Anchors That Hold

There will be a time in the life of most Christians that you will come upon a real storm. How you handle that storm will determine a great deal as to how you live the remainder of your Christian life. We are living in a day when Christianity is not growing like it should. Largely the reason is that too many of God's people are stalled out somewhere in the midst of a storm. You have allowed the storms of life to move in and take over your onward course to the happiness of the Christian life; therefore defeat has overtaken you, and you have no real plan or pattern to go on in living for Christ.

Paul was being taken captive to Rome where he would eventually die. But he went thru many storms along the way as he journeyed toward the end of his life.

In this very popular portion of Scripture there are four anchors that will keep your Christian life right on course until you land safely on the other shore.

I. ANCHOR ONE - Vs. 24 - GOD.

Acts 27:24 "Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee."

A. The Person Of God.

The Omnipotent One. Everything hinges and depends on God.

The self-existing One.

The God of the universe.

The Holy God.

The Omniscient One.

B. Position In God. Vs. 23, "Whose I am and whom I serve." Paul is stating that God owns him. You won't serve Him until He owns you.

1. Sonship.

1 John 3:2 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God..."

John 1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:"

2. Servitude.

The Levitical servant. Exo 21:6 "Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever."

Perhaps there is one here who would say, "I love God and I want to serve Him the rest of my life." If that be, then you must surrender that ear to be laid upon the door post and the awl making that binding agreement for serving your Master.

It may be that one reason that Christianity has stalled out somewhat is that too many Christians have laid down the position of servants. They want rather to be served. The people of God must be servants of God. I get concerned that more of our people are not service oriented. Too many have the "Me First" spirit about them, or with some, "Me Only."

C. Proclamation Of God. Vs. 24, "Fear not." Fear does not come from God. The context is speaking about Paul not having fear in doing God's purpose.

God is assuring Paul of safety - security - supply. What he is saying is all safety, security, and supply comes from God; not only for Paul, but all who were with him. We need not worry about any of these. God supplies all.

That verse causes me to want to be associated with people that I know have God's approval and blessing upon them. There is safety in that. As long as Paul was bent on doing the will of God, he would be safe. He knew that he would be cared for and protected.

D. Plan Of God. Vs. 24, "must be brought before Caesar." God has a plan for you.

Outside of that plan, or being involved in anything except that plan, will bring unhappiness. It will bring defeat and discouragement.

God's plan may not always be enjoyable. When we examine Paul's life, we can see persecutions, severe hardships.

2 Cor 11:23-27 tell about all his beatings, stonings, imprisonments, hunger, cold, nakedness, fear, etc.

Let me remind you that none of this was done in chastisement, but rather because Paul was fulfilling the plan of God.

All that he has described in 2 Cor. 11 has been brought on because he is a servant of God.

He speaks of his bearing the marks in his body.

Gal 6:17 "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."

I would venture to say that Paul was not rejoicing with laughter while he was telling these incidents. He is telling us that there will be hard times while doing the plan of God.

It's not always smooth sailing, and God didn't promise us a storm free journey, but He did promise we would make it to the other side. God is an anchor that will hold!

II. ANCHOR TWO - Vs. 25 - FAITH. "I believe God."