Anchors of Pentecost (June 22, 2025)

Acts 27:27–29 ~ “When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms. And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.”

This is a story that typifies the church in crises times. The ship is the church. The storm represents the spirit of the age and time we are living in with all the turbulence and turmoil. We have all seen the news of the Middle East; heard about earthquakes happening where there should be none; Tsunamis; Hurricanes; the rise of false religions; the rise of in-fighting among the church world; the age of great apostasy; the spirit of compromise in the evangelical world; and the list goes on and on.

Jesus referred to this in …

Luke 21:25–26 ~ “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

As well as in …

Matthew 24:5–8 ~ “For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”

Paul also prophesied in …

2 Timothy 4:3–4 ~ “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

Paul also wrote about this in …

2 Timothy 3:1 ~ “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.”

Today, we are sailing in dangerous waters, and we need some anchors. We are living in a day when it is acceptable to blur the line between integrity and compromise, and we need some anchors. The standard of holiness has become diluted to the point of embarrassment, and we need some anchors. Today, the preaching of the Cross is antiquated and those who preach it are considered antiquity and we need some anchors. When preachers avoid the opportunity to emphatically state that abortion is wrong, sexual promiscuity is sin, and there is a place called hell … well, we need some anchors.

On January 26, 2025, I spoke about a revival called the Azusa Street Revival. I brought out several things that were spoken with a prophetic utterance …

• In the last days, there will be an overemphasis on praise to a God we no longer pray to.
• In the last days, there will be an overemphasis on power rather than righteousness.
• In the last days, there will be an overemphasis on spiritual gifts rather than the Lordship of Christ.

We need some anchors!!!

What anchors do we need?

• The Inerrancy of Scripture – The absolute authority of the Bible over our lives is based on our conviction that this book does NOT merely contain the Word of God, but that it is the Word of God in its sum and parts.

2 Timothy 3:16 ~ “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

2 Peter 1:20–21 ~ “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

• You cannot be more spiritual that you are scriptural – IT IS OUR FAITH!

• The Lordship of Christ – The fact that Jesus is Lord of all and Lord of the Church holds us steadfast in the storm.

Acts 10:36 ~ “As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),”

Philippians 2:9–11 ~ “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

• Jesus is Lord! This is evidenced by His …
  • Virgin Birth
  • Vicarious Death
  • Victorious Resurrection

• The Pursuit and Practice of Holiness – God has called us to a holy life.

Leviticus 19:2 ~ “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

Hebrews 12:14 ~ “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

 

1 Peter 2:9 “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

In the times we are living, these troubled and tumultuous times, let us hold fast to the anchors of the Scripture, to the Lordship of Christ, to the pursuit and practice of holiness, and to our Pentecostal heritage.