John Hagee - Success For The New Year
Turn to Proverbs 25:28, as we talk today about the secret of success for the new year. The question is: are you going to have a happy new year, or will the social, moral and political corruption continue to destroy your peace of mind and hopes for the future of our nation and the world? Listen. It's time to stop worrying about the things that are beyond your control. There are things that you have to submit to the hand of God and walk confidently into the future knowing that God is with us and everything is going to be all right. Stop being driven by the prophets of doom and gloom on fake news, and start being driven by the good news that God has written in this sacred text.
I hold in my hand God's blueprint for the future. When the melodrama of this madness that we're presently going through with is over, we win. The kingdom is going to rule this earth from the City of Jerusalem. King Jesus is going to sit on the throne of his father David, and he's going to rule this earth according to the dictates of this book. That means he will rule it with a rod of iron. It's something that the mind of man finds difficult to grasp. Church of Jesus Christ, this is our future. Lift up your heads and rejoice. King Jesus is about to return. And all of this madness on planet earth will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. Give the Lord praise in this house!
Solomon, allegedly the wisest man on the earth, gives us the secret of success in this text: "Whoever has no rule on his own spirit is a like a city broken down, without walls". A city that has broken-down walls has no control over its future. In that world, in the biblical world, your defense system was the wall around the city. If it was broken down, you were most certainly going to be taken over. The walls around Babylon were so wide: four chariots could race on top at one time. And it was 60 miles around the city. It was an awesome military force. Whenever a city had just a crack in the wall, it was a place of weakness. So Solomon is saying here, "The secret for success in this coming year or any other year is self-control. Do you have it? If you don't have it, you're going to self-destruct". That's the message.
Father God today, let the anointing of the Holy Spirit rest upon this concept and bring us to the resolution that we are going to discover, with God's help, self-control of ourselves: that our future may be divinely and supernaturally blessed. In Jesus name, we pray. And all of God's children said, amen.
You may be seated. In this age of advanced technology, we have learned how to control the sun to heat our homes. We have learned to control mighty rivers to produce electricity for our cities. We have satellites in space that can transmit communication signals to people on the other side of the earth in a fraction of a second. Guided missiles now circle the earth and it can hit its target after 25,000 miles in flight. China did that. Their message to America, "We can hit you without you even knowing we're coming".
Why have we not learned to control our self? Because it's easier for a man to control the universe than it is for him to control himself. Our technology has produced nuclear bombs that are so powerful, scientists say, we have enough nuclear power to destroy every person on the earth ten times over. I have news for you. I am not afraid of a nuclear bomb. I am afraid of a nuclear bomb in the hand of a madman, because he does not have self-control. That describes Iran. They are led by maniacal people who have the absolute sworn devotional point of destroying America and Israel. Hello, Washington. Iran must never be permitted to produce a nuclear bomb, not now, not ever! Why? Because bombs do not make up their mind to explode. It requires a lunatic man to drop them and ignite them. If history teaches us anything, it teaches us that we cannot control ourselves.
Self-control, do you have it? You better get it, because without it, you will self-destruct. Hello, America. Take charge of your life or someone else will. You are much more qualified to predict your future than the people who are in Washington D. C.: I tell you that. The Bible teaches that he who conquers a city is not nearly as strong as the person that conquers them self, because the greatest enemy that you will ever face is you. Your doubts are traitors to your dreams. Your fears strangle your hopes and keep you from climbing the impossible mountain. Your habits born of your freewill lead you into captivity or paradise. Some of you have habits right now that are destroying your health. You need to learn how to control that.
One of the Bible's most valuable lessons is the ability to make you do the things you should do, when it ought to be done, and done with excellence whether you want to do it or not. There's nothing in the Bible that says, "Do this when you feel like it". It says, "Do this". God didn't write the Bible to revise it when you came along. He wrote the Bible for you to do what's in the Bible right now according to the dictates of his holy throne. Winston Churchill said, "Responsibility is the key to greatness". Listen to that. "Responsibility is the key to greatness". Doing what you ought to do, when you ought to do it, with excellence is what God is looking for in the life of the righteous. That's self-control.
You may be brilliant, but without self-control, you're through. There are brilliant people in every penitentiary in America. You may be wealthy, but without self-control poverty is coming. You may be powerful, but without self-control, you are weak. Beware the fury of a patient man. In the battle for self-control the enemy is you. The war of the soul is a civil war. You may be successful at making money, at building a business, as the leader of people. But if you do not control you, you're finished. The Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things". Why? Because the heart will tell you, "You've got to be you". You've got to be you as long as you don't disagree with what God has said about you. Every person has something within their nature called "The flesh" that wants to destroy you.
The Bible says, "We are at war with the world, the flesh and the devil". Say that with me. "The world, the flesh and the devil". The world is what's outside. The flesh is what's inside you, the devil or the powers and principalities in the second heaven whose assignment is to torment you. And they will. Your weapon is the Word of God and the blood of the cross that gives you total victory! St. Paul writes, "Every man that strives for mastery is temperate in all things". That says he has self-control, she has self-control. We're commanded by st. Paul to, quote, "Run the race that is set before us with endurance". "With endurance," that means stay at it.
Quit whining about the assignment God has given you. Discipline yourself to accomplish God's tasks. Stand your post and do your duty. We are commanded by Jesus Christ to fast and pray. Fasting is not doing without food from 12:00 midnight to 6:00 in the morning. Fasting brings power with God. Jesus presented the three fundamental principles of Christianity in Matthew 6. And those three principles are: when you pray, when you fast, and when you give. That whole chapter is about those three things. Not if you pray, not if you fast, not if you give, but when. We are commanded to give. And the person who believes that they will prosper without giving to God is simply misinformed.
The Bible says, "Give, and it shall be given unto you pressed down, shaken together, and running over". God's abundance comes to those who give, and give cheerfully, and give what God requires. A lot of people don't read those verses for lots of reasons. Look at the boneyard of history, of history's great men who had everything but self-control. Moses was the lawgiver of Israel. He was a poet. He was a prophet. He was a conqueror of mighty Egypt. He became so frustrated with the children of Israel: he lost his temper and he smote the rock twice, and said, "Here is the water, you rebels".
Forty years later, when the children of Israel are getting ready to go into the Promised Land, Moses speaks to his wife. "God is not going to allow me to go into Israel because I lost my temper 40 years ago providing water for the people of Israel. They gave me the credit and didn't give God the credit. And I'm not going to be allowed to go into Israel because I tried to take the credit for what God is doing". Brother, if there is a lesson in that, listen to what I'm saying. To God be the glory. To God be the glory. "For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory". Give the Lord praise for his glory.
And he terrorized the Philistines. His lust for Bathsheba led her to pregnancy and a murder plot to kill her husband. Because he killed an innocent man, God said to David, "The sword is never going to leave your house". Think about that. And God kept that promise. Absalom was a traitor to David. Absalom led a battle where 22,000 of David's men were killed because he was trying to take the kingdom from his father. His daughter was raped. His baby died. Absalom, this is in the Bible, had sex with David's wives to humiliate David. God said to David, "The sword is never going to leave your house because of what you have done in the death of Uriah".
Let me tell you something. You better learn to control yourself or you will destroy yourself. Can you control your passion? There is love and lust. And you better know the difference. Lust demands. Love gives, and it gives, and it keeps on giving. Can you control your anger? Can you control your depression? Can you control your resentment?
American history tells the story of Aaron burr, the vice president of the United States who was involved in a political squabble with Alexander Hamilton. He missed being president by just a few votes. He shot Hamilton in a duel. When Aaron burr died, less than ten people came to his funeral. He was almost the president of the United States. But because he couldn't control himself, he went down in history as an insignificant nothing. He had great political power. But he couldn't control himself. There is a statement that you need to know. "Say that no man has lived a great life until you know the way that he died". "Say that no man has lived a great life until you know the way he died".
What is self-control? When you harness and discipline your wild-horse emotions, your habits, your fears, your frustrations to produce fruit: when you master the situation and you refuse to let the situation master you. People often blame God for their lack of self-control. You don't get in control by mental manipulation, psycho cybernetics. You get in control by surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God is not going to rewrite the Bible for your generation. Stop trying to change scriptures when it is written to change you. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel of power. This book says we have the power to be saved, the power to heal, the power to transform, the power to control demon spirits, the power to speak through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to live. This has the power. Use it, in Jesus' name!
Circumstances have nothing to do with control. People say, "When the circumstances get right, I'll get in control". That's looking at it backwards. The apostle Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ". Say that with me. "I can do all things through Christ". Paul preached in chains to Felix, the Roman governor. Felix sat on the throne. Paul is standing in front of him with handcuffs and leg irons. And Felix is shaking like a leaf in the wind. Who's in control of that conversation? Paul. Yes, he's in chains. But he's in absolute control of what's going on. Daniel was in a lion's den sleeping while the king that put him there is walking down the marble halls of his palace giving birth to peptic ulcers. Who's in control here? Daniel.
People say, "When the circumstances change, then I'll be in control". Wrong! When you change, the circumstances won't make any difference. Christ demonstrated control at his crucifixion. He had all power in heaven and in earth. At any second, he could have called 10,000 angels to annihilate the Roman Empire, to reduce every person on the globe to mere ashes. But look at the control of the Savior. Judas sold him for 30 pieces of silver. Peter cursed and denied him three times. Pilate whipped him with a cat-of-nine-tails. Herod's men of war mocked him. They slapped him. They spit on him. They put a crown of thorns on him. Roman hands took spikes and drove them through his hands and through his feet. This power, this awesome Son of God that was on creation morning when the earth was created, he that had the power to smash them to ashes, looked to the face of God and said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do".
That, my friend, is self-control. The God that we serve is the God of power and patience. He's a God of might and mercy. There's a favorite verse of mine in the Bible, "The mercies of God are renewed every morning". Thank you, God. Thank you, God. God holds the seven seas in the palms of his hand, and yet, he attends the funeral of every sparrow that falls from the sky. God is interested in every detail of your life. He forgave the Romans who were killing him so that you, and you, and you, and I, and those of you watching could be saved from the prince of darkness and inherit eternal life. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for your sacrifice at the cross.
So what kind of control do you have? Some of you have uncontrolled anger. You lash out. You have a temper problem. When you go home from work, the dog hides behind the door. Proverbs 14:17, "He that is soon angry will deal foolishly". Translation: hotheads make stupid mistakes. Hear me. You're not a dynamic personality because you blow your stack. What chance does a man or a woman have to control their destiny when they can't control themselves? Remember the emptier the pot, the quicker it boils. Uncontrolled anger weakens a man. It not only is killing you, it causes you to play in the hands of your enemies.
The story is told of sailors who landed on a tropical island. They were thirsty and they saw coconuts in the tree, too high for them to reach. In the trees, there were chattering monkeys. The sailors threw the rocks at the monkeys. And the monkeys threw the coconuts back down to the sailors. You see, they did exactly what the sailors wanted, because anger makes you play into the hands of your enemies. What kind of self-control do you have when the husband comes home late for supper the third night in a row without a phone call? I've heard young brides say, "Well, I'll change him". No. When the children, the love of your life, flush diapers down the commode, I'm going through experiences here.
When Matt was about five years of age, Matt generally met me at the door. If he didn't meet me at the door, go find him because he's up to something, always. I looked through the house. I finally came to the bathroom, when I opened the door just in time to see him putting my new alligator shoes in the commode. And he looked at me with that cherubic smile as if it was a wonderful victory for something. That's why my hair is white. What kind of self-control do you have when you're helping your wife in the kitchen and she tells you to find the nutmeg, which is right in front of your eyes? It's always right in front of your eyes. And she, "You can't find it". And she comes and finds it in the fourth drawer in the white can marked "Matches". What kind of control do you have over your thoughts?
Proverbs 23, "For as a man thinketh, so is he". Say that with me. "For as a man thinketh, so is he". If you think you're defeated, you are. If you think you can't, you won't. If you think you're victorious, you can be victorious through Christ. Nothing can be impossible to you if you believe it based on the Word of God! What are your thoughts about yourself? America's number one emotional problem is the lack of self-esteem. Do you feel defeated? Do you feel unwanted, feel rejected by your mother, your father, your husband? Do you repeatedly and desperately long for someone to love you? God loves you. God, the father, loves you enough that he gave his son to die for every one of you in this room and every person listening. You are his child. You are special. You are royalty. You are sons and daughters of the Most High God. You are somebody. You are a child of the king. God says you're going to inherit the earth.
Think about it. Think about it! We're going to tell Bezos to sit down. We own it! The apostle Paul commands Christians to control your thoughts. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, pure, lovely, of good report, think on these things". Say that with me. "Think on these things". What kind of self-control do you have over your speech? Do you gossip? I know charismatics don't gossip. But they do share. Do you exaggerate your problems? When the children of Israel came to the border of Israel, and they sent the ten over, they came back saying, "We're like grasshoppers". That's an extreme exaggeration. Elijah looked at God when Jezebel was killing prophets and said, "I am the only one left". And God says to Elijah, "I have 7,000 righteous men standing by to take your place. If you can't get it done, step aside. I've got somebody who's ready".
Don't ever get the idea that you're the only person God can use. Be thrilled that God has honored you with the opportunity to fight the wicked and to destroy evil. Why not make this year a year of success? Why not decide right now based on the authority of this word that you as a child of God have the resources of heaven: that this is going to be the most successful, most prosperous year, the year filled with the greatest accomplishment? It is the beginning of a glorious future. Regardless of what's going on in the rest of the world, God is with me. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I have peace that surpasses all understanding. The love of God is mine. I have the Word of God. Hang on, world: here I come. God bless you.