Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 2: We are so glad you're here with us. Today.
Speaker 1: We're going to continue our series called the Keys to
Speaker 1: a Blessed Life. And when these messages, Rick walks through
Speaker 1: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to
Speaker 1: live a truly hopeful and purpose filled life. And now
Speaker 1: here's part two of handling opposition to your faith.
Speaker 2: So these are the three things I need to remember
Speaker 2: whenever harassment comes in my life. It can make me
Speaker 2: more like Jesus. It can deepen my faith, and I'm
Speaker 2: going to be rewarded for it in eternity, forever and
Speaker 2: ever and ever. Now, there are six things you need
Speaker 2: to do. You need to do. Before we look at
Speaker 2: those six things, I want us to look at a
Speaker 2: short video clip of some of the kind of harassment
Speaker 2: that's going on around the world right now. Watch this
Speaker 2: on the screen.
Speaker 3: I'm from us family the days in the year two
Speaker 3: thousand dreams. My father called me and he gave me two.
Speaker 4: Options, either to leave Jesus or to leave the family.
Speaker 4: My belief in Jesus is much stronger than any other
Speaker 4: relation that I have got. That's why I quit everything
Speaker 4: and kept Jesus.
Speaker 5: The Muslim radical shouted, demanding heavy punishment, as heavy as possible.
Speaker 5: They came every day. After my father was told of
Speaker 5: my imprisonment, he said, I am proud of my daughter
Speaker 5: for the suffering she experienced for Christ. This is a
Speaker 5: great thing that God is doing in your life. So
Speaker 5: don't expect to get out of prison to soon. Just
Speaker 5: finish what the Lord has a sign.
Speaker 3: You to do.
Speaker 5: Just keep on preaching the gospel.
Speaker 6: In a letter dated January tenth, nineteen ninety four, my
Speaker 6: father wrote, I praised the Lord that in the midst
Speaker 6: of the heavy attack on the fast growing Church of
Speaker 6: Jesus Christ, the Lord has given the joy of the
Speaker 6: privilege of suffering for his name to all members of
Speaker 6: the church.
Speaker 7: Please don't worry about me. I'm quite ready for anything.
Speaker 7: Nine days after this letter that was written by Heiki
Speaker 7: was martyred.
Speaker 3: Two months ago, one of my father's neighbors gave me
Speaker 3: a call and told me that your sister had just died.
Speaker 3: I went to the funeral, but my whole family came
Speaker 3: against me. They kicked me and they beat me, and
Speaker 3: I had two broken ribs.
Speaker 5: This is truly a time of suffering because I got
Speaker 5: separated from my family. My children need their mother beside
Speaker 5: them because they are still small, and I missed them
Speaker 5: terribly too. But God's grace is sufficient. All social time
Speaker 5: is past your high. He was so humble, Master, and
Speaker 5: he had peace in his heart.
Speaker 8: When I see him in heaven, I'm going.
Speaker 3: To say, thank you. You are the one who caused
Speaker 3: me to love Jesus.
Speaker 2: Jo Brown. At his funeral, they gave us a booklet
Speaker 2: with Brother Hike's biography.
Speaker 3: And this verse was written in the first page. I
Speaker 3: read it there and I will never forget it.
Speaker 5: The persecution and the suffering we went through, really it
Speaker 5: is nothing compared to the glory of God. I came
Speaker 5: to understand the beauty of the unity of the Body
Speaker 5: of Christ, and how when one part suffers, all the
Speaker 5: parts suffer. So in the future I want to do
Speaker 5: the same thing for other Christians who are suffering.
Speaker 3: For Christ he should move out to.
Speaker 9: My sister is gone now, But what gives me more
Speaker 9: comfort about her is that before she died, she made
Speaker 9: her decision to follow Jesus Christ, and she died serving
Speaker 9: him first of all.
Speaker 2: When Brother hug was with us, his words were with us.
Speaker 2: He ministered to us each day for the orbishop. But
Speaker 2: even in his death, God did such great things.
Speaker 3: I don't know whom.
Speaker 8: I want him to know this. I want him to
Speaker 8: see that his blood was not useless. After they killed you,
Speaker 8: many like me came to Christ. And now I am
Speaker 8: ready to die for Jesus.
Speaker 9: You trusting.
Speaker 2: I'll say it again. I'll say it again. Christianity is
Speaker 2: not for weaklings, for whimps, for the faint of heart.
Speaker 2: It takes courageous men, it takes courageous women to follow Jesus. Now,
Speaker 2: these people are suffering in so many areas. We will
Speaker 2: never suffer as Americans. But what is it costing you
Speaker 2: to follow Christ? What is the cost to you? As
Speaker 2: I said, you're never going to but it's unlikely. You're
Speaker 2: never going to have to deal with violent oppression. But
Speaker 2: you deal with silent repression every single day in this culture.
Speaker 2: As America becomes more and more anti Christian and more
Speaker 2: and more secularized. Now, the Bible says what are we
Speaker 2: supposed to do? And it tells us six things you
Speaker 2: might write these days. Here's what you do when you
Speaker 2: handle opposition for your faith. Number One, don't be surprised.
Speaker 2: Don't be surprised. You should not expect the world to
Speaker 2: support your decision to follow Jesus. Why would you expect
Speaker 2: them to think that's, oh, that's a real popular thing
Speaker 2: to do. One Peter four to twelve says this, dear friends,
Speaker 2: don't be surprised. Don't be shocked when you go through
Speaker 2: painful trials that are like walking through fire, as though
Speaker 2: something unusual is happening to you. Jesus had told us.
Speaker 2: He said, in the world, you're going to have tribulation.
Speaker 2: It's going to happen. So don't be surprised. Number two,
Speaker 2: don't be afraid. So don't be afraid. Now, how do
Speaker 2: I get rid of the fear of opposition? How do
Speaker 2: I get rid of the fear of disapproval? How do
Speaker 2: I get afraid? How do I get rid of that
Speaker 2: fear of being reject You need to be filled with
Speaker 2: God's love. The more you realize how much God loves you,
Speaker 2: The Bible says there's no fear in love. Perfect love
Speaker 2: casts out all fear. You focus on God's love for you. You see,
Speaker 2: healthy people aren't afraid of rejection. Healthy people aren't afraid
Speaker 2: of disapproval. Healthy people don't need everybody's approval. Healthy people
Speaker 2: know their love by God. The Bible says in One
Speaker 2: Peter three sixteen thirteen to sixteen, if you suffer for
Speaker 2: doing what is right, you know, at work or at
Speaker 2: home and your family wherever, God will reward you for it.
Speaker 2: So don't be afraid and don't worry. Instead, worship Christ
Speaker 2: as Lord of your life. And if you are asked
Speaker 2: about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it
Speaker 2: and circle the word worry and the word worship. Those
Speaker 2: are the two alternatives you have when you feel put down,
Speaker 2: when you feel pressured to be quiet about your faith
Speaker 2: in Christ. Christ. You can either worry or you can worship.
Speaker 2: You can panic or you can pray. You can focus
Speaker 2: on the problem and the pressure and the persecution, or
Speaker 2: you can focus on God. He says, turn your attention
Speaker 2: away from the pressure you feel and turn it toward God.
Speaker 2: That's what worship is, focusing on God. The Bible tells
Speaker 2: us in the Bible that when Stephen, who was the
Speaker 2: first martyr, was stoned to death, it said he looked
Speaker 2: up into Heaven. He worshiped instead of worried. As they
Speaker 2: were throwing all those rocks at him that killed him.
Speaker 2: So don't be surprised, And he says, don't be afraid.
Speaker 2: Worship instead of worry. Number three, he says, don't be ashamed.
Speaker 2: Don't be ashamed. You should never be embarrassed for standing
Speaker 2: for the truth. Never be embarrassed for doing what's right.
Speaker 2: One Peter four sixteen says, it's no shame. You shouldn't
Speaker 2: be ashamed. It's no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Instead,
Speaker 2: thank God for the privilege of being called by his name. Question,
Speaker 2: is an insult gonna kill you? No is a put
Speaker 2: down gonna kill you. No is somebody calling you a
Speaker 2: name or labeling you something because you've made a stand
Speaker 2: for Christ and for what the Bible says. No is
Speaker 2: somebody some troll on the internet who's trying to bait
Speaker 2: you and get you in an argument. Is that gonna
Speaker 2: hurt you? No, it's not. It's not gonna kill you.
Speaker 2: So he says, don't be ashamed, don't be afraid, don't
Speaker 2: be surprised. Now, I want you to write this sentence down,
Speaker 2: and if you get this, it will liberate your life.
Speaker 2: I don't need other people's approval to be happy If
Speaker 2: you learn this, If this is all you get in
Speaker 2: today's message, it'll change your life because otherwise you are
Speaker 2: living your life for what other people think rather than
Speaker 2: what go God made you to be. And you can't
Speaker 2: be who God made you to be if you're worried
Speaker 2: about pleasing other people. I don't need others' approval to
Speaker 2: be happy. That person you've been trying to get their
Speaker 2: approval for so many years, like maybe it's a parent,
Speaker 2: They may have even died. If you haven't got it
Speaker 2: by now, I tell you this, you're not going to
Speaker 2: get it. But the good news is you don't need it.
Speaker 2: You don't need anybody's approval in order to be happy.
Speaker 2: You're as happy as you choose to be, and you
Speaker 2: focus on God rather than the people who disapprove. If
Speaker 2: I spent my life worrying about all the people who
Speaker 2: disapprove of me, I'd be in bed with deep, deep depression.
Speaker 2: But that's not what life's all about. I focus on God,
Speaker 2: and I focus on what he wants, not what other
Speaker 2: people think. Because I don't need and you don't need
Speaker 2: anybody's approval in order to be happy. Happiness is a
Speaker 2: choice now. The Bible says this in one Peter five,
Speaker 2: verse nine. Take a firm stand, Take a firm stand
Speaker 2: against Satan, and be strong in your faith. Remember that
Speaker 2: your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are
Speaker 2: going through the same kind of suffering you are. So
Speaker 2: what's you saying there? He's saying, well, I don't need
Speaker 2: to be ashamed. First place, you're in good company. This
Speaker 2: has happened for two thousand years, and there are people
Speaker 2: who are suffering right now for being a believer in Christ.
Speaker 2: You're in good company. If you want to go read
Speaker 2: Hebrews eleven, which is God's Hall of fame. And in
Speaker 2: God's Hall of fame, he says, they were beaten, they
Speaker 2: were tortured, they were imprisoned, they were pushed down, they
Speaker 2: were ridiculed, they were maligned, they were laughed at, and
Speaker 2: on and on and on. I don't know how Satine
Speaker 2: clear than this. Don't let don't ever let anybody laugh
Speaker 2: you out of following Christ. Don't ever let anybody laugh
Speaker 2: you out of living for Christ. One Peter three seventeen.
Speaker 2: Remember it's better to suffer for doing God's will than
Speaker 2: to suffer for doing evil. And here's the point, No
Speaker 2: matter what you do in life, somebody's gonna not like it.
Speaker 2: There is nothing that you can do that everybody is
Speaker 2: going to like. Does that veral I agree with that.
Speaker 2: You can't make everybody like you. So there's nothing you
Speaker 2: can do that can make everybody like you. So you
Speaker 2: may as well do the things that God likes rather
Speaker 2: than the things that other people like, because they aren't
Speaker 2: going to matter an eternity. If you're gonna suffer, if
Speaker 2: you're gonna have people who oppose you, if you're gonna
Speaker 2: have people's disapproval, you may as well have the disapproval
Speaker 2: for doing the right thing rather than the wrong thing.
Speaker 2: That's just logic. Because somebody is going to disagree with
Speaker 2: you no matter what you do. You can't avoid disapproval.
Speaker 2: Now we come to the fourth step, and here this
Speaker 2: is important. Recognize the source of the opposition, and it's Satan,
Speaker 2: not other people. It's not coworkers, it's not some other
Speaker 2: political party, it's not some other nation, it's not some
Speaker 2: other religion, it's not some competitor. It's not some person
Speaker 2: who just doesn't like you. The real source of the
Speaker 2: pressure you feel to cave in to not have integrity,
Speaker 2: the pressure you feel to be quiet and then not
Speaker 2: stand up for what you know is the right thing.
Speaker 2: That pressure is not coming from other people, It's really
Speaker 2: coming from Satan. In Revelation chapter twelve, verse ten, Satan
Speaker 2: is called quote the accuser of the Christians. That's his job.
Speaker 2: His number one job is to put you down. I
Speaker 2: follow me on this. Satan hates God, obviously, and so
Speaker 2: he hates anything God has created. And what he hates
Speaker 2: most of all are God's children. And so Satan hates you.
Speaker 2: He doesn't just hate God. Satan hates you. You know
Speaker 2: you've heard that phrase. God loves you and has a
Speaker 2: good plan for your life. Well, Satan hates you and
Speaker 2: has a bad plan for your life, and so he
Speaker 2: hates you. Now follow me on this. Satan wants to
Speaker 2: hurt God, but he can't. He can't hurt God. But
Speaker 2: he does have access to you, and he can't hurt you.
Speaker 2: And the quickest way to hurt a parent is to
Speaker 2: hurt his kids. The quickest way to hurt a mom's
Speaker 2: heart hurt her children. Quickest way to hurt a dad
Speaker 2: has hurt his children. And so Satan can't get it God.
Speaker 2: So what does he wanted to do. He wants to
Speaker 2: get at you, he wants to hurt you, and there
Speaker 2: is an unseen spiritual battle going all around you. And
Speaker 2: this pressure to make your life miserable and to make
Speaker 2: you cave in and to keep you from doing the
Speaker 2: right thing. It's not coming from other people. Really, you
Speaker 2: got to look beyond that. They're just pawns, they're just tools.
Speaker 2: They're just weapons, and a lot of times they don't
Speaker 2: even know most of the time, and I even know
Speaker 2: they're being used. But the real issue is this spiritual warfare.
Speaker 2: Ephesian six twelve says this. We're not fighting against human beings,
Speaker 2: which is why you don't win this in the ballot box.
Speaker 2: We're not fighting against human beings, but against wicked spiritual
Speaker 2: forces in the heavenly realm. Now let me explain this.
Speaker 2: You need to understand that Satan knows it's stupid to
Speaker 2: attack Jesus Christ directly. Why because he was the only
Speaker 2: perfect person who ever lived. How do you attack Jesus,
Speaker 2: I mean, the savior who taught love and grace and
Speaker 2: peace and joy and forgive other people and died gave
Speaker 2: his life for others. How do you attack Jesus so
Speaker 2: he knows. Rather than attacking Jesus directly, he wants to
Speaker 2: attack those who follow him. And today he uses the media,
Speaker 2: and he uses music, and he uses comedies, and he's
Speaker 2: doing anything he can to ridicule those who follow Jesus.
Speaker 2: And they say, hey, they're out of date, they're on
Speaker 2: the wrong side of history. They don't know what they're
Speaker 2: talking about. No on and their fuddy dead is their bigots,
Speaker 2: and on and on and on. Here's what the Bible
Speaker 2: says you should do, two Timothy, to stay away from
Speaker 2: stupid and senseless arguments. I would add, especially on the Internet,
Speaker 2: these only lead to trouble. God's servants must never quarrel.
Speaker 2: Star that circle, it put a line on it, fifteen
Speaker 2: exclamation points. God's servants must never quarrel. I didn't say
Speaker 2: that God did. It's right there in the Bible. And
Speaker 2: so you should not get into heated arguments. God's servants
Speaker 2: should never quarrel. That's what the Bible says. Instead, when
Speaker 2: you're under a press, when you're in opposition, when people
Speaker 2: are harassing you for being a Christian, when they look
Speaker 2: at you strange for what you believe, Instead be kind
Speaker 2: to everyone, including the opposition. And be patient with the
Speaker 2: opposition and be humble when you correct people who oppose you.
Speaker 2: They've been trapped by the devil and he makes them
Speaker 2: obey him. But God may help them escape. Now what's
Speaker 2: he saying here, He's saying those people they're just pawns.
Speaker 2: And see, if you don't have the Holy Spirit in
Speaker 2: your life, you're not God's power in your life. You
Speaker 2: have no defense against Satan. He could just whipsaw you
Speaker 2: this way. Now, he can master your moods, he can
Speaker 2: lead you into depression, he can do all kinds. He
Speaker 2: can make you angry. You have no defense against Satan.
Speaker 2: Until you've got God's spirit inside you. You're not strong. Sorry,
Speaker 2: you're just not. And so these people, they're just being
Speaker 2: used as tools. And what you need to do is
Speaker 2: recognize a source and treat the opposition the way Jesus did.
Speaker 2: How did Jesus treat those who opposed him? Even on
Speaker 2: the cross, he's saying, Father, forgive them. They don't know
Speaker 2: what they're doing. They don't know what they're doing. That's
Speaker 2: what it means to be christ Like. They don't know
Speaker 2: what they're doing. These people who attack me, they don't
Speaker 2: know what they're doing. The people who attack you, they
Speaker 2: don't know what they're doing. The people who put down
Speaker 2: Jesus in Church and Christian they don't know what they're doing. Father,
Speaker 2: forgive them. Now. Think about this. Jesus was lied to,
Speaker 2: lied about constantly. If you go make a list of
Speaker 2: all things they lied about Jesus in the Bible. They
Speaker 2: said he's a revolutionary here to overthrow Rome and take
Speaker 2: Pilot's place. Wrong. But they use that to get him
Speaker 2: to the cross. They said, they said he he's got
Speaker 2: a demon.
Speaker 1: Wrong.
Speaker 2: At one point, they said he's a drunk and a glutton.
Speaker 1: Wrong.
Speaker 2: They said, you know, he's the devil incarnate. Wrong. And
Speaker 2: how did Jesus respond to all those lies that were
Speaker 2: told about him? Look at the next verse Firs. Peter two.
Speaker 2: When they hurled their insults at him, Jesus did not retaliate.
Speaker 2: When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted
Speaker 2: himself to God, who judges justly. Look at this verse
Speaker 2: on the screen. I love this. In the message, it
Speaker 2: says this. They called him every name in the book,
Speaker 2: and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content
Speaker 2: to let God set things right. This leads us to
Speaker 2: the fifth thing you need to do when you're under attack,
Speaker 2: refuse to retaliate.
Speaker 1: Such a great message by Rick today and every day.
Speaker 1: I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was.
Speaker 1: And now here's Rick with an important message.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, thanks so much for listening today. You know,
Speaker 2: my hope is that God uses this broadcast to help
Speaker 2: deepen your relationship with Jesus. Now, these daily Hope messages
Speaker 2: are distributed on radio stations and digital platforms all across
Speaker 2: the globe, and listeners are writing and letting us know
Speaker 2: that their lives are being changed. They're telling us that
Speaker 2: they're walking with Jesus and that guilt and fear has
Speaker 2: been chased from their lives by God's love. You know,
Speaker 2: relationships are being restored, and marriages are being healed, and
Speaker 2: many people are saying that they've found their life purpose.
Speaker 2: I want to say thank you to you, because we're
Speaker 2: only able to carry the hope of Jesus to these
Speaker 2: people all around the world because of gifts from generous
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