Sunday 5-10-15 (Esquel, Argentina)
Scripture reading: 2 Sam 18 Ps 56
Matt 27
S. 2 Sam 18:11-13 “What?" Joab
demanded. "You saw him there and didn't kill him? I would have rewarded you
with ten pieces of silver and a hero's belt!" "I wouldn't do it for a
thousand pieces of silver," the man replied. "We all heard the king
say to you and Abishai and Ittai, 'For my sake, please don't harm young
Absalom.' NLT
O.
Absalom, David’s son, brought an ugly war of insurrection hoping to kill
his father and usurp the throne. But the
war went against Absalom’s rebel army and he fled on a mule through a
thicket. But his long hair got tangled
in the branches and his mule ran out from under him leaving him hanging
helplessly there. David’s orders to
General Joab were to win the war, but to preserve the life of his beloved son,
Absalom. Now a young warrior saw Absalom
helplessly hanging by his hair and reported it to Joab.
A.
His name
is not in the Bible, but he proved himself loyal to his king’s desires. General Joab won the war, but disobeyed the
king’s orders and lost his position as commander of David’s army. I like this unnamed young guy. He was a warrior trained to strike the enemy,
but he respected the kind heart of his king who loved… even his enemy… his rebel
son. And a whole fortune of money could
not buy this young man out of his determination to obey his king.
P. My
Lord, my King, I have heard Your orders.
You have not sent me out to destroy people that have rebelled against
You. You have sent me out to love them
and bring them to You for Your ready forgiveness and a new chance at life. Some still fight fiercely against Your
troops, yet when we come across them hanging helplessly in a tree, You do not
order them killed… You ask me to give them a second chance… or a third… or a
fourth. You are long-suffering and kind
and always ready to hear the cry of a repentant, wayward son or daughter. Help me to respect Your orders and bring them
back alive… for another chance at Your incredible miracle of
reconciliation. Amen.
Ralph
Bring Them In
Hark! ’tis the Shepherd’s
voice I hear
Out in the desert dark and drear,
Calling the sheep who’ve gone astray
Far from the Shepherd’s fold away.
Out in the desert dark and drear,
Calling the sheep who’ve gone astray
Far from the Shepherd’s fold away.
Refrain
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring them in from the fields of sin;
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring the wand’ring ones to Jesus.
Bring them in from the fields of sin;
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring the wand’ring ones to Jesus.
Who’ll go and help this
Shepherd kind,
Help Him the wand’ring ones to find?
Who’ll bring the lost ones to the fold,
Where they’ll be sheltered from the cold?
Help Him the wand’ring ones to find?
Who’ll bring the lost ones to the fold,
Where they’ll be sheltered from the cold?
Refrain
Out in the desert hear
their cry,
Out on the mountains wild and high;
Hark! ’tis the Master speaks to thee,
“Go find My sheep where’er they be.”
Out on the mountains wild and high;
Hark! ’tis the Master speaks to thee,
“Go find My sheep where’er they be.”
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring them in from the fields of sin;
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring the wand’ring ones to Jesus.
Bring them in from the fields of sin;
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring the wand’ring ones to Jesus.
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