Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: We are glad you're with us today and we're going
Speaker 1: to wrap up our series called The Keys to a
Speaker 1: Blessed Life now. In these messages, Rick has been guiding
Speaker 1: us through Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, showing us how
Speaker 1: to live a truly hopeful and purpose filled life. And
Speaker 1: today brings it all together. And now here's the final
Speaker 1: part of handling opposition to your faith.
Speaker 2: You are most like Jesus Christ when you don't strike
Speaker 2: back at somebody who's hurt you. You're most like Jesus
Speaker 2: when you don't attack back and somebody who has attacked
Speaker 2: you with a personal insult or threat or statement or
Speaker 2: gossip or whatever. In this eighth beatitude, the last one,
Speaker 2: it says this, let me quote up to you again,
Speaker 2: Blessed you. When men shall revile you and persecute you,
Speaker 2: and say all manner of evil against you falsely for
Speaker 2: my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is
Speaker 2: your reward in Heaven for so persecuted day the prophets
Speaker 2: which were before you. That's the eighth beatitude. And he
Speaker 2: says this you will be insulted. That means people are
Speaker 2: gonna say names. They're gonna call you names, they're going
Speaker 2: to give you labels. You will be insulted, he says,
Speaker 2: that's the first thing. He says, You're going to be persecuted.
Speaker 2: That means you're you're mistreated, you may be passed over,
Speaker 2: you may even be abused. And he said, and you're
Speaker 2: going to be light about. And he said, people will
Speaker 2: say all things that are false against you, to discredit you,
Speaker 2: to dishonor you. And I've learned they'll even say I'm
Speaker 2: on TV. And he'll do all of these things. The
Speaker 2: world loves to find fault with Christians. And if they
Speaker 2: can't find anything to find at fault with you, you
Speaker 2: know what, they'll make stuff up. They just make it up.
Speaker 2: Now here's what the Bible says Romans twelve, verse seventeen
Speaker 2: and eighteen. Never pay back evil with more evil. If
Speaker 2: it is possible, as far as it depends on you
Speaker 2: live at peace with everyone. And you know what I
Speaker 2: love about the Bible. It always tells the truth. And
Speaker 2: what it tells there is if it's possible, as far
Speaker 2: as it depends on you, you live at peace with everyone.
Speaker 2: There's some people you just can't live at peace with.
Speaker 2: Don't look at them, but you know who they are.
Speaker 2: If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,
Speaker 2: you try to live in peace with. Some people you
Speaker 2: just can't live in peace with. They're just going to
Speaker 2: keep poking, poking, poke and poke and poking. And he says,
Speaker 2: and never avenge yourselves. Circle that refuse to retaliate. Never
Speaker 2: avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, who is said, all
Speaker 2: be the judge, and I'll take care of that. Now.
Speaker 2: I told you earlier you don't need anybody's approval to
Speaker 2: be happy. Let me give you the second great truth
Speaker 2: that will change your life. You need to write this down.
Speaker 2: Anytime I react, I give control to that person. Anytime
Speaker 2: I react to somebody who's poked me, I give control
Speaker 2: to that person. And you don't want to do that.
Speaker 2: You don't want to give up control, and so you
Speaker 2: can't control what other people do, but you can control
Speaker 2: your reactions. Have you ever said you make me so mad?
Speaker 2: You just then admitted who's in control, not you. They
Speaker 2: are When you say you make me so mad, you say,
Speaker 2: I don't want to be bad. I really don't want
Speaker 2: to be mad, but you make me mad, you have
Speaker 2: the power to control my emotions. Oh really, then you're
Speaker 2: a pretty weak person. Somebody can make you mad. It's
Speaker 2: your choice. You should only get mad when you choose
Speaker 2: to get mad. And there are some things get mad about.
Speaker 2: One of them is not personal insults. You make me
Speaker 2: so mad means I'm allowing you to control my happiness.
Speaker 2: Anytime you react, anytime you retaliate, anytime you seek revenge,
Speaker 2: you've just handed control to your enemy, to the person
Speaker 2: who's opposing you in any area of life. Don't do it.
Speaker 2: George Washington Carver, that great African American who studied all
Speaker 2: of the uses of peanuts. He once said, I will
Speaker 2: never allow another man to control my life by making
Speaker 2: me hate him. Good word, Good Word. One Peter four
Speaker 2: nineteen says this, those who suffer according to God's will
Speaker 2: should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to
Speaker 2: do good. Now, there's something really important here circle the
Speaker 2: phrase according to God's will. You're not going to hear
Speaker 2: this in some places, but this is what the Bible says.
Speaker 2: Some suffering is God's will. Those who suffer according to
Speaker 2: God's will. Sometimes suffering is God's will. Now. There are
Speaker 2: people out there that say, no, God never wants you.
Speaker 2: God wants everybody to be a millionaire. God wants everybody
Speaker 2: to have a Rolls roys. God never wants anybody to
Speaker 2: have cancer. God never wants any problems in your life.
Speaker 2: And any problem now, the Bible says, sometimes suffering is
Speaker 2: God's will for your life. Why. It makes you more
Speaker 2: like Jesus. It deepens your faith, It brings you rewards
Speaker 2: in Heaven. It builds your character, it brings you closer
Speaker 2: to Him. There's so many benefits that suffering can happen here.
Speaker 2: You may be going through suffering right now, and it
Speaker 2: may be God's will now, that may not be. Let
Speaker 2: me teach you sometime. I've never taught this to you before.
Speaker 2: There are three kinds of suffering in the world. There's common,
Speaker 2: there's carnal, and there's Christian suffering. Common suffering is suffering
Speaker 2: that's common to everybody. Doesn't matter if you're a Baptist
Speaker 2: or Buddhist, or Methodist or Mormon, the Jew, Jehovah's Witness,
Speaker 2: a Christian, Catholic, Atheist, whatever, everybody suffers certain things. When
Speaker 2: a hurricane comes into town, it just doesn't pick on Christians,
Speaker 2: it doesn't just pick on Buddhists or Hindus, or Jews
Speaker 2: or musselm. That's common suffering. It's the suffering that we
Speaker 2: have in the world, that we all share in common
Speaker 2: with everybody, and the Bible says we as Christians are
Speaker 2: to help everybody in common suffering. The second kind of
Speaker 2: suffering is carnal suffering. That's suffering you bring on yourself
Speaker 2: from your own sin. If I go out and I
Speaker 2: live a very loose immoral life and I get a STD,
Speaker 2: it's sexually transmitted disease. That's my fault. It's not God's fault.
Speaker 2: It's not anybody else's fault. It's my fault. And a
Speaker 2: lot of the suffering in my life is because I
Speaker 2: made bad decisions, like I spent way more money than
Speaker 2: I made and now I'm way over in debt and
Speaker 2: now I'm going bankrupt. That's not God's fault, that's my fault.
Speaker 2: That's carnal suffering. It's suffering because of sin, but not
Speaker 2: all suffering from sin. The Bible says, sometimes suffering is Christian.
Speaker 2: It's not cardinal, it's common, it's Christian. It's suffering. According
Speaker 2: to the will of God, because God is more interested
Speaker 2: in your character than your comfort. You're not taking comfort
Speaker 2: to heaven, but you are taking your character, and in
Speaker 2: heaven you're gonna have comfort the rest of your life. Now,
Speaker 2: it says, those who suffer according to God's will should
Speaker 2: commit themselves to God, the faithful Creator, and just keep
Speaker 2: on doing good. So you throw this arrow at me,
Speaker 2: you throw that arrow at me, you throw another air
Speaker 2: at me. I'm just gonna commit myself to God and
Speaker 2: continue to do good. I entrusted to God. I lay
Speaker 2: it in his hands. You need to let God be
Speaker 2: your defender and not waste time defending yourself. And that
Speaker 2: takes faith. And when you do that, God smiles. Now
Speaker 2: the sixth thing you need to do when you face opposition,
Speaker 2: and this is the most important one of all. This
Speaker 2: is what makes Christians different from everybody else on the planet,
Speaker 2: because nobody else does this number six. When I'm persecuted,
Speaker 2: when I'm harassed, when I'm oppressed, respond with a blessing.
Speaker 2: What Yeah, you return good for evil. You not only
Speaker 2: refuse to retaliate. There are a lot of people who
Speaker 2: refuse to retaliate, But the Bible says if you're going
Speaker 2: to be a follower of Jesus. You actually do good
Speaker 2: to those who do bad to you. You bless those
Speaker 2: who hurt you, and he says you respond with a blessing.
Speaker 2: Romans twelve twenty one says this, do not become do
Speaker 2: not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Speaker 2: You don't make the world brighter by blowing out everybody
Speaker 2: else's candle. Okay, you do not become overcome evil, but
Speaker 2: overcome evil with good. Now Jesus gets very very specific,
Speaker 2: and I'll just be honest with you, as your pastor.
Speaker 2: I hate this next verse. Okay, I wish this next
Speaker 2: verse was not in the Bible. I'm just telling you
Speaker 2: I don't like this verse. I wish I could take
Speaker 2: an exact knife and cut it out because it's so
Speaker 2: hard to do. But here's what Jesus said, Luke, Sis,
Speaker 2: love your enemies. You gotta be kidding me. Do good
Speaker 2: to those who hate you. Now now it's overkilled. Bless
Speaker 2: those who hurt you. Come on, bless those are great,
Speaker 2: and pray for those who hurt you. Come on, Lord,
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, and if someone slaps you on
Speaker 2: the cheek, turn the other cheek. I do not like
Speaker 2: that verse. Sorry, I just don't. Can I just be
Speaker 2: honest as your pastor? I wish it wasn't in the Bible.
Speaker 2: What I'd like to say is stick it to your enemies,
Speaker 2: you know, gossip about those who hate you. Uh you know,
Speaker 2: give the finger to those who curse you. Okay, and
Speaker 2: uh you know what, uh you know, write a dirty
Speaker 2: article on the internet for those who you know who
Speaker 2: don't like you. And if somebody slaps you on the cheek,
Speaker 2: sock them. That's that's the Rick Warren standard version of
Speaker 2: the Bible. Okay, that's what I really want to do. Okay, Well,
Speaker 2: I don't want to take it. Takes far more courage
Speaker 2: to do this. Any fool can fight back. Any whimp
Speaker 2: can retaliate, any idiot can say something mean back. Even
Speaker 2: parrots can be taught to curse. You. Don't have to
Speaker 2: have any brains to curse somebody back. Now, he says,
Speaker 2: love your enemies, do good to those hate you, Bless
Speaker 2: those a Chursian pray for those who hurt you, and
Speaker 2: they scaple on a cheek urn the other cheek? Is
Speaker 2: that easy? No, Only by feeling being filled with God's
Speaker 2: love but it is the most powerful form of witnessing,
Speaker 2: and when you do that, you overcome evil with good.
Speaker 2: Did you ever see that movie The Butler. It's a
Speaker 2: good movie. It's a good movie. It's about a guy
Speaker 2: who served I think six or eight presidents as a
Speaker 2: butler in the White House, and it's talking about at
Speaker 2: one point during the civil rights movement in America in
Speaker 2: the nineteen sixties, there were a group of people from
Speaker 2: the North who went down They were called Freedom Writers,
Speaker 2: and they went down to the South to support civil
Speaker 2: rights and equal rights for everyone and to fight racism.
Speaker 2: And there's a scene in that movie where they are
Speaker 2: teaching the Freedom Writers how to not respond with evil
Speaker 2: when they're hit, when they're spit on, when they're cursed,
Speaker 2: when they're pushed over, when people throw food on them.
Speaker 2: And it's a very very powerful scene of non violent love.
Speaker 2: And as I watched that scene, tears start coming down
Speaker 2: my face and I thought, I want to be that
Speaker 2: kind of person. For Jesus, I want to be that courageous.
Speaker 2: I want to have that brave heart, courage where I
Speaker 2: will not cave in to what's wrong no matter how
Speaker 2: much pain they throw at me. That I will not retaliate,
Speaker 2: but what I will do is respond with love. Here's
Speaker 2: an amazing thing. If you begin to do these six
Speaker 2: things at work or with somebody who doesn't like it,
Speaker 2: you number one, God will be pleased. God's going to smile.
Speaker 2: That's my girl, that's my boy. The second you're gonna
Speaker 2: get blessed. It says it over. That's the eighth beatitude.
Speaker 2: You'll be blessed. And here's an interesting thing is some
Speaker 2: of those public attackers will become private seekers. I know
Speaker 2: this from experience. I've had people, very well known people
Speaker 2: attack me publicly and because I refused to engage them,
Speaker 2: but only responded with love and blessing, and I said,
Speaker 2: may God richly bless you in every way. That then
Speaker 2: quietly they would come around and start asking about what's
Speaker 2: with you? How do you do that? How do you
Speaker 2: show love in the face. This is not the normal
Speaker 2: response I was expecting. I just want to remind you
Speaker 2: that the worst persecutor of the church became the greatest apostle.
Speaker 2: Paul and Nicodemus, who was a part of the Pharisees
Speaker 2: who were trying to put Jesus on the cross, later
Speaker 2: came Jesus at night and says, tell me about this
Speaker 2: born again thing, and they'll come around. If you respond correctly.
Speaker 2: Some of your opponents will actually become your partners if
Speaker 2: you do it correctly. Now, let me just close with
Speaker 2: some personal questions. If they made it illegal to be
Speaker 2: a Christian in America and they threw everybody who followed
Speaker 2: Jesus in prison, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
Speaker 2: Would there be enough evidence to convict you if they
Speaker 2: made it illegal for being a Christian? Is there any
Speaker 2: difference in your life or are you just wimping out
Speaker 2: keeping your head down not when people say insulting things
Speaker 2: about Christians and you're in that group, do you wimp
Speaker 2: out and say nothing? Or do you say you know,
Speaker 2: I can see how you see it that way, but
Speaker 2: that's not always true. Do you just went out and
Speaker 2: keep quiet? Let me ask it this way, what is
Speaker 2: your faith costing you when your brothers and sisters around
Speaker 2: the world are sometimes standing at the point of a
Speaker 2: firing squad for this, or getting tortured and limbs cut
Speaker 2: off and all kinds of like that. Well, it's costs
Speaker 2: so much others their lives. We have it so easy.
Speaker 2: What does your faith cost in you? Let me ask
Speaker 2: it this way, At what cost? Would you stay faithful
Speaker 2: to Christ? Somebody put a pistol to your head? He said,
Speaker 2: would you stay faithful to Christ? Said? Well, yes, I would.
Speaker 2: Then why are you so ticked off and worried about insults?
Speaker 2: Why are you so worried about disapproval? That's certainly not
Speaker 2: as harmful as a shot in the head. If you're willing,
Speaker 2: you're not really willing to live. You're not ready to
Speaker 2: live until you know what's worth dying for. You got
Speaker 2: to decide what am I willing to lay it on
Speaker 2: the line for. What is more important to me than
Speaker 2: even life itself? What is worth dying for? Until you
Speaker 2: know that, you're not ready to live. Jesus paid a
Speaker 2: price for you, and he says there's a price to
Speaker 2: be paid for following him. Popularity on earth is not
Speaker 2: part of the guarantee of being a Christian. It's not.
Speaker 2: But reward in heaven is a guarantee. And it was
Speaker 2: Jim Elliott who said he is no fool who gives
Speaker 2: up what he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose.
Speaker 2: You just got to decide what's more important to you
Speaker 2: popularity or the smile of God. Now I want to
Speaker 2: end with two statements of Jesus. They're here on the screen,
Speaker 2: mark eight. Verse thirty eight says this. Jesus said, if
Speaker 2: you are ashamed of me and my commands, that means
Speaker 2: my commands about life, about sexuality, about finances, about reconciliation,
Speaker 2: about race. If you're ashamed of me and my commands
Speaker 2: in this godless and sinful generation, I will be ashamed
Speaker 2: of you when I come back in glory with the
Speaker 2: Holy Angels. But he also said this in Matthew chapter ten.
Speaker 2: But for those who declare publicly that they belong to me,
Speaker 2: I will do the same for them before my father
Speaker 2: in heaven. God is looking for men and women of
Speaker 2: courage in an age that has no courage at all.
Speaker 2: Everybody's wimping out. Oh, just whatever's right for you. That's
Speaker 2: the stupidest thing, really, you know, people say the moon
Speaker 2: is made of cheese, the moon made rock. They both
Speaker 2: can't both be right. There's some things that are always right,
Speaker 2: and there's some things that are always wrong. God's looking
Speaker 2: for men and women who aren't afraid to publicly identify
Speaker 2: themselves as followers of Christ. So let me encourage you
Speaker 2: this week to take a risk with your life, a
Speaker 2: small step of faith. I want to challenge you to
Speaker 2: be courageous this week in some small way about your faith.
Speaker 2: I don't care how you do it. Just stop whimping out.
Speaker 2: Be brave, be courageous, take a risk. It's the adventure
Speaker 2: of a lifetime. He so what I do, I don't
Speaker 2: care what you do. It might be when you go
Speaker 2: out to lunch today or any other day this week,
Speaker 2: when you sit down in that restaurant, you publicly bow
Speaker 2: your head and you say a prayer with the people there,
Speaker 2: and you don't care what other people think. It's a
Speaker 2: public witness. It's honoring to God. You need to start
Speaker 2: praying in public. Sorry, you need to start doing that.
Speaker 2: Maybe you need to take your Bible to work and
Speaker 2: sit it on your desk, or a Christian book and
Speaker 2: sit it on your desk. And somebody says, why do
Speaker 2: you have a Bible? And I said, well, why wouldn't
Speaker 2: I I'm a Christian. That's it. That's all I need
Speaker 2: to say. Take a small step of faith. If you
Speaker 2: haven't been baptized, that's the first step of publicly identifying
Speaker 2: yourself and say I want to publicly say I'm not
Speaker 2: ashamed of Jesus Christ. What we need is an army
Speaker 2: of brave men and women, risk takers. We should not parents.
Speaker 2: We should not be depending on Disney to teach our
Speaker 2: little girls how to be brave, or our little boys
Speaker 2: or anybody else. They should see bravery in their mothers,
Speaker 2: and bravery in their fathers, Courage in their moms and dad,
Speaker 2: so when they grow up they know how to stand
Speaker 2: for something rather than fall for anything. But it starts
Speaker 2: with courage in the parents. That's about our heads. Would
Speaker 2: you pray this prayer in your heart, Dear Jesus, I
Speaker 2: want to care more about what you think than what
Speaker 2: other people think of me. I ask you to take
Speaker 2: away my fear of disapproval. I don't want to be
Speaker 2: a weak people pleaser. I want to be a God pleaser.
Speaker 2: Take away my fear of rejection. And when I feel
Speaker 2: that urge to be quiet and not speak up, help
Speaker 2: me to not be afraid, to not be embarrassed, to
Speaker 2: not be ashamed, to not be shocked, but in love,
Speaker 2: speak the truth. Help me to care more about your
Speaker 2: approval than anybody else's. Say, Dear God, I want to
Speaker 2: become a brave man of God, or I want to
Speaker 2: become a brave woman of God, with the courage of
Speaker 2: my conviction and the integrity of my heart to live
Speaker 2: for you no matter what. Thank you for having the
Speaker 2: courage to die for me. Thank you for accepting me
Speaker 2: into your family. If you've never invited Jesus Christ in
Speaker 2: your life, say Jesus Christ, come into my heart and
Speaker 2: life right now and fill me with your love. Replace
Speaker 2: my fear with your love. I want to follow you
Speaker 2: from this day forward in your name. I pray Amen.
Speaker 3: If you just prayed to receive Jesus congratulations, we would
Speaker 3: love to send you some free materials to help you
Speaker 3: along on your spiritual journey. Just email Rick at pastororick
Speaker 3: dot com. That's Rick at pastorick dot com. Once again,
Speaker 3: here's Rick.
Speaker 2: You know, I just want to take a quick second
Speaker 2: to say thank you everybody. Thank you for listening, for
Speaker 2: sharing this broadcast, and for your faithful prayers and especially
Speaker 2: your financial support. God is using you in a mighty
Speaker 2: way to get the message of hope out to a
Speaker 2: world that's desperately in need of Jesus Christ. Thanks for
Speaker 2: listening today, everybody, and Please be sure to join me
Speaker 2: next time as we look into God's Word for our
Speaker 2: daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and
Speaker 1: your generous financial support.