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You arewelcome

StoneCreek

www.rossvillechurch.com

781 Salem Road, Rossville, GA 30741

October 28, 2012

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Will be here December 29, 2012 to lead in worship.

Pure Heart will be here Sunday morning,

January 13, 2013

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1 Samuel 25 1a And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah.

There is purpose in coming together to mourn for loved ones who have died.

In coming together, the saints invite the Presence of God’s Holy Spirit to be in our midst.

The Holy Spirit is our Comforter.

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Samuel had meant much to the nation of Israel:

Priest, Prophet, King-maker, Advisor to kings, Prayer warrior, and more.

God had talked with Samuel from the time he was a small boy, living and training with Eli the Priest.

His death was a grave loss to Israel, and David came to Ramah with the others to mourn.

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1b And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

Ramah is north of Jerusalem.

David moved far from Saul, into a rather

empty area.

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2 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

Rich man!But not a smart man, as we shall see.

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3 Now the name of the man was Nabal [dolt or fool]; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.

Churlish = cruel, stubborn, hard-hearted

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So, Nabal was an evil, stubborn, rich, hard-hearted fool.

He will lose everything, because he will die.

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But his wife, Abigail, was beautiful, wise, and hard-working.

She will be the wife of a king.

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4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. 5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: 6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.

David is on the run in the wilderness, and he still has to feed 600 men.

He tells his men to be diplomatic.

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7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. 8 Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.

David and his men were not free-loaders.

They had protected his men from bandits.

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9 And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. 10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.

Nabal “the fool” answered them harshly.

He even implied that David was a runaway slave.

He was greedy and did not want to share;

So he blamed David for his own need.

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11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?

“The Fool” was all about self.Nabal went into a passion, as covetous men are apt to do, when asked for anything, thinking thus to cover one sin with another; and, by abusing the poor, to excuse themselves from relieving them. But God will not thus be mocked.

Matthew Henry

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Let this help us to bear reproaches and misrepre-sentations with patience and cheerfulness, and make us easy under them; it has often been the lot of the excellent ones of the earth.

Matthew Henry

As Nabal did to David, people who are mean to us are excusing their own sins.

Compassion is a defining trait of God.

His children are to be compassionate also.

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Nabal insists much on the property he had in the provisions of his table. May he not do what he will with his own?

We mistake, if we think we are absolute lords of what we have, and may do what we please with it. No; we are but stewards, and must use it as we are directed, remembering it is not our own, but His who entrusted us with it.

Matthew Henry Concise Bible Commentary.

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James 1 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Every good thing that we possess is God’s Provision. He has entrusted us with it.

We are not even lords of our own selves.

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1 Corinthians 6 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We each have an obligation unto God to use all that we are and all He has provided for His Purpose.

Price: Jesus’ Blood

Nabal was the fool – “MY, my, my, I, and my.”

Let us be wise in sharing and using God’s Provision.

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Whatever we have, whatever we can do

God provided.

Use it for the Glory of God.Not for our own purposes.