Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is
Speaker 1: the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, we're so
Speaker 1: glad you're here with us today. We are continuing in
Speaker 1: a series called Talking about Stuff that Matters Now. In
Speaker 1: this series, Rick looks into the scriptures and he's unpacking
Speaker 1: what it means to live in community, have real conversation
Speaker 1: about what matters most, and face discouragement with courage and faith.
Speaker 1: It's honest, hopeful. So stay tuned. You won't want to
Speaker 1: miss a second. Well, I can't wait to hear what
Speaker 1: Rick has for us today. Here's part one of a
Speaker 1: message called when You're Harassed and Bullied.
Speaker 2: This weekend, I want us to look at what God
Speaker 2: says about when you're harassed or bullied. When you're harassed
Speaker 2: or bullied, and I'd like you to raise your hand
Speaker 2: right now if you can remember a time in your life,
Speaker 2: either as a child or as a teenager, as an adult,
Speaker 2: when you felt bullied or harassed. Could I see your hands? Okay,
Speaker 2: now I can't see you, obviously, but I figured that
Speaker 2: I figured that almost everybody I know has felt being
Speaker 2: harassed or bullied, either at school or in the neighborhood,
Speaker 2: or in the office, or in the sports field, or
Speaker 2: unfortunately even at home. Sometimes, What does God have to
Speaker 2: say about bullying and harassment? That's what we're going to
Speaker 2: look at today. Well, because everything on earth is broken
Speaker 2: by sin, including relationships. God tells us not to be
Speaker 2: surprised when people are mean or pushy, or angry, or
Speaker 2: controlling or manipulative. In fact, Jesus warned us to expect
Speaker 2: opposition and harassment in life in John sixteen, verse thirty three.
Speaker 2: I love this. In the message translation, Jesus says, I've
Speaker 2: told you all this so that in trusting me you
Speaker 2: will be unshakable and at peace in this godless world.
Speaker 2: You will experience difficulties, but take heart, I have conquered
Speaker 2: the world. He said. You're going to have trouble, You're
Speaker 2: going to experience difficulties, You're going to have harassment in
Speaker 2: your life. But take heart, I've conquered the world now.
Speaker 2: God also warns us that as time goes on throughout history,
Speaker 2: he said things would get worse, not better, that people
Speaker 2: would actually become more uncivil, more unkind, more rude, more mean.
Speaker 2: Two Timothy Chapter three says this Versus one to four
Speaker 2: and the New Living Translation. You should also know that
Speaker 2: in the last days there will be very difficult times,
Speaker 2: for people will love only themselves and their money. That
Speaker 2: sound familiar. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God,
Speaker 2: disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.
Speaker 2: They will be unloving and unforgiving. They will slander others.
Speaker 2: This is here's before the internet. They will have no
Speaker 2: self control. People will be cruel and have no interest
Speaker 2: in what is good. They will betray their friends, they
Speaker 2: will be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and they
Speaker 2: will love pleasure rather than God. You know, friends. That
Speaker 2: sounds an awful lot like modern culture. Because civilization is
Speaker 2: losing its civility by the day. We're getting rude or
Speaker 2: not more loving in the world. We're getting more unkind,
Speaker 2: not more kind. So I want to begin by defining bullying.
Speaker 2: Here's a definition. Bullying is any unwanted aggressive behavior where
Speaker 2: a person or group tries to exert power over somebody else.
Speaker 2: Any unwanted aggressive behavior where a person a group tries
Speaker 2: to exert power over somebody else. That's bullying. Now, bullying
Speaker 2: includes a lot of everythings, making threats, spreading rumors, attacking
Speaker 2: physically or verbally, harassing, excluding somebody from a group on purpose.
Speaker 2: That's a form of bullying. But bullying now doesn't just
Speaker 2: happen in person. Today, with texting and social media and
Speaker 2: being connected to video games, cyber bullies and cyber bullying
Speaker 2: take place everywhere. You know. In previous generations, kids could
Speaker 2: actually escape bullies by leaving the playground, But today the
Speaker 2: bullies can reach you through your phone or your iPad,
Speaker 2: or your tablets or your video games. Literally, bullies are
Speaker 2: available to get in your face twenty four hours a
Speaker 2: day because of technology. Technology now people get harassed and
Speaker 2: bullied for all kinds of reasons. You can get bullied
Speaker 2: for your appearance. People just don't think you look right.
Speaker 2: You can be bullied for your abilities or your disabilities.
Speaker 2: You can be bullied for your accent, somebod like the
Speaker 2: way you talk. You can be bullied for your race,
Speaker 2: for being poor or rich. You could be bullied for
Speaker 2: your gender, and you can be, of course bullied for
Speaker 2: your faith. You can be bullied for being a Christian.
Speaker 2: Now that last category, being bullied or ask for being
Speaker 2: a follower of Jesus that's been around for about two
Speaker 2: thousand years, but it has been on a rapid increase
Speaker 2: in just the last decade. According to a twenty nineteen
Speaker 2: World Watch list, there's still one hundred and fifty countries
Speaker 2: in the world where Christians are severely persecuted for their faith.
Speaker 2: One hundred and fifty. Let me give you the most
Speaker 2: recent statistics. Two hundred and forty five million Christians live
Speaker 2: in the fifty worst persecuting countries. That means any of
Speaker 2: those two hundred and forty five million Christians can face
Speaker 2: the threat of discrimination, interrogation, arrest, prison, refugee camps, torture,
Speaker 2: even death. That's a quarter of a billion people just
Speaker 2: for being a Christian in those countries. One in nine
Speaker 2: Christians worldwide experiences severe persecution. In fact, this past year,
Speaker 2: four thousand, one hundred and thirty six Christians were killed
Speaker 2: simply for being Christians. That's about eleven Christians a day. Now.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about wars. I'm saying just killed for
Speaker 2: being a Christian. Two thousand, six hundred and twenty five
Speaker 2: Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned in
Speaker 2: those fifty worst countries. Along with who knows how many
Speaker 2: tens of thousands of others. Last year, one thousand, two
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty six more churches were burned or destroyed
Speaker 2: somewhere around the world out of persecution. Why am I
Speaker 2: telling you this Well, because if I were to ask
Speaker 2: you to name the most persecuted group on the planet today,
Speaker 2: you would likely name the wrong group. It's Christians. You're
Speaker 2: likely surprised because it's the most ignored, most overlooked, and
Speaker 2: most underreported news in the world. There's a society called
Speaker 2: the International Society for Human Rights. It's not a Christian organization,
Speaker 2: it's a secular organization. And I read this this week
Speaker 2: in their report. Quote eighty percent of all religious freedom
Speaker 2: violations in the world are directed against Christians. Now, of
Speaker 2: course that's just one kind of harassment, but it is
Speaker 2: real and it is painful. And Jesus said this in
Speaker 2: John fifteen, Verses nineteen and twenty. The world would love
Speaker 2: you if you belong to it, but you don't. I
Speaker 2: chose you to come out of the world, and so
Speaker 2: it hates you. Remember, a servant is not greater than
Speaker 2: the master. And since they persecuted me, Jesus says, naturally
Speaker 2: they will persecute you too. Remember the world crucified Jesus.
Speaker 2: He was perfect, he had never sinned, he had not
Speaker 2: armed anybody, but the world crucified him. They would today too.
Speaker 2: And the fact is, evil people don't like to attack
Speaker 2: Christ directly, so they often attack those who follow him.
Speaker 2: Now you maybe think of a rick. The people that
Speaker 2: I'm dealing with who are bullying me or harassing me
Speaker 2: at work or at school, they don't even know I'm
Speaker 2: a Christian. Well that may be true. They may not
Speaker 2: know that you're a Christian at work, at school, but
Speaker 2: Satan knows. Satan knows that you're a Christian. Satan knows
Speaker 2: you love God. Satan knows you're a child of God.
Speaker 2: So he has targeted you. And honestly, he doesn't care
Speaker 2: why or what reason people have to harass you, whether
Speaker 2: it's your race, or your age, or your gender or whatever.
Speaker 2: He just wants to make you miserable because you're a
Speaker 2: child of God. You're the enemy and he has lost you,
Speaker 2: so he wants to hurt you. How does God want
Speaker 2: me to respond to the bullies and the cyber bullies
Speaker 2: and the rassers at school or at work, or or
Speaker 2: in society are online. Well, let me give you some
Speaker 2: scriptures and some points from God's word this weekend. Okay,
Speaker 2: why don't you write these down. I'm going to give
Speaker 2: you seven ways to deal with bullying and harassment in
Speaker 2: your life. Number one, here's the first one. It's very
Speaker 2: important recognize the source behind the bully. Recognize the source
Speaker 2: behind the bully. The bully is not your real problem.
Speaker 2: The real problem is the source behind the bully. And
Speaker 2: the real source is a force. It's a spiritual force.
Speaker 2: It's called evil. The bully is just being used by Satan.
Speaker 2: All evil, all meanness, all hatred comes from Satan. Now,
Speaker 2: the people who are being hateful and who being they
Speaker 2: don't even recognize that they're just a pond, that they're
Speaker 2: just a tool in the hand of Satan because they're
Speaker 2: spiritually blinded. But the Bible says this in Ephesians, chapter six,
Speaker 2: verse twelve. We are not fighting against human beings, but
Speaker 2: against wicked spiritual forces. Did you hear that the bully
Speaker 2: is not your real problem. The bully is being used.
Speaker 2: We're not fighting against human beings, we're fighting against spiritual
Speaker 2: wicked forces. Satan can use anybody anyway if they don't
Speaker 2: know the Lord because they don't have God's spirit in them. Now,
Speaker 2: Satan wants to hurt God, but he can't, so he
Speaker 2: does then xpec thing. You know what he does. He
Speaker 2: goes after God's children. The best way to hurt a
Speaker 2: parent is to hurt his child, and the child of
Speaker 2: God is the enemy of Satan. This is why prayer
Speaker 2: is such an important part of dealing with harassment school
Speaker 2: or work, or dealing with the bully at school or work,
Speaker 2: because we're not dealing with just human beings here. There's
Speaker 2: a spiritual force behind it all. You may not have
Speaker 2: the power to stop that bully, but God does, and
Speaker 2: so first recognize the source or the force behind the bully.
Speaker 2: Number two, This is the second key antidote to dealing
Speaker 2: with harassmun Remember who you are. Remember who you are?
Speaker 2: What is your identity? You are a son or daughter
Speaker 2: of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You
Speaker 2: are a part of God's family. You were created in
Speaker 2: the image of God, and God loves you. And God
Speaker 2: made you for a purpose and He has a plan
Speaker 2: for your life. You need to remember who you are.
Speaker 2: You're a child of God. Why is that important? Because
Speaker 2: bullies can smell weakness and insecurity and low self esteem
Speaker 2: a mile away. That's who they try to attack. Bullies
Speaker 2: don't ever go atter or confident or courageous or self
Speaker 2: assured people. No, they look for someone they think is
Speaker 2: feeling down or unaccepted, or weak or unsure. They want
Speaker 2: to pick off people when they're in their most vulnerable moments.
Speaker 2: That's why I started this series talking about your identity
Speaker 2: in Christ. I said, if you don't settle this issue,
Speaker 2: you'll be pressured by peer pressure at school or work.
Speaker 2: You'll be pressured by bullies at school of work. You'll
Speaker 2: be conformed to the world at school or work or
Speaker 2: anywhere else. You have to know your identity now. You're
Speaker 2: not what other people say you are. They don't know
Speaker 2: you're not even what you think you are. You are
Speaker 2: whom God says you are. You see, because God always
Speaker 2: speaks the truth. And it is the truth that sets
Speaker 2: us free, and it is the truth that gives us confidence,
Speaker 2: and it is the truth that makes us bold and courageous.
Speaker 2: So if you haven't listened to that message, it's called
Speaker 2: don't let anybody steal your identity on who you are
Speaker 2: in Christ. Go back to the beginning of this series
Speaker 2: and listen to it all over and over and over.
Speaker 2: Until you settle the issue of your identity and who
Speaker 2: you are in Jesus Christ, You're going to be easy
Speaker 2: pickings until you do know that for sure God is
Speaker 2: your creator. Jesus died for you, the Holy Spirit lives
Speaker 2: in you. You have the Trinity behind you. What are
Speaker 2: you worried about some measly little bully or harasser at
Speaker 2: school or at work or even in the neighborhood. First
Speaker 2: John four to four says this, You, dear children, are
Speaker 2: from God and you have overcome the world. Why because
Speaker 2: the one who is in you is greater than the
Speaker 2: one who is in the world. Yeah, Satan's trying to
Speaker 2: take you down. But the one who's in you greater
Speaker 2: is he that is in you than he that is
Speaker 2: in the world. So what I'm saying in remembering your identity,
Speaker 2: remember what David remembered in Psalm fifty six, verse three
Speaker 2: and four. I love this New Living translation. He says,
Speaker 2: when I'm afraid, I put my trust in you, Oh God,
Speaker 2: and I praise your word. That's the Bible, God's word.
Speaker 2: I trust in you, God. So why should I be afraid.
Speaker 2: What can mere mortals do to me? One plus God
Speaker 2: equals a majority. If God is on your side, it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter who's against you. If God is for us,
Speaker 2: who can be against us. So, if you're being harassed
Speaker 2: or you're being bullied by anybody, I want to urge
Speaker 2: you to write down on some little three by five cards,
Speaker 2: some Bible verses and some Bible promises that will encourage
Speaker 2: you and strengthen you, and learn those and memorize them.
Speaker 2: And when you're in a situation where you're being bullied,
Speaker 2: you silently start saying those verses to yourself. Remind yourself
Speaker 2: of the promises of God. Remind yourself of the truth
Speaker 2: of God. Remind yourself who God says you are. It
Speaker 2: doesn't matter what the bully or the harasser says. They
Speaker 2: may say, you're worthless, you're no good, you're whatever. They're wrong,
Speaker 2: they're liars. And the Bible says Satan is the father
Speaker 2: of all lies. So what we're saying here is you
Speaker 2: got to first know who the source is, and then
Speaker 2: second you've got to know who you are. Parents, one
Speaker 2: of your jobs is to teach your children their true
Speaker 2: identity in Christ so they can withstand bullies and harassment.
Speaker 2: They don't become people pleasers because they're God pleasers. Now
Speaker 2: here's the third key. When you're hit with a bully,
Speaker 2: when you're hit with a rasser, refuse to retaliate. Refuse
Speaker 2: to retaliate because this messes up the whole situation that
Speaker 2: God wants to do. In Romans twelve, verses seven up
Speaker 2: to verse nineteen, God says this, if someone has done
Speaker 2: you wrong, never pay back evil with evil. Okay, then
Speaker 2: you know better than they are. Instead, try to do
Speaker 2: what everyone considers to be good. Everybody would say that's
Speaker 2: the right thing to do. Do everything possible on your
Speaker 2: part to live in peace with everybody. Oh that's one
Speaker 2: of the most difficult versus in the Bible. Do everything
Speaker 2: possible in your part to live at peace with everybody.
Speaker 2: Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger
Speaker 2: do it. For the scripture says, I will avenge you,
Speaker 2: and I will pay them back, says the Lord. Now,
Speaker 2: I want you to notice a couple things about this First. First,
Speaker 2: it says, as much as it's possible with you, do
Speaker 2: it as far as possible, get along with everybody. I
Speaker 2: like that verse because it says as much as possible.
Speaker 2: There are some people, well you just can't get along
Speaker 2: with no matter what you do. They are unpleasable, they
Speaker 2: are impossible, they are hard to get along with. That
Speaker 2: they're impossible to get along with. It says, as much
Speaker 2: as it's possible on your side, that's admitting that there
Speaker 2: are some people in life you just can't get along with.
Speaker 2: So you got to walk away. In that case, you
Speaker 2: just walk away. Well, I know, you say, well, they've
Speaker 2: hurt me, they've bullied me, they've harassed me. And he said,
Speaker 2: I want to show them up. I want to get even. Well,
Speaker 2: you know you never get ahead. You're never going to
Speaker 2: get ahead of them if you're trying to get even
Speaker 2: with them. When you commit an offense against somebody, you
Speaker 2: take an issue, you commit an off against offense against somebody,
Speaker 2: that puts you below them. When you get even with
Speaker 2: somebody who's hurt you and you hurt them back, that
Speaker 2: just puts you even. You're no better than they are.
Speaker 2: But when you forgive them and you walk away, it
Speaker 2: puts you in the superior position above them, and a
Speaker 2: position you for all kinds of blessings. You see, Bullies
Speaker 2: want to hook you in a fight. They do it
Speaker 2: on cyber you know, on the internet all the time.
Speaker 2: Their trolls are out there trying to hook people, get
Speaker 2: their attention. They want your attention. What a bully cannot
Speaker 2: stand is for you to ignore them. What a bully
Speaker 2: can't stand is for you to walk away because they
Speaker 2: are starving for attention. Now, this is true on the
Speaker 2: internet with cyber bullies. Don't engage them because you're just
Speaker 2: hooking into what they want. You know, if you think
Speaker 2: about this, most of you know you learned this as
Speaker 2: a kid growing up, that when you were teasing your
Speaker 2: brother or teasing your sister, that once they started reacting
Speaker 2: to you, you were in control of the situation. As
Speaker 2: long as they ignored you, as long as they didn't react,
Speaker 2: you were helpless. You couldn't get them, you couldn't engage them.
Speaker 2: But the moment you hook them, the moment they start reacting,
Speaker 2: you're now in control. Have you ever thought about this
Speaker 2: that any time you say or even think you make
Speaker 2: me so mad, you're admitting that you've given control of
Speaker 2: your emotions to somebody else. You make me mad. I
Speaker 2: don't want to be mad, but you make me mad.
Speaker 2: You're making me mad, which means you have the power
Speaker 2: to control my emotions. Now you may not say you
Speaker 2: make me mad, but you're thinking it. Or you may
Speaker 2: not say you make me afraid. Sometimes a bully will
Speaker 2: make you afraid, but if you're thinking it, you are
Speaker 2: at that point admitting that they have power over your emotions.
Speaker 2: You don't want to do that. You don't want to
Speaker 2: give any bully or any harass power over your emotions.
Speaker 2: I want you to note there in that Romans twelve
Speaker 2: passage that God gives you a choice. You can either
Speaker 2: seek revenge yourself or you can let God avenge you.
Speaker 2: It's just your choice, and you want to do it.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, be my guest, seek revenge yourself, or he says,
Speaker 2: you can hold back, trust God and let God avenge you.
Speaker 2: Who do you think can do a better job? Who
Speaker 2: do you think has more resources at taking a person
Speaker 2: down a nach or two who's been irritating and arrogant.
Speaker 2: You got to just let it go, refuse to retaliate.
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: commitment 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
Speaker 2: I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just
Speaker 2: across America, but all around the world. And we want
Speaker 2: people to know that God's word is filled with hope
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Speaker 2: him every day is available to every single one. You
Speaker 2: know as well as I do, that the Word of
Speaker 2: God changes lives. It's a live it's active, and it
Speaker 2: breathes new life and new love into all of our lives.
Speaker 2: So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on
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