When You’re Pressured to Conform — Part 3

Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I'm so glad you're here. Today we're gonna continue our series called Unshakeable. Rick is taking us through the Book of Daniel. And that's so we'll be equipped to handle whatever curveball life throws at us, even the most difficult trials. Okay, here's the final part of the message called when youn're Pressured to Conform.

Here's Rick number four. The fourth thing is to appeal to their goals and their interest. Appeal to their goals and their interest. The goals of those in authority or whoever making this law or policy that you can't abide by. You start with what they want, not what you want. Now, this is exactly what Daniel does, and he's very wise in doing this. And Daniel gets to people and goes, okay, let's look at this. I think we got the same goal here. We're just trying to get at it a different way. You want me to eat this food because the King thinks it'll make me more healthy? Okay, I don't have a problem with that. I wanna be healthy. In fact, I wanna be healthy more than you or the King want me to be healthy. So we don't have a problem with the ultimate goal. We're just disagreeing on how to get to that goal. You want me to be healthy, so let's talk about this. Could we try a 10 day test? Can you go with me that far? Can you make that step? How about we just try a 10 day test and see if it'll work this way? And then if it works, great, we got a win. Win, you win, I win, everybody wins. Everybody gets what they want. If it doesn't work, then you decide, okay? You're still in charge, you're still the authority. But we're gonna start with your goals. I wish Christians in politics would understand this principle that you don't get your way by pressing people and creating wars over it. And so you appeal to their goals and their interests. Next, law number five. You must choose the right place, time and words. Choose the right place, the right time and the right words to appeal to the authority who've asked you. And by the way, if you're a teenager and you wanna go out on Friday night and your parents say no, you need to use these laws, okay? I'm teaching you how to make a case to your parents on this. And the first thing is the right place. What's the right place? Always privately. You don't get authorities to change by confronting them publicly and standing on the courthouse steps. All you do is solidify their opposition. You make them mad. They can't lose face, they can't back down. But if you go back behind and in a humble and simple way say, can we work this out? And you don't. You do it privately. You confront and you make a case and you make your appeal to an authority, any authority in your life. You do it privately and then you do it at the right time. I would not advise you to lobby your parents when they're tired or they've had a bad day or they're frustrated or they haven't eaten yet. Wait till the glucose goes up in their body and they're a little more relaxed. And they're not, there's the right time and the wrong time to bring up an issue with your husband, your wife or anybody else. Right time and then the right words means you should do it in a polite and pleasant way. Let me show you a verse. Write this down. Proverbs 16:21. Proverbs 16:21 says this. A wise, mature person is. Is known for his understanding. The more pleasant his words, the more persuasive he is. The more pleasant his words, the more persuasive he is. If you wanna be persuasive, you've gotta be pleasant. That's what the Bible says. So why don't you write this down. I'm never persuasive when I'm abrasive. Write that down. I'm never persuasive when I. When I'm abrasive. I wish I could teach that to politicians on both sides of the aisle. You don't build yourself up by tearing everybody else down. You're never persuasive when you're abrasive. If you've got an arrow to shoot, dip it in honey first. Okay. In other words, you want to. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. So you be sweet. You're never persuasive when you're abrasive. Now then, number six. The sixth thing when you're making a case to authority is this. Trust God if they reject your appeal. Trust God if they reject your appeal. Now, in this case, Daniel's appeal worked. But if your appeal doesn't work and you've appealed to your boss. Boss, I can't do this. Okay, then you hold onto the promise of Romans 8:28 and Romans 8:28. That great promise says this. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love God according to his purpose. It's not a Promise for everybody. It's a promise for those who love God and trust his purposes. God works for good. Not everything is good in the world. There are bad leaders in the world, there are bad laws in the world, there are bad policies in the world, there are bad people in the world. But God says, you know what? I can even use that for good in your life if you will trust me. All things will work together for good, even the bad stuff. It's not good, but it gotta work it for good. Now Daniel does all the right things in making his appeal and as a result, he gets the exemption. He doesn't have to violate his confidence. Now remember this, this kid is 15 years old. He's taking on the most powerful man in the world. He's challenging that guy. Where in the world did a teenager like that get that kind of wisdom, get that kind of grace and get that kind of courage and that kind of discipline at that young an age? What gave Daniel the courage to stand alone and not conform to the values of his society? Well, Daniel lived in close relationship to God. Daniel walked with God. He knew God as his friend. He had God's presence in his life. He had God's promises in his heart, he had God's power in his spirit, he had God's people around him. He had God's protection. He just was friend fearless. Now when you have to confront an authority in your life, this is gonna happen in your life at some point, if it hadn't already. You're gonna have to make a moral stand at some point. You need to remember four things. Write these down. Four things you need to remember when you feel like I'm all alone. I'm out here on a limb and my boss or somebody's asked me to do something. I know my boyfriend, anybody's asked me to do something, I know it's right and I'm feeling all alone. You need to remember four things. Number one, I wrote em here on the board. First, I have Jesus with me. Jesus said, I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. So you're never really ever completely alone. You may feel alone in that moment, but you're not. Jesus is with you. He says, I am with you. Number two, he says, I have the Holy Spirit in me. I not only have Jesus with me, I've got God's spirit in me. And the Bible says greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Which means you have an unfair advantage. Cause you guys got spirit in you and your carnal boss does not. So you have the Holy Spirit, Jesus with me, the Holy Spirit in me. Number three, I have the promises of God to me. There are over 6,000 promises from God to you in this book in the Bible. And you can claim those promises when you are going through difficult times. And not only that, number four, I have God's family around me. I have God's family around me. I have brothers and sisters who are praying for me. Which, by the way, is why you need to be a member of a church and why you need to be in a small group. If you don't have a small group, you're not a member of a church. You're not gonna have the support to stand alone when the heat's on in your life. What gave Daniel this enormous character, strength? Evidently this guy's parents did an incredible job on their kid. Daniel's parents must have been amazing. We don't know anything about them, but the fact that they had built enough character and commitment and conviction in this kid that when he's 15 years old, without them and any other support, he can take on the most powerful man in the world. They did a pretty good job as parents. They had taught this kid, 15 year old kid, how to stand on his own, how to not cave under peer pressure, how to. How to not give in to the conformity of culture. And they did a good job on that. By the way. I wanna just say while we're here, there's an amazing group of young Daniels in our church who are withstanding all kinds of cultural stuff, stuff thrown at them that wasn't thrown at you, even in the ways that it's thrown at them today in today's culture, and they're just standing strong. I could give you a thousand stories this weekend of young students in our 16 campuses who are Daniels in action right now, But I just want you to hear one. All right, buddy.

Hi, everybody. My name is Kevin. I'm on the football team at my high school and I'm also involved with our school Saddleback High School ministry. I've played football for 13 years, so it's been a big part of my life. When I entered high school, I quickly realized that playing football seemed to also include a lot of peer pressure and expectations that go way beyond the field. I love football as a sport because of the brotherhood aspect it provides, the sacrifice you make for your teammates and the battle on Friday nights. It's truly an experience you don't find anywhere else. I've become a brother in the football family, but there's also a downside to being a brother, and it's what happens after the games on Friday nights. And that is where the struggle and the temptation lies for me as a Christian, my teammates have often pressured me to do things that I know God does not want me to do. They say things like, kevin, in order to be a real man, you have to have sex. In order to be a real brother, you have to drink with us. Or if you're a friend and you care about us, you'll smoke with us. I know that many of you listening today know what I'm talking about and have experienced the same peer pressure when you were in school. But when you're in that situation, many times it feels like I'm having to stand alone in upholding my moral convictions and stand alone on the truth of God and the promises of God that unbelievers just don't understand. It makes no sense to them. One particular situation happened after our team had a big victory. The traditions for the team to go to in n out after the game. I normally choose not to go there because of what normally happens after. But after this victory, I decided to go with them. And I was flooded with my teammates telling me how boring my life is because I don't party with them. Afterwards, they kept urging me to go against my convictions. They kept saying, just drink with us, dude, it's so fun. Or just come smoke with us. It feels so great. In that situation, I was overwhelmed by pressure and desire to be liked and fit in with the crowd. I had a difficult choice to make. Was I willing to stand alone for God, or would I cave into the crowd? Many of you know that feeling. Fortunately, at that moment, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a sentence that Pastor Curt Johnson had told me and it had stuck with me. Kurt said, if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything. That truth gave me the courage I needed in that moment because I've seen it come true in the lives of so many high schoolers around me whose lives and future got messed up and even destroyed by a bad decision. You may wonder what gives a high school student the courage to stand alone when the pressure to join the crowd is so great. Well, for me, there have been three things that give me courage to stand firm in my faith and to resist the voices that want to pull me down. First, I think of all the things Christ has given me. Because he loves me. I've been freely given the gift of forgiveness, the gift of fulfillment, the gift of freedom through the love of Christ. Most of my peers think they gained freedom through alcohol or drugs and sex. But what kept me away from the powerful grasp of these temptations is the greater truth. And that truth is that I am loved and cared for by Christ, the deliverer of true freedom. Real, lasting freedom is not found by being enslaved by the expectations and pressures and opinions of others. Real freedom is being so reliant on Christ and believing his good plan for my life that I don't need the approval of other people to feel good about me. God loves me completely. Second, another way Christ has helped me stand up to social pressure is by giving me an incredible small group for support. We all need good people in our lives to counterbalance the bad influences around us. Fortunately, I'm surrounded by the strongest, most bravest, most loving, caring dudes who are part of my small group. They challenge me to grow closer to Christ and they give me courage through their encouragement and they bring me so much genuine joy. They are my rock and they are my fellow warriors. As Pastor Rick always says, we are better together. And regardless of how old or young you are, you need a small group. If you don't have the support of a small group in today's hostile culture, it's unlikely that you will stand against the pressure of God or the pressure of people who want to bring you down. I'm so blessed to do life with my small group. These guys have been a huge part of how I've had the strength to stand up to peer pressure. In those moments when I feel alone in my battles, I know that I'm really not ever alone. As Pastor Rick just taught, I have Jesus with me. I have the Holy Spirit in me. I have the promises of God to me, and I have the Christian brothers and sisters around me praying for me. A third source of support that has given me courage to stand alone has been the older Christians in my life who have taught me. I'm grateful for Kurt Johnson and our staff and adult volunteers who lead Saddleback Student Ministries. The investment these adults have made in my life will not only last for my lifetime, but their influence will prepare me for eternity. I'm also grateful for the older Christian men in my life who are my mentors. Even though they live busy lives, they make the time to guide the next generation for God. And of course, I'm so grateful for my family, who are some of the strongest and most inspirational people I know. Finally, I want to thank all of you, you who built this church with your gifts, your money and your time and your volunteer service. In this ministry, you created an attractive and fun place where kids and students like me could get to know Jesus, then grow spiritually healthy and stand strong for Jesus in today's world. So may God bless you all and thank.

I should have just let Kevin teach this. You know, I have to admit to you that when Kevin was speaking, a little tear came to my eyes. Because I remember those days, and you do, too. And I remember how grateful I am and was for some adults in my life. When I was a teenager who just guided me in the right direction. My life could have gone way, way different than it did. Oh, man, it could have just gone off the deep end. But there was some adult volunteers. They weren't cool. They just loved me when I was in school. And they helped me through those difficult days. And I'll always be grateful for that. History would be very, very different if those volunteers hadn't made a difference in my life. I went to a very big high school. Thousands of students. From seventh grade through my freshman year in college, I was class president every year, Every single year. And in my senior year and in eighth grade, I was student body president. Everybody knew me. So I was invited to every single wild party you could possibly imagine. And. As a young man, I made a decision, like Daniel, that I was not gonna defile myself. And because of some good adults in my life, somehow I made it all the way through school without ever having a drink of alcohol, smoking a joint, taking any drugs, smoking a cigarette or having sex. I made it all the way through school without that. And it was because I had good people in my life. And yes, there were times when now I was the most popular person on campus. Cause everybody knew me. And where's Warren? He's not here at the party. And I do know that there were nights that I would sit at home and I'm going, well, it's a little lonely here. Cause I'm not at the party to end all parties. But I look back and I am so grateful. Because just a few bad decisions in my life, my life could have turned out very, very differently. And the commitments that I made and the adults who helped me keep those commitments allowed me to have the power and the blessing of God in my life in a very unusual way. Because, like Daniel, I had made those decisions to say, I'm gonna have integrity and humility and courage and discipline and these kind of things. And I look back now toward the end of my life, going, that was a small price to pay. And it is a myth that you cannot live for Christ and not be popular or be at the top or be loved and well known and influential. It's just not true. Daniel excelled without compromising his convictions. And I've known it in many, many others besides myself. Now, this message today is desperately needed, not just for kids, but for every single age. Because as I said, as the culture becomes more secular, more hostile to people of faith, more unbiblical and anti Christian values, the pressure on you to conform is gonna go up and up and up and not go down. And how you respond, how you respond to that is gonna determine how much God is able to bless your life and whether you will continue to be promoted and promoted in God's kingdom. So I wanna end with just some clear advice from St. Paul. I'm gonna read to you and we'll close with this. 2 Corinthians, chapter 6. I love it out of the message paraphrase, and it pretty much sums up the courage and the character of Daniel. 2nd Corinthians 6:14 to the first verse of 7, chapter 7. Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership, that's war. Is light best friends with darkness? Does Christ go strolling with the devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? You know, belief and unbelief hold hands. Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy temple? But that's exactly what we are. Each of us is a temple in whom God lives. God himself. Put it this way, I'll live in them and I'll move into them. I'll be their God and they'll be my people. So leave the corruption and the compromise. I'll be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters. With promises like this, dear friends, let's make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us both within and without. Let's make our entire lives for fit and holy temples for the worship of God. Let's bow our heads. The world desperately needs Daniels today. Character doesn't matter anymore. To most people, it just doesn't matter. But God is looking for men and for women who are unafraid of challenging our culture, who are unafraid of the disapproval of others. Men and women who are Daniels, modern day Daniels, who have conviction and character. Rather than compromise and caving in to culture instead of conforming, they are being transformed by God. And this is my challenge to you, regardless of what's happened in the past of your life. Your past is past. It's over. What matters is the direction your feet are headed right now. Will you have the courage to be a Daniel in your culture? Will you have the courage to be a Daniel where you work as a man of God, as a woman of God? Will you be a Daniel and have the courage to stand for your convictions where you live, where you go to school, on that campus? You might just pray. Dear God, I want to be a Daniel. I wanna be a person of integrity and humility and generosity and discipline and courage. And I want your blessing on my life more than I want the approval of our culture. And I'm willing to stand unafraid and unashamed. God, you have told us what to do. Now give us the courage to do it in your name. Amen. Amen.

Hey, thanks so much for joining us today here on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. You know, as we look at the unprecedented things going on in our world today, it is so clear that we need to be equipped with the biblical wisdom that gives us power to handle whatever life throws at us. So that's why Pastor Rick created a life changing Bible study called Unshakable. And it's based on the book of Daniel. In these eight powerful video lessons, Rick will teach you how to handle life's most difficult trials and situations and how to thrive under extreme pressure, how to pray the kind of prayers that God answers. And this video study includes a workbook. It's perfect for individual or small group Bible study. Please request your copy today when you give a gift to help Daily Hope, take the word of God to people around the world. You just go to pastorrick.com to get your copy. That's pastorrick.com or just text the word hope to 70309. Again, the word hope to 70309. And thanks so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope means so much to us because it helps us share the hope of Jesus Christ to people all around the world. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.