Unshakable

Focus in on Heb 12:25-29

Fall semester is half way over.

We’re almost at the end of 2020, the longest year ever.

What is a Word for this school year? UNSHAKABLE

I want to call this out in each of you.

You might not feel unshakable.

You might feel unsteady.

You might feel broken.

You might feel discouraged.

You might feel doubtful.

You might feel scared

You might feel hopeless

But God is calling us to be UNSHAKABLE

I want to call you to three specific areas to be unshakable: unshakable in your loyalty in King, unshakable in your hope in the King, unshakable in your worship of the King.

So lets go to Hebrews 12:25-29 which is going to be a theme passage for us this year in NXT Junior High

Unshakable Loyalty (v.25)

Verse 25 tells us not to reject the one who speaks to us. Do not refuse to listen to Him.

Our listening is linked directly to our obedience.

The people of God, Israel, did not listen to Moses. The consequences for their disobedience were severe. If you want to read that story in the bible, go look at Exodus 32 when they build and worship the golden calf.

The author of Hebrews is telling us that if God’s people didn’t obey God’s messenger, Moses, and it didn’t go well for them...

What do you think is going to happen if we don’t obey God Himself?

Obedience is a key component of faith.

To say you have faith means you trust God, and obey God.

Now,

When i talk about obedience to God, I like to use the word loyalty. Turn to somebody and say loyalty. Turn to somebody else and say NO MATTER WHAT.

In my mind, Loyalty is one of the most crucial character traits someone can possess.

Someone who is loyal is going to be there. No matter what.

Someone who is loyal is going to follow through. No matter what.

Someone who is loyal is true to their word. No matter what.

Someone who is loyal is dedicated. No matter what.

Someone who is loyal is all in. No matter what.

So my question for you is this:

Where do you place loyalty?

Misplaced loyalty has dramatic consequences.

We see examples of misplaced loyalty all over our world.

Sports team

soccer hooligans

the most dangerous fans in sports

Friend Group

Cliques

are you so loyal to your friends that you hurt other people, talk about other people behind their backs, exclude other people, bully other people.

School

Rivalry

Political Party

Blindly follow political leaders

You might go to crazy lengths to be loyal to your team, your school, your friends, your politics...

But the question we are confronted with is are you loyal to Jesus? Is your loyalty to Jesus UNSHAKABLE?

When he speaks, do you listen?

Jesus is the King. He is looking for loyal subjects. If we are loyal to Jesus it means we have given him and him alone our allegiance. It means what he says goes. It means we have no higher authority than what he says.

No matter what.

Your heart reveals your true loyalty.

And if you’re honest, if you examine your heart, you probably know that you are not 100% loyal to Jesus. There are other things that have been getting in the way.

Unshakable Hope (vv.26-27)

As we keep moving through this passage we see next that we need to be UNSHAKABLE in our hope.

God actually promises in this passage that he is going to shake up everything.

I don’t know about you, but 2020 feel like a year where EVERYTHING is being shaken up.

The way we do school

the way we do sports

the way we do church

the way we shop

the way we eat at restaurants

the way we hang out with friends

the way we celebrate holidays

So much is being shaken up!

Why does God promise to shake things up? So that only the unshakable things are left. When things are shaken, we realize that hope has been misplaced.

If your hope is in school, then when it gets shaken, you’re gonna get shaken.

If your hope is in sports, then when it gets shaken, you’re gonna get shaken.

If you hope is in a friend group, when it get shaken, you’re gonna get shaken.

You see the pattern?

What Jesus has been showing us in this year is that our hope is in the wrong place!

Unshakable Worship (vv.28-29)

In the last two verses of this passage we see that the thing that is ultimately unshakable, the thing that cannot be shaken is the Kingdom of God.

And once we grasp that God’s Kingdom isn’t going to be shaken by the events of this year, or any other year for that matter, it unleashes our ability to worship.

I see two words here that help guide our worship: fear, and awe.

Holy fear means that you treat God like God. It means you rightly understand how big of a deal He is. That he is all-powerful and you are not.

But all too often in our lives, all too often in your life, you aren’t treating God like he’s a big deal. You aren’t treating God like God.

Maybe you’ve been treating God like a genie in a bottle who is just there to grant your wishes

Maybe you’ve been treating God like a butler who is just there to clean up the messes you make

Maybe you’ve been treating God like an afterthought, someone who just stands in the corner until you feel like talking

If we’re going to worship God, we need to view God in the right way, with a holy fear.

The last word, awe.

You worship God when you are just amazed by Him.

What God has done for us through Jesus should blow your mind every time you here it.

The fact that the Holy Spirit lives in us and empowers us to build God’s Kingdom, that should blow your mind when you think about it.

If you could wrap your mind around God, he wouldn’t be God. If you can stuff God into a box then he isn’t God.

God is amazing. What he has done for us is amazing. What he is doing right now in your lives is amazing.

You can worship God by being amazed!

And then the passage ends with this sentence: “For our God is a devouring fire”.

Think about the difference between a fire in your fireplace and a wildfire.

When you build a fire in the fire place, it’s safe. When you want to get warm, you can move close to the fire place. If you’re too hot, you can walk away from the fire.

That is not what God is like. You can’t just walk to the other side of the room.

You seen footage on the news of the wildfires in California, in Colorado, in Montana, this year.

Crazy levels of destruction, fire that burn for weeks, fire that spreads and devours everything in its path.

That’s the type of fire God is.

God wants every piece of you, not just some pieces.

God wants your loyalty, God, wants your hope, God wants your worship.

Close

So to close this out:

You might be feeling really shaky right now. With COVID, the election, all the craziness of 2020, and all the things that have changed in your life this year.

You might feel like your life is being shaken and that you can’t possibly have UNSHAKABLE Loyalty, UNSHAKABLE Hope, and UNSHAKABLE Worship

You might be feeling that perfect Unshakable loyalty, perfect unshakable hope, and perfect unshakable worship seem impossible with everything else going on.

If that’s how your feeling I just want to tell you tonight that you. are. right.

It’s impossible for you to be perfectly unshakable in these areas.

But i am so glad that it’s not up to me.

If it we up to me, I would fail every single time.

If it were up to me I would have divided loyalty, misplaced hope, and weak worship every single time.

But it’s not up to me. It’s up to Jesus.

So if you’re realizing tonight that you’ve been loyal to the wrong things,

or that you’ve been putting all your hope in something that’s not going to fulfill you,

or if you’ve been treating God like a genie or a butler or an afterthought,

Don’t look to yourself. Don’t try harder to be better. That’s not the Gospel.

Look to Jesus. the author and perfecter of our faith, the one who said “it is finished” on the cross.

He’s the one who can transform your life.

He’s the one that allows you to be UNSHAKABLE.