[0:00] thank you David why don't we bow our heads and we just speak to the Lord in prayer Heavenly Father we thank you for today Lord we thank you for the opportunity that we have and the blessing that we have we have seen a new day our eyes have seen a new day we have been able to enjoy your blessings and your faithfulness I just want to ask you Lord this time let us hear your voice let us pay attention to you have to say to us this morning this evening and Father as we dwell in the second Samuel chapter 9 Lord please keep our minds and hearts eager to hear your word and take away any distraction and let us focus and eager to be obedient to what your word has to say to us this evening Lord we rest in the fact that you are in this meeting we rest in the fact that is you Holy Spirit the one helping us and guiding us and teaching us to your scriptures Lord in the name of your song we thank you Father

[1:20] Amen so as I told you of my prayer I'm going to be sharing for you from 2 Samuel chapter 9 and one of the funny ones but a guy who doesn't speak English as his first language and and he's he has a very strong accent I have chosen a very funny passage where I'm going to have to say a very funny name for like a hundred times you probably see it when I read it but I'm sure you're going to laugh with me but before we read the passage I would like us to to give you a summary of what 2 Samuel is about to just give you a pre-idea of what we're going to be seeing here well 2 Samuel tells us the story of David as Israel's king the first part is describing his success and blessings followed by a huge moral failure that we all know what happened with Beksheba and his success consequences after that then the book ends with this well-crackered conclusion that reflects back on the good and on the bad of David's life when he is actually remembered of the good and bad things he has done in his life and in so many ways this reflection generates certain hope for a future king to come from his line and we have seen in 1 Samuel if you read the book before that we the 1 Samuel was based in the race and failure of Saul and in the contrast of David just raised enough and being appointed by the Lord so 2 Samuel picks up this after Saul's death here David in so many ways so you see the first few chapters of 2 Samuel you see you are surprised but David showing so much affection and in so many ways showing his compassion and how he laments when he hears about the dead or the very men who were trying to kill him

[3:16] Saul and his people so in so many ways the author of 2 Samuel presents David his humility and his compassion a man who grieves the death even of his own enemies after this he experiences a season of success we see it in chapter 4 5, 6, and 7 and blessings all the tribes ask David to unify all the tribes to become the king of Israel he unites the whole tribes of Israel and so he conquers Jerusalem and then he establishes Jerusalem as capital and then he renames Jerusalem as Zion and then David goes to win many many battles and to expand Israel's territory so that's kind of summary of what 2 Samuel is about if you want to summary of what 2 Samuel would be and the theme for 2 Samuel would be that even despite

[4:16] Saul and David's evil God remained at work in Israel and God remained at work determined to establish his God opposes David and Saul's arrogance and he exalted David when David humbled himself after the failure with Bathsheba so sacred and Selma overall give us a future hope of this book that reaches far beyond David himself and it looks to the future to this messianic king who one day will bring God's kingdom and blessings to all the nations so in so many ways in the life of David in his victories we have a foreshadow of what the future king of Israel is going to be like but also when we see David's failures David's fall we also see and we have a foreshadow of what the future king of Israel is not going to be like so that is kind of what 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel take us in the book and that is when how we land to this chapter that we are going to read now chapter 9 of 2 Samuel describing the kindness of David and in so many ways what I want us to see is in this even is how familiar and evident this kindness becomes in relation to the future king what we have to see please

[5:44] I don't want to tell you more an introduction why don't we open our Bibles in 2 Samuel chapter 9 and I'll try to be very slow and patient when I read it and I'm going to read from the NIV I'm very familiar with all you are reading from that one and this is what it said 2 Samuel chapter 9 David and Mephibosheth David asks is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake now there was a servant of Saul's household named Siva they summoned him to appear before David and the king said to him are you Siva of your service he replied the king asked is there no one still alive from the house of Saul who cannot show the kindness God's kindness Siva answered the king there is still a son of Jonathan he is lame in both feet where is he the king asked

[6:45] Siva answered he is at the house of Makhir son of Amiel and Lodabar so King David had him brought from Lodabar from the house of Makhir son of Amiel when Mephibosheth son of Jonathan the son of Saul came to David he bowed down to pay him honor David said Mephibosheth of your service he replied don't be afraid David said to him for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan I will restore to you all the land that belong to your grandfather Saul and you will always eat at my table Mephibosheth bowed down and said what is your servant that you should notice a dead dog like me then the kid summoned Siva Saul's steward and said to him I have given your master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family you and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring him crops so that your master's grandson may be provided for and Mephibosheth grandson of your master would always eat at my table now Siva had 15 sons and 20 servants then Siva said to the king your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands to his servant do so Mephibosheth ate at the king's table like one of the king's sons

[8:13] Mephibosheth had a young son named Micah and all the members of Siva's household were servants of Mephibosheth and Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem because he was he always ate at the king's table he was slain in both feet as I was telling you it's it's very funny that I picked the very story when I have to say Mephibosheth like a hundred times I beg your pardon if that's not the way how you pronounce Mephibosheth but nobody really knows so we we can just say in many ways but I'm very I really love very good Hollywood movies I really like movies where it gives you a very good plot things that you surprised so you wonder what is there what's what happened or how is that possible this person has lost everything oh is this why is this situation why is this tragedy generally the way movies work is you always have the good start and then something terrible terrible terrible happens and then later on something gets fixed and everybody is happily ever after right that's kind of the way

[9:21] Hollywood works but if you see this story we just read the Mephibosheth Mephibosheth story with David doesn't really fall short for any similar Hollywood plot like that it's actually one story comes in a very shocking way remember one day when he when he woke up Mephibosheth was the son of the prince so his granddad was a king he was still Saul was still the king of Israel he was still part of the palace but one day both Saul and Jonathan get killed and then situation happens for Mephibosheth and he has to be taken away from one of his loyal servants because people are coming to take his life because you know he was he was the grandson of Saul so he could have been the descendant or the one in line to take the throne so one day in a blink of the eye the light of Mephibosheth came from being accustomed to be in the palace all the time he's just brought down out of this desperation taken down in the palace and he has to run away from his life to a place where nobody can actually find him but to make this story even worse is that he says the bible especially in we read this in chapter 5 of Samuel that when he was being taken care by his by his nanny the one who looked after him something happened that they stumbled and they dropped

[10:54] Mephibosheth and when he dropped the bible says that he he stumbled to the point he became crippled he became lame just you imagine this guy 5-6 years old has just been taken away from the palace because he's been persecuted he has to run away from his life and out of the blue is not only part of royalty anymore he has to run away but now he has to run away with one of his feet not working properly so he's now a lame and he's now a person who has to be lived as a crippled person can you imagine how horrible and how big of a tragedy this can be if you were one person experiencing that you would be saying wow this is so much to take suddenly this is not a story made up by Hollywood this is a story that actually happened and it's written here in 2nd Samuel and it takes us to see what happened to here so this is where we are then

[11:54] Mephibosheth has been living about 20 years away from the palace hidden trying to not be notorious at all because he knows the moment somebody tells the new king that he is still alive his life could be in danger he could be sent to kill and he could be sent to be destroyed so he has to stay in a place called Lodavar that he then just for a moment imagine the kind of life picture yourself being Mephibosheth for a moment you were accustomed to be in a palace your granddad was the king your father was the nine to be the king and you at some point would be the next one to be the king but you one day had to be kicked out from that place and not only you were kicked out from that place now you need to be in hiding but not only you have to be in hiding but you also are crippled if you are familiar with the Israelite culture somebody who wasn't able to look after himself was considered for the lowest lowest status in the world so for one day he went from the very top from the very bottom and this is in so many ways where we find

[13:07] David David and we see from verses one and three David we see him David here he's remembered that at some point he had a conversation with Jonathan Mephibosheth's father and his conversation was they made a covenant they made a pact between them and now he's sort of remembering this that at some point he and Jonathan make this pact that something needed to be done with them they needed to take care of each other and this is what we find here the house of Saul always represented opposition and bad news to the house of David but here in chapter 9 we find David trying to show the kindness to the house of Saul if you see the verse 1 verse 3 and verse 7 there is a constant word repeated there it's the word kindness when you see the word in its roots the word is translated from the Hebrew word hesed or some other expression write it as hesed or like cheese in past but the pronunciation of that word hesed the word hesed means faithfulness loyalty and kindness that flows from a covenant relationship from a covenant relationship with someone it's always having implications of covenant or covenantal implications if you want to name it that way basically it's an agreement based on a promise very often with an oath that is driven through kindness and by kindness what David as I was saying is reflecting here he is reflecting the covenant that was established between him and Jonathan if you look back in 1 Samuel chapter 20

[14:53] Jonathan was a very good man and he was a godly man and Jonathan realized that his father Saul was acted not in a very godly manner and because of that he realized that his father Saul was disqualified to continue being the king of Israel and rather than Jonathan trying to fight for the throne and saying well if my father is not the king then per so I'm the one who should be the king because I'm next on the line rather than that speaking of how what a good man Jonathan was he decided to take the knowledge that God had chosen somebody else David and this came and he decided to to come to David and agree that God had chosen David for him so Jonathan came to David and he decided to make this covenant with him you can read about this in 1 Samuel chapter 20 especially verse 14 but he made a covenant with David and this is what he said Jonathan to David show me unfailing kindness he said like the

[15:55] Lord's kindness so that I may not be killed and do not cut me off your kindness or chesed from my family so as I said Jonathan could easily have chosen to become the next king but instead because of the godliness he had he decided to acknowledge that the Lord appointed a new guy and this guy was David and he decided to take that acknowledgement and respect God's chosen for him so when we see David here in the first three verses of 2 Samuel chapter 9 we see David this is what he has in his mind he's remembered this covenant and kindness David is echoing what Jonathan says in verse 1 he says is there anyone left in the house of soul to whom I can show you the kindness that has said that the Bible speaks for Jonathan's sake and in verse 3 he says that I may show

[16:57] God's kindness God has said to anybody else David is prompted by his promise made with Jonathan so he's been faithful to his promise with him so what David has brought in the first few verses of this chapter is that promise that agreement that covenant he made with Jonathan that wherever their situation whatever become of them they will look after for each other he's remembered and he's thinking now and he's who's come from the line of Jonathan because of that eternal covenant that promise he made with his with his father Mephibosheth's father if we make a parallel we see our God who acts on our behalf because of the covenant he made because of the promise he made with his own son based on this step of love his covenant and love towards the son Jesus that he promised that he made that promise that he made outside of the garden of Eden and Eve sorry outside of the garden of Eden to Eden and Eve that he would bring someone that will crush the devil and he's speaking to his promise he made to Abraham that one day from his seed someone would come and will bring blessings to the whole world to all the nations and that person is

[18:18] Christ so in the same way that David we see the parallel here in the same way that David sees and is trying to complete and fulfill this promise he made to the fathers of Jonathan we see the parallel in the same way God fulfilling his promise he's made to his children that one day from his seed from the seed of Abraham somebody will rise up and will be the one who will bring joy to the nations as we know in Christ so this is what we see we see that the hesed is coming from God and we see that David is thinking about his steadfast laws he's trying to show this hesed he's trying to show this kindness to Mephibosheth and the story goes on to say as I told you before Mephibosheth comes from a very it's nearly 20 years in the beginning of the story he's now a grown boy he's probably in a wheelchair now walking and wandering around nobody really knows about him if you ask

[19:22] Mephibosheth you would know that in his mind he thinks that he is seen as the enemy of David why because technically he's still in line to be the king but although God has chosen a new king so he's in hiding he's trying to be hidden all the time and the Bible says that he is placed in verse 3 and 4 he's staying in a place called Lodevar Lodevar is translated as a place of nowhere as a place of nowhere so literally Mephibosheth is Mr.

[19:59] Nobody living in the middle of nowhere and this is where Mephibosheth is happening why am I telling you this because I want us to see the whole picture of this chapter which speaks about grace speaks about gospel in so many ways here's this guy who have everything one day and lost everything to the point he's now a crippled man he's living in hiding but out of the blue even in the middle of nowhere Mr.

[20:25] Nobody is called called and asked to come and meet the king as we're going to see soon Mephibosheth is Mr.

[20:36] Nobody we don't know his names at first nothing is mentioned he's helpless he's affected by sin he's in a place that is called Lodabar a place no words no hopes literally nowhere he's in so many ways the enemy or the Lord's anointed in this case is David and when we think that we cannot stop to make the parallel to think how us in our condition in so many ways we are as Mephibosheth in the same condition as he was he was in a condition as a cripple not because of the things he did but because somebody else did for him he wasn't hiding because his granddad did something terrible and did something evil in front of God the Bible said because everything our forefathers did in Garden of Eden and the disobedience they showed they were disqualified to be called children of

[21:36] God and they were taken away from that place and like this man we are incapable to move towards God we are helpless we are the enemy of God and the good news of the gospel is what is written in Romans 5 that it says while we were still helpless like this man while we were still sinners like this man while we were still enemies like this man God reconciles us to himself through Christ do you see the parallel this guy lives in the palace is taken down away it's living in the middle of nowhere where no word is found he has to be in hiding we don't know much about him in the same way us when we used God they were taken away and went to live in a place of hiding in this world totally excommunicated from God unable to come and break that bridge that joined us to God in so many ways like Mephibosheth far apart separated from the love of

[22:38] God not being able to find ourselves close to God but actually helpless waiting for somebody to come and give us a call and in so we see in verse 6 that the king starts asking about somebody from the line of Jonathan and he is told that there is someone and what a king does in verse 5 to 6 he says he sends somebody to look for Mephibosheth it's very interesting that the king actually sends someone why because generally when people are far away from God it's very unlikely they will come looking for it I don't think Mephibosheth was very keen to come and say hi David I'm here I'm Mephibosheth because he knew the moment he would do that he would probably be taken down and the king himself David had to send somebody to reach for him and you know what's amazing in so many ways

[23:39] God our king he had to send in the same way as the king David in he had to send someone to come and say I'm calling you to be mine and to be my possession you believe what I'm giving you another fascinating fact about this story is that when if you see chapter verse 6 and 7 look what's interesting in there verses 5 to 6 so the king had him brought to Lodabar from the house of Mekir verse 6 when Mephibosheth son Jonathan the son of Saul came to David he bowed down to faith in honor and David said Mephibosheth you know what's very amazing about this story nobody actually told David Mephibosheth's name we don't actually told in that story in the bible that the king was given his name but yet when

[24:41] Mephibosheth comes to David and this is what the author of Samuel tried to make us see is that the king knew his name do you remember who was the king who used to call people by his name when he used to come follow me it's amazing that David knew his name and he called him from his name and said Mephibosheth and so many ways Jesus has done that with us when Jesus comes to our lives and our hearts he is the king who called us by our names he doesn't say hey you guy who David and it's fascinating that the king David has to do that he said Mephibosheth I don't really know how many times you have to practice that because you know it's a very hard name to pronounce but he says Mephibosheth come to me as we see

[25:44] David here is a foreshadow or king we have to sing as I said our king Jesus who comes to us calling us by his name the Lord knows those who are his and it doesn't matter where they are at the Lord always knows those who are his but for a moment let's pause and let's go back to the very beginning Mephibosheth was in a palace one day his father Jonathan is the prince and his dad Saul Jonathan father Saul is the king they are killed and one day Mephibosheth has to run away when he's running away he's dropped and he gets crippled and because of that he has to live about 20 years away hidden in the palace out of the blue one day king David remembers the promise he made to his father and and he decides to go and send somebody for him when this guy comes he calls him by his name and said Mephibosheth and one of the most fascinating things about this is that can you imagine for a moment if you were

[26:52] Mephibosheth you knew your father was the prince and your grandfather was the king of Israel and you know you are going to face a new king who has nothing to do with your family at all and you have been summoned right away from the place where you were hiding can you imagine what sort of thing you would be feeling can you imagine the expression in front of the king what would you be thinking if that was the case of yourself if that was me because remember it's many many years back I can imagine Mephibosheth's expression on his face with fear scary he's thinking my end has come my time is gone perhaps Mephibosheth expected death while being summoned to meeting the king but one of the most fascinating things is instead he finds dead he's actually finding protection he may have been scared and have no clue about what was going on in 20 years he has lived in a place where grace was not found

[28:09] I'm sure many times he heard stories about the palace in these 20 years but he hasn't lived in the palace for 20 years but now he's having an audience with the king and he's facing with the himself as a dead dog but even a dead dog can experience this undeserving outrageous grace and when we see here verse 7 we see the king does three great things for him the first thing he said to him is do not fear when Mephibosheth is coming to him thinking now the king is going to kill me the king says to him fear not do not fear in other words Mephibosheth I'm not coming here to kill you calm down get to me speak to me I will show you he says the kindness for the sake of Jonathan your father does

[29:11] Mephibosheth have enough reasons to be scared yes he does could David kill him yes he could but instead David says do not fear fear I'm Mephibosheth and I'm from the king I'm shaking thinking all right what is really happening here because out of the blue 20 years passed and these guys called me to an audience what's happening here how can we make this relation to Jesus one of the great things when Jesus appeared to his disciples especially after he was risen one of the first things Jesus said to the disciples was do not fear it's me look at my hands yeah it's me do not fear don't be trouble and I think there is a huge relation between this Mephibosheth story the meeting between David and Mephibosheth and actually Jesus himself because when he says when he comes to

[30:15] Mephibosheth comes to David he is offered protection he said do not fear when grace is under selfly given to us our king Jesus comes to us and says sinner do not fear your sins have been dealt wet something that verse 7 tells us as well it's not only the king says to Mephibosheth do not fear it's not only David saying okay do not fear it's fine do not fear but you know many times you said do not fear to people who are actually going to be feeling pretty soon I remember have you ever been to those roller coasters when you know something terrible is going to happen and the person next to you says come on do not fear but you know five minutes later you know what's going to happen right you're going to be screaming like crazy and things are going to happen like that I'd imagine Mephibosheth was thinking well you're telling me do not fear but then you are like just chopping my head off but in this case David is not doing that David said do not fear and the next thing David does for him is he restored all the things that he had he restored his goods he restored his land his army and he even he got more than he could ever ask or thought in the same way this man gets his inherit the earth as what the bible promised this new creation new heavens and new earth our parents lost this in the garden but we are going to inherit the earth as he says we will be given that again let's pause what is the story of

[31:48] Mephibosheth to make a part of with ourselves Mephibosheth is in a palace he is the son of Jonathan Jonathan is the son of he gets crippled and he has to live in a place on abandonment he has to live in a place of no worth he has to live as the lowest of society out of the blue one day the king sends him and he is summoned by the king and when he comes to the king he is called by his name and not only that the king knows his name but he offers where we ate and eat wherever God but they did something very bad that they were taken away and from the being in the presence of the Lord where the palace is they were just taken down to leave this earth and they live in total abandonment for many years and humanity has lived in total total abandonment for many years to one day when the king came the real king the real real deal king came and he came for us he called us by our name and said if we believe in him we would not fear death if we believe in him he would restore our condition in front of

[33:12] God and our the first relationship that Eden and Eve have in Eden will be restored the next thing that the king offers him verse 7 and 11 is that he is told that he is going to eat like one of the king's children in so many ways he is adopted to have Mephibosheth said before you were eaten in Lodabar but now onwards you're not going to eat in Lodabar anymore but actually you're going to eat here in my table says king David he says when you come here you're going to sit here and you're going to eat on my table the very same things I eat those are the very same things that you're going to eat Mephibosheth you'll be part of me so he is adopted to be part of the king's family can you imagine when the official photographer of the house of Israel would come and take the picture of David Axelon son of his children and out of the corner there would be a guy sitting there who doesn't actually look like

[34:13] David or his children at all it's just a tiny little guy sitting there who is this guy this is Mephibosheth he is adopted let me tell you something about a parallel what does the bible say about us when we come to Jesus when he calls by our name and when we come towards him the bible says we are adopted into God's family we are part of the official picture of heaven our lives don't are the same that they were in Lord before but actually they are transformed and we are not only not to fear we are only to restore our goods but we are actually adopted into God's family when the official photographer from heaven comes we are in picture smiling like most of you are tonight and that is the story doesn't end there actually one of the interesting stories of this chapter is that although this is a good description of the kindness of king

[35:16] David and in so many ways show us Messiah and what he was going to be with us what he's going to be like this passage is crying out saying David is not actually the one yet don't think David is the real deal David is just a foreshadow of the real deal if you see Mephibosheth and you see the end of this passage what is something to stick to your mind what does actually say this passage at the very end what does he say about Mephibosheth's condition sitting at the table does he say he's still lame or he's changed the last verse of this chapter 9 is he still lame or now he's not lame anymore the verse says he's still lame isn't it he's still crippled although he is invited to sit in the table and he is sitting at the table of the king and he's enjoying all the benefits and blessings that the king's table can have when we look beyond the table cloth we're going to see a guy with his legs crippled his condition hasn't changed and this passage is reminding us yes

[36:28] David was a very kind man we see his kindness but he is not a big deal he's not a real deal because we know later a few chapters later he's not really a real deal he failed what this passage is trying to tell us although David does great things for him he is not the real deal how do we know this remember what happened with Jesus King what was one of the most incredible miracles he did for one man who was crippled he said stand up Jesus was showing his credentials he was saying I am the real deal it's not David when David has kindness Mephibosheth Mephibosheth is brought to the table Mephibosheth is restored his good Mephibosheth is taken not to fear but yet Mephibosheth condition is still the same but when King Jesus the real deal the real king come to us when he sees a cripple this is the cripple walk the lame walk the blind can see this passage is saying something good is coming it's not

[37:37] David it looks like David but it's not David it's actually the real king the one when he sees a cripple he makes the cripple walk this passage is crying out saying Jesus is the real deal it's not David David was good but he makes so many mistakes and throughout this chapter his book we actually see it so let me summarize this story and to make the last summary before we conclude what do we see in this story we see this guy Mephibosheth I'm going to be saying this quite often so we just stick our heads Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan Jonathan was the prince of Israel and his father was Saul the king of Israel Saul was disobedient to the Lord he was disqualified to become king person the Lord decided to take away his father and his grandfather both

[38:41] Saul and his father were killed and he has to flee because he was persecuted and when he flees he falls and he gets crippled he has to go to a place of nowhere he has to be there far away crippled in a very low society he spends about 20 years till one day king David decides to call him because he remembers a promise he to bring Mephibosheth to him he speaks to Mephibosheth of his name and he said do not fear he restores his good and he adopted into his family and he promised him that now he can sit at the table of the king and for now and future we really see Mephibosheth sitting and eating every day at the king's table what a wonderful story isn't it from the very bad to the very good God has transformed us in so many ways we see a relationship with the same way that

[39:43] God has done for us as I said before once Aidan and Ed would enjoy the fellowship with God but they did something bad they were taken down to a place similar to Lodovar and they couldn't come to God so God has sent his son to call on for people and when he came to people he called them by their names and when he came to us he called us by our names and he said do not fear he said you trust me I'm going to restore all the things that were promised to you you trust me I'm going to adopt you and you're going to become part of my family and from now onwards you're going to be part of the family of God you're going to be part of this great picture of heaven where the people of God is and it's a wonderful story but one of the things we are not told about this story and this is how I finish is that we don't really told the end of this story the story dies there and we see Mephibosheth who is sitting at the table and then he is crippled and then the next chapter goes on something else if you're familiar with the book of

[40:46] Samuel you'll know that something else happened with Mephibosheth he doesn't choose something good and he's killed after that but I'm not going to why he's killed because that's not a reason for today but I just want to take a preacher's prerogative and this is a Latin American thing makes you imagine two possible endings for this story we don't really know what was the end of Mephibosheth but I want to imagine two possible endings let me tell you the first one and then you'll pick which one is better okay let's pick the first one imagine that Mephibosheth is brought out of Lodevar and everything is restored for his mystery 20 years of mystery is being restored and he's now sitting enjoying the food can imagine I don't know like good piece of haggis what else like good smoked salmon

[41:47] I don't know what what Scottish like just imagine all the great foods and he's enjoying every day sitting at the table chatting with David's sons but imagine how does he feel a month later it's great oh I remember in Lodevar I was just eating I don't know off milk all the time I don't like oatmeal so he would say I was eating oatmeal all the time but now I'm eating all these wonderful things and he gets excited and pumped up imagine six months after he's eating at a king's table and eating everything and everything he's like oh this is amazing I really love this food oh chatting with the king talking with the king is awesome imagine after a couple of years maybe my people shit becomes like alright what's next can we get something else I'm just tired of having scrambled eggs every day I know it's the best scrambled eggs in the world but can we have something else but what happens in Mephibosheth becomes like when he sees the seraphat and he says are you for real why are you serving the king first why you don't serve me first imagine

[42:52] Mephibosheth becomes so full of himself becomes so arrogant that he thinks he belongs there that he deserves to be sitting at the king's table he thinks that this is the place where he always wanted to be that the king had the right to go and call him because this is where he belongs imagine seeing Mephibosheth not full of grace but actually full of arrogance demanding things for himself thinking he ought to get things thinking these are the things that belong to me would you not consider Mephibosheth an obnoxious person just rather be far away from him if I was him and I would be like man you were a lot of heart man you were a cripple man 20 years you were eating whatever you could man 20 years you were running away hiding for yourself man don't forget who you are imagine that ending is that a good ending for

[43:58] Mephibosheth I reckon everybody would say no but for a moment that's the first ending probably nobody likes that ending let's imagine another ending for this wonderful story imagine the first day Mephibosheth gets back to the table he gets excited I'm eating great oh this is fantastic oh I enjoyed the haggis oh I enjoyed salmon oh this is fantastic oh can I get orange juice oh he gets he talks to everyone he laughs with David jokes he's like oh this he realized not walks but you know he's crippled and he just throttles around he's around the palace he gets so excited one month two months three months six months he's still excited but out of the blue one day say two years later he's sinking in the palace and he said what a good good what a great palace I really love my bed it's very nice the lining is amazing then he remembers but

[45:02] I had friends in Lodivar I know where I came from I know I have 20 years of mystery I know that although I'm not in Lodivar anymore there is a lot of people that I used to talk and I used to play and I used to hang around with who are in Lodivar and he is prone to humbleness and meekness and he prone to compassion and he goes and speaks to King David and says please David there is a lot of food here I enjoy everything that you're giving me on the table and everything is fantastic the salmon is amazing the haggis is fantastic I really love it but there is a lot of things to go wasted why don't we take some of the leftover and we take everything we have and we take it to Lord the bar because David remind you you brought me here but there are like quite a lot of people still there David please can we have compassion and we go and see these folks because

[46:06] I'm really having fun here and this is great but I want to bring more people in maybe they decide to make a David McDonald's or something like that and perhaps they create something fascinating for them and knowing David's heart I'm sure again this is imagination we are just imagining this but knowing David and what we know in the Bible he's probably told one of these stories I'm sure he's told that he'll be like yeah let's go let's go and get it let's bring people from Lodivar let's get to them you are saying why are you telling us all this nonsense which is not in the Bible why are you using the preacher's prerogative and let me finish with this let me tell you my dear brothers and sisters although we see the parallel with Mephibosheth story to the story of the gospel although we see the parallel in how God came to us and brought us back to the table many Christians nowadays they generally pick the first ending of the story they forget where they came from they forget that

[47:14] God has to do everything in his power to come and bring you to his glory they forget that in the same place where they were there are still many people they used to hang up with and we as Christians become arrogant we think oh I don't really like what the preacher said today oh why do we invite that guy from Peru has a horrible accent and we become like with this we think we deserve to be here we think we deserve to be saved we think that we deserve that God have the right to save us because we were so good that we need to be saved I come from a culture where sometimes things people think like that and let me tell you my dear brothers and sisters that is not we deserve love to our we deserve misery we deserve to be forgotten but yet God has not forgiven us or forgotten us God has shown enough mercy and grace to us and what does what does the

[48:17] Lord say the same grace you've been given go and show them we don't need to be like the first ending becoming Christians criticizing everything or thinking we got the right to say so not to say so rather we need to be like second ending people who remember that we were brought here by grace God have to give everything he have his own son to die for us and we have to remember that we came from a place where a lot of our friends family and people we know are still there we need to remember that there are places in global mission who are full of love of art full of Mephibosheth rather than thinking why do we really need to do this let's think why don't we get something good we have I see a well nourished people learn good about the

[49:17] Bible people understand the Bible preachers work hard to let the Bible open and let the Bible speak but I see many countries where I come from and many places where I come from where the teaching is limited there is not much really happening there and yet we can actually use something good we get here every day and do something in there why do we care about mission because it's the gospel of God saving people from Lord of our it's the gospel of people remembering that they are called from grace and they are saved not because they deserve to be saved but actually because God has to do everything in his power to save them my dear brothers and sisters it's my prayer for each one of you that you are challenged by what I'm saying today even with my accent which is kind of funny that you are challenged today to live like this second ending remember where you came from remember what the king has done for you and don't become self-righteous or arrogant himself to be criticising what you're given but actually use what you are given in this church and all the different places where you worship and go and think about those who were there before you and who are still there we need to come up with a word of compassion we need to have the same compassion that this second ending on

[50:44] Mephibosheth could have you know why because when Jesus saw the crowd he had compassion because he saw them like sheep without shepherd if something is going to stick in your minds tonight that's pretty much it we don't deserve what we're given personal use everything that you are given and go and share with others that is what is going to make a difference the gospel of grace changed hearts like it changed Mephibosheth yes but we need to be challenged and reminded of that every single day why don't we pray father father we thank you for the gospel lord we thank you for the gospel is probably the biggest miracle that has happened to our lives it's the biggest miracle that's happened to humanity lord because yet when we are still sinners you send your son christ to die for us lord yet when we are still

[52:08] Mephibosheth in Lord of our lord you send you send your son to come and rescue us by grace to call us by our names to give us hope to tell us not to fear to restore the condition that was broken to adopt us into the family of yours father father help us not to take it for granted help us lord to have the humbleness to remember where we came from and to remember lord that where we came from there is still a lot of folks who are still there needing the same grace that was shown to us father encourage each one of these people in this church to be challenging their hearts to be grateful for this undeserved grace but at the same time taking every opportunity they have to share this grain has been shown to them and may they continue to realize that grace is given and is not deserved father we thank you because this work is done by you and not by us and we thank you that we can call upon your name and you are still eager to come for us and help us father father we don't know much about the end of

[53:32] Mephibosheth but we can be challenged by his story and we can see similars and parallels with the gospel but not only that Lord we can also be encouraged and challenged to become gracious and have compassion with others the world more than ever Lord needs Christians who have compassion for them and are eager to do whatever it takes to bring Jesus to them thank you for this church in the name of your soul Lord Amen