MAR 11 2018 | David the Fugitive S1E6 | 1 Samuel 25:28-34

Sea Change Church · David the Fugitive S1E6 · "1 Samuel 25:28-34" · Adam Stadtmiller · March 11, 2018
1 Samuel 25:28-34
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Good morning, family. I'm Carol Taylor, recently retired office manager from this wonderful place that we're in this morning. And I'm going to give you like seven seconds worth of background on our scripture, which is taken from 1 Samuel 25, 28 through 34. Abigail saves David from sin. Now, Abigail is a wonderful woman who is married to a really bad dude named Nabal.

Okay. And Nabal has really insulted David. And so David has told his men to draw their swords and go down and not one male will be left standing alive. So Abigail goes off with bread and grapes and everything to give to David as in she's going to try to appease David. Okay. So this is Abigail speaking. Please forgive your servant's presumption.

Listen, the Lord, your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my Lord because you fight the Lord's battles and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my Lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord, your God. But the lives of your enemies, he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.

When the Lord has fulfilled for my Lord, every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel. My Lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord, your God has brought my Lord success, remember your servant. David said to Abigail, praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me.

May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Great job. Give me a hug, Carol. I want a hug. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, that's a good hug. Yeah. That's so good. You need a blog or a videocast or a vlog or something like that. So I just love it. And David went down to me. I love it. It's so good. And I was going to do that and I was going to have to set this story up, which I kind of want to do.

We are continuing on in this massive archetypal story of David. And we are in the second series, which is David the Fugitive. We started out with the giant series with David as a boy working in an unconscious confidence, competence, not confidence, where he was just competent at things and was just unaware. And some of us have that. Your gifts are so ingrained within you.

You just have the ability to be in a gifting that you don't even have to think about. But in the Fugitive series, as we've gone on, and he's killed giants and people have made songs about David as a young boy and he's been faithful to Saul who's becoming jealous of him. Eventually, that jealousy leads Saul to kick David out of the kingdom to try to take his life.

And David is living in a new area, a place where he cannot touch the enemy that is in front of him because he knew better than to touch God's anointed. What do you do when you are in a battle but you cannot physically touch or you cannot make a move against the one that is standing in front of you? David now is not in an unconscious competence.

David is in a place of unknowing. He is a place that he's never been before, having all the gifts, all the abilities to take life by the reins, so to speak, but chooses not to do it. And so here we have David. He's been running around the countryside, going from stronghold to stronghold. And two of the major points that have really stuck out to me in this is the first one is that David was strategic when he was on the run.

He, when, when life had him on the run, he was constantly thinking, how do I go to a place that will make me stronger? And oftentimes, we just think, I just need to run faster. I don't know where I'm running to, but if I run faster, I can get away. David never ran for the sake of running. What we see David doing is running to a strategic place.

And many of the strategic places he went to were strongholds. We have been taught that you need to fight constantly. You need to be proactive. You need to be on the battlefield. But what we found out last week is a castle or a stronghold has the ability to save your life just as much as someone coming with a sword and taking out the enemy for you.

Are you running to the stronghold? And the stronghold has the ability to give you rest on the run. Rest on the run. You don't have to run faster. Part of me thought, I wouldn't do this, but maybe when I was a youth pastor, I would have. During the entire message, I just wanted to have a treadmill up here and have someone running the entire time.

Just to show you that you don't have to constantly be on the run because that's what life is like. How tiring would it be to be on a treadmill that long? I went yesterday and got on a treadmill. It was horrible. Miserable time. I don't know why we do it. The other thing is that David got stronger when he was on the run. And how many of us can say that?

That when we're on the run in life, we tend to get weaker. David tended to get stronger. He got more plunder. He got more people following him. He became the captain of the miserable, the people that were being oppressed. He was able to deliver them from being victims into victory. And one of the things we've learned is about how we don't want to be in a victim culture.

That there are benefits to being a victim these days and before these days. And what does it take that obviously people have been victimized and we need to care for them deeply. But to teach them to come out of victimization and some of the benefits that might come with victimization and to step out into victory. David comes upon a woman who walks in complete victory.

Abigail, one of my five favorite biblical characters. And my five favorite biblical characters are obscure these days. Let me turn my phone off because it is blowing up. Just, yeah. Try not to text me during the message. That helps. I think your verse was wrong, bro. I love Uriah the Hittite. I love Uriah the Hittite. I mean, in a few verses, powerful.

The integrity. I love Joshua. One of the few biblical characters that does not have a major wrongdoing in his life. Granted, he didn't seek the Lord in regard to the deal he made, the covenant he made with the Gibeonites. But it wasn't the same kind of thing where David had some pretty big failures in his life. And all of David's major failures came when he was king.

Be careful when you become the king of your inheritance. Really important. It's much easier to serve God on the run, I believe. And so we see that. Uriah the Hittite, Joshua. Abigail is one of my five favorite biblical characters. You'll find out today. Because she walked in such a strength and a dignity and a power and a wisdom. And actually becomes a queen.

She goes from being the wife of this really horrible guy. This oppressive. You can just imagine if you read the story. And hopefully you are reading the story along with me. And you get the scripture each week. And you're prepared to have read this. So I don't have to do all the work here. We work as a team learning the Bible. And so as we read this, he's just a horrible guy.

He's oppressive. He's mean. He's unkind. And you can imagine the marriage that she would have had to a guy like this whose actual name meant fool. I mean, that was his name. Fool. You know. And so she was probably sent into this marriage. And that would be a bummer, right? Hey, we've got her parents. Hey, we've got this great guy for you. Yeah, what's his name?

Fool. And she perseveres. Matter of fact, when she has the ability, as we'll see in a moment, to go to David and say, Hey, he's the fool. Please save the household and take him out. She could have done that. She chooses not to do that. Matter of fact, she chooses something in the way which David is being called not to touch the one that is offending her.

Or that is offending him and trust the Lord for the results. Nabal ends up, as you know, if you read the story, dying of a heart attack. Or dying, you know, of passing out 10 to 12 days later. And she goes from being the wife of a fool to the wife of a man who God says will be remembered for all eternity. Whose kingdom will be in the line of Jesus that will reign forever.

That's a big shift. But she didn't reach out to strike the one that was oppressing her. So we see that. I want to say, this was not planned. We had National Women's Day this week. It was on Wednesday. National Women's Week. And the word moment is going around. And people are talking about this as a crucial moment. We've had lots of crucial moments in history.

And I think it is a crucial moment. I think there's a lot to be learned, a lot to be done, a lot to be said. And we all have a lot of different opinions on what that means. But I also think, and women in particular, I met with, I don't know, 10 to 14 women yesterday. Amazing group of women at this church. To talk about this conference for young girls that we're doing.

And listen to their hearts about womanhood. And I ask them questions about the women that they respect. Words like Harriet Tubman came up, who was inspirational or very effective in the Underground Railroad and slavery back in the day. Mother Teresa's name came up. Ann Graham Blotz. Other people came up. And what was interesting is when I asked them, because I said, hey, I don't want to just be, you know, dude getting up there and saying, here's some women you should all look up to.

I need to harvest this from women. So I just want you to know, when I speak on women's issues, I talk to women a lot. Especially my wife, my daughter, and others. What was interesting is when I asked the question, what are the women in culture that we can respect? There was a good minute to minute and a half of silence. Now, I got a lot of people thought, and after they thought for a long time, the answers, you know, people started texting me last night and more answers came up with people they respected.

But I do think that there is a dearth. There is a void in our culture of women who are on the forefront, because we love to put celebrity on the forefront, right? So perhaps they're drowning out, you know, the amazing women that are kind of in the secondary culture, because they don't cause a lot of drama, and our culture loves drama. We love putting up the women who are doing lots of bathroom selfies and all this other stuff.

And they tend to not be seen. But it was interesting that when I asked for a, hey, help me out, I want to come up with some names here. And they did come through with lots of names afterwards. That there was a moment of like, I'm not sure we can think of any. And that was interesting. That was telling. And I will say that for women, this is a crucial moment, more for women themselves than it is for men.

And I think they need to be very wise that women are not deceived in the midst of it. Because there is a moment, and everyone thinks this is a moment of victory for women. This is a moment where women are going to, you know, sisters are doing it for themselves, like, you know, Annie Lennox said, you know, with Aretha Franklin back in the 1980s song.

But with every opportunity comes a possibility of a downfall. And let me just say to women, be very aware of the pitfalls and the possible deception that can come along with it. And the things that are being lauded in the society is this is a really good thing for women. But actually, it's a really negative thing for women. And so I'm asking women to do that, women in this church.

And it was interesting, as I said, if I were to name 40 women in this church who are amazing examples and women to look up to, it would be very easy for me. Matter of fact, I could have done that in moments. I could have quickly done it. And this church is filled with women who are worth following. And if you are a younger woman, please, I'll let you decide what the age group on that is.

But you can find another woman in this church and go and ask for discipleship. One of the things that we see is, I believe, especially in this, in one of the things that I see is a deception that I hear is what it means to be empowered. What it means for women empowerment. And I heard a movie star, a really famous movie star. I won't name their names because I think it's still gossip.

I don't think just because they're far away from me I can name their names. It's not gossip anymore. But I did hear her say she had done this, her first, you know, full nude scene. And she said, I, you know, I felt so empowered by it. And I thought, if that's true, then strippers must be the most empowered women in the world. I don't see that as empowerment.

As a matter of fact, I see that as one of the lies that many women, not all, but a lot of women are saying, hey, modesty is a weakness. It is foisted upon us by men. Men are making us be modest. And we can do whatever we want. I got to say, I don't think modesty and dignity is a weakness. I, you know, when I look at the stars of the past, and I don't know their lives behind the scenes, but I look at a Grace Kelly, and I look at people like that, and I see there's a certain dignity.

I look at Queen Elizabeth, and, you know, I don't know her personal life. But you see a certain dignity. And there are strengths that women bring to society. And I'm not afraid to say that I believe God has given women a role, that he's given men a role, and that there are strengths, and there are gender strengths. And those strengths are not a weakness.

And so we see this thing, and it's almost like the more crass, and I'm not saying, but just in the media, the more crass women can become, the more empowered they are. There's so many things about the women's march, the first one they had, that I like. But I said this two years ago. The one thing I didn't like is the amount of vulgarity that was involved in it.

Some of it's just vulgar. And it's almost like, hey, if you can be more like men, like, that's a good thing. Let me just say, there's a lot of ways, women, you don't want to be like men. And it's actually a weakness. And you probably already know this anyways. I'm speaking to the, preaching to the choir. But let me just give you a few strengths that I see that women have that are strengths that sometimes are being seen as weaknesses.

Let me say, I model this belief, and I've never heard anybody say this, but I do believe that women were modeled after the person of the Holy Spirit. I believe if you look at the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and who the Holy Spirit is in regard to being a helper, and he never felt, the Holy Spirit has never complained about being a helper, by the way.

But you know the Holy Spirit's called a helper, right? Like, he's not in the Godhead going, why does Jesus always get to be the son? I'm just a helper. This stinks. The Holy Spirit is a helper. The Holy Spirit is seen as a woman in the book of Proverbs and is wise. Wisdom in the Bible is seen as a woman often. That women have this incredible wisdom.

I think oftentimes they present wisdom much better than men present wisdom. You see that the Holy Spirit is gentle. The Holy Spirit is a counselor. The Holy Spirit has insights that you can't see. They call that women's what? Intuition. Intuition. Matter of fact, if you do a character study on the Holy Spirit and the strengths and the gifts of women and what they bring to a society, you will see, I believe, that this is just my take on it from my own studies, that it lines up pretty well with the person of the Holy Spirit.

Not a bad person to be modeled after. And I would love to have more conversation with you about that. You know, one of the things that we're missing, and I think these are the beautiful things about women that we're going to see in Abigail here, is one is sensitivity. I believe that women have a beautiful sensitivity that is so needed. I was in a parking lot yesterday, and I heard this screaming, yeah, what are you going to say to me?

And I see this guy get out of a car and run across the street and get face to face with this other guy, and they're standing there, and they're getting ready to fight. I've never seen that with women, except in a bar, okay? But I've never just, I've seen that so many times with men. I can't tell you how men just run up and let's just solve this fisticuffs, you know?

You know, let's go to pugilism. I just don't see that. Women have a sensitivity that I think is beautiful. I don't think it's a weakness. I think women are beautiful. I think there's a beauty. One of the things I think that Women's March misses is beauty. I don't see a lot of beauty, although some of that's changing because I'm starting to see more beauty as a part of it.

But the first one was an answer to, hey, men are like this. A certain individual is like that. We can do it too. Okay, let's model ourselves off the lowest common denominator. Women are great at counsel. I've got to say the majority of my decisions, you know, not church decisions because we keep that somewhat separate, but in life, my wife is a great counselor.

Women are incredible counselors. They tend to think, they don't run out of the car and get nose to nose with each other. They think through things. They take time. They have patience. Women seem to have more patience. They seem to have a persevering strength. They persevere for long suffering before they're not quick on the trigger. They have a nurture about them.

Women, they're nurturing. I think that women are, actually, I don't think. I know that women are more nurturing than men. Not all the time. Not in every instance because we don't live in a perfect world. It's quiet today. It's true, though. Communication. I think women, for the most part, are better at communication. I think they're great. I think it's incredible to have the ability to have conversation and not just have to go toe-to-toe.

All these things you're going to see in Abigail, one of my favorite people. And men, if you're looking for a wife and you're single, read about Abigail. There's other women. There's Ruth, Naomi. You know, there's other women in the Bible, the great women of the Bible. But this woman in particular had game. And I would put her up against many women in our church because we have women that are walking in this same strength and this same dignity.

And I have to say, the culture isn't going to say what I'm saying. And I'm not afraid to say it. And this is how I raise my daughters. And I want my daughters to look at people that are willing, even if they're not believers, that say, I'm going to walk in a dignity and a modesty. There was one actress that was being lauded. It was so incredible that she had a glass of wine in her hand, was drunk, and was at the Academy Awards pulling her dress up and walking over the aisles.

And, hey, empowerment, that's amazing. I was like, no, no, it's not amazing. Maybe you can say it is. But when I look with my daughters, there's other people that I'm going to point her to. I tell my daughters, it's not all about a bathroom selfie, not leveraging some of the assets, you know, the physical things that we have in order to get what we want and leveraging that as power.

Culture loves indiscretion. The culture loves perversity, and the culture loves leveraging sexuality for power. And I've got to say, women, this is a temptation. It is a temptation. You have to decide if you are going to choose that temptation. It's interesting. There's a verse in Proverbs 30, 20, and it's just, it's one verse sticks out, and it's not in your notes.

I put it in this morning. It says, the way of the adulterous, this is the way of the adulterous woman. She eats, she wipes her mouth, and when she's done, she says, I've done nothing wrong. In one sentence, it is such a character. It's almost like in a movie where, like, the character is built so quickly. Great movies can build a character immediately.

This builds the antithesis of the godly woman. She gets what she wants. She wipes her mouth and says, I've done nothing wrong. Perhaps you know that woman in society. I believe that more than the women of dignity and honor, that is the model that is being foisted upon young girls today. I don't know if you know it, but the porn industry, talk to Rondi, who is running this conference, the new demographic that they are targeting is teenage girls.

Specifically, this is the new market. Just like Verizon targeted China with cell phones, you know, 10, 15 years ago what it is. This is the new market, and it's working. They're beginning to target. You're seeing the rise of these things. And we need women who are willing to stand up, not have anybody who doesn't, they don't care what other people think, and say, no.

There is something righteous about modesty. There is something righteous about humility. There is something righteous. And as a group of women, we are going to say there is another way, and there is a fork in the road. And I believe the church has to have an answer. Godly women, you have to have an answer. You need to get together and say, what does the Bible say?

Not just because some dude's up here saying it, but because you get together, because the Holy Spirit speaks to you, and you say, we will rise up, and we will have a different way and an option. Well, good. I'm glad to hear an amen with some female voices, because it was dead silent there for 20 minutes. Who is Abigail? Abigail is the Talmud. The Talmud is this Jewish document that is, it's a beautiful Jewish document that talks about the law, and it talks about cultural lore, and it speaks about Abigail, and it describes her as intelligent and beautiful.

What a one-two punch. You know, was it Tennessee or any four? Was it one-fist of iron, the other of steel? If the right one don't get you, then the left one will. Intelligence and beauty for a woman, what a combination that'll work. Beautiful spirit, though, because she had a spirit, because we all know that beauty is what? Fleeting. She's described as beautiful.

The Talmud amplifies this idea, mentioning her as being one of the four women of surpassing beauty in the world. Wow. The other three being Rahab, Sarah, and Esther. Rahab, Sarah, and Esther. As the wife of a wealthy nabel, she is also a woman of high socioeconomic status. She's a woman of status. She's a woman of power. She's a woman, she has a lot of intrigue.

She's this amazing woman that walks with a stature, that is decisive, that is quick. Let's just look quickly at this. And women, I would say, ask yourself, is this the woman you want to be? Is this the biblical character, or is what the world is telling you that you need to be, what you're going after? And men, I would say, is this the type of woman that you're helping your wife to become?

Is this the type of woman that you're looking for? Or do we make each other worse? I'd say one of the roles, and this, look, this will not sell, okay, outside of the church, but one of the roles of women is to make men better, right? One of the roles of women is to make men better, okay? That will not sell, by the way. That movie will not be made.

Abigail made David better. You will see this. She saved him from destruction. How many times has my wife saved me from destruction? A woman saved the family from destruction. Single mom saving the family from the destruction of what a father has brought to it. You know the stories. One of the jobs of women is not just to become equal to men, or become more than men, or whatever it is as we celebrate women, but it is to help make men better.

And men, the job of you is to help make women better. We are co-equal in that job. Let's look at Abigail quickly. First, Nabal was a fool. You'll see in your notes, verse three. And his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent, beautiful woman, but her husband was a surly and mean in his dealings. He was a Calebite. Surly and mean. Imagine waking up to that every single day.

First of all, the Bible says, the scripture says that she's wise. She had good judgment. Verse 33, if you look at it, David says to her, may you be blessed for your good judgment, and keeping me from bloodshed this day, and from avenging myself with my own hands. She had the ability through her wisdom. And wisdom is gained over time. When the moment of opportunity comes to employ wisdom, it's too late to prepare.

Okay? God will give us wisdom in a moment, but wisdom is gained over time. Jim speaks about wisdom all the time in his Proverbs series that he has done here. But she was a woman that was wise. She had good judgments. How do you know if a person has good judgments? Look at their track record. Look at if what they have, the decisions they have made have given fruit.

I would say that is really, really key. Verse 23, and this is a, this is a value that I believe women are being told is not a value. You need to be more aggressive, women. If you're just more aggressive, if you're more like men, you can get ahead in society. I believe humility is an undervalued weapon. Humility has won a lot of battles. I know that in my own personal life that I have won more victories with God and for God through humility than I have through aggression.

And we see that she is, she has this incredible ability, Abigail, to humble herself. She didn't try to go create, you know, gather other people around her. She came and what does she ride on when she comes to him, does it say? A donkey. The symbol that kings would ride to go if they were going to show another army that they come in peace, that they didn't want to fight.

And who came into Jerusalem on a donkey? That's right. He came in a donkey in humility. Jesus won his victory through what? Humility. Humility wins a lot of battles. Matter of fact, Jesus won your soul through humility. Let's not undervalue a strength of humility. It doesn't mean laying down every time somebody argues with you. It doesn't mean not having the ability to counter argue.

It doesn't mean that. But it's walking in a humility that we see that she did. And so if you look at verse 23, verse above, do we have verse 23 there? It says she bowed low. She bowed low with her face to the ground. She bowed low before David. She knew. And in that moment, the wisdom that she had, she came and she got all these cakes and she brought all these gifts.

And she came and she sought the salvation of perhaps herself, all the men she knew, the men in her household. You know she was a righteous woman and a lot of people were drawn to her. And so she had people in her household servants and people that she worked with that she loved. You know that she was a loving person. We can tell this by who she is. That she was thinking, if I don't do this, they're going to die.

And she becomes a victor. She becomes salvific. And she wins it with humility. Just in your own marriage, in your own life, in the own battle, in the battles that you are fighting, how often do you employ humility to win the battle? How often instead of fighting do you run into the shelter of the Lord and let the battle be won for you from the Lord? We see that here that she has humility.

She's shrewd and decisive. Scripture says, be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. This is Abigail. She's no one to be trifled with. She is no one to be trifled with. She is a strong, powerful woman that is worthy of David. She might even be more worthy than David. And it says that she comes quickly. Twice it says, in verse 18, if you go to verse 18, it says that she came, she acted quickly.

In verse 20 it says, as she came riding in the donkey into a mountain, the ravine, there was David and his men descending to meet her and she met them. And then twice it says that she acted quickly. And then David later on in this scripture says, if you had not acted what? Quickly. I love that. The book of Mark talks about Jesus just being able to move in the moment quickly.

Why can you move quickly? Because you're prepared to move quickly. You can't sit on the couch for six weeks and then go out and play, you know, football with a, you know, with a team or whatever and expect to move quickly. You have to be prepared to move quickly. And she was a woman that was prepared and she moved quickly and decisively. We need decisive women.

We need women that'll stand up and make a move and do what they need to do. And you can still be strong and humble. I'm not saying that men shouldn't be humble. That isn't what I'm saying. But I'm just saying that I believe that it's undervalued today. And it's one of the temptations today to women. Throw away modesty, throw away humility, throw away everything that looks weak.

Grab onto what is strong. Hold onto what is that and deny perhaps who God has made you to be that is some of the greatest things that you have to bring to society. This is what Abigail does. She is the model for this. She's shrewd, decisive. She's courageous. Who rides in? It says she rides into a ravine. That is not a safe place to ride because there is no way out.

And she rides to meet David who she's never met, who is known for killing giants, who has all these men that are coming to destroy her household. And she gets on a donkey and she goes and meets him face to face. That's courage. That's boldness. That's the women we need to stand up to this culture and to say, hell no. No more. You will not cross this line.

You shall not pass. We will rescue these worlds from the lies that are being foisted upon them in the world. We will call them into us. We will be mothers to them. We will help their hearts to beat for God. And we will show them what it means to walk in true victory and not lay down for every single guy that comes by just so that you can have purpose and meaning and feel fulfilled.

If I preach any of this, I preach it for my girls. I want to be the dad. I want to be the man. You better find... I want to be a man that they are going to have to work hard to find one better. I don't want them living at home until they're 28 with me. I'm not saying that. I keep telling my daughter, 18, you're out. You know? They don't rebel because I say, hey, 15, I'll emancipate you.

If you want, you want to go, go rebel. No, I don't want to go, dad. I don't want to go. Okay, fine. Freedom. Freedom. Spiritual insight. Powerful. She recognized God's anointed king. Nabal. Look at what he says in verse 10. What an idiot. Nabal answers David's servants. Who is this David? Who says that, right? Like, he's... David is so awesome. Who is this David?

Who's this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. What an idiot. Fool. Nabal. Fool. You know, there's a lot of dudes that are fools that need a woman to come along and say, dude, wake up, dude. Right? There's a lot of foolish men. There's a lot of foolish women in the world today that are being lifted up. This is what you want to be, girls.

This is what you want to be. It's a mess. What does she say? She can see God's anointed. She can see when God's anointing rests on something. Can you see, women, when God's anointing rests upon something, can you see it? Do you have a sense? You can see it. A spiritual understanding that this is from the Lord, that this is not from the Lord, that this man has the anointing of God and the character of God.

I introduced some people this week and the woman came up to me. I was speaking to her yesterday and she said, this person you introduced us to, do they have integrity? I thought it was a great question. My answer was ultimate integrity and not only that, the anointing of God is upon them. She has the ability and so she says to David, the Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my Lord because you fight what?

The Lord's battles and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. You know what she did? If you read this whole passage, it's powerful. She tells David who he is and perhaps in that moment he'd forgotten. You want to know one of the best jobs of women, one of the best callings of women is to remind men who they are. To remind their husbands, to remind their brothers, to remind their sons, to remind their politicians, to remind whoever it is, remind them who we are.

Oh, stop here. Let me remind you who you are and to speak words of life over men. You know what I see happening right now? A lot. That women just speaking words of death over men because they're so upset from the way that men have treated them and I get that. But to speak life and to say, okay, this is who you've been. Perhaps this is who you've been. What I hear is, this is who you've been and now you must suffer the consequences for who you've been as opposed to, this is who you've been.

Let me help you redeem that into the ultimate manhood because men will never truly be men unless women are truly women. Tweet that. See if I have a job tomorrow. Abigail's the antithesis of Eve. If Abigail, this is my opinion, if Abigail had been in the garden, man might not have fallen. I think. She, you know, she was deceived. Woman was deceived. It's very possible they're being deceived again.

Don't think that the enemy doesn't take really powerful, beneficial moments in society and think, how can I twist that to my benefit? Please. I mean, child, please. We've been in the Bible long enough to know that the enemy loves to take victory and turn it into a defeat and you don't even know what's happening as he marches in with his Trojan horse. Says, Abigail made David better and besides Bathsheba, in my opinion, whom he stole from Uriah the Hittite, was the only woman that I think was worthy to rule beside him.

I love that. Worthy to rule beside him. She becomes a queen. God says, you know what? You're not deserving of this fool anymore. I'm going to make you a queen. David and I think ended up being the best king and he had problems with women over and over. We're going to talk about that in the David is King series. There's some big deficits. A couple more things and we're done, just quickly.

She was an encourager and a prophet. Abigail reminds David who he was. The next one protects him from wrongdoing and sin. This is awesome. Women, opposite of what Eve did. She is the antithesis of Eve. Eve. She helps him not to sin. She doesn't run along with him. She has the ability to counsel. She has wisdom. She has strength. And she comes in and makes him better and keeps him from death because sin is death.

And she said, you will have the blood upon your hands. You will have this blood upon your hands. And that is one of the things about David. Over and over again, he, you know, running from Saul, he couldn't touch Saul but he knew he could touch Nabal. And he'd had enough. And he was going to take out, I believe, he was going to take out that anger. Don't you disrespect me because he can disrespect me because he's the Lord's anointed.

But how dare you disrespect me, you fool. I will come and take your everything you have and strike you down in my own strength, in my own power until a woman comes on a donkey and humbly goes before him and saves him from perhaps one of the greatest sins of his life. And perhaps God would have taken the kingdom from him for that. Who knows? But she helped him become the king that he was called to be.

I love it. I love it. There is nothing wrong. And you want men, women, you want men who become the king, the whatever, the whatever God to rule their inheritance with you in a co-labor. You want men like that. They will help you become who God has called you to be. Finally, we close. She was a deliverer. Deliverer, not a victim. She was a deliverer. She saved her entire household.

He said, David says, May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak. Victorious.

Not a victim. Victorious. And not only that, she led others into victory. Moving out of a culture of victims and teaching victims how to become victorious. She becomes queen. Verse 41, she bowed down with her face to the ground and said, I am your servant. I'm ready to serve you and wash the feet of my Lord's servants. Abigail quickly got on a donkey and attended by her five female servants, went with David's messengers and became his wife.

Maybe you know now why she's one of my favorite people. I want to be like Abigail. I want to be like that. There's a lot of women I want to be like. I'm not ashamed to say it because God has uniquely created and crafted them and men, we need to help raise up women. And so guys, team, in your bulletin is a flyer and you know a girl or you know a youth pastor or you know a high school girl that needs to be here this week.

Go put it in their hands because we are going to raise up Abigail's at this church that we might be in co-dominion to take back our city, to take back our nation, to take back our world. Amen? Let's stand.