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 them
- 0:06Speaker 1: in a book. He has the funniest things happen 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 that the 17th hole on the old course
- 0:36Speaker 1: is 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, Mr.
- 0:50Speaker 1: Atchison looked at Buddy and said, did you know that Mr. Trevino,
- 0:54Speaker 1: when he played here in the open, his ball landed
- 0:58Speaker 1: in this exact spot? And he hit a seven iron. Well,
- 1:04Speaker 1: that was all Buddy needed to hear. So Buddy took
- 1:06Speaker 1: a seven iron and hit what he describes as a
- 1:09Speaker 1: very good shot. But the ball came up 15 yards short. Frustrated,
- 1:15Speaker 1: Buddy looked at the caddy, Mr. Atchison, and said, Willie,
- 1:19Speaker 1: that ball came up 15 yards short. And Willie said,
- 1:23Speaker 1: the very same thing happened to Mr. Trevino. Maybe you
- 1:32Speaker 1: feel that way, that you're giving it your best shot,
- 1:36Speaker 1: but life keeps coming up short. Well, then we've got
- 1:40Speaker 1: a great topic for you, if that describes you. We're
- 1:43Speaker 1: so grateful that you're a part of this service. If
- 1:45Speaker 1: you're watching online or if you're in the overflow rooms
- 1:48Speaker 1: or if you're right here in the big room, we're very,
- 1:52Speaker 1: very grateful. We're going to turn the chapter, the page
- 1:55Speaker 1: in the chapter of our Believe book. To the chapter
- 1:58Speaker 1: called Hope. Hold up your Believe book if you brought it.
- 2:01Speaker 1: I just want to take a quick survey.
- 2:02Speaker 2: 87.
- 2:04Speaker 1: Hold them up.
- 2:05Speaker 2: 87.
- 2:05Speaker 1: Is that 6 or 7 percent? I've got 86.7 percent.
- 2:11Speaker 1: That's good. Good turnout on the Believe book. And we're
- 2:15Speaker 1: looking at the theme of hope. Before we begin the message,
- 2:18Speaker 1: we want to offer a prayer for one of our
- 2:20Speaker 1: partner churches. Other churches in the San Antonio area are
- 2:24Speaker 1: going through the Believe book with us. One of them
- 2:26Speaker 1: is the New Life Fellowship, led by Senior Pastor Dwayne Lowe.
- 2:31Speaker 1: So let's pray for him, then we'll get to work. 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 would 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 Amanda Todd
- 3:07Speaker 1: became the unwitting poster child for despair when she posted
- 3:13Speaker 1: a nine-minute video on YouTube that went viral. It was
- 3:20Speaker 1: the story of her situation in life. Her downward spiral
- 3:25Speaker 1: began when a predator convinced her to expose herself and
- 3:31Speaker 1: take a picture and send it to him. And then
- 3:34Speaker 1: he posted the picture on the internet. You can imagine
- 3:39Speaker 1: the embarrassment, humiliation rained down upon her like a summer squall.
- 3:45Speaker 1: She couldn't escape it. It was in the high school hallways,
- 3:49Speaker 1: the internet highways, embarrassment everywhere she went. Her family relocated,
- 3:56Speaker 1: changed schools, but still she couldn't escape the text messages,
- 4:00Speaker 1: the calls, and the embarrassment. She was already a private
- 4:05Speaker 1: and very fragile person, and this just did her in.
- 4:11Speaker 1: The nine-minute video that she posted described her descent into despair.
- 4:16Speaker 1: She never spoke in the video. She just held up cards,
- 4:20Speaker 1: and those cards covered half of her face. And the
- 4:24Speaker 1: cards carried phrases like, I need help. I have no one.
- 4:29Speaker 1: My name is Amanda Todd. She showed the scars on
- 4:33Speaker 1: her arm where she had been cutting herself. And she
- 4:36Speaker 1: admitted to drinking bleach and trying to take her life.
- 4:41Speaker 1: But even failed at that. Two days after she posted
- 4:45Speaker 1: the video, she attempted to take her life again. And
- 4:48Speaker 1: she succeeded. She said, I've run out of hope. I've wondered,
- 4:56Speaker 1: does God have anything to say for the Amanda Todd's
- 5:00Speaker 1: of the world? Does he have a word for that
- 5:05Speaker 1: dark night of the soul? Does he have a word
- 5:10Speaker 1: for the single mom who, after she puts the kids
- 5:13Speaker 1: to bed, she goes over to the kitchen table and
- 5:17Speaker 1: she looks at all the bills and then she checks
- 5:20Speaker 1: the bank balance and There's too many of the bills
- 5:23Speaker 1: and not enough in the bank balance. And she looks
- 5:25Speaker 1: out the window of her small apartment. There's just not
- 5:29Speaker 1: enough hours for her to make enough money. And she's
- 5:33Speaker 1: running out of hope. What about the man who stands
- 5:41Speaker 1: in the room at ICU. Looks down at the love
- 5:47Speaker 1: of his life. She's silver haired and frail.
- 5:51Speaker 2: And.
- 5:52Speaker 1: Unable to respond. He can't remember a day he didn't
- 5:55Speaker 1: know her. He's loved her his whole life. Never knew
- 5:59Speaker 1: someone this beautiful. And he just heard the doctor say,
- 6:03Speaker 1: it's time for you to say goodbye. There's no hope
- 6:09Speaker 1: of recovery. What about the businessman? He looks so polished
- 6:15Speaker 1: and professional on the outside. But if you could hear
- 6:19Speaker 1: what's going on on the inside. The bank is calling.
- 6:22Speaker 1: His accountant is threatening to quit. He has far more
- 6:27Speaker 1: debt than he has solutions. Hope boarded the last train.
- 6:34Speaker 1: He's run out of hope. All of us run out
- 6:38Speaker 1: of hope. At some point. Am I right or wrong?
- 6:43Speaker 1: I think all of us do. Even that. cup is
- 6:47Speaker 1: half full sanguine soul who always goes around singing the
- 6:52Speaker 1: sun will come up tomorrow even that person on occasion
- 6:59Speaker 1: will reach up into the shelf for a can of
- 7:01Speaker 1: hope and find there is no hope and when there
- 7:06Speaker 1: is no hope there is no cope how do you
- 7:10Speaker 1: cope when you run out of hope Maybe that's where
- 7:16Speaker 1: you are today. Maybe you're here more out of desperation
- 7:25Speaker 1: than inspiration. Maybe this is an appointment that God has
- 7:32Speaker 1: set up so you can hear what he has to
- 7:35Speaker 1: say about hope. There is a passage in the New
- 7:41Speaker 1: Testament book called the Epistle to the Hebrews. That is
- 7:46Speaker 1: a beautiful scripture. On the topic of hope. It's in
- 7:50Speaker 1: your believe book. And if you'd like to read in
- 7:53Speaker 1: your believe book. You can. Or if you'd like to
- 7:55Speaker 1: read in the Bible. Itself you can. The believe book.
- 7:58Speaker 1: The passage is on page 401. 277 in the student edition.
- 8:05Speaker 1: And in your scriptures. It's Hebrews chapter 6. Verses 19
- 8:10Speaker 1: and 20. The writer says. We have this hope. As
- 8:14Speaker 1: an anchor point. for the soul firm and secure it
- 8:20Speaker 1: enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where our forerunner
- 8:26Speaker 1: Jesus has entered on our behalf the two nouns we
- 8:32Speaker 1: have anchor and soul we have hope as an anchor
- 8:37Speaker 1: for the soul have you ever used an anchor is
- 8:40Speaker 1: anybody in here acquainted with what an anchor does raise
- 8:43Speaker 1: your hand I'm just curious Oh, okay, a bunch of
- 8:45Speaker 1: sailors and fishermen among us. You know what an anchor does.
- 8:49Speaker 1: You don't need to be told. You've held those iron
- 8:52Speaker 1: castings with the pointed edges. You've perhaps cast them overboard,
- 8:58Speaker 1: knowing that the purpose of the anchor is to seek
- 9:01Speaker 1: out that solid place, a rock or a boulder that
- 9:05Speaker 1: is stronger than any potential storm. And once you feel the...
- 9:10Speaker 1: hug on the rope you know that the anchor is
- 9:14Speaker 1: secure and you may rock and you may roll the
- 9:17Speaker 1: winds may come and they may go but you will
- 9:19Speaker 1: not sink because you're anchored you're anchored to something that
- 9:25Speaker 1: is stronger than the storm the Hebrew writer says you
- 9:31Speaker 1: need an anchor why because you have a valuable vessel
- 9:37Speaker 1: did anybody note the name of your vessel The name
- 9:41Speaker 1: of your vessel is called the USS Soul. The soul.
- 9:46Speaker 1: You need to anchor your soul to something. What is
- 9:49Speaker 1: a soul? Well, when God breathed into Adam, he breathed
- 9:56Speaker 1: more than oxygen. He breathed released the essence of the divine.
- 10:05Speaker 1: Into Adam. He made Adam in his own image. In
- 10:11Speaker 1: the sense that he placed within Adam a soul. A
- 10:16Speaker 1: divine spirit. You know it's your soul at work when
- 10:23Speaker 1: you look into the skies and you say, how did
- 10:25Speaker 1: humanity get here? Where is all this going? It's your
- 10:33Speaker 1: soul that causes your eyes to mist when you see
- 10:37Speaker 1: the baby and causes you to get choked up when
- 10:40Speaker 1: you sing the national anthem. That's the soul at work.
- 10:45Speaker 1: That soul is that intangible energy A ethereal part of
- 10:50Speaker 1: you that separates you from the animal kingdom. You and
- 10:56Speaker 1: your goldfish have a lot alike. Have quite a few
- 11:00Speaker 1: things in common. But your goldfish has no soul. Your
- 11:06Speaker 1: goldfish has eyes. You have eyes. Your goldfish has a mouth.
- 11:09Speaker 1: You have mouth. You both have scales. The goldfish on
- 11:13Speaker 1: his body. You on your bathroom floor. I thought that
- 11:18Speaker 1: was clever. You are hard to please today. But your
- 11:26Speaker 1: goldfish doesn't worry about the meaning of life. Your goldfish
- 11:32Speaker 1: doesn't feel the need for forgiveness. Your goldfish doesn't have
- 11:38Speaker 1: a longing to connect, to have community. Your goldfish doesn't
- 11:44Speaker 1: cry out to God We do that out of our soul.
- 11:49Speaker 1: And your soul is precious. Jesus once says, what does
- 11:54Speaker 1: it value a person? If they could gain the whole
- 11:58Speaker 1: world and let their soul dry up and shrivel. So
- 12:05Speaker 1: 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
- 12:20Speaker 1: of yourself to something greater than yourself, then your soul
- 12:25Speaker 1: is going to sink and you're going to get sour
- 12:28Speaker 1: and sad and bitter and cynical. So the Hebrew writer says,
- 12:35Speaker 1: be sure and 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 in the passages
- 12:56Speaker 1: preceding the passage we just read. So let's expand our
- 12:59Speaker 1: reading for just a moment and look up to chapter 6,
- 13:03Speaker 1: verse 13 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 end
- 13:32Speaker 1: to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging
- 13:36Speaker 1: nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of
- 13:38Speaker 1: what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God
- 13:42Speaker 1: did this so that by two unchangeable things in which
- 13:45Speaker 1: it is impossible for God to lie, we who have
- 13:48Speaker 1: fled to take hope, take hold of the hope, sit
- 13:52Speaker 1: before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope
- 13:55Speaker 1: as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It
- 13:59Speaker 1: enters the sanctuary behind the curtain where our forerunner Jesus
- 14:04Speaker 1: has entered on our behalf. So to help us understand
- 14:08Speaker 1: what it means to be hope-filled people, the Hebrew writer
- 14:12Speaker 1: reaches back and retells the story of who? Abraham. Abraham.
- 14:18Speaker 1: Does anybody remember who Abraham was? Well, he was the
- 14:22Speaker 1: fellow who received this astounding promise from God. Abraham was
- 14:28Speaker 1: 75 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? 75 years old. Certainly running low
- 14:51Speaker 1: on the necessary fluids. How could this happen? And yet
- 15:01Speaker 1: Abraham believed God. Abraham goes down in history. Not because
- 15:08Speaker 1: of all the great accomplishments or the great monuments that
- 15:11Speaker 1: he built. He goes down in history called the father
- 15:15Speaker 1: of faith. He said, well, okay. God said it. Then
- 15:21Speaker 1: I'm going to believe it. Now, he had to believe
- 15:25Speaker 1: this for how long before anything happened?
- 15:27Speaker 2: 25 years. 25 years.
- 15:34Speaker 1: The fella is almost into triple digits. By the time Sarah...
- 15:41Speaker 1: finally conceives and gives birth and so it's one thing
- 15:47Speaker 1: to be given the promise at the age of 75
- 15:51Speaker 1: it's quite another to go through 25 winters without that
- 15:58Speaker 1: promise coming true how long have you been waiting how
- 16:04Speaker 1: long have you been waiting for that prodigal son to
- 16:06Speaker 1: come home How long have you been waiting for your
- 16:12Speaker 1: own heart to heal? How long have you been waiting
- 16:19Speaker 1: to receive the promise sorrow may come with the night,
- 16:22Speaker 1: but joy comes with the morning? It's been a long time,
- 16:25Speaker 1: you say, since I've felt that joy. And you, like Abraham,
- 16:30Speaker 1: are forced to choose. Do I stand upon the circumstances
- 16:36Speaker 1: of life or the promises of God? Abraham is our
- 16:41Speaker 1: hero 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
- 16:57Speaker 1: believed and so became the father of many nations. Just
- 17:01Speaker 1: as it had been said to him. So shall your
- 17:04Speaker 1: offspring 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 a 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
- 18:47Speaker 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
- 19:21Speaker 1: was sending a message in Morse code saying, The diver
- 19:25Speaker 1: knew Morse code, so he pressed his ear up against
- 19:28Speaker 1: the submarine. And he was hearing the sailor tap out
- 19:32Speaker 1: the message. Is there any hope? Are you asking that question?
- 19:44Speaker 1: Are you the Amanda Todd of your day? You're running
- 19:51Speaker 1: out of hope. Are you the single mom who's running
- 19:55Speaker 1: out of hope? Are you the elderly person who has
- 20:00Speaker 1: buried someone you love and your hope has left you?
- 20:07Speaker 1: Are you the businessman who 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 book,
- 20:32Speaker 1: How to Win Friends and Influence People. I know, you've
- 20:36Speaker 1: got to be pretty old to quote Dale Carnegie. But
- 20:41Speaker 1: if you've never read his books, though written 50 and
- 20:44Speaker 1: 60 years ago, there's a reason you can still find
- 20:47Speaker 1: them on the bookshelves. His book, How to Stop Worrying
- 20:56Speaker 1: and Start Living, tells the story of Mary Cushman. She
- 21:02Speaker 1: wrote a letter to Mr. Carnegie in response to a
- 21:06Speaker 1: sermon she heard him preach. And in the letter, she
- 21:11Speaker 1: described her life in the Great Depression in the 1930s.
- 21:18Speaker 1: She described how she and her husband and their five
- 21:21Speaker 1: children were barely getting by. Her husband's salary was $ 18
- 21:28Speaker 1: a week. And he was a sickly man. And he
- 21:33Speaker 1: often missed much work. And when he didn't work, he
- 21:36Speaker 1: didn't get paid. They could scarcely pay their bills. In fact,
- 21:42Speaker 1: they ran up some debts. She began to clothe her
- 21:47Speaker 1: children with clothing from the Salvation Army. She grew increasingly
- 21:52Speaker 1: despondent and anxious because she saw no solution. On one occasion,
- 21:58Speaker 1: the grocer accused her son of stealing food. The family
- 22:05Speaker 1: already owed an insurmountable $ 50 to the grocer. And this
- 22:13Speaker 1: accusation was enough to cause her to lose hope entirely.
- 22:20Speaker 1: And Mrs. Cushman wrote a letter and described what she
- 22:25Speaker 1: did to Mr. Carnegie. She said, I couldn't see any hope.
- 22:31Speaker 1: I shut off my washing machine and I took my
- 22:34Speaker 1: little five-year-old girl into the bedrooms. And I plugged up
- 22:37Speaker 1: the windows and cracks with paper and rags. I turned
- 22:41Speaker 1: on the gas heater we had in the bedroom. I
- 22:43Speaker 1: didn't light it. As I lay down on the bed
- 22:49Speaker 1: with my daughter beside me, she said, Mommy, this is funny.
- 22:53Speaker 1: We just got up a little while ago. But I said,
- 22:58Speaker 1: never mind. We'll take a little nap. Then I closed
- 23:04Speaker 1: my eyes, listening to the gas escape from the heater.
- 23:07Speaker 1: I shall never forget the smell of that gas. Suddenly
- 23:13Speaker 1: I heard music. I listened. I had forgotten to turn
- 23:16Speaker 1: the radio off in the kitchen, but it didn't matter now.
- 23:22Speaker 1: Yet the music kept on. And presently I heard someone
- 23:28Speaker 1: singing an old hymn. What a friend we have in Jesus.
- 23:35Speaker 1: All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege
- 23:39Speaker 1: to carry. Everything to God in prayer. And oh what
- 23:45Speaker 1: peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear.
- 23:49Speaker 1: All because we do not carry. Everything to God in prayer.
- 23:56Speaker 1: As I listened to the hymn. I realized I made
- 23:59Speaker 1: a terrible and tragic mistake. I had tried to fight
- 24:02Speaker 1: all my battles alone. I jumped up. I turned off
- 24:06Speaker 1: the gas. I opened the door. I raised my windows.
- 24:12Speaker 1: She went on to explain how she spent the rest
- 24:14Speaker 1: of the day giving thanks. Thanking God for her blessings.
- 24:21Speaker 1: Her blessings that she had forgotten about. Her blessings of
- 24:25Speaker 1: five healthy children. And she resolved. To never give in
- 24:34Speaker 1: to despair again. She wrote, as I look back on
- 24:40Speaker 1: that terrible day when I turned on the gas, I
- 24:43Speaker 1: thank God over and over that I woke up in time.
- 24:46Speaker 1: What joys I would have missed. How many wonderful years
- 24:50Speaker 1: I would have forfeited forever. Whenever I hear now of
- 24:53Speaker 1: someone who wants to end his life, I feel like
- 24:57Speaker 1: crying out, don't do it, don't. The blackest moments we
- 25:02Speaker 1: live through can only last a little time. Then comes
- 25:10Speaker 1: the future. Are you feeling like giving up? Are you
- 25:15Speaker 1: close to despair? Don't do it. Don't. The blackest moments
- 25:24Speaker 1: we live through will last only a little time. Listen
- 25:31Speaker 1: to our passage, today's passage, from a different translation. The
- 25:37Speaker 1: Hebrew writer, the same scripture, just a different translation, says,
- 25:41Speaker 1: grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go.
- 25:49Speaker 1: It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline reaching past all appearances right
- 25:54Speaker 1: to the very presence of God where Jesus was. running
- 25:57Speaker 1: on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post
- 26:01Speaker 1: as high priest for us. Ask yourself this question. Is
- 26:07Speaker 1: what I am holding or hooked to stronger than what
- 26:13Speaker 1: I'll go through? Everybody's hooked to something. Everybody's anchored to something.
- 26:23Speaker 1: Maybe you're anchored to your retirement account. Maybe you're anchored
- 26:28Speaker 1: to your university degree. Maybe you're anchored to your profession.
- 26:32Speaker 1: It's whatever you turn to to give you hope. It's
- 26:35Speaker 1: whatever you're thinking. It's going to get you through the
- 26:37Speaker 1: next storm. Now listen. If you anchor to something other
- 26:43Speaker 1: than Jesus Christ. You're setting yourself up for despair. You are.
- 26:51Speaker 1: I'm not. too smart of a fisherman but I've gone
- 26:54Speaker 1: fishing enough to know that when you throw the anchor
- 26:58Speaker 1: out of the bass boat you don't throw it in
- 27:00Speaker 1: the neighbor's bass boat you don't say hey can you
- 27:04Speaker 1: hold on to my anchor for me while I fish
- 27:07Speaker 1: you don't anchor to something that will go down in
- 27:11Speaker 1: the storm right or wrong I'm right don't look at
- 27:15Speaker 1: me like that I'm right If you anchor your soul
- 27:21Speaker 1: to a human being, you're anchoring to someone else's boat.
- 27:25Speaker 1: If you anchor your soul to a bank account, you're
- 27:28Speaker 1: anchoring to someone else's boat. If you anchor your soul
- 27:33Speaker 1: to your resume or to your retirement or to your...
- 27:37Speaker 1: Have all the dreams that you want. May God bless
- 27:40Speaker 1: you with an abundant career and a delightful marriage and
- 27:44Speaker 1: a peaceful retirement if that's in God's plan. But do
- 27:48Speaker 1: not for a second think that is your source of
- 27:51Speaker 1: happiness and hope. You anchor to Jesus Christ. You do
- 27:55Speaker 1: what the Hebrew writer says and that is you anchor
- 27:58Speaker 1: to the one behind the curtain in the inner sanctuary
- 28:03Speaker 1: where the devil has no access, where the demons cannot speak.
- 28:08Speaker 1: You take your anchor and you hook it on the
- 28:10Speaker 1: leg of the throne room of Jesus Christ. You just
- 28:13Speaker 1: hang on to it right there and you know for
- 28:15Speaker 1: certain once he's got a hold of you, you are
- 28:18Speaker 1: in good hands and you trust him to get you through.
- 28:23Speaker 1: This is where hope And this is where hope endures.
- 28:30Speaker 1: Have you said yes to Jesus? Are you hoping in
- 28:34Speaker 1: something or someone other than him? If so, you're setting
- 28:38Speaker 1: yourself up for despair. But if so, you can change
- 28:42Speaker 1: that today. You can say, Jesus, I want you to
- 28:46Speaker 1: be the hope of my life. I'm entrusting to you
- 28:49Speaker 1: my soul. I confess to you my sin. I'm believing
- 28:54Speaker 1: in you. I'm trusting you. And once you do that,
- 28:58Speaker 1: then you have finally found a place to set your
- 29:02Speaker 1: anchor that will get you through any storm.
- 29:05Speaker 2: 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 Crown Ridge, but many of our campuses celebrate communion
- 29:19Speaker 1: after before the sermon, but we thought it would be good,
- 29:22Speaker 1: just in a symbolic fashion, for all the campuses to
- 29:25Speaker 1: wait until after the message so we could celebrate together.
- 29:30Speaker 1: If you're watching online, could you take a few moments
- 29:33Speaker 1: and gather together the elements for your communion service, for
- 29:37Speaker 1: we're all going to celebrate together. We're going to be
- 29:40Speaker 1: reminded of the bread and the cup. The bread that
- 29:44Speaker 1: represents the body of Christ and the cup that represents
- 29:48Speaker 1: the shed blood of Jesus. This is, of all celebrations,
- 29:53Speaker 1: a celebration of hope. Let's pray together. And so, Heavenly Father,
- 30:00Speaker 1: we now come to you as the giver of hope,
- 30:03Speaker 1: asking that you create even deeper hope in our own hearts.
- 30:09Speaker 1: We thank you, Lord, that there are times in which
- 30:11Speaker 1: you let us hunger for hope because it is during
- 30:15Speaker 1: those seasons of hunger that we finally turn to you.
- 30:20Speaker 1: We thank you, Lord, for the death, burial, and resurrection
- 30:22Speaker 1: of Christ as celebrated in the communion. We thank you
- 30:27Speaker 1: now in Jesus' name. And all the church said, Amen.
- 31:16Speaker 2: Thank you. so so Thanks for watching! Thank you for watching.
- 35:25Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you.
- 36:33Speaker 3: Loving you alone Feels so beautiful And yet.
- 36:43Speaker 1: It hurts the.
- 36:44Speaker 3: Most You became my quiet sunrise The dream I never
- 36:53Speaker 3: dared to say Every smile you gave so freely Took
- 36:59Speaker 3: my breath A little away.
- 37:03Speaker 4: I held this love like fragile glass So precious, soft
- 37:08Speaker 4: and true But every beat inside my heart Was.
- 37:13Speaker 3: Only reaching out to you.
- 37:17Speaker 4: Unspoken love is sweet and painful Like honey mixed with
- 37:23Speaker 4: rain A tender hope I hold so tightly While it
- 37:29Speaker 4: Slowly breaks me. Loving you from just one side now
- 37:35Speaker 4: leaves my soul in silent blue. Cause the deeper that
- 37:40Speaker 4: I fall alone, the lonelier I do. I can't blame
- 37:48Speaker 4: my heart for choosing someone it could never keep. So
- 37:55Speaker 4: I smile through hidden heartache And love you.
- 37:59Speaker 5: Quietly Unspoken love is sweet and painful Like honey mixed
- 38:07Speaker 5: with rain A tender hope I hold so tightly While
- 38:13Speaker 5: it slowly.
- 38:14Speaker 4: Breaks me Loving you from just one side now Leaves
- 38:19Speaker 4: my soul in silent blue Cause the deeper that I
- 38:24Speaker 4: fall alone, the lonelier I do.
- 38:30Speaker 2: Maybe loving you in silence is the closest I can stay.
- 38:53Speaker 4: Though it leaves behind a sorrow that may never fade away.
- 39:03Speaker 4: Unspoken love is sweet and painful, like honey mixed with rain.
- 39:10Speaker 4: A tender hope I hold so tightly while it Slowly
- 39:16Speaker 4: breaks me loving you.
- 39:18Speaker 3: From just one side now.
- 39:20Speaker 4: Leaves my soul in silent blue. Cause the deeper that
- 39:26Speaker 4: I fall alone.