Do Not Fret

Shall we turn to the 37th Psalm? I've been meaning to preach on this for a couple of weeks, but it just didn't work. This morning, I guess, is the time. I try to preach on this once a year, or at least that's the way it seems to come up, but this year it means so much, so much more than it ever has.

So we'll be reading Psalms 37, verses 1 through 6. Do not fret because of evil men, or be envious of those who do wrong. For like the grass, they will soon wither. Like green plants, they will soon die away.

Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him, and He will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn.

The justice of your cause like the noonday sun. It was brought to my attention by someone, I forget who, that the American people today are biblically illiterate. It used to be 50, 100 years ago that there were Bible expressions in all the media, in everyone's speech.

People were well aware of what the Bible said, and they would use Bible quotations wherever you turned around. There was something, an allusion to the Bible. It's not true anymore.

I don't know whether it's taken the Bible out of the schools that's done it, but we have a generation of people that are coming up that are not, they don't know what the Bible teaches. And you know, we're coming into a time in our nation, every time I pray, what I'm getting from the Lord is this is just the beginning. You're facing a long war, and I see that in the paper today.

They're doing, Bill, what I don't think they should be doing. They're making the mistake that Russia may have gotten drawn in, but then I don't see everything that the commanders do. Maybe there's a good reason for it.

But it's not promising. What we're seeing is not promising in prayer. We may be in for it, people, for some time.

And I tend to believe, as some do, that this anthrax is not even where the terrorists are going. It's just what you call in fighting a feint. That is, something to draw the attention of your antagonist away from what you actually plan on doing.

And I really think the anthrax is this, Bill. I don't think it's really that significant. I think they've got some interesting things in mind.

That being as it may, you can imagine the state of people that don't have the trust in God that we have. To me, the thought of dying is something like it used to be when I was a boy thinking about Christmas morning. That's the truth.

And I hope it is for you, too. But think how few people in the world that that's true of. And to them, dying is the end of everything.

Their children dying. I'll never see them again. This is the end.

Extinction. There's no hope. Maybe there is a God.

Maybe there isn't. But it's not that real. So, we've got a job to really know our God.

And if we turn around tomorrow morning and Chicago is no more, or something like that, or Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles, or San Diego, which very well could be, very well could be, very well could be. And we've got to know where we are, people. We're not to be clinging to this life.

This life is only a testing ground to develop character. It's not our home. It's not our home.

And it will be someday when the Lord returns, but as of now, it's not our home. But we do have Christ, and we do have the hope of better things if we should die now and later in the day of the Lord. So, we've got nothing but glory to look forward to.

But what we have to do is to be so much in prayer and so much in the Word that this hope is a bright hope. It's so easy to get drawn into the pleasures and the interesting things of this life if we're not a person of real prayer and really knowing the Word and really gathering with the saints that very soon, the thought of death, the thought of war is terrifying because we're not living where we should be living is in this fervent consciousness of Jesus and of the things above. As the Bible says, set your affection on things above.

That takes effort. How many know it's easy to get drawn into the things of this world? Huh? For young and old, it's easy to forget reality. This world is only a manifestation of some form of energy.

It's not real like the spirit world. The spirit world is real. This world in certain respects is an illusion.

We don't see what is. We only see what the nerves in our optic system tells us and our brain interprets, but it's really an illusion. It's a manifestation of energy.

But the spirit realm is real. Where we're going is real. It's eternal.

And we have got, if we're going to survive, much less be a real help to others. Steady. Don't worry, honey.

It's going to be alright. Jesus is there. He hasn't changed.

The real world is there. And this world is only passing anyway. So if we're here, praise the Lord.

If we're not here, praise the Lord. It's okay. That's why we're Christians.

It's because it gives us a hope beyond this world. So, as you've heard me say a couple of times, one of the things we're going to do is to put a sign out in front of our church. David Boorman has worked on this.

But with Tony, it's become a career. He's really spending a great deal of time to fix up something that's really nice surrounded by flowers. Something that would really be a good thing to look at in the old Poway area in our community.

What we plan to put on there is the Bible hope. Not inviting people to come here. That isn't our point.

Not even telling them to get saved. That isn't what we're about. It's to remind them of things like the 37th Psalm and the 91st Psalm.

They may have heard it in Sunday school. They may never have heard it. But they need to know what God has said.

Do you see that? They need to know what the Bible... Our nation is not literate in the Bible. They don't know. We've lost a generation or two of people.

They don't know what the promise is. They've heard a lot of evangelism and some of it has been kind of cheap. Associated with money-grubbing.

They don't know that God has said we're not supposed to fret. They don't know that God has said that the plague shall not come nigh our dwelling. They don't know that God has said He shall not be afraid of evil tidings.

His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. They've never heard of that. And that's what we intend to put on that sign.

Is hope for our community. We're reaching out to the world. So far this month, we've had 20,000 hits on the Internet.

20,000 so far this month. But we're not doing that much for our local neighborhood. And to me, this is a big thing.

We've got a lot of traffic up and down Midland. And they're thinking about a lot of things. They're going to work.

People are worried. They're worried. And you go by and you look and it says, He shall not be afraid of evil tidings.

His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. They don't think about that. You know, maybe Mother was right.

Maybe I got away from it. Maybe I'm going to need something. Maybe my family... Do you see what I'm saying? So we think it's a real ministry.

So I hope you'll be praying for Tony because he's putting his heart and soul, spending a lot of time on this. And we want it to be just right. We want it to be anointed.

Andrew has volunteered to do the changing of the letters. Until Poway says no, it will be lighted at night. And that's the way it's set up.

But also, lighted from the outside. But I just see a real ministry here. People need to know, and you need to know, and I need to know the Bible, so when people need help, we can give them what God said.

How do you think about that? Does that sound practical to you? People are going to need help. You know when everything is going to go into orbit? When the flu season starts. Because the anthrax symptoms are the same as flu.

And people are nervous today. And when people start coming down with the flu, it's going to be one thing in their mind. Anthrax.

And the hospitals are saying now, we can't handle the people that are coming now. So, our URL, our church URL, not the W-O-R, not the big one with the books, but our church URL, that has the pictures of our young people and all these things, tells about the services, tells them what we're about here. The URL is the name that people that use computers look for.

It will be up there. The URL will be mount-zion.org. And if people go and buy in an interest, say, what's going on in that place? They'll have it right there. But I think, God may change my mind.

I've gone through about three cycles on the signs in my mind, what God wants out there. It's got to be prophetic. Every time anything is changed out there, we've got to hear from the Lord.

It's got to be prophetic. So, you know, it's just whatever God is saying. Alright, we're looking at the 37th Psalm.

I preach that, as you know, once a year. Some of you have heard this 25 times. Do not fret.

And you've heard me say many times, one of the big problems of the future is going to be fretting. Because if the devil can't get you with the actual evil deed, he pulls you down by fretting. And it is very difficult.

Especially with the kind of enemy that we have because he doesn't play fair. Fairness in war. Bill, I'll tell you, I don't want to say it on tape, but I'll tell you how we should be fighting this war.

You remember how I told you the good guys are always one war behind? We're one war behind. We're building bombers, but you can't kill Germans with bombs. We're just one war behind.

The next war, we'll be doing German warfare when they're on to something else. You wait and see. It takes us a while to catch up.

Because the good guys are always saying, oh, we couldn't do that. That's terrible. Which is so ridiculous.

You know, during the ending days of World War II, we were bombing Berlin and Germany every day after day. Those bombs were raining down on people and children, civilians, everybody. That's war.

And when you try to do it nice, you lose. Unless God really helps you. Well, anyway, that's a long story.

I'm left to center on that, but Bill knows all about it. So anyway, they don't play fair. That isn't fair.

You're supposed to get out there decently and shoot somebody. You're not supposed to be dumping germs on them. That is not fair.

And then they come up with all this perverse things. They put all women and children in, mix all their troops in with the women and children, and then you bomb the troops. They say, oh, you're killing women and children.

Well, you see, we see this stuff, and that's just a small part of it. But it is perverse. It's not like upright people are supposed to think.

And when you encounter perversity, it causes fretting. It produces fretting. If people would just do what they were supposed to do, you could get mad at them in a decent way and, you know, chaw around while you're reading the morning paper and then go on your job and forget about it.

But when they do something perverse, it gets way down where you're living. And it's a triple whammy. You just say they hadn't ought to have done it.

And that's all Satan wants. Tears you right down. You're no longer praising the Lord.

You're not seeing His glory on all the earth. That's what he's after. To keep you down with the rest of the dudes so that you're no help to them.

And you're not pleasing the Lord. This is not an invitation. It's a commandment.

Do not fret. Everybody's that old bee. How many have been fretting this week? And I won't ask you.

But isn't that difficult? Isn't it difficult to keep from fretting? But it's a real key to the victorious Christian life. You know, no one can take your peace from you unless you give it to them. Think about that.

Nobody can take your peace. If you give your peace, if somebody takes your peace, you gave it to them. They can't take it from you.

Because you see, no matter what happens, if you look to Jesus, He is the solution. He is all you need. So why waste your time on people who harmed you? See, they hit you twice.

They harmed you and then they took your peace. We can't stop people from harming us, but we can sure stop them from taking our peace. Remember that.

It's going to be important in the days to come. The Taliban, they cannot take our peace unless we give it to them. Unless we spend our time cursing and, oh, isn't it awful? Oh, look what the Democrats are doing now.

Oh, God, what do we do? Put up with all this. How do you think God feels? You're supposed to be lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. He can hear that from any million people He looks at.

He wants to get something different from you. Praise! I glorify Your name like we heard in the song. It's working for good.

We're at such a time as this. It's right on target. Everything's on a roll with God.

So just decide whether you're on the winning side or the losing side. And if you're on the winning side, why fret? That's for the losers. Well, the winners don't feel bad at the end of the race, do they? Well, then fretting's for losers.

Now, for winners, are you a winner today? Are you with Jesus? Huh? Do you know that if you were to die right now that you'd walk right into glory with the Lord? That you'd hold Your hand? Do you know you got it made? Well, then, are you a winner or a loser? Well, if you're a winner, then praise the Lord for His faithfulness. He hasn't deserted you. You know what He's doing to the United States? I'll tell you what He's doing.

He's tuning us up. And it's going to be the greatest opportunity we've ever had in our generation to show the glory of God. And if that isn't a good thing, I don't know what is.

When everything's going right, people aren't going to hear you. But when they're desperate, they're going to hear you. You're going to have opportunities to really do good in these days.

That's true. Do not fret because of evil men. I said last week that Will Rogers was famous for saying he never met a man he didn't like.

You know what I said about that? He had a small circle of acquaintances. There are such things as evil men. The Bible says so.

The Bible can't be wrong. How many know that? Alright. Do not fret because of evil men.

Or be envious of those who do wrong. We don't realize it, but when we're fretting, we're envious. Now, that's subtle.

I know. But nevertheless, it's true. Because we're saying to ourselves, how come they're getting away with that and I'm not? So, I'm really thinking this morning.

Oh, Lord. How do you put that one together? Well, think about it. Or be envious of those who do wrong.

Don't envy them. See, we think, well, how come they're getting away with that? It ain't right. Well, that's because you're kind of wishing that you were there.

See, how come they can do it and I can't? Well, if you knew how they're going to end up, you wouldn't be envious of them. As the 73rd Psalm says, when I went into the sanctuary, I said, oh, God, I've been a fool. I didn't realize what their end is.

So, hang loose about people that do evil. Just hang loose. Unless you want their end.

Now, it's coming together, isn't it? Alright. For like the grass, they will soon wither. You say, yeah, but they've been this way for 20 years.

Don't worry about it. Soon in Bible terms. That's a long time.

Behold, I come quickly. You know? You've got to get set for the long haul. But when the Bible says they'll wither, brother and sister, they will wither.

You can count on it. If they don't, John 3.16 isn't true. And the whole thing has gone to pot.

Either it's true or it isn't. And the Bible says they'll wither. Well, don't envy them then.

You don't want to wither. I want to hear you want to wither. No.

I didn't think so. Like green plants, they will soon die away. Why? They have no moisture.

They have no life from God. Keep them green. Trust in the Lord.

It's better than faith, really. Trust is something that can hang in there when you don't understand anything. When you've got faith, well, you're pretty well on top of it.

When all you've got left is trust, there's something to hang on to. But it doesn't stop there. What else does it say? Do good.

Find something good to do. How many here can find something good to do if you think about it? You'll find something good to do. How much better to do something good than to spend your time cursing the Arabs? Huh? Because some of them are pretty good people.

You don't have to spend your time cursing anybody, worrying about anybody. Find something good and do it. You'll be a happy camper and your health will spring forth speedily.

You'll have a light heart and the birds will sing. Do good. You don't have to be bowed down because of wicked people.

The whole earth is filled with His glory. The whole earth, once you hear this, is filled with His glory. That's what the Bible says.

The whole earth is filled with His glory. You don't have to look at what the devil's doing. The whole earth is filled with His glory.

Even while this is going on, you say, how is the anthrax filled with His glory? It's going to turn people to God who otherwise would live their life and end up in punishment. The whole earth. He knows exactly what He's doing.

Jesus Christ sits as King of the flood. He's in control. He's not out of control.

Is He doing all bad things? No, He's not doing anything bad. Men are doing bad things. Satan is doing bad things.

But out of this, God gets good. He always does. He's always one piece ahead of Satan.

He knows what Satan's going to do like He did to Job. And He knew it would turn to one of the greatest testimonies the world has ever seen. So He just let Satan do what He wanted to.

That's the way it is, people. You might as well be on the winning side. You might as well rejoice.

The whole earth is filled with His glory. And no one can stop that. Much less Satan, a cherub that doesn't even belong there.

Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Andrew, I think one of the things we'll be putting on there is the 23rd Psalm. I'm not sure at this point, but we may take something like that and just maybe twice a week or once a week, depending on the time and strength you have, just go through something like the 23rd Psalm.

Do the first verse, then the second verse, then the third verse like that. Something like that, possibly. Because the people are biblically illiterate.

I don't know if the Bible says they can have green pastures. All they see are flames. They don't know there's such a thing as green pastures.

Well, there are. For the righteous, there are green pastures. Well, you say right now, I'm going through it.

Yes, you're going through it so that you'll be bred for these people. They're going to need you. You're part of the royal priesthood.

And they don't want you in your selfish, self-centered ways. And that's why God is working with you as He is. Get you out of yourself and make you something that people can live by.

You say, well, I'm suffering terribly. Well, so is the world. But yours is going somewhere.

Yours is making you in the image of Jesus. And like the Greeks said, we would see Jesus. They don't want to see you and they don't want to see me.

They want to see Jesus. He's the bread of life. And so, the reason that you and I go through these hard places that break up our dollhouse, knock all of our ducks flat, get everything all crazy so we can't put it together is to get more of Jesus so we'll have something to give to other people.

We are not like the world. Jesus said you're not of the world. Well, what are we of? We're of Christ.

We're the royal priesthood whose job is to be a light to mankind. That's our job. You are the salt of the earth.

We're not like other people. Read John 17. You are not of the world.

I pray not for the world. I pray for those whom God has given me. Well, what are we then? We're the salt of the earth.

We are the expression of Jesus in the earth. That doesn't mean we're nice, well-rounded people. It means that God has battered us from pillar to post until we become more like the Lord and are living by His life instead of our own selfish ambitions.

It's as simple as that. Why are we going through this? Because there's 6 billion people out there that don't have a clue. They don't know God.

They don't have hope. They think that all there is is this life. They're like the people in Nineveh.

You know what God said about that? They don't know their right hand from their left. These people were so crude that when they repented, they put sackcloth on the cows. And we're all going to repent.

Moo! When you read it, it's very interesting. God said, shouldn't I have mercy on these people? They don't know their right hand from their left. Well, that's the way the world is.

So don't look down on them. They're in a mess they are because you and I aren't where we're supposed to be. Our nation would be victorious today if the Christians were all living the light.

The problem is the light's going out of the church. Simple as that. You know, it's interesting.

I kind of trust the vision that I have of what's coming because I've been editing and going through my books. I was going through one that was written in 1999. That's a couple years ago.

And then it says, the Lord is telling me that soon we're going to be in war and have terrorists. In 1999. So it does make a person trust, you know.

So God's going to show us we're not going to be cut off without God telling us what to do. Three years. How long has it been, Brian? Three years or four years we're on WOR? We're coming up on our fourth year.

You know what it says on there? We think God has a few words for America. You know what it says on there? If the American Christian don't start keeping God's commandments, our nation's going to suffer severe judgments. That's been out there now for over three years.

Now we're suffering severe judgments. God has His way. God has His way.

So now, okay, we're here. We've got the severe judgments. What's the word? Fear God and keep His commandments.

It's the whole duty of man. But people need to know. They need to know what God has said.

Trust the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy pasture. You can move from here to middle America and hope they won't get you.

Listen, it's where you are. If you're living for God, you make a holy place where you are. It wouldn't be the first time that God would spare a city because of one righteous person.

See, when you're doing God's will and God sees that, boy, the angels think twice before they let that city be bombed. You'll read that in the Light and the Glory where the Indians were going to attack a village there back in the colonial days. And God spoke to the Indians and said, don't go near that village.

There's a praying man in there. A thousand shall fall at thy right hand. Ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.

And you will affect everything around you. God knows where His saints are. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

Nothing's going to happen to San Diego outside of God's perfect will if we are doing God's will because all He's doing then is shooting Himself in the foot. Because if we're bearing witness and doing what God wants, then He's not going to let anything happen to us until He's through with us. Do you see that? But it's like Jesus said to His brothers, I can't go up yet.

Your time is always ready. You can go up there any time you want. I can't go up yet.

See, when you're serving the Lord, your times are in God's hands and it affects everything around you. All things are working together for good for those who love God. You affect everything around you when you are really doing God's will because God doesn't have that many people doing His will.

So you have to be mighty careful what happens to you because you're valuable because you're representing the Lord and the earth. Do you see that? So it is not God's advantage to kill you if you are serving what He wants. And let me tell you, if you are doing exactly what God wants, you're not going to die before your time because God is a businessman.

He doesn't destroy His assets. But if you're not doing God's will, what's the difference? You know, might as well die with the group. You know, we're not getting any money here.

That's right. He's a businessman. Alright.

Thank you. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Safe pasture.

How many like pastures? I love pastures and I love meadows. I tell you, there's nothing I'd rather do than go out in a meadow or a pasture under a tree and just lay there and listen to the little birds. Oh, Lord, it's been so long.

I intend to do that. As soon as I die, if you die right after me, you won't go looking for me. Look in the nearest pasture under a tree because that's what I did when I was a boy and I still remember.

I don't get to do that anymore. Just lay there in the heat. Oh, Lord, that's wonderful.

Alright. Delight yourself in the Lord. How many are doing that? Are you an old crab or are you delighting yourself in the Lord? Do you wish you weren't a Christian so you could go out and enjoy sin? God loves the person who does righteousness and has a good time doing it.

Yeah, you can have a good time doing righteousness. You really can. You don't have to go into sin to have a good time.

You don't have to go into sin to have a good time. That's ridiculous. There's all kinds of things that you can do that are fun, that are righteous.

Delight yourself. When you do something, say, this is the best thing I've ever done in my life. Well, I'm having a terrific day, Lord.

I'm on a roll. You know, God loves to hear that. What's next, Lord? I'm sure I'm not going to make it until tonight.

What kind of faith is that? Is that faith, Anthony? Say, well, this is great. Oh, what's going to happen next? I know the next is going to be better than the last. You have to make an effort to do that.

I told you I did that with fifth grade kids. It was wonderful how it spurred them into social studies. Wonderful how it did.

They hated it. So, every time we had social studies, I'd say, wow, guess what we're going to do next? What? Social studies. Yay! You know.

After a while, they got on to it. So, every time we had social studies, they'd say, yay! Social studies. There's something to it.

You've got to work at it. You can mope around, you know. Or you can delight yourself in the Lord.

Tell them it's wonderful. Who knows? Maybe it will be wonderful. And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Now, there's a promise. If ever there was one, sometimes preachers say, well, the Bible says you'll supply all my needs. It doesn't say anything about my wants.

Well, it does say something about your wants. The desires of your heart. You know, in most cases, particularly when we're young, we do not know the desires of our heart.

Even when we're old sometimes, we don't know the desires of our heart. We think we know what we want. But we really don't.

Because when we get there, it wasn't what we thought. Did you ever have that happen to you? When you got there, it wasn't exactly like you thought it was going to be. So, the only one who knows what you really want is God.

The only one who knows what you really want. How many here really want something at this time? You're coveting it. You're saving your money.

Anybody in here thinking of something? Boy, are you working towards something? And when I get there, that'll be it. Oh, you're afraid to lift your hand. I know.

Alright. Well, I hope it pans out. I hope it's exactly all your dreams are fulfilled.

I sincerely hope so. But so often in life, when we get where we thought we wanted to go, or got what we thought we wanted, it doesn't fill the bill. And it leaves us kind of feeling, well, this isn't it.

So, only God knows what you want. And you know what the ipso facto of that is. Ergo, tell God, give me what I want.

I pray that prayer. I say, Lord, never mind all the stuff that goes through my mind. You do what you know is best, because I've learned by experience that God knows what is best.

So, I think of one thing, I think of another, and I say, well, Lord, I don't know how this is going to work out. Really, I don't know the facts. You've got them all.

So, the bottom line is, Lord, you give me what you want me to have, and never mind all my thoughts, because I don't trust them. Alright. It doesn't say, you know, you have to watch your heart, because eventually God will give you what you ask for.

If you push hard enough, He gets sick of your asking for it, and He knows you're not going to want it, but He does it anyway. You figure, they don't trust me enough. They're nag, nag, nag, nag, giving what they want.

That will bring them to prayer faster than anything else. We do. We buy our own schools and our own teachers.

Oh, so often that's the truth. But, the thing to do is say, God, you know what I want. You know the way I'm made.

You know the circumstances. You know people. You know everything.

So, never mind all my ideas that I have. Just give me what I'm supposed to have. I'm sold.

I got to that place. He will give you what you really want. And so often it's clouded by fear and duty and ignorance and a whole bunch of other stuff.

We really don't know what our desires are, but way down there is something that causes you to tick. I know as a boy, the ideas I had were way off from what God wanted for my life. Way off from what God wanted for my life.

To think I would ever be a school teacher. I hated school with a passion. But God knew.

He knew. He knew there was something in there that would come out when I began to teach children. Commit your way to the Lord.

Now, you heard me preach on that ad nauseum. Everything you do, bring to God. I don't care how trivial it is.

Just the time you think you can do something without God is a time you're going to mess up. Now, when you're cooking something, ask God to help you. There was a movie actor who said whenever she made angel food cake, the angels would tell her when to take it out of the oven.

Which is a simple illustration. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's what she claimed. But anyway, pray about everything.

There's nothing too small for God's interest. And it will keep you right in the glory all the time. Everything you're doing, just keep committing it to the Lord.

You'll see it will work better. It will work better. He will hear you.

Try it. If you don't like it, just remember how much you put in the offering. Next week, we'll give it back to you.

We don't want your money if it isn't working. It's guaranteed. Commit your way to the Lord.

And look what will happen. Trust in Him. And He will do this, colon.

Colon means a definition that's going to follow. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn. Well, how does the dawn shine? Well, if it's not raining, it comes up.

It's pretty neat. Facing east, we have a stained glass window. And when the dawn comes up, it shines like a light bulb.

It shines. The dawn comes up and shines. Your righteousness.

How many in here are people that you've got anybody that speaks evil of you? Anybody in here that's got people that speak evil of you? Or do you speak evil of other people? Well, I'll tell you what. The issue is one of righteousness. See? So, let people gossip and say whatever they want to.

Delight yourself in the Lord. Commit your way to the Lord. And He will bring forth your righteousness.

You don't have to say it ain't so or argue with people or anything else. That's their problem. If you will commit your way to the Lord and trust in Him, He will justify what you do.

Because none of us are perfect. Is there anybody perfect? Marla, you just came in. Are you perfect? Is there anybody in here that's perfect? It has escaped your attention.

Well, we're not perfect. And if people have got it in for us, believe me, they can find something to talk about. Isn't that a fact? Could anybody find anything about you to talk about? Probably so.

Most of us are not perfect. But God said He will bring forth your righteousness. So you don't have to worry about what people are saying.

Better that you don't know what they're saying if the truth be known. I said that in Proverbs. Don't listen too closely to the servants or you'll hear them cursing you.

Never mind what people say. You make sure that God God isn't saying it, alright? Commit your way to the Lord. Let people, if they want to spend their time messing up, that's their problem.

That's not yours. If you're committing your way to the Lord, He will bring forth your righteousness. Because you'll never be righteous in the sight of everybody.

Do you know that? How many knew that? You'll never be righteous in everybody's sight. You didn't know that, did you? Did you know that? So don't burn yourself out trying to prove to everybody that you're perfect. Let God give you your testimony.

Well, that's what the Bible says. The justice of your cause. The justice of your cause.

How can we did that? The justice of your cause. Like the noonday sun. Make sure it's right in God.

And then go ahead. People criticize you whether you do or you don't. Be still before the Lord.

Be still before the Lord. Has anyone ever heard the expression do great things for God? How many have heard that? Do you remember what verse that is? You know, in our day, it's become fashionable to be excited. Are you excited about Christ? Oh yes, I'm excited about Christ.

So excited. I remember one time I was all excited about something. It was many years ago, you can be sure.

I remember it was down at 641 South Boundary. It was just after Bible school days. And I was praying, doing something, usual commotion.

I was in a commotion in those days. And most of you that are in your twenties and thirties are doing a lot better than I did in those days. I'll tell you that for sure.

And right in the middle of everything, God spoke to me and He said, be still and know that I am God. Boy, if that didn't shut me up. I still remember that.

That was a long time ago. Be still and know that I am God. You know, if we have to be in an uproar, particularly in a religious uproar, the chances are there's a motivation there.

It can be ambition. Whatever. There's a motivation there that's not pure.

It's not pure. There's something to be said for being still before the Lord. And waiting patiently.

How many know that you don't have to prove anything to anybody? Do you know that? You don't have to prove anything to anybody. Young people have a time with that. Particularly young men.

They've got to prove that they're a man. And it takes a boy a long time before you're satisfied he's a man. You've got to prove it.

You want to fight? Yeah, whatever I am. Instead of realizing, hey, I may end up down in county. I've got to prove to them I'm a man.

You don't have to prove to anybody you're a man. If you know you're a man, you're a man. Forget what anybody else thinks about it.

Don't waste your time trying to prove you're a man or a woman for that matter. Be content before the Lord. Be still before the Lord.

You don't have to prove anything. Only followers have to prove things. Be a leader.

Be yourself. Serve the Lord. Be secure in Him.

You don't have to prove anything to anybody. Just to God. Just be worthy.

He says, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Over the years, I've come to the conclusion that a great proportion of Christian work is not of God at all. And people are troubling themselves for nothing.

Because God isn't in it. It's just their religious drive and their desire to be something, prove something. What are we supposed to do? Just sit around and do nothing? We're supposed to go out and do great things for God? Dare to be a Daniel.

What are you doing? Sitting in the pew and getting fat? Don't you know there's children being aborted and all kinds of things? And then there's them people up in San Francisco and you're sitting there in the pew and you're not doing anything? You're a pew warmer. That's what you are. Have you ever heard that? Just sitting there getting fat.

Well, the Bible has good things to say about getting fat. You know, how many have heard the expression the anointing breaks the yoke? You've heard that? That means that the ox's neck is so strong, his neck has got so thick it broke the yoke. So there is an advantage to being fat.

To sit in the pew and get fat. You break the yoke. Oh, God make us fat in the Lord.

Hallelujah. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. God, are you ever going to move? I'm getting older.

I'm almost 39. You know what that means? Another year and I'm out of it, Lord. And you haven't done anything.

Huh? Wait patiently for Him. Boy, I tell you, when God gets slow, there's nothing slower in the universe. But when He gets fast, there's nothing quicker in the universe.

So you've got to keep yourself ready because boy, when He moves, wow, you've got to be ready. So I just wait patiently for Him. Well, the whole world is going to hell.

That's what I was taught when I was in Bible school. The whole world is going to hell. I was afraid to eat my lunch.

I thought the whole world is going to hell. What am I doing eating my lunch? I'm not doing the sliding down into hell. And here I am.

What am I doing? I'm sitting eating my lunch. This will never do. Well, I told you what I did.

I went in a missionary conference and I prayed. I said, oh God. I wasn't married at the time.

I could go anywhere, do anything. And I said, oh God, what do you want? I didn't know what God would come up with, but I'm sure it would be the adventure of my life and I'd probably burn out in a year because the big thing was burnout for Christ. Burnout for Christ.

Well, any electrical engineer, mechanical engineer will tell you you don't burn out equipment if you can help it. Is that right, Bob? Yeah, and John. You don't burn out equipment if you can help it.

No. But it's burnout for Christ. Burnout for Christ.

Well, I was all for that. Adventurous and ready to go. Burnout for Christ.

And so I said, God, I'll go anywhere, do anything, you know. Go up to Tibet with just my sweater on. Anything you say.

And all the Lord said was, I love you. What kind of response is this? I love you. Okay.

And you know what? I'm still waiting patiently. That was a long time ago. That was when the sixth inferno was the first assembly of God.

So you see how long ago that was. Wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when men succeed in their ways.

Don't do it. You see, but they're successful. Here I am trying to do what's right.

And they go and do what's wrong. And they win every time. And I lose every time.

Now how can that be right? But what does the Bible say? Don't fret. I can see it in Afghanistan. We go to protect a guy.

What happens? He gets kidnapped and killed. You know, that tells me something. We're not getting the protection that we should.

See? We're not getting the protection that we should. Don't fret. See it? Repeated.

How many see it repeated? Four letters. F-R-E-T. Don't do it.

Because you're looking in the wrong direction. You're giving the devil credit. When men succeed in their ways, let them succeed.

More power to them. Give them rope. Just keep giving them rope.

Give them plenty of rope. They gave Judas rope when they carry out their wicked schemes. Isn't that right, Benny? They gave Judas enough rope.

Yeah, he took care of it. When they carry out their wicked schemes, let's keep giving them rope. Oh, that's what you want to do? Well, it's not my business.

Yeah, but don't you see I'm succeeding? Oh, you are? Oh, well. Have fun. Refrain from anger.

What does the word refrain mean? What's the word in Greek, Tony? That's a good one to learn. Refrain from anger. How many here are up for that? Huh? You sure? What does refrain mean? Yes.

Keep from it. Don't do it. Yeah, pray.

Say, I'm doing the wrong thing. The Bible says don't do it. See, that's one to put up on the board, Andrew.

Refrain from anger. People are going, Taliban, Osama Bin Laden, you see, refrain from anger. What's wrong with them over there? And turn from wrath.

That's the gospel of the feet. You turn. You turn away from it.

Are you going toward it? You turn away from it. Do not fret. The third time he's hung up on this thing.

Do not fret. Say, well, I heard you the first time. Well, this is the third time it's in here.

What does it say about it? How many want to be led into evil? How many under 20 want to be led into evil? How many over 20 want to be led into evil? Nobody. Well, then, don't fret. This is going to be called Don't Fret Sunday.

By the way, where's Mark Overton? There's a title for you for the tape, Mark. Don't fret. You always have a hard time with those titles.

This is an easy one today. Evil men will be cut off. But when? Soon enough.

Soon enough. But those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. One time, the convention of lawyers said, well, this actually happened.

A convention of lawyers up in, I think it was Sacramento or San Francisco. One of the guys was in a boastful mood. He said, well, a meek will inherit the earth, but will win in court.

Yay! I'll tell you something. The meek are going to inherit the earth. Court or no court.

Oh, yes. When God says something, that's what's going to happen. So then we've got to figure out, alright, he says, those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

You want to inherit the land? What do you do? Yeah, you don't get your mind on something else. What if they get a whole bunch of crop dusters and they dump anthrax all over San Diego? What will I do? Hope in the Lord. It doesn't say hope in the Lord when there's anthrax all over the place.

Hope in the Lord. Don't stop. Hope is a very important component of faith.

Faith is compounded from hope and courage and trust. These things constitute faith. The substance of things hoped for.

Get your hope out today and put the wire brush on it. Get it shiny and nice. It's so easy to get bogged down carrying your cross that you lose hope.

You figure, oh, it's always going to be like this one day after the next. I hope I last. Jesus, for the joy that was set before Him, endure the cross.

If you're going to endure the cross, if you're going to do the number and get away from just being a church attender and be a disciple, take up your cross and follow Christ, I tell you, you cannot do it unless you keep hope. You've got to go window shopping or do whatever it takes, but say, Lord, give me something to hope for. What sounds good? Give me something good, Lord.

I'm getting bogged down carrying my cross. Put hope in front of me and the Lord will do that. He'll give you something to hope for.

He'll keep you going. Hope. What do you hope for? What are you hoping for right now? What are you hoping for? Besides that I've come to the end of things.

What else are you hoping for? Huh? What are you hoping for? What do you wish would happen? Keep your hopes bright. Ask God, say, if this isn't the right hope, give me a right hope. It probably is.

When we relax and just think about what we'd like, we usually come up with the right thing. We usually don't come up with some sinful, satanic thing. What would I really like? Not what my flesh is craving for, but what would I really like? You're going to need to do that in the days to come.

You're going to need to window shop. Get your mind up. What would I like? When I die, who's the first person I would like to see? What would I like to do when I get there? Window shop.

Think about wonderful things. What gift would I like from the Lord? Picture yourself with that gift. That's a good use of your imagination, by the way.

You're not trying to bring it to pass by imaging it. You're hoping. Lord, I'd like to have a real gift of miracles.

Boy, I'd go right down the center of the Palestinian Authority, and I'd start working a few miracles and turn those people to the true God. There's nothing wrong with that. Hope.

I hope that comes to pass, Lord. Shall we stand?