[music] Dr. Charles Stanley: I've
experienced a number of storms in life and one of them was so
bad that I had to sit down on the floor to pack my bags to
disembark the next day. In another storm, I stood up to
preach and the boat began to rock so much that I couldn't
stand up and preach so we had to call it off. And then a third one really got
rough and I was looking around for my life vest just in case I
must possibly need it. Then I think about one other
storm when I was sailing and thought I knew a little bit more
about it than I did. And a squall came up and caught
me, and before I could get the sail down, I capsized and I'm
out in the water, and another boat picks me up. So, I've had a few storms in
life. But the worst storms in my life
have not been on the sea. When I came to First Baptist
Church, I came as an Associate Pastor, and when the church
decided they wanted me to be the pastor, some folks decided they
didn't. And so, that was a storm in my
life. And then when I was president of
the Southern Baptist Convention for a couple of years, that
first year that I presided over the convention of fifty
something thousand messengers which was a very, very difficult
time. That was a storm in my life. And then I think about one of
the worst storms was watching my mother die a day at a time for
about three months. That was a stormy time. The worst storm of all lasted
the longest. It hurt me the most, tested my faith, tested my endurance, and I would have to say it was
the worst storm of my life. I wouldn't wish it on anybody. How do you ride out the storms
in your life because we all have them? Some of us have a little more
difficult storms than others but we all have storms. How do you ride them out? Do you want to give up and quit
and just walk away? Or do you have to fight to
endure them? How do you respond? Well, what I want to talk about
in this message is this, and that is, "Our Anchor in the
Times of Storm." Listen to this verse of
Scripture. The Scripture says, "The grass
withers, and the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands
forever." The Bible says that, "His word
is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path." It is certainly an anchor in our
time of storms. And in the Mediterranean world
the anchor was a very familiar term. On the catacombs where the
Christians would meet secretly there are sixty-six pictures of
anchors. And in a picture for example,
there's a ship you can tell the wind's blowing against it and
the ship is in trouble but it's anchored to something solid. It's immovable. God has given us an anchor for
the times of storm in our life. So, how do you ride them out in
your life? You just complain and moan and
groan and ask God why? Or do you ride them out? And find out what God will do in
your life when you ride them out. Well, I want to give you a
number of pointers about storms and I want you to think about
the kind of storms that you've been through in life. And as I say, we've all been
through them. And so, what we need to do is to
ask ourselves the question, how do we handle these storms when
they come? Because when you think about an
anchor for example, an anchor is a symbol of stability and
security and every ship carries one or more anchors. What is the anchor in the life
of the believer? The anchor in the life of the
believer is the Word of God. In a few moments, I want to be
able to help you understand what the Bible really is. It's not just a book. What is the Bible to begin with? What is this anchor? And how does this anchor help
you and me walk through the storms in life that we have to
walk through? Now they come in different forms
and they come in different seasons of life. For example, many people today
are walking through the storm of financial trouble and heartache. They've lost their home, they
lost their job, and they--it's a storm in their life. Many other people are going
through the storm of ill health. And we talk about all these
things today about health and so forth. Many people are living in a
storm of health. For somebody else it's in their
family, separation, divorce, stormy time in their life; loss
of job, broken relationships. All kinds of storms come and
they come in different seasons in life. And they come in ways oftentimes
for example, there are storms that people experience, they
don't tell anybody. It's not so much that it's a
secret storm as it is there're some storms you just
don't talk about. And people face those storms and
they face them privately and quietly without telling anybody. And yet, what happens is they're
still suffering whether you tell anybody or not. Some storms last for a brief
moment. Some storms just go on and on
and on. And the question is, how do you
respond? How do you ride through storms
in life? And the reason you and I need to
know is for the simple reason, because they they're going to
keep coming. There's not going to be a time
in your life when you say, "Well, phew, no more storms in
my life." About that time, you get hit
with some blindsided, something in your life. Because that's just the way life
is. We we live in a fallen world and
that's the way it is. So, the question comes what's
the origin of these storms? Where do they come from? So, they come from one of
several places. For example, some storms we
create ourselves; something we do in our life. Some storms for example are the
result of something someone else does to us. Sometimes it's a matter of Satan
doing something in a person's life. Just just the pure devil working
in a person's life. And then sometimes, of course,
God is the one who is responsible for the storm. You say, "Well, why would God
send a storm in someone's life? Isn't He a God of love?" Yes, He is. But the reason I want to bring
that up is because He is the author of it, read the Word of
God, sometimes He is. And so, there's always a
purpose. That is, if God ignites a storm
in your life, He has a definite purpose in mind. So, what's God's purpose? That is, if He allows a storm in
your life and remember He can send it or He can allow it. And because you're one of His
children nothing can touch you apart from His permissive will. So, if He allows a storm in your
life and some storms come very early in our lives. And I can think about a few that
came early in my life, just like you can. But what's His purpose? What does He have in mind? Well, the first thing that comes
to mind is, He wants to get our attention. That is, everything can be going
along fine. Let's say that you're a
Christian and you're just sort of drifting along and
everything's fine. God has a purpose for your life,
and so what does He do? He just either sends a storm or
allows a storm in your life to get your attention because what
gets our attention is heartache, troubles, trials, difficulty,
persecution, you name it. He's got our attention. So, that's one of the reason He
allows it, to get our attention. A second reason is because He
wants to get to some sin in our life; something you've allowed
to develop in your life, you know it doesn't belong there,
you know it's not pleasing to God, you know it doesn't fit who
you are, and so what happens? He sends a storm to get your
attention, to get you to listen, to look, and to look at your
life and to recognize there's something going on in your life
that shouldn't be there. And He wants you to deal with
it. And, listen to this, the longer
you hold on to what He wants to get rid of, the stronger the
storm is going to become. And many people, it may begin
with a little wind and for many other people it ends up to a
hurricane for the simple reason they refuse to acknowledge that
God is up to something in their life. And then, of course, a third
reason and that is, He wants you to surrender something. He wants you to lay down
something. He wants you to take your hand
off of something that you're gripping, that you're grasping
very tightly. And God wants you to loosen your
grip on it so, listen, because He's got something better for
you than that. And so, what happens? He sends a storm to get you to
thinking of and to recognize and to get your attention and look
at some sin and to recognize that you're holding onto
something He doesn't want you to hold onto. And all of us have been there. So, you know, you can sit here
and think, "Well, that doesn't really apply to me." Yes, it does. We've all been there. There's another reason and that
is He wants to conform us to His image. He says, stop being conformed to
the likeness of the world and be transformed by the renewing of
your heart that you may prove what is the good and perfect
will of God. That is, God's ultimate goal is
to shape us in the likeness of His Son. So, what does He do? He gets our attention, He deals
with sin, He brings us to surrender, He wants to conform
us to His likeness. Because you see, another reason
is He has a purpose. That is, He wants to equip us to
serve Him. So, you ask yourself the
question, what storm are you going through in life? What is it that's giving you a
real, difficult time right now? What is it that you'd like to
change if you could? What is it that is bringing you
pain, heartache and suffering and disappointment? And oftentimes maybe anger? Maybe you're angry at God about
something He's allowed in your life. Then ask yourself the question,
God, if these are the purposes, are You trying to get my
attention? God you've got it. Is there sin in my life? Show me exactly what it is. Usually we don't have to ask Him
to show us. We usually know what that is. What is it You want me to
surrender? Shaped into--
What do You need to change in my life? God, are You trying to equip me
to serve You? And you see, one of the reasons
that some people aren't serving God is because they're not
equipped. Because they've never reached
that stage of surrendering themselves to Him so He can
prepare them to serve Him. Somebody says, "I could never
serve God." You can as long as you have
that attitude; and secondly, as long as you're unwilling to say,
"God, whatever You want in my life, open hands, I'm available,
I'm willing for You to do whatever You want to do, Lord,
here's my life." Then you may be absolutely,
totally surprised at what God will do in your life. So, there's always a reason for
it whether He sends it or whether He doesn't. And then some storms come and
they affect people in different ways. Now, watch this, a storm in your
life can destroy you or it can develop you. It can build your strength, your
wisdom, your knowledge, your understanding, your commitment,
your devotion, your faith, your serenity, your peace, your joy
in your life. That is, some storms, when God
gets through working them into our life, we're just so much
better off. We're cleaner. We're purer. There's more peace. There's more joy because you
know you're in the center of the will of God. So, sometimes they develop us,
sometimes they destroy us, and that depends upon how you
respond. So, when storms come what do you
do? Fight against God? You argue with Him, "Well, Lord,
I didn't ask for this. I don't deserve this. What's this all about?" You pray for your friends to
bail you out of that storm quickly as possible? And isn't it interesting how
God--we can just pray, "Now Lord, get me out of this as
quickly as possible. I don't deserve this," and you
know what? Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm. He must just hum away while
we're down here struggling when He wants us just to get our
attention because He's got something in mind. He doesn't want a storm to
destroy us. And the truth is, only when we
allow Satan to get a grip on us in the times of difficulty will
it happen. But we have to insist on looking
at it our way and bailing ourselves out as quickly as
possible, He's not going to let it happen. It can destroy us, it can
develop us. That is, a storm can put you on
the shelf so that you're never used of God or it can equip you
to be a fantastic servant of God. It's our response, and our
response is determined by a number of things. One of which is our view of
God. How do you see God? If I see God as this legalistic,
strict God who's just chalking off my bad points. Or do I see Him as a God of love
and compassion and kindness and forgiveness and purpose and
desire to use you in some fashion, in some way? How do you see Him? How do you picture God? That is, when you think about
God and you're a child of His and you've been saved, how do
you picture Him? And say--in other words, is He
on your side? Or is He on the side of
something else? Do you see Him behind these
storms with anger? Or do you see Him an awesome,
loving God sending into your life something that you don't
like, He knows you don't like it, but He knows it's best for
your life at this moment in time? How do you see Him? So if somebody said to you,
well, How do you see God in these things? Then you might say, "Well,
here's the way I see Him," and you describe how you see God. Then you open the Word of God
and you begin to read what the Bible says about God. And you think, "My goodness,
that's not who God is at all." You see, the reason you and I
need an anchor in our life is because it is natural and normal
for us to drift. There's no such thing about,
somebody saying, "Well, I never drift." You stop reading the Word of
God, you're going to drift. You stop praying, you're going
to drift. You stop going to church and
you're going to drift. Because you and I live, listen,
we live in an age and a society and we live in a time and an
environment and an atmosphere and the pressure that is wicked
and vile and sinful. And so, what happens is, when
you're living in an unrighteous atmosphere, you will naturally
drift toward unrighteousness unless you are anchored in
something and anchored by something that keeps you from
drifting. That's why I say to people, when
you get up in the morning you ought to open the Word of God. "Oh well, I don't necessarily
need that." Yes, you do. We're living in a sinful, vile,
sensual, selfish, ungodly atmosphere, and unless we're
anchored in the Word of God what's going to happen is we're
going to find ourselves giving in. And so, what's the anchor? Well, what anchors you? When a storm hits you, what
anchors you? Or do 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. Let's say it together. Storms are inevitable, our
anchor is immovable. That is, it doesn't move; it
doesn't change; it anchors us solid to the rock of Christ. So, if that's true then what we
have to ask is this, then what is this Bible? What is this--what is it about
the Bible that can anchor me in times of great storms? And I can tell you only by the
grace of God and the anchor of the Word of God did He take me
through some of these storms that I've been through in life. And many of you could testify
the same thing. So, how is it the Bible anchors
you? In other words, what is it about
this Book that does so? So, what I'm going to do, I'm
going to put on the screen in just a moment, I'm going to put
a definition of what this Book, the Bible, is. And I want to look at it with
you for a moment. I want you to look at it and
then I want you to write it down. But here's what I'm going to do,
I'm so interested in the fact that you write it down because
if somebody says, well, what's the Bible anyway? I want you to have an
intelligent, biblical, and a truthful answer. So, the Bible is the record,
listen, the Bible is the--it's the written record of God's
unfolding revelation of Himself, listen, through the spoken Word
in nature, in history, and ultimately through the coming of
His Son Jesus Christ into the world. So, let's think about that for a
moment. The Bible is God's unfolding
revelation of Himself. So, when somebody says to you,
"Well, I don't believe that book because it's full of errors." Just hand them your Bible and
say, "Point them out. Just point them out." Secondly, think about this, do
we have a God who would give us a Book that would mislead us? No. Jesus said, "I am the way, the
truth, and the life." He is a God of truth. This Book is the Book of truth. And when people tell you that
it's full of errors, first of all, they're speaking in
ignorance, unbelief, and sin. You can mark it down. It is God's unfolding revelation
of Himself, listen, through the spoken Word, think about His
prophets and those who spoke for Him in years past. Through nature, look how He
worked in nature whether it was the floods or whatever it might
be. And in history, look how He
worked through the nation of Israel and through the New
Testament, the Apostle Paul and so forth. And finally, the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We--if somebody says, "Well,
what is God like?" If you want to know what God is
like, look at Jesus. Here's what Jesus said, "If you
have seen Me, you've seen the Father." He was not talking about
physically. He's talking about who He is,
the person. "If you've seen Me, you've seen
the Father. I and the Father are one. I only do those things that I
see the Father doing." You see, if you don't understand
who God is, and this is His Book, then it's not going to do
you any good to read it if you don't understand who it is that
wrote it. Now somebody says, "Well, now
what about this God writing it." Here's how God wrote it, He
chose specific men by the Holy Spirit and governed how those
men heard Him and governed the way they penned, they wrote,
they recorded the message of God. Now somebody says, "Yeah, but
men can make mistakes." Let me ask a question, does God
make mistakes? "Oh no, God doesn't make
mistakes, but men do." Can not God, who is supreme and
sovereign, control the thinking of men that they don't make
mistakes? You see, all that reasoning is
the result of sin in people's lives who want an excuse for not
believing the Word of God. This is God's written record of
His--of--unveiling of Himself. This is who God is. This is how He works. You want to know how God works? Start in the Old Testament and
see how He worked. You want to see how God works? Get in the New Testament and see
how He worked. What did He say? How did He work?
How did He respond? How did He move? How did He change things? How did He work in the lives
of people? If you don't understand who He
is, then the anchor doesn't work because we're talking about a
God who loves us enough to reveal Himself to us in a
written record so that you and I would know who it is we are
worshipping, how to worship Him, how to walk in obedience to Him,
and how to stand firm in the midst of blowing winds of storm
that come upon us in life. That's what the Word of God is. And that's why I want to put
this up here so when somebody says to you, "Well, now look, I
know you believe this book and all about that, but what I want
to know is what is that Bible?" It is the eternal Word of the
eternal God given to us, listen, given to us as a guidebook so
that we'll know who it is we are worshipping. Who is this God? Now, people believe in all kind
of gods, listen, you ask somebody who has some other god,
say, "Look, well tell me about your god." You'd be surprised how little
they can tell you. This is God's eternal Word. Now we say, we use these terms,
it's infallible, inerrant, and everlasting, and eternal, which
simply means it is God's Book without error. Because this God of truth would
not give us a Book of error to be a guide. So, let me ask a question, what
is it about Jesus that some of you do not like? What is it about Jesus that you
don't like? I'd like for somebody to tell
me, somebody who doesn't believe in Him, well just tell me what
is it about Him you don't like? What did He do wrong? Zero. What is it about God you don't
like? Well, if you have a false
impression of who He is, then you may come up with something. But the God of the Bible, what
is it about Him you don't like? This is the eternal Word of God. God loved you and me enough to
come in human flesh and walk among us to reveal to us who He
is and what He's like. So, let's think about--just
think about for example who He is. God is the Creator, He's the
sovereign Ruler of the universe and He's the Judge of all
mankind. When you think about what His
attributes are, for example, He's a God of, shall we say He's
an eternal God. He is holy. He is just. He's omniscient, omnipotent,
omnipresent. He's a God of mercy,
faithfulness and love. Now what is it about God you
don't like? What is it about God you'd
change? The only people who would change
anything about God are people who are living in sin and don't
like God's viewpoint of their sin. Because think about this, you
mean if He's a God of love and goodness and mercy and kindness,
and He's a God of justice, you don't want justice in your life? In other words, omnipotent,
omnipresent, omniscient; all these and many more attributes;
unchanging. What is it about God you don't
like? Or what is it about His Word you
don't like? What is it about Jesus you don't
like? You see, how foolish to insist
that the Bible is full of errors when God is holy. Listen, God could not be holy
and give me a guidebook full of errors to mislead me. He cannot. And so, that's why we say, "You
know, if you want an anchor, here is the anchor." Now here's the question,
alright, if I understand what the Bible is, God's unfolding
revelation of Himself; and I understand who this God is that
gave us the Word; how does the anchor help me when I'm in times
of storm? Well, let's think about it for a
moment. First of all, it comforts me
greatly. I can remember sometimes at
night when I'd get out of the bed in the middle of the night,
get on my knees by the bed, and open the Word of God. And read a passage of Scripture
because my heart was broken and because I could not handle the
things that I was going through at that time particularly. And so, I would come to this
passage, Psalm fifty-seven. Psalm fifty-seven. If you read it, you'll underline
it, mark it, and one of these days, you'll put a date down by
it and say, oh God, thank you for this. Because I love what he says, "Be
gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul
takes refuge in You; in the shadow of Your wings I will take
refuge until this destruction passes by. I will cry to God Most High, to
God who accomplishes all things for me. He will send from heaven and
save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me, God will send
forth His lovingkindness and His truth." I would read it and read it and
read it and read it. And I love the part when he
says, "And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until
destruction passes by." Now, if--I would simply say,
whoever you are, you go through some storm in your life, one of
the best places to start with the anchor is get in the Psalms. Because think about David, for
example, look at his life. Came up as a young man as a
shepherd, killed Goliath, became a servant to Saul, Saul tried to
kill him, Saul chased him for twenty years trying to kill him,
sustained through all of that stormy life. And then his account with
Bathsheba. And then his son betrayed him
and started a revolution against him to take where the kingdom. In other words, he lived in one
storm after the other. Look at the Psalms. The Psalms are the result of God
comforting him and strengthening him. And he's so honest about them. And he talks about how his soul
is in despair and on the--on, on, on, on, on he goes about
what's going on in his life. It is a comfort. Now think about this, 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
presences in His presence and He's all powerful. You remember when the disciples
are out on the ship at sea and it was about to sink? And they were crying out, and
what happens? Here comes Jesus walking on the
water. Well, why was He out walking on
the water? He could have walked around the
shore. Because, in His omniscience, He
knew where they were. And secondly, you remember what
happens when He comes on? Next thing you know, He's in the
boat. He's with them. And the next thing that happens,
He just says, can't--wouldn't you have loved to heard this? Shh, and the waves get glassy
and everything gets quiet. The awesome power of God. And I can tell you God can quiet
your stormy heart just like He quieted that storm. Comforts us. [congregation applauding] Well, look at the promises of
God, this anchor is an anchor full of promises. When I think about how many
awesome promises there are in the Word of God. He promises to give us peace,
not when everything is going our way but right in the midst of
storms. And does He not say, "Let not
your heart be troubled, you believe in God, you believe also
in Me." What was He saying? He was saying that to men who
were living in a storm that very night and the storm was getting
ready to turn into a tornado and a hurricane altogether. Jesus's going to be crucified
the next day. What's He saying? "Let not your heart be
troubled." This is, listen, when He was
here, that's the living anchor. He said it, "Let not your heart
be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me." What did He say? He says, "Come unto me, all you
that labour and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest." And on and on we could go of the
things that He said, to do what? To comfort them, to assure them;
promise after promise after promise. And no matter what you're going
through, you can mark this down, there is a promise in the Word
of God that will match what storm you're going through. This infinite God of ours who
gave us the revelation of Himself, because He's omniscient
He, watch this, He knew every single kind of storm that could
ever come upon humanity from Adam and Eve in the garden to
this present day until He comes back and wraps it all up. He knows all about all storms. So, therefore when He gave us
His Word, how many storms does His Word cover? All of them. You cannot think of one He does
not consider. The promises of His presence,
the promise of His power, the promise of His provision in our
life, whatever that need is. And sometimes the need is very
simple, I just need to know You're here, Lord. I just need to be reminded that
You understand why I feel what I feel. I just need to know, dear God,
that You understand why I'm upset. I You You need to know why my
faith is wavering. God, I just need to be comforted
and assured. Now, when I think about people
who live their entire life and very seldom ever open the Word
of God, listen, how foolish, how foolish because you see, you're
unprepared to live in this godless society. Would you go to work tomorrow
morning undressed? No. Would you get in your car and
start to work tomorrow morning with no fuel? No. I doubt if many of you would go
to work without breakfast. All three of those things are
essential. There's something more essential
than that. If your heart's not prepared,
your spirit's not prepared, you don't start the day with Him,
then you have to start it in your own strength with yourself
when you should be starting with Him. Why did God say to Joshua,
"Joshua, be strong and of a good courage; fear not, neither be
thou dismayed: for the Lord your God's with you wherever you go." And then here's what He said,
speaking of the Law of Moses, and to us, it would be the
Bible, "This book," shall we say of the Word, of the Bible,
"shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on
it day and night, you must purpose to do all that is
written therein." That is, the situations and
circumstances that come into your life, you find out what did
God say? What is He saying? "Then I'll make your way
prosperous, then I'll make you a success." Now think about it, that's the
promise of God. Why do I want to get up in the
morning and rush off down the expressway somewhere unprepared
in my heart and in my spirit and my soul? You never know what storm's
coming. So, what happens when they come? That is, how do you ride them
out? And a ship in a storm anchored,
they ride it out. Do they get shook up?
Yes. Beaten a little bit? Yes, but they ride it out and
the storm is over and they sail on. It's the awesome power of this
awesome God of ours. And the Bible says not only is
there comfort but He's a compass to us. Listen to what He says in that
hundred and nineteenth Psalm, hundred and fifth verse, "My
word is a lamp to your feet, light to your path." He shows us the path and then
He, listen, He gives us enough light to follow that path, step
at a time. He's not going to show you all
the way but a step at a time. It's a promise. It's a compass we have to guide
us. And no sailing vessel would
leave port without a compass or an anchor. No compass, you don't know where
you are. And what does He say? "Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him, He will direct your path." He'll keep you in the channel. He'll keep you off the rocks. He'll keep you out of the
shallow waters. He'll keep you in the right
direction. That's the promise of the Word
of God. And that's why this anchor needs
to be a part of our life every single day, no matter what's
going on. And I think one other way it
helps us as an anchor is this, when I read in the Old
Testament, for example, how God worked in the life of His
servants. And for me personally
as--growing up, that was the most helpful thing about the
Bible. When I'd read how God worked in
Abraham's life, in Moses's life, in Joshua's life, in David's
life, in Daniel's life; those men primarily, I learned an
enormous amount of how God works. How did He work in their life? How would I know that without
the anchor? How would I know that if I had
no Bible? I wouldn't know it. And you see, many people make
decisions just off the cuff, they don't ask the question,
what it, listen, what is the wise thing to do? If I want to know what the wise
thing to do is, I'm going to ask God. If I want to know what the wise
thing is, I'm going to get in the Word of God and see how did
God work in the past when His servants were in situations
similar in some way or the other that what I'm going through in
life, whatever storm I may be facing. How did God work then? And to me, coming along young,
that was the most reassuring thing to me. Well, if You would do that in
Daniel's life, what would You do in my life? If You would do that in David's
life, what would You do in my life? If You do that in Moses's life,
what would You do in my life? Because you see, why did He give
us all of that? He didn't give us all that just
to give stories. And Paul says, what is in the
Old Testament is for our good so that we will not repeat the same
mistakes and suffer the same consequences. He makes it clear in
Corinthians. This is an anchor that is well
worth what's going on. One other thing the anchor does
is simply this, it helps me view--get God's viewpoint on
what's happening to me. How well--how would that happen? When I see how He allowed and
sent storms in the past, I think, "Okay, how does it--is
it--what similarities are there in this storm that I'm going
through? How does God view these things? God doesn't view the storms in
your life and my life as something that just happens. People say, "Well, that's just
an accident." In other words, are there just
accidents in the life of men and women whose God is the Lord and
who has said that He will govern and guide our life? Does that mean that everybody's
going to live a long, healthy life? No, because you and I have some
bit of responsibility ourself. And I was thinking about that
this week, thinking about my father, for example, who died
when I was nine months of age. Now my mother never understood
that. She passed away when she was
about eighty-four and she was still asking me. She would say to me, "You know,
I still can't figure out why God took Charlie." She could--never could figure
that out. And I tried to give her a little
insight into it, but you know, when you're her age, you believe
what you believe and that's about it. And so, I don't know that I'll
ever convinced her of anything. But I can look back and say,
"Well, that wasn't a mistake." And his disease would be curable
today. God knew all about that. He could have let him live if
He'd have chosen to, but He didn't. So, why didn't He? Not having a father drove me to
God very, very early in my life. Drove me to the Word of God. Drove me to see how God worked
in the lives of Old Testament characters because I didn't have
anybody else to tell me that. I can see how God used all of
that to drive me to God early, to depend upon Him, to learn to
trust Him no matter what. I think about the fact, for
example, when I--my first real job was delivering newspapers. Think, well that wasn't the best
job in the world, five thirty in the morning, and you had to take
a bag of papers on this side and a bag on this side. And you had to walk everywhere,
none of this driving and tossing things. You say, "Well, I could have had
a better job." No. You know what? God knew that He had something
in mind to get me up at five and five thirty every morning to be
disciplined, to dress myself. And if in those days, it snowed
at times and rain, sleet, hail, but you had to go no
matter what was going on. You had no excuse for not
delivering the paper. And so, it got me up every
morning. Well, I was a little bit afraid
of the dark. Well, how could God use that? I'll tell you exactly how,
because I'd get up and before I walked out the door, I'd start
praying. I would pray all the way around
my paper route because there's nothing much going on at five
and at five thirty, six o'clock in Danville, Virginia. And so, I look back and see the
things that could have been better. God knew that for me it was
best. So, sometimes what appears to be
storms in our life may be a storm, but on the other hand the
question is, what's God doing in the storm? And you can mark this down,
whatever the storm is, He is at work. He's at work in the storm. And for somebody who's unwilling
and unwilling to look in the Bible and look at all the
promises here. He's up to something good in
every single storm if we'll just trust Him. Now it's one thing to have an
anchor but, as I said, no ship is going to leave port without
an anchor and a compass. It's one thing to have an anchor
but you know what? Possessing it doesn't really
make it work. For example, some people seem to
have the idea if they take the Bible home and they put it on
the table beside the bed at night, and they're going to
osmosis all night long. Somehow, it's just going to
get--it's not going to work. Or if you sleep on it, maybe
you'll get it that way. You know how you get it? Here's how the anchor works,
first of all, you've got to read it. Secondly, you've got to meditate
on it. What is it saying? What's the message to me? Thirdly, you've got to believe
it. You've got to believe what it
says. And fourthly, you've got to be
willing to apply it to your life, not somebody else's life. And number five, you've got to
be willing to obey it. Then the anchor works every
single time. So, the next time the storm hits
you, remember what the anchor is and that's the way you handle
the anchor. It doesn't make any difference
who you are, where you are, what you're going through. You may be someone who's never
trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and you say,
"Well, I don't get all that." Well, here's the reason you
don't, and I understand. You see, as long as you live in
sin, you'll never understand the truth of God. And until you're willing to
acknowledge your sinfulness and the fact that God sent His Son
Jesus into the world for the primary purpose of dying on the
cross and paying your sin debt in full. Let me explain that, that means
that the death of Jesus who was the perfect Son of God called
the Lamb of God to be sacrificed as payment for your sin and
mine. God placed the guilt of the
whole world on His Son, crucified Him at the cross, and
in so doing, made it possible for every person who believes in
Him to be forgiven of their sin forever, their name written in
the Lamb's Book of Life, eternally a child of God. It took Jesus to die, not
someone else. Because you see, He was the only
perfect person who's ever lived. And the whole Old Testament is a
testimony to the fact that the lamb that was slain, a
foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus, that lamb had to be
absolutely spotless or it would not be an acceptable sacrifice. Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of
God, went to the cross and died for your sins, and the moment
you're willing to ask Him to forgive you of your sins, to
cleanse your heart, surrender your life to Him, He's willing
to forgive you, the Holy Spirit comes into your life to seal you
as a child of God. That's a testimony of Scripture. And from that moment on, you can
begin to grow as a Christian. And all the things that we've
talked about can become a reality in your life. If you've never trusted Him as
your Savior, let me just say this, you're sailing in
dangerous waters. You don't have Him, you don't
have a compass. You don't have the Word of God
in your life, you don't have an anchor. And you think about this, you're
just sailing around. There are lots of rocks, lots of
shallows, and one of these days, you're going to shipwreck. I know that's hard for you to
believe when you've got so much and you're so healthy and you're
so, as you think, happy at this point. Ask any man who's ever piloted a
ship, is it not foolish and suicide to go without an anchor
and a compass and just go with the wind and the current? The current of today will lead
you away from God; that's why we need the anchor to hold us
steady. Amen? Father we pray the Holy Spirit
sink this message so deep that it cannot be lost. That every single person who
hears it here and around the world will be able to identify
with the need of Christ in the times of storm in their life. We know that You have the power;
whatever language it's spoken in, You have the power to use it
to bring about the salvation of multitudes of people. The assurance and confidence and
comfort in millions of others and that is our prayer. In Jesus's name, amen. announcer: If you've been
blessed by today's program, please visit us at InTouch.org. announcer: "In Touch,"
leading people worldwide into a growing relationship with Jesus
Christ and strengthening the local church. This program is sponsored by In
Touch Ministries and is made possible by the grace of God and
your faithful prayers and gifts.
