Rick Warren - When You're Harassed & Bullied—Part One

Hello, everybody, Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is

the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, we're so

glad you're here with us today. We are continuing in

a series called Talking about Stuff that Matters Now. In

this series, Rick looks into the scriptures and he's unpacking

what it means to live in community, have real conversation

about what matters most, and face discouragement with courage and faith.

It's honest, hopeful. So stay tuned. You won't want to

miss a second. Well, I can't wait to hear what

Rick has for us today. Here's part one of a

message called when You're Harassed and Bullied.

This weekend, I want us to look at what God

says about when you're harassed or bullied. When you're harassed

or bullied, and I'd like you to raise your hand

right now if you can remember a time in your life,

either as a child or as a teenager, as an adult,

when you felt bullied or harassed. Could I see your hands? Okay,

now I can't see you, obviously, but I figured that

I figured that almost everybody I know has felt being

harassed or bullied, either at school or in the neighborhood,

or in the office, or in the sports field, or

unfortunately even at home. Sometimes, What does God have to

say about bullying and harassment? That's what we're going to

look at today. Well, because everything on earth is broken

by sin, including relationships. God tells us not to be

surprised when people are mean or pushy, or angry, or

controlling or manipulative. In fact, Jesus warned us to expect

opposition and harassment in life in John sixteen, verse thirty three.

I love this. In the message translation, Jesus says, I've

told you all this so that in trusting me you

will be unshakable and at peace in this godless world.

You will experience difficulties, but take heart, I have conquered

the world. He said. You're going to have trouble, You're

going to experience difficulties, You're going to have harassment in

your life. But take heart, I've conquered the world now.

God also warns us that as time goes on throughout history,

he said things would get worse, not better, that people

would actually become more uncivil, more unkind, more rude, more mean.

Two Timothy Chapter three says this Versus one to four

and the New Living Translation. You should also know that

in the last days there will be very difficult times,

for people will love only themselves and their money. That

sound familiar. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God,

disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.

They will be unloving and unforgiving. They will slander others.

This is here's before the internet. They will have no

self control. People will be cruel and have no interest

in what is good. They will betray their friends, they

will be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and they

will love pleasure rather than God. You know, friends. That

sounds an awful lot like modern culture. Because civilization is

losing its civility by the day. We're getting rude or

not more loving in the world. We're getting more unkind,

not more kind. So I want to begin by defining bullying.

Here's a definition. Bullying is any unwanted aggressive behavior where

a person or group tries to exert power over somebody else.

Any unwanted aggressive behavior where a person a group tries

to exert power over somebody else. That's bullying. Now, bullying

includes a lot of everythings, making threats, spreading rumors, attacking

physically or verbally, harassing, excluding somebody from a group on purpose.

That's a form of bullying. But bullying now doesn't just

happen in person. Today, with texting and social media and

being connected to video games, cyber bullies and cyber bullying

take place everywhere. You know. In previous generations, kids could

actually escape bullies by leaving the playground, But today the

bullies can reach you through your phone or your iPad,

or your tablets or your video games. Literally, bullies are

available to get in your face twenty four hours a

day because of technology. Technology now people get harassed and

bullied for all kinds of reasons. You can get bullied

for your appearance. People just don't think you look right.

You can be bullied for your abilities or your disabilities.

You can be bullied for your accent, somebod like the

way you talk. You can be bullied for your race,

for being poor or rich. You could be bullied for

your gender, and you can be, of course bullied for

your faith. You can be bullied for being a Christian.

Now that last category, being bullied or ask for being

a follower of Jesus that's been around for about two

thousand years, but it has been on a rapid increase

in just the last decade. According to a twenty nineteen

World Watch list, there's still one hundred and fifty countries

in the world where Christians are severely persecuted for their faith.

One hundred and fifty. Let me give you the most

recent statistics. Two hundred and forty five million Christians live

in the fifty worst persecuting countries. That means any of

those two hundred and forty five million Christians can face

the threat of discrimination, interrogation, arrest, prison, refugee camps, torture,

even death. That's a quarter of a billion people just

for being a Christian in those countries. One in nine

Christians worldwide experiences severe persecution. In fact, this past year,

four thousand, one hundred and thirty six Christians were killed

simply for being Christians. That's about eleven Christians a day. Now.

I'm not talking about wars. I'm saying just killed for

being a Christian. Two thousand, six hundred and twenty five

Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned in

those fifty worst countries. Along with who knows how many

tens of thousands of others. Last year, one thousand, two

hundred and sixty six more churches were burned or destroyed

somewhere around the world out of persecution. Why am I

telling you this Well, because if I were to ask

you to name the most persecuted group on the planet today,

you would likely name the wrong group. It's Christians. You're

likely surprised because it's the most ignored, most overlooked, and

most underreported news in the world. There's a society called

the International Society for Human Rights. It's not a Christian organization,

it's a secular organization. And I read this this week

in their report. Quote eighty percent of all religious freedom

violations in the world are directed against Christians. Now, of

course that's just one kind of harassment, but it is

real and it is painful. And Jesus said this in

John fifteen, Verses nineteen and twenty. The world would love

you if you belong to it, but you don't. I

chose you to come out of the world, and so

it hates you. Remember, a servant is not greater than

the master. And since they persecuted me, Jesus says, naturally

they will persecute you too. Remember the world crucified Jesus.

He was perfect, he had never sinned, he had not

armed anybody, but the world crucified him. They would today too.

And the fact is, evil people don't like to attack

Christ directly, so they often attack those who follow him.

Now you maybe think of a rick. The people that

I'm dealing with who are bullying me or harassing me

at work or at school, they don't even know I'm

a Christian. Well that may be true. They may not

know that you're a Christian at work, at school, but

Satan knows. Satan knows that you're a Christian. Satan knows

you love God. Satan knows you're a child of God.

So he has targeted you. And honestly, he doesn't care

why or what reason people have to harass you, whether

it's your race, or your age, or your gender or whatever.

He just wants to make you miserable because you're a

child of God. You're the enemy and he has lost you,

so he wants to hurt you. How does God want

me to respond to the bullies and the cyber bullies

and the rassers at school or at work, or or

in society are online. Well, let me give you some

scriptures and some points from God's word this weekend. Okay,

why don't you write these down. I'm going to give

you seven ways to deal with bullying and harassment in

your life. Number one, here's the first one. It's very

important recognize the source behind the bully. Recognize the source

behind the bully. The bully is not your real problem.

The real problem is the source behind the bully. And

the real source is a force. It's a spiritual force.

It's called evil. The bully is just being used by Satan.

All evil, all meanness, all hatred comes from Satan. Now,

the people who are being hateful and who being they

don't even recognize that they're just a pond, that they're

just a tool in the hand of Satan because they're

spiritually blinded. But the Bible says this in Ephesians, chapter six,

verse twelve. We are not fighting against human beings, but

against wicked spiritual forces. Did you hear that the bully

is not your real problem. The bully is being used.

We're not fighting against human beings, we're fighting against spiritual

wicked forces. Satan can use anybody anyway if they don't

know the Lord because they don't have God's spirit in them. Now,

Satan wants to hurt God, but he can't, so he

does then xpec thing. You know what he does. He

goes after God's children. The best way to hurt a

parent is to hurt his child, and the child of

God is the enemy of Satan. This is why prayer

is such an important part of dealing with harassment school

or work, or dealing with the bully at school or work,

because we're not dealing with just human beings here. There's

a spiritual force behind it all. You may not have

the power to stop that bully, but God does, and

so first recognize the source or the force behind the bully.

Number two, This is the second key antidote to dealing

with harassmun Remember who you are. Remember who you are?

What is your identity? You are a son or daughter

of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You

are a part of God's family. You were created in

the image of God, and God loves you. And God

made you for a purpose and He has a plan

for your life. You need to remember who you are.

You're a child of God. Why is that important? Because

bullies can smell weakness and insecurity and low self esteem

a mile away. That's who they try to attack. Bullies

don't ever go atter or confident or courageous or self

assured people. No, they look for someone they think is

feeling down or unaccepted, or weak or unsure. They want

to pick off people when they're in their most vulnerable moments.

That's why I started this series talking about your identity

in Christ. I said, if you don't settle this issue,

you'll be pressured by peer pressure at school or work.

You'll be pressured by bullies at school of work. You'll

be conformed to the world at school or work or

anywhere else. You have to know your identity now. You're

not what other people say you are. They don't know

you're not even what you think you are. You are

whom God says you are. You see, because God always

speaks the truth. And it is the truth that sets

us free, and it is the truth that gives us confidence,

and it is the truth that makes us bold and courageous.

So if you haven't listened to that message, it's called

don't let anybody steal your identity on who you are

in Christ. Go back to the beginning of this series

and listen to it all over and over and over.

Until you settle the issue of your identity and who

you are in Jesus Christ, You're going to be easy

pickings until you do know that for sure God is

your creator. Jesus died for you, the Holy Spirit lives

in you. You have the Trinity behind you. What are

you worried about some measly little bully or harasser at

school or at work or even in the neighborhood. First

John four to four says this, You, dear children, are

from God and you have overcome the world. Why because

the one who is in you is greater than the

one who is in the world. Yeah, Satan's trying to

take you down. But the one who's in you greater

is he that is in you than he that is

in the world. So what I'm saying in remembering your identity,

remember what David remembered in Psalm fifty six, verse three

and four. I love this New Living translation. He says,

when I'm afraid, I put my trust in you, Oh God,

and I praise your word. That's the Bible, God's word.

I trust in you, God. So why should I be afraid.

What can mere mortals do to me? One plus God

equals a majority. If God is on your side, it

doesn't matter who's against you. If God is for us,

who can be against us. So, if you're being harassed

or you're being bullied by anybody, I want to urge

you to write down on some little three by five cards,

some Bible verses and some Bible promises that will encourage

you and strengthen you, and learn those and memorize them.

And when you're in a situation where you're being bullied,

you silently start saying those verses to yourself. Remind yourself

of the promises of God. Remind yourself of the truth

of God. Remind yourself who God says you are. It

doesn't matter what the bully or the harasser says. They

may say, you're worthless, you're no good, you're whatever. They're wrong,

they're liars. And the Bible says Satan is the father

of all lies. So what we're saying here is you

got to first know who the source is, and then

second you've got to know who you are. Parents, one

of your jobs is to teach your children their true

identity in Christ so they can withstand bullies and harassment.

They don't become people pleasers because they're God pleasers. Now

here's the third key. When you're hit with a bully,

when you're hit with a rasser, refuse to retaliate. Refuse

to retaliate because this messes up the whole situation that

God wants to do. In Romans twelve, verses seven up

to verse nineteen, God says this, if someone has done

you wrong, never pay back evil with evil. Okay, then

you know better than they are. Instead, try to do

what everyone considers to be good. Everybody would say that's

the right thing to do. Do everything possible on your

part to live in peace with everybody. Oh that's one

of the most difficult versus in the Bible. Do everything

possible in your part to live at peace with everybody.

Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger

do it. For the scripture says, I will avenge you,

and I will pay them back, says the Lord. Now,

I want you to notice a couple things about this First. First,

it says, as much as it's possible with you, do

it as far as possible, get along with everybody. I

like that verse because it says as much as possible.

There are some people, well you just can't get along

with no matter what you do. They are unpleasable, they

are impossible, they are hard to get along with. That

they're impossible to get along with. It says, as much

as it's possible on your side, that's admitting that there

are some people in life you just can't get along with.

So you got to walk away. In that case, you

just walk away. Well, I know, you say, well, they've

hurt me, they've bullied me, they've harassed me. And he said,

I want to show them up. I want to get even. Well,

you know you never get ahead. You're never going to

get ahead of them if you're trying to get even

with them. When you commit an offense against somebody, you

take an issue, you commit an off against offense against somebody,

that puts you below them. When you get even with

somebody who's hurt you and you hurt them back, that

just puts you even. You're no better than they are.

But when you forgive them and you walk away, it

puts you in the superior position above them, and a

position you for all kinds of blessings. You see, Bullies

want to hook you in a fight. They do it

on cyber you know, on the internet all the time.

Their trolls are out there trying to hook people, get

their attention. They want your attention. What a bully cannot

stand is for you to ignore them. What a bully

can't stand is for you to walk away because they

are starving for attention. Now, this is true on the

internet with cyber bullies. Don't engage them because you're just

hooking into what they want. You know, if you think

about this, most of you know you learned this as

a kid growing up, that when you were teasing your

brother or teasing your sister, that once they started reacting

to you, you were in control of the situation. As

long as they ignored you, as long as they didn't react,

you were helpless. You couldn't get them, you couldn't engage them.

But the moment you hook them, the moment they start reacting,

you're now in control. Have you ever thought about this

that any time you say or even think you make

me so mad, you're admitting that you've given control of

your emotions to somebody else. You make me mad. I

don't want to be mad, but you make me mad.

You're making me mad, which means you have the power

to control my emotions. Now you may not say you

make me mad, but you're thinking it. Or you may

not say you make me afraid. Sometimes a bully will

make you afraid, but if you're thinking it, you are

at that point admitting that they have power over your emotions.

You don't want to do that. You don't want to

give any bully or any harass power over your emotions.

I want you to note there in that Romans twelve

passage that God gives you a choice. You can either

seek revenge yourself or you can let God avenge you.

It's just your choice, and you want to do it.

Go ahead, be my guest, seek revenge yourself, or he says,

you can hold back, trust God and let God avenge you.

Who do you think can do a better job? Who

do you think has more resources at taking a person

down a nach or two who's been irritating and arrogant.

You got to just let it go, refuse to retaliate.

What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something

I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to

tell you how you can help support this ministry.

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