Anchor Of Hope Christian Reformed Church

Within our constant battle against sin, the fallen world and the Devil we must protect our hearts and emotions. This is only done through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is through walking in righteousness, by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, that our hearts and emotions are protected against the dagger thrust or arrows of temptations to immorality, pride, and disobedience to God. We are called to be holy as He is holy. Help us and guard us O Lord! Amen!

We are in constant battle against sin within, the fallen world around us, and the Devil. We must have our tunics tucked firmly into our belts so we are not tripped up and fall. The tunic is our minds, thoughts, desires, passions, who we are -- and the only way we will be able to stand firm and advance against our enemies is having all of who we are firmly held together by the truth of Jesus Christ and His Word. Let us wrap every thought, word, and action in the Truth! Amen!

In every moment we are on the front lines, in the heat and intensity of battle. The Devil, the demonically inspired and influenced fallen world systems, and our fallen flesh/old-dead-nature are our enemies. We are to resist these enemies in the name of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit as we humble ourselves and draw near to God the Father our rock our fortress and our protection. God's word, the Bible equips us for this battle. Let us put on the armor of God, stand firm in the faith and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ the author and protector of our faith! Amen!

God shows no partiality. No matter how low you are, God can lift you up in His son Jesus Christ. No matter how high you are, God can bring you down and humble you in His Son Jesus Christ. This is why every believer, regardless of background, brokenness, political power, wealth, education, or social standing is first and foremost brother and sister, members of the body of Jesus Christ. We submit to one another as we all ultimately submit to Christ. Amen!

Every believer in Christ, at the core of their identity, is a slave of Jesus Christ. Jesus is a wonderful master, infinitely better than our former masters of sin and the Devil! A part of being a slave of Christ is picking up our cross, dying to our self and following Jesus. The more we become a slave to Christ the freer we become to everything and everyone else. This is why we can render service to anyone and do good to anyone regardless of their attitudes and treatment toward us. Vengeance belongs to God, we are called to display patience, love, and grace. Amen!

God disciplines and instructs those whom he loves. Earthly fathers are to love their children enough to sacrifice themselves for the sake of not only their wives, but also their children so that their children will grow in the truth of God. God's word is to so permeate the words, actions, conversations and instructions of the father so that the truth of the one true Heavenly Father is always front and center so that everything focuses on glory to God! Their is no room for provoking to anger when God's glory is always to be of greatest significance. Amen!

Parents are to raise their children in the love, truth, word, and in obedience to God. Children are to learn, honor, respect, and obey their parents in all good and right things. Obeying parents is training for obeying God; disobedience and disrespect to parents is training in disobedience and disrespect for God. Jesus shows all of us children what it means to live out obedience to our heavenly Father. Even if our parents are godless and haters of God, we honor them in whatever ways we can knowing that ultimately we have the best and most wonderful Father in heaven who always loves, teaches, and disciplines us perfectly. Amen!

A husband and wife are one flesh. This is a mystery and it is to help us better understand the mystery of how every believer, the church, is a part of the body, flesh, of Christ. This is part of the reason that marriage is "until death do us part." Just as the church can not be separated from Christ its head, a husband and wife are to be one flesh, the wife respecting her husband and the husband loving his wife. Let us pray that our marriages display the unity, love, tenderness, self-sacrifice, and care that represents Christ and His body, the church, well. Amen!

Jesus cares for the church more than we can hope, imagine, or fully comprehend. Jesus gave His life for the Church! Jesus frees the church from the bondage of sin, death, the devil, eternal judgment and wrath! Jesus interceded to God on behalf of the church. Jesus is returning for His church when all will be made well in the New Heavens and New Earth. Husbands, how much are you sacrificing for, serving, caring for, and loving your wives? Hopefully, as much as Jesus does for His church.

In Jesus Christ, wives are able to live out the most God glorifying and Christ exalting life of submission to Christ depicted in submission to their husband. God has created an order of husband as head over their wife to model and display in beauty Christ's head of the church. Christ is a perfect husband to the church, let husbands be like Christ! Christ displayed perfect submission and obedience to His Father, let wives be like Christ!

Christ is the Head of the Church and each Christian is a member of His body. The hand cannot say to the foot "I do not need you!" We must care for one another as Christ cares for us. This means sacrifice, suffering, service, and the willingness to die to our self, pick up our cross, and follow Christ. To love Christ is to love our brothers and sisters as Christ loves them.

Be careful little eyes what you look at, be careful little ears what you listen to, be careful little mind what you think about and meditate on, be careful little mouth what you say, be careful little one how you live because your heavenly Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful. Because of Jesus Christ's obedient life, sacrificial and atoning death on the cross, and victorious resurrection - those who believe in him can be set free from sin, death, and foolishness. The wisdom God's children receive from God is how to live new lives of freedom, love, and gratitude for His amazing grace and mercy. Let us sing this out whenever and wherever we can!

I love to sing the song I learned as a child in Sunday School "This Little Light of Mine." Hide it under a bush, o no! Wont let Satan blow it out! I'm gonna let it shine! It turns out that the source of this light is not "little." The Scriptures tell us that, "God is light and in Him is no darkness." Jesus is spoken of as the "light of the world." God's word is a "light unto our path." For us to let the light of Christ shine in our words, thoughts and actions means imitation of God's holiness and turning away from the darkness of sin. Jesus died on the cross for all those who would come into the light of faith and believe in Him so that they would no longer be in the darkness of sin, death and eternal judgment. Praise God for the light of His love. I'm gonna let it shine!

We need Jesus! We need new hearts that will love God and desire what God desires. We need new minds, transformed by the Holy Spirit, to think of and meditate on God's word and truth and holiness. We need new mouths that will speak truth, love, and holiness to one another. We need salvation and to be made holy as God is holy by His grace. O Lord, help us to put to death what is of the disobedient flesh within us and live according to your Holy Spirit in all things! Amen!

If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior with all your heart and confess Him with your mouth through the power of the Holy Spirit then you are a loved child of God! As God has loved us -- let us talk, walk, think, act, and display His perfect, holy, and just love. Christ died on the cross so that we could live. He became sin so that we could be credited with His righteousness. He intercedes on our behalf and is returning to make all things right! This is love unspeakable and full of glory! Amen!

What comes out of our mouths begins in the deepest recesses of our hearts and minds. When we are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are given new hearts and new minds and are to grow in the likeness of Jesus Christ. Let us pray and be disciplined through the power of the Holy Spirit to meditate on and speak out only love, truth, grace, peace, forgiveness, justice, and kindness. Thank you Jesus, help us Jesus!

To believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and that he paid the full debt for your sins and has made you right with God is life-changing and life-saving! Your life is changed in that you become free from lying, free from sinning in your anger, free from stealing, free from selfish pride and only thinking about yourself. You become free from the devil and can now resist him firm in the faith and not give him an opportunity for division and conflict within the Body of Christ! Only true freedom exists in Jesus Christ! Let us be His slave! Amen!

If you have been taught the truth about Jesus Christ by faithful teachers, then you have learned that the good news of Jesus Christ is of life and death importance because it is about living and dying. Jesus died on the cross so that the elect could could be forgiven and set free of sin and go from eternal death to eternal life. Believers are then to die to their old lives of sinful rebellion and hatred of God and live out the new lives they have in Christ. Let us live out the righteousness and holiness of Jesus Christ more and more by God's grace! Amen!

To become saved through faith alone in Christ alone by God's grace alone means we are given a new mind, a new heart, and a new life because of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit enables us to become sensitive and be able to experience love for God, love for one another and the desire to be holy as God is holy. Let us no longer live like the fallen rebellious God hating world, devil, and fallen flesh! Let us live like Jesus Christ! Amen, help us Jesus!

You can be the fastest, smartest, strongest, most creative, and considered the top of your profession or area of discipline, yet, if have not been born again by God's grace to faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then ultimately all you are is dead. Dead in sin means no life and no hope. Once you have been made alive in Jesus Christ then you are able to grow and flourish in His life, His truth, His grace and His love. The people of God are to grow up into Jesus Christ! Growing up means "attaining unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God." Let us grow up in God's word, prayer, and service to one another! Amen!