WEBVTT 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:03.680 Hi, everybody. 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:05.839 Happy New Year to you. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.320 Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Exodus 32. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:10.160 I want to talk to you tonight. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:14.480 The title of this message is called Discovering Our True God. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:30.480 And I want us to think as we begin 2004, I want us to think kind of deeply tonight about our worship, worshiping God, and really if we truly worship God the way that we should. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:34.560 I know you love the Lord, and I know you believe in the Lord, and I don't question that at all. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:41.439 But I want to talk to you tonight about the way we worship the Lord and if God really is the one that we worship the most. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.079 This is kind of an odd text of scripture that we're going to read. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:45.600 You're familiar with it, I'm sure. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:50.799 This is where the children of Israel make a golden calf that they begin to worship. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:52.479 And it's really an odd scripture. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:01:00.320 The children of Israel had lived in Egypt for 400 years, and much of that time they had been under cruel bondage to Pharaoh. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.079 And you remember God sent Moses as a deliverer to the children of Israel. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:19.920 Moses came down, and through ten miracles, the children of Israel were delivered from cruel oppression in Egypt, and they went into the wilderness now, which was only supposed to be really their home for just a few months, until they got to the promised land. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:25.040 Unfortunately, their mistakes in the wilderness caused them to live there for forty years. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:26.400 God never intended that. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:33.280 But the wilderness was a tough time for the children of Israel because their hearts were really not turned toward the Lord. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:36.879 Let's read Exodus 32, and then I want to talk about it here tonight. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:45.680 It says, When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, Moses was up on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights, receiving the Ten Commandments. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:56.879 When they saw that he didn't come down, the people gathered together to Aaron, that was Moses' brother, and said to him, Come make us gods, or literally a god, that shall go before us. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:02.959 For as this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:09.840 And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden earrings which are in your ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:23.199 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron, and he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded cap or a cow. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:29.120 And then they said, This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:30.560 Let's just stop right there. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:32.479 Kind of an odd thing. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:36.560 Because they're in the middle of the wilderness and they've lost their leader as far as they know. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:39.039 He's been gone for forty days. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:41.280 They're obviously nervous about it. 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:46.960 And they turned to Aaron, who is, you know, to become the high priest, and he's he's Moses' brother. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:53.199 And uh Aaron says to them, in response to Moses being gone, give me all your jewelry, give me all your earrings. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:58.639 They brought it and it came out of the fire there, and he molded it into a golden calf. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:02:59.039 Okay. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:00.800 You know, you think about that. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:09.759 It's it's an odd thing for several reasons, but you know, have you ever thought about why they made a golden calf out of the jewelry and not a golden chipmunk? 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:14.879 Or not a golden butterfly, or a golden something else? 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:18.319 And it's because of this, and I want you to listen to what I'm about to say. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:22.479 The rest of your life will be determined by what I'm about to say. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:26.960 You naturally worship what you fear the most, always. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:29.120 You naturally worship what you fear the most. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:31.199 It doesn't matter if you're a Christian or not. 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:35.680 It doesn't matter what your beliefs are, you naturally worship what you fear the most. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:37.520 No preacher has to tell you to do it. 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:40.080 You don't have to belong to a church to do it. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:46.159 Every person, every day, naturally worships what they fear the most. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:48.560 And this is what Israel is proving right here. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:57.039 If you were in the wilderness and there was no water supply and no food supply, and you were there with several million people, what would your greatest fear be? 00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:58.879 It would be the fear of starvation. 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:00.240 All of us would have that fear. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.120 So when the golden calf jumps out of the fire, it's not mysterious at all. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:06.719 They have come from Egypt. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:09.759 Egypt worships the gods that they fear. 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:21.199 All of the worship of Egypt surrounds ten gods, false gods, that are all made in these uh inanimate objects, wood, stone, jewelry, whatever it is. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:27.839 But they worship the gods that they fear, and all of their gods are fashioned around their fears. 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:31.839 And so when this golden calf jumps out of the fire, it's no surprise at all. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:39.199 Their profound fear at that moment is starvation, and so they begin to worship a God corresponding to their fears. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:40.319 Now I want you to listen to me. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:42.639 It doesn't matter what you believe in. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:48.800 Your fears and your beliefs are two different things until you make them come together. 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:50.240 And that's what I want to talk to you tonight. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:51.439 Let me give you an example. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:05:01.279 Did you realize now, this is Exodus 32, Aaron, in response to Moses being gone, Aaron says, Bring me your jewelry, and I will make you a God. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:02.800 And he makes a golden calf. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:19.600 Do you realize in Exodus 24 that Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu, which were they were Aaron's sons, and seventy elders of Israel ate with God in God's presence, his glorious presence? 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:21.120 This is, I want you to listen to this. 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:27.279 This is just absolutely fascinating, because this is the same old boy now who's who's uh leading them to worship a golden calf. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:51.120 It says, Then Moses went up also Adab, or Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel, and there were under his feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity, but on the nobles of the children of Israel he did not lay his hand, talking about God, so they saw God and they ate and they drank. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:53.839 Can you imagine eating dinner with God? 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:55.759 In his glorious presence. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:56.639 They did. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:03.759 It says that he had sapphire under his feet, as clear as the heavens itself, and that God did not touch them. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:07.040 The Bible says that no man can see God and live. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:08.000 They did. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:10.639 They ate dinner with God. 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:16.000 Forty days later, they were making a golden calf to worship. 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:19.439 It doesn't matter what you believe in, it doesn't matter if you're saved. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:21.600 It doesn't matter if you're spirit-filled. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:25.120 It doesn't matter if you've had miraculous encounters with God. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:32.879 I'm telling you, as a matter of fact, every single day you naturally worship what you fear the most. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:35.839 The good thing is, if you fear God the most, you worship God. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.720 And as believers, we're supposed to fear God the most. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:40.319 Now listen, I want you to listen to me. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:45.519 The number one commandment in the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, is this commandment. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:46.959 Do not fear. 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:48.560 Anything except God. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:50.000 The number one commandment. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:54.959 When Adam and Eve fell, their first emotion was the emotion of fear. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:02.319 When Jesus was resurrected, the first thing the angel said and the first thing that Jesus said when Jesus was resurrected is, do not fear. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:05.040 All through the Bible we're told not to fear. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:12.000 And the greatest promises in the Bible are always the promises of fearing God more than anything else. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:15.759 Fear is the theme, basically, of the entire Bible. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:17.120 Who are you going to fear? 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:19.360 What fears are going to motivate your life? 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:23.120 Because you're always going to worship what you fear the most. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:28.720 And the Bible says if we fear God the most and we worship Him, we're going to be tremendously blessed. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:34.240 But if we worship and fear anything other than God, it ends up being a curse to our lives. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:36.160 And it doesn't matter if we're Christians or not. 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:47.839 I'm just saying to you tonight, if you're here and you believe in Jesus and you're spirit filled, and you love God and you come to church and you believe in the Bible, it doesn't matter. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.439 You will always worship what you fear the most. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:58.000 What we must do as believers is make sure that we fear God the most so that we're worshiping Him. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:00.319 Let me just give you, by the way, a definition of worship. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:05.839 And that is, it is what you trust in the most to deliver you and is your source of hope. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:07.199 You worship the most. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:09.120 People worship different things. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:13.439 Let me talk for just a minute about the three greatest fears that people have. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:20.000 The greatest fears that all of us have naturally are the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, and the fear of death. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.319 All of us have those fears to some degree. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:26.240 Before we know the Lord, those fears are typically very profound fears. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:31.040 But even after we know the Lord, for many of us, they can be very profound fears. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:31.759 Let me say this. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:38.480 In the world, people who do not know God, people in the world, are always motivated by fear. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:44.960 Mostly this is the driving force of their lives: the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, and the fear of death. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:46.320 Let me talk about these for just a minute. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:48.159 The fear of rejection. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:52.320 Love is the greatest need in our lives. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:55.759 Love created us to love. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:58.080 We were created by God to love. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:08:58.879 God is love. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:04.080 And when Jesus was asked what the most important commandments were, he said, number one, commandments love God. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:06.159 Number two, commandments love each other. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:07.919 Love is our greatest need. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:09.840 Rejection is our greatest fear. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:17.519 Because I need love the most, the greatest fear that I have in life is that I will be rejected and not loved. 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:20.879 And I will tell this to you as a matter of fact about you. 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:21.840 And that is this. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:25.600 The greatest scars in your life are the scars of rejection from your past. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:35.039 It may have been something that somebody said to you, or making fun of you, or rejecting you from a peer group, or not choosing you in a sporting event, or whatever it might have been. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:40.240 But the deepest scars in any of our lives are the scars of rejection. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:47.600 And this is, by the way, these scars of rejection, that's where the devil comes to breed fears into our lives that we're going to be rejected. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:48.639 But understand this. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:51.679 This is what the Bible says about the issue. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:56.559 By the way, if you fear rejection the most, you worship acceptance. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:58.480 You want to be accepted by people. 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:00.639 This is the way that I was growing up. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:01.840 Here's what the Bible says. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.799 This is Proverbs 17, beginning with verse 5. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:05.440 This is God. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:11.679 Cursed is the man who trusts in man and who makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:17.200 And understand this, when you're fearing anything other than God the most, your heart always departs from the Lord. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:23.679 Jesus said the number one commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart, and you can't serve fear and God at the same time. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:34.000 He shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parch places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:37.440 Blessed is the man who trust in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:50.080 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its root by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor cease will cease from yielding fruit. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:54.320 Proverbs twenty-nine twenty-five says, The fear of man brings a snare. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:56.639 The fear of man is just that man's going to reject me. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:57.440 That's what it is. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:01.039 I'm fearful that people are going to reject me and not like me. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:05.440 The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be saved. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:10.320 I I grew up with a lot of rejection and a lot of fears in my life. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.639 When I was in the second grade, I was taller than my second grade teacher. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:17.039 I was a very, very large child. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:19.440 I mean, when I was growing up, nobody could beat me up. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:21.440 Two years older than me, nobody could beat me up. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:26.000 All my friends, when somebody was giving them trouble, I was the protector till I was in high school. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:30.720 I was in high school before I ever looked anybody eyeball to eyeball my own age. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:32.799 And uh I was just a very, very large child. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:34.480 I was 6'1 in the sixth grade. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:43.759 And so in the second grade, I was taller than my second grade teacher, and that was bad, but there was a girl in my class as big as me, and that was really bad for her. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:51.919 And I remember in second grade, you know, I'd we were sitting in second grade class together, and we had a party. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:58.159 It was like before Christmas break, and there was a big party one day, and I remember I felt self-conscious anyway. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:01.200 That's back when the show was on, and they called me Lurch. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:02.639 Uh what was that show? 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:03.600 Anybody remember? 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:05.200 The Adams Family. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:07.679 And they called me Lurch, and I didn't like that. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:09.840 And so uh I felt real self-conscious. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:12.799 When I was around my friends, uh, I would stand down like this. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:20.159 If they were walking down the street, I would walk in the gutter to make myself, you know, six inches shorter or whatever, but I was just real self-conscious about it. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:35.360 And uh I remember in this party that we had before Christmas one year that uh they served soft drinks, and everybody in the class got a Coke, except for this girl sitting next to me and me, and we got new grapes. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:13:03.120 And we had to sit kind of at the back of the class together, and I thought we're the basically the freak section, you know, and they sit all the freaks back here, and for some reason freaks don't get cokes, freaks get new grapes, and I remember sitting back there in my chair looking at everybody's chair in the whole room, and they had Cokes, and me and my fellow freakness back here, we had new grapes, and it bothered me more than I can tell you. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:07.759 And I was so I felt so self-conscious and just like that. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:11.360 And anytime, and my my name is Dale Evans, my middle name's Dale. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:13.360 And for a boy, that's not good, you know. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:23.759 And for some of you who are younger, you don't understand, but Dale Evans was one of the women role models, you know, of my name is Jimmy Dale Evans, and my parents, you know, I just forgave them for that. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:31.759 And but sometimes somebody would learn my middle name and they would come up and call me Dale Evans, and I would either beat him up or pay him off or something. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:40.080 But, you know, I mean I just so growing up, you know, I just had these little things, but what I realized is it created in me a fear of rejection. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:42.000 I didn't want to be a freak. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:46.480 I didn't want people laughing at me and rejecting me, and that's the way I grew up. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:48.240 And so I grew up popular. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:51.279 When I was in junior high, I was our class I was the class favorite. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:52.879 I was always popular in school. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:56.559 And one of the reasons I was popular is because I would sell my soul for people laughing. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:06.480 I grew up in church, I heard the gospel over and over again, but it never penetrated because I didn't care nearly as much about what God thought about me as what everybody else thought about me. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:12.639 And I was very careful of making a decision about God that would cause people to think poorly of me. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:18.879 It's interesting, at 19 years old, when I came to the Lord, the first words that God ever spoke to me is never see your friends again. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:24.559 Coming to Jesus cost me every friend that I had, and it's the best decision I ever made in my life. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.440 Because today I'm rich in friends, true friends. 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:39.840 If you worship, if you fear rejection the most, even if you believe in Jesus, even if you're spirit-filled, you will spend your primary energy trying to get people to accept you. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:42.720 And God calls that the fear of man. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:49.600 And he says, you're going to be under a curse when you give your primary attention to that rather than me. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:56.000 And fearing people, by the way, will cause you not to be able to give God your primary focus and attention. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:59.200 The second great fear that people have is the fear of failure. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:01.759 I mean, all of us fear failure to a certain degree. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:04.159 Some people, it is their primary fear. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:07.440 When you fear failure the most, you worship success. 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:09.919 That is what you want the most in life. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:11.440 And for some people, that's money. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:13.679 For some people, it's power and a position. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:16.879 For other people, it's influence, be it political or something else. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:23.679 Let me talk to you for just a minute about the Kennedy family, because they're the best example that I can think of of this whole dynamic. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:26.399 The Kennedy family, they know they're under a curse. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:28.320 You know, you hear about the Kennedy curse? 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:30.159 It's true, they're under a curse. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:36.240 Mathematically, there is no way possible for one family to have that many bad things happen to them. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:37.679 It just can't happen. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:39.840 I read this book called The Kennedy Curse. 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:45.120 It's a really fascinating book about the Kennedy family and their origins in Ireland. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:48.639 The patriarch of the family was named Patrick Kennedy. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:52.639 He fled Ireland to keep from going to debtor's prison. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:55.840 That's back in the days when they had debtor's prison in Ireland. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:01.519 He was broke and about to go to debtor's prison, so he came to America broke to escape that. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:02.799 Now I want you to listen to me. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:08.080 We don't know this today nearly as much as they did 100 years ago. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:14.480 But a hundred years ago in America, being Irish was the lowest class of citizen in America. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:17.840 Irish people were very, very poorly thought of. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:22.320 And there was another group of people, very poorly thought of also, and it was Catholics. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:26.799 The Kennedy family was broke, Irish, and Catholics. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:30.159 When they came to America, they had three strikes against them. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:33.519 And there was a deep shame on Patrick Kennedy. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:43.840 And he took this shame, this fear of failure, and this fear of poverty, and he turned it into a maniacal drive to succeed, and he did. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:48.399 Patrick Kennedy worked hard and he made a lot of money, and he had a young son named Joe. 00:16:48.559 --> 00:17:05.039 And he took Joe Kennedy and he preached into him, you will not be vulnerable, you will not be broke, you will never be any man's servant, you will have money and you will have power and you will have political power and influence, and you will never let this family be vulnerable. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:13.599 And he preached it to young Joe, and Joe grew up, and Joe turned into a megalomaniac, a power monger, and he did anything to make money and to be powerful. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:16.240 He was a womanizer and he was a bootlegger. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:21.359 He broke the law and did anything that he could do to amass wealth and he amassed a fortune. 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:25.839 And he had sons under him, Bobby and Ted and Joe Jr. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:27.039 and uh John F. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:34.559 Kennedy, the president, and he trained all of his boys to grow up and be powerful and to be rich and to rule the world. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:38.720 And he couldn't be president because he had compromised himself during World War II. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:45.519 As the ambassador to England, he couldn't be president, so he had decided that he was going to try to buy the presidency for one of his sons. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:46.480 But Joe Jr. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:48.079 died during World War II. 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:51.039 And then John became president, but he was assassinated. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:53.920 Bobby wanted to become president, but he was assassinated. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:56.640 He was also assassinated before he could become president. 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:01.200 Ted Kennedy, remember Chappaquitic and all the bad things that happened to Ted Kennedy. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:07.759 This family has had incredible tragedy happen to them over and over and over again. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:10.640 And their behavior is just bizarre. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.200 They're just the most cavalier, careless kind of individuals. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:16.960 And John Jr., John F. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:17.839 Kennedy Jr. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:19.519 died just a couple of years ago. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:20.799 He's the perfect example. 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:24.720 He was flying an airplane that he was not rated to fly. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:35.839 And he was flying at night over the ocean with no visual standards at all to be able to fly by, and he was not instrument-rated. 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:39.759 He literally got vertigo and flew his plane directly into the ocean. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:42.000 He should have never been out there in the first place. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:43.039 Why was he out there? 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:44.400 Because he was a Kennedy. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.599 And nobody tells a Kennedy what to do. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.240 Nobody tells a Kennedy no. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:53.440 We have influence, we have power, and we rule the world. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:57.680 There's only one little problem with that, and that is they're under a curse. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:18:58.880 God's against them. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:00.720 Let me just tell you this, ladies and gentlemen. 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:06.400 When you take success and you make it your God, God will make you fail. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:08.160 And let me just tell you something. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.880 God is the force that you can't fight against. 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:14.559 And where was all that political power when the bullet was coming to John F. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:15.039 Kennedy? 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:16.240 Could it stop the bullet? 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:20.079 Where was all that influence and money when John Jr.'s plane was going down? 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.559 Could it buy him help in his moment of tragedy? 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:24.400 No, and it can't do it for us either. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:29.279 The word worship means worship. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:34.799 I have found something worth my attention and affection. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:38.240 I have found something worth believing in. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:43.680 Ladies and gentlemen, the only thing worth our worship is the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:45.839 Nothing else is worth our worship. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:52.799 Power, money, the prestige, the acclaim of people, nothing else is worth our worship. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:57.599 But when you give something else, your worship, it's ultimately because you fear it. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.799 You're driving yourself to succeed because you fear poverty. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:03.440 Many people who live during the depression fear poverty. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:06.000 Many people who have been poor fear poverty. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:09.039 And rather than worshiping God, they worship money. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:11.680 Jesus said you can't serve God money. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:15.359 You're going to love one and hate the other, you're going to hold to one and despise the other. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:20.079 Here's the third major fear that we have, and that's the fear of death. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:22.960 The closer to God you get, the less you fear death. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:24.720 The more you long for eternity. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:26.720 The Apostle Paul's an example of this. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:30.880 The Apostle Paul said, For me to live is Christ, and for me to die is gain. 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:34.559 I have a desire to depart and be with the Lord, which is very much better. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:39.759 You can always tell your proximity to the Lord by the amount of peace that's in your life. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:43.519 You can always tell your distance from the Lord by the amount of fear that's in your life. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:21:03.440 In Hebrews chapter 2 says, Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, Jesus himself likewise shared in the same that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who, through the fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:06.799 You know that a lot of people have the fear of death. 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:14.000 And the bad thing about the fear of death is that we live in a world full of death, AIDS, disease, all kinds of new deadly diseases. 00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:20.880 We have right now as a world and a nation, we are under a high terror alert. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:29.039 I flew here today on the airport, on an airplane, and in the airports it's just full of anxiety about terrorism. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:35.839 And so every day we're living with all these nuts around the world trying to kill somebody and trying to kill us, especially as Americans. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:36.960 We're at war over this. 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.920 Literally, World War III is a war of terror. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:42.799 You know, Jesus said this concerning the end times. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:50.799 He said, When the end comes, men's hearts will fail them for terror and the expectation of the things that are about to happen on the earth. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:52.640 Is that happening, ladies and gentlemen? 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:56.400 We literally live in a world that is full of fear. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.279 Jesus said so much so that men's hearts would literally stop. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.640 Every day. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:04.000 Stress is the number one killer in America today, anxiety. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:05.759 Just exactly the way that Jesus said. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:10.400 So if you fear death, this really isn't a good day for you, is what I'm trying to say. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:13.039 But see, there are phobias. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:18.640 Every phobia, the fear of whatever it is, every phobia is rooted in the fear of death. 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:20.319 And you say, well, I fear snakes. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:23.519 Nah, you don't fear snakes, you fear getting bit and dying. 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:24.400 That's what you fear. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:25.599 You say, well, I fear heights. 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:26.160 No, you don't. 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:28.720 You don't fear heights, you fear splattering. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:30.400 See? 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:36.720 It's every phobia, but some people have a premonition of death. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:40.319 Some people, the devil comes and tells them, you're going to die early. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:41.759 You're going to die next week. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:43.200 You're going to die on an airplane. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:47.359 It gives you some kind of a terrible fear of whatever it might be. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.119 Nightmares, hypochondria. 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:55.680 You have every disease coming down the pike because your ultimate fear is catching a disease and dying or something like that. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:59.279 Or the fear of violence or the fear of crime or whatever it might be. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:02.079 But ultimately, it all goes back to the fear of death. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:09.680 And it says that Jesus came to die on the cross to break Satan's hold on death, so no longer could he control us through the fear of death. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:13.359 You know something, ladies and gentlemen, if you're a Christian here, let me just give you some good news. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:17.599 Jesus said to Mary and Martha, he who believes in me will never die. 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:19.359 Did you know you can't die? 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:25.200 Did you know that there'll be, if you're a believer here tonight, do you realize there'll never be an instant when you're dead? 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:28.000 There'll never be an instant when you're in the ground in a casket? 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:32.799 And if you have believing relatives that are died, they're not in the ground in a casket, they're in the presence of God. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:38.960 If I died right here, right now, and I took my last breath here, my next breath would be in heaven. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:44.160 If my eyes closed here right now, for the last time they would open instantaneously in heaven. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:50.400 If my senses dulled and I could not feel this realm any longer, the next instant I begin to feel heaven. 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:52.160 I will never die. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:57.440 The fear of death is a lie that the devil tries to perpetrate on people who don't know the truth. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:59.759 And he wants you to fear death. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:02.960 If a terrorist kills me, praise God, I'm going to go be with Jesus. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:06.160 If a terrorist doesn't kill me, praise God, I'm going to stay here and serve Him. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:08.799 One way or the other, I just can't lose in this deal. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:21.279 But the devil wants you to have some grisly kind of premonition about your death so you won't get on an airplane or you won't live your life or you won't go out in public or you won't do what God's calling you to do. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:23.519 Do it. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:25.119 Live your life. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:27.119 Don't let fear control you. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:32.400 Let me just tell you this: if you're doing what God told you to do, you're safe. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:36.240 And if you're not, you're not safe. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:38.480 And no home can protect you. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:40.480 No vest can protect you. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.200 No karate lessons can protect you. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:46.160 No mace on your keychain can protect you. 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:49.440 No bad dog in your backyard can protect you. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:52.720 You will fear something. 00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:55.599 And you will worship that that you fear the most. 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:56.319 Period. 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:57.839 Regardless of what you believe in. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:24:58.559 Here's the good news. 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:00.559 If you fear God the most, you worship God. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:06.240 And all the blessings in life come to those people who worship God. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:16.400 Worshiping God is the only thing that we can do that brings about the result that we want and truly dispels our fears. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:19.839 Do you realize when you worship fear, it just gets worse? 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:33.599 If you worship being rejected and you do everything you can to make yourself presentable and right, and then you get accepted by the right group of people, you think when you get accepted that your fear is going to go away. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:37.039 When you get accepted, then you live in the fear that you're going to be rejected. 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:38.960 And you say, well, I fear poverty. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:43.039 And so you think that you're going to get a million dollars and all your fears are going to go away? 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:44.880 You know what happens when you get that million dollars? 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:47.599 Then you're going to have the fear that you're going to lose the million dollars. 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:50.079 Many people who are very wealthy live in fear. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:58.319 There are many very righteous, wealthy people, but many people who are unrighteous and wealthy live in the absolute fear of losing their wealth. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:02.240 There's one of our pastors who was a stained glass artist before he became a pastor. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:05.680 He was in the home of one of the wealthiest women in the world. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:07.680 She's left money to everybody. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:08.720 She's now died. 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:29.680 And when she was alive, he was in her home, and she was in there, barricaded in her home, because she had been broken in and at gunpoint robbed of her jewelry and artwork in her home, and in spite of hundreds of millions of dollars that she had given away and hundreds of millions of dollars she still possessed. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:33.599 She lived in absolute fear every day of being killed for her money. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:41.359 So I'm just telling you, if you think serving fear will make things better, the longer you serve fear, the worse your fears get. 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:46.240 The only way that your fears are going to go away is to worship the Lord. 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:51.680 See, there are two curses, by the way, of fearing something other than God and worshiping that. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:53.200 And the first curse is this. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:54.400 This is Jeremiah 2. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:59.759 As the thief is ashamed when he has found out, so is the house of Israel ashamed. 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:05.279 They and their kings and their princes and the priests and their prophets, saying to a tree, You are my father. 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:08.319 This is how stupid idolatry looks to God. 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:12.400 Saying to a tree, You're my father, and to a stone, you gave birth to me. 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:15.279 For they have turned their back to me and not their face. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:19.599 But in their time of trouble they will say, Arise and save us. 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:22.480 But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:23.680 Let them arise. 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:31.759 The next thing that God says here is, if they can save you in your time of trouble, according to the numbers of your cities are your gods, O Judah. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:37.759 You know, the bad thing about worshiping something other than God, you worship money, you worship success, you worship popularity or whatever. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:43.680 See, the bad thing is though God loves you and you're saved, and you're on your way to heaven, when your time of trouble comes, God won't have you. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:45.519 He says, No, wait, wait a minute. 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:46.079 Wait. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:49.519 You haven't been living for me, you've been living for your friends. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.200 Now then call one of them. 00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:53.359 The doctor just pronounced that you have cancer. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:54.880 Call one of your buddies. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:00.240 Your family's falling apart. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:02.960 Your kids are in trouble. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:09.839 You're afraid they're gonna destroy themselves. 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:17.839 Take that degree off your wall and rub it on your head. 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:27.039 Let me tell you the blessing of serving God and praying answers. 00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:30.960 We all need money. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:32.240 We all want to succeed. 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:33.359