Anchor Church

Jesus declares Himself the Light of the World, offering life and guidance, while the Pharisees challenge His authority—revealing the contrast between truth and unbelief.

Jesus confronts the accusers of a woman caught in adultery, exposing their hypocrisy and extending grace—showing He came not to condemn but to forgive and set free.

Psalm 23:4 speaks of God’s comforting presence in life’s darkest and most dangerous moments. Even when facing fear, suffering, or death, the psalmist expresses unwavering trust in God. The "rod and staff" symbolize God’s protection and guidance, reassuring the believer that they are never alone.

This week, we had the privilege of hearing from Delmarva's Adult & Teen Challenge.

In Matthew 23:1–12, Jesus contrasts the self-serving leadership of the religious elite with the heart of true discipleship. He rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for placing heavy burdens on others while refusing to lift a finger themselves. Their focus is on appearances, titles, and being honored—rather than on genuinely helping people. Jesus then turns to His disciples and calls them to a different way: the way of a servant. He teaches that true greatness in the Kingdom of God is not found in status, but in humility and service. “The greatest among you will be your servant” (v. 11). This passage...

Jesus teaches that reconciliation isn't optional—it's part of living in His kingdom. In Matthew 18:15–17, He outlines a clear, grace-filled process for restoring broken relationships. The first message in our series "Back to the Basics" focuses on how believers are called to pursue peace, not avoid conflict; to speak truth in love, not hold grudges; and to seek restoration, not retaliation. When handled God's way, conflict can become a doorway to deeper unity.

In John 15, Jesus reveals a powerful metaphor: He is the True Vine, we are the branches, and the Father is the Gardener. This sermon explores what it means to trust God's pruning process—how He lovingly removes what hinders growth and nurtures what bears fruit. Even when pruning feels painful or confusing, God’s hands are never careless. He cuts with purpose, not punishment. By remaining in Christ, we allow the Gardener to shape us into fruitful disciples. Trust the process. Trust the Gardener.

This week, Pastor Jason says farewell to Anchor Church with a timely message from Colossians.

This is the fourth and final week of our series on the Holy Spirit called "Empowered", and this week, guest speaker Pastor Hal Chaffee explain how the Holy Spirit helps us bring the gospel to the world.

Remember the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are 3 distinct persons of the one true God. The Father is on His throne in heaven, the Son is God in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit is the presence of God… And right before Jesus(the Son) ascended into heaven, he encouraged His disciples: “don’t worry, my Spirit will be with you ALWAYS. My Spirit will be with you forever.” – Pastor Ryan Martinez

Remember the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are 3 distinct persons of the one true God. The Father is on His throne in heaven, the Son is God in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit is the presence of God… And right before Jesus (the Son) ascended into heaven, he encouraged His disciples: “don’t worry, my Spirit will be with you ALWAYS. My Spirit will be with you forever.” – Pastor Ryan Martinez

From the beginning, we can see that the Holy Spirit was there. In the beginning God created and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, was hovering the deep chaotic waters. The Holy Spirit isn’t new, He’s not something some religious zealot made up, the Holy Spirit was present with God at the beginning. – Pastor Ryan Martinez

Stepping out in faith can be risky. Generally speaking, we don’t naturally like doing risky things because we want to preserve what we have. We don’t like taking risks when there’s no guarantee of a return on that risk. We like to play it safe. But life with the Lord isn’t about playing it safe… Life with the Lord is about submitting ourselves to Him, and yielding to His will above our own. Life with the Lord is about saying “Yes!” to Him before we even know what the question is. – Pastor Ryan Martinez

One of the big themes of scripture is providence. Providence is God’s orchestration of history. It’s the idea that He’s directing all events and everyone’s life to a specific end. There’s a pastor I once heard say that “God interacts in history with two hands. The first hand is visible and we see it through miracles: Sarah gives birth in her 90s; Jacob wrestles with an angel; Moses calls down plagues upon Egypt; Jesus and His apostles heal and cast out demons. The other hand is invisible. God sets things into motion behind the scenes.” Man...

Even Joseph faced resistance about his dream, but God still fulfilled his dream. You will face resistance too, but keep dreaming. - Pastor Ryan Martinez

If we’re going to discover the Dreams and plans God has for our life, God has for our families, I believe it’s going to start in those quiet times when you’re just pursuing the Lord because you love Him and not because you want something from Him. Pursuing His heart. - Pastor Ryan Martinez

“The resurrection of Jesus changes the face of death for all His people. Death is no longer a prison, but a passage into God’s presence. Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there. You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in winding sheets and shut it up in a tomb, but it will rise!” - Clarence W. Hall

And Jesus says “Anyone who is thirsty… may come to me…” And He’s not talking about literal thirst for a drink of water. He’s talking about your spirit. So what is Jesus actually saying here? He’s saying anyone who is desperate to know your purpose, come to me. Anyone who is struggling, come to me. Anyone who is desperate to know whether there’s something more to this life… Come to me! Anyone who feels like something is missing inside of you… come to me. – Pastor Ryan Martinez

When we don’t know the scriptures well enough, we don’t know what to do when things get difficult… When life happens and we don’t know God’s character, we don’t know how to respond and take matters into our own hands. I think we can see that with the Pharisees. They don’t fully understand what the scriptures say about the Messiah, and when Jesus shows up on the scene, they take matters into their own hands. But this is not what God wants for us. There’s much wisdom in seeking Him first. There’s much wisdom in l...

ut who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years. - Malachi 3:2-4 - Pastor Brandon Byne

Today's message is simple - Follow Jesus, don't do anything else. - Pastor Jason Pilgrim

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. - Matthew 6:19-21
Pastor Jason Pilgrim

Many people think “If I can just get more money, my problems will go away.” “If I can just get some more money, things will be easier.” “If I can just get more money, I won’t have to worry anymore.” Money can buy you a bed, but it can’t buy you sleep. Money can buy you a quiet vacation, but it can’t buy you peace. Money can buy you medicine, but it can’t buy you health. Money can buy you amusements, but it can’t buy you joy. Money has limitations. My prayer is that we learn not to hold o...

Deep within every person is a longing for righteousness and justice. We want things in the world, at least our little corner of it, to be at peace. We want to eradicate human trafficking, racism, hunger, homelessness, abuse. We long for the day when all people can coexist in a world with no war, violence, murder or hatred. Where everyone is valued as an image-bearer of God and no one is marginalized. – Pastor Ryan Martinez

The principles inside the Bible are timeless and relevant for any Christ-follower at any point in history. But they were originally written to people who lived thousands of years ago across an ocean. Our instincts and understanding are completely different from the people the scriptures were written to. We can’t take a surface reading of the scriptures and then try to directly apply it because, while the scriptures are for us, they were not written TO us. – Pastor Ryan Martinez

Jesus intended His Kingdom to advance and grow through humility. Jesus intended His Kingdom to advance and grow through peace. Jesus intended His Kingdom to advance and grow through righteousness. And He determines what’s righteous and not us. There are those who see all the negative talk surrounding the idea of Christian Nationalism as persecution. “We’re suffering persecution for God and our country.” But this Christian Nationalism is not righteous, and this is not what Jesus was talking about when He spoke these words. – Pastor Ryan Martinez

Is Christianity Good? So the behaviors and moral values the bible calls a result of having the Holy Spirit in our life is a standard of ethical behavior and moral values for a completely secular entity. The bible has set a standard for human rights unlike any other belief system, entity, or organization ever. So even though there’s a lot of negative, there is so much positive. Christianity, as a religion isn’t perfect because people aren’t perfect. - Pastor Ryan Martinez

When I look back at all the times I have had to wait, I can see that God’s timing is the best timing and it’s always perfect. From waiting to get married, to when God fulfilled the promise of bringing us here. God has perfect timing; I have seen the hand of God provide the way in the middle of what often looked like a red sea, impossible to part. – Pastor Ryan Martinez

Now, am I saying it’s not a big deal when we go through difficult things? No, absolutely not. The things we go through in life matter and God is concerned for us. That’s why The apostle Peter tells us to cast our cares on Him… because He cares for us. But for true disciples, difficult things shouldn’t lead us away from God, because true disciples don’t have a “plan B”. Where else would we go? - Pastor Ryan Martinez

Jesus has been slowly revealing Himself as Messiah through performing miracles, His command of scripture, and His gift of prophecy. And then in John 5, Jesus is having a conversation with the Pharisees and He kicks it up a notch… He not only claims that He’s the Messiah, He makes the claim that He is God. And then after that we read about Jesus proving that no matter the situation, He will provide for His people. Jesus fed arguably close to 20,000 people with 7 loaves of bread and 2 fish. If there are still doubts that Jesus is who He says He i...

I dream of a church that looks like and represents the community we serve. I dream of a church filled with black worshipers, white worshipers, Asian worshipers, Latino, Haitian, Brazilian, Hindi, Native American… I dream of a multi-ethnic church because I believe in a multi-ethnic heaven. I want our church to look like Heaven. - Pastor Ryan Martinez

Jesus isn’t going to send us out on mission all on our own. He is always with us. He will empower you to make disciples. He will empower you to teach and model what it means to follow Him. It's our mission to reach Milford for Jesus. This isn't replacing our current mission, Hope for all, but will be more of a local vision to help our very own community of Milford. - Pastor Ryan Martinez

Finding Jesus is just the start, you have to follow Him. To do that you need to get in the Word, get into Praying, and get lost in Worship! - Pastor Jason Pilgrim

You’re not going to learn patience by academic endeavor. It’s not something you’re going to read about and learn from a book. You’re only going to be able to grow in patience when you begin to allow God to help you exercise that virtue, and you become more open to it. – Pastor Ryan Martinez

When your soul is stirred by who God is and you respond and do what He’s asking you to do, do you know what that’s called? That’s called Awakening. And my prayer as your pastor is that we would experience a great awakening in our relationships with the Lord. That we would not be apathetic to knowing what God wants for your life. That we would trust Him with the plans He has for our life. That’s my prayer for each and every one of you. – Pastor Ryan Martinez

Hope for salvation and hope for miracles are not in vain. God is still reaching and saving the lost. God is still working in miracles. - Pastor Ryan Coon

God wants you to experience His favor in your marriage. God wants you to experience His favor in your workplace. God wants you to experience His favor in traffic when everybody else is driving like an idiot. How do I please God in these areas of my life? How do I please God in my relationship with my kids? How do I please God with my interactions with people I don’t like? - Pastor Ryan Martinez

¹¹Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ¹²I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. ¹³For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. – Philippians 4:11-13

“Don’t lie, because you are not your old self anymore. You’ve been saved from the Kingdom of darkness and God is trying to change you into the image of His son.” He wants you to be like Him and he doesn’t lie… He rejoices in the truth. - Pastor Ryan Martinez

There is no need to steal when you learn to rely on God. - Pastor Jason