Unleashing The Unshakable Kingdom

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

When I was a boy growing up in Baltimore, every now and then I would go over to my grandmother's house and spend the weekend.

Usually on Saturday mornings, I would get up and watch my favorite cartoons.

The leading one was Mighty Mouse, for those old enough to remember.

And uh sometimes there would be a problem, and that is if there would be a storm on Saturday morning while I was watching my favorite cartoons.

If there was a thunderstorm on Saturday morning while I'm watching my favorite cartoons, a great theological statement came from my grandmother.

Little did I know then the depth of the theology she was teaching me, but she would tell me during those times to turn off the television, and the reason she gave it was because God was talking.

The thunderstorm that interrupted the program meant to remove the distraction because what was happening out there, God had something to say where he wanted our undivided attention.

When you look at what's happening in the world today, whether it's in Israel now or in your life personally, how do you relate when there are disruptions?

The second most difficult book to interpret in the New Testament is the book of Hebrews.

The book of Revelation is by far the leading one because of all of its imagery.

But the book of Hebrews has an assumption.

And the assumption of the book of Hebrews is that you are familiar with the old covenant, with Jewish history, with the sacrificial system, because he's writing to Christian Jews who are facing hard times, difficult circumstances, and an amalgamation of challenges.

The book of Hebrews has one theme: don't give up.

The book of Hebrews has one subject, don't throw in the towel.

In spite of the challenges, the difficulties, and the uncertainties that were facing these Christian Jews, to whom he writes in the book of Hebrews, he tells them, I don't want you to quit just because things seem out of sorts.

He comes to chapter 12.

And in chapter 12 of the book of Hebrews, he helps us to be able to relate to what you see going on in the world today globally and maybe in your world personally.

He says in verse 25, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

For if those did not escape, when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven.

For his voice shook the earth then.

But now he has promised, saying, Yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.

This expression, yet once more, denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

He says there's a whole lot of shaking going on.

And he says, when there is shaking, that is the interruption of the normal order of things, when things get discombobulated, when things get out of sorts, it is because God is talking.

God has something to say when chaos and confusion becomes normalized in our experience or in our world.

He is saying, don't refuse him when things are out of order, but pay close attention because he has something new to say.

Throughout the scriptures, when God wanted to do something new, it would come on the backdrop of something out of order that was taking place.

A crisis or a contradiction would lead to something new God was up to.

When Israel was about to leave Egypt, they found themselves caught in a contradiction.

God told them to go, but then he tells Pharaoh to chase them.

They find themselves between a rock and a hard place, the Red Sea and the Egyptian army.

And it was in the middle of this crisis, created and authorized by God, that he would perform the biggest miracle in the history of the Jewish people, the opening of the Red Sea.

He would allow a crisis to do something he had never done before.

When he was ready to move Abraham from a promise he had made in Genesis chapter 12 to an oath he was ready to fulfill, he would tell Abraham to do something that God would contradict himself on.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

But that's the very same God who condemns murder in Genesis 9.

So he condemns murder in Genesis 9.

In Genesis 22, he tells Abraham to kill Isaac.

That's God contradicting God by his own command.

And yet it would be in this contradiction that did not make sense that God would do the miracle that would move according to uh what he told Abraham from a promise, which is always what God is going to do, to an oath, which means God is now ready to fulfill it.

So he creates a contradiction in order to bring about something new in Abraham's experience.

When you heard a moment ago about Martha and Mary, that was a contradiction.

Because at first in John 11, Jesus says, He will not die.

Then he comes and says, He is dead.

That is a contradiction.

Which is it?

He's not gonna die or he's dead.

But he creates a contradiction because he's about to do something he hadn't done before.

Create a miracle in the experience of Martha and Mary.

So when you see what's happening, whether it's in the Middle East or your Middle East, when you see a contradiction, something that is outside of the normal operation of things, that seems chaotic, contradictory, and out of order, it is because God has something new to say.

When you and I look at the Middle East right now, one of two things is happening.

The first thing that should capture your attention is that when the Bible predicts that the whole world will come to a conclusion at the Middle East, and the Middle East, Jerusalem, Israel, will be the center of the culmination of human history as we know it.

One thing that ought to be clear is you can now see how that can happen, as the whole world is in uproar over the Middle East.

So it could be that we're on the precipice of the return of Christ.

Or it could be God is letting things get so out of whack that he's setting things up for a major movement of the Spirit to bring people to him like never before.

It could be either.

Something that applies to me.

In football, the NFL has a rule book, but every team has a playbook.

The playbook is different.

The rule book is the same.

Every team has to follow the same rules, but every team doesn't use the same plays.

And unfortunately, the Cowboys last week had no plays, but that's another subject for another day.

He says, when there is a disturbance in your life, in your home, in our world, God is now localizing his biblical truth to your or our particular situation.

He is being specific.

The Bible was not written as a systematic theology.

The Bible was written as a biblical theology.

Systematic theology is the bringing together of all the truths spoken in the word on a particular subject and organizing it so that you can see the whole in one place.

So it is the bringing together of all that the Bible says on whatever the subject is, so you can see it in one space, one time, one location, comprehensively outlined.

But the Bible was not written that way.

It was written by 40 different authors over 1,500 years, and it was written to the Zitzenleber, German for the situation in life that people were facing over that period of time.

So, in other words, it was written personally to people who were dealing with things that had to be addressed, so it was written to be relevant to the audience to which it spoke.

So when the scripture says in the book of Hebrews that God is speaking, it means that he is crafting circumstances that will always be consistent with his word, but is to be relevant to you.

So when there is disruption in your life, he says, do not refuse him who is speaking.

In other words, don't dismiss it, don't throw it away, don't isolate it.

He is now having something specific that he wants to say to you, your situation, or in this case, as we look at what's happening around us, to the world.

He says in verse 27, he is removing those things which can be shaken, that is of created things, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

When God allows disruption in the physical, it's because he has something to say in the spiritual.

Say that again.

Whenever there is something disruption in the physical world, it is because the spiritual world has something it wants to inject into the physical world.

So if all you see is what you see, you do not see all there is to be seen.

If all you see is what you see, you do not see all there is to be seen.

Because when God disrupts what you can see, it is because he wants to show you something that you cannot see.

But if all you are looking at is what you see, then you will miss what you can't see, which is the purpose of disturbing what you can see.

So that means that there must be a focus on the spiritual when there has been a disruption in the physical world, or as he says, as of created things.

So he says, when God creates a shaking, a disturbance, there is a spiritual point he wants to make to get our undivided attention at a new spiritual level.

So what is he after?

What is God after in the Middle East?

What is God after in your Middle East?

And if you right now are okay, enjoy it.

Because you either just came out of something, in something, or headed towards something.

In this world, you're going to have trouble.

It's like the letter I saw in my mailbox the other day.

It simply said occupant.

Translation, we don't care who lives here.

If you live here, you're an occupant.

And there will be those times as Christians that God will disturb the natural order of things, and you just think it's something new or something different happening, or just the way history is flowing.

No, no, no.

If there is an interruption, he says, God is talking and he has something to say.

He now gets and tells us a little bit more in verse 28.

He says, Therefore, in light of the disturbance where the spiritual is injecting into the physical, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, since we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

So his comparison is between what can be shaken and what cannot be shaken.

When God shakes the physical realm, he wants to reveal something new about his kingdom.

The word kingdom is the theme of the Bible.

You've heard me say that on other occasions when I've been here.

There's only one theme in the Bible: the glory of God through the advancement of his kingdom.

That is the only theme in the Bible.

Every subject, personality, book, circumstance, doctrine is all tied to that one subject.

That is what stitches the Bible together from Genesis to Revelation, the glory of God through the advancement of his kingdom.

The Greek word kingdom is from the word basilia, and basilia means rule or authority.

God's goal in history is the establishment of his eternal rule into history.

It is the rule of God being manifested in the environment of men.

Perfectly when Jesus comes, but circumstantially until that time, through his people, and when he wants to make a kingdom move, he allows a disturbance to take place in order to bring this next piece of his kingdom puzzle and put it in place.

And the thing he wants to show is that in a shaken world, we belong to an unshakable kingdom.

When everything else is tore up from the floor, he will demonstrate that he is still in charge over the things that look like they're out of control.

He says, I want to reveal my unshakable kingdom.

I want to reveal that I am in charge.

That I am, you know, I was in New York.

I was in New York uh some years ago.

And uh when I was in New York, I I was I was coming out of someplace and I passed by Macy's.

And um when I walked by Macy's, there was this this these people who were outside the window.

And all these people gathered at the window.

So I'm curious, you know, inquiring minds want to know.

So I want to know why all these people gathered outside the window and they were looking at this this this this this uh mannequin.

But it was a living mannequin because the eyes were blinking.

So that's why you know it was a lot.

But this lady was a statue, she didn't budge, she didn't move, and what was entertaining were all the young people trying to get her to move.

They were trying to get her to react.

But she didn't react.

She didn't move even though everybody outside of the glass was trying to get her to move.

Now, there's one reason she didn't move, and that was Macy's were paying her not to move.

The distractions on the outside didn't change what she was doing on the inside, because she knew where she belonged.

And she knew the people on the outside would not have the final say about her stability on the inside.

When there is distraction in the world around us, God wants to demonstrate that He can hold us stable in an unstable situation, He can hold us strong even when things are out of control.

He says, when your world is being disturbed, God is speaking.

And when God is speaking, you and I are to pay extra attention with ask God, what are you saying spiritually in light of what I'm going through physically or emotionally or socially or familiarly or whatever the crisis may be.

So he says, God wants to show his kingdom in the midst of our chaos.

Therefore, let us show gratitude.

He says, when things are out of control, rather than fuss and cuss, I want you to give thanks.

Show gratitude.

Now let's get this straight.

You're not giving thanks for the confusion.

No, you're giving thanks for how God is going to show his spiritual purpose in spite of the confusion.

You're not giving thanks for the problem, you're giving thanks for the unshakable kingdom of God that's gonna show up in the middle of your problem.

When Jesus did not have, you know, Jesus asked the disciples, John 6, he asked them, you know, how are we gonna feed all these people?

How are we gonna feed all these people?

You got 5,000 men, not counting women and children, up to 20,000 people.

Everybody's out there.

How are we gonna handle?

How are we gonna feed all these people?

Philip said, I don't know.

Ain't enough McDonald's open around here to feed 20,000 people.

I don't know how we're gonna feed them.

Andrew said, I don't know.

We don't, we can't, we can't, let's send them home.

It's the problem is too big.

The people are hungry.

We've been out here a long time.

And the Bible says that Jesus gave thanks for not enough.

He gave thanks for insufficiency because they didn't have enough.

The disciple says, we can't solve this problem.

It's too big.

Jesus blessed some sardines and crackers.

Jesus blessed the little that he had.

It says he gave thanks over a problem.

Not for the problem, but over how God could insert himself into the problem and bring hope in the middle of what appeared to be a hopeless situation.

And when he did, there's a Moby Dick sandwich lying on the beach.

In other words, there was more than enough and 12 baskets full left over.

What I'm saying is, he says, I want you to show gratitude in the midst of a confusing situation because God is talking and he wants to interject something into the circumstance that reveals He's in charge, kingdom, he's an authority, rulership, in the midst of a crisis that looks like it's out of control.

So as you look at what is happening today, as you look at the confusion and the crisis and the chaos, it's painful.

We must care about it.

But we must give thanks for what God is going to say in the midst of it and remove the distraction that would keep us from hearing his voice, tuning in to heaven, even though earth is out of sync.

He says, Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe.

So here it is.

Things are chaotic, they're shaken, disturbed.

He says, that means you gotta listen with a different ear than you would normally listen, because God is saying something, but in the spiritual to inject into the physical.

But by faith, give thanks for the purpose.

He says, and then I want you to serve.

I want you, he says, to offer an acceptable service to the Lord.

In other words, there is some ministry he wants you to perform in the middle of your confusing situation.

There is somebody else who he wants you to improve while you're going through how you need him to improve you.

There is some opportunity he wants you to take advantage of that usually will be tied to something you are facing as you walk through your valley of the shadow.

He says, I want you to offer an acceptable service in the middle of a shaken situation, because I'm going to reveal my unshakable kingdom.

I'm going to reveal something from the spiritual that will interject itself into the physical that is going to bring stability in spite of what you are dealing with.

He says, offer an acceptable servants with reverence and awe.

That's a worship term that means giving praise and honor and adoration to me, not because of the pain, but because you have a God who's still in control of the chaos.

And then he comes to verse 29.

He says, The reason you can do this, the reason you don't have to throw in the towel when the going is tough, the reason when the chaos seems totally out of control is I have an unshakable kingdom.

I'm in control, even though it's out of control.

You give thanks, you seek opportunities to serve in your capacity, even while you're going through this uncertainty.

And the reason you can do this, verse 29, is for our God is a consuming fire.

For our God is a consuming fire.

And the spies come to her house.

When the spies come to her house, she lets them in.

She says, I heard about your God.

He opened up the Red Sea, and you know, I believe in your God.

And then she protects them, she sends them out another way, and then the spies say, Well, look, because you did this, you acted in faith, because she's in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11.

Because you acted in faith, when we come and shut Jericho down, you bring all your family into the house, and you and your house will be left standing.

Now, the scripture tells us her house was embedded in the wall.

So when the walls of Jericho fell, all the wall didn't fall.

A piece of the wall stood because it says her house was embedded in the wall.

So her house was attached to a wall, so there was a slice of the house that stood.

In other words, everything around her fell except the place where she was, because God kept her place from shaking, even though everything was shaken around her.

So even though everything was unstable around her, she had stability in the midst of an unstable situation.

Now, when he says, Our God is a consuming fire, that's like bad news and good news.

Okay?

For the animal that was put on the sacrifice is bad news.

Because the sheep or the goat or whatever was being sacrificed is being slain.

It was put on the altar, consuming fire was what they did in the Old Testament to sacrifice the animals.

They put it on the fire.

When they put it on the fire, it was consumed.

The animal was consumed.

Bad news for the animal: the animal is killed, it's dead, and it's over.

Good news for the people.

Because when they sacrificed the animal, it meant the wrath of God for one year was removed from the people.

So it was bad news on one side, but good news on the other side.

When God is consuming something in your life, bad news, is because he's got something else over here, good news.

Because a consuming fire gave bad news to the animal, but good news to the people.

Many times when we seem to be consumed by God, it only looks like bad news because we're going through a tough time.

But a consuming fire is not just bad news.

A consuming fire is good news to come, because for one year the people would be protected until the next day of atonement.

So I've got good news for you who are in bad situations.

I've got good news for you who are going through trying times or who will go through trying times.

Don't refuse him who is speaking.

When your life is turned inside out, upside down, God is doing something that is not yet to be revealed.

But he says, stay tuned.

He says, Don't quit, don't throw in the towel.

I want you to give thanks.

I want you to serve because there's good news on the other side of this consuming fire.

There's typically a gap.

When God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, that was years after he made the promise before he saw the fulfillment.

So there is typically a gap.

But just know that God is still speaking.

He has something to say.

You just have to make sure that your antenna is up and your receiver is on so that you get local news.

You want national news from the pulpit, but you need local news from the Holy Spirit to deal with your particular situation and call your particular play.

If you have wrinkles, if you have wrinkles on your clothes, then that means you're going to use an iron and an ironboard.

You're going to use an iron and an ironboard because they're wrinkles.

And you want the wrinkles out of the pants or out of the dress or out of the blouse or whatever you want where you want the wrinkles out.

Now the reason you want the wrinkles out is because you want to look good.

You don't want to walk in and people say, well, you're unkept because you didn't take care of the wrinkles.

So you want to look good.

So you put some fire on the clothes.

The smoke is coming up.

If the clothes could talk, they would say, Why are you burning me?

Why are you putting all this heat on me?

It's hot up in here, up in here.

Why are you doing this to me?

It's not fair for you to get this that hot for this long to put on me.

But the only reason you're doing it is because you are wearing it and you want to look good in it.

Sometimes in our circumstances in life, God will put heat on us, heat on our circumstances, and allow things to get hot.

But that's only because he knows he wants to put his glory on us so that he looks good as we carry him from place to place and things and do what he has called us to do.

Life is hard, and it gets harder sometimes than other times.

But don't refuse, don't walk away from God, he tells the Hebrew Christians, just because times are tough.

He says, No, the spiritual has something to say right now.

I want you to tune in to it.

And he is crafting something for his glory and our good in the midst of crises that we do not understand.

You know, when uh when I when I go to McDonald's, which I shouldn't, but when I go to McDonald's, I know what I want.

I want a number nine.

I want a number nine.

I that's my number.

I want another nine, number nine, it's it's it's it's it's easy.

I give my number, and it's okay.

But one day I was traveling with my daughter, and she she wasn't she wasn't into this general stuff.

You know, just just you call out a number and get it.

She wanted something McDonald's does not do.

McDonald's is not set up for concierge orders.

McDonald's is not set up to say, you know, well, don't cook my burger this way, and and and uh I want I want uh I don't want my fries this way.

And they're not set up for concierge orders like that.

So one day she gave a concierge order to McDonald's.

The lady was frustrated at the window, we don't do that.

We do number nine, number five, number four, number three.

What number do you want?

But that's not what she wanted.

She wanted a concierge order.

So what the lady told us to do was pull over.

We had to pull over because what she was asking for, they don't do.

So we had to pull over, and the reason we had to pull over is we had to wait.

But the reason we had to wait was because they weren't doing something for the general populace.

They were doing something with her name on it.

They weren't doing something for somebody just driving through.

They were doing something especially for her, for her taste, and her uniqueness.

All I wanted was a number.

What she wanted was something unique and special for her, which meant there was a gap between what she needed and when it would arrive.

But it wouldn't be for somebody else, it would only be for her.

God knows everybody in here and your unique situation.

And he knows some of you are doing okay right now, and you're good with a number nine.

You're just good with a sermon, you got a good praise on, and you're gonna go home and you fine.

But there's some other folk here, and number nine won't do.

You need a special order because you got a special problem, a special situation, a special difficulties, and you don't need a general sermon.

You need an order.

Well, God is simply telling you pull over, you wait, I'm gonna concoct this thing up for you so that when you get it, you will know it was only for you because I had you in mind when I put this order together.

So here's what I want to do.

If you're here today and you need a special order, number nine won't do because you're facing a shaking situation.

I want to pray for you.

I want to ask God to prepare your order as you give thanks and serve Him while you wait for Him to speak into your situation with His unshakable kingdom.

If you need a special order, would you stand where you are so I can pray for you right now?

Lord, right now, brothers and sisters are standing all over this auditorium or all over the other campuses who need a special order.

The sermon is appropriate, the worship was awesome, but they need an order with their name on it that speaks into their particular situation as though they were the only one here.

Not something ready-made for the crowd, but using the ingredients from your word to make it for them.

So as they give thanks in the middle of whatever the need is, and as they serve in the middle of whatever the struggle is, will you make them, will you take their order for intervention, for healing, for deliverance, for peace, for stability, for resources, or whatever that order happens to be, and would you make it and make it and shape it just for them, so that they can know that in a shaken world, you still manage an unshakable kingdom.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.