How will you respond?
Harrison Briner gave this week’s message. First, he pulled two stories from the Bible - both reflecting different ways the characters responded to betrayal…
Jacob returning home to his brother Esau (after his time away - hiding from the brother he betrayed when he tricked their father into giving him his blessing). Jacob would have been terrified to come home Esau, since the last time he heard from him, Esau’s plans were to kill Jacob. However, when Esau saw his brother he ran to him and hugged him… and they cried together. Esau had forgiven Jacob.
In the story of the prodigal son, the one son plundered his half of the family inheritance while the other brother stayed at home to take care of the family and protect what was left of the inheritance. When the prodigal son returns home, in hopes to be a slave for his family, their father holds a grand celebration! The son who remained faithful to the family reacted much differently than Esau did to Jacob. This brother was spiteful and jealous.
How will you respond when someone has hurt you? How will you respond when an estranged friend or family member comes back into your life?
Then Harrison dove into how two situations in the Bible about how two people and their sin.
Saul disobeyed God’s orders to wipe out the Amalekites and leave nothing. He took their king as a hostage and allowed soldiers to take livestock. When God sent His prophet, Samuel, to call Saul out about this disobedience, Saul blamed others (being his soldiers) and made excuses.
When David committed the sin of adultery, by sleeping with Bathsheba, the wife of his friend Uriah. David tried to cover it up and hide his sin. However, his plan of covering up the sin was foiled because Uriah did not lay with his own wife, so David had Uriah sent to his death at the hands of the Ammonites. Afterwards, the profit Nathan was sent by God to give David a parable that compared what David had done to Uriah. David was outraged at the outcome of the parable. Nathan rebuked him. When David learned that the parable was about his own sin, David repented.
How will you respond when you are faced with the sin you have in your life?
The Bible verses we read/referenced today were:
Genesis 33:1-5
Luke 15:11-32
1 Samuel 15:17-24
2 Samuel 12:1-9
