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Introduction
How many of you are excited to go heaven?
I am excited to spend eternity with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We don’t think about eternity as much as we ought to while we are here on this planet.
We have more of a Joe Diffie type of attitude towards dying.
Well I ain't afraid of dying, it's the thought of being dead
I wanna go on being me once my eulogy's been read
Don't spread my ashes out to sea, don't lay me down to rest
You can put my mind at ease if you fill my last request
Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die
Lord I wanna go to Heaven, but I don't wanna go tonight
We like the idea of heaven, but we don’t want to experience it right away.
Could it be that we don’t think of heaven as a destination because we are not anchored to the One who made a way for us to get there?
Today I want to share with you a single verse that has been on my heart and mind all week.
Hebrews 6:19 (NASB95)
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,
Anchor
How many of you know what an anchor is?
I find it interesting that there are many different kinds of anchors that are floating around.
Well not floating, but dropped into the water in order to hold a ship or boat in its place.
That is the purpose of the ancho.
anchor - holds a ship in place
The anchor keeps the ship from being dragged off by the wind and waves.
It really is an amazing invention that has been used for thousands of years.
As I mentioned before, there are many different types of anchors not only used for different types of ships or boats, but also for different types of terrain under the water.
From my research there are four main categories for anchors.
Grapnel
Plough
Patent
Stock
According to yachtingnews.com,
“we can’t have an anchor stock for any kind of bottom but we can choose a main anchor, one or two additional ones.”
Depending on the size of the ship, it can have up to three different kinds of anchors in order to keep it from drifting away.
An anchor is simple in design, but powerful in its function.
The anchor is most important as a critical item of safety gear.
If you should lose power, it’s the anchor that’s going to keep your boat from drifting into peril, be it rocks or another shoal, or the dangers of a surf-swept shoreline.
Jesus is the Anchor of Hope
I know you are probably thinking, “Pastor, what does this have to do with my life?”
A lot actually.
You see, in life there are waves and storms that come and go.
And if we are not anchored properly, it will cause us to get lost in the sea of life.
Think about it.
Life is crazy and things happen beyond our control and sometimes, just like a boat, we can lose power, we can lose steam, and just plain get wore out.
If we do not have an anchor to keep us from drifting into even more chaos, we will be crushed by the waves of life!
Like a ship with more than one anchor, we tend to throw down anything we can find to try and keep us from drifting or keep us from capsizing this boat called life.
Relationships
Money
Drugs
Work
Family
Ministry
Church
I could go on and on.
We just hope one of these things will keep us safe and secure from the waves and storms of this life.
But here is the difference between a real anchor, and this anchor of hope that the writer of Hebrews is describing.
There is only One anchor we need.
There is only One anchor we need in this life that will keep you from being dragged out into the sea of life.
Especially when you lose power.
His name is Jesus.
One Bible commentator says an anchor “was an ancient Christian symbol for safety, security, and hope.
It has been found on the walls of the Roman catacombs.
This word brings to mind the hymnal Haven of Rest where it says,
"I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest,
I'll sail the wild seas no more.
The tempest may sweep o'er the wild stormy deep,
But in Jesus I'm safe evermore.”
As I mentioned before, Jesus is that anchor.
Jesus is the anchor of hope.
Some may be asking this morning, “Why Jesus?
Why is He the hope and not someone or something else?”
God’s promises
Short answer.
Because of the promises of God.
Let’s go back a few verses.
Listen to what the words of the writer.
The key phrase in these passages is “He swore by Himself”.
In other words, when God makes a promise, He is dependable in having that promise be fulfilled.
When God swears on Himself, He cannot and will not change His mind.
We see an example of this in the book of Psalms.
Our hope resides in the unchanging character of God! God is who He says He is.
God will do what He says He will do.
He is unchanging in His promises!
But pastor, I have had people make promises to me before and broke those promises.
Me too.
My own mom promised me once to take me to a Chicago Cubs game when I was in grade school.
I had won season tickets and finally my mom took me to Wrigley Field and I was excited.
I was able to see my favorite Cubs players:
Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, and Mark Grace.
We get to the gate and my mom handed over the tickets and at that moment the gatekeeper said, “You can’t bring in any outside drinks.”
My mom brought her own six pack of Diet Pepsi.
You will never guess what happened.
She refused to throw it away so we turned around and went home.
I was so close to the promise!
And just like that…broken dreams.
Maybe that has happened to you in other ways.
Someone promised to be there and wasn’t
Someone promised to help out and they left you high and dry
Maybe you were promised a new position at work
We all have been let down by people.
Side note, I wonder how often we make promises that we don’t fulfill?
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