The Ark and the Anchor | Student Pastor Zach Hammond
by Zach Hammond
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Hebrews 11:7, Hebrews 6:17-20, Exodus 2:2-3

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/zach-hammond--the-ark-and-the-anchor
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

------------------------------------------------------------
go to the book of Hebrews the book of Hebrews chapter number 11 as it's already been said this morning and tonight that we are looking forward to a great school year and just believing that God is going to do great things what a great host and number of students that we have great number of new students new families that you'll be able to to uh become acquainted with and meet uh tomorrow at orientation and then obviously those of you that are here and a part of this great church family and a part of this this school and everything that we are endeavoring to do here Hebrews chapter on number 11 and if you'll turn to verse number seven it's so good to have pastor and sister Carpenter home if you're thankful for them once you give them we honor our pastor tonight the Bible says that by faith we know that this is the Hall of faith in Hebrews 11 that by faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an ark for the saving of his house by which he condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness which is by Faith there's a lot there that we will try to dive into but turn back a few pages to Hebrews chapter number six as we'll stay in the book of Hebrews a majority of the evening that by two immutable things in which it is impossible verse Verse 18 says it is impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the hope that's what we've been talking about on Sunday morning The Hope set where before us the hope that's before us many of us can't see the Hope before us because we can't stop looking behind us but it's in front of us right the Hope before us he said where's my hope it's in front of you so if you can get over your past you might actually see the hope that he has before you right so he says the Hope which is set before you which hope we have as an an anchor for or of the Soul everybody say the soul it's not just sure but it's also steadfast it's sure and it's steadfast and which entereth into that within the veil whether the Forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made an high priest Forever After the order of MDC I want to preach to you about those two things tonight the ark and the anchor the ark and the anchor on this back to school Sunday night I believe that the Lord is going to speak to us from one generation to another I'm I'm I'm interested because I believe God is extremely interested in our young people Amen in our students and uh if if you want to hear from the word of the Lord tonight and you believe that God is just going to work great in this school year and in this service tonight would you lift both your hands and could we pray a prayer together of Faith just God whatever you want to do in this house tonight I believe that you've given us Lord this opportunity and we don't take it lightly that would you we feel your presence we feel your power we feel your your goodness Lord I Thank You for Your word this morning I thank you for the guests that were here and all the things that you've done at multiple campuses to bring us to this moment tonight and you've gathered us for such a time as this Lord that your word would be Lord not only inspiration and Lord it would be Direction but it would be correction it would help us tonight it would lead us into this school year Lord and it would help us guide the Next Generation Lord give us wisdom tonight and order our steps in your word in Jesus name we pray everybody shout amen amen amen you may be seated tonight Noah Builds an arc for the saving for the saving of his family no matter what I know many times we can get sometimes distracted um perhaps we could use the word drifted uh from some of the things that we know as we would consider our core we consider the center it would say be the main thing that we focus on many times that it is for Above All Else as the old song says that I must be saved amen so let's start there at this that that powerful moment there in the history of mankind and it says Noah by faith moved with fear that he prepared an ark for the saving of his family I want to just bring this to you whether it be Church whether it be school whether it be daycare whether it be your home no matter what we do around here it's all for the saving of our family amen that that that I'm all about academics and yes we have those but the number one thing is the saving of our family I'm all about Athletics but the number one thing is the saving of our family that's why we're here that's why we do what we do that's why people have moved from around the country to come to a school for the saving of our F if may I thought we did anyways is anybody here for the saving of your families I'm here at church tonight not because I've come just to be here and make sure Pastor knows that I'm I'm come to save my family that's the point right I've come to make sure that I get me and my family and as many people as I can to heaven with me it's for the saving of my family I know that there there'll be focuses and we'll talk about it tomorrow night there's all kind of things and we measure success and scholarships and degrees and jobs and things and the future and and I'm so thankful for all those things but what I'm so proud of is to be able to see young people that have graduated from Apostolic Christian Academy that are still holding true to the things that are going to save their soul amen I yeah yeah you may have the job that's paying is paying you astronomical money but are you going to walk on streets of gold you may have got every degree you may have had all the scholarships you may have scored a thousand points but what good is any of that if your soul is not going to make it I'm here tonight to remind every parent whether you see it as an investment or you see it as tuition however you look at it the bottom line is we're all here with one reason and one reason only we don't do all that we do around here but for one thing and that is to see somebody's Soul saved you said well you're awful passionate about that you better believe it because I think so many times we get off-kilter and we get distracted and we get upset with this one and that one and things start happening and we just forget we're just here to save our families we're here to make sure you say well what about this and what about that you tell me where you're going to get what you're getting right here at Apostolic Christian Academy that you could do have anywhere else that would save your family you say well they got a better this over there or they got a better that over there and I better get back to my notes but the bottom line is what are you here for are you here to save your family are you here to put them in an ark that don't have any leaks are you here to put them in a place that we're building it with the the the mind of God and the the structure God is all about the saving of the family take note we see it today the enemy is against you hear it from this pull pit all the time and you will continue to the enemy is against the family when God started all over he didn't go get a nation he didn't go get a tribe he didn't go get some group of people or a congregation he went and got a family to start over with and he said I'm going to have a man that by faith moved with fear is going to build an ark Mar to save his family that's the biggest question we can ask ourselves tonight am I as a father as a mother as a grandparent as a trendsetter as a participator and a saint of this great church are we building a boat for the saving of the Next Generation we can't get caught up with things we must remember the why it's for the saving of our family I can't stress to you enough I know there there may be opportunities that arise there may be things that that that that present even within this year I know that that there are some business opportunities and there's things that are thriving there's there's things going to come by your way whether you be you be a college student and you have this opportunity or whether you be a mother or a father we all have to consider that we if if if I take this opportunity if I walk through this door am I still going to be able to say that I'm doing everything I can do to save my family that's the ultimate goal it's not by chance that God uses an ark for the saving of the family the Bible says that eight souls are saved by water he saved the soul notice that he keeps its emphasis on Soul was saved by water and not by chance that God uses the ark as a structure that he will he will he he'll call the structure that he will dwell in and work through and in the Tabernacle and we see that in Exodus chapter 2 the the famous Moses the deliverer says and a woman conceived and bear a son and when she saw him she was he was a goodly child and and hid him 3 months and when she could no longer hide him she took for him an ark of bull rush some would say a basket but the Bible chooses to use the word Ark an ark of bull rush and dabbed it with slime and with pitch sounds awful familiar as Moses would pitch it within and without he would build it to the exact specifications she puts the child there in and she laid it in the flags by the rivers Bank the boy named No Moses is is born and it's the forever story that even many have tried to depict in movie forms and normal parents they're emphatic about telling us that in scripture that's just a normal set of parents he's not from some lineage he's not they don't mention that he's come from Joseph bloodline or he has it come just a just the mother and mother of of of of just this this normal child and they lay it all out for us and she builds a structure she puts together something of structure that yeah she she thrust him out on the water with some hope without you got to know there was a good bit of uncertainty there but because of an arkc because of an arc that's right because of something that was built with structure that had had had you know it was it was pitched within and without just like Moses we would look and now in in a world that was attempting to feminize the Next Generation you realize that was what was going on correct same thing that's happening today he wasn't just throwing all the young boys into the water for no reason he was trying to feminize the generation he knew that this generation that he forgot who know where they had brought them to but they quickly went from being uh they quickly went from being guests to Slaves just overnight and so he said I I got to get rid of these people they're going to rise up against me they're getting greater and they're getting stronger he said so I've got to feminize them that's the way I get rid of them so how does how does the enemy or how does Egypt how does the world or Satan come to attack the family he looks to feminize the man he looks to get rid of every young man in fact I challenge every young man in this place today that we cannot be ignorant concerning the world that we live in we there's a world that's coming against us it's not by chance that God says I'm going to put him in an ark and and I I realize that A lot's going on here there's a wicked world that we live in and but a man of God would use this perfect picture that that that that God would bring man through and he puts this this vessel and this structure together and it's it seems to just continue to be the picture that God paints he puts him from a structure a basket that's pitched within without an ark of bull rush and floats him into a house of pharaoh where he now becomes adopted in a world that he's not of has this mother who would nurse him even though Egypt would name him we have this Cadence and this flow where it all of a sudden begins to show us that it doesn't matter what the world names you if a mother has trained if a church has trained if a church has nursed if a church if a if a if a if a daycare teacher has has trained them in the ways and shown them some scripture and prayed over them and all of a sudden we start seeing the power of what God is trying to show us even within the family that he comes in and though he has he has this uh this this weird way of of just painting it all out the the son of Pharaoh's daughter was moved by his brother's pain and all of a sudden he looks and says I I I I have compassion on those people and he chooses to work he chooses to walk around instead of being in the palace and and he goes in and he we see this process begin as God has established this deliver that has just been brought in by an ark into a world that he just can't seem to attach himself to young people no matter what happens you got to be reminded that you're in this world but you're not of this world no matter what's pedal at you no matter what's thrown at you no matter what you feel like is the agenda you got to go back to the word of God you got to go back to that that moment and those times in Sunday school those times and classes where you you thought well those those things were not as important as you thought but you can look back at those moments and and see that the upbringing is such a powerful thing oh yes he's moved on compassion and he ends up the Bible says he ends up there's so much sto stuff in the story of Moses and I'll try to quickly Meander through it but it says that that he kills a man brother step says he kills a man and and and he he's beating his brother but he's still a pharaoh house how confusing this whole picture had to be but he kills a man defending someone that he has compassion on he the Bible says he tried to bury him in sand oh what a lesson that we can learn from Moses you can't bury in the sand what God wants to bury in the water you'll never cover up in the flesh what God's going to take care of if you try to get in the way you try to hurry up God's plans and you try to force your way even though you're having compassion on on your brother God has a plan of ushering you and God wanted to drown him later and Moses May would have diverted 40 years in the wilderness but he shows us that within the flesh that many times when we want to rush the plan of God we will cause a delay because we in our flesh are trying to operate and do some things and then we oh we messed up there and he ends up trying to cover that up in a way that God said I was going to take care of that and you would have never had to lay hands on him Moses is this powerful individual he's associated with water every time he God moves in his life it seems that he's he's there with the water he sits by the well in the wilderness and God calls and changes things he he's he's he's this man of water it ends up being his his upbringing it's like his thing that he uses but it also ends up being his demise when he smokes The Rock and it seems to be this storyline that Moses has this powerful story but it all happened because of a mother and an ark no coincidence I I I I I can't help but think of all the things that happened with the people of Israel it was Moses Moses as you see his family is loomed through the Ten Commandments it's it's amazing to see how important family is in the r writings of the first five books of the Bible just give you and I know this kind of sounds like a history lesson but I promise you we're going somewhere but he's he's he's gone through this whole process and he's done some things he shouldn't do and you know but God God still works through him even though he went through the Wilderness he prepared him for the Wilderness journey and all these things that happened and you see that during those days it says that his mother placed him and they tell us that he she placed him among the reads of the Nile River the reads in that day would have been where they would have gotten the the papus or however you would say that but ultimately I would say it paper it specifically tells us that Moses is laid amongst the reads so what does that mean that means in order Aiden for Moses to write the first five books of your Bible he would have had to gone back to the reads that he was laid in the the words that you and I read where he writes about the family and he writes honor your father and mother the things that are inscribed by the fingers of God but ultimately written by Moses he goes back to those moments he goes back to that very starting place where an ark was placed amongst some reads amongst that where they would pull that paper from you saywell how important is the school just how important is the daycare you all talk so much I can't help but see in in in the the full cycle of life I know that there are some that they make their own decisions every child's going to make their own decisions But ultimately the cycle of how everything happens there's young people right now that are starting to get married and starting to have kids and even though they don't attend church here and they haven't been here in a while they say I want to make sure that my kids go to the apostolic Christian Academy you say why in the world would they do that they're not here themselves because they remember the reads they they they remember being put in an ark and they remember that if it wasn't for an Academy if it wasn't for a daycare who knows though they don't follow the truth at the moment who knows where they would be they know what's right because they were put in a structure they were put in an ark and they were laid there so when the time comes where they get ready to write their own story where they get ready to do some things right God knows that you have planted and you have watered and God is going to give the increase I want to preach to a teacher tonight that as you go into this this great and wonderful school year to be encouraged I know they may not be sitting on the Pew they may not be where you told them they could be they may not be in the job or they may not they may not be following exactly the path that we had paid for them but God is Not mocked whatever a man and SS that shall he also reap God sees every time you prayed over them God sees every time that you taught and you invested be encouraged there's nothing better you can do than help build a structure for the saving of the next all right generation it says she placed him there among the reads mom Dad where are you placing your children Hebrews chapter number 11 Moses is is mentioned here amongst this great lineage this great group of people all because they built an ark look at our opening text Hebrews 6 where in God willing more abundantly to show unto the Hees of Promise the immutable of his counsel confirmed it by an oath really really hear that tonight he said I confirmed it by an oath it's amazing to see that God he when he gets ready to make a promise or swear he can't swear by anything else but himself there's nothing greater so he he makes the oath on himself he just got done telling us of the blessings and the multiplication in a few verses earlier and he says he he gets in this he say I'm going to I'm going to make an oath by myself that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie he's just building your faith and that scripture has got so much to it that I can't I can't really dive into it but we might have a strong consolation who have fled for re ref to lay hold upon the hope that's set before us not behind us but before us which hope we have as an anchor somebody say an anchor anchor an anchor for our soul so if you have a boat if you have a structure if you have an arc if you have something that's going to save your family it it it would be wise based upon the study of anyone that has sailed or been in boating to have an anchor these two things seem to go together and many of us have tried and we've done things as we addressed with Moses where you know we've we've made foolish things we've made foolish decisions and we've caused diversions we know that God had better plans and these things have happened but we've learned in time showing that you're here tonight that we can't do it alone if we're building a structure if we're building this this this this thing with our within our family for the saving of our family we have to have something that we anchor ourselves to because even though I've seen many that had great families that were god- centered when they don't anchor themselves to the church things can get way out of order even though it's a god- centered home it is not God's will his plan biblically for anything to happen outside of the way that the church is structured yes I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not taking away from the family God wants to work from the family but he's coming back after the bride he it's his order it's his plan for you to be a part of the church we must anchor ourselves in the hope of that which is beyond this Earth if we are honest we sail many times many of us are cruising through life we go forward for a season but we become weary as the Bible would say perhaps in well-doing we become weary as the Winds of the world and the waves of the world begin to move and things happen that we didn't plan happen young person I I thought this was going to go this way and I thought that was going to go this way and I just get right down where we're at and you thought that that this that this was going to last forever and all of a sudden somebody breaks your heart and you thought that you were going to get this opportunity and it didn't come your way and you thought that this was going to go that way and no matter what we can all no matter the age we can have plans but there are things that happened in our life but we need to know that we are anchored forward he said set it forward we need each other even though our families may seem secure and our families may seem great and all the things are going well we need each other and we need each other more than ever before we need the community of each other we need to know that what I believe and you believe and what we stand for we're able to come together on a Sunday night and be reminded that I I'm nothing without each other I'm thankful for the church I'm thankful for the people of God I'm thankful to be able to come together and not just Fellowship but have a collective conscience of right and wrong and we do this and we don't do that and we believe in worship and we believe in prayer and there's a collectiveness that makes you feel like that you're a part of something that's the plan and the purpose of God I've got to connect myself to the body I've got to Anor Anor myself to something that's Eternal the anchor is something as Pastor mentioned a couple Sundays ago we're talking about hope this seems to be a very common used scripture but the anchor is something that we can't see right it's hope the anchor for our soul and I I want just want to remind you tonight that many of us we don't we don't even fathom if I could just explain just for a moment we don't fathom the power of the church many of us have been in this for some time some of us grew in grew up in this you've been attending here or attending somewhere maybe a portion of your life a large percentage of you and you grew up in this and you don't realize the power sometimes of the church that no matter how dark it gets no matter how how seemingly hell's Gates have have come against us it it doesn't matter he he the Bible says he cannot lie it's not about the waves and what's happening on the surface we can look at the world's condition you can watch the news and you can see the things that are happening and you can look around but ultimately God's doing something underneath the water that we don't even comprehend it's not so much an anchor that's setting us still but it's an anchor that is set before us it's something that is pulling us forward it's something that we can't see it's something that we can't fathom and we need not only the Arc of structure but we need the anchor that's going to keep us progressing in the right direction so it's not so much about what's on the surface it's about what we are Tethered to that we cannot see we have a hope and a reminder for all of the people the young people the saints of God that God is always working we've been reminded on Sunday mornings that there is hope for a future that that God is always always working and this book of Hebrews the reason we choose this tonight is there's there's this condition with the Jews where he's really trying to explain to them that it is it's more it's it's a it's a better thing it's a that's that's the you you you'll see it's a Common Thread through the book of Hebrews it's it's better it's a better Covenant it's it's it's a New Covenant and they're trying to convince the Jews that it's not it's not that we're getting rid of this and we get much there's this narrative that the writer he he I I think we can all face and perhaps some of us are feeling this in our room tonight but in Chapter 2 he addresses us drifting from the the word of God and then in chapter 3 and four he addresses us doubting the word of God and then we see as we get into chapter five that we've just become dull to it that it's preached and there's there's a sense of belief but there's not really the faith that he can there's a sense of belief but I don't know if that can really happened for me and my family you see I my kids are being rebellious or I tried this as a young person it didn't seem to work out I couldn't really feel God the way I felt like somebody else was feeling God and then then if if you drift from the words and the promises the Bible says he can't lie that there's an oath there he's telling you all of these things before that and he gets you to that he says it's an anchor for your soul now this gets very interesting and there's a battle going on that is that is is not really for anything in in in the dimensions of how man is and and and and the Bible the Bible it tells us that he and this is a very controversial scripture if if you don't if you don't really understand the word of God in in the the in other doctrines but he says let us make man in our image well when he makes man he don't make 10 he don't make five he don't make three he makes one however he does make one man that has a body a spirit and a soul he depicts himself within that as what he means within the scripture and it's a powerful thing to see here that there is a struggle for your soul the body is what makes us and gives us consciousness of the world that we live in we're conscious our body your physical body you're conscious of the world you're in the reason he came and took on a body of flesh was the consciousness of sin to create the Consciousness that we're able to do right and do wrong and US understand that there's a consequence but then the spirit is our God Consciousness we're conscious of what God's doing he said walk in the spirit be led by the spirit but then the Soul is an interesting thing because there's a struggle and I think if we can understand why he said hope for the soul it's not World Consciousness or God Consciousness it's self-consciousness and you realize that if if a if a let me explain it to you this way maybe a little more normal but if if a fly lands on a dead body what good is it right it's not going to know it's not conscious of it if the body is dead the consciousness of the world is dis you know there's plenty of people walking around and and we see that the the other elements yes they're important but the soul is the struggle the devil seems to be very much after our soul he said can you be aware of yourself how do you feel you're not a tree you you know you have things that are alive but they don't have feeling you have things that are giving life they're producing fruit they're producing things but you you the reason you're giving dominion over them is you have feeling you have a consciousness of yourself that's why when you ever go out in the yard and it'd be weird if it was but let's say cut that tree and it screamed doesn't happen that way you and I are created with a self-consciousness it's called a soul all dogs don't go to heaven now everybody's awake now now we're engaged cats definitely don't so huhuh just kidding talking about a wet blanket the uh you just imagine with me and see that you're Joy your emotions your feelings everything's derived from your soul that's why he he David writes and he starts talking about in Psalms he why is your soul cast down he's interested in your soul he's interested in what we would we would know maybe you say what's my it's it's really your mind the devil knows that your body's no good without your soul what good is the hands if the soul don't tell them to clap what good is the body if the mind don't tell it to worship what good is the body if the mind don't tell it to bend its knees it's self-consciousness it's something that you know to do good and doeth it not therefore it is so what is the biblical basis of sin is the soul when you go on this body's not going with you no matter how good some of you think that you look brother mayford you can't take this body with you your soul is going on so therefore there's a struggle there's this there's this struggle going on for your soul I know you're trying to build an arc for your family I know you're trying your best many fathers and mothers and those of you that have taken on the responsibility of this next Generation as teachers and as Leaders but we better have an anchor or the house we're building the structure we're building the school we're trying to just just to to make this safe place it'll begin to drift it'll begin to flow with the waves of the world I I've come to to encourage you and to admonish you tonight to don't doubt the ark don't doubt the ark don't doubt the Church don't doubt the things of God he says you've got to Anchor yourself here it's an anchor for your soul I know there's a lot of things that you're scrolling through I know there's a lot of things happening that will cause your mind to want to drift and say maybe this thing isn't what that's all cracked up to be is God really in the midst of what I do is what he's saying really true and I watched this the other day on social media and they told me that this really wasn't all of a sudden your mind begins to drift and when your mind drifts naturally when your mind drifts The Vessel The Vessel begins to drift and if we're not careful we don't realize it but it's impossible the reason that pharaoh and the reason that our world is trying to feminize our families is because if the male if the father of the home if the leaders of the Church begin to drift and the Soul Consciousness begins to drift and all of a sudden the whole family or for act for for that fact the whole Church all of a sudden begins to drift in a place where it loses its reasoning the whole purpose is for what the saving of our family so he says I want you to Anchor yourself it's set before us the ark is that that's supposed to save your family is if if it's not anchored it's going to sink because your mind is going to drift from the saving of your house you say well I'm at church but if your mind is not at church then you're going to sink I'm telling some I can't stress to you enough tonight but if you're just here but not engaged he don't care you can you can have a body but what good is a body if the soul is not self-conscious enough to say hey if I get bitter my son's going to get bitter if I if I don't worship the vessel is being determined so we've got to Anchor ourselves to some things we've got to tie ourself down to some things that says hey this is who I'm going to be as for me in my house I'm going to serve the Lord I'm not going to allow myself to be to to to to to to be tossed to and fro I know I I get it I feel it I know as a parent I feel it there's uncertainty of the future what in the world are we going to do in this this world that we live in it's almost scary I understand I've had conversations with many of you you just had kids it is a fearful thing to look at the condition of a world and to think that there will be a time where I'm dead and my kids have to live in it it's fearful I understand there's uncertainty about the future but you can't let that get in this Soul cuz the minute it gets in this Soul you'll lose that anchor and you'll begin to drift into a place where anxiety all of a sudden got you and it's rocking you and it's knocked you to and fro and you'll say why and worry and fear has come over you it's your soul you got to keep your mind in the right place so how do you do that he said it's an anchor for your soul it's this hope I know there may be uncertainty in the future there may be problems in your past but the past the present and the future can be anchored yes everything you turn to everything we see maybe trying to attach I could just maybe paint a picture for you tonight I don't mean to can here Bastian come help me for a minute if I could just preach to you on this Sunday night for a few minutes that we have to as a church as a structure decide that I know the world has its culture but we have to decide come here Lord I'll be on spiritual abuse for tying up kids I can already see it I've got to decide that yeah every other young person has social media every other 12y old has a cell phone every other 10 11 year old has these devices but I I know this is difficult to even fathom but what what good is it if you're still trying to tie them up to the truth of God's word to give them the biggest lens in the world to cause their soul to drift when I've not got him tethered yet to who he is of his self-conscious his soul of who he is why would I give him a device that's going to tell him he's everything but who God says he is please hear me tonight the pressure the pressure of the world if we're not careful all while we have a structure will allow our students to be in the promised land but still being educated by Egypt we'll have them over here in our structure but the Egypt's naming them still and so here's what I'm asking us tonight it's going to take every person it's going to take every parent I want if you're if we can buy and I don't know if we make a rule I don't know if we establish it as a church standard but we need to decide that as groups of parents I've got boys I realize they're not teenagers I know I hang out with a lot of yours too much of the time and they are they are hating me right now notice none of them are standing none of them are standing not one of them but they don't need a phone and if they have a phone they don't need social media but none of us are going to be able to do it if only one of us do it it's going to take the body to say hey nah this vessel is not going to drift that way now we're going to say brother Jacob as a school not every school may have that standard but we're going to tether ourselves we're going to tie them cuz I want to see him saved I don't care how many followers he's got I don't care if God you're telling me that it's God's plan you're telling me it's God's plans for him to have a social media page you say well now that's the way they mark it and they do if they don't know their way around technology no I I I'm I'm sorry but I can't get on that when I see so many of our students that the same factor is that we we just won't draw a line there brother SoDo can you come help me but here's what it takes here's what it takes it's not just about Bastion it's about families huh I I please you you you can be seated I want you to please hear this one of the most powerful things I've listened to if y'all just stay right there you'll help me one of the most powerful things I've listened to I shared it with the teachers on Monday morning I listened to a a child psychologist sit down with one about what I know he's not in the truth and so don't hold this against me what I feel like is one of the best communicators of our generation is probably Bishop TD Jake he's a great communicator right he can do it sitting in a chair he can do it standing up he knows how to work a room he tells a story he begins to Enlighten this child psychologist says you know why I can Preach Today is because in the kitchen of my house as A8 NY old brother the white he would walk in with some notes and a Bible a scripture and his mama would sit in a chair and clap for him and say Amen said that's the truth he said my mama was my first audience and when he began to speak I began to weep because he said this he said the reason I am who I am today is because a mama cared about what I had to say that's good and he said the reason that the generation of students in our world is like it is today is not because kids have phones it's because parents do and when parents do their ears are not where they're supposed to be and they're making students feel like that they don't matter therefore they're anxious they're making students feel like that they're useless and I'm just going to sit here and look at my phone instead of hearing what you have to say and therefore the problem becomes the school and the problem becomes the coaches and the problems becomes this cuz it wouldn't dare be me but if I'm going to make a standard that I'm going to tie myself and anchor myself off to it's not something I'm just going to tie the Next Generation up I've got to tie the whole family say we're going to draw a line I want to sit down and have conversations and listen to you many times our ears are more powerful than what we have to say listen to them hear them parents teachers I'm here to admonish this us we've got to tie ourself to this thing we've got established and I'm open to a community of parents that want to get together probably one of the greatest small groups we could start to say hey what are we going to do to make sure that we tie ourselves we tie ourselves to the truth of what's right and we're not just doing this because the world's doing this tethered tied anchored we've got to Anchor ourselves we got to Anchor ourselves to the church you say how how give me some application give me some application could we anchor ourselves to the church Teddy come here buddy tonight he could have preached my message for me because Teddy come up here and he begin to worship yes he did yes he did you know why he worships brother Ben sir because his dad has wrapped himself up in this too he said my God why why is that kid he said because we have bought into the idea that when when Teddy thinks of his dad you know what he thinks about he thinks about a man that comes running out of a choir loft to give God what he thinks he deserves so it's not just a thing where I think oh well let's let the school teach him to worship let's let a teacher no no no this is how it works and we all have to be tethered anchor my Soul anchor his mind I got to Anchor his mind what is he thinking he's thinking this is what I do when the band plays this is what I'm supposed to do in the house of God it's never a question because I've anchored my soul my self-consciousness is I give outward expression to it it's never a thought oh I don't worship I'm sorry and I can't help this but I feel the Holy Ghost and I know I mentioned it last Sunday but God forbid that we have young people that turn 13 that have no desire to get in the choir I don't care if it's 14 15 16 17 18 and I I'll turn around I'm not looking I'm not looking at anybody and you can say well I'm talking to you I'm talking to everybody it's not just one young person it's not it's a collective conscience of self-awareness I've got to be a worshiper you say why why do you talk so much about the choir because it ties them to everything I want them to be a part of they're here early they're in the prayer room they're in tie them up to it bind them up with the bonds of Love anchor for their soul I want to be aware I want to be conscious I don't ever want to doubt I don't ever want to doubt I don't ever want to doubt anything with the house of God so how do I do that I got to tie their minds off I got to tie their minds off to the things of God brother Jacob's got ropes everywhere James James says that our mouth is like the bit in a horse his mouth or he says brother Perry like a Rudder of a boat Rudder of a boat many times some of us come into the house of the Lord and Pastor begins to preach or teachers begin to teach and if we're not careful we don't realize that the words coming out of our mouth on the way home and in the house that's good when they speak against anything that has to do with the church right I grew up in a pastor's home you better believe things went wrong people are people but my parents made sure that I never heard anything negative about the church that's right my grandfather would roll over in his grave if he heard me speak against a man of God but too many people are wondering why their kids won't buy into something that they speak against come on and I'll speak I'll just tell you as a word from the Lord tonight you can be in the vessel and you can be anchored but if the runners turned in the opposite direction there is nothing that I have seen over the past 15 years that I've seen that is more statistically correct than I would rather have a young person that doesn't have a mother or a father in church than one that has a mother and a father that's half in church come on I can I can pull and I can help anchor them myself even if Mom and Dad don't attend and they're not a part of what we're trying to do but it is impossible to resurrect what the what the home is putting to death hear me it is impossible for us to tether and tie and anchor a young person when somebody else underneath the water that's the father or the mother that has more influence over them than anybody else is pushing them in the opposite direction I've got to tie this generation to the man of God there's going to be there's going to be biblical standards these are a must there's going to be pastoral standards despite what the world says these are a must and then there's going to be personal standards we must anchor ourself to all three that's nonnegotiable we don't have the anchor points for the ark as the Holiness set apart I'm not going to be tossed to and fro with the Winds of Doctrine with the waves of this world I am I've got to make up my mind brother the weatherl no matter what no matter what no matter who does it no matter who don't I've got to tie myself off to this word would you lift your hands in this house right now Spirit of the Lord speaking to somebody the spirit of the Lord speaking to some young person I know you don't have anybody but God has put you in this place oh you're surrounded by people that want to help you you're surrounded by people that want to guide you we want to Anchor you to righteousness we want to Anchor you to respect we want to Anchor you to hard work we want to Anchor you to Holiness we want to put you in a vessel that's pitched within and without we want to Anchor you to the truth we want to set you set you up for success the Lord's speaking the Lord's moving right now young person Lord young person you've got to be willing we can't we can't force Isaac onto the altar if you are if you want to take a walk of obedience and submission to your leaders to your teachers to your parents I wish you'd take a step out of the aisle come to this altar and make a step forward and God's going to see it come on you're going to physically spiritually follow Abraham up the mountain right now come on if you're a young person under the sound of my voice and you want to be led oh I feel the Holy Ghost God's speaking right now come on young people come on come up as close as you can come up as close as you can around this front god mother father please church family would you help me find a young person for the next few moments and pray over him God save my God I got to see my family saved I'm encouraging a mom or a dad of a prodal would you come find a young person and pray for him like that's yours has come home h come on college student I know you're feeling the drift of the world but you got to you got to Anchor yourself tonight come on anchor yourself college student anchor yourself to the things of God anchor yourself to the church come on young lady come on young man it's an anchor for your soul oh God