Respond, Don't React

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Respond, Don't React

Message 1: What to Do About Mean People

August 18, 2024 • Pastor Mark Reynolds • 1 Samuel 25:2–22

Give

This message is the first in a new two-week series, "What to Do About Mean People." We focus on how our impulse to get even perpetuates conflict and multiples our problems. If we can resist this impulse long enough to ask ourselves a few questions, we can respond (instead of react) in a way that honors God and diminishes the power that mean people try to hold over us.

Beyond Even

August 25, 2024 • Pastor Mark Reynolds • 1 Samuel 25:14–44

When mean people hurt us, our natural impulse is to get even. But reacting in anger perpetuates conflict, increases the control that mean people hold over you, compels you to violate your values, and remakes you in the image of your enemies. Thankfully there’s another way, a way that honors God, builds our identity in Christ, and diminishes the power that mean people hold over us. Jesus modeled this third way in the New Testament, and Paul talked about it too, but it is also taught in the Old Testament by a woman named Abigail. Check out this message to see how best to deal with the mean people in your life.