HOLD FAST
OERTALINGSALERT 26
Hold Fast | Neal Frisby’s Sermon CD#1250 | 02/11/1989 PM
The people that stick it out with Him at the end of the age and love the Lord, how He loves those people! When the people really take hold of His word literally and love the word, He loves those people. There is no greater love than that.
Hold fast: In the age we are living in right now, people will get into a revival, they will even see miracles. Sometimes, miracles will happen to them, healing will happen to them and they get caught up in the power. Then, they think that they will just walk out and it will remain like that. No, you’ve got to do something. Amen. Many times, from revival to revival, they lose the spiritual gain that they have made. And you say, “How did they do that?” Don’t take the devil for granted; know that he is going to attack you when you get that anointing. What you feel tonight and what you have gained in this meeting, never sell it out for anything. Stay with the power of God. If you can’t find a place to fellowship when you leave; you have the cassettes, keep the anointing going. Keep the anointing in your heart and you will keep the gain that you have gotten in this revival.
A lot of time you have a revival and you see miracles take place. You see fascinating things take place. You almost see the cloud and the glory of God all around and you are caught up in that. Sometimes, when that is going on and you are enthralled in all that, people forget that it is divine love that is going to hold all that for you. When the revival is over, many times, everything just goes down again; human nature being as it, you have to be refreshed again. God knows that and sends revival after revival. But hold on to the anointing as much as you can. If you have divine love in your heart then, you are going to hold what you got in this revival. There is a key right there.
One time, Jesus, you know He had some problems with Peter early on; but he turned out to be one of the greatest apostles. One time he said, “Lord, I’ll die for you before I deny you.” Then, he went right out and denied Him. Later, after the resurrection Jesus met him where he had gone fishing. The Lord said to him, “Lovest thou me, Peter?” Now, he thought about it; he did not speak hastily as before. He said, “Lord, you know that I love you.” But Jesus said, “Lovest thou me” in agape which in the Greek language means a strong spiritual love—a strong powerful supernatural love is what agape means in Greek. Peter answered Him back in phileo which means human-type love, just as one loves a close friend. Jesus turned around—He knew what Peter said—and said to him again, “Peter, lovest thou me more than these?” He answered Him again in phileo. The Lord always used agape which is a strong spiritual love. That was the way He loved Peter, with agape net phileo. The third time Jesus told him that, he answered in phileo net yn agape. He said, “Lovest thou me?” Then, Peter was grieved. He knew the Lord meant agape net phileo, as in, “If you get that divine love, you will throw those fish out, you will catch men!” He got the story right then. When the Lord would talk about love, the word that he used always meant another kind of love and Peter would answer back in the other type. No wonder the Lord asked three times. He wouldn’t accept that phileo. He changed it into agape. How many of you can say, Amen?
Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy mind. Today, when you come to a revival is it agape of is it phileo? Which is it that you’ve got in your heart for God? Is it a kind of human friendship love or is it divine love? A love that is a forceful spiritual love which is above any kind of earthly love, saith the Lord. Phileo is a kind of an imitation of divine love. But divine love cannot be imitated; that’s hard to do. That’s what the Lord wanted to get out of the apostle. He just came upon me and divine love is what the Lord impressed upon my mind as I prepared this message. He impressed on my mind that that is what the people need to have. It is so easy to slip back into phileo, the earthly kind of love. He wants His people to get agape, the spiritual love, the supernatural love and divine love. That is when your problems will be solved. Amen. With the human nature, it is so easy to go with the other. But divine love is not part of the human nature. It comes from the Spirit above. That is the pure wisdom of God and the pure love of God dropping down.
With the revival at the end of the age, He is going to pour out what he has promised. He is going to wipe out phileo en jitte agape in us meaning it is going to be a strong force that you will even love your enemies out there. How many of you are still with me? That is the key for holding what you have gained in a revival. The devil cannot get a hold of you. That’s what the Lord wants you to do tonight; to change from that human love to the supernatural divine love. You can have the other one for your friends and so on. But even then, you must have divine love for them. You’ll go away in the translation. Peter finally got the agape love and he will be up there. How many believe that? The Lord had to work with that guy, but He got him out. Some of you, He is going to work with you. Finally, I turned around and I am preaching the gospel after He got me, right? See; I got the agape and left the phileo back there. With the divine love in my heart, I went out to help God’s people.
Jesus said, “Hold fast till I come.” What did he mean? You are living at the end of the age. He knows that right at the end many things will arise to steal any gain you must have received from Him. So, you better hold fast; not only hold fast, but be quick about it. Hold fast to the word of God. Hold on to the faith of God, the power of God and the divine love of God. Hold fast to the things of God and turn loose those things that will not give you any gain at all. Kinne jo sizze, de Heare priizgje? If you listen to this message, your heart will rejoice. It won’t matter whether you are rich or poor. You will be happy one way or the other.
So, people wonder, “I went to a revival and felt good, but I am feeling so flat out right now. I woke up a day or two later, and it is flat down in here.” It is because they did not keep in the spirit of it. It will last longer if you keep in the spirit and the fear of the Lord and if you have what Jesus is telling us about (divine love). Then, it will be hard for any of your friends to get to you. It will be harder for the devil to get to you because you have divine love and your faith is up. Hear what the scripture says: he that heard the word of God, having no root to keep it is easily offended by persecution because of the word (Luke 8: 13). When you hear the word, keep plenty of sunshine and water in it. If you don’t keep the anointing and sunshine, you will not have any root and you will be easily the street, that’s tough. If they had the spirit of being easily offended, they wouldn’t last one day and some of them have been on the street preaching for many years. They’ve got guts to stand there. Sometimes, when they are run off from one street, they preach on the next. If those street preachers have no root, they will turn back and be offended. People will offend you left and right, but you must use wisdom. That’s why Jesus said be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. See; don’t bite. Slip around in there and have that dove love. That’s agape, says the Lord.
So, those street preachers; if they have no root, they will be offended because of persecution by the word. And people persecute them. That’s one illustration there. Another illustration relates to personal witness to a friend or family member about the gospel. If you are offended, you will stop doing it. Pray through, stay right with it. Let God guide you. When I was travelling to crusades, I travelled by plane and shared the word (with other passengers). If anybody wanted to be prayed for, I prayed for them. They, generally, let me pray for them and there were many miracles. One time early in my ministry, before I started travelling to crusades, I saw a fellow walking down the street. He had been drinking. He worked on the wheat farm. He had a limp (in his leg). I asked the fellow, “Where are you going? What’s wrong with your leg? Would you like to be healed?” I took him to the house and gave him something to drink (coffee). I talked to the fellow and he said, “What you are talking about, that makes sense to me. That’s the most sensible thing I have heard since I got in town.” I told him that God is going to heal his leg but he must promise to give up this stuff (liquor) and give the testimony. He said, “I will.” I said, “Are you ready to now? Love Jesus with all your heart.” I talked to him for twenty to thirty minutes. Then, I just prayed for him. I asked him, “What happened?” The man said, “Oh my! It’s either this couch is moving or my leg is.” I said, “The couch can’t move, get up!” He got up and walked flat-footed. He said, “This is impossible. I know this is God. I believe in God, but I have never served Him as I should.” Later, we went to see him. The man was still healed by the power of God. That’s the only street preaching I have done.
You preach the gospel and tell about the coming of the Lord. You must tell about the coming of the Lord. It won’t be long before He is here. We know it’s getting close. You witness about the coming of the Lord. They may not want to hear it; never mind about being offended. Go on with the word of God. If you are offended every time on your job, you will never do anything; but you stay right with it. The gospel is the greatest and best job in the world. Stand up for the Lord Jesus with all your heart. He’ll do miracles through you if you really get bold enough. When you witness, one person may not listen but another person will. Miracles are real. He will work miracles on the streets. I preached a sermon about how the Lord will go in the highways and hedges and bring them in. He said, “Go out!” That’s a command. With a compelling force, go out and bid them come. That was the last call. “Go out in the highway and hedges and bid them come into my house,” saith the Lord.
At the end of the age, the apostolic ministry as in the book of Acts is going to take over. The quick short powerful work that is coming is going to sweep you into heaven. So, hold fast, don’t let the devil steal anything that God has given you. Hold fast; your faith is more precious than anything in this world. The wealth of this world cannot buy the faith of God in your heart according to the scripture. One day, I know this in my heart and “Hey,” saith the Lord, “it shall be proven unto you.” On that day, He is going to prove the word of faith and power in your heart; how valuable it is. He is a great God. He loves you or you will never be under this voice. I can tell you that! You will never be under this voice.
As you go from revival to revival, keep enough of the anointing in your heart until we get out of this world to where He is going to take us up there. He that heard the word among the thorns, the cares of this life choked it out of him. People leave this revival and they are fine. The next thing you know, the cares of this life have choked the word out of their hearts. The devil comes up and paw, he steals that word that has been planted in there. That’s what he tries to do. It’s just like a crow. You know crows like to steal. The old devil himself will come in there and steal that gain from you, each and every one of you. You’ve got to live in the world, but don’t let the cares of this life steal what God has planted that no one can buy with money. I am telling you, take it serious tonight. That is what a revival is about; to restore the saints and call sinners to repentance. It does both at the same time. You’ve got to be restored to the point where you can do something for God.
We are at the end of the age. He that heareth the word in a good ground bringeth forth much fruit. I believe this is good ground. My ministry came in the lull period. The fellows that came before me are gone. The Lord brought me to the latter rain period. He knows who is going to listen to this. Jesus was talking and He said, “These are the beginning of sorrows.” He talked about earthquakes, wars and rumors of war. That’s the age that we live in here. He said, “Then shall they deliver you up. They shall kill you.” This is already happening overseas. “You shall be hated of all men for my sake.” Hated of all men? For what? For the word of God. If you are preaching and testifying, Jesus said you will be hated for His sake. If you stick right with that word and stay right with the message that God has given us, to get us out of here, many of your acquaintances are going to fall away from you. They’ll fall if you stick close to the word. They’ll fall away as leaves fall away in the autumn.
He is trying to bring something to me here. That tree is standing right alone, there are no more leaves. Winter has come. That tree is standing right alone. That is Jesus. He came like a green tree. Gradually, all the people that were with Him including his disciples fell away and that tree at the cross stood alone. There was that tree, without leaves, standing right there. How many of you believe that revelation that came? So, it is called the great falling away. It is no time to throw away what God has given you. Hold on to what you have gained and you will get more gains. If you can hold on to what God has given you, you can add to that. Keep your mind on the Lord. He is about to come. He is about to do something—a quick short work. The former rain is gone and we have come into a new rain, the latter rain.
When you first scatter the seeds on the ground out there, you don’t see anything. You have been preaching and you don’t see anything happening. Just hold on; keep that faith and patience
. You planted that seed out there. For a while, you don’t see anything. Pretty soon, God gives a little of that rain and power. You look out there and you see a few little blades. Pretty soon, you look over here and there are a few more. The next thing you see, more rain begins to fall; what looked like an empty field initially, all of a sudden, the whole field begins to be filled up. That latter rain comes down and harvest time is here. Behold, it is midnight. It is time to get the harvest in. You may not see the gain now, but soon a little bit over here and a little bit over there, it will all come together, saith the Lord. Never sell the arm of the Lord short to save and to witness.
The time when the Lord is bringing the latter rain, that is the time that satan will put the pressure on, mentally and through oppression. The bible says he will try to wear out the saints. You may not know that right now, but wait. Toward the end of the age, God is really going to move. When He does that, that is when satan will put up a standard, but God will put a bigger one up. If you are steadfast enough to keep what you have gained, you are going to knock that devil out of the way. You won’t be able to stand alone pretty soon. No one is going to be able to stand alone. You have to be grouped with a powerful anointing or deception will just pick you up just like that. I tell you what, if I had my way, I will stand with that lonely tree that is standing alone. When He comes back with fresh leaves, He is going to be full with His harvest—bringing in the sheaves. He was the one that was nailed to the cross. He loves you, not with phileo mar mei agape, a strong spiritual love.
That is what revival is about—to produce divine love. It does produce miracles, but revival, when you get right down to it, produces divine love. When that divine love is not produced, that is why the gain begins to dissipate. Why did the last revival die down? They had miracles but the ingredient that the revival was supposed to produce was not there. It produced little of that divine love. In the first church age, Ephesus–which is symbolic of us at the end of the age to watch–He told them to go back to their first love. He said you have lost your love for souls, you have lost your love to witness and you have lost your first love. Be careful now or I will pull out your candlestick. He didn’t, but He told them to repent. Get that first love back in your heart. That candlestick remained. It is there.
In our age, the revival has to produce divine love. Philadelphia (church), it is called the City of Love, will produce divine love. But Laodicea will not produce divine love. He warned the first church to go back to the first love. But at the end of the age where we are living, there is a revival that is coming by His power before He closes it out. He is going to produce agape, that spiritual divine love. That’s what has been missing when the previous revivals died away. This last one will not die because of divine love. He will take them (the elect) up to heaven. Can you say, praise the Lord? Isn’t that wonderful? This message is what you call coming in and letting God take over. If you think, “I wonder if God loves me.” He loved you before you made that thought. He knew you before you came into the world and He foreknew your coming. He knows all about you. He loves you. Don’t worry about that. Worry about how soon you can get the love of Jesus Christ in your heart.
I believe that God will put a spirit on this tape that will touch your heart. Not only that, He is going to answer your prayer. You are going to feel Him. I want you to tell the Lord that, “I am going to keep the gains and I am going to keep this message in my heart. This message will do wonders for you. Revival is restoration. He will restore your heart.
Prayer line/Testimony: Bro Frisby mentioned that a fellow got an eardrum created. The fellow testified, “He (Jesus) healed my ear.” He had been having problem with the ear for over five years. He didn’t have to go back to the doctors. Bro Frisby told the man, “Go your way, you faith has made you whole.”
Hold Fast | Neal Frisby’s Sermon CD#1250 | 02/11/89 PM