.
Let's bring freedom here.
And he was talking to, of course, the, I guess you call him a president of the Soviet Union.
And so the end of the Cold War.
These are words that echo throughout human history.
How about another?
We'll move more now into spiritual.
And you know, I never knew Billy Graham said this,
but it's funny because I spiritually instinctively say this all the time.
I never knew he said this.
He said, you will never understand who you are until you understand who God is.
I mean, really, if you don't know your creator, how can you know why you were created?
How can you know why you walked the face of the earth?
How can you know the eternal you, right?
If you don't know your creator.
And so Billy Graham.
And of course, another one who just recently met his demise through assassination
is Charlie Kirk.
And again, so many quotes, but I love this one.
The future belongs to those who refuse to stay silent.
How much has he motivated the next generation?
I love his other quote underneath there.
God, family, country in that order.
Isn't that awesome?
And then of course, you know, God has the final word and there is no quote that echoes
more throughout all of history is Jesus Christ on the cross saying it is finished.
I mean, you can wrap everything.
It is finished.
Hallelujah, man.
We are just all of our sins were paid for right there on the cross by Jesus Christ.
Whatever man says, God says it better.
He is the beginning and the end.
And when he says it's finished, our sins die with him on the cross.
Because his words not only shape humanity, they shake it.
What he says tears away everything that's meant to be torn away.
And what remains is what belongs to him.
We're going to read that in a minute.
You know, as I was thinking about that, you know, God, Jesus said it is finished
and he breathed his last and it was such a miraculous thing.
And yet he says another word in revelation that is very similar, but very different.
He says this in Revelation 21 six.
It is done.
Wasn't that the same thing?
It is done.
It is finished.
It is done.
It's a different Greek word.
See, it is finished means is teleo.
It means it stops here, but it is done is is guinomai.
And it actually means it has become it has begun.
Okay.
In other words, it's fully prepare.
Okay.
It's like when Jill is making a magnificent meal like she always does.
Okay.
And she's and everyone's coming over.
What do you make and mom and all this stuff.
And finally, she has it already.
She has a little appetizers out there and and then how do you say that?
The the charcuterie board and she has that all set up and it's just wonderful.
And then she says, I'm done.
It's done.
In other words, it's been prepared, but now it's time to eat it.
Right.
It's like when you graduate from college when I'm done.
Well, really, it's just begun.
And so the Lord will say that someday.
Okay, it's finished, but now it has begun.
Do you know we are all on the way to it is done.
In other words, we are all a work in progress, but God is preparing something
and he always finishes what he starts.
Amen.
And that is our destiny being aligned with him, being glorious, just like him.
So our future is so bright.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Frank, for that.
So let's dive right in.
We're going to be looking at Hebrews chapter 12.
And before we start real quick, we're going to talk about Mount Sinai.
And I love maps because it can get our brain around what was happening.
Okay.
So Pat, if you don't mind just showing this first map.
Okay.
And this is the land of Goshen.
Okay.
And here is after when Pharaoh says, okay, you can leave now, right?
And so they leave the crossover a part of the Red Sea.
They're heading down.
They finally get to Mount Sinai.
Now you'll look at different maps and some say, well, no,
actually they went over here.
Oh, they're, you know, they want.
I claim this place because it's the most logical.
But, you know, they got to Mount Sinai because this whole thing is a ridge of
mountains, as you could see, but they got to here and they get to Mount Sinai.
And this journey took 45 days after the passover and then after they left,
after they left Egypt.
And then when they got there, okay, Moses went up to the mountain.
He talks to God.
God tells them some things.
He comes back down.
He tells Israel.
Israel says some things.
He goes back up.
And each time, by the way, it probably takes four to eight hours to get up this mountain.
I mean, it's like 7,000 to 7,500 feet high, you know, so he's walking.
And so he climbs back up, talks to God.
He goes back down, talks to them.
You know, there's a lot of, he went up and down, you know, like eight times,
you know, Moses did.
But anyway, this took a couple of days.
Then the Lord said, all right, consecrate yourselves.
Okay.
And on the third day, I'm going to come down to the mountain and speak to you.
And so it was three more days.
So the reason I'm going through this math is because Pentecost,
when the word was given, is 50 days after Passover.
And we still celebrate Pentecost because that's when grace was given,
when the Spirit of God was poured out at Pentecost in Acts chapter two,
and it's 50 days after.
So 45 plus five more of those things happening.
It's 50 days.
And you know, there's a Pentecost that the Jews also celebrate
because that's when the law was given.
We have something even far greater than the law to celebrate, don't we?
We have the Holy Spirit given to us, which is manifest in Acts chapter two.
So anyway, so now here we are on Mount Sinai.
That's what we're going to start reading about.
They're on their way to the Promised Land.
But they're right here, okay?
And so let's dive in to Hebrews 12.
For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched
and that burned with fire and to blackness and darkness and tempest
and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words
so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
For they could not endure what was commanded.
And if so much as a beast touched the mountain,
it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.
And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said,
I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.
And so picture this scene.
We have here a picture up there of Mount Sinai today.
And this is or at least within this modern generation,
there's probably a road and it's higher than it looks.
And this might be halfway up.
I don't know, but it's a picture and it's basically rock and rubble.
Okay, but we're talking about a scene when they first got there
that the Lord came down and this mountain was an inferno.
There was smoke billowing out the top of it.
The ground was shaken beneath their feet.
And there was a trumpet blast so loud.
And guess what?
It got louder and louder and louder and louder.
I mean, just imagine you're there at the foot of this mountain
and you're like, just make it stop.
Like this is too scary.
Like this has to stop.
Like God is going to kill us.
He's going to kill us.
Imagine like, could you imagine sitting at the bottom of a volcano
and you could just see a little.
It's getting bigger and bigger and you're like,
what are we doing staying here?
Like, let's get out of here.
That's what they were saying.
They're like, let's not stick around.
And then what does Moses do?
He goes up into it.
Isn't that amazing?
He goes up into the mountain of billowing smoke and fire and everything.
And so they were so fearful.
You know, why did God come to Israel like this?
Why did he come in such a spectacular bowl of fire
and smoke and ground shaking and blasts of trumpets
just to scare them?
Well, yes.
Yes, that's why he did it.
To scare them, to create fear in them.
Well, they were already afraid of the Egyptians, weren't they?
Well, this is a new kind of fear.
See, because Moses stepped into the fear.
They were at the outset and they were just so scared.
After a while they're saying,
we don't even want to hear from God.
Moses, you just tell us what he said, okay?
They were so afraid of him.
You know, sometimes fear is the best tactic.
You know that?
I remember we were away a couple of weeks ago
and we were with Tevin and Morgan and our grandkids,
Kingston and Coast.
And Coast, you know, he's been running around
since he's been like 10 months, you know?
But he can't do steps because they live in Florida
in a one-story house, okay?
And he goes nowhere where there's steps, okay?
But he's fascinated by them.
And he thinks he could just walk down them
like adults in Kingston, right?
So every time we left the door open
to the steps that led to the garage, okay?
He would just start running over to the door.
And we're like, now stop!
Because we know he can't handle these steps
and there's no side rails.
I mean, there's a railing,
but he'll fall right through that, right?
So as soon as we stop, you have to yell and scare him.
So he stops in his tracks.
The other night we were over at Jesse's
for a little birthday dinner with him
and the kids were going nuts, okay?
And they're running around and they're freaking out.
And suddenly, as they're running around
the whole house, it's like, man,
all of a sudden you hear, smash!
And I mean glass, like an explosion.
And so here Van was running by him
for some reason he either tried to grab
or he just hit a glass mason jar full of water.
And it hit the ceramic floor and just went, right?
So meanwhile, he got past it
because it smashed behind him.
But there's a whole train of other kids
running behind him.
And we know they're running right into that kitchen.
We're like, stop, right?
Because their feet are, you know,
you can imagine what can happen.
We're like this and I can always yell louder
than everybody as you can hear.
That's what happens to my voice all the time.
So I'm yelling and all of a sudden
Van's bawling his eyes out.
But sometimes fear is necessary to scare people
out of the trajectory of their lives, right?
Fear is necessary.
Imagine if you saw a kid
that was running out to the street
and you saw a car coming.
Would you say, excuse me, little boy,
just stop, stop!
And then if you could get to them fast,
you would just grab them, right?
Because fear sometimes is necessary.
Amen.
And a loud voice.
I remember one time,
if I told you this before, sorry,
but some examples are just so good
to not say a couple of times.
But so we used to go down the shore
at Harvey Cedars.
My mom used to get a place
and we were right on the bay.
It was an old place
but had a lot of leaks when it rained
but it was still a great time.
We were right on the bay.
So one night I'm just talking with my brother.
He went to bed.
I was about to go to bed
and it was pretty late.
It's probably 11 at night or something.
And I'm just sitting there.
I'm getting stuff together.
All of a sudden I heard, help, help.
I'm like, what is that?
Like, I just heard this screaming.
And I'm like, how?
And I was trying to figure out
where is it coming from?
And all of a sudden I realized
I'm looking at it at a pitch black bay.
I think it sounds like it's coming
from out there.
But who's out there?
And then I saw way out there
this little green light
on this pile of small boat.
And I'm here, help me.
And I'm like, who is that?
And I'm like screaming out
into the pitch black.
All I could hear is something,
something rape me.
I'm like, why?
Like, I want to do, you know?
I'm like, yeah.
And I'm like, stop.
And I'm literally screaming my lungs.
God gave me a loud vocal cords
and I'm just screaming, stop.
And then for some reason,
the boat seemed like it was going past
the inlet and we were close
to the entrance of the inlet.
And I'm like screaming, stop.
You know, and all of a sudden,
I hear a man's voice saying something
and I still couldn't make out
what was happening.
But what was happening,
which I realized later,
is he was trying things.
She was abandoned on a boat
with this guy, okay?
Who knows what was leading up to this?
But he was trying some things.
She was freaking out.
She was screaming.
And then finally,
when he heard other voices
on the edge,
he started saying,
I'm not doing anything to you.
And he started backtracking,
which was awesome, right?
So he's all of a sudden,
we're okay out here
because they're getting closer.
He actually turned the boat
and started coming towards land.
And I was like, oh, yeah.
Thanks, Jill.
She remembered.
I'm like, come in here.
I'm yelling at him to bring
the boat in, right?
Now, if you're really a bad guy,
like, I'm surprised you didn't
just keep going like, yeah, right.
But just a shouting voice
of rebuke and fear
actually probably made him
start to think, you know what?
If this gets reported,
these coast guards
are gonna be out there looking around.
I am really,
I'm not gonna get through this.
And so all of a sudden,
we're coming in.
We're coming.
And all of a sudden,
when you know this boat
just started pulling in,
you saw the spotlight.
He turned on the light.
And he's coming in.
And by then,
we called the cops and everything.
And as this boat pulled in,
she was a mess.
She was bawling her eyes out at all.
And she ran off the boat
and the police were there
and they locked him up.
And it was just like, wow,
like all from a voice saying,
stop, come in here.
Isn't it amazing?
And who knows what would have happened?
I have a feeling
what would have happened.
But the Lord delivered sometimes
just a shouting voice.
The Lord can use these things
to shake up humanity, right?
To say, stop what you're doing.
So the Lord was trying
to scare the Israelites
into submitting now to him.
They were already slaves in Egypt.
Now they were going to be servants
of God most high.
And when he leads,
when you serve him, you benefit.
That's what's amazing.
When we serve him,
we benefit so much
because now we discover
who we really are.
And we serve with,
that's what Godliness is.
You know, I don't want to get sidetracked.
Godliness is actually
being a servant,
but be highly valued and rewarded.
It's a rewarded servant.
That's what Godliness is
if you dissect the word.
But anyway,
and so this is the idea.
So you think, yeah, but then
who would, you know,
that kind of fear,
how wouldn't you submit to that?
Well, they didn't.
I mean, lest we forget
40 days later, right?
We need it.
I don't know what happened to this, Moses.
Maybe he's, you know,
maybe he's ashes up there
at the top of the mountain.
We need a God we can see and follow
and they make a golden calf.
Isn't that what humanity does?
They aren't really fearful
of God's wrath.
That's why the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of understanding.
When you finally have a healthy fear
of what God can do,
now you can understand.
But what's awesome
is the more you fall in love with God,
it's no more a fear of wrath.
It's a fear of missing out
on what he has for us.
Amen.
It's like, you know,
that's why Moses knew
I can penetrate that fire
and I won't be burned
because I want what he,
I want what he has for us
because what he has
is something good.
Amen.
So anyway,
so the Lord definitely showed up
and scared them quite a bit.
You know, people aren't afraid
of God in this world.
And it would be good if they were,
you know, you look at Lot
living in Sodom and Gomorrah,
you know, the word actually says
that he was miserable living there.
Well, you could just leave.
But no, we get accustomed
to darkness, don't we?
You ever notice
when you step into the darkness,
the longer you're in it,
you could start seeing
because darkness,
you could start to see
and be acclimated
to spiritual darkness, right?
And so this is the idea.
We can really become acclimated
to bad things.
I love what Proverbs 14, 16 says about this.
A wise man fears and departs from evil
but a fool rages
and is self-confident, you know?
I mean, it's healthy
to have a healthy fear of God.
So let's read on
verse 22.
But you have come to Mount Zion
and to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem,
to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn
who are registered in heaven
to God, the judge of all,
to the spirits of just men
made perfect,
to Jesus the mediator
of the new covenant
and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaks better things
than able.
So here we're talking about
Mount Zion
and Zion is the city of David.
You've heard of that before, right?
That's Jerusalem.
Mount Zion is the ridge
that the Temple Mount is actually built on.
If you ever go to Israel,
you'll see this ridge of mountains
and that's considered Mount Zion
in the physical form, okay?
And this mountain has a lot of significance
because of the things that took place.
It's where Isaac offered up,
I'm sorry, Abraham offered up Isaac, okay?
That's where David saw the angel of the Lord
seize from the wrath upon Israel
and that's when David was given the revelation.
We need to build a temple here, right here.
And that's where Solomon built the temple.
So this was a pivotal place
in the history of Israel.
So it was a physical mountain
and a physical place, okay?
In fact, we can read in the Old Testament
Psalm 482 talks about Mount Zion.
It says, beautiful in elevation,
the joy of the whole earth
is Mount Zion.
On the sides of the north,
the city of the great King.
So this is where the temple was built.
This is Jerusalem, the city of David.
Another, whenever there was Psalms,
15 Psalms of sense,
that they used to read as they walked up the mountain
because again, Jerusalem and the temple
were built up on this mountain ridge
about 2,500 feet in elevation.
And this is one of the song of ascents.
Those who trust in the Lord
are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved
but abides forever
as the mountains surround Jerusalem
so the Lord surrounds his people
from this time forth and forever.
So Mount Zion was a literal place
but it was also a symbolic allegory
of a spiritual reality, you know?
And a spiritual Jerusalem
because someday there will be a new Jerusalem,
a new heaven, new earth and all of that.
And we see this actually in Revelation 14.1
where it talks about,
and then I looked and behold
the Lamb standing on Mount Zion
and with Him 144,000 having His Father's name
written on their farheads.
That's about the elect.
But we see it's,
Mount Zion is also symbolic.
You know, things that we see in Scripture
are both physical
but they're also allegorical.
They're also symbolic, okay?
And that's why many things
that we see in Scriptures
all throughout Hebrews
are pointing to a spiritual heavenly reality
but they're also a physical element
here on earth.
And this is spelled out in Colossians 2.17
and Hebrews 10.1.
They are a shadow of things to come
but the substances of Christ.
And then another place it is for the law
having a shadow of the good things to come
and not the very image of the things.
So you see, there's a spiritual symbolism
of things on earth
but there's also a physical element.
So what the Lord is saying to the readers in Hebrews
there is actually a heavenly Mount Zion
and that's what we belong to.
You know, we know that we are not citizens of earth.
We might be a US citizen
but we are citizens in heaven, right?
That is who we belong to.
We belong to eternity in heaven.
All this will melt away and burn away someday
but what remains is our identity
with Christ in the heavenlies.
Amen.
And so let's read on from there
but I just wanna mention one thing.
It talks about a blood sprinkling
speaking better things than Abel.
So what did Abel speak?
Now we mentioned last week or so
about Cain and Abel
and remember when Cain murdered his brother,
Abel buried him in the ground.
The Lord came and said,
where's your brother Abel?
And Cain said, I don't know.
Am I my brother's keeper?
And then the Lord said this
and we see this in Genesis 4 verses 10 to 12.
He said, what have you done?
The voice of your brother's blood
cries out to me from the ground.
So now you are cursed from the earth
which has opened its mouth
to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
When you till the ground
it shall no longer yield its strength to you.
A fugitive and vagabond you shall be on the earth.
So think about this.
The Lord heard Abel's blood crying out.
Okay, we're not gonna get too into
the spirituality of blood
but you know the life is in the blood
but here Abel was crying out.
What was he crying out to the Lord?
What do you think?
Father, avenge me.
Father, my brother, Cain, guilty, guilty.
You know, yelling out guilt
because Cain murdered him.
And Abel was probably like, you know, help me.
And it's too late for him in this physical realm.
He's with the Lord now, I believe.
But you know, he was pleading his case.
Guilty, guilty, guilty.
That's what the blood of Abel speaks.
Because it's Old Testament pre-grace time, right?
And we were all guilty
before we were covered by the blood of Christ
who speaks a better thing.
He says, grace, grace, you are forgiven, right?
Abel's blood shouts out guilty.
Christ's blood shouts out grace, freedom, forgiven.
That's when he speaks over you.
His shed blood washes away your sins.
That's the better blood that the word's talking about,
the blood of Jesus Christ.
Think about this.
You know, Peter, okay?
Prior to Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.
You were with him, weren't you?
No, I don't know him.
What are you talking about?
Three times, I don't know Jesus.
I don't know, by the end of it,
he's calling out curses on himself saying,
may I be damned or whatever if I do know him.
And he's like, you know, blaspheming God almost.
Just saying, I don't know him.
You know, all this.
Now the Lord comes back and restores him, okay?
But what do you think for a while,
every time he heard a rooster crow,
you know, like he's forgiven.
He's got to remember he's forgiven.
Because a rooster probably reminded him
of when he denied he even knew Jesus.
Or how about Paul?
You know, we read it like it's a storybook,
but Paul was literally dragging Stephen out, okay?
With the others.
And he says, yeah, kill him.
Let me hold your coats.
Now just imagine you're holding your friend's coats
as they're dropping boulders on Stephen's head
and just killing him with stones.
You know, that reads like a book,
but you know, I just can't imagine actually being there
and observing that.
Just the horrific PTSD that's going through your brain
thinking that I actually authorize that
and encourage them.
Throw another one.
Now imagine that now he gets saved.
He's forgiven.
But every time he walks by a pile of boulders
or rocks like, oh man, I did that.
I was there.
But you know, the Lord told him you're forgiven.
You know, even to the point,
remember he actually was stoned, okay?
He was literally dragged into the town and stoned.
And I imagine that Paul was just saying,
well, this is fitting for me
because I did it to Stephen.
But the Lord rose him up.
See, the Lord, he will overcome all of your past
and convert it and transform you because of it.
That's what's amazing.
Because the Lord wants to wipe away the blood,
the calling of Abel's blood in your life
like guilty, guilty, guilty.
You did that.
Yeah, but I got the blood of Christ
saying grace, grace, freedom, forgiveness.
Amen.
This grace, grace.
I remember reading a verse that talks about grace, grace.
And you know, when Israel was finally permitted
to go back to their homeland
and they were sluggish to go.
And when they did go,
there was a lot of conflict there
and like, yeah, I'll just stay here.
But God was saying, go back.
You need to get back there.
Overcome your guilt.
When you go back, don't remember how you lost the land.
Dwell in the land.
And he was telling him, go back, grace, grace.
And I remember this verse from Zechariah 4-7.
And I love it.
Who are you, oh great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain.
And he shall bring forth the capstone.
That's the cornerstone, Jesus Christ.
With shouts of grace, grace to it.
In other words, that land does belong to you.
And God will restore it to you.
And I think he's saying that to all of us in our lives.
Yeah, but I failed.
But I messed things up.
I lost what God had once given me.
He's saying, no, go back.
Go back.
I say grace, grace.
When Abel says guilt, guilt, I say grace, grace.
You are forgiven, amen?
You are washed clean, thank the Lord.
So let's finish up.
Verse 25.
See that you do not refuse him who speaks.
For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth.
Much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him
who speaks from heaven.
Whose voice then shook the earth,
but now he has promised saying,
yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.
Now this yet once more indicates the removal of things
that are being shaken.
As of things that are made.
That the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
which cannot be shaken, let us have grace
by which we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and Godly fear.
For our God is a consuming fire.
Consuming fire.
You know, you've heard the analogies of refining of gold,
refining of precious metals,
and so forth, and how they burn off the materials
that don't belong, and what's left is that pure gold,
that purity of the metals, because it's burned off.
There's so many examples of this refining fire.
But one thing you notice throughout scripture
that the Lord burns away what's meant to be burned away,
but what's meant to be remains becomes more pure,
more holy.
You know, we could see that when Moses is called up
onto Mount Horev or Mount Sinai,
and he sees the bush burning, but it's not being consumed.
Why?
Because the Lord's speaking through the bush,
in the bush.
He's speaking to Moses.
He doesn't want to burn the bush.
He wants to use the bush.
You know, he wants to use us, you know.
We are not going to be subject to hellfire ever,
because he uses us, and we see that refining fire.
As the worship team comes up,
we just have a few more comments about these things.
You know, we see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
in the fiery furnace, and then the Son of God,
Son of Man, is in the furnace with them,
and none of them are burning, right?
Nobody's burning.
But then as soon as they open up that oven
to throw the accusers in there,
even their clothes burn up, right?
It's just torched.
That's what the Lord does.
He burns up what's meant to be burned,
but what remains becomes more pure.
The Lord is repurifying us,
and he's also shaking things out.
You know, when you look at earthquakes
throughout scriptures,
earthquakes aren't all bad when it comes to God.
He uses earthquakes for many things.
He uses earthquakes for fear,
as we saw today in Mount Sinai.
The ground shook and tremors, right?
To cause fear, but that they would have righteous fear
towards God, because he wants to bring fear.
There was an earthquake when King Uzziah was the king, okay?
And he was usurping priestly duty,
and an earthquake came and ripped open
the tabernacle, and he actually got leprosy on his head.
I'm sorry, temple.
He got leprosy on his head, like fear.
God does use earthquakes in a physical form for fear,
but how about when he uses it for good things?
Like he used an earthquake, right,
when to release, to open up,
first of all, to tear open the veil upon his crucifixion.
He tore open the veil of the temple,
so that as a symbol of anyone can come to him now.
Do you remember when the resurrection, the earthquake,
and the tomb of the stone,
the stone of the tomb was rolled away,
and Christ came out, right?
When Paul and Silas were in prison,
and a great earthquake came,
and as a result, the prison keeper and his family
all got saved.
The Lord uses shaking for his own purpose.
Do you remember when in the book of Acts,
when the church were all praying together,
and the Lord shook the place,
and as a result, the Holy Spirit came upon them,
and they were fearless.
The Lord shakes and shapes anything he wants to,
because he wants to shake off the things
that are meant to be shaken off,
so that what remains is what's useful to him.
Do you remember when he told the disciples,
when you go into the town,
and you speak to someone,
if they're not receiving your word,
what do you do?
Shake it off.
Shake off the dust.
Like, you know, your mockery,
okay, your unbelief is not going to stick to me.
I'm just shaking it off, you know.
In this world, there's been a lot of dirt thrown
on Christians, and still it,
and still there's a lot of dirt being thrown,
and far worse, to Christians.
But the Lord, just shake it off, man.
Like, you know, move on.
You're being used for my purpose.
I just want to wonder,
what is the Lord trying to shake off of you today?
What is he saying to shake it off?
Like, what do we need to shake off?
Wrong thinking.
Thinking that holds on to when I've been ridiculed or mocked.
Remembering things when we were bullied in school.
Remembering maybe abuse in our own home,
whenever it might be.
What does the Lord say?
No, that's not you now.
Shake it off.
You must shake off the old.
Don't take that with you.
That's why the Lord washed his disciples' feet.
You need to wash off that doubt of the world.
Don't let the doubt stick to you.
Wash it off.
Shake it off.
Get it off.
So that you don't take it with you,
because you are of a Godly, heavenly purpose.
And what does he want to shake off you?
You know, he wants to shake us up.
What's that?
Knock it off.
I was thinking, I remember when my kids would be
fighting upstairs in the room,
you hear smashing and things falling over.
Not really fighting, like kidding.
Playing around and be like,
what is that?
What is going on up there?
Things falling over, furniture toppling,
and you're like, knock it off.
And I'm just thinking, we just did.
We knocked it off.
Like, you know, they're literally knocking things off.
Right?
But you mean stop it.
The Lord wants us to knock off,
to shake off the things
that are not conducive to his use for our lives.
So whether that be habits
that you know are not God honoring,
shake it off.
It's not worth your time.
It's not worth your energy.
If there's things that,
like relationships that you know
are poisoning your well,
shake it off.
You have to shake it off.
There's some people that may not belong
in your inner circle any longer.
And I don't know who they are,
but if there's someone
that is contaminating your well,
it's time to shake them off.
Say, hey, I just can't handle you right now.
I have a walk in the Lord
and I can't, this dust can't stay on me any longer.
Let's pray.
Father God,
we thank you Lord
for what you've called us to great things, Lord.
And you want to shake off the things
that are meant to be left behind.
Lord, you want to shake off the things
that don't belong to our eternal identity.
The things that are temporal,
that need to go, Lord, help us see them
and shake them off.
You can shake them off of us, Lord God.
We want to be shaken,
just like the harvest, Lord God.
We want to be sifted, Lord,
and shaken so that all the dross is shaken off
and only what's meant to remain remains, Lord.
So we thank you, Lord.
We thank you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
You know, the Quakers got that nickname,
Quaker, you ever hear of this?
They got the nickname Quakers
because of the founder,
George Fox said,
when you hear the word of God,
you should be trembling and shaking.
And as a result,
unbelievers mocked them
and called them Quakers.
And you know what?
They accepted that name
because to them was a badge of honor.
I want to be a person who just trembles in,
not in fear,
but trembles at the reverence
and the privilege it is
to serve the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords.
Amen.
Why don't we all stand?
Let's give the Lord a round of applause.
Amen.
Let's worship the Lord.
Thanks for joining us
at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God
and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us
for Worship Lives Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed
and have a great day!