It's often said that you can go weeks without food
days without water you can go minutes without air but you can't go five seconds without hope
you have to have hope and the bible says the anchor of your soul is not money it's not fame
it's not all these other things the anchor of your soul is hope you see the bible says hope
is the anchor for your soul you know if you don't have an anchor a boat can drift into unsafe water
and what's interesting is and if you've ever been on boats for an extended period of time
it's easy to drift have you noticed this in your life it's easy to drift it's easy easy
to drift away from God it's easy to drift away from your goals it's easy to drift away from the
person you love it's easy to drift away from your dream we are constantly drifting if we are not
anchored and he says hope is the anchor of your soul and you can drift without even knowing it
you're going to need an anchor because you are going to have storms in your life
you are going to go through rogue winds and tidal waves in every area financial moral ethical every
area you're going to have these mental physical tidal waves in your life you better have an anchor
now the question is where do you get it well the fact is when people are in a storm they
typically look to everything else except God for their anchor they don't look to hope when people
are in deep pain or in deep discouragement or deep despair they often look at the bottom of a bottle
for their hope or some medicines for their hope and they're looking for somebody to anchor their
lives if I could just get a boyfriend if I could just get a job if I could just
whatever and they're looking outside of themselves for something to anchor them when
God says no really what you need what you need is hope but the bible says those who forget God
have no hope those who forget God have no hope now friends we see the proof of that statement
in literally every single sector of our society that the further away we get from God
the less hope we have now the converse is true the closer you get to God the more hope you're going
to have in your life the most hopeful people on the planet earth are those who live closest to God
and the most hopeless people on the earth are the people who feel far away from God
those who forget God have no hope hope is the anchor of the soul Jesus Christ
is presented in the bible as our blessed hope Saint Paul presents Christ as the hope of glory
hope generates enthusiasm and excitement hope gives you the power to try again
to love again to live again to laugh again and some of you need to rediscover your joy
hope produces a joy the world cannot give and the world cannot take away hope sees the invisible
hope feels the intangible hope achieves the impossible hope thou in God as long as
there is life there is hope take away hope and life with all of its fascinating opportunities
is reduced to a mere existence take away hope and you become a bleak drab joyless person
hope thou in God hope thou in God people without hope sink into depression and despair
and life becomes meaningless in the life of every believer there's hope for today there
is hope for tomorrow there is hope for a supernatural breakthrough in your life
now is the time for hope there is hope for your shattered dreams to be restored there
is hope that your prodigal son or your prodigal daughter is going to come home there is hope
that God is going to send a special person into your life all of you singles listen to that
there is hope our hope is in the living God there is none like him not in the heavens above
not on this earth and not in the worlds beneath from everlasting to everlasting he is God
he has all power in heaven and on earth he has the answer he is the liberator
he is the great waymaker he and he alone deserves our adoration and our servantship
The storm is coming and with him all things are possible
Because it's a matter of time before everybody goes through storms
cheer up cheer up when you're in a storm it's no time to have a pity party cheer up
cheer up hope must rule your heart control your attitude cheer up
the joy of the Lord is your strength it could be so much worse no matter how bad your storm is it
could be so much worse so cheer up listen the message of christianity is victory not victim
not depression not despair not going through trials the message of christianity is victory
this is the faith that overcomes the world this is the faith that hell can't stop demons can't stop
you have an anchor that is stronger than lies and and all the enemy brings against you so
so cheer up cheer up and be of good cheer Paul said right in the middle of the storm he's leading
you the scripture declares from place to place in perpetual victory get that deep in your spirit
this morning God's not leading you to defeat God's not leading you to devastation he's leading you to
perpetual victory and don't you quit now you undergird your life you undergird your call
you undergird your marriage your business with the word of God when I go through storms I don't
know why but the enemy attacks me with a spirit that says you're insufficient insufficiency means
not enough education not enough talent not enough money no but I got enough God if I've got enough
God he'll take me places that I never dream he'll send me where he wants me to go he'll pay the bill
insufficiency get it off your boat you're going to the other side insecurity I can't do this
I hear a little voice in my head sometimes when I get in a storm you
you you're going to lose insecurity throw it off of your ship the last one is insignificance
I always hear a little voice that says no one really needs you you're not important you're not
right for the part you just put yourself there insignificance but when you hear those voices
in the middle of a storm that's God saying I'm letting you go through this
so you throw all that stuff off and be who I've called you to be confident and bold and courageous
and stand there in your faith not in you but in your anchor your anchor is Jesus the the listen
the responsibility is on the anchor and Jesus is our anchor he's the rock of ages
don't lose sight of the shore in the storm
and I realized something I realized for each and every one of us if we're going to be people who
literally meet the demands of reality we got to have an anchor that can hold in any and every
situation and I truly believe that Christ that Jesus is the best way for that to happen you're
never going to know where you are anchored until that uninvited or unexpected trial comes and
you're going to see your reaction that reaction will reveal to you where you really are with Jesus
storms do not uh storms just reveal what's already in us when a trial comes when a tribulation comes
all that is going to show you is what you really believe so the point is you better stay anchored
before it comes because the fact is it's not like that storm caused me to go off course no that
storm revealed that you were never linked to the anchor Jesus because if your link and your chain
was strong you would not have wavered you might have moved a little bit but the boat wouldn't be
in the middle of the ocean it would still be in the bay and the anchor it might have pulled the
chain and you might have moved as far as that rope is but you wouldn't have gone any further my soul
is anchored in him so no matter what storms come bring it on devil because greater is he that is in
me than he that is in the world well what anchors you when a storm hits you what anchors you or
you just drift along with it the word of God is our anchor now think about this for a moment
storms are inevitable our anchor is immovable it doesn't move it doesn't change it anchors
us solid to the rock of Christ the word of God anchors our storm now watch this
because he is omniscient all-knowing he knows where I am in the storm
because he's omnipresent he's with me wherever I am in the storm
and because he's omnipotent he has the power to bring me through the storm
that is the anchor how do I know that's the anchor because that's who the bible says he is that he is
all-knowing that all presence is in his presence and he's all-powerful the scripture tells us hope
is the anchor of our soul what's going to keep your soul in the right place what's going to cause
you to overcome obstacles reach your dreams is when you are anchored to hope that means no matter
what you face no matter how big the difficulty no matter how long it's taking you know God is
still on the throne you know his plans for you are for good that he's bigger than any challenge
when you're anchored to this hope nothing moves you the winds the waves the storms may come you're
not worried you have your anchor down in the tough times when life doesn't seem fair when
your prayers weren't answered when it's taken longer than you thought you have to make sure
to keep your anchor down if you pull it up you'll drift into bitterness discouragement
self-pity when you're anchored to hope it's like you're tied to it you can't go very far you may
have some negative thoughts thoughts of doubts and well it's never going to work out but your
faith will kick in no I know the answer's on the way my question today is do you have your anchor
down do you have this hope this expectancy that you're going to accomplish your dreams
that you're going to break the addiction that you're going to see your family restored
or have you pulled up your anchor and drifted into doubt mediocrity not expecting anything good
I'm asking you to put your anchor back down the scripture says faith is the substance
of things hoped for you can't have faith if you don't first have hope
don't put your hope in your circumstances they may not turn out the way you thought
don't put your hope in people they may let you down don't put your hope in your career
things may change put your hope in the Lord in the God who spoke worlds into existence
and the God who flung stars into space when you have your hope in him the scripture says
you will never be disappointed and sure you may go through some temporary setbacks life will happen
but when it's all said and done you'll come out better than you were before