Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Announcer (Male): Hello and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. We are so glad you are here with us today.

Announcer (Male): We are going to continue our series called The Keys to a Blessed Life. In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus' sermon on the mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful and purpose-filled life. And now, here's part two of Handling Opposition to Your Faith.

Pastor Rick Warren: So, these are the three things I need to remember whenever harassment comes in my life. It can make me more like Jesus. It can deepen my faith and I'm going to be rewarded for it in eternity forever and ever and ever.

Pastor Rick Warren: Now, there are six things you need to do, you need to do. Before we look at those six things, I want us to look at a short video clip of some of the kind of harassment that's going on around the world right now. Watch this on the screen.

Guest (Female): I'm from a Muslim family. One dark day in the year 2003, my father called me and he gave me two options, either to leave Jesus or to leave the family.

Guest (Female): My belief in Jesus is much stronger than any other relation that I have got. That's why I quit everything and kept Jesus.

Guest (Female): The Muslim radical shouted demanding heavy punishment, as heavy as possible.

Guest (Female): They came every day.

Guest (Female): After my father was told of my imprisonment, he said, "I am proud of my daughter for the suffering she experienced for Christ."

Guest (Female): "This is a great thing that God is doing in your life. So don't expect to get out of prison too soon. Just finish what the Lord has assigned you to do. Just keep on preaching the gospel."

Guest (Male): In a letter dated January 10th, 1994, my father wrote, "I praise the Lord that in the midst of the heavy attack on the fast-growing church of Jesus Christ, the Lord has given the joy of the privilege of suffering for His name to all members of the church."

Guest (Male): "Please don't worry about me. I'm quite ready for anything."

Guest (Male): Nine days after this letter that was written by Haik, he was martyred.

Guest (Female): Two months ago, one of my father's neighbors gave me a call and told me that your sister had just died.

Guest (Female): I went to the funeral, but my whole family came against me. They kicked me and they beat me, and I had two broken ribs.

Guest (Female): This is truly a time of suffering because I got separated from my family. My children need their mother beside them because they are still small, and I miss them terribly too.

Guest (Female): But God's grace is sufficient.

Guest (Male): He was so humble, and he had peace in his heart.

Guest (Female): When I see him in heaven, I'm going to say, "Thank you. You are the one who caused me to love Jesus."

Guest (Male): At his funeral, they gave us a booklet with Brother Haik's biography, and this verse was written in the first page.

Guest (Male): I read it there and I will never forget it.

Guest (Female): The persecution and the suffering we went through, really, it is nothing compared to the glory of God.

Guest (Female): I came to understand the beauty of the unity of the body of Christ, and how when one part suffers, all the parts suffer.

Guest (Female): So in the future, I want to do the same thing for other Christians who are suffering for Christ.

Guest (Female): My sister is gone now, but what gives me more comfort about her is that before she died, she made her decision to follow Jesus Christ, and she died serving Him.

Guest (Male): When Brother Haik was with us, his words were with us. He ministered to us each day. But even in his death, God did such great things.

Guest (Female): I want him to know this. I want him to see that his blood was not useless. After they killed you, so many like me came to Christ. And now I am ready to die for Jesus too.

Pastor Rick Warren: I'll say it again. I'll say it again. Christianity is not for weaklings, for wimps, for the faint of heart.

Pastor Rick Warren: It takes courageous men, it takes courageous women to follow Jesus.

Pastor Rick Warren: These people are suffering in so many areas, we will never suffer as Americans.

Pastor Rick Warren: But what is it costing you to follow Christ?

Pastor Rick Warren: What is the cost to you?

Pastor Rick Warren: As I said, you're never going to, it's unlikely, you're never going to have to deal with violent oppression, but you deal with silent repression every single day in this culture.

Pastor Rick Warren: As America becomes more and more anti-Christian and more and more secularized.

Pastor Rick Warren: Now the Bible says, what are we supposed to do? And it tells us six things. You might write these down.

Pastor Rick Warren: Here's what you do when you handle opposition for your faith.

Pastor Rick Warren: Number one, don't be surprised.

Pastor Rick Warren: Don't be surprised.

Pastor Rick Warren: You should not expect the world to support your decision to follow Jesus.

Pastor Rick Warren: Why would you expect them to think that's, oh, that's a real popular thing to do?

Pastor Rick Warren: First Peter 4:12 says this, "Dear friends, don't be surprised, don't be shocked when you go through painful trials that are like walking through fire, as though something unusual is happening to you."

Pastor Rick Warren: Jesus had told us, He said, "In the world, you're going to have tribulation." It's going to happen.

Pastor Rick Warren: So don't be surprised. Number two, don't be afraid.

Pastor Rick Warren: Don't be afraid.

Pastor Rick Warren: Now, how do I get rid of the fear of opposition? How do I get rid of the fear of disapproval? How do I get afraid? How do I get rid of that fear of of being rejected?

Pastor Rick Warren: You need to be filled with God's love.

Pastor Rick Warren: The more you realize how much God loves you, the Bible says there's no fear in love, perfect love casts out all fear. You focus on God's love for you.

Pastor Rick Warren: See, healthy people are not afraid of rejection. Healthy people are not afraid of disapproval. Healthy people don't need everybody's approval.

Pastor Rick Warren: Healthy people know they're loved by God.

Pastor Rick Warren: The Bible says in 1st Peter 3:16, 13 to 16, "If you suffer for doing what is right at work or at home, in your family, wherever, God will reward you for it. So, don't be afraid."

Pastor Rick Warren: "And don't worry. Instead, worship Christ as Lord of your life, and if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it."

Pastor Rick Warren: Now circle the word worry and the word worship. Those are the two alternatives you have when you feel put down, when you feel pressured to be quiet about your faith in Christ.

Pastor Rick Warren: You can either worry or you can worship.

Pastor Rick Warren: You can panic or you can pray.

Pastor Rick Warren: You can focus on the problem and the pressure and the persecution or you can focus on God.

Pastor Rick Warren: He says, "Turn your attention away from the pressure you feel and turn it toward God."

Pastor Rick Warren: That's what worship is, focusing on God.

Pastor Rick Warren: The Bible tells us in the Bible, that when Stephen, who was the first martyr, was stoned to death, it said, "He looked up into heaven." He worshiped instead of worried as they were throwing all those rocks at him that killed him.

Pastor Rick Warren: So don't be surprised and He says don't be afraid. Worship instead of worry. Number three, he says, don't be ashamed.

Pastor Rick Warren: Don't be ashamed.

Pastor Rick Warren: You should never be embarrassed for standing for the truth.

Pastor Rick Warren: Never be embarrassed for doing what's right.

Pastor Rick Warren: First Peter 4:16 says this, "It's no shame." You shouldn't be ashamed. "It's no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Instead, thank God for the privilege of being called by His name."

Question: Is an insult going to kill you? No.

Pastor Rick Warren: Is a put down going to kill you? No.

Pastor Rick Warren: Is somebody calling you a name or labeling you something because you've made a stand for Christ and for what the Bible says? No.

Pastor Rick Warren: Is somebody, some troll on the internet who's trying to bait you and get you into an argument, is that going to hurt you? No. It's not. It's not going to kill you.

Pastor Rick Warren: So he says, don't be ashamed, don't be afraid, don't be surprised.

Pastor Rick Warren: Now, I want you to write this sentence down, and if you get this, it will liberate your life.

Pastor Rick Warren: I don't need other people's approval to be happy.

Pastor Rick Warren: If you learn this, if this is all you get in today's message, it'll change your life.

Pastor Rick Warren: Because otherwise, you are living your life for what other people think, rather than what God made you to be, and you can't be who God made you to be if you're worried about pleasing other people.

Pastor Rick Warren: I don't need others' approval to be happy.

Pastor Rick Warren: That person you've been trying to get their approval for so many years, like maybe it's a parent, they may have even died. If you haven't got it by now, I hate to tell you this, you're not going to get it.

Pastor Rick Warren: But the good news is, you don't need it.

Pastor Rick Warren: You don't need anybody's approval in order to be happy.

Pastor Rick Warren: You're as happy as you choose to be and you focus on God, rather than the people who disapprove.

Pastor Rick Warren: If I spent my life worrying about all the people who disapprove of me, I'd be in bed with deep, deep depression.

Pastor Rick Warren: But that's not what life's all about. I focus on God and I focus on what He wants. Not what other people think.

Pastor Rick Warren: Because I don't need and you don't need anybody's approval in order to be happy. Happiness is a choice.

Pastor Rick Warren: Now the Bible says this in 1st Peter 5, verse 9.

Pastor Rick Warren: "Take a firm stand, take a firm stand against Satan, and be strong in your faith."

Pastor Rick Warren: "Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are."

Pastor Rick Warren: So what's he saying there? He's saying, well, I don't need to be ashamed. First place, you're in good company.

Pastor Rick Warren: This has happened for 2,000 years and there are people who are suffering right now for being a believer in Christ.

Pastor Rick Warren: You're in good company. If you want to go read Hebrews 11, which is God's Hall of Fame. And in God's Hall of Fame, he says they were beaten, they were tortured, they were imprisoned, they were pushed down, they were ridiculed, they were maligned, they were laughed at and on and on and on.

Pastor Rick Warren: I don't know how to say it any clearer than this.

Pastor Rick Warren: Don't let, don't ever let anybody laugh you out of following Christ.

Pastor Rick Warren: Don't ever let anybody laugh you out of living for Christ.

Pastor Rick Warren: First Peter 3:17, "Remember, it's better to suffer for doing God's will than to suffer for doing evil."

Pastor Rick Warren: Now, here's the point.

Pastor Rick Warren: No matter what you do in life, somebody is going to not like it.

Pastor Rick Warren: There is no nothing that you can do that everybody is going to like.

Pastor Rick Warren: Does everybody agree with that?

Pastor Rick Warren: You can't make everybody like you.

Pastor Rick Warren: So there is nothing you can do that can make everybody like you.

Pastor Rick Warren: So, you may as well do the things that God likes rather than the things that other people like because they are not going to matter in eternity.

Pastor Rick Warren: If you're going to suffer, if you're going to have people who oppose you, if you're going to have people's disapproval, you may as well have the disapproval for doing the right thing, rather than the wrong thing. That's just logic.

Pastor Rick Warren: Because somebody is going to disagree with you no matter what you do. You can't avoid disapproval.

Pastor Rick Warren: Now we come to the fourth step, and here, this is important.

Pastor Rick Warren: Recognize the source of the opposition, and it's Satan.

Pastor Rick Warren: It's not other people. It's not other, it's not co-workers. It's not some other political party. It's not some other nation, it's not some other religion.

Pastor Rick Warren: It's not some competitor. It's not some person who just doesn't like you. The real source of the pressure you feel to cave in, to not have integrity, the pressure you feel to to be quiet and to not stand up for what you know is the right thing.

Pastor Rick Warren: That pressure is not coming from other people. It's really coming from Satan.

Pastor Rick Warren: In Revelation chapter 12, verse 10, Satan is called, quote, "the accuser of the Christians."

Pastor Rick Warren: That's his job. His number one job is to put you down.

Pastor Rick Warren: Now, follow me on this.

Pastor Rick Warren: Satan hates God.

Pastor Rick Warren: Obviously, and so he hates anything God has created.

Pastor Rick Warren: And what he hates most of all are God's children.

Pastor Rick Warren: And so Satan hates you.

Pastor Rick Warren: He doesn't just hate God, Satan hates you.

Pastor Rick Warren: You know, you've heard that phrase, God loves you and has a good plan for your life? Well, Satan hates you and has a bad plan for your life.

Pastor Rick Warren: And so he hates you.

Pastor Rick Warren: Now, follow me on this. Satan wants to hurt God.

Pastor Rick Warren: But he can't.

Pastor Rick Warren: He can't hurt God.

Pastor Rick Warren: But he does have access to you and he can hurt you.

Pastor Rick Warren: And the quickest way to hurt a parent is to hurt his kids.

Pastor Rick Warren: The quickest way to hurt a mom's heart is to hurt her children.

Pastor Rick Warren: The quickest way to hurt a dad is to hurt his children.

Pastor Rick Warren: And so Satan can't get at God, so what's he want to do? He wants to get at you. He wants to hurt you.

Pastor Rick Warren: And there is an unseen spiritual battle going all around you, and this pressure to make your life miserable and to make you cave in and to keep you from doing the right thing.

Pastor Rick Warren: It's not coming from other people really.

Pastor Rick Warren: You got to look beyond that. They're just pawns, they're just tools, they're just weapons. And a lot of times they don't even know, most of the time, they don't even know they're being used.

Pastor Rick Warren: But the real issue is a spiritual warfare.

Pastor Rick Warren: Ephesians 6:12 says this, "We're not fighting against human beings."

Pastor Rick Warren: Which is why you don't win this in the ballot box.

Pastor Rick Warren: "We're not fighting against human beings, but against wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly realm."

Pastor Rick Warren: Now let me explain this. You need to understand that Satan knows it's stupid to attack Jesus Christ directly.

Pastor Rick Warren: Why? Because He was the only perfect person who ever lived. How do you attack Jesus?

Pastor Rick Warren: I mean, the the the Savior who taught love and grace and peace and joy and forgive other people and died, gave His life for others. How do you attack Jesus?

Pastor Rick Warren: So he knows rather than attacking Jesus directly, he wants to attack those who follow Him.

Pastor Rick Warren: And today he uses the media, and he uses music, and he uses comedies, and he's he's he's doing anything he can to ridicule those who follow Jesus. And they're and they say, "Hey, they're out of date. They're on the wrong side of history. They they don't know what they're talking about, they're fuddy-duddies, they're bigots and on and on and on."

Pastor Rick Warren: Here's what the Bible says you should do.

Pastor Rick Warren: Second Timothy 2. "Stay away from stupid and senseless arguments."

Pastor Rick Warren: I would add, especially on the internet.

Pastor Rick Warren: "These only lead to trouble."

Pastor Rick Warren: "God's servants must never quarrel."

Pastor Rick Warren: Star that, circle it, put a line on it, 15 exclamation points.

Pastor Rick Warren: "God's servants must never quarrel."

Pastor Rick Warren: I didn't say that, God did.

Pastor Rick Warren: It's right there in the Bible.

Pastor Rick Warren: And so you should not get into heated arguments. God's servants should never quarrel. That's what the Bible says.

Pastor Rick Warren: Instead, when you're under pressure, when you're in opposition and people are harassing you for being a Christian, when they look at you strange for what you believe, instead, "Be kind to everyone, including the opposition, and be patient with the opposition, and be humble when you correct people who oppose you."

Pastor Rick Warren: "They've been trapped by the devil, and he makes them obey him, but God may help them escape."

Pastor Rick Warren: Now, what's he saying here? He's saying, "Those people, they're just pawns. And see, if you don't have the Holy Spirit in your life, if you don't have God's power in your life, you have no defense against Satan."

Pastor Rick Warren: He could just whipsaw you this way and that. He can master your moods, he can lead you into depression, he can do all kinds of, he can make you angry.

Pastor Rick Warren: You have no defense against Satan until you've got God's spirit inside you. You're not strong enough, sorry, you're just not.

Pastor Rick Warren: And so these people, they're just being used as tools.

Pastor Rick Warren: And what you need to do is recognize the source and treat the opposition the way Jesus did.

Pastor Rick Warren: How did Jesus treat those who opposed Him? Even on the cross he's saying, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing."

Pastor Rick Warren: "They don't know what they're doing."

Pastor Rick Warren: That's what it means to be Christ-like.

Pastor Rick Warren: "They don't know what they're doing."

Pastor Rick Warren: These people who attack me, they don't know what they're doing.

Pastor Rick Warren: The people who attack you, they don't know what they're doing.

Pastor Rick Warren: The people who put down Jesus and church and Christianity, they don't know what they're doing.

Pastor Rick Warren: "Father, forgive them."

Pastor Rick Warren: Now, think about this.

Pastor Rick Warren: Jesus was lied to, lied about constantly.

Pastor Rick Warren: You could go make a list of all the things they lied about Jesus in the Bible.

Pastor Rick Warren: They said, "He's a revolutionary here to overthrow Rome and take pilot's place." Wrong, but they used that to get Him to the cross.

Pastor Rick Warren: They said, they said, "He he's he's got a demon." Wrong.

Pastor Rick Warren: At one point they said, "He's a drunk and a glutton." Wrong.

Pastor Rick Warren: They said, you know, "He's he's the devil incarnate." Wrong.

Pastor Rick Warren: And how did Jesus respond to all those lies that were told about Him?

Pastor Rick Warren: Look at the next verse, 1st Peter 2. "When they hurled their insults at Him, Jesus did not retaliate. When He suffered, He made no threats."

Pastor Rick Warren: "Instead, He entrusted Himself to God who judges justly."

Pastor Rick Warren: Look at this verse on the screen. I love this in the message, it says this, "They called Him every name in the book, and He said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right."

Pastor Rick Warren: This leads us to the fifth thing you need to do when you're under attack: Refuse to retaliate.

Announcer (Male): Such a great message by Rick today and every day. I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was.

Announcer (Male): And now, here's Rick with an important message.

Pastor Rick Warren: Hi everybody, thanks so much for listening today.

Pastor Rick Warren: My hope is that God uses this broadcast to help deepen your relationship with Jesus.

Pastor Rick Warren: These Daily Hope messages are distributed on radio stations and digital platforms all across the globe, and listeners are writing and letting us know that their lives are being changed.

Pastor Rick Warren: They're telling us that they're walking with Jesus and that guilt and fear has been chased from their lives by God's love.

Pastor Rick Warren: Relationships are being restored and marriages are being healed, and many people are saying that they've found their life purpose.

Pastor Rick Warren: I want to say thank you to you because we're only able to carry the hope of Jesus to these people all around the world because of gifts from generous listeners like you.

Pastor Rick Warren: I just wanted to say, I am so grateful for your prayers and your financial support.

Pastor Rick Warren: I understand, in times like these, many of you are unable to give financial support. Hear it from me, that's okay.

Pastor Rick Warren: Because I never want anybody to give unless God leads them to give.

Pastor Rick Warren: That's between you and God, not between you and me, but between you and God.

Pastor Rick Warren: And your prayers are a continual and incredible contribution to this Daily Hope ministry.

Pastor Rick Warren: Now, if you do want to give a financial gift, I've got some really great news to share with you.

Pastor Rick Warren: There's a generous friend of Daily Hope broadcast who is offering to match the amount of your gift.

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Pastor Rick Warren: If you've never given a gift to Daily Hope, I want you to pray about partnering with us so that together we can continue to share the hope of Jesus throughout the whole world.

Pastor Rick Warren: I love you so much.

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Announcer (Male): Hey, be sure to join us next time when we look into God's word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.