Sermon Central
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Shaken Not Stirred
Contributed by Kevin Taylor on Nov 16, 2000 (message contributor)
Summary: What will it take to stir up the church today?
Text: Haggai 2:1-9
I. Remnant - A Word Study
A. Verse 2, “remnant” of the people = means what is left over.
This idea of “remnant” is that a small nucleus of God’s people will be richly blessed. Throughout the OT we find examples of how God searched through His people and only found a remnant of those with whom He could pour His Spirit upon.
B. Moses warned Israel, in Deuteronomy (4:27-31), that they would be scattered, but the obedient ones would eventually be restored to their homeland.
C. The Prophet Amos proclaimed Israel’s doom (Amos 8:1,2), but also declared the possibility of deliverance for the “remnant of Joseph.”
D. In Isaiah’s vision of the judgment of Judah, he declared: “Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom.” (Isaiah 1:9). Isaiah even named one of his sons Shear-Jashub, which means “A Remnant Shall Return.”
E. Isaiah predicted that the nation of Judah would be overthrown by a foreign power but that a remnant would survive to serve as a witness to God’s continuing work of world redemption. (Isaiah 10:20-23).
F. The Apostle Paul even applied the remnant theology to the New Testament church when he indicated that God’s new people would include both believing Jew and Gentiles (Romans 9:22-27).
G. In speaking of the 7000 in Elijah’s time (I Kings 19:18) who would not worship Baal, Paul declared, “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” (Romans 11:5).
H. Throughout history, God has always preserved a remnant from among His people to serve as a lighthouse in the midst of a dark and sinful world.
II. In These Last Days, God Is Pouring Out His Power on His Remnant!
A. Are you determined to be a part of that remnant?
III. All That Can Be Shaken Will Be!
A. But the shaking will, not necessarily, stir some people!
1. The “watchers”
a. To have vision doesn’t mean to sit around and watch!
b. To have vision means to act!
2. The “shakers”
a. The remnant of God’s people
b. The “shakers” will become the “movers”.
c. They will be the ones that He will pour His glory upon. (vs. 7)
IV. We Will Be Shaken, But Will We Be Stirred?
A. Will we be stirred to do something?
V. The Future of The Church Depends Upon Our Being Stirred After the Shake!
A. God has called His church to be a lighthouse, a beacon of hope to a lost and dying world.
B. God Told Me to Build An Ark! A Modern Day Ark Story!
1. The “Ark” is to be a place of “refuge” from the storms of life.
2. While others outside are drowning, those we reach we will save!
3. This time the flood will be inside! (vs. 7, “I will fill the house.”).
4. The purpose of Noah taking two, male and female of each species, was for purposes of reproducing! We will be reproducing new souls into the Kingdom!
VI. But We Must Not Settle For Just Being Shaken!
A. I refuse to play with marbles when God has called me to move mountains!
B. I will no longer sit in the bathtub while God is calling us to “part the sea!”
C. And I am no longer going to sit around trying to figure out how to buy myself my own little canoe when God has called me to build His ark!
D. God is calling us to venture into the impossible!
E. God is daring us to move into dimensions that we never experienced before!
VII. A History Lesson For Today!
A. No Scripture verse refers to a “one-world government.”
B. Daniel speaks of a “one-world-religion.”
C. The two beasts mentioned in Revelation 7 are the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches.
1. These two will come together to form this “one-world-religion.”
2. However, it’s only a remnant of God’s people that will receive the power of God in the last days!
3. The history of the church has proven that God will send judgment to His house first, and then revival!
a. The Loveless Church - Ephesus.
b. The Persecuted Church - Smyrna.
c. The Compromising Church - Pergamos.
d. The Corrupt Church - Thyatira. (The Roman Catholics)
e. The Dead Church - Sardis (The newly formed Protestant denominations).
f. The Faithful Church - Philadelphia.
g. The Lukewarm Church - Laodicea. (Today’s church).
