A Better Hope - May 10, 2026

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6.19, Pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me, so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

As you know, today is Mother's Day.

I have the privilege of having my mother-in-law here today,

I was telling Jason Beckman that I had to go back maybe and change some things in my sermon,

But then we got to thinking, Lucy, you could watch any of the videos and see

anything I've said about you And it's been all good I have no doubt about that

But seriously, Lucy, I'm grateful that you're here today on Mother's Day And

I just want to say in front of everyone, thank you for raising Melanie to be

the woman that she is today I love you, my mother-in-law.

Mother's Day is one of those mixed feeling holidays, right?

You have some great moms that have put their heart and soul into raising their

children and done the best they could and still not feel good about what they've done.

And you've got other moms that maybe they tried the best they could,

but they didn't do a good job.

And I mean, you've just got all these feelings and it's an emotional powder

keg, not just with the great song you guys sang and the waterworks start coming,

but it's one of those days that it's special.

It's a special time that we've set aside in our culture to honor what motherhood is truly all about.

More so than just, you know, changing the dirty diapers. More so than just being a baby factory.

More so than, you know, just being and accomplishing what a woman can do.

Because it's much more than that. And ladies, you're much more than that.

And while this sermon isn't specifically about moms today, it did remind me

of my own mom, you know, who was there for me. My mom is a hard worker.

She's still working. I don't know if she's working today, but one of the things

she said is, I don't want to be like her mom and work until the day I die.

But she certainly is following in her mom's footsteps.

And even last year, year before, when she had her stroke, it wasn't too long

before she was back up and working again.

But that's just who my mom is. She helped hold our life together and also worked

a full-time job and hard job of nursing and caring for people.

And, you know, it seems like when everything else in our family was falling

apart, we would always go to mom, you know, and mom would be able to hear us out.

She'd be able to fix what was wrong or at least make us feel better about it.

And I saw this simple post about moms on Mother's Day.

It said this, you are my anchor that holds fast and strong.

You have kept me safe through the most wicked storms of my life.

Maybe that's how many of us today feel about our moms. that they have been the

anchor for us, that even when life was going cuckoo and crazy,

and it seems like the whirlwind was going to take us away, Mom was there for us.

Perhaps it wasn't your biological mom, but maybe you were adopted,

or maybe it was an aunt, even a grandmother that took such good care of you

in those times, or maybe just a really good,

super good friend of the family that filled that role for you.

Perhaps even if it was in a church building like this.

Where it was one of the sisters in Christ who really filled that role in your life.

And we say glory and thanks be to God for that. You see, when the family's in

crisis, we know that it's mom who prays, definitely, dad too,

but we know mom's praying.

When the money gets tight, moms know how to stretch that dollar till you can

barely see the ink on it because it's been stretched so far and still be able

to be generous with that.

We know that when our hearts are breaking, moms sat on the edge of the bed and just listened to us.

And we know somehow we made it through.

We think about the value of moms and the gift really that moms are for us.

It's something to be grateful for.

It's something to thank the Lord for.

But even, I want to tell you, the best mom, even the strongest grandma,

even the most faithful spiritual mother in this place has limits.

She can't control every outcome. She can't mend every wound.

She can't be here forever. But on this day, the day that we say thank you for

the women who've been anchors in our lives, we read Hebrews 6,

and Hebrews 6 reminds us that there's an even better hope,

an anchor for the soul that is firm and secure because it is fastened not to

any human being, no matter how great they are,

but to the promise of a God who cannot lie and to Jesus who has already gone

into God's presence ahead of us and for us.

I want to tell you, that's the anchor every mom needs. That's the anchor that

every child needs, and that is the anchor that everyone needs.

When everything else feels unstable, God's promise in Jesus Christ is the anchor

that we can trust that no one can move.

This morning, if you're willing and able, would you stand as we read Hebrews

Hebrews 6:13–20

6, verses 13 through 20 this morning.

Hear the word of the Lord for the people of the Lord.

When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him

to swear by, He swore by himself, saying, I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.

And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what

is said and puts an end to all argument.

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to

the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.

God did this so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for

God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where our forerunner,

Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the

order of Melchizedek. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for your word. We pray this morning that you would search

our hearts, Lord. May your spirit search our hearts.

Bring to surface anything that we need to change that we are able to change, God.

In those things where we're hurting and when we're broken, Lord,

we ask that you would repair us, God.

You would put us back together, that you would help us to hold tight to the

anchor, the anchor that is found in Jesus Christ in the most holy place there ever is.

And God, we just ask this morning that you'd be with us in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you all. You can be seated. You know, Hebrews 6 shows us that there's

a God who doesn't move, ebb and flow with culture, that there's a God that doesn't

change with every subsequent generation.

And we also see that there's a promise that has no expiration date,

and that's found with a hope that does not drift.

Even in our world, there's so much instability.

I mean, you consider the wars and rumors of wars, you consider governments and

changeover in that, and not just political parties in our own nation,

but just the way things change. It's just amazing.

But today, as we looked in the Scripture, we've got three things we can count

on that is offered to each and every one of us today.

The writer of Hebrews gives us one story. It's a great story.

It's the story of Abraham.

We've got two unchangeable guarantees, a promise and an oath.

And then we've got one picture to take with us today, not just a beautiful picture

you'll take out with mom out there in the little photo booth or maybe later

in your garden or at a park somewhere.

But this one picture is an anchor that convinced us to keep holding on no matter

what storm is raging in your life.

And so first and foremost, as we look back to the scripture,

starting in verse 13 through 15, we see just a glimpse of the story of Abraham.

Before we talk about really hope as the anchor, we need to talk about the long stormy waits that,

where you have to wait so long, where your hope is tested.

I remember when my son Adam, who celebrated his 29th birthday this past week,

man, I won't say what I was going to say, your mom's here, Melanie, but wow,

29 years.

After the first four of those years, Melanie and I and our extended family spent

a lot of time in waiting rooms.

And there's times in those waiting rooms where you don't hear from the surgeon,

you don't hear from the physician, you're just waiting and waiting and waiting.

And when you wait too long, what does your mind begin to do?

It begins to fill in the blanks, right? And that's not always a good thing.

And it's in the waiting room of life, whether it's in a hospital or waiting

for kids to grow up or waiting for whatever milestone in life you're trying

to accomplish to accomplish.

We know that our hope is sometimes tested. And that's true with Abraham.

God made a huge promise to Abraham. You remember, he said, you're going to be

the father of many nations.

Basically, you're going to have a lot of kids and kinfolk and grandkids,

and they're just going to be so innumerable that it's like trying to count the

grains of sand on the seashore, or it's like trying to look into the night sky

in a clear place and trying to count all the stars in the heavens.

That was the promise that was made to Abraham. And God backed it up by God's

own name because there was no one else greater to swear by.

Now, you know, when you go to the judge and you have to give an oath that you're

going to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,

whether your hands on the Bible

or not, you usually end the phrase of that by saying, so help me, God.

Well, we can say that because we believe in God. We believe he's the highest source of authority.

But since God is the highest source of authority, who else is he going to swear by but his own name?

He's the only one that he could swear by, take an oath by, and he did that for Abraham.

Now, if you know the story, you know Abraham did not get the promise right away.

As a matter of fact, it did not happen until he was an old guy.

And even as an old man, he tried to take steps to make God's plan speed up a

little bit. And boy, did that backfire.

There's a mini sermon in there.

Don't try to do God's job for him. It's going to blow up in your face and cause a lot of problems.

Let God do God's own job.

Abraham didn't get that promise, but what did Abraham do? He stuck it out.

He still trusted God. through the long, painful seasons of waiting.

Even when Abraham was taken upon the mountain with his son Isaac,

he was told to sacrifice that child.

He was told a sacrifice would be provided. Even then, when his faith was tested,

when the promise of God that was present in Isaac was tested,

God still came through and provided the substitute sacrifice.

We see God was faithful to do what he said. The promise was there even through

those long seasons of waiting.

And I want to tell you that God will grow you in those waiting room seasons.

God will grow your faith. He'll grow and he'll refine your character.

You see, it's that faith along with patience together in those painful seasons

of testing and waiting that God brings about and refines the person that you

are, refines your faith,

makes the roughness of you, the roughness of your faith, takes all the dross

out and you're more valuable, more valuable, more honed.

Your character is refined in such a way you can really reach out to others with

everything that God wants you to do.

Abraham, in the Scripture, he shows us that inheriting God's promises is not Amazon Prime.

You're not going to get it later today or even maybe tomorrow or maybe Monday. Who knows anymore?

But we do know it's faith plus patience, especially when God seems like he's

taking his sweet time. God is going to come through.

In the waiting room, we say, a lot of times we question, how long, Lord?

How long is this going to be? Can I really be sure that you're going to come through for me?

But Hebrews answers that question by showing us how far God has really gone

to make our hope certain, so we can be sure of that.

Why can we really be sure? Second point this morning.

You see, God just doesn't ask us to hope. God gives us solid,

rock solid reasons to be sure that our hope is not misplaced.

You know, like I said before, in human courts, we swear on the Bible that we're

going to tell the whole truth, the nothing but the truth, so help us, God.

It's the highest way we can confirm something. I mean, if someone was telling

you a story that just seems so outlandish, they would usually follow it up by,

it's the God's honest truth, right?

In a sense, they're swearing an oath that this really happened, that this took place.

Well, God graciously did something for us. He stepped into our human existence.

He stepped in to experience everything that we experienced.

He steps in even in this passage using the custom that we have of swearing an

oath to God to make his intentions crystal clear.

Our security, according to the scripture here, it rests on two unchangeable

things. The first is God's promise.

When God makes a promise, he's going to keep it.

If God says there's a way, then he's going to make a way where there doesn't seem to be any way.

If God says he's going to bring a judgment for sin, guess what?

He's going to bring a judgment for sin.

If he says, I've provided a way out from that sin in the form and the way of

my son Jesus, and I don't want anyone to perish, but I want everyone to come

to repentance. He means it.

When God promises something, He says what He says, and it's going to happen.

The second is God's oath, His promise and His oath.

And we know both of these are secure that we can trust them because it says

the one thing in here that is impossible for God to do, is impossible for God to lie.

If anyone asks you, is there anything that God cannot do? You can say,

sure, it's impossible for Him to lie.

Well, then is He really God? Yeah, he's still God.

What kind of God would he be if he could lie? Not a very good one.

Not a very moral one. Not who his character shows him out to be.

It's an issue of his character.

God can't lie because he won't lie. And we can trust him in that.

When he says he's got beachfront property in Arizona that he wants to sell you

and maybe throw the golden gate in free, if God were to say that to you, you could trust him.

Who knows? Maybe there's an earthquake about to happen. I don't know.

You can trust God that what he says is true and what he says will come to pass.

It's impossible for him to lie.

God just doesn't say, trust me.

He signs the deed, the promise, the oath to you with his own name,

and then he signs it again, doubly insured.

You can't stop wondering, or I should say you can stop wondering, if God really loves you.

You can stop wondering if God is going to bring to pass the promise that he

has made to you, because he will.

He'll bring it to pass. Just wait upon him.

As Isaiah says, Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.

They will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not be weary.

They will walk and not faint.

We can trust God in those promises.

So as you're trusting God in those promises, moms, grandmoms,

great-grandmoms, maybe great-great-grandmoms today, you're praying for your

grandchildren one day to come to faith in Christ.

Some are just praying for grandchildren. Keep praying.

God will answer those prayers keep praying and keep trusting God that he's going

to come through for you on those things in your heart of heart you know that

he's promised to you that are even backed up by his word.

How do I know that you can trust that? Well, because we have written this verse

on our wall, that God is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,

but everyone to come to repentance.

It is God's will for all people to be saved, to be rescued from their sin and

trespasses, which leads to death.

We can trust God in this.

If God's promises and God's oath are sure,

what the writer says here in Hebrews is that we can grab onto hope,

that we can hold it like a lifeline, that he gives us this one unforgettable

picture that we can take with us today of what hope is like.

And this is awesome. I know we're not near the seashore, but I do know we do

know something about anchors, especially those of you that have a boat and go out on the lake fishing.

You know that if you use an anchor, that an anchor can be important at times,

especially if you find that sweet fishing spot and you want to stay there for a while.

You know you got to have an anchor to keep you in place.

And that's what we come to in the third point this morning, this picture of

an anchor that actually holds.

What good it would it be if you drop your anchor and you just kept drifting

and your anchor really didn't work, you just drug the bottom.

It wouldn't really work for what you wanted.

Or one of these big aircraft carriers, one of these big seafaring cruise ships,

if they dropped anchor somewhere and they needed to stay there and they didn't

want to drift with the tide, with the current.

They need to anchor to keep them right there. The point here is that Christian

hope is not just a feeling that we try to hold on to because we know feelings come and feelings fade.

They're there, maybe a short time, and then they're gone. But what hope is,

really, it's an anchor that is already holding on to us as believers in Christ.

If you want to visualize it, it's like the anchor rope is tied to us.

We're at the end of that anchor rope.

That's a scary thought if you're in deep water, but there's a different point

to the anchor and the rope here.

You see, Christian hope is not just optimistic, wishful thinking.

You hope something happens. Oh, boy, I hope my guy wins the NASCAR race today. That'd be awesome.

Come on, Chase Briscoe, you got to do it today.

Oh, I hope that things improve with this situation. And Lord,

that everyone just is blessed by it.

Now, some people hope that when they're scratching those lottery tickets,

that it says they're a winner and they're going to keep buying them until they're not a winner.

They hope for that. It's an optimism.

We hope for good weather on Mother's Day. Praise the Lord. God answered someone's

prayer today. Hallelujah.

It might be a warm day. When we think about what we hope for,

true hope is deeper than just that feeling or that optimism.

You see, it goes back to the promise.

Because the promise we have and the oath that God has given us,

it's really a firm and secure anchor for the soul.

So I can guarantee you this, you've got someone that God has placed on your

heart that you want to see saved. There's your anchor.

God is willing that none should perish, but that all should repent and follow Jesus.

And so you pray according to God's will. You join God in the mission,

in Jesus' mission, when he said he's come to seek and save those who are lost.

And he's enlisted all of us to partake in that.

And so we do this with this hope here that we're anchored to,

that that dirty heathen neighbor of yours will come to know Jesus as you share

with them, As you pray for them As you love on them.

There's more. That's just one example. But it is a firm and secure hold on that. We can trust that.

The anchor is not buried in shifting sand. Hear me out.

It's not just going to scoot along the bottom. The anchor that we have in Jesus

is lodged in the very presence of God.

It is as secure as it can be. As a matter of fact, the scripture says,

in the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Do you hear that?

It means it's in the holiest of holy places.

If we had a diagram on the screen, it would show the anchor in the most holy

place, right there in the holy of holies, right there where the Ark of the Covenant was,

and stretching out through the holy place, stretching out through the temple.

And if you follow that rope all the way down, eventually you'll find that it's

tied to you, that your security is anchored to Christ.

And where is Christ? We know that the scripture tells us he's ascended to heaven.

He sits at the right hand of God, making intercession for us,

right hand to the father.

That's where Jesus is and you're tied to him.

You're anchored to Christ. He's in the most incredible place that there is.

He's got God's ear for you as he makes intercession for us.

We said a few weeks ago, he's the better mediator, the better go-between, and he's mediating.

He's telling Jesus or telling God all about you.

The scripture says that he's already there because he's our forerunner and permanent

high priest, guaranteeing that one day we will be where he is,

in the presence of God, the Almighty Father. Isn't that awesome?

Man, he's our forerunner. It means he had to go ahead of us.

He's blazed the trail for us. I kind of think about it.

I was watching, I don't know if it was a video clip or I just caught part of

a show, but it was a crazy, frightening scene that I witnessed.

And what it was, these guys were rock climbing. They were hooked to one another

with rope, and they had their carabiners.

And one guy was way up. He was going ahead to set the lines for everyone that came down.

But that guy fell.

And he didn't do a very good job of securing those fasteners in the rock.

And so the next guy fell with him as they're falling down.

You got to see this. They're all hooked to one another.

And so one's falling. The next one's falling. The next one. Finally,

it comes down to one guy who sees what's going on.

He really clinches in there with his hands and with his rope,

and he's trying to make it as tight as he can, and he's hugging into the crevices

to try to save those that were falling.

I didn't get to see what the rest of the movie was all about.

I know I've taken you this far, right? Now just kick you off the cliff like those guys.

But I really wonder, but it got me thinking.

I don't want to have the forerunner like the first guy that didn't do a good job and fell.

But I don't have to worry in Christ because he's went all the way for me.

He rose victorious over death and the grave.

As a matter of fact, he ascended to heaven and I can count on scripture.

I can trust it because God can't lie that he makes intercession for me.

That his grace is sufficient for me. That he's preparing a place for me. but it's not just me.

It's everyone in here who's trusting Christ for their salvation.

You're trusting that that rope is tied around you.

Now, some of us would say, well, just pull me up, Jesus. I'm ready to go.

Get me out of this. But God is building something within you.

God has you here for a purpose, for a reason.

And we'll talk about that in

just a minute. When we think about Jesus Christ, our hope is tied to him.

It's not based on your performance.

Folks, hear this. It's not based on your feelings, but it's the fact of what the scripture says.

We can trust that where Jesus is right now, standing in the presence of God,

sitting at the right hand of God, that he is there for us.

He's given us his spirit as a guarantee on what is to come.

Isn't that awesome we have for our

bank accounts the fdic but i don't

know if i could trust that i don't have 250 000 in the bank anyway to worry

about it too much but what i can trust is the holy spirit that god gives us

as just a foretaste to heaven as a guarantee that his presence is still with

us that i can still do what god wants me to do because his presence his spirit is with us is with me.

So if our hope is anchored to God, who cannot lie, who will not lie,

and I've got a Savior already who has gone ahead of me,

has gone ahead of us, and is in the presence of God, how do I live or how do

we live as anchored people this week in the middle of real storms that come in life?

I mean, basically, how do we survive the waiting room?

Well, I want to give you five hints that might help us. Because my encouragement

to you this week is this, stop treating hope like a feeling and start treating it like an anchor.

Tying those specific areas of your life where you're going into storms,

where you're in the midst of one to God, because you know that God cannot lie,

that God has given you promises.

And so here's five hints I want to give you. First is this, anchor your storm to God's promise.

All right? Anchor your storm to his promise.

Anyone ever watch the old Gilligan Island reruns or maybe you saw it live? I don't know.

I remember one show where Gilligan was tying himself to this shoddy raft that

he made trying to escape the island.

Well, he went through all that. The hurricane came. I remember one of the scenes

he was grabbing onto some kind of palm tree, and he was horizontal as the wind was blowing him.

And then he tied himself to that raft. And, you know, the storm came and the storm went.

And he was excited because it looked like he had escaped the island only to

turn around and find himself in the same little lagoon that he had just tried

to leave. It did not help him at all.

But I can tell you, if we're anchored in our storms to God's promise,

there's a way out of that.

So here's what I'd like you to do this week if this resonates with you.

Write down one current storm or situation that you're going through right now

that's making you feel unstable.

It's just knocking you off your rocker. I mean, you feel like Gilligan because

you can't do anything right.

You're ending up no matter what you try in the same lagoon where you started from.

Write that down. It might be a diagnosis.

It might be financial pressure. It could be family conflict.

It could be anxiety about the future. Anxiety over anything, really.

What I want you to do when you write that down, then I want you to go to the Bible.

You can go to the internet if you want to look at your Bible app.

But a lot of Bibles at the back have some topical references.

And I want you to find that one promise of God that addresses that.

If your storm is anxiety, I want you to go to the book of Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

And I want you to read there, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say it, rejoice.

And then further down, it says, do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving,

present your request to God and the peace of God.

Which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And if you want to memorize that, man, I got a great song from the 80s that

will stick in there like those jingles you hear on the TV.

It will help you memorize that verse.

I'm not going to sing it. No, it's not time to be done yet. I've still got four more points for you.

I don't want everyone running out just yet.

Hey, every time you feel the surge of worry this week in the midst of that storm,

I want you to keep that little sticky note or that little card with you.

And when you see that worry you've written down, then look at the scripture.

Remind yourself of the anchor that you have in God, in Christ.

Remember that God's going to get you through whatever you're going through in that.

A second is I would just practice this. Practice the anchor prayer in the waiting room.

It's been printed in the back of your bulletin. It's on our sermon notes on

the Bible app or excuse me, on our church center app too.

Just pray this simple prayer every day. God, you cannot lie.

Jesus, you are my anchor. Help me trust you right now.

Something to that effect. I didn't quote it right as it is printed in your bulletin.

But just that simple prayer.

Say it first time in the morning and say it in the car before you take off for

your day, maybe even before bed or whenever the anxiety, the worry begins to

rile up within you. God, you can't lie.

Jesus, you are my anchor. Help me trust you now. God will answer that prayer if you'll trust him.

Pray those anchor prayers as you're waiting, waiting for God to answer, God to come through.

What does this do? Well, it builds a reflex by turning to God as your refuge, trusting in God.

You know, in sports, they like to talk about muscle memory, right?

That you practice something so much that when you're on the ball field,

that it just comes, you don't even think about it because you've trained your

brain that that's how you're going to react.

I see this in law enforcement as well. They're trained so well and so much that

they just reflexively run toward danger rather than running away like everybody else is.

You know, it's this reflexive memory that you don't even know that you have

after practicing and practicing.

If we practice turning to God as soon as trouble hits, boy, that's a game changer.

And God honors that kind of faith. So would you trust and pray those anchor prayers as needed.

Third this morning, choose one faithful response while you wait.

While you're waiting, okay, God, you promised me this. I remember I prayed the

prayer and you gave me the assurance it was going to happen.

While you're waiting for that fulfillment of whatever that might've been,

while you're feeling stuck in the waiting room, do what Abraham did when he

trusted God, not what he did when he tried to play God and force God's hand.

So here's what I'd like you to do this week. Choose one faithful response while you wait.

Maybe just be obedient to something you already know that God wants you to do.

Check yourself. Is there something that you're not doing that you know you ought to be doing?

Now, it's not saying, I'm going to obey so God will do this.

That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about practicing being faithful to God, even when you don't see

the promise being fulfilled quite yet.

It's not going to change the outcome of what God's going to do,

or maybe even you're waiting, but it practices, again, being faithful to God

who has called you to be faithful.

Maybe you experienced that sometime. When you went to tell someone about Jesus,

you were going to witness to them. You were going to see them led to Christ.

And you poured your heart out there. You shared the four spiritual laws,

or you went down the Romans road with them, and you laid it all out there.

And then they said, no, I don't want to accept Jesus. It was like a dagger in

the heart, man. Wait a minute.

God, you said that everyone is going to be saved if they come to repentance.

Like, God, you promised me that my friend needs to go to heaven and that I'm

the one to share. And then that happens.

And a lot of times, what do we do? Well, then I'm not going to share this gospel with anyone.

Again, if I'm going to be treated that way, all he said was,

no, I'm not wanting to do that right now.

But in our own spirit, in our own heart, we took it a different way. It blew up.

Well, if we get rejected, guess what? We go back and we try again,

and we continue to be faithful.

Because maybe that wasn't the right time, but maybe something we said at that very moment,

was a seed that was planted in that person's heart that begins to germinate,

that begins to sprout, and that begins to grow and begins to really make them

thirsty for the gospel message. So obey.

Do what God wants you to do, whatever that might be, whatever he's called you to.

Secondly, and this third point here, thank God daily for how he might be shaping

your character in the waiting room.

Say, God, what are you doing in me as I'm going through this time of waiting,

as I'm going through this perilous time where, God, I know you want this to

happen, but I don't see it happening.

Well, just trust that God's working on you to receive what's coming.

I guarantee you there are some

blessings in my life, having received them within the last five years,

that if I had received those blessings when I was very young and very much in

ministry, I would not have been able to deal with them until I went through

some trials, tribulations,

until my character was tried by fire.

Third, share what the waiting struggle is, honestly, with another trusted Christian

believer that can pray for you.

Maybe it's someone who has gone through something similar. Boy,

just ask God to put that person on your heart that will share that struggle with you.

You might not be able to change your weight, but you can choose how you wait.

I remember when we were waiting many times in Adam's surgery,

the first time we were just frazzled.

Your young kid's going under anesthesia for the first time and you got to just wait it out.

As different procedures had to happen after that, we found different ways to

choose how we are waiting, to choose not to worry, to choose not to be frazzled.

And the Lord blessed those times. Thanks be to God.

Well, fourth this morning, loosen a false anchor and hang on and lean on to the true one.

What I'd like you to do is identify maybe in your life one false anchor that

you cling to for security.

Maybe it's money. Maybe it's success. Maybe it's approval. Maybe it's control.

Maybe it's your image or comfort is a false anchor.

And just find one that you can identify and cut it loose.

Loosen that false anchor because it's not going to hold you as firm as your anchor in Christ.

Maybe if money is your anchor, give some away. Well, I ain't got much. Well, give it away.

If you're really, if that's freaking you out, then be generous and go bless somebody.

See what God and how God works in that act of trust, saying,

okay, you went and blessed these people. I'm trusting you, God.

Again, we don't give to get.

We give to bless. We give for the benefit of others.

And if money is that issue, see what God wants you to do to bless somebody else.

Maybe approval is your anchor.

Well, obey God in one of those areas where you're looking for the approval of

others, but obey God without anyone else knowing. Right?

Hey, pastor, I've been to Sunday school for a month now without missing.

Awesome. Keep going.

Well, I gave to this homeless man that was standing out with a cardboard sign.

Praise the Lord. That's great. We ought to give to the poor with wisdom and

with discernment, but okay.

Well, try giving without anyone seeing or anyone knowing about it.

But try blessing others without tooting your own horn.

If you're one of the approval seekers, just do what God wants you to do without

having to seek that approval.

Loosen the rope on that false anchor. Boy, if control is your anchor.

How about you intentionally leave one thing in God's hands without micromanaging it?

If that's freaking you out right now, I understand.

There's some things that I need to have hands on, but there are some things

that I need to be hands off and say, no, God, I'm not going to be like Abraham,

and I'm not going to mess up what you're doing. I'm not going to mess up your plan.

So loosen one of those false anchors. Let it fall to the bottom and make sure

you're tied back up to Jesus, that your security is found in Jesus Christ.

Folks, in an age of despair that we live in, don't anchor your life to something

that can sink and take you with it.

Shift your weight onto God who tells the truth, who won't lie to you,

who will keep his promises and trust the Savior that's already gone ahead of you.

As making a way for you. Trust him.

Last but not least this morning, the fifth suggestion, the fifth option that

I throw out to you is this, throw a rope to another drifting boat.

Yeah. Pretty easy to remember, right? Since hope is meant to encourage those

who have fled to God for refuge, share the hope with someone that's barely hanging on.

I can guarantee you, if you've gone through something in life,

God's going to bring someone else into your sphere of influence that's struggling

with something that you've struggled with before. Toss them a line.

Man, get some slack on the rope that you're tied to God with and throw it to them.

Help encourage them that there's something better to be anchored to,

someone better to be anchored to.

And maybe you can text or call that person this week, someone who's discouraged.

Maybe you can go to Hebrews 6, 19 and 20 and share that with them.

Tell them one way that God has held you when you felt like you were drifting.

Just trust the Lord in that.

Folks, are you anchored this morning?

If you're in the waiting room, hey, trust the Lord, keep waiting in whatever

that promise is, but it's okay to go back and to read about the promises daily,

maybe multiple times daily,

but just trust the Lord in all of that.

See, remember, and maybe say this with me, say this week.

Let's try it again. Say, this week, I will stop treating hope like a feeling

and start treating it like an anchor.

You can stop repeating me now, but let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day. Lord, as we prepare harsh to

sing the closing song together, we do ask God that you would help remind us

that we are secure in you.

That at the beginning of chapter six, there's a frightening statement that it

is impossible for those who have fallen away intentionally, cashed it all in

from being restored to repentance.

But Lord, we also know at the end of chapter six here that it is impossible for you to lie, God.

And you've given us these promises of our security in you. God,

help us to trust you in that.

Help us to make sure that that rope is tight around us. Lord,

as we leave to serve you here in just a few minutes to honor our mothers.

Lord, just to go out and to celebrate the beautiful day that you've given us.

Help us remember that we have in Jesus Christ a secure faith,

a secure hope, and Lord, a security that nothing else can take away.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray this morning. Amen.

I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast. You can find a copy

of today's sermon as well as other sermons and the sermon outline from today

on our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.