{"id":21599,"date":"2019-07-15T15:49:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T19:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=21599"},"modified":"2019-08-17T11:41:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-17T15:41:55","slug":"redeemed-from-the-pit-camp-meeting-7-14-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=21599","title":{"rendered":"Redeemed from the Pit (Camp Meeting, 7\/14\/19)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Recent Vacation Bible School taught us that God is good- even when life is unfair, is scary, is sad or changes.\u00a0 And God is still good even when life is good!\"\"<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Our Camp Meeting Schedule got rocked by change when Rev. Jim Hughes, the scheduled speaker, had to cancel at the last minute because of an illness.\u00a0 PUMC Lay Leader, Larry Bakely, gave the message instead of Jim.\u00a0 But instead of the music and insightful drama which Jim Hughes always brings, we heard a different messenger, and a different message.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The message addressed the age old question:\u00a0 “Why do bad things happen to good people?”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

It lifted up three Old Testament men who were “in a pit”:\u00a0 Joseph, Jonah, and Daniel.\u00a0 It then used their examples to see what we should do when we’re in our own “pits.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Click or tap the “Play” button below to listen to a recording of the message.\u00a0 Scroll down (opening the drop down boxes) to follow along…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Rev. Jim Hughes’ appearance at the 2019 Camp Meeting has been rescheduled for Sunday August 11.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The scripture is Genesis chapter 37 (verses 3-4 and 12-28)…<\/p>\n

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Verses 3-4<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.\u00a0 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Verses 12-28<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,\u00a0 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”\u00a0 “Very well,” he replied.<\/span><\/p>\n

14\u00a0So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Joseph arrived at Shechem,\u00a0 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”<\/span><\/p>\n

16\u00a0He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”<\/span><\/p>\n

17\u00a0“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.'”<\/span><\/p>\n

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.\u00a0 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.<\/span><\/p>\n

19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.\u00a0 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”<\/span><\/p>\n

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.\u00a0 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.<\/span><\/p>\n

23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe \u2014 the richly ornamented robe he was wearing \u2014\u00a0 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

25\u00a0As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.<\/span><\/p>\n

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?\u00a0 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

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Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?<\/span><\/h3>\n

One of the challenging questions we all have to deal with from time to time is the question, \u201cWhy does a loving God let bad things to happen to good people?\u201d\u00a0 Certainly, in this passage, some bad things were happening to Joesph.\u00a0 And from what we can tell from this text, he was probably basically a \u201cgood\u201d person.<\/p>\n

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But as you look at the history of humankind and see how we treat eachother and, cheat, lie,\u00a0 how we keep taking the easy way out and look for our own wellbeing instead of seeking the will of our creator, you have to ask yourself a different question: \u201cHow can a just God allow good things to happen to bad people?\u201d<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

In this morning\u2019s passage, we see someone who was thrown into a pit, literally and figuratively.\u00a0 His life was riding high.\u00a0 He was his father\u2019s favorite son; dad was rich and Joseph had a big inheritance headed his way.\u00a0 But in an instant that all changed.\u00a0 His brothers turned on him, threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery.\u00a0 The Bible includes many accounts about people who go through these times in the pit; challenging, life changing circumstances that can become life defining.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This evening, I want to lift up three of these people from the Old Testament:\u00a0 Joseph, Jonah, and Daniel.<\/p>\n

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Joseph<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

First, let\u2019s take a closer look at Joseph.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pretty familiar story, but let\u2019s go back and try to put it into some context.<\/p>\n

Why did his brothers sell him to slave traders?\u00a0 How did it get to that point?<\/p>\n

Well, Joseph\u2019s father, Jacob, definitely favored him above the others.\u00a0 One of the first things about this that hits me is that Joseph is 17 years old, certainly able to be out in the fields working with his brothers.\u00a0 Why is he at home with his father?\u00a0 It seems kind of odd that this able bodied young man isn\u2019t helping the family with their livelihood.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the \u201cMulti Colored Coat.\u201d\u00a0 Actually, the Hebrew translation isn\u2019t that clear.\u00a0 The Hebrew words could also have simply meant that this coat had long sleeves.\u00a0 Clothing that a man of that time would have worn would have been a sheet of cloth with a hole in the middle for the head, and a belt wrapped around it to keep it together.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t have sleeves.\u00a0 This special coat of Joseph\u2019s may have been sewn to have actual sleeves.\u00a0 Or it may have been made with different colored cloth, but in any case, it was special and better than the clothing supplied to Joseph\u2019s brothers.<\/p>\n

Jacob favored Joseph above his brothers.\u00a0 And part of it had to do with Rachel, Joseph\u2019s mother.\u00a0 If you go back several chapters in the book of Genesis there is this long account of how Jacob went to his grandfather\u2019s homeland to find a wife.\u00a0 He stopped at a well and miraculously this young woman appeared and it was love at first sight.\u00a0 And as it turned out, she would be the perfect wife for Jacob since she was his cousin, the daughter of his Uncle Laban.<\/p>\n

The story continues to tell how Laban made Jacob work for him for 7 years before he would give Rachel to him.\u00a0 But at the end of the 7 years, Jacob wakes up and Rachel\u2019s older sister Leah is next to him.\u00a0 Laban insisted that Leah had to be married off first because she was the older daughter.\u00a0 But, Jacob could have Rachel if he worked for Laban for another 7 years.\u00a0 \u00a0And Jacob commits to these additional 7 years, Laban lets him marry Rachel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But things don\u2019t work out that well.\u00a0 Leah is fruitful.\u00a0 She gives birth to 4 sons.\u00a0 But Rachel is baron, and she becomes angry and jealous with her sister.\u00a0 So, she offers her husband her maidservant, and sure enough, her maidservant takes over and produces 2 more sons.\u00a0 Meanwhile, things have kind of dried up with Leah, so she goes the same route and gives her maidservant to Jacob.\u00a0 After 4 more sons, the focus shifts back to Rachel, and miraculously, she finally conceives and gives birth to Jacob\u2019s 11th son, Joseph.\u00a0 Finally, Jacob has a son with his only true love.\u00a0 A few years later, Rachel conceives again.\u00a0 But complications set in and she dies while giving birth to Jacob\u2019s last child, Benjamin.<\/p>\n

So when we get to today\u2019s passage, we can see the makings of a dysfunctional family, can\u2019t we?\u00a0\u00a0 Jacob is now living alone with his 12 grown sons, and it looks pretty clear that his inheritance will bypass his oldest son Reuben, and instead go to one of his youngest sons, Joseph.\u00a0 To make matters worse, Joseph has a series of dreams.\u00a0 In these dreams, God is revealing to Joseph what\u2019s going to happen in the future.\u00a0 Joseph will be put into a position of power and his brothers and even his father will become subservient to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what to make of Joseph here.\u00a0 Either he is full of pride and wants to stick it to his brothers, or maybe he\u2019s just naive, but Joesph has no problem in talking about these dreams to his brothers and in showing off his special coat.\u00a0 He also has become a bit of a tattletale, reporting back to his father when his brothers aren\u2019t living up to their responsibilities out in the fields.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So when we get to today\u2019s passage, his brothers have had enough.\u00a0 Joseph is dropped into a pit and sold to slavetraders, who take him to Egypt.\u00a0 And if you remember the story, things get worse for him in Egypt when he ends up in prison for something he didn\u2019t do.\u00a0 Joseph\u2019s life took a nosedive.\u00a0 His faith must have been challenged.\u00a0 He was in the pit.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\u00a0

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Jonah<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Let\u2019s fastforward about a thousand years.\u00a0 Jacob\u2019s family has grown into a nation in Egypt, they have returned to their homeland and conquered it, David and Solomon have come and gone, and the kingdom has been split into two.\u00a0 The people are different, but God is still working with his chosen people.<\/p>\n

Assyria is a kingdom to the northeast of Israel, and God is going to use this kingdom in the future.\u00a0 But at this point, Assyria is far from God.\u00a0 So God raises up a prophet by the name of Jonah, and tells him to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and prophesy against them so that the will repent and begin to follow God.<\/p>\n

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The people in Nineveh worship a god named Dagon.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of interesting that this god Dagon is pictured as a cross between a fish and a man- kind of like a male mermaid.\u00a0 Considering Jonah\u2019s experience before coming to Nineveh you\u2019d have to think that maybe these people paid some special attention to him.\u00a0<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

So Jonah doesn\u2019t think very much of Assyria- they\u2019re pretty cruel people.\u00a0 They were known for crucifying and impaling people.\u00a0\u00a0 And they\u2019ve been threatening Israel and ignoring God and worshiping idles.\u00a0 Jonah doesn\u2019t want anything to do with helping these people- he wants God to destroy them!\u00a0<\/p>\n

So he tries to run.\u00a0 He gets on a ship and sails in the opposite direction from Nineveh.\u00a0 But God is not just the god of Israel; you can\u2019t run away from him by leaving Israel.\u00a0 And so God sends a storm, Jonah knows that it\u2019s a judgment against him, and he tells the others on the ship to throw him overboard.\u00a0 When they do, the storm instantly stops.<\/p>\n

But God isn\u2019t done with Jonah yet.\u00a0 He sends a \u201cbig fish\u201d to swallow him up, and somehow miraculously preserves his life for 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of this fish.\u00a0 While in this fish, Jonah prays.\u00a0 In Jonah chapter 2 he prays from the belly of the fish\u2026<\/p>\n

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“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to GOD.\u00a0 You threw me into ocean’s depths,\u00a0 into a watery grave,<\/span><\/p>\n

With ocean waves, ocean breakers crashing over me.\u00a0 I said, ‘I’ve been thrown away, thrown out, out of your sight.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ll never again lay eyes on your Holy Temple.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Ocean gripped me by the throat. The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight.<\/span><\/p>\n

My head was all tangled in seaweed at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was as far down as a body can go, and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever \u2014<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

That\u2019s from Eugene Peterson\u2019s \u201cThe Message\u201d paraphrase of the bible.\u00a0 It paints a pretty desperate picture, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 \u00a0Things are going pretty bad for this prophet.\u00a0 Jonah is in the pit.\u00a0<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

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Daniel<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Now let\u2019s move ahead about 170 years.\u00a0 Assyria eventually did repent, and God used them to capture the northern kingdom of Israel.\u00a0 The Babylonians have captured the southern kingdom of Judah, the Persians are about to conquer the Babylonians, and one of the Jews living in the middle of all this is a young man by the name of Daniel.<\/p>\n

Daniel is a Godly man. \u00a0 As a young boy he and some friends were taken in by the king.\u00a0 They were offered the best food of the land,\u00a0 but Daniel and his friends refused the royal food\u00a0 because they felt that it would defile them\u00a0 and dis-honor God.<\/p>\n

Years later, the king had a dream.\u00a0 None of the king\u2019s wise men could figure out the dream, so he called in Daniel to interpret it. \u00a0 Daniel explained the dream, and the king was so impressed that he placed Daniel in position of power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That stirred up some jealousy in some of the king\u2019s other officials, and they worked out this plan to trick the king\u00a0 into issuing a decree preventing anyone from praying to God. \u00a0 If anyone was caught praying,\u00a0 he would be thrown into a lion\u2019s den.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just as Daniel refused the Royal Food, he refused to worship this statue.\u00a0 Daniel continued to pray, openly, in violation of this decree.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course his enemies expected this,\u00a0 and they were ready to arrest him at the first chance. \u00a0 The king was tricked. \u00a0 He trusted Daniel\u00a0 and he was even beginning to believe in Daniel\u2019s God. \u00a0 But, he had no choice,\u00a0 and he had to order that Daniel be thrown into the lion\u2019s den.<\/p>\n

So Daniel was a Godly man of principle.\u00a0 He was devoted to God and continued to pray, even though his life would be in danger.\u00a0 But, he was thrown into the lion\u2019s den.\u00a0 Daniel was in the pit.\u00a0<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/p>\n

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How’d They Get There?<\/span><\/h3>\n

All three landed into a desperate situation,\u00a0 but they took different routes to the Pit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joseph….\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong> For Joseph, it looked like a combination of God\u2019s providence\u00a0 and Joseph\u2019s pride.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jonah…\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 Jonah was in his Pit because he tried to go against God.\u00a0He was occupied with hate for the Assyrians\u00a0instead of obedience to God.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daniel…\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 As for Daniel, it didn\u2019t look like he did anything wrong.\u00a0 But he was surrounded by jealous,\u00a0power hungry people,\u00a0and was a victim of the sinful world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0But there are some similarities in their situations too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jealousy…<\/span><\/h4>\n

First of all, jealousy played a role.\u00a0 Joseph\u2019s brothers were jealous of his relationship with their father.\u00a0Jonah was jealous of the grace that God wanted to give to his enemies.\u00a0Daniel\u2019s enemies were jealous of his position.\u00a0They wanted that power for themselves.<\/p>\n

Prayer & Dreams…<\/span><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s also interesting how both prayer and dreams played a role in their situations.<\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s dreams helped get him both in and out of his pit.\u00a0 Jonah\u2019s prayer of repentance helped him through his pit.\u00a0\u00a0And Daniel\u2019s faithful prayer and ability to interpret dreams led him into a relationship with the king.<\/p>\n

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The Rest of the Story<\/span><\/h3>\n

But the good news, of course, is that there\u2019s more to the story.\u00a0 Joseph, Jonah, and Daniel didn\u2019t stay in the Pit.\u00a0 God saved them and used them to His glory.\u00a0 Jesus said that God cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, and that He cares even more about us.\u00a0 \u00a0God didn\u2019t give up on these men.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t leave them to die in the Pit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joseph…<\/span><\/strong> Joseph went on to interpret Pharoah\u2019s dream and was then released from prison and put into a position of power.\u00a0 God used Joseph to enable His chosen seed of Jacob to escape the famine and to grow into a nation while living in Egypt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jonah…<\/span> <\/strong>Jonah ended up on dry land, and he obeyed God and went to Nineveh and they actually repented.\u00a0 He fulfilled God\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n

Daniel…<\/span> <\/strong>God closed the mouth of the lions and saved Daniel.\u00a0 Daniel\u2019s faith and God\u2019s power made a huge impression on the king, and this probably eventually played a roll in the king\u2019s decision to allow the Jews to return to Israel to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

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What About Us???<\/span><\/h3>\n

So what about us?\u00a0 What pits might we find ourselves in today?\u00a0<\/p>\n

We all go through really hard times in our lives.\u00a0 You can\u2019t avoid them.\u00a0 It may be our health, or the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job or other financial problems.\u00a0 Bad things happen and it can be really hard to get our minds and spirits out of the problem.\u00a0 But God is calling us to move on and He\u2019s giving us the power to climb out of the pit and move towards Him.<\/p>\n

What can we learn form the experiences of Joseph, Jonah, and Daniel?\u00a0 What should we do when we\u2019re in a Pit?<\/p>\n

Move On<\/span><\/h4>\n

First of all, we need to move on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

None of these men focused on the things that brought them into the pit. \u00a0 There\u2019s no \u201cWoe is Me,\u201d or regret,\u00a0 or thoughts of what could have been done differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no mention of Joseph plotting revenge on his brothers. \u00a0 In fact, when it\u2019s all said and done, he ended up forgiving them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the greatest passages in the bible is in Genesis 45:5-8\u00a0 where Joseph forgives his brothers and says:<\/p>\n

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And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you\u2026\u00a0 \u00a0God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.a\u00a0\u00a0 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

Jonah chose to look beyond the whale.\u00a0 He was confused about God\u2019s plan to forgive the Ninevites, but Jonah isn\u2019t angry with God about his pit situation. Even while in the whale he praises God and trusts in Him.\u00a0 Daniel\u2019s trust never waivers while in the Lion\u2019s den.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pray<\/span><\/h4>\n

We need to move on, and secondly, we need to Pray.<\/p>\n

Prayer plays a big role in their deliverance.\u00a0 Jonah prayed.\u00a0 Daniel prayed.\u00a0 There\u2019s no specific mention about Joseph praying, \u00a0but I think it\u2019s obvious that prayer must have had a big role in Joseph\u2019s understanding of how his situation was part of God\u2019s plans to save the Israelites.<\/p>\n

Obey<\/span><\/h4>\n

We need to Move On,\u00a0 We need to Pray, and finally, we need to Obey.<\/p>\n

All three men resolved to obey God even while they were in their pit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joseph…<\/span><\/strong> Joseph trusted the dreams as God\u2019s revelation.\u00a0 He understood God\u2019s will in bringing his family to Egypt and he obeyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jonah…<\/span><\/strong> Even from inside the whale, Jonah prayed and promised that he would fulfill all his vows and offer sacrifices to God with songs of praise.\u00a0\u00a0As soon as the whale spit him up onto the beach, Jonah went to Nineveh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daniel…<\/span> <\/strong>And Daniel remained faithful to God, and his faith probably helped pave the way for Israel’s return to the promised land.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him.\u00a0 The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”<\/span><\/p>\n

48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Daniel 2:46-49<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

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Redemption<\/span><\/h3>\n

And so, when we\u2019re in a Pit of some sort, we need to trust in God\u2019s providence; not worry about what got us into the pit, but to seek God and trust in His will even while we\u2019re in these desperate situations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0We can\u2019t get stuck in the past and replay our mistakes.\u00a0We need to look to the future and look for God\u2019s hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0We need to pray.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, we need to obey.\u00a0 If God is in control and if there is a purpose in everything He does, then it follows that He must be calling us to take a role in building His Kingdom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pit is not the end of it all. In fact, the Pit might just be the beginning of something greater that God is calling you to.<\/p>\n

Joseph, Jonah, and Daniel.\u00a0 But there is one more person in the Bible who had a Pit experience: Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Jesus Himself made an analogy to Jonah and the Pit when He said,<\/p>\n\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\u201cFor as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.\u201c\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div> \n

But Christ was raised from the dead. \u00a0\u00a0And if we are In Christ, we share in His resurrection.\u00a0 We share in His Life.\u00a0 We share in His perfect relationship with God the Father.<\/p>\n

It can be hard to understand why bad things happen to good people. But like Joseph, Jonah, and Daniel, let us Move On, Pray, and Obey.<\/p>\n

Let us be captured by the awe and wonder that God\u2019s grace allows good things to happen, even to sinful people like us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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To learn more about the Pitman Camp Meeting, click this button:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Camp Meeting<\/span><\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why do bad things happen to good people? Sudden change hit the Camp Meeting as the scheduled speaker, Jim Hughes, couldn’t make it. Someone else delivered the message, and we considered what to do when we fall into the “pit” of a bad situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,50],"tags":[128],"class_list":["post-21599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pitman-camp-meeting","category-sermons","tag-why-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21599"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21630,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21599\/revisions\/21630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}