 Alright, First Samuel 25. So we're going to continue our random characters in the Bible series tonight. And we're going to do that with, I've been getting a couple comments, and I was thinking about it myself too, that we haven't had a woman yet. So we're going to talk about a woman. Look, there's a lot of great women in the Bible that did a lot of great and important things in the Bible. So tonight, we're going to look at this story in First Samuel 25, and we're going to talk about this woman Abigail in the Bible. And we're going to see what we can learn from her, look at some characteristics of Abigail, and see if we can't take away some lessons from Abigail. So we've got quite a story in First Samuel 25 going on here. Basically, there's this cat and mouse game with David and Saul. You know, Saul is chasing David. So Saul at this point is still the king of Israel. However, the kingdom has been taken from him by Samuel. He knows this. David has been anointed king by Samuel, and Saul knows this. So Saul is out. He's trying to kill David. He's playing this cat and mouse. He's constantly going after David, and then the Philistines attack, and then he's going after David again. And this story here we see that David has run to the wilderness with his 600 men fleeing from Saul. Saul abandons the pursuit once again because, you know, the Philistines attack. I mean, just think of the Philistines for, I mean, just for a second. I mean, here they're like, you know, I mean, it's just, they're constantly invading. But do you wonder why? I mean, these two leaders of this nation are constantly just trying, you know, Saul's just constantly just trying to kill David. David's running away, and they're like, this is great. We're going to invade everybody, right? So we see that all this action is taking place. So here we see David in 1 Samuel 25. He's in the wilderness with his men and, you know, 600 men. Think about that. You can't just run off in the woods with 600 men. I mean, think about the last time you just went camping with your family. All right? How many supplies did you take camping? I mean, you just, you fill up the entire pickup box with supplies for five people. Imagine, and I mean, we're talking about an army here of 600 men. They need supplies. They need food. They need water. They need, you know, shelter. They need things, right? So here's this man, Navel. He's apparently a wealthy man. He's off. They're having a sheep shearing event where, you know, they bring all the sheep in. And by the way, you know, not to get off on sheep, but shearing sheep is, I mean, we had some wool sheep, Garrett had, and it is physically the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, shearing sheep. So that has nothing to do with the sermon. But if I will never even attempt to even look at even thinking, I mean, I can't imagine how they sheared sheep back then with like hand shears and all this kind of stuff. That is hard work. I sheared three sheep in one night and we had like seven sheep to go and Garrett had to almost carry me to the house. I couldn't even walk. I was so tired. I mean, look, I didn't know how to do it, which probably didn't, didn't help. You know, the poor sheep gets up, it's all bleeding and everything. It's terrible, right? Nothing to do with the sermon. But yeah, terrible. It's very difficult to shear sheep. All right. What are we talking about? Are we at church? Okay. Quite a story happening. So we see these men are in the, you know, there's a big laborious event going on. There's men that are here, they're taking care of navel sheep. I'm sure he had hundreds of sheep, many, many sheep. All right. Look at down at 1 Samuel, chapter 25. Look at verse number seven. So David's men, David sends some men to ask navel for some supplies. Okay. And in verse number seven, the Bible says, And now I have heard that thou hast shears. Now thy shepherds, which were with us, we hurt them not. Neither was their ought missing unto them, all while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will show 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. And when David's young men came, they spake to navel, according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. Enable answered David's servants and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Look, he knows who David is. Okay. There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. So he knows, not only does he know who David is, but he knows about this fight that's going on with Saul. He knows that David and Saul have history. He knows that David, you know, was the armor-bearer of Saul. I'm sure, you know, obviously he knows that David's famous. Think of it. He killed Goliath, right? Then shall I take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shears, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be. So navel says, no, basically. All right? And then David basically says, Okay, let's go kill everybody, is what David says. Look at verse 12. So David's young men turned their way and went again and came and told him all those sayings. And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded up every man his sword. And David also girded on his sword. And there went up after David about 400 men and 200 abode by the stuff. So look, David basically is in this hard situation. He's in the woods. He goes and he sends these men to Nabal. And look, he says to Nabal, look, we protected your sheep shears when they were tending the sheep. We didn't hurt them. We protected them. We never took anything from them. Help us out. Give us some food, some supplies. And Nabal is this wicked man. He's the son of Belial. And the Bible says, he just says, you know, you're just some guy that rebelled against your boss. Get out of here. I'm not giving you a thing of mine, right? So look, that wasn't a nice thing of Nabal to do. But then David's like, all right, I'm just going to gird up your sword. We're going to kill. We're going to go kill every man in that that's related to Nabal basically. Or it works for him, whatever. He said there's not going to be anyone that's left that pisseth against the wall. That means all the men, all the males of Nabal, he's going to go kill. So here we see this entrance of this character, this lady, Nabal's wife, named Abigail. And she does no less than literally save the day in this story. Okay, so let's look at some characteristics. Let's look at Abigail. Let's look at how she did it. Let's look at how she did it. I mean, we can apply this to our lives. I mean, she went, I mean, this is a very, you have two men here who are at odds with each other. And I mean, David is going to just, he's going and he's going to kill people. Imagine how angry you would have to get to just be like, we're going to just kill everybody in that camp and in that, that works for that man. So look at first Samuel chapter 25 and verse number 23. The first characteristic I want to show you about Abigail tonight is this. What we'll do is we'll just go through some characteristics of Abigail and then I'll show you how you can apply those in dealing with people in your life. All right, so look at first Samuel chapter 25 and verse number 23. The first characteristic that we see from Abigail is that she shows humility. She shows humility. In first Samuel 25 in verse 23 the Bible says, when Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off the ass and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground. And fell at his feet and said, upon me my Lord, upon me let this iniquity be and let thine handmade. I pray they speak in thine audience and hear the words of thine handmade. Look down at verse 23. I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmade for the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house because my Lord fighteth the battles of the Lord and evil hath not been found in the all thy days. That's a very humble. So the servants came to Abigail and they told her that hey, you know, this is what Nabel said to David's men and Abigail knows that there's violence coming her way that David's gonna come and he's gonna do this. So she quickly dresses all these sheep. She dresses, she gets all these food, all this drink and she gets it all together quickly. She goes to David and then she responds to David. She confronts David like this with humility, all right? And the second characteristic of Abigail you see here is that she shows tremendous respect when she talks to David. She's calling him my Lord, she's recognizing, she recognizes that he's been anointed king, once again showing that everyone knew the situation between David and Saul and what was really going on which, you know, just kind of goes to show you why Saul was so relentless in pursuing David. You ever wonder why, you know, why won't Saul let it go? It's because this guy, everybody thinks this guy that's running from him is the king and he's like I'm the king. I wanna still be the king, right? So look, it shines some light on that but look, everyone knew it but she shows a lot of respect when she talks to David. All right, she recognizes his kingship and she just speaks to him with respect calling him my Lord, things like that. The third thing we see from Abigail is she shows a lot of diplomacy here and we're gonna break this down a little bit more when we apply this but she shows some serious diplomacy. This was not a stupid lady. I mean, Abigail was very, very smart and she starts the conversation out correctly but she also leads him gently into the correct decision which is one of the most beautiful things about this story. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 25 in verse number 30. And the Bible says this and it says and it shall come to pass when the Lord shall have done to my Lord. So keep in mind the capital L here, okay? So you don't get confused by these sentences. When the Lord meaning God shall have done to my Lord meaning David according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee and shall have appointed the ruler over Israel. So she's saying that when God makes you king when God completes what he said he was going to do with you. Then verse 31 that this shall be no grief unto thee nor a fence of heart unto my Lord either that thou has shed blood causeless or that my Lord hath avenged himself. My Lord lowercase L, she's talking about David here that my Lord that David hath avenged himself but when the Lord shall have dealt well with my Lord then remember thine handmade. She's saying look, she's saying that when you become king you won't even have to worry about you know this bad thing that you're about to do is basically what she gently tells him, okay? So let's look at, let's break down Abigail's you know characteristics here but a very wise woman here in the Bible. Now look turn to Proverbs chapter 15. Proverbs chapter 15. Let's start out with Proverbs chapter 15 and verse number one. I'll wait for you to get there. But basically this Proverbs chapter 15 and verse number one it kind of encompasses everything that Abigail did even though I'm going to give you several steps into the methodology of what Abigail did when she dealt with David here. But Proverbs chapter 15 and verse number one the Bible says, a soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger. This means that there is a way of talking with people that will turn away their wrath that will make them less angry that will deescalate situations where there's a way of talking to people that will make them more angry as well, right? So that's there's both sides of this coin in Proverbs 15 one. But Proverbs 15 one and the first part of it a soft answer turneth away wrath really encompasses what Abigail deal did here. So an application tonight in looking at Abigail let's look at what Abigail did and I want to give you four steps in dealing effectively with unreasonable people, okay? Because I got news for you. Go to Proverbs 15 and verse number 10. Here's the problem you will have in your life. Look, you say I'm I mean you say I'm right all the time. Great, right? You say I'm right. I'm the most reasonable person in the world and I'm always correct and I'm never wrong but here's the problem that you will still have. Look at verse number 10 of Proverbs 15. The Bible says correction is grievous unto him that forsakeeth the way and he that hadeth reproof shall die. So look, the Bible says in the first part of Proverbs 15 10 that correction is grievous to people, to some people, right? So look, even if you are the most reasonable person you are the smartest person in the world you are never wrong. You are going to run into people who do not want to be corrected, who will not take correction. They are just difficult people to deal with. You are going to meet these people. So I want to give you four tips from Abigail's life here. Abigail's just Abigail's confrontation with David to deal with these types of people because they're out there you're going to meet them. You're going to meet them at work. You're going to meet them, you know probably a church at some point, you know but you're going to meet these people in your life and if you can effectively deal with them you're going to, it will get you far, okay? So turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. There's another one. You remember this guy from a few weeks ago? Remember the old and foolish king? From Ecclesiastes chapter 4, look at verse 13. You will meet this type of person. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 and verse 13 the Bible says better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished. So how are you going to deal with people that will not be admonished anymore? So let's look at some lessons from the life of Abigail. So rule number one is this. When dealing with unreasonable people or people that will not be admonished, rule number one is this. Be respectful whenever possible, okay? Speak in a respectful tone. Don't come off with fighting words right at the beginning. Look, never start conversations like this. That's not correct, brother. Let me tell you why you're wrong. You never want to start conversations that way because what people will do is they will immediately put up walls as soon as you say something like that. They say, you know, I've told you this before but they say somebody decides that they want to listen to you within like the first three seconds that you talk to them, right? So if you say, if somebody's talking to you and say, well, you know, here's the problem with what you just said or here's why you're wrong on that, you're done before you've even started, all right? So look, as fun as it can be to get in the flesh and just tell people how it is, it is never going to be effective for you, okay? So you have to remember that, all right? And this is a big problem. This is a big problem. Maybe not so much with people face to face anymore but with this type of stuff, all right? When you just want to get in the flesh and you just want to like, yeah! I mean, look, there's some awesome internet commenters out there. They should do it for a living, all right? But no one has ever had their mind changed by an internet comment ever or a Facebook post or a Facebook argument or whatever, all right? It is if there's nothing edifying about it, nothing. So look, I mean, look, Abigail, Abigail was not just like, she was not like seeing like, oh yeah, you know, burn. She was not looking to like outward somebody. She had to succeed or people would literally die. She had to get this right, okay? So look, here's another thing. It's always good to try to visualize somebody else's perspective, okay? If you're in a situation where you don't see things the way somebody else sees things, it is always a good exercise for you internally to at least picture things from their perspective, especially before you talk to them about it, all right? And then you can start off conversations with things like, you know what, I can see your point there. You know what, brother, I can see why you see things that way. You know, I've thought about it and I can see why you came to that conclusion. I mean, these are the ways to start conversations. I can see how you might feel that way, right? I mean, these are conversations that won't shut people down right away. That's what Abigail, that she came in in a very respectful tone to David, right away, okay? Just the way she had her handmaids in front of her, the way she, you know, approached David both physically and with her words that she used, she approached him in a very respectful way that got his attention right off the bat. In a good way, she started it off positive and respectful. So that's the first thing, be respectful whenever possible when dealing with difficult people. The second thing is this, be humble. If necessary, be the first to apologize in a situation, okay? Think about this. Why don't people apologize? Why, I mean, if you have a situation, I mean, usually when you have a situation where two people are arguing, there's three sides to the story, right? There's this guy's side, there's this guy's side, and then there's the truth of what is really going on, right? So in many, many, many cases where there's an argument or something happened, husband and wife, same thing. I mean, it doesn't matter who fired the first shot, whenever there's an argument between a husband and wife, you know, many times, most times, both sides have things to apologize for. Be the first to apologize. But you know what that takes? You know why people don't apologize? One reason, pride. People don't apologize and they're not the first one to apologize because they're like, you know what, I was right. You know what, I'm writing this whole thing and I'm not going to say sorry because I'm correct. And even though they might have gotten the flesh and sinned and sinned and whatever and all this stuff, they're just not going to be the first one to apologize. Be humble. Look at verse 28. Look at Abigail. I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid. Did she do anything wrong? She didn't even do anything. She didn't do, she had nothing to do with what Nabal did. Nothing. And she's just like, forgive me. I mean, that's humility right there. She's like, forgive me. She's just like, lay it on me, blame me. I'm sorry that it happened. You know, look, you'll get far, you'll get far at work like that too if you're that type of person. For the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house because the Lord fight at the battles of the Lord and evil has not been found in all these days. Look, it wasn't her fault. Turn to Proverbs 29. I actually think that this is a huge advantage that Christians have. You know, look, when you think about being out in the world and operating in the world, whether it's at work or raising your kids at home or whatever, there's many things where the Christian is at a disadvantage. Remember we talked about last week. Look, there's people out there that would just have no rules. They'll just do anything at work to just get results. The Christian can't do that. But here's one area where you have an advantage because you know what? The Bible commands you to be humble and you can't fake humility. You can't fake it. You just have to be humble. You have to keep yourself humble. So most people that you're going to be working with and dealing with are not going to be humble people. Especially, you know, once they, you know, if they're good at what they do and things like that, they're going to be prideful people. Stay humble and you will get far. Look at Proverbs 29 and verse 23. The Bible says, a man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. So the Bible says, when you're out there in the world, Christian, think about this. When you're out there in the world, Christian, you got all these people, these psychopaths, whatever, who will do anything to get ahead. That's advantage psychopath, right? But think about this. The Bible is still true even for the psychopath because the Bible says his pride will bring him low. But your humility, you will find honor. You'll find honor by being humble. And look, isn't that what happened to Abigail? I mean, David, I mean, David showed her great honor. I mean, she got honor by being so humble. You can't fake humility, but the humble shall have honor. The Bible says. So be respectful, be humble. If necessary, be the first one. Use that humility to be the first one to apologize in a situation. She didn't even do anything that she apologized. Think about it. She apologized for the situation. I've done that. I did that at my job I have right now. There's all kinds of people that were mad over things that were two, three years ago. So I'm dealing with this organization and I'm just like, Hey, I'm sorry for all those things that happened and how those things went. We're going to go this way now. Just, well, you know, I apologize that that happened. I wasn't even there. I had nothing to do with it. But that's what people need to hear. Humility will get you far, folks. Humility will get you far. Number three, point out the problem in the terms the other person can relate to. Alright, now let me explain this one. Turn to look at verse number 30. Look, she didn't say to David, Look, hey, don't kill everyone because I don't want you to kill my family. Look what she says to him. Look at verse number 30. Now this is, this is brilliance. This is the wisdom of Abigail right here. Verse number 30, And it shall come to pass when the Lord like God shall have done to my Lord by making him king according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee and shall have appointed the ruler over Israel. Verse 30, she's saying it shall come to pass when you become king is what she is saying. When you become the actual ruler. He's already anointed king, right? Verse 31, that this, excuse me, it's not coronavirus swallowed something. That this shall be no grief unto thee nor offense of heart unto my Lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my Lord hath avenged himself, but when the Lord shall have dealt with my Lord, when thee, Lord, shall have dealt with thy my Lord, then remembered thine handmaid. So what she's saying, what she's saying lightly to David is this. Let me ask you something, was David going to do the right thing? Was David going to commit sin right now? Yes, he was. Look, Nabal's bad. He's a wicked son of Bileol. But if you don't give me bread, can I come kill your whole family? Look, David was going to avenge himself and he was going to what? Shed, blood, causeless. David was about to get, he was not going to be blameless anymore after this situation. And that is what Abigail is saying. She's like, hey, when you become king, you will not have to look back on this situation that we caused you by getting upset because you shed blood causeless. She's in a very light way saying, you're about to go do the wrong thing and you don't want this on you when you become king is what she says to David. But she says it in such a way that is light, it is soft, and it is in his own interest. You see? Because look, she's like, you're coming to kill my whole family. I mean, she might have had sons or cousins or whatever. I mean, all these men and boys, David's about to go kill. But she didn't put it that way. So you're going to taint your own leadership before it gets started. And she says it in a very nice way. But look, Bible reading rule, remember these stories in the Old Testament especially. You have to remember that these stories, this is not a parable, this happened. This is history. These stories in the Old Testament, you had people, you had men, you had women doing the wrong thing. That's why we have these stories about David doing this. That's why you have judges 19 because these are just people doing the wrong thing. These are just people just doing what was right in their own eyes. You know, David got in the flesh here. He's mad. He's just going to go kill everybody. And she puts it in terms that are beneficial to him and to his kingdom. It's beautiful. It's brilliant. Now thankfully, David is not that old and foolish king. He listens. He listens to Abigail. The second, the fourth rule is this. So let's recap. So first of all, we notice that she's very respectful. Be respectful when dealing with even difficult people. Number two, she was humble. Be humble when dealing with difficult people. And number three, she laid out the situation in terms of his own interest. And number four, this is even better. She never gave David direct advice. She never told him exactly what to do. And by the way, this is a great general rule to live by in your life. Look, listen to people. Didn't we have a sermon on listening to people and not being the one who's... Look, if people don't ask you what you think about something, they either don't care or they don't want to know. So don't be this person that's constantly just has to tell everybody everything that you think all the time about everything. That's just a lesson in life. There's one of a great book that I love is called How to Win Friends and Influence People. And one of my favorite quotes from that book is this. And tell me as you hear this quote that you haven't met this person. Here's a quote from this book. And the quote says this. If you want to make people shun you and laugh at you behind your back, who wants that? Who wants people to make fun of them and laugh at them behind their back? But he says this. He wants people to shun you and laugh at you behind your back and even despise you. Here is the recipe. Never listen to anyone for long. Talk incessantly about yourself. If you have an idea while the other person is talking, don't wait for him or her to finish. Bust right in and interrupt in the middle of a sentence. Then he goes on and on to say how these are the type of people that are constantly injecting their opinion into everything when they're not even asked. Abigail did not just come out and tell David, hey, you're wrong. You're about to do something wrong. She did not do that. She didn't. As a matter of fact, she didn't even say that really what he was going to do was wrong in a direct way. She just focused on the positive. She focused on the positive of the situation saying, hey, when you become king, this incident won't be a grief unto you because you haven't committed murder and avenged yourself. That's what she said. She flipped it around and turned that negative into a positive for David's life. You see what she did? I mean, it's brilliant. And then she relied on David's knowledge of God's word and his own conscience for him to come to the right conclusion. Right? And look, she basically led him into coming to the right answer himself. That's why she's such a wise lady in the Bible. There's another lesson to be learned there as a side note. Whenever you can give credit away, give it away. Whenever you can let somebody else lead somebody else to the right answer and let them get it and run with it, let them do it. That will only benefit everything around you by doing that. And that's what Abigail did. She led David gently to the right answer and she got his conscience to come to that conclusion. And it's beautiful. Now, here's what's funny. I was reading through this. I was writing this sermon. I was writing this sermon and I was making these points through the things that Abigail did in the Bible. And this will show you again that books that have been written, I mean, I just read you from a secular book, right? A quote from a secular book. All these books that have been written and all these things that are just like, they're published for hundreds of years. It's just biblical, it's just biblical advice. It's all from the Bible. If it's good advice, it's biblical advice. And I was thinking, I was writing this sermon and I was writing, okay, there's a point. There's a point. Just going through the story, just coming up with the points. And it reminded me of George Washington. George Washington had these rules of civility that he had, that there was like 112 of them or something like that. And there was like, he published some in a book. It wasn't his book, but he lived by these rules. I mean, they're incredibly detailed rules of civility. And whatever you think of George Washington, that's not the point. But he was a very disciplined man and living by these certain rules of civility. And I went through and these points I was making, it reminded me of these rules. And sure enough, they're in there. These four biblical rules, they're in there. Rule number one of George Washington, it was rule number one. George Washington's rules of civility is this. Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present. That's a good rule. Translation, be respectful. Be respectful, always. Rule number 40, strive not with your superiors in argument, but always submit your judgment to others with modesty. Translation, be humble. Rule number 58, let your conversation be without malice or envy for it is a sign of tractable and commendable nature and in all causes of passion, permit reason to govern. In all causes of passion, permit reason to govern. So whenever you get angry, just remember, let your reason govern. Proverbs 15-1, a soft answer. And that's basically saying, don't be argumentative. And then rule number 85 is this. It's the fourth rule that we talked about here. I'll just read it for you. In company of higher quality than yourself, speak not till you are asked a question, then stand upright, put off your hat, and answer in a few words. Translation, don't give unsolicited advice. He says, don't say anything until someone asks you a question and then when somebody asks you a question, stand up, be respectful and be brief in your answer. And that's great advice. But it's all from the Bible. It's all from the Bible. So look, just showing once again that any self-help book, I mean look, there's all kinds of good books out there that'll help you get better at all these different things in your life and help you be better at dealing with people. But look, it's all, if it works, it's biblical. And they just pull these things, reword them, and the Bible never gets credit. God never gets credit, ever. But look, I also believe that that's why this country was a lot more civil and a lot in better shape. People might have had false gospels and false doctrine and things like that, but you know what? When people actually knew what the Bible said and they actually knew the law of the Bible and they knew the rules of the Bible and things like that, we had a much more civil country. They might have had salvation wrong, but you know what? They at least knew how to treat each other. They at least knew how to act. They at least knew how to approach each other. They at least knew the general moral rules of right and wrong. You know, you wouldn't see people, you know, tearing out their unborn children and killing them, you know, 100 years ago, 150 years ago, because people actually knew, you know, some basic morality of the Bible when they were learning the Bible when they were kids. You know, when they were learning the Bible in school and things like that. So look, Abigail's dealings with David, I mean, they could be used to write a book on how to deal with people in itself. She was respectful. She was humble. She was non-argumentative. She was able to not only save David from himself, I mean, think about it. She saved David a terrible blight on his life by killing all these people. But she saved all the men of her husband's household. Just this one woman by what she did. And look, the Bible said, you know, she was about to go shed blood causeless and he was about to avenge himself. Who's to avenge us? God. The Lord. Well, the vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. And look, God chose to kill Nabal. So God had his vengeance. But God decided to do that. That wasn't for David to decide. That wasn't for, you know, and God killed, look, God killed Nabal. He didn't kill every man. You know, I mean, there was a serious overreaction about to happen here. All right? You're not going to give me a drink and some bread. I'm going to kill you all. I mean, that's, you know, I mean, so Abigail saved him from this. And I know that, you know, many times, look, don't forget these lessons because many times we would just love to get in the flesh and just tell people how it is. Right? There's many people out there. Or look, tell people how it is or how we think it should be. Right? But it's never the right way. It's never the right way. Or, you know, look, turn to James chapter one. It's never the right way, but here's another thing. It's not effective. It's not effective. All right, look, you have somebody, you have somebody in your family. Look, we all have people in our family that we would like to see saved. Look, I hate to break it to you, but there's nobody in my family that I want to go to hell. Not one person in my family. And they are not correct on the gospel. And that's why they're not saved. And that's why if they died at this moment, they would not go to heaven. But you cannot beat people over the head with the Bible. You have to come at them in a respectful, humble, non-argumentative way that will, God willing, get them to soften their hearts to the truth. You know, I mean, that's probably the biggest application here, but I can't tell you how many stupid theological arguments I have heard about, because look, I'm not plugged into this stuff. I mean, you guys probably know that. I'm not plugged into it. I don't have time for it. And if I did, I wouldn't be plugged into it. I can't tell you how many stupid theological arguments I've heard about on Facebook or YouTube or whatever it is, and it doesn't edify anybody. It doesn't edify anybody. No one is going to get saved from that, so I'm just arguing with people. Look at James chapter one in verse number 19. This is great for when you get upset or somebody says something and you just, oh man, I got one I could send back at them. Just think about this. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath. So look, just think, calm down before you speak or type. And look, I think that we have a problem today with the internet and this typing back and forth with each other. Look, the internet has empowered the beta male. I'm sorry. It used to be where I came from. If two guys had a serious disagreement, they went back behind the gas station and we just worked it out. And then there was no more agreement or no more disagreement. Now, I used to buy rams. We would buy rams and you would get these rams and I had a ram pen where all the rams, these rams, we would drive all the way across the country to get some of these rams. And then we would go and I had five rams and I'd take the ram I just got and I'd put them in the pen with the other five rams. And you know what they do? Every single time, they fight. But they fight for about an hour. And they're sitting there and when they fight, you ever see two rams fight, they put their heads together and they back up about 30, 40 feet and they come together and it hits and it sounds like a rifle goes off. And I'm just like, Oh, stop. You know, that can't be healthy, right? I mean, these are investments. And I'm like, please stop. But guess what happens? The alpha male establishes himself as soon as the new, you know, they figure out the order of things and the fighting stops. Now, you know, the ram that lost the fight didn't go into the barn and get his computer out and make a bunch of comments. But that's what's going on today, right? You got the beta males on the internet and they're like, ah, you know, what do you think of that? You know, it's pitiful. All right, but look, there's no benefit there. There's no edification there. And look, Abigail, she was respectful. She was humble. And I mean, talk about just a wise woman of the Bible that we can learn a lot from. We can learn a lot from because you're going to deal, you're going to find difficult people. They're out there. You're going to find them at work. You're going to find them probably at church at some point. They're probably going to be here. They're not here now. You guys are all great. But look, I mean, we're going to meet all kinds of people throughout our life, right? And you can't just run over people. It's not going to work for you. Abigail, wonderful personality in the Bible. Wise woman. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for Abigail in the Bible. We thank you for her wisdom and her humility and just the wonderful things that she did in this story, Lord. And we just, we thank you for the entire Bible. We thank you for this evening, Lord, that you allow us to have another great evening of church and fellowship and worship, Lord. We love you. We thank you for the souls that were saved today and just all the benefits that you've given us in this life, Lord. We ask you to bless our week to come and to keep everyone in this church, Lord. Just put a hedge of protection around everybody in this church, Lord. We love you. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.