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Episode 33: Forgiving Others · Women At The Well: REJOICE

0:12
SPEAKER_00: Grand rising and welcome to the well.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm Rose, your host, and I am truly so grateful you are here today.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: Let this day be a reminder of the living water that sustains us.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: As you come to the well this morning, may your hearts be filled with gladness.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice in the Lord always.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: And I will say it again, rejoice.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: May you find strength, renewal, and deep joy in his presence today.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: May we all have a blessed and joyful Wednesday.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Sisters, I want to ask you something.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever reached a point where you thought that's it?
0:54
SPEAKER_00: I am never going to forgive him.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Or I will absolutely never speak to her again.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Or I don't want them anywhere near me.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you're carrying that type of weight, you are in the right place this morning.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: We are diving into the topic of forgiving others.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: Grab your coffee, your tea, or your lemon water, and let's begin the journey towards healing through forgiveness.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Father God, we thank you for one more day, for another beginning of a wonderful day.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for waking us up this morning, watching over us through the night.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that you never leave us, you never forsake us.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, as we come to the well this morning, we want to leave some things with you.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: We want to be able to forgive, remove some things out of our heart.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: We ask you that you help us to forgive, teach us how to forgive, teach us what to say, to forgive.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word that brings wisdom and brings light unto us.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Keep us, give us peace, fill us with your joy, and teach us to forgive.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name I pray.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: So this morning, our topic of forgiveness is about forgiving others.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness is a word often used but hard to put into action.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: It takes something to forgive.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: It really takes something to forgive.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: How do we forgive?
2:46
SPEAKER_00: Well, we cannot forgive without Jesus.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: In this morning text of 1 Samuel 25, we see Abigail, who's a woman that is full of wisdom, discernment, courage, and who trusted God's judgment.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Let's read 1 Samuel starting at verse 14.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: But I do suggest that you read 1 Samuel 25 on your own, the full book of chapter 25.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed on them.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we conversed with them when we were in the fields.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: They were a wall unto us both by night and day, and all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master and against all his household, for he is such a son of Galal that a man cannot speak to him.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves and two bottles of wine, five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: And she said unto her servants, Go on before me, behold, I come after you.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: But she told not her husband Nabal, and it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert on the hill, and behold, David and his armed men came down against her, and she met them.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: That was from the King James Bible.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: Now David and his men were living in the wilderness when they encountered the servants and shepherds of Nabal, who was a wealthy man.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: While Nabal's shepherds were in the area, David's men protected them and treated them very well.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: You know, have you ever protected somebody and treated them very well, yet received evilness in turn for your goodness?
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Later during sheep sharing, a time of celebration and generosity, David sent messengers to Nabal respectfully, asking him to share some provisions with David and his men.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: You see, Nabal responded harshly.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: He insulted David, essentially questioning who David was and refusing to give him anything.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: Remember those people who forget who you were?
5:44
SPEAKER_00: When David heard about Nabal's disrespect, David became furious.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: He gathered about 400 armed men and set out intending to destroy Nabal and the men of his household.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: But one of Nabal's servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, what had happened.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: In the Bible, Abigail is described as intelligent, beautiful, while Nabal was described as harsh and badly behaved.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Without telling her husband, Abigail quickly gathered food and supplies and went out to meet David.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: When she encountered David, she approached him.
6:25
SPEAKER_00: She approached him with humility and wisdom.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: She pleaded with him not to shed innocent blood or take revenge into his own hands.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: She reminded David that God was fighting his battles and that one day David would become Israel's leader.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: She did not want this act of vengeance to become something David would later regret.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: She tells him these things.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: David recognizes that God has sent Abigail to stop him from committing bloodshed.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: He blessed God for her wisdom and accepted the provisions she brought.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: Abigail returned home.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: And eventually she told Nabal what had happened.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: But look at God.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: Shortly afterward, Nabal became severely ill.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: And about ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: That's something.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: The Lord struck Nabal and he died.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Interesting enough, Abigail was not the primary person who had been hurt.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: So she was not the person that was doing the forgiveness.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: But she is an example of a woman who intervened between an offended person and the person who offended him and stopped the retaliation.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Her message to David was essential.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Doing cause you to do wrong.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: The message to us today is the same.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Don't let someone else's wrongdoing cause you to do wrong.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: That could be one of the strongest messages of today.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Keep that in mind.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: Nabal was wrong.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: David had the legitimate reason to be angry, but being wrong did not give David permission to seek revenge.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: It's the same thing with us.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: We get angry when people misuse us, mistreat us, abuse us.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: But because we have been wrong, it does not give us permission to seek revenge.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: Abigail helped David understand the difference between being hurt and being harmful.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: Sisters, forgiveness doesn't mean that they were right.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: It means you refuse to allow what they did wrong to determine what you do next.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: You can release the offense and allow God to handle what belongs to him.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12, 19 tells us, dearly beloved, avenge not yourself, but rather give place unto wrath.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: For it is written, Vengeance is mine.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: I will repay, said the Lord.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Also it is all also, it's important to remember Ephesians 4, 31-32, which instructs us to let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgave you.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: And then Matthew 6, 14 through 15 speaks volumes on forgiveness.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is teaching about prayer, and he states, for if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the best reasons to remember to forgive.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it hurts, but forgive anyway.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: Yes, they made you mad, but forgive anyway.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Although Labor's foolishness endangers everyone, Abigail chose humility, wisdom, and peace, and still a revenge.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: She teaches us that forgiveness often requires choosing peace over retaliation.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: And we have to remember this.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: In closing, may we pray?
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for today for your mercy, your grace, and your forgiveness.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ, who showed us what true forgiveness looks like, even from the cross when he prayed.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Father, forgive them.
11:10
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us to remember that because of Jesus, we do not have to live under condemnation, guilt, or shame.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that our past does not have the final word.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: But Father, your grace does, and we thank you for your grace.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Father, search our hearts today.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: If we are holding on to anger, bitterness, resentment, or unforgiveness, give us the strength to begin to release it.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: We may not be able to change what has happened, but Father God, with your help, we can choose not to allow what happened to keep controlling our hearts.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: Teach us to forgive.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: Help us to forgive as you have forgiven us.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: Remind us that forgiveness does not excuse the wrong, it releases the wrong into your hands.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: You are our healer, our defender, and our righteous judge.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: As we leave the world today, may we leave a little lighter and a little freer and a little closer to you.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus, for being the ultimate example and the ultimate forgiver.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Sisters, it's time to leave the world.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: But I pray we leave remembering to forgive and give it to Jesus.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Remember this.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the ultimate forgiver.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: If he has forgiven you, don't keep condemning yourself for something God has already covered with his grace.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: And when someone has covered you, remember the words Jesus spoke from before.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Father, forgive me.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness management.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: Some common begins with a simple problem.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: And walking for next week, we'll continue and forgiveness series.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about forgiving others.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: And look at the wisdom of forgiving others.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining me and women like the women rejoice.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: Until we meet again, remember this.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: Keep extending twice and blah blah blah.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: Keep rejoicing and the love.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy your day.