Through What Broke Me - Pastor JD Davis

Welcome to our podcast.

We hope this powerful word from City Center Church transforms your mind and grows your relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Thank you for joining us, and let's get into the word of today.

My name is JD.

If I haven't gotten the chance to meet you, I'm the next gym pastor here at City Center Church, and it is my honor and my joy to be here with you today to deliver the word of God.

I need you to know this that Pastor Kirk got me a donut this morning.

So I don't know what's gonna happen up here today.

95% Holy Spirit, 5% a Hertz donut is going through my so, so, so, so I need y'all to just rock with me today.

Um, we we are wrapping up a sermon series.

Woo! It's been a good one.

Has it been a good one, y'all?

I need you to go back and watch it if you haven't.

Uh, this sermon series called Built Through It.

And uh, I have the honor and express privilege today to wrap this sermon series up.

Y'all, I need you to know this.

I have been waiting on this one.

Uh Pastor Tommy and Pastor Robin and I, whenever we get together as a teaching team, and not only do we get to uh pick the weeks that we are assigned to peak, I need you to know that this is the word that I'm about to preach to you has been sitting on my heart for four whole weeks.

Good God, your milk don't even last that long in your fridge.

Amen.

And and and I prayed over it, I wrestled over it.

And uh, as we got closer to this date, um the word became heavier on my soul to the point where I barely could sleep last night.

I I'm so thankful that uh we're here because I don't believe that I'm standing here just because it was my week to preach.

I don't believe that uh the teaching team, when we put that together, it didn't happen.

No, I I feel a sense of assignment today, City Center Church.

And I I want to preach to you today.

I've been praying for the people who would be here.

I've been praying for you.

Touch your neighbors that he's been praying for you.

I I I've been praying for the people that are watching online.

Uh I've been watching and and just hoping for the Lord to speak in and through me because I believe that there's somebody here today under the sound of my voice or watching online, and you've been living with damage that happened to you from another season.

And you've been carrying the evidence of what happened since then, into every season that you've walked into.

And City Center Church, I need you to know that I came here today with an assignment in my heart to declare something over you today.

What happened to you is not the end of your story.

Do I have any uh faith people in this room here today?

It's not the end of your story.

Your best days, hey, are still to come.

God still has a plan for your life.

I'm not just preaching to people who have gone through something.

I want to preach to somebody today who has gone through something that broke you.

And it the question that's here today is what do you do when you've been through something that broke you and it wasn't even your fault?

What do you do when you didn't cause it?

You didn't choose it, you didn't ask for it, but somehow you're the one that has to live with the consequences of it.

And and then if you'll help me preach today, I want to preach the finale of built through it with this thought.

If you're taking notes with me, will you write this in your notes?

The title of our sermon here today is Through What Broke Me.

So Father, out of the abundance of our hearts here today.

God, I pray that you'll preach this word with me.

Open up hearts to receive.

May somebody's life be changed forevermore.

We give you all the glory for it.

In the mighty, matchless name of Jesus, we pray.

Come on, if you believe it, will you say amen?

Say amen just one more time.

Amen.

Glory to God, Charles.

Thank you, sir.

Appreciate you.

City Center Church, we're living in a day and age where people are not just going through trauma, they're staying in it.

They're making the trauma of what happened then, watch this, become the excuse as to why they cannot move forward now.

But here's what I refuse to believe that that something that happened to you then has the authority to determine everything that God wants to do in your life right now.

Because many of us have told the story so many times.

What happened to you?

You've rehearsed the story in the pain so many times that eventually we're no longer telling the story, but the story is telling you who you are.

But I made it up in my mind here today, City Center Church, that I'm gonna go ahead and let God come in to this mess and turn a mess into a message.

I'm done hiding it, I'm done protecting it, I'm done pretending that it doesn't hurt my heart.

I'm done telling God, you can have all these areas of my life except this.

No, I'm done.

Because I have to tell you right now that when God steps into the middle of something, something's gotta change.

When Jesus steps in, something has to change.

When God's grace comes in, something has to change.

Somebody say it's gonna change.

So today I believe God is moving you out.

I need you to know it's time to pack a bag today.

It's moving season, it's time to move out of where we once were and move into what God has in store for us.

I believe God is moving us out of the paralytic place that you have been in, and by faith that the damage that you have endured will no longer define you.

I came with an announcement today.

Hey, for somebody who has been questioning whether there is any value left in you.

I need you to know this that there is value in you.

This section don't want to hear it.

That's fine.

I'll talk to this section over here.

Uh, what I said was, is there's value in you.

Look at your neighbor, say there's value in you.

Find another person, say there's value in you.

Lift your hand and say there's value in me.

So act like it then.

If I had a hundred-dollar bill up here right now, one of y'all would come take it out of my hand and make sure you tithe, amen.

But at the same time, if I crumpled up that hundred dollar bill, does it change its value?

You would still take that old crumbly hundred dollar bill out of my hand, and yet you don't see your life as valuable.

The Bible says in Ephesians chapter uh uh uh two verse ten, turn with me if you have a Bible.

Ephesians chapter two, verse ten.

For we, that's me and you, that's you and your neighbor.

We are God's what?

Say it like you actually mean it.

We are God's masterpiece.

The Bible says that He has created us anew in Christ Jesus.

That might be the best news somebody has heard all day.

That God has created us anew in Christ Jesus.

Why?

So that we can go do the good things.

Watch this.

That He planned for us.

Can I help somebody today?

Say, help us, JD.

I'm going to.

The Bible says that God knows the plans that He has for you, their plans to prosper you and not to harm you.

Plans to give you what?

Hope and a what?

Future.

Can I tell you something?

While God may have a plan for you, the devil got a plan for you too.

And what I want you to know here is that uh uh I God's word says that we are God's masterpiece, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10.

Ephesians 2:10

And I want you to just imagine for just a quick second, I want you to picture something that you think is beautiful, and and God is telling us out of everything He made, you and you, and you watching online, you are called His masterpiece.

How many of y'all have ever been to a museum?

Wave at me if you've been to a museum.

I love going to museums because they have all these amazing paintings that they call a masterpiece, and it's funny because I look at that and be like, I could draw that.

Don't leave me up here by myself, City Center Church.

That ain't nothing but three dots in a line.

I could draw that.

But the thing is, if these paintings that look like a two-year-old drew them with a crown are worth millions, how much more is your life worth to God?

And and I and I'm and I'm and I can convince someone with scripture.

I could I could list a ton of scriptures up here, I could convince somebody that you have value.

I could throw that up on the screen, you'd read it, you'd believe it, but your human nature would always follow it with, but I'm damaged.

I'm God's masterpiece, but I'm damaged.

I'm a chosen instrument of God, but I'm damaged.

And I want to introduce to you somebody here today that many of us don't talk about.

He's in the Old Testament, and it's a man whose damages were so significant that it changed the way he walked literally for the rest of his life.

And his name, Lord Jesus, help me to pronounce it, is Mephibosheth.

Yeah.

What were his parents thinking?

I've met a lot of Davids in my life.

I ain't never met a Mephibosheth.

If there is a Mephibosheth in here watching online, we love you.

Amen.

You gotta spell your name everywhere.

You go.

Wave at me if you're taking notes today.

If you're taking notes for my note-takers, okay.

I'm only gonna talk to the note-takers here today, amen.

Okay, I want you to write this in your notes because we need to we need to find out before I before I give you the word, I need to I need to set this up.

Mephibosheth is born into the family of King Saul.

Will you write that in your notes for me?

And Saul, if you don't know who Saul is, this man's story is complicated.

That's about the only way I can put it.

He is the first king of Israel.

The Bible says that he was tall and handsome.

Amen.

I'm talking about Saul.

The Bible says that Saul had been chosen, he was anointed.

Saul had been given the opportunity to lead God's people, but Saul stopped obeying God.

Can I give you a word here today?

Never get so comfortable in the position that you stop paying attention to your obedience.

I'm gonna say it again.

Never get so comfortable.

How many of y'all have ever gotten comfortable like you are in your seat right now?

You gotten so comfortable with the position that God has placed you in that you lost sight of the fact that you need obedience to stay there.

Oh, I just felt something serious, so I'm gonna go ahead and say it.

The Bible says that your giftings will put you in rooms with great people.

Can I help you today?

But it's gonna be your obedience and your character that actually keep you in the room.

That one's free.

I'm just gonna give that one to you.

Because here's the thing: there's a lot of gifted people in this room.

But the gifting is not a substitute for obedience.

Let me say it in another way.

A lot of people have a position, a title.

You've been given, maybe your manager, supervisor, maybe there might be some CEOs or some presidents, vice president, whatever.

Whatever it is, the position that you have is not a substitute for obedience to God.

Why?

Because God still cares about obedience, and because of Saul's disobedience, God took his hand off of his life and rejected Saul as king.

Go read it for yourself.

Now Saul had a son.

His name was Jonathan.

Go ahead and write that in your notes right now.

He was in, watch this, the line to the heir of the throne.

But when Daddy disobeyed, it took away the son's inheritance.

Golly.

Can I work this thing for just real quick?

The reason why we got to deal with our damage is because what is not transformed can be transferred.

And I refuse to make somebody else bleed because I was wounded.

I refuse to make my children carry something that somebody handed to me.

I refuse to let my spouse pay for something that somebody else did to me.

I refuse to let yesterday's wounds become tomorrow's inheritance.

Listen, listen.

It may have reached me, but by the grace of God, it doesn't have to stay attached to me.

And Jonathan has a son.

And his name is Mephibosheth.

Are you following me today, church?

I want to show you in scripture where we're introduced to Mephibosheth.

We're in 2 Samuel chapter 4.

2 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

If you have a paper Bible, turn there with me.

If not, we'll have it on the screen here today.

Maybe this is a man you've never heard of before, but today you're going to get to know his life.

Mephibosheth is introduced in 2 Samuel chapter 4, and this is what it says.

2 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

Jonathan, son of Saul, had a son who was lame in both feet.

Write that in your notes for me real quick.

Where was he lame at?

He was lame in both feet.

He was five years old.

How old was he?

When the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, what news came about Saul and Jonathan?

Oh, that they died in battle.

Mercy, Jesus.

Fighting the Philistines, and Saul and Jonathan are taken out.

And the Bible says this.

Watch this.

Mephibosheth's nurse picked him up and fled.

But as she hurried to leave, the Bible says that he fell and became disabled.

His name was Mephibosheth.

Am I painting the picture correctly for you here today?

In the panic, watch this, the nurse drops Mephibosheth, and he is permanently injured.

He was in the arms of somebody who was supposed to be caring for him.

And I wonder how many people in this room know exactly what this feels like.

What happens when the person who was supposed to be protecting you dropped you?

What happens when the person who was supposed to make you feel safe becomes the reason why you don't even feel safe anymore?

And I wonder if there's already somebody in this story that's in this room.

Some of us are carrying damage from the decisions that somebody else has made.

You didn't choose your parents getting divorced when you were a kid.

You didn't choose your dad walking out or leaving you.

You didn't choose your mom struggling with addiction.

You didn't choose the chaos in your home.

You didn't choose the abuse.

And here's what gets me about Mephibosheth.

He was five years old when he was dropped.

But by the time we read his name again, he's a grown man.

Hope you're staying with me today, church.

I said that he was five years old when he was introduced to us in scripture.

But the time we read his name again, this man is a grown man.

He didn't choose to be dropped, but he he chose to remain damaged.

I'm gonna say it again.

But he did choose to remain damaged.

Let me show you how.

Saul gone, by the way.

The Bible says, Is there anyone left of this of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?

What you need to know is that Jonathan and David were great friends.

The Bible says, now there was a servant of Saul's house named Ziba.

They summoned him to come before King David, and the king asked him, Are you Ziba?

At your service, he replied, the king asked, Hey, is there no one still alive from the house?

Watch this, of Saul, to whom I can show God's kindness.

Ziba answered the king, he said, There's still a son of Jonathan.

He's lame in both feet.

The king says, Well, where is he?

And Ziba answered, Well, he's in Lodabar.

So King David had him brought from Lodabar.

Somebody say Lodabar.

Write that in your notes.

Lodabar, once you circle it, highlight it, do whatever you got to do to remember Lodabar.

Let me point out the hater in this story.

We leave that scripture up there for just a second.

King David asks, he said, Hey, is there anyone still left in Saul's house that I can show favor?

Ziba said, Yeah, but he doesn't say his name, he says his condition.

Yes, sir.

Not you.

Be careful when people describe you by your condition and not your name.

Now let's not move too past this too quickly because David, David asks for a person, but Ziba he he presents a problem.

David says, Well, is there anybody left?

I want his name.

Ziba says, Yeah, but he's crippled.

Isn't it interesting how quickly people will reduce you to something that happened to you?

They know you by the divorce, they know you by the addiction, they know you by the bankruptcy, they know you by the mistake, they know you by the season that you fell apart, they know you by the thing that you wish that everybody would forget.

David asked, Hey, is there anybody left?

And Zippa's response is yeah, but he's damaged.

And you have to be careful, church, because you cannot, you have to not allow people to make your damage your identity.

I felt that so strong, so I'm gonna go ahead and say it again.

We have to be careful here, church, because we cannot be walking around letting people identify us as what happened in our past.

Let me be clear it happened to you, you are not it.

I just felt that so strong come back to me because the last time I was up here, I told you, I said, Tag, you're it.

But I hear I am telling you, you are not it, you are not the thing that you went through.

And here's the reality: we're gonna have to deal with something here today because the damage is no longer going to define you.

Somebody say it's no longer gonna define me.

It's no longer going to define me.

And if you feel that your damage is too much for God, let me give you a list of people that God used who were damaged.

Noah got drunk.

Abraham thought he was too old.

Jacob was a liar.

Leah was ugly.

Moses was a murderer.

Samson was a flirt.

Rahab was a prostitute.

David was an adulterer and a murderer.

Jonah ran away from God.

Peter denied Jesus.

The Samaritan woman was married five times, divorced five times, and now she's living with another man.

Lazarus was dead, and since we're putting together a list, put my name on there.

JD has lied, he's been full of pride, he's wrestled with comparison, and God still used all of these people.

Because God can do incredible work through a damaged life.

So, what am I trying to say if I'm saying anything?

I'm ready to preach now.

If you walked in here with damage, you in the right place at the right time, on the right Sunday, next to the right neighbor.

And here's the reality of this because I'm grateful that God didn't throw me away when He found out that I had a little bit of baggage.

Oh, I must be up here by myself.

I must be the only person.

Are you grateful that he didn't cancel your calling because of something that you had in your hands?

Is there anybody grateful that the worst chapter of your life, God doesn't look at that and use it against you?

What he does is say, that's not gonna be your last chapter.

I will redeem it, I will restore it, I will reveal it.

Thank you, God's power is made perfect in your what?

So why don't you show him your weakness?

Why are you why are you holding in the weakness?

It was never yours to carry.

Find it in a scripture where he said, carry all of your burdens.

I can't find one.

Too many of us are carrying damage from the past that we were never meant to carry.

And today, somebody say today.

Today, what I want to do is I want to encourage you with what God can do with your damage.

Can I preach this thing today?

I have three points for you.

I'm gonna give you those three points.

We're gonna worship.

Amen.

Okay.

Point one.

He calls us with it.

Will you write that in your notes for me?

What does God do with your damage?

He calls you with it.

What we should know about Mephibosheth is that he could have been king.

But he was lame in both feet.

And Mephibosheth finds himself in a place called Lodabar.

Write that in your notes.

Now I want you to see this.

He wasn't born a Lodabar.

The Bible says that he was born into royalty.

This is Saul's grandson.

This is the son of Jonathan.

But damage took him to a place that he never thought he would live.

Oh, I must not be preaching to anybody in this room here today.

All of y'all saved and sanctified, never been through nothing.

I said that the damage that he went through took him to a place where he never thought he would live.

And the damage will take you places that God never designed you to stay.

Lodabar translates from Hebrew, the closest translation we can give to English is no word or no communication.

Write this in your notes.

Lodabar translates from Hebrew to mean no word, no communication.

Have you ever been hurt so badly that you couldn't even talk about it?

Have you ever gone through something so painful that when somebody asks you, hey, what's wrong?

You didn't even know what to say.

Because how do you explain something that you don't even have words for?

Church, that's Lodabar.

And I wonder if there's anybody here at City Center Church, maybe watching online.

You showed up in you're dressed and dressed, and you're looking fashionable today, but internally or emotionally, you have been living in Lodabar.

There are men in this room trying to figure out how to be fathers when nobody ever fathered you.

Your dad wasn't there, or maybe technically he was there, but he wasn't present.

And now you're asking, how do I become something that was never modeled for me?

That's lodabar.

There are women in this room trying to figure out how to be mothers when the relationship with your own mother has left wounds that are so deep that you are continuing to work through.

And now you're raising children of your own, wondering, how can I give them something that I never received?

That's lodabar.

Maybe you're in this place here today and you want a healthy marriage and and and you're trying to build one, but it's never been modeled for you how that's supposed to happen.

Maybe never no nobody communicated how to communicate with you.

How do you communicate your feelings, and now you're trying your hard, hardest to have conversations without even shutting down?

That's lodabar.

And here's where it gets dangerous.

Are you ready, church?

Because eventually you can get used to lodabar that you stay in lodebar.

Some of us have been living in lodabar, watch this so long that you're living below the bar.

Wow, I just said a thing.

And God sent me here to tell you something.

Stop seeing yourself as lower than the king sees you.

For many of us today, it's time to get out of Lodabar.

I need you to go ahead and just pack up your things.

Get your suitcase ready because it's time to move out of Lodabar.

Somebody say I'm coming out.

I don't believe you.

Say I'm coming out.

The Bible says in Isaiah 43, see, I am doing a new thing.

Pastor Robin, you said that earlier, and I know that the spirit just connected on that.

I have a new thing coming.

Somebody say I have a new thing coming.

I have a new thing coming, but you can't keep demanding a new thing while you refuse to leave the old place.

Some of y'all want a Jerusalem season, but you got your Lodabar and you won't leave it.

And that's where Mephibosheth is.

He's in Lodabar, years after the drop, we see him as a grown man, years after the damage, years after the the what changed his life.

And the king, King David, he calls for him.

He says, Where is he?

Not when his feet started working again, not after he he cleaned himself up and got his life together.

The king called him with it, with the damage, with the history, with the emotional scars, with the baggage, with everything that happened to him.

And somebody needs to hear me today because God is not waiting for a better version of you.

He's calling you.

Slap your neighbor, say he's talking about you right now.

Pay attention.

He's not calling the Instagram version of you, the filtered picture version of you.

Some of y'all know who I'm talking about.

I'm da da da.

He's not talking about the church version of you.

You got your parking spot, you got your own seat, you got your free coffee, and now everything is peaches and cream.

Oh no, no, no, no.

He doesn't want the church version of you.

He's calling you the hurt you, the confused you, the disappointed you, the still working through you.

God is calling us with it.

And and something may have happened to you years ago, and now you've internalized it.

You've buried it, you've suppressed it, you you you've learned how to smile around it.

You've learned how to say, I'm ooh, child, I'm blessed and highly favored, even though how I feel.

2 Samuel chapter 9, verse 4 says, Where is he?

2 Samuel 9:4

And you don't have to hide what's broken for the king.

You don't have to act like it didn't happen.

I'm gonna say it again.

You can come to the king, watch this, with it.

Because here's where the story gets interesting.

There's a problem.

Mephibosheth gets called, but Mephibosheth can't get there by himself.

Because two feet are lame.

He cannot walk.

Which leads me to point number two.

Point number two is he carries us through it.

I'd like to exercise this one for just a little bit longer.

2 Samuel chapter 9, verse 5.

2 Samuel 9:5

So King David had him, watch this, brought from Lodabar.

Can we throw that scripture up there?

2 Samuel chapter 9, verse 5.

2 Samuel 9:5

Look at what it says.

Look at what it says.

So King David had him what?

Brought from Lodabar.

When they go to Lodabar to get Mephibosheth, he doesn't have the power on his own to make it to where he's been called.

The king will never ask you to come to a place where he will not carry you to.

And because somebody uh has been hearing the voice of God calling you forward, and you're wondering, you've been asking yourself, well, how am I ever going to get there?

See, some of us have been so frustrated because we thought we had moved on and we thought we could move on under our own strength.

And maybe that's why you're so tired.

Maybe that's why you're so frustrated with yourself.

You're trying to fix yourself, you're trying to carry yourself, you're trying to put yourself back together, Humpty Dumpty.

But when King David called for Mephibosheth, I have to imagine that he sent some strong men to pick him up.

What am I trying to say?

I believe that in other words, David sent power that it was not his own to bring Mephibosheth where he needed to go.

Because your weakness is not disqualifying you from what God has called you to do.

Your weakness does not cancel his ability to carry you.

Your limitations do not limit his grace.

How many of you know that his grace is sufficient for you?

Come on, wave at me.

Your damage does not stop his plan.

And I wonder if there's anybody in here who has a testimony.

Because of what you went through, you're still here because God brought you through.

Can anybody just wave at me?

Can you testify for just a moment that even though you went through something you didn't go through by yourself, because he carried you?

Do I have any church members in the home in this place who can testify that God has been good to you?

When I didn't know how to get there, he carried me.

When I was too broken to believe, that's where I found myself in Lodabar.

He carried me out.

And what I'm trying to say here is that God will not call you to a place that he will not carry you to.

So point one was he calls us with it.

Point two was he carries us through it.

Which leads us to our last and final point.

He seats us despite it.

Starting at the sixth verse.

When Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay honor.

David said, Mephibosheth, he said, At your service.

King David said, Do not be afraid.

Golly, Pastor Robin, I feel like the Holy Spirit's been talking to me just like he was talking to you.

That's a word for somebody in this place here today.

Do not be afraid.

King David said, Do not 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 belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.

Here's what blows my mind about this story.

Your damage does not determine your place at the king's table.

I got seven amens in this place here today.

Here's what I want to show you.

Mephibosheth's feet are still damaged.

Don't miss this.

He's still walking differently.

His history, watch this, it still happened.

He still has evidence of what broke him, but now he has a seat.

And it ain't just any ordinary seat.

It's a seat at the king's table.

The very thing that the enemy was trying to use to disqualify you, God says, Hey, I know about it, but you still have a seat at my table.

But notice Mephibosheth's response.

Watch this.

2 Samuel chapter 9, verse 8.

2 Samuel 9:8

Good God Almighty.

Mephibosheth bowed down and said, What is your servant that you should notice a dead dog like me?

Can we sit in this for just a second?

David just told him, I'm restoring everything to you.

You didn't even do anything to earn it.

I'm just gonna give it to you.

That's God's grace.

You're gonna eat at my table.

You have a permanent seat at the table.

And Mephibosheth, his response is, Why would you want somebody like me?

I believe I'm talking to somebody here under the sound of my voice.

Did you catch this?

His address has changed.

He's no longer in Lodabar, but his mindset hasn't changed.

The king has called him out of Lodabar, but now Lodabar has to get out of Mephiboshe.

Because changing your location doesn't automatically change your mentality.

And I wonder how many people in this room have the same problem.

You can leave the abusive relationship and still think like you're in it.

You can become successful and still feel like the rejected kid that nobody wanted.

You can have people who genuinely love you, they're surrounding you, and you're still questioning why would anybody want a dead dog like me?

And I can stand up here all day and try to convince you with scripture that you are loved, that you are chosen, that you are called, that you have purpose.

And the problem is many of us we're gonna respond with, but I'm damaged.

Here's what I want to encourage you with here today.

You don't get healed so that you can come to the king's table.

You come to the king's table so that you can get healed.

You don't have to fix your feet before taking your seat.

You can come broken, you can come hurting, you can come with your questions, you can come with your scars.

There's a seat for you at the table, and the enemy wants to keep whispering to you, but look at your feet.

But every time the enemy wants to remind you of your feet, I want you to point to your seat.

The enemy is saying, Look at what you've been through.

Oh no, enemy, look at my seat.

The Bible says this in Psalm 23 and 5.

David writes, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You know, there's some people that just can't stand to watch you be blessed.

So since you can't stand to watch me be blessed, take a seat and watch God bless me.

I may not look like what I've been through, but I've been through some things.

Whose testimony is that?

I don't look like what I've been through.

If only you knew.

But baby, I've been through some things and I didn't come out empty.

I went through some things, but I didn't come out without a testimony because I wasn't destroyed by what broke me, God built me through it.

And one day Mephibosheth goes from Lodabar to sitting at the king's table, just like that.

And I just believe that just like we can see the seasons of change out there, we can see them tangibly, the the leaves are starting to change.

Just like the seasons of change that we see outside, I believe that there is a season of change for you and for me.

Because when God steps in something, something has to change.

When God steps in something, something has to move.

When God steps in something, things will never stay the same.

If you believe it, say amen.

So, Charles, you can come.

I'm closing.

As I get ready to close, I need I need to tell you why this story means so much to me.

Because here's the reality, I've spent all morning talking to you about Mephibosheth.

I talked to you about his damage.

I talked to you about his season in Lodabar.

But before I leave you here today, I need you to know that I have been through a Lodabar season in my life.

I know what Lodabar feels like.

I set up camp in Lodabar.

I had three garage doors, not two.

Two stories, not one.

I built my house in Lodabar.

I've been there, I've done that.

Because 22 years ago I found myself in my own Lodabar season, and I didn't even know what it was when I was there, but I was living below the bar.

I had multiple failed relationships.

I lied, and the more I lied, I became a deceiver.

I stole.

In fact, 22 years ago, I was arrested for theft.

The pastor?

Yeah, before I was a pastor, I was a person.

I joined the military military at age 20, that didn't work out.

Things just kept getting taken from me.

I jumped from job to job, couldn't find fulfillment.

I went from school to school, couldn't find a calling.

I went from plan to plan, relationship to relationship, and after enough things didn't work, after things continued to fall apart, I became a quitter.

Which is I became a quitter.

And it wasn't something that I did once.

I kept quitting.

I kept quitting.

And then a lot of people don't know this about me, but a failed marriage.

Another reason to look at myself and think, see, this is who you are.

A failure, a quitter.

Because sometimes Lodabar is the place in your mind where you've lived with failure so long that you actually expect yourself to fail.

That's Lodabar.

And and What I didn't understand back then is that I had deep wounds from childhood.

I had deep wounds from my teenage years.

Things that I didn't know how to process, things that I didn't know how to heal from.

And please hear me.

These wounds do not excuse the decisions that I made.

But for too long, instead of allowing God to come in and heal my wounds, I use my wounds as an excuse as to why I cannot change.

That's Lodabar.

The Church of the King knew where I was.

Twenty years ago, I couldn't see this.

I couldn't see this platform.

I couldn't see ministry.

I couldn't see who was getting me back into the military to be a chaplain in the United States Army.

I couldn't see the calling.

I couldn't see my wife.

I couldn't see my children.

I couldn't see the husband and father, the pastor that he was calling me to be.

I couldn't see what God could possibly do with a dead dog like me.

God has the incredible way of redeeming the pieces of your story that you thought were finished.

There's nothing he can do with this anymore.

This thing is over.

I must move on.

But no, that's why I want to show you the last part of this story.

The Lord gave this to me this morning, so production team, I didn't give you this scripture.

Just rock with me.

Let me show you.

The end of this story.

Turn with me to 2 Samuel and just go to chapter 9, verse 13.

Same chapter we've been in, just hop down a few verses.

It says this.

And Mephiboshet lived in Jerusalem.

Because he always ate at the king's table.

He was lame.

And both his feet.

13 verses in that one chapter.

You can go home and read it for yourself.

It's a short read.

Church, I want you to look at where this story ends.

This chapter reminds us, watch this, his feet were still damaged.

But he's not in Lodabar anymore.

He's at the king's table.

And I don't know who this word is for.

But I feel this so strongly in my spirit here today.

The king is calling you to the table.

And so just in a moment here, I'm gonna open up these altars.

Let's not move past this.

I'm asking you to please hang with us.

Because today I'm not asking you to come because you've gotten everything figured out.

You're not like 20-year-old JD who I can do this all by myself.

I'm asking us to step out of our seat because I'm not asking you to come because your feet are fixed.

I'm asking you to respond to the invitation of the king.

So if you're ready to let God into the damaged places of your life, if you're tired of walking around with shattered, broken pieces, if something happened then that is still affecting the way you walk now, if you've been dropped by somebody who is supposed to be carrying you, if you've been living beneath what God has called over your life, if you have been wondering what can God do with a shattered old broken place like me, if you're saying I'm ready to get out of Lodabar, won't you come?

Come broken, come wounded, come ashamed, come tired, come with your questions.

You can even limp up here.

Come with your broken season.

The king is asking you to come because I know him to be a way maker, church.

I know that he can make a way where there seems to be no way.

The world told me that I shouldn't be on this platform.

God can heal it, he can restore it, he can redeem it.

I'm asking you to come.

Your marriage is not broken, your marriage is not over.

Your load of our season ends today.

Your child will come back home.

That addiction will not take you over.

The thing that you have been wrestling with, battling with, whether it's lust or pornography, that challenge that has been presented to you.

I know a king who is greater than it all.

And when God steps in, something has to change.

So won't you come?

We have room for you.

These altars are open.

Do not stay in your Lodabar season.

There's somebody here today saying I just can't get to the king's table.

Oh no, yes, you can.

In fact, since you don't feel like you can, let him carry you.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear.

No, you have nothing to fear in this new season of your life.

The world is gonna say it's difficult, the world's gonna say it's impossible.

But if God can if he can if he can if he can with me.

So I want to pray.

I don't want to pray for you, I want to pray with you.

You didn't come up to this altar so that somebody could pray for you.

You came as an invitation from the king to come to your table.

And what happens at the table is we open up our mouth and commune with God.

I still feel like there's somebody who hasn't come yet.

Hey, God God loves you.

Step out of your seat and come.

But in this moment, I would like to pray for you.

If you're here with your spouse, take them by the hand or hold them.

If you're here with your family, take them by the hand or hold them.

If you're here by yourself, you can just hug yourself or lift your hand.

I feel the presence of God in this room.

I know the sweet aroma and the sweet embrace of his grace.

I just know it from my life.

And so, God, we come before you right now.

Thanking you for today.

Thanking you for your word.

Thanking you for your presence that is in this place here today.

Thank you for these beautiful people.

These are your people, these are your children.

And I'm I'm thankful that you're calling sons and daughters to come sit at the table.

That God sees you right where you are, that He is king all by Himself.

So, God, we thank you that you're God and you're God alone.

We thank you for never leaving us, never forsaking us.

We thank you that no weapon formed against us shall ever prosper.

I thank you for fathers that are in this room right now, God.

Fathers who are trying to become better fathers, but has never been modeled for them.

May their heavenly father be more than enough.

Father, I'm praying for mothers in this place here today.

Father, I pray for women who are all around this room, God who have never had a mother in their life.

I just pray right now that the Spirit of God will come in.

And do what only I know you can do.

Restore, redeem, and renew.

Father, what the enemy meant for evil, God, I know that you're turning it around for our good.

Father, let the word of God be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

May every single step we take be with the blessed assurance knowing that when I walk, you're walking with me.

That the steps of a good man are ordered.

I speak the peace of God over you right now.

The peace that transcends understanding, that guards hearts and minds today in Christ Jesus.

For every place of our life that has been damaged.

God is a redeemer.

He can restore everything, He can get back what the enemy took.

So I just declare by faith we are the heal of the Lord in this place here today.

If there's not a marriage in this place that can't survive, because you know what?

God, you're in it with us.

Lift your hands towards heaven right now, Father.

I just pray.

For every man, woman, and child in this room here today.

God, your spirit is here.

And where the spirit is, Lord, there's freedom.

I'm speaking freedom over hearts and minds here today.

I declare that you're a good shepherd to us.

You're leading us besides the waters.

You are restoring our souls.

I believe that there's people in here.

You have you have sown tears.

You've weak.

And you're about to reap songs of joy.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Thank you for all that you're doing and more.

In Jesus' mighty name.

Thank you for joining us today.

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