Anchors A Dad Can Use
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 11 viewsNotes
Transcript
Everyone in life feels the abundance of storms and 2020 has certainly had its share of them!
We are challenged on every side to batten down the hatches and ride out the challenges of life.
Nobody feels this more than Dads!
A good Dad takes responsibilities for his family and seeks to steady the boat in the midst of life’s storms so that his family can arrive safely on the other side.
What is a Dad to do!?
Anchors are used to stabilize a boat during storms, and I was reading up it suggested that using more than one was necessary. The heaviest of anchors should be used toward the side of the greatest wind. The intent is to keep the boat from drifting out to sea or into rocks and losing its mooring.
27 About midnight on the fourteenth night of the storm, as we were being driven across the Sea of Adria, the sailors sensed land was near.
28 They dropped a weighted line and found that the water was 120 feet deep. But a little later they measured again and found it was only 90 feet deep.
29 At this rate they were afraid we would soon be driven against the rocks along the shore, so they threw out four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight.
30 Then the sailors tried to abandon the ship; they lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship.
31 But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, “You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard.”
32 So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift away.
If we were to read on we would see that while those anchors held the crew actually took time to eat after struggling for two weeks in a storm. They would escape in calm waters to a nearby island.
Those anchors held them in place! Had they not stayed safely on the ship with the anchors they would have all been lost at sea!
When life’s storms come flying at us there are anchors that the Lord has give us to hold us in line so our faith does not waiver, and we can ride out the storm to safety.
I want to speak of those today.
1. The Anchor of Purpose
1. The Anchor of Purpose
It is so easy to get our eyes on the storms and off or our purpose.
What is that purpose?
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
OUr life in Christ has an assurance of HEAVEN for ETERNITY.
Let me tell you Dads, now more than ever before we need to instruct our families in this purpose.
I am pretty confident that the COVID crisis is nothing to the things that lie ahead in our world and that this generation of young people and kids are going to be facing some great challenges as the world groans toward the return of Christ.
If our focus is on our eternal purpose and we place our energies into things that are guaranteed to last, not just this lifetime, but an eternity, we will engage in purposeful and meaningful moments in life despite the craziness that is going on all around us.
As things are stripped away
(these sailors threw all the cargo overboard) THE LIFE WE POSESS begins to hold the greatest meaning - if that life is not based in Jesus with eternal purpose than what is the true value?
Paul said,
24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
Not only do we need to realize this is our greatest purpose as men, but in leading our families in this direction as husbands and fathers!
Our purpose in the Lord is to PLEASE HIM and gain HIS APPROVAL - and one of the ways Paul also tells us to endeavor to gain this is through being men of the WORD!
15 Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.
Paul is admonishing us to know the Word of God and how to use it to benefit our families.
In the storm, your family needs you to engage in your spiritual purpose of knowing Christ, having an eternal focus and dividing His Word that they might understand and discern it for the storm.
2. Anchor of Position
2. Anchor of Position
The next is to know our position in Christ!
You are a child of God!!! ACT LIKE IT!
Don’t run to temptation or escape like men in the world do when challenged, but know who you are in Jesus Christ who saved you and cleansed you and ordained you in your roles as father and husband.
15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
In addition to that - do not allow condemnation of past failures or error to make you question your judgment and leadership --- know that God’s grace has brought you to a new position in Christ other than condemned.
How many men live under the condemnation of past failures with sexual addiction, pornagraphy, drug or alcohol abuse - loss of jobs or being fired to become overhwelmed with a sense of guilt for the storm they are in!
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
Your position in Christ is forgiven!!! not condemned - walk in it!
And know that you are loved by God and no storm can separate you from that love
37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As His child know that His provision will be there for you...
He is not out to abandon you...
25 Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.
3. Anchor of Prayer
3. Anchor of Prayer
Prayer is a sure anchor grounding us in the midst of wind and wave.
There are two dimensions of prayer...
15 Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand.
We can be confident when we come to the Lord in prayer He will listen to us...
13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.
Know that God wants to hear your heart when you are in most need of Him.
He also told us to pray in the Spirit...
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
That is when you do not always know what to pray, but we allow the Spirit of God to pray through us the direct will of the Father. I believe to pray in the Spirit is to use the prayer language God grants us when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit - Paul says it edifies us!!!
Sometimes we don’t have to know all the words to say, but to know that our Spirit is connecting with God edifies and fortifies are inner man.
1 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.
Do not lose heart, prayer is an anchor that holds fast in the strongest of waves...
4. Anchor of Praise
4. Anchor of Praise
35 Then he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it.
In the midst of this storm, Paul stopped and gave thanks to God in the midst of all the sailors and told them to eat and rest.
I cannot tell you how much PRAISE will help you to overcome in the storm!
Strongholds of fear, doubt, and bondage are broken and torn down when PRAISE GOES FORTH
Praise helps us see what is important, and that God is powerful and what He has done before HE will do again. It reminds us that victory is on the other side.
Conclusion
Conclusion
PURPOSE
POSITION
PRAYER
PRAISE
4 anchors for every DAD to steady his family in the midst of trouble.
Know what your purpose is in Christ and be a diligent worker who knows His Word and the importance of eternity
Your position as a Child of God secures His provision in your life and reminds you to not condemn yourself but to move forward in His grace
Prayer allows you to connect to God and know that He will be released into your circumstance
Praise reminds us of all He has done and will do
Gentlemen - let these anchors hold you fast as you lead your families.