You're Invited | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

I'm so so glad that you're here with us today.

I'm expected for what I believe God is going to do.

If you have your Bibles with you, I want to invite you to join me in 2 Samuel chapter 9.

2 Samuel 9 · chapter mention

2 Samuel chapter 9.

2 Samuel 9 · chapter mention

We're going to spend some time there today.

Listen to the podcast.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

We're so, so glad that you are here.

I want to give you some context of the passage that we're about to um that we're about to spend some time evaluating today.

Many of us are probably familiar with King David.

If you're not, I'll give you a brief background on it.

We're going to end up doing a series on David in the near future that'll give you some more depth.

But David is a man that the scriptures had defined as a man after God's own heart.

So we were familiar with David as he was the one who was anointed to become king.

We're familiar with David as he was the one that defeated Goliath.

And even people who aren't familiar with the things of Scripture, we've all heard the reference of David and Goliath, the story of a little guy defeating the big guy.

That was built on the life of David.

David has such a profound calling on his life.

David wrote most of the psalms that we read in the book of Psalms.

Some of the songs we sing are birthed from David's experiences and the time that he spent with God.

So David is this man that literally, that Jesus is birthed out of his bloodline, that of all the different people in Scripture, Jesus was connected to David more than anyone else.

Like I'm I'm I'm after that lineage of David.

So David has something to say.

I think that the way that he lived his life, and while he wasn't perfect, there's reference points that we can look at.

And the thing about David is that David was close friends with this man named Jonathan.

Here's the context.

David was called to become king, but there was another king that was already in place.

That king's name was Saul.

Saul had a son named Jonathan.

And then Jonathan and David were best friends.

Y'all track it with me?

They were best friends.

So you can understand that it probably felt a little bit odd for Jonathan, who would in theory be the next in line to become king, but also recognizes the hand of God on his friend's life and understands that, yeah, he's actually going to probably end up becoming king instead of me.

So there's this unique dynamic that there that automatically speaks to the relationship that he has with Jonathan.

Well, they come to this place where they say, man, like we are we are like brothers.

And even though things are not super clear because David and Saul had this weird beef, Saul was jealous of David.

But Jonathan and David were really close, and they they kind of made this covenant with one another.

They said, Listen, we don't know what the future may hold, but we're like brothers.

And if anything happens to my family, can you look out for?

Or if anything happens to me, can you look out for my family?

Yes, absolutely.

And and and Jonathan, if anything happens to you, I'm going to look out for your family.

There was this covenant that they've established that said that we're such close friends that if anything were to happen to either of us, we are going to take the responsibility of looking out for each other's families.

Many years go by, and after those years go by, Saul ends up dying.

Jonathan ends up dying.

David indeed does become king.

And David begins to put things in order, begins to establish his kingdom, and then he's reminded of the promise that he made to Jonathan.

It is here that we're going to enter into this passage of Scripture.

Starting at verse number one, it says, This David asked, Is there anyone remaining from the family of Saul that I can show kindness to for Jonathan's sake?

There was a servant of Saul's family named Zeba.

They summoned him to David and they said to the king, Are you Zeba?

I am your servant, he replied.

So the king asked, Is there anyone left from Saul's family that I can show kindness of God to?

Ziba said to the king, There is still Jonathan's son who was injured in both feet.

David asked him, Where is he?

Zeba answered the king, You'll find him in Lodabar at the house of Makar, son of Ammuel.

So King David had brought from the house of Makar, the son of Ammuel, in Lodabar.

Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, fell face down and paid homage.

David said, Mephiboshef, I am your servant.

He replied, Don't be afraid, David said to him, Since I intend to show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan.

I will restore to you all of your grandfather Saul's fields, and you will also eat meals at my table.

Mephiboshev paid homage and said, What is your servant that you take interest in a dead dog like me?

Then the king summoned Saul's attendant, Ziba, and said to him, I have given to your master's grandson all that belong to Saul and his family.

You and your sons and your servants are to work the ground for him, and you are to bring crops so that your master's grandson will have food to eat.

But Mephiboshev, your master's grandson, is always to eat at my table.

Now Zeba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

Zeba said to the king, Your servant will do all my lord the king commands.

So Mephiboshev ate at David's table just like one of the king's sons.

Mephiboshev had a young son named Micah, and all those living in Zeba or living in Zeba's households were Mephiboshev's servants.

However, verse 13, however, Mephiboshev lived in Jerusalem because he always ate at the king's table.

His feet had been injured.

What an interesting narrative.

I love this idea that David made a promise to Jonathan while he was a fugitive.

He made this promise while he was a fugitive.

And now circumstances have changed.

And I love how David didn't allow the changing circumstances to shift his commitment.

Isn't it interesting how sometimes we can make promises, but we put so many things around it?

I'll do this as long as.

But David was a man with such integrity that he said, even though the circumstances have changed, I'm not going to change my commitment.

That's a powerful thought.

Because you realize that whenever we come into agreement with someone, when we come into agreement with people, that is not exclusively just about us.

So that means that we have to be faithful even if the output doesn't exclusively benefit us.

This is what David had modeled to us in this passage of scripture that even though I'm the king now, I have justification to want to wipe out anything that was connected to the previous king's lineage.

The circumstances have shifted, but yet I'm still going to be committed to the promise that I had spoken.

Today I want to talk to us about how God pursues us, regardless of how the circumstances may shift.

How God doesn't allow the circumstances we may find ourselves in to make him pull back on his promises for us.

If you're writing this down, and I hope that you are, my message is entitled, You're Invited.

You're invited.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you so much for your presence.

We thank you for what you're doing in this place, which you've already done and what you're going to do over the next few moments.

God, I pray.

I pray that I decrease and that you increase.

And Lord, I pray that you give us open eyes and we can see you in areas that maybe we've lost sight of you.

Lord, I pray for open ears that we can hear your truth, even in spite of all the conflicting sounds that are out there, God, and I pray for open hearts that we can receive everything that you want to speak to us, God.

Allow this word to go deep in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And amen.

I'm gonna ask a rhetorical question really quick, which I already know the answer to, but let's just throw it out there for the sake of the cameras.

How many of us have had plans that didn't quite go the way that we had anticipated that they would go?

Yeah, I know this is just filler.

I'm just we're just working the room a little bit.

We're just beginning to build our relationship a little bit.

I'm I'm trying to get us somewhere.

Of course, we've all been at a place where we've had plans and we've we've had some ideas of how things were going to work out, and and things shifted and we didn't quite expect it.

It's just it's just a natural thing.

Here's the reason why I asked that question.

Because that's very, very, very fresh in my mind.

It's very fresh in the mind of Megan and I both.

Last weekend, we we had an opportunity to go to Pittsburgh.

We we went and officiated a wedding in Pittsburgh, it was beautiful.

Any any any Pittsburgh Steeler fans in the house?

Good, because I would have asked you to leave.

Um good.

You you discern the spirit of the Lord.

We know that this church, we're Eagles fans.

Um well, um here's the thing.

I've heard somebody yell out bucks, and I understand that.

All I know is I don't see I don't see bucks in the Bible.

I do see eagles, though.

I do see eagles.

Well, we shall mount up wings like eagles.

There's a lot of passages in scripture that speaks about eagles specifically, so I do believe that that the eagles are it's God's team.

It's God's team.

America, 4th of July.

Eagles.

Come on, guys, let's get your patriotism up.

Anyway, so we we're we're going to Pittsburgh, and here's what you guys probably know a little bit.

Over the past several months, Megan and I have had an opportunity to travel quite a bit, going up and serving at our at our location in DC.

So, as you can imagine, we we've established really good rhythms.

I know that I have.

I I have really good rhythms when I travel and go to the airport now.

I have like a set bag now that's just set aside as like a go bag.

I'm like a mafia member, something happened, I'm ready to go.

Like I already got my my toiletries packed up, I'm ready to go.

So we have a good rhythm.

And so for me, because I travel so frequently, I I don't like to like spend a lot of time at the airport.

I know some folks get there like three hours ahead of time.

Not me.

I have such a strong rhythm that I can know when to park, when I'm going to walk, and I know exactly when I'm gonna get called to sit there.

Like I walk right onto the plane.

It's the best thing ever if you work the system right.

So I've been doing this since September.

As far as I'm concerned, the plane is my plane, and I'm allowing these other people to ride on it with me.

That's what it's been like for me since September.

But it seemed as if people didn't get the memo last weekend.

They didn't get the memo, like things have radically shifted, people didn't got vaccinated, they feel comfortable flying again.

I'm like, where's the fear at?

Because at least it was more easy for me to travel.

Now that things have opened up so significantly, we get to the airport, and again, I have a rhythm that I've been working for several months now.

I get to the airport, my personal car lot that I park in the same spot every time I travel.

Can you believe that someone was sitting and parking in my spot?

How dare they! I was about to call the people, but I'm a Christian and I wanted to be a good example.

I said, you know what?

I'm gonna turn the other cheek and park in another spot.

If there were any.

I spent the next 20 minutes driving around the airport trying to find a parking spot.

Now, mind you, I didn't build that into my timetable with me getting onto my flight.

So now I'm at a point where I'm in the parking lot still, I'm getting alerts on my phone saying, your flight is boarding, your flight is boarding.

I still gotta go through TSA, I still gotta get on the little the little train.

There's a lot that I know that I need to do, and my flight is boarding now.

Now Megan's with me, and and I won't say that Megan, I wouldn't say that Megan, I don't know how I best describe, I wouldn't say that um Megan's not a worrier, but she worries.

Um I'm not gonna define her as that, but she has those tendencies.

So as she's as she's, oh my god, we're gonna miss the fly.

I'm like, okay, calm down.

It's gonna be okay.

I do this all the time, girl.

I'm like, I'm still leaning to the side, I'm still like, it's gonna be fine.

I'm freaking out on the inside.

I'm about to lose my mind because I've realized we have a very short window in order to get there for rehearsal dinners and all that stuff.

She's freaking out, I'm freaking out inside, but somebody's gotta keep their poise.

It's all good.

I finally get to a point where I see that, you know, at the little at the end of the aisle, it's not a parking spot, but you gotta make your own parking spot.

So I just pull up, park there, hop out, we're running there, and as I'm walking away, I'm literally just praying in the spirit, God, don't let anybody hit my car.

You ever like you ever do something like really silly and you're asking God to cover it?

Like, Lord, please don't like like you know I'm out here trying to do your work, Lord.

Like, cover my car and protect it.

We proceed to run full speed through the airport.

We're stiff arming babies, we're knocking over old people, we're just we're just trying, we're just trying to make it to our destination.

And and thank God we we made it to our flight.

But but here's why I say all that.

In my mind, I'm thinking we're gonna casually walk on a plane.

I'm thinking that it's gonna be a great experience, but we were off to a very, very rough start.

The the whole vision of that, we're filled with anxiety.

She's side-eyeing me, I'm side-eyeing her.

Like, girl, if we would have left five minutes earlier, we'd be having these problems.

And she's like, if we would have left 30 minutes early, we're like, it's like this little tension that's unspoken, but I knew what you were thinking.

I could see it in your body language.

I could pick up exactly what you were putting down.

So you're you're you're you're you're you're dealing with this, you're dealing with this stuff, and we're on a plane sitting next to each other, and you know how the the flight attendants come over and they're asking you, like, hey, do you want some water?

And um typically I would grab the water, give it to her.

Like, man, you gotta talk to her.

I'm not even involved in this.

Like, I'm I'm I'm removing myself from the equation.

Like we we had to get through the first leg of the flight.

We were we're still married, God, it's all good.

So so we we we had to work through it, but we were off to a very rough start.

The vision, what we had anticipated.

We had anticipated getting off and going on this journey, like with uncompletely unhitched, but traffic, problems, everybody traveling, it completely messed up our plans, and we were off to a very rough start.

Here's why I bring that up.

Because when we look at this text, that's exactly what happens with Mefibashev.

In fact, I think it's the same thing that happens with us that we have vision and things that we anticipate that's gonna work out.

Hello, people who got married, and you've only been married a year, and you're like, man, I thought it was gonna be just like a Disney movie, and then you realize I don't even like the way you chew right now, and I don't even like the way that you leave your clothes laying around.

Like all the things that were supposed to be so beautiful and angelic, now you're in this thing and you're like, man, we're it seems like we're off to a rough start.

You see, for for Mephiboshev, he there was a great anticipation of what his life was going to look like.

He was destined to become king.

So even though he was a small child, at some point he began to recognize that he was being treated differently, that he had people that was attending to every one of his needs, that he was being cultivated and being taught manners and being prepared.

His grandfather was the king, his father was a prince, he's a prince, and he's looking and saying, Okay, I'm gonna be next in line one day.

But then, in one fateful moment, he loses his father and his grandfather.

In one moment, everything changes.

Everything shifts.

And now this young man who had such anticipation of what his life was going to look like, he didn't even know if he was gonna continue to live.

What the scripture says in 2 Samuel chapter 4, verse 4, you can you can go and get the background, but what it says is that his nurse who was attending to him, she caught wind of what happened to Saul and Jonathan, his grandfather and father.

2 Samuel 4:4

And so she's panicking because she understood the rules of the game that whenever you killed off the king, you gotta come and kill off the family.

That was just what you did.

So she's she's panicking.

She grabs she grabs Mithibushef, she picks him up, she's trying to pick up the diaper bag.

I'm assuming they had diaper bags back then.

I don't know what they did, but but they had she picked up everything that she could, and as she's running out, she drops him.

She drops him, and it says that it that it caused him to be paralyzed, it caused him to be broken.

This this this this nurse who who was the source of provision, this, this nurse who was the one that was taking care of him, this nurse that was nurturing him, this, this nurse that that protected him, she's also the one that damaged him.

Isn't it interesting sometimes how the people that are supposed to be the protectors of us can be the very ones who inflict the most damage upon us?

Isn't it interesting that sometimes the folks that we expect to love us the most, the ones that we expect to have our back the most, can be the very ones that drop us into a situation that we didn't anticipate, and it can leave us uh paralyzed, meaning this it's hard to move forward.

He was dropped by his nurse, and what scripture says is that now he was paralyzed, and it's it's interesting how when we get dropped into things, how it affects us.

We've all probably been there, we've been dropped into circumstances that we didn't anticipate, and it seems very hard to move forward.

Some of us in this room, we've been we've been dropped into a into a into a family where there's divorce, and so now you're you're trying to navigate through that.

You you've been dropped into a a circumstance with with with COVID and and job loss, and you've been dropped there, and now it's hard for you to move forward.

Some of us have been dropped into circumstances where we're dealing with betrayal.

I've been dropped here, and I I don't even know how I got here, but now it's hard for me to move forward.

We all know what it feels like when you didn't ask for this, you didn't anticipate it, but yet something was dropped upon you, or you were dropped in a situation of which you had no control, and it could become very difficult in order for us to move forward.

Megan and I just watched a movie last night where they were dropped behind enemy lines.

You ever feel like you were dropped in a situation and you were being attacked from all sides?

This is exactly the reality that Mefibashev finds himself in.

Damaged and and dropped.

And it just reveals just how fragile we really all are.

It reveals to us that that that we can that we can, all it takes is one small thing that that it seems as if it's not a big deal, but that can be the very thing that inflicts the biggest injury upon us.

You see, I I was thinking recently how um I recently had experienced a cracked windshield.

Now, for me, I I like things to be in order, I like things to to to kind of be clean, I like things to be in place, but I'm driving down I-4, which, hey, let me give you size some advice, some pastoral advice.

Don't drive down I-4.

But but I'm driving, I'm driving down I-4, and and as I'm driving, I'm I see this truck is ahead of me, and it conveniently has on its bumper not responsible for the debris that falls off of this vehicle and I could potentially damage yours.

I I don't know.

I I got some lawyer friends.

I feel like, no, it kind of is your fault.

You should secure your baggage, but nonetheless, I'm I'm behind this vehicle and I could see like the debris just coming off.

And so as I'm driving, I'm like, okay, I I need I need to move, but I get I get kind of boxed in and I see this little pebble bounce on the ground, and almost in slow motion, I just see it coming right at me like a meteor, and I'm like, There's nothing I could do.

It hits my windshield, puts a nice little crack right in the windshield.

I was beside myself.

And and I'll I'll admit this to you guys, I'm a tad bit dramatic.

That should be of that should be of no surprise to anybody.

It should be of no surprise to anybody, but but here's here's what I thought.

I was literally thinking this way.

I was like, man, I've had this car.

This car is seven years old, almost eight years old.

Like, it's it's managed to leave the manufacturer without a single crack.

This thing made it to the destination at the car lot without a single scratch.

It it made it into my hands without getting damaged.

I've lived in the northeast in the winter.

I lived in the south with storms, and this same windshield has endured so many different environments and it never experienced a crack.

It endured storms and cold and heat, and this thing has been able to hold up.

And all it took was one small pebble to be the thing to cause the crack.

Let me rewind it and say it again.

It has endured so much.

It endured storms, it is stored, it endured the cold, it endured blizzards, it endured so many things, and then a small little pebble is the thing that actually caused it to crack.

I'm not talking about a windshield anymore.

What I realize is that for some of us, we've endured so many things in our lives.

We've we've overcome so many things in our lives, we we've overcome cancer diagnosis, we we've overcome divorces, we overcome betrayal, we overcome so many different things, and then it seems as if the small thing that enters into our lives becomes a thing that causes us to crack because it's like we can't we can't handle it anymore.

You see, for me, I I remember what this season has been for us, for Meg and I specifically.

Man, since September, it has been nonstop.

We all have been living in the season of COVID.

We've all been living in a season of trying to figure out our new reality in the spite of a global pandemic.

But but can I can I be honest with you guys?

Since September, Meg and I have had this responsibility of also overseeing our church in DC, traveling back and forth and serving and doing our best to bring stability, but stability didn't seem as if it was anywhere to be found.

So you know what was happening?

People are leaving, people are going, transitions are happening.

And and there was one of those moments where even after all that I've seen God do, can I be honest, as your pastor, I was like, God, like I what is going on?

You ever have one of those prayers where it starts off as a prayer, but actually just transitions into complaints?

You kind of have the introduction, like, hey God, you are so worthy, you are so awesome.

I love you so much.

God, you are the creator of the universe, but I don't know what you're gonna do about this situation here.

And and that was that was where we were.

We were just, I was just at this place of like, God, I don't know what you're gonna do.

This this person's leaving, and and and that person has left, and and this is going on, and and and and and I just found myself in, I'm not sure about your relationship with God, but but God and I, we've been in this thing for a long time, so sometimes he just collars me up.

Now, for some of us, he may use gentle gloves, but he's like, Keith, you know better.

He c he collared me up.

He's like, Listen, man, you must have forgot who I am.

And he began to remind me of what he has done specifically in my life.

He said, Man, you must have forgot that when your mother was three months old, how the doctors didn't know how to diagnose her skin disorder and they wrote her off to die, but your grandfather prayed and I preserved her life, and you were here as a result of that.

You must have forgot.

You you must have forgot that when you became a father so Young, inexperienced, and didn't have the resources, but your kids never missed a meal, and I provided and showed up every single time.

You must have forgot.

Man, you you must have you must have forgot that that even in your marriage when you guys were young and didn't know what you were doing, but I preserved you and now look at what I'm doing through your marriage, man.

You must have forgot.

Man, you must have forgot the way that I've watched over your children and provided and given them everything that they needed.

Man, you you must have forgot, man.

You must have forgot that even when your daughter was struggling with anxiety, but she was in my household, and that song we just sang about this is a house of miracles, she came to an altar and I healed her right there on the spot.

You must have forgot.

Keith, you must have forgot that when your son had a heart defect, that you wouldn't even let him play sports, but you prayed and I healed him, and now he's playing football.

You must have forgot what I have done for you.

You must have even forgot.

You you may have even forgot.

Remember when you were in the process of building your house and you got a phone call from the bank and they told you that the loan didn't go through, and you woke up in the middle of the night and you went to that property and you began to walk around it and declare my promises and say that no, the Lord has spoken, and I know this is mine, and I was the one that pushed that loan through.

You must have forgot.

So God said to me, If I know how to take care of your house, what makes you think I don't know how to take care of my house?

It shifted everything for me where I began to recognize that come or go, God's with me.

Stay or leave, God is with me and beginning to change some things, and I want to encourage somebody right here.

Maybe you've had some people that have walked out of your life, God hasn't.

Maybe you've had some people that have let you down, God hasn't.

Maybe there's been some betrayal that you've experienced.

God is with you, and if God be for you, then what can be against you?

Who can be against you?

Who can stand against you?

Who can stand against God's election?

Come on, let's give God some praise in here today.

He is so good to us.

So, you know what I did with my windshield?

I I went and got it immediately fixed.

Immediately fixed.

It was a small little crack.

And and initially it didn't make sense because it was such a small thing, but I also knew that a small crack, if left unattended, can spread and become something much bigger.

So I wanted to make sure that I didn't get used to looking out of my windshield and having my vision obstructed by a crack.

You know what ends up happening a lot of times?

We can experience damage, and we never take it to the source to allow him to fix it, and we just end up looking at the world through the filter of our pain.

We end up looking at everything through the filter of our brokenness, and that becomes the way that we see everything.

But God wants to know that I want you to know that I am the great physician.

Can you bring your broken pieces to me?

See, the thing about it is that man, we know that we are all fragile.

We all have those things that we think that we're over, but those things can trigger us.

It's almost like if you ever like drop a glass in your kitchen and then you feel like you cleaned up all the glass, and then three months later, you go downstairs at three o'clock in the morning to get some cookies and milk, because who doesn't get cookies and milk at three o'clock in the morning?

Um, and then you step on a random shard and you're like, oh my god, like I thought I got all the stuff.

Like, how did I make it to this point?

And I'm still stepping in some things that I thought was all cleaned up.

How often do we think that we're over things only to be triggered at something so small?

I thought I thought I was past this.

I thought I was past this, but now something triggers it.

And you know what happens when you experience damage that you thought was cleaned up?

It changes the way that you walk around things.

When I stepped on an old piece of glass, and even though I picked that piece up, it changes the way I walk around my kitchen now.

I gotta make sure I watch my step.

You know what happens when we experience unforgiveness?

That when we experience pain, and that pain continues to remind us, it changes the way that we walk around relationships.

That pain of the past is affecting me, so I I gotta be careful of how I how I move forward.

That's not the will of God for our lives, though.

So what he wants us to do is to take our pain, to take our brokenness to the great physician, so that way we can walk comfortably in the environments that he called us to go into.

See, with with with Mephibosheth, when David began to ask this question about where is someone that I can show the kindness of God to, there was only one man that knew, and there was this man named Zeba.

And so they say, hey man, Zeba actually used to serve the household of Saul.

So so maybe he can give us some instructions as to where we can find someone who's connected to the family line of Jonathan so you can fulfill your promise.

They call they call Zeba in, and so David's like, man, like used to serve Saul's family, right?

Yeah.

Is there is there anyone left in his family that I can that I can show kindness to?

Is there anyone left?

I just want to I want to be kind.

Now here's the thing you have to understand about Zeba.

See, see, Zeba, since Saul died, since Jonathan died, he was living in Saul's estate.

He was living it up.

So even though he was a servant to the king, he was living like a king.

Living in the king's palace, got his family all spread out, got it decorated with his own little ideas, hung TVs up.

He's he's living his best life.

So so when David begins to inquire about anyone from Saul's family that he can show kindness to, this is going to come at the expense of Zeba because he knows that if I can tell you where someone is, they're gonna end up taking the stuff that I feel like I worked hard enough for.

So you know what he says?

He's like, Yeah, um, there's this guy, Mephiboshev, but it but he's broken in both feet.

David didn't ask for his medical history.

That has got to be a HIPAA violation.

I'm confident of it.

He he didn't he didn't ask about any of that.

Why, why, why would Zeba feel it's necessary when I'm asking you a question about is there anyone from Jonathan's family I can show kindness to that your first thing you want to say is that he's broken, he's inadequate, he's disqualified, he doesn't fit here.

See, the name Zeba, it means statue or monument.

So watch this.

Monuments are meant to draw attention to something.

Statues represent something, they draw attention to something.

We all have zebas in our lives that seem to serve no other purpose but to want to draw attention to our brokenness, that want to draw attention to our mistakes, that want to draw attention to our flaws.

What are the zebas in your life that they just seem to serve as nothing more than a reminder?

Sometimes it's people, sometimes it's sometimes it's environments.

Like real talk, when I when I first got sick with COVID, I still remember it so vividly.

And and and please don't don't y'all make fun of me.

But I remember when I when I when I found out that I tested positive for COVID.

I remember the cologne that I was wearing.

So you know what happens?

Whenever I smell that cologne now, it makes me think about when I was bedridden.

I'm about to give the cologne to my son.

Like I don't even want it, I don't even want it anymore.

It's a it's amazing how small things can remind you of a place that you once were in and you don't want to have anything to do with it.

We we all have those zebas in our life that seem to remind you an aroma, a place.

You know, you can be scrolling on social media sometimes and you just see something that reminds you of what you've lost.

You can be scrolling and see a person that that seems to be moving forward with their life, but they're not even concerned about the damage they've done to your life, and it can it can affect you.

We all have those zeba moments and people and things that seem to serve no other purpose than to remind us of our past and our brokenness.

But I want to encourage somebody in here right now because I think you need to hear this.

It's it's time for us to move forward.

Let me say that one more time.

It is time for us to move forward.

In fact, I want y'all to say that with me.

It is time for us to move forward.

We're gonna say it one more time.

It is time for us to move forward.

It is time for us to move forward because I'm a firm believer of this, is that your past is actually your present as long as you're at a standstill.

As long as I'm still standing still, the pro the past, it can catch up to me and I'm still wallowing in it.

But the moment that I take a step of faith, the moment that I begin to move forward, it means that now the past is in the rearview mirror and I'm moving in a direction that God has called me to go into.

I'm not sure who I'm talking to right now, but I believe that there's some zebas in your life that have been reminding you of your past.

But I believe that the next step that you need to do is take a single step.

I'm gonna take a step in the direction of the things of God.

I will no longer accept any phone calls from the past that are trying to condemn me.

The Bible that I read says that there's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

That means that even if I made a mistake, God has forgiven me.

That even if I had a setback, God has forgiven me.

You need to have permission to know that God is for you and you can officially begin to move forward.

See, see, David, he didn't even respond when Zebra presented this information.

He said, Well, where is he?

Man, he's he's living in this spot called Lodabar.

And Lodabar, man, it was this city that was it was desolate.

It wasn't thriving.

It was actually defined as a place of hopelessness, a place where there was no water running, despair.

So, so imagine this.

This young man who had visions of one day becoming king, ends up getting broken, and now he's living in a place that will be defined as hopelessness.

A place where there's despair.

But the beautiful thing about that is that even though he was living there, the king inquired about him.

And what I love, what I love about this story, what I love about Jesus is that God is not just asking where you are, but he's willing to come and get you.

What the scripture says is that the king was made aware that he was living in this place called Lodabar, and he sent messengers to come and retrieve him, to let him know that he's invited to come into the palace.

Let me say that one more time.

He sent a messenger to go into the place of despair.

He sent a messenger to go into a place of brokenness, he sent a messenger to retrieve him from a place of utter destruction and let him know that no, you have a place in my kingdom.

You have a place at my table.

You're invited to the barbecue.

I'm not sure who needs to hear this right now, but you have been invited to the king's barbecue and that he has sent a messenger.

And that messenger, his name is Jesus.

He sent Jesus to be a reflection of what it looks like to have perfect love.

He sent Jesus to be a reflection of a perfect invitation, and all we have to do is accept the invitation from the messenger and allow him to lead us to our rightful place.

Mephiboshev was still paralyzed.

Mephiboshev didn't have it figured out, but all he had to do was respond to the messenger.

All he had to do was respond to the message and allow him to lead him to his rightful place.

It is safe for you to come home, it is safe for you to come back into your place.

God has a space for you, but you've got to respond to the message.

Respond to the message.

I'm going to ask the worship team to come up and join me at this time as I prepare to close us.

Mephiboshef is ushered into the presence of the king.

And when he's ushered into the presence of the king, the Bible says that he's filled with fear.

He's filled with so much fear because he doesn't know what to expect.

He doesn't know if David is cleaning house and wants to make sure that, okay, so you're still alive, let me kill you on the spot.

But instead, David said, Man, like, don't be afraid.

I I intend to show kindness to you.

And so here's what Mephiboshev does.

He said, Man, like, what who am I that you would show honor to a dead dog like me?

Man, that that sounds like that sounds like humility.

That sounds like being humble, but the truth of the matter is that's not glorifying to God at all.

When you understand the context of the way in that time dogs were viewed, not to mention dead dogs, it was actually self-deprecation.

And we are made in the image of God.

You are made in the image of God.

So it does not honor God when we reduce ourselves to something less than how he sees us.

How many times have we looked at ourselves and felt, man, I'm just a dead dog.

Man, I'm just I'm terrible.

I'm a terrible leader.

I'm a terrible husband, I'm a terrible father.

I've made so many mistakes.

And while the mistakes may be true, the mistakes do not define you.

You were made in the image of God.

And what the Bible says is that David gave him a seat at his table.

I love this flex that David has though, because what David does is he then turns to Zeba, the one who drew attention to his brokenness.

And he says, Hey, Zeba, I'm gonna need you to move yourself out because I'm restoring to him everything that is rightfully his.

And not only am I going to restore it, but now you have the responsibility of serving him and his family.

Let's think about this for a moment.

Zeba, who wanted to draw attention to his brokenness, now had the responsibility to serve the thing that he once said was broken.

Let me say it this way.

It sounds a lot like testimony, doesn't it?

The things that often bring us shame becomes the thing that God uses to bring him fame.

It's amazing how God can use the broken things in our lives and allow it to be the very platform that exalts his goodness through it all.

That's the God that we serve.

It says that Ziba was invited to sit at the king's table, just like one of his sons.

But it then concludes and says that he was still broken in both of his feet.

When you're reading biblical narrative, typically there's this crescendo, this moment where we applaud and we celebrate and then we wrap it up.

We're on this journey with Mephiboshef that he's he's broken, he the king comes and gets him, he's giving a place at the king's table.

All this is all good news, but literally the last line reminds us that he was broken.

Man, like what I'm thinking, man, if I was writing this story, he lived happily ever after.

I don't gotta talk about the fact that he was still broken, but but the Holy Spirit thought it was necessary for us to understand that he wasn't perfect.

The Holy Spirit thought it was necessary for us to understand that he was still welcome at the king's table because grace was on the menu.

I need someone to hear that right now.

That even though he accepted the invitation, that even though he showed up, he wasn't perfect, he was still flawed, but he was still welcome at the table.

I need someone here at home to hear that.

You have not been responding to the invitation because you're saying to yourself, I'm still broken, but you're invited.

There's many of us in here that are fearful of really, really surrendering fully to God because you're looking at the damage and the brokenness in your life and you're thinking that I'm going to be disqualified.

But Mephiboshev continued to be broken, but yet he was still invited to sit at the table.

It is safe for you to come home.

You are invited to come back home.

Because the beautiful thing about God, the beautiful thing about God is that He, when He puts you in your place, it's always better than where you were.

See, I I'm I'm reminded of me leaving my car double parked at the airport.

And so as we're beginning to taxi down the runway, I know that they say that you should turn your phones off when they close the doors.

I'll wait until I get at least 10,000 feet, then I shut it down.

Um, but I I remember and I'm texting my son.

Say, Keith Jr., Caleb, man, my my my car's sitting out there, man.

It's looking wild in these streets, man.

I need y'all to go to the airport and to go check on the car.

Didn't hear anything, turn the phone off, land.

My son responds, like, okay, like, yeah, I'll I'll swing by when I get off work.

He doesn't get off work until late.

So I'm I'm sitting there the whole time, just hoping and praying, like, God, like I just hope didn't get towed.

I hope nothing happened to it.

Later on that night, I get a picture and a text message from my sons, and they said a lot of mean things to me because they're like, How could you leave the car sitting?

I'm like, man, shut up.

You don't know nothing about my story.

I don't need your judgment, Zeba.

I don't need none of that right now.

But but but here's the thing but they showed me a picture of the place that they moved my car to.

See, I was sitting on the edge in this damaged spot, but they took it and they moved it and put it in another place.

And now I had peace.

Here's what I want you to understand that when you're part of the family of God, the family of God will invite you to come into the kingdom, and God will always put you in a better spot.

Maybe right now you're sitting on the fringes of the grace of God, and you're saying, Man, I'm just sitting out there.

He's saying, Will you please invite me in so I can invite you in and I can put you in a better spot?

A spot where your damage doesn't matter, a spot where you know that you're gonna be protected by the grace of God.

It's an invitation for you to be moved to a better spot.

The Bible says that he seats us in heavenly places.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to ask this question.

Maybe you're in here with us today, and and you would say, Keith, I'm not in a good spot right now.

This is this is not specific to salvation, this is just kind of where you are.

I'm I'm I'm damaged, I'm broken, I'm struggling.

I have some things in my life that I just feel like I'm I'm not in a good spot.

I feel like there's some zebas that are very loud.

I feel like there's some things that are that are reminding me of my past.

I feel like I'm stuck in this place and I and I can't seem to move forward.

If that's you, I want to pray for you.

So, right where you're sitting at, with boldness, with with confidence, would you please lift your hand up and saying, Keith, I want I want Jesus to move me to a better spot.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you, amen, amen, amen.

You you are not alone.

You can go ahead and put those hands down.

I'm gonna pray for you in just a second.

I I have a I have a second, I have a second question to ask.

Because for some of us, we're living in low debar, meaning away from the kingdom, away from God.

You know that right now, I'm not in a relationship with the king, and you know that he's sending you a messenger, he's sending you a message and saying, It is safe for you to come home.

If you're away from God right now and you know your next step is to simply accept the invitation from the king that allows you to know that you're not a dead dog, but you're one of his sons, you're one of his daughters.

Accept the invitation to be put in the rightful place that God has for you.

If that's you and you want to commit or recommit your life to Christ, I want to pray for you.

So I want to count on three, I'm gonna ask you to boldly lift your hand.

One, two, and three.

Amen, amen, amen.

God bless you guys so much.

I'm so, so proud of you.

Church, can we put our hands together and celebrate with those who are giving their life to Christ?

I'm so, so proud of you.

I'm so proud of you.

And what I want you to know is that we would love to connect with you for everyone in here that that just made that decision, whether you're in the room with us or joining us online.

I would love for you to connect with us at the end of service.

We have a connect booth, we have some resources we want to give you.

I'm gonna lead you in a prayer in just a moment.

But I want you guys to know don't leave here without letting us know.

We're not gonna hound you, we're not gonna text you, we're not gonna do all that stuff.

We just simply want to resource you and equip you.

If you are in a rush, you can simply text the word decide to 25101.

We'll send you a link that'll give you the information that you need.

But don't do this thing on your own.

We are so, so proud of you.

So here's what I want us to do.

I want us all to stand on our feet.

We're about to go back into a uh a time of worship, and then we're gonna we're gonna close out with a prayer and we're gonna go from there.

But here's what I want us to do.

I want to first ask us, would you mind praying this prayer with me?

Helping along those who are possibly praying this prayer for the first time.

I want you to repeat after me, Lord Jesus, I give you my life.

I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead.

And it's because of that belief I am saved.

Fill me with your spirit and order my steps.

Let me let me pray for the rest of us.

Lord, we're so thankful for what you've done in this place.

We're so grateful for this incredible atmosphere that you've established for us, Lord.

God, I pray in the name of Jesus for every hand that is lifted, for every person that has a need, a burden, an opportunity for them to be moved into a new place, God.

I'm praying, Father, that you begin to reposition them and allow them to know that they have a seat at your table.

God, I pray for condemnation to become silent.

I pray for fear to be removed, God.

I pray that we can respond to the message and recognize that we are your sons and your daughters.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray that a fresh wave of revelation will hit this community, that we can walk as your sons and your daughters.

We can move forward with an understanding that we are made in your image, that we're called, and that we have purpose.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, bless your people, give us clarity, give us vision, give us wisdom, give us boldness to pursue everything that you have for us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Let's celebrate what God has done.

Let's celebrate the goodness of God.

Thanks again for listening.

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