Hold On Tight | James Buntrock

Tonight's message centers on holding tight to God's word the same way a lifeguard refuses to let go of a drowning swimmer. Drawing from Hebrews 13 and Joshua 1, it traces God's promise to never relax his hold, paired with a real rescue story off the California coast during Hurricane Genevieve. A personal sailing story, one hand for the ship and one for yourself, becomes a picture of holding fast to God's promises, while a family story about a daughter's near-fatal car accident shows how declaring God's word in crisis changed the outcome.

Transcript

Faith Declaration And Opening

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Let's just do like our custom is, and we're going to pick our Bibles up and we're going to make a faith declaration tonight. Prepare our hearts to get ready to receive. So say these words with me, Heavenly Father, my heart is open, it is receptive. I am ready to receive your word. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Breathing on this word, making it come alive to me. And I'll be a doer of this word. And you always put me over the top. In Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, well, let's jump in and get started. I've

Contentment And God’s Steady Help

SPEAKER_00 0:35

got some scriptures for you here tonight. We're going to start in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5 and 6, and I'm going to read this in the New King James Version. And then I'm going to flip over to the Amplified and see what it says in the Amplified Version. So same verse, same chapter, two different versions. So here it is in the New King James 13, verse 5 and 6. Let your conduct be without covetousness, but be content with such things as you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And then it says so that in verse 6, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? And so let's flip that over to the amplified version. In verse 5, it says, Let your character or moral disposition be free from the love of money, including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions, and be satisfied with your present circumstances and with what you have. For he, God, himself, has said, I will not in any way fail you, nor give you up, nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless, nor forsake you, nor let you down, or relax my hold on you, assuredly not. And so the Amplified really brings it out there, and three times it puts it in there. I will not, I will not, I will not. He will not leave us helpless, and he will not relax his hold on you. And so if you're watching tonight, why don't you just say these words? Say, I will not, I will not, I will not. Relax my hold on you. And so that's the Holy Spirit and how he relates to us. And

Lifeguard Rescue As Holy Spirit Picture

SPEAKER_00 2:16

so I've got a video that I'd like to show. It's about a minute long here. And uh, while we're pulling that video up, and go ahead and roll it at any time, I'll set the uh the scene up. So in this video, um there's a 10-year-old boy caught in the surf off the uh the west coast, off the coast of California. Uh, there's giant waves rolling in from Hurricane Genevieve, and so this was just a few days ago, a couple days ago, and there is a 16-year-old lifeguard that went out to rescue this 10-year-old boy, and you see him just get pummeled by the next wave and buried. And then the lifeguard and the 10-year-old kid pop up. And the lifeguard never let go of that young boy, and somebody comes out to help, but he's not a lot, he's trying to help the lifeguard there, but he's not a lot of help. He gets washed away by the next set of waves. And these are huge waves, and the rip current is trying to draw them out and suck them out into deeper water, and there that lifeguard is, and he just never let go of that 10-year-old boy. And uh, and I just want you to see that as an image of the Holy Ghost. Whatever circumstance you're in, whatever thing you're going through, the Holy Ghost will never, never, never relax his hold on you. And whatever you're in the middle of, he's in the middle of it with you. And so the ultimate, the end of this video is that uh that boy was rescued and he is just fine. And uh I think President Trump is wanting to uh uh bring the lifeguard and the young boy into the White House and give the lifeguard a civilian medal of honor uh for that brave rescue out there. But uh Holy Ghost isn't looking for a medal, he's just doing his job, relentlessly doing his job. He will never, never, never leave you nor forsake you, and he won't relax his hold on you. And whatever you're in the middle of, he's in the middle of it with you. And

What You See Is Temporary

SPEAKER_00 4:10

so you can take confidence in that. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, uh verse 18, 2 Corinthians 4.18, it says, While we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. And so I just want you to know that whatever scenario, whatever circumstance you're caught up in, if it's visible, if you can see it, if you can see evidence of its existence, that means it's temporary. And if it's temporal or temporary, that means your circumstance is subject to change at any given time. It is not a permanent condition. Uh, it is subject to change, and you're not alone in that circumstance. The Holy Ghost has his hold on you. And so I just, you know, that that imagery of that uh uh lifeguard out there in the in the huge waves. Um I just want you to remember that. The Holy Ghost has got you. He's not letting go. Um, that phrase out of Hebrews, um, when we read out of Hebrews chapter 13, in verse uh uh five, he said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. That was not the first place that it was written in the Bible. It was written all the way back in Deuteronomy chapter 31 and again in Joshua chapter 1. And so I'm

Joshua’s Mandates And God’s Promises

SPEAKER_00 5:31

gonna read some text out of Joshua chapter 1 tonight. And we're gonna look in verse 1. Joshua 1, verse 1. It says, After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise and go over this Jordan, you and all the people to the land that I am giving them, the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river of the Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea, uh toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. See there it is again. Be strong and of good courage, for to you, this people, you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to the law for uh the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do all according to that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. And so, um, out of that context right there, out of those verses right there, um, I wanted to point out that God gave Joshua some mandates. And uh we could pick through all the way through here, but I'm just gonna list them out. Um, God gave Joshua these mandates. Number one, he said, Arise, get up. Number two, he gave him a direction of something to do. He said, Cross over this river, you and all this people. And then he said, walk, tread upon the land. Every place that the sole of your foot touches, I have given you. He said, Be strong and of good courage. He told Joshua that he's gonna divide this land as an inheritance to his people. And again he says, be strong, and this time very courageous. Number seven, he said, observe to do all according to all the law. Don't waver, don't turn to the left or the right. Number nine, he said, to speak the word. Number ten, meditate on the word, and number eleven, do all that is written in there. And so those are those are mandates that was that God gave Joshua in regards to uh bringing the people into the promised land. Um with those mandates, God spoke promises to Joshua. Number one, he said, I am giving this land to the people. Number two, he said, I have given this land to you, your territory to distribute. And so the the possession of the land, and the so he says, I am giving you this land, and then he said, Every place that the sole of your foot treads upon, I have given you. So there's an action there, and the action resulted in uh a possession. So I am giving you something, and then when you walk and go and possess it, then I have given it to you. And so God was uh, you know, it it it's written both ways there. I have given this land to you. Uh number three, no man will be able to stand before you. So he was going to be just like he was to Moses. Uh God was gonna be like that to Joshua. Number four, just like I was with Moses, I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Um then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. And so those are promises that God spoke to Joshua in all of that passage right there. Um I get out of that whole passage that Joshua had to number one, believe what God spoke to him, understand that what God spoke is real, and so he had to number one believe that. Number two, he had to speak that, he had to declare those things, and number three, he had to take action according to what God said. And so you believe and you speak and you act, so that you can, number one, receive, number two, prosper, and number three, succeed. And God gave him those, I mean, it's outlined right in there. If you look at the context of that scripture, you've got to believe, speak, and act so you can receive, prosper, and succeed.

Covetousness, Fear, And True Contentment

SPEAKER_00 10:12

And so if we go back to the Hebrews uh scripture in verse in chapter 13, verses five and six, that scripture is written about money, uh, or about earthly goods, about possessions, and uh and not coveting what others have, and really to covet something, um in verse five it says, Let your conduct conduct be without covetousness. And when you covet something, you're coveting something that somebody else has, and that's really based on a fear of not having enough. Like, I have no hope of getting that, and so I want what they I want what's theirs. And so it's based on a fear position of not having enough or fear of running out. I'm about to run out of what I got, and so I need what they have. There's a covetousness there, and that's a that's a violation. So let your conduct be without covetousness. In other words, don't have a fear of running out. Um, but be content with such things as you have. Now that doesn't mean to be satisfied with anything less than what God's word has promised you. Like, okay, God says that we can have X, Y, and Z, and I haven't taken possession of that. I believe God, but I haven't maybe spoken, and or maybe I have spoken, but then I haven't acted yet, so I haven't gone and treaded over that place. My foot hasn't actually walked in that space, and I haven't taken possession of something, and so it's still not physically here. You don't be satisfied with not having the promises of God's word. But you don't you learn to be content in whatever situation you're in so that you're not living in fear of running out and coveting what others have and what you haven't taken possession of. What you do is you look forward to God's promises and say, I can have that. That can belong to me. He said, I can have that, I'm gonna believe, I'm gonna speak, I'm gonna act, so that I can receive and prosper and succeed. And so uh, you know, that covetousness and that longing for something that you don't have that somebody else has, that's really a fear that God will also let you down, that he's not coming through for you. And so that's unfaith. Um this fear is overcome by simply believing and speaking and acting like God is faithful, because he is. And he will not relax his hold on you. And so, you know, if you're in a condition right now where you're lacking something that God has, you know, he's got promises for you, a supply for you, if you're in a condition of lacking some of those things, if you're not living up to the full potential of what God said you can have, um, we got to start by believing God's word, uh speaking God's word, and then acting like God's word is true and doing the things necessary to take possession of and receive those things. But I just want all the way through that, I want you to remember the imagery of that 10-year-old boy caught in that surf and how that lifeguard wrapped his arms around him and held tight and never, never, never let go and never gave up on him, and just completely sheer will drugged that boy out of that surf and rescued and saved his life. And that's how the Holy Ghost is relating to you. He, out of sheer will, will not relax his hold on you, won't give up on you. And

Don’t Relax Your Hold On The Word

SPEAKER_00 13:27

you got to realize that whatever situation you might be in that doesn't measure up is temporary and subject to change. And so, you know, the Holy Ghost not relaxing his hold on you is one thing. Now I want to encourage you the other way. To not relax your hold on God, to not relax your hold on God's word. Hold on to this word. This word right here is your anchor, this is your hope, this is the thing that will carry you through. And so, you know, a visual example of this, not relaxing your hold. Um, when I was a uh a sailor on board a tall ship called the HMS Rose, there was a rule on board that you had one hand for yourself and one hand for the ship. In other words, there were things that we had to do to maintain the ship and take care of the ship, but in no case did I put my life at risk of going overboard because I was doing two things with my hands here and both hands were occupied, and then I lose my balance and end up going overboard. So you got one hand for you, and that you better have an iron grip. You better hold on and never, never, never let go. And so when you're climbing, when I was climbing up in the rigging uh during a storm to maybe take in sail, shorten the sail of the boat, I'm up there 120, 130 feet up in the air, and that mast is rocking back and forth. And I had one hand for me, and the other hand was doing the work of the ship. And I never never never let go. And the Holy Ghost never, never let go of me, but I never, never, never let go of that ship. And so for you, never, never, never let go of God, never let go of his word. His promises are true. Uh they will bear out in your life if you hold on to them.

Ministry Mandates And Ordered Steps

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Um, God has given some uh directives for this church, for this ministry to pastor. Uh, and we call them mandates. They're mandates that God has given this ministry. One, he called this church a regional center, uh, said that this church had regional authority or governmental authority to an authority to operate with within our region. He said to Pastor, wake up the church. Uh said that there is a dearth of the word, and people don't know what you know, and so teach what you take for granted. Um said that he was gonna build a barn for the harvest, and this building is not it. And so, you know, these are these are mandates. Said when people come through the doors of that church, make sure I'm gonna send a hot, dry wind. I want you to make sure when they get here there's water. And so we've got to get caught doing our job. And these are mandates. And you know, you know, wake up the church, what does that look like? You know, well, for a lot of years, um pastor's preaching from the pulpit here, and there's a there's there's a message here, and and he'll tell you about this. But he wrote a book and and uh and tried to put it in the hands of as many pastors as he could, and they didn't care anything about it, and they wouldn't listen to him. You know, somebody who's asleep doesn't really like the alarm clock. People don't want to be awakened. And so it's not a pleasant thing to be jarred out of a pleasant sleep, um, but it's not a time to be asleep. And so what do we do? We just keep taking steps and and obeying God's word and obeying his mandates and just being faithful over those things here. And ultimately, you know, when you do something long enough and you take one step and another step and another step, then you turn around and look behind you and realize I've taken a lot of steps. And what was God talking about all those years ago? Well, we're doing it today. And, you know, on our side, it just kind of feels like, you know, we just stumbled into something and God was in it. But on God's side, no, there was ordered steps, and we had to be faithful every one of these steps to get there. And so now, you know, we're doing things all over the nation to wake up churches, to wake up pastors, to bring them into state capitals, to bring the presence of God into state capitals, and to and to uh just change the the political environment by the presence of God there. And these pastors are waking up along the way, and and we do things here locally as well. And so, you know, we are accomplishing that wake up the church mandate, and it happened not in the moment that God said, but in all the steps that we took along the way, and then now we're in the middle of doing it. And so you couldn't opt, you know, the the things that God gives you to do are so much bigger than your ability to do them. And you look at Joshua, you're gonna lead these people over the River Jordan. He talked to Pastor, you're gonna wake up the church at large. Oh my gosh, how are we gonna do that? What does that look like? And then we we don't get all the details. And you know, we're we're learning along the way that we can ask and we can know things. We can ask to know, and uh, but God's really on a need-to-know basis. He will tell you what you need to know so that you can do what you need to do. And that's about it. And what you need to do is simply the next step, and that's true in your own personal life too. You know, he won't give me the entire plan of my whole life mapped out. What he does is he gives us the next step in our family, he gives us the next step in our life, and we've got to be faithful over these steps. Um,

Believe Then Speak With Faith

SPEAKER_00 18:15

in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, 13, it says, And since we have the same spirit of faith, what spirit of faith is he talking about there? He's talking about the same spirit of faith that raised Christ from the dead. The same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is dwelling on the inside of us. And since we have that same spirit of faith, according to what it is written, I believe and therefore I spoke. I believe and therefore I spoke. We also believe and therefore we speak. Doesn't it make sense that if you believe something, you wouldn't hesitate to speak it? I mean, if I look down at this carpet, I don't doubt that this carpet is red. I don't doubt that the top of this stage is kind of a charcoal color. You might argue with me over the shades of something, but you know, the floor is red, the chairs are red, the walls in here are black, and then the stage is charcoal. And I believe that. I can see it with my eyes, and you're not going to talk me out of it for nothing. I believe it. I'm not afraid to speak it. Well, if we're looking through the eyes of faith, and you're convinced, fully convinced, because you're looking through the eyes of faith, you you see you read God's word and you get things for your life out of that, you get revelation knowledge, and you're you're looking out in front, and you know, pastor said, Well, this is a regional sinner. I see with the eyes of faith. I don't know what that looks like, but I'm going to start saying it like I believe it. And so in your own life, you know, if you've got a family, uh, your kids might not be serving God right now, but you can declare those things and state those things. You can set things in order in your life, in your family, in your household. That is your domain. And so you see with the eyes of faith, you see the end result of this thing. You know, I'm not married yet, but I'm gonna be married. I'm, you know, my physical body is not feeling very well right now, but but I see myself healed on the other side. So I declare by the stripes of Jesus, I am healed. You're not violating anything, you're not telling a lie. You're declaring what you what you're seeing with the eyes of faith, you're declaring that God's word, you believe, and therefore you speak. And that is the simple word of faith. It's not something weird, it's just the simple word of faith. You were saved by the simple word of faith. You believed in your heart and you confessed with your mouth because you believed. So it shouldn't be a weird thing if you truly believe it. It's not hard to speak it. It gets weird when you don't believe it. And then you're trying to force yourself to say something that you really haven't convinced you're not really convinced on the inside yet. What's the remedy for that? Get this word on the inside of you until you're fully convinced. And uh and and then it'll be it'll feel better when you say it. But believe it and say it until you believe it anyway. Just speak his word. You know, when the devil came to uh tempt Jesus before when when Jesus went out into the wilderness, the devil twisted God's word and he tried to present false things to Jesus uh in a twisted fashion. And Jesus, what did he do? He answered with God's word. And so when the devil comes and tries to get climbing your brain and plant thoughts that don't belong there and put seeds of fear that don't belong there, and say you're running out and you're not gonna make it, you answer with this word and you keep answering with this word, whether you're convinced or not. But it helps when you're convinced. And so get convinced before you need it. That's the that's the simple message right there is convince yourself before you need it, so that when you need it, you're fully aware, you're fully convinced, you can speak it, and you're speaking in faith and authority that comes out with that. And so, you know, we got those mandates for this church, but I'm asking you, what has God promised you? What does his word say about your life, about your family, about your future? You know, it's not going to tell you what what color washing machine and dryer set to get. Maybe not what you're making model of car to buy. But you know, the Holy Ghost is on the inside of you and He will give you wisdom in that time. If there's something critical in your life where you need to make a decision, you know, do I get this one or that one? Holy Ghost is an expert. And he'll make you look like an expert too if you let him. And so lean on that. We've got to learn to lean on that inward witness, the gut feeling that he gives you on the inside. It's not a head knowledge thing, it's the Holy Spirit talking to your spirit on the inside.

The Inward Witness And A Miraculous Rescue

SPEAKER_00 22:31

And when you begin to move with that, you'll pick up on warnings. And I've told this story here about our daughter, Thea, when she was in a terrible car accident, broadsided by a pickup truck that was going about 50 miles an hour, and she's in a little Kia Sol, little car. It folded her car in half and just cratered that thing all around her. But before the accident happened, she's driving down the road. And she had a feeling on the inside. And her thought was in her brain associated with that feeling was, what if I get into an accident? And she had kind of an apprehension, you know, and didn't know how to proceed. And so she prayed and asked God for help. You know what? The Holy Ghost was right there in the middle of it with her. And she said that feeling didn't quite go away. Um, and so she put on praise and worship music and worshiped. You know what you do when you worship? You're in the presence of God, you're in the secret place of the Most High, you're under the shadow of the Almighty. So she changed her spiritual location by getting out of the natural and into the supernatural. And now she was like in this spiritual bubble of protection. So that when she did make the left-hand turn, when the nice lady waved her through and didn't see that the truck was coming on the other side of that line of cars and the truck plowed into her, she was found unconscious at the scene. Um, but her memory after the accident was I don't even remember being in an accident. I saw the truck coming, I accelerated through the intersection, I went through our gate, I was in our neighborhood, I was just fine, and I wake up and these people are messing with me. So she didn't even have the trauma of the car accident because there was a different memory in there. She didn't have the traumatic memory. God shielded her brain. And it was all because there was an inward witness. The Holy Ghost was right there with her, and he was protecting whatever she was in the middle of, he was in the middle of. And ultimately, you know, she was lifelied down to the hospital. But uh when we met her at the hospital, she came out of there five hours later with uh a Tylenol and a band-aid. A Tylenol and a band-aid. And so the situation was one thing at the accident. She had all the signs of traumatic brain injury, and Claire and I got the word of that, and that situation was what? Temporal. It was temporary. That meant it was subject to change. I don't doubt the condition that she was in at that scene when the fire chief showed up and pulled her out of that car and evaluated her. I don't doubt that. It was that, but when she gets in the helicopter and flies over and lands at the hospital on the other side, Claire and I had already gotten the word and we're declaring the word of God. We believe and therefore we speak. There was not a good feeling on the inside of us. There was a terrible feeling on the inside of us, but we didn't speak the fear, we didn't speak, oh my gosh, what happened to our daughter? Oh my gosh, is she gonna have a normal life after this? Is she gonna be alive? Is she gonna live? Like all those thoughts and feelings were there and they're real, but you don't give them voice. What do you believe? I believe God's word, and therefore we speak. And so we spoke God's word. And when Pastor got the message, he said it's not as bad as it looks. And so, you know, we're speaking faith. We believe, and therefore we speak. And we we didn't act like the world had ended. We went to go pick up our daughter, and we got there, and she's fine. So the temporary situation of the condition here changed by the time she was over there and we arrived. And there was no need of anything in the hospital. She didn't really need the band-aid or the Tylenol. And she didn't have any symptoms after that. She was fine the next day. She wasn't fearful to get in the car after that. There was no fear. She got in the car and hopped in it and drove like everything's just fine. None of the normal things that everybody says happened in a car accident did lived out to be true. Why? Because it was a temporary situation and it's subject to change, and it's subject to change when we employ God's word. And so, you know, we got to put, don't ever, ever, ever relax your grip on God's word. Don't, I will never, never, never. I'm never gonna let go of this. I'm never gonna let go of God. I will not let go of his word. He won't let go of me. And so when you got those two things working together, you can't lose. All of creation is subject to change around you when you put those two things together. Jeremiah 29, 11 says, for this is God talking to Israelites here, for I know the thoughts that I think to you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, not evil, to give you a future and a hope. And the future and a hope came through all that lineage through his son Jesus that came, you know, that came later. And so that's the future and the hope of the world right there. There's a good plan for you and your family. Through salvation, there's salvation for your family. If your family's not saved, it's available. There's a future and a hope. He has a good plan. 2 Corinthians 2.14 says, now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ. That's where he's leading us. He's leading us out of the tumultuous waves and the torment and the trouble. He's leading you out of that and into triumph, into the celebration, not into the fight, not to the shoreline where you can just be dragging yourself out of that water and say, oh, I barely made it. He's leading you all the way into the celebration on the other side. We're celebrating the win, the victory, not barely making it. The just shall live by faith, not survive by faith. And I want you to employ this in your life. So, do you have a promise of healing? Do you have a promise of good health? Are you a tither? Are you a sower of seed? If you are, guess what? The devourer has been rebuked for your sakes. And that doesn't mean he's not going to try to come after you and devour stuff. It means that he's been rebuked already. And now we can enforce stuff against him. And so that comes with it. And you know, you will experience the devouring if you let go of this word. One

Triumph, Provision, And Psalm 23 Confidence

SPEAKER_00 28:33

hand for you and one for the ship. Hold on to this word. Don't let go. Does shalom belong to you? The Lord is my shepherd. Is he your shepherd? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not decrease or lack or fail. He leads me beside the still water. He leads me in green pastures. His paths of righteousness. You ought to meditate on those things and talk about those things or assure yourself of those things. He is my shepherd. Do that before you get in trouble. So that when trouble comes, you're fully convinced. And I believe and therefore I spoke. And when I spoke, what I believed, and I believe his God's word, and I spoke his word, the circumstances just changed. And the Holy Ghost, whatever trouble I was in the middle of, he wrapped his arms around me and he drug me right out of there. Because he said he will not leave me nor forsake me. Are you named with his name? Do you have the family name? There's good stuff that comes with the family name. You got brought out of the darkness and into light, out of a family that was that was dead to one that was alive. You got the full rights of being an heir when you were grafted into his family. You didn't have to be the earthly bloodline of that family. You got grafted in to the God's bloodline through his son Jesus when he applied his blood. And so, yeah, we're going to have trouble in this life sometimes, but uh don't relax your hold. Be like the Holy Spirit around you. He's not going to relax his hold on you, so you don't relax your hold on him.

Hold Fast Together Without Wavering

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Hebrews 10, 23, and we'll read down to 25. It says, Let us hold fast, therefore, the confession of hope without wavering, for he has promised too faithful. He who promised is faithful. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope. To hold fast to something is to have an iron grip on it and to never let go of it. Hold fast the confession. You're holding fast to what you're confessing. It's coming out of your mouth. It came from the inside, what you believe, it's what you hope, it's it's the it's the belief behind it, and you're confessing this. So hold fast to that. Never stop doing that without wavering. That means you don't let your voice start to go over and speak fear, and then you come back and start to speak faith, and then you're back to fear again and back to faith. It's wishy-washy. And uh and it's not effective. You're you're you the fear that you speak is is undoing the faith that you just spoke. And so you're kind of back and forth, and you'll stay in the trouble longer that way. And verse 24, and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as we see the day approaching. And so I look, you know, around people in this church, and and uh it's it it's it speaks of church to uh not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but it's not only church. That means people in your life. Be connected with people in your life of faith who believe God's word. Be connected with them, assemble yourself with them. Don't assemble yourself with the world, assemble yourself with God's people, your family. And when you come into church here, you're assembled with God's people, your family, and you have a supply, and you ought to encourage each other and build each other up uh even more as the day is approaching, it says. And so, you know, I never lost my grip on that ship, and I got to come back, and I've been through some pretty rough seas out there. But there are people out there who did lose their grip. Not on the ship that I was on, but I've I've, you know, there were um people I sailed with. Um there was one that had a sister that was sailing on a uh an old wooden schooner off the west coast, and she lost her grip, fell out of the rig, bounced off the side of the boat, went overboard, never recovered. There's destruction when you let go of God's word. And I don't want destruction for you, so hold fast to God's word. Um but you know, even if you do lose your grip and slip and fall, you know, that that young girl who fell off that boat on the west coast, she lost your life. Um, but there's hope for

Even If You Fall, God Upholds

SPEAKER_00 32:52

you. In Psalm 37, verse 23, it says that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way. In verse 24 it says, Though he fall, so I lost my grip, I let go, I fell. And why is that true? If I let if I lose my grip, did the Holy Ghost lose his grip on me? No, he still had his arms wrapped around me. That meant wherever I was falling from and going to, he was right with me the whole way. And so it says in verse 24, Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I have been young and now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging for bread. And so God is faithful, even when our grip is not strong enough, when we let go, when we waver, um we can fall short, and just like I was in that rig, I had a I had a waist harness on that was that had a short tether. So if I did lose my grip and fall, I would just come to a sudden stop. And it would have been a painful stop. But I wouldn't have gone overboard and gone all the way down. It would have been a short rope and a sudden stop and a hard lesson learned. And I know it can feel pretty harsh when you suddenly come to the end of your rope. But God is faithful. You will not be utterly cast down, he will not let you fall all the way down, he will bear you up in his hand. The Holy Ghost

Look For The Escape Ramp

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has got a hold on you. And you ought to believe that, and you ought to speak that. Um 2 Corinthians 4.18, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but things which are not seen are eternal. And so we can get stuck looking at our circumstances, or we can see with the eyes of faith what's in front of us, what the promises of God are, what his word says about my situation, what he says about my family, what he says about my life, and uh and believe those things. And when you line up those things, then the temporary things are subject to change. Um, things start to shift, your life starts to adjust. The Holy Ghost is constantly working in your favor. He hadn't relaxed his hold on you. He is working in, he's a very present help in time of need. Um, no matter what the trouble looks like, there is always a way of escape. No temptation, tests, or trials taking you, but such as is common to man. You don't have to think yourself special. I'm going through, God, you don't understand. This one's really bad. This one's so unique. You've never seen my situation is so bad, you've never seen anything like it that is not true. There is nothing that we go through on this earth that is not common to people. And uh and God says, whatever level you're at, whatever faith level you're at, whatever strength level you're at, I am not gonna let that situation overwhelm you. When you reach a point where any more of that is going to drown you, I'm going to show you the off-ramp. You will have a way of escape. And we ought to use our faith to bear up under things and push through and plow through and climb over and run around and just be determined to get on the other side of these things. But if it ever gets to be too much, there's an escape route for you. And so look for that exit ramp. When you're in trouble, look for that exit ramp. Hold on to these promises. Believe, speak, and act so that you can receive, prosper, and succeed.