Children’s Pastors Conference 2017

Hebrews 12:1 tells us, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also last aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely. If you close your eyes and take a breath, it will not take long for you to identify the burden you’ve been carrying of weariness, hopelessness, trouble, worry, change, or sin. And this burden has been dragging you down for far too long.

Friends, there’s a big difference between an anvil and an anchor. An anvil is a burden too big fo you to carry. You struggle under its bulk. When you’re weighed down by an anvil, your boat takes on water and you start to sink.

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). Its odd how Jesus says for us to find rest in Him, yet we must shed the weight and burden of our weariness and instead take on the weight and burden of His yoke. There’s weight to the anchor of hope found in Jesus.

Bursting through all of God’s relentless work in creation shines a beacon of hope. God has put hope within our hands through Jesus Christ.

The writer of Hebrews describes it like this: 

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. (6:19-20a)

So much of our lives is clouded by the unknown. Each one of us navigates as a ship in the sea of this world, set against the waves of our culture, and the winds of change. And we are apt to drift with the current, be driven by the storm, and tossed by the tempest. Yet everything God reveals we can have absolute certainty in. We can confide in God’s promises, we can trust in his truth, and we can have faith in His salvation.

We have this hope as an anchor for the sound, firm and secure.  As you listen to these messages, may you find rest in your souls.