TV 1757 | Taking Hold Part One

Well, praise the Lord. This would be another occasion when I could have just played the things that were said at the men's meeting, and we could just go home. It was a wonderful time of sharing, and I'm so thankful that God has revealed Himself to so many. And we have different ways of, different venues for expressing these things, and I just thank God for it all. I don't know if I'm going to say anything different than what was said this morning, or anything different than what we've heard, but I have a, but I just feel like the Lord wants to wake us up and move us along in ways that we haven't been moving. I believe He's doing it. Don't you? Isn't there a sense of a, of a stirring that God is, is bringing about? I need it. And He has had ways of reminding me, anybody else this week that, yeah, you've, you've had this sense. There are things that God wants me to, wants me to take hold of, and I've, I just had that thought all week. It was expressed in so many words this morning. We heard a wonderful message last week about reaching for the impossible. And of course, actually in that story, He didn't, the guy didn't just reach, he grabbed hold of something. But I feel like that's what the Lord has emphasized in my own mind this, this week. How easy is it for us to know all about truth? We know the scriptures. We know what the, we know what it's about. We know what Jesus did for us. And yet somehow we get stuck in a certain place. And instead of taking a journey and moving forward, we're just kind of in the same place. You know, it kind of reminds me of that old movie Cast Away.

You remember the guy who was stuck on an island for several years and then talking about it later and how hard it was. And he said, I just came to realize I just had to keep breathing. Keep breathing. Well, the Christian life is more than just keep breathing. God has a reason. He has a purpose why we're here. And again, I'm not going to say anything we haven't heard, but I sense a need for it to get a hold of it in a way that perhaps I haven't. And I don't think I'm the only one. Do you think the Lord wants to be more real in our midst? Do you think He wants to do the things that we read about in here? Or are we just going to say, praise God for what He's doing over there, over there. I want Him to do stuff here. I need Him to do stuff in me. And I want to see God stretch forth His hand. I'm not looking for signs and wonders particularly, but I want Him to do whatever needs doing in lives. Do we not need to see changed lives in our own midst where we see a clear testimony of somebody that something is totally humanly impossible, but yet we see God do it. Praise God. Well, we need to use scripture, don't we? And I thought about Paul's first letter to Timothy. And he's giving Timothy a lot of instructions. He's left him in the city of Ephesus. So this was not just a local elder. This was a young man, relatively young man compared to Paul. But he was there to really kind of help the people, teach them, set things in order, correct things that needed correcting. So he was a leader, even though he was young.

He was still a leader. So Paul was telling him all about what to do, and then he begins to give him some personal instruction toward the end. Because it isn't just a matter of knowing what to do, is it? I think we realize that. If all you do is really learn how to do it, and then you just do it, that's just religion. We don't need religion. We need Jesus here in the midst. I'm glad he's on a throne. I'm glad for everything he's done, but we need him here today to absolutely interact with our lives and make changes, real changes. And he's more than willing to do that. So anyway, Paul in chapter six is kind of encouraging him about warning of false teachers and those who were more attached to their desire for money. But then he says this, verse 11, but you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Interesting that he would just say pursue it. Well, I thought we have it. All we have to do is just flip a spiritual switch and say thank you, Jesus, for everything. So it's not quite that way, is it? Pursue. There's stuff, there are qualities that I need in my life because I wasn't born like the children of God. I mean, I wasn't born to be a citizen of heaven's kingdom in my own natural strength. strength and my own natural character. I need changing. We all need changing. We were born sinners. Every natural inclination of us is attached to self and this world, and we need change. Okay?

All right? So he's encouraged to not just deal with the issues of the church, but I want you to be the kind of person God called you to be. And I have a feeling with all my heart, I think many of you would agree. The first thing is not, what can we do? The first need is, what can God do in me to fix me, to change me so I can actually be a fit vessel? Because that's what Paul was dealing with here. It's not just, here's what I want you to do, it's here's the kind of person you need to be in order to do that stuff. And I believe with all my heart, God wants us to pursue, okay? This is another word or another expression, another couple of expressions actually, fight. The good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Now you get a picture of what the Christian life is about. Christian living is not just simply believing a set of doctrines, adopting a lifestyle, and participating in religious activities. It's life. It's a different life than the life with which I was born. And it sounds to me not like, okay, I get it and now I've got it. I need life today. I'm thankful for what God gave me yesterday. You know, to the degree that I looked to Him and asked Him to help me and to be with me and to change me to help me to be the kind of person He wants me to be, that was wonderful. But that was yesterday. And do you see the sense that Paul is conveying? That it's not just enough to do the right stuff, I'm going to have to get resources to do the right stuff. How do we pursue righteousness? How does a minister pursue ministry?

No one was any better acquainted with this reality than Paul. How many times does he talk about his own inability, his own, the sense that he was with the people in fear and trembling? We don't picture Paul that way. We picture the mighty apostle. Well, when the might was there, where was the might coming from? Wasn't Paul, was it? He was the one who testified from experience, when I am weak, then am I strong. That's a hard one to wrap our minds around. When God wants us to realize we were not born with any ability that can help us when it comes to living for God. And that means every single day, every single moment, there needs to be, I'm not talking about some conscious activity necessarily, but I'm talking about everything we do. We need help from, we need an infusion of life from heaven, don't we? Because we sang some wonderful things. We could come together and sing all those same songs and just do it out of human energy. And what would happen? Nothing. It would be totally empty. I thank God for the degree to which God has blessed us with his presence. But I also have this deep sense that God wants to take us further, because we don't want to just have a church that sits behind our walls and enjoys the presence of God and then goes on about our lives. God has a reason. We're here. There is a stirring in the land. And God wants a people he can use in this hour. I want to be one of them. I may be near the end of my journey, but I want to finish well. I want to see the Lord do what he wants to do in our midst.

We've experienced this in the past, and I'm not trying to bring that back. I want what he wants for us now. We don't have to bring back the forms of the past or anything from the past except him. We need him in our midst. But here is Paul trying to help Timothy to be able to handle the job that God has given him. And the first thing he says is, fight the good fight. Now we have all kinds of ways of trying to attain something through effort, but this is not a way. fight of human energy or human, you know, let's get a committee. Let's figure out how to make it happen. This is one where I need, it needs to be faith. It needs to be faith. It needs to be this spiritual quality that I can only get from him. I wasn't born with this. I need him to come and live in me and actually believe to face things that stand in opposition to all that we're talking about. Timothy wasn't there just without opposition, was he? Anybody had any opposition this week? And the biggest opposition we have is what? The one we see when we look in the mirror. I need help every single day, but you know, I want to get past just saying, oh God, get me through the day without messing up too bad. I want to have a sense that God has a purpose beyond that because we are built into a community of faith and God has charged us whether we're up here or whatever, we are meant to help one another. I want to get past the point where I am so needy, oh God, it's all about me. Help me get through the day. I want something where he can anoint me and live in me to the point where I have a control of this guy to the degree that I can actually help you a little bit.

I believe God's helping us with that, don't you? But there's something, I mean, why would Paul tell him to fight? Why would he tell him to lay hold of eternal life? That sounds crazy. What do you mean, Timothy wasn't saved? He's telling him to lay hold of eternal life. Think about that. We have this idea of getting saved and then just, you know, like I often say, stick the ticket to heaven in your back pocket and live your life. But salvation is a constant, I need a source of life that only comes from heaven. I need the life of Christ. I need it tomorrow. I need it the next day. I need it the day after that. This isn't just a Sunday kind of thing. I need him every single day. And that's what Paul is seeking to convey because the reality is we cannot live this life in our inhuman energy. I don't care how much you know of the scripture. And the sense that I've had is I wonder how much we have just relied on the fact that we know the scriptures. We can say what's right. We know what's right. But I find myself in a position many times where I know all about the scriptures and I'm sort of almost satisfied with that. You ever been in that place? Yeah, I know what the Bible says. I'm educated in that. I can tell you what it means. I can tell you what it says.

Isn't that great? I'm okay. But that's not what Timothy was told. If I've got to lay hold of something, there's something I don't have. But I got to put forth some effort to get something I do not have so that I can be what God wants me to be. And that is a whole different way of looking at the Christian life. I believe in a measure we ... There are many here who understand that. But I sense that there are things that God wants us to do. And it's not just enduring it and getting through. God wants us to experience some genuine victories in our lives, in areas that we have not experienced the victory and we have just kind of settled. I don't want a life that's settled in the bad sense. That is, I'm here, this is good enough. Good enough never is. I think there's a saying out there. But I just pray that God will give us that sense and fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. I guess I've heard it ... Well, it was said this morning and it was said Wednesday night for sure. This is one thing the devil is scared to death of. He's not scared of you. He's not scared of me. He's scared of Jesus. And to the extent that Jesus lives in us, he's terrified because he knows there is a power beyond anything that he has ever known. He knows what took place at the cross. He knows what took place. that empty tomb. He's scared to death. We'll find out about that. And not just talk about it and sing about it, we'll actually experience that in our lives. And that's what this is about.

God wants us to learn how to lay hold of real power. Now, the devil is very good. I mean, what would you do if you were the devil and you knew about this truth? You would come up with every argument you could possibly think of to hinder somebody from actually doing that. Well, I mean, one of them, did he do enough? Did Jesus actually, I mean, are all the resources that I need there? Or do I have to finish the bridge that he started to get me to where I need to go? You know, we know these scriptures, but what about Colossians 2? I feel like the Lord wants us to just look at some scriptures that we know very well, but just look at them in a fresh way. You know, one of the messages, first time I ever heard Brother Thomas preach, I believe, he used Colossians 2. And he used the old King James language about how we're complete in him. And the whole message of Paul is, first of all, you got to get planted in him so you can get the source of life from him. But the whole point of Paul in that passage was everything we need was provided through Jesus Christ. There's not one thing that you and I lack in our spiritual bank account. Oh, wait. I wonder how many of us, spiritually speaking, live in a shack and we get our mail and we look at the accounting of all the incredible riches that are ours. And then we go around telling people about the wonderful riches of God that has been given to us, and I'm rich. And you tell somebody else, they say, well, yeah, well, why are you living in a shack? You see the problem. Do you see that there's so much that the Lord has given to us that he wants us to take hold of and actually make ours as a daily reality? So the answer to the devil's question, are you sure he's done enough? Oh, yeah. There is not one thing that you and I need to get to the place about which we were singing this morning that he has not provided and that somehow we've got to work it out or deserve it. Not one single thing has he left undone. Thank God for such simple truth. But do you think there's a need for us to be reminded of this, maybe? Is this just something that some, you know, let's talk about our theology for a minute. No, this is not just mere theology. What about the message to 2 Peter or of 2 Peter? Beginning in verse 3 of the beginning of the book, his divine power, his divine power. That's pretty good. That divine power created the universe. They can't even fathom. They can't even explore it all. He knows the name of every star. If God has enough power to do that, he has enough power to save even somebody like me and somebody like you. He's got everything you need. Don't ever back down and say,

well, I just, this one area of failure, I just can't get past this. It's just too much. I just, he just, it's okay. Well, I thank God he accepts us and he's able to clean up our messes. But he doesn't, he wants to bring us to a place, you know, like a little child. There are certain times when, yeah, you recognize they're going to make messes, but you also want to help them to grow out of that, learn and grow. And it's the same way. I've got to take more of him every day into my life. And that's his plan for me. His divine power, is that enough? His divine power has, past tense, given us, given, given, not laid out there, so I've got to earn it. So the effort I'm putting forth is not to deserve it. It's not to earn it, but there is opposition to my having it. And it's the opposition that he wants me to overcome. There's no lack in what he's provided, but he wants me to learn how to go to the bank and actually get it. and use it, and be able to say, look what God has given me, look what He's done for me. You picture that in earthly terms, but what simple truth this is, but oh how we miss it. Am I the only one that ever misses this? Praise God, His divine power has, past tense, given us how much? Everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. There's obviously a place for knowledge, to knowing what's going on, knowing what He's done, but boy if it just stops there, then we just sit there, we've got a head full of knowledge and nothing to show for it. I want something to show for it, don't you? Praise God. How did Paul do the things that he did? How did a man who was full of weakness and fear and trembling even, as he said in the one place, how did he do stuff? He learned the secret that God doesn't work through my strength, my ability, my everything. He works through my weakness when I lay it out and give it to Him. He comes on and He gives me strength that I don't possess, but I've got to go after it. I can't just push a button and say, okay, that's how it works, I'm good. Every day, every situation, everything should drive us on our knees to our heavenly Father. Praise God. So there's a source for everything. I don't care what the need is in your life right now, whether you need a Savior, you need to come to know Him, or whether you've known Him for years and you're struggling with areas of besetting sin, the expression. God wants to give us fresh victories, fresh experiences of His presence and His power, so we can actually move on instead of just keep breathing. I want to get past just keep breathing, don't you? Well, the Lord does too. He's the one who told us all this.

And like somebody said this morning, He doesn't dangle stuff and then say, ha-ha, I'm just fooling, or you don't deserve this, so I'm just teasing you a little bit. God doesn't tease us. He tells us the truth about our need, but oh, what a perfect answer He has in His name is Jesus. Praise God. I'll tell you, when He comes in to live and gives us that new life, we have everything we need, but don't we need every single day to lay hold of that? Today's message in its entirety, please request it by program number. While it is not required, a donation of $10 for DVDs and $5 for CDs is suggested to help with expenses. Also, for those who request it, we will send you our quarterly publication, The Midnight Cry Messenger, free and postage paid. Send your requests to Midnight Cry Ministries, Post Office Box 685, Southern Pines, North Carolina, 28388. We invite you to join us again next week at the same time, and may God richly bless you until then.