Paul uses a phrase, ‘quickly shaken’ that we want to jump in and look at today. Some of the Thessalonian believers had jumped ship and gone back from following Jesus. In church circles today, we use the term back sliding or backslidden to describe the process of a believer quickly turning away from Jesus. But is the process so quick? What goes through the mind of a professing believer when he turns away from Christ? How can a person who shows excitement for the things of the Lord suddenly act like none of that means anything at all? Well, backsliding does not happen suddenly. Mike Yaconelli writes in [The Wittenburg Door] the following. “I live in a small, rural community. There are lots of cattle ranches around here, and every once in a while a cow wanders off and gets lost.… Ask a rancher how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply, “Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of green grass right next to a hole in the fence, so it nibbles on that one and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know the cow has nibbled itself into being lost.” Backsliders, those quickly shaken, keep moving from one tuft of activity to another, never noticing how far we have gone from home or how far away from the truth we have managed to end up.¹

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Why Redeemed People Can Walk Free from Fear

Being ‘quickly shaken’ over bible doctrine is not anything new. Jesus dealt with the same thing with his disciples in John 6. Click To Tweet

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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

The Second Coming of Jesus draws near. Do not allow the happenings of the prophetic timeline cause you to fear.

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Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
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Question: Share a testimony about how the Lord helped you grew from being being quickly shaken to a strong stalwart Jesus follower. Share your story in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

We are currently teaching in the book of Second Thessalonians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

1. #S10-049: Why Jesus Proven Second Coming Produces Ironclad Hope
2. #S10-048: Why God’s Amazing Dynamic Deliverance Is Coming Your Way [Podcast]
3. #S10-047: What Does a Spiritually Healthy Jesus Follower Look Like to God? [Podcast]
4. #S10-046: Why Repetition Is a Vital Need for Godly Spiritual Growth [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 47 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 42 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Prayer

Let’s pray.

Now Father God, thank you for your essential nature and character. You are a good God and good things come from your hand. Help us not to be quickly shaken in mind or heart. You’re a God of comfort and a God of peace. Thank you for being you in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Podcast Notes

Why Some Are Quickly Shaken

• We are in second Thessalonians the second chapter starting at verse one.

2 Thessalonians 2:1–17 (ESV) — 1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

• Now, I read all of chapter two in your hearing and there is a reason why I read this long passage.
• I want to grab a couple of words in verse 2 and then a couple of words in verse 17.
• We need these words to book-end what Paul is attempting to do.
• In verse two, note the words ‘quickly shaken.’
• If you have your Bible, take a look at this.
• Then, if you drop down to verse 16 Paul starts praying for the Thessalonians and in verse 17, he asks the Lord to grant these believers comfort.
• In this case, comfort is the answer they were needing.
• So Paul challenges and comforts.
• Challenge and comfort all the pastoral tools of any good minister.
• God’s people must not be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit, by spoken word, or by a letter from a note worthy apostle, [that is by any medium].
• What was the source of the shaking?
• The Thessalonains had thought they had missed a boat.
• They thought that the day of the Lord had come.
• So, here is all this persecution that they were facing and having to deal with and now apparently Jesus had come and left them behind.
• Now, there’s quite a bit of information in these verses about prophetic happenings.
• But, Paul’s purpose is not to predict but to pastor.²
• So, let’s head out and take a look at some of what we have here in this chapter.

Quickly Shaken Definition

• The words ‘quickly shaken’ are the two words that we want to look at and, with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
• The Greek Word ‘shaken’ means to disturb inwardly.
• We could say ‘to cause to waver.’
• The Greek word ‘quickly’ pertains to a very brief extent of time, with focus on speed of action.
• We’re talking too quickly, too easily, hastily.
• Some of the Thessalonian believers had gotten inwardly disturbed, they wavered and turned from Jesus.
• And they did this quickly!
• There’s another case of this among the Galatian believers and Paul addresses that in his letter to them.

Quickly Shaken: The Galatian Believers

Galatians 1:6–7 (ESV)— 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

• There’s the same word ‘quickly.’
• The Galatians were quickly, easily, and hastily leaving Jesus with focus on speed of action.
• They were running from Jesus with little or no delay — and certainly no forethought.
• Paul was astonished at this speedy departure.

Quickly Shaken Definitions: Astonished

• Let’s look at this word ‘astonished.’
• ‘Astonished’ means Paul marveled and was amazed to the point of being extraordinarily impressed or disturbed by this speedy departure from the faith.³
• Can you blame him?
• Have you ever seen this with some of the people you have gone to church with?
• One day they are there and the next minute poof, they’ve disappeared like a rabbit from a magicians hat.
• Was there walk with God just an illusion?

Quickly Shaken Definition: Deserting

• In the case of the Thessalonian believers Paul uses the word ‘deserting.’
• Some of the Galatians quickly, easily, and hastily had deserted God.
• That’s what the scripture that we read said.
• They didn’t desert the Church — they deserted Him.
• It was personal.
• Read it again.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you.

• You see that?
• The Galatians had deserted him quickly.
• It seems that something similar may have happen with the Thessalonian church.
• They were quickly shaken because someone gave them a different message about the Second Coming of Jesus.
• What I want you to see at this point is that the departure in both of these churches, was a departure from Him.
• People sometimes have said I left the church because they’re just a bunch of hypocrites in there.
• Well, when you left the Church, you left Him — you left the Lord — you left God.
• Don’t be fooled — the Church is God’s idea.
• And, every believer should be part of a local assembly.
• Some left the church because of the fear of COVID.
• Well, that’s been several years ago.
• Why haven’t you returned?
• So departure from the faith is personal and God takes it that way.
• Let’s look at the Greek word ‘deserting’ in Galatians 1:6.
• The word means to renounce or to turn away from or give up on an agreement or relationship.
• It means to have a change of mind in allegiance, change one’s mind, turn away, desert. ⁴
• In classical Greek, the word is used of a turncoat, or a traitor.
• It is also used to describe a ‘military desertion.’ ⁵
• The word is used of one altering ones opinion or becoming of another mind.
• The word was also used of desertion or revolt, frequently of a change in religion, philosophy, or morals. [5. Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), Ga 1:6.
• What caused some of the Galatians to turn traitor?
• What call them to be I talkquickly shaken?
• The scripture tells us — they heard another gospel.

Quickly Shaken: Distortion of the Gospel

• What they heard was a distortion of the gospel.
• The word ‘distort’ means a change from one form to another.

but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ — Galatians 1:7.

• Some person — probably some evil person — put a spin on the gospel and BANG! — some of these saints turned into aints.
• Why is that — how can it be?
• Well, don’t be self-righteous here.
• Ask yourself this question: ‘if the Church in America experienced the same persecution that the early Church faced, what would be the result?
• Would we have saints that turned into aints?
• How quickly would the departure be?
• This kind of departure is prophesied as a happening in the last days.

Quickly Shaken: The Last Days

1 Timothy 4:1–5 (ESV) — 1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

• So, some of the Galatians departed —they left God — they left Jesus — they turned their backs on the Word.
• There was a rumbling among the Thessalonians as well.

Quickly Shaken: An Example of Jesus Disciples

• Being ‘quickly shaken’ over bible doctrine is not anything new.
• Jesus dealt with the same thing with his disciples.
• There was a sudden departure one day over a sermon that Jesus preached.

John 6:48–52 (ESV) — 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

• You see the Jews misunderstood what Jesus said.
• They were trying to understand the Word with their minds.
• Jesus was not talking about cannibalism here.
• That’s what these people thought they heard.
• He was sharing the fact that His Body has and His Blood have symbolic meaning.
• Jesus took stripes in His body and by His stripes we are healed — that’s what we read in 1 Peter 2:24.
• You have to partake of that body.
• What does that mean?
• It means that you must believe what you read and act on what you read.
• You must believe that God the Father laid upon Jesus every sickness and every disease.
• He did it for your sake.

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) — 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

• Believing and acting on this Word is eating His body.
• Think of eating His body as feeding on His Word.
• In this case, we are feeding on His Word concerning healing.
• Then, there’s His blood — Jesus told this group that they had to partake of His blood — that they had to drink His Blood.
• What’s Jesus saying?
• His blood was shed at Calvary for your sins.
• At the same place that God laid your sicknesses upon Jesus, He also laid your sins upon Him.

Ephesians 1:7–10 (ESV) – 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

• So Jesus is teaching about His Body and His Blood.
• How did that go over?

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

• Now, there is more that Jesus said on this same line and, you can read the rest in John six down to verse 59.
• But, some of Jesus disciples or quickly shaken by the message they had heard from the lips of Jesus.

John 6:60–61 (ESV) — 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?

• Look at the telltale signs of being quickly shaken.
• These disciples grumbled — that’s sign number one.
• They took offense at the words of Jesus — that’s sign number two.
• The Greek word ‘grumble’ means to express oneself in low tones of strong disapproval.
• It means to murmur.,
• People, who are quickly shaken over the requirements of being a Jesus follower murmur.
• Man, if you have read any of your Bible, especially the Old Testament, especially Exodus, especially Israel in the wilderness, you know that murmuring, complaining, griping, fault finding are all super bad behaviors.
• So, the murmuring of Jesus disciples in the New Testament is akin to the murmuring of Israel in the Old Testament.
• Either covenant — same thing — murmuring is murmuring.
• So, these disciples murmured and were at the same time offended by Jesus teaching.
• This word ‘offense’ or offended means to cause to be brought to a downfall, to cause to sin.
• My, my isn’t that noteworthy.
• Jesus is plainly stating that murmuring is sin and that engaging in this will lead to your downfall.
• I’m telling you you don’t want any part of this downfall business.
• Jesus asks these disciples, and He is asking you the same thing as well.
• Are you going to let God’s Word bring you down?
• Are you going to sin because you’re taking issue with something that He said?

“Lord help us today to be doers of your Word.” Let our confession be ‘God said it, I believe it and that settles it for me.’

• Drop down now to verse 66 of John 6.

John 6:66 (ESV) – 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

• These disciples then made the biggest mistake of their lives.
• They threw down their Bibles and walked off and left Jesus.
• And, they did it because they misinterpreted what He said and got offended.
• The root of the problem was the fact that they really didn’t know God nor understand his character.
• If they had known His nature, they would have realized that Jesus wasn’t talking about cannibalism?
• That’s not who God is.
• If they had known His essential nature, they would have easily seen that ‘eat my flesh and drink my blood’ was nothing but symbolic language.
• Can we dare say that some of God’s people today are quickly shaken over the truth concerning Divine Healing?
• You there’s a different doctrine going around saying that God puts cancer on people.
• There’s another stream of false doctrine that says it’s not God’s will to heal everybody.
• Well, God’s not putting cancer on people.
• If you knew his nature — that he is the most loving father any individual could ever have — way more loving than any earthly father could ever be, you would easily see it’s not the will of God to lay sickness and disease on his kids.
• That’s brutality — that’s abuse.
• That’s not His character.
• God does not abuse men he blesses them.

Quickly Shaken: Why This Condition Exists with Some Today

• So, I have this in my heart to take this subject a bit deeper.
• To fan out and cover some of the reasons why some people are quickly shaken, get offended, and walk off from God.
• If you find yourself in this case, maybe you have backslid and gone back on God, I want you to know that there’s hope for you.
• I want to try to help you return to your Holy Spirit roots.
• The Father God loves you deeply and cares about you intensely.
• You may be a prodigal from the things of God because of some past misunderstanding or hurt.
• Maybe it was an answer to prayer that you expected to receive and you didn’t receive it and you didn’t understand why you didn’t receive it.
• It might’ve been a stand of faith that you took and somehow you didn’t receive the promise of God’s Word.
• I’d like to help you today.
• Now, I know what the scripture says.
• We’ve already covered it.
• In the last days there will be a departure.
• The million dollar question is what will you do when the pressure comes?
• I encourage you to stand strong, firm and not be quickly shaken.
• People are people.
• They are no different than they were in the first century.
• The disciples got offended with Jesus and walked off from Him.
• This kind of thing took place in some of the churches that Paul founded as we have seen.
• Being offended as they were in the first century works the same way today.
• I’m talking believers now.
• I’d like to cover some of the reasons why this is and maybe as we uncover these rocks — these stumbling stones and clear the road, maybe that might provide you a path to come back to Him if you have left.
• So, we will pick this up in next week’s podcast Lord willing.

Now Father God, help the people. You are the Great Helper, the Awesome and Mighty one. Thank you for your Holy Spirit who is our Helper, Comforter, and Guide. I pray for restoration for the people. I pray that you would help them and grant them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You. And, in those cases where they’re struggling to understand, help them to realize that if they just simply trust you, in the end all things will become clear. I thank for doing that for them in Jesus name, Amen.

• Why You Shouldn’t Be Quickly Shaken by Prophetic Happenings.
• You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another editon of Light on Life.

How To Avoid One Of The Biggest Worship Mistakes Ever

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