I am delighted to welcome you to HICC today and pray that you will feel the warmth and acceptance of the family of God in this international fellowship. May the presence and peace of the Lord surround you as we worship together. Allow your heart and mind to be enriched as the glory of the Lord is revealed in word, prayer and song. May the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit minister into the depth of your inner being and may you leave this place having been healed, restored and equipped to live the life God has called you to live.
IN TIMES LIKE THESE WE NEED AN ANCHOR
Growing up in a seaside town meant I could see the fishing boats returning to the safety of the harbour on a morning. I could watch with fascination as the night’s catch was hauled up onto the rough cobbled walkway next to the shed on the pier where the auction of the catch would take place. Men with sea-weathered faces were so thankful to be back in the safety of the harbour especially in the winter months when the seas could be so treacherous.
In later years, as a singer, I would share the stage with a male voice choir made up of fishermen who sang from experience the words of the old hymn “will your anchor hold in the storms of life, when the clouds unfold their wings of strife? When the strong tides lift, and cables strain, will your anchor drift or firm remain. We have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll, fastened to the rock which cannot move, grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.”
In times of uncertainty the Christian has a sure and firm foundation for life and a future that rests upon the sovereignty of Almighty God. Our God is eternal and unchanging, He is the same yesterday, today and forever and He can be fully trusted with your life today, tomorrow and forever. He is all knowing, all powerful and everywhere present. He sustains all things by His powerful Word. We are so prone to limit God by our finite knowledge and understanding. Our natural thinking causes us to measure ourselves and life by the temporary and immediate, however, the Word teaches us to measure ourselves and life in the light of who God is and His eternal work accomplished for us in Christ Jesus.
God has established his eternal purpose and set it in place for you. Christ, who is the Word, is the foundation for you. He is your anchor. Your God is Almighty and holds you in the palm of His hand. While we use human description to describe God who is spirit, the fact is, He is not limited by our frailty or the weakness of our humanity. Although God became man in Jesus and we must recognise He was fully man and fully God, the fact is, He is unrestricted and unlimited by flesh. The impartation of this revelation transforms our view of the Almighty and enables us to see from an eternal perspective for ‘no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit’.
The things of God can only be understood by the Spirit because they are spiritual and not natural. Natural man can never arrive at spiritual truth through his own understanding. Only through revelation of the Word by Holy Spirit can eternal knowledge be given to man.
I communicate these truths to help us to grasp how immense and almighty our God truly is. Let this knowledge lift up your heart and mind today because no work is too hard for him. No weapon formed against you can defeat our God because if God is for us who can be against us. ANCHOR YOUR LIFE TO THE GOD WHO IS YOUR SURE AND FIRM FOUNDATION.
