Hey there, and welcome to our live stream. Whether you're watching from home, on the go, or somewhere in between, we're glad you're here. At Harmony Hill, our mission is simple: awakening people from death to life in Christ.
And we believe that begins with moments just like this. Coming together to worship, to hear God's word, [music] and take steps toward Jesus. If this is your first time with us, or you're looking for a way to get connected, we'd love to hear from you.
You can visit our website, scan the QR code on the screen, or send us a direct message, and we'll be in touch. Today's services [music] include worship through song, biblical teaching, and a chance to reflect on what God is doing [music] in your life. So, get comfortable, grab a Bible, prepare your heart.
We're glad you're with us. Welcome to Worship on the Hill. Good morning and welcome to Worship on the Hill.
We are so glad that you've chosen to join us this morning, whether in person or online, we're so glad you're here. If this is your first time visiting, we would love for you to get the next step card in the seat back in front of you and fill that out. At the end of the service, you can drop it in the offering bag or walk across to the next step desk, where we have a gift for you from our church.
Good morning. This is my name is Michael Chissis, and this is my wife, Kelly, and my two boys, Andrew and Ian. And we have had the privilege of serving college students in our house for the past 7 years.
I tell you, those kids are inspiring, and they have an energy that we all wish that we still had. They are passionate about relationships. They are passionate for truth, and they are deeply passionate about making a difference in the world around them.
We have the privilege of having these kids in our house each week to open God's word, to share truth with them, to introduce them to truth, and then see what God does in their lives because of what the truth does in our hearts. He takes the brokenness that we can see all throughout this world and turns it into something beautiful. And God has taken this ministry that we've loved and he's told us to go to the other side of the world and do it in Thailand, to work with college students that have never heard the name of Jesus before.
And if they have heard the name of Jesus before, they don't know what he's done for them. It is an amazing opportunity, and we can't wait to go and minister to these college students. We are so excited to work on not one, but two college campuses in Thailand.
The first one is English-speaking, so we can immediately walk on the campus when we get there and start sharing the love of Jesus with these students. This campus is also unique in the fact that it has students from five different countries that attend school there. These students would normally come to the US to get their education, but due to visa restrictions right now, they are going to this campus, and we get to share the love of Jesus and the truth with them, so that they will get a foundation and a deeper understanding of what Christ did for them and how much he loves them.
So, that when they finish their degrees, they get to take this knowledge to their home countries—countries that none of us would be able to go and openly share the love of God. And so, we're so excited for this opportunity for God's ministry to continue even past Thailand into their home countries. The second campus is a Thai campus, and so as soon as we get to Thailand, we will start learning the language, so that we can expand our ministry to the second campus and share the love of Jesus with these students who currently don't have anyone sharing God's love to them.
And so, we're really excited about these opportunities that God has presented to our family, and we want to ask you to partner with us in this ministry. We want you to pray for us, because this is a huge transition for our family. We're literally moving our kids to the other side of the world, and we want your prayers as we step into this ministry that God has put before us.
We also ask you to consider partnering with us financially. We're currently at 83% of our 100% goal, and we firmly believe that God is going to get us there, and that he's going to use amazing people just like you to do that. And it can be as simple as giving up one cup of coffee a month or going out to eat one time a month.
That $10 a month, that $20 a month makes an impact, and we want you to partner with us in this way, because that's something you can do while still in the US to reach students on the other side of the world. We also have another opportunity for you to partner with us. We're doing a garage sale, because we're selling everything and moving across the world.
And so, we ask that you will come and share with your friends on May 1st and 2nd at our garage sale at the LOC, and you can even help clean out your house and find things you don't use anymore to donate to this garage sale on April 30th. If you have any questions or would like to know how else you could pray for us or how else you could partner with us, we have a table in the back, and we would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Uh, there is a video, and thank you again for letting us give you an update.
>> [music] >> Good morning, church. Listen up for some exciting [music] things happening here on the hill. All life group members, leaders, [music] and family are invited to celebrate God's faithfulness this year at our end-of-year life group celebration [music] on May the 2nd from 6:00 to 8:00 p.
m. at Chambers Park. A meal will be provided as we gather for a fun evening that includes [music] large group games, dominoes, and other games in the Chambers Park Rock House, free play time [music] around the park, and a special time of sharing testimonies of what God has done this year.
Kids are welcome [music] to come and enjoy the park as well, so bring the whole family. It'll be a great night of fellowship, [music] laughter, and encouragement as we join together in the faith and celebrate as a church family. Wondering what church membership is all about and why it matters?
Whether you're exploring or ready to take the next step, we invite you to our membership class Sunday, April the 26th at 10:00 a. m. You'll meet some of our staff and elders, hear the heart behind our mission and values, and learn what it means to be part of our church family.
To sign up, visit [music] our website or the church app. Join us for a special baptism [music] Sunday on May the 24th. It will be a powerful day as we celebrate life change and the work [music] God is doing in and through our church.
If you're ready to take this important [music] step in your faith journey, we invite you to stop by the Next Steps room today or call the church during the week to talk with someone about [music] what baptism means and how to get involved. There is nothing like publicly declaring your faith in Christ, and we would love to celebrate that moment with you. Attention all parents and youth.
Early [music] bird registration for our incredible kids, middle school, and high school camps is now open. Don't miss out on this chance to secure your spot [music] and take advantage of discounted rates for each camp. Free spaces are limited.
Register now to secure your spot and make memories [music] that will last a lifetime. To stay up-to-date with everything [music] happening on the hill, check your weekly bulletin, church app, or visit our website harmonyhill. church [music] for the latest updates and events.
Now, let's join together in worship. Said welcome and we're glad that you're here with us today and, uh, the, the, the Chissus family, we, I guess lovingly call them the Chissi here, which we don't have Chissuses. So, so, Bobby, Bobby Jacks calls them the Chissi.
So that's that's way we, we talk about them. A wonderful family and we're going to have a fellowship tonight with the choir and orchestra and the praise team from the, from the, the contemporary service just to go and and support them and see how we can help them. So church is reaching out to them and they're a wonderful family.
Look forward to to what God's going to do through them, uh, in the, in the future days as they take on this mission that God has called them to. How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. We're going to hear the word this morning.
We're going to sing about it this morning. Will you stand as we worship our Lord together? >> [music and singing] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [singing] >> [music and singing] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing and music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [singing] >> [music and singing] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> Song tells us that strength [music] will rise as we wait upon the Lord, our God, our redeemer.
To the saints. Here we go. >> [singing] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> Okay, you heard it once if you heard it before.
We're going to sing it again. Here we go. Strength will rise.
>> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [singing and music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [singing] >> [music and singing] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> Amen. Give the Lord a hand this morning. Thank you.
You may be seated. Lord, we love you today. Evermore I will love you.
Evermore [singing] I will serve you. Evermore I will glorify the name [music] of the [singing] Lord. Evermore I'll adore [singing] you.
Evermore bow before you. I will bless [music] your name. >> [singing] >> Okay, you heard it once if you heard it before.
We're going to sing it again. Here we go. Strength will rise.
>> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [singing and music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music and singing] >> [singing] >> [music and singing] >> [music] >> [music] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> [music] >> [singing] >> Amen. Give the Lord a hand this morning. Thank you.
You may be seated. Lord, we love you today. Evermore I will love you.
Evermore I will serve you. Evermore I will glorify the name of the Lord. Evermore I'll adore you.
Evermore bow before you. I will bless your name. >> [singing] >> forevermore.
Sing that with me. Evermore [singing] I will love you. Evermore I will serve you.
Evermore [singing] I will glorify the name of the Lord. Evermore I'll adore you. Evermore [music and singing] bow before you.
I will bless your name forevermore. Now you got Evermore [music] Evermore [singing] Evermore Evermore [music and singing] Evermore Evermore [music] [singing] Evermore [singing] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [singing] [music] [music] Evermore I will love you. I will serve you.
[music] I will praise you. Lord, I will bless you. [music] [music] I will bless your name forevermore.
I will bless your name forevermore. [singing] I will bless your name [singing and music] forevermore. Amen.
Yeah, absolutely. Let us now turn our hearts to the Lord in prayer. Let's let's go ahead and throw those prayer prompts on the screen.
>> [music] >> Uh, for the next few moments, I'd encourage you to pray and ask the Lord to give you grace for the challenges you're going to face this week. That's [music] that's sort of tied to what I'm going to be preaching about as we resume our David series. Uh, but just asking God for that grace for the challenges each and every one of us will face this week.
And then secondly, um, this weekend and this week we are, uh, privileged to have one of our partners in ministry, Paige Weezer, is in town visiting her family. Uh, and they are the ones that launched the Resonate, um, church of network or network of churches on college campuses. And so I thought it appropriate that we pray for God to bless the work of ministry done by Resonate Church, uh, this weekend and today as they meet.
And then I'm going to throw in a third one because we have six, six guys from our church who went through a preaching, um, class, uh, through our local association and they are preaching, some of them their very first sermon today across our, uh, association from Livingston all the way up here to Lufkin. And so if you think about them as well, pray for those guys that Lord would anoint them with the message they have. But let's take [music] uh, 45 seconds and to a minute.
You take as long as you need, but you pray [music] asking the Lord over these things and then the, the team will lead us. There are moments on our journey [snorts] following [singing] the Lord when God illumines every step we take. There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us as we try to understand each move he makes.
But when the path grows dim and our questions [music] have no answers, [singing] turn to him. Bow the knee. Trust the heart [singing] of your [music] Father when the answer goes beyond what you can [music and singing] see.
Bow the knee. Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the one who [singing] holds eternity. And when [music] you don't understand the purpose [singing] of his plan in the presence [singing] of your king, bow the knee.
There are [singing] days when clouds surround us and the rain begins to fall [music] and the cold and lonely winds won't cease [singing] to blow. And there seems to [music] be no reason for the suffering we feel. [music] [music] [singing] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [music] [music] [music] [singing] [music] [music] [music] [music] Circumstances in our life hit us at times and in places we never expect.
Lord, when [music] we don't understand those, as the song just said, help us to trust your plan, to trust your word, to trust your heart, to trust your strength and your power, and to trust your promises. Lord, to bow the knee to you. Lord, to lift [music] our our hearts to heaven, our souls to heaven.
And God, as you show us the way, help us to follow that without wavering. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive me of when I do.
And Lord, each and every day you've said that that [music] your mercies are new every morning, and we thank you for that, that we can count on it. [music] Lord, as the word is brought now, I just pray you will speak through Pastor Todd, and Lord, that our hearts will be receptive, our minds will be [music] will be sharpened and focused on you and what it is you have to tell us today from your word, [music] that firm foundation that we've talked about today, Lord, and we can count on you always. [music] We give you praise and glory and honor, and we do that forevermore, Lord.
And it's in your name that I pray, and everybody said, amen. >> [music] >> [music] >> [music] >> Good morning. Uh, it's been such a wonderful day already.
Uh, we're going to be continuing, uh, a series I started at the end of last year and sort of did a part one on the life of David from being anointed and leading towards when he actually becomes king. So, he's been anointed to be the king, but has not yet sat on the throne. And so, we are about midway through his his journey as we as we step back in.
We're going to be in 1 Samuel, which is in the Old Testament, in chapter 25 this morning. And leading up to where we've been, like I mentioned, Samuel has come and anointed David. We've seen him with that anointing go and slay Goliath.
We've also seen him come into Saul, the current king's home. And then we've seen jealousy and ugliness come out of Saul, and we get this sort of contrast between how Saul would rule and yet how David is to operate. And Saul has sought to kill David on multiple occasions, but David became friends with Saul's son, Jonathan.
And Jonathan even sided with David, knowing that from a fleshly perspective, Jonathan could have made a claim to be the next king, but yet he knew that it was to be David. And so, he put all his support behind David. And then through various circumstances leading up to where we are today, Saul and David have been in this back and forth, David on the run as Saul has been pursuing him.
And so, David has a mass of men, some fighting men on his journey, but he is still on the lamb, on the run, a fugitive. And today we see David encounter a situation which is new to this story thus far. We're going to see that David finds himself in a position where he is tempted to sin.
Now, up to this point he has acted righteously in every circumstance. But he is tempted. In fact, in the outline there at the very top, in this part of David's origin story, we see God graciously stop David from derailing his future when rash emotion almost led him to sin.
This idea that we can derail, you and I, we can derail what God's best purpose is for our life when we fall into sin. Um, I think about this story that I read this past week, a story of a train derailing back in 2013 in a Canadian town called Lac-Mégantic. And I probably have butchered that, but it's just north, uh, over the Canadian border from our state of Maine, uh, just just a few hundred miles north of of that border.
And what happened was this. Eight months before this event takes place, the main locomotive was having issues. There were warnings, and they did a quick patch job on it and put it back into service.
And then on the day that everything's going to unfold into a train derailment, that locomotive, the patchwork began to fail, and it began to spit oil and black and white smoke. And so, they stopped on the main track, and they're trying to let it cool down, and the conductor puts handbrakes, but it's on the main line and it's on a decline, and he is not comfortable, but the company says, "Go get some rest. It's going to be fine.
" A little bit later that same night, some sparks fly up because it's been spitting oil, a small fire builds up on the locomotive. The fire department has to come in and deal with it and they have to shut down that locomotive. They did not let the conductor come back even though he wanted to come and check and make sure everything was okay after the locomotive had caught fire, but when they turned it off, what they didn't realize is that when you turn the locomotive off, the air brakes begin to lose pressure.
And so over the course of the night, they lost pressure and because it was on a decline on the main line, it started rolling. No lights, no horns, running straight through town, got up to 65 miles an hour on a turn that is recommended to go at 10 miles an hour. This train was carrying a million liters, cuz it's Canada, of crude oil.
And it flies off the rail in downtown Lac-Mégantic. That crude oil explodes. 47 people died.
30 buildings destroyed. In fact, all of that crude oil went down into the sewers and then all of a sudden fire began shooting up through the manholes. The entire town, 39 of the buildings that did not that were not destroyed in the initial derailment, 36 of those 39 had to be torn down because of petroleum contamination.
I mean, just an utter disaster. Lives lost, resources wasted, a town devastated. And when you go back and do sort of the autopsy on it, there were so many warning signs that if they had just stopped and repaired 8 months earlier that locomotive without a patchwork job, but waited until it was fully done.
Or if they had not left it on the main line, or if they had let the conductor come back and make sure everything, like there's so many moments where that train did not need to derail. And what we're going to see in the story of David in 1 Samuel chapter 25 is that that's where David was heading. And yet God graciously stops him from derailing his purpose for him to be king.
And I think there's some things that you and I can learn from what it means to not have our life derailed by seeing God's gracious warnings in order to stop before we blow up our lives. So with that, I'm going to read the ver- the first 13 verses of 1 Samuel chapter 25. They'll be up on the screen as well.
Um, and then I'm going to be referencing the entire chapter, but this is what we hear in this part of the story. Chapter 25, verse 1. Now, Samuel died.
And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel.
The man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
Now, the name of the man was Nabal. And the name of his wife, Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved.
He was a Calebite. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent 10 young men.
And David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal and greet him in my name. And thus you shall greet him. Peace be to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.
I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you.
Therefore, let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David. " When David's young men came, they said all of this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited.
And Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who's the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters.
Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I don't know where? " So David's young men turned away, came back, and told him all of this. And David said to his men, "Every man strap on his sword.
" And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword, and about 400 men went up after David while 200 remained with the baggage. All right.
So this is maybe a story out of the David narrative that maybe you haven't read in a while or maybe haven't heard before. And so here are four things today that I think we can learn from the life of David. Number one, when emotions take over, we drift toward sin.
When emotions take over, we drift toward sin. So in this passage, we start with verse 1, a major shift in the book, actually a major shift in how God is dealing with his people because it starts in verse 1 that Samuel died. This is significant for a couple of reasons.
Samuel was both a prophet, but he was the last judge. If you remember from the book of Judges, Samuel is the last judge. So now he has died, which means we are transitioning to the age of the kings of Israel.
I mean, Saul is already there, but the people sort of forced their hand to get Saul, but now God is on his way moving from the judges to a king, to King David. It's, secondly, it's significant because Samuel was David's spiritual mentor. Samuel was the one who anointed David in a private ceremony at his home with the brothers who had been rejected around and his father watching.
Samuel is the one who encouraged David. David, along with all Israel, grieves. Samuel is dead.
Grief can be an emotion that sometimes when we let it overpower us, we can drift into sin. So then what happens next is there we're told of this new couple, Nabal and Abigail. And we get a description of them.
Some of you may feel like this is a description of your own marriage. Please don't point at anybody. Particularly the men.
The women it'd be okay because Abigail is described as beautiful and discerning and wise. But the man, Nabal is described as wicked and one who acts badly, behaves badly. And so we're introduced to them.
We also find out that they are very wealthy. I don't know what the exact inflation rate for 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats are, but that meant wealthy. And so they were at the time where they were shearing the sheep, which was a time of celebration because now they were going to make profit on the sheep they have cared for.
And so they are shearing the sheep. David hears that they are shearing sheep. And when, um, Nabal's shepherds had been guiding their flocks around, David had apparently come into an agreement to protect the shepherds and the sheep while they were in dangerous areas in Carmel.
If you don't necessarily know that from later in the chapter, it could sound like David is the mob and running a protection racket. It's like, "Hey, they were in our area. We didn't touch them.
Now, how about you pay me? " Right? But no, there was sort of this agreement that we're going to take care of them and we'll see that here in a second that even Nabal's men, um, understand that and and offer that with their own words.
And so David actually very humbly sends 10 men, which tells you what he sort of expected in return would be enough for about 10 men to be able to carry it. So not a small amount, but not overly huge. And so they send them and he says, "Ask them in my name.
" And it's very humbly. He says, "Your servant, your son David, we did this. We didn't harm.
We didn't take anything. Basically, we did not take any sheep as payment. We didn't eat any of the food from your men while we were guarding and helping out.
So now is the time for payment. It's the festival time. You've already are preparing a big meal.
If you could just set some aside, we would greatly appreciate it. " And so the servants go and relay that message. And then Nabal comes back totally backing out of the deal.
He says, "Who's David? Who's Jesse? You know what?
I've heard about a lot of people sort of breaking away from their responsibilities and just roaming around. Am I really to take my resources to pay these vagabonds? " So he's acting wickedly.
Leviticus 19 says very specifically, "Do not withhold wages from those you have come into an agreement. " And he has backed out. So the servants come back to David and let him know, "Hey, he does not want to pay.
" And notice how quickly David gets upset. He says, "Boys, strap up. " And then three times it says, "Strap up.
" And then they strapped up, and then David strapped his sword on, and he gets 400 guys together. And we're going to hear in a moment sort of what's going on in his heart, but what's happening here even even though he was wronged, even though Nabal is acting wickedly, this action is sin. Anger and grief often mix together can lead us to drift towards sin.
Anger, grief, pride. David's had some victories. David's gained a reputation.
There There may be an aspect of Nabal, "Do you know who I am? " Because the last thing my servant said was that you said, "Who is David? " So is he feeling a bit pride amidst his anger and grief?
How about mixing in pressure? David has 600 men and probably their families that he's responsible for, and they did a job. He's trying to get paid to make sure that he can feed and provide for the 600 men.
Grief, anger, pride, and pressure mixed together lead to let's strap up and let's go deal a little East Texas justice. Here's a truth in the outline. This is straight out of a Snickers commercial.
You're you're not you when emotions run hot. Uh, do we all understand this? That when we let our emotions run hot, we make decisions that are not wise.
We often find ourselves making decisions that can lead to sin. And this is exactly where David finds himself. The second thing that we can learn from this episode in the life of David is number two, God's warnings anchor us in what is true.
God's warnings remind us what is true. So here's what happens. While the servants go back to tell David and he's strapping up, another servant of Nabal's goes to Abigail.
Remember the beautiful, discerning wife. And he comes in and says, "Hey, just wanted to let you know what happened while you were out. Some men from David came.
They asked for fair trade. " He even tells Abigail, "David and his men were like a wall around us from the enemy. And your husband did not pay them.
" And then he actually says to Abigail something akin to, "And he's not a good man and not someone that can be reasoned with. So here I am hoping that maybe you can do something before disaster strikes our house. " And Abigail, a beautiful and discerning woman, immediately gathers a small payment, sends it ahead and says, "Go ahead and meet David.
I'll be right behind you. " And so you can sort of see David and the 400 hyped up on anger and indignation coming down, and Abigail and the gift coming up. And as they're getting close, we get this little dialogue from David.
David says, "Everything we did for him was useless. " So he's He's sort of reflecting on, "We did what was good, and now look what he's doing to us. " He says, "He's repaying evil for our good.
" And David says, "I swear an oath. We will not leave a single man alive in his camp when we get down there. " So things have escalated a bit as they're going down.
A mob mentality. Everybody's like, "Yeah! " And as they're coming down, Abigail's coming up.
In fact, one of the commentaries I was reading, the words that David speaks in that little speech are the most bitter words recorded from the lips of David in scripture. In fact, because 1 Samuel is largely about how David is different from Saul, even some of the ways that he's speaking actually sounds like Saul when he's in one of his tirades. And so David, who's the anointed king, is acting just like the king that God removed his hand from.
And now Abigail comes up and falls on her feet, I mean, falls to his feet, bows down and apologizes. She actually takes full ownership. She says, "My lord, please, it's my fault.
I wasn't there when your servants came and talked to my husband. " Now, let me just say something real quick that's really important about the Bible, particularly the Old Testament narratives. It's important to understand that there are some things that are descriptive [snorts] and not prescriptive.
What I mean by that is this. Sometimes the Bible is telling us what happened, exactly how it was, but it's not telling us how we need to do something. And here is what I mean by that.
Because then Abigail says, "For my husband Nabal is just like his name's meaning. " Which means fool. So this is descriptive.
This is not prescriptive that ladies, you can start calling your husband a fool and down talking him, but this is descriptive. She came and and said, "Look, my husband acted just like his name, like a fool. And I'm sorry I wasn't there to receive your men.
And I'm sorry I wasn't in the room. " And she didn't have to do that, but she's trying to de-escalate the situation. And she says, "Would you please accept these gifts?
" But then she reminds David of an important truth. She reminds him of who he is. >> [snorts] >> And this is this is what she says.
In verse 30, "And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause, or for my lord working salvation himself. " See, she reminds David, "You're the future king. The future king doesn't need to have blood shed that was not without cause.
The The future king, remember God has a plan for you. When he When he brings everything together and you're on that throne, I want you to be able to sit there without regret, without your conscience having a pang of, 'Oh, did I disqualify myself? '" She says, "If you will accept my gift and not bring your vengeance onto my household, it will be a better fit for who you really are.
" See, grief, pride, anger, and pressure are quick to make us forget who we really are. See, let me just fast forward to the New Testament. Jesus Christ, the one true king, laid down his life even though he was being treated poorly.
He was not getting what he deserved. He got what we deserved. And by doing so, for those who have put faith in Christ, we have now been called sons and daughters of God.
And so we need to be reminded of who we are. That sons and daughters of God don't take vengeance for themselves. Sons and daughters of God take a breath and don't respond out of grief, anger, pride, and pressure in a way that leads to sin.
We must be reminded who we are and how our station in life, how we are to act. We are to act with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, oh, and self-control. Here's the truth.
We need to remember that you and I who follow Jesus, we are chosen by God, so let him guard our reputation. Let him guard our reputation. Abigail reminds David, God made a promise to you.
You're a prince. Don't do something now that will derail what God has called you to. Don't let a moment of anger derail the witness that God has been building in your home, in your job, in your community.
The third thing we learn and moving quickly, God's warnings are a sign of his grace. It is God's grace when he warns us from sin that we are about to commit. In verse 32, David responds to Abigail having been confronted by her says, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who sent you this day to meet me.
" And he goes on to say, "And blessed be you, Abigail, for having the discernment to come and bring this to my attention, for you have saved me from bloodshed. " He says, "It's God's grace that you met me on this path before I could go and kill every male in that household. And it would not have been a God-designed for punishment.
It would have been murder and massacre. " He says, "Thank you, Abigail. " It's kind of like when we have those warning signs in our car that pop up, check engine light.
We hate seeing that sign because it means dollar signs. But at the same time, it is gracious because when we heed that and go get it checked out, we are avoiding calamity. We avoid being broken down on the side of the road.
We avoid something malfunctioning and losing the ability to control and maneuver our own vehicle. And yet, so many of us see the warning sign and go, "When I see some smoke, then I'll, when I hear it, when I hear a knocking sound, then I'll. " We used to rent vans from from someone who every time you would get into it, he would before you'd even crank it up, he would say, "Now, there's going to be a check engine light, but it really doesn't mean anything.
" That always made me feel so great. Getting ready to go on a long road trip. See, warning signs are grace.
That there is danger ahead. See, God saved you by grace from your sin, but it is not the only grace he gives you. He continues to give you grace to avoid derailing God's purpose and plan for your life.
The truth is, God may speak through his word, his spirit, or other people. He'll speak through his word. As you read God's word for yourself or as you are in a life group expounding on God's word and having discussion or as you sit in a sermon and preaching of God's word is given out, God's word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.
It will cut marrow and bone if we let it. It is a warning sign. In fact, there may be someone in this room or watching online that this very message is a giant check engine light today.
You're operating out of some hot emotion and you are on your way towards derailing what God has for you. It is grace from his word. It is also the spirit of God.
For those who've been following Jesus for any length of time, you you surely know what I'm talking about when I say that there are moments when you talk start to take a step towards sin and the Holy Spirit check engine light just comes on and it's like a an internal an internal, "Hey now. " And it's it's to make you pause and to reflect, but are we treating it like we often treat the yellow light in the green, yellow, red? My grandfather told me as I was driving, he was like, "Green means go, red means stop, yellow means go faster.
" And it's actually the warning that a stop is coming and the Holy Spirit inside of us is like, "We have been going green, now we've moved into yellow. " And how many of us just hit the gas to keep going rather than stop? And yes, God uses other people, other believers, someone as beautiful and discerning as an Abigail who will come and lovingly say, "Remember, remember what God has called you, son and daughter.
Don't do this. There There's a better way. Don't do this.
" What are the check engine lights that you might be ignoring today? Either from God's word, from his spirit, or even from other people. The fourth and final thing that we can learn from this passage is listening to God leads to blessing and protection.
Listening to God, this seems like so obvious, but listening to God leads to blessing and protection from derailing your life like that train in Canada. David says, "Thank you, Abigail. I will, you can go home in peace.
I am not going to harm anyone in your household. " And he goes home. Abigail then goes home.
She's going to tell Nabal what has happened. So, she's not just doing it in secret, she's going to come and tell him. But he's throwing a party and she says, "He's a little too full of the libations for me to tell him tonight.
" So, she waits till the next morning after the libations have poured out of him is what the Bible says. And then she goes to him and says, "This is what happened. This is what I did.
" And the Bible says that when she told him that, as he was sobering up, these sobering facts seized him and he fell into a coma. It said his heart became like stone, and 10 days later, he died. And the word gets back to David that Nabal has died.
And David praises God and says, "I was trying to be my own avenger. Oh, but praise be to God who has been my judge and acted appropriately to Nabal and kept me from bloodshed. " He He basically acknowledges God has been my judge.
And God has been a judge over this situation. The Bible all the way through says, "Vengeance is mine, thus saith the Lord. " And anger and grief and pride and pressure often lead us to forget that vengeance is his.
He will make things right. He will take up our cause. We don't have to do it.
And David is blessed and he is protected from the sin that he was going to commit, and now the train is not derailed and he is still on his way to the throne. And so, the final challenge this morning, before you act this week, pause. See if there's an emotion that's running hot and seek God to see if there are any warning signs [snorts] out of his grace to stop you from derailing your witness, your purpose, the plan he has for you.
I'm going to pray for us and we'll be dismissed. But if you're here today and you've never trusted Christ for salvation, David is simply a shadow of the perfect king that would come, Jesus Christ. One who always humbled himself, who fulfilled his purpose.
And if you're here today and you need to repent of sin and trust Christ for salvation, I'll be up here after I pray, would be honored to talk with you. You can go to our next steps area. Um, someone there would love to talk with you.
But if you came with a believing friend or family member today and you're more comfortable talking with them, by all means, talk with them about salvation. This may be your warning sign that you're heading to a life to be derailed if you don't know Christ. I pray that you will have today be the day of salvation.
But for the rest of us who know Christ, let us fulfill the purpose he has and listen to the gracious warnings when we begin to veer into sin. He is our judge. He is our shepherd.
He is our protector. Let us praise him in that way. Let's pray and we'll be dismissed.
Father, thank you that you do see us. You care for us. You don't want us to fall into temptation that leads to sin.
Father, I pray that you would use this message in each of us beginning with me, oh God, that we would act accordingly in a way that would be honorable and in a way that we could still stand and say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord. " It's in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great week.
