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Hear the Bible COME ALIVE IN SONG!
Sermon onSolid Rock to Build Your Life OnBy Brian Pepper The scene was so beautiful; no one could have guessed it was a death trap. Great blue-white chunks of ice lay scattered over the deep blue sea. Penguins paraded in their black and white tuxedos, overhead, graceful sea birds circled lazily. To this scene, in this year 1915, came Ernest Shackleton and his 27 men in the good ship Endurance on their way to Antarctica. Their plan was to march across the entire continent crossing the South Pole on the way. Before they could reach the harbour they had to zigzag through all that ice. As the floes got closer together, their progress became slower. The day came when they could proceed no further. Then a furious wind began to blow, and continued for six days. When the sun came out on the 7th day the men saw that they were surrounded by ice as far as the eye could see. The Endurance was stuck in an enormous ice pack. For months the ship lay helpless. Every effort to free her was in vain. The long polar night closed in around her as firmly as the ice wrapping the men in darkness. When the sun returned, bringing warmer weather, new horrors beset the ship. The wind, like a giant bulldozer, began to shove the ice pack against the Endurance with a million tons of force, and under the killing pressure the timbers bent and snapped with a report like a rifle shot.
The question is, how can we find security in a world like this? When Shackleton and his men saw that the Endurance was doomed, they abandoned ship, carrying off the three lifeboats and supplies, and camped on a large ice floe. Not long after the Endurance slipped into the sea and the ice closed over her. She was gone. A sickening feeling of loneliness swept over the men. No one in the world knew of their plight. No one in the world even knew where they were. No one in the world could help them. They were stranded on the ice in a frozen Antarctic sea.
Shackleton's men tried to find security, but in vain. First they tried to walk across the ice to land, but couldn't drag their supplies over the great ice ridges. They set up camp on an ice floe; but as the sun grew warmer the ice began to melt and the ice floe broke up and they had to launch the lifeboats. Huge waves threatened to capsize them. After a very long and arduous track over countless ice ridges and ice clad mountains they eventually reached safety and finally their own homes. At last they were secure. And security is something that everyone is looking for.
Some people say "I depend on my loved ones for protection and support." That is like those ice floes that proved so fragile. While we all need family and friends, we know that we cannot depend on them forever. We can be separated from them by death or disaster or even divorce. We cannot depend on others for support.
Others say "Education" has the answer. They say, "If I study hard and get good grades, I can succeed in life." This is very thin ice. While education has its place, it cannot guarantee that you will find a job and if you do that it will be permanent.
Someone else says "Science has the cure for all the world's problems." This is very deceptive ice. Science has the power not only to serve the world but also to destroy it.
"Money — property — things." Most people say "If I could just get enough money I wouldn't need to fear poverty or want. I could have everything my heart desired. I would be secure. I would classify this as melting ice. Riches can turn to slush under your feet. Money that is sitting safely in the bank can melt away to half its value overnight. Property can be stolen, lost, or destroyed. Or you may work so hard to get wealth that you lose your health and even life itself. And then what happens to your possessions?
Then there are others who say Pleasure is the answer. "Give me a good time— the cinema, the night club, the dance hall. Treacherous ice this one. Pleasure will hold you up for a moment and then it will dump you into the icy water of disillusionment.
But you might say I will depend on myself, so I will not be disappointed. I will depend on my own brain and muscle. I will succeed; I will find security in my own efforts. This is a very fragile boat sailing on savage sea! How easily one can be shipwrecked in the great storms of life! So easily broken on the rocks of disaster.
When it comes to building security into one’s life you need something firm underneath your feet: something that will hold you up; something solid, immovable and unsinkable. There is only one way to find security in this world: get your feet on the solid rock. And what is that ROCK? How can we find it? Psalm 18:2 says, "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salivation, and my high tower, Verse 6 says, "In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.” |
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