Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical faith-filled vision for your life. Bless you, little lamb. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life, and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. No need to beg for blessings if you're in Jesus' flock. His goodness and mercy are already hunting you down.
whether you know it or not. Good gifts from God are on your heels, whether you feel it or not. His love is in hot pursuit of your soul. Little lamb. No need to wear yourself out chasing after goodness that's already been granted.
No need to worry and strive for mercy that has already been given. I bless you not to run faster in an attempt to be favored. I bless you to slow down enough. to let God's grace catch you. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright.
The man in front of me turned around and looked at me like he just like he hated me. And he said, Cover your mouth. You coughed directly on me. Three seconds later. I think you did it on purpose.
Oh. Three seconds later, he turns around and he says, And out of all the people on this plane, Why did you pick me out to cough on me directly? That's when I remembered the Bible said. Gentle answer turns away wrath. And I thought I'd try that.
That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Abide, taken from John 14 through 17, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire broadcast today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now, which can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. At any point, contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here. is Alan Wright. We are in a series, if you're new with us, it's in John chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17.
beautiful chapters of what is often called the final discourse or the upper room discourse, this intimate conversation of Jesus on the night before his crucifixion with his closest friends. And today we are still in John 15. And we come to a challenging text that starts at verse 18. Very important words from Jesus follow along as I read. If the world hates you, know.
that has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, The world would love you as its own. But because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. Therefore The world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you?
A servant's not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they'll also persecute you. If they kept my word, they'll Keep yours. But all these things they'll do to you. on account of my name.
Because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me. Hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, They'd not be guilty of sin.
But now they've seen and hated both me and my father. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me. without a cause. But when the helper comes whom I'll send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth.
Who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also. will bear witness because you've been with me. from the beginning. My church family, are you ready for some good news?
Life in Christ is out of this world. I mean, that's what he said. I give you peace, not as the world gives. We saw that in chapter 14. And then we saw It he also has affirmed, I want you to have my joy and have it to the full.
A joy that's out of this world. And today we come to another thing that's just out of this world, and that's you, for you are not of this world.
So, you're like an alien in this world because your real citizenship. is in the heavens with Christ forever. And that makes you different. And with it, as we'll see today, sometimes comes persecution. Tim Keller has said, if you are never insulted, if we are never insulted for our faith, we may be being cowards.
If we're always being insulted, we may be being jerks. The gospel makes us neither. I'm so glad he said it rather than me, but it is so true, is it not? If you go through your whole life as a Christian and no one ever judges you and thinks that you're a bigot because of some biblical stance, if you go through your whole life as a Christian and nobody ever thinks that you are too different and they don't want to be around you, if you never, ever have anybody that has ever said anything to you insulting about you being a Christian, it could be that you're just not bold enough. But on the other hand, if everywhere you go all the time non-Christians are insulted by you and none of them want to be around you and dread the sight of you coming.
Something's wrong. This is tricky theological ground that we're on today. I much prefer last week's text about friendship with Jesus. Because I'm a good news preacher, it's a little hard to find the good news in because the world hated me, they'll hate you also. But here we go.
I want to start with this. When you have those times where you are.
So misunderstood, or so disdained, or someone is being so unkind to you, and you have no idea, sometimes it's because it's not about you. Verse 18, if the world hates you, know that it's hated me before it hated you. And verse 20, remember the word I said to you? A servant's not greater than his master. Like, this was just a saying that why would you expect someone who's Underneath the master to not have the same kind of experience as the master.
If they persecuted me, They'll also persecute you. You ever had somebody that got mad at you, maybe even hated you for no apparent reason, and you honestly could assess the situation and go, I really don't know what I did. And maybe you even confer with some trusted Christian friends, and they're like, Yeah, that doesn't sound like you caused that. I mean, then you know, maybe it just wasn't about you at all in the first place. I got a real dose of this very early in my training.
I was in clinical pastoral education in seminary. This is where we had the privilege of spending a half hour. I mean, I have wish it was a half hour sometime. Half a year. In what we call CPE, I got to serve in the VA hospital in Atlanta.
I saw some hard things as a young man. Had some hard conversations and prayers in a lot of patients' rooms. We go in every day. I get to pray with patients as this young intern chaplaincy. And then we would meet with our professor and a small group of about eight other students, and we would go over what had happened in our encounters that week.
We'd have to pick out one every week. We call it a verbatim. You have to write down every single word you said, every single word the patient said, and we'd put it out in front of our peers, and then they would grill you on why'd you say that and what's going on in your soul. The whole thing is meant to help you dig deep into what's going on in your inmost being as you're ministering. And it's actually horrible, but wonderful.
And so you learn a lot. But we got to the last week, and this week we were invited by our professor, everybody to write a written statement about one another. It was a time to affirm the growth you'd seen, but also it's a time we're, you know, by this time everybody's learned to be honest and just kind of like, and here's where I see you need to grow. And so we got around and it's very helpful until I got this one young man who I liked a lot. All semester, I liked him.
And then I read, and we read him out loud. In front of other students. And I read what he'd written, and it just took my breath away. I just couldn't even believe it. I mean, he'd never given me any hint of this.
It just came out of the blue. And he just said, you know, things like that. He called me self-righteous, smug. Pharisaical, that I thought I was better than everybody. That one day I walked right past him in the hallway and didn't even speak to him.
And he ended up with this zinger at the end. And he said, Why don't you take off those Self-righteous clothes and try on a suit that fits you better, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Yeah, right. And I'm like, I'm a young seminary student, like. No, I'm not.
This is not what I signed up for right here. But we just sat there, everybody, in stunned silence for a while. And, you know, I didn't know what to, I just literally didn't know what to say. And then, thankfully, the rest of the class didn't think I was a self-righteous smug jerk. And so they were kind of like, that's not exactly who we've been seeing Alan to be.
And so I just sat there like, what? And I told him, I said, brother, I said, I love you. I said, I thought we were friends. I didn't even know. I had no idea that I don't know what I've done to give you that indication.
Anyway, we unpacked this for like ever. in this class and after about 30 minutes of unpacking it. that included everything from he didn't like the briefcase I carried, you know But then finally, he started weeping. And he said that he had been in the Army for a few years, and I reminded him. of a drill sergeant he once had that mistreated him a lot.
It wasn't about me. It's what psychologists call transference. where you could have been hurt by a person. And then someone else, if they remind you of that person in some way, you transfer. the feelings that you would have had, especially unreconciled feelings to this other person.
And sometimes you'll experience this. It's not about you. And there's an even deeper level, and I don't want to over-spiritualize things. But it needs to be said because this is part of our growing as a Christian, and that is that there's a spiritual battle. that's going on.
And sometimes When someone really disdains you. As a Christian, They may not even know you're a Christian, but It sometimes is the demonic influence in their life that hates the Jesus in you. And I don't want you to be ignorant of this. That there's a spiritual battle that's going on. and all of hell Is run on hatred as much as heaven is run on love.
Hell is run on hatred. It's the fuel of hell. And Everywhere Jesus went, demons hated him.
So sometimes what happens is that someone who may or may not even know it. is basically demonically influenced. To hate the Jesus that's in you and you don't even know what's going on. I want to just pause again because I'm going to say this maybe 10 times today. These things I'm saying to you Are not an invitation for you to excuse the way that you sometimes treat other people and bring persecution on yourself.
That's why the Tim Keller quote at the beginning.
So I'm not saying go around and every time that somebody is disagreeing with you, God, that's a demon. You know, I'm not saying, don't go home and don't go home when your wife tells you that you need to take out the trash. That's a demon. I'm just saying, don't do that. You hear me?
But sometimes But sometimes. And you need to be savvy. Jesus said, Be wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove. In other words, don't get sucked into battles in the flesh that aren't about things of the flesh, it's spiritual. Be discerning.
Grow in your discernment. I was on an airplane years ago. It was after COVID had finished its course, you know, but still people are. Sensitive, I guess. But I was in like the fourth week of one of those wintertime colds that just keeps hanging on into the spring, and you're like, I'm still clear in my throat four weeks later.
You know, I was in one of those. And so I'm sitting on the plane and waiting to taxi out and get going and a crowded plane. And I cleared my throat. I would say it was more of a clearing of the throat than a cough. That was the way I would look on it.
I kind of went about like that. That's it. And I put my hand up, but I did not do, and you should, you should do the full elbow. You know, like that. Didn't do the full elbow inside the elbow, but it wasn't really a cough.
I wasn't contagious. I wasn't even sick. I was kind of just doing that clear of the throat. Five seconds later, the man in front of me turned around and looked at me like He just like he hated me. And he said, Cover your mouth.
Okay. He spun around. Three seconds later, he turned around and he said, You coughed directly on me. Three seconds later. I think you did it on purpose.
Three seconds later, he turns around and he says, And out of all the people on this plane, Why did you pick me out to cough on me directly? That's when I remembered the Bible said. The Bible says a gentle answer turns away wrath. And I thought I'd try that. I said, sir.
I am so sorry. I said, if I did not cover my mouth properly, I apologize and I will assure you that will not happen again. Five seconds later, he spun his head around and he said, I don't like the way you looked at me. And he said, and I don't trust the sincerity of your apology. That's when I reached up.
There's a little button there for call a flight attendant because in my mind was like I either call the flight attendant or I'm on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow about a fight that broke out on an American Airlines flight from Dallas, Texas to Charlotte, North Carolina. And I brought her over. I said, ma'am, could you please find me another seat? She said, it's full. I said, I need another seat.
She said, it's full, sir. I said, this man thinks I coughed directly on him on purpose, and it's not going well. She said, I'll find you another seat. He didn't know I was a Christian, certainly didn't know I was a pastor, and he hated me. Why?
Why? I wanna pardon me, I wanna say. You have no idea how nice I really am. I do not call phone people on purpose. I really, I promise you I don't.
Sometimes it's transference. And sometimes It's just spiritual. And you must be discerning. It's a spiritual battle. These things that are happening, they're happening because.
At verse 21, they'll do to you. on account of my name. He's saying it doesn't have anything to do with you, disciples. Because I do not know him who sent me. I'll say it often, but Just It'll help a lot.
If you don't expect people who don't know Jesus to act like they do. And It's a spiritual battle, and be not ignorant of it. One of the first Christian books I ever read was a book. That our college ministry, promoted by John White, called The Fight, is still a good book. And it was a good book for a new Christian.
And in the opening chapter, he talks about all the things that have changed in your life as a Christian. The status you have as one who's been justified. And imputed with the righteousness of Jesus, and born again to a living hope, and all of that. And then he wrote, You have also established a new relationship with the powers of darkness. Whatever you were before you became a Christian, straight, horoscope, reader, witch, warlock, Satanist, you're now the sworn foe of the legions of hell.
have no delusions about their reality or their hostility, but do not fear them. The God inside you terrifies them. They cannot touch you, let alone hurt you, but they can still seduce, and they will try. They will oppose you as you obey Christ. But if you're serious about Christ being your Lord and God, you can expect opposition.
Resist the devil, writes James, and he'll flee from you. Life with Jesus can be an exhilarating and reassuring experience of constant triumph over evil forces, but the battle never ends.
So, do not be naive about this. And put on the whole armor of God every day and be prepared to resist the devil and don't be duped and drawn into a battle you aren't supposed to be fighting. And don't try to return fleshly responses for fleshly actions against you. And learn how to tear down the strongholds of the enemy by the power of the gospel because sometimes it's just demonic. This all raises the question like...
kind of ask like, why would this man on the airplane be so mean to me? You know? It's the bigger question: why would anybody be mean to Jesus? Why'd they hate him? My mentor, Dudley Hall, told me 25 years ago something I never forgot.
He said there were two primary enemy spirits. or you might even say prevailing ideologies. That attacked Jesus. Rebellion and religion. Pastor Alan Wright in our good news message, Out of This World, from the series Abide.
I encourage you to stay with us because Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just to click away at pastoralen.org.
With so much worry about yesterday's failures and so much hurry getting ready for tomorrow's tasks, sometimes it's hard to focus on the moment that matters most. Right now, in a hurried, worried season, God invites you into the present. Modern-day life coaches call it mindfulness, but it isn't a new psychological program and it isn't rooted in Eastern religion. Mindfulness, living in the present, is God's idea and the Bible unveils the way. Pastor Alan Wright invites you to savor life each day.
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We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. Or come to our website pastorallen.org Back here now with Pastor Alan and this teaching out of this world. What's your good news message as we leave friends today?
Daniel, it's a really strange good news statement to say if you abide in Christ. If you are lovingly, affectionately, securely attached to the Son of God, that you will. Experience joy and peace, and you'll experience the hatred of the world. That doesn't sound like a good news statement, but I think if listeners will stay with us, that discovering that there is a blessing. If you're persecuted for righteousness in the kingdom of God, and stick with us, there's actually.
some joy behind all of this and there's a fellowship. that we can know with Jesus is actually beautiful. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
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