The Fruit of Goodness and Kindness

Thank you for joining us on the CCW podcast.

Make sure you connect with us on social media to stay up to date on ministries and events happening at CCW.

We hope you're encouraged, inspired, and motivated by today's message.

To find out how to connect with us, keep listening after the message ends.

Morning, CCW.

Amen.

Happy Sunday.

You made it.

Turn your Bibles this morning to 2 Samuel chapter 9.

2 Samuel 9 · chapter mention

And uh boy, ladies, if you don't sign up, I feel like Amanda might show up at the door.

That was good.

Thank you.

And I do hope that y'all get to come in here and just fall into the word and be encouraged.

I know that you will.

And uh anyway, it's been a good week.

Our student ministry, Pastor Eli and Kirby, and some team members went and took some teenagers to camp this week.

Y'all are back and they look okay.

So praise the Lord.

I know we'll have more stories coming, but I know they had a great week.

Um I myself and my family came and had an opportunity to work a missions camp called Unite.

It is the uh mission serve in Shelby County.

That's what Lee and Kelly just led the team last week, and I'm sure that after doing uh some of this, less than what you do, um I'm in recovery, so I know that y'all probably feel a little better this week.

But anyhow, uh I do want to share, and I had some folks praying.

There were nine students who uh came forward and were dealt with over their salvation.

Not sure how that panned out, but at least nine of them answered that call.

So God really did a work, and it was an awesome time this week uh with Shelby County.

And so thank you, those that were praying.

2 Samuel chapter 9, we're gonna be looking.

2 Samuel 9 · chapter mention

It's still Galatians 5, 22 and 23, the fruit of the spirit.

But I thought our intro to that, instead of me reading the scripture this week, I got a little video I want you to see.

Can we say the fruit of the spirit?

Is love is love, joy, joy, peace, peace, patience, patience, kindness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Self-control.

Galatians, Galatians, five, twenty-two through twenty-three.

Yay! Good job.

Thank you.

Y'all give it up for that is Kinley Clements.

And if you don't know, Ashley and Krista, that's their little girl a few years ago, and uh she shared that with me, and I said, I'm gonna have to use that video.

So if you send me something like that that's that cute, it's probably gonna get shown.

But the fruit of the spirit today, we're gonna look at goodness and kindness together.

I found out two of the worst places for ankle sprains.

There's never really a good time to have an ankle sprain, but I think I've had two of the worst places, as in where I was at the time of these ankle sprains.

One, tell me if you can beat this.

The very first time I had an injury, I went up for a rebound, came down, rolled my ankle over, fractured, and I was going the next day on a winter retreat to the Poconos, where all we were gonna do for two days was snow tubing.

And my cousin was gonna go on the trip, and he was only gonna go because I was going, he wasn't affiliated with my church, and so I made this decision like I'm gonna go on this trip.

Surely I can have fun with crutches and an aircast and snow tubing, which is pretty dangerous without crutches and an air cast.

And so I'm I'm on the snow.

I mean, they let me go, and but anyway, I think that was one of the worst, and y'all helped me debate.

I really don't know.

The second time that I sprained my ankle, I put a hard move.

We were playing some flag football out on um, if you've ever been to Chattanooga, there's a big park in the downtown area by the walking bridge.

I can't think of the name of the park, Coolidge Park.

Anyhow, I put a hard move on a girl that was defending me.

And when I did, I sprained my ankle.

And at Tennessee Temple University, walking back and forth, and it wasn't several blocks, but there was a block of college, and so I'm walking everywhere on these crutches.

Have you ever tried to get a meal in a college cafeteria with a tray and crutches?

It's pretty hard.

So I'm still at a debate with myself.

These are two places that I've been with these ankle springs, but I found this out.

All of a sudden, all of the goodness of humanity comes out of people when they see somebody who is in a situation like I was in.

All of a sudden, people that never talked to me at Tennessee Temple would grab my tray and help me with my food.

When I was on the snow, people would grab my crutches, help me into a tube, and make sure that I was okay because they looked at me and saw someone in need.

And when I think about those times, I think of just the purity of kindness.

The best in humanity.

And I want you to see 2 Samuel chapter 9.

2 Samuel 9 · chapter mention

I'm gonna read the first three verses.

We'll continue kind of opening up.

But it says, Now David said, Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness?

For Jonathan's sake.

And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Zeba.

So when he called to David, the king said to him, Are you Ziba?

He said, At your service.

Then the king said, Is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?

David, here as it opens, is searching, he's looking for a way to be kind.

The word kindness here is the word chestotes, and it means active warmth and helpfulness towards someone.

Now we can part there on warmth.

I know it's early, but some of y'all need to work on the warmth of your face.

Have y'all ever heard the term unapproachable?

Takes some people, you hear people say, it takes them a little while to warm up.

I don't know what it takes for a Christian to get more warm.

Where's Mr.

Greg?

But some of y'all need to go to practice with Mr.

Greg in the mornings.

He was at the door this morning.

I think he he's told me he stands at the morning, uh, at the mirror in the morning and he just opens his smile wider.

He says, You can do better, Greg.

Even better, wider.

Give him a good how you doing.

Okay?

Some of y'all could work on that, right?

We could be warmer, it's but I want to say, out of your heart, the mouth speaks.

And so we see that all over him, and I'm thankful for people that have that.

The fruit of the Spirit makes a person different.

When you have the Holy Spirit in you, all of these fruits that we're talking about, we should be more and more becoming like them.

It should become easier and easier for them to be a part of our life.

It should be a desire, at the minimum, a desire for us to have things like kindness and goodness.

That's the Spirit working through us.

It's evidence of the new man.

The old man, it showed us all the bad evidences.

But this is the new man.

And for some, it may be a journey of a lifetime to be more like this.

But we should continue to be more like this.

That is the part of kindness.

Goodness, defined, is integrity and character, moral excellence.

Okay?

Always wanting to do the right thing, desiring what's right.

In the Bible, it gives some scenarios.

One is the good Samaritan.

He is the one that did the thing that was right.

When people who even looked like they were supposed to be right people didn't do the right thing, the good Samaritan was the one that went and helped the man that was in a ditch.

The Bible calls Jesus the good shepherd.

Father, we love you.

And we are thankful, Lord, for your goodness and grace to us.

God, I pray that as we dive into your word, that you would open our hearts, our minds.

Help us where we are weak.

God, help us to be full of the Holy Spirit in such a way that the world around us is impacted by it.

Help us that we are impacted, Lord, by your Spirit.

Lord, I pray today we would not leave, not having met with you.

Meet with us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Look down there at verses three through five.

The first point this morning is Mephibosheth's, you're gonna learn that name today, Mephibosheth's condition and David's acceptance.

Look at verse three through five.

Then the king said, Is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?

And Zeba said to the king, There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.

So the king said to him, Where is he?

And Zeba said to the king, Indeed, he is in the house of Makir, the son of Amiel, in Lodabar.

Then King David sent and brought out of the house of Makir, the son of Emil, from Lodabar.

Letter A, Mephibosheth was in a low place.

Mephibosheth was Saul's grandson, which at this point in time is not really a good thing to be.

He is formerly king who came after David.

He is the king who at the end of his reign was really falling apart.

And he became sort of the enemy of David.

Even though David had grace on Saul, he was an enemy to him.

So now Mephibosheth is in Lodabar.

That's important to know where he was.

The word Lodabar, Dabar means word or a thing.

The prefix low is a negator, thus the term Lodabar means no word, no thing.

Dabar can mean pasture, but here with the negator means no pasture.

In English, we might say, and if you look at it on a map, that Lodabar was in the middle of nowhere.

East of Jordan, it was a place of seclusion, out of the way, far from David, far from harm.

He was, in essence, hiding.

Out of the way.

Hopefully to be forgotten.

Mephibosheth has another problem.

If you look back at 2 Samuel chapter 4, just want to unpack a moment.

2 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

He's hiding in Lodabar.

Here comes David the king, who had a problem with Saul.

Verse 4.

Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet.

He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled.

And it happened as she made haste to flee that he fell and became lame.

His name was Mephibosheth.

So Mephibosheth is in Lodobar, but Mephibosheth is lame in Lodabar.

At five years old, he was dropped, and it did bone damage.

It did crippling damage.

Mephibosheth's rightful heir to the throne is now conditioned and labeled not fit to be king.

His name, it's important to know his name.

His name, Mephibosheth, in Hebrew, means breathing shame.

Shame.

What is shame, church?

Shame is a painful feeling that comes from knowing you or someone did wrong.

And I look back through the pages of Scripture, Eve no sooner wiped the juice of the forbidden fruit from her lips, and guilt and shame accompanied her and Adam back to the garden like a dark shadow.

Guilt and shame were conceived in rebellion.

We cannot deny guilt or shame.

We birthed it.

The difference in guilt and shame, guilt says, I did a bad thing, and shame says, I am a bad person.

Shame has this deep side that can come from a lot of things.

It can come from a lack of parental affection growing up.

It can come from a lack of value, not knowing our identity.

If we're a Christian, not our identity in Christ, it can come from previous sins that we lived in or something we did and we've held on to.

Shame can happen because a person, a perpetrator, has harmed you.

Shame.

Satan endeavors to leave that person with that shame because they were harmed.

Shame causes people to say things like, I'm not smart enough, I'm not good enough, I'm not thin enough, I'm not funny enough, and I'm not good enough.

Shame is all through the pages of the Bible.

Remember the woman at the well?

Five failed marriages.

She stopped and came to draw.

As the sun blazed on her, she hoped to draw alone, away from comments, whispers, and looks.

Remember the woman with the blood issue?

Twelve years, always unclean, uncomfortable, and uncomfortable, comforted, and always whispers, condemning.

She wouldn't dare to ask Jesus publicly to hear her, heal her.

She just wanted but to touch the hem of his garment quietly, privately, so that no one would see.

What about the man that was full of leprosy fell to his face and implored Jesus, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me whole, you can make me clean.

Society said to that man, you walk on the other side of the road, and when you walk, you must yell, unclean, unclean, unclean, shame.

Society hasn't stopped today with its shame.

It's shaming.

This maid, this servant, this nurse dropped Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth didn't want to be dropped.

Mephibosheth was dropped.

It was an accidental thing.

He was dropped and it caused a damage to him.

I may get this wrong, but I'm gonna try to make sure I don't.

Weston was in the car seat, and I think one of the kids was car carrying the seat.

We were at the old church, and there was stairs going down to the youth hall, and the seat dropped, and tumbling went Weston down the stairs in the seat, and we're like, right?

And you watch that unfold, you're like, what's gonna happen?

You know, you're looking at the baby after this and you're like, hey, hey, do you have any words?

Right?

Everything is fine, it's all good.

But I can remember that day and that moment, and it felt like such an awful thing.

Mephibosheth was dropped.

Ishbaseth, Saul's son, had died.

That's an important part of this.

That's a key part because Ishbasheth and Mephibosheth would have been rightful heirs to the throne.

And due to his brother being dead, he was the next heir.

But due to his condition, he was labeled by society, by his country, by people that he was unfit to be king.

That's a lot of background of where he is in low to bar.

Fifteen years have passed.

Do you remember your low place?

Some of you might say, Pastor, my low place, my low to bar, I'm in.

Do you remember that time?

For some, it might feel eerily like right now.

It could be etched in your past.

We all have experiences, though.

We all have low-to-bar type of moments where you feel numb, where you feel nowhere, not noticed, nothing, just lost.

That is Mephibosheth.

All right?

Letter be.

Mephibosheth was in a low place, but David, letter B, was in a looking place.

Remember what he said?

Is there anyone of the house of Jonathan?

Maybe David in that moment kind of choked up in those words.

So Saul's coming after him, but in the midst of Saul coming after David, Saul's son Jonathan forged this beautiful friendship.

It's a great sermon, great passage, but they had this beautiful friendship and he was loyal to him.

So, in the name and in the sake of this best of friends, he comes and he says, Is there not a kindness?

Because I was so fond of Jonathan who saved my life.

Is there anyone because of my friendship oath that I can be an impact to?

God impacted me.

I want to be kind to somebody today.

Kindness.

Kindness says things like this, church, who can I give time to?

Who can I teach?

Who can I help?

Who can I give to?

Who can I serve?

David said, Where?

The man says, There is a son.

And he says, Where is he?

I asked about the need, where is he so I can get to the need?

Where is the need, church?

I shared with this church a few weeks ago that we have a need of about 10 adult workers in kids' Sunday school or just kids' ministry.

I am telling you very clearly, there is a need.

And by the way, it is our kids.

It's not somebody else's kids, it's our kids.

I got thinking back about this in my experience, so sweet in the church that I grew up in.

Kindergarten through sixth grade, there was a teacher in every class.

We have a few classes in Sunday school, but there was a teacher in every class before church, every grade.

So that means that many, and they were there all year long.

And for all of my elementary experience, I only remember one teacher ever not being the Sunday school teacher.

They had left that ministry.

But for the rest of the time, it was, and some of them, you know, I remember grandpa, grandma type figures.

There were some middle-aged people, but that was always that was the Gallagher's fifth grade class.

That was uh Mr.

and Mrs.

Garver's third grade class.

For the whole time I was in elementary school, and their heart was to give kindness to the generation that was coming.

And I'm telling you, church, we need some kindness in ways like that at this church.

We need your help.

And I want to be that.

I've thought about this.

I'm like, well, maybe I need, maybe I need to go teach Sunday school, and that'd be fine.

I want to do what God wants me to do.

I want to be so close to God that I don't blink when He calls me to kindness.

I want you to think right now of some people's faces who you know need kindness.

Just take a moment.

People in your life.

We have a world now that's so different.

We have access to information through social media and other means.

Think of somebody who needs kindness.

Take a moment.

Maybe pray their name.

I want you to think on in a few moments when this service is over, we're gonna have an invitation and an opportunity to ask God to help us open doorways of kindness.

Someone is hurt and they need a kindness.

Someone is exhausted, and you, as a Christian that they know, have an avenue to help.

Well, David exhibits, I believe, the fruit of the Spirit.

Psalms 51.

I want you to just look at this for a second, because we've had some conversation with some of the church members recently, just going back and forth about the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost, and when it came, he came on every believer after that.

And so we got in this talk about John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit.

And it talks about John the Baptist having the Holy Spirit, and that was before.

Pentecost.

And then you get digging further, and in the Old Testament, there's a few people who it talks about the Spirit.

Look at Psalms 51, verse 11.

Psalms 51:11

Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

So God shares some things in the Old Testament where the Holy Spirit, in very seems like a little bit of a different way, and some sort of special calling, fell on some believers.

You'll see it in Samson, in Gideon, in David, and John the Baptist before Jesus born.

I think in even Caleb, it says, in Caleb existed a different spirit.

Well, I believe we could say that David is exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit.

He says, I want to provide a kindness for somebody.

Well, let's look at the second thing this morning.

Mephibosheth's cry and David's assistance.

Verse 6 and 7.

Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face, prostrated himself, and then David said, Mephibosheth, 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.

We can pause there.

Letter A with Mephibosheth cry to notice Mephibosheth laid himself on the ground.

Mephibosheth doesn't know at this moment what's going to happen.

Mephibosheth doesn't realize that David has been looking and praying for a means of kindness.

He just knows he's been in Lodabar, he's been hidden, he's been trying not to be seen.

And Mephibosheth falls on his face and he lays prostrate before the king in what I believe is a moment of probably deep vulnerability.

And perhaps for a person like Mephibosheth, the name calling of a lifetime came flooding back over him.

Maybe he heard again humiliating taunts of those who found him worthless, probably expected the disdain of the king.

Disdain which he had come accustomed to.

Probably expected to hear words like crippled, outcast, dead dog, man of shame, unfit to be king.

There's a famous untrue line.

Sticks and stones.

You know the rest.

But words will never hurt me.

Words do hurt.

Right?

Jokes hurt.

Sarcasm hurts.

Jabs hurt.

Look at what the Bible says in Proverbs.

Proverbs 12, 18 says, There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts.

Proverbs 16, 24 says, Words, hear me about words.

God's given you this mouth to use.

Words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the body.

How you use them.

Proverbs 11, 9 and then verse 12.

Proverbs 11, 9 says, With his mouth the godless man will destroy his neighbor.

Verse 12 says, Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense.

Psalm 64, verse 3 says, They wet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows.

Psalms 64:3

Romans 3, 13 and 14 says, their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

James says, their tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.

We're told that out of the mouth or out of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So whatever's in here is a reflection of who you are, and it's coming out.

And we justify so much of what we say.

I can't tell you.

So many times people that I've met and said, I probably shouldn't have said that.

Well, if you have to say that, you definitely shouldn't.

Probably shouldn't say this.

But Ephesians 4.29 says, let no corrupt communication.

None proceed out of your mouth.

But if you're going to talk, that which is used to edification, that which is used to lift and build people up.

If you're going to open your mouth to people or to others about people, church, it's to build somebody up.

Build them up.

That it may administer grace to the hearers.

Whether the hearer is that person or that person you're talking to about that person, it administers grace.

When I was in sixth grade, I summons all my courage to go after the girl via a beautiful love letter.

So I wrote down all my good words.

And I finally I put it down on paper, what I felt, because I couldn't get it out of my mouth.

And I summons the courage to hand that piece of paper to somebody else that would hand it to her.

And that girl opened the note and she didn't know that I was nearby.

And look, look, I'm just gonna be honest, okay?

I know that I'm five foot five standing before you.

Okay and sixth grade, I got all of my height.

I was the tallest person in class for one year.

And then it ended.

The glory ended.

I was the talk of my whole family.

You should see them.

They're a bunch of short folks.

Okay.

I was the talk.

And but at the same time, okay, weight hadn't straightened itself out.

All right?

I was eating pretty healthy.

Anyway, I hand this letter off, and I hear her and a group of girls talking, and I'm looking for a sign, something, a note back, elation, something.

And I hear her say mockingly, I would never date that Chubbo.

Yo! Still hurts.

I began to work out that summer and have never stopped.

I promise you, I have never stopped.

But let me tell you, I still don't like it for that sixth grader.

When I think on that, I go, ooh, he was just crushed by one.

I'm 43.

I'm still talking about that one word.

Do you think your words don't matter?

Fathers hear me with children.

One word.

Oh, and and holding captive a word.

I hear people all the time say, My father never could say, I love you.

Man, tell them.

Tell them you love them.

Use your words, affirm, over-affirm.

Nobody has ever complained because they've been so affirmed.

Use your words.

Love.

Husbands, look at your wife and tell her she looks good.

I don't care if you've done it 10,000 times, she needs it this day.

Use your words.

Words matter.

This man, a lifetime of feeling like nothing was hidden in shame.

Mephibosheth surely thought this man of great power has come to require my life of me.

Maybe worse, he might torture me.

And as he laid on the floor prostrate, he expected shame on you, Saul's grandson.

And so Mephibosheth ever so slightly looks up and he says, What is your servant?

That you would look upon a dead dog, such as I.

Disgraced, discredited, and disqualified.

Let her be.

David lifted him with a greeting.

King David, if you didn't see that.

King David said in verse 6, a simple word.

Mephibosheth.

He greeted him.

King David didn't call him dead dog.

He didn't call him unfit.

Don't miss this kind and gentle gesture.

He called him by name.

The king of all the land at this moment.

I try to think of the most prestigious person I've ever met.

Any of you met a president?

There's probably people in the room.

Important people.

Hey, I've never met a president.

I try to rack my mind.

I've met Mayor Pickelsheimer.

And I've met Mayor Riggins.

I thought about who is the most prestigious person I ever met.

And I thought, Heather and I were on our honeymoon and I saw, I didn't meet, but I saw Joseph Michael Laurenidas.

It was an unbelievable moment.

Who's Joseph Michael Laurenitis?

I got a picture of Joseph Michael Laurenitis that you need to see.

And so I met this man, or I didn't meet him.

He was sitting across.

Maybe we got a picture.

If we don't, that's that's sad.

I'll tell you what he was.

Joseph Michael Laurenitis was one half of the Legion of Doom Road Warrior Animal from the WWE.

There he was in the flesh across the table.

And I was starstruck.

Heather was like, Why don't you say something?

And I was like, I can't.

I can't.

That's animal.

Right there.

And I remember that moment seeing him just not even be able to have words.

There is Mephibosheth.

And the king.

One of the things that I love about this church, family, is you are so accepting.

There are places in my life, right?

I'm 43, and there's places where I still don't feel like I fit.

I don't feel like I'm welcome.

I feel judged.

I feel self-conscious.

So at this point, even in my life, kindness, warmth matters.

Affirmations matter.

I'll never forget a family left Calvary Baptist Church.

And it involved two teenagers, and so I was really, I was flustered by it, I was saddened by it, and I began to try to find out what was going on.

And I and I found out later there was a lot more to the story.

But I came in, we had a youth room, and I came in one day, like any other day, and it was summertime, there were some kids playing ping pong.

Um, and then there was another couple of people there.

I high-five Caitlin.

Okay.

Hey Caitlin, how are you?

And I did not see over in the corner of the youth hall, Abby.

Didn't see her.

Okay.

Next thing I hear, this family is leaving Calvary.

And I'm like, what's going on?

I'm trying to find out and follow up.

And finally, the story gets back to me.

One day you went into the youth hall and you high-fived Caitlin and you did not greet Abby.

I'm like, I love Abby.

I love her sister Lydia.

What do you?

I didn't, I didn't know she was there.

I didn't even know that happened.

Listen to me, people, and this is just a picture.

People mess up.

Sometimes people don't see things.

Some people, right, right?

And they left, and I and it it hurt me for a long time because I thought I can I could love this family.

I want to love this family.

I want to love these students.

So if I greet you seven times in the lobby today, but in reality, I love you, church.

I love you.

And I hope that you know that.

And I lift you in name by prayer every week, from acting to right.

That's the front to the back.

And I love you.

I want you to feel loved.

I want you to feel kindness.

I want you to feel seen.

Mephibosheth heard his name.

When he thought everything in the world, and I think the tone, we don't get to read that.

If he was mad, if he was angry, maybe the tone comes in a certain way, but I think the tone even, David came and he said, Mephibosheth.

Well, thirdly, Mephibosheth's communion and David's avow.

Look at the end of verse 7 through 13.

It says, And I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your grandfather, and you shall eat bread at my table continually.

Then he bowed himself and said, What is your servant that you should look upon such a dead dog as I again?

And the king called to Zebasaw's servant and said to him, I have given to your master's son all that belonged to his grandfather Saul and to all his house.

You therefore and your sons and your servants work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest that your master's sons may have food to eat.

But Mephibosheth, your master's son shall eat bread.

Hear this, at my table, the king's table.

Now Zeba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

Then Zeba said to the king, according to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.

As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons.

Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah, and all who dwelt in the house of Zeba were servants of Mephibosheh.

So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table.

And he was lame in both his feet.

David said he had thought of Jonathan.

And as he thought of that, he thought about his soul being knit to Jonathan.

That's a scripture.

And maybe how I've missed my friend.

I loved him.

Every day, church, there's 24 hours set before us to be kind.

So pay it forward.

Pay it backward.

Random acts.

You want to be fool when you hit your pillow?

Then be kind.

At the end of the day, hey, be tired and be kind.

Letter A, we see this pledge of tranquility.

He said, I loved your father and I want to restore you.

I want to bring you back to your place.

You are a son of a prince.

Mephibisha, possibly unable to believe the words he heard.

He comes up one more time and he says, What am I but a dead dog?

And David reinforces, I'm here to restore you.

It's not in the text, but I wonder.

Maybe David had a conversation with Mephibosheth and says something like this.

I like to write songs.

Can I tell you about one?

There's a psalm that says Psalms 23, The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He makes me to be beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

Then he says, I sit in the presence of my enemies.

I thought about that verse.

I have a table in the presence of my enemies.

David is like, because God is my shepherd, doesn't eliminate enemies, but I'm relaxed in the presence of my enemies.

I'm eating food in the presence of my enemies.

I'm enjoying my life, settled with enemies in the background.

They may want to hurt me or harm me, but God wants to spread a feast of his provision, even though I have enemies.

And he says, enemies' accusations, what they've called you, what they've thought of you, are no longer accepted at the table that you're going to be at.

Because you're coming to my table.

And Romans 8:1, church, hear this.

Romans 8:1

If you're dealing with shame, it says, that now there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You've been freed from all of that, so you got to let go of it.

Don't give the enemy a seat at your table.

If the enemy is at your table, you feel like you're not good enough for God.

You feel like you gotta get out.

Now he doesn't say that your past will be gone.

But he says that your shame doesn't have to have a table setting.

David said, You will have a seat, Mephibosheth, with my 19 sons.

Do you know what that offer meant?

That meant protection for life.

That meant food forever.

That meant the palace.

That meant, he said, like my 19 sons.

That meant sonship.

He's gonna be treated like a son.

Why would David take the time to add all this strain?

And I thought about that and thought about that.

There's only one reason, CCW.

Because you and I are Mephibosheth.

That's it.

You and I.

God took the dead dog, he took the outcast, he took the cripple in their sin.

And it wasn't because of our goodness or our amazing talents or our compelling charm.

We didn't talk God into this and got his grace or how well we got along with people.

It's because he personifies kindness and goodness that we get a place.

Well, I wanted to share this story that I read back over this week.

I've gotten a booklet, uh a book called Sundays with Billy Graham.

I love Billy Graham.

I've read a lot of biographies and different people's things, but in the end of his life, and I met this man, he um he got a his last pastor's name was Don Wilton.

And Don Wilton uh shares this story that I want to share with you.

Testimony was this that in 1990 he went to Scotland uh to be with Billy Graham and friends on a Billy Graham crusade.

They were in Edinburgh having dinner, and sitting across from him that night was Sir David McNey.

Sir David McNey was head of Scotland Yard.

He was head of security for all of the Billy Graham crusades that were happening there.

You would call him like the top cop.

And he said, that night as we sat at dinner, we talked up a storm.

We began to have a great friendship.

And he said to me, You know, Billy is going to be speaking tomorrow at Scottish Parliament.

He said, Don, we've been given five tickets to members of the Billy Graham team.

And he said, You're not one of them.

And he said, But you should go outside and just be there because it's going to be a who's who.

I mean a line of dignitaries.

Everyone is going to be at this place.

And Don said, So I went.

I went there.

And he was watching the processions and all of the royalty and dignitaries, and all of a sudden, Don says, This man, Larry Ross, big old Texan, six foot seven.

He was part of the Billy Graham Crusade.

He said, Larry had a ticket.

He said, and I thought to myself, how'd Larry get a ticket?

He said, and I made a quick snap decision on the spot.

Larry's big and tall.

I am going to sneak into Scottish Parliament alongside of Larry Ross.

He said, we went through, I made it through five security check science points.

And he said, beside Larry, found myself all of a sudden going up a set of stairs.

And he said, and I made it to this amazing space.

He said, I sat down.

It was the most lush and comfortable chair I'd ever felt in my whole life.

He said, and as I sat down, I looked up and he said, my heart dropped.

Billy Graham and his wife, he said, came walking right in front of me.

They sat right down in the chairs right in front of me.

He said, and all of a sudden, when they did, every world camera came peering onto me.

CNN, he said, World News, BBC, all pointed right at my face.

And he said, and Billy Graham turned and he looked over at Larry and he said he greeted Larry.

And he said, and Billy Graham in that moment looked at me.

He said, and when he looked at me, he knew that I knew, that he knew that I wasn't supposed to be there.

And he said, Hello, Don.

He said, I felt sick.

I felt squeamish.

He said, and then trumpets went off, and here comes this line of dignitaries, who's who's.

And he said, You won't believe this.

They all came and sat everywhere around me.

He said, To the left and right of me, in front of me, behind me.

He said, and then I look.

He said, just feeling sad.

There is David McKnee, the captain of the guard, the top cop.

And I see him and he sees me.

And he said, and I felt flush, I felt sick.

He said, and next to him is the captain of the guard.

David was second.

Now there's this captain next to him.

And he said, This man was looking at me, and I he said, I couldn't help it, but I kept looking back at him.

And my heart was racing.

He said, Finally, the captain lifted his voice and he said, Sir David, who is that man?

He said, My life flashed before my eyes.

I started making promise and vow to God, if you get me out of this, I'll do anything, Lord.

Sir David looked at him, looked at me, looked at Billy Graham, looked at me, and he said, It's okay, Captain.

He's with me.

He said, I straightened up.

I said, That's right.

A few minutes later, the captain came to me and said, Excuse me, sir.

I would like to know if you could move yourself from this chair and move into this section over here.

You're sitting in the queen seat.

He said, I got out of that place.

And I told God I'd do anything the rest of my life for him.

Church, my place and your place at the king's table will serve as a constant reminder of how God takes a person that others might have abandoned and wipes away their shame.

And before we came into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we've probably spent ourselves distancing ourselves in low to bar, nothing, nowhere, nothing that matters, and we got nothing from it.

We got nothing but brokenness and shame.

And we feared maybe that entering into the presence of God would only bring judgment.

And when we finally realize and lay trembling at his feet, Church, Jesus reminds us with open arms, I took all your shame.

I took it all.

I took all of your hurt.

I took all of the harm.

I bled so that you could sit at my father's table.

I love you because I'm kind and because I'm good.

And the father comes into the room and he looks over the table and he says, Jesus, who is that man?

And he says, It's okay, Father.

He's with me.

He's with me.

Church, he loves you so much.

We've been given such a kindness that it's hard to really even fathom.

But that kindness has been given to us, so that in turn, we will go and reciprocate kindness.

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community, to grow with one another, and build a bigger kingdom.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.