Sunday, July 11, 2021 - Trial-Error & Better Living: in our relationships

Theme: Trial - Error & Better Living: in our relationships

Welcome

Prayer

1 Samuel 25:23-26                Common English Bible Translation

When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and fell facedown before him, bowing low to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “Put the blame on me, my master! But please let me, your servant, speak to you directly. Please listen to what your servant has to say. Please, my master, pay no attention to this despicable man Nabal. He’s exactly what his name says he is! His name means fool, and he is foolish! But I myself, your servant, didn’t see the young men that you, my master, sent. I pledge, my master, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, that the Lord has held you back from bloodshed and taking vengeance into your own hands! But now let your enemies and those who seek to harm my master be exactly like Nabal! (Question: Have you ever had trouble listening to someone else? Why?)

1 Samuel 25:27-31

Here is a gift, which your servant has brought to my master. Please let it be given to the young men who follow you, my master. Please forgive any offense by your servant. The Lord will definitely make an enduring dynasty for my master because my master fights the Lord’s battles, and nothing evil will be found in you throughout your lifetime. If someone chases after you and tries to kill you, my master, then your life will be bound up securely in the bundle of life by the Lord your God, but he will fling away your enemies’ lives as from the pouch of a sling. When the Lord has done for my master all the good things he has promised you, and has installed you as Israel’s leader, don’t let this be a blot or burden on my master’s conscience, that you shed blood needlessly or that my master took vengeance into his own hands. When the Lord has done good things for my master, please remember your servant.” (Question: What are the actions you regret taking in your life? Why?)

1 Samuel 25:32-35

David said to Abigail, “Bless the Lord God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! And bless you and your good judgment for preventing me from shedding blood and taking vengeance into my own hands today! Otherwise, as surely as the Lord God of Israel lives-the one who kept me from hurting you-if you hadn’t come quickly and met up with me, there wouldn’t be one single male left come morning.” Then David accepted everything she had brought for him. “Return home in peace,” he told her. “Be assured that I’ve heard your request and have agreed to it.” (Question: How have others made a positive impact on your life?)

1 Samuel 25:36-38

When Abigail got back home to Nabal, he was throwing a party fit for a king in his house. Nabal was in a great mood and very drunk, so Abigail didn’t tell him anything until daybreak. In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him everything. Nabal’s heart failed inside him, and he became like a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. (Question: How have you handled different types of losses in your life?)

1 Samuel 25:39-42

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Bless the Lord, who has rendered a verdict regarding Nabal’s insult to me and who kept me, his servant, from doing something evil! The Lord has brought Nabal’s evil down on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, saying that he would take her as his wife. When David’s servants reached Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you so you can become his wife.” She bowed low to the ground and said, “I am your servant, ready to serve and wash the feet of my master’s helpers.” Then Abigail got up quickly and rode on her donkey, with five of her young women going with her. She followed David’s messengers and became his wife. (Question: How do you bless other people’s lives?)

Reflection Together              (In Person only)

Offering Ourselves to God

       During this time let us quietly reflect upon an excerpt from the Belhar Statement of Faith.

We believe in the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who gathers, protects and cares for the church through Word and Spirit. This, God has done since the beginning of the world and will do to the end. We believe in one holy, universal Christian church, the communion of saints called from the entire human family. We believe that Christ’s work for reconciliation is made manifest in the church as the community of believers who have been reconciled with God and with one another; that unity is, therefore, both a gift and an obligation for the church of Jesus Christ; that through the working of God’s Spirit it is a binding force, yet simultaneously a reality which must be earnestly pursued and sought: one which the people of God must continually be built up to attain; that this unity must become visible so that the world may believe that separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered, and accordingly that anything which threatens this unity may have no place in the church and must be resisted;

Hymn   Great God of Every Blessing       (In Person Only)

Prayers of the People and The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 

on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us; 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power 

and the glory, forever.  Amen

Benediction

Closing Hymn       O for a World          (In Person Only)

 Hymn List

65 Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

372 O for a World

694 Great God of Every Blessing

742 We Will Walk with God

Sermon Series July 4th – August 1st

Theme: Trial – Error & Better Living

July 18th – TBA

July 25th –  in our responsibilities

August 1st –  in our realities