June 9, 2024

00:00:00:00 – 00:00:31:08
It was good. Well, take your Bibles if you brought one. If you don’t have one, just look at the person next to you and borrow theirs. And I want you to turn to second Samuel. Second Samuel. That’s in the Old Testament, chapter nine. Well, y’all are turning there. I know I forgot a few things earlier when I was up here, and, of course we Melissa took time there to mention and pray for Dennis and Linda because you noticed Dennis isn’t up here.

00:00:31:11 – 00:01:03:03
Last Sunday, they had traveled to Big Spring to do, and to attend Dennis’s uncle’s funeral, and Dennis was officiating that funeral, and they had just arrived back home and just in, just for a few moments and, and had got home. And y’all remember if you were here last Sunday afternoon, if you if you weren’t here last Sunday afternoon, you missed it, man.

00:01:03:06 – 00:01:28:12
We were up there riding bulls. I have proof, a picture of a bull rider riding a bull and a tornado, probably over around Bridgeport. But you could see it in my telling the truth. Y’all saw it. It’s like, man, this is wild and Western right here. Here you can see it. Come out this guy. And so then another storm came upon us and we got all the kids up here and, did our award ceremony for the buckle series.

00:01:28:14 – 00:01:51:09
But that same storm went over there and lightning struck their house and caught it on fire and did a lot of electrical damage. I talked to Linda coming in last night. Couldn’t. I was traveling back from New Mexico, and. And we, I certainly don’t want to be praying for them. They hated to miss, but they’re literally living in a hotel.

00:01:51:09 – 00:02:10:22
As I find out. Anything that we can do to help them, I will, I’ll let you know. But right now, thankfully, they did have insurance. I think the insurance companies were working with, she had a question about a contractor, I think that they had met that was a neighbor, and she was telling me about it.

00:02:10:23 – 00:02:31:23
And I’m like, I know that guy used to be his pastor and great guy. So, you just pray for them, though? You can imagine. That’s pretty rough. That’s why we don’t have bulletins today. Linda always prints the bulletins and does it from home on her computer, in her printer, and she send all that fried. You know, when lightning hit the house, it fried everything.

00:02:31:23 – 00:02:57:01
So, that’s why we don’t have those today. So, I don’t know, there’s probably some some different things. You can look back a couple of weeks and, probably some things there, but all I can tell you is Bible study next this Wednesday at six right here and then, lowriders, I got I told some of y’all about this will do Wednesday night at the lake.

00:02:57:04 – 00:03:19:10
and then I’ll announce it tomorrow. And our brand ministry changes today from 230 to 5. Okay. And we’re just trying to move it because the heat and, as we get as it gets hotter, we may have to move it further back. I don’t know, but we’ll work that out. But so today it’s at five. And then, Amy Hahn is.

00:03:19:10 – 00:03:38:18
I want you to remember her in prayer. Ronnie, where was Ronnie? He gone in the back. Okay, well, his daughter Amy. Amy Nieves, we’ve his mama, you know, my amen corner over here. When he was mom, she’s in the hospital, okay? Never. Never know. She knows her name.

00:03:38:20 – 00:04:03:12
But she’s in the hospital. This. We’re not the baby mama. Amy has. And she’s had an infection, and they’ve given her antibiotics. But you please pray for her. Pray for her healing that, she gets back on her feet and pray for total and complete healing in Jesus name. I believe that and believe he will. So you just lift her up this week in your prayers and today especially.

00:04:03:15 – 00:04:25:01
And then, I know there’s some birthdays if you’ve got a birthday in June, just raise your hand. Go ahead or I see several hands going across. All right. Happy birthday, mom. Raising your hand over there. Mommy, you better raise your hand. She’s a June 14th baby. Over. All right, well, happy birthday to all of you. Having birthdays in June.

00:04:25:03 – 00:04:44:23
I’m not going to sing to you, and you’ll be very grateful. Zane’s birthday in the back. Yep. Today I think they’re going to bust a pinata in children’s church today. So if anybody would like to come preach, I’m going with them. Y’all get that? And then one other thing. we’ve got a couple here today that is their second.

00:04:44:28 – 00:05:10:03
Right. Second wedding anniversary late then. Yeah. Right there. I met Nate years ago. He was working on my Dodge pickup, and, man, he’s a great mechanic. And we became friends in got got to visit. And then one day, he and Leon, we’re going to get married. So two years ago this weekend, they got married, and, I did the hitching for them.

00:05:10:03 – 00:05:34:25
And and, is it still working? It’s still working. All right. Amen. We were going to say happy anniversary to y’all. I always tell people, and they’re going to stay married forever. You’re going to stay married. That part. Okay. But as a preacher, you know, I do weddings and funerals, and I’ve done a lot over the years.

00:05:34:25 – 00:05:55:21
I have a book I keep, I’ve done well over 200 funerals and probably quite close to that in, in weddings. And I always tell people I’m like, you know, I’ve never done a wedding that started on time. Those brides are always fun and a little behind, and that’s okay. And I’ve never done a funeral that was run in like today.

00:05:55:23 – 00:06:20:02
But I do like to say not everybody I’m married, stayed married, but so far everybody got married, stay married. Y’all get that preacher joke, all right? And that won’t be forever. That won’t be forever. Well, then people are married, are going to come back to come back to life. When? In second Samuel. That’s where I want to read from this morning.

00:06:20:04 – 00:07:01:11
And I’ve got to tell you the back story to second Samuel, and so that you understand the story that we’re about to read in second Samuel is the story of David and how he showed mercy to a young man late in life, late in his reign as a king. And it’s a picture, if you would. When I say a picture when you read the Old Testament, you’ve got to remember that everything in the Old Testament was pointing to Jesus coming and dying on the cross.

00:07:01:13 – 00:07:23:03
So anytime you, anytime you back up and read the Old Testament. And by the way, I will admit there are some things in the Old Testament that just seem hard, complicated to understand, and sometimes even boring. I mean, when you can’t even pronounce the people’s names so and so get so in some way getting me get it’s like, man, where do they come up with those names?

00:07:23:05 – 00:07:45:25
And so sometimes that’s hard, but there’s a lot of great stories in the Old Testament. And you have to remember that everything God recorded that we have in the Old Testament was pointing us to Jesus in the cross. And you and I who live in the New Testament, the New covenant, it’s it’s showing us what God has been doing all along.

00:07:46:02 – 00:08:08:09
And for our relationship with Jesus and with the father through Jesus. And so when you come to Second Samuel chapter nine, that’s where we’re going to begin reading in just a moment. When you get there, you have to understand a number of things have happened. David is king of Israel. The guy who was king before him was named King Saul.

00:08:08:11 – 00:08:32:08
King Saul was the man that he was the first king of Israel. You have to understand that for many, many years, Israel did not have a king. God said it’s that their nation would be ruled by him. They wouldn’t be, but they got tired of that, and the whole nation began to cry out for a king. And God said, I’ll give you a king, I’ll give you a king that you deserve.

00:08:32:08 – 00:08:59:14
And it was King Saul who turned out to be a pretty bad king. And so then God anointed while he was yet a boy, King David or David, who we know the story of David and Goliath. Well, David is going to become king. Matter of fact, he’s probably the most famous guy in all of Israel. And even today is still probably one of the famous people in all of Israel’s history.

00:08:59:17 – 00:09:21:13
Because when he killed Goliath, he he just got national status. I mean, he went to, like, a rock star in Israel over that. They would say, Saul kills thousands, but David is 10,000. They wrote songs about him. Okay? They were the whole country was like, man, David’s a bad guy, man. He’s cool. He he killed a Goliath. And he wasn’t.

00:09:21:13 – 00:09:47:15
But just a kid when he did it. But when he becomes king or when God anoints him to become king, it takes about 13 or 14 years. And what happens is David first gets invited to the king’s palace, saw who was king. Because when David killed Goliath, Saul had made him a promise. He’s like, whoever can go out and fight Goliath, I’m going to give him a reward.

00:09:47:15 – 00:10:08:14
His family will never pay taxes again. So that’d be like, sign me up. And then number two, you get to marry my daughter. And apparently his daughter must have been pretty. But we learned later that she wasn’t very good. She wouldn’t make a woman. And so for killing Goliath, part of David’s reward was that he got to marry Saul’s daughter.

00:10:08:17 – 00:10:38:14
And his whole family didn’t have to pay taxes anymore. And then he was also a great musician. If you’ve ever read the Psalms and maybe read through the Book of Psalms, Psalms means songs. We think of it as just Scripture. But in Israel today they sing the Psalms. Okay, that’s like we sing worship songs here, over there. They sing the Psalms, and we do to some of the songs we sang this morning, I recognize were scriptures from the Psalms that David wrote.

00:10:38:14 – 00:11:06:14
Most of those. David was a very skilled and talented musician, so he got to go to the king’s palace and play for the king. But Saul got really jealous about David and his rock star status for killing Goliath, and he got very jealous about it, and he eventually wanted to kill David. Matter of fact, David had to run for his life and he saw pursued him for a number of years trying to kill him.

00:11:06:21 – 00:11:28:21
But here’s the other part of the story. Saul had a son named Jonathan. Jonathan was heir to the throne, if you would. But Jonathan and David must have been about the same age, and they became very close friends. And so they only became very close friends in that day. They did what they called a covenant between each other.

00:11:28:28 – 00:11:55:03
And they made this promise that no matter what, they would be loyal friends, no matter what ever happened. If even Jonathan became king, that he would be favorable toward toward, David and all of that. And but here’s another twist to the story. You’ve also got to remember that David was rewarded. Michael was her name. Who was Saul’s daughter.

00:11:55:05 – 00:12:23:03
You follow in me. That was his daughter for killing Goliath, which was Jonathan sister. So Jonathan and David are brother in law’s by marriage, but they’re very, very close friends. And they made this covenant together that no matter what. And the covenant is, is something more than a promise. It’s like, I will keep my part of the bargain, even if you don’t see, that’s that’s what a covenant is, by the way.

00:12:23:03 – 00:12:49:05
That’s what marriage is. Marriage is a covenant. It’s not a promise. It’s not a contract. Marriage is a covenant. And so they made this covenant. And then Saul goes to a witch and indoor and pursues her like, hey, should I go to battle? And she gives him bad advice. He goes to battle. Jonathan goes to battle. Jonathan gets killed in battle.

00:12:49:07 – 00:13:10:02
Saul hears about Jonathan getting killed and he takes his own sword and falls upon it, commits suicide. Okay, so you’re following me so far. So, like, you don’t have to watch soap operas. Just read the Bible. It’s got a it’s got like a whole movie right there. I mean, you can make a movie of this stuff, so Saul is dead.

00:13:10:09 – 00:13:42:01
Jonathan is dead. David is become king. Everything. And his kingdom is going well. And one day he comes to, he begins to just I don’t know, I don’t really know what makes him think of this, but he asked this question second Samuel nine, verse one, David said, is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?

00:13:42:04 – 00:14:10:28
Nobody really knows why this late in the game David even asked that question. Nobody knows why. He, you know, long after Jonathan’s been dead, long after Saul the king has been dead and now David is king. Nobody knows why he asked this question, but he wants to know this because David remembers his covenant with Jonathan. Remember, a covenant really says, I’ll do my part.

00:14:11:03 – 00:14:37:03
Even if you can’t do your part. And so he remembers. And he says, look, he says to his men, his his counsel, he says, hey, guys, is there anybody of the house of Saul left? Now? Why would he ask that question? Because in that day when you when a new king came to power, he would often exterminate the other people.

00:14:37:03 – 00:15:01:17
The other king, the previous king’s family. So there would never be a rival to his throne. Though David didn’t really do that. He never sought to kill anybody. Many of them fled, and many of them died, by the Lord’s hand, not David’s hand. so David just simply asked this question again. I don’t know why, but you could just write one word over that verse.

00:15:01:20 – 00:15:33:18
Mercy or grace, he says that I may show him kindness. For what? For Jonathan’s sake. In other words, David is now king. David doesn’t have to remember Jonathan or Saul’s family at all, except he remembers that he made this covenant with Jonathan and he says, look, I want to show kindness. If there is anybody to the house of Saul now, right there, you would have to think that most of his guys would go, David, that’s not what kings do in this day.

00:15:33:20 – 00:15:58:10
As a matter of fact, if there is anybody of Saul’s house left, you should kill them. But that’s not what he has, he says. Is there anybody in the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan sake? Verse two. And there was a servant in the house of Saul, whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, are you Ziba?

00:15:58:12 – 00:16:22:01
And he said, at your service. And then the king said, is there, is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of what? Of God. So David’s David is a very godly man, and David recognizes that he’s not only going to show kindness, he’s asking that he may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake.

00:16:22:01 – 00:16:56:24
First, I made a promise, a covenant, and number two, that I may show the kindness of God to this. How many of you know that it’s not in human nature to be kind? Have you figured that part out yet? Have you recognized the world we’re living in and how unkind our world is, how ungracious our world is? Have you have you know, I’m thankful when we run across a lot of people that are often kind, but just in general, I mean, and I’m not knocking New Mexico or anything like that.

00:16:56:24 – 00:17:16:23
We spent the week there, but it just seemed like everybody I waved at just looked at me like, what is that dummy doing around here? I drive to town. I waved everybody and no, half of the time I get there and if I don’t, I’m going to get to no, but I just I was raised where you wave at everybody.

00:17:16:25 – 00:17:31:12
I don’t know about you, but that’s just how I roll. And I remember when and I was at the gym this week and this lady come in and she had a dog and it was early in the morning. And I get it, not everybody’s awake early in the morning. And she walked by me. I said, hello, ma’am, how are you?

00:17:31:12 – 00:17:55:24
And she was fine. She said, okay, excuse me for asking, but I’m just watching people. But I’m using that as an illustration. But there’s so much there’s so much meanness and unkindness in this world. And I’ll tell you what there really is. There’s a lack of mercy and grace in our world today and forgiveness. But that’s what set you and I as Christians apart.

00:17:56:00 – 00:18:20:09
We’re supposed to be the living embodiment of the kindness or the goodness of God. And that’s what David says. Hey, look, I just want to show him the kindness of God. And Ziba said to the king, there is still a son of Jonathan who is lame on his feet. In other words, who’s crippled. Now you read that story.

00:18:20:09 – 00:18:55:21
You say, well, how did he get crippled? You can take your Bible and turn back to Second Samuel chapter four. Or you can take my word for it. Second Samuel chapter four, verse four and five. It tells us that when saw, when it was found out Saul was dead and Jonathan was dead, that Saul’s remaining family began to flee for their lives, thinking that David was going to kill them, and while fleeing in a hurry, this man named Mephibosheth, that it were about to be introduced to his mama is carrying him, and apparently she falls.

00:18:55:21 – 00:19:17:27
Falls on him and it cripples him for life. He was somewhere around five years old, I think the Bible tells us. And so from that moment for the rest of his life, he is crippled. And so from second Samuel four all the way to second Samuel nine, you were going from a five year old boy getting crippled now to a grown man, we’re about to be introduced.

00:19:18:03 – 00:19:40:21
And it says, there’s there’s one son of Jonathan’s who’s lame on his feet. And as far as we know, that’s the only only relative so far that we know of left of Saul’s house. And so it says. So the king said to him, where is he? And Zeba said to the king, indeed he’s in the house of the the son of Amil in low the bar.

00:19:40:21 – 00:20:05:26
Now let me tell you about load of offers a load a bar was a waste land load. A bar was like living in the middle of a desert where nothing grows. There weren’t very many people there. People didn’t really go there by accident. You had to want to go there and just die. It was a wasteland. It was an undesirable place to go.

00:20:05:28 – 00:20:41:19
And yet the tables shift. The man I’m about to introduce you to, he has spent his remaining childhood into his adulthood years there, growing up, hiding because he feared the wrath of the King David, who had every right to pursue him, look for him and kill him. And yet now Ziba is being asked, do you know of anybody of the house of Saul that’s left, that I may show the kindness of God to?

00:20:41:21 – 00:21:14:14
For Jonathan’s sake? Can you imagine that conversation? And I want you to notice a few things about that conversation. First of all, I want you to know that it’s David who’s pursuing that that mischief. Hold that thought. Remember it. I’m going to come back to it. So look with me. Verse number nine. Then the king said and sent and brought him out of the house of Bekah, the son of M from load a bar now in medieval chef, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul.

00:21:14:17 – 00:21:41:17
That was. This is Saul’s grandson had come to David. He fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, chef, and he answered, here is your servant. So David said to him, do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul. Your grandfather.

00:21:41:24 – 00:22:12:07
And you shall eat bread at my table continually. I’m going to stop right there. And I want you to get the full picture of this story. So the shelf was Saul’s grandson, Jonathan’s son. He should have been killed. It would have been customary for him to be killed because he would have been heir to Saul Stone, and very likely could have been a rival, except for when his mother was fleeing for her life with him.

00:22:12:12 – 00:22:34:13
She falls on him, according to second Samuel four. And he’s been crippled his entire life, and as a result of that, just eking out a meager existence. He’s been living in a wasteland, desert place called a bar. But notice in this story that he doesn’t even he doesn’t even want David to know who he is. He’s not looking for David.

00:22:34:20 – 00:23:00:17
David comes looking for him. David is asking for him. Remember I told you the stories in the Old Testament? Point us to the cross. That’s a picture, y’all, of the fact that as a sinner, we were in a wasteland. You heard Melissa giving her story a little bit ago. I could give you a testimony. Many of you in here have testimonies similar of your life before you came to Christ, and what it was like.

00:23:00:23 – 00:23:23:04
It was a wasteland. It was a worthless life in the in your own eyes and in everybody else’s eyes except for God’s eyes. And I also want you to notice that it was David who pursues him, David who comes looking for him. How many of you know the Bible says that there in Romans that there is none that seeks after God?

00:23:23:07 – 00:23:42:04
Do you realize that? I hear people and people tell me this sometimes, and it baffles me as a pastor or just as a person, they say, well, I’m not ready to become a Christian yet. I’m going to wait until I do this or that or, you know, I’m just not really. I’m just not really looking for God right now, you know?

00:23:42:05 – 00:23:56:10
And I often will respond to them as quickly as I can. You’re never going to look for God. Have you ever been to a funeral? How many of y’all been to a funeral? You been a few years? Okay, you walk up to a field and you’re. You’re at a funeral and there’s a casket. And what’s in that casket?

00:23:56:18 – 00:24:20:23
A body. How many of you have ever walked up to a body? You can talk to it, but it doesn’t do it doesn’t respond. If it did respond, I’m even. If it did, I’ve been around and I’m like, no, no, no, no, no I don’t. But the Bible says that before we come to Christ we are dead in our trespasses and see.

00:24:20:23 – 00:24:58:18
And so you need to understand there is no way possible that someone dead in their trespasses and sins can respond or pursue a living God, unless the Bible tells us in John, except the Holy Spirit draw them. Or the Greek word there literally means drag them. Do you realize that when you hear the gospel, when you hear someone proclaim the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus, the love of God, and salvation through Jesus and Jesus alone and your lost, you have an opportunity by the Holy Spirit to respond to that.

00:24:58:24 – 00:25:25:05
But if you reject that, there’s never a promise you’ll have that chance again. The most fearful thing I’ve ever seen. As a pastor, I used to give invitations, and I seen people literally standing on the other side of the chair like this and just gripping that chair, unwilling to respond to the Holy Spirit’s call to their life. And it literally those kinds of things will make me go home and lose sleep and cry.

00:25:25:05 – 00:25:48:23
And I don’t cry much. But you say, why? Because I know that that could be that person’s last time to ever hear the gospel. And if they leave their lost and die in their sin, they’re going to spend eternity in hell forever. There’s no redos in this life. How many of y’all know that there’s no second chances when you die?

00:25:48:28 – 00:26:17:29
When you die, you’re dead. When you’re dead, your spirit’s going to heaven or hell. No. In between. That’s a final thing. And so when I see people reject Jesus, I think about that big shift they send for him. They get him. I got a feeling on his way there to the king’s palace, he thought, well, I’ve had a longer life than most would have expected.

00:26:18:01 – 00:26:44:05
Now I’m about to get what I deserve. Now I’m about my life. The king has found me, and now he’s going to kill me because I’m Saul’s grandson. So when he goes in and we’re the Bible. Say, David said my divisive. And what did he do? I want you to picture this. He said, here is your servant. And he would not have said that.

00:26:44:12 – 00:27:24:02
Standing up, looking him in the eye, he would have said that on his knees here. He’s your servant. In other words, he wanted mercy. But he had no idea that David was about to show mercy. And David tells him to stand up and he says, listen, I’m paraphrasing, but you go back, read the scripture, I just read it to you, but you I pursued you to show the kindness of God to you, not for your sake, but for your father Jonathan’s sake.

00:27:24:05 – 00:27:59:23
Now, how many of you know the verse John 14, verse six Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am life, and no person, no man comes unto the father except through me, right? Do you realize today, whether you’re here today and you have a relationship with Jesus, or you don’t, do you realize that having a relationship with Jesus is your only way to the father?

00:27:59:26 – 00:28:27:18
Do you realize today that if you do have a relationship with the father, it came through Jesus? And do you realize that it had nothing to do with your own merit? In other words, what you deserved? When God looks down and saves you or me, it’s not so much about you and me, is it? It’s about the covenant that he had with his son on the cross.

00:28:27:18 – 00:28:52:16
How many of you know that covenants are always entail bloodshed? In other words, if you made a covenant in the Old Testament, you sealed it with blood. Do you realize that at the cross, when Jesus hung on the cross and his blood was shed, that was a covenant between the father and the son. Seal by the Holy Spirit for our salvation.

00:28:52:19 – 00:29:15:03
And so when God comes looking for you, by the way he does, he sends the Holy Spirit to draw you, to draw you to what? To repentance and to faith. To come to the love and the forgiveness and the grace of God. And when he does that, he’s not doing it on based on your merit, not based on what you’ve done, good or bad.

00:29:15:06 – 00:29:39:01
You’ve heard me say that, and you’ve read Titus chapter two, verse eight nine for by grace are you saved through faith not of your works, lest any man should boast in words I can’t. I hear people all the time tell me, well, you know, I’m afraid that I may have done something so bad that I no longer saved.

00:29:39:03 – 00:29:59:08
Have you ever heard that you ever thought that? Well, let me let me fix that theology for you real quick. Religion has taught that you could do something so bad that God would disown you. But the problem with that is, if you could, then you would have had to do something so good for him to ever accept you to begin with.

00:29:59:10 – 00:30:24:21
But when you recognize you didn’t do anything good enough for him to accept you, except for what David is showing you that I am, he shows the kindness of God to him. For who? For Jonathan. Say, do you realize that the father, God the Father, shows his goodness and kindness, grace, mercy to you and I not based on what we’ve done, but because of what Jesus did?

00:30:24:24 – 00:30:51:19
That’s it, that’s it. So people say to me, well, if I believe that I was saved and I can never lose my salvation, then I would go live any way I want to. You are an ungrateful pig. And I’m sorry, because if somebody paid that great a price for me and I didn’t deserve any of it, and they were that good to me, how could, not live my life to serve them?

00:30:51:21 – 00:31:13:14
How could I not live my life to love them? And so that’s exactly what happened. And here’s here’s the part that really gets good. I get to go back and read my Bible. Hold on. Let’s read this second Samuel chapter nine. Look with me. Verse number seven. So David said to him, remember, if he’s babbling, okay, he he look at him in the eye.

00:31:13:16 – 00:31:40:02
That’d be like looking a bad dog. Anyhow, you don’t do that. He’s bowed his head and he says, here I am, I’m your servant. And David says to him, do not fear. Have you ever heard those words before? I have read them. The Holy Spirit spoke them to me many times. Do not fear. Don’t fear what I don’t.

00:31:40:02 – 00:32:03:19
Don’t fear, don’t don’t fear judgment. Don’t fear condemnation. I hear that in John 317. John 316, you famously know, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Read John 317 and it tells us that God did not come. Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

00:32:03:21 – 00:32:21:01
Romans chapter one, verse eight. Therefore there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And then you read the rest of the book of Romans and it says, what could separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Neither death there, life there, hell or heaven, and it principalities, nor things present, nor things to come.

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Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. So the Bible tells us, as David said, to be divisive, do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan, your father’s sake. That’s pretty good. We could stop right there, go home and say, man, that’s a pretty good word today God gave us a really good word right there and say, but that’s not the rest of the verse.

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The rest of verse gets better. How many of you grew up?

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And you had a mom or a grandma that could make homemade pies, So you are homemade cakes. Homemade. Some dessert. Okay. Sweet desserts. I remember my grandma, both my grandma and both my mom and dad so I can remember growing up Thanksgiving. Christmas would have. We’d have a dinner, a feast. They would feed an army like two armies.

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You feed army, navy and air force on her dinner meals. I mean, this big and and so I can remember my grandma would come and she’d get her plates, and they were always the plates, you know. But then there was a a dessert plate. Okay. I don’t know how I use so many plates. Just give me a paper plate.

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But but that was how they did it. And so she would get the dirty plate and bring you the new dessert plate. But she would say, keep your fork. Keep your fork, you understand, was the reason you kept your fork. And she was say, the best is yet to come. How many of you ever remember something like that?

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And it was. There were homemade pies, every kind of pie you could imagine. And you could eat as much as you want. And that’s the way this scripture is. The part I read to you is really good. And we could stop there. But there’s another part to this, he said. So I’m going to show you kindness for Jonathan, your father say, I got a hurry.

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And he says, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul. Your grandfather, father, and you shall eat bread at my table continually. What in the world does that mean?

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If you’re here. And you’re living in sin that has destroyed your life, or is destroying your life, and by the way, sin will destroy your life. If you’re like me and I have a past such that I can look back and say, man, Satan and sin and self stole a lot from me, took a lot of things that I was.

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I have had I known it, I would have never paid that price for it. But how many of you know whenever you become a Christian, not only is your past forgiven, not only is your present changed and your future secure, but how many of you know that we serve a God who’s able to restore all that Satan has ever taken from you?

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He’s able to do that. Only God can do that. Only God can restore a marriage. Only God can give deliverance to an alcoholic or drug addict. Only the Holy Spirit can come in and radically shift your life from a broken, wrecked out. Lie to one of victory and God, give back everything Satan has. Some of you are Christians and you’ve been a Christian for a little time, but you’ve never gotten to that victory stage because you’ve never stood up and told the devil to put back what he took in Jesus name.

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And you have that authority to do that. By the way, David says, I’m not only going to show you kindness, I’m not going to kill you. There’s no reason to fear. You’re among friends, you’re among family. You’re accepted here. Can I tell you that’s what God says about you when you come to him through Jesus, you are accepted here.

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You are welcome here. But he not only says that, he says, by the way, I’m going to restore your inheritance. I’m going to restore what was stolen or taken from you. I’m going to give it back. And not only that, he says, but you’re going to eat at my table continually. Can I tell you, the only people that eat at a king’s table or his family?

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And so read on the next few verses I got to quit. I wish I could read the whole chapter to you. I hope you’ll go home and read the chapter, because it’s a really amazing chapter. But he tells him that he says you’ll eat at my table continually and look at verse number eight. And then he bowed himself and said, what is your servant that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?

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That’s what the devil says. Who am I? I’m just a crippled dead dog. And who am I that you would look upon me and have mercy or kindness? And David did that because he was what he was showing the kindness of God. Let me give you one more point. Whenever you show kindness to people who don’t deserve it, you’re most like the Lord.

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Amen. You you want to know how Jesus said to his disciples how people would know they were his disciples? And by the way, you and I are his disciples. If we’re followers of Jesus, how how is the world supposed to know that we’re different? Are we to dress different? I grew up religion that said, you had to dress different to be, you know, to look like a Christian.

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What does a Christian look like on it? People wear weird clothes and weird hairdos and crazy stuff. That’s that’s not what Jesus said. are we supposed to drive a certain kind of car or shop at a certain. Well, well, what is it about? Are we supposed to carry our Bibles and me Bible thumpers everywhere we go? No.

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Jesus said, this is how all people will know you are my disciples. If you have a love for one another. In other words, you show the kindness of God to each other. Can I, can I just? And we don’t have this problem here, but let me just warn us that we never have it. Can I tell you I’ve pastored, I pastors and churches have had this problem, and I’ve watched some really hurt people walk out of church for this reason right here.

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You know why? I’ve watched some people walk out of church because of conflict within the church body. People didn’t like each other. People got offended at each other. People did something worse than cuss each other. They gossiped about each other. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Would you rewind that just a minute. Are you saying cousins? Okay? No, but I’d rather hear you cussed and gossip.

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And then, I’d rather hear you cuss somebody than gossip about somebody, because at least cussing you’re up front about it. But most of the time when we gossip, we’re cowards about it, aren’t we? And by the way, the Bible’s got a lot to say about gossiping. The Bible says a blessing and cursing. Cursing in the cuss word.

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Cursing is speaking down about a fellow brother or sister. So we to know we’re supposed to love each other as family. That’s what sets us apart and move away. That. But that shift knew this was real, was that David was truly unmerited, showing him the kindness and the love of God. And he says, what am I? What are we?

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What have I done to deserve this? And I love the verse I’m going to read to you next. We’re done. Skip over just a few verses. Skip over a few verses. Verse number 11 David has given his servants his directive. He said, A chef is going to sit at my table. He’s going to be he’s going to have his own servants.

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He he’s going to be like one of my sons. He’s going to have the full rights of a son. That was saying something. Look what he says. Verse 11. And Ziba said to the king, according to all that, my lord, the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do as Informativeness you have said the king, said King David, he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons and medieval chef had a young son, whose name was Micah.

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And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mehtab, a chef. In other words, David gave him a gift, his own servants. And then he says, so whatever chef dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate what continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both of his feet.

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But chef could make no change of his own, could he? He was lame when he got there. He was lame the rest of his life. The Bible says. But David accepted him, flaws and all. And let me tell you the difference here. God loves you and accepts you, flaws and all. If you’re one of those people that think, well, I’ve got to clean up and get it together before I come to God.

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That’s like saying, I gotta go get clean before I take a shower. It doesn’t make much sense, does it? You can’t do that. You come to him to let him clean you up. And here’s the good part. When you come to God, he will accept you just the way you are. All the junk, all the brokenness, all the mess, all the stuff.

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Yet he loves you so much that he will change you. He can clean you up. He will deliver you. He will set you free. He will make you whole. He will bring healing in your life, in your physical life and your spiritual life. And you will be a new creation. But here’s the good part is that you get to sit at the King’s table as one of his sons.

00:43:07:22 – 00:43:36:04
Or let me add, daughters. When you come to Jesus by faith, you’re coming to the father. You don’t come to the father except through Jesus. You’ll never get to the father through Buddha, no matter what the world tells you, they’re lying. You’re not going to get to the father by your own works. You’re not going to get to the father by a political candidate.

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You ought to say amen right there. This is crazy where we’re living, okay? I don’t care what party you follow, but you understand the only way you coming to the father is through Jesus. And when you come through the through Jesus, what does the father do? He gives you eternal life. But not only eternal life. You receive sonship.

00:44:00:25 – 00:44:28:00
Or you could say, daughter ship. You become one of the father’s children. Now how many of you in here have kids? You want to raise your hand? I know most of you. And how many of you who own, who have children as a parent would ever say there’s there’s just there’s the that there’s anything your child could do so bad that you would disown them.

00:44:28:02 – 00:45:00:23
And our kids can do things that disappoint us. I got three of them. I know, okay, but there’s nothing they could ever do that would cause me to disown them. They’re forever my children. I’m closing with this. Do you know that the Bible says that when you become. When you get saved. The Bible uses three different terms related to our relationship with God through salvation in Jesus.

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Number one, the Bible says that we are born again. How many? Remember Jesus said, you must be born again. And then the Bible refers to us as believers, as the Bride of Christ. Okay, so that’s one day the the groom is coming for the bride, and the bride is going to the marriage supper of the lamb to be part of that.

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But then the Bible also uses another term that we are adopted into the family of God. Therefore we cry, ABBA, father, do you know that there are three ways you could become attached? You not that you’d want to be? Someone stole my identity once. They gave it back in about two weeks. They’re like, this dude so messed up.

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We don’t want this stuff. So my credit score is on my hand. All my stuff now. But you could become a target. You could become the target attack. The same way Quentin became a target. He was born a man, but she married a target and she married into the target family. So she became a target. Or you could become a target like Emily did.

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She was born into the tax. She had no choice in the matter. Someday she’ll get another name. Although I do think Caleb. She ought to take your target name just the same. To say, don’t tell mother son in law that to you know. You could be born into the family. You’d be married into the family. Or you can be adopted into the family.

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Did you know that? As I would never do this. But legally speaking, if I wanted to, if I was going to die, I wanted to write Emily out, or one of her sisters or all of her sisters out of my will, I could disown them. Do you know you could legally go through a divorce? She could divorce me.

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Is her dad at her per like a no no, you could do that. But did you know that you could not write a child who’s been adopted out of your will? The adoption process in such a legally binding process that you could never separate it? And so God says of your relationship and my relationship with him, you first are born into my family.

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You’re going to be married into the family, to marriage separately, and you’ve been adopted into the family. God just kind of covers all the bases, Danny. And he says, you’re mind I. I’ve showed you kindness. Not for my sake, but the father showed me kindness for Jesus sake. And that’s why I live every day. And you do to whether you realize it or not, in the grace and the goodness of God.

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Let’s bow our heads and pray. Lord, we thank you today for your word. Thank you for this story that you recorded in your Word for us to go back to today and to read and to see. And Lord, thank you for the way the Holy Spirit has revealed it to us that this is such a picture of your goodness and your grace to us.

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Like is Debbie, for none of us earned it or deserved it in our sin. We weren’t even pursuing you. You pursued us. You came looking for us and you found us. And you showed us grace, mercy and favor because of Jesus. Thank you, said Lord. We bow in our hearts to you today and just say thank you. Thank you for your grace and your mercy and your love for us.

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And Lord, if there’s anyone in this building or listening to me online that has never had a relationship with Jesus, but they feel that tug of the Holy Spirit at their heart right now. Lord, may they believe and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. May they believe today that Jesus died for them, was buried for three days, but on the third day he rose from the grave.

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And your word says, Lord, that if we will confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe with their heart that God raised him from the dead, that we shall be saved. You said, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So I pray today that if there’s anybody listening that has never had a relationship with Jesus, they would recognize recognized the love of God, drawing them right now.

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And by faith in their own words, they just cry out, Jesus saved me. Forgive me. Make me one of your own. Lord, we love you. We thank you for your word. Thank you for your goods. We pray for those in the hospital, among our family today. We pray for those who’ve lost homes and others who are traveling, others who just simply had to work today and couldn’t be here.

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Whatever that reason, we lift up our brothers and sisters to you and ask your favor and blessing upon them to. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you all for being here today. Listen, if you’re visiting with us, I know we got several visitors today. We don’t pass an offering plate here.