R1646 A Christian Response to a Personal Attack, PT.1

A Christian response to a personal attack. That's today's message from Dr. Don Wilton on this edition of The Encouraging Word. We'll head to Psalm 27 in just a moment with Dr. Wilton, but know that we're connecting with you every single day on our website, www.tewonline.org. Come by and see us today. That's tewonline.org.

And now, Dr. Don Wilton. I want you to turn with me to Psalm 27. The Psalms are usually easy to find. I don't know, it must be in the middle of your Bible, because I find when I open my Bible, most of the time it falls at the Psalms. So, of course, I got a hard copy.

I haven't tried that with my iPhone yet. I guess you drop it and see if it opens at the Psalms. I don't know. But I want you to turn there. Psalm 27. So, I want to share something with you. I want to tell you where I am at this morning. I want to tell you how I got to where I'm about to share with you about. God led me to preach a message entitled, A Christian Response to a Nation in Crisis. And I will be quite honest with you.

Guys, it's got nothing to do with a message or a sermon or something that I said. I know that our nation is struggling. Who doesn't? We all know that. There's divisions everywhere.

We all know that. If you don't know that, your head's in the sand somewhere. There are lots of issues, lots of conflicts going on.

And God just really got a hold of my heart. We're under attack in our nation. And there are a lot of things happening that as a believer, I'm going to stand against. I'm going to stand up. I'm going to be strong. I'm going to stand against those things.

We talked about some of them. That won't be the last time either. But I had no idea. As it turned out, as most of you know, literally thousands of people have watched that message since then, thousands of them. There's been a massive response, just massive, for us, for us. It's just been massive, thousands upon thousands of people. And I've come to understand that as Christian people, I'm not talking here to saying this about non-Christian people, people who don't believe in Jesus. Is that fair enough? I'm just telling you, for those of us who know Jesus, who want to serve the Lord, want to please God, there is a genuine, I'm just telling you, there is a genuine desire to know how we as Christian people need to respond to our world.

How do you do that? We need to know. You know, we may be Democrats or Republicans, or we may be rich or we may be poor, but the big question is as Christian people, which makes us all one. It's the greatest equalizer ever because in God's eyes there's no male or female, bond or free. We're all one in Christ.

We're brothers and sisters. How do I as a Christian need to respond? Do I just get on social media and post things on social media the same way as a lot of these hateful pagans are doing?

What good does that do? Is that what God wants me to do? Does God say, let me tell you the way you speak up about paganism and this assault on our country is just behave like those who are assaulting the nation? I don't think so.

I don't think so. Not if you understand God. Love God, love your neighbor. Go figure. It doesn't say love God and hate your neighbor. That's a tough thing guys.

It's tough for me cause there's a bunch of stuff that I really am not happy with. I've got to be under the control of the spirit. So as these weeks have gone by, God has been speaking to my heart and today I'm going to preach a message that could change your life.

Here it is. A Christian response to a personal attack. Now I want to tell you all something right now. If you're a believer, you are going to be under attack. In fact, there are so many passages of scripture. Paul said, listen, when you give your life to Christ, you become one with the sufferings of Christ. I mean, he was crucified, man. He was God.

The Bible says, I become one with his sufferings, not just in order to be saved, but in the living out of my salvation. So now I want you to go and figure something. Everybody just figure this out. How is it that you and I live in such a fantastic place? We have so many blessings, which we do.

We've got food and motor cars to drive and camps to go to and beaches and houses. And I'm saying that relative. Does this mean everybody? No.

Didn't say that. That's why we do what we do. We help a lot of people who need a lot of help. That's why we do what we do. So how come we got ball games and food?

I mean, what did you do last night? And yet individual people are struggling so much. I've been in ministry quite a number of years. I'm no different.

I'm not setting myself. I'm no different from teachers and doctors and people, moms and dads, people. We're all in the same thing. But in my realm, I'm in the people business. I'm around people. My privilege is to deal with people. I deal as many of us do.

I don't have a corner on market. Guys, if I told you how many hurts I dealt with yesterday, you probably wouldn't believe me. That was Saturday, by the way. Attacks. So I can stand here today. I can tell you that they tell us suicide rates are rising like crazy in America, in America. Depression. I'll guarantee you there's somebody sitting here today and you're just down, man.

You're depressed. People, outbursts of anger, attacks are coming on you. And I mean, if I stood here and tried to outline everything, I think you'd all appreciate we'd be here all day and I don't want to do that to you. So God began to speak to my heart and I'm just passing on what he says, not what I say.

And help is here. A Christian response to personal attacks. David, the one who wrote Psalm 27, had, he was like, had everything.

He was on the top of his world, but he was getting attacked from everywhere. And he wrote the Psalm. Okay. Can I just read it to you? Let's read it.

No more fan. Let me just read it to you. I want to read the Psalm.

Listen to what he said here. He said, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh. When my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear.

Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble, he will keep me safe in his dwelling place. And he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me. At his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy.

I will sing and make music to the Lord. Hear my voice when I call, O Lord, be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says, seek his face. So your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger.

You've been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God, my savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Teach me your way, O Lord. Leave me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes. For false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. I'm still confident of this that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord and be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Wow, man, that's just powerful stuff. David, in the middle of all this coming against him, you are in the middle of that. I'm in the middle of that. And we are being attacked from every which way you and I can possibly imagine. It takes its toll.

It'll get to you. You'll feel it and we are feeling it. I'm not preaching on end times. I get a lot of questions on it, but I'm just telling you guys, you're ready for this.

I don't mind telling you from my point of view, studying the scriptures, I think, gosh, nobody knows when Jesus is coming, but it's looking awfully like it. You know, one of the many ways you know that there's going to be a big falling away is going to take place out of the church. I promise you, I don't want to say this. I promise you some of your friends that you thought were front and center in the church will suddenly drop out just like that.

Don't want to go anymore. I'll explain all of that to you. God gives us an explanation, explains what that means. All right, so here's what I want you to get hold of perhaps today. When David found himself under attack, which was continuous, it affected him.

It worked itself out in him personally, in his family, in the way he governed the nation. So I'm going to tell you, if you right now are under attack, this is where it will manifest itself. This is where you'll see it.

First of all, in you. Now I'm talking about someone else, right? But have you ever had someone say to you, what's wrong with you, man? That's the question they're asking. You know someone, and they're just agitating, just got a gripe all the time. That's what's happening to them. They're under attack. If you're under attack, if that old devil has got your number, and they are getting to you, this is where it's going to show itself.

First of all, in you. I can't, I'm not here to judge you or you me, right? But listen to what your wife's saying to you, big boy.

Listen to what your husband's saying to you. What's changing? I wonder if there's a parent here. Your kids, you've watched them, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, maybe they got right through high school, and you look at, you love them to bits, and you're saying, what's got into them?

Why are they behaving like this? First person it'll affect is you. Secondly, it will affect your family. I've said enough about it. If you're under attack as a Christian, it will show itself around your dining room table.

I'll guarantee you, your behavior with those that you love most will change first. So how did you speak to your wife this weekend? Bingo. You're under attack. How did you talk to your mother, your family, those closest to you?

Big sign of being under attack. Third, your church. You know, by the way, God has got two institutions, the church and the family.

God instituted both of them. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word, and we'll be back in just a moment with more on this powerful message. But Dr. Don wants you to know we're here for you, ready to talk and pray with you, whether it's keyboard to keyboard or our website at tewonline.org or this phone number 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. God did. This is a Christian response to a personal attack. It'll manifest itself in your relationship in the body of Christ. You'll become an agitator like you are in your home, like you are in yourself.

Fourth way is nationally, how you deal with national strife. What does the Bible say? Bible says we are salt and light. If the world loses its saltiness, how's it going to have any taste?

It's talking to Christians. Do you know how God takes the salt out of you? He doesn't. God never takes salt out of anybody.

The devil does. The devil's out to steal, rob, destroy, take, diminish, render you dry. He's going to rub you up the wrong way. Going to get in there and niggle you until you can't stand it anymore. He's going to agitate your heart. He's going to tickle your insides. He's going to bother you to death.

That's what he does. And then the fifth of course is the world. You'll see it in your relationship globally. You say, well, I don't go anywhere.

We are all products of our world. All right, watch this. You're ready for this now guys, because I want to give you, I want to show you what God showed me. So here's David, and he's about to be king.

He's got everything and he's under such attack, personal attack, and it affects him in his family, affects him in his nation, affects him in his person. So what does he do? Well, he gives us five things to do.

Here they are. Number one, how do you and I as Christians, how do we respond? What can we do? Number one, establish your foundation. And sometimes you need to reestablish your foundation. Look here in chapter 27, he says right out the bat, this is how he starts everything. He says, the Lord is my light, my salvation.

Watch the next thing is a question. So bring it on. He didn't say that.

That's my Greek and Hebrew in there. Now bring it on. And that's not like a arrogant thing, like you want a piece of me, you know?

That's not what he's saying here. He's saying, listen, before I even go to God with this thing that, or these things that are getting into my soul spirit, I'm going to establish my foundation. Lord, you are my light. You are my salvation. By the way, you'll never have a Christian response if you don't establish your foundation.

Guys, listen to me. There are a hundred wonderful Christian counselors out there. I'm one of them. I'm a wonderful Christian counselor. It's part of what I do, but I can't do for you what only God can do. Did you get that?

I can't do it like only God can do. He said, Lord, you are my light. You're my rock. You're my foundation. You're my fortress. So establish your foundation. Number two, identify your attackers. Oh, really?

I'm going to put it into lay people's terminology. Ready? What is your problem, man? Why are you so down? Why are you hurting like this?

Excuse me. Why are you talking like that to your wife? Why? What's the matter with you? Why do you treat your family like they your enemy? Why are you behaving like that in your church? Why are you acting like a total jerk in your classroom? Well, what's all this strutting around and I'm going to tell you, and as far as I'm concerned, let me give you a piece of my mind. You're a Christian? Something's got to you.

So I'm just one fellow, right? I love you, man. I want you to hurt like this. I want you to go through life backwards. It bothers me that you spend every second day being so miserable.

You don't need this, and your family doesn't need this. So what David did, he identified his attackers and you'll notice there are three categories there. So he kind of like isolates them.

The first are the people. He says men who are evil, evil people. I sound like a foghorn.

Some of you say, Oh, there he goes again. I'm so tired of him telling me to protect my children. I get it. I'm a parent.

I listen. I'll say to you again, protect your children from evil people. I'm telling you, watch your kids. Don't fall for the sleepover lie. What's the sleepover lie? All little kids want to go and sleep over.

Nothing wrong with sleeping over, but you had better know the people they're going to sleep over with. That's what I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. You don't just say to your child, Oh, wonderful. That gives us a night off. Off you go, sweetheart.

I'll drop you there. There are evil people out there. They will destroy your child. I'm just telling you. And all it takes is one night.

So what did he mean by evil men? Excuse me. I've never known a chair to jump up and bite me. Never. That chair will not, nor will this.

Now I might stumble over it or hit myself or bump myself. This thing cannot hurt me. But I tell you who can, a people person. People can be as unkind as you've ever been.

They'll rip you to shreds. He talks here about slander. You know what slander is? Saying malicious things about someone with the intent to diminish them. Gossip, rumor, evil people.

Sorry. Second thing he talks about are enemies. Somebody said, what's the difference between people and enemies? Well, people are people. Enemies are a bunch of people. It's the convoy.

People gather people. Listen folks, when that old devil decides he's going to get to you and attack you, he may start with one person. As God has stirred your heart and my heart, perhaps there's something that needs to be adjusted, a change necessary. Before we get away, you've heard from Dr. Wilton preaching and teaching from the pulpit, but as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin, and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Perhaps you prayed with Dr. Wilton to give your life to Christ, to rededicate your life. Know that we'd love to connect with you. You can call us right now for free information Dr. Don wants you to have at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673, or meet us online at tewonline.org. We are excited to announce that a friend of the ministry has donated $200,000 as a challenge gift, and has extended a challenge to our donors to give an additional $300,000 by December 31st. This challenge is to fund our television broadcasting. Would you prayerfully consider a donation to this challenge? Please call 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 to give a donation, and be sure to tell them that this is for the match challenge. Call with your gift today at 866-899-9673.