This morning, you have chosen to come to a safe haven. The Church symbolizes a place of SAFETY and REFUGE.

Hebrews 6:18^b “…we have a strong consolation (solace, comfort), who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: ¹⁹ Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil…”

A ship drops anchor to keep it from drifting to its own destruction. It is the same with our soul. Without an anchor, we will drift from the things that are right and good to things that are harmful and even destructive.

The soul is the “seat of human emotions” and it is always subject to drifting. Therefore, our soul needs an anchor, one that is sure and steadfast.

The consolation we receive from the Holy Spirit and through the preached Word of God is full of HOPE. This HOPE becomes our anchor that keeps us from drifting to our own destruction. When trends change, our anchor holds. When storms of life come, our anchor holds.

Unlike a vessel on the ocean that drops its anchor to the ocean floor and hopes the drag of the anchor will stabilize the vessel, our Anchor is resting not down, nor even to our past, rather up in Heaven.

My soul cannot see its anchor. Yet, my soul knows it is anchored to nothing in this world. What peace knowing that my soul is anchored behind the veil in Heaven! It is unaffected by anything in this world.

This HOPE is a strong consolation.

Real Hope. Relevant Hope. Everlasting Hope. 

 -Pastor T. H. Sheppard

2 Corinthians 6:16^b  “For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ¹⁷ Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord.” (NASB)

The Church is the “Ecclesia” which means called out. We did not come out of Heaven and form the Church. HE called us out of the world.

God walks among His people. When you have a special guest come to where you are, your home, job, or wherever, you respond with giving and being your best.

When HE came to live in your heart, HE came and brought with Him things that did not exist in this world that we came from. His call is clear, “come out.” The reason, HE wants to come in. HE brings with Him peace, peace that passes all understanding. HE brings joy, the kind that is “unspeakable joy.” You cannot explain it but this life-changing experience is so revolutionary that Jesus called it being “born again.”

When He called us in the beginning to come out of the world, it was with the promise that ,“I will come again and receive you unto myself.”

When the trumpet sounds it will be saying, “come out!”,  as HE takes His Church out of this world and “so shall we ever be with Him.”

Psalms 33:12  “Blessed is the nation whose god is The LORD.”

In Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, delegates from the Thirteen Colonies gathered in this small hall to discuss declaring their freedom from the rule of Britain.

The declaration had been drafted and was being considered, along with the fate of those who signed the document. If they failed it would mean certain death by hanging, or the headman’s axe. They would lose their wealth, their sacred honor, and their lives.

As the day wore on, the issue hung heavy in the balance and then, an “old man” rose from the small gallery. He seemed to be calling on all the strength he could muster, as he reminded everyone of the grievances that had brought them there and to this moment. Then, as though it would be his last breath he appealed: “Sign that parchment! They may turn every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die.”

Then he added, “If my hands were freezing in death, I would sign that parchment with my last ounce of strength. Sign! Sign, if the next moment the noose is around your neck, …for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the  Bible of the rights of man forever.” And he fell back, apparently exhausted, but all 56 delegates were moved to sign The Declaration Of Independence. They turned to thank him for his moving words, but he could not be found, nor were there any who knew him, or how he had come in and gone out the locked and guarded doors!

In the wake of the (4^th of July)  Commemoration of the Travail and Birth of this Great Nation, we sense the urgency in the atmosphere as the “voice of the Lord” echoes and reverberates from the news headlines as well as from the Word of God; “Come out from among them and be ye separate.” HE is about to take HIS Church OUT!

––Surely!!!   “Blessed is the nation whose god is The LORD…”

James 3:5  “…the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things.” James 3:8 “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

This is why, in Acts 2:4, they spoke with “other tongues,” then, in verse 11, that tongue told the “wonderful works of God!”

There is a deep connection between the feelings of our heart and the words of our mouth. Our innermost feelings will find a way to be vocalized, whether we mean to or not. The Holy Ghost must be allowed to control our expressions (words) whether face to face, or on Facebook, Twitter, or in an e-mail. We are still accountable and those words can cause much damage. Be sure the Holy Ghost is in control at all times, especially before you click and send!

 As out-of –control as things are around us, and the “un-tamable” tongue continues to “set on fire the course of nature,” being “set on fire of Hell,” and seems to become more and more destructive through the growth of Social Media; THERE IS HOPE. HOPE IS REAL, HOPE IS RELEVANT, HOPE IS EVERLASTING, HOPE IS HERE!

– Pastor T. H. Sheppard