JOEL OSTEEN SERMON DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE : Pastor Joel Osteen wants to talk us about dealing with difficult people, he said he was going to title this dealing with friends, family, and coworkers because someone will be difficult, someone will get on your nerves, a coworker that’s jealous, a neighbour that’s rude, a relative that’s not for you. How you handle difficult people will determine how high you will go, if you treat them the way they treat you, then you’ll get stuck, if they’re disrespectful and you’re disrespectful back, that will keep you from going further.
The scripture says, “You overcome evil with good.” you never overcome disrespect with more disrespect; you never get ahead doing to others what they did to you, that’s a test of your character. God is seeing what he can trust you with, will you be the bigger person and overlook the insult? Will you stay on the high road and not get baited into conflict?
you only have so much emotional energy each day, it’s not an unlimited supply, it takes a lot of energy to get upset, to live offended, to think about what they said, to try to straighten them out. That’s energy you need for your dreams, to pursue your goals, to enjoy your family, don’t spend it on things that don’t matter. You can’t control how everyone treats you, but you can control how you respond when someone is rude, you don’t have to get upset when they cut you off in traffic, that doesn’t have to ruin your morning.
When a coworker leaves you out, you can’t control that, but you can stay in peace knowing that God is fighting your battles, when you take the high road, you’ll not only enjoy your life more, but you’re showing God he can trust you with more influence, with more favour.
Don’t go the next twenty years letting the same things upset you, the same coworker get on your nerves, the same grumpy relative steal your joy. They may not change; but here’s the key, you can change. Sometimes we’ve trained ourselves to respond a certain way, “if they say this, I’m going to get upset. if they leave me out, I’m going to leave them out. if your crazy uncle makes fun of me, I’m going to tell him off.”
The problem is you’re letting them control you, if they perform a certain way, it’s going to sour your day, why don’t you take the controls back? Jesus said, “Stop allowing yourself to get upset.” someone couldn’t make you get upset; you have to give them permission to upset you. You have to make the choice, “I’m offended, I’m discouraged, I’m sour,” some people know exactly what buttons they can push to get you bent out of shape. Next time they push those buttons, just smile and say, “not this time. I’m staying in peace; I’m going to enjoy this day.”
if someone is disrespectful, rude, always finding fault, they have issues they haven’t dealt with, they end up with bitterness, anger, insecurity, bottled up on the inside. Pastor Joel Osteen said sometimes that poison will try to get off on you, you have to stay on the offensive, he wants us to know that “they may be rude to us, but we can choose to say to ourselves, I’m not taking the bait, I’m staying calm; I’m going to be respectful, despite how they treat me.