 Today we're in 2 Samuel chapters 8 and 9 and so what we'll do is we'll take chapter 8 the first few verses I'll introduce that what we're looking at is a kingdom because in chapter 8 We see how that King David begins to have conquests etc. victories in war and In chapter 9 we see him showing kindness and so what I chose to entitle this installment of our study through 2 Samuel is a Kingdom and kindness you'll see that as we go through chapters 8 and 9 so let's begin reading together here in 2 Samuel chapter 8 at verse 1 I'll read to verse 4. We'll get into our study 2 Samuel chapter 8 beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 4 After this it came to pass that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them and David took methagom off from the hand of the Philistines then he defeated Moab Forcing them down to the ground. He measured them off with a line with two lines He measured off those to be put to death and With one full line those to be kept alive So the Moabites became David's servants and brought tribute David also defeated had a desert the son of her hub King of Zovah as he went to recover his territory at the River Euphrates David took from him 1,000 chariots 700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers also David hamstrung all the chariot horses Except that he spared enough of them for 100 chariots Now as we've been going through 2nd Samuel we stopped last week as we looked at chapter 7 and in chapter 7 we saw that Chapter 7 recorded what has been called the Davidic Covenant a covenant that God had made with King David The word covenant is also the word testament it speaks of an agreement or it speaks of a promise And what we had in in chapter 7 here in 2nd Samuel was God made a promise to King David And the promise that he gave to him related to a messiah messiah who had come from his line A messiah who was going to rule an everlasting kingdom We looked at that covenant. We saw that David promised David or rather God promised David that his house His kingdom and his throne would be established forever Now as the Lord was making this promise to King David David took that promise And was certain that God would fulfill it David knew that he could trust God because he knew that God's promises are absolutely trustworthy Notice with me that in chapter 7 verse 28 how David said and now oh Lord God you are God and your words are true David knew that he could trust the Lord and David knew that God would keep his promise to him That's why he could rejoice that's why he had such a trust because he knew that God was trustworthy He knew something about God He knew that God was good to his word I've been mentioning recently in the services today that If you can believe the first four words of the bible as this translated into english If you can believe the first four words of the bible you can believe the rest of it Because the first four words in the beginning God Gives to us everything that we need to know concerning whether or not There is such a thing or a one as a god and and two if we believe in the beginning There is a god then everything else after that that is said It's going to be something that we can we can trust in it's going to be something that we can rely in We can rely on god in his word and and even as david said you are god and your words are true Even so if we believe the first four words of the bible we can believe the rest of it It's interesting how that when you read your bible and you begin in the book of genesis and you arrive at chapter three verse one That the very first time anything is questioned. It's the word of god Because in genesis chapter three verse one it's satan himself who asks the question has god indeed said And so question has always been concerning whether or not you have a reliable source of truth here To this very day the word of god is maligned the word of god is Is spoken of as not being trustworthy, but david would have disagreed david said no your words are true I can trust in in you what you have to say is something i can rest in i can be assured of i'm confident of I trust in you in your word because david knew god Now in the new testament in the book of first john chapter one verse five John tells us god is light and in him is no darkness at all It's impossible according to hebra's chapter six verse 18 for god to lie so when god speaks he tells us the truth There's nothing within him that is is evil and therefore when god speaks he speaks the truth to us We can receive and that's what david is doing. He's receiving the promises And he knew that god's promises were true He could rely on them and he also knew that his promises revealed that he was faithful that he has integrity That he's trustworthy and that he is just and he could trust in all of these things about god In psalm 138 which is a psalm of david david wrote 77 psalms that are recorded in in the book of psalms 150 psalms 77 of those are attributed to david In psalm 138 verse 2 David said you have magnified your word Above all your name What an interesting way to put it you have magnified your word Above your name Now when he said you have magnified your word that that that is translated you have you have exalted your promises And so I can trust in your promises You have magnified your promises above all your other attributes and therefore I can trust you Because you are faithful you are true Therefore I can trust in your word your promises that you've given to me and we can do the same We can trust in the things of the lord and and we can take god at his word and we can act upon those things because david did And he had great joy in doing that Because god had made a promise David was rejoicing in it now after these things as it says in verse 8 after this It came to pass that david attacked the philistines and subdued them and so david begins to to Conquer the land if you will the philistines had been a thorn in the side of israel for some time When you read the book of judges you see that samson one of the judges dealt with philistines When you read first samuel, you know that samuel as well as sal during their lifetime had to deal with the philistines david had to deal with him and even so in second samuel he continues doing so and what he's doing is now he's now Defeating them He's subduing them and he's taking their land from them Now it's interesting how it says in verse 1 here in second samuel chapter 8 david took Amma from the hand of the philistines Methagama is also the name for the philistine city gath And when you look at the philistines, you'll see that they were on the on the shoreline the western shoreline basically into the south They're in the nation of israel. They had five major cities and gath was the principal city of those five And so what is taking place here is david is beginning to subdue the land And in doing so what he does is he goes to their most important city and begins there Now as he's doing this it makes it more easy for him to subdue the rest of the country Now that's an ancient method of Warfare that is still practiced to this day take a principal city And and it opens the door for you to take the rest of that nation That's what took place september 11th in 2001 When you look at what took place it it's the same kind of thing that david was doing It's the same kind of tactic that was used in attack principal cities in order that you might subdue the nation We know that there were two planes that flew into the twin towers there in new york city We know that there was a plane That went into the pentagon and we know that there was another plane that was on its way to the capital city Washington dc And what they were trying to do is they were trying to knock out the heart of the united states New york city represents the material wealth of this nation The pentagon represents the military strength and the capital is the soul of america And so what they were trying to do is they were trying to use the tactics that you find in the old Testament with david David went into gath the principal city of the philistines and he subdued it In taking them the word would go out to the other cities that david was on the march And it would cause them great fear and make it easier for david to be able to take that land And that's what he's doing. He's using an ancient technique that is used even to this day Now notice verse two it says he defeated moa Forcing them down to the ground he measured them off with a line With two lines he measured off those to be put to death And with one full line those to be kept alive. So the moabites became david's servants and brought tribute Going on it says and david took Rather verse three david also defeated ahead of days there the son of erhob king of zovah As he went to recover his territory at the river euphrates david took from him 1 000 chariots 700 horsemen and 20 000 foot soldiers Also david hamstrung all the chariot horses except that he spared enough of them for 100 chariots And so david is now going on. He's defeating now notice in verse Verse two he defeats moab. He forced them to the ground and he divided them into three sections What he's doing is he's moving to the east he crossed the dead sea there and he's defeating the moabites He divides their army into thirds. He kills two thirds of them And that just represents a complete destruction of the of the moabite army Then it says he defeated ahead of days at the son of erhob king of zovah So that means he went north to syria and he recovered property up to the river euphrates Now what what makes that interesting and you might want to mark this is found in genesis chapter 15 verse 18 Is the euphrates river is the border of the land that god gave to the nation of israel Because in genesis 15 18 when god was speaking to abram later known as abraham He said to your descendants. I have given this land from the river of egypt as far as the great river the river euphrates And so he's taking land that belongs to the nation of israel. He also captures their military He disables their horses so they cannot pull chariots against him Now as this is taking place verse five When the syrians of damascus came to help adedez a king of zovah david killed 22 000 of the syrians Then david put garrisons in syria of damascus The syrians became david's servants and brought tribute So the lord preserved david wherever he went And so these syrians are related to the people there of zovah So they come to their aid only to be defeated by david they become vassals They brought tribute to him and to keep him in check david builds garrisons there In order that he might have a military presence, but notice verse six I want to show you something at the very bottom. It says or the last portion so the lord preserved david wherever he went In all of his battles God protected david from harm As I mentioned david wrote a lot of psalms and david recognized god's hand of protection upon him In psalm 18 for example verses one through three david said I will love you. Oh lord my strength The lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer My god my strength in whom I will trust My shield and the horn of my salvation My stronghold I will call upon the lord who is worthy to be praised So shall I be saved from my enemies Psalm 144 1 and 2 blessed be the lord my rock who trains my hands for war My fingers for battle my loving kindness and my fortress my high tower and my deliverer my shield And the one in whom I take refuge who subdues my people Under me david knew that god preserved him. This is something that you can know too We are more than conquerors in jesus christ If god is for us who can be against us I can do all things to christ who strengthens me jesus taught me without me you can do nothing But with him I can do all things And when you trust in the lord and know him as your preserver and when you like david can say I love you Oh lord, then there's a great and assured confidence that you can have in things of god and the lord himself david had that great confidence and god was with him preserving him David had courage and david had strength, but that came from the lord. That's why he could say he's my refuge He's my deliverer. He's the rock. He's my fortress. He's the one in whom I trust He's the one who gives me victories. He's the one who taught my hands to war my fingers to battle He's the one who's given to me the ability to do the things that I do and I give all Glory and praise for that because god is on my side and and seeing that he's on my side I will I will have victory and I'll move from victory to victory and that's what happened with him And so david right now is is going after the various kingdoms to the north and to the south and to the east And to the west and he's he's now unifying this because this is land that god had given to the nation of israel And the lord preserves david everywhere he goes Now as it's taking place first seven david took the shields of gold that had belonged to the servants of haded ezer And brought them to druslum Also from betah and from barotai Cities of haded ezer king david took a large amount of bronze When toy king of hamat heard that david had defeated all the army of haded ezer Then toy sent yoram his son to king david to greet him and bless him because he had sought He had fought against haded ezer and defeated him for haded ezer had been at war with toy And yoram brought with him articles of silver articles of gold and articles of bronze So david begins to accumulate gold and bronze as spoils of war as well as gifts from other rulers This is what it was mentioned to him he was a king over hamat Which was located a hundred miles north of demascus and and he's rejoicing because his old enemy is being overcome by david And so he wants to establish relations with david and thus he starts sending him gifts But what is it that david does with the gifts and things that he's he's either winning through war or receiving as gifts Notice what he does with them verse 11 King david also dedicated these to the lord Along with the silver and gold That he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued from syria From moab from the people of amon from the philistines from amalek From the spoil of haded ezer the son of rhub king of sova What did he do he dedicated these things to the lord he gave them to god is what he did Remember as i was sharing with you how david had in his heart a desire to build a temple for god How that david even as we saw in chapter seven was reclining in his palace He was living a life of ease and comfort. He was secure from his enemies and as this was taking place David began to think it's just not right that i should live in such a beautiful place where the ark of god is hidden behind tent curtains And you remember we saw this just last time we were together how that david had spoken to nathan the prophet and said I want to build god a house And nathan said god is with you do the do do what's on your heart But the lord spoke to david and taught him something and said you're not going to do that And we looked at the reason why the reason that god gave to david that he wasn't going to be able to build the temple Is because he was a warrior he was a man who had blood on his hands And god said i'm not going to allow you to do that but you have a son who's going to rise after you His name is solomon. He's going to be a man of peace. I'm going to allow him to build me a temple What you wanted to do is a great thing, but you're not going to be gifted to be able to do that Now instead of david saying well, that's fine with me. No problem. What does he do? Well david from the lord receives plans by the spirit for the temple And david begins to not only have these plans that god gives him by his spirit But he also begins to dedicate and dedicated the gold and silver and bronze and all that he needed In order that he might put it into the temple so that the building of the temple would be beautiful in its construction And that shows the kind of heart that david had and that's what we're seeing here when it says in verse 11 David king david dedicated these to the lord along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations Which he had subdued david was the one who had given these things to the lord He gave them to the lord because he wanted that temple to be built And even though he wasn't going to be allowed to do it He had the plans and he had the finance as he gave them to his son salomon And he said god told me i can't do this you'll do it But i have these things ready for you And so in a way that temple that is called salomon's temple really belonged to david all along In the sense of his dedication to god and the plans that were given to him And so that's what he does Now in first chronicles in chapter 29 verses 3 and 4 david said in my delight in the house of my god The treasure i have of gold and silver I give to the house of my god over and above all that i have already provided for the holy temple 3 000 talents of gold of the gold of ophir And 7 000 talents of refined silver to overlay the walls of the building You see david didn't just verbally dedicate david actually did what he had verbally stated In the new testament jesus is speaking on one occasion and he's speaking to religious hypocrites and he says to them What you're doing is wrong and this is what makes what you're doing is wrong You say whatever could whatever my mom or my dad whatever my mother or my father can be profited by You say that has been dedicated to god And what was taking place during the time of jesus was this if If i had a house and i had furniture and My mom and my dad comes over and they visit me Now my dad sees that i have an extra piece of furniture there and it's really not being used And he says to me son to be honest with you that That chair that i have at home is falling apart and i really could use that That chair and seeing that you're not using it for anything Would you mind if i take that home so i can use it in my home and and i say to him You know dad i would ordinarily give that to you, but i've dedicated it to the lord And that's what jesus said you say that it's koran you say that it is dedicated to god And he says and when you when you do that when your parents ask for something from you and you say it's koran He says what you are doing Is you are dishonoring your parents and you are violating the word of god which says honor your father and your mother And so david david was one who had dedicated and really actually gave to god Whereas people during the time of christ were saying this belongs to god when in reality They just didn't want to be a benefit or a blessing to their mom or their dad So when dad says can i have it they say no this has been dedicated to god jesus says that's hypocrisy It's a wrong thing to do because you're saying you dedicated it to god But in reality you're the one who makes use of it During the time of david david received gifts He had all of this goal that he took as war spoils And he dedicated those things to god and he used those things So that the temple might be built and dedicated to the lord and be a glorious and beautiful temple Well in verse 13 continuing it says david made himself a name When he returned from the killing from killing 18 000 syrians in the valley of salt He also put garrisons and edam throughout all edam he put garrisons And all the edamites became david servants And the lord preserved david Wherever he went So he's becoming famous in that region he's famous for his courage in battle He he puts garrisons and edam this is the territory that's just south of moab east of the dead sea And still god is protecting him and blessing him david reigned verse 15 over all israel And david administered judgment and justice to all the people As a as a king he's ruling righteously without respect to persons He's making judgments impartially He is shepherding them according to psalm 78 verse 72 according to the integrity of his heart And he's guiding them with the skillfulness of his hands And as all of this has taken place he now has A cabinet and this is what we see in verses 16 through 18 Joab the son of zehruya was over the army Jehoshaphat the son of ahilud was recorder, which is a state recorder Zadok the son of ahitub So his father was a little overweight No, i'm just kidding And ahimelech the son of avyathar were the priests Sariah was the scribe or secretary secretary of state Beniyah the son of jehoida was over both the carithites and the palithites That was david's security forces his personal bodyguard you see that in first samuel 30 And david's sons were chief ministers meaning that they were princes of the court So this gives you some insight into his cabinet, and so you see a kingdom But now in chapter nine we see kindness Verse nine chapter chapter nine verse one david said Is there still anyone who is left of the house of saul? That i may show him kindness for jonathan's sake And there was a servant of the house of saul whose name was ziva So when they had called him to david the king said to him are you ziva he said at your service The king said is there not still someone of the house of saul to whom i may show the kindness of god And ziva 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 ziva said to the king indeed he's in the house of mahir the son of amiel in lode debar And so what we have here is david's character revealed and i'm going to spend some time looking at this Because i think that we have some practical application to make to our lives as we look at chapter nine here david's character is being revealed Because notice with being verse one he's actively seeking to bless somebody He asks the question is there still anyone who's left of the house of saul that i may show him kindness for jonathan's sake This is his character being revealed I want to show kindness to the house of saul And i'm doing so because of the promise i made to saul's son jonathan Now remember with me when we were studying in first samuel in chapter 24 that that saul had made david swear that he would not do any harm to his heirs Well david already was was inclined to that because in the same book first samuel chapter 20 david had made a promise to to jonathan In chapter 20 verse 15 to jonathan and he said that he would be a blessing to his heirs And and jonathan had asked him make sure that you don't do harm to my heirs and david had swore to him an oath and stated to him You know i'm going to be kind to your family and that's all we see here in chapter 9 verse 1 is david wanting to fulfill his his oath his promise that he made Now as this has taken place, there's a there's a servant of the house of saul this man's name is diva This is a former servant of saul. He was aware of jonathan's son mephibeshah Now as we've looked into this book here in chapter 4 verse 4 We were introduced to this young man mephibeshah that was five years old And as his as he was escaping with his nurse He was being carried his nurse dropped him and injured him and he became crippled in his feet now When david became king Mephibeshah would have been 12 in this chapter We're going to see that he's actually now married and he has a son of his own And so time has passed He's now living in a place called lo debar, which is in a place that's east of the jordan river It's about 10 miles south of the sea of galilee And david wants to do something for him. So he asks the question. Is there anybody that survived? Well ziva says yes, there's somebody who has survived. His name is mephibeshah. He's the one who is lame in his feet So what you have here is you have a man named ziva who has been pretty much taking care of the house of saul Even though saul has been displaced as king We're going to see in a moment that he's a wealthy man But he's also a man who's aware of where mephibeshah the son of jonathan is When asked is there anybody alive? Normally that would be a question from a king saying if there are any heirs that can Aspire to this throne. I will put him to death. That's really what david could be saying So ziva gives him up. He says oh, yeah, he's in lo debar. That's where he's at And so that shows you something of the heart of this man He doesn't protect this young man. Why well because he's become rich taking care of the assets of saul's A household and he's he's and you'll see him in a minute He's a man with many sons and many servants himself And so he gives up mephibeshah Now as he does so notice in verse five A king david sent and brought him out of the house of mahir the son of amiel from lo debar No, when mephibeshah the son of jonathan the son of saul had come to david He fell on his face and prostrated himself Then david said mephibeshah and he answered here's your servant So david said to him Do not fear for I will surely show you kindness For jonathan your father's sake and will restore to you all the land of saul your grandfather And you shall eat bread at my table continually He bowed himself and said what is your servant that you should look upon such a dead dog as I The king called the zeba Saul's servant and said to him I've given to your master's son all that belong to saul And to all his house You therefore and your sons and your servants shall work the land for him You shall bring in the harvest that your master's son may have food to eat But mephibeshah your master's son shall eat bread at my table always Now zeba had 15 sons and 20 servants zeba said to the king according to all that My lord the king has commanded his servant so will your servant do As for mephibeshah said the king he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons Mephibeshah had a young son whose name was micha And all who dwelt in the house of zeval were servants of mephibeshah So mephibeshah dwelt in jerusalem for he ate continually at the king's table He was lame in both of his feet When mephibeshah was brought before david he was afraid He knew that the kings would normally put to death any heirs or successors to the throne That's why when david looked at him he said are you mephibeshah then he says yes i am Instead of doing him harm he wants to bless him Now when he says to him And this i think is an interesting phrase When he says in verse eight What is your servant that you should look upon such a dead dog as i a dead dog is worthless And what he's simply doing is he's speaking out of humility he's saying what have i done to deserve such a blessing It's a humble statement. I'm simply a dead dog. A dead dog has no value Living dogs have value dead dogs have none And so he's simply saying to him i have no value. Why are you trying to be kind to me? What is it that you Why are you doing this? So that's an act of humility on his part As i look at this passage i see some things that we can see concerning the lord When i want you to see this with me look at verse one once again i'm going to develop something with you It says In verse one david said is there still anyone who is left of the house of saul that i may show him kindness for jonathan's sake You know people have this attitude That i i think is sometimes incorrect David wants to have a relationship. He wants to have Be a blessing to somebody Out of an oath's sake out of a vow out of a promise's sake He had stated to jonathan that he would do jonathan's errors good And so he simply wants to do good for the sake of his promise to jonathan I really do believe that people have a tendency of thinking that god is not good That's why like mephibosheth when he comes before david is expecting to be put to death or heart That's why david has to say to him you don't have to be afraid Because he knows that standing before the king could be a death sentence A lot of people don't understand the power that the king have kings had But in a way you can apply that to how people are with the lord As long as we're doing fine as long as everything's going okay for us as long as Our lives are are you know Coast in long okay We don't think much of eternity And there are people who actually have this attitude about god where they think well, you know, it's yeah You believe in god? I don't believe in god. What's the big deal? They say that because they're in the comfort of their home They say that because they're alive right now. They say that because they're not standing before god When you stand before god, it's going to be an entirely different kind of thing You can have all the bravado in the world that you have right now You can be as boastful as you want and arrogant as you can be now saying i'm not afraid of god I don't have any fear of him at all because at this moment, you're not standing there before him as your judge His authority right now isn't being wielded on you as it will ultimately and that's why you can stand and you can Save the things that you have have said in the past and you can say them about god without any fear My son david just turned 31 on friday. It was his 31st birthday And I was remembering just this morning my son david who's now such a man, but when he was just a little boy He was about nine years of age I can remember coming home from the office And as I walked into the door through the door into the into the foyer there into our home As I was walking into the entrance My son david was just a few feet from me, but he didn't notice me enter into the house And he had his little hands on his hips And he was looking up at his mom And as I was walking in quietly closing the door behind me He was raising his voice And he was about nine years old and he's yelling at his mom and he's saying to his mom I don't have to do that if I don't want to With all of that bravado encourage that a nine-year-old can have talking to mom like that He said I don't have to do that if I don't want to But as he said that marie my wife was looking past him at me And he noticed that she was looking past him So he turns around and as he's saying I don't have to do that if I don't want to He sees me standing over him looking down at him and then he looks back at his mom and he says but I want to I'll never forget that But I want to And I said of course you do my son We're brave We're brave when when when everything's okay. We're brave when we don't realize that authority is knocking on the door We're brave when we're not standing before the throne of god. We're very brave But I guarantee you we're not we're not going to be brave If we're standing before him Having denied him an entire lifetime and then dying in sin. I guarantee you You will not be brave But the bottom line is is this david wanted to do good And david sought him out And david had him brought to him so that david could bless him So that david could take the fear from him And david could make him a member of his family eating as a son at the king's table That's what he wanted to do with mephiboshan And that's what he did with mephiboshan jesus sought you out And perhaps like adam you may have been afraid when you first heard his voice Because the bible tells us that when adam took of that forbidden fruit And his eyes were opened And he knew good and evil by experience That adam fashioned for himself a fig leaf In order to cover his own nakedness And the bible tells us that That that the lord god was there in the the garden and Called adam And that when when god called out adam, where are you adam responded And and adam said That he was hiding Because he was naked And god asked him the question Who told you that you were naked? And the whole conversation that we see there in the book of genesis chapter three Is a picture of a god who seeks out the lost When god said to adam Where are you it wasn't because god didn't know where adam was And therefore needed adam to inform him where he was it was a cosmic hide and seek You know where are you where are you it wasn't anything like that What it was was a heartbroken god calling out to a son who was lost In such a way that it should pierce the heart of that son to hear the broken tears of the voice of the one seeking him So that that one adam could see the love and concern his father had for a lost son And be cut to the heart so that he might see that his son was seeking his father was seeking him so that he might Find him in order that he might Have fellowship with him that had been broken by that sin And what god was saying when he said to him adam, where are you was adam confess Tell me where you are. I took of that tree that you for you said I couldn't take of and I did eat You had to confess You see the bible tells us that god seeks and saves those who are lost We may have this this fear of confrontation because Part of coming to the lord is going to include us giving up things that we may be addicted to or want to keep If I come to the lord, I'm gonna I'm not going to be able to do the things that I enjoy doing so much right now someone says You know, I like the myth or I like the I like the the crack. I like I like the the alcohol I like the the promiscuity. I like I like what I'm doing. Why would I want to give that up? I'm going to actually give something up that I enjoy doing to what become a church boy Are you kidding me? To have to look so weird and squirrely and go to church and carry a bible and all of that. Are you kidding me? That's not cool What's really cool is me walking around when I'm 60 years old and having no teeth and having a potbelly And having no family. That's going to be really cool But right now I look pretty good. I mean every beer commercial I ever see has a bunch of young people enjoying themselves in a bar Every time I see somebody smoking a cigarette. They look really cool. Don't they real sophisticated, don't they? I don't think about emphysema. I don't think about lung cancer I don't think about all of that. I'm spending on that stuff to kill mice. I don't think about that Are you kidding me? I enjoy this I used to think that smoking was a real real cool thing to do My mama for many years smoked when she got right with the lord. She gave it up and hasn't had a cigarette and Almost 40 years now 39 years My mama smoked since she was a little girl and she gave it up when she got right with the lord Me I saw my mom when she would smoke cigarettes and my mom looked so cool I mean she'd have that cigarette in her in her mouth and her cup of coffee and that Cigarette smoke would kind of waft into her eyes and she'd kind of close them kind of cool And I'm telling you man. I thought oh Sophisticated I liked it man. She looked so cool And I was about 15 and I used to wear this pompadour And our hair was all pulled out like that. It's all cool I sprayed it with hairspray It's like a helmet And I had my cigarette in my mouth. My mom used to turn on the stove and light her cigarette from the burner Oh cool. Yep. I stuck my hair into it I had the first afro in norwalk It blew up boom like that and I still like wily coyote, you know But man did I look cool And you do you think that way you know it and I know it You think it is all good. It's all cool man It's the coolest thing when your friends say to you man I saw you last night and you were all covered with your own vomit. Yeah, I had a good time And I I awoke in my own vomit more than once and I tell you the truth when I say that bottom line And then you tell people man. I had such a great time last night. I just don't remember it But when you tell me what I did I know it was fun And that's how I was And you could not argue me out of that You couldn't you couldn't tell me walking with God was better than that. Are you kidding me? You've got to be kidding me Man, I love to party. I love the things that I'm doing I don't want to give that stuff up. I want to hold on to that. I want that That's how a lot of people are They want to keep it because they think that if I give that up they're going to live a life that is really not worth living They're going to they're thinking man. If I give this up, then what do I have? I won't have any friends. I won't have any I won't know what am I going to do go to church every day of the week. What are you talking about? Say they don't understand The peace that you have when you come to God, they don't understand that The peace I used to put my head on a pillow at night Knowing that somebody was after me because I stolen something from them or whatever. I knew that There were places I wouldn't go sometimes because I knew they're the guys after me there because I'm not going to go there Because I ripped off the radio or I stole their money I knew that And I'd look into the back. I'd be driving I'd look into my rear-view mirror and I'd see a black and white behind me Man, I would freak because I was usually holding Usually had some drugs on me or I was drunk And I'd look into that rear-view mirror and I'd say, oh god Please don't let them pull me over I can remember I was in norwalk. I was driving home from a friend's house. I'd been smoking pot It was three in the morning I was very very loaded I was driving this one street that didn't have any it was a two-laner, but it didn't have any stripes Any white lines that were divine in and I was driving with one eye closed because I was so loaded I could hardly even see what was in front of me And I pulled up to a stop sign And then I pulled away as I was driving I looked in my rear-view mirror and there was a chp patrolman right behind me Now I was driving a 1962 ford falcon station wagon. I had long hair And I had a piece flag in the back covering the back window We used to call that a bust car Because they're going to just pull over they're going to bust you And my side windows were painted black. You couldn't see into my car But I was I looked in my left rear-view mirror and I saw the the patrolman behind me and I thought oh no I had just been arrested for something just shortly before that And I my dad had said you go to jail again. I'm not I'm not bailing you out And I still remember it was like yesterday my I had when I closed as I was driving trying to just drive home And I remember coming to imperial highway I could take a left or I could take a right And as I looked I saw his blinker go to the right. I took a left And I pulled away from him and it drove home. He didn't pull me over. I got home and I started going Oh man, that was a close one I had a lot of those a lot of close calls like that friend of mine is lighting up and smoking a joint and he turns and looks right at a cop And turns and looks at me And the cop was looking the other direction when that happened I had a lot of close calls like that And I thought oh this is living You're going to take this from me There are a lot of people like that God wants to give you peace God wants to give you joy You go from one relationship to another and every one of them you either break somebody's heart or they break yours You go for one thing to another and you don't have any joy in your life at all You're miserable and that's part of the reason you're always loaded That's part of the reason you move from person to person from thing to thing from one activity to another Because you're looking for something to make you happy and it doesn't it's just temporary God says I've got something that's beyond that I give you joy. I can give you peace I can give you love. I can give you those things those are the things I have for you I can give you forgiveness. You'll never have forgiveness Until you ask from the lord And I'll forgive you and you know what he's actively seeking you out The bible tells us that god is looking for his sheep. He says I will seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places Where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day I will seek them out and I will find them and that's what jesus was doing He was rather david was doing david said Is there somebody that I can bless? Yes, there is a cripple He can't come to you But you know what they brought him they brought him to david He was crippled and that's what we were we were incapable of walking even as in mark chapter one when Andrew Had been pointed to jesus by john the baptist and spent the day with jesus And discovered who he was and he went and he got his brother the apostle peter who became the apostle peter And he's and he brought his brother to jesus. That's what we do and this is called by the way evangelism And the evangelism that we do has a gentleness to it. It's it's a loving evangelism. It's a loving concern for people It's it's that love that you have for people you want them right with god and you love them enough to tell them the truth There are some people who who do have it seems like almost an anger in them when it comes to trying to win people to christ They're angry they like they're saying if you don't come to christ, you're gonna go to hell and i'm gonna be happy to see that Sometimes they stand on street corners and they yell at people sometimes they go with signs at that gay pride parades And it says god hates fags and they have this anger in them towards people and they want these people to die and to burn And that isn't the heart of the lord That isn't the heart of the lord God loves the world so much he gave his son There's got to be a loving evangelism a love enough to tell the people the truth But to love them and they'll know the difference people know when you love them and you're telling the truth And how difficult it may be sometimes to tell them the truth because you'd rather say something different You'd rather say, you know, everybody goes to heaven. Don't even worry about it. Enjoy your life And it's very difficult sometimes when you when you evangelize when you share because people don't understand They think you're filled with hate and you're not you're loving them enough to tell them what is true And you say you need to come to the lord Because god wants to bless you But you can't because you're crippled so he calls for you And someone will bring you the spirit of god brings you to jesus And he blesses you david wanted To have this man mefibosheth at his table He shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons I'm gonna bless him I'm gonna bless him At my table That's what the lord does with you God has made you when you come to christ And you say god be merciful to me. I am a sinner. I need your help. I believe jesus you died for me I do believe that He says i'm gonna make you a son at my table and you're gonna eat What I've prepared for my children. I'm gonna bless you In Jeremiah 17 verses 7 and 8 it says blessed is the man who trusts in the lord And whose hope is the lord For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river And will not fear when heat comes its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought Nor will cease from yielding fruit when everything around you is drying up God says Because your roots are deep into the water of life and my spirit and my word You're going to continue to produce When everything dries up around you i'll keep you fresh And i'll keep you alive And you will be blessed because you have a relationship with god through jesus david wanted to be a blessing Mephibosheth thought he was going to die But when Mephibosheth was given Was life as a son almost like the son of the king There at the king's table Well the one Who at one time pretty much was ruling over his life and living off the things that belonged to him became a servant with his sons Making sure that his family was cared for david Wanted to bless because david Is a picture sometimes of the love of god for us