How To Handle Insults And Ridicule | Worship Service | Rick Warren

if somebody loved you so much they died for you wouldn't you want to know them and if there's a better way to live then i'm going to run to it and i want to see your purpose and plan for my life open your eyes and see how good god is hi everyone and welcome to saddleback church we are so glad that you are here spending some time with us today and if this is your first time with us we are extra glad that you're here it's our prayer that you'll be encouraged and strengthened in your spiritual journey and our time together today at saddleback we believe that each day is a new day to learn and to grow closer to god check out this story about growth and life change in some of our students [Music] hi my name is hannah and i am graduating from tribucal hills high school i've been attending high school ministry at saddleback irvine south for all four years i remember my freshman year hsn we would be in the auditorium and me and all my friends we would sit we'd sit in the top we'd be all by ourselves so i tried to get involved because i didn't want to be afraid of everyone i didn't want to feel super isolated so i started going to life group once one person opens up it's just this chain reaction of everyone are opening up and we finally blossom and i've grown up with these guys i've lived life with these guys it starts with how are you doing and you kind of end up talking about what you're struggling with or things like that like at the root of it all everybody loves jesus which is kind of how all of our friendships are growing so close the community at high school ministry has been second to none i find that the staff is always so willing to talk to you about anything you need i can call so many of those leaders my friends one of the coolest things about having friends who are upperclassmen is that they were also such great role models of what it looks like to trust jesus even through all the change in their lives these last four years have just taught me so much and just so many different lessons and things i'm just really grateful for um and things i will definitely carry on to college and i still have some of the message notes that i keep um and if i'm ever you know looking for direction i can look there or i can text my pastor as i got older i got more sure of myself i was like wait everybody here is a family this is one big church family we all love each other i remember thinking back my freshman year when i would see someone you know holding their hand up in praise i think why are they doing that and now it's my senior year and i go that's that's how you for me that's how i feel like i'm i'm honoring god or i'm thanking him for something he's doing in my life leaving hsm i just have a lot of mixed emotions and it's kind of like with high school too i'm just really ready to come to that next step and hsn really prepared me for that but it's hard because you know this is something you've been a part of for four years you've really built these relationships high school ministry really set me up for success not only in giving me that good advice of you know go to college and find yourself a church you need to always be in that community but giving me those tools of making sure you're reading your bible staying in the word hsm has given me such a solid foundation for my faith and just that no matter where i end up in texas i will find the right community i've seen it with a bunch of the graduating seniors from the past few years they've even said they found that church home even if it took a little bit that they found a place where they belonged and that they could grow in their faith [Music] [Applause] come on put your hands together [Music] we worship the god who wants we worship the god who is we worship the god whoever more will be he opened the prison doors he parted the raging season [Music] and we won't be quiet is [Music] we sing to the god who always makes away cause he hung up on that cross then he rose up from that grave my god [Music] we shout out your praise there's joy in the house of the lord our god is [Music] now we're running free we are forgiven accepted redeemed by his grace let the house of the lord sing praise come and sing it louder we were the beggars and now we're running free we are forgiven [Music] and we won't be we shout out your [Music] our god [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh jesus oh jesus just one word you calm the storm that surrounds me just one word the darkness has to retreat oh yes it does just one touch i feel the presence of heaven and just one touch my eyes were open to see my heart can't help but believe there's nothing that our god can't do there's not a mountain that he can move oh praise the name that makes a way there's nothing that our god can't do what we believe come on in just one word you hear what's broken inside me and just one word and you revive every dream oh yeah just one touch i feel the power of heaven oh my god just one touch my eyes were open to [Music] there's nothing that our god can't do there's not a prison while he can't break through oh praise the name that makes away there's nothing that our god can do [Music] i will believe for greater things there's no power like the power of jesus let faith arise hey let all the greed there's no power like the power of jesus i will believe come on for greater things there's no power like the power of jesus let fade for rights come let all agree there's no power like the power of jesus here we go i will believe for greater days there's no power like the power of jesus [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise [Music] god [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's pray together god we thank you that there is nothing that you can't do that you are victorious that you know and see everything god i pray for anyone right now who is experiencing a time of desperation or season of pain or if they are walking through days that are lonely and long [Music] they need healing god i pray right now that you would be near to them and that when they when they seek you that they would find you that when they look for answers to the hard questions that they would find your hope your peace your wisdom your healing god we know that you bring joy you bring refreshment so god we ask that on behalf of people who are facing difficult times right now and god right now as we lean in to learn today as we lean in to listen to you i pray that you would open our hearts and our minds and our eyes to something new god if there's a place that we need to change in our lives i pray that you would change us we love you so much can we give this time to you it's in your name that we pray amen let's dive into god's word together hello saddleback have i told you lately that i love you this weekend i'm at saddleback los angeles campus next weekend i'll be back at our lake forest campus to speak on father's day by the way many of our campuses are doing a special father's day baptism next weekend if you're a dad and you haven't yet been baptized i want to urge you to make a public statement of faith on father's day next weekend and here's the extra if you have family members dad who have accepted the lord into their hearts but have not been baptized i want to invite you to baptize your own family on father's day imagine what a historic day that would be you can get information at your campus about which campuses are doing father's day baptisms now friends if i didn't already love you i would certainly love you after this past weekend when i received so many cards and so many letters and emails and texts with such kind and such warm expressions of love from you after my big announcement last weekend that we're at the very beginning of a long search probably to find my successor as the lead pastor of saddleback church after nearly 42 years it got reported everywhere new york times washington post delhi times cnn nbc and i know it's causing all of us a bundle of mixed emotions since for most of you i'm the only pastor you've ever known for most of you but i know it's time to start the process and you know what i trust your maturity and i wanted to involve you in praying before we even began the process and because i trust your spiritual maturity i've never kept secrets from you and i wanted to involve you from day one before we even started now if you missed last weekend's message how to discern the best time to make a major change i beg you to watch that message on saddleback.com but there's a second video that i also want all of you to watch that has been posted on youtube it's not on our site yet but it's on youtube it's a copy of last wednesday's staff meeting where i explain the 11 reasons 11 reasons why i know this is the right time to start our search for my replacement i want you to know those 11 reasons and be able to share them with other people i also explain in that video and remember it's on youtube five things you plan to or should expect to happen in the months and years ahead five things to expect and 11 reasons we're doing this now uh i hope we're going to eventually retake that tape that message and put it on our own website but i don't want you to wait to watch it i want you to go to youtube and be inspired by that i know you will be now this week we continue our study in building a better future and we're learning from the greatest builder in the bible a man named nehemiah there will be people who don't understand what you're trying to do and what you're attempting to do or how you expect to do it in building a better future but even if they do understand it there will be many people who will oppose you and that's what we're going to look at this week i've often said there is no opportunity without opposition there's no opportunity without opposition in fact here's a little equation opportunity plus opposition equals god's will opposition is actually part of god's will in your life now i could describe my past 41 half years as your pastor in the same way paul says it uh in first corinthians chapter 16 verse 9. he says it like this there is a great opportunity here for an effective work even though there is also much opposition those two things opportunity and opposition go together and if you're going to build a better future if you're going to make something of your life not everybody's gonna like it not everybody's gonna agree with it and in the same way whatever your dream is whatever your goal is whatever your ministry objective is that you have whatever vision you have for the future for building a better life and building a better future you can expect different kinds of opposition nothing is easy in this life now one of the greatest tests of character is going to be how you handle opposition in life and god is watching your response do you panic under pressure do you become discouraged and quickly give up when anybody expresses anything that they don't like your goal or they look at you the wrong way have you quit on your god-given dream simply because somebody disapproved of it or somebody criticize it or heaven forbid somebody made fun of it you know i think one of the largest groups in the world today is the international bucket committee and these are the people who feel it's their responsibility and duty to cost toss cold water on every dream or idea or project that god puts in your heart and they're going to pose everything or anything simply because there's something wrong with every idea and so they feel they're put on earth on this planet to point out what's wrong with it their favorite word is no and their favorite phrase is you can't do that now one of the reasons nehemiah's story of rebuilding the wall around jerusalem is in the bible why it's there one of the reasons is to teach us how to effectively handle inevitable opposition when it happens in your life god wants you to be prepared to handle disapproval to handle criticism to handle opposition yes and even to handle harassment for your life and for your faith what you believe and what you do let me show you some verses about that before we actually go to the book of nehemiah because god warns us repeatedly about this in second peter 3 3 he says this it's important for you to understand that in the last days scoffers will make fun of you did you get that scoffers are going to make fun of you while they do every evil thing they desire to do so you can count on it philippians chapter 1 verse 29 says this new living translation for you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in christ but also the privilege of suffering for him so i mean you're going oh i never heard that part the privilege of trusting christ believing in him yes i didn't know about the privilege of suffering for him it's part of following jesus second timothy chapter 3 verse 12 says this anyone who belongs to christ jesus and wants to live right will have trouble from others so mark it down you're going to have opposition in life sometimes from friends and family sometimes from strangers and sometimes from culture here's one more verse before we look at nehemiah second corinthians 2 11 says this so we must be aware of satan's schemes so that he cannot outwit us and that's what we're going to do today we're going to look at satan's schemes to discourage you with opposition now as we come today to nehemiah chapter four we're in part six but chapter four of nehemiah we learn two important things that we need to know in building a better future first we learn the five most common ways the people will try to oppose your dream or try to oppose your goal or criticize your work criticize your life your ministry criticize what you believe we learn those five things they will oppose ways they'll oppose you and then we also learn in nehemiah 4 5 ways that god wants you to respond to those who oppose you so first i want you to notice there on your outline take out your message notes notice the five ways the opposition tried to stop nehemiah's work okay let's look at this for a minute they tried to stop nehemiah's project of rebuilding the wall around jerusalem the capital city it is inevitable that you'll encounter each of these in your lifetime also now i summarize them at the top of your message outline in verse 1 and verse 7 the opposition tried to use rage to stop the work in other words they got angry they got furious so they attempted to attempt intimidate the builders with anger you probably had that happen in your life people who tried to manipulate you or bully you with their anger with their rage and that's a typical uh way of of trying to control people using anger using uh uh rage to manipulate or to bully and to uh to try to control you then in verse one to five uh it says they tried to use ridicule to stop the work it says they mocked the the builders they made fun of the builders of the wall you've probably had that too they they derided them they scoffed at their project and the bible tells us that they use sarcasm to belittle them so they use rage and they use ridicule the third way uh they did opposition was in verse one and 2 and 12 the opponents tried to use racism and resentment racism and resentment to stop the work now specifically they stirred up old prejudices against the jews who were the ones that were rebuilding the wall and they used some anti uh semitic slurs because they resented what the jews were doing now when that didn't work rage didn't work ridicule work didn't work uh you know these things didn't work then they used resistance and that's in verse 7 8 and 10 they used physical resistance to try to stop the work they literally attacked the capital city jerusalem and verse 8 says they all made plans to come and fight against jerusalem and to bring about confusion there so they used resistance and then finally in verse 12 the fifth way that's common in opposition is they tried to use rumors rumors to stop the work they started a whisper campaign to create fear and discourage the builders through through gossip now that happens a lot today of course on social media uh that we're in a canceled culture and people are whispering and gossiping and rumors spread faster than they ever have in our in in the world history now in future messages we're going to look at some of these different opposition tactics okay rage and resistance and and uh you know the things we just talked about but we'll look at them in depth but nehemiah today i want us to focus on just one of those tactics and it's a tactic that i've discovered really discourages people from doing the right thing it is the fear of disapproval it's ridicule it's being insulted it's worrying about what other people think the fear of ridicule um is a powerful tool to manipulate you and so as your pastor i want us to look for focus on how that happened in nehemiah's life and we're going to look at what do you do when you are insulted or you're ridiculed you know we all naturally hate being disapproved of we hate being criticized nobody likes it we don't like to be rejected we don't want to be insulted we don't want to be made fun of we don't want to be made to look bad in fact it's human nature to do almost anything uh in order to avoid being ridiculed that's probably one of the worst feelings you could feel is shamed and ridiculed and so that causes us to end up being people-pleasers instead of being god-pleasers so we all need to know how to handle insults and ridicule how to handle insults and ridicule that's what we're going to look at today from nehemiah chapter 4. now it's obvious in today's culture that we are increasingly becoming more rude more strident more impolite more polarized and divided more harsh more disrespectful you turn on the any tv channel and you'll pretty soon quickly find people who are shouting at each other insulting each other belittling each other demeaning each other and demonizing each other now in nehemiah story we realize that these tactics that we're seeing on our television and on our media today they're not new instead they're thousands of years old so here are five ways i want you to write these down five ways that people are going to try to stop you from doing god's will using ridicule these are five forms of ridicule that are in the story of nehemiah that still are working today that keep people from being all that god wants them to be okay let's go out go through them number one first people will attack your character and identity when they don't agree with what you believe or they don't agree with what you do or what you say or what you think they will attack your character and identity in an earlier chapter we met nehemiah's first critic the guy's name was sand ballot kind of a crazy name but nehemiah chapter 4 verse 1 and 2 says this when sand ballot heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became very angry and he flew into a rage and he what circle this ridiculed the jews he flew into a rage and he ridiculed the jews to his allies and to the military of samaria he said what does this pathetic bunch of feeble jews think they're doing does that sound like a a statement of ridicule a pathetic bunch of feeble jews think they're doing now notice a couple things from these verses first personal attacks on you when it happens to you it's an emotional response from somebody not a logical response it says the reason this guy attacked them with ridicule is he first flew into a rage which meant when you fly into a rage when you get too upset when you get emotional it means you've stopped using the smartest part of your brain which is your cortex and you slip down into your lower brain which is the limbic part of your brain which responds emotionally not logically now why am i saying this because ridicule is always a substitute for reason ridicule is always a substitute for reason when somebody starts ridiculing they stop thinking clearly sarcastic laughter is a substitute for logic people make fun of you when they're angry or they're afraid or both when they're emotional they get you know mean-spirited like that they resort to name-calling you see it on cable news all the time now sand ballot calls nehemiah's builders a pathetic bunch of feeble jews now logically think about this if the builders had been pathetic and weak and feeble then he wouldn't have had anything to worry about anyway so the fact that he's worried about it means obviously that's not true but he is ridiculing by attacking their character attacking their identity so if ridicule isn't usually logical why is it so effective on us why will we do anything to avoid it well the reason is is that ridicule attacks our sense of self-worth it attacks our value it strikes at who we are as a woman or as a man it attacks our identity it belittles our character it reduces our self-esteem it makes us feel bad about ourselves you know the reason so many followers of christ never share the good news they never talk about jesus at school or at work or in the neighborhood it's because of this deep-seated fear of being disapproved we don't want to appear weak we don't want to appear kooky we don't want to appear ignorant we don't want to appear fanatical but just remember this people who ridicule you are doing it out of their own insecurity and fear because if they were truly confident in themselves if they felt good about themselves they wouldn't need to tear you down to build themselves up that's the first way when they attack your character and your identity here's the second way the people try to stop you from doing the right thing or saying the right thing or attempting something great for god number two people will accuse you of evil motives and that's the next thing we see in nehemiah story people will accuse you of having the wrong mode is bad motivation evil motives nehemiah 2 19 tells us that those opposed to rebuilding the wall said this what are you doing are you rebelling against the king what are they doing here they're questioning the motives of the people who are rebuilding the wall and they're doing it for shock value they want to make the builders afraid you see they're accusing the builders of revolting against the king cyrus of persia that would be a capital offense worthy of death penalty so even suggesting that it might be true would put god's people on the defensive this happens all the time in society today the truth is nehemiah had already gotten the king's permission to rebuild the wall and the king himself was providing all the lumber needed so it was a false accusation but they're just challenging are you doing this because you're a bunch of rebels you're trying to revolt against the king of persia now in nehemiah chapter 4 verse 2 the critics accused them of a different motivation because the first one didn't work and now they accuse them of a different motive they said you're not doing this for god's glory you're doing this you're building this wall for your own glory and they asked there notice on your outline are you going to restore it for yourselves are they going to restore it for themselves the the critics of the wall builders are implying that this entire project was for selfish purposes they say you know what we know why you guys are rebuilding this wall around jews this is an ego trip you're doing it for self-centered glory you want to be famous you want to be successful you want to be known as the people who rebuilt the wall and so what the second thing people do when they ridicule you is they question your motivation and the truth is this nobody ever really knows anybody's motivation i don't know your motivation you don't know my motivation we all have mixed motivations you don't know your husband's or your wife's motivation and you don't even know what motivates you most of the time we all have mixed motivations so if you can't figure out your own motivation how in the world can you be expect an expert on anybody else's motivation when you say i know why you did that that's dumb because you don't you don't know anybody's motivation the bible even says that now there's a third tactic that critics and enemies are going to use to keep you from doing what god wants you to do okay they'll question your motives they'll they'll challenge and and ridicule your your character and your identity third thing people will exploit prejudices against you when people want to take advantage of you they will exploit prejudices against you particularly when they're fearful now we've already seen the derogatory anti-semitic anti-jew and racist statements that they did in labeling the builders a pathetic bunch of feeble jews in the story of nehemiah the enemies use all kinds of religious and racial slurs why because none of them were jews no they hated the jews everybody who hated the wall hated the jewish people now the oldest way to rally a crowd is to feed their fears politicians today have figured that out the oldest way to rally a crowd is to feed their fears in nehemiah chapter 2 verse 19 it says this when sand ballot the horonite and tobiah the ammonite and geshem the arab these are three different ethnic backgrounds they're all non-jews heard of our plan they made fun of us and they laughed at us do you realize that the palestinian conflict is not new it goes back 2500 years these were palestinians making fun of the people of god the israelis the children of israel 2 500 years ago when the jews were allowed to return to their homeland after they had spent 70 years in exile in captivity in babylon the people who had moved into their land while the jews were gone in captivity in babylon they didn't want to let these immigrants back into their own country nehemiah chapter 4 verse 7 and 8 says this they're on your outline when sand ballot tobiah the arabs the ammonites and the ashdottites now there weren't the stalactites of the you know uh out of sights or the you know stalagmites you know whatever but these other ites they were all there when they heard the repairs that started they were very angry and notice they all plotted together okay all these different groups plotted together to come and fight against jerusalem capital city and to stir up trouble against it now notice here what's going on it's no longer just a couple of critics of building the wall you know a guy named sand ballot and tobiah now it's a conspiracy have you ever seen this happen in verse four different groups four different racial groups are mentioned and they all hated the jews and they didn't want them immigrating back now the opposition is getting organized let me explain this to you sand ballot was a samaritan those people lived north of jerusalem the arabs represented the people who lived south of jerusalem tobiah and the ammonites represented the people who lived east of jerusalem and the ashdodites represented the people who lived west of jerusalem so jerusalem is literally surrounded by hostile neighbors same thing today similar today by the way just let me add this in have you noticed that negative people naturally gravitate together it's amazing how negative people can sniff each other out in a large crowd and quickly form a small group to complain now notice the purpose of these all these groups joining together verse 8 said to stir up trouble it's always easier to form a group against something than to form a group for something so that's a that's another tactic that's happening in people trying to ridicule and insult and keep you from doing what god has called you to do number four the fourth tactic people will make up lies and stories they'll make up lies and stories about you if they don't like you they don't like you the fact that you're a christian uh at work or at school or uh if you hold a different uh ethical view of different things in society you believe in the truth and they don't believe there's such a thing as truth you know i could probably fill several books with stories that have been made up about me over the past 41 and a half years and you'd probably get a big laugh out of it it'd probably be a big best seller i i know you've heard me say many many times i i try to live my life in such a way that people have to make up stuff about me to accuse me well that's never stopped them you wouldn't believe some of the goofy things people have written about me one guy i remember wrote a biography on me without ever talking to me or any family member or any staff member or any member of our church his only qualification for writing a biography is that he'd written a discredited bio of paris hilton so every leader here's the point i want to make every leader eventually has to stop worrying about all the lies that are told about you otherwise you never get anything done king david said it like this in psalm 38 verses 12 and 20 those who want to hurt me plan trouble for me all day long they think up lies they repay me with evil for the good i've done and they lie about me because i try to do good you could probably relate to that in some way now in nehemiah's case the the the opposition to the wall made up the ridiculous assertion that the builders this is what they were asserting the builders intend to complete the entire wall around jerusalem in one day and still have time at the end of the day to go worship for a service now nobody had made this claim they just made it up but the critics say this in nehemiah 4 2 do they think that they'll finish the wall in a day and then offer sacrifices to their god you know have extra time left over to have a worship service okay they're making up stuff they're making up lies and stories that's gonna happen to you a fifth tactic that opponents still use today is this one people will predict your failure if you set a goal if you announce a vision if you begin a business if you have a project if you start a new ministry all of the arms chair quarterbacks who never actually built anything great or even attempted it they'll be quick to predict your demise and your defeat and your downfall and your disgrace and they're going to forecast uh that it because it's likely it's not like not because it's likely but because they want that to be true they're going to forecast your failure they they want it to be true so they'll say predict you're gonna fail they think the only way you can succeed is with a miracle in verse two sand ballots said do they think they can bring burned up stones back to life from those heaps of rubble and rubbish what's this guy doing he's thinking there's no way these guys are going to succeed in rebuilding the wall i don't know if you've ever had anybody tell you there's no way you can do what you think you ought to do but i've had it said to me many times i remember an early one in life when i called a well-known influential leader when i was 25 years old and i was telling him that kaye and i were gonna move to southern california to start a new church with no members and no money had no building and i had never been a lead pastor and over the phone he said rick that's the stupidest idea i've ever heard in my life california is a graveyard for churches i was discouraged by that okay i was told in advance i was going to fail i was discouraged by that but you know what it wasn't true but negativity is contagious and if you hang out with naysayers pretty soon you're going to join in with them verse 3 and nehemiah 4 it says then tobiah he'd heard all these other complaints and criticism tobiah who was standing by close by you know you get picked you get influenced by the people you hang out with joined in here's what tobias said right what they're building is so weak talking about the wall what they're building is so weak it'll collapse if just a fox tries to walk on that wall so you can see that these five tactics that people used on nehemiah and if they've used them on you they're not new this political strategy is 2500 years old so here it is number one use ridicule and insults to attack your opponents number two accuse them of having evil motives so you can demonize them number three exploit old prejudices and fears against people who are different four have people come to the capital city together to stir up trouble and five make up liza's stories to influence people and six predict their failure and your win does any of that sound vaguely commit familiar folks this is not new just read the bible now having said all that showing you five ways that people will try to stop you when you're trying to do anything great the question becomes this how do i respond all that how should i handle criticism how do i handle ridicule how do i handle insults how do i handle when people oppose me and what i think god wants me to do in life well fortunately that's the rest of the story in nehemiah nehemiah left us a model that we can use today you can use it this afternoon so anytime you feel under attack as a christian you feel attacked at school you feel attacked at work you feel attacked in your neighborhood or anywhere else you're being opposed remember to do these five things that nehemiah did in nehemiah chapter four write these down okay number one tell god how it upsets me when i when somebody criticizes me it upsets me when somebody belittles me it upsets me you know little people belittle others but when somebody uh ridicules me somebody attacks me do you think i like that no no one likes that well you what do you do you tell it to god you tell god how it upsets you you see it's nehemiah's habit to always pray first in fact in the book of nehemiah there are 13 prayers this is a man of prayer and every time he faces something hard you know what he does first he prays do you do that do you do that i want you to notice what he prays nehemiah chapter 4 verse 4 and 5. it says so i prayed and here's the empire's prayer god you can hear how they're making fun of us god you know these guys are ridiculing us let their insults just fall back on their own heads and made them they themselves become captives in a foreign land he says let happen to them what happened to us we were all hauled off to babylon for 70 years may they themselves be held captive in a foreign land don't ignore their guilt god because they have thrown insults in the face of the builders now you know what i love about this prayer it's gut level honest nehemiah is honest about he feels he's clearly angry he's ticked off he's upset so what is he doing he's letting off steam by talking to god about it okay he doesn't tell when he's hurting because he's been rejected or he's been disapproved or he's been put down or he's been abused or whatever he doesn't tell god what he thinks god wants to hear he tells god exactly what he's feeling and he's mad he's upset he's ticked off at all these insults he's irritated by the criticism now here's the point i want you to write this down anytime you're ridiculed don't take it out on people talk it out with god anytime you feel under attack criticized demeaned demoralized prejudiced when you don't take it out on people talk it out with god prayer is a great stress reliever that's the first thing nehemiah did here's the second thing nehemiah did when you are being ridiculed when you're being put down when you feel other people looking at you you know judgmentally confidently state that my trust is in god confidently state that my trust is in god nehemiah did not retell retaliate back tit for tat with insults of his own he will you insulted me i'm just going to insult you that's what we want to do somebody name calls you you want to call them a name worst name back he ignores the hurtful words in his reply to the opposition instead here's what he says now he's told god god i'm angry but he doesn't say that he doesn't say that to the opponent to the critic the people who are in his way nehemiah 2 20 i answered them here's how he answered the critic the god of heaven will give us success the god of heaven will give us success we are his servants and we will start rebuilding that's what you do confidently state your trust in god we're just his servants we don't trust ourselves we're trusting god but we will start rebuilding he told us to do this you see ridicule and criticism and insults and all that can never stop god's work in your life unless you let it unless you let it nehemiah just refer reaffirms what god had told him god told us to do this we're his servants we're acting on his orders we're not trusting in ourselves we're just servants we're trusting in the almighty god now let me tell you something from personal experience i've had a lot of opposition in my life i have found that the greater the opposition the more you need to depend on god little opposition yeah brush it off big opposition the more the greater it is the more you need to depend on god but what you do is you don't respond to every little detail of criticism if you do they'll dominate your life they'll distract you just pray and persist when somebody starts criticizing you for what you're doing just keep on working and stay true to god's word listen stay true to god's word no matter how unpopular it is david says this in psalm 119 51 arrogant people mock me truly but i do not turn away from your teaching you know i can imagine him sitting in a class in college and somebody's teaching atheism and all kinds of stuff that's anti-christian he goes okay they treat me cruelly but i do not turn away from your teaching i do i stay true to the word of god no matter it doesn't matter what other people say i stay true to the word of god you know i know that every time i've gone on cnn the host would typically ask me if i changed my mind about the definition of marriage and i'm going come on guys i'm a christian pastor what do you expect and and and they'd say have you changed your mind about the definition of of marriage and i'd always say no of course not god's word has not changed i remember one time piers morgan asked me well rick he said why are you so certain that you'll never change your position on this and i said well pierce it's because i care more about god's disapproval than i do about your disapproval or the disapproval of our culture that settled it he was speechless after that there's no no i care more about god's approval than i care about your approval that's why and that helps me to stay true to the word of god now here's the third step that nehemiah did be better than those who insult me be better than those who insult me when you're under attack under attack for your gender or your race or your faith or whatever always take the moral high ground never stoop to a lower level you be better than the critic you be better than than the opposition you be better than those who are ridiculing and insulting and mean-spirited and who are lying about you never stoop to a lower level you know years ago my mentor billy graham told me he said you know rick if you wrestle with a pig you're both going to get muddy but only one of you is going to enjoy it i've never forgotten that it's true it's true you know pigs love to wrestle in the mud they love getting dirty and you know if you you wrestle with a pig you're they'll enjoy it but you won't that's why romans 12 says this verses 19 and 20. dear friends never avenge yourselves leave that to god for it is written i'll take vengeance and i'll repay those who deserve it says the lord instead do what scripture says and he this is right out of romans if your enemies are hungry feed them and if they're thirsty give them something to drink and they'll be ashamed of what they've done to you do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good that's what real christians do by the way when it says do what the scripture says and then it quotes all that if you're wondering what scripture paul is quoting in romans he's quoting proverbs 25 21 and 22. that's what he's coding proverbs 25 21-22 now peter saint peter adds these words first peter 3 9 don't do something wrong to repay a wrong and don't insult back to repay an insult instead repay it with a blessing he says when you're insulted you repay it with a blessing you bless them you're called to do this so you'll get a blessing first peter 3 16 says this peter says too keep your conscience clear so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in christ may be ashamed of their slander so you always be better than those who attack you don't don't attack them back you know there's a well-known pastor who has attacked me for years and years and years and a couple years ago somebody came out on a recent attack and mentioned it on some social media and says rick what's your response and i i said i'm not going to mention the guy's name but i said what this pastor thinks about me in no way controls what i think about him and i have nothing but the utmost respect for his ministry that's how jesus would have us do it and when you do that when you respond christ-like it gives you more power it gives you more anointing now the fourth step in handling opposition in your life cultural opposition relational opposition financial opposition people who want to take you down whatever the fourth step will surprise you because it's a little-known promise in the book of exodus i guarantee you you've never seen this but if you want god to be your defender when you're under attack god makes it very clear how you can show that you trust him and that allows him to become your defender write this down number four make god my defender by tithing what yep make god my defender by tithing this is a little known benefit of putting god first in your finances did you know that god in his word promises to be your defender if you return the first 10 of your income back to god i'm not making this up look at this verse exodus 23 verses 19 and 22 god says this bring the best of the first fruits of your harvest into my house of the lord bring the first fruit of your harvest what's he talking about there that's the principle of tithing that the first 10 of everything i make goes back to god it all came from god and i'm just giving god back something that's his anyway it all belongs to god he just loans it to me while i'm alive it was somebody else's before me it'd be somebody else after i die it all belongs to god he says bring the best of the first fruit of your harvest that's the first ten percent tithe needs a tenth not eight percent not twelve it means ten percent bring the first fruit of your harvest to my house of the lord and then here's the promise if you do what i say look at this i'll be an enemy to your enemies and i'll oppose those who oppose you whoa have you ever seen that verse if you do what i say talking about this putting me first in your finances i will be an enemy to your enemies and i will oppose those who oppose you now since saddleback church is the most generous church in america i don't need to expand on this so let me just say this if you're not tithing the first 10 of your income god allows you that god gives you you're missing this huge blessing there are more promises in the bible about giving and tithing than any other subject look at this verse malachi chapter 3. remember i told you that malachi was one of the five books written for the people who came out of the exile he wrote this at the same time as nehemiah he's writing to the people who built the wall and in malachi 3 10 and 11 he's god says bring the whole tithe into the storehouse my storehouse that there may be food in my house test me in this says the lord says i dare you pepsi challenge test me in this and see if i will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing you won't have enough room for it this is the only place in scripture where god says you can prove that i exist test me in this he says i dare you to trust me he said i'll prove it through tithing so let's review number one when i'm under attack when i'm being ridiculed at school at work at home wherever with friends with neighbors but when when i am under pressure and i'm being ridiculed or i'm being uh uh um you know people lied about her what all those five things we looked at now what do i do number one tell god how the insults or the criticisms upset me and hurt me that's what nehemiah did number two confidently state that my trust is in god god you're just i'm doing what you tell me to do be better number three be better than those who insult me be better than those who insult me number four make god my defender by tithing and then the fifth thing is this remember i'll be rewarded forever the antidote when you feel put down criticized maligned misunderstood because you're a christian remember you'll be rewarded forever second corinthians chapter 4 says this in verse 17 and 18. these hard times i love this in the message these hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times the lavish celebration prepared for us the things we see now are here today and gone tomorrow but the things we can't see will now last forever the stuff we can't see now it's not gonna last but the stuff we can't can't see will last forever what we can see is temporary what we can't see will last forever you're not gonna be in heaven one minute when you say what was i worried about why did i get so upset by others disapproval why did it matter to me so much why did i worry about what other people thought about me why didn't i do more for the lord why didn't i pray more why didn't i serve more why didn't i give more jesus said in the sermon on the mount matthew 5 verse 11 and 12 he promised blessed are you when people insult you look at this verse blessed are you when people insult you or persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me be glad because your reward will be great in heaven you know friends the big issue here of why we're so afraid of the disapproval of others is we care too much about stuff that isn't going to last it's just the opinions of other people aren't gonna last what other people think of you is none of your business all you need to worry about is an audience of one what does god think about you and by the way the only thing on this planet that's going to last you know what it is the church the church is god's family god created the universe because he wanted a family one day there won't be a world there won't be a united states there won't be all these there won't be all these things the only thing that's going to last forever is the church because god's taken the church to heaven so if you're a betting woman or a betting man bet on the church okay can you imagine getting to heaven and you have invested your time and your energy and your help in building the kingdom of god on earth the church and and let's say 50 years from today you're in heaven and somebody walks up to you and says i want to thank you and you say thank me i don't even know you and they say no no you don't know me but you were one of the founders of saddleback church you were pioneers back there in the in the years of the first pastor and in the transition to the second pastor and you prayed and you built and you served and you gave and you built saddleback church and you built that campus that you're a member of and 50 years after you died that church that campus saddleback that campus reached me for jesus christ i'm in heaven because of you i just want to thank you you think that'll be worth it if you know something more important to do with your life i'd like to know because i decided a long time ago i'm not going to waste my life and i haven't saddleback is at a historic transition moving from the first pastor to whoever god is going to lead to be the next pastor and you know what god is letting you to be a part of this historic transition period why of all people did god have you in this church now at this historic time why not 20 years ago or 40 years ago he chose you to be here in this historic time for this privilege because you have something to offer god has shaped you in a way that this church needs your talents your abilities your thoughts your ideas your ministry your service your gifts i told the staff the other day and staff being that you know if i were to die right now i would die a happy man because i've already had more things happen in my life that i could ever imagine being blessed with i have not wasted my life i just don't want you to waste it i don't want you to waste the rest of your life i want the rest of our lives however much time god gives us to be the best of our lives now right now while i'm looking at you no matter what campus you're at i want every purpose person at every campus to raise your right hand right now okay everybody at every campus raise your right hand and i want you to say the words i do okay ready i do okay now those of you just raised your hands and said i do i'm ordaining every one of you as founders of saddleback church it may be the most significant thing you do with your life because it's going to outlast your career your hobbies and everything else and i want to close by asking you to remember the last verse on your outline first corinthians 15 58 so my dear brothers and sisters be strong steady always enthusiastic about the work of the lord about the lord's work always be enthusiastic about the lord's work for you know that nothing you do in service for the lord is ever worthless it's going to matter for eternity and you're going to be rewarded for eternity let's bow our heads father forgive us for worrying about what other people think forgive us for being manipulated by the disapproval of others lord we admit that it hurts when we're criticized or we're misunderstood or people think we're kooky because we follow you or whatever they believe help us to realize that what matters is not their approval but yours i thank you for the example of nehemiah i thank you that he shows us these five ways that have been as old as two thousand five hundred years ago that are still being used to manipulate people today and yet he gave us an example of coming to you in prayer and all these five things that we need to do i pray that every one of us will take all five of these steps this week that that if we we need to pray to you we will pray to you and tell tell you about what's hurt where it's hurt our hurts and how it's bothered us that people look at us funny or question us or are prejudiced against us or whatever it is help us to be better than other people help us to confidently state that we're trusting in you we're just your servants for those who've never started the habit of tithing may they start this week so that you may say i will oppose those who oppose you and i will i will protect you against those who are attacking you i will be your defender i will be an enemy to those who are your enemies thank you lord thank you that when we put you first you bless every area of our lives and then lord help us to remember the reward to not live for the approval of people today but to live for the joy of heaven and eternity knowing that you're going to reward us that has given unto us the privilege not just to believe in you but also to suffer for you you have said blessed are those are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice in being exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you help us to remember that and practice it this week well their head's still bad if you've never invited christ in your life say jesus come into my life i want to i want to know you i want to trust you i ask you to forgive me for the things i've done wrong and give me a brand new life and a new start in life i'm saying yes to you today in your name i pray amen if you prayed that prayer for the first time inviting christ in your life you can do a couple things you can pick up your phone and text the word new start to 83 000 and i'll get you some material but starting i believe this week we're opening up again our new start tables at different campuses and if you go to the new start table you can go and get some free materials there'll be somebody there to help you get those materials talk with you if you want to talk about anything and we're also starting up again now our prayer gardens where that if you want somebody to pray with you after the service is over there'll be people at the prayer garden to help you and pray with you and pray for you i love you guys i pray for you i'm having a great time at saddleback l.a today and i'll see you again next week and i'll be back at the lake forest campus on father's day dads if you want to get baptized you want to baptize your kids let that be known this week you can go to the connection table and get information on that god bless you everybody [Music] my the first name on my lips the friend who i can sit with my daily advocate [Music] the safety of your kingship you'll always be the reason you'll always be enough jesus always jesus jesus oh [Music] your depth of love for me [Music] is [Music] you'll always be the reason you'll always be jesus [Music] always [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus forever the same yesterday today forever jesus always jesus you stand outside of time the word the truth life [Music] jesus always jesus [Music] the word the truth [Music] jesus [Music] you are [Music] always you jesus always [Music] jesus [Music] leader of my life it's been so great to be together today if you made the decision to start a relationship with jesus we would love to hear about it so we can celebrate with you and encourage you in your next steps just text new start to 83 000 or email newsstart saddleback.com to let us know you know summer is a great time to get out have some fun and meet some new friends and at saddleback we have a long list of great summer activities from salsa classes to movie nights to 4th of july fireworks check out the event schedule on saddleback.com summer for what's going on at your campus also make sure to download the brand new app the saddleback companion you know like the name says it's your companion to grow closer to jesus connect with the church watch the weekend service take and save notes explore and sign up for events and so much more it's available at the app store of your choice or at saddleback.com companion one last thing before you go and maybe this is the most important we get the awesome opportunity to see god do so much in through and for us and every week at saddleback we express our gratitude to him through our offerings it's one of the ways we worship and it's just a part of the many ways we say thank you with our lives if you would like to give an offering of gratitude to god for his goodness in your life and at the same time support ongoing work in our community including feeding thousands of out of work families head to saddleback.com give saddleback we love you we hope you have a great week and we'll see you again next weekend bye [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Saddleback Church

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Length: 81min 16sec (4876 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 13 2021