Shaking your foundations CDC/Foundation Day/Pastor Chew Weng Chee/20-11-11
Scripture: 25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:25-29
In the text today, the word “warn” is mentioned twice. Throughout the passage, there is an urgency, a sense of warning, a call to take heed. In talking to a friend who was in the alarm business, Pastor Chew was told that a good alarm system does several things. Firstly, it signals the users that an abnormal event or condition has taken place. Secondly, it indicates the severity of this abnormality. Thirdly, it diagnoses the problem, and finally, it allows users sufficient time to correct the problem.
God’s Word does each of these things, telling us when there is problem, indicating its severity, diagnosing it, and giving us sufficient time to respond. Typically, there are 2 types of alarms, an alarm clock and an alarm bell. The alarm clock wakes us from slumber and the alarm bell warns us of danger so that we have sufficient time to respond. If we don’t take note, the time runs out, and the danger settles. What is God warning us about? 7 things!
Firstly and secondly, God is shaking the heavens and the earth. In Hebrews here, God is writing in the “logos” what is being played out as a “rhema”. God is warning us by shaking the heavens and the earth. The natural disasters that we see around us with increasing frequency is warning us, waking us up. Once time runs out, time is up for everybody. From 1900-2008, the graph depicting the natural disasters impacting the earth shows a steadily increasing trend, with greater and greater intensity. Being a former gynecologist, this graph is in fact very similar to a typical topograph of a woman on her way to giving birth. Based on the graph, it says that labor is imminent. This is completely biblical, Matthew 24 says that wars, famines, earthquakes are all the beginning of birth pains!
Isaiah 24:1-6 describes this “See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants— it will be the same for priest as for people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her servant, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.
Mankind has broken environmental laws because of his greed. The earth belongs to God. Men have broken the everlasting covenant. Now the time has come for the earth to fight back and none are spared.
The third shaking is when god shakes the created things. This refers to man-made things like technology and tall structures. In today’s time and age, Christians face a very real danger of being distracted by the things of the world. We make a lot of things in our lives idols and God becomes just an afterthought. No more so, when God shakes the created things!
Tim Keller defines an idol as anything that becomes more important to you than the Lord, anything that can reach your heart and imagination and take the place of God. It is when we seek anything to give you what only God can give. What legacy are we teaching our children? Are we giving God the priority?
We have to ask ourselves “is God secondary to us?” Less and less people are in love with God because God is no longer their first love. When Jesus spoke of Jonah, he said “as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be.” Literally speaking, since Jesus died during that time, Jonah must have died too. Words that a dying man speaks are especially insightful, and Jonah exclaimed “those who cling on to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” in Jonah 2. We must put our priorities right and put create things in their proper place.
Fourthly, God will shake the world’s financial systems. Europe is in deep trouble economically. Greece , Italy and Spain
Fifth, God will shake the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. Hebrews 12:26-27 indicate a shift from what is physical to what is supernatural. There is bad news spiritually around the world. A false religion will dominate the world. There is a massive, wide-scale spread of Satanism. Europe is practically gone spiritually, and a new Dark Age is on the rise. Forces of darkness are mustering all over the earth.
Yet, God is sounding the alarm bell and there is also good news! The number of evangelical Christians are growing 3-5 times faster than the population of the world. 20% of Indonesians are Christians today. While in 1897, less than 3% of Africans were Christian, today, 50% profess to be Christians. In 2008, Pastor Chew was praying at his annual retreat to Cameron Highlands and he asked God “Why did you raise up SIBKL?”, and God told him :”to plough back into East Malaysia !” God is launching a marvelous, powerful work in East Malaysia with SIBKL playing a leading role!
Sixth, Israel Iran David that had the name “Benjamin”, and he believes he could be the one chosen to return Israel Israel Israel
Finally, God will shake the church! God is just and takes no favorites. Can we just go ahead and sin and live life how we want after receiving Jesus and still be saved? 1 Peter 4:17 says ”For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” God will not spare his own who do not obey. God is fair and just. God will judge his house.
In closing, Pastor Chew gave a 3-fold call to CDC to wake up from slumber and be warned.
Firstly, invert your mindset. Secondly, invest your time and resources to build up the church. Finally, involve yourself. Be hands on!
Change your thinking. Start to see our workplace, our entertainment, our neighbors as our mission field. Aim to live a life pleasing to God. God needs every available soldier.
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