Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Special Preaching Hope Is Not Shaken- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: I keep telling my friend Buddy Cook that he needs
- 0:03Speaker 1: to compile all of his golf stories and put him
- 0:06Speaker 1: in a book. He has the funniest things happened to
- 0:09Speaker 1: him on the golf course. My favorite story of Buddy's
- 0:12Speaker 1: is the time that Buddy was playing in Scotland at
- 0:15Speaker 1: the Old Course and he was actually using a caddy,
- 0:19Speaker 1: the very same caddy that Lee Trevino, PGA golfer used
- 0:23Speaker 1: to use when he would play in Scotland or England.
- 0:27Speaker 1: A fellow by the name of Willie Atchison. Buddy was
- 0:31Speaker 1: playing the Old Course and if you know anything about golf,
- 0:34Speaker 1: you know the seventeenth hole on the Old Course is
- 0:37Speaker 1: a famous hole. And Buddy had hit a good drive,
- 0:40Speaker 1: but it was off to the right of the fairway
- 0:42Speaker 1: and he turned to Willie Atchison and he said, what
- 0:45Speaker 1: club should I use to hit my next shot? Well,
- 0:49Speaker 1: mister Atchison looked at Buddy and said, did you know
- 0:53Speaker 1: that mister Trevino when he played here in the open
- 0:56Speaker 1: his ball landed in this exact spot and he hit
- 1:02Speaker 1: a seven iron. Well, that was all Buddy needed to hear.
- 1:06Speaker 1: So Buddy took a seven iron and hit what he
- 1:08Speaker 1: describes as a very good shot, but the ball came
- 1:11Speaker 1: up fifteen yard short. Frustrated, Buddy looked at the caddy,
- 1:17Speaker 1: mister Atchison, and said Willie, that ball came up fifteen
- 1:21Speaker 1: yard short. And Willie said, the very same thing happened
- 1:25Speaker 1: to mister Travino. Maybe you feel that way, that you're
- 1:34Speaker 1: giving it your best shot, but life keeps coming up short. Well,
- 1:39Speaker 1: then we've got a great topic for you. If that
- 1:42Speaker 1: describes you, We're so grateful that you're a part of
- 1:44Speaker 1: this service. If you're watching online, or if you're in
- 1:47Speaker 1: the overflow rooms, or if you're right here in the
- 1:50Speaker 1: big room, we're very, very grateful. We're going to turn
- 1:53Speaker 1: the chapter, the page in the chapter of our Believed
- 1:56Speaker 1: Book to the chapter called Hope. Hold up your Belief
- 2:00Speaker 1: Book if you brought it. I just want to take
- 2:01Speaker 1: a quick survey. Eighty seven hold him up eighty seven
- 2:06Speaker 1: point set six or seven percent. I've got eighty six
- 2:10Speaker 1: point seven percent. That's good, good turnout on the Believed Book.
- 2:14Speaker 1: And we're looking at the theme of hope. Before we
- 2:17Speaker 1: begin the message, we want to offer a prayer for
- 2:20Speaker 1: one of our partner churches. Other churches in the San
- 2:23Speaker 1: Antonio area are going through the believed book with us.
- 2:26Speaker 1: One of them is the New Life Fellowship led by
- 2:29Speaker 1: Senior Pastor Dwayne Lowe. So let's pray for him. Then
- 2:32Speaker 1: we'll get to work.
- 2:36Speaker 2: Lord.
- 2:36Speaker 1: We lift up to you the fine people of this
- 2:39Speaker 1: wonderful congregation called the New Life Fellowship. Senior Pastor Dwayne
- 2:44Speaker 1: Lowe carries a burden for these people, and we pray
- 2:47Speaker 1: that you had shoulder that burden with him. Forgive our
- 2:51Speaker 1: speaker today his sins are just too many to count,
- 2:54Speaker 1: and grant that we can just see Christ through Christ.
- 2:58Speaker 1: We pray, and all the church said. Fifteen year old
- 3:05Speaker 1: Amanda Todd became the unwitting poster child for despair when
- 3:12Speaker 1: she posted a nine minute video on YouTube that went viral.
- 3:20Speaker 1: It was the story of her situation in life. Her
- 3:24Speaker 1: downward spiral began when a predator convinced her to expose
- 3:30Speaker 1: herself and take a picture and send it to him,
- 3:34Speaker 1: and then he posted the picture on the Internet. You
- 3:38Speaker 1: can imagine the embarrassment. Humiliation rained down upon her like
- 3:43Speaker 1: a summer squall. She couldn't escape it. It was in
- 3:47Speaker 1: the high school hallways, the internet highways, embarrassment everywhere she went.
- 3:54Speaker 1: Her family relocated, changed schools, but still she couldn't escape
- 3:59Speaker 1: the text men, messages, the calls, and the embarrassment. She
- 4:04Speaker 1: was already a private and very fragile person, and this
- 4:08Speaker 1: just did her. In the nine minute video that she
- 4:12Speaker 1: posted described her descent into despair. She never spoke in
- 4:17Speaker 1: the video. She just held up cards, and those cards
- 4:21Speaker 1: covered half of her face, and the cards carried phrases
- 4:26Speaker 1: like I need help, I have no one. My name
- 4:29Speaker 1: is Amanda Todd. She showed the scars on her arm
- 4:34Speaker 1: where she had been cutting herself, and she had admitted
- 4:37Speaker 1: to drinking bleach and trying to take her life, but
- 4:41Speaker 1: even failed at that. Two days after she posted the videos,
- 4:45Speaker 1: she attempted to take her life again and she succeeded.
- 4:51Speaker 1: She said, I've run out of hope. I've wondered does
- 4:57Speaker 1: God have anything to say for the Amanda talk of
- 5:00Speaker 1: the world. Does he have a word for that dark
- 5:05Speaker 1: night of the soul? Does he have a word for
- 5:10Speaker 1: the single mom who after she puts the kids to bed,
- 5:14Speaker 1: she goes over to the kitchen table and she looks
- 5:18Speaker 1: at all the bills, and then she checks the bank balance,
- 5:21Speaker 1: and there's too many of the bills and not enough
- 5:24Speaker 1: in the bank balance, and she looks out the window
- 5:26Speaker 1: of her small apartment. There's just not enough hours for
- 5:30Speaker 1: her to make enough money, and she's running out of hope.
- 5:39Speaker 1: What about the man who stands in the room at
- 5:44Speaker 1: I see you, looks down at the love of his life.
- 5:49Speaker 1: She's silver haired and frail and unable to respond. He
- 5:53Speaker 1: can't remember a day he didn't know her. He's loved
- 5:56Speaker 1: her his whole life. Never knew someone this beautiful. And
- 6:02Speaker 1: he just heard the doctor say it's time for you
- 6:05Speaker 1: to say goodbye. There's no hope of recovery. What about
- 6:12Speaker 1: the business man. It looks so polished and professional on
- 6:16Speaker 1: the outside, but if you could hear what's going on
- 6:19Speaker 1: on the inside. The bank is calling, his accountant is
- 6:23Speaker 1: threatening to quit. He has far more debt than he
- 6:28Speaker 1: has solutions. Hope boarded the last train. He's run out
- 6:34Speaker 1: of hope. All of us run out of hope at
- 6:39Speaker 1: some point. Am I right or wrong? I think all
- 6:43Speaker 1: of us do. Even that cup is half full, sanguine
- 6:49Speaker 1: soul who always goes around singing the sun will come
- 6:53Speaker 1: up tomorrow. Even that person, on occasion will reach up
- 7:00Speaker 1: into the shelf for a can of hope and find
- 7:03Speaker 1: there is no hope. And when there is no hope,
- 7:07Speaker 1: there is no cope. How do you cope when you
- 7:12Speaker 1: run out of hope? Maybe that's where you are today.
- 7:20Speaker 1: Maybe you're here more out of desperation than inspiration. And
- 7:30Speaker 1: maybe this is an appointment that God has set up
- 7:33Speaker 1: so you can hear what He has to say about hope.
- 7:39Speaker 1: There is a passage in the New Testament book called
- 7:42Speaker 1: the Epistle to the Hebrews that is a beautiful scripture
- 7:49Speaker 1: on the topic of hope. It's in your Believed book,
- 7:51Speaker 1: and if you like to read in your believed book,
- 7:54Speaker 1: you can, or if you'd like to read in the
- 7:56Speaker 1: Bible itself, you can. The Believe Book the passages on
- 8:00Speaker 1: page four hundred and one, two seventy seven in the
- 8:04Speaker 1: Student edition, and in your scriptures. It's Hebrews, chapter six,
- 8:09Speaker 1: verses nineteen and twenty. The writer says, we have this
- 8:13Speaker 1: hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
- 8:19Speaker 1: It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where our
- 8:25Speaker 1: forerunner Jesus has entered on our behalf. The two nouns
- 8:32Speaker 1: we have anchor and soul. We have hope as an
- 8:36Speaker 1: anchor for the soul. Have you ever used an anchor?
- 8:40Speaker 1: Is anybody in here acquainted with what an anchor does?
- 8:43Speaker 1: Raise your hand, I'm just curious. Oh, okay, a bunch
- 8:45Speaker 1: of sailors and fishermen among us. You know what an
- 8:48Speaker 1: anchor does. You don't need to be told. You've held
- 8:51Speaker 1: those iron castings with the pointed edges. You've perhaps cast
- 8:56Speaker 1: them overboard, knowing that the purpose of the anchor is
- 9:00Speaker 1: to seek out that solid place, a rock or a
- 9:04Speaker 1: bolder that is stronger than any potential storm. And once
- 9:09Speaker 1: you feel the tug on the rope, you know that
- 9:13Speaker 1: the anchor is secure. And you may rock and you
- 9:16Speaker 1: may roll. The winds may come and they may go,
- 9:19Speaker 1: but you will not sink because you're anchored. You're anchored
- 9:24Speaker 1: to something that is stronger than the storm. The Hebrew
- 9:29Speaker 1: writer says, you need an anchor, why? Because you have
- 9:35Speaker 1: a valuable vessel. Did anybody know the name of your vessel?
- 9:40Speaker 1: The name of your vessel is called the uss soul,
- 9:45Speaker 1: the soul. You need to anchor your soul to something.
- 9:49Speaker 1: What is a soul? Well, when God breathed into atom,
- 9:55Speaker 1: he breathed more than oxygen, released the essence of the
- 10:03Speaker 1: divine into Adam. He made Adam in his own image,
- 10:11Speaker 1: in the sense that he placed within Adam a soul,
- 10:15Speaker 1: a divine spark. You know it's your soul at work
- 10:22Speaker 1: when you look into the skies and you say, how
- 10:25Speaker 1: did humanity get here? Where is all this going? It's
- 10:32Speaker 1: your soul that causes your eyes to mist when you
- 10:36Speaker 1: see the baby, and it causes you to get choked
- 10:39Speaker 1: up when you sing the national anthem. That's the soul
- 10:44Speaker 1: at work. That soul is that intangible, ethereal part of
- 10:50Speaker 1: you that separates you from the animal kingdom. You and
- 10:56Speaker 1: your goldfish have a lot of like, have very what
- 11:00Speaker 1: a few things in common. But your goldfish has no soul.
- 11:06Speaker 1: Your goldfish has eyes. You have eyes. Your goldfish has
- 11:09Speaker 1: a mouth. You have mouth. You both have scales. The
- 11:12Speaker 1: goldfish on his body, you on your bathroom floor. I
- 11:18Speaker 1: thought that was clever. You are hard to please today,
- 11:26Speaker 1: But your goldfish doesn't worry about the meaning of life.
- 11:31Speaker 1: Your goldfish doesn't feel the need for forgiveness. Your goldfish
- 11:37Speaker 1: doesn't have a longing to connect to have community. Your
- 11:43Speaker 1: goldfish doesn't cry out to God. We do that out
- 11:47Speaker 1: of our soul and your soul is precious. Jesus one says,
- 11:53Speaker 1: what does it value a person if they could gain
- 11:57Speaker 1: the whole world and let their soul dry up and shrivel.
- 12:04Speaker 1: So this divine part of you, and yes, it's within you,
- 12:09Speaker 1: and you and you, this divine spark within you needs
- 12:15Speaker 1: an anchor. If you don't anchor your soul, the essence
- 12:21Speaker 1: of yourself, to something greater than yourself, then your soul
- 12:25Speaker 1: is going to sink and you're gonna get sour and
- 12:28Speaker 1: sad and bitter and cynical. So the Hebrew writer says,
- 12:35Speaker 1: be sure an anchor the essence of you to something
- 12:39Speaker 1: that will hold you. This is where hope comes from.
- 12:42Speaker 1: You want hope, you make sure you're anchored to a
- 12:44Speaker 1: solid rock. Well, now, exactly who is this rock? And
- 12:49Speaker 1: how do we find this rock? And where is this
- 12:51Speaker 1: rock located? Well, those questions are answered and the passages
- 12:56Speaker 1: preceding the passage we just read. So let's expand our
- 13:00Speaker 1: for just a moment and look up to chapter six,
- 13:03Speaker 1: verse thirteen and see the context of this teaching on hope.
- 13:11Speaker 1: When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was
- 13:14Speaker 1: no one greater for him to swear by, he swore
- 13:17Speaker 1: by himself, saying I will surely bless you and give
- 13:20Speaker 1: you many descendants. So, after waiting patiently, Abraham received what
- 13:25Speaker 1: was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and
- 13:29Speaker 1: the oath confirms what is said and puts an into
- 13:32Speaker 1: all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature
- 13:36Speaker 1: of his purpose very clear to the errors of what
- 13:39Speaker 1: was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did
- 13:42Speaker 1: this so that by two unchangeable things in which it
- 13:45Speaker 1: is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled
- 13:49Speaker 1: to take hope, take hold of the hope sit before us,
- 13:52Speaker 1: may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an
- 13:56Speaker 1: anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the
- 14:00Speaker 1: sanctuary behind the curtain where our forerunner Jesus has entered
- 14:05Speaker 1: on our behalf. So to help us understand what it
- 14:09Speaker 1: means to be hope filled people, the Hebrew writer reaches
- 14:13Speaker 1: back and retells the story of who Abraham Abraham. Does
- 14:19Speaker 1: anybody remember who Abraham was? Well, he was the fella
- 14:23Speaker 1: who received this astounding promise from God. Abraham was seventy
- 14:28Speaker 1: five years old when God said, look in the stars,
- 14:31Speaker 1: someday your descendants are going to outnumber the stars. Pretty
- 14:36Speaker 1: major promise, especially when you don't have any kids. And
- 14:42Speaker 1: Abraham was how old, seventy five years old, certainly running
- 14:50Speaker 1: low on the necessary fluids. How could this happen? And
- 15:00Speaker 1: yet Abraham believed God. Abraham goes down in history not
- 15:08Speaker 1: because of all the great accomplishments or the great monuments
- 15:11Speaker 1: that he built. He goes down in history called the
- 15:14Speaker 1: Father of faith. He said, well, okay, God said it,
- 15:21Speaker 1: then I'm going to believe it. Now. He had to
- 15:25Speaker 1: believe this for how long before anything happened? Twenty five years?
- 15:32Speaker 1: Twenty five years? The fella is almost into triple digits
- 15:39Speaker 1: by the time Sarah finally conceives and gives birth. And
- 15:46Speaker 1: so it's one thing to be given the promise at
- 15:49Speaker 1: the age of seventy five. It's quite another to go
- 15:53Speaker 1: through twenty five winters without that promise coming true. How
- 16:01Speaker 1: long have you been waiting? How long have you been
- 16:05Speaker 1: waiting for that prodigal son to come home? How long
- 16:11Speaker 1: have you been waiting for your own heart to heal?
- 16:16Speaker 1: How long have you been waiting to receive the promise?
- 16:20Speaker 1: Sorrow may come with the night, but joy comes with
- 16:23Speaker 1: the morning. It's been a long time, you think, you say,
- 16:26Speaker 1: since I've felt that joy, and you, like Abraham, are
- 16:31Speaker 1: forced to choose do I stand upon the circumstances of
- 16:36Speaker 1: life or the promises of God. Abraham is our hero
- 16:43Speaker 1: because he chose to stand upon the promises of God.
- 16:48Speaker 1: The apostle Paul bragged on Abraham in the Epistle to
- 16:53Speaker 1: the Romans. He said, against all hope, Abraham in hope believed,
- 16:58Speaker 1: and so became the father of many nations, just as
- 17:02Speaker 1: it had been said to him, so shall your offspring
- 17:04Speaker 1: be again, referring to that promise. Without weakening his faith,
- 17:09Speaker 1: he faced the fact that his body was as good
- 17:11Speaker 1: as dead since he was about one hundred years old,
- 17:17Speaker 1: and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did
- 17:21Speaker 1: not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but
- 17:25Speaker 1: was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.
- 17:29Speaker 1: Being fully persuaded that God had the power to do
- 17:33Speaker 1: what he had promised, Abraham anchored his soul to the
- 17:39Speaker 1: sturdy promises of God. When forced to choose between trusting
- 17:46Speaker 1: the circumstances of life and the promises of God, which
- 17:50Speaker 1: do you choose? Which do you choose. Folks, I'm not
- 17:56Speaker 1: saying this is easy. I'm not saying this is all
- 18:00Speaker 1: at all easy. Some of you are facing some very
- 18:03Speaker 1: difficult circumstances. But I believe that God brings us together
- 18:09Speaker 1: on a regular basis to tell us, don't anchor your
- 18:15Speaker 1: soul your vessel to these unsteady promises of life. People
- 18:20Speaker 1: will break your heart, either on purpose or by accident.
- 18:24Speaker 1: Economies come and go, governments are here and governments are gone.
- 18:29Speaker 1: Reach out beyond this world in which we live, and
- 18:32Speaker 1: you anchor your hope to the throne room of Jesus Christ.
- 18:38Speaker 1: And in the sense that you do that, to the
- 18:41Speaker 1: degree that you do that, this doesn't mean life is
- 18:44Speaker 1: always fun and always easy. But you can hold on
- 18:48Speaker 1: to hope. God has given us exactly what he gave Abraham.
- 18:53Speaker 1: He has given us hope, and he has promised to
- 18:58Speaker 1: fulfill that hope. In his book The Grand Essentials, Ben
- 19:04Speaker 1: Patterson tells about a submarine that sank off the coast
- 19:08Speaker 1: of Boston, Massachusetts. Divers went down to rescue the submarine.
- 19:14Speaker 1: One of the divers remembers hearing tap tap tap from
- 19:18Speaker 1: inside the submarine. He realized that one of the sailors
- 19:22Speaker 1: was sending a message in Morse code. The diver knew
- 19:26Speaker 1: Morse code, so he pressed his ear up against the
- 19:28Speaker 1: submarine and he was hearing the sailor tap out the message.
- 19:33Speaker 1: Is there any hope? Are you asking that question? Are
- 19:45Speaker 1: you the Amanda Todd of your day? You're running out
- 19:51Speaker 1: of hope? Are you the single mom who's running out
- 19:55Speaker 1: of hope? Are you the elderly person who who has
- 20:00Speaker 1: buried someone you love and your hope has left you.
- 20:07Speaker 1: Are you the businessman who looks professional on the inside,
- 20:11Speaker 1: but it's been a long time since you had a
- 20:13Speaker 1: good night's sleep and you can't find peace. Are you
- 20:20Speaker 1: running out of hope? Mary Cushman was? Mary Cushman is
- 20:27Speaker 1: the person Dale Carnegie told us about in his classic
- 20:31Speaker 1: book How to Win Friends and Influence People. I know
- 20:36Speaker 1: you've got to be pretty old to quote Dale Carnegie,
- 20:41Speaker 1: but if you've never read his books. Though written fifty
- 20:44Speaker 1: and sixty years ago, there's a reason you can still
- 20:47Speaker 1: find him on the bookshelves. His book How to Stop
- 20:54Speaker 1: Worrying and Start Living tells the story of Mary Cushman.
- 21:02Speaker 1: She wrote a letter to mister Carnegie in response to
- 21:06Speaker 1: a sermon she heard him preach, and in the letter
- 21:11Speaker 1: she described her life in the Great Depression in the
- 21:15Speaker 1: nineteen thirties. She described how she and her husband and
- 21:20Speaker 1: their five children were barely getting by. Her husband's salary
- 21:27Speaker 1: was eighteen dollars a week, and he was a sickly man,
- 21:32Speaker 1: and he often missed much work, and when he didn't work,
- 21:36Speaker 1: he didn't get paid. They could scarcely pay their bills.
- 21:41Speaker 1: In fact, they ran up some debts. She began to
- 21:45Speaker 1: clothe her children children with clothing from the Salvation Army.
- 21:51Speaker 1: She grew increasingly despondent and anxious because she saw no solution.
- 21:57Speaker 1: On one occasion, the grocer accused her son of stealing food.
- 22:04Speaker 1: The family already owed an insurmountable fifty dollars to the
- 22:08Speaker 1: grocer in This accusation was enough to cause her to
- 22:16Speaker 1: lose hope entirely, and missus Cushman wrote a letter and
- 22:24Speaker 1: described what she did to mister Carnegie. She said, I
- 22:29Speaker 1: couldn't see any hope. I shut off my washing machine,
- 22:33Speaker 1: and I took my little five year old girl into
- 22:35Speaker 1: the bedroom, and I plugged up the windows and cracks
- 22:39Speaker 1: with paper and rags. I turned on the gas heater
- 22:42Speaker 1: we had in the bedroom. I didn't light it. As
- 22:48Speaker 1: I lay down on the bed with my daughter beside me,
- 22:51Speaker 1: she said, Mommy, this is funny. We just got up
- 22:54Speaker 1: a little while ago. But I said, never mind, will
- 23:00Speaker 1: take a little nap. Then I closed my eyes, listening
- 23:05Speaker 1: to the gas escape from the heater. I shall never
- 23:08Speaker 1: forget the smell of that gas. Suddenly I heard music.
- 23:14Speaker 1: I listened. I had forgotten to turn the radio WAF
- 23:17Speaker 1: in the kitchen, but it didn't matter now. Yet the
- 23:22Speaker 1: music kept on, and presently I heard someone singing an
- 23:28Speaker 1: old hymn. What a friend we have in Jesus, all
- 23:35Speaker 1: our sins and grieved to bear. What a privilege to
- 23:39Speaker 1: carry everything to God in prayer? Do what piece we
- 23:45Speaker 1: often forfeit? Oh, what needless pain we bear all because
- 23:50Speaker 1: we do not carry everything to God in prayer. As
- 23:57Speaker 1: I listened to the hymn, I realized I'd made a
- 23:59Speaker 1: tearuble and tragic mistake. I had tried to fight all
- 24:03Speaker 1: my battles alone. I jumped up, I turned off the gas.
- 24:07Speaker 1: I opened the door, I raised my windows. She went
- 24:12Speaker 1: on to explain how she spent the rest of the
- 24:15Speaker 1: day giving thanks, thanking God, for her blessings, her blessings
- 24:22Speaker 1: that she had forgotten about her blessings of five healthy children,
- 24:30Speaker 1: and she resolved to never give in to despair again.
- 24:38Speaker 1: She wrote, as I look back on that terrible day
- 24:41Speaker 1: when I turned on the gas, I thank God over
- 24:43Speaker 1: and over that I woke up in time. What joys
- 24:47Speaker 1: I would have missed? How many wonderful years I would
- 24:50Speaker 1: have forfeited? Forever? Whenever I hear now of someone who
- 24:54Speaker 1: wants to end his life, I feel like crying out.
- 24:57Speaker 1: Don't do it. Don't. The blackest moments we live through
- 25:04Speaker 1: can only last a little time. Then comes the future.
- 25:13Speaker 1: Are you feeling like giving up? Are you close to despair?
- 25:17Speaker 1: Don't do it? Don't The blackest moments we live through
- 25:25Speaker 1: will last only a little time. Listen to our passage.
- 25:32Speaker 1: Today's passage from a different translation. The Hebrew writer the
- 25:38Speaker 1: same scripture, just a different translation, says grab the promised
- 25:43Speaker 1: hope with both hands and never let go. It's an
- 25:49Speaker 1: unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances, right to the
- 25:54Speaker 1: very presence of God, where Jesus, running on ahead of us,
- 25:59Speaker 1: has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us.
- 26:05Speaker 1: Ask yourself. This question is what I am holding or
- 26:10Speaker 1: hooked to, stronger than what I'll go through. Everybody's hooked
- 26:17Speaker 1: to something. Everybody's anchored to something. Maybe you're anchored to
- 26:24Speaker 1: your retirement account. Maybe you're anchored to your university degree.
- 26:30Speaker 1: Maybe you're anchored to your profession. It's whatever you turn
- 26:34Speaker 1: to to give you hope. It's whatever you're thinking it's
- 26:36Speaker 1: going to get you through the next storm. Now listen.
- 26:40Speaker 1: If you anchor to something other than Jesus Christ, you're
- 26:45Speaker 1: setting yourself up for despair. You are. I'm not too
- 26:52Speaker 1: smart of a fisherman, but I've gone fishing enough to
- 26:55Speaker 1: know that when you throw that anchor out of the
- 26:58Speaker 1: bass boat, you don't think what in the neighbor's boat.
- 27:03Speaker 1: You don't say, hey, can you hold on to my
- 27:05Speaker 1: anchor for me while I fish? You don't anchor to
- 27:10Speaker 1: something that will go down in the storm. Right or wrong,
- 27:14Speaker 1: I'm right. Don't look at me like that. I'm right.
- 27:19Speaker 1: If you anchor your soul to a human being, you're
- 27:22Speaker 1: anchoring to someone else's boat. If you anchor your soul
- 27:26Speaker 1: to bank account, you're anchoring to someone else's boat. If
- 27:31Speaker 1: you anchor your soul to your resume, or to your retirement,
- 27:36Speaker 1: or to your have all the dreams that you want.
- 27:39Speaker 1: May God bless you with an abundant career and a
- 27:43Speaker 1: delightful marriage and a peaceful retirement, if That's in God's plan.
- 27:47Speaker 1: But do not for a second think that is your
- 27:50Speaker 1: source of happiness and hope. You anchor to Jesus Christ.
- 27:55Speaker 1: You do what the Hebrew writer says, and that is
- 27:58Speaker 1: you anchor to the one behind the curtain, in the
- 28:01Speaker 1: inner sanctuary, where the devil has no access, where the
- 28:06Speaker 1: demons cannot speak. You take your anchor and you hook
- 28:09Speaker 1: it on the leg of the throne room of Jesus Christ.
- 28:13Speaker 1: You just hang on to it right there, and you
- 28:15Speaker 1: know for certain, once he's got a hold of you,
- 28:17Speaker 1: you are in good hands and you trust him to
- 28:22Speaker 1: get you through. This is where hope begins, and this
- 28:27Speaker 1: is where hope end yours. Have you said yes to Jesus?
- 28:33Speaker 1: Are you hoping in something or someone other than him?
- 28:37Speaker 1: If so, you're setting yourself up for despair. But if so,
- 28:41Speaker 1: you can change that today. You can say, Jesus, I
- 28:45Speaker 1: want you to be the hope of my life. I'm
- 28:48Speaker 1: intrusting to you my soul I confess to you, my sin,
- 28:53Speaker 1: I'm believing in you, I'm trusting you. And once you
- 28:57Speaker 1: do that, then you have fine, only found a place
- 29:01Speaker 1: to set your anchor that will get you through any storm. Amen.
- 29:07Speaker 1: On all of our campuses this weekend, we're celebrating communion
- 29:12Speaker 1: after the sermon. I know we typically do that here
- 29:16Speaker 1: at Crownridge, but many of our campuses celebrate communion before
- 29:20Speaker 1: the sermon. But we thought it would be good, just
- 29:22Speaker 1: in a symbolic fashion, for all the campuses to wait
- 29:26Speaker 1: until after the message so we could celebrate together. If
- 29:30Speaker 1: you're watching online, could you take a few moments and
- 29:33Speaker 1: gather together the elements for your communion service. For we're
- 29:37Speaker 1: all going to celebrate together. We're going to be reminded
- 29:41Speaker 1: of the bread and the cup, the bread that represents
- 29:45Speaker 1: the body of Christ and the cup that represents the
- 29:49Speaker 1: shed blood of Jesus. This is, of all celebrations, a
- 29:53Speaker 1: celebration of hope. Let's pray together, and Father, we now
- 30:01Speaker 1: come to you as the giver of hope, asking that
- 30:04Speaker 1: you create even deeper hope in our own hearts. We
- 30:09Speaker 1: thank you, Lord that there are times in which you
- 30:11Speaker 1: let us hunger for hope. Because it is during those
- 30:15Speaker 1: seasons of hunger that we finally turn to you. We
- 30:20Speaker 1: thank you Lord for the death Beryl and resurrection of
- 30:23Speaker 1: Christ is celebrated in the communion. We thank you now
- 30:27Speaker 1: in Jesus' name, and all the church.
- 30:31Speaker 3: Said a.
- 33:17Speaker 4: Back back.
- 33:57Speaker 5: B people starting artist.
- 35:37Speaker 6: Bopp.
- 36:33Speaker 7: Loving you alone feels so beautiful, and yet it hurts
- 36:44Speaker 7: the most.
- 36:48Speaker 8: You became my quiet sunrise, the dream I never dared
- 36:54Speaker 8: to say.
- 36:56Speaker 1: Every smile you gave so freely to a little away.
- 37:03Speaker 9: I held this love like fragile glass, so precious, soft
- 37:08Speaker 9: and true, But every beat inside my heart was only
- 37:13Speaker 9: reaching out to you.
- 37:17Speaker 1: Unspoken.
- 37:18Speaker 8: Love is sweet and painful, like honey mixed with rain,
- 37:24Speaker 8: attend the whole by all so sadly while it.
- 37:29Speaker 1: Slowly breaks me.
- 37:31Speaker 8: Loving you from just one side now leaves my soul
- 37:36Speaker 8: in silent blue. Because the deeper that I fall along,
- 37:42Speaker 8: the lonelier I do.
- 37:47Speaker 9: I can blame my heart for choosing someone it.
- 37:52Speaker 8: Could never keep, So I smiled through hidden heartache. Hell
- 37:58Speaker 8: love you quiet, I spoke in. Love is sweet and painful,
- 38:05Speaker 8: like honey mixed with rain that tend the whole bi
- 38:10Speaker 8: so tightly, wally slowly breaks me loving you from just
- 38:17Speaker 8: one side now leave my soul in silence. Boom, because
- 38:23Speaker 8: the deeper that I fall alone, only I do.
- 38:46Speaker 1: Maybe Loving you in silence.
- 38:49Speaker 2: This is the closest I can stay, though leaves behind
- 38:55Speaker 2: the sorrow that may never fast away.
- 39:03Speaker 8: Spoken love is sweet and painful, honey mixed with rain,
- 39:10Speaker 8: a tender whole. Bile holes so tightly wald slowly breaks me.
- 39:17Speaker 8: Loving you from just one side now leaves my soul
- 39:22Speaker 8: in silence. Because the deeper that I follow love, the
- 39:30Speaker 8: lowly
- 39:33Speaker 3: Her to