Peace like a river

Well, they're all hired.

Amen.

It's been a good week.

Glad to be back here this morning.

Isn't it awesome to walk in and see the bustling of this new facility and people in the lobby?

And I hope you enjoyed a baked good from our uh girls' Sunday school.

Did that this morning.

And so, anyways, that was fun.

And uh I am excited this morning to be preaching God's word.

I wanted to share just a few prayer needs and updates uh before we do jump in.

Um you guys can see Abby Hibbs here.

She had knee surgery this week and she's recovering.

Keep praying for her.

Um, I know that uh some of you heard or got a text that Jeremy Mayhan, Pastor Danny and Miss Susan's son-in-law, was um ended up with pneumonia, and uh, but but it was tense.

It was very, what do they call it, sepsis?

And um it was it was a bad deal there.

But keep praying for him.

Um, Deidre Dobin's mother.

Deidra, we're praying for her.

And uh be praying for this coming weekend.

Biggest time for CCW all year long.

We can clap for harvest jam.

And Benji didn't scold me, but last week I forgot to tell you there's harvest jam cards on your way out that you can pass out to all your neighbors.

We've got hundreds of them.

Please go walk your neighborhood while you walk the dog and pass them out.

Uh somebody this week told me that we went and visited on Monday that they came to our church because a sweet little lady handed them a harvest jam card at Walmart parking lot.

I don't know who you are.

I thought it was you, Miss Paula.

I did.

So, amen.

It works.

Some people they just need to be asked.

But be praying for Luke Roper.

Luke is having surgery on that arm tomorrow, right, Luke?

Is it tomorrow?

So be praying for that.

And uh, anyways, I know there's a lot going on.

I have one more announcement.

I only have one child now in my house because Callie is 14, and yesterday Wyatt turned 13.

He's a man now.

But we still got Weston, so keep praying for us.

Turn your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 25, and as you're turning there, I'm gonna quote our main text this morning.

1 Samuel 25 · chapter mention

It says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

As you turn to 1 Samuel 25, I'm gonna ask the team back here if they'd set a picture up for us.

I want you to see a photo of somebody whom I love dearly.

This little guy's name is Axel.

We could all stand to be a little more like Axel.

As you look at him, Axel, when he talks to me, first he addresses me as Uncle Rick.

Okay, U-N-T-L.

And uh, Axel, one year on vacation, we were getting ready, I think, for lunch, and he was about three or four.

And uh that sweet little face, he uh he said he would pray for lunch.

And man, he dug in.

I didn't know what was happening.

You know, you know, real spiritual people understand that you pray about 60 seconds before food.

But some people, ultra-spiritual people, and then he got into it.

And he was praying and praying and and and he said, and Lord, I need you to help me.

I'm like, what is he about to say?

I need you to help me because I need to be more of a pizza maker.

And I thought, what a prayer for a three-year-old to be praying over lunch, to be more like a peacemaker.

And I thought about that, and I've continued to think about his prayer because somebody was telling Axel, that didn't happen by accident.

Somebody was telling Axel, you need to be a peacemaker.

You need to be a peacemaker.

And I want you to understand from the passage in Matthew, where Jesus says, Blessed are the peacemakers, it's sort of like a progression.

When we started out, we were told to be poor in spirit.

And then Pastor Danny preached on mourning over our sins.

And then we talked about meekness, blessed are the meek, and then we talked about hungering and thirsting for the right things.

And then we talked about being merciful, and then last week we talked about being pure in heart.

And listen, I think there's a progression here on purpose, and I think it almost takes one thing after the other to get to the next thing.

And so as we look at being a peacemaker, you might get the idea that that somehow means like you're not confrontational.

Oh, I'm a peacemaker, I'm not really confrontational, or you avoid problem areas because you're calming or soothing.

But I want you to understand as we go through this, peacemaking is an active position.

And I think it takes a lot of these other things.

So I wanted to introduce you to Axel this morning to be thinking this.

I think we could be a lot more like Axel.

Let's pray.

Father, I pray that you would use your word this morning.

Uh, Lord, all that matters is what's what you have to say to us.

And so, God, I pray your spirit would move in this place.

Lord, I pray that you would help us as a church to understand the truths that you spoke on this great sermon on the mountain.

Lord, and that we would hold them dear to our hearts and that we would become more like the Christians that you saw for us to be.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

So in 1 Samuel chapter 25, I wanted to share this morning a message about a story of David, Nabal, and a woman named Abigail.

1 Samuel 25 · chapter mention

And so as we jump in, 1 Samuel 25, I want you to look at verses 2 and 3.

It says, There, now there was a man in Maun whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich.

He had 3,000 sheep, a thousand goats, and was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife, Abigail, she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance.

But the man was harsh and evil in his doings.

He was of the house of Caleb.

So the first thing I want you to see this morning in your notes is two angry men's communication.

By the way, we could probably park right here and have a good sermon if we just talked about communication.

The key to a healthy marriage, communication.

The key to good friendships, communication.

Probably the key to a good workplace, communication.

No one has ever said to me in my office at my desk, the problem with my husband, Pastor Rick, is he communicates too much.

I'm overcommunicated.

I've never heard that.

There's just too much talk out of him.

I've not heard that before.

Communication, and so what we see from Nabal, letter A, Nabal's negotiations is this.

Nabal, we find out about him, he's a wealthy man.

3,000 sheep, a thousand goats, land he would have to have to have sheep and goats on.

No doubt Nabal is shrewd and a businessman.

Anybody here know what the word Nabal means?

Miss Susan does.

Means fool.

Same word in Psalms 14 is used, and it says in Psalms 14:1, the fool has said in his heart that there is no God.

Psalms 14:1

So when we look at Nabal, you get a little bit about who he is just through his name.

He's characterized here in verse 3 that we saw as someone that has harsh transactions.

He was harsh.

Similar words that came up, churlish and surly.

I had to break these up.

What does that mean?

He was rude.

He was discourteous.

How many today know it is hard to keep the peace when you're dealing with rude people?

Can I get an amen?

Right, it's hard to keep the peace.

This recently, um, I've been dealing with a delivery company, and we had a gift given for our teenagers.

We had a pool table brought, and the pool table that they brought had rips down the middle of it.

And so I'm on the phone, and I'm on the phone, and I'm on the phone.

I have logged five hours with this company.

Okay?

And I started telling them about it.

Well, they came and they showed up to the wrong place.

They showed up to my house.

They showed up to the second time they showed up to my house instead of here, which I had been on the phone for an hour telling them the address, an hour, just to get an address changed.

And so I said, he was at our house to deliver me.

I said, it's three miles down the road.

Could you please just come from my house to the church three miles?

And he said, No, sir, I cannot.

That's not in my paperwork.

I can only go where the address said.

I said, sir, do you drive out of your way for lunch?

Can just three miles come get this.

I don't want this broken table.

They had already brought the replacement table, the good table.

I just got a 250-pound thing sitting in the middle of a church.

Can you please get it?

And he said, no, we can't do that.

I said, can you talk to somebody?

He hung up on me.

I thought, that was so rude.

Why would you do this?

I don't want this broken table.

I'm just trying to get you back your thing.

And so, hour after finally it's gone.

But I thought, man, nobody really wanted to help me.

Nobody, you're right.

Nobody wants to work.

Verse 17, it talks a little more about Nabal.

Look at it.

We're just getting an idea of who he was.

Verse 17, they say, for he is, at the bottom of the verse, such a scoundrel that one cannot even speak to him.

Are you getting a picture of who Nabal was?

He's an aggravator, he's an agitator.

By the way, CCW, he's also lost.

And lost people do lost people things.

So when Jesus' sermon on the mount, remember the audience, he's speaking to disciples, peering into their eyes, saying, This is what a Christian does.

He's talking to Christian onlookers.

This is what we expect of a Christian.

And so, blessed are you, the sons of God.

That's what he says at the end of this.

Because you can be a peacemaker.

You can be a peacemaker if you know the Lord.

Well, letter B is this.

We saw Nabal's negotiations.

Let's look at David's expectations.

Another message could be put there on just one word, expectations.

Misplaced expectations are a huge issue in how we communicate.

Well, let's look at verses four through eight.

When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, David sent ten young men.

And David said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity, Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.

Now I have heard that you have shears, your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them.

All the while they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you.

Therefore, let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day.

Please get whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David.

So David sends a message of peace, and what we understand about this passage is David has previously been hospitable to Nabal's men, and expects, remember that word, expectation, he expects reciprocation.

I have done this.

Now you should do this in return.

This was pretty common in those days.

People lived sort of in the golden rule.

Do unto others as you would have done to you if I've given you hospitality.

We expect it in return.

And so it's an important idea here.

And David expects it.

And don't get lost on this, church.

I want you to understand the importance of hospitality today.

Yeah.

Church.

I think sometimes we get so busy that we sort of forget about hospitality.

But I want you to know it's it's not lost in the 21st century, it's just as much needed now.

And so I want you to look at just a passage real quick, flip over to 1 Peter, and I want you to see what it has to say about hospitality.

The word hospitality is two words together here, and it's philozenia.

If you break them apart, the word philozinia is love stranger.

Love stranger.

The importance of hospitality.

Look at 1 Peter 4, 9 and 10.

Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

As each one has received a gift, minister to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

And so what we're taught here is you've been given a gift, you've been given something, you've been given an ability, so share it and steward it.

Be hospitable with what you have.

Love, first, love your church, love your body, and then it says the word itself, hospitality, love a stranger.

How do we draw in a lost world?

Loving them.

And so David's expectation here as a Christian man was, I have given you hospitality.

Now you better reciprocate.

But that's not totally what happened.

David had it right, except he expected from a godless Nabal.

You know what solves most issues of misplaced expectation?

Better communication.

Communicating might have been different.

There's a little tiny verse here that may have changed things.

Maybe, I don't know.

It sounds like Nabal was a pretty rough guy, rude, discourteous, a scoundrel, but maybe it would have been different, don't you think?

If instead of David sending his ten servants, he went himself.

Maybe, I don't know.

But maybe it would have been different if the man himself went before him, explained his situation.

I don't know.

Either way, Jesus is teaching this that David the Christian is capable of peacemaking.

You, Christian, are capable and called to peacemake.

Now, when that man hung up on me, I wanted to get in the flesh.

I really did.

I wanted to.

And I said it to Tabitha, who's in our office, said, Man, that guy made me want to get in the flesh.

And she gave she paid me a compliment.

She said, I can't even believe that.

I can't believe that she would get in the flesh.

And I'm like, well, talk to my wife, because uh I certainly get in the flesh.

She's like, You're so patient.

Thank you.

Well, I don't always feel patient, but in that moment I was ready.

And so I want you to go on to verse 10.

This is uh what happens next.

So David, no reciprocation.

Then Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David?

And who is the son of Jesse?

There are many servants nowadays who break away from one another and their master.

Shall I take my bread and my water and meat and have killed for my shears and give it to men when I don't even know where they're from?

David's young men turned on their heels, went back, and they came and told him all the words.

Then David said to his men, Every man gird on his sword.

So every man girded his sword, and David girded his sword, and about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.

So David here expected reciprocation, and it didn't happen, and he's ready for a fight.

Right?

That's the Christian way.

Now, I want you to think about something.

In chapter 24 and chapter 26, David spares Saul's life.

Saul who has thrown javelins at him, Saul who has tried to kill him.

David has the sense of mind to spare somebody's life, but now he has been done wrong and he's ready to fight.

I don't know if you identify with David here, but I think I do.

Anyone here you were a good Christian on Monday?

But Tuesday came and you lost it?

Anybody been like that?

On Tuesday, David said, That's it.

Get your swords, boys.

I've had enough.

How many Christian parents are here?

Raise your hand if you got children.

How many of you have a child in a sport right now?

Okay?

How many of you with a child in a sport have ever yelled at a referee?

Ah, never.

Miss Paula, I can't even I can't even believe it.

Good Christians, how many of you have ever stood to your feet and yelled at a referee?

Miss Susan?

She knew the meaning of Nabal's name?

I bet she said, Where are your glasses?

No, Jesus.

Here, use my glasses.

I have preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to lost and dying people, but had no grace for a referee with a bad call.

Y'all feeling me?

You were a good Christian on Monday, but then Tuesday came.

Right?

And he had this expectation and it wasn't met.

And David says, I'll kill him.

Can you believe this?

Spared Saul's life, but then Tuesday came.

Man, sometimes in Christianity it's just a roller coaster.

And we're so human, aren't we not?

You said, Man, I had a good day.

I went down to the altar Sunday.

Man, I felt right there with the Lord.

And then your kid had you snapping the next day.

That's normal, by the way, church.

Some of you that don't feel holy all the time, thank you.

It is normal.

You're human.

Now we try, we keep trying.

Be ye holy, for I am holy.

And so we saw this communication.

Well, that takes us to the second point this morning.

One wise woman's counsel.

It says there in verse 3 about Abigail.

She was a woman of good understanding, beautiful appearance.

And so we see that she was someone who understood, Lord, I only knows where I'd be without the counsel of a wise woman in my life.

Amen, Heather.

Amen.

Her name, Abigail, means cause of joy.

She had it.

She was smart and beautiful, Pastor.

I know I've told you all this before, but I saw Heather across campus and I seen her.

All I needed was to see her, and I said, that's enough.

She was it for me.

I was sold.

Later on, I found out how caring she was and how smart she was.

But it was all there.

And all I had, I had jokes.

That's all I had.

So, teenage boys, you've heard me say this before, but dial in, just keep telling jokes.

If you make her smile, sooner or later, she'll forget about what you look like.

Just keep making them laugh.

Isn't that right, Jason?

Where are you at?

Jason Neely.

Okay.

Jason told me the other day that he dated Renee for eight months before she ever even knew.

He just kept making her laugh.

So we see that Abigail, she was a peacemaker.

She was a peacemaker.

Let me tell you how she started making peace.

Go down to verse 14 through 16.

She began to gather all the information, letter A.

She began to gather all the information.

It says this.

And he reviled them.

But the men were very good to us and were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them what were in the fields.

They were a wall to us by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep.

And so she gathered information that was pertinent to the conflict that was at hand.

I read an article the other day about conflict management.

I thought it had some wise.

It wasn't a Christian article, but it said, This is how you enter a conflict.

Number one, seek the truth.

Seek the truth.

Number two, okay, this is so important.

It said, talk directly.

If there's a real conflict, not a remember what we've been going through, not a preference, a real conflict where you can look in the Bible and say, this is a problem between us.

It says talk directly.

What I'm saying, we're in a world full of convenience, not an email.

Okay.

Anyone in a business right now, I think I can help you.

I think Solomon in Proverbs would have said this if he could have had this information.

Don't email in a conflict.

Don't text in a conflict.

Don't send a Facebook.

In a conflict.

He would say, go to them and talk directly.

Heather and I have gone to a lot of people and talked directly, and we've walked out always with a relationship.

It didn't mean we always agreed, but the conflict was over.

And so it says, go directly, then listen.

The third thing, listen.

Man, that's something we struggle with.

How many of you are ready to give an answer while the question is still asked?

Right?

Listen.

Bible says a whole lot about our ears.

It says some negative things about our tongues.

It says, be quick to hear.

Listen.

Listen.

See both sides was the next thing it said.

There are always two sides to every conflict.

Sound familiar?

Sounds like Matthew 18.

Go to somebody.

Talk directly.

Go with the idea of resolution.

See the problem though, church, is conflict arises often out of a place of selfishness.

And this is sort of what happens in conflict a lot.

Words like this.

We say, This is my opinion.

You need to listen to my side.

This is where I stand.

And this is what happens with David.

David's having none of it.

He says, I have a solution for you if you don't want to reciprocate.

If you don't want to give back hospitality, I've got a solution.

I'm going to cut you.

Me and my 400 men are going to cut you.

And these 400 guys who were rebels and outcasts with David, they liked to fight.

And so David brings a brigade of men.

And over what?

Over what?

Right?

Over what?

Some when I was reading through this, this is what I found.

Okay, maybe you won't see it, but we'll take you back.

Over some Doritos, some peanuts, a little bitty mince, a fruit tray, and a cheese tray.

You say, where did it say that, Pastor?

Go back to verse 8.

Ask your young men, and they will tell you, therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes.

For we come on a feast day.

They came to a little party.

It was a little party time, and they wanted to raid the party favors.

And Nabal said, I don't have any party favors for you and your guys.

And he's about to get cut for being stingy.

Okay?

There's a fight over this.

Remember?

The day before saved Saul's life, spared him.

But I wanted, I wanted my peanuts, man.

We're hungry.

You don't mess with a man's food.

Food tore him up.

Well, look at verse 17.

Abigail gathered information.

Verse 17, take time for consideration.

Now therefore, listen what he says, the servant that came back with the news.

Now therefore, know and consider what you will do.

For harm is determined against our master and against all of his household.

He's such a scoundrel that no one can speak to him.

So the servant says, Take time for consideration.

Know and consider what you should do.

Don't just fly off the handle.

Right?

Elijah's example is a great example in the Bible, where Elijah had just won a great battle against the prophets of Baal.

He came down from the mountain and he got a letter from Jezebel, a nasty, mean letter from an upset lady, and she said, I'm gonna kill you.

So he he threw his hands up and said, Is there anyone else that is going through anything like this?

And hightailed it into a cave.

And you know what the Lord told him to do?

He didn't say, Remember what you did to the prophets of Baal, go fighter?

He said, Elijah, take a nap.

You just need to go take a nap.

Everybody here knows sometimes you need a nap.

I know there's some nap lovers in the crowd.

I know it's Sunday, and you're saying, Pastor 1115, if you just want to get done, because I can smell the nap.

Some of you dream about naps, right?

You're taking, oh and so he says, take a nap.

Then the angel brings him a cake.

I love that, Pastor.

Probably a donut.

Says, here, Elijah, here's a donut.

It'll help your thinking.

But he says, take time for consideration.

Consider, church, the effects of your words.

Consider what you're about to say.

Consider your actions.

David was ready to kill every man.

Consider your testimony.

Jesus said, You'll be blessed.

You'll be happy.

Divine congratulations to you for being a peacemaker, a peacekeeper.

Hemingway wrote something that I thought was pretty interesting and good.

He said, before you act, listen.

This would be good to write down.

Before you act, listen.

Before you react, think.

That's hard to do.

Before I react to think.

Sometimes I'm reacting to my reaction that I said, too late.

Y'all husband's with me?

Oh, I shouldn't sink that.

I knew I shouldn't.

Right?

He said, before you react, think.

Before you pray, forgive.

I thought that was good.

Before you quit, try.

D y'all hear those?

Before you quit, try.

CCW, you have to wade through the mental waters before you give in.

Don't just quit.

Look at your neighbor and go like this.

Don't quit.

Don't quit.

Don't quit.

No quitting.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 says that there's a time and season for everything under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

It gives 29 times of things.

Planting up, plucking out, living, dying.

You know what it doesn't give a time for?

No quitting.

It gives no time for quitting in Ecclesiastes.

There's a time for godly prayer and consideration.

But we don't quit.

Listen, church, the grass isn't greener on that other side.

The grass is greener where the pitcher starts getting water and dumping it on you.

It's greener where it gets watered.

And so we bloom where we're planted.

Don't worry about the naybals.

Excuse my language, but there's foolishness everywhere.

Okay?

Don't quit.

Don't give in.

Take time for consideration.

It might be time for a reset.

Might be time for a prayer and a fast.

It may be time for you to have a literal timeout.

It may be time for you to go exercise.

I don't know your means of getting that steam off.

Maybe you need to go take a ride.

Maybe you need to go get a cup of coffee.

CCW Jesus looked at disciples and said, You better think.

You better think about peace.

Before you snap, you better think.

Before you get in your feelings, you better think.

Before you lose it, remember who you are, you better think.

Before they hit your last nerve, you better think.

Before you entertain that conversation, you better think.

You better think.

Before you complain, you better think.

Because Jesus, his name is Shalom.

The God of peace.

And he've called you and I to make peace.

That's what a peacemaker does.

Not to stir the pot.

Called us to make peace.

He said, My message, disciples and Christians, is a message of eternal peace.

I have come so that for all eternity you will have peace.

I am the great peacemaker.

Listen, look at your neighbor right now and go like this.

Peace.

Can we have some peace?

That's what he says.

I came for peace.

Well, Abigail took time for consideration, but look at verse 18.

She took her time, but then let her see as find an opportunity for mediation.

Then Abigail, verse 18, made haste and took 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep, five sias of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on a donkey.

And she said to her servants, Go on before me, I'm coming after you.

But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

So it was as she rode on the donkey that she went down under cover of the hill, and there was David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.

She found an opportunity for mediation.

Now there is a time, church, in which you'll miss your opportunity.

So I want you to be wise into this.

Peacemakers, it's not non-confrontation, it's not staying off in the background, it's getting involved.

And I love the line Abigail has right here.

It says, she made haste.

My boys, they uh they don't care.

They just, and so um, I can remember when Wyatt, he's 13 now, but I can remember it like yesterday, at two or three, we had a missing rung in the top of our stairway in our Connorsville home.

And why, I just heard something that didn't sound quite right.

And so I come around the corner, and as I walk around the corner, he is falling in mid-air through the rung of the top thing, and he does a somersault in the and and I catch him, and I was like, this is the greatest dad moment ever.

But I made haste when I heard that sound.

That sound was not right.

And Heather tell you, I don't usually make a whole lot of haste.

And so I heard something different.

How many of you ever instinctively you've been riding and something happens different in traffic and you slam the brakes and instinctively you throw up your arm?

Right?

If you ever want to know if you actually do love a person, if you don't do that, you might not.

Okay?

If you instinctively go like this, if you don't, you're like, oh, I'm good.

Okay, just saying.

And so instinctively you throw that hand up.

Why?

Because you instinctively want to protect what you love.

Church, listen to me.

People are running right into the fiery darts of Satan.

And we, church, are supposed to be a shield that joins around them.

Where is our shield, our peacekeeping shield?

Satan is attacking families, church.

I've been with students 15 years.

Let me tell you the message that culture sells them: drug yourselves and cut yourselves and starve yourselves and sex yourselves, and this is the way to live.

Sell your soul to the world.

And so we need people to mediate, to step in for peace.

People are saying, I wish there was more peace in the world.

I just, I wish there was world peace.

And you know what God says?

I brought all of peace incarnate in the flesh.

I brought Jesus every bit of peace that can ever be in the flesh for you.

And when he died on the cross, the ultimate act of peace, covering all of your sins, all of your storms, all of your shame, it was for you so that you can have peace and then give that peace.

I give you peace.

He said, I live in every Christian, so make haste.

Don't wait.

By the way, man, I want to thank God for all the peacemakers in my life.

People have said, I think you're being emotional.

I I I think you're you're a little bit angry.

I think you need to sleep on that.

Don't listen to what the naysayers say, Rick.

Don't act on that.

You see, again, peacemaking sounds passive, but it's not.

It's active.

It's seeking a right result.

And so Abigail found her opportunity.

She's so wise.

If you just missed it, you'd miss something so great.

Abigail sees why they're upset, and she understands that the way to a man's heart is through his belly.

Y'all didn't miss that.

Look at what she gets.

Abigail made haste and took 200 loaves of bread, 300 pounds a rack of lamb, 200 boxes of fig newtons.

That's what it says.

Verse 18.

And then she even has a bunch of raisins for the gluten-free and paleo guys, those that are on a diet.

And so she found a way to mediate peace.

Some of y'all need to make somebody a meal.

Y'all hear me?

Invite them over.

If you're not a good cook, buy them a meal.

Okay, look for a way to mediate peace.

How do we do that?

Abigail had that wisdom.

Okay.

And they were so hungry and mad over their party favors, and now she's bringing a load.

That takes us to the third thing.

One community's confrontation calmed.

How do we calm?

Psalms 133, verse 1 says, How good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.

Psalms 133:1

That word pleasant there is calming.

How peaceful it is, church, hear me.

When we're all together in unity, when the goal is bigger than the role, and we're all about being together on this mission to love God and love people and love our community when we are unified.

It's pleasant, it's calming, it's peace.

It doesn't mean we don't have an attack, but we say, That's my brother.

Uh-uh.

We're gonna get through it.

We're gonna figure out a way to fix the problem.

We're gonna talk it through.

We're gonna talk directly, we're gonna fix the problem, and then we're gonna move on because we have a mission.

How do we get a community's confrontation calmed?

How do we do that?

Okay, the opposition is here, church.

And I want you to understand something.

John 16, 33 says that we're guaranteed trouble.

Confrontation, letter A, is coming.

Confrontation is coming.

There's no doubt about this.

Why?

Because you exist and I exist.

We have a sin nature.

And so confrontation is a part of the human experience.

As long as we have this sin nature and we're imperfect.

And so as soon as sin came into the other, it started poisoning things.

Started poisoning the world, polluting the world.

Now we have sin, we have disease, we have conflict.

John 16, 33 says, Be of good cheer, because I've overcome the world.

But he says, you will have tribulation.

You're gonna have it.

It's a guarantee.

James 1 2 says, consider it all joy when you go through various kinds of trials.

It's a guarantee you're gonna have conflict.

He says, be joyful through it.

Psalms 34, 19 says, Many are the afflictions of the righteous.

And so it's not if, none of these say if you have a tribulation.

None of these say if one day you go through a struggle, if someday somebody hurts your feelings, if someday somebody doesn't think like you, it says when, when the confrontation clock is ticking, church.

Satan is lurking around any corner.

He's trying to set a trap.

And Satan, he's like Nabal.

He's a scoundrel, he's an agitator, he's an aggravator, and he wants you to be in a storm.

Satan hates this new building.

Oh, he hates all that this represents.

He hates the idea of a vision to reach a community.

He hates new people coming in this place in drugs.

He hates all that.

And so, do we think he's gonna bring conflict?

Yeah, absolutely.

So, Pastor has said this many times.

You are in a storm, just got out of a storm, or buckle up because the storm's coming.

Confrontation is coming.

But that takes us to letter B.

It makes peacemaking the priority.

When you know that confrontation is coming, you gotta understand peacekeeping, church.

It's priority.

And again, that means get involved.

How do we keep the peace?

Look at verse 23 through 25.

Now, when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, bowed down to the ground.

So she fell at his feet and said, On me, my Lord, on me, let this iniquity be.

And please let your maidservant speak in your ears and hear the words of your maidservant.

Please let not my Lord regard this scoundrel Nabal, for as his name it is, so he is.

Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.

But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of the Lord whom you sent.

Now, therefore, my Lord, as the Lord lives and your soul lives, since the Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand.

Now then let your enemies and those who seek harm for my Lord be as Nabal.

And so she comes and a beautiful scene.

If you could see a movie scene sweeping across this moment, Abigail riding a donkey, dismounts a moving animal, falls on her face before David, lays at his feet, and listen to me.

She takes fault for her husband's sin.

Church, don't miss the weight of this.

This beautiful and bold woman is a typification of Christ here.

Remember, he rode in on a colt, he left heaven's glory, brought his face to the ground, and he took my charge.

And he took my nails.

And he said, I'll take, I'll take their infirmity, I'll take their sin at my charge.

Abigail's number one priority was to intercede for peace.

Can you imagine that scene?

What a lady.

Look at verse 26 through 31.

We won't go through all of it, but as you read there, Abigail, after she gets down, she sees that she has David's attention.

She preaches, she prays, and she encourages David.

What a woman.

Nine times she mentions the Lord.

Now I want you to understand something.

There's something that's more beautiful than beauty.

And in this situation, we see it.

What's more beautiful than beauty is godliness.

A woman who knows and walks with the Lord is more beautiful than any physical feature that we can.

Can we get an amen for the beauty and godliness?

I know for the ladies here they say, if my man will lead me in a godly household, that's something I feel secure and I love it.

It's beautiful.

For the ladies that will live in godliness, it's beautiful.

And so she mentioned the Lord's name nine times.

A peacemaker in a world full of strife.

How can we be more like her?

I have three ways.

Just little practical things.

You might want to jot these down.

Just pieces of scripture.

How can we be more like that so we can be peacemakers?

Number one, Isaiah 26, 3 says, He whose mind is stayed on thee has perfect peace.

So get your mind right.

If my mind is on the Lord, it says, I'll have perfect peace.

Okay?

There's another scripture that says that we cast down all of our evil imaginations.

And so we keep our minds right.

And so again, it goes back to some of the things we already said.

Think about it.

Consider it.

Take time.

And so to have peace, we have to get our mind in the right place.

The second thing is another scripture.

Psalms 119, 165 says, Great peace have they which love thy law.

And listen to this, nothing will offend them.

Has anybody been offended recently?

You've been offended?

Have you been a little too offended, over-offended?

You know what this tells me?

I better get in God's word.

It says, I have great peace, a multitude of peace when I'm in his word.

I won't be easily offended.

Some of you say, Well, I'm not that easily offended.

I'm just regularly offended.

It's not easily.

Well, get in the word a little more.

Soak in that word.

It says, Great peace.

Alright?

Love thy law, nothing shall offend him.

Then Philippians 4, 6 and 7 says that before I get upset, I bring my prayer, my supplication before the Lord.

Don't be anxious for anything, it says, but with prayer and supplication, let every request be made known unto God.

And then the peace that passes all understanding will guard your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus our Lord.

He says, Pray.

Get your mind right.

Read the word, pray.

And then you will be at a better place of peace.

And then I gotta have you recognize one other thing.

I love this scripture.

If you got time to turn there, you should turn there.

2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

I think we do.

We need to turn there.

2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

I've got it written in my notes, but I want to read it.

I want to read it from the Word.

2 Corinthians 5.

This is beautiful.

This is what Abigail has done.

Verse 18 through 21.

Look at this.

Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ.

God, Jesus, has done this for us, church.

And it didn't stop right there.

And he has given us this ministry of reconciliation.

That is that God was in Christ reconciling the world in their sins to himself.

He wasn't imputing it to them, but has committed us to the word of reconciliation.

Look at verse 20.

Now we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us.

It says, He's reconciled all our faults, all our shame.

And it didn't end with that.

He says, now you must do the same.

It says we're ambassadors, and that God is pleading through you.

God is pleading to a lost world through you and through me.

And so we gotta help people in this storm called life.

Right?

We said confrontation is coming.

We gotta help people through the storm called life.

Through the storm called sin.

You say, Well, I can't get involved in that.

That's where peacemaking gets active.

You say, Well, I don't want to get involved in people's sin.

That's the wrong answer.

You get involved, and you do it in the right way.

I'm not saying you be ugly, but in a loving way, how can you help somebody who's walking down a path that's got a landmine?

You get involved.

We help people, we reconcile people.

A storm called life finds peace.

Because we help.

We are called to this reconciliation.

I want to show you a little video, um, and then I'm gonna explain something that happened in my childhood that I think um, man, I think back very fondly about.

But I want you to watch this video about a song that I love.

Horatio Spafford was a well-known businessman and lawyer in Chicago during the 1860s.

However, in 1870, things started to go wrong.

Horatio's only son was killed by scarlet fever at the age of four.

A year later, it was fire rather than fever that struck.

Horatio had invested heavily in real estate on the shores of Lake Michigan.

In 1871, every one of those holdings was wiped out by the Great Chicago fire.

Aware of the toll that these disasters had taken on the family, Horatio decided to take his wife and four daughters on a holiday to England.

So the Spaffords traveled to New York from where they were to catch the French steamship Ville du Havre across the Atlantic.

Yet just before they set sail, a last-minute business development forced Horatio to delay.

Not wanting to ruin the family holiday, Spafford persuaded his family to go on as planned.

He would follow on later.

With this decided, Anna and her four daughters sailed east to Europe while Spafford returned west to Chicago.

Just nine days later, Spafford received a telegram from his wife in Wales.

It read, Saved Alone.

On November 2nd, 1873, the Ville du Havre had collided with the Lochern, an English vessel.

It sank in only 12 minutes, claiming the lives of 226 people, including Horatio's four daughters.

Upon hearing the terrible news, Horatio boarded the next ship out of New York to join his bereaved wife.

During Horatio's voyage, the captain of the ship called him to the bridge.

A careful reckoning has been made, he said.

And I believe we are now passing the place where the Ville de Avre sank.

Horatio then returned to his cabin and penned the lyrics of the great hymn, It Is Well.

The words which Spafford wrote that day came from 2 Kings 4 26.

They echo the response of the Shinamite woman to the sudden death of her only child.

Though we are told her soul is vexed within her, she still maintains that it is well.

And Spafford's song reveals a man whose trust in the Lord is as unwavering as hers was.

And we'd begin to sing the words to it as well as a church family.

And I'd look up often and I'd look over, and I'd see a man down the row with tears coming down his cheek.

I don't know what's going on, but I know something's happening with the Lord here.

Even at 1011.

And I'd look over and I'd hear these words over and over, and I want to say them, but I didn't understand this story.

As a little boy at 11, when it said, When peace like a river attendeth my way, think about Horatio Spafford as he looked out at the sea.

He said, When sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, it is well with my soul.

But it listen to the next verse.

And I didn't understand.

I look over and I see my own father.

Tears coming down his cheek, and I'm what is happening?

I know I feel this presence, but I don't totally get it.

And they would sing, though Satan should buff it, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and shed his own blood for my soul.

And we sang as an anthem.

It is well.

Oh, it is well with my soul.

So with heads bowed and eyes closed this morning, church.