David Wilkerson paints an unforgettable picture of every human soul as a ship on a stormy sea, revealing that while society loses hope and sailors vomit over the side in eight-foot swells, God reaches his arm beneath your vessel and anchors you to something that doesn't sink but rises.

Preached: July 21, 1996

Main Points:

• Society is a raging ocean, and every person is a ship on it. If you could see inside the hearts around you, you'd find nothing but storms: broken homes, addiction, men who rape and feel no guilt, a culture that has lost its moral compass entirely.

• Paul's ship was exceedingly tossed, the sun gone dark, all hope of survival taken away. That description perfectly fits where our world stands right now, where even atheists are rising up and crying, "What has happened to us?"

• When the anchor dropped in Paul's storm, the ship held through the night. God told him everyone would survive, and all 276 came safely to shore. The anchor didn't stop the storm. It just made sure the storm couldn't destroy the ship.

• Your anchor doesn't go down into the ocean floor. It goes up through the veil into the Holy of Holies itself, where God reaches his arm beneath your hull and holds you above the water while the winds keep blowing.

• God told Wilkerson his boat was puny and he didn't know where the rocks were, then put the Holy Ghost on board as captain. Now every morning he wakes up asking, "Lord, where are you taking me today?" and the bigger the wind, the faster they go.

• Hope is not wishful thinking. It is taking God at his word on the good things he has promised, trusting that no enemy has a weapon that can bring you down before your time, and that God will see you through every hard place.

• God's not mad at you. He's not waiting to punish you. He made an ironclad commitment, swearing by his own name because there was nothing greater to swear by, and all he asks is that you give him your whole heart and let him be the captain.