Rick Warren - Do This To Keep Negative Voices Out with God's Protection

You know, there are thousands of self-help books in print

today that will tell you this. They'll say, all you

need to succeed is desire and determination. There are thousands

of books that will say, all you need in life

to succeed is desire and determination. And I'm here to

tell you, that's just not true. It's just not true.

I know a lot of people have desire and determination

and have not succeeded in life because it's partially true.

Of course you need desire. Of course you need determination.

But you need more than that. You need the tools

and you need the skills to succeed in life.

Now, this is not what I say. It's what the

Bible says.

It's Ecclesiastes 10.10 from the Bible.

It's one of my life verses, and it says this.

If the ax is dull and its edge is unsharpened,

more strength is.

Needed, but skill will bring success.

Now, the Bible says if an ax is dull and

its edge is unsharpened, more strength is required. In other words,

if you're chopping wood and you got an ax, you

got a dull ax, it takes more effort, far more

effort to chop the wood. But if your ax is

really sharp, It's just not as hard.

And then it says skill will bring success.

Now, anytime you come to church, like right now, you're

sharpening your ax because I'm gonna teach you.

Some skills that will help you succeed in your life.

When you're in a Bible study, when you're in a

small group, when you take a course, a class, you're

never wasting your time when you're sharpening your ax because

skill will bring success. Now, One of the skills that

you need is learning how to deal with the negative

people in your life, the naysayers that want to keep

you from succeeding. Now, a naysayer is a person who

says something won't work or isn't possible, a cynic who

habitually expresses pessimistic views.

That's a naysayer.

Now, everybody who's accomplished anything in life had naysayers in

their life. The Wright brothers, When they were starting inventing

the first plane, people, it'll never work. You can't fly.

Human beings can't fly. When Moses is going across the desert,

the people are saying, we're gonna die in the desert.

We're not gonna make it to the promised land. When

people said, we're going to the moon, people said, you

can never go to the moon. Anything great that's ever

been done has always had naysayers. Now, let me just

start by saying this. The naysayers in your life, they're

not bad people. They're not bad people. In fact, that

there are naysayers in your life who love you. And

there are naysayers in your life who actually want what's

best for you.

They're just mistaken.

And the reason why they're mistaken and they say it

can't be done and you can't do it and all

this is because they don't know what God has said

to you.

God gave you a dream.

I've always wanted to do this. God gave you a vision.

God gave you a mission. God gave you a purpose.

And he didn't give that dream to somebody else. So

somebody else isn't going to understand that dream like you do.

So they're going to tend to be negative about it. Now,

for every person who goes after their dream in life,

there are nine people who are scared to death to

do it. All they could see is the problems. All

they could see is the negatives. And they're like giants

standing in the way that scare them to death. So

how do you face opposition and negativity? This is one

of the first skills you have to learn as a leader,

how to not let negativity get you down. You have

to learn this if you're gonna be a leader in life.

So how do you learn that? Well, fortunately, we got

a story in the Bible that tells us and teaches

us this skill. It's the story of David and Goliath.

You know this story of this little shepherd boy, young

boy who was out tending sheep and Israel is fighting

its big enemy, the Philistines. And the Philistines had a

guy who was literally a giant. He was like eight

or nine feet tall. It was just a big, big man.

And he was scaring everybody to death and he was

taunting the enemies.

And David says, I'll take him on.

But long before that happened, David had to face four

other giants. The four giants he faced before Goliath were

all naysayers. They were people who didn't believe in his ability,

didn't believe in his competence, didn't believe that God was

working in his life, and he had to struggle with

those before he could go face Goliath. Now, how do

you handle the naysayers in your life? There are four

things you need to do. This is a skill you

have to learn if you're ever going to be a leader.

Number one, remember They are not God. They may be

good people. They may love you. They may be great people,

but they're not God. And so don't treat their opinion

like it's God's opinion. Remember, they are not God, the

people who are negative in your life. Proverbs 29, verse

Proverbs 29:25

25 says this. The fear of human opinion disables. But

trusting in God protects you from that. I love that

in the message. Some of you are disabled and don't

know it. You have a disability. You know what your

disability is? You're addicted to the approval of others. And

that's your disability. The fear of human opinion disables. But

trusting in God protects you from that. When you trust

in God, you don't worry about the opinion of other people.

Today's English version says it's dangerous to be concerned with

what other people think of you. What other people think

of you is none of your business. What other people

think of you is none of your business. You shouldn't

care about what other people, you should only care about

what God thinks of you. And if you care about

what other people think of you, you'll get paralyzed, you

won't attempt things. Some of you have been locked in

a prison of self-made fear. And my job as your

pastor is to help open that door, help you break

the chain, help you get out and become who God

wanted you to be, to go after that dream. You'll

get sidetracked from God's purpose for your life if you're

living for somebody else's purpose for your life. Isaiah 8, 13.

I want us to read this verse aloud with great enthusiasm. Okay,

read it with me. Do not fear anything except the

Lord Almighty. Amen.

He alone is the holy one.

If you fear him, you need fear nothing else. If

you fear God, you're not gonna be afraid of anybody

else because you know God's gonna take care of you.

If you're afraid of people, the bigger God gets in

your mind, the smaller people's opinion get in your mind.

The bigger people's opinion get in your mind, the smaller

God appears. So the starting point, if you wanna be

a leader, is you gotta get a big vision of

God Because that will shrink all the problems. The bigger

God feels in your life, the smaller your problems are.

The bigger God is, the smaller the opinions of other people.

He says, the Lord Almighty, God is a great God.

He is an almighty God. And he said, you know,

if I fear him, I don't have to fear anybody else.

In other words, if I'm worried about his opinion, I

don't have to worry about anybody else's opinion. Because the

bigger your vision of God you get, the smaller your

problems get.

If you're the biggest God in your life, your life sucks, sorry.

Why get out of bed in the morning?

Because you don't have a whole nother reason, anything bigger

than yourself to live for. Are you kidding me? You

think you were put on this earth to live for you?

Really?

You think God created the entire universe and then went

to all expense of making you so you could live

for your petty little life?

Not a chance.

You were made for something far, far, far, far bigger.

So you gotta start with getting a big vision of God.

And the people who are putting you down, the people

who are negative, the people who are telling you it

can't be done, they're not God. They may be good,

they may love you, you may love them, but they're

not God. Remember, they're not God. By the way, let

me just ask you this question. Who am I allowing

to play God in my life? Who are you allowing

to play God in your life? There's a word for that,

it's called idolatry. You've made somebody's opinion an idol. And

you're not gonna be all God wants you to be.

They may be good, but they're not God. Okay, number two.

Second thing David did, and you gotta do this too

if you're gonna ever be a leader, if you're gonna

succeed in life, don't get distracted by the negativity, by

the people who say it can't be done, by the

people who tell you you're not the person, you're.

The wrong guy, you're the wrong woman. Don't get distracted.

Good illustration of this is the story of Nehemiah in

the Bible.

Nehemiah was not a pastor. He was not a priest.

He was a businessman.

And Israel had been taken captive by the Babylonians. You

know where that is, Iraq. They moved them over there

for 70 years. And after 70 years, they let them

go back home. When they went back home, the city

of Jerusalem was destroyed. And it was defenseless because all

the walls had been torn down. Nehemiah got a big idea.

Businessman said this. I'm gonna rebuild my city. And I'm

gonna start with rebuilding the wall for the protection of

our city. Businessman goes, I'm gonna rebuild our city.

It's crumbling, it's falling apart. And we'll start with the wall.

Now, of course, there was an instant opposition because the

enemies of Israel and Jerusalem certainly didn't want them to

be defendable. So they're trying to oppose them. Would you

write this down? Every opportunity comes with opposition. You can

count on that one in life. As a leader, you

realize that every opportunity comes with opposition. I've never done

anything in my life that wasn't opposed by somebody. With

every opportunity comes opposition. Opportunity plus opposition equals God's will.

So Nehemiah's enemies are trying to do everything they can

to stop the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem by

this godly, good businessman. And the first thing the enemies

try is they try ridicule. And people will try to

use ridicule in your life to stop you from doing stuff.

And they tried to use ridicule. That didn't work. So

then they tried, the second thing they tried was rumors.

And people will do that in your life to stop you.

They'll spread rumors about you at work. They'll spread rumors

about you on the internet. They'll spread rumors about you

to try to stop you.

That didn't work.

So then they actually threatened Nehemiah. And they said, you know,

if you keep this project up, we're gonna kill you.

Now we're getting serious. But that didn't stop Nehemiah. He

was diligent, determined, and not distractible. And so he said,

try it, try it. I'm just gonna keep doing what

I know God's told me to do. And finally, but

when they couldn't use rumor or ridicule or threats, they said,

let's just slow him down with discussion.

Let's just see if he'll meet with us and just

discuss it.

Now, they didn't really want anything to happen except the

discussion to slow down the project. And four times they

come back to Nehemiah and they keep saying, hey, come on,

let's just talk about this. And here was Nehemiah's response.

There on your outline, verse three and four of Nehemiah six.

So I replied to these enemies by sending this message

to them. I'm doing a great work. I'm doing a

great work. I can't stop to come and meet with you.

In other words, why would I allow myself to be distracted?

Four times they sent the same message. Notice how persistent

they are. And each time I gave them the same reply.

I'm doing a great work.

I don't have time to discuss it with you. Now,

I want to warn you.

That this trap of being getting distracted is even bigger

today because of a thing called The internet.

Are any of you familiar with this?

Yeah.

Can you get distracted by the internet? Oh yeah.

And there are plenty of naysayers online who would love

to just hook you into an argument. And all they

want to do is just get you in a discussion.

And their whole identity is in trolling for people that

they can hook into arguments. And they get their joys

out of being angry. And so, you know, Billy Graham

told me one time, he said, when you can wrestle

with a pig, but.

Only one of you is gonna enjoy it. And it's true.

You know, if you wanna go take on these trolls

who are just negative about everything and negative about what

you believe and negative about what you.

Do, well, you're just gonna waste your time.

You do not have to defend everything you do. You

don't have to defend everything you believe to every troll

out there on the internet. Who cares what they think? Anyway, now,

I know I'm digging a little deep here for some

of you, but some of you have the personality that

you cannot stand to be misunderstood. And you just feel

you have to correct it because you can't think possible

that anybody in the universe might misunderstand you. And so,

you feel duty-bound to explain everything you believe and everything

you do, and you actually think that people who oppose you,

that it's just a matter of misunderstanding, and that if

you were able to explain it to them very clearly,

then obviously they would go, oh, thank you, you're right.

And you have this feeling that if I just explain

what I'm doing, then this person who's negative about it

will all.

Of a sudden become positive about it They'll agree with you. No,

they won't.

I hate to bust your bubble, but they won't. Because

most of the time, all of us, every human being

uses what's called motivated reasoning. You use it about 95%

of the time, I do, everybody does. Motivated reasoning is

based on emotion, not based on logic. You think you're logical,

you're not nearly as logical as you think you are.

You make decisions emotionally, And then you look for logic

to back it up.

People do this with accepting Jesus Christ. They have an

emotional fear of accepting Christ.

And then they look for logical reasons to back it up.

But the real reason is emotional.

It's emotional. It's a fear.

It's a fear of loss of control. It's a fear,

I'll lose my freedom. It's a fear, are you kidding?

Who do you think created you? But we make emotionally

based decisions, motivated reasonings. And if somebody doesn't wanna like you,

they're just not gonna like you.

Some people don't wanna like you. Hate to tell you that.

And all the explanations that you give is not gonna

change their mind. In fact, if somebody has three reasons

you're wrong and three reasons they don't like you, and

then all of a sudden you show them how logically

those reasons are wrong, it doesn't make them happy, it

makes them madder.

And all of a sudden they have to go find

three other reasons.

Because you've just blown that, and you actually made them mad,

more mad, because you have exposed that they'd made a

decision based on emotion, not based on logic. Some misunderstandings

about you, not everybody's gonna understand you. And some misunderstandings

that people have about you are not gonna be corrected

until we get to heaven. In heaven, it's all gonna

be laid out. All the truth will be made plain,

your motivations, your reasons, and all that kind of stuff.

It'll be plain to everybody.

And that's why Jesus said this, Matthew 10, verse 26.

Matthew 10:26

Don't be intimidated by these naysayers. Eventually, everything's gonna be

out in the open and everyone will know how things

really are. So just have the faith to wait for

that day. Don't feel like you have to spend all

your time defending why you do what you do or

what you do or who you say it to or

what you believe.

You don't. You don't.

One day, it'll all come out. Everybody's gonna know how

things really are. Have the faith to wait for the day.

And really, what matters is not what other people think

of you. It's only what matters is what God thinks

of you.

Okay, number three.

The third key. Realize they're not God. Don't get distracted.

Number three, never attack back Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never,

never attack back to a naysayer. Just leave it all

in God's hands. Don't be a smart mouth. Don't be sarcastic.

Don't retaliate. Now, let me show you some verses on this.

Let's read Proverbs 11, 12 aloud together. Read it with me.

It is foolish to speak scornfully of God. Others, oh,

stop right there. It's foolish to speak scornfully of others.

Then God would consider a lot of people on the

internet fools. Because they're speaking scornfully all the time about others.

People of other political persuasions. People of other religions. People

who have other music tastes. People who don't like the

sports team you like. It says there, it is foolish

to speak scornfully of others. If you're smart, you will

keep what? Yeah, quiet, quiet. So as I said, God

would say there are a lot of foolish people in

the world, and particularly on the internet, and if I

join those people in dissing.

Somebody else, I'm a fool. At that moment, I'm a fool.

It is foolish to I am a fool when anytime

I speak scornfully about anybody. There's no wiggle room in

that verse, and I could show you 20 or 30

others that say the same thing. So just put a

zipper on your mouth and stop speaking scornfully of other people,

even when they attack you.

Now, let me give you a little secret.

Some of those naysayers in your life who tell you

it can't be done who are negative all the time,

who don't, they're always commenting on your marriage and your

looks and your kids and whatever. Those people, some of

them are not that bright.

They aren't.

They're just not that bright. It's any fool can criticize.

It takes genius to build a building. Any fool can

criticize it. It takes genius to create a piece of art.

Any fool can criticize it. It takes a genius to

make a great movie, any fool can. You can teach

a chimpanzee to criticize. So he's saying here, don't attack back.

Some of these naysayers in your life, they're not that bright,

and you, with your brilliant wit, could put them in

their place quite quickly.

Don't, don't.

Sometimes I'll hear somebody else say something about me and

I think, oh man, I could shoot that one down

fast enough. And I had this little witty repartee that

I could give back that would.

Just slay them. But I never, never use it.

Never, why? Because the Bible says don't retaliate. The key

is to respond like Jesus. First Peter chapter two says this.

When they hurled their insults at Jesus, he did not retaliate.

When he suffered, he made no threats back. Instead, he

entrusted himself to him, this is God, to God who

judges justly. I want you to write this down on

your outline. I am most like Jesus when I stay

silent under attack. I am most like Jesus when I

stay silent under attack. And I just put it in

the hands of God and realize one day it's all

gonna even out.

God's gonna settle the score. The truth will come out.

All the nasty stuff that's been said about you that's

false will be worthless. What will matter is what God

said about you. And actually, when you respond the way Jesus,

your critics, your attackers, your naysayers actually help you. Let

me show you how this works. You're trying to do

the right thing. Somebody criticizes you from the outside for

your motivation or your method or whatever. And instead of

you retaliating, you say, God bless you.

Go in peace.

May God graciously give you his grace. And then you

know what happens? God goes, that's my boy. That's my girl.

And he gives you more power. He gives you more anointing.

And so the way you get more power, more anointing,

more blessing in your life is refuse to retaliate. And

then actually those Negative people actually help you because God

sees you're responding in the right way and he just

gives you more blessings. I can trust that guy with

more blessing. I can trust that woman with more blessing.

I'm most like Jesus when I stay silent under attack.

Number four, fourth thing is focus, stay focused on God

and his promises. Don't focus on the problem. Don't focus

on the people. Don't focus on the naysayers. Stay focused

on God and his promises. Promises, become a promise person.

Learn the promises of the Bible. There's about 7,000 of

them in the Bible. Promises of God to you. 1

1 Samuel 30 · chapter mention

Samuel chapter 30 says this, verse six. Bitter people spoke

against David and talked of stoning him. This is later

on in life when he is king. Bitter people spoke

of David and talked of stoning him, but David found

his strength in the televisions. Oh, that's the reviled substandard

perversion translation.

All right, David found strength where? In the Lord, in

the Lord. When somebody's being a naysayer, you don't.

Go gossip about them to somebody else in the office.

You just find your strength in the Lord. The Lord,

I know you love me. I know you have a

plan for my life. I'm gonna trust you. Look at

these last verses. Psalm 118, verse six, David says, the

Lord is for me, The Lord is for me, so

I won't be afraid.

What can mere mortals do to me? You know what?

People can dislike you and it won't harm you. You

need to understand this. You don't need anybody else's approval

to be happy. And you're probably not gonna get it

if you haven't got it by now. You don't need

anybody's approval to be happy. You're as happy as you

choose to be. You don't need your parents' approval, your

brother's approval, your sister's approval. Somebody, some friend's approval. You're

as happy as you choose to be.

Says the Lord's for me.

I'm not gonna be afraid. What can mere mortals do

to me? They have their.

Opinions, so what? Psalm 119, 41 and 42. Show me,

David prays, how much you love me, Lord. You love me, Lord.

So it doesn't matter if somebody else doesn't love me.

Show me how much you love me, Lord, and save

me according to your promise.

Have you been saved? Have you been saved? God has

a promise to save you. He says, save me according

to your promise.

Then I can answer those who insult me because I

trust in your word. Psalm 119 verse 11 says, I've

Psalms 119:11

banked your promises in the vault of my heart.

That's what you need to do.

Instead of banking all the negative things people have said

about you in your heart or in your mind, you

need to bank the promises of God in your heart

and in your mind. What God says about you is

what matters and the other doesn't. Now, David says, save

me according to your promise. Have you been saved? What

is the promise of God? The promise of God is this,

Romans 10, 13. Whoever calls on the name of the

Lord will be saved.

That's promise.