I Want to Get a Hold of That Which Has a Hold of Me

thank you Bishop [Patski] for your kind words I appreciate it very very much I told him I had forgotten some of that when you get my age you know but what a joy to be here in Connecticut again it's always such an honor and a privilege to come and be part of church here feel the good spirit of the Lord moving see the enthusiasm and excitement among God's people so thankful for your leadership what an incredible Call to Arms we heard tonight from your district superintendent thank you so much for that I appreciate it so very much God is at work he's on the March he's on the move yeah come on get on board we're going somewhere Hallelujah While others are fading and losing their faith the apostolic movement is seeing its greatest days oh Hallelujah God is pouring out his Spirit upon All Flesh the world is feeling the impact of this great truth so thankful to be part of it to see what God has done I've been coming to New England preaching for probably 40 years I can't tell you what a joy it is to come and see the crowds and feel the spirit and connect with people who are enthused about what God is doing it's not a burned over field it's ripe already to harvest amen and you're going to see it happen you're going to live the greatest days of the church in New England amen I believe it in jesus' name if you'll follow your leadership there is no way to predict what God is going to do I did not collaborate with brother patosi he doesn't know did not know what I'm going to preach I did not know what he was going to say but we're going to read the same texts and hear from what God would have to say to us.

Philippians chapter 3 Bishop read 13 and 14 I'm going to start at 12 and read the next three verses not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended this is this is the writer of some over half of the New Testament a man caught up into the third heaven a man who saw Jesus he said one born out of time a persecutor turned into an apostle this is a man that the church has never seen his peer and he says I haven't arrived yet I haven't apprehended but this one thing I do aren't you glad this isn't some self-help Guru he'd say there's 43 things I do you couldn't even remember all that you were supposed to do but Paul said here's the one thing to remember forgetting those things which are behind reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus I want to preach from that 12th verse that I may appre apprehend that for which also I am apprehended and I want to take it from the King James language to Modern English and I want to preach I want to get a hold of that which has a hold of me let's pray thank you Lord for your word it's Eternal truth it's Universal application I would pray oh Lord tonight You' anoint us me to preach all of us to hear to apply this word to our lives move upon each and everyone that's here today touch Us by your power in jesus' name amen amen thank you please be seated now as Henry VII said to his Six Wives I won't keep you long now Pastor said you could laugh so don't I thought I'd try it out here and see I won't preach long but I do feel that I have something that God would like this Camp to hear.

in Genesis chapter 32 Jacob son of Isaac grandson of Abraham is in real trouble he's in trouble not here because he's done wrong or because he's in some selfish pursuit of power or wealth but Jacob is in trouble because he's trying to do the will of God when we simply try to do God's will the devil doesn't like it there's people that won't like it but when we do the will of God God looks out for us the insurmountable becomes possible when we walk in the will of God Jacob is going home after 20 years two decades in the land of his mother's family he was sent there because he stole the birthright from his elder brother he lied to do so he deceived he supplanted he reached and took what was not his and in the wrath of his brother the fear and the real danger his mother said you go to my folks and they'll look after you and he does and there of course he settles in he marries he fathers children his wealth and his success grows but now after two decades God has spoken to Jacob and said it is time for you to go home back to the land that I gave your grandfather and that I affirmed with your father that's the land for you to raise your sons and so Jacob gathered his four wives this was a long time ago his four wives his 12 sons and we don't know how many daughters his cattle his sheep his camels his donkeys his servants and he begins the journey home now his father-in-law is a piece of work and to get out Jacob has to flee in the middle of the night without his father-in-law laan's blessing laan mounts armed men and they began to pursue Jacob and his family they overtake him and the evening before murder I suppose is in the heart of laan he intends to force Jacob back not because he'll miss his daughter's or his grandsons though that may be part of it but because Jacob has been a blessing to him God's blessing on Jacob has overflowed onto laan and he doesn't want to lose it but the night before God speaks to laan in a dream and this selfish self-centered violent man who has come to run down his escaping son and all hears from God and God says don't lay a finger on him don't touch him he's in my will he's doing what I said to do and if you touch him I'll deal with you so when laan meets Jacob the next morning there's no violence there's no flash of Swords no but there's simply sadness I'm sorry you felt you had to flee in the middle of the night I just wanted to say so long goodbye and I love you all and laan goes back home and Jacob Journeys on but hardly had they gone a day or two when word comes of a serious threat something that makes laan look like like a sunny day Esau is coming Esau has been festering for 20 years his anger resentment and rage has has simmered for two decades his hatred has over overflowed his anger has boiled out of the pot and now he comes and he means business he brings with him 400 men armed and ready to destroy his thieving and conniving brother Jacob knows he doesn't have a chance he knows he cannot survive he has no Army he has Shepherds and Cattlemen and Donkey herders and camel herders he has nothing to defend himself or his family and when Esau arrives there'll be no one who survives and Jacob knows it he does what he can he divides his family in two he sends one group one way and another the second group another way it's obvious what he's thinking if Esau with his 400 soldiers falls on half my family maybe the other half will survive then he takes little groups of some of his best cows and his best camels and his sheep and a and he sends them out with herdsmen with servants he sends them out as little gifts to kind of prede his coming so that as as Esau grows closer he'll receive things kindness gifts I hope we can find peace H he sends them out ahead but Esau knows Jacob knows it isn't enough 20 years of anger and resentment will not be ended by a few cows and sheep so he does the best thing probably the most important thing he sends everyone away and on the banks of a little creek as the Sun is setting Jacob kneels in the sand and Jacob begins to pray he prays for Mercy he prays for protection he reminds God I'm just trying to do your will I could be safe back in Paddan Aram I could be under the care and protection of laan I could still live where mother sent me but I'm here because you called me and I need you now I've got to have you my gifts my Maneuvers they will not save me or my family I have only one where to go only one place to find Refuge you are my strong tower it is in your name that I find safety if you don't come to rescue me there is no hope and as Jacob prays in desperation into the night suddenly a hand falls on his shoulder I don't know exactly what he thought I think I do when that hand falls on his shoulder he knows instantly they have found me Esau's in have located me he's here to destroy me and in his fear e Jacob leaps to his feet and tries to run away now now before before we blame him truth is if I'm out there in the dark by myself praying and suddenly somebody grabs me I ain't going to judge Jacob on this deal cuz that's exactly what I would do I'm out of here I would try to break free I would try to run and find safety in the darkness I'd do everything I could to get away and that's exactly what Jacob did the truth was though he didn't understand this was the answer to his prayers this was the one that he asked to help coming to help this was the Emissary of the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Jacob didn't recognize this was the one sent to rescue him so the scene is set I finally got to my point here it is Jacob in engages in a struggle with the man that had grabbed him in the middle of the night it had two phases or characteristics in the first part of the night that struggle is about Jacob trying to break free Jacob trying to get away Jacob driven by fear and misunderstanding Jacob trying to save his own life Jacob trying to get away from this man but this man has such strength that Jacob cannot Escape he can't break that grip oh thank God when he gets a hold of you the devil ain't big enough hell isn't strong enough no matter what problem you're facing no matter how bad things are nothing can break his grip when God gets a hold of you nothing can separate us from the love of God trying to break free trying to get away pushing shoving just a moment I'm going to get away now my f my feet slip in the sand and he's got me again but at some point I don't know when the implication is the struggle lasted all night perhaps it was midnight maybe in the wee hours of the morning but somewhere at some point it occurs to Jacob if he wanted me dead as strong as he is I'd have been dead a long time ago he must not be here to kill me to destroy me he must be here to save me and at some point Jacob's struggle to get away became a struggle to hang on at some point Jacob quit trying to break that grip to getting his own grip I'm going to hold on to you they struggled on through the night and the sun began to rise and the man said let me go you wanted to get away go go let me go and Jacob said I'm not going to let you go until you bless me ladies and gentlemen there must come that moment when God has come to answer our prayers and we miss understand what's happening there has to come that moment when we cease being the one being held on to and we become the one doing the holding on when we decide I'm not going to be the one needing rescue every time I'm not going to be the one that he has to come and pluck out of the fire I'm going to get a hold of this thing and I'm going to hang on to it regardless of what goes on I going to apprehend I'm going to hold on to what has been holding on to me when the nature of the struggle changed when the nature of the holding on changed life changed for Jacob he would never be the same again I've come to preach to somebody in the first night of this meeting there comes that moment when you have to get this thing when you have to sink your fingers into the presence of God when you've got to get a hold of this uh with all of your heart H quit barely making it from Sunday to Sunday quit barely making it from Youth Camp to Youth Camp but you get a grip you get a hold and you say I'm not letting you go I'm the one holding on now.

this is what Paul is talking about in Philippians 3 it is here that he cries out from the depth of his heart the UN unfailing Anthem that should be the Cry of every Christian that I may know him I'm not in this to get social points I'm not in this to get rich I'm not in this so people will think I'm a good person I'm in this for one reason I want to know Jesus I want to know him in the power of his resurrection and yes in The Fellowship of his suffering I just want to know him I want to know how he thinks H I want to know what his goals are I want to know what matters to him I want to know him not just in the good times not just in times of Triumph or Victory but when the dark clouds come when pain is in the offering I want to get a hold of this thing because I'm in it to know him and then Paul levels with us he shares with us the self-image that drives his life in Ministry I haven't got it all figured out he says I have not attained I'm not apprehended I'm not I've not got to a place of perfection I haven't I haven't reached that moment moment yet but I keep going I keep following I'm not going to quit I may not have got where I want to be but I'm going to keep going until I get there you need to settle it and settle it tonight I am a Jesus name one God Apostolic tongue talking holy living child of God I am what I am and I'm not interested in Walking the line between the church and the world I'm not interested in how close to sin I can live and still go to heaven I may not be perfect but I'm going to keep going H I'm going to keep moving I'm going to get closer and closer and closer because I want to get a hold of that which has been holding on to me it is a beautiful image one in which we should all take great comfort I'm not denigrating that image and I'm certainly not in any way disparaging that when we get weak when our steps are faltering when our faith faith is failing I don't know where we got this idea that somehow God doesn't care enough to come and rescue us that God is up there in the sky and he's just kind of hoping we'll mess up so he can zap us with a lightning bolt or something where'd we get that that's not the image in the scripture what the Bible says is when I'm in trouble I can look around because he's coming when I need him I can expect to hear his voice H and see his hands he's gonna come and find me he's going to come and rescue me my comfort is in the Everlasting Arms Of God my hope is in the unfailing grace h and mercy of my God that when I need him he'll come where I am we used to years ago we sang of this Rescue of God coming to hold us to lift us to put us in a in a in a in a in a headlock I guess to make sure that we don't fall that we don't falter God comes to rescue us leaning I'm leaning I'm safe and secure from all alarms I'm leaning I'm leaning it's not my strength it's not my Holiness it's not my righteousness but I'm lean leaning on the Everlasting Arms few years later song came along we used to sing so let the storms rage High the dark clouds rise they won't worry me for I'm sheltered safe within the arms of God he walks with me and not of Earth shall harm me for I'm sheltered safe within the arms of God millions of God's people have found comfort knowing when the quicksand grabs my feet when lightning splashing all around me when the storm is Raging I am not by myself for the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and they are safe safe I've come to tell you he's holding on to you he's not going to give you up easy he ain't going to let the devil drag you down God comes to our rescue.

of recent years our imagery has changed a bit we no longer see that rescue as being held in the arms of God as leaning on those Everlasting Arms that we come to that strong tower and find Refuge we think of it in a different way our music celebrates a different imagery just as powerful and just as biblical it's simply I think even more comforting we see him coming for us regardless of where we are Jesus said we're the lost sheep and the shepherd leaves the 90 and n and he scours the hillsides until he finds that one lost sheep maybe that doesn't mean much to you but if you've ever been that sheep and you didn't know the way home and you couldn't find the Sheepfold and here came the shepherd running to our rescue and he picks us up he puts us on his shoulder and he carries us back to the Sheepfold it means everything his goodness his running his running it's running after me I've made a big deal that the father never went to the far country the father never went to the pig sty he waited at the gate every day he looked down the road every day will my boy come home today but something happened when he looked down the road and he saw that staggering step of that broke BR boy he couldn't stay there anymore Jesus said he started running down that road he's coming after you he ain't going to let you go he ain't going to let you backslide he's going to come and get a hold of you he's going to rescue you but i' come to tell you as wonderful as those images are and how encouraging and exhilarating they are that I'm in this and he's on my side and he's going to come when I need him most uh I thank God for that but sooner or later that relationship must change we'll never win the world we'll never plant 10 new churches until we settle some things about who we are and what we believe our purpose is not to just scrape by to have to get rescued every Friday our purpose isn't just just to barely make it because God won't give up on us thank God he won't give up on us but I want to get to the place where I'm not the one needing rescue I'm the one scouring the hills I'm the one sweeping the house to find that lost coin I'm the one out running down the road to throw my arms around that homebound son I believe there has to come that moment when we get a hold of this thing and we won't let it go I'm not going to backslide I'm not going to give up I've been through some storms I've come through some problems I've had people I trusted and believed in that lost their way but let me tell you I've settled this thing I'm going to keep being a one God Jesus Jesus name Apostolic preacher because I want to get a hold of what's been holding on I want you to stand I'm G to try to quit we need to start becoming Jacob was on his way home we need to St start in that direction and don't let anything stop us.

John in his prologue to his gospel in the first chapter he's introducing Jesus Christ he describes him framing the worlds creating them out of nothing he says in the beginning was the word the word was with God and the Word was God and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory but then he says this and he came into his own and his own received him not but as many has received him to them gave he power to become I'm so glad for the phraseology of that verse it could have said he gave power to be the Sons and Daughters of God he could have said it but that's not what he said he said the power is the power to move on Paul said I follow after I press toward the mark because I want to become a Son of God if you're still needing rescue if you're still taking a bottle you still need to be bur bur burped every once in a while it's time to become something else when Jacob transitioned from being held to becoming the one doing the holding it changed everything sometime that night Esau's heart changed we don't know any of the details how it happened what it was like but we know that 20 years of Rage melted away two decades of anger anger and hatred disappeared and when the two Mo Brothers met the next day no blood no swords they hug necks and they told each other that they loved one another when Jacob changed from being held to being the one holding the man said what's your name did Jacob bow his head did he blush my name is Jacob it meant supplanter liar cheater taking that did not taking taking the place illicitly of someone else that's what I am I'm failure I'm a mess just can't get this thing right and the man said not anymore it's not your name anymore now your name is Israel which means Prince son of the king Prince of God for you have found power and when the sun came up and the struggle ended in the new Jacob hurried across that Creek yelled to the party with him I saw him I looked right in his eyes I saw God and now I'm alive he walked for the sinew of his thigh shrank in the heat of that battle the strongest muscle sinners in the body he walked with a limp and wood for the rest of his life it seems not only his name changed but the way he walked forever changed.

the word Paul uses for apprehend it's translated apprehend I want to apprehend is katalambano if you look it up you'll find it means to seize to grasp eagerly it's not a casual getting a hold of it's with all your strength all your determination and all your energy I'm going to get a hold of this thing quit being wishy-washy I'm going to quit being the one that pastors always having to encourage and keep going and I'm going to quit being that one that's always needy and get a hold of this thing I'm going to get it in both hands I'm not going to let him go until my blessing comes I'm not not going to let him go until He blesses me until I get a new name until I get a new walk until I get a new family until I get New Hope until there's a new way of living I'm not going to let it go if you're here tonight you want to get a hold of this thing you're tired of splashing in the shallow end you're ready ready to do some high diving you're tired of the diletant you're tired of the halfway you're ready to be Whole Hog to get into this thing to get into the book to get into the worship to get into faithfulness to get into giving to get into reaching to get into witnessing to get into teaching Bible studies you want to get a hold of this he's held on to you all these years you're only here because he tracked you down because he put his big arms around you because he sheltered you within the Strong Tower of his name you're only here because he came for you over and over and over because his goodness has run after you for all of your life isn't it time for you to do a little running after him Paul said I want to seize that which has been holding on to me oh I feel in the Holy Ghost that God has spoken to someone tonight not not bad I'm not saying you you've been hypocrite not I'm Paul said I haven't arrived yet either I'm preaching to folks that are still becoming you're moving forward you're pressing toward the mark and if you're tired of being the object of Rescue all the time and you're ready to get a hold of this thing once and for all I'm going to invite you to step out this alt to call isn't for everybody I know the Lord has moved and I know God has spoken but if you have felt a genuine touch you have heard the Whisper Of God within your soul that says it's you I've got a plan for you I've got a world for you to reach I've got people there's a church to plant there's a city to reach there's a neighbor across the street that I want to fill with the Holy Ghost I've got a plan but I need you to get a hold of this thing so I can use you I want you to press in would you there's many still wanting to come if you feel that call you feel that touch you feel I'm tired of waiting in the kitty pool I'm ready to get in the deep end I want to hold on I want to get a grip press on won't you come on in come on in close as you can in Jesus name I want you to start talking to the Lord right now maybe maybe you should start by thanking him for all those times that he came leaving the 99 scoured the hillsides until he found you and he brought you home thank him for all the times he waited at the gate for you to come to your senses for all the times he met you on the other side of the creek and he answered your prayers just thank him for that we all we all have been there but maybe maybe there ought to be a transition here tonight after we've thanked him for rescuing us why don't we commit to him I'm going to give my all I'm going to surrender everything finally I'm going to dig into this thing I'm going to hang on I'm not going to give up I'm never never going to give you in Jesus name in Jesus name in Jesus name this is a personal commitment each of us must make it praise God praise God praise God.