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You arewelcome

StoneCreek

www.rossvillechurch.com

781 Salem Road, Rossville, GA 30741

November 11, 2012

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The Bowmans will be here Saturday, December 29, 2012 to lead in worship.

Pure Heart will be here Sunday morning at 11:00, January 13, 2013 to lead

worship.

November 11, 2012

Fifth Sunday dinner and fellowship December 30

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Nabal’s wife Abigail has come to David to plead for

the life of her husband,

Nabal “THE FOOL”

She was also there to save David from a mistake made in anger -- killing “THE FOOL”.

1 Samuel 25

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1 Samuel 25:26 Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

Her prayer is that all of David’s enemies would be no more dangerous than Nabal.

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The Lord kept David from avenging himself with his own hand, and He used Abigail to do it.

Romans 12 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not your-selves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

We have no need to get even!Not in things great or small.Not with words or deeds.

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God will avenge His people, and He will do it better than we ever could.

Psalm 37 1-2 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

If someone hurts you, put it in God’s Hands.

He will punish them and bless you.

Let go and let God!

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25:27 (Abigail)And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. 28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.

A sure house:God would estab-lish David’s king-dom and keep it.

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29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall He sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.

To be in God’s Bundle of Life is to be safe and well.

Those whom God slings out shall perish.

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30-31 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that He hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;  That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.

David would be king, and the slaughter of “THE FOOL” and his men would have been a

black day in David’s history.

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When tempted to sin, think of the future.

An act of passion committed in the heat of the moment, will look differently looking back on it.

Anger or Revenge

Pleasure “I wish I hadn’t done that.”

Too late!

Words

We can’t take back words spoken or deeds done.

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32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. A Good heart produces good.

Abigail was a good woman with good motives, and she would be blessed of the Lord.

She had caused David to think of consequences, and turned him from the path of evil

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34 For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

David was on the path of murder.

This action against “The Fool” was murder for the sake of revenge.

Nabal’s men were shepherds, not soldiers.

They could not have defended themselves.

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35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.

David reassured Abigail that he would do no harm to her or her household.

God used this good woman to save David from his own anger and rash actions.

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36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

Abigail knew a Truth: you can’t reason with a drunk while he’s drunk.

So, she didn’t even try.

Abigail just stayed quiet while “The Fool” was drunk.

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37-38 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.  And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.

His narrow escape so shocked Nabal that he had a heart attack right then,

And died within ten days.

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I told you that God would deal with Nabal.

A wise and good woman married to a fool, and she just put it into God’s Hands.She didn’t nag or fuss or cuss.

Wait on God!

She did the right thing and then trusted God.

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39a And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. God did it!

Will you let go and let God?

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39b And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. 40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.

But not until Nabal was dead!!!

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41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.42 And Abigail hasted, and arose and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

It occurs to me that Abigail was a rich widow.

I wonder if she brought her wealth with her as she married David.

The Bible doesn’t say either way.

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43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives. 44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.

To have more than one wife was never in God’s Plan for a man.

David followed custom here;Not the Law of God.

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Deuteronomy 17:17 (NIV) He (any king of Israel) must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

Kings in that day married the daughters of other kings, to form an alliance.

The king of Israel was to trust God alone!

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Genesis 2:23-24 (KJV) And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

That can only be true with one mate.

The lesson today is trust God enough to

“Let go and let God” handle your life.

He did for David and for Abigail,

And He will for you.