Shaking Things Up for Revival

When God is getting ready to take you to a new place, when God is getting ready to do a new thing, He will regularly shake stuff up first. Dr. Tony Evans talks about the labor pains that come along before our revival is delivered. It is God setting stuff up by creating chaos that men in their own ability can't fix. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Childbirth is a painful process with a joyous result. And in today's message, Dr. Evans explains why revival can feel the same way when our restoration is right around the corner.

Let's listen in. In Haggad chapter one, they said it's not time, not time, not time to take care of the spiritual priorities that force God to ask them in verse four, you seem to have time for your priorities. In other words, he said, you don't have a time problem. It's just that I really don't matter that much. It's a matter of priority. As a result of their mixed up priority, things were out of whack in their lives and in their world. God said to them, verse 10 of chapter one, because of you, the sky has withheld its due. The earth has withheld its produce.

I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, and on the new wine, on the oil and the ground products what the ground produces on men, cattle, and the labor of your hands. I'm your problem because I am not your priority. At the same time that Haggai is prophesying, Zechariah is also prophesying to the same group of people. Zechariah chapter one where he says, return to me and I will return to you. So Zechariah says the issue of your loss of priority is that you have forsaken God. Haggai says the fact that you forsaken God is manifested by the low priority you've given to the temple because the temple was the place where God's manifest presence was to be located. So what the people were saying is we don't care that we don't have God in our midst.

We don't care. And the fact we don't care is the temple's not a priority. Zechariah says that's really because you've left God and that's why it's not a priority. We went on to say that the way you know that you're returning to God is where you place Him. You place Him first.

He's not if you have time or whether you have time or talents or treasures. It's the positioning of God. You know you've returned to God not because you feel a return in your in your spirit and not because you think you're returning to God. There is a prioritization that demonstrates you're returning to God. So you're seeking ye first the kingdom of God. He has become the priority not if you happen to have something left. So God calls for him to be prioritized as a way of demonstrating you are returning and you're not talking it. You're moving with it, walking with it. Zerubbabel verse 12 gets the message.

He is the priest and he begins a process of saying wait a minute you know that's right. Haggai is right. We've not prioritized God and that's why stuff is whack in our situation. That's why stuff is not right. We're trying to you know we're trying to make progress and we're putting it in a bag full of holes.

It's not going anywhere. All of our efforts aren't producing anything and Zerubbabel begins the process of prioritizing or getting the nation to prioritize God. God is not ignoring Zerubbabel's leadership in getting the people to reprioritize and put things back into their proper order and that leads God to chapter 2 where he says in chapter 2 the promise I made you when you came out of Egypt. God told them when you come out of Egypt I have a place for you. I've got a place of blessing for you. I have a promised land and while they had been removed from the promised land God was still going to keep his promise by returning them back to the promised land. He says I have a plan for you in spite of all the stuff that's gone bad.

He says in verse 5 of chapter 2 my spirit is abiding in your midst. Don't be afraid. Even though stuff is not going right things don't look good.

Things are on the downturn. I have not forgotten you. You've forgotten me but I have not forgotten you and now that Zerubbabel has taken the leadership to pulling my people back to me then this is what you can expect. He says in verse 6 for thus saith the Lord of hosts once more in a little while I am going to shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and the nations. A whole lot of shaking going on. What does he mean I am going to shake?

Pay close attention to this truth. God says that I'm going to shake stuff up to turn things around. I am going to shake stuff up to turn things around. What do we mean by shaking? Shaking refers to God's intentional interruption into the natural order of our affairs.

It is when God creates stuff in the normal flow. You know we're in the normal flow. Stuff is just going like it goes you know. Things are steady if you will and all of a sudden there is a volcanic interruption into our situation. A situation we didn't think about, we didn't anticipate, we weren't counting on and our worlds are turned upside down inside out. That's shaking.

There is a disruption in the normal flow of things. He says once again, once again, he says in a little while I'm going to shake some stuff up. Now why does he say once again? Because in chapter one he had already shaken some stuff up.

The rain's not flowing, the crops are not producing, we're in a bag full of holes. He says in chapter one stuff is shaken up but the shake up in chapter one is a shake up because God wasn't first. Zerubbabel has begun a process of making God first. So now God says well we're going to do a second shaking, a chapter two shaking. A chapter one shaking is a shaking because I'm not first but in a little while we're going to shake, rattle and roll again. It's a different kind of shaking because when I do the second kind of shaking I'm going to be shaking stuff loose for you. In chapter one the shaking is to keep stuff from you but I'm going to in a little while do a chapter two shaking because between chapter one and chapter two Zerubbabel has begun to bring the nation into prioritizing God again, demonstrated by putting him first in the temple, not just thinking about their house but thinking about his house or that is prioritizing God in their midst. So he says in a minute I'm going to shake shake again and I'm going to shake heaven and I'm going to shake earth and I'm going to bring something new about.

Now let me give you some bad news so I can lead you to some good news. The bad news is when you decide to put God first, when he's not extra left over if I have time, when God is prioritized and made preeminent, Colossians 1 18, that Jesus Christ might have first place in everything. When God is now put in the prime place of life and God is ready to do something new he will create a disruption first. Remember when God led Israel out of Egypt he put them in an uncomfortable situation. Pharaoh on one hand, the Red Sea on the other hand, they were in an uncomfortable situation but he put them in an uncomfortable situation because he was getting ready to do a new thing. He was getting ready to do something they had never seen before, the opening of the Red Sea, but he set it up with a shake up that is creating an interruption into the normal flow of things.

They thought they were going to ease on out of Egypt and they wind up being caught between a rock and a hard place. Not only that, when Abraham had to offer up Isaac, that was a shaky situation. Yeah, I've got to kill my aunt, my son, the son of my love, the only begotten son, that was a shaking up thing but that was because God was getting ready to do something new. When God is getting ready to take you to a new place, when God is getting ready to do a new thing, he will regularly shake stuff up first. But if you're not putting him first and you're not attuned to him, all you see is the shake up.

You don't see that the new thing is coming. It is God setting stuff up for a new move of his spirit that he wants to bring about by creating chaos that men in their own ability can't fix. There is no greater experience you can have with God than when everything around you is shaky and you're unshakable.

You have grown into a new experience with God. A great illustration there is Rahab. You remember Rahab? She was a lady of the evening but she exercised faith in God when she received the spies and sent them out another way because she believed that Israel's God was the true God. Now guess what the spies said to her? They said, now we're going back and get our boys and we're coming back. When we come back, this place gonna collapse.

A whole lot of shaking gonna go on in these rocks when we come back. But because of your faith, when this baby collapses, you gather all your relatives in your house because when everything else collapses, your house is gonna be left standing. So the world around you is gonna shake, but you are gonna be okay. The world around you is gonna collapse, but you gonna make it because in a shaky situation, she belonged to an unshakable kingdom.

Her situation didn't collapse when everybody else's situation didn't collapse, nor did it collapse for the folks who were hanging out with her. God has got your back. I've never seen the righteous forsaken or the seed begging bread. Now unto Him who can do exceedingly abundantly above, all you can ask or think according to the power that works in you, that even though everything else is shaky, you can stand tall because God's got you if you're in the unshakable kingdom. See, God wants you to see He's God even when all hell breaks loose. He wants you to see He's God even when you don't know how it's gonna work out. He's shaking stuff up so you can see something you have never seen before. He says, since we are part of this unshakable kingdom, this thing that doesn't move when everything else is rotating around us, He said, let us give thanks. Wait a minute. I'm in a shaky situation.

Stuff around me is crazy. And He says, don't complain. Give thanks. What am I giving thanks for? I'm giving thanks for my position in the unshakable kingdom.

Now, why do I need to know that I shouldn't fuss and cuss, complain, when I'm in a shaky situation, since I'm in an unshakable position, I'm in an unshakable kingdom. Dr. Evans will have more on how to stand steady during tough times when we return to this classic message from the Alternative Broadcast Archives in just a moment. But first, today's lesson is part of a compelling 13-part sermon series titled Turning a Nation to God.

In a divided culture, distinguishing truth and staying centered on what truly matters becomes increasingly challenging. Well, in this powerful two-volume collection, Dr. Evans urges us to remain true to our faith and calling, focusing on God's kingdom values. For only a few more days now, we are offering you the complete set of these full-length messages available on CD or digital download, along with a special bonus, a straightforward booklet that condenses these principles into a practical guide titled How Should Christians Vote? Reach out to the Alternative Broadcast with a donation today, and we'll send you the booklet and all 13 messages in this collection with our thanks. Find out more at TonyEvans.org or give us a call any time of the day or night at 1-800-800-3222. And for a deeper dive into the role of faith and government, check out Dr. Evans' comprehensive book and companion Bible study on kingdom politics.

Find out how you can get these added resources when you contact us at TonyEvans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. We'll get back to today's lesson right after this. You remember when Jesus ran low on food? He had two fish and five barley loaves. He ran a little low on food. He had to feed 5,000 men, not counting women and children, 20 to 25,000 people. I call two fish and five barley loaves being a little low on food. You're a little scarce on what you need to solve the situation.

He asked the disciples, how are we going to feed all these people? Their response is, this is a shaky situation because we don't have enough money, one of them said. Another one said, we got some fish and a few pieces of bread, but that won't do anything among all these people.

Let's just send them home. Another one, the situation is unresolvable. The situation can't be fixed. This situation is not one that we can turn around.

We just have to quit, give up, throw in the towel, because there is nothing that can work in this situation. Jesus said, give me the fish, the not enough, and the bread, the not nearly enough. But here's the key. Jesus put the fish in front of him, put the bread in front of him, and the Bible says, look up to heaven and gave thanks. Wait a minute now, how you going to give thanks for two fish, five pieces of bread in a shaky situation when it's not nearly enough to fix the problem we're in? Because Jesus was a part of another kingdom. He was a part of an unshakable kingdom.

So he didn't look around to determine how he was going to be. He looked at the kingdom he was a part of, and rather than complaining about everything else around him, he gave thanks for the little itsy bitsy stuff that he had. He winds up opening his eyes to the biggest fish fry in history, says he's not able to feed 5,000 people, not counting women and children, and have 12 basketfuls left over, because he wasn't looking at that kingdom. He was looking at the kingdom that does not shake. You need to know which kingdom you are a part of, but you can only experience it if you're putting God first. He says give thanks, because God wants to show you something. And that's why Jesus could say in Mark 6, the disciples didn't learn the lesson of the fish and the loaves.

They didn't learn that lesson because they ran into another problem and forgot that they are part of another kingdom. So what God does is disrupt the order of things to remind you of the group you really a part of. You're not part of the group that's shaking. You're part of the group that's unshakable.

That's the group you're part of. But you will only discover that when he shakes things up and you put him first. If you've not put him first, he'll shake things up and all you'll do is be miserable. But once you put him first and he shakes things up, then he'll let you see you are part of an unshakable kingdom.

I bet there's some testimonies in here of some people where everything else was collapsing around you and God kept you steady in a shaking situation. When you ladies go home and cook, you will put it in the oven and you're going to put heat on it. You're going to put heat on it because it needs to be done. You won't take it out too early because then it's not done. You won't leave it in too long because then it'll be burnt. So you're going to time that thing.

How long are you going to leave the food under the heat? Tell us, ready. You can't bring it out too early. It ain't ready yet. You can't leave it in too long.

You're going to hurt it. God has a timer on your situation and he knows when you're ready. He knows when you need to be in there longer because you ain't ready yet. You haven't learned the lesson yet, but he knows not to overcook you so that you can't function.

He knows when you're done when you're ready. Your clothes were wrinkled and you didn't want to wear wrinkled clothes to church. So you went and you pulled up the ironing board and you plugged in the iron until the iron got hot. When the iron got hot, then you ran the iron over the wrinkled situation.

You wanted it to be smooth. You got your iron hot and you put the hot iron on the crinkly situation. You put the hot iron on the messed up creases in the clothes that you had on. You could see the steam coming up as you abused the clothes with the heat of the iron. You weren't hating.

You weren't trying to be me. You were just trying to straighten some stuff up that was crooked and that needed to be straightened up. And so you put the iron on there long enough not to burn it, but long enough to straighten it out. If you didn't put it on there long enough, you'd still have wrinkled clothes.

If you left it on there too long, you'd have burned clothes. So you have to put it on there long enough to straighten stuff out. Well, what God has to do when he wants to straighten us out is he wants to put some heat on our situation because we got some wrinkles in our lives that need to be straightened out.

So since he wants to straighten it out, he'll let the heat be on there long enough to straighten it, but not too long to burn it. Now, why does God have to put all this heat on me? Because he wants to wear you. He wants to look good when you represent him. He wants to look good in your life. He don't want no wrinkled up saints. He wants saints that have been smoothed out, but the heat is necessary to smooth you out so that when you say, I'm a Christian, you look good as a Christian because the wrinkles have been addressed in your life.

So he allows a heat situation because he's trying to do something to make him look good and be glorified in your life. So when God shakes up the world around you, don't you get all shook up because God is doing something new in your life to give you a brand new experience with him. If you want to have that brand new experience with God starting today, stay with us.

We'll hear from Dr. Evans on how to do it in just a moment. But first, to get the full-length version of today's lesson, which includes material we couldn't fit into our program time, contact us for details on the title, Shaking Things Up for Revival. You can get it as a part of Tony's two-volume, 13-part compilation on what it means to be a citizen of heaven living on earth.

It's called Turning a Nation to God. Just visit us at tonyevans.org for the details. And don't forget, as an added gift for you when you make a contribution to the alternative broadcast, we're including a bonus copy of the practical booklet I talked about earlier, How Should Christians Vote?

This offer ends soon, so don't wait. Get the details and make your request today at tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222, where we have team members standing by day and night to help with your resource request. Also available is a more extensive educational package on the subject of kingdom politics, including a powerful book and corresponding Bible study. Find out more at tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. And one final reminder that the second season of the popular Stories from the Storyteller is now here. This family-friendly animated show follows the Evans family as their everyday experiences are turned into opportunities to learn important truths from the Bible. Catch the new episodes in season two now, or catch up on all of season one. Find out more at tonyevanstv.com.

That's tonyevanstv.com. You know, we often try to blame Satan when we find ourselves facing tough times. But on Monday, Dr. Evans talks about another explanation and why a crisis may be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Right now, though, let's listen as he closes our time together, talking about the most important decision we can ever make. The good news of the gospel is that God loves you and me so much and wants to have a relationship with us so bad that He dealt with the one thing that keeps that relationship from taking place, and that is our sin. On the cross, God's Son, Jesus Christ, took the penalty for our sin. God placed on Christ the sin of the whole world. He credited the sin of the world on the Christ.

And then the good news. God will credit back to any man or woman, boy or girl, who comes to Christ the righteousness of Christ. And that's perfect righteousness, for He was sinless. So the good news of the gospel is God will trade your sin for His righteousness, freeing Him then to have a relationship with you and giving you eternal life, the hope of heaven, when this life is over. And all of that's for free. God promises to give it to anyone who comes to Jesus Christ for it, because the price for sin has already been paid. And so I would invite any of our listeners who are unsure, uncertain about your eternal destiny to go to God right now and to tell Him you're placing all of your trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior for the forgiveness of your sins and for the gift of eternal life.