Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / What to Feed an Angry Man Msg 924 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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What to Feed an Angry Man Msg 924 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Say, have you ever had to deal with someone who's
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  Speaker 1: lost his temper? I mean that person has really gone
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  Speaker 1: over the edge. Well, what do you do? How do
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  Speaker 1: you handle that? In our study of David's life, we
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  Speaker 1: have come to first Samuel twenty five, where our friend
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  Speaker 1: David encounters the foolishness and the wrath of a man
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  Speaker 1: whose name was Nabel naball, remember that name. Were it
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  Speaker 1: not for the cool headed wisdom of Nabal's wife, whose
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  Speaker 1: name was Abigail, well, the consequences for David might have
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  Speaker 1: been catastrophic. I've chosen to read portions of this narrative
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  Speaker 1: from the message, so you may want to just listen,
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  Speaker 1: or if you want to follow along, I'll begin first Samuel,
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  Speaker 1: chapter twenty five, beginning at verse two from the message.
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  Speaker 1: There was a certain man in Maon who carried on
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  Speaker 1: his business in the region of Carmel. He was very prosperous,
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  Speaker 1: three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and it was
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  Speaker 1: sheep shearing time in Carmel. The man's name was Nabol,
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  Speaker 1: meaning fool, a klebite, and his wife's name was Abigail.
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  Speaker 1: The woman was intelligent and good looking. The man brutish
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  Speaker 1: and mean. David out in the back country, heard that
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  Speaker 1: Nabel was shearing his sheep, and sent ten of his
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  Speaker 1: young men off with these instructions. Go to Carmel and
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  Speaker 1: approach Nabel. Greet him in my name, Peace, life and
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  Speaker 1: peace to you, Peace to your household, Peace to everyone here.
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  Speaker 1: I heard that it's sheep shearing time. Here's the point.
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  Speaker 1: When your shepherds were camped near us, we didn't take
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  Speaker 1: advantage of them. They didn't lose a thing all the
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  Speaker 1: time they were with us in Carmel. Ask your young men,
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  Speaker 1: they'll tell you. What I am asking is that you
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  Speaker 1: be generous with my men, share the feast, give whatever
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  Speaker 1: your heart tells you to your servants, and to me, David,
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  Speaker 1: your son. David's young men went and delivered his message
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  Speaker 1: word for word to Nabel. Naybell tore into them. Who
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  Speaker 1: is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? The
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  Speaker 1: country is full of runaway servants these days. You think
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to take good bread and wine and meat
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  Speaker 1: freshly butchered for my sheep shearers and give it to
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  Speaker 1: men I've never laid eyes on, who knows where they've
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  Speaker 1: come from. David's men got out of there and went
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  Speaker 1: back and told David what he had said. David said,
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  Speaker 1: strap on your swords. They all strapped on their swords,
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  Speaker 1: David and his men and set out, four hundred of
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  Speaker 1: them them. Two hundred stayed behind to guard the camp. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: one of the young shepherds told Abigail, Nabal's wife what
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  Speaker 1: had happened. David sent messengers from the back country to
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  Speaker 1: salute our master, but he tore into them with insults.
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  Speaker 1: Yet these men treated us very well. They took nothing
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  Speaker 1: from us and didn't take advantage of us. All the
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  Speaker 1: time we were in the fields. They formed a wall
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  Speaker 1: around us, protecting us day and night, all the time
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  Speaker 1: we were out tending the sheep. Do something quickly, because
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  Speaker 1: big trouble is ahead for our master and all of us.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody can talk to him. He's impossible, a real brute.
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  Speaker 1: Abigail flew into action. She took two hundred loaves of bread,
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  Speaker 1: two skins of wine, five sheep dressed out and ready
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  Speaker 1: for cooking, a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred cakes,
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  Speaker 1: and two hundred feet cakes, and she had it all
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  Speaker 1: loaded on some donkeys. Then she said to her young servants,
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  Speaker 1: go ahead and pave the way for me. I'm right
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  Speaker 1: behind you. But she said nothing to her husband Nabel.
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  Speaker 1: As she was riding her donkey descending into a ravine,
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  Speaker 1: David and his men were descending from the other end,
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  Speaker 1: so they met there on the road. David had just
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  Speaker 1: said that sure was a waste guarding everything this man
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  Speaker 1: had out in the wild, so that nothing he had
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  Speaker 1: was lost. And now he rewards me with insults, a
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  Speaker 1: real slap in the face. May God do his worst
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  Speaker 1: to me if Nabel and every cur in his misbegotten
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  Speaker 1: brood aren't dead meat by morning. As soon as Abigail
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  Speaker 1: saw David, she got off her donkey and fell on
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  Speaker 1: her knees at his feet, her face to the ground,
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  Speaker 1: in homage, saying, my master, let me take the blame.
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  Speaker 1: Let me speak to you. Listen to what I have
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  Speaker 1: to say. Don't dwell on what that brute Nabel did.
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  Speaker 1: He acts out the meaning of his name, Nabel, fool
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  Speaker 1: foolishness oozes from him. And now verse thirty, when God
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  Speaker 1: completes all the goodness he has promised my master and
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  Speaker 1: sets you up as prince over Israel, my master will
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  Speaker 1: not have this dead weight in his heart. The guilt
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  Speaker 1: of an avenging murder, and when God has worked things
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  Speaker 1: for good for my master, remember me. And David said,
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  Speaker 1: Blessed be God, the God of Israel. He sent you
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  Speaker 1: to meet me, And blessed be your good sense. Bless
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  Speaker 1: you for keeping me from murder and taking charge of
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  Speaker 1: looking out for me. A close call, as God lives,
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  Speaker 1: the God of Israel, who kept me from hurting you.
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  Speaker 1: If you had not come as quickly as you did,
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  Speaker 1: stopping me in my tracks, by morning, there would have
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  Speaker 1: been nothing left of Nabal but dead meat. Then David
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  Speaker 1: accepted the gifts she brought him and said, return home
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  Speaker 1: in peace. I've heard what you've said, and I'll do
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  Speaker 1: what you've asked. One of the most debilitating problems that
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  Speaker 1: we wrestle with is the problem of anger. Part of
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  Speaker 1: the reason it is debilitating paralyzing is that it is
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  Speaker 1: so unpredictable. Almost happens before we know it, and when
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  Speaker 1: it does happen, it comes out in so many different faces.
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  Speaker 1: Sometime it's just an irritation, and it's a it's a
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  Speaker 1: blurting out of a statement or a word you wish
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  Speaker 1: you hadn't said later on. Occasionally it comes out in
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  Speaker 1: such force that hostile actions are done sometime settled with
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  Speaker 1: simply thoughts of severe plans to hurt someone. Occasionally even
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  Speaker 1: the swing of a fist, as we've seen lately in
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  Speaker 1: some of the professional world of athletics, just a sudden burst,
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  Speaker 1: and two hours later the fellow wishes, like crazy he
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  Speaker 1: hadn't done it. Another reason it's debilitating is that it's
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  Speaker 1: so public. Anger before long ghost public. It's on display.
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  Speaker 1: You just cannot hide it. It's there for everybody to see. Course,
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  Speaker 1: the answer is self control. But it's one thing to
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  Speaker 1: say it, and it's another thing entirely to do it.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps you've justified your anger by saying things like, well,
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  Speaker 1: it's only human, or if I don't express it, then
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  Speaker 1: I'll store it up and have an ulcer. Listen. Anger
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  Speaker 1: is probably a part of you that you don't like, and,
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  Speaker 1: needless to say, neither does anyone else. Anger is not
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  Speaker 1: quote only human unquote. You do not have to possess it,
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  Speaker 1: and it serves no purpose that has anything to do
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  Speaker 1: with being a happy, fulfilled person. Anger is a choice
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  Speaker 1: as well as a habit. It is a learned reaction
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  Speaker 1: to frustration in which you behave in ways that you
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  Speaker 1: would rather not. In fact, severe anger is a form
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  Speaker 1: of insanity. You are insane when you are out of
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  Speaker 1: control of your behavior. Therefore, when you are angry and
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  Speaker 1: out of control, you are temporarily insane. Now that doesn't
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  Speaker 1: sound like a biblical character, but you may be surprised
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  Speaker 1: to know that that describes the great Man quoted more
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  Speaker 1: often in the New Testament than any other Old Testament character,
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  Speaker 1: the man whose biography is the longest of any Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament biography. His name is David, remarkable man who has
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  Speaker 1: modeled patience for years under the sphere of Saul, who
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  Speaker 1: in First Samuel chapter twenty five, blows it and loses
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  Speaker 1: control and frankly, for a period of time, is temporarily insane.
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  Speaker 1: If it were not for a woman whom he had
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  Speaker 1: probably never met, David would have been guilty of murder
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  Speaker 1: in the first degree, premeditated type. Look at the passage
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  Speaker 1: with me, will you, and let's get some background, because
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  Speaker 1: you wouldn't grasp the problem if you didn't know how
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  Speaker 1: things worked in those days. Those days, they didn't they
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  Speaker 1: didn't work in machine shops and electronics equipment places. Most
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  Speaker 1: people that were working out in the field were working
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  Speaker 1: with sheep. They were involved as shepherds. They kept the
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  Speaker 1: flocks of sheep and the herds of goats that were
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  Speaker 1: owned by rich sheep and goat owners. In fact, you
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  Speaker 1: will discover in this passage that the basic problem was
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  Speaker 1: one of labor. You'll discover that the basic conflict had
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  Speaker 1: to do with an employer employee relationship. You'll find in
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  Speaker 1: this passage David, the employee doesn't go on strike, but
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  Speaker 1: he makes plans to kill his boss. Basically, that's what happens. Now,
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  Speaker 1: let me lay it on you. The background of it
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  Speaker 1: is like this. David has just come out of a
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  Speaker 1: cave in chapter twenty two called a cave of a dullum.
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  Speaker 1: He has trained six hundred men to be guerrilla fighters.
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  Speaker 1: The official fighting of Israel was done by the Israeli
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  Speaker 1: soldiers under Saul. They fought the Philistines in full regalia,
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  Speaker 1: the full battle array. But David was behind the scenes
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  Speaker 1: fighting the wild tribes in the wilderness of Piran. He
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  Speaker 1: protected these shepherds from the attack of wild tribes. And
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  Speaker 1: it was a common custom at the time that the
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  Speaker 1: sheep were sheared, the owner of the sheep pull out
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  Speaker 1: a portion of the money. The profit that he made,
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  Speaker 1: and he would give it to the one who had
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  Speaker 1: protected his shepherds during the long period of time in
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  Speaker 1: which the shepherds were in the field needing protection. Now
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  Speaker 1: it's kind of like tipping a waitress. There is no
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  Speaker 1: written law saying you gotta do it, but if you're
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  Speaker 1: a grateful person after a good meal, you tip the waitress.
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  Speaker 1: At least you should. And in those days, the owner
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  Speaker 1: would provide a remuneration to the one who protected his shepherds.
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  Speaker 1: In this case, the man didn't do it. Now so
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  Speaker 1: much for David and his men. The situation with the
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  Speaker 1: sheep has to do with the fact that now they
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  Speaker 1: have come to sheep sharing time. See verse four. David
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  Speaker 1: heard in the wilderness that Neayball, that's the boss, was
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  Speaker 1: shearing his sheep, so it's payday. It stands to reason
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  Speaker 1: that after David has done a faithful job that his
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  Speaker 1: men be provided with a remuneration for doing their work.
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  Speaker 1: The problem is, Naball is a stingy man and he
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  Speaker 1: won't pay up. Let's get acquainted with him for a
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  Speaker 1: few minutes. Let me meet the main characters with you.
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  Speaker 1: It's kind of like a one act play that unfolds
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  Speaker 1: in several scenes. First, the main character, see in verse two,
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  Speaker 1: there was a man in Mayon whose business was in Carmel.
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  Speaker 1: Right away, that tells you he's probably got some bucks.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, it says a little later the man was
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  Speaker 1: very rich. The Hebrew word is heavy, which means loaded.
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  Speaker 1: Naball had a lot of money. He had a lot
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  Speaker 1: of sheep, he had a lot of goats. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: it says he has three thousand sheep and a thousand goats.
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  Speaker 1: He's a man of affluence. He's got it made. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 1: Verse three tells us his name was Naball. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: it means fool. I'd like to have that name. Now.
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  Speaker 1: Fool wasn't a person who was silly and mischievous. A
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  Speaker 1: fool was a person who said there is no God.
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  Speaker 1: He lived his life as though there were no god. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 1: Verse three tells us that the man was harsh. See
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  Speaker 1: the last part of the verse. The man was harsh.
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  Speaker 1: The word means hard, stubborn, belligerent. Furthermore, it says he
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  Speaker 1: was evil in his dealings. That means he was dishonest.
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  Speaker 1: He was demanding, deceptive, unfair. Now you might think that
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  Speaker 1: this fellow had a wife just like himself, But as
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  Speaker 1: a matter of fact, he had just the opposite kind
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  Speaker 1: of a woman. By the way, that is occasionally the
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  Speaker 1: way it is, for some reason opposites attract. And that
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  Speaker 1: was never more true than in the case of this man.
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  Speaker 1: Look at his wife, or you'll fall in love with
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  Speaker 1: her before we're through with the story. She's a remarkable gal.
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  Speaker 1: Verse three says that his wife's name was Abigail, and
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  Speaker 1: it says that she had two characteristics that stood out.
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  Speaker 1: Number one, she was intelligent. Literally, it means she had
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  Speaker 1: good understanding. She was wise, Her decisions made good sense.
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  Speaker 1: She was governed not by her emotions but by good
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  Speaker 1: logical thinking. She was a keen thinking, intelligent woman. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 1: she was beautiful in appearance. Literally, it says she was
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  Speaker 1: She had a beautiful form, she had a nice shape,
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  Speaker 1: she was she wasn't painful to look at. She was
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  Speaker 1: good looking, and she was intelligent. It's a neat rare
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  Speaker 1: Blend on my dad, a marvelous woman who had both
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  Speaker 1: intelligence and beauty. Don't come to any conclusions. I'm just
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  Speaker 1: telling you, sir, rare Blenn. Furthermore, there's a third character
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  Speaker 1: by the name of David. He's mentioned in verse four.
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  Speaker 1: He's the guy that's been training his men to do
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  Speaker 1: this sort of self appointed voluntary police work in the
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  Speaker 1: fields of Piran out there in the wilderness near Carmel, Okay.
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  Speaker 1: In case you wonder if David's men were really doing
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  Speaker 1: a job, look at verse fifteen. This is a report
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  Speaker 1: that ultimately came back to the wife of this foolish man.
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  Speaker 1: We'll get to it a little later, but I want
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  Speaker 1: you to see right now, the men were very good
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  Speaker 1: to us. The men as a reference to David's men
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  Speaker 1: in the field, they were good to us. We were
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  Speaker 1: not insulted, nor did we miss anything as long as
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  Speaker 1: we went about with them, so they weren't thieves. They
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  Speaker 1: didn't take what wasn't theirs while we were in the fields.
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  Speaker 1: They were a wall to us by night and by day,
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  Speaker 1: so they were faithful man. They had set up a
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  Speaker 1: regular regiment so they would be on the job morning, noon, night,
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  Speaker 1: twenty four hours a day, all the time we were
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  Speaker 1: with them tending the sheep. That's quite a report. Crackerjack
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  Speaker 1: troops who had done their job faithfully, just like you
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  Speaker 1: at the office, are just like you in the shop
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  Speaker 1: or wherever you're employed. This might very well fit your situation.
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  Speaker 1: You're doing your job as best you can, but unfortunately
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  Speaker 1: you might have an employer something Likenayball. Let's notice how
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  Speaker 1: this thing began to unfold. There are some natural conflicts.
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  Speaker 1: The first conflict is implied in verse three. It's a
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  Speaker 1: husband wife conflict. The man's name was Naball. His wife's
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  Speaker 1: name was Abigail. We looked at them a moment ago.
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  Speaker 1: They are different in temperament. They are different in style
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  Speaker 1: of life. They are different in behavior, They are different
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  Speaker 1: in attitude. They are different in philosophy. Two more different
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  Speaker 1: people ever got married. And listen. In those days, they
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  Speaker 1: didn't choose their husbands and wives. Mom and dad did.
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  Speaker 1: The choosing. Sounds like a drag, doesn't it. Sometime it
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  Speaker 1: worked out beautifully, as in the case of Isaac's wife Rebecca,
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  Speaker 1: But sometime it backfired humanly speaking, and nay Baal and
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  Speaker 1: Abigail were declared husband and wife. And you better believe
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  Speaker 1: there were conflicts. Now, what I want you to hear
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  Speaker 1: tonight is what the passage says, not what you want
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  Speaker 1: to hear or what I want to tell you. I
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  Speaker 1: want you to notice how this woman handled that conflict
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  Speaker 1: with a belligerent, stubborn, hard, deceptive, dishonest husband. Because she
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  Speaker 1: was in a dilemma on a very unique moment in
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  Speaker 1: her life, and she could have gone one way or another.
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  Speaker 1: It's interesting how she chose to go. Now, the next
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  Speaker 1: conflict is the employer your employee. Beginning a verse five,
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  Speaker 1: when it was sheep sharing time, David sent ten young men,
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  Speaker 1: and David said to the young men, go up to Carmel,
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  Speaker 1: visit Nabel and greet him in my name. Thus you
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  Speaker 1: shall say, have a long life. Peace be to you,
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  Speaker 1: Peace be to your house, Peace be to all that
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  Speaker 1: you have. Shallom, Shallom, Shallom. It's a greeting of greatness,
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  Speaker 1: great hearted, David says, shall Om Naball. May your tribe,
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  Speaker 1: may your flocks, May your profit increase, Enjoy the goodness
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  Speaker 1: of life. Very gracious greeting from this guy out in
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  Speaker 1: the field. So they were told what to say. Verse seven.
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  Speaker 1: Now I have heard that you have shearers. Now your
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  Speaker 1: shepherds have been with us. We have not insulted them,
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  Speaker 1: nor have they missed anything all the days they were
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  Speaker 1: in Carmel. Ask your young men. They'll tell you Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: let my young men find favor in your eyes, for
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  Speaker 1: we have come on a festive day. Please give whatever
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  Speaker 1: you find in hand to your servants and to your
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  Speaker 1: son David. Sort of like when the when the bell
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  Speaker 1: boy takes your baggage up to the tenth floor and
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  Speaker 1: you stand with the door, and he opens it and
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  Speaker 1: sets it in, and he does this. He's saying, if
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  Speaker 1: you accept my services, I'd like a tip, and he
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  Speaker 1: won't leave. He'll slam the door in his hand before
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  Speaker 1: he'll leave. He'll wait until you give him a tip
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  Speaker 1: some kind. It was an ordinary gracious custom for the
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  Speaker 1: boss to remunerate in some way the services. Okay, nothing
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  Speaker 1: written as to how much, but it was a gracious act.
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  Speaker 1: It's interesting David didn't go. He didn't intimidate, he didn't
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  Speaker 1: pull rank, he didn't presume on nay ball. He just
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  Speaker 1: sent ten men and said, gather up what he brings.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it'll be a load of lambs, maybe it'll be money. Whatever,
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  Speaker 1: will take what he says, all right, I look at
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  Speaker 1: the conflict verse nine. When David's young men came, they
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  Speaker 1: spoke to naball according to all these words in David's name.
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  Speaker 1: Then they waited at their handout. They're waiting for the money.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't get any. Nay Ball answered David's servants and said,
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  Speaker 1: who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? Is
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  Speaker 1: that a marvelous response. There are many services today who
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  Speaker 1: are each breaking away from his master, a bunch of
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  Speaker 1: hippies out there in the field. I don't know who
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  Speaker 1: David is. I don't know who the son of Jesse is.
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  Speaker 1: You guys, get out of my life Verse eleven. Shall
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  Speaker 1: I take my bread? That's a rather interesting colloquialism, my water,
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  Speaker 1: my meat that I've slaughtered from my shearers. Guess where
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  Speaker 1: his eyes were? My mind? And give it to the
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  Speaker 1: men whose origin I do not know. Oh, I was
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  Speaker 1: like your boss, doesn't it? Verse twelve. David's young men
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  Speaker 1: retraced their way and went back, and they came and
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  Speaker 1: told him, according to all these words, now here's where
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  Speaker 1: it happens, hold on to your seats. This is the
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: same guy who months before did not retaliate and fight
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: back in Saul's case and kill him. This is the
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: model of patience, which, by the way, tells me that
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: you may win a battle yesterday, but it has no
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: kind of credit on today. You may have a great
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: measure of patience today, but it makes no difference on
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: tomorrow when the attack comes again. God doesn't give you
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: patience on credit. Every day is a new day. And
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: maybe they hit David at a hard time. When men
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: are hungry, they're easily angered. Women learn that it's hard
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: for us in our home to even get the table
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: set when we have a late supper. You know, it's
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: a tough situation. Everybody's hungry, kind of angry, and the
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: least thing shows us. You know, the fuse runs all
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: the way down, So feed us on time. That's what
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to say. Now here's David. David's out in
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the field, has got the fire going to sheish Kebob's
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: already right to stick them on the onions and the
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: garlic and the green peppers and mutton, all that stuff,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: or maybe a leg of lamb that'll do. You know,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: I like eating lamb with your hands out in the field.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: He was already to eat that. And the guy showed
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: up and they didn't have anything with them. Verse thirteen.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Very interesting response. Verse twelve. David, young men retraced their way,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: went back and came and told them. According to all
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: these words, David said to his men, each of you
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: gird on his sword. Now you don't put on a
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: sword to have a discussion. I want to point that out.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Each man girded on his sword. David also girded on
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: while two hundred stayed with a baggage. Four hundred men,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: I think that'll probably handle Nayball. Don't you think? We
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: have a saying in our home and when you overdo something,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: it's like killing a roach with a shotgun. You kill
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: a roach, you blow the wall out. There's no need
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: to take four hundred men to Killnaball. Alan Redpath writes
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: a neat book on the life of David, which he
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: calls The Making of the Man of God. He says, David, David,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: what's wrong with you? Why? One of the most one
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: of the most wonderful things we learned about you recently
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: is your patience with Saul. You learn to wait on
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: the Lord and refuse to lift your hand to touch
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the Lord's anointed, although he had been your enemy for
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: so many years. But look at you, David. Your self
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: restraint has gone to pieces and a few insulting words
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: from a fool has made you see read what's the matter?
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: David answer, I'm justified in doing this. There's no reason
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: why Nabel should treat me as he has. He has
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: repaid all my kindnesses with insults. I'll show him he
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: can't trifle with me. It's one thing to take from Saul,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: who is my superior at this point. But this sort
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: of man, this high handed individual, has to be taught
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: a lesson. Now, I'm sure you've never had feelings like that,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: as we read it from David. But more realistically, I
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: know you have. You didn't girt on a sword. Maybe
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: in your mind, you set up your plans and you're
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: waiting for your moment, and you're seething sort of anger
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: on the back burner, just waiting. David said, it's not fair.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: I have every right to at least a supper out
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: of the weeks of work I've given her. This man,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: let's go. He whistled and went after it. Now there's
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: a third conflict right now, between anger and murder. He
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: lost the battle by the way so far. Now, if
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I could, for a moment ask you not to look
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: any further in the passage and just look up, put
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: yourself in the sandals of Abigail. Okay, this is your chance.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Maybe I shouldn't put it quite like that, but you'd
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: like to get rid of your man. Now's your chance,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: you know, let's face it. She's lived with this guy,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: and he's a fink and David. She gets word from
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: the servants a little later, David's gonna come and finish
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: him off. She could say something spiritual like, oh my,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: let's pray. This thundering hoof beats are coming down the
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: hill and she's in there praying Lord take him swiftly
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: or whatever. It's her chance. I mean, he's set up.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: He put himself in this one in the shape. It's
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: time he learned a lesson. See, that's the way a
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: cardinal wife thinks. That's the way a cardinal husband thinks,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: or a cardinal employee thinks. It's my chance. Now's my chance.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: He's vulnerable. Now's a chance. Look at what happens. He's
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: a marvelous woman. Wow. So he's got four hundred guys
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: coming down the hill. Verse thirteen, verse fourteen. One of
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: the young men told Abigail Naybald's wife, saying behold, David
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: he scorned them, and we read the next two verses.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Look at seventeen. Now, therefore, know and consider what you
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: should do, for evil is plotted against our master and
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: against all his household. He is such a worthless man
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: that no one can speak to him. What do you
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: think they'd like for her to do? Now's your chance, kiddo,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: David's coming. Let's hide. Don't tell anybody, just let it happen.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: By the way, it's interesting that they came to the
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: wife and not the husband. See he wasn't open, he
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: wasn't approachable. It's another neat thing about a wise woman.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: She sees her husband for what he is. She knows
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: he isn't perfect, and she's open to those areas where
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: he is blinded of those things in his life. She
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: doesn't agree that they're right, she knows that their weakness is,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: but she's not defensive about them. That's part of the
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: reason God gave that woman to that man. If you
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: look at it from a divine perspective, and there is
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: no better way to look at life. In the weak moment,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Abigail did not fight she protected. Look at eighteen man,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: What a goal. Hang on, ladies, look at this. Abigail
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two hundred
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: loaves of bread, two jugs of wine, five sheep already prepared,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: five measures of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisin,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: two hundred cakes of figs, and load of them on
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: the donkeys. Wow, we do good in our family to
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: get six big macs in a hurry. Can you believe that?
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable gal? Whip up the sheep, put them on the donkeys,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: bring it in. It's the first catering service read about
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: in the book. There they are on the donkeys. Get
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: them out of here. What a woman. You imagine her kitchen?
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Good night? Probably the kids had to do the dishes too,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: If I figure that thing right. She said a young
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: man go on before me. I'm coming after you. And
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: she didn't tell her husband, nayball? What what? What did say?
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: She did not tell her husband neighball? Is that submissive? Wow?
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: That bother you? I was with couples at Mount Herman
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: and a little couple's conference, and I had a fella
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: ask me, chuck, doesn't submission mean that the wife should
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: stay silent. Wife was standing there watching. I said, man,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: absolutely not. He says, I'll see you later, Chuck. We
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: talked for a while about his concept of submission. Of
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: The very best counsel a man can get comes from
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: his woman, his wife, who knows him better than anybody
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: else on earth. The finest kind of constructive help and
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: direction and even exhortation comes from the wife or the
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: husband of the mate. It's a built in, perfect setup.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: She knows how to do it, she knows when to
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: do it, and she does it with the right intention. Now,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: if you will forgive me if something that sounds terribly heretical,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: there are times when the wife needs to act in
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: favor of her husband and not say a word to him.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Here's a case in point. For her to have approached
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: her obstinate, foolish husband, who was already bound determined to
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: stand up like a dummy in front of four hundred
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: and one horseman coming down the hill would have been
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: instant suicide. He'll never let her take off and do this.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: She did it in his behalf. Now, I'm not saying
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: she acted in secret against him. I'm saying she acted
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: without his knowledge in his favor. She ran interference for him.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: She saved his life. Remarkable, Gal, I just picture this
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: David coming down the hill. The only thing louder than
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: the horse's hoof is his stomach rolling down the hills,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: stomach growling hungry. I want to emphasize that again. Verse
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: twenty came about as she was riding on her donkey,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: coming down by the hidden part of the mountain. Behold,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: David and his men were coming down toward her. So
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: she met them. Well, what a drama. Here she is
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: croc pot in her hand, waiting for him, bringing gifts.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: You can't hit a woman with the crock pot in
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: her hands. So David listens to her. Verse twenty three,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: Abigail saw David. She hurried and dismounted from her donkey,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: fell on her face before David bout about herself to
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the ground. What a woman, boy. She had thought through
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: what she was going to do and what she was
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: going to say. That's wisdom. She knew exactly her approach.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: It wasn't a hit it from the hip. It was
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: a thought through plan. Somewhere between the kitchen and the encounter,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: she planned out what she was going to say and
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: do so she fell down before David. Three things. Three
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: things stand out in this thing, in this account of
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: her number one, her tact number two, her faith, number three,
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: her loyalty A note each one, as we kind of
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: unroll it. Here she fell on her face to the ground.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Look at her tact, she says, calls herself your maid
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: servant six times, and calls David my lord eight times.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Look at the tact. Oh, on me alone, verse twenty four.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: On me alone, my Lord be the blame. Please let
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: your maid servant speak to you, and listen to the
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: words of your maid servant. Please do not let my
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nayball. For as
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: his name is, so is he. Naball is his name,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: and Folly is with him. Boy, she knew her man,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: but she hadn't run from their marriage. Note that she
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: knew him fully, and she said Folly is his name.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: But I, your maid servant, did not see the young
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: men of my lord whom you sent. When you sent
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: those ten men and they had that interaction with my husband.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: I wasn't there to give another kind of input. But
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: I'm here now as an advocate. I'd like to stand
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: as a mediator between this man and all of your
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: men who have been unjustly treated. Twenty six, My Lord,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood and from
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: avenging yourself by your own hand. Now let this now. Then,
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: let your enemies and those who seek evil against my
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Lord be as nabal. Now let this gift, and she
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: points to all of these things she has brought on
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: the backs of these donkeys. Let this gift which your
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: maid servant has brought to my lord be given to
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the young men who accompany my Lord. Please forgive the
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: transgression of your maid servant, for the Lord will certainly
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: make for my lord an enduring house, because my Lord
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: not be found in all your days. Well, she had faith,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: She says, David, I'm looking at the next kid. Don't
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: mark your record with a murder. You're bigger than that. David.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: You have been wrong, but murder isn't the answer. Wait. Wait, David,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: take what I provided and turn around and go back
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: verse thirty. It shall come about when the Lord shall
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: do for my Lord. That's David shall do for you, David,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: and shall appoint you ruler over Israel. There's her faith
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: that this will not cause grief or a troubled heart
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: to my Lord, both by having shed blood without cause
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: and by my Lord having avenged himself. You'll have a
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: bad conscience, David. You'll have to live with that track record.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: You don't need that. When the Lord shall deal well
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: with my Lord, then remember your maid servant. Oh, what
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: a statement, what a plea. This is a good point
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: to pause and bring out something that maybe is just
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: a sidelight issue, but it stood out in my mind.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: When you're faced with critical decisions, sometimes you got to
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: do something very creative, and there's not a handbook that
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: tells you what to do. When those times happened, Nayball's
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: life hung in the balance. Depending on how short David's
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: fuse was, it would be how long Maybel would live.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: She saw that, she decided it will take a lot
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: of food and a pleading comment from me to turn
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: that man's heart. And I'm sure along the way she prayed.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Speaking of creative ways to handle crisis, Jesus makes me laugh.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: As a book by David reading, and in it, he
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: tells the story of a man named Roy Kelly. Roy
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: was informed two years ago that he had terminal cancer.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: He and his wife went home to cry to die.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: Should they keep it as? They prayed? Now, let me interject,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: You're going to be hearing something that will cause you
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: not quite to know how to respond. So don't feel
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: you've got to respond one way or another. Just hear it.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Talk about a creative way to handle a crisis, they prayed.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: The answer was that they should play p lay play
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: about it. So they decided to put on a big party.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: They invited all their friends. During the festivities, Roy held
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: up his hands to make an announcement. Hey, you may
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: have wondered, why call all of us together? This is
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: a cancer party. I've been told I have terminal cancer.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: Then my wife and I realized we're all terminal. We
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: decided to start a new organization. It's called MTC Make
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Today Count. You're all charter members. Since that time, the
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: organization has grown across America. Roy has been too busy
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: to die, pointing out the way we Christians can handle
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: the jaws of death, singing, loving, not losing one minute
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: from the joy the world cannot give or take away.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: If that offends you, I'm sorry. But for most of you,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: I think you get the point. You will be faced
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: with crises in life, and the standard garden variety answer
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: is to sort of tuck your tail between your legs,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: run into a corner, let cobwebs form on you as
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: you sort of die. But there is a better way.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: As long as you have breath in your lungs, you
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: have a purpose for living. You have a reason to exist,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: no matter how bad that track record might have been
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: marked by disobedience and compromise through most of your life.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Tonight you're alive. Tonight you're existing, and God says there's
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: a reason, and I'm willing to do creative things through
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: you to put you back on your feet. You can
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: lick your wounds if that's your choice, But there's a
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: better way. I love the way he called it. That
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: to make today count. Now, that's what this woman has
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: done with this crisis. She just says, remember your maid
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: servant when the tide turns in your life. That's all
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: I ask David. Oh what a god? David said to Abigail.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. Who sent you
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: this day to meet me? Tell me why God chose
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: David as a man after his own heart, that teachable
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: spirit to a woman he never met. He's got a
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: sword ready to be unsheathed, and he looks at this
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: woman and he listens, and he changes his entire demeanor.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Talk about a man after God's heart. That's one of
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: the reasons willing to change. May God forever keep us
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: flexible and teachable. Someone has a word in season for
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: a blind spot in our lives, and we're the dummies
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: if we ignore them. She loved him too much to
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: let him do that. Blessed be your discernment. By the way, discernment,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: like the Scottish people say, is better felt than telt.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: People will feel it. You have to tell him you've
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: got it. It just sort of oozes out. Blessed be
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: you who have kept me this day from bloodshed and
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: from avenging myself by my own hand. Verse thirty five.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: David received from her hand what she had brought him.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: He said to her, go up to your house in peace.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: See I have listened to you and granted your request. Fantastic.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Abigail goes back and her husband puts his arm around
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: her and says, honey, thanks, you're a great woman. No,
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: I wish it said that some of you hurt because
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: your experience recently has been just like Abigail's. You did
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: what was right, You protected a person who was in
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: the wrong, and you got shafted. See verse thirty six.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: Abigail came to Neybaal and behold he was holding a
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: feast in his house, like the feast of a king.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: very drunk. Thanks a lot. I come home from pouring
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: out my soul as I stand between you and death,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: and this is the thanks I get. Now. It doesn't
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: say that. It simply says she did not tell him
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: anything at all until the morning light. What character she
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: just sort of turned in, pulled up the covers, went
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: to sleep. I'm sure she poured out her heart to
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: God and got things squared away between herself and the Lord,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: realizing she may never know what it is like to
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: have a husband that encourages her. Guys, one of our
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: greatest ministries with our wives is the ministry of consistent encouragement.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: That's part of honoring her as a vessel. Pointing out
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: to her the strengths of character and saying on a
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: regular basis, thank you, thank you for Dad. Now she
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: didn't have it. Next morning verse thirty seven, everybody else's
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: prayer was answered. Came about in the morning when the
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: wine had gone out, any Ball that his wife told
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: him these things, and his heart died within him. He
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: became as a stone. He had a stroke, she told him,
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: and he listened to the story of how four hundred
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: and one guys were on the way to cut off
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: his head, and he just caught Charlotte went and he
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: got really still. His eyes got blazed, and ten days
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: later verse thirty eight had happened, the Lord struck nay
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  Speaker 1: Ball and he died. Isn't it amazing when you do
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  Speaker 1: what is right without tiring of it? God takes care
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  Speaker 1: of the impossible things. When a man's ways pleased the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
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  Speaker 1: There is no impossible situation that God cannot handle. He
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  Speaker 1: won't handle it necessarily your way, but he'll handle it.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: And seeing her faithfulness, he let her spend a night
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  Speaker 1: depending on him, and shortly thereafter she buried her husband.
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  Speaker 1: The next verse, like a fairy tale. When David heard
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  Speaker 1: Nabel was dead, A good old David. Blessed be the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Only a man would see that in the passage, huh,
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  Speaker 1: blessed be the Lord, who pleaded the cause of my
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  Speaker 1: reproach from the hand of Nabal, kept back his servant
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  Speaker 1: from evil. The Lord has returned the evil doing of
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: Nabel on his own head. What did David learn a lesson?
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  Speaker 1: I don't have to fight that kind of battle. It's
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: God's job. He can. He needs that on his record.
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  Speaker 1: I don't need it on my record. David sent a
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  Speaker 1: proposal to Albigail to take her as his wife. David's okay,
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  Speaker 1: my kind of guy. When the servants of David came
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  Speaker 1: to Abigail at carmenl they spoke to her saying, David
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  Speaker 1: sent us to you to take you as his wife.
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  Speaker 1: Look at her response. It's the romanticism in me that
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: comes out right now. She arose and bowed with her
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  Speaker 1: face to the ground, and said, behold, your servant is
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  Speaker 1: a maid to wash the feet of my lord's servants.
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  Speaker 1: That's the kind of wife to get. I'm just joking, you, guys.
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  Speaker 1: Forty two Abigail. Abigail quickly arose, tell me she wasn't
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  Speaker 1: ready for a man to love her. She arose and
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  Speaker 1: rode on a donkey with five maidens who attended her,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: and she followed the messengers of David became his wife. Wow,
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: oh mad, what a wedding that must have been. Good night.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: I'm sure they called it in a wilderness of Paran,
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: something like a miraculous marriage. Well, two things hang in
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: my head when I close the book with you. First
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: of all, is this whatever you do when conflicts arise?
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  Speaker 1: Be wise, be wise. If you're not careful, you will
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: handle conflicts in the flesh, and then you'll be sorry.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: What do I mean by being wise? Well, first of all,
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: I mean see the whole picture. Fight against falling into
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: a rut and seeing only your side. Look at both sides.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: If you need a counselor, gets counsel on it, Because
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: a counselor helps you to see both sides. There are
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: always two sides on those conflict streets. Always look at
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: both scides. Another part of being wise is restrain yourself
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: from anything hasty. If it all possibly could, put on
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: the brakes. Put on the brakes, slow down. I've seldom
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: made wise decisions in a hurry. By the way, I've
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: never felt sorry for things I didn't say. Your tendency
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: will be to say something in a hurry, and you
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: shouldn't have said it. You wish you could reach in
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: their heads and pull it out again. The third thing
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  Speaker 1: you can do in being wise is to pray. Get
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: God's perspective. If it takes a while, get his perspective.
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  Speaker 1: Be wise. Wisdom only seldom acts in a hurry, only seldom.
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  Speaker 1: The second thing I want to point out in this is,
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  Speaker 1: whenever you realize that there's nothing you can do, wait, wait. Impossible.
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  Speaker 1: Impasse is call for breaks. Don't keep going. God made
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  Speaker 1: it impossible to stop you so that you would wait
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: on him, Psalm forty. I waited patiently for the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He lifted
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: me up out of the muck of the mire, and
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: he put my feet on the rock and established my
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: going Psalm forty. Never does say that David's situation changed,
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  Speaker 1: says David changed. When you wait, your situation may not change,
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: but you will. I suppose there's no greater model of
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: what it means to alter your lifestyle in a crisis
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: situation than Elizabeth Elliott, one biographer, writes, she was introduced
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: to the world through an inexplicable tragedy. Her young husband Jim,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: and his missionary colleagues were killed by a tribe of
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: Alca Indians in Ecuador, a tribe to whom they had
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: hoped to minister in the name of While the world
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  Speaker 1: was numb from this heartbreaking massacre, Elizabeth Elliot seized it
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  Speaker 1: as an opportunity. For the love of God, She and
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  Speaker 1: her little child, a daughter, walked back into the jungle
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: to live with these stone age savages who had murdered
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: her husband and her friends. When the history of this
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: century is written, with its unprecedented spectaculars in space and
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: its overwhelming wars, I do not believe they will overshadow
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: this young widow's act of faith, patience, and courage. My
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: seventeen year old son said recently, why Dad, not even
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: John Wayne would have done that. It was not simply
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: an act of courtesy. She stayed until the months became
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: years and those savages became her kinsman. She was not
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: the stereotype of the presumptuous missionary, busily bending susceptible minds
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: to her beliefs and culture. She became one of them.
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: She learned to respect them for the virtues they possessed.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: But we only profess I get this last line. The
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: convert she made, she said, may have been herself. You
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: will be amazed when you wait. You may discover that
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: the reason for waiting was all for your benefit, because
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: you're the one that maybe needed to change. That's about together. Oh,
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: this is tough stuff. I know that as we close
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: our eyes and talk to God about what we've heard
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: a lot of your feeling you could only know my situation. Well, friend,
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: I don't think i'd change a thing regardless of what
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: your situation is, because I know it's biblical to be wise,
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: and it's always biblical when we get to impossible places
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: to wait. Just wait. The waiting itself is wise. For
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: some of you, it might mean finding Jesus Christ receiving
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: him by faith as your personal savior. Did you get
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: the analogy in the story. Like Abigail, Jesus Christ met
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: the God of wrath at Calvary with the feast of
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: his own blood and body. He became our mediator, and
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: God accepted the gift, and therefore will accept the sinner
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: who believes God is satisfied with that offering Christ made.
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: If you've never met Jesus Christ, this is your moment
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: to open your heart to him, Receive him like you
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: would receive a gift from a father as a child.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You will be saved. Now.
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: For some, it's more a matter of applying the Christian
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: virtues that you've heard about tonight. Patience, teachability, gentleness, self control.
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: All of that sort of comes to bear this new
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: week as you might face a situation much like this.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: We read in your word, our Father, that we are
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: the clay and you are the potter. There are a
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: number of times in our life when we would like
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: to change roles with you. We would wish that you
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: were the clay and we are the potter. But then
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: we would build a monster, and we would give vent
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: to all kinds of carnal and stupid and ugly decisions
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: based on the flesh and our own humanity. Rather than
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: trusting you the potter, to pull it off your way,
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: I simply ask you to have your way. Just have
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: your way.
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  Speaker 2: Lord.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: We're available and we're waiting on you to do that.
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: We ask for Jesus sake Amen.
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  Speaker 2: The preceding message What to Feed an Angry Man, was
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in nineteen seventy eight, nineteen eighty eight, nineteen ninety seven,
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: and two thousand and nine, and the sound recording was
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in two thousand and nine by Charles R. Swindall Ink.
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: As