Mike Bickle addresses the challenges of responding to reproach and slander, emphasizing that such trials are opportunities for growth and spiritual promotion. He encourages believers to maintain a proper perspective, respond with love, and not yield to fear or anxiety when facing accusations. Bickle highlights that these experiences can reveal personal deficiencies and strengthen one's character, ultimately leading to a deeper relationship with God. He reminds the congregation that standing for truth may lead to slander, but it is a privilege to bear reproach for Christ's sake. The sermon concludes with a call to respond in love and prayer rather than engaging in a spirit of accusation.

Well, I want to talk about how to respond to reproach and slander. Now, that's a subject that every person I know of has to deal with in an individual basis, and there are seasons where spiritual families will face that in more intense times, intense ways than in other seasons. And so I want to address that, and I'm going to give a longer introduction of things that are not on the notes, and most of the notes I won't actually cover. And then at the end of the time, about noon, we're going to have a Q&A time, like we did this last night. We had quite a lively question-and-answer time. Folks that want to talk about this subject and how they are to respond to it in their lives, or even corporately how we're to respond to it in various situations. And so you're free to stay for that if you want, and free to go, just either way. But again, this is a subject that individually everybody has to face and deal with. But corporately, I would go about 18 months ago, began what I would call a more intensified season of people slandering and bringing reproach upon us as a spiritual family. And I link it to the murder trial of Michael Moore, and of course the great tragedy of the death that occurred in our midst. And Satan wants to exploit that tragedy and just complicate things and continue to go on and on with that. But I take that time from about 18 months ago to about the next 18 months, just because of news media and trials and stuff like that that will be covered in the news, that this will be a more intensified season where people are saying negative things about us. And so I'm going to address this. I was going to, I needed to a few months ago, but I want to now, and I will a few more times this year. Because we want to excel in carrying our hearts in a right way. We want to respond in the right way. We want to interpret it in the right way. And we want to really excel as individuals, and we want to excel as a spiritual family. Now as intense as this might seem to some folks, it is only a pop quiz. It's only a very small little quiz, and the Lord's giving us opportunities as individuals and as a spiritual family to work that muscle, to practice working that muscle. Because in the decades ahead, the reproach and slander that the body of Christ will face as they stand for truth is going to escalate dramatically in the years to come. And so this is only a small little pop quiz, but this is a good time to learn how to excel in this. And I'm not referring today to any particular individual. There's, I don't know the number, but 10 or 20 little, I would call little epicenters, little clusters of people, some on the east coast, west coast, some here locally, some just around here and there. It's small numbers that they are just energized to generate maligning material about what we're doing here. And they've got just a small little following, most of them, and they just put lots of hours in it, and they put this on the internet, but it creates conversation. But these are just, again, 10 or 20 little clusters, and I'm not referring to one of them particularly, but it's just how we respond and carry our hearts before the Lord in this period of time. Paragraph A, now the purpose of this message is to help us, I have three points here, and this time I'm going to spend a little time on this and then leave most of the notes for you to read on your own if you want to. I want us to gain, first, a proper perspective of what's happening. And secondly, I want us to respond right, and then thirdly, not to yield to fear or anxiety, which then leads us to respond in a wrong way. So on this first subject of having a proper perspective, that if we take a step back and get the biblical view and the historical view of what happens when there's a heightened season of slander or reproach. Now, again, this might be for you personally or in the context of a spiritual family. We're in that right now. It's not so intense, but I want to prepare us again for the days ahead. And some of you will be in these seasons in the future. And if we see the big picture, actually, intensified seasons of attack and reproach and slander, it's actually an advantage for us. It's an advantage for anyone who goes through those seasons and they respond in a right way. And if you see the big picture, you have confidence. You have confidence in the Lord that things are good and the Lord's in control and things aren't spinning out of control. When you have confidence, you interpret the situation entirely different. But if you get intimidated, you get fearful and you get anxious, then you interpret the situation in a foreboding negative way. And then you're tempted to get into the spirit of accusation. You want to get defensive. And you think you think about it all the time. And the Lord's saying, no, no, no, no. Wrong perspective. No, don't go there. See what I see when I look at this season in your particular life or ministry context. Well, it's an advantage first. It's a tremendous learning opportunity. I mean, it really is a learning opportunity. Now, I'm talking about us now as a corporate family, but every principle is the same in our personal lives. That we all have deficiencies. And our enemies, our adversaries, I'm going to call them our adversaries because when we think of enemies, sometimes we think of a guy with horns on that's a demon, you know, a guy far away. But we all know what adversaries are because some of them are formerly they were close friends and some are family members. So the word adversary can make maybe bring the situation closer to home. Enemy seems like such a big word, but that's what an enemy is. It's a person that's intentionally maligning you. They're twisting and distorting what you believe and what you do with the intention to malign you. That's the intention. And many of them formerly had close relationships with you and that's why it can be so painful. But in such a time, I want you to know this. It's a learning opportunity. That even enemies, they can have a fragment of truth. Your most accusatory critics can tell you something of your own deficiencies. And if you'll search for the tiny pearls in the midst of the mud they're slinging, I tell you, our enemies can become a free research team for us. They're studying you and they're studying me. They're studying us or whatever situation you're in. And they're seeing blind spots that aren't that apparent to you. And if you have a spirit of confidence in the Lord and a teachable spirit, you can take a step back. I mean, you can get some amazing insight that you would not normally have received. But not only will we see deficiencies like in our character, we also see deficiencies in our heart and our emotions. Meaning, we find out when somebody attacks us that we have more insecurity than we thought. We thought we were doing everything for the Lord and just only for Him. We find out that our reputation is more important than we thought it was. And the Lord says, well, I already knew that, but you didn't know that. And it gives us a chance to work the muscle, realign ourselves to the Lord. And we actually get stronger in the process. We see our deficiencies more clear and we see our heart, the gaps in our heart, our insecurities, our fears more clear. Well, it's not only a learning opportunity, it's also a season of promotion in the spirit. That when it's an intensified season of attack, because you've been standing for truth. That's the topic I'm looking at right now. Standing for truth as Jesus would define the truth. Well, if you're in an intensive attack, a season of intensive attack, the Lord uses that as a season of promotion. A few months will go by and you won't see it. But you look back five, ten years later, you will see that is the season where things went forward and what the Lord was entrusting to you. Now, people don't feel that on the front end. I've got a little bit of perspective on this. I've been through a few of these seasons in the last 30 years and they last for a year, two or three. And there's kind of some spikes in those seasons. And then there's an ebb and a flow. Then there's an ebbing and then it kind of lifts. And you look back and every single time when I evaluated, it was a time of going forward. It was a promotion in the spirit. But you have to respond right for it to end up as a promotion. So if you know it's a promotion and the intensifying, that's a tip-off. That's a tip-off. The enemy is wanting to strike to take you out before the next season takes place of increase in promotion. But if you get that, I mean, not that you like the season of attack, but you look up and you feel that you can just kind of imagine the Lord winking at you saying, hey, it's going to work. And you think, yes, I don't like the attack. It doesn't feel good. But I see the fruit of it. And I like the seasons of promotion. Well, thirdly, it's to our advantage because it's a privilege to stand with the Lord and to bear His reproach. And what I mean by that is that when we stand for truth that is near and dear to His heart and we bear reproach because we are standing for what's dear to Him, He takes that personally. Many things that Jesus said and the apostles in the New Testament, many things they said, they are politically incorrect. I mean in a major way. Politically incorrect. I mean the subject of salvation only through Jesus is a highly offensive, politically incorrect subject in this hour of history. I mean really incorrect. So the idea of hell, the idea of morality, there's moral standards, that troubles even people in the church, not just people outside the church. Well, the issue of Israel that the Lord has on His heart, that is one of the most politically incorrect subjects there is on the planet. The subject of the end time storyline that's in the Bible. That it's dear to Jesus, it's His plan. Most people just back away from it and say, I don't want to mess with that, that's just volatile. The subject of God being a bridegroom God. The subject of wholeheartedness where we bring all of our strength into the relationship and we give our all. I find that is actually the most offensive of all. The topic isn't offensive because if you say love God with all your heart, everyone says that's cool. But when you start breaking it down, it's invasive. I mean it really stirs up trouble in the body of Christ, even that subject itself. But these are dear to the Lord, these kind of subjects and many more as well. And not that any one group would capture everything dear to the Lord, but anything that you're standing for that's dear to Him that causes reproach because it is politically incorrect in the church and outside the church in many circles. When you say Lord I'm doing it because I love you. It's a privilege to be and have that opportunity to do that. I mean you're only on the earth in this life for a moment and to have that in your story, in your history with God. I mean that's a blessed thing. In Acts chapter 5 verse 41, when the apostles were whipped versus taking a stand for Jesus, they beat them with whips. I mean you can be whipped with, beat with whips or beat with words. Both of them are real. And here in Peter, we'll look at in a moment, Peter is mostly talking about slander and reproach and being reviled. He's talking mostly about words, about people speaking twisted, distorted things about what you believe and what you do in order to malign you intentionally. And three times in 1 Peter, he makes a direct reference to slander, reviling and reproach because 1 Peter is all about bearing trials. And it is in the early church, I mean they were really killed just like some people around the earth are being killed for Jesus. But it was mostly he was dealing with the subject of being maligned verbally and your reputation being hurt in the eyes of others and the believers feeling the pain of that. Again, he mentions it three different times in the book. In chapter 2 verse 23, 316 and then again in 4 verse 13 and 14, he addresses this subject straight on. Well, not only do we see the advantage of it, we have a right perspective, but we want to respond right. We want to respond in the spirit of Christ. We want to respond with love and with blessing and with confidence. That's the response that the Lord is after. And the third reason I'm addressing this message and I will a number of times throughout the year, not week after week, but here and there, is that we would not be intimidated or become anxious or fearful. Those are all really saying the same thing. So that we respond wrongly. Where we draw back in fear from our mandate because we, oh no, people are all against it. This must not be good. And we can get intimidated and draw back and the Lord says, no, no, don't respond that way. And also don't respond by entering into the spirit of accusation. In Revelation 12, verse 10, Satan's called the accuser. And what Satan does as the ultimate accuser of the brethren, of the body of Christ, he often uses believers to accuse believers. He shoots these fiery missiles. It talks about in Ephesians 6, he shoots these fiery missiles of accusation and he many times will use a believer to release a fiery missile of accusation against another believer. Well that's bad. But what's worse is if you're the believer that's attacked and you respond by shooting missiles back. So believer one is operating in a spirit of accusation and then now you, believer two, are entering in the spirit of accusation. And the devil says, excellent. That's exactly what I was after. To get the spirit of darkness in the relationships within the body of Christ. And what happens when we get into an accusatory spirit, we get into an argumentative spirit, we draw back from our mandate. Another thing that happens is that we change the conversation. The enemy wants to change the conversation. And what I mean by that is, I've been asked by people over the years, because I've had several of these seasons, and I won't answer. I just have never, have and by the grace of God, never will answer my accusers publicly. I'll meet with a one-on-one and answer, but I won't answer how they've twisted and distorted what I'm saying publicly. I won't go line by line and answer it. I won't name their names. I won't do it publicly. And besides in leadership circles, I won't do it privately. And over the years, that's really frustrated some of my friends. They go, come on, just say, just give us some one, two, three, what really happened. I'll say, I'll tell you what I believe. I'll tell you what I teach. And what I believe and what I teach, I've done before you. And that's what I've done for years. And that's the posture I'm having. And some say, why? And I've given a few of the reasons already. But one of the reasons I don't, if you answer the accusation, and this is true of your own life as well. I'm just giving my own personal example, but this is true for you. But if I answer those accusations, I change the conversation. The conversation of our ministry right now, and it has been for many years, is the beauty of Jesus, winning the lost, building the prayer movement, preparing the people of God for wholeheartedness in the first commandment. There's many of these subjects. That is our message. Seeing the church function as a spiritual family is something we're really focusing on in this last season. That's our message. The enemy wants to change the conversation, so our message is who's right and who's wrong, and who really did it and who really didn't. And I refuse to let the enemy shift our message. I'm just not going to do it. And I'm saying that to you for your own personal life as well, because the enemy wants you to shift the conversation of your life by getting caught up with the spirit of accusation. Don't do it. Stay locked in. Stay, you know, keep focused on what the Lord's put before you. But not only does our public conversation change if you answer those accusations, also your internal conversation changes. And what I mean by that, when you start answering accusations publicly, something strange happens. That's why I always have mercy on the people that accuse people in public formats, because if you start answering publicly and then you accuse back even though you don't mean to, you do, you end up posturing yourself to have to defend those accusations. And then lots of your conversation shifts around you defending it. Then internally, you're thinking about the accusations. You're talking to yourself about your accusers. You're talking to your friends about the accusers and what they said and what you said. And the Lord will whisper in your heart and say something like, you used to talk to me. You used to talk to me about my kingdom and who I am and about what I'm doing to you. Now you're only talking to yourself about your enemies and you're only talking to your friends about your enemies. What about me? The conversation in you has shifted. And beloved, if that's what the enemy wants, because if he can get that conversation to shift, he wins. And that's what he's all about. But the word of God is so clear of how we're supposed to respond in these kinds of ways. Okay, let's look at just a few of the passages here on the handout. Let's look at 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 16. Now this is, again, he's three times in 1 Peter, he's referencing the issue of slander and reviling, which are really the same thing, practically the same thing. And he says, he charges them to keep a good conscience. And a good conscience, he's appealing to how they carry their heart before God. That's what the conscience is. He's saying the way you and God talk and relate, that's what I'm appealing to. He said, so that the thing in which you are slandered and those who revile your good behavior they will be put to shame. And the way that the slanders put to shame, not that some horrible thing happens in their life, that's not the point that Peter's saying, they're put to shame, meaning the thing for which they slandered you down the road in God's timing, it becomes apparent that you were exactly the opposite of what they slandered you about. They're put to shame in the sense they're silenced. They're put to shame in the sense that the accusation is proven wrong about your life. But the problem is, there's a time delay. The Lord doesn't answer right away because the Lord's more interested in you and I, and everybody else in this kind of situation, which is the whole body of Christ actually, he's more interested in me aligning my heart with him and learning to operate in love while under pressure. We're more interested in looking good and having our reputation restored. He's more interested in us aligning with him and growing in love under pressure. And so therefore there's a time delay. Now I don't like the time delay, but he's committed to us growing up in him. And he says, this is good for you because what I have found in 30 years of observing this, and I'll say this to some of our future leaders as well as those that are leaders now, if the Lord has given you a ministry assignment and you have leadership in that ministry assignment someplace in it, one thing I've learned is that people that slander and malign you, it never ever hurts the ministry assignment long term. It feels like it does in the short term. Like accusers rise up and it looks like everything is lost. Some supporters back away, some advocates that are connected to you, they back away. Immediately it's like, oh no, oh no, oh no. You go fast forward a few years and take a peek back. You'll find out never did it hurt your ministry assignment in any long term way. Meaning that which God has put in your hands, it's stronger and better. It takes a little while. It takes more than a few weeks or a few months, but it always is better. Now the first couple rounds, I've only been through a few of these rounds, but a few of them, oh, I mean at first it was like everything is lost. And of course it's not even close. This is a time of promotion of the spirit. You're going to grow in your heart. You're going to get more connected to me. You're going to learn about your deficiencies. I look back in a few years and everything was stronger. And I thought, well, wow, where did all the bad stuff go? I mean, the accusers are still there, but huh. Then, you know, a little reprieve happens. A few years go by. Then there's another little, a swirl of attackers that rise up that twist and distort and oh no. And then it turns out better as well. Again, a couple rounds of that. I mean, it took me a while to figure it out. I went, hey, this actually ends up better. I mean, I wouldn't vote for it. I wouldn't pray for accusers, but it is better. Like, wow. And the Lord's answer is, yes, that's the point. So young leaders, when you go through a season like this and you're in some other place and you're new in your ministry assignment, don't waste a good trial. Don't waste a good trial. And don't spin out thinking God forgot you. I assure you, a few minutes down the road, you look back and nothing was hurt. Nothing long term. I mean, for a minute, things are kind of disrupted, but you stay with it. And I tell you, don't get caught up in the spirit of accusation. And you will be pleasantly surprised that there's actually increase in going forward. Okay, let's look at paragraph B. Peter goes on to say, we're still in Peter. He said, Beloved, verse 12, 1 Peter 4, verse 12. He says, don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing was happening to you. Verse 14, he defines the trial. If you're reproached, he's talking about slander still, for the name of Christ, for standing for truth. And again, if you stand for what's dear to the Lord, you will be resisted and attacked outside the church and inside the church. So because inside the church, not everybody is laying hold of or believing or buying into what is dear to the Lord. They pick a few things, but they don't pick some of the other things. And so they rise up and attack it. Now, no group buys in or understands or lays hold of everything that's dear to the Lord. But when you see a group down the road that's different, don't attack them. Just bless them and leave them alone. I mean, if you don't understand what they're doing, just say, I mean, many times, I don't get it. And I think, well, maybe it's dear to the Lord. What do I know? And so, because what the Lord has on His heart is bigger than any one group will lay hold of. But here in verse 14, he says, if you are reproached for the name of Christ, you're blessed because the spirit of glory will rest on you. And what Peter means, that in a season of heightened attack, you will have a heightened, I mean, an increased sense of the spirit of glory resting on your life. That is, if you respond right, you'll have that season of glory, I mean, that spirit of glory resting on you. So what is the spirit of glory when it, I mean, the Holy Spirit's in us and on us all of our days after we're born again. But we're talking about a distinct heightened increase of the spirit of glory resting on you during seasons of unusual attack and assault against you, if you're standing for the truth. Now, this spirit of glory, I mentioned it already, there's a, you're in a season of promotion in the spirit. You look back, you'll see that season, you'll mark the calendar and look back, you'll see things increased in terms of what God entrusted to you. But the spirit of glory is more than that. I have experienced this a little bit over the years. You have a increased tenderness in your heart with God, an increase of understanding of the Word, an increase of feeling the nearness of God on your heart. And then that season of persecution or that season of attack lifts, and it's not like it all goes away, but it kind of goes back to like it was. I remember talking to the man who wrote the book, The Heavenly Man, who was so fiercely persecuted in China. I mean, beat in prison multitudes of times, and one of the things that he said in our times of conversation, he's been a traveler around America the last number of years, and he's come here a time or two and he said, he goes, the spirit of glory on me when I was in prison getting beaten, I hated being beaten, but the tenderness on me was so distinct because I don't have that on me like it used to be because it's reserved for those times of intense season of attack. But again, we have to respond right in order for that to happen. But just know this, when somebody accuses you, even a believer, whether believer or unbeliever, because you're standing for the truth, and whether it's the truth of Jesus is the only way of salvation, or truths that are within the body of Christ controversial but dear to the Lord, know this, that none of those accusers get to vote about you in God's court. The only man that votes about you in God's court has scars in his hands, and he was raised from the dead, his name is Jesus. That's the only man that gets to vote on you. And so when accusers say, you know, this, that, and the other, I go, you know, I'd rather you didn't, but it doesn't change anything. And it doesn't even change people. I've not even seen people change when accusations come. What I see is what's in them comes to the surface, but I rarely see even people change. The people against you are just more bold to be against you. The people with you are more determined to be with you, and the people on the fence, they stay on the fence and they wobble about for a few months. I don't know, I've rarely seen anybody change substantially what they think or feel. It just comes out with greater energy, but almost nothing changes. And I've looked at that over the years, and I go, well, what's all of this hoopla about how horrible everything is? It isn't. That's the point that Peter was making. Look at verse 12 here again. He says, Beloved, don't think it's strange concerning this fiery trial. Now, the fiery trial, again, I've said it, in Peter, he is focusing on the subject of slander and being reviled, verbal trials. Although he is clearly involving, they were physically beat. But in chapter 2, verse 23, he talks about reviling. Here he talks about reviling. And in chapter 316, that's the subject he's talking about. He says, don't think some strange thing is happening to you, that you're being picked on in a special way, that something's not fair. What Peter's really saying is, don't be shocked when this happens. Don't be so surprised. In other words, expect it on the front end. Don't be offended and confused. Well, believers are saying this, and the Word of God says, yeah, read the Bible. That's what it says. People will do it. Some born again, some not born again. It's just people will come against you. Well, new leaders or new believers, they are so not thinking this, and so when it happens, it so disorients them. And they cry, oh God, oh God, what's happening? Why, why, why? And the Lord probably doesn't say it this way, but He might say, read your Bible. I told you all through the New Testament this is what would happen. It's in the Bible. Look at church history. Don't think it's strange. All through church history, anyone that stood for truth gets maligned. That's how it works. Now, one of the reasons why we want to know this, and Jesus really says it over and over, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, and well, all through His teachings. You're going to be maligned because He doesn't want our expectation in a wrong place. So when it happens, we're all confused, and then we get offended at the Lord and filled with fear, and we retreat, and then we accuse and we argue. We get defensive, and the Lord goes, no, that's not at all. It's a very different approach that I want you to have. Well, some people, their paradigm of the kingdom is that they're on a cruise ship. They think of the grace of God and the leadership of Jesus. They'll be more popular. They'll be more liked. They'll get more money. They'll be happier. They'll have more energy. Things will just be better. The grace of God, the glory of God, the goodness of God, and the Lord's, the biblical point of view is we're in a wartime mentality. We're not on a cruise ship, and if you think you're on a cruise ship, and just everything is getting easier, happier, you're going to just have perpetually more friends, more people agreeing with you, it will confuse you. If you know you're in a war, it makes sense that flaming missiles of accusation are being launched against you. Just don't launch them back. That's the big point that I'm wanting to focus on. Oh, I want the spirit of glory to rest on me. Look at paragraph C. Jesus said, then, Matthew 24, verse 10, many will be offended and will betray. Now, offense is stage one. Betrayal is stage two. The people that betray are only betraying because they are offended. That's why they're betraying, because they are offended. So, you can see there's a progression there. Now, when Jesus uses the word, then, that's a key word. He's talking about in the generation the Lord returns. He's talking about an escalating of intensity. The intensity of offense will increase. Now, I've said this for many years. It's my opinion. It's not a revelation. It's not a prophecy, but it's my opinion that we're in the early days of that generation. It may be a little bit longer. It may be a little shorter. And maybe it's the next generation. It doesn't matter to me which it is. Maybe after that. I don't know. I don't have a prophecy. I don't have a revelation. I've looked at the biblical signs of the times from the lips of Jesus and the apostles, and they're escalating on a global level for the first time in history. Many of them are on a global level, and it's a remarkable reality. And so, we may be further out, or maybe it's not so far out. I don't know. But here's the big point. The big point isn't to know exactly. The point is to know there's an escalation of the positive and the negative the closer you get. And by seeing that escalation, it girds you to respond in a right way. Well, Jesus said there's going to be an escalation of people offended. And people get offended for several reasons, but then it grows into betrayal. Now, betrayal is a deeply relational word. Two strangers don't betray each other. They might attack each other, but they don't betray because there's nothing to betray. Betrayal implies a meaningful deep relationship. We're talking about friends. Family members is what we're talking about here. Betrayal is the most painful thing. Some people would say it's more painful to be betrayed and to be slandered by endear friendships than it is for the physical persecution. I don't know. I don't know exactly how that works, but I know that betrayal is very, very painful. Look at Matthew chapter 10, the next passage. Jesus takes this subject of betrayal, and He tells us the degree to which betrayal will go. Now, betrayal will be at many levels, but this is the degree. He says it will even be brother betraying brother, physical brothers as well as spiritual brothers. He goes, it will even go to that level. And He says father betraying their children, children betraying fathers. In other words, it's going to reach an intensity in that generation, and it has through history at times, but there's going to be an intensity about it. Verse 35, Jesus says, I've come to set a man against his father. Now, that's an intense statement. Now, that's not a balance statement, meaning Jesus would say something, principles opposite of that in another context, so He wasn't giving the whole story in its full balance. He says there is an element of what I'm doing, and it would actually set a man against His own father. Now, verse 35, that's not exactly the verse you're going to use, you know, on Christmas Sunday, but this is the teaching of Jesus, and He goes on in verse 36, and He says a man's enemies will be those people in his own household. His enemies will be in his physical family, and his enemies will be in his spiritual family. All different combinations that He elaborates on here in Matthew chapter 10. Now, in what sense did Jesus come to set a man against His father? What He's really saying is this. He goes, I have a message, and I have values, and I'm not backing down from them, says the Lord, and I'm not going to let you back down from them either, even if your dearest relationships don't embrace my message and my values, you can't back down, because I'm not backing down and I won't let you back down. That's what He's saying in this passage. Now, that doesn't mean that every time you're in a context with somebody, you're in conflict, you've got to bring up the point of contention. You know, last night in our Q&A time with the students, you know, some of them thought, you know, I want to be a faithful witness, so every time when I'm there, I want to make sure I bring it up. I go, no, no. That doesn't mean you push the point every time you have an interaction. That's not what He's saying. But at the same time, you're not backing down from your posture. This is important and dear and from God. And in the sense of Jesus not backing down and not letting you back down, but you have family members and friends that don't like that message and those values, Jesus said, that is the sense of which I've come to bring my message to the forefront, and I've come to fill the earth with my message, and you are one of my messengers. He's got millions of messengers, and I'm not letting you out of this. You're going to stand for truth if you love me. And in that sense, this betrayal scenario unfolds. Luke chapter 12, He says the same thing again. And then verse 51, look at Luke 12 verse 51. He goes, do you suppose I came to bring peace on the earth? I tell you, not at all. I mean, not at all like Jesus. Well, you're the Prince of Peace. Well, He knows what He's saying in this context. He's going, let me just be real clear what I'm doing, because He is the Prince of Peace, and He brings unity, and He prays for unity, and we pray for unity. But at the same time, it's unity based on His terms, not just unity based on somebody else's terms. It's unity around Him and what is dear to Him. That's the unity that He is contending for. Now, when He asked the question, do you suppose I came to bring peace on the earth? What He's saying is, what do you expect is going to happen if you're true to me? You're just going to get more friends? Life's just going to get easier? You're just going to have an escalating increase of money and favor and happiness and ease? He goes, no, that's not what's going to happen. So adjust your expectation right now. The American dream is not in the Bible. We get our expectations from the Word of God, from the lips of Jesus. We don't look at the culture, form our dream around the culture and the media. We form our dream around what Jesus said. And I'm telling you that He said there will be conflict because He loves His message, and He loves His values, and He's committed to filling the earth with them through people who love Him. And that is you. And that is millions of other groups or whatever the number is all over the earth, millions and millions of believers. Let's go to top of page two just in this next few moments. I'm just going to touch a verse or two here. Top of page two, look at paragraph B. Jesus said, bless those who revile you. They say all kinds of evil against you falsely. They say it falsely and they say it intentionally. They twist and distort on purpose. They actually know they are. He says, I get that. He says, but verse 12, rejoice. He goes, because you have rewards in eternity and you have the spirit of glory resting on you right now in this age. And you're transformed. It's a learning opportunity. It's a promotion in the spirit. You interact with the Lord. You have the privilege of standing with the Lord and reproach. What a glorious reality. Now look what He says in Luke chapter six, verse 22. He says, blessed are you when they exclude you. I wanted to just point out this word. There are times, I don't know if there's anything more painful to some people. I mean, it's a very common feeling of pain to be excluded by a group that you were once included by. That is so painful. And Jesus said, I want you to know on the front end, that's going to happen. When it happens, don't be confused and don't be mad and don't enter into the spirit of darkness, the spirit of accusation. Understand you're bearing this because you love me. Yes, you have deficiencies. We have deficiencies. It's not an issue we don't have deficiencies, but it's an issue of standing for truth. And when we see the deficiencies, we need to all be committed to excellence in our character, our doctrine, our leadership styles, our ways, and we correct the deficiencies in as much as we see them. Now look at what he says later on in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, verse 44. He says, I want you to operate in the opposite spirit of accusation. I want you to love your enemies. I want you to bless them. I want you to do good for them. I want you to pray for them. I actually want you to pray for them. Now, God has called the church, not just prayer ministries, not just IHOP and prayer ministries, the whole church. God has called every believer in some degree to be an intercessor. The devil wants you to be an accuser, not an intercessor. So the issue is that when you're attacked, are you going to be an intercessor, actually interceding for the one attacking you is what we're talking about? Or are you going to be an accuser? Are you going to answer accusatory missiles from Satan with accusatory missiles from Satan? Or are you going to be hit by the missile, deflect it because you know the truth, and then become the intercessor, praying for the believer that's accusing you falsely. Jesus said, that's the posture I want you in. If you get in that posture, number one, the accusation doesn't get in you and capture you and imprison you. I mean, when accusation gets on the inside of anybody but a believer I'm talking about right now, you get in bondage to it. I mean, you think about it all the time. You're answering it in your mind. All your conversations are around it. You get in bondage to it. You pray for that person attacking you. You'll stay free on the inside. And you stay, you pray for that person attacking you. You will actually have tender emotions for them. You know, on the front end you say, there's no way I could have tender emotions for them. No way whatsoever. But I tell you, you pray for them. You'll love whoever you pray for. And I remember in my early days, first, you know, rounds of this, you know, or even before at intense time, you know, I'm in my 20s and in those early days of ministry and I got some adversaries accusing me and, okay, the sermon I'm out, I'm teaching it. I might as well try it. You know, if I'm going to teach it, I should do it. Lord, bless, ugh, that's weird. Lord, bless the guy. Well, don't bless him too much. Bless his kids. Yeah, that'd be good. That's the same, isn't it? Lord, he loves his kids. And I found it was hard, but as I did it, my heart changed. I mean, it really does change. If you pray for your believer, if you pray for a guy accusing you, a believer, it will shift the way you carry your heart. And I remember one time the Lord whispered in my heart that he says, you know, this idea came to me, and I know it was from the Lord, that in the resurrection, you'll be dear friends with those born again believers that are accusing you right now. You'll be great friends forever, for billions of years. So you have a few months or a few years where they're saying bad things about you. You've got billions of years where you will really delight in one another. And you just take a step back and go, you know what, I'm just going to start entering into that just a little bit ahead of time. Okay, let's go to paragraph D. Well, no, paragraph C. We'll take just a minute on each one of these. Paragraph C, 1 Peter 2, 23. There he is again, talking about reviling. He says, when Jesus was reviled or slandered, he did not revile in return. But he suffered. He endured it. He didn't, he didn't, when he was, when he suffered, he didn't threaten. But here's what he did. He committed his cause to the Father. And he said, Father, you judge righteously. In other words, you vindicate me in your time and in your way. I will trust you. Vindicate me in your time and in your way. I won't vindicate myself. I can imagine Peter around the campfire after some men accused Jesus, the leaders of Israel. And Peter says, you know, Jesus, tell us the real scoop on that leader. Jesus said, I'm not going to revile. Even now, Peter, I'm not going to do it. My Father will vindicate me in his time and his way. And Peter said, this is the kind of model we have for going forward. Let's end with paragraph D. Jesus tells us that, now I'm talking about how you respond to your accusers here. The same principle, Matthew chapter 18 here. Someone's accusing you, a believer. Go to the believer in private. Don't accuse your believer publicly. Or don't even answer him publicly. Go to him in private. I tell you, if we obeyed this one command of Jesus, so much conflict would go away. So much of this unnecessary confusion would be averted if believers would go to believers in private. Well, they started. If they went public first, the Lord says, that's their sin against you. But now you go to them in private. You don't go to them in public. Just because they violated my word, doesn't mean you should violate my word. Don't do that. Go in private. And he says, if you go in private, you have a chance to win your brother. What I found out is that, if you really want to win your brother, I'm talking about the accuser. Who's accusing you. The brother that's accusing you. You want to win him, you want to restore the relationship, go to him in private. You want to win the argument, go to him in public. Go publish it on Facebook, and you may win the argument, but you won't win the relationship. You may win the argument, but your soul won't be free. You'll posture yourself. Now you're stuck in a defensive posture of having to defend your defense. You defended yourself, now you're going to defend because the next group attacks you, and then you defend, attack, defend. The Lord says, if you go in private, you got a chance to win your brother and restore the relationship. You go in public, you are trying to win an argument, and that's not where restoration takes place. That's not redemptive. Now, the last point I'll make here is that the social media generation, a lot of young people and older as well, they think, well, everyone's doing it. Beloved, we don't take our instruction from what's popular in our culture. The fact that everyone's doing it on social media doesn't mean Jesus approves of it. Don't answer accusations by setting the record straight on how bad somebody else is, your accuser, on social media. Don't do that, and if you've done it, have the integrity in that sphere that you did it, put in there, I see the error of my way. That was not operating in love. I repent of that before God. I'm done with this argument. Back out of that sort of thing. Have the integrity to walk in love, if you've done it, and get out of that. A lot of young people, they say, well, that's where it's at, is in the social media, and I say, it's for me and my house. We're doing it Jesus style, not taking our cues from the culture. So, if you really care to win, do it in private. Well, the guy won't meet me in private. Well, then, ask the Lord to make a way, and if the Lord wants you to meet him in private, you'll run into him in the grocery store. Well, if you don't meet him there, he'll have a flat tire on the road, and guess who drove by? Good old you, and you help him with his flat tire. That's a made up story, of course, but I mean, the Lord will make up a way for you to meet with that guy if he wants you to. Don't answer accusers with an accusing spirit, and don't answer them in public. Amen and amen. Amen.