Blessed with Persecution | Joel Osteen

God bless you. It's great to be with you today. And I hope you'll stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, social media. And you can come visit us in person. We'd love to have you be a part of one of our services. I like to start with something funny. I heard about this mother. She had two young sons that were known for their mischievous behavior. Any time trouble occurred, they were certain to be a part of it. She decided to take them to see their pastor one at a time. The pastor said to the first boy, son, where is God? He sat there silently. He asked again, where is God? Still no reply. The third time he asked, the boy bolted out the door, ran home, and told his brother, God is missing, and they think we did it. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess, my mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus' name.

God bless you. I want to talk to you today about blessed with persecution. We all believe for God's goodness on our lives, and we stand on His promises that will lend and not borrow, that our children are mighty in the land, that we are crowned with His favor. That's releasing our faith. That's what activates God's blessing and favor. But what we don't always realize is the blessing never comes alone. The blessing brings jealous people, being criticized, misunderstood. If you expect everyone to be for you, all your friends to celebrate your promotion, your coworkers to be happy, you got that new house, you're going to be frustrated. Blessing stir up jealousy. Favor causes people to become critical. Promotion brings resistance. You can't have the blessing without opposition. It's a part of the package. When you understand this, you don't let it bother you. You don't try to fight all those battles and straighten everyone out, convince the jealous people to be for you. You stay on the high road, let God deal with the opposition while you enjoy the blessings. This is what Jesus told His disciples. They had left everything to follow Him, made great sacrifices, put their careers on hold. Peter asked in effect, what are we going to get in return?

What's in this for us? And Jesus didn't get upset. Peter, you're selfish. You should be grateful that I chose you. No, Jesus wanted to be good to them. He said in verse 29, anything you've given up from me, houses, brothers, sisters, property, you will receive a hundred times more in this life. Not in the sweet mind by. Not when you get to heaven, but in your lifetime. God was saying, I want to promote you. Open doors and give you a house that you didn't build, cause you to break barriers, set new standards. Blessings you've never seen. But He said, there's one caveat. One qualification I have to make clear, this is all going to happen with persecution. Not I'm going to bless you and all the persecution will heal. I'm going to promote you and the negative chatter will stop. I'm going to give you so much influence, there won't be any trouble. Know the blessing attracts trouble. Favor attracts criticism. New levels attract new devils. Here's the key, don't take it personally. It's not you they don't like, it's the favor on your life. Some people can't handle you being blessed. They're fine as long as you stay at the same level, don't make any waves, but when God promotes you, doors open and you start shining brightly

that stirs up jealousy in people. Brings out a critical spirit, he'll try to discredit, minimize, make you look bad. It's tempting to get upset, want to straighten him out and why are they doing this? Well stay in peace. You can't have the blessing without the persecution. Sometimes we don't enjoy the blessing because we're fighting with the opposition. Upset over what they said, trying to get rid of something we can't get rid of. Can you handle the blessing? Can you deal with the persecution? Not let the criticism get under your skin and not fight battles with small minded people? The enemy would love for you to miss the blessing because you're focused on the persecution. The truth is you can't change that. You're not the problem, the blessing is the problem. The flip side is if God took away the blessing, then people would leave you alone. If you didn't have his favor causing you to shine and stand out, set new levels, nobody would bother you. But for where God is taking you, the assignment on your lie, the greatness on the inside, there's gonna be some of these 100 times blessings where God catapult you ahead. Takes you where you've never imagined. Now the key is you have to learn to enjoy the blessing despite the persecution.

You can't be blessed in a greater way without having greater persecution. We want big blessings with little opposition, but it doesn't work that way. Paul said, "A wide door of opportunity is open to me "and there are many adversaries. "Big doors, big opposition. "But can I encourage you? "We serve a big God. "You don't have to fight it. "It's not your job to fix people. "Change the critics' mind, stop the politics at work. "That's God's job." The scripture says, "He will silence the lying lips. "He shut the mouths of hungry lions to save Daniel. "He can shut the mouths of people "that are trying to discredit you. "He'll vindicate you better than you can vindicate yourself. "Stay on that high road. "Overlook the offenses. "Don't pay any attention to the negative chatter. "You have a destiny to fulfill. "You have an assignment to accomplish. "Your time is valuable. "Don't waste it fighting battles "that you're not supposed to fight. "Trying to stop something that God says "is a part of the package. "The blessing comes with persecution." When we hear that word persecution,

we can think of oppression by the government, people put in prison for their faith, even martyrdom, losing their lives. And that's part of it. But the word Paul used for persecution, they're in the Greek, is much broader. It means pressure, resistance, harassment. It's talking about people coming against you that resent the blessing, that try to stop your progress and ruin your reputation. Jesus was warning his disciples, "I'm gonna bless you in great ways, "but don't be surprised when it stirs up trouble. "When you get unfair judgment, "when opposition comes out of the woodwork." Here's the good news, the blessing on your life is stronger than the persecution. The trouble cannot stop your purpose. The jealous people, the ones that try to pull you down, that's a sign that his favor is on you. The hundredfold blessing often will come with hundredfold chatter. Don't sweat it, it's a part of the package. See, God could have just as easily said, "I'm gonna bless you with a hundredfold "and take away all the trouble." Quiet all the naysayers, you're not gonna have any pressure. That wouldn't take any faith. God wants to see what you're made of.

Will you trust him when things come against you that are not fair? Will you stay in faith when you're misunderstood? When people are talking bad behind your back? When that co-worker does his best to get on your nerves, you are tempted to lose your cool, tell him off, no, come back to that place of peace. Those are battles you're not supposed to fight. Now, mark of maturity is when you can enjoy the blessing despite the persecution. When you don't spend your valuable time trying to get rid of the opposition, focused on who did you wrong, gotta put out this fire, you just move forward in faith, being your best, thanking God that he's fighting your battles. For 17 years, I worked behind the scenes here at Lakewood and I didn't really have any enemies to speak of, very little persecution or opposition. Life was good, but when my father passed and I stepped up to pastor the church, I saw that hundredfold blessing, so to speak. I never dreamed I could do this, never dreamed we'd have the former compact center, I'd have books and media, but along with that great blessing came great persecution. People that didn't understand, they would try to discredit, pressure, opposition, trouble. If you focus on that, you'll miss the blessing. You'll spend all your time frustrated

trying to fix things you can't fix. The persecution is a sign that you're blessed. They're not against you, they're against the favor God put on you. God gives you grace for every season that you're in. When I worked behind the scenes doing the television production, I loved that. I thought I'd do that the rest of my life, but when God promoted me and I also had the ability to ignore the negative chatter, to overlook the insults, to enjoy my life despite the persecution. And sometimes the reason we're living upset and frustrated is we're not tapping into that grace. We're trying to do it all on our own, fix this person, respond to this comment, pay that coworker back. That's not your job. You have the grace to ignore it, to rise above it, to enjoy life despite what's coming against you. What are you focused on? The blessing or the persecution? To get rid of all the persecution would mean that God would have to get rid of all the blessings. Acts chapter five, the disciples were seeing favor in great ways. People brought the sick out of the villages and they were healed and his big crowds were gathering. Church was multiplying. The whole city was impacted. They'd never seen this kind of influence and favor.

Well, you'd think everybody would be happy. People being healed and freed and uplifted. But verse 17 says, the high priest and his friends reacted with great jealousy. Some people are so small-minded, they can't handle the blessing on your life. Instead of celebrating people being healed, the church growing, the high priest got jealous. He had the disciples arrested and put in jail. Here they had just seen great favor, the biggest victories of their life. Now they're seeing great persecution. Many times you're not being persecuted because you're doing something wrong, it's because you're doing something right. You're being good to people, going the extra mile at work, loving your family, making a difference. Yet people try to push you down, discredit you, don't let it bother you. It's not you that's offending them, it's the blessing on your life. It's what God put on you. You can't stop it and the good news is they can't stop it. You stay in peace and God will take care of the opposition. In the middle of the night, while the disciples were sleeping, an angel came and opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. The angel told them to go to the temple and share the good news.

Early the next morning at daybreak, they were back in the temple teaching. The blessing on your life doesn't make you untouchable, but it does make you unstoppable. God wouldn't have allowed the opposition if it's gonna keep you from your purpose. When doors close that are unfair, don't worry, God knows how to open them. When people do you wrong, jealousy, trying to discredit you, they think they're pushing you down, but it's gonna backfire. God knows how to use it to push you up. They think they're discrediting you, but God knows how to prepare a table in the presence of your enemies, how to make you shine in front of those that tried to make you look bad. The next morning, the high priest sent for the disciples. He's gonna put them on trial and hopefully get rid of them. But when his men went to the jail, the disciples were gone. They went back and told the high priest the guards were still outside, the doors were still locked, but when we went in, nobody was there. God knows how to supernaturally turn things around. He opens doors that no man can shine. You are not at the mercy of what's come against you. They may have more power, influence, resources,

but no weapon formed against you will prosper. You are unstoppable. Jealous people cannot stop you. Sickness can't stop you. Injustice can't stop you. The past can't stop you. You may be facing great persecution today, things that don't make sense. You're being good to people. Honoring God and taking care of your family. God sees what's happening. He knows the sacrifices you've made and how you've done your best to keep him first. That persecution is not how your story ends. The same God that delivered the disciples is about to deliver you. The same God that parted the Red Sea from Moses. The same God that kept King Saul from killing David. The same God that brought Joseph out of that pit. He's working in your life right now. It's gonna happen quickly. Something you can't explain. You didn't see it coming, but suddenly the opposition is gone. Suddenly you're vindicated. Those enemies will become your foot stores. You will walk on what tried to hold you back. It's because the blessing on your life makes you unstoppable. Yes, persecution comes, but the blessing will override it.

Yes, people will do you wrong. The high priest and his men were scratching their heads. They didn't know what had happened. About that time word came that the disciples were in the temple teaching. They rushed there and when they saw them, the scripture says they were afraid that if they treated the disciples wrong, the people would kill them. Notice how the tables had turned. The ones that used to persecute them were now on defense. They were concerned for their own life. God knows how to turn things. You don't have to fight battles. God sees the injustice. He hears every negative word spoken against you. He knows when people are jealous, hurtful, and trying to discredit you. It's not you they're coming against. It's the blessing he put on you. Don't take it personally. God takes it personally. He's your defender. You remember in the scripture Saul was the greatest enemy of the church. He went door to door and would drag people out of their homes and have been thrown into prison. Not just in Jerusalem, but he traveled to other cities trying to stop the message of faith. The scripture says he was breathing out murderous threats against the followers of Christ. One day while he was on the road to Damascus, with letters in hand from the authorities to arrest believers, a light suddenly shined down on him. He fell off his animal and couldn't see him. Laying there on the ground, a voice boomed out. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He was confused. He said, "Who are you?" The voice said, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting." What's interesting is Saul had never met Jesus. He'd never heard him teach. They'd never interacted. Jesus could have said, "Saul, why are you persecuting my followers?" Or, "Why are you persecuting the church?" But he said, "Why are you persecuting me?" See, when people persecute you, God takes it personally. When they come against you, really they're coming against him. Jesus said in effect, "Saul, you're not attacking them. You're attacking me." Can I tell you, God knows how to defend himself? Nothing can stand against him. This is why you don't have to try to fix everyone, straighten them out, stop that noise, have a new perspective. They're not attacking you. They're attacking the blessing God put on you. You don't have to defend yourself. You have a defender. The Most High God will take care

of your persecutors. But here's what I've learned. If you take matters into your own hands, God will step back and let you do it on your own. He won't override that choice. That's going to cause stress and frustration. Can't sleep at night. Don't let God deal with it. He'll take care of your souls. He'll deal with those that are jealous and try to discredit and leave you out. He knows how to knock people off their horse, so to speak, how to change their minds and cause them to see you in a new light. A friend of mine worked for this company for many years. It's very faithful, hard worker, always doing more than required. But his supervisor was never for him. He was jealous. He'd leave him out of meetings and try to discredit him. It looked like my friend was stuck, being limited by this unfair supervisor. But the scripture says, "Never avenge yourself but leave the matter in the hands of God." That's what he did. He didn't get bitter. He didn't try to hate the man back. He just kept being his best, shining where he was. He understood with the blessing comes persecution. One day, the owner of the company needed something done, but the supervisor was out of town. So my friend worked with the owner that week. He got him all the reports he needed, sat in meetings and gave him advice. The owner was so impressed. A few months later, he decided to restructure the staff. He called this man in and the supervisor. He said to my friend, "I'm making you the vice president. From now on, you'll run the company and report directly to me." He turned to the supervisor and said, "From now on, you'll report to him." God knows how to vindicate you. You don't have to force these things to happen. Prove to people, get even, change their mind. No, stay in peace. Keep doing the right thing. You can't have the blessing without some persecution. If you'll stay on that high road at the right time, God will turn things in your favor. He'll take care of your souls. They're not attacking you. They're attacking the blessing and favor God put on you. You don't have to defend what God has done. God will defend himself. and God will move the wrong people out of the way. He'll silence the negative chatter. He'll promote you in the presence of your enemies. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians, God will pay back those who persecute you, and He will provide rest for you who are being persecuted. Maybe you're in a situation now that's not fair.

God sees the injustice. He sees you doing the right thing, taking the high road, overlooking the offense. Your time is coming. There's already a moment that God has scheduled to turn things in your favor. What you could make happen will suddenly fall into place. The vindication, the promotion, the honor. Don't sweat the persecution. You wouldn't be persecuted if you weren't blessed. People would leave you alone if you weren't that talented. You wouldn't have opposition if you weren't a masterpiece, make it a difference. The fact that you have persecution is a sign that the blessing of God is on your life. He's promised rest is coming. It's not always going to be a struggle. I know you're strong. You can withstand, but that's not how your story ends. God's about to lighten the load. Lift that burden like He did for my friend where it's not a struggle. You don't have to overlook the injustice anymore. God is going to step in and pay back those who persecute you and give you rest from a season of struggling to a season of ease. But sometimes when we're blessed and we have jealous people and things coming against us, it's tempting to shrink back. Just, man, I don't want to stir anything up.

Don't apologize for God's blessings. Don't water down your dreams and hide your gifts so you won't make any waves. People won't talk about you. If they can't handle you being blessed, you don't need them in your life. If they're going to judge you for shining brightly and fine fault because you're happy and generous and have a big vision, they are not for you. They get jealous, dust your feet off and move on. Don't waste your time with small-minded, petty, insecure people that cannot celebrate who God made you to be. You need people that cheer your own that are inspired by your vision that encourage you to go higher, that don't persecute you, they promote you. They're not jealous, they challenge you to become all. You were created to be. Genesis 26, there was a great famine in the land and everyone was struggling and trying to survive. Isaac was about to leave and find a more fertile place, but God told him to stay there and plant his crops. That didn't make sense, really, there was no water. Nothing could grow, but Isaac was obedient. He went out and seeded all of his fields. Well, the Philistines, that people that lived around him, they thought he was not all there. They laughed and made fun, but in a few months, the scripture says Isaac received a hundredfold harvest.

He had his biggest harvest in the middle of a famine. That's that hundredfold blessing that Jesus talked about. When you obey, when you keep him first, you're gonna see these times where God shows out in your life. If the story stopped there, it'd be great. Let's celebrate the blessing, but with the blessing comes persecution. The Philistines that thought he was so far out, verse 14 says they became jealous of him. They tried to make his life miserable. They clogged up his wells. Water was the source of life, but Isaac didn't fight with them. He didn't try to get even, defend himself. He knew it wasn't about him. It was about the blessing on his life. He kept moving forward and settled in another place. That wasn't far enough away. They clogged up those wells. It happened again, but on the third time, they left him alone. He said, "God has brought me to Rahoboth "a wide and spacious place." They meant it for harm, but God used it to take him to a bigger, more fruitful place. He was blessed before, but now because of the persecution, because he kept God first place, he came out better than even the hundredfold harvest. He was blessed in abundance. But like with Isaac, with the blessing comes a persecution.

With the favor comes the Philistines. They were fine as long as Isaac was suffering in the famine. Once he saw increase, they found fault. They stirred up trouble. The question today is, can you handle the blessing? Will you enjoy the favor despite the negative chatter? You can't have the blessing without the persecution. Maybe you need to have a new perspective. You'll never get to the place where you're so blessed that all the trouble goes away, the negative chatter, the jealousy, that's connecting to the blessing. What I'm saying is it doesn't have to bother you. That's not your battle. Quit fighting with people, trying to pay back, prove, defend. God is your defender. He sees what's not fair. Stay in peace. Keep honoring him. I believe and declare he's going to pay back those who persecute you. Like Isaac, you will flourish in the famine. Like the disciple, supernatural doors are about to open. The right people showing up vindication, promotion, a table in the presence of your enemies. In Jesus' name. And if you receive it, can you say amen? I'd like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life.

Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. We'd love to send you some free information on your new walk with the Lord. You can text the number on the screen or go to the website. But I hope you'll get into a good Bible-based church and keep God first place.