Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: We are so glad you're here with us today. We're
Speaker 1: going to continue our series called The Keys to a
Speaker 1: Blessed Life now. In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus'
Speaker 1: Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to live
Speaker 1: a truly hopeful and purpose filled life. Let's get started
Speaker 1: with part one of handling opposition to your faith.
Speaker 2: Have I told you lately that I love you? If
Speaker 2: you have a Bible, open to Matthew chapter five and
Speaker 2: bring out your message notes. If I asked you to
Speaker 2: name the most persecuted group on the planet, you'd probably
Speaker 2: name the wrong group because it's Christians. It's Christians. It
Speaker 2: may surprise you that that's the most persecuted group on
Speaker 2: the planet, because it is the most ignored, most unnoticed,
Speaker 2: least reported, most overlooked news item on the planet. Without
Speaker 2: a doubt. The International Society of let me get this right,
Speaker 2: International Society for Human Rights. It's a secular organization. It's
Speaker 2: not a Christian organization. Just recently let out a report
Speaker 2: and it says, quote, eighty percent of all religious freedom
Speaker 2: violations in the world today are directed against Christians. Now,
Speaker 2: we're all aware that throughout history, for two thousand years, Christianity,
Speaker 2: the Christian Church, and Christians in particular, have been persecuted.
Speaker 2: We all know that for three hundred years it was
Speaker 2: illegal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire. They
Speaker 2: were feeding Christians to the lions, Nero was tarring them
Speaker 2: and lighting them on fire. And for three hundred years,
Speaker 2: first hundred years years of the Church, it was against
Speaker 2: the law to be a Christian. We know about the
Speaker 2: different cleansings throughout history, and the tortures and the burning
Speaker 2: at the stake and all of those kind of things
Speaker 2: for two thousand years. But what we don't know, what
Speaker 2: you don't know, is that the worst persecution of Christians
Speaker 2: in all of history is happening in our lifetime. It's
Speaker 2: just not being reported now. Since the Resurrection two thousand
Speaker 2: years ago, about seventy million believers in Jesus Christ have
Speaker 2: died for their faith. About seventy million. Well, what is
Speaker 2: shocking and what most people don't know is half of
Speaker 2: that number, thirty five million, have died in the last
Speaker 2: one hundred years. Right now. This past year, about one
Speaker 2: hundred million followers of Christ lived in countries, whether the
Speaker 2: state or the prevailing religion or the dictatorship, left one
Speaker 2: hundred million followers of Jesus facing the threat of discrimination,
Speaker 2: of persecution, of interrogation, of arrest, of imprisonment, of torture,
Speaker 2: of even death. There used to be, for instance, about
Speaker 2: one point three million Christians in Iraq. That was about
Speaker 2: how many there were when the First Gulf War broke out.
Speaker 2: Today there's less than one hundred thousand in the nation
Speaker 2: of Iraq. The most current estimates in South North Korea
Speaker 2: is that they're probably about seventy thousand Christians in prison
Speaker 2: in North Korea right now, suffering in prison, and about
Speaker 2: every ten minutes, two Christians die for their faith around
Speaker 2: the world, hour upon hour upon hour upon day, upon
Speaker 2: week upon months to every ten minutes. For the last decade,
Speaker 2: you've never heard that. No one is reporting it. It
Speaker 2: is the most underreported story on the planet. Now, what
Speaker 2: are we supposed to do about our persecuted brothers and
Speaker 2: sisters in christ These millions and hundreds of thousands in
Speaker 2: refugee camps and displaced and having to move to other
Speaker 2: nations and things like that. What are we supposed to do? Well?
Speaker 2: The first thing we're supposed to do is be informed,
Speaker 2: because nobody's going to tell you this. They're not going
Speaker 2: to tell you the national reports that are coming out
Speaker 2: of all these different organizations. Second, we need to pray.
Speaker 2: The Bible says we are to pray for those who
Speaker 2: are persecuted. Third, we need to give. You can give
Speaker 2: online to help support families who have loved ones in prison,
Speaker 2: or are being tortured, or have died because of their faith.
Speaker 2: We can give, we can pray, we can learn, and
Speaker 2: we can be advocates for freedom. Let me show you
Speaker 2: a verse on the Bible. The Bible says this here
Speaker 2: on the screen Hebrews thirteen three. Remember those who are
Speaker 2: in prison as if you were in prison with them.
Speaker 2: Remember those who are suffering, as if you were suffering
Speaker 2: with them. That's what God tells us to do. Now.
Speaker 2: Anybody who thinks that following Jesus Christ, being a follower
Speaker 2: of Christ is easy, is sadly mistaken. Sadly mistaken. Being
Speaker 2: a Christian, being a follower of Christ is not for whimps.
Speaker 2: It's not for weaklings, it's not for the feinate of heart.
Speaker 2: It's not for cowards. You must be willing to face rejection.
Speaker 2: You must be willing to face criticism. You must be
Speaker 2: willing to face disapproval. You must be willing to face
Speaker 2: peer pressure. You must be willing to face harassments and
Speaker 2: opposition if you truly live for Christ. Now the Bible says,
Speaker 2: this look on the top of your outline two Timothy three,
Speaker 2: verse twelve. Anyone who belongs to Christ Jesus and wants
Speaker 2: to live right will have trouble from others. Circle the
Speaker 2: word will. This is not an if, This is not
Speaker 2: a mite. This is a guarantee. The Bible says, it
Speaker 2: is guaranteed that if you stand for what's right, there
Speaker 2: will be people who oppose you. If you stand for
Speaker 2: what's true, there will be people who oppose you. If
Speaker 2: you stand for what's good, evil will simply oppose you.
Speaker 2: Now today we come to the last of the eight Beatitudes.
Speaker 2: We've been looking at these eight blessings of Jesus, where
Speaker 2: Jesus says, if you want to be blessed by God,
Speaker 2: here's what you need to do in your life. And
Speaker 2: we've looked at humility, and we've looked at generosity, and
Speaker 2: we've looked at integrity. We've looked at how to reconcile
Speaker 2: a relationship being a peacemaker. And in the last of
Speaker 2: the eight Beatitudes, where Jesus says, if you want God's
Speaker 2: blessing on your life, he deals with this issue of opposition,
Speaker 2: of harassment for your faith, of persecution, and we're going
Speaker 2: to look at what to do with it today. Now,
Speaker 2: we're going to look at how to handle opposition to
Speaker 2: your faith. And we're going to look at two things.
Speaker 2: What do you need to remember when you're feeling pressured
Speaker 2: peer pressure? And what do you need to do when
Speaker 2: you're feeling peer pressure, when you're feeling harassed or put
Speaker 2: down or ridiculed or maligned or criticized or whatever for
Speaker 2: your faith? What do you need to do? Now, let
Speaker 2: me just be real honest. In America, you're not being persecuted.
Speaker 2: You're not, but you are being pressured and there is
Speaker 2: subtle pressure to conform and to be like everybody else
Speaker 2: in America. You're not going to face violent oppression, You're
Speaker 2: just not going to, at least not in the foreseeable future.
Speaker 2: But you are going to face not violent oppression, but
Speaker 2: silent repression. And this is the subtle thing for you
Speaker 2: to just shut up and keep your mouth shut and
Speaker 2: not say what's true, and not stand up for Christ
Speaker 2: and not be a public witness, and to just blend
Speaker 2: in and to fit in. And the pressure to conform.
Speaker 2: You feel it all the time. I could give you
Speaker 2: a thousand ways that you do this. When a boss
Speaker 2: pressures you to do something that you know is dishonest
Speaker 2: or unethical and you don't want to do it. There's
Speaker 2: the pressure to conform. When people are standing around the
Speaker 2: water cooler and they're all telling dirty jokes and you go,
Speaker 2: I really shouldn't be participating in this, and the pressure
Speaker 2: is to stay there and to smile and smirk and
Speaker 2: laugh and not walk away. You will invite it to
Speaker 2: some events you just can't go to as a Christian.
Speaker 2: A single guys, there are some bachelor parties you can't
Speaker 2: go to. In fact, nobody should go and do them.
Speaker 2: And you know it. And yet if you say I'm
Speaker 2: not going and say why because I'm a Christian, you
Speaker 2: will be put down. You will be harassed. You will say, oh,
Speaker 2: you're out of date, or you're no fun, or you're
Speaker 2: a fuddy duddy, or you have no freedom and all
Speaker 2: of these there's enormous pressure on you. To do that.
Speaker 2: Feel pressure to be silent when people are praising moral
Speaker 2: choices that the Bible says is wrong, and you go, what,
Speaker 2: you don't think that's okay. You don't think that's okay.
Speaker 2: You don't think that's okay, and you don't think that
Speaker 2: over there is okay. What's wrong with you? You're on
Speaker 2: the wrong side of history. Let me just tell you something.
Speaker 2: History is often wrong. Remember Hitler, New York Times and
Speaker 2: other magazines actually praised him in the thirties. History is
Speaker 2: often wrong. It's not important to be on the right
Speaker 2: side of history. It's important to be on the right side.
Speaker 2: It's important not to be popular. It's important to stand
Speaker 2: with the truth. So you'll be pressured to be quiet.
Speaker 2: You'll be pressured when you're standing around and somebody says,
Speaker 2: you know, all Christians they just and they make a
Speaker 2: derogatory remark, they're all bigots, they're all this or this
Speaker 2: or that, and you will have the pressure to stay quiet.
Speaker 2: That is harassment for your faith. What should you do, Well,
Speaker 2: there are some things you need to do in this
Speaker 2: some things you need to remember. First. Let's look at
Speaker 2: three things you need to remember. Write these down when
Speaker 2: you feel pressured for your faith because you love Jesus
Speaker 2: and other people don't. The first thing you need to
Speaker 2: remember is this opposition can make me more like Jesus.
Speaker 2: That's a good thing. Opposition can actually make me more
Speaker 2: like Jesus, and it makes me more like Jesus. Because
Speaker 2: Jesus experienced opposition, he experienced it in great quantities. Obviously.
Speaker 2: The Bible says in John fifteen, verse eighteen to twenty.
Speaker 2: When the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.
Speaker 2: The world would love you if you belong to it,
Speaker 2: but you don't. Jesus says, I chose you out of
Speaker 2: this world. That's why this world will hate you. No
Speaker 2: servant is ever greater than his master. So since they
Speaker 2: persecuted me, they will persecute you. Now follow me on this.
Speaker 2: If you're gonna grow up and be like Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: God wants you to become like him and the way
Speaker 2: you think and act and feel, then you're gonna have
Speaker 2: to go through everything Jesus went through. Were there times
Speaker 2: when Jesus was lonely? Yes? Were there times when Jesus
Speaker 2: was tempted to be discouraged? Yes? Were there times he
Speaker 2: was fatigued and worn out. Yes, were there times when
Speaker 2: Jesus was tempted. Yes, were the times he was maligned, criticized,
Speaker 2: and lied about. Yes, what makes you think God would
Speaker 2: spare you when he didn't spare his own son. Of
Speaker 2: those things, You're gonna go through the exact same thing
Speaker 2: as I said. Christianity following Jesus is not for weaklings.
Speaker 2: It's not for whims. It's not for fuddy dudies. And
Speaker 2: people who don't have any backbone, don't have any spine.
Speaker 2: And Jesus said, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you. Remember,
Speaker 2: Jesus was hated by many people. He was loved by sinners,
Speaker 2: but he was hated by people who didn't like goodness.
Speaker 2: Evil always hates goodness, and the Bible says this on
Speaker 2: the screen John three nineteen, The light from heaven came
Speaker 2: into the world. That's Jesus. He said, I am the
Speaker 2: light of the world. But people love their darkness more
Speaker 2: than light because it hides their evil actions. You know,
Speaker 2: if I've been sitting in the dark for ten hours
Speaker 2: and you come in and you turn on a big
Speaker 2: spotlight on me, that's not comfortable. That's very uncomfortable. When
Speaker 2: you've been living in the dark all your life and
Speaker 2: somebody comes and turns on the light. Guess what. It
Speaker 2: doesn't feel good at first, and on second thought, you
Speaker 2: see what a mess room is. Jesus said, I'm the
Speaker 2: light of the world, and he said this, you're the
Speaker 2: light of the world. It's still true today, he said,
Speaker 2: people still loved darkness more than the light. You know,
Speaker 2: you may have never thought about this, but it may
Speaker 2: shock you to realize that if Jesus came and walked
Speaker 2: on the earth today, we'd crucify him today. Our culture
Speaker 2: would crucify Jesus today. We're no different than any other culture. Why,
Speaker 2: because darkness can't stand light and evil can't stand goodness. Now,
Speaker 2: what that means is this, even if you were perfect,
Speaker 2: there are people who aren't going to like you. Some
Speaker 2: of you have this myth in your mind. If I'm
Speaker 2: just more winsome, if I'm just more likable, if I'm
Speaker 2: just more perfect, then everybody you'll love me. Jesus was
Speaker 2: perfect and people hated him. So you're never going to
Speaker 2: get to the point where everybody loves you and likes you.
Speaker 2: That's just not going to happen. The other thing we
Speaker 2: learned from this verse is that opposition means that you're
Speaker 2: doing something right. You're obviously being like Jesus in that moment,
Speaker 2: and he said, if they did like me, then they're
Speaker 2: not gonna like you. The Bible says it isn't one
Speaker 2: Peter four fourteen. If you're abused because of Christ, count
Speaker 2: yourself fortunate. Why he says, it's the spirit of God
Speaker 2: in you and His glory in you that brought you
Speaker 2: to the notice of others. So you say, when you're criticized,
Speaker 2: when you're judged, when you're ridiculed, when you're slighted, He's going, congratulations,
Speaker 2: consider it a confirmation and a compliment. If nobody has
Speaker 2: ever criticized you for your faith, what is that saying
Speaker 2: about your faith? You don't have any If being like Christ,
Speaker 2: the Bible says over and over, will bring criticism. If
Speaker 2: you're never criticized, I should ask myself, then, how much
Speaker 2: like Christ? Am I? What's wrong with me? Why is
Speaker 2: nobody noticing my faith? I don't know if you you've
Speaker 2: noticed this, But the more positive you are, the more
Speaker 2: negative people dislike you. And if you get up in
Speaker 2: the morning and you're really positive, if somebody wakes up
Speaker 2: in there grumpy. They don't want you to be positive.
Speaker 2: They want you to be negative too, and that happens.
Speaker 2: So the first thing I need to realize is that
Speaker 2: Jesus was criticized. Jesus was maligned, he was attacked. So
Speaker 2: the more I'm like Jesus, it just means it's a sign,
Speaker 2: it's a symbol, it's a confirmation and a compliment. Second
Speaker 2: thing you need to remember this opposition will deepen my faith.
Speaker 2: Opposition will actually deepen my faith. It's how your faith grows.
Speaker 2: It's like the way you grow a muscle. A muscle
Speaker 2: is grown not by sitting in a chair and eating popcorn.
Speaker 2: A muscle is grown by stretching it, by straining it,
Speaker 2: by testing it. If you've ever gone to a gym
Speaker 2: and worked out, and obviously many of you haven't, then
Speaker 2: you know that the way you grow a muscle is
Speaker 2: by straining it, by stretching it, by pressuring it, by
Speaker 2: putting tension against it and having weight pulling the opposite direction.
Speaker 2: You're never going to grow any muscle if no weight's
Speaker 2: ever pulling in the opposite direction. So opposition strengthens your faith,
Speaker 2: It deepens your faith. You have no opposition in your life,
Speaker 2: then you have no growing faith. And it is without
Speaker 2: a doubt that the strongest believers in the world right
Speaker 2: now are those who are having their faith tested the most.
Speaker 2: The strongest believers aren't in America, the strongest believers where
Speaker 2: people are holding the gun and saying renounce Christ and
Speaker 2: convert to whatever we are, or die, which is happening
Speaker 2: right now in Syria every single day. That's where the
Speaker 2: strongest believers are. It comes from the opposition. One Peter
Speaker 2: four one seven says this, these troubles that you're going
Speaker 2: through will prove that your faith is genuine. Just as
Speaker 2: gold is purified by fire and heat. Circle that phrase,
Speaker 2: fire and heat. Just as gold is purified by fire
Speaker 2: and heat, so your faith, which is far more precious
Speaker 2: than gold, must also be purified by fire. By this fire,
Speaker 2: and when the heat's on and when you're holding your
Speaker 2: feet to the fire, so it may endure. And he says,
Speaker 2: what happens when opposition deepens my faith? He says, then
Speaker 2: here's the result. You'll receive praise. You'll receive praise, you'll
Speaker 2: receive glory, and you'll receive honor. On the day when
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. Your rewards
Speaker 2: are coming one day. If you stand the heat, if
Speaker 2: you stand the fire, if you let opposition deep in
Speaker 2: your faith. It makes me more like Jesus, and it
Speaker 2: deepens my faith. And the third thing it does, opposition
Speaker 2: will give me eternal rewards. No opposition, you miss out
Speaker 2: on those rewards in eternity. Now we come to the
Speaker 2: last of the eight beatitudes, which we've been studying now
Speaker 2: for many, many weeks. We've been studying this for a
Speaker 2: long time. And in the last one, Jesus deals with
Speaker 2: how to deal with opposition, and he says this, God
Speaker 2: blesses those who are persecuted because they live for Me. Now,
Speaker 2: I want you to underline a circle, because they live
Speaker 2: for God. It doesn't just say God blesses those who
Speaker 2: are persecuted for any reason. Okay, it says God blesses
Speaker 2: those who are persecuted because they live for God. The
Speaker 2: Kingdom of Heaven will be theirs. That's quite a guarantee.
Speaker 2: You will be blessed when, not if, when people insult
Speaker 2: you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of
Speaker 2: evil against you because of me. Notice three different things there.
Speaker 2: Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven,
Speaker 2: for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who
Speaker 2: were before you. And he says, I'm gonna bless anybody
Speaker 2: who's persecuted because they live for God. Notice, you don't
Speaker 2: get rewarded for being rude. You don't get rewarded for
Speaker 2: being obnoxious. There are people out in the world who
Speaker 2: live very self righteous lives, and they're looking down on
Speaker 2: everybody and putting everybody else down. And when you put
Speaker 2: other people down, and guess what, they're gonna put you down.
Speaker 2: And if you live a self righteous, nuisance, rude life,
Speaker 2: when you get persecuted, you're not a martyr. You're just
Speaker 2: a jerk. He's not saying you get rewarded for being
Speaker 2: a jerk. There are people out there who are pushy,
Speaker 2: they're nuisances, they're rude, and I said, they're self righteous.
Speaker 2: They think they're better than everybody else. He said. Now,
Speaker 2: you don't get rewarded for that. You get rewarded for
Speaker 2: being like Jesus, he said, And the Bible tells us
Speaker 2: that when you share your faith, you're to do it
Speaker 2: with gentleness and you're to do it with respect.
Speaker 1: What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something
Speaker 1: I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to
Speaker 1: tell you how you can help support this ministry.
Speaker 2: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 2: according to five specific purposes. He said, You've got to
Speaker 2: love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
Speaker 2: your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
Speaker 2: And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize
Speaker 2: them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 2: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
Speaker 2: I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the
Speaker 2: Great Commission. We believe it daily hope that a great
Speaker 2: commit to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will
Speaker 2: produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
Speaker 2: a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so
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Speaker 1: We hope you'll join us next time as we look
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