I Want to Get a Hold of What Has a Hold on Me

what a great honor it is to be in Florida again I was just trying to calculate first time I walked on this Campground I think it was uh over 40 years ago I've been here many many times seen God do some incredible things right here in this building up at the old Tabernacle the Holy Ghost has fallen lives have been changed the shades of those who brought us to this point should the Lord allow looking in as part of that great cloud of witnesses anticipating what God is going to do here in the next two days lives are going to be altered here at this Camp people are going to get a new revelation of what God can do in their homes in their churches and in their hearts in a world that is steeped in darkness God is still light and that light has shine in the darkness and though the darkness comprehended it not he brought hope to this world he brought a new life to those who believe in his name and I really think it's it's it's so firmly embedded in my heart I really believe that we're going to see a spectacular outpouring of the Holy Ghost that we're going to see a Revival that will surpass any Revival the church has ever known I don't believe we're going to slip out unnoticed going out with fireworks we're going out with spotlights on us I think the world will know that the people of God were among us and that God was at work through them when I come to Florida seems like I get a fresh glimpse of what God can and will do there's so many faces so many friends so many people who've come to love and so deeply respect through the years and out there some of you I don't know you I don't know your names where you're from but I see you year after year when I come to the camp meeting you don't look like you did the first time I saw you time still praising his name still lifting him up that's what God is looking for in this world so would you believe with me for the next three nights for what God wants to do in us and for us through us that we'll leave here like fire Brands spread by the wind leaving behind us in our wake of Life a burning blaze of the power and presence of God I think that's the best we can hope for thank you brother Boyd The District board thank you for the privilege I have of being here for the invitation to come again to Florida brother Shaw so good to be with you he teamed with you this year Philippians chapter 3 and thank you for the kind words all the good things said thank you very much.

the 12th verse of Philippians 3 not as though these are the words of the Apostle Paul whose writings make up the major authority of the New Testament by far and whose life story makes up most of the book of Acts but here's his personal testimony not as though I had already attained I haven't got there yet I haven't arrived yet either were already fulfilled or perfect but I keep going 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 but this one thing I do now if this was a modern motivational speaker there'd be 31 things that I do I can get the hold of one thing I can remember even at my Advanced age one thing this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind maybe it's been a rough road to get here but we're here I'm going to forget those things which are behind me and I'm going to reach forth unto those things which are before I press I press this is the one thing I press toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus now I want to borrow from the first portion of this my text from verse 12 for my title I want to preach tonight on I want to get a hold of what has a hold on me Lord Jesus thank you for what we've felt here tonight your presence that came through the worship of your people your presence that filled this house I pray your anointing tonight on your word on me the preacher on all of us the hearers that we may accept it be changed by it in Jesus name amen God bless you thank you please be seated.

in Genesis chapter 32 Jacob is in real trouble it's not just a trial not a tribulation he's in a life or death situation now I think it's important to remember that Jacob isn't where he is in chapter 32 because of his own decision making he isn't here because he chose to be here he is where he is because he is striving to do the will of God Jacob fled his home at the urging of his mother to save his life from his slighted brother Esau he had deceived their father and had stolen Esau's inheritance and now at threat of death he's on his way to Uncle laan's house he spends two decades at least there in that land but lately God has appeared to Jacob and SP spoken to him and called him home it's time for you to go home so Jacob gathers his family his four wives his bunch of kids his servants his cattle and camels and donies and sheep and he heads toward the home of his mother and father he's doing it because God said do it his first challenge of course comes when his father-in-law the slimy manipulating lying laan finds out in the morning that Jacob has taken his daughters and has taken his Jacob's cattle and so on and has disappeared and laan mounts a Expedition they're going to hunt Jacob down now the scriptural implication is pretty clear that lean is planning violence he intends to take his daughters back and probably all that Jacob owns and whether he brings Jacob back or not is questionable and laan overtakes them but before he can mount his plan God Appears to laan in a dream says don't you touch that boy he's in my will he's doing what I called him to do you better leave him alone now there's no indication that laan worship the god of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob but he's no fool and when he hears from God the next day when he meets with Jacob instead of anger and recrimination and violence there's neck hugging and cheek kissing and you should have just told me you was leaving it' have been fine and Jacob is spared now only a matter of a few days later before they can have recovered from The Challenge of Le laan's wrath a messenger arrives in the camp of Jacob now it's one much more dangerous than leben one whose anger whose rage has been seething for decades Esau's coming how Esau could have known that Jacob has left the protection of laan and is on his way in the wilderness on his way home we have no idea but obviously he has discovered this and he's brought 400 soldiers and he intends to destroy them all there's no I'm GNA bring this one home I'm GNA spare the cat I'm going to do no he has one purpose in mind he's going to destroy his brother and all that his brother loves and Jacob knows he has no hope none at all he has no Army no Weaponry he has sheep herders and Cattleman so he does all he can do he divides his family in two groups it's obvious I'll send one this way and I'll send the other this way and if he falls on one perhaps half my family can survive perhaps half my possessions will not be destroyed he knows that's not enough so he has little he has little groups of cows put together and little groups of sheep and little groups of camels and so on little gifts that he sends out ahead with servants and they're instructed when you see Esau you tell him this is this is from his brother because his brother loves him and he's sorry and maybe this will assuage The Rage of Esau but he knows it won't so Jacob is left to do the only possible thing he sends everyone on their way crossing a little creek you start that direction you start that direction you take the cows first and then the sheep and then the camels let's get going let's do what we can we've got to accomplish everything possible go and they went and Jacob is left alone as the Sun is setting Jacob does the only thing that can possibly make a difference he prays I can't do it I don't have the intelligence the wit the strength the wealth power I have no soldiers no armies I have no weapons if you don't help me I cannot survive the sun sets and the stars come out Darkness has fallen and Jacob prays on in the anguish of his soul his eyes tightly shut kneeling in the sand beside the Little Creek suddenly a hand falls on Jacob's shoulder immediately he leaps to his feet I know what he's thinking I know what i' have thought he thinks it's one of Esau's men it's perhaps it's perhaps a scout sent out maybe maybe an assassin sent to do the job before even the soldiers get here find Jacob first will'll eliminate him and the rest will have no hope and maybe just maybe this is the end of everything and so Jacob does now now you might be made of Sterner stuff but I know what I'd have done I'd have done what Jacob did I'd have tried to run like a scalded dog I'd have tried to get away from that guy I'd have triy to I'd have tried to run down that down that little that little creek bottom I'd have tried to weaved in and out of the trees just anything if I can just get a lead on if I can just get away and so Jacob is trying to flee and the man reaches out and grabs a hold of him and he will not let him go and so the wrestling match begins.

most of the time I think even in many bibles in if you have one of those Bibles that has little paragraph uh headings kind of describe what the next part is about often times that says Jacob wrestles with an angel well I don't know if it an angel or not some think it was a theophany that is a physical manifestation of the presence of God some think it was God himself in his physical form that might mean that it was Jesus himself I know regardless of whether it was an angel a theop theophany or the Lord in physical form it was the answer to Jacob's prayers he had prayed down an intervention of God and he didn't even know it his fear takes over and he tried to flee and the man says you're not going anywhere I've got a hold of you now I'm going to save you from yourself I'm going to hold on to you when fear would drive you away from the very answer to your own prayers and so I'm going to get a hold of you Jacob and I'm not going to let let you go and the wrestling match was on the implication is that during the early part of that night Jacob is trying to break away it isn't really a wrestling match it's jaob trying to escape and the man not letting him go the man holding on to him in spite of his own misunderstanding his own fear his own doubt Jacob was trying to break free and the man was holding on to Jacob but somewhere in that dark night of struggle it begins to penetrate through the fear and through the doubt and through the confusion it gets to Jacob this guy's pretty strong if he wanted me dead I'd have been dead hours ago this man isn't here to kill me he must be here to help me and so Jacob changes somewhere in the middle of the struggle call it a revelation call it an inspiration call it a sudden insight but Jacob changes from trying to get away to Hanging On To What has been hanging on to him suddenly the role of the two combatants H is reversed uh Jacob is the one hanging on H and the man is the one trying to break Loos H the Sun starts coming up and the man says let me go and Jacob says no I'm not letting go of you until you bless me Jacob understands something oh I'm preaching to somebody here there has to come that moment of understanding when we change from being the one that God is always having to hang on to the one that God is always having to rescue to becoming the one that gets a hold of him and says I don't care what happens H I'm not quitting I'm not giving up I'm not going back uh I'm going to hang on regardless.

this is exactly what Paul is talking about in my text Paul is describing an experience that is accessible and available to every one of us he calls from the depth of his soul this is a man of God that shook the world changed it forever in a short 20 years uh he turned the world upside down he left the foundation of Western Civilization he gave Christianity it's theological underpinnings uh he changed everything H but here toward the end H he writes and says I haven't got there yet I haven't arrived yet H here's what I want H more than accolades more than hand claps more than people's compliments H I want to know him I want to know him in the power of his resurrection I want to lay hands on the sick and see them recover I want to preach H and see lives changed H I want to sing and see people's hearts lifted H I want to have the power but I also want to know him in the fellowship ship of his suffering regardless of what it takes H regardless of what it costs H I want to know him not just in Good Times not just in times of Triumph and victory but when the dark clouds come and pain is in the offering I want to know him Above All Things I want it to be him about him for him that I may know him I haven't got it all figured out he says I haven't attained I have not apprehended I have not arrived I'm not there yet I'm not perfect but I keep going because I want to get a hold of what has had a hold of me.

it's a beautiful imagery and I'm I'm not in any way minimizing it or denigrating to it tonight not no I don't mean to at all please don't please don't take that from what I'm saying it's biblical it's scriptural that when we're down and when we're filled with fear and when we're struggling with pain and loss Beyond understanding when we've prayed and our prayers are not answered when we believed in our faith does not make a difference when we don't know why things are happening like they're happening and our faith begins to wne and our determination begins to flag and were tempted to quit church and quit praying and quit worshiping what has God done for you the devil Whispers in our ears and we're ready to give up I thank God he doesn't stand there with folded arms and say I hope he makes it I hope she'll turn around no the image is clear it's plain the coin was lost and its owner swept every coin cor and searched every cranny until that for coin was recovered that lost sheep was out on the hillside and the shepherd left the 90 and n and scoured those Hills H until he found that lamb put him on his shoulders and carried him with joy I thank God he doesn't leave us I thank God he's there that when I lose my grip GP on him he's got a grip on me I don't know I don't know where we got this idea that somehow God is God is kind of just standing back maybe halfway hoping we'll mess up so he can kind of he can judge us and he can zap us with with with judgment we cringe and Terror before this God that somehow we think has just set this bar and then if we can't reach it well tough maybe somebody else can and he goes on his way we even imagine God being angry with us when we fall short and when we miss the Mark we subscribe to God a human reaction that's not the god pictured in the New Testament he's got a grip on you and he's not gonna let go of you Jacob had done a lot of stupid stuff he had done a lot of bad things Jacob hadn't always understood and not always been right can I take it a step further in his Camp there were Idol gods that his wives had taken from their father's house H and hidden and Jacob had not dealt with itth but when Jacob got in trouble when Esau was on his way God didn't leave Jacob to suffer and go through it without help but God himself showed up beside that Brook and got a hold of his son and said I'm here to answer your prayers I'm going to take it one more little step further and here it is you wouldn't be where you are if God had given up on you wouldn't be sitting here tonight with the Holy Ghost in your heart and joy in your life H you wouldn't be what you are and have what you have H if God had ever turned against you but you are here because when you couldn't find him he knew the path that you were on and he found you and he put his arms this imagery is important to Bear In Mind Of God holding on to us when our grip fails us we.

in more recent times we we've preferred different Visions images of this fact used to it was it was God hanging on to us that's scriptural nothing wrong with it that's how we saw it songs like leaning I'm leaning I'm safe and secure from all alarms leaning I'm leaning I'm leaning on the Everlasting Arms a little later it took maybe a little different form so let the storm clouds rise the dark clouds rise eyes they won't worry me for I'm sheltered safe within the arms of God of late we see it a little different and I don't know which I prefer I like them both now we don't see him standing there hanging on we see him running to find us to get us he's he's searching us out yes we're the Lost coin and yes we're the lost sheep but we're also that lost boy who is making his way home and the father can't stand it anymore he's standing at the gate and he's watching down the road and when that boy comes headed home he breaks into a run and that old man runs down that boy throws his arms around him and escorts him back back home I'll kill the fatted calf I'll put a new robe on you here's my ring on your finger because my son was lost but now he's found he was dead but now he's alive now we see him coming after us his goodness is running after it's running after me these images are important for us to get a hand handle on don't you ever forget you get with the wrong crowd you go the wrong way you get down in the dumps you give up you almost give in I want you to keep looking around because sooner or later you're going to see a man with nail scarred hands that's going to come running up the road and throw his heart God has a hold of us can I take it further it's hard to backslide no I believe it's hard to backslide you got to work at that backsliding business you got to be determined to backslide if I backslide I'll have to wave through the prayers of a grandma that prayed for me who knew how to touch God one of the greatest Christians I've ever known and she prayed for me every day I have to wait through those prayers I'll have to wait through my daddy's prayers and I'll have to pray through my mama's prayers and my stepmom's prayers I'll have to wave through the prayers of saints who have loved me and prayed for me all of my life oh hear this preacher it's hard to backslide because people have invest Ted in us but even more so you're going to have to break through the love of a God who loved us when we were not lovable who cared about us when we didn't care about him a God who died for us when we were still Sinners that God is going to hold on and hold on and hold on oh I'm preaching to somebody tonight he isn't shoving you out the door he's pulling you back in he isn't surrendering you to the devil he isn't allowing sin to overwhelm you he's standing guard over you he's got his hand on you he is holding on to you oh we ought to praise him again right now what unfathomable love far above our understanding far above our comprehension a God who just loves us and holds on to us.

but I've come on this opening night of Camp to challenge somebody I am not in any way sliding that fact that we wouldn't be here without him holding on to us and that is our Assurance in the days yet to come because I can assure you no matter how sold out to God you are day can come that will rock you to your foundations and that will be the day you'll be so glad to feel his arms holding on to you but like Jacob there must come that moment where we get off the roller coaster being excited on Sunday and barely make it back on Wednesday there has to come that day where we're not always struggling we're not always down there has to come that day where this thing becomes more than our social club becomes more than where our friends and family gathers it becomes more than ritual or routine or more than habit that somehow like the great Apostle we get a hunger that grows in our heart I thank God he's got a hold of me but somewhere along the road I want to get a hold of him somewhere I want to quit being the one that needs to be rescued and I want to become a rescuer myself I want to get so deep into this thing that nothing nothing can separate me nothing here nothing tomorrow nothing yesterday nothing the devil can do no power no principality nothing present Nothing Yet to Come can ever separate me because I am sold out I've got a grip on this thing I know my grip is just my grip but with all of my strength H I'm going to hang on I don't care what they say on the internet I don't care how they ridicule and make fun I don't care what the smart Alex have to say at the backsliding up pcers have to criticize I don't care I've got a grip on this thing I've got to hold on this thing I am a one God Apostolic Jesus name Born Again heavenbound believer in the power of Jesus name I am that I will be that I ain't quitting I ain't giving up when my strength fails he'll see me through but I want to get a hold of it I want to dig deep into it I want to know what the book says I want to be able to explain the theology behind what I've been taught I want to love that word I want to be faithful to God's presence in his house I want to get a hold of what's been holding on to me all these ear let's praise him right now let's lift our hands up toward him de if you need it will always be there but how desperately we need saints of God we need men and women of God who aren't just booed Along by by God's grace and mercy but somewhere they make up their mind this is what I am and this is what I'm going to be I'm not going to get on the edges and see how close to the world I can be I'm not going to run over here and play for the Applause and live to get attention of this world I'm not here to be applauded by this liberal Lost Generation of backsliding Pentecostals I want to get a hold of what's been holding on to me and I don't ever want to let it go I want to be submitted to my pastor I want to be submitted to my church leadership I want to be submitted to the men and women that God has placed as mentors in my life not the ones I choose if I hired them and they don't they I don't like what they tell me I can fire them if I can hire my mentors my influencers if I can hire and fire the authorities in my life I am the authority in my life I need authorities that I have no control over that can simply say you need to get this right you need to straighten this out you need to follow this path somebody said but I don't agree all the time don't you know there is no submission when there is agreement it's only when I disagree with my leaders that I have an opportunity to submit to them and I am strong when I submit to those that God has placed in my I don't know where I'm at but here I am I want to get a hold of this thing I want this to eat up my life I want this to be what I live for I want it to be my single purpose and my single goal I don't want to be a business man nothing wrong with that I don't want to be a success in the eyes of the world nothing wrong with that but I want to know him I want to know him I want him to be the highest go of my life I want to get a hold of this thing get the word of God down dig into it on my own let God's word speak to me I want to get a hold of this.

Paul understood that when we change from being held on to holding on to everything changes when Jacob wouldn't let go you can stand with me I'm going to quit the man said what's your name Jacob said my name is liar cheater Thief supplanter that's one who takes what is not properly his takes the place of one who is authorized to be in that place that's what I am and the man said uhuh no not no more that's when I was holding on to you but now you're holding on to me so you've got a new name not Jacob not supplanter not anymore your name is Israel because you are a prince of God you have found power with God when you went from being held on to holding on to you find the secret of true power and relationship a prince is a son of the king and this part I can't com it's a it is a absolutely unexplainable Miracle cuz he wasn't even there he could not have understood the transformation that it represented when Jacob went from trying to get away to Hanging On but God reached all the way over to the camp of Esau and two decades of Rage disappeared 20 years of resentment and anger and the plotting of Revenge evapor when they met instead of the flashing of Swords it's two brothers embracing I love you Bo I love you too and suddenly Esau who had hungered for 20 years for a lost birth right gave Jacob back his little gifts and said keep what you've got I've got enough finally I have enough my brother he can change the circumstances that you struggle with you never lifted a finger you just dug in and got a hold of God and finally he touched the sinner the T tendon of Jacob's thigh the strongest muscle of the human body Jacob's greatest strength and the implication is Jacob would limp for the rest of his life so that every step he would take whatever Road he would travel sunshine and Shadow he'd be reminded of the day I got a hold of what had been holding on to me and he would walk differently for the rest of his life I know I've been doing this a while and I know this is one of those sermons that while emotionally it touches many this is one of those biblical truths that stirs up many hearts I know that but I also feel in the Holy Ghost there's a handful young men and women moms and dads grandmas and grandpas there's a handful that this has this opportunity this truth that you don't have to be the recipient of Rescue all the time that you can settle some things right here right now you can make up your mind in the Holy Ghost not in your strength but in the strength of God you can decide some things I just believe this I'm convinced of this now I don't care how many degrees this guy's got I believe this and I'm not going to give up on it you can settle some things right here and you can go from being held to holding on.

so Paul said that I may apprehend that of which I am apprehended katalambano that's the word the King James translators call it apprehended it means to seize but even beyond that it means to possess with passion and determination that's why they didn't just put the word hold there because it's bigger than that it means I'm breaking through and I'm breaking through tonight I'm going to pour my heart my mind my dreams my goals my ambitions everything of my life and I'm going to seize this thing I'm not only going to get a hold of it I'm going to possess it I'm going to own it I am not going to ever ever let go so if you're here if you're one of that number those few that God has been talking to already about some of these very things and you want the process to begin now I want to get a hold of what's been holding on to me I'd like to invite you to come I'd like to you to make your way to the front now this is for those that are going to get a grip on this all the questioning is going to end all the doubts it's going to be over now I'm not saying we won't have our struggles we will but we're going to settle some things here.