"Anchor Points" Part 1 - The Apostolic Connection (Dr. David K. Bernard)

now I'm certainly not proficient in sailing but when I was thinking about anchors so of course my first thought of an anchor is something that a boat uses you throw the anchor and it it keeps your boat stationary of course there are lots of anchors there anchor bolts there there are different kinds of anchors that fix something and so when I looked at a little bit closer to see the purpose of an anchor I've found that actually I was just thinking of one anchor but when you're going to more a boat you really need several lines to secure it properly so let's say you're in a lake or or in a Cove and you're wanting to anchor a boat and perhaps a storm could be coming or their currents you don't just throw out one anchor or throw out one line but you want to have several to secure the boat in fact they recommend for a typical mooring six lines to anchor that boat because you've got to have the bow line to prevent backward movement but then you need a stern line to prevent forward movement and then you need lines in between there the forward breast line quarter breast line to keep the boat close to the pier and to keep the boat from advancing forward or or going moving backwards so there's all kind of movements and so you need multiple lines to make sure it's secure from any direction of wind or any direction of current so that really struck no in my thinking that in living for God sometimes we might have one anchor that works for a while but if we're going to be faithful and successful through all the storms of life we need multiple anchor points in our lives to keep us secure so I want to talk to you today about some anchor points that will keep you in the faith keep you where God wants you to be until the Lord comes back for his church now I think we have to have in our lives some some doctrines that are not just theoretical but our experiential we need apostolic doctrine and we also need an experience that matches our doctrine we must have both and those anchor points will keep us in where we need to be no matter what happens to give you an illustration going back to the early 20th century the great revival of the apostolic Pentecostal lumen one of the pioneers of the faith was a young man named Oliver Foss and he later actually became general superintendent for a short time of the UPC I but in he was one of the pioneers in the Houston area and he as a young man aged 17 he was felt as call to preach he was in a Trinitarian Pentecostal Church but he went to a Bible conference in Louisiana and that was where Jesus named baptism was first explained in that part of the country and the first baptisms in that part of the country so that was the foundation there were 12 preachers there in Louisiana there were all 12 were baptized in Jesus name so this young man Oliver Foss heard the message of acts 2 the plan of salvation the oneness of God baptism in Jesus then he was baptized well he came back to Houston and told his pastor about it pastor was very upset brought him in before the elders the senior ministers of the church and begin to interrogate him begin to ask him questions about the Godhead ask him to explain scripture ask him if he knew what he was talking about here's this 17 year old kid before the group of elders the church has senior pastor they're all attacking him theologically he said when he got out of that meeting he didn't know if there was one person in the Godhead or 10 persons in the Godhead he was so confused and so when he did he went home and back in the field where he would pray there was an old stump and he went to that stump and he knelt down on him prayed he opened his Bible to acts 2:38 he put his finger on that verse and he said God I don't have the answers to all the questions they've asked me but as long as this verses in the Bible that's what I'm going to preach that was a doctrine and that was an experience that became an anchor point in his life that set the trajectory of his life as a teenager I remember when we were pastoring in Austin as I told you we started a church there in our home and moved through a rented building for four years in our own building and and so forth and in that time we also started sixteen other churches in the Austin Central Texas area that are still in existence and during that time I remember the dedication of our first building there was a young woman aged 24 that came and she sat towards the back as we later found out she had been on she was addicted to alcohol and drugs she hadn't been in psychiatric care for four years when she came you could tell that that she did have some problems or issues because she stayed in the back she wouldn't really talk to people wouldn't look you in the eye and she kind of avoided contact but at the end of the service it was a sort of a formal service a dedication our guest preacher brother Kilgore our district superintendent but at the end I just felt less to give an altar call she came to the front and at first she stayed about the third row and she she wouldn't come to the very front to pray but she was just kind of looking intently and people are coming up they were praying weeping speaking in tongues rejoicing and so I went back there I saw the hunger in her eyes and I introduced myself and I I said would you like to see what's going on here what these people received she said yes I said well come with me so I just took her right up and just we just stood next to these people so you could watch and see and after a minute I said would you like to receive what these people have she said yes I said well let's pray she said I don't know how to pray I said we'll listen to me and then in a few minutes you say the same thing in your own words and I just begin to pray God forgive me of my sins I'm a sinner I need you Lord I want to be filled with your spirit I surrender my life to you I want to receive what these people have and so I turned her I said let's pray she begin to pray and just in a few minutes that the spear of God began to move upon her she began shaking and trembling under the power of God but but she would she she wouldn't she wouldn't go any further and so finally I stopped her and I said what's the matter she says I'm afraid I've never felt this before I said well listen we were praying in Jesus name and when you pray in Jesus name only God can answer that prayer the devil can't jump in and answer that prayer nothing bad can happen to you when you're praying in Jesus name so I said you know don't be afraid let's pray again we'll pray the same thing happened so finally after some time I said your problem is you're just afraid when you can let go of fear and open your heart and faith that's when you'll receive the Holy Ghost I said it could happen anywhere it doesn't matter where it is when you open your heart and faith you will receive I said you could go home at night and kneel by your bed you could receive the Holy Ghost at home well the next night we are having another meeting as part of our celebration and here she comes and she waves her hand he says hey preacher I said yes she says I got it I said you got it what did you get she said well you know what you told me about I said did you receive the Holy Ghost she said yes I said did you speak in tongues she said yes I said no listen did you speak words of a language you didn't know she said yes I said well great tell me about it she said laws at work today she worked at the University of Texas and she says I was sitting in my office and I was thinking about what you said that I could receive the Holy Ghost anywhere now I'll be honest with you I'm telling you a true story but I wouldn't have advised what happened next I wouldn't have thought of it she said it was my mid-morning break she said I knew one place where no one would disturbing she said I went into the ladies restroom there's a nice little couch there and I knelt by that couch and I prayed and I received the Holy Ghost at work on the University of Texas campus in the ladies restroom and she said it was so wonderful that at lunchtime I went back in there and I got it again but then she was a member of a fairly well-to-do family her brother was a medical doctor so a few weeks later she comes here says brother nan I'm so confused my family is pressuring me they tell me I shouldn't go to a Pentecostal church that Pentecostals teach everybody's going to hell but them and you have to do everything they say you have to pay ties you have to do all these things you're gonna force me to do all this kind of stuff and they told me I was born as a Christian I was baptized as a baby the Holy Ghost came into me when I was baptized that I've been filled with the Holy Spirit all my life and she said when I read your books and I hear you preach it all makes sense but they want to listen to my family I don't know what to believe I don't know what to do I said wait just a minute let me ask you one thing we have the Word of God we have what the Bible says but let me ask you by your testimony you were addicted to alcohol and drugs you were going to Alcoholics Anonymous you were in psychiatric care when were you delivered when did your life change did it happen when you were a baby did it happen your baptized do what did happened growing up attending these different churches when were you actually delivered because she had testified to me she was completely delivered never went back and touched it alcohol and drugs again I said when did your life change she said it was that day that night you talked to me and the next day when I prayed at work that is when my life changed I said all right you have two things that anchor you you have the word of God and you have an experience that matches the Word of God that's all you need I said we don't condemn everybody to hell we just preach the gospel and the result is between them and God and I as a pastor will never try to force you to do anything I will only ask you to do what the Lord leads you to do I will teach and preach but it's gonna be your responsibility to respond and I will never try to ask you to do anything except what you tell me God is leading you to do and so get rid of all those things we're just trying to preach the gospel you have the word and you have an experience that matches the word don't worry about any other questions don't fear don't doubt just hold on to those two things and you're gonna be okay and that was many years ago she's still living for God and active in church and ministry today what I'm saying is every one of us we need anchor points of doctrine and we need anchor points of experience we need need to point to a time where I knelt and prayed we need to point to a time where I studied the Word of God and God revealed truth to me we need anchor points that will keep us fixed and secure in our relationship with God praise God anchor points now in the text if you read Hebrews six which I won't take the time to do that the anchor is the hope that set before us the promises of God eternal life and if you read the whole text the implication is there is a judgment that's coming it mentions that that's that every one of us is heading toward a judgment and it's going to be based on right and wrong with alternative outcomes some will be blessed some will be saved but some will not be and so we orient our life with that reality the world says today especially there are no absolutes there's no absolute right and wrong there's no absolute truth it's whatever you want to do but that's not correct that may be what it seems like right now but one day everyone is facing the coming of the Lord and the judgment to come and then it won't be our personal opinion or our personal feelings are what sounded good to us or what was what seemed to please us it's going to be based on God's judgment and God's truth so what kind of anchor points do we need if you go back to Hebrews 6 1 through 2 you'll find there's a foundation of faith toward God repentance of sin the doctrine of baptisms plural and goes on to talk about the laying on of hands and it the resurrection and judgment to come and so those are some of the foundational points we must believe in the one true God we're saved by faith in Him not by our goodness or our ability or our human works the plan of salvation consists of repentance water baptism in Jesus name the baptism of the Holy Ghost and then there is the doctrine of lay on of hands which to me represents the Christian life with miracle signs and wonders because the laying on of hands represents God working in our lives we lay on the hands to receive the Holy Ghost for healing for deliverance and so what we're saying the Christian life is full of the the grace of God there represents the authority of the pastors and the churches and the the move of God in the church and so that's the Christian life and then there's judgment to come and he said leaving this foundation let us go on to perfection perfection meaning Christian maturity that's the life of holiness now it's interesting some people say well leaving the foundation well these these basic doctrines aren't really that important after all it's up to you if you if you have you know if you don't want to emphasize them then just leave them but actually when you talk about leaving a foundation it's not saying you've got a new building over there when you pour the foundation and you leave the foundation that doesn't mean you go a hundred yards away and build on dirt to leave the foundation means once you have poured the foundation util you build on that foundation you watch it grow up you're leaving the foundation you're not tearing it up you're not walking away from it you're building on it you're building a structure soap receiving the Holy Ghost is just the foundation faith in God is the foundation but what are you gonna do with that foundation you build up toward maturity with the gifts of the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit the pursuit of holiness