.
You
All right folks welcome to anchor Baptist Church
We're gonna go ahead and get started this morning
If you would find a seat grab a hymnal and turn to our first him number
420 it is officially December. So we've got to break out the Christmas songs
420 there's a song in the air him number
424 to 0 there's a song in the air
You
420 will sing there on the first
You
Oh
See
Oh
Amen will open with the word of prayer if you bow your heads with me
Heavenly Father, we just thank you again for another day to gather together freely Lord
And that we just pray that this is not a repetition or something that we pray without thinking about it that we are truly grateful
For our church and our opportunity to gather together and worship you
I just pray that you would be with us for the service that everything would be done decently and in order and that you'd incline
Your ear to us as we sing out praises to you these things we pray in Jesus name. Amen
All right for our next him this morning turn if you would would to
422 thou didst leave thy throne
him number
422 422
Thou didst leave thy throne
422
Gee
For Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.
The foxes have rest, and the birds their nest
in the shade of the forest green.
But thy couch was just startled, O son of God,
in the deserts of Galilee.
O come to my heart, for Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.
Thou camest, O Lord, with the living Word
that should set thy people free.
For with mocking, sport, and with crown of thorns,
there is room in my heart for Thee.
O come to my heart, for Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.
When the heavens shall ring, yet the angels sing,
at thy coming to victory.
Let my voice call me home, saying,
Yet there is room, there is room at my side for Thee.
My heart shall rejoice for Jesus,
when Thou comest and calleth for me.
Amen.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. Glad to have you with us
this morning, and glad to have the Furr family with us from Texas. Good to see
you guys, and we miss you. Glad you're doing well
in Texas. On the front is our Bible memory verse, Hebrews chapter 6
verse 17. Getting close to the end there. You'll also see on the front
is our updated contact information. Our new website
is live. It's really nice. Thank you again to all those software developers that
worked hard on that. It looks really, really good. On the inside
is our service times listed Sunday morning at 10 30, Sunday evening at 4
30, and our Wednesday evening Bible study at
7 o'clock through the book of 1st Samuel. Our soul winning times are all listed
there, and all those do meet here at the church building. Nursing home
ministry schedule is listed there, and just make note there is
no service today. They did cancel that for today,
but as far as I know it should be picking back up on December 8th.
Our year-to-date statistics for soul winning is there. You can see the month
of November was a great month of soul winning.
Great job, and thank you to all that work hard out preaching the gospel, and just
encourage everyone even though it's cold to keep it up
throughout the winter. You know, I know it's cold, but people are still dying and
going to hell, and it's our job to make sure
that we save them from the fire. So, please do keep going soul winning.
On the right is our list of expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for the Reed
family for their expecting baby, and our
upcoming events are listed there. December 9th, we're going to go Christmas
caroling. That's going to meet here at 6 30 p.m.,
and then we're going to caravan together to a nice neighborhood nearby,
and we'll go Christmas caroling. December 20th is going to be the ladies Christmas
party. That's going to be here at the church,
and I'll put the time in there pretty quick because it's coming up sooner
rather than later. December 21st is our Christmas soul
winning push. That's going to be a Saturday
soul winning rally, but we're going to cater some food and coffee for that
morning. So, we'll start eating at 9 and we'll
start the rally at 10 o'clock. Looking forward to that.
December 31st is going to be our New Year's Eve party. We're going to have
that's going to be also our service for the week. So, we're not going to have a
Wednesday night service. It's going to be
Tuesday. That's going to be a men's preaching night starting at 7 o'clock
p.m. There's a sign-up sheet in the back if you'd like to preach.
Just please write your name and what topic you're preaching on,
and we will have a men's preaching night. After that, we'll have dinner catered,
and we will also just have a time of fellowship and games and fun,
and you feel free to stay till midnight. Bring in the new year here at church.
It's a great way to start the year, and if you've got young kids, I
also understand if you don't want to do that, I'm not sure yet if I will,
but that option is open to you guys. If you want to give online, there is a QR
code there. It brings you to our website. On the back is our prayer list. Please
keep everyone in prayer. A couple of new additions this week on
there, and please if you have any prayer requests
as usual, email the church. I'd be happy to add that for you.
That's going to be it for announcements this morning. Let's go ahead and go to
our third song.
All right, for our third hymn this morning, turn if you would to
424, O Come All Ye Faithful.
424, 424, O Come All Ye Faithful.
We'll sing there on the first.
O come, let us adore Him.
Christ the Lord.
Sing, choirs of angels,
sing in exultation.
k
O come, let us adore Him.
Christ the Lord.
Let us adore him.
Oh, come let us adore him.
Christ the Lord.
Yea, Lord, be
great in thee.
For this happy morning
believing of glory
there.
Word of the Father,
now in flesh appearing.
Oh, come let us adore him.
Oh, come let us adore
him. Christ the Lord.
Amen. Great singing
this morning. If you would, as the offering plates are being passed, turn in your
Bibles to Hebrews chapter number six.
Hebrews chapter number six.
Verse number one, the Bible says, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine
of Christ, let us go on unto perfection,
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works
and of faith toward God. Of the doctrine of baptisms
and of the laying on of hands and of resurrection
of the dead and of eternal judgment. And this
will we do, if God permit, for it is impossible
for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted
the good word of God and the powers of the world to come
if they shall fall away to renew them again
unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh off
upon it and bringeth forth herbs, meat for them by whom it is
dressed, receiveth blessing from God. But that
which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh
unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. But, beloved,
we are persuaded better things of you and things that
accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not
unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which
ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints
and do minister. And we desire that every one of you
do show the same diligence to the full assurance
of hope unto the end, that ye be not slothful, but
followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. For when God made promise to Abraham because he could
swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured,
he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the
heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed
it by an oath, that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which
enterth into that within the veil.
Whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, God, I just pray that you would bless the services.
Bless the preaching. I pray that you fill Pastor Oz with your
Holy Spirit, and continue to bless this church throughout the years. We pray these things in your soul's
name. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, we are in Hebrews chapter 6,
which hopefully you know by now that this is the theme chapter of our
church, Anchor Baptist Church. And read verse number 19. This is our theme
verse here. It says, Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and
which enterth into that within the veil. And
you know, we're in an exciting time right now. Times of transition can always bring
excitement. And of course, last week we transitioned from
Steadfast Baptist Church to Anchor Baptist Church. This is an independent
Baptist Church. And this morning, I'd like to preach a sermon about our new
church and kind of talk about why I named this church Anchor Baptist Church.
And really, it was for a couple different reasons. One was for a sentimental
reason. I'll explain that to you first. You know, read that verse again. It says, Which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.
And in 2017, I moved to Vancouver, Washington, to
be a part of Sure Foundation Baptist Church, which if you were here last week,
Pastor Aaron Thompson is the pastor of that church. He preached the evening service for us.
And you know what? I loved my time at Sure Foundation Baptist Church. I learned
a lot. I went soul winning, made some great friends, and really grew in the
Lord being under Pastor Aaron Thompson. And I appreciate all the
things that he taught me, and I love that church. And I think that this verse kind of can pay
respect to him and the fact that, you know, no one is a self-made
man. No church is a self-made church. There's people that have invested into
all of us, and we should love and respect the people that do that in our lives.
Also, it says, and steadfast. And of course, in 2020,
I moved to Steadfast Baptist Church to be on staff for Pastor Shelley,
and I was there until August of this year. And again, some of the best
years of my life were at Steadfast Baptist Church. I learned a ton from Pastor Shelley,
seeing him be steadfast, truly, through persecution.
And it was just an absolutely invaluable experience for me. And
so, that's a reason why I wanted to name this church that is because
we have an anchor that's sure and steadfast.
And even though Pastor Thompson's not my pastor anymore, I don't go to Sure Foundation,
Pastor Shelley's not our pastor anymore, we don't go to Steadfast Baptist Church,
yet this church still has a Sure Foundation, the same Sure Foundation
in Washington, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this church may not be
Steadfast Baptist Church, but this is still a steadfast
church. And we still love and appreciate those men. And you know what? I
still love and appreciate my friends, and I don't turn on my friends. I respect
the men that train me and taught me things, and I'm not going to just trash them
and throw them under the bus, because that's what a crappy person does.
Go to, look at verse number 10. The title of my sermon this morning is
We Have an Anchor. We Have an Anchor. Let's go through a little bit
of this chapter. It's really important we understand this chapter, especially being that this is our theme
chapter for our church. So, let's break this down a little bit. Hebrews 6, verse 10, it says,
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love
which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered
to the saints and do minister. You know, that's a good motivation for us
to serve God, is the fact that God is watching, God sees
everything, and God does not forget your work and labor of
love. Let me tell you something about serving Jesus Christ. It's a lot of work.
You know, being saved is easy. It's like drinking a glass of water,
it's like walking through a door, it's like eating a piece of bread, but if you want to be a
disciple, that's going to take a lot of work. But God is not unrighteous.
He's not like an unrighteous employer that's just putting you to slave
labor and not rewarding you and not, you know, appreciating your work. God
sees our work, and he's not unrighteous to forget that work. Verse 11
says, And we desire that every one of you do show the same
diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end, that ye
be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. So now we
see the desire of this author, which I believe is the
Apostle Paul, and he's expressing his desire for this group of Christians.
What is the thing that he desires? Well, first it says that we would show all diligence
to the full assurance of hope unto the end.
See, if you're saved, you already have the assurance of hope.
The Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, if you're saved, you are assured
that Jesus is God, you have hope that he died on the cross,
that he was buried, that he rose again, and you're fully assured of that, but what we need to do
is not just have that hope, but show diligence unto
that hope unto the end. That's not just believing, that's doing
works, and that's doing works your whole life unto the end.
Then it says, how do we show that diligence? It says this,
by not being slothful, but following the godly example
of Christians that come before us. See, that is the desire of
the author in Hebrew 6, is that you would take that hope that you have,
and you would show full diligence unto the end of your life. How do you do that?
By not being slothful. And if you are going to be someone
who's truly anchored, if you want to identify with this term, anchor,
anchor Baptist Church, you have to be someone that is not slothful.
Verse 13 says, for when God made promise to Abraham,
so now he's going to bring up an example of one of those godly men we should look to.
It says, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
saying, surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained
the promise. Go to, keep your place there, and go to Genesis
21, and let's remind ourselves of this story that this is
referring to of Abraham. Because
of course, God did make a promise to Abraham, right?
His wife was barren for most of their life, but God promised Abraham
to give him his son Isaac. But once he
fulfilled that promise, God asked Abraham to sacrifice
his son. A very big deal there. Look at Genesis
22 verse 1. It says, and it came to pass after
these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and he said,
behold, here am I. And he said, take now thy son, thine only
son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah,
and offer him there a burnt offering upon one of the mountains,
which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose early in the morning,
and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son,
and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the
place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted
up his eyes, and saw the place afar off, and Abraham said unto his young men,
abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder, and worship,
and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering,
and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand, and a knife,
and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto
Abraham his father, and said, my father, and he said, here am I, my son. And he said,
behold the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering, so they went both of them
together. And of course this is a really emotional story to think about that
you've been waiting for a child your whole life, your wife has been barren,
and finally God gives you that son that you wanted, and then all of a sudden
God tells you to go sacrifice your son.
That's asking a lot isn't it? And that talks, and you know in the New Testament Jesus says
that if you want to be his disciple you have to forsake all and follow
him. And Abraham is an example of a man that was willing to do
that. He was willing to sacrifice his son, and we're not going to read the whole
story for sake of time, but in the story, you know he gets the knife, he gets ready
to sacrifice his son, and the angel of the Lord calls out to Abraham
and tells him to not do it, that now God has seen his faith. God
knows that Abraham now is willing to do anything that God asks of him,
and that's why in Hebrews 6 when he's bringing up
the examples of people who through faith and patience
inherit the promises are people like Abraham. People that were willing
to lay it all on the line for the Lord, to do anything that
God asks, and you know recently someone told me of a preacher that said
well Abraham was not willing to sacrifice, or Abraham was willing
to sacrifice his son Isaac, but I never would. But let me tell you something
that's not the type of people that God is looking for today. God is looking for the type of
people that are willing to forsake all and follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. Whatever he asks of us, whatever his word commands
we should be the people that are ready and willing to obey God.
Go back to Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews 6. You know God doesn't give us examples like
this so that we could look at this story and say well that was the wrong thing
to do. No actually God was pleased with this, and God even says in the New Testament
look towards people like this as your example of people who inherit the
promises through faith and patience. Hebrews 6
verse 16 says, For men verily swear by the
greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end
of all strife. He's saying when men get together and they're making an agreement
and they swear to each other, then that ends the debate for a lot of people.
If someone just says hey I swear I'm going to do this, for a lot of people that's just the end of the conversation.
Verse 17 says, Wherein God, willing more
abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise, that's us, the immutability
of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath.
See here's something we can anchor our souls to is the fact that you know what's more sure
than men's oaths is God's oaths. See when man makes
an oath to you, for a lot of people that's the end of all strife, that's the end of the conversation.
They believe that, end of story. But guess what, they could still lie to you.
They could still break their oath, they could still break their promises, but God
he wanted to confirm the immutability of his counsel to us
the heirs of promise, and so he confirmed it by an oath. That's an oath you could
actually trust in. Verse 18 says, That by two immutable
things, in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation, who have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us. He gives us two immutable things, two
unchanging things for us to be consoled by, for us to be
comforted by. What is it? It's the fact that God promised,
that's number one, and number two, God can't lie. And so this is
something that's just an ironclad guarantee that we could anchor
our souls in because God cannot lie. Then it says
those who are saved have fled refuge to take hold
on this hope, right? And that's us, we've fled for refuge
in salvation, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it's going to talk more
about this hope. It says, verse 19, Which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil. See, what is an anchor? An anchor is
something that keeps you grounded. An anchor is something that keeps you stable.
If you're in a ship, in a storm, what do they do? They drop that anchor
so that the storm isn't blowing them off course, isn't
blowing them all over the place on the sea. When you drop that anchor, it's
sure, it's steadfast, you're not moving. And this hope that the Bible's talking
about, the Bible's saying it's an anchor of our souls, it's something that we can
hang onto, and it's sure, meaning that it's a fact, it's a known thing,
it's not going to fail you, and it's steadfast, it's going to endure, it's not going to give
up, it's not going to fail. Then it says that this hope, it says which
entereth into that within the veil.
Here's the interesting thing about this hope, is that
this hope has entered into that within the veil. You want to know what
that's talking about? This is talking about a person. This hope that we have
as the anchor of our soul is not some just abstract concept
of just hope, like Obama, you know, hope and change. That's not what this is talking about.
This hope has actually entered into that within the veil. This hope
is actually alive in heaven right now. Look at verse 20, whither the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus
made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
You want to know what the anchor of our soul is? It's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Number one this morning, we have an anchor in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's why I named this church Anchor Baptist Church, because we
have an anchor today, and guess what? It's a person. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ, and He is the supreme. He is the preeminent.
He is the most important thing in this universe. He is the forerunner that's
gone before us into heaven, into that within the veil, and because of that
we have hope today. A real hope. A sure and steadfast
hope. Go to Hebrews 13, flip the page there. Hebrews 13
I want to be anchored to the Lord Jesus Christ. Primarily foremost
that is what we want to be anchored to. Why? Hebrews 13
says this, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today
and forever. You see one of the things that
often annoys people is that life is constantly changing, right? The only thing
that's constant is that things are changing. That's the truth in our life, and
sometimes we're going through periods of life where things are good and periods of life where things are
bad. When our health is good, when things are bad. When our marriage is good, when our marriage is
bad. When our finances are good, when our finances are bad, but here is the anchor of our
souls, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever. That's something that you could actually hang on to
and hold on to in your life that when you're going through the storms of
life, you could drop that anchor and hang on to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1.
1 Timothy chapter 1.
Verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord
Jesus Christ, which is our hope.
You know, I find it interesting that when Paul is writing to Timothy, before he even gives him any
of his instruction, before he gives him any of his doctrine, he starts
off his letter saying this, Jesus Christ is our hope.
Why? Because that is the foundation before anything else in life.
That is what you have to understand and believe for anything else in the Christian life to work.
You have to realize that Jesus Christ is our hope.
That everything in this universe hinges upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
Go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians chapter 15, the great resurrection chapter, if you want to
start reading verse 12, Paul says this, he says,
be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that
there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead,
then is Christ not risen? And if Christ
be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith
is also vain. Paul is saying, look, if Jesus
wasn't who he said he was, if Jesus didn't do what
he said that he did, then all of our preaching is completely meaningless.
And our faith, our trust, our hope in this anchor
would be completely meaningless if Jesus didn't actually
rise again from the dead. But the flip side of that is that if he is who he said he was,
if he did what he said he did, then he can be the anchor of our souls.
Why? Because he's God in the flesh, that's why. Verse 15 says,
yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified
of God that he raised up Christ, whom we raised not up,
if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not,
then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins.
He's saying, look, if Jesus didn't actually die and raise again from the dead, then
that would make us all false prophets, because that's what we're teaching people. And isn't that what we teach
people as well? We go to the door, and we explain to them the gospel. What is the gospel?
It's the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And we're trying to tell people that, hey, you can have that full assurance of hope.
You can have that anchor of the soul if you actually believe that this happened.
If you actually trust that this was sufficient to take you to heaven, not trust
in yourselves. But guess what? If this didn't happen, then that's completely vain.
That's completely meaningless. And that's what a lot of people think today. A lot of people
who don't believe in Jesus think that what we're doing today is meaningless, a waste of time,
a waste of money, tax the churches. You know, they think this is all
just a joke. They think it's vain. Verse 18 says,
Paul's saying, if Jesus didn't actually die and
rise again from the dead, then we are the most miserable people on earth.
Why? Because, you know, the worldly mentality out there is that you only live once.
And because you only live once, you should just make the most
out of this life that you have right now. And in your 20s, you should be out there living
it up and fornicating and drinking alcohol and partying. Why?
Because this is the only life you got. So you might as well have as much fun as possible.
And you might as well just try to get as rich as you can and make as much money as you can
and take as many vacations as you can and just be lazy
and care about yourself and serve yourself. Why? Because that's the only life that you have.
Yet here's men, the apostles, that are sacrificing their lives
for Jesus Christ, that are going out working tirelessly,
skipping meals, getting beaten, getting thrown in jail,
getting mocked, being hated by the world, being the off scouring of the earth.
For what? If Jesus didn't die again, he's saying we'd be of all men
most miserable. And, you know, those of you that do a lot of work in the ministry,
you're sacrificing a lot of your time. And, you know,
for me, I work two jobs. Why would I be doing that if Jesus didn't rise again from the dead?
Why would I be sacrificing so much time and effort? We would be of all men most miserable, right?
The world would look at us and say, you're just wasting your life. But
if Jesus was who he said he was, things change. Look at verse 55.
It says, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, now that's a very important word right there.
This was the theme verse of Steadfast Baptist Church, and it starts with a therefore.
You have to understand the chapter to understand the power of verse 58.
And the Bible, this whole chapter is talking about the fact that Jesus did actually rise again from the dead.
He actually is who he said he was. He actually did what he said he did.
And because of that, look at verse 58.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast.
You know what that is? That's being anchored right there.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know
that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
See, he plays this theoretical thought experiment saying, well, if Jesus
didn't rise again, then all of this is meaningless. And we are, of all men, most
miserable. But here's the thing. He actually did raise again from the dead.
He is alive in heaven today. And because of that, we need to be steadfast.
Because of that, we need to be anchored. And because of that, our work
is not in vain in the Lord. Why do all this work? Why be anchor Baptist Church?
Because of the Lord Jesus Christ, our anchor. Go to Matthew chapter
14. Matthew chapter number 14.
When I think of anchor Baptist Church, when I think of the word
anchor, I always think about the story of Jesus walking on the sea. Because it's a
maritime story. Look at verse 25. It says in Matthew 14,
And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking
on the sea. And when the disciples saw
him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit.
And they cried out for fear. I have a feeling some of us might be troubled if we
saw that at the time too. You know, just what is this? Jesus walking on the sea.
It's not something you'd expect. But verse 27 says, But straightway Jesus
spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid.
And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me
come unto thee on the water. I love Peter's attitude.
He's like, I want in on this. This is pretty cool. Like, why not just ask? Ask and you shall receive.
Why not just ask Jesus if I just walk on the water with him? Verse 29. And he said,
Come. When Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on
the water to go to Jesus. And I think sometimes
in life, we probably feel like Peter, where it just
feels like things are going great. It feels like we're walking on water with Jesus Christ. And let me tell
you what. If you're doing the Christian life right, there should be times where you feel like that.
It's not just all suffering and pain. Yes, God has called us to those things oftentimes.
But a lot of times, you know, you wake up in the morning and you read
the sweet honey of God's word. And it's so refreshing. It's so encouraging
that you feel like you're walking on water with Jesus Christ. There's times in life where
it feels like that. When God gives you a spouse, it feels like you're walking on water.
When God gives you a child, it feels like you're walking on water. When God gives you
great friends in the faith and a great church to go to, you could feel like that spiritual
high, like you're walking on water with Jesus Christ. But look at verse 30.
But when he saw the wind, boisterous, he was afraid.
And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
See, then there's other times in our lives where the wind comes.
Where that Oklahoma tornado comes and feels like it just destroyed everything in
your house and everything in your life. And there's nothing standing. Sometimes
you may come to a point in your life where you feel like this. Sometimes
you can come to a point in your life where you have a tragedy and you lose a child.
You can have something happen where, you know, your friends forsake you. People lie about you.
You're persecuted. And it feels like the winds are boisterous around
you. And during those times, people are often tempted to take their eyes
off of Jesus. And you know what they do? They begin to sink. And
a ship that is, you know, not structurally sound during a storm
is going to start to sink. Right. Verse 31. And immediately, Jesus,
remember, that's the anchor, stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto
him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into
the ship, the wind ceased. And they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, of a
truth, thou art the Son of God. And you know, whenever we do go through those
times in life or through those times as a church and the winds are boisterous and the
storms are beating, we have to remember not to be of little faith, but to remember
that that anchor is there for us. And that anchor is sure and
steadfast. And we, though we are weak, though we often fail,
though we're not sure, we're not steadfast in the flesh, you know what, we have an anchor
that is that we can always hold on to. It doesn't matter what storms of life you're going
through, that anchor is stronger than all the storms. That anchor is
the underground tornado shelter that will save you. Okay. That is what Jesus
does for us. Go to Acts chapter number 20, Acts chapter 20.
Now, someone in life who was
anchored his whole life was the apostle Paul. This man was steadfast.
This man was anchored. And in Acts chapter 20,
he's giving kind of a farewell speech to the elders at Ephesus. And it says
in verse 16, for Paul had determined to
sail by Ephesus because he would not spend the time in Asia, for he hated
if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. And from
Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. And when they were
come to him, he said unto them, Ye know from the first day that I came
into Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with
many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying
in wait of the Jews. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you,
but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house,
testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold,
I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, notice these next words,
not knowing the things that shall befall me there.
Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. Think about the
great faith that the apostle Paul has here when he says, hey, I'm going
to Jerusalem and I don't know the things that are going to befall me there, except
I know this, that in every city I go to, you know what's waiting for me there? Bonds
and afflictions. Now, how many people today, if you
sign them up for a missions trip and you said, hey, I just want to let you know it's an ironclad
guarantee that if you go on this missions trip, you're going to get people saved, you're going to do
great works for God, you're going to turn the world upside down for Jesus Christ, but you will be in
bonds, you'll get arrested and you'll be afflicted. How many people would
still knowingly go through with that? Paul knew that. He said, I don't know what's going to
befall me there, except for these negative things. But notice his attitude,
verse 24, but none of these things move me. He says,
I don't care. I'm still doing it anyways. I'm still going to go
preach the gospel. Why? Neither count on my life, dear unto myself,
so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. He says, hey, I don't care what's coming my way.
I know that persecutions and bonds and afflictions await me,
but I received something from Jesus Christ and that's all that matters.
That's what he looked for. He said, I don't count my life dear unto myself. I don't care what I
want in the flesh. I don't care what the apostle Paul wants to do with his life because I was
given a job from the Lord Jesus Christ and that's
what mattered to him. And guess what? Us in this room, we've been given a job by the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Bible talks about how we are ambassadors for Christ. We have
received the ministry of reconciliation. You know what should keep you anchored
during the storms of life, during the problems of life, is knowing that you've received
something from Jesus Christ. You've received something from the God that
entered into that which within the veil, who's in heaven today.
Go to Hebrews 1. I'll read for you. Galatians 2.20 says, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. You know, many Christians cannot
say that verse truly in their hearts today. That they
truly live by the faith of the Son of God. Of course, every
single Christian is saved and they live spiritually by the faith of the Son of God.
But you know what? We should also allow our lives, our physical lives to be crucified
with Christ. Not count our lives dear unto ourselves,
but actually be willing to walk by faith. Why? Because of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Number one, we have an anchor in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Number two, we have an anchor in the King James Bible.
Look at Hebrews 1 verse 1. It says, God, who at sundry times
and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets. See, the Bible is saying that in
old times, especially in the Old Testament, God spake in a variety
of different ways to a variety of different people. You see God
speaking to Samuel when he's a child in a dream, Samuel, Samuel.
And he's like, Oh, behold, thy servant heareth. And he comes to the man of God, Eli.
God's speaking to him that way. You see God open the mouth of the ass
to rebuke Balaam, right? You see Belshazzar
where God writes with the hand of a man on the wall.
That's a diverse way that God doesn't speak to us today, right?
I mean, we see all these different stories in the Old Testament. Joseph getting
dreams from God. But today, God has given us his word in a different way.
Look at verse 2. It says, Hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
See, God today has spoken us through his Son, Jesus
Christ. What you have to understand is that the word of God and
Jesus Christ, these are inseparable things. Some people think that these are
two different concepts. They're like, Oh, you've got to worship Jesus, but you guys can't make an idol
out of the word of God. You guys take the word of God too seriously. You guys worship the Bible.
Well, stay there. Let me read for you. John 1, 1, In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God.
Verse 14, And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. See, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is
the word of God. He is the word of God
in flesh, and the Bible says, Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
And guess what? Jesus Christ has eternally existed as God,
but of course, he came to earth, and that's why we celebrate Christmas.
Look at verse 3. It says, Who being the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person, and
notice this, upholding all things by the word
of his power. When he had by himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
See, the truth is, is that if you believe that Jesus Christ is our
anchor, you also have to believe that the word of God is our anchor, because the
Bible teaches us that Jesus is the word of God, and that all
things are upheld by the word of his power.
The reason why this world exists, the reason why this universe exists,
the reason why things like love exists, the reason why this church exists
is because it's all being upheld by the word of his power.
And at any time, Jesus Christ could just burn this earth, at any time
Jesus Christ could take us home to heaven, at any time by the word of God,
he could open up the earth and cause, you know, wicked people to fall in. God can do
anything by the power of his word, and the Bible says that all things are upheld
by the word of his power. You know what that means, is that we could anchor to this,
because all things hinge on the Bible. All things are upheld by the Bible.
The success of this church is going to be dependent upon the word of his power.
The success of your marriage, of your child-rearing, of your finances,
of your life, it's all upheld by the word of his
power. And we have to prioritize the Bible and have it as an
anchor in our life. And I'm so sick and tired of these weak,
new, evangelical, liberal, fake Christians
that want to tell us, you guys make an idol out of scripture, you guys
overemphasize scripture. How can you overemphasize Jesus?
How can you make an idol of the words of Jesus Christ?
No, you're just a fake Christian is what you are. You're just a false
prophet that would try to disconnect Jesus Christ from the word of God
like Andy Stanley, where he said that the Bible's not our final authority,
Jesus is our final authority. Translation,
he doesn't believe that Jesus is the word of God.
Look at Hebrews chapter number 4, or I'm sorry, 1 Peter 1, I'm going to read for you Hebrews 4.
1 Peter 1, while I read
Hebrews 4.12, the Bible says, for the word of God is quick, meaning alive,
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
leading even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
See, if this isn't the words of Jesus Christ, if the word of God
isn't God, then why does the Bible say that it's quick? Why does the Bible say
that it's alive? See, I know of no other book today that's alive.
I mean, does anyone have any books at their house that are alive? Okay, if you are, you're probably doing
one of these weird drugs that Oklahomans are into. Stop smoking the pot, okay?
No, no, this book is actually alive. Why? Because Jesus
Christ is alive, and his words are settled in heaven, and this
is the word of God before us today. 1 Peter 1, or 23, says
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth forever. See, the Bible teaches that we're born again, we're saved by the
incorruptible word of God. Many people today don't believe that this Bible
is perfect. They think that it has been corrupted. And probably because many of them do have
a corrupted Bible, it's called the NIV. It's called the ESV. It's called the New King James.
But God's true word is not corrupted. Verse 24 says
Sounds like something you can anchor to.
So we see that the Bible is a sure thing. It's something we can anchor
to, but not just the Bible in a vague sense. I believe
that the King James Version of the English Bible is that anchor
we can anchor our souls to. Now I'm going to read from you from our doctrinal statement.
You can check it out on our website, but I'll just read it for you. It says,
One does not need to learn the original biblical languages
to understand the true meaning of Scripture. Since the King James Bible
is a perfectly preserved translation of the originally
inspired words of God, it is also inspired.
We reject the doctrine of double inspiration. We reject all modern
versions of the Bible. Now I'm going to go to a few verses to prove why
I believe this. Go to Psalm chapter number 12, Psalm 12.
So you have people today making a big fuss, and even a lot of King James
onlyists will say that the King James Bible is not
inspired, because inspired is being given by the breath
of God. They would say, well, only the original authors were inspired,
but they will still say that this is the perfectly preserved word of God. But
hold on a second. If they were inspired, and this was
perfectly preserved of the inspired words of God, then this is inspired.
Now, of course, we don't believe that God re-inspired the King James
translators. We don't believe that God gave the King James translators
special revelation, or that He controlled their tongue, or
controlled their pen, or anything like that. But we do believe that the King James
Bible is the perfectly preserved inspired word of God.
Look at Psalm 12 verse 6. It says,
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this
generation forever. The Bible teaches that it is
God's responsibility to preserve His word, not man's.
Because today a lot of people struggle with the idea of how could we, after all
these thousands of years, how could we possibly have a perfect translation
when men are translating it, men are involved in the work of translation,
men make mistakes. Well, it's because the Bible says that He will
preserve those words. If God just left it up to us, of course we would screw
it up, but since it's His responsibility, God said,
hey, I got this. I'm going to make sure to preserve these words from this
generation and forever. And here's the thing. If Jesus
has eternally existed, and He lived, and He's alive right now,
and He will eternally exist, and He's the word of God, wouldn't it make sense that the word of God
can also be preserved for all of eternity? Go to, if you would,
Isaiah 59, Isaiah 59.
9 verse 21 says this, as for me, this is my
covenant with them, saith the Lord. Remember, God can't lie.
My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth,
shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from hence
forth and forever. God's saying, hey Isaiah,
these words that I'm giving you, they're going to be with you your whole life, not only your whole life,
your children's whole life, not only their whole life, your grandchildren's whole life,
and also just from hence forth and forever. He's saying the word of God
is not going anywhere. The word of God is not going to be lost. It's not going to be in a trash
can in a monastery. No, God preserves His word for all of eternity.
Stay there, or actually you could turn to Colossians 1.
Matthew 24 35 says, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words
shall not pass away. Now, why is this important?
Why is it important to be King James only, and how are we going to relate this to
Anchor Baptist Church? Well, because there's a doctrine out there today that is very popular
amongst churches. I would say that the vast majority of churches
believe what I call original manuscript only-ists,
original manuscript only-ism. What they teach, and if you
look at the doctrinal statement of just any picket church around here, I guarantee you
9 out of 10 times this is what it's going to say. We believe that the word of God
was originally inspired in the original languages. That's what they'll say.
They don't say that we have it today. If you ask them, hey, where's the perfect word of God
today? They'll say, well, this is the best we've got. Well, we think that the ESV is the
most accurate, or we use the NIV, or we use the New American Standard, or
whatever, but they'll tell you, oh yeah, yeah, the word of God was perfect
back thousands of years ago when it was given to them. But guess what? That doesn't help us today.
And let me tell you something. The original manuscript only-ism
doctrine is a doctrine of convenience for false prophets.
Now I'm not saying every person that believes this is a false prophet, but it is a perfect doctrine
for false prophets. Why? Here's why. Because they can go to a
verse in the Bible, and you could read it, you could look at it with your eyes, and it's like
here's what the Bible says. But then the preacher, because he believes in
original manuscript only-ism, he gets to stand up before the congregation and say,
well, I know that the Bible in front of you says this, but
if you actually go to the Greek, it says something completely different. And the preacher
now has an ability to manipulate his audience
to twist the words of God to teach whatever he
wants. That is a cult. And people say, you guys are a cult
because you're King James only. Excuse me, the King James Bible in front of
us is the final authority, and if I'm reading it to you, and it says something, and you're
looking at it, it's always right. And if I ever say something that's
different than the Bible, the Bible's right and I'm wrong. But the real
cult leader is the one that says, hey, the Bible's wrong and I'm right.
So who's the cult here? King James only-ist or original manuscript only-ist?
The Omo's. Those people are the real
cults today. Colossians chapter 1,
so number 1, we have an anchor in the Lord Jesus Christ. Number 2, we have an anchor in the
King James Bible. Number 3, we have an anchor in the promise of heaven.
Look at Colossians 1 verse 3, it says, we give thanks to God
and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have to all
the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in
heaven. Where have you heard before? In the word of the truth
of the gospel. So here's the cool thing, if we believe that
Jesus is our anchor and is our hope, and we believe that the word of God
is our anchor and is our hope, you know what that means? That means that everything that the Bible
says, we can anchor our soul in and have hope in, including this promise right
here, verse 5, it says, for the hope which is laid up for you
in heaven. You know, one of the sweetest promises in
the Bible that can help us endure affliction and trouble in our life
is the promise of heaven. Because guess what? You don't only live once.
And we are not of all men most miserable, but actually Jesus Christ
did die on the cross, he did conquer death and hell, and we have a promise waiting for us,
the promise of heaven. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5,
2 Corinthians chapter 5.
Now why is this promise so sweet? Why is this something we can
anchor ourselves to? One of the reasons
is because getting old sucks, which I'm not old yet, but I've heard
it sucks. And I have had some, a lot of injuries, okay, so I know I'm young
but my body is pretty jacked up. But I'm looking forward to getting a new body someday.
Now I'm going to read, or look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse 1 says this,
for we know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God
and house made, not with hands, eternal in the heavens.
This Bible is talking about this house, and how someday this house
is going to be dissolved, but God has a building for us waiting in
heaven. Now, what I think this is talking about is the fact that we're getting a new body
someday. That's the building that you're getting in heaven someday. And I'll prove this,
stay there, I'll read for you Romans 8 22, it says, for we know that the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now, that's you and you get out of bed. Verse 23 says,
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body.
The Bible is literally talking about how you're going through all this pain and all of creation
eventually goes through all this pain and we're groaning and travailing, waiting
for the redemption of our bodies. Now some of us are groaning for this a lot
more than others. But the truth is, all of us will be groaning for it someday.
Verse 3 says this of 2 Corinthians 5, it says,
If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
This is talking about your body here. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan
being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but
clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for this self same thing is God, who also
hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always
confident, knowing this, that while we are at home in the body, we are
absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by
sight. And jokes aside, you know the promise of heaven
is something that we can anchor our souls to because the truth
is that as people get older, if you do have health problems or just anything
going wrong with your body, you know that can often cause people to stop serving God.
And sometimes you literally have no choice. Like if you can't walk, yeah I get it. You can't go
soul winning. You know at least you can't go door to door. But what's encouraging and
what keeps us in the faith and what excites us looking forward to the future is that
someday all of us are actually getting a new body. A glorified body
where everything is going to work perfectly. We're not going to have any pain. There's not going to
be any more death. There's not going to be any more crying. That's something that we can look forward
to. And the Bible said in Colossians that that is a hope that we have.
The hope that's laid up for us in heaven. Go to Revelation 22.
Revelation 22. While you're turning there, Romans 8 18 says,
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. What helps you get through sufferings? Well, realizing that
hey, the sufferings I'm experiencing now are not even worthy to be compared with the glory
that's going to be revealed in us when we get to heaven. Revelation 22 1
says this. It's going to explain some things about heaven. It says, And He showed me
a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
You know, I'm someone that enjoys nature. I like going outside.
I like visiting the mountains. I like hunting and hiking and camping, all that stuff.
I think it's cool that in heaven there's going to be a pure water of life that's pure and
clear as crystal. I mean, that's going to be just a beautiful thing to look at, right? That's something
that I have hope and I'm excited to see someday. Verse two, in the midst of the street of it
and on either side of the river there was there the tree of life,
which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse but the throne of God
and of the Lamb shall be in it and His servants shall serve Him.
And they shall see His face and His name shall be
in their foreheads. See, that's exciting that we're going to get to serve God in heaven.
That His servants shall serve Him and that we're going to get to see
the face of God. See, no one can see the face of God, the Father, right now
and live. You would die immediately. But someday we're going to be able to behold the
face of God. Verse five says, and there shall be no night
there. It's always going to be daytime and they need no candle.
Neither light of the sun, praise God, I always talk about there's not
going to be any more sunburns in heaven. I am excited for that.
That is a great blessing. For the Lord God giveth them light
and they shall reign forever and ever. He said unto me, these sayings
are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets
sent His angels to show unto His servants the things which must shortly
be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is He that keepeth
the sayings of the prophecy of this book. You know, what should motivate us to keep
the sayings of the prophecy of the Bible? What should motivate
us to continue to be steadfast, to be anchored, to always
be abounding in the work of the Lord? Because pretty soon Jesus is coming.
That's why. Because pretty soon we're going to blink our eyes
and we're going to be old and gray. I mean, I don't know about you. I have a pretty good
memory and I could think back to being a young child. I could think back
when I was four years old when 9-11 happened. I could immediately just close my eyes and I'm right
there in the living room. I could see my mom crying. Like, I could put myself back into memories really quick.
And it's just weird to think about how I can remember that and it's like, boom, here we are in 2024.
And someday we're going to be old. Someday we're going to be on our deathbed.
And you're going to be thinking, like, I was just a child. I was just
at Anchor Baptist Church when it started in 2024. I was just getting married.
Like, life goes so quickly. And pretty soon, we're going to be in heaven.
Pretty soon, none of this earthly stuff is going to matter. Your job
isn't going to matter. What type of house you lived in isn't going to matter. Your car isn't going to matter.
Your status and your cool clothes and being loved by the world, all that's
going to be trash because pretty soon Jesus is coming. And you're going to be sending eternity
in heaven. You know what? The promise of heaven excites me. It anchors
my soul to want to keep serving God.
Number one, we have an anchor in the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, we have an anchor in the King James Bible.
Number three, we have an anchor in the promise of heaven. Number four, we have an anchor in the local
New Testament church. Go to, if you would, Matthew 16. Matthew chapter
16. This is
another anchor we have in our lives, is the New Testament
church. Matthew 16, verse 13.
Matthew 16,
verse 13 says, When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I
the Son of Man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some
Elias, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. See, Peter knew who the anchor was, right?
Verse 17, And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee, but my Father
which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee,
that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loose in heaven.
See, the truth we can learn from this passage is that the
institution that Jesus Christ founded on this earth, that he purchased
with his own blood, the gates of hell will never prevail
against the local New Testament church. The institution of the church cannot be defeated.
Never has been, never will be. And there's
been attempts, of course, and here's the thing. Individual churches can fail.
Pastors can fail. Churches can get lazy,
stop soul winning, and lose their candlestick.
Churches can get wicked and far from the Bible and start teaching false
doctrine and lose their candlestick and not be a legitimate church. But in
general, the institution of the local New Testament church will never
fail. And let me tell you what, there's been tons, tons
of attempts to cause the church to fail. You have
the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church in the
Dark Ages tried to stop the word of God from being
given to the common man. The Catholic Church literally made laws
in, I made a short about it where it was the exact year, I'll have to
reference that, but they literally made laws to where it was illegal to translate the
scriptures into the common tongue. And you had guys like William Tyndale,
who at the stake of his own life, was illegally translating the scriptures
into English. And he was eventually killed by being burned alive
on the stake, saying, Lord, open the king of England's eyes. And then
less than a hundred years later, King James commissioned the beginning of the translation
of the King James Bible that we hold in our hands today. You know, the Catholic Church
did try to destroy the true church of God. Because let me tell you what, the Catholic Church
is not the true church, they are the church of Satan. They are ministers of
the devil. The true church is the one that Jesus Christ established, which is local
independent churches. And even in our own lives, haven't we seen people try to stop
churches before? Haven't we seen the law fair against
our churches? Haven't we seen the protests and the death threats
and the news articles and all these things? We've seen the gates of hell
try to come against the church, but guess what, did it prevail? No, it didn't.
Why? Because Steadfast Baptist Church, the one I'm referring to right now, was anchored.
Steadfast Baptist Church had the anchor of the Lord Jesus Christ, had the anchor
of the King James Bible, and so of course, Jesus is saying, hey, the gates of hell
is not going to prevail against that church. And let me tell you, the gates of hell will never
prevail against Anchor Baptist Church when we're doing what's right in the sight of God.
When we're following the King James Bible, when we're worshipping
and praising and obeying the Lord Jesus Christ, there's
nothing that could stop this church. It doesn't matter what threats
come against us. It doesn't matter if some of us get arrested or killed even.
Nothing can stop this church if it's pleasing to God.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 3. And you know, like I said, individual
churches can fail. Pastors can fail. But my
goal, my desire, my heart's hope for Anchor Baptist
Church is that Anchor Baptist Church will be an anchor for you. That this can be
a place where you can anchor your soul and anchor your family.
1 Timothy 3.15 says this, But if I tarry long, that thou mayest
know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church
of the living God, the pillar and ground of
the truth. You know, if we want this church to be successful,
this church has to be the pillar and ground of the truth.
And I have to dedicate myself and be diligent
that I'm studying the Bible and that I am presenting the truth to this church.
And that all of us as a church family, that we together are rallied around
the truth. And when we do that, that is a church that the gates of hell will not prevail
against. Go to Psalm 92. Psalm 92.
Psalm chapter 92.
You know, we need to get back to a culture in Christianity
where church is not a game. Church is not a social club.
Church is a place that you come to hear the truth.
And so many churches today, they focus way too much on growth
and just getting as many people in the doors as possible, being pleasing
to the community, being in the news in a positive light, you know, having the police chief
come to their building and give all these awards and stuff like that. But they do those things oftentimes
at the expense of the truth. Because what Jesus said
is that when you preach the truth, you'll actually be hated of all men.
And Jesus Christ, who is the truth, who never told
a lie, was hated so much that he was brutally murdered on the cross.
And so this church, I'm not interested in just seeing how
much prestige we can get, how big we can get just at the expense of telling the truth.
This church needs to be a place that preaches the truth.
Psalm 92 verse 12 says,
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat
and flourishing to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock
and there is no unrighteousness in Him. See, the Bible tells you that
if you plant yourself in the house of
the Lord, that you will flourish. And you know what I've seen
in my life? That people that are faithful to church, people that are
free to thrive, people that seek first the kingdom of God, you know what
they have? All these things added unto them. You know what you see? People that spend their whole
life investing in the things of God, investing in the people of God, investing
in souls. You know what's cool about them is that they get to old age and they're still bringing forth
fruit. You know, it makes me think about my friends Tony and Eva Garcia
that are great pillars at Steadfast Baptist Church, that are
great examples to look to, that you could say, hey, here's some empty nesters.
They don't even have young kids anymore. But you know what they're still doing? Super faithful.
I saw today brother Tony this morning at 9 a.m. was preaching the Spanish service
and he helps with the security and he helps with the ushering and they clean the building. They do
a ton of work, even in what a lot of people would consider old age. I don't think you guys are old
if you're watching, okay? I love you guys. But if they continue doing that, they will
still be bringing forth fruit in their old age. They will still be flourishing. And that's a promise
that you get from God when you do what? When you plant yourself or when you
anchor yourself in the house of the Lord. And you know, I want to
encourage everyone in this room to just make the decision in
your heart to anchor yourself into this church.
And look, I say go to the best church in your area. If you think that there's another
church in Oklahoma City where you're going to be able to hear better preaching, where you're going to be able to
hear more truth, where you're going to be able to do more works for God, more soul winning,
hey, I'm not here to stop you. Go ahead. I'm for you. I'll go with you.
If the church is better, I want to be in the best church as possible. But if you believe
that this is the best church in this area, just make the decision in your heart saying, you know what?
Anchor Baptist Church is my church. And I'm going to anchor
myself in this church. I'm going to plant myself in the house of the Lord and I'm going to
watch God flourish my life. That is a promise from God.
Psalm 84, Psalm 84
While you're turning there, I'll read Psalm 27 says, one thing have I desired of the Lord
that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life. And, you know, I could honestly stand
before you this morning and say that that is the desire that I have for my life
is to be in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
And even if I never became a pastor, I was going to be in church all the days
of my life, whether I was on staff, whether I'm a pastor,
whether I'm a layman, whether I'm a nobody, I want to be
in the house of God. That is the attitude that the Spirit-filled
psalmist had. And if you don't have that attitude today, you need a heart check.
You need to read the Bible. You need to pray to the Lord and get anchored
into your New Testament church. Psalm 84 says, How amiable
are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. Do you feel that way about church?
Do you think how lovely God is it to go to church? How wonderful it is?
What a blessing it is. What a privilege today that we have to worship freely in the
New Testament church. That is a blessing. Verse 2, My soul longeth,
yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh
crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the
swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house. They will still be praising thee,
Selah. You know, we need a comeback in America
of going to church. There is a huge dearth in our country
of people forsaking the house of God or downscaling church attendance.
We need to have the attitude of the psalmist here saying, How
amiable are thy courts, O Lord. Saying, Look, my soul, my
flesh is longing to go to church. Not waking up thinking,
I gotta go to church this morning. Should we even go? Should we just sleep in?
Should we not go to church this morning? You know what? That's not a heart that God's pleased with.
That's not someone that's a man after God's own heart or a woman after God's own heart.
That's someone that is weak and backslidden. You know what? You should have the attitude of saying, I want
to go to church. I want to be there Sunday morning. I want to be there Sunday night.
I want to be there Wednesday night. I want to go to the church events. I want to go to the soul-winning
times. I want to be a part of God's house. Why? Because this is the institution
that Jesus Christ died for. This church isn't
about me. This church isn't about you. This church is about Jesus Christ.
This church is about the anchor of our souls. Go back to Hebrews 6.
Hebrews chapter 6.
Hebrews chapter number 6. So I hope you can see that
I didn't just name this church because it's a cool sounding name, though I think it is a cool sounding
name. Or just because we can make cool logos, though I do think we can make cool logos.
That's not why I named this church that. This is a powerful verse in the Bible
and I really understand it. When you understand what Hebrews 6 is teaching and the fact that
we have that anchor of the soul, you know what's cool is that, hey, we're still a sure foundation
and we're still steadfast as well. Hebrews 6 verse 19 says,
Which hope, that's Jesus, we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, and which
entereth into that within the veil. Whither the forerunner is for us entered
even Jesus, maiden high priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.
You know, I'm really excited about the future of this church. I'm really thankful to be the pastor
here. I'm thankful for the people that attend this church. I would just
encourage you to just plant these truths deep into your heart. To really internalize these
things and to really say for yourself personally that you have an anchor.
You have an anchor in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have an anchor in the
Word of God. You have an anchor in the promise of heaven. You have an anchor
in Anchor Baptist Church. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you so much
for the opportunity to preach these dear people. I just pray
that you would bless this church, help us all to grow spiritually, help us all to mature
together, and help us to be a church that's anchored
to the Lord Jesus Christ, to his words, and I pray that you would just
enable us to do great works for you, for your honor and glory. We love you.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright,
for our last hymn this morning, if you'll grab your hymnals, turn
to hymn number 140, We Have an Anchor.
Hymn number 140, 1-4-0,
We Have an Anchor. We'll sing there
starting on the first. Will your anchor
hold in the storms of life? When the
clouds unfold, bear wings of strife.
When the strong tides lift in the
gable strength, will your anchor
drift or firm remain? We
have an anchor that leads our soul
steadfast and sure while the billows roll.
Fasten to the rock which
cannot move, ground it firm and
deep in the Savior's love.
It is safe we board, will the storm
withstand? Force is well secured
by the Savior's hand. Though the
tempest rain and the wild winds blow,
not an angry wave shall our
hardcore flow. We have an anchor
that leads the soul, steadfast
and sure while the billows roll.
Fasten to the rock which cannot move,
ground it firm and deep in the
Savior's love. When our eyes
behold through the gathering night,
the city of gold, our harbor
bright, we shall anchor fast
by the heavy shore, when the storms all
pass forevermore.
We have an anchor that leads the soul,
steadfast and sure while the billows
roll. Fasten to the rock which
cannot move, ground it firm
and deep in the Savior's love.