Handling Opposition to Your Faith

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

This morning when I walk through the waters, I won’t be overcome when I go through the rivers. I will not drown when I am in the fire. I will not feel the flame. I’ll stand before the giant declaring victory. My God, our God, will make our way. When you sing those words, and you believe it with everything in you like, how can you not have just complete joy no matter what you face. Jesus is for you. He is there beside you, making a way, no matter what it is. Today, some of you have walked in here, and I don’t know what giant is standing in front of you, but God knows. I promise you, if you give it to him and you sing those praises to him this morning, I promise you he will make a way. So this morning, we’re all super excited. You’re walking in, and you see winter wonderland getting ready. It’s going to be happening here in a couple of weeks. We’ve been decorating all week long, and it is going to literally turn into a winter wonderland in the next couple of weeks here. So if you have never been to winter wonderland and you’re wondering what it is there, there are some cards on your seat, and I’m going to ask you to do me a favor and not put them in the pockets in the seat in front of you. Put them in your pocket, take them home, sit down with your family, and say, okay, what winter wonderland experience are we going to attend? Because you’re going to experience an intimate moment together as a family. You’re going to have a kid’s carnival for your kids to go to. You’re going to experience yummy food and great goodies. My favorite is the hot cocoa. It’s a secret recipe. We can’t give it out. It’s really yummy. You should definitely come for that. Also, another thing that I’m super pumped about is something that Pastor Virgil has been talking to us about for the last couple of weeks, and it is our year-end giving. I just want to share with you, if you have not heard, what your generosity is going to do through year-end giving. The first thing is we are going to build a special needs ministry in our E-kids area for children here in Madison County and families of children who have special needs. I am so excited about that because what an opportunity and need for so many families. Also, we are going to be opening a limited preschool. And I know there are lots of questions about what that looks like, but I am so thankful that our church is doing this. My husband and I raised three kids in this church, and to have a place where we can take our children and know that they are being taught about Jesus and the love that Jesus has for them is such a great need here in Madison County. The final thing is also involving children. It’s called Feed My Starving Children. If any of you have ever participated in that, it’s something we did before. We’re bringing it back. It is an organization that comes in. They help us pack meals for kids in other countries who have no nutritional access to food so that they can go to school and they can learn and grow the way that they’re supposed to. We’re really excited about that. Now, you may be asking, what is my part in all of this? Well, your part is the same as my part. My husband, Brad, and I, we are praying the prayer. God, what is it that you want to do through the Perry family with our finances for year and giving? I know that that’s a scary prayer to pray sometimes because you don’t know what God is going to say back. But this is what I will tell you. There has never been a time that we’ve prayed that prayer together as a family, that when we chose to be obedient, God didn’t respond, and he did not provide. He always provided for us. I don’t know what that looks like for you. Does it look like going in and increasing your monthly giving? Does it look like giving a one-time gift? Maybe for some of you, it’s beginning your journey of generosity. God doesn’t necessarily care about the amount. He cares about what’s in your heart. And if you’re obedient when he calls you to do something. And so we are getting ready to sing a song that talks about shouting praises to the end of the earth. I want us as a church to lift our voices this morning and praise him, knowing that he is going to provide everything that we need.

Good morning. My name is Micah Benevides. I’m your college and middle school pastor, and I’m so excited that I get to wrap up this series of blessed life in a broken world. Now, I don’t know about you, but this series has been such a blessing to me in my life. If you’ve missed any sermon series or if you’ve missed any sermons the past couple of Sundays, I encourage you to go back and watch those. It’d be such a blessing to your life and your family’s life. Now, before I start, I have to tell you and I have to warn you about something. Is that okay? I’ve got to warn you that this message is filled with some peace and love. Now, Virgil talks about this all the time. You guys know what this means. Peace and love means that I’m going to say something. I’m actually going to talk about something that may step on some toes, and that may make you feel uncomfortable. But I do that all because I love you, and I say it out of peace. So that’s where peace and love comes from. So, therefore, you can not get mad at me. Does that sound good. Okay, awesome. Thank you. So I want to start with this. If I were to ask you who are the most persecuted people in the world, who would you think of? Would it be blacks? Would it be whites? Would it be Muslims? Would it be Jewish people? Would it be Amish? Would it be the Republicans? Would it be the Democrats? Who would you think are the most persecuted people in the world? Well, what if I told you? It was Christians, after all the research that I have done. This is what I came away with. In 2020, 260 million Christians were persecuted. That’s up to 15 million people the year before. And in 2014, there was only one country that was extreme in the case of persecuting Christians. Can you guess what that is today? Maybe four, six, eight? Today, it’s eleven countries that are ranked extreme for persecuting Christians. And now, in just two years, the attacks on churches have come from 1800 to now well over 9000. That’s up 500% in two years. Do you think it’s going to get worse? Or do you think it’s going to get better? Last, out of all the 4000 world religions that there is 80% of all acts of religious discrimination and persecution. Targets Christians 80%. So that means some religions are not even persecuted. So why do I tell you? I tell you this because Jesus actually warned us that this was going to happen 2000 years ago, he says.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:10-12

Now after reading that from my seat, it means now we have two choices. The first choice is that we can be silent. We can be lukewarm Christians, closet Christians. We can decide to sit on the fence. We can decide to let gossip go around in our workplace and dirty jokes and all these things and embrace the fact that people continue to put down Christianity. The second option is that we have a choice to pursue and to live an all-in life and face persecution. Now, I don’t know about you, but my wife and me we have decided to stand firm in our faith in Jesus and to face persecution head-on as we pursue the all in life for Jesus. Now, some people may think, what is all in life? I tell you, there are probably misconceptions that all in life is probably just a checklist, right? You just come to weekend service, you join a life group, you get into serving, you start being a part of the generosity rock star, and then you’re considered all in. I want to tell you that all in life is this. To deny yourself and take up your cross daily. To seek first the Kingdom of God, then everything else will be added to you. is abstaining from simple desires that wage war against your soul. It is loving each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins. It is to offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. It is to use whatever gift you have to serve others. It is to be sober-minded, to be on guard, to stand firm, to be strong and courageous. And do everything in love. That is the all in life. And it is difficult. It was never meant to be easy. Jesus actually told us and his disciples over and over, Hey, trouble is going to come your way, and persecution is going to come your way. But follow me. Follow me. As we face persecution, as we face difficulties and trials. It’s going to hurt; it’s going to make us feel uncomfortable. People are going to leave. But my goal is, as we face persecution head-on, that we don’t quit. We don’t give up. So this morning, I want to give you six things to remember when you’re pursuing the all in life and when persecution comes your way. The first one is this.

When Persecution comes REMEMBER:

Don’t be SURPRISED.

Again, Jesus said this over and over to his disciples. In Peter, it says this.

“Dear friends, don’t be surprised or shocked when you go through painful trials that are like walking through fire, as though something unusual is happening to you.”

1 Peter 4:12 (CEV/TEV)

You’re going to face something that’s going to be like walking through fire, and it’s going to suck. It’s going to be uncomfortable. But then he says, as though something unusual has happened to you. Don’t be surprised because it’s going to happen. Jesus tells us it’s going to happen. And one of my favorite verses, I start to see that Jesus. People made lies about him, saying that he was demon-possessed, that he was beaten, he was slapped, and he was a drunkard. These are all the trials that he faced. He experienced being tempted, being lied to, being betrayed, and losing loved ones. If God, who loved his son so much, did not spare him who was perfect, he’s not going to spare us. So my favorite verse, it says.

“Remember land continue to remember] that I told you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecute Me, they will also persecute you.”

John 15:20 (AMP)

Again, Jesus is warning us. We shouldn’t be surprised. This should not be a new thing when we lose people that we love or when people leave us because of the lifestyle that we’re now pursuing. So if we can remember. That we should not be surprised. The next thing is.

When Persecution comes REMEMBER:

 Don’t be AFRAID.

Jesus says, Hey, the world’s going to hate you. It’s going to throw everything at you. But he says right after take heart, I’ve overcome the world. We don’t need to be scared of standing firm in our faith. We literally have nothing to lose. Do you realize that when we actually stand firm in our faith, we get rewarded for it? God says he is going to reward us. In First, Peter, Chapter Three says this.

“If you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it, so don’t be afraid and don’t worry! Instead, worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.”

1 Peter 3:13-17

How many of us are suffering for doing what is right? He says, don’t worry, don’t be afraid. Instead, worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. How many of us are really ready to explain the hope we have in Jesus? That the life they’re all in life is literally the best life that you could possibly live. Even though, yeah, you’re going to face prosecution, even though you’re going to face trials. It’s going to be like walking through fire. The all in life is still the best life that you could possibly live. If we can remember to not be surprised. Do not be afraid. Then this next one would be pretty easy for us now.

When Persecution comes REMEMBER:

Don’t be ASHAMED. 

In First Peter chapter four. It says.

“It is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Instead, thank God for the privilege of being called by his name!”

1 Peter 4:16 (NLT)

Now for me, the first time I think I experienced shame and suffering for being a Christian was my freshman year of college, and I had two of my close friends, Jake and Michael, that were invited me into church and encouraged me on my walk. As I was taking step by step of living the all in life, there were things I had to let go of. Some of those things were actually people and some friends. I actually stopped hanging out at parties with some friends. I still would meet with them to eat and stuff like that, but I just stopped going to parties. So one night after it was like winter break or summer break, I called some of my friends from high school. I did live with these guys for four years. We played on the same football team, and every day after school, junior and senior years, we were at each other’s houses every day. So I called them up and said, Hey, guys, are you guys doing anything tonight? They’re like, No, Micah, we’re actually going to stay at the house. Not going to do anything. I said, okay, cool. So at the time, I called Jake and Michael. They were going to Sonic in Winchester, and I decided to go had to go with them. And not even 15 minutes. 15 minutes later. The boys show up. My friends, I had spent four years of my life. I mean, they were there through everything I was going through. They show up in the Sonic drive-through. Now I’m stuck. What do I do? So I go up towards them, and immediately one starts to apologize. Hey, Micah, we’re so sorry. We were going to go to a party. We’re going to go to a drink. We were going to go do this. We knew that you didn’t want to be a part of it, so we just decided not to invite you. So really, I was lied to. Literally, that is the worst thing that you could possibly do with me. I hate being lied to, and it makes me so mad and angry. But I couldn’t get mad at these guys. I don’t know what it was. As I was walking, I couldn’t figure out why I could not be mad at these guys that literally just lied to me after spending four years of my life with them. And I sat at the table, and I remembered this. They were not my enemies. So that brings us to when we face persecution, we have to remember.

When Persecution comes REMEMBER:

Recognize the SOURCE.

What is the source of all persecution that we’re going to face? It’s Satan. It’s going to be him every time. He is the source of our persecution, not the people. The Bible says this.

“We’re not fighting against human beings, but against wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly realm…”

Ephesians 6:12

I don’t even see that going on. But that right there tells me I’m not fighting against my friends. There’s a spiritual battle that is going on. And guess what? Satan is going to use social media. He’s going to use your emotions like jealousy and envy. We use movies, TV shows, and music. Friends and family try to take you out of living the all in life. When this happens, we have to remember we don’t need to get upset with the people. They are not our enemy. Paul says this to Timothy. He says.

“Stay away from stupid and senseless arguments. These only lead to trouble. God’s servants must never quarrel. (Instead) be kind to everyone… and patient. Be humble when you correct people who oppose you … they’ve been trapped by the devil, and he makes them obey him, but God may help them escape.”

2 Timothy 2:23-26 (CEV)

I knew my friends had been trapped by the schemes and tricks of Satan. I knew that I could not be mad at them. Even though that is my natural instinct to retaliate. And that is number five.

When Persecution comes REMEMBER:

Refuse to RETALIATE.

Even though when someone pushes you, you want to shove them back. Even though when someone cusses you, you want to cuss them out too. We must refuse to retaliate. In first, Peter says this.

“When they hurled their insults at him, Jesus did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.

Instead, he entrusted himself to God who judges justly”

1 Peter 2:23 (NIV)

He does not say, Hey, guess what? My father’s going to come back, and he’s going to destroy everybody. I said, God, Father, will you please forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. He made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to God, who judges justly. Do you do this? Do we entrust God to judge justly, or do we decide, you know what, this is what that person deserves, So I’m going to give it to them? I’m going to make sure this happens to so and so. The thing is, what I just read is going to happen to Christians because the world loves to find faults in Christians. And guess what? And they can’t find anything against us. They’re just going to make it up. That’s the reality. But God will take care of the people that persecute you, that insult you, that lie all about you, he said. That’s his battle. It’s that spiritual warfare that I was talking about. That is all his. Do you think God really needed me to go off on those? On those guys in that car, my friends? Do you really think that God needs you to stand up and to get into a heated argument about God’s name? No. Romans actually says this.

“Never pay back evil with more evil…

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. And never avenge yourself. Leave that to God, who has said “I’lI be the judge and I’II take care of it.”

Romans 12:17-19

Guess what? This is my battle. This is my war. I’ll take care of it. Our role is not to retaliate but, again, to live at peace with everyone. And if we can do that. Our last thing is this.

When Persecution comes REMEMBER:

Respond with a BLESSING

This is what separates the all in life from every other life. We’re going to return good to evil. And this next verse, I don’t know if you have verses that you’ve read in the Bible that are extremely hard for you to live out, but this one is mine. And it says.

Jesus: “LOVE your enemies! DO GOOD to those who hate you.

BLESS those who curse you, and PRAY for those who hurt you. if someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other cheek.”

Luke 6:27-29 (NLT)

If it was me writing this, this is what I would write down. I’d say, Forget your enemies; curse those haters. God, please keep my enemies as far away as possible as you can. And if someone stops me, then that’s free rein for them to catch a beating. I mean, because that is my heart. I don’t want to do any of that stuff. But this is all in life that God has called us to do. You know, when I first heard this responded with a blessing when I was in eighth grade. It was my eighth-grade social studies teacher, Mr. Mount. And for our last project of the year, we had to create this small booklet of things to remember. Almost like if we were to take these six things and put them in the booklet and remember these things. And in it, he had things like if you had the opportunity to buy land, buy land. Whenever you shake somebody’s hand, make sure you shake one and put one on the arm or the shoulder. One of the last things that he said. Was kill your enemies with kindness. I’ll never forget that. I never heard that. And what he was saying. Was responded with a blessing. And if we can respond with a blessing, I know that this is going to be one of our biggest witnesses to other people. Now, again, these are things to remember because I want you. To be known to live on in life. I want this group of believers. I want this church, and I want this county to be known for people That want to pursue their own life and not give up. And so, as we close this morning, we just bowed your heads. You don’t have to close your eyes. Just blow your heads. So in my heart. I truly believe there are two kinds, two groups of people in this room and watching online. The first group is this. You are a group of people that have yet to decide to say yes to pursuing an all-in life for Jesus. And I don’t know what it is. I don’t know why you’re still being disobedient when God has simply called us to pursue him. I don’t know if you’re scared. You don’t know everything. I don’t know if you’re so covered in shame and guilt that you feel like there’s no way I can pursue this life. I don’t know if you feel like you have to be perfect in order to start. What I’m asking you right now is to take whatever fear or anxiety that you have and push that aside and really listen to me. Will you just trust me right now in this moment? God wants you to step across the line. And to pursue an all-in-life. So if your heart is saying, God, I don’t know what this looks like, but I want to pursue you with everything inside of me. God, yes, I’m scared, but I’m pushing that aside because you want me to take this step, and you want me to say yes. I’ve made the decision to pursue an all-in life. If that is you right now, will you please just raise your hand? One, two, three, four. See you in the back. Thank you. Now, Todd Baldwin, one of our elders, is going to come and pray for you guys.

God, we just come together as a community of believers. With faith that these folks who just said, I want to hand over my time and my talents and my treasures and my plans, I want to hand all of that over to you, and you’re in charge of it. We know that you have a blessing for these folks. Because it’s impossible for us not to be blessed when we hand all of that over to the creator of the universe, who loves us more deeply than we love ourselves. So, God, we as a community are just standing around these folks, and we’re going to claim that blessing. Right now, we believe that to be true. We believe that you’ve told us that. And so we just claim that right now in God. We also know that Satan has been put on notice. We know that whatever attacks he had planned, he’s going to ramp those up for these folks. God, we know that he doesn’t want this to happen. But God. We also know that we worship a God who wrote the story, and we’ve seen the end of the book, and we know how it ends and that you’ve overcome the world and everything that we’re about to face, everything these folks are about to face, the circumstances, relationships, attacks, the whispering liar on their shoulder, telling them that they’re not good enough or that they just need to take it back. Whatever they just gave you, they just need to take it back. We know that you’re bigger and stronger and more powerful than all of that stuff, and we know that you promise to overcome all of that for us. So we trust that right now. God, I pray for a head of protection around these people. Lord, I pray for this community, this community of believers, this body that you would teach us how to be a part of that hedge of protection, that we would be a support to these people who just said, I want to hand all of this over, over to you, God, I pray that you would teach us as a church how to come around each other and how to build each other up and how to climb in the hole with each other and how to be a support for one another. In those times when we face persecution and we face circumstances that just seem like we can’t do that, we can’t overcome them, God teaches us as a body how to be that for each other here in this room and for Madison County. We know that you love us more than we could ever love ourselves. And we know that you promise a blessing, and we know that you’ve won. We know that you wrote the end of the story, and we have faith right now, God, that you’re going to give that blessing to us as believers as we just hand everything over to you. And so we pray all of this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Now, the second group. You’re like me. You’ve said yes to this all in life. One year ago to five, ten, fifteen, twenty, however long it was. You said yes to this long life. But what I know is that life has a tendency to slowly chip away at our faith. To slowly start stepping back and being quiet. To be silent. To be lukewarm. It has a tendency to allow us to lose the zeal and the joy of our salvation. I. So right now, for the second group of people that are like me that have said, yes, you guys remember the day that you said yes to pursuing this all in life and the joy and the weight that had been lifted from you. But. But through life. You started to fade. Well, you have the courage and the bravery right now to raise your hand, saying, I need to rededicate my life to Christ. Maybe I haven’t been as disciplined in reading the Word and praying, and spending time with God. But right now, I want to. Well, you raise your hand. Thank you. Thank you. Now, Todd is going to pray for you guys.

God, again, we enter into the throne room as a community. We have some folks in our community right now who are tired, who are beaten up. God, I could name them. I could name some of those folks. And they’re hurting. And some wedge has been driven in between them. And you know, that they feel more distant, that they feel apart, that there is something that stands in the way of that. But you have moved. You haven’t gone anywhere. And these folks need some energy, and they need some life, and they need some hope, and they need some peace and God, I pray right now that you would remind them that you’ve been steadfast this whole time, that you haven’t moved, that we don’t have to earn a relationship with you, that you’re there and all we got to do is just come back and enter back into that. Just because we may have taken our time, talent, treasure, and plans, He may have given them to you temporarily and then kind of pulled them back. We can give them right back. We can give them right back. Because we can’t fight this fight all by ourselves. Those of us who are tired and who are worn out and who maybe feel apart from you, we can’t fight. We can’t fight that we can’t overcome whatever mountain we feel is in between us. We can’t overcome that by ourselves. We can’t do that. We don’t have to wait for that mountain to be. We don’t have to wait for us to chip away at that mountain or for us to go and fix that relationship or for us to fix whatever thing is broken in our life to come back to you. In fact, we’re never going to get rid of that stuff. We’re never going to fix what’s broken in our life if we don’t come back to you. And God. We recognize that. And Lord, I pray for those folks who raise their hands, who say, I want that gap closed, the gap between you and me. I want that closed. And the thing I’ve taken and I’m holding ownership of in my life, my time and talent, treasure and plans. I want to give that back to you. And I want to re-energize my relationship with you. God, I pray for those folks right now that you would give them just divine peace and divine hopefulness. There’s no way that it could come from anything but you. I pray for that right now for those folks and God to pray for the folks who didn’t raise their hand, who know they should be raising their hand either in the first conversation around handing everything over to you or in this second conversation around re-energizing our relationship with you. God, there are people in this room who didn’t raise their hand because there’s something that’s in the way. And God, I pray that you would not let that rest. I pray that when they leave here, it will still sit heavy on their heart until they reconcile that with you. Because we know that we have a God who loves us so deeply that he would burn everything down. God, we know you would burn everything down just to be in a relationship with us. We just thank you that you’re that big, you’re that powerful, and you still know each one of us by name. So, God, we love you, and we look forward to the blessing as we walk in relationship with you. We love you and pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.