Anchoring Our Hope

Anchoring Our Hope

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Text: Hebrews 6:10-20

Theme: Assurance of Faith

Central Truth:  True believers can be confident and rest in God’s future promises.

As we are finishing up our monsoon season here in AZ, I’m reminded of the storms we’ve had. I’ve witnessed furniture being relocated, umbrellas tumbling across sub-divisions, trampolines being tossed through the air, and trees uprooted.  A severe storm can bring massive amounts of destruction. I see many similarities between the destruction of a monsoon, and to the storms we face in our own lives as men. What we anchor our hope in will determine our outcome. 

Read: Hebrews 6:10-15

            For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.

            11        And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,

            12        so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

            13        For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

            14        saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.”

            15        And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

Hope is the confident expectancy arising from God, who is Himself the believer’s hope: “My hope is in you” (Ps. 39:7).

Romans 8:24-25 states:

24        For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

            25        But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Key Takeaway:

Therefore, genuine hope is a firm assurance about things that are unseen and still in the future.  With patience and perseverance, we have a hope that is Christ Jesus.

Titus 2:13

13        looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of bour great God and Savior, Christ Jesus

1. Where do you find yourself personally trying to rely on your own strength instead of God?

2. When was a recent time you succeeded or failed in this struggle, and what did you learn?

Read: Hebrews 6:16-20

            16        For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

            17        In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,

            18        so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

            19        This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

            20        where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek

1.     God is faithful, and because of this, we know His promises are true. Verses 19-20 say we have this hope as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters with the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner.

2.     Forerunner: In the Greek; Prodromos (one who runs before).  In ancient times, a prodromos would be an advance scout, or a pilot boat sailing ahead to search for a secure spot for a larger ship.  A prodromos was also used to go into the storm ahead of a boat to drop an anchor.

Key Takeaway:  We are to be diligent and realize the FULL assurance of Hope, not partial, but FULL…UNTIL the end.  We must hold fast, anchoring ourselves to the truth that is Jesus Christ, ignoring the enemy and his attacks.

3.     Do you take any precautions to spiritually prepare ourselves for storms? If so, what methods do you take?

4.     Storms are unavoidable, both in the context of weather, as well as the storms we endure in life.  Interestingly enough, the eye of a hurricane or center of a tornado are significantly calmer than the storm that circulates around them.  As men of God, we must anchor ourselves in the eye of the storm.  So, when everything around us is but a blurry field of debris, we must remain anchored in the hope that is Jesus Christ.  Remember, He commands the storm, and he loves us.  Would not our Jesus that holds all things together calm the storm for us - if we but had the full assurance of hope until the end?

Final thought:

5.     We have a protein that holds our cells together that is called laminin.  Laminin is like a molecular glue that holds (anchors) our cells and tissues together.  This protein resembles that of a cross.  A signature from our creator.  A sign to remember He who holds all things together.  So, when we are in despair, we not to set aside the hope we have in our forerunner, Jesus Christ.  Our high-priest, our Prophet, our King.  Use that anchor, rely on that anchor, and trust that anchor.

Laminin Protein