Sunday, May 04, 2008

Anchors in the Storm

After two weeks of various activities (one week at Kermes, and one week visiting The Ark’s monthly church service), we were able to attend our regular church, Nueve Vida. Because our pastor is currently visiting the States for a conference (our pastor is an American missionary who has lived here at least 35 years, is married to a Dominican, and preaches in Spanish), the director of the Ark spoke. He speaks clearly, but very quickly, so it was difficult for me to keep up with the whole message, but I’ll share what I understood.
The passage was from Acts 27, when the apostle Paul was being taken to Rome as a prisoner on a ship. The ship encountered fierce storms and the crew lost all hope. Paul, however, encouraged them to hope in God, as he had received assurance that they would all be saved. At one point in the story, the sailors throw anchors into the sea so they would not be crashed against the waves. The speaker used this story to describe how the church, in the midst of the storms of this world, should stand firm. He described 4 anchors that we, as Christians should have:
1) Communion with Christ through prayer
2) The Word of God
3) Confidence and Faith in God
4) Unity and Communion with fellow believers
Paul was a great example of standing firm in the midst of the storm. His faith in Christ and His Word gave him hope; God sent an angel to assure him that they would be saved (he clearly had communion with God!). However, Paul still needed the help of the others in the ship. And he was humble enough to admit it.

We cannot do it on our own; we need anchors.

1 comment:

Linda Gerig said...

Exact passage we did in SS this morning! It's taken 2 years, but we are just about to finish the book of Acts.