Kids, if you'd like to go downstairs, we have a kid service available, or you're of course you're always welcome to stay up here. I just want to say welcome to those that are visiting today here for the first time. We're glad that you chose to worship with us today and to be part of our family. We don't have membership here, so if you attend, you're a member and if you don't, you're not.
So it's real simple. We are happy to have you here today and we're here to magnify the name of Jesus. We're here to make him, I saw Jay had a shirt on, so I make Jesus famous. He's already famous, but we're going to do our best to exalt him and make his name known today.
So I want to, I just really over the last two weeks, I didn't preach last week because that's did. Kristen and I were. We were in Florida. And you think it's hot here, it was really, really hot in Florida last week.
Of course the heat wave said everywhere, the humidity was unbearable, but we got to do a little fishing and I don't mean from shore, I mean we went out and did some deep sea fishing. And this was like, you know sometimes it's called fishing and sometimes it's called catching. This was catching because every time I'm not lying, every time we dropped lying, we went out to this reef seven miles from the shore and every time we dropped lying we got a bite. Like, it's like, it never happens like that.
And what was even better, the captain of the ship, he baited my hook. I can bait a hook just for those that are wondering, I can bait a hook, I grew up fishing. But he would put the little fish on the hook, throw it in there, I'd pull up a bigger fish, he'd put it under his arm, take it off, rebake the hook back in the water. It was just like bam, bam, bam.
We had our daily limit by 10 a.m. in the morning for the whole boat. It was just Kristin and I and another couple, so it was a lot of fun and it was really enjoyable time. So that was fun.
But while I was on the boat, you know, we, something had been stirring in my heart for the last few weeks about anchors. And even as, even as we were in the boat, you know, we had an anchor down, we went out to this reef and there were other boats there fishing in the same place. And of course, we threw an anchor down and we think about an anchor, what's the purpose of an anchor? The anchor kind of keeps you in a fixed position, right?
It kind of keeps you safe, it keeps you secure, you're not like, like the worst thing would be to bump into another boat when you're fishing, that would not be a good thing. But a lot of times, even in a storm, you know, an anchor will keep you safe. And so we, you know, we were in a boat and a storm come up and fortunately it was perfect timing because as soon as we got our daily limit, the storm come up and the guy said, do you want to keep fishing? We're like, no, we're good.
So we, we hightailed it back to shore. I didn't get sick, which was the first time, so that was a good thing. And as a kid, I always got seasick on these type of boats, but yeah, it was real good. So I started thinking about anchors and I want to look at two passages today.
I want to look at Hebrews chapter six and then we're going to read, I'm going to give you like spoiler alert. Are you guys ready? With spoiler alert, we have a long text to read. We're going to read a story from Acts 27.
And I've reduced a few verses out of it just for the length of time, but I really want you to hear the whole story. So Hebrews chapter six and Acts 27. And here's what I really see going on in Hebrew six, we're going to see that there is an anchor and it talks about that the hope that we have in Jesus is an anchor that enters behind the veil and that what he's done and what he did for us, we talked about earlier that he entered the most holy place with his blood once and for all time, obtained eternal redemption for us. And it said that that hope, the hope that we have him, that he is our high priest and it says that hope is an anchor for our souls.
However, what I see a lot of times is have you ever seen a boat that was tied with two different ropes? Like the one keeps it from going this way and the other keeps it from going that way. And what I see a lot of times is even though we have some hope anchored in heaven, we have other things that we put down anchors on earth. And there's this kind of tied to heaven, tied to earth simultaneously and all of a sudden we don't really do anything and we don't go anywhere.
So it's that I want to look at that I have titled the message cut the anchors, cut the anchors. You know that is just anchors plural so we'll talk about what a couple of those anchors might be but there's one anchor we want to keep but the rest of them we want to cut. So if you would, if you have your vitals you want to turn to Hebrews chapter 6, I'm going to read from the NASB for Hebrew 6 and the new King James from Acts 27. Oh yeah I guess I should tell you that we're going to talk about hope today.
Anybody need a little more hope? I see a lot of head shaking. See here's the thing that if I say the Apostle Paul forgive me I'm kind of believe the Apostle Paul wrote Hebrews if you don't agree I don't care of your own opinion but whoever wrote Hebrews he talks about here about having a not just hope but having a full assurance of hope which tells me there's a difference. So why would he bother talking about having a full assurance of hope?
What's hope? Hope is having a confident expectation of a future good that I'm expecting today that something that's going to happen in the future is going to turn out good. He says I want you to have full assurance of hope. You ever ask anybody this full assurance means to be completely certain.
You ever ask anybody they tell you something and you say are you sure about that? And they go well yeah and he has more of a question than an answer. Yeah guess what they're not. Yeah they're not sure they don't know or I do this so I'm guilty of this.
Somebody says are you sure about that it's usually Phil because Phil's our resident fact checker we call him pastor fact checker. And he'll say are you sure about that and I'll say well I'm 99% sure. Like is that even possible? Like are you 99% pregnant?
No you either are you aren't. So you're either sure or you're not sure. And he says I want you to have full assurance I want you to be completely certain I want you to be 100% confident that what's going to happen is going to happen and that it's going to be good when it's all over and I want you to have full assurance to the end. See what happens a lot of times we're like we leave church and we're all man our faith is here and we have hope and we have faith and the thing that we're hoping for and then what happens and then if your life happens yeah life happens and he says I not only want you to be completely certain I not only want you to be fully have full assurance of hope but I want you to have it all the way when to the end.
And so he says I don't want you on a roller coaster of hope. See if you don't have hope you can't have faith. Hebrews 11 once says faith is the substance of things hoped for and so faith needs hope to grab onto. See hope is the thing that you can't see hope is for something in the future Paul says in Romans 8 he says why would somebody hope for that which they already see like if I can see it why do I need to hope for it and so hope he says but when you don't see it you wait for it there's a term people use a lot when I say wait for it says you wait for it with perseverance that there's might be some things you've got to go through to get to the other side and so he says here he says we desire that each one of you demonstrate demonstrate means to show by your words if you look this word up it means to show by your words in your actions it says we want you to demonstrate the same diligence so you realize the full assurance of hope until the end so that you will not be let's just say lazy I don't want you to be lazy I don't want you to be sluggish this word also means stupid don't be stupid he says so that you will not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises he says I need you to be have full assurance all the way the end I need you to demonstrate it and I want you to be imitators of those people who through faith and perseverance inherited the very thing that they were promised also this in 1 Corinthians 11 when he says I want you to imitate me as I do what imitate Christ so it's important when he says I want you to be imitators important to imitate it's important to we obviously want to pattern our life off Jesus but there should be some people in your life that you could look to who actually live a life of integrity live a life of faith that live a life that they've been through some stuff and they've hung in there for a while and they've probably been through it and he says I want you to imitate those people and just in case anybody knows somebody like that been through some stuff they waited they persevered and they inherited the very thing they were waiting for so just in case you don't know somebody like that he gives us an example we said in case you don't know one of them there's Abraham and the next verse he says this one God made a promise to Abraham since he could swear and oath by no one greater he swore by himself the two things we're gonna see later it says that there's two things God did first he makes a promise he makes a promise to Abraham and Genesis 12 he makes a promise later in Genesis a few chapters later and it says when he could swear by no one else he swore by himself he actually makes an oath using his own name because it's not like as if it's not enough for God to say I promise I'll do this then he comes back later and puts an oath on it says all by they not only do I promise it but I swear on my own name and I'm gonna do it he says when he could swear by no one greater he swore by himself saying indeed I will greatly bless you and I would greatly multiply you what he says to Abraham so having patiently waited there's an interesting word patiently waited so a lot of times we can wait for it but guess what we're not oh wait but I don't want to the word patiently waited actually is a Greek word it comes from two words macro and thumas it means long tempered that doesn't mean you have a temper for a long time because then that would be me matter of fact I play golf matter of fact I need to tell the story because I'm scared that this video is going to come back to haunt me so I just need it I just need to preface this before Seth pulls one on me I'm playing golf in five years I've never played golf as a pastor you know where I'm going I haven't played golf in five years because of my back but when I did play golf you wouldn't know I would have been a pastor by the way that I didn't really demonstrate by my words and actions I did very good let's just say I passed the cast but there was one hole one hole it's like the eighth hole I don't play non holes I swing the ball goes about six inches beating the club on the ground for the first time ever and wouldn't you know it was the only time all day that Seth I look back he's in the cart videoing laughing so just in case that video ever pops up I just want to I just want to preface it I'm still working on being long tempered but actually the word long temper is more than not just losing your temper it's about not allowing your passions and attitude and emotion to control the way that you wait so anger is obviously a big one but that when we wait we do it in such a way that we don't allow our passions and emotions to control us through that process and so it's having patiently way to obtain the process or promise we know Abraham he waited some 25 years rising right that even though and then Abraham's although he saw the fulfillment of Isaac he didn't see the fulfillment of in 400 years you know I'll bring your people out out of Egypt he didn't see that he didn't see in you all nations of the earth will be blessed but he patiently endured to the end and a lot of times what we think is you know Abraham waits 25 years I got to tell you this God's timing is always perfect because a lot of times why we're patiently waiting why we're waiting for the thing to happen that we've we believe for it and pray for it a lot of time goes by and here's something I don't know that this is scripture but I could say it's probably a true statement can I say it just something I've noticed is the longer the period of time the less the hope that the longer some but something continues to occur the tendency is our hope as time increases hope decreases and I was at a I was at Grace place a few months ago they had a guy named Dan Mueller there great great teacher I was there on a Saturday and he said one thing it really stuck with me says since when do we allow time to have power over God's promises and it's stuck with me because that's what happens a lot of times as things go longer without seeing the manifestation of the promise we begin to allow time to diminish our hope and actually allow time to have power over top of what God's promise is he says it shouldn't be a lot of times we we think we have a better timing than God but even in Abraham where Abraham had to wait 25 years think about this what if God had given Abraham Isaac sooner in life fulfilled the promise sooner when Abraham sent his servant out to find Isaac's wife who would be Rebecca had Isaac been born sooner Rebecca probably would have been too young to get married and so sometimes what we don't see is God sees like eternity right and he realizes that if he fulfills the promise and the thing happens today that something else won't occur later on it's probably more important and so although there's 25 years that Abraham had to wait by the time that Isaac was old enough to need a wife or Rebecca had been born and God was able to send his servant or Abraham sent a servant out to find Rebecca and the timing was perfect a lot of times we don't realize that.
Verse 16 says this it says for when people swear by an oath by one greater than themselves and when with them an oath serving as confirmation is an end every dispute it's basically like when you make an oath it eliminates argument right so that's what God did he made a promise and he backed it up with an oath he said in the same way God designed even more to demonstrate to the heirs of promise everybody say I'm an heir I'm an heir you're an heir if you're a born again Christian you're an heir he said God wanting to demonstrate to the heirs of promise the fact that his purpose is what? Unchangeable. The King James Version would say immutable. His purpose is his will or his counsel what Paul said I declared unto you the whole counsel of God it's the same word so what he's saying is not that God's as I spoke to weeks ago not that God's purpose or will or plan always comes to pass because we have a freedom to choose within that but that his purpose plan and will actually doesn't change there's a difference and this is said that the purpose of God the purposes of God are unchangeable or they're immutable anybody ever take physics?
Autumn says no. Alright anybody ever hear of Newton's Law of Motion? Oh okay so you've taken physics. Okay one of Newton's Law of Motion says this says a body at rest will what?
Stay at rest or a body in motion will stay at motion less acted on by some external force right so if I put that Bible right there on the floor and I come back in an hour guess where it's going to be are you sure why are you sure about that? It's because it's Newton's Law unless somebody comes in and does this but as long as nobody or nothing touches that it's not moving because it's an immutable law it's a law that doesn't change and what happens a lot of times we have more faith in Newton's immutable laws than we do God's immutable purposes. See actually wasn't a God that invented the law of motion Newton didn't invent it he just discovered it and so for some reason we can put more faith in physics well it's an immutable law it must not change well God's purposes are immutable God's purposes are unchangeable the purpose and plan he had for you a billion years ago still the purpose he has for you today that purpose hasn't changed the purpose that he has for you today will be the purpose he has for you next week next year his purposes don't change he confirmed it with an oath next verse 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it's impossible for God to lie so those two things are this it's the promise in the oath and he can't lie in either case so he can't lie if he can't lie it has to come true it's impossible for God to lie we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to do what hold firmly to the hope that is set where's it set that's important because we're going to look what that hope is the hope is set before us but what happens a lot of time is we look for hope around us to the hope around us won't won't get you where you're going the hope before us will and in verse 19 he says this he says the hope is set for us this hope we have as an anchor of the soul a hope both sure and reliable and one that enters within the veil where Jesus has entered a forerunner for us having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizadec and that's a whole other message maybe we'll talk about Chizadec one day but just tuck it in the back your brain for now but he says the hope that we have the hope that's before us is an anchor for what your soul when you accept Jesus as your Savior become a new creation you have a new spirit your soul which is your mind your will and your emotion it says that the the hope that lays before us is what you anchor your soul with your thoughts get anchored there your emotions get anchored there your decisions get anchored there see what happens we're looking for anchors here and the anchors here will actually hold you back can you see the difference that if I have an anchor up there it's taking me where what's it doing it's lifting me up if I have an anchor here what's it doing it's holding me down pulling me back maybe I ever watch Bear Grylls all right so what's this what's that guy's actor's name if I say the movie you're gonna hate me American sniper or hang over hold that actor was in that Bradley Cooper yeah you guys never watch that movie I'm sure but so Bradley Cooper is on this thing with Bear Grylls it's like something in the wild Bear Grylls so Bear takes him out for a day and in one day shows him all the things he needs to do and in the second day Bradley has to replicate that and get to Bear so one of the things they have to do is they there's this hundred foot chasm like this big dip that you'll die I'm sorry it's a hundred foot across it's about three or four hundred feet deep so Bear he gets this grappling hook on his gun and he shoots it and it goes over on the other side and he gives a little tug and says okay Bradley go across and Bradley said this he said there's one of those moments where you just have to step out in faith now I don't think Bradley's a Christian at least I don't know but I'd say he's probably not but that's that's the kind of hook that I'm seeing is that it's up there and it's pulling me toward something as opposed to something that's down here that's keeping me held back and he says the hope that we have is a place that anchors my thinking and anchors my thoughts and anchors my emotions and anchors my decisions this hope actually goes behind the veil the place that Jesus went with his own blood applied it to the mercy seat and literally took care of every need that would ever be the experience for the rest of time on earth that's my hope that's the thing I anchor into and that's what he wants you to anchor into alright so I want to read this story to you actually after 27 that's our kind of backdrop now I don't normally do this and this is a lengthy passage but there's something in here I really want to get to so you guys with me alright so I'll kind of set stage so Paul he had been arrested by the Jewish leaders and they didn't like you know the message he was preaching etc so they they take him to the governor they take him to Felix and Felix tries and Felix doesn't want to deal with it and he dies and his replacement comes in fastest and fastest hears it fastest doesn't really want to do anything with this case and Paul early on he had done what's called he appealed a Caesar and as a Roman citizen you could make this appeal to have your case heard by Caesar in Rome and so even so Felix hears his case fastest hears his case King of Gripa and his wife I think her name was Bernice they come and visit fastest and even King of Gripa hears Paul's case and at the end of chapter 26 King of Gripa says the fastest he says this man could be set free had he not appealed a Caesar and so Paul had he not actually made this appeal to go to Caesar he could have gone free at that point but he didn't and so what happens is they put him on this ship the ship probably leaving Israel I'd say like Caesarea is probably where they got on the ship at and they put him on this ship with a actually a couple friends with with it if you read the beginning of Acts 27 Dr. Luke who was writing this book he read the book acts Luke was on this ship he had another friend called he has star kisses on the ship with him and it says that Paul is put under the guard of a centurion and the centurion's charge of Paul and some other prisoners and they get on this ship and they take off for Rome well this is the first of two ships so the first ship they get they get about I don't know I should say a third or fourth of the way and they end up to I think a city was called Myra and it said from there they get on a different ship and this was a Alexandrian ship so it came from Alexandria Egypt it's carrying wheat and it's going to carry wheat and grain all the way to Rome so they switch ships and they get on that ship and then they sail a little bit farther and they get to the island of Crete and it Crete they end up at this this town called Fairhaven now if you had to pick a place to live like that sounds like a nice gentle place to live fairhaven and so they're in Fairhaven and Paul tells us he says what they want to do so Fairhaven is kind of like a pohic town I guess you might say there's not a whole lot going on there it's not a good place to hold up for the winner what they want to do is they want to find a place to winner and they said we're just going to go around the island of Crete about 45 miles over to a city called Phoenix and we're going to winter there and Paul says you know what not a good idea it's late in the year I've been here before I've been to this party and Paul was in three shipwrecks prior to this so you have a little experience right so Paul says you know what just from my own personal experience probably not a good idea to go sailing this time of the year and early in the chapter it says but the majority listen or didn't listen to Paul so they're like you know what no we're gonna make it all around the island we're gonna go to Phoenix and so this little 40 think of like Gilligan's island right they went they're supposed to go in like a three-hour tour well the three-hour tour turned into a 14 days in the dark and that's kind of where we're gonna pick up the story today so what happens is they're trying to go just under the Iowa Creek to hit Phoenix and the storm rises up and literally pushes them out the sea and the ship they're on this road they're like a real big sturdy ship it's a green ship it's got one kind of big mast in the middle and one on the front but it's not a sailing ship so it's not a ship where they could really catch the wind a certain way and and do that had on the back it had two big wars coming out the side you know so so we'd catch wind and then the guys in the bottom would row and that's how they'd go so but if the wind was like opposite in their contrary are really strong the ships just going to go it's no way and that's what happens okay so here we are verse 14 that's just a little background it says but not long after a tempestuous headwind arose called Eurocliden what we would call a Northeastern so imagine like a really big Northeastern hitting and it says when the ship was caught and could not head into the wind we let her drive and running under the shelter of an island called Clauda we secured the skiff with difficulty so that's like the little boat the dinghy that would hang off the side they brought it up and tied it down and it said when they had taken it on board they used the cables to undergird the ship and fearing less they should run aground on sirtasans they struck sandward rip so what they did they took these cables and actually pulled them underneath the ship to hold it together so that the waves tossing it back and forth wouldn't pull it apart and verse 18 says and because we were exceedingly tempest tossed on the next day they lightened the ship and on the third day we threw the ships tackle overboard with our own hands that's essentially not like fishing tackle that would be their the equipment so you know it's getting bad three days and they're pitching the equipment overboard now when neither Sun nor Stars appeared for many days and no small tempest beat on us get this all hope that we would be saved was given up so in Hebrews 6 he talks about I want you to have full assurance of hope to the end and here they are three days into a storm and it was so bad they threw the tackle overboard they threw some other things overboard they light the ship it said it got so bad in three days that all hope of us being saved was given up see they're on this roller coaster of hope they set out sail they're going to a destination and next thing you know they hit a storm and a few days in a storm gets so bad all hope is gone it says but after a long abstinence from food Paul stood up in the midst of them and said man you should have listened to me this is where everybody needs a note all right you should have listened to me and not sail from Crete and incurred the disaster we're gonna come back here to what Paul says after we read this and now I urge you to take hard for there will be no loss of life among you but only the ship but there stood by me this night an angel of God whom I belong to and whom I serve saying do not be afraid Paul you must be brought before Caesar and of course and indeed God has granted you all those who sit with you therefore take heart man for I believe God that it will be just as it was told to me however we must run aground on a certain island now when the 14th night had come as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near to land and they took some soundings and found it to be 20 fathoms or that would be 120 feet and they went gone a little farther and they took some more soundings and found it to be 15 fathoms or 90 feet and then fearing less they should run aground on the rocks they dropped four anchors from the stern we're gonna come back to that and prayed for day to come and as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship when they had let down the skiff into the sea under pretense putting out anchors from the prow or bow the ships here's what do they do it says that they went to the back of the ship and put down four anchors right and then the sailors go to the front of the ship and pretend like they're putting down more anchors but what they do is they take that skiff and they put it over the edge it's like we're out of here and so they actually try to escape the ship and get away from everybody else well Paul sees that and says as the sailors verse 30 we're seeking to escape from the ship when they had let down the skiff they had under pretense of putting out the anchors from the bow Paul said to the censurean soldiers unless these men stay in the ship you cannot be saved then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall so the soldiers who previously wouldn't listen to Paul and now Paul says hey if these guys leave we're all dead and so what are the soldiers do see you dinghy they cut the ropes why those guys are trying to get in it cut the ropes and let that thing fall into the ocean it says the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall verse 33 and as the day was about the dawn Paul implored them to take food saying today's the 14th day you've waited and continued without food and eat nothing therefore I urge you to take nourishment for this is for your survival not a hair will fall from the head of any of you and when he had said these things he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all and when he had broken it he began to eat and they were all encouraged and also took through themselves and all in all there were 276 persons on the ship so this wasn't a little ship you know 276 people here so when they had eaten enough they lightened the ship and threw the weep out into the sea and when it was day they did not recognize the land but they observed a bay with a beach on to which they planned to run the ship if possible and they let go the anchors and let them in the sea meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes they hoisted the main sail to the wind and made for sure but striking a place where the two seas meet they ran the ship aground and the prow struck fast and remained immovable but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves so they essentially drove the ship in the land and the stern stuck fast into the into the beach into the land and the back the waves were so bad so the stern the boat actually got demolished and the soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners less than any of them should swim away and escape but the centurion wanting to say Paul kept them from their purpose commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and go to land and the rest some on boards and some on parts of the ship and so it was that they all escaped safely the land so they're all what we find in the next chapter what they're on is what's called the island of Malta they're only halfway to where they're actually they're closer to Sicily they're not quite there yet but they're on this island and had they missed this island they would have just shot on past it probably would not have made it so what Paul does he stands up and he says to them hey there's not going to be any loss of life it looks bad we've been 14 days no Sun no moon no stars it's been pitch black you've been in this situation for two weeks now but there's not going to be any loss of life and here's what as I'm reading through this what what it really stuck out to me this week is a lot of times that we want the promise but we don't want to go through the process so the promise is what there's not going to be any loss of life on this ship not one hair from anybody's head will fall everybody will make it to land who wants to sign up for that yeah see what happens is we hear a promise in God's word we want the promise and we should want the promise but a lot of times we want the promise without going through the process that it takes to get to the promise look at the next slide here's what Paul says anybody here about poop filled sandwich if you have it I'll tell you what it is it's something positive something negative and then something positive and it makes it easier to eat Paul didn't serve a poop filled sandwich he served an open face sandwich here it was just something good top with something bad here you go a little bit different I prefer to put a little sweet on the outside of both but what's he says they're not so there's not going to be any loss of life among you however what we must run a ground on a certain island oh I want I want to live but I don't want to run a ground on an island see we're we're quick to jump up for the promise but I don't want to go through the promise the process to get there there's not going to be any loss of life however we must run a ground on a certain island I got into help all which island he just had a certain island he said what's going to happen and so what if we go down at the response then fearing look what they were afraid of fearing we should run a ground well guess what they had to do they had to run a ground Paul said there's not going to be loss of life however we got to run a ground but fearing they should run a ground like they're actually scared of the very thing that's going to be lead to their deliverance see not everything in the Christian life is a better roses I believe in the blessing of God I believe in deliverance I believe in freedom I believe in righteousness and forgiveness and walking in of the blessing of God all day long but you have an enemy of your soul that's out every day trying to to destroy you trying to kill you trying to take you out and see like I wouldn't need challenges in life if it wasn't for you guys I'd be the best version of the Apostle Paul if I lived alone I'd be so like Christ if I didn't have people in my life you know right now don't take that the wrong way but it's the truth see it's only through difficulties that actually God shapes our character and brings us to a higher level I could be the biggest gospel kingdom guy all day long on a deserted island but put me with 10 people and I got issues I need that I need that because God is still working on me it says that they ran it that they fear and they should run aground so what did they do what did they do so they wouldn't run aground which is the thing that needed to happen for them to receive the promise they dropped four anchors see what happens is we're looking for the rank anchors around us instead of the anchor before us see there's one anchor that we need to be anchor to and it's the one that entered that Jesus the four-runner entered as our high priest ahead of us behind the veil but what we do when we want the promise but don't want the rest of the process we set down anchors and what happens is we get stuck between two worlds you're gonna ask me what those anchors are right of course you are well ask God just to give me a few common anchors I'll just give you a couple that I think you know and now there were more than four anchors on the ship because the sailors went to the front of the ship and tried to put down more anchors and then so they're but they've actually put four down so I'll just give you four things that I think we do I think one anchor we put down is our personal experience well I've heard this before and it didn't turn out the way that I thought it would I was in a similar situation in the past and what God's word what I believe for didn't happen therefore I don't want to go through that again so I'm just gonna put an anchor down and what happens a lot of times is we try to bring the promise of God down to our level of experience instead of taking okay maybe I didn't get it right maybe it didn't work out I don't know everything instead of taking our experience and raising that to the standard of God's word because God's word is immutable it's unchangeable forever oh Lord your word is settled in heaven and what we want to do we want to change the word of God and the promise of God to fit in our convenient theology because something didn't work out one time so I don't want to go through that again therefore I want to stick an anchor in the ground and stay here another one that I think we do is well that doesn't seem like a wise decision that sounds spiritual doesn't it conventional theology or conventional wisdom it doesn't seem like a wise decision to go into the rocks any idiot would know that what's the Bible say about conventional James 315 says that the wisdom that does not descend from above is earthly sensual and demonic that when I anchor my reasoning in the world as opposed to anchoring my reasoning behind the veil it's actually sensual it doesn't mean sexual it means sensual that it appeals to the senses like it makes sense in the natural but it's also demonic guess who doesn't want you to go forward the enemy and so what we use under the guise of spirituality we call conventional wisdom doesn't seem like a good idea then seem like a wise idea so I think I'll grow another anchor down I think another anchor we use is popularity or not being popular what will people think if I do this I don't want to look like a idiot I don't want to look like a Jesus freak God forbid we offend somebody in today's culture right we're so worried about popular opinion that it becomes an anchor in our life because I don't want to offend anybody I don't want to look like a more on it I don't want to look like like I'm not intelligent I have a little faith do what God's word says see Paul was a man accustomed to going against the green he was the one on the both that stood up said hey we shouldn't sail and it said the majority said you're wrong we're sailing guess who was right when Paul wrote the book of Galatians Galatians 2 it says when when Peter came there were certain that you certain people that used to eat with the Gentiles but when Peter came oh I said oh we can't do that anymore because that's you know that's other unclean and it says that everybody including Barnabas was taken away in the hypocrisy even Paul's traveling companion got deceived into thinking that was okay and Paul said I was stood Peter to the face Paul was a guy that actually stood up and stood for what was right even when everybody else even his own traveling companion at that time got sucked away in hypocrisy when Paul was on this boat he said man it's been 14 days you haven't eaten anything it's time that you need to eat for your survival so what did Paul do he actually took food it said he took food he broke it he blessed it and he ate in front of them all after he ate they saw it they were encouraged and then they ate now you might think that's a little rude why would he eat in front of them sometimes people need somebody lead the way so they can step into the very thing that God's calling them into also so everybody's sitting around waiting for somebody else to go first but God saying I gave you the word I need you to step up I need you to break the bread show them it's okay take a little food and all of a sudden everybody else will get some encouragement and they'll be able to step into that very thing too I think another anchor is identity in a bad way well I guess this is just my lot in life I guess just God just wants me to be sick the rest of my life remember Seth said last week about the children of Israel was never God's purpose for them to be in the wilderness for 40 years so I've talked to people that have been going through a wilderness season for like 30 years oh I'm just going through the wilderness brother well get out of it but see what happens is people begin to identify with their issues so much so they don't want to come out of it because they don't know what they would do on the other side of it this is how I like this is all I know I only know what addiction looks like so I'm gonna put my anchor here because I don't know what freedom would be like I don't know I could respond to freedom I've always been an adult or so I'll just stay there because I don't know what it looks like to be faithful I don't know if I can do it so what happens is when God has a better plan and purpose for you you get stuck in the thing that you think is it is best because it's all you know but his plan is so much better so I know people that don't want to get healed because if they got healed they wouldn't have anything to complain about God forbid I get healed and delivered because what what would I say to Facebook every guys born my day sucks you know I'm just throwing my anchor down here so I can get 3,000 likes about how bad life is how about you pull that anchor up so what's it say it says that they they feared less they should run aground so they dropped four anchors and did what ha ha ha have you ever dropped an anchor and then prayed to spiritualize your disobedient sphere and arrogance that's a good question that was a question God spoke to me this week you ever know somebody like that the way they make excuse for the anchors they put down well I'm praying about it I'm praying about it and all of a sudden you know all those things locked in a bad identity worried about what's popular conventional with all that it's actually all form a pride I know more than God I know better in this situation what to do than God does God says I want you to move forward I'm staying put and so what we do we just sprinkle a little prayer over top of that and I'm preaching to the choir I'm preaching to the preacher we don't have a choir I know I said that right because what we do is we want to do opposite of what God's calling us to do and then we want to sprinkle some prayer on and say hey God bless what I want to do instead of just walking out what he's called you to do what Paul say let's look at this quickly oh gee what's 10-12 o'clock let's go all right we're gonna wrap up next slide it says Paul said this there stood by me this night an angel God to him I belong to him I serve there's really important ports there Paul realized that he belonged to God and that word serve actually means in the form of worship he worship God he said an angel comes by me that of the God that I belong the God I serve says I appreciate Paul writing this or Luke writing this Paul said it look what the angel said to Paul do not be what which means the Paul was and when Luke wrote that all hope was lost that we we had we lost all hope that we never I believe Paul was in that Paul didn't allow though that to control his decisions and actions in life see sometimes we do get scared but what we can't do is allow fear to drive us to do what they did which was put anchors down see what Paul did here comes along this angel the Lord and says you must be brought before Caesar see if you look back in Acts chapter 23 verse 11 Jesus appeared to Paul and said this the same way that you've testified me in Jerusalem you will testify about me in Rome so he had a promise from Jesus in Acts 23 and in the appearance of Jesus that he would go to Rome and so what happens a lot of times when we get in the middle of a storm what we need is a little reminder of the promise that was already spoken over life and that's what the angel does here to Paul he says hey you already got a promise you're gonna go to Rome so what are you worried about you got a promise and he says don't be afraid you must go and by the way God has granted that word means freely given which tells me that Paul was not just praying for himself he was actually praying for everybody on the ship with him and the Lord says to him I have freely granted you all the lives of everybody else on this ship and so how often do we get in the middle of something and we just say oh boy if I can just get out of this but the apostle Paul is actually praying for everybody else in addition to himself so that they all actually make it there together next slide he says this he says therefore take heart I believe God say that I believe God that it will happen just as it was told to me I believe God I believe God I believe God said it I believe it and that's where he anchored himself it says that he said I believe God I'm anchored there you're not gonna pull me left right up down I'm anchored there because I believe what God said and it's gonna happen one version says exactly like it was told to me so what to do here's what we need to do today cut not jump off the boat what did they stand a boat see if you get off the boat you're gonna die I guess down the boat the boats go into the shore right but what do they have to do I said they cut the anchors off and left them where in the sea I don't know what you're going through today I don't know what trial you're going through I don't know what difficulty decision issue whatever it might be but there's only one anchor that you need there's one hope that you need the hope that is set before us the hope that is an anchor for our soul the hope that keeps my thoughts anchored the hope that keeps my feelings anchor the hope that keeps my decisions anchored so that when this stuff happens like I want the promise as much as anybody but sometimes you got a patiently indoors sometimes there's a process to go through don't put anchors down because you're fearful of what's gonna be on the other side you know what hope is remember I told you hope is confident expectation of a future good so you don't have to be fearful you don't have to be scared because what Jesus has for you is always good every good gift and every perfect gift comes from the father of lights in who there's no shadow of turning like he never changes his mind he never turns around it's always good and you can trust that you can say with Paul you can say I believe God I believe God