What Cannot Be Shaken | Run Free, Part 9
Key Truth | When seasons change and assignments shift, our security remains in God and in His Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Key Scripture | “Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken… that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.” — Hebrews 12:27–28 (NKJV)
There are moments when things begin to move that we thought would always stay the same.
I am experiencing some of that in my own life right now.
For much of my life, I have measured faithfulness by what I was willing to pick up. If there was a responsibility to carry, a problem to solve, or a gap to fill, my instinct was usually to step in.
But seasons change.
God has been dealing with me about my pace, my responsibilities, and what I am supposed to carry into this next chapter. Some things I have held for years are moving into other hands, and I am learning not to interpret something changing as something being lost.
Hebrews gives me a different perspective.
The shaking reveals what remains.
Sometimes we don’t realize how much of our identity has become attached to a role, responsibility, relationship, or season until it begins to move.
I am learning that I don’t have to keep doing something simply because I have always done it. I don’t have to remain at yesterday’s pace simply because it brought me here.
My assignment can change without my calling changing.
That has been freeing for me.
Beneath the roles and responsibilities, the important things remain. I am a husband and father. I am a pastor. I love the Church. I believe deeply in what God has called Lauren and me to do through Opendoor. I still dream about people encountering Jesus, leaders being raised up, churches being planted, and generations experiencing God for themselves.
Those things aren’t disappearing. In some ways, laying other things down is helping me see them more clearly.
And I believe the same is true for Opendoor after 40 years.
We have watched buildings, leaders, ministries, methods, and responsibilities change. Something can have been right for yesterday without being required for tomorrow. The challenge is knowing the difference between what God gave us for a season and what He placed in the DNA of this house.
Our commitment to Jesus, dependence upon the Holy Spirit, love for people, passion for worship, commitment to Scripture, investment in the next generation, and willingness to go wherever God sends us remain.
Hebrews says we are “receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken.”
That means my security doesn’t have to come from keeping everything around me the same. I can trust God enough to let things move.
Perhaps that is part of the invitation for me personally and for Opendoor as we enter the next season.
We don’t need to be afraid of what changes.
We need to know what remains.
Sometimes God allows things around us to move so we can rediscover what was holding us all along.
Reflection
Prayer | Father, thank You for being constant through every season. Help me release what belongs to another season without feeling that I am losing who You have called me to be.
Teach me to trust You with what is changing and recognize what remains.
As a church, help us honor everything You have done without becoming afraid of what You may do differently. Keep what You have placed deeply within this house strong from generation to generation.
Our confidence is in You and in Your Kingdom that cannot be shaken. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Additional Scripture
Hebrews 12:25–28 — Receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken
Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 — Recognizing changing seasons
Matthew 7:24–27 — Building on the rock
Psalm 46:1–7 — God remains secure when everything else moves
2 Corinthians 4:16–18 — Fixing our attention on what is eternal
Isaiah 43:18–19 — Recognizing what God is doing now
Key Scripture | “Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken… that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.” — Hebrews 12:27–28 (NKJV)
There are moments when things begin to move that we thought would always stay the same.
I am experiencing some of that in my own life right now.
For much of my life, I have measured faithfulness by what I was willing to pick up. If there was a responsibility to carry, a problem to solve, or a gap to fill, my instinct was usually to step in.
But seasons change.
God has been dealing with me about my pace, my responsibilities, and what I am supposed to carry into this next chapter. Some things I have held for years are moving into other hands, and I am learning not to interpret something changing as something being lost.
Hebrews gives me a different perspective.
The shaking reveals what remains.
Sometimes we don’t realize how much of our identity has become attached to a role, responsibility, relationship, or season until it begins to move.
I am learning that I don’t have to keep doing something simply because I have always done it. I don’t have to remain at yesterday’s pace simply because it brought me here.
My assignment can change without my calling changing.
That has been freeing for me.
Beneath the roles and responsibilities, the important things remain. I am a husband and father. I am a pastor. I love the Church. I believe deeply in what God has called Lauren and me to do through Opendoor. I still dream about people encountering Jesus, leaders being raised up, churches being planted, and generations experiencing God for themselves.
Those things aren’t disappearing. In some ways, laying other things down is helping me see them more clearly.
And I believe the same is true for Opendoor after 40 years.
We have watched buildings, leaders, ministries, methods, and responsibilities change. Something can have been right for yesterday without being required for tomorrow. The challenge is knowing the difference between what God gave us for a season and what He placed in the DNA of this house.
Our commitment to Jesus, dependence upon the Holy Spirit, love for people, passion for worship, commitment to Scripture, investment in the next generation, and willingness to go wherever God sends us remain.
Hebrews says we are “receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken.”
That means my security doesn’t have to come from keeping everything around me the same. I can trust God enough to let things move.
Perhaps that is part of the invitation for me personally and for Opendoor as we enter the next season.
We don’t need to be afraid of what changes.
We need to know what remains.
Sometimes God allows things around us to move so we can rediscover what was holding us all along.
Reflection
- Is there a role, responsibility, relationship, or season you have tied too closely to your identity?
- What remains true about God’s calling and faithfulness, even as things around you change?
Prayer | Father, thank You for being constant through every season. Help me release what belongs to another season without feeling that I am losing who You have called me to be.
Teach me to trust You with what is changing and recognize what remains.
As a church, help us honor everything You have done without becoming afraid of what You may do differently. Keep what You have placed deeply within this house strong from generation to generation.
Our confidence is in You and in Your Kingdom that cannot be shaken. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Additional Scripture
Hebrews 12:25–28 — Receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken
Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 — Recognizing changing seasons
Matthew 7:24–27 — Building on the rock
Psalm 46:1–7 — God remains secure when everything else moves
2 Corinthians 4:16–18 — Fixing our attention on what is eternal
Isaiah 43:18–19 — Recognizing what God is doing now
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