Sheryl Brady - Maintaining Stability in the Middle of a Storm

I want to give you a scripture in just a moment. Actually, I’m going to share a few scriptures, so I want you to get your notebook or your iPad ready—whatever it is you take notes on—because I want you to write some things down. I want to talk to you today, and I believe that the Word will help you as you begin to absorb it. The Bible talks about the engrafted Word of God, which is able to save your soul. It’s not the word that goes over your head or under your feet, but the word that latches onto your life; it is able to save your soul. This week, I believe it marks the 21st or 22nd week of the pandemic. Someone mentioned earlier, on the news, that we are heading into our fifth or sixth month of this pandemic. People have been through so much during this season and time, and we have not only been living through this physical pandemic but also, in the middle of it, we have faced financial and emotional challenges that people have had to survive. From the very beginning—the first week I spoke to you from a remote location—my goal was to ensure that I was there to help feed you and arm you so that you might be strengthened and stabilized. As you deal with all the radical changes this pandemic has brought to your life, I don’t have a cure for it in a natural sense, so I can’t protect you physically. However, I do work diligently, and our team has worked diligently, to give you hope and assurance that we can cope with the side effects of having our lives turned upside down. Many of us have had our lives completely rocked, and here’s the thing: we don’t know how long it’s going to last, but the Bible tells us, and God has promised us, that we are not a people without hope. One of the best places to find hope when facing any kind of crisis can be found in the book of James. Although it’s not a very big book, it is full of significant answers if you are in a crisis. That’s what I want to discuss with you today. James helps us and coaches us; if you have an ear to hear, he can guide us through a moment of crisis. As a matter of fact, the book was written to people who were under an extreme amount of stress. The Roman Empire had gone through a period of time where they severely persecuted people, and as if that weren’t bad enough, they could no longer meet together, which sounds familiar today. They were decentralized and scattered throughout the Roman Empire. The Apostle James, who was the half-brother of Jesus, wrote a letter to encourage those people due to the stress they were facing. He wanted them to know that it’s not only possible to survive this moment but also to thrive in it. Stress is inevitable; many people experience it. Storms will come, and when they do, if a storm hits you hard enough, it can leave you unstable. To survive the stressful, unstable, and life-shaking seasons you may find yourself in, James knew, as we know today, that we must have an anchor—something that grips the solid rock. An anchor is often the difference between surviving and succumbing to a storm. Having an anchor is almost always the difference between someone who survives it and someone who succumbs to it. An anchor comes in different forms; for instance, a rock climber has an anchor. They tie the cord around themselves and then anchor into the rock they are climbing to move higher and make progress on the journey upward. An anchor secures them to the mountain they are climbing. I want to say to us today that I don’t think it’s ever been more important in my lifetime to have that anchor. I want to encourage those of you watching me today that you need to have an anchor, and you must build that anchor, tying it around yourself. How, then, Pastor, do we anchor ourselves to the rock? Jesus answered that for us, and it came at the end.