Proverbs 25:28

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? 

It’s a New Year and I want to talk about change. Suppose you could change anything about yourself, where would you start? Lots of us would start on the outside. Would you be… Skinnier? Taller?
Shorter? Better looking? Would you change ...Your eyes? Your hair? Your teeth? Your legs? Your bulges?

If you could wave a magic wand and change your outward appearance, would it be a light touch-up or an extreme makeover? Would we even recognize you?

I think we all go through periods where we desperately want to change our outward appearance. 

Teenagers live in a state of constant fear that they don’t look good enough and so they tinker with this and try that and experiment with this fad or that fashion or this t-shirt or that hat or whatever the latest hip-hop artist happens to be wearing. 

But when we grow older, we get smarter. Or do we? We spend hours trying to find just the right dress or just the right shirt or just the right pair of pants so that we will fit in with whatever crowd we’re trying to impress. 

We diet obsessively and work out, which is good for our health but can be a losing battle because after we lose that weight and finally look good, it tends to come creeping back again. 

Finally we reach the stage in life where it’s easier to simply try to cover it up than to lose it. And in extreme cases, we may just give up altogether and stop caring about how we look.

But as hard as it is to change on the outside, it seems infinitely harder to change on the inside. If there is anything we know about human nature, it is that people change slowly, if they change at all. 

Think about the struggles of your own life. What would you change about yourself on the inside if you could?

Would it be an impatient spirit?
Would it be a critical tongue?
Would it be envy of those around you?
Would it be a spirit of discontentment?
Would it be lingering resentment?
Would it be lust you can’t conquer?
Would it be financial mismanagement?
Would it be a guilty conscience?
Would it be an inability to work with others?
Would it be overbearing stubbornness?
Would it be a judgmental spirit?
Would it be a quick temper?
Would it be profound discouragement?
Would it be an inability to appreciate life?
Would it be an ungrateful spirit?
Would it be a disorganized life?
Would it be an inability to say no?
Would it be a mean streak you can’t seem to get rid of?

We all want to change something, but we don’t know how to do it and we don’t know where to begin. We all dream of being something different and better than the person we are today.

Now I want you to listen to me, 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.

The Bible you hold in your hands is God's blueprint for the future. When the melodrama of this liberal madness that we're presently going through is over, we win. 

The kingdom, God’s 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 His Word. 

That means He will rule it with a rod of iron. It's something that the mind of man finds difficult to grasp. Church, that is the 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.

Solomon, allegedly the wisest man on the earth, gives us the secret of success in Proverbs 25:28. "Whoever has no rule on his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls." A city that has broken-down walls has no control over its future. 

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.

Let’s pray: 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 Your 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.

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. 

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. 

Bombs do not make up their mind to explode. It requires a 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. 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. 

The Bible teaches that he who conquers a city is not nearly as strong as the person that conquers himself, 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 own 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." 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. 

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" and it wants to destroy you.

The Bible says, "We are at war with 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 heavenlies whose assignment is to torment you. And they will. 

Your weapon is the Word of God and the blood of the cross which gives you total victory! 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 Paul to "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 bone yard 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 Cannan 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 Cannan because I tried to take the credit for what God is doing." 

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."

David terrorized the Philistines, but 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 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 say, we better learn to control ourself or we will destroy ourself. 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?

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. 

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 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." (Lamentations 3:22) 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 could be saved from the prince of darkness and inherit eternal life. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for your sacrifice at the cross.

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, but it also causes you to play in the hands of your enemies.

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 you? And when you can't find it, 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 us. We are His child. We are special. We are royalty. We 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.

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. 

There is a statement that you need to know. "No man has lived a great life until you know the way that he died." 

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 having the resources of heaven: that this is going to be the most successful, most prosperous year, the year filled with the greatest accomplishment of self change? It is the beginning of a glorious future. 

Regardless of what's going on in the rest of the world, God is with you and me. The joy of the Lord is our strength. We have peace that surpasses all understanding. The love of God is mine. We have the Word of God. Hang on, world: here we come. 

God bless you all in Jesus’ Name!