Jacob's Well Church

We're so excited to be BACK after some time, with great new episodes for late summer and early fall! Pastor Paul Berthiaume and Worship Pastor Joshua Skoyen look back at the "Bullies" message series, and look ahead to the new "Inner Life" series.

Continuing with the Relationship Dance, Gina Young talks about some of the dance patterns that may arise in marriage. Beginning with the healthy steps of pursue-pursue, problems begin to arise when the couple begins to fall into the pursue-withdraw pattern. If these problems are not addressed, a withdraw-withdraw pattern might emerge.

In this first segment Gina Young introduces the concept of the Relationship Dance. Using the idea of a dance, if two couples are in sync, they seem to flow around the dance floor effortlessly.  However, when we get out of tune or there is a break in our rhythm, problems begin to emerge.  Gina introduces the concept of FAT (Feelings, Actions, and Thoughts) to help couple analyze where their dance may be off.

In this final segment of the Relationship Dance with Gina Young, the message addresses those marriage relationships in unhealthy patterns. Using the acronym TEMPO (Trigger, Emotion, Meaning, Protective action, and Organize), Gina encourages individuals to identify what they are experiencing and to have conversations with your spouse.

In life we will face bullies–Powerful people, overwhelming situations or even voices in our own heads that try to control us by filling us with fear. The use shame to make us doubt ourselves and shrink back.  Learning to appropriately respond to bullies is one of the keys to life.  David showed us how to respond to Bullies in the early part of his life.  Jesus is the ultimate example of how to overcome bullies.

Similar to David's battle with Goliath, we will all face bullies. Bullies that will use their voices to talk over us, to bring shame into our lives, and to steal our voice. But we can learn how to identify those bullies' voices and move towards something even greater. We can find hope in the Voice of Truth and it will help us find our voice once again.

You have permission to set aside unhealthy expectations and live only to the expectations God calls you to!

When facing bullies, there's a new perspective that we learn from David which can change the whole narrative of our lives.

The interaction between David and his brother Eliab on the battlefield against the Philistines teaches us an important lesson–Through the indwelling of the Spirit of God, there is an alternative to fighting or fleeing from Bullies. 

God is writing a redemptive story and he invites us along, we just need to set aside our past pain, present problems, and personal prejudices to see it.