Skip to content Ignoring the Naysayers — pt 1 (Negativity, Enemies, Discouragement, Discouraging) Sep 1 · 22 min ...more
Ignoring the Naysayers — pt 1 (Negativity, Enemies, Discouragement, Discouraging)
September 1, 2025 · 22 min
When naysayers criticize or mock your dreams, how do you handle that kind of negativity? Join Pastor Rick as he looks to the Bible for guidance on how to deal with the naysayers in your life.
Series A Toolbox for Life September 1, 2025 · 22 min · A Toolbox for Life
When naysayers criticize or mock your dreams, how do you handle that kind of negativity? Join Pastor Rick as he looks to the Bible for guidance on how to deal with the naysayers in your life. ...more Show the full description Show less When naysayers criticize or mock your dreams, how do you handle that kind of negativity? Join Pastor Rick as he looks to the Bible for guidance on how to deal with the naysayers in your life.
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Pastor Rick Warren shares the hope and encouragement you need to hear everyday. Listen in as he shares biblical truths to help you live the purpose driven life
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In this video 0:00 The Toolbox for Life: Skills for Success4:14 Facing Naysayers: Lessons from David18:49 A Testimony of Hope: Deanna’s Story
The Toolbox for Life: Skills for Success 0:02 Hey, everyone. You're in the right place. You're tuned in to pastor Rick's Daily Hope, where Rick Warren brings you uplifting messages from God's word every day to help you grow0:13 deeper in faith and live with purpose. Well, today we're beginning a powerful series called toolbox for life where Rick teaches 4 essential skills you need0:25 to succeed. Wherever0:37 You know, there are thousands0:43 You know there are thousands of, self help books in print today that will tell you this, they'll say all you need to succeed is desire and determination.0:56 There are thousands of books that will say all you need in life to succeed is desire and determination. And I'm here to tell you, that's just not true. It's just not true.1:08 I know a lot of people have desire and determination and have not succeeded in life because it's partially true, of course you need desire, of course you need determination. But you need more than that. You need the1:19 tools and you need the skills to succeed in life. For instance, a farmer can pray all he wants for a giant corn crop, but if he plants the wrong1:31 seed, if he uses the wrong fertilizer, if he doesn't give it the proper amount of water, if he doesn't use the right harvester,1:43 it's not gonna be a big crop no matter how hard he prays and how sincere he is. And if I'm growing a crop of wheat and I use a tomato harvester, it won't work. And if I'm1:55 growing grapes and I use a corn harvester, it won't work. You gotta have the right tools in life to succeed, and you gotta have the right skills in life to succeed. Now this is not what I say, it's what the Bible
2:07 says. If you look on your outline, the top verse is gonna be the theme verse for the next 8 weeks. It's Ecclesiastes 10 10 from the Bible, it's 1 of my life verses and it says this, If the
2:19 ax is dull and its edge is unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success. I want you to circle
2:31 the word skill, and I want you to circle the word success and draw a line between the 2 of them. You have to have the skills of success in order to succeed in life. It's not just good sincere desire and determination
2:43 and you know I'm I'm, you know I want to succeed, you have to have the skills. Now let's go back and I'm actually going to call this a toolbox for life because that's kind of what it is. It's a toolbox for life.
2:55 Part of my job as your pastor who loves you is to equip you, coach you, and give you the life skills that you need to be all God wants you to be and all you want to be in life. Now, the
3:06 Bible says, if an axe is dull and its edge is unsharpened, more strength is required. In other words, if you're chopping wood and you got an axe, you got a dull ax, it takes more effort,
3:18 far more effort to chop the wood. But if your ax is really sharp, it's just not as hard. And then it says skill will bring success. What that verse
3:30 is saying is work smarter, not harder. I know a lot of people in life who work harder than me. But it's not about working hard, it's about
3:42 working smart. And it says if you sharpen your ax, then it won't take as much effort for you to succeed in life. You'll have the right skills. Now, anytime
3:54 you come to church, like right now, you're sharpening your ax, because I'm gonna teach you some skills that will help you succeed in your life. When you're in a Bible study, when you're in a small group, when you take a
4:06 course, a class, you're never wasting your time when you're sharpening your ax because skill will bring success. Now, 1 of the skills and I'm just gonna start with
Facing Naysayers: Lessons from David
4:18 this and it doesn't have to be the most important, it's just the 1 I'm gonna start with in this series of 8 life skills that you need is learning how to deal with the negative people in your life, the naysayers that
4:28 wanna keep you from succeeding. Now, what is a naysayer? Well, I put a definition there in your outline. Look at this. This is from Webster's dictionary. A naysayer is a person who says
4:40 something won't work or isn't possible, a cynic who habitually expresses pessimistic views. How many of you have ever met a naysayer in your life?
4:52 Raise your hand. Don't look at them, just raise your hand. Okay. You may be married to a naysayer. Don't look at them, okay? As a person who's always saying it won't work, it isn't
5:04 possible, it can't be done. That's a naysayer. Now everybody who's accomplished anything in life had naysayers in their life. The Wright brothers, when they were starting inventing the first plane, people it'll never
5:16 work, you can't fly, human beings can't fly. When Moses is going across the desert, the the people are saying, We're gonna die in the desert, we're not gonna make it to the Promised Land. When people said, We're going
5:28 to the moon, people said, You can never go to the moon. Anything great that's ever been done has always had naysayers. Now, let me just start by saying this. The naysayers in your life, they're not bad people. They're,
5:40 they're not bad people. In fact, the there are naysayers in your life who love you. And there are naysayers in your life who actually want what's best for you. They're just mistaken. And
5:52 the reason why they're mistaken and they say it can't be done and you can't do it and all this, is because they don't know what god has said to you. God gave you a dream. I've always wanted to do this.
6:04 God gave you a vision, God gave you a mission, God gave you a purpose. And He didn't give that dream to somebody else, so somebody else isn't gonna understand that dream like you do. So
6:16 they're gonna tend to be negative about it. My life is a testimony of ignoring naysayers. Everything I've done in my life, people said, can't be done. You
6:28 know, it's not gonna happen, you won't do it. I don't believe it'll happen. And I have just ignored those naysayers and gone ahead and done what God told me to do. But they're not bad people, they just
6:40 don't have the dream you've been given. You know, 35 years ago when Kay and I were finishing, my Master's and then my Doctorate in Seminary, we were in Texas and I felt
6:52 like God said to me to start a church. And I I talked to Kay and I said, You know, I really feel in my heart, honey, that we're supposed to move to Southern California and start a church with no members, no money, no
7:03 building. I don't know anybody there and I've never been a senior pastor. What do you think? Now, my wife was not a naysayer. Actually, Kaye said
7:15 well, and this is the exact quote, it scares me to death, but I believe in God and I believe in You, so let's go. I've often wondered how would history be different
7:27 if my wife had said no? You wouldn't be sitting here today. There would be no peace plan, there'd be no purpose driven life, there'd be no a saddleback in 16 locations. If my wife had said no
7:39 naysayers can actually stop the will of God if we listen to them instead of listening to God. Sometimes people are, are good, godly people and they still don't get it. You
7:51 know, the Bible advises many times in Scripture that if you're gonna make a major decision you should talk to godly people, you should talk to wise people who've been following the Lord longer than you have, get their
8:01 advice. And so when I was thinking about moving to Southern California and start this church, I called up a guy that I had deep respect for. He was a businessman in the Midwest, he was actually a billionaire, But he's a
8:13 really strong, devout Christian, I had actually been on conferences with him where we spoke together. And I thought, I'm gonna call this guy up. So I called this guy up and I said, I think God is calling me, as I just
8:24 said, to go to Southern California, start a church with no members, no building, no support. I've never been a senior pastor, but I think this is what I'm supposed to do. What do you think? Now, I expected this guy to
8:35 go, oh, Rick, I admire your deep faith. You are really a man of God. This is really God's gonna bless us. You know what he said? He said, that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard.
8:47 That's the exact word. Now, I will tell you that about 15, maybe 20 years later, he called me said, that was the stupidest advice I ever gave. Because clearly, God wanted a Saddleback Church,
8:59 and he wanted to use you to start it. So even the good guys get it wrong sometimes. These are not bad people, they just don't see the perspective that you see. Now, for
9:11 every person who goes after their dream in life, there are 9 people who are scared to death to do it. They just all they can see is the problems, all they can see is the negatives. And they, they're like giants standing
9:23 in the way that scare them to death. So how do you face opposition and negativity? This is 1 of the first skills you have to learn as a leader. How to not let negativity get you down. You have to
9:35 learn as if you're gonna be a leader in life. So, how how do you learn that? Well fortunately we got a story in the Bible, that tells us and teaches us this skill. It's a story of David and Goliath. You know the
9:47 story of this little shepherd boy, young boy, who's out tending sheep, and Israel is fighting its big enemy, the Philistines. And the Philistines had had a had a guy who was literally a giant, he was like 8 or 9
9:59 feet tall, he was just a big, big man. And, he was scaring everybody to death, and he was taunting the enemies, and David says, I'll take him on. But long before that happened, David
10:11 had to face 4 other Giants. And that's what I want us to look at today, not David and Goliath, but what gave him the courage to take on Goliath because the 4 giants he faced before Goliath were all
10:23 naysayers. They were people who didn't believe in his ability, didn't believe in his competence, didn't believe that God was working in his life, and he had to, he had to struggle with those before he could go face
10:35 Goliath. So get out your pencils and let's look at 4 kinds of naysayers in your life and then how to handle the negativity of the people who tell you you can't do it, okay? If you ever needed to
10:47 take notes, this is a good week, take notes. Okay, so write this down. Number 1, the the first negative or naysayer that David had to face was actually his own dad, and so write this
10:58 down. His dad held him back. That's the first naysayer and oftentimes a parent will be somebody who holds you back and keeps you from becoming all God wants you to be.
11:10 In verses 12 to 15, all these verses are in first Samuel 17. It says this, now David was the youngest of Jesse's 8 sons and his 3 older brothers
11:22 enlisted in Saul's army. Saul was the king of Israel at the time. But David was held back to care for the sheep in Bethlehem. Circle the phrase held back. Have
11:34 you ever been held back by anyone? Of course, you have. Of course, you have. This is the first barrier to your dream. When somebody holds you back, it's a delay.
11:46 Now, some of you have been held back because of your age. Some of you have been held back because of your gender. You're a woman. Some of you have been held back
11:57 because of your race. Some of you have been held back because of your ethnicity, or the color of your skin, or the way the language you speak. You may have been held back
12:09 because you weren't as educated as somebody else. You weren't promoted because you didn't have, something that somebody else had. You all remember this in school? There were people who were
12:21 more athletic than you. There were people who were more musical than you. There were people who were more academic than you. And you felt
12:33 held back, I'm sorry. I, I, I am as your pastor, I'm sorry. The fact is, everybody in this room has faced some kind of discrimination at some point in time. And there are naysayers who
12:45 will tell you, You can't do it, you're not the guy, you're not the right person, you're not good looking enough, you were held back because of your appearance. Everybody has, has faced this And,
12:57 sometimes it will actually be people who love you. A husband, a wife, a mom or dad, a brother or sister, somebody in your family, a friend. David's dad wanted David to be
13:09 a shepherd for the rest of his life, and yet David had already been anointed as king. Now the first barrier in your success plan, write this down, is delay. Because when God
13:21 gives you a dream, it never, never, never happens instantly. He gives you a dream, He says, This is what I'm gonna do in your life, and then there's a time lapse. There's a waiting period.
13:32 There's always a delay where God is getting you ready while He's getting the plan ready for you. This is the first barrier, the delayers in your life who hold you back and keep
13:44 you from from moving forward. David's dad didn't think he was old enough, or even experienced enough, to go fight on the battlefield with his brothers, or for that matter, even be
13:56 king. Now, let me tell you a little back story on this. The first king of Israel was a guy named Saul, he's king right now. Before he's even dead, God tells Samuel, who is the prophet, the holy man of Israel
14:08 at that time, says, I'm gonna tell you who David's, who, who Saul's successor is, and I want you to go anoint him as king. And he says, I want you to go to the town of Bethlehem, to a guy named Jesse, and ask for
14:20 his sons. So, Saul I mean, Samuel goes to Jesse and says, God's told me to come and anoint 1 of your boys as the next king of Israel. And so, Jesse
14:32 brings out his 7 oldest sons, parades them by Samuel, you know, Nah, not that guy. No, God says no to that guy. Next. And, you know, and he's going, No, no, no, no, no. And he
14:44 gets to the end, he goes, you got any other sons? And and David's dad thought thought so little of David. He goes, oh, yeah. Well, I got the runt. I got the baby. He he's out in the field playing
14:56 with the sheep right now. And he goes, bring him in. And he brings him in, and he says, Saul goes I mean, Samuel goes, that's the guy, and he anoints him as the next king. Now, David's just a young boy. There are many,
15:08 many, many, many years and many, many problems between when God tells David, You're gonna be eventually the king of the entire nation. And when he actually becomes king, there's always a delay. So, his
15:20 dad held him back. Now, the second nay sayer actually was the society around him or the culture around him or the conventional wisdom, the popular opinion write this down number 2,
15:32 everybody else was afraid. And that fear kept held David back. Everybody was afraid of this guy Goliath. The prevailing view in Israel that was that this
15:43 giant who was on the opposing team Goliath was unstoppable that he was unbeatable. And Goliath had created this climate of fear and culture of fear and everybody
15:55 said, It can't be done. This guy cannot be taken down, he's just too big. And so, everybody in the nation was discouraged because they, they got a secret weapon, they got this giant
16:07 guy and we have nobody. Now here's the second thing that will hold you back and that is discouragement. The first is delay, and it could be a parent who holds you back, and the
16:19 second is discouragement. And that's when everybody around you thinks it can't be done. Everybody around you thinks it's impossible. Everybody around you is living in fear. And this can come,
16:31 discouragement can come from anywhere. Verse 8 to 11 says this in the Bible, Each day, Goliath would stand and shout at the ranks
16:43 of Israel's army. Why do you come out here and line up for battle?' Goliath says. Choose 1 man to fight me and, if he's able to kill me, then we'll become your
16:55 subjects, but if I kill him, then you will become our subjects and serve us. So he's saying, look, let's not even have a battle. Let's just do mano a mano, 1 on 1, man on man. You pick your best guy,
17:07 take your best shot at me, whoever wins will will own the country. Day after day, Goliath taunted them, saying, this day, I defy the ranks
17:19 of Israel. Now when Saul, that's the king, and the Israelites heard this, everyone was deeply shaken and paralyzed with fear. Now notice the
17:31 situation here. 1 guy is creating a climate of fear in the entire country. It's demoralized everybody, they're gripped with anxiety, they're terrified, they're traumatized,
17:43 nobody is is, willing to do anything. They're all paralyzed by fear, hopeless, so frightened they can't do a thing. Have you ever worked in an office like that? Where everybody there's
17:55 a culture of fear in an office. Everybody's so afraid of making a mistake that the big guy, the boss will can you, will will you know fire you, and and this climate of fear in grips. So
18:07 nobody has any new ideas, nobody even tries anything in the office because everybody is afraid of losing their job and they are all just trying to protect their turf. Sounds like a lot of places where people work.
18:18 There's and and people go, well, there's nothing we can do. This was the prevailing opinion. This was the conventional wisdom. This was the prevailing mood of culture.
18:31 It's a problem too big, nobody can solve it. Now, I want to tell you something. Conventional wisdom is often wrong. The majority is often wrong. Public opinion
18:43 is often wrong. Majority doesn't make something right. There's a lot of things our culture believes that aren't right.
A Testimony of Hope: Deanna’s Story
18:56 What a fantastic message from pastor Rick. You know, Daily Hope is changing lives every day. Here's pastor Rick with a letter from 1 of our listeners.
19:06 Hi, everybody. You know, God often uses the hardship in our lives to prepare our hearts for his message that he wants to give us. And that's what a woman named Deanna believes happened
19:18 when her world just collapsed all around her. Deanna wrote to me saying this, pastor Rick, it's been on my heart to send you this thank you. I hit a very low valley in my life,
19:29 and I finally figured I must be doing life wrong. I had lost my job. I lost my husband, and I almost died from birth complications. I went from a high
19:41 paying, high profile, white collar job to picking up cigarette butts and vacuuming construction job sites to support myself and my son as a single mom.
19:54 But I started listening to your Daily Hope podcast on the way to work, and I later listened to all that I could during my time vacuuming and cleaning. 1 day, on my way to work,
20:06 driving up a mountain road and going around the corner, I heard you give a call to anyone who had not yet given their life to Jesus. And you know what? I prayed with you that prayer.
20:18 And Jesus has been in my heart ever since, and I am so grateful. It actually is bringing tears to my eyes. Deanna, did you know God created you just
20:30 in order to love you? And he's so pleased to accept you into his forever family. In fact, the Bible says that the angels had a party in heaven when you opened your life to Christ and received him into your
20:42 life. And guess what? I'm celebrating with them right now. Welcome. You're now my sister in the Lord, and I'll see you in heaven if not sooner. Now I wanna thank all the rest of you who support Daily Hope
20:54 because it's because of your support that Deanna was able to hear the Daily Hope messages while driving in her car. You know, when we get to heaven, it's gonna be really fun to meet all the people who are there because
21:06 you helped share the gospel with people all around the world through Daily Hope. So thank you, friends.
21:13 We sure hope you've been encouraged by pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And if you have, would you consider supporting us? Just go to pastor rick dot com. Again, that's pastorrick dot
21:25 com. Hey, be sure to join us next time when we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
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