10 Nov “The Emptiness Experiment | Part 6 The Gospel’s Answer to Difficult People’

Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 10

ANNOUNCEMENTS

DEEP END PODCAST: Tuesday nights at 7:00p.. Come out and be a part of the audience. You can get your free tickets HERE

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-deep-end-with-tim-hatch-season-3-acts-tickets-69301714293

CLASSES; Baptism class is every 4th Sunday of the Month. at 11:30 / Growth Track runs the first 3 Sundays every month at 11:30 – this is a one and done registrants only need to attend one session / Starting Point runs every 1st and 3rd Sunday at 11:30 – details and descriptions can be found on the registrations which are located under Events on the HUB.

PROVIDENCE RESCUE MISSION: We go out there as a team on the 4th Sunday of every month to minister, cook and serve. See Christ MacEwen (chris@waterschurch.org) if your group is interested in helping on a given Sunday.

CHRIS IS LOOKING FOR A GROUP TO FILL DECEMBER AND HE WOULD LIKE TO START SCHEDULING 2020. IF YOU AND YOUR GROUP WOULD LIKE TO SERVE AT THE MISSION PLEASE EMAIL CHRIS ASAP!

ECCLESIASTES 10

This is the Gospel’s answer not the therapist’s nor the pop psychologist’s answer.

Ecclesiastes 9:18 (ESV); Ecclesiastes 10:1 (ESV)

We have all been there.  We look forward to that job, the career opportunity we have been waiting for, and then ‘they’ show up.  The one person that stresses us out.

~ POINT: ONE person can have the POWER to make life STINK

If we are not careful, this will wear us out.

3 Hard Facts about Difficult People:

1. Difficult people are EVERYWHERE.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 (ESV)

Everyone is flawed, those we work with, those that dress nice, those that are attractive, even the smart ones are all flawed.

Q. Who are the difficult people in your life and what makes them so difficult for you to deal with?

2. Difficult people can affect ANYONE.

Ecclesiastes 10:5-7 (ESV)

Solomon is king. In the ancient world everyone has to suck up to the king so why is he writing about difficulty people? Most likely because of other kings who are being difficult.  Even bad people are leaders.  Our difficult people also have difficult people. 

Q. How do the difficult people in your life affect others?

3. Difficult people MAY not KNOW they are DIFFICULT.

Ecclesiastes 10:3 (ESV)

Unless you told them, these difficult people probably don’t know they are difficult.

Q. How have you confronted your difficult person(s)?

Point 3a: I MAY be difficult for someone else.

We are sinners and sinners hurt people.  We have to take a hard look at ourselves as well. We need to ask God to change the things in us that need to be changed.

Q. Who might you be a difficult person to and why?

4 Answers to Difficult People:

1. Do NOT RUN AWAY from Difficult People.

Ecclesiastes 10:4 (ESV)

It does not take much for a bad conversation to escalate quickly.

Ecclesiastes 8:2–6 (NLT); Ecclesiastes 8:3 (ESV)

Sometimes we are in a position where we don’t have the right to get away.  We have to approach the situation with wisdom.  We cannot run from it.  Life does not let us run away from difficult people sometimes and sometimes we must not leave.  We are the salt and light of the world.  Jesus may need us where we are.  One of the reasons we cannot run away is because at some point ‘they’ will show up again in our lives.  Different skin, same spirit.  We cannot run away from problems.  Biblical wisdom is never to run.

Q. What people have you tried to run from and how might ‘they’ have showed back up in your life (a different person wth the same spirit)?

2. LET difficult people DEVELOP you.

We need to tell ourselves that God has assigned us this course.  If we don’t pass, He has a funny way of making us re-take it.  In today’s ‘Me culture’ people complain about everyone else, but we need to ask God what needs to change in ourselves.

1. Develop patience in the midst of personal attack.

Ecclesiastes 10:8-11 ESV

Sometimes that person that comes at us will get bit themselves or fall into their own attack, so we must be patient.  We need to let patience be developed in us.  In trouble times we need to trust God.

Psalm 35:7 (ESV)

B. Develop wisdom in your response.

Our reaction to that person needs to get sharpened. Not to get them back, we need God to help us so we respond rightly before they wear us out.

Ecclesiastes 10:10 (NLT)

C. Develop some CHARM.

Ecclesiastes 10:11 (ESV)

We need to think about how we react, we need to have a spirit of niceness.  We should bless them.   Not everyone is going to like us.

Matthew 10:16 (NLT)

We assume everyone is good, but the Bible is clear we are all bad.

Q. Have you developed patience, wisdom and charm through dealing with difficult people and if so, how?

God can and will USE that difficult person in my life to make me a BETTER PERSON for life.

3. Watch what you SAY ABOUT or TO DIFFICULT PEOPLE.

Ecclesiastes 10:12–15 (ESV)

We need to be careful about what we say.  A fool is so busy talking, he can’t figure the simple things out for himself.  We need to use our words constructively with difficult people.  Life is 10 percent of what happens to us and 90 percent of how we respond.

Proverbs 15:1 (ESV)

Best Advice when Aggravated: NEVER WRITE it DOWN.

Ecclesiastes 10:20 (ESV); Matthew 12:34 (ESV)

Q. What example can you give where you have said something or wrote something you should not have to that difficult person and why was did it turn out not to be such a great idea?

4. Let CHRIST lead you THROUGH remembering He faced difficult people FOR YOU.

Jesus went through difficulty to get us.

1 Peter 2:21-24 (ESV)

The Gospel’s answer to difficult people is to REALIZE that I was the OBJECT of difficult CONDITIONS for Christ, and now I’m His HEALED REPRESENTATIVE for others.