KINGS | Week 6 | Full Service

It says, one day David asked, is anyone in Saul's family still alive? Anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake? He summoned a man named Zeba, who had been one of Saul's servants. Are you Zeba? The king asked. Yes, sir. I am, Zeba replied.

The king then asked him, is anyone still alive from Saul's family? If so, I want to show God's kindness to them. Zebra replied, yes. One of Jonathan's sons is still alive. He is crippled in both feet. If you look if you've been reading along with us, you know that this is Jonathan's son. He he was five years old

when when his dad died, when Saul was killed. And as they ran to get him out to hide him because he he he would be the next in line and take care of him, he, they dropped him, and he he became permanently disabled. And so he says, where is he? The king asked. In Lo Debar, Ziba told him, at the home of Machir, son of Ammiel.

So David sent for him and brought him from Machir's home. His name was Mephibosheth. Great name. Anybody else name your kids Mephibosheth? What's the nickname for that? Mephi? Mephi? Mepho? Bo? Bo chef? Chef? I don't know. You'll figure it out. You're the one that named it that.

He was Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson. When he came to David, he bowed low to the ground in deep respect. David said, greetings, Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth replied, I am your servant. Don't be afraid, David said. I intend to show kindness to you because of my promise to your father, Jonathan.

I will give you all the property that once belonged to your grandfather, Saul, and you will eat here with me at the king's table. Mephibosheth bowed respectfully and exclaimed, who is your servant that you should show such kindness to a dead dog like me?

Then the king summoned Saul's servant Zeba and said, I have given your master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and servants are to farm the land for him to produce food for your master's household. But Mephibosheth,

your master's grandson, will eat here at my table. Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Ziba replied, yes, my lord and king. I am your servant. I will do all that you have commanded. And from that time on, Mephibosheth ate regularly at David's table, like one of the king's own sons. Mephibosheth had a young son named Micah.

From then on, all the members of Zebes household were Mephibosheth's servants. And Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem and ate regularly at the king's table. So he tracks this guy's down to be kind to and he says, want to show God's kindness and and and and because kingdom people are kind people.

But what are we talking about? What what does this kindness mean? It's not how we traditionally define kindness. Matter of fact, the the Hebrew word there is this word, chesed. Chesed. I practiced it so I could at least get one word right. The rest, I fake. You guys think I'm pronouncing stuff right? I have no idea.

Just say it confidently. But this is chesed, like you're clearing your throat. And and and the problem is in in English to just transliterate it, it means an undeserved kindness and generosity. However, a lot of Hebrew words, since it's a more storytelling language,

they have way deeper meanings. It's not Kasid is not a word that easily just translates right into a a corresponding English word.

And so it means so much more. It it can mean covenantal love. It means a lot of things. So so I have a quote here from a Darrell Bock. He's a bible scholar and Hebrew expert that that says that this is what it really is if you're trying to say it in English. It's wrapping up in itself, this word, chesed.

All the positive attributes of God, love, covenant faithfulness, mercy, grace, kindness, loyalty, in short, acts of devotion and loving kindness that go beyond the requirements of duty. So kindness is a verb. It's something that you pursue.

It's something that you choose. It's something you decide, and it is all of these things. And so when David said, I'm gonna go find this guy and show him kindness,

this is what he meant. Matter of fact, this word is so powerful and means so much to David that if you look in the Bible for which book of the Bible uses this word the most, it's the book of Psalms, which talk about God and their their poetry. They were sung and guess who wrote tons of the Psalms?

David. He uses this word a lot because he'd experienced it. He'd experienced God's kindness. So it means so much more when you when you say this word than just be cordial and be nice. So when he's saying I'm gonna be nice, he's being nice because God had been nice had been kind. But what are we saying?

What does that mean for you and me? If I'm a kingdom person that's gonna choose to be a kind person, What does that look like? And I just have one point to make about this then I'm going to go back to one of these verses and show what that looks like and it's simply this

kindness pursues Mercy and provides Grace. There's the there's what it means to be kind if you want to know it in our language and we're going to see it in this story. It means if I choose kindness in my relationships, I am the one that will pursue Mercy. What is Mercy Mercy is not giving somebody something they deserve

and that means something bad. Have earned something bad. They've earned punishment. They've earned pain. They've earned whatever it is. That's is they deserve something unpleasant and Mercy says I won't do that. Grace is the flip side Grace is now giving you something great providing something good that you haven't earned.

So grace and mercy. So what it means is if I'm going to be a kingdom person, if I'm going to point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus, This is how Jesus loves he pursues mercy and provides Grace and we need to filter and say am I a kind person am I bringing kindness to my relationships?

Am I kind to the people I come across And really what I said and most importantly is I think the people the person we tend to struggle with most being kind to providing mercy when someone's done something that's frustrated you and they deserve something else, but then not only not doing the bad thing,

but then choosing to still provide and meet needs and and and choose to act in love on top of not acting in anger. The person you're married to and the people you live with are usually the people we most offend. They're the people we have the hardest time being kind to and how this is defined.

Because what does that really look like? What does that really look like? And I want to talk about it in the story, but I do have to give a little disclaimer really quick because these type of talks are been abused by abusers and people that have been abused have used them as getting told you got to stay in abuse.

Like if you're in a marriage and the other person deserves, you know, bad. They're they're abusive and you're saying so I shouldn't do anything and I should stay and still take care of them. That's not what this is saying matter of fact. There's a perfect example in the life of David.

You see, if if you maybe kindness to you is you gotta establish a boundary. You don't have to stay, but establish some boundaries. You can still be kind without being present. Kinda like what I've always said. You can love a bear, but you shouldn't hug one.

Alright? So so so you you you might need to back off and create boundaries. Don't stay in abuse. David did that with Saul. We've seen it. We've actually taught through part of this. You go read the whole story.

He stayed kind to Saul. He's even continued to stay kind to Saul's family after Saul's dead. What he did do is, hey. When Saul threw a spear out of me, he goes, I ain't living here anymore. And he moved out and stayed away. But guess what? He showed mercy,

and he showed grace. Because how many times could he have killed Saul? He could have taken it back, and Saul deserved it in many ways.

He could have justified. He says, you tried to kill me. I killed I've been told I'm gonna be king. He could have actually mentally said, God already told me I'm be king. That's what his men tried to tell him when he was hiding in a cave. God said you're king. Now he put this for current king that's trying to kill you right in front of you.

Be king. And he goes, no. I'm gonna be kind. I will not lift my hands. And maybe that's what some of you need to do. I'm not saying you encourage abuse or you stay in abuse. But as you back away, get boundaries, but you can still be kind.

Don't stay and then do the same thing back. Don't stay and go, well, you know what? Part of abuse is you keep cheating on me and you're a jerk. So you guess what? I'm just gonna get my own world. I'm gonna cheat on you too. Two can play this game. Don't do that.

You can still be kind and be just does that make sense? I didn't want you to hear something that wasn't being said. So what does this look like in this story? How did David I think he defines how to do this by what he does here.

And if you go back to verse seven, there's four statements I want to point out about how it shows pursuing mercy and providing grace. And the first one is what he says right there in verse seven. Don't be afraid.

He's he says, I intend to show kindness to you. So he goes, don't be afraid. I'm gonna be kind. I'm not gonna do why does he have to tell him don't be afraid? Why would Mephibosheth need to be told to not be afraid? You understand in this culture, Mephibosheth thought he was about to be executed.

You see, in their culture is when you replaced a previous reign of a king, the first thing you did was wipe out any heirs, any potential threats. Because I don't care how good a king you are, how good you are, we all understand this in in America, you know, on any issue, people are split sixty sixty.

It's it's it's it's weird. You get two of us in a room, there's three or four opinions. You know, it's like it's you get a good king, there's always someone. No matter how bad Saul was, someone's gonna go, I want it back like it used to be.

You know? And and and so the threat was if you had a heir, they could rise up, rally people, get a thing, and and and rebel against you. So an heir to the throne was a threat to your throne. And Saul had been a jerk, so he had every reason to go, I'm wiping out this line altogether. So to say,

don't be afraid is that idea that I'm gonna have mercy on you. I'm not gonna do that. How about in your relationships?

And here's what's crazy. It mentioned several times how he was crippled in both feet. He couldn't walk. People had to carry him someplace. So if you were to keep someone alive, it's usually because they had some added benefit to you as a leader, as a potential person to do something, but he grew up in hiding and crippled

people had to provide for him. He's of no immediate benefit to David. He's basically only a threat because you know who could use him? Someone that has some power and has some influence that doesn't like David, that just wants that kid's name and stamp him up there as a puppet leader.

So there are there you could make a lot of every day, like, there's a way that seems right to man arguments that says he should end him. There's no benefit here. So he's choosing to have mercy and then even grace. We'll see in a sec on someone that that that can't really pay him back.

There's nothing he's gonna get out of it. And that's what real kindness is. He's not just doing this because he's gonna get something out of it. And that's the kind of kindness we're supposed to be. Kingdom people show kindness to those who can't return it. Matter of fact, that's what makes it kindness,

is you're doing it when someone is not giving you anything back. And and that's when it's that's when you say, oh, you don't understand people's. I can't be kind. I can't be merciful and then grace filled to that person because they are blah blah blah. Every time, It's there's nothing they can give to you. There's nothing they can do. And you that's our reason to not be kind, but that's the definition of when we're supposed to be kind.

Think about that in your marriage.

What if what if what if husbands? What if we chose to be the leaders that the Bible tells us to be not the patriarchy nonsense that people think it's saying, but actually lead and what leading says in the book of Ephesian is you go first

and what you go first is you love your wife like Christ loved the church. Okay. How do you love the church? He died for the church. Right? But why do you have to die for the church? Because they were sinners Against who? Against him. Us, the church people, the people Jesus died for, we're called the bride of Christ. Right?

We're useless. We have no benefit. We actively are rebelling against him. We can't provide anything to this relationship, and we have actively fought him and disrespected and ignored God. And guess what he did? The groom.

He came and died to rescue us, the bride. When it says men lead your homes, that's what it's saying. Go first. But you don't understand. She just won't she won't respect me. She will go first, but she was going to she's the church. You're Jesus, and you need to get on the cross.

And wives says you need to show kindness too. If if if if the husband's supposed to lead the way by being Jesus on the cross, you're supposed to respect him. Submit respect by being Jesus in the Garden Of Gethsemane. When he prayed about the plan

and he submitted to the father, God himself. Jesus was co equal with God, but he chose submission. So to say, I'm gonna respect my husband even if he doesn't have respectable or I think I got a better plan or I got this and I can fight. It doesn't mean your lesson. You're just equal. You're just being Jesus in the Garden when because Jesus said, don't think I had this idea. This plan is going be a little painful for me,

but not my will that I will be done show kindness even when he's not respectable. But a little side note, guys, why I think what a leader means is go first. It doesn't mean be boss.

It's because it says, I think, six times in Ephesians five for the husband to love his wife. You know how many times it tells your wife to love you? Zero. Not once. It just says to respect. And if you understand what it's really saying, it's implying that if you lead and actually lead with kindness,

I will show mercy and I will provide grace. I will take care of you. I will love you when you were the most unlovable.

Most of the time, she will end up turning around and loving you. It's a given.

That's how kindness works. And I think there's many people in this room that you're thinking of relationships you lost, and this is probably why, and you might be in the middle one that's going bad. This might be the only thing you need to fix it. It's two people showing kindness,

but they don't deserve it. That's what kindness is. But why would I serve money when when when when they deserve something else? Because that's what kindness is.

It doesn't make any sense, but that's what David did. What he did made no sense. He had every right to kill this man.

But instead, he took care of him.

And how? He's he went above and beyond. If he would have just said you're not gonna die, go back to where you've been living, that would have been a blessing.

But he goes beyond and he says, I will give you all the property that once belong to your grandfather Saul. So he enriched him. He gave him he provided for him, and and he gave back his because apparently,

two things. One, David usually, the new king keeps all that. So he gave what would would be rightfully his, gave it to him anyways, didn't keep it. All the wealth that Saul acquired while chasing and trying to kill him when David should have been king.

But he says, you know what? I'm giving that to you. It also tells you that this guy, Ziba, was probably living and taking care of that land because he ordered him to keep taking care of it. So he he was literally giving him the land that someone else was using anyways.

He's not only he gave them this land back that he didn't even have. It's not like I'm letting you keep the land of your father that you should have inherited and already been living in. Somehow, you're in hiding and not even on that land. I'm giving you an inheritance that was never given to you.

And rightfully, it's mine now.

That's pretty big. That's some grace. He's above and beyond. He went way above and beyond with that. And then he went a step further. He says, and you will eat at my table. He's like, every Thursday night, we're gonna Uber Eats, and and and we're gonna just see watch something on TV or whatever.

No. To eat at the king's table was a big deal. It meant your family. That's why at the end it says he basically treated him like a son. He adopted him. He's like, now there's no problem. You know why? Because you're now not an heir to Saul's family. You are my son. You're in a new family now.

And he did this for a guy that couldn't return a favor, couldn't pay back. He had no reason to do it. Everything said he could be a threat. But why? Did he do it because Mephibosheth was just so cute? He's just cute.

Did he do it? No. He said right there this is the first thing he said, don't be afraid. I intend to show you kindness to you because of my promise to your father, Jonathan. So because of God's goodness, kindness, and Jonathan's kindness. You see, Jonathan knew God's kindness.

Jonathan express that kindness to David. He'd already experienced it. If you read the story Jonathan should have been the next King. He was in line to air matter of fact Saul ripped on his own son about this. He's like, why are you helping this guy? You know, he's gonna take your inheritance, right?

He's like, why would you help the guy that's gonna any and Jonathan's because because God said so that's why and he's my friend. So he helped him over and over again knowing that he would eventually have the kingdom that was supposed to be his.

Jonathan showed such kindness. So before Jonathan would to die, one of last times they were talking, Jonathan so trusted God.

He didn't fight it like his dad did. He didn't say, I'm gonna kill Saul, David, myself, and then maybe I can be king too. He he trusted God. Said that's not God's plan. So what he'd live is he looked at David and says, okay. After I'm gone and you're king, be kind to my family. So he's doing this for Jonathan.

You sense a little bit of the story of Jesus in here? Jesus. God loves us not because we're lovable. God loves us because he loves and he does it on behalf of Jesus.

And that's what's happening here. And that's why he says I want to show for the sake of Jonathan. I'm showing God's kindness because he had experienced he'd experienced Jonathan's kindness, but he also knew God's kindness and he had experienced that between him and Jonathan and he's returning the favor.

He's he's he's he's being a kingdom person that is a kind person because he knew God's kindness.

Matter of fact, if you go to chapter seven verse 18 through 20 when David's finally king, after spending decades, a lot of us would see, well, God said I'm gonna be king, and now it's been decades of running and hiding and not even my own land. And the king kinda killed me. Come on, God. It's about time.

Some of us would be like, well, it's about time you finally came through and gave me this. It's not how David responded. When he realized that he'd have been given this, and then God said, and you're gonna have an eternal

dynasty of kings. Now I don't think David quite understood what it meant because he was one of the the the ancestors of Jesus,

the king of kings. But I think he understood, I'm gonna be a part of something that's lasting forever. I had to be a part a front row seat of what God is doing for all of eternity. And look how he responds. King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed, who am I, o sovereign Lord? And what's my family that you have brought me this far?

And now, sovereign Lord, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty?

Do you deal with everyone this way, o sovereign Lord? He's like, wait. Wait. Wait. Is this just a special deal for me? Or does everybody get this? It's it's it's the Rogers rate, those stupid commercials where they know everybody gets it. No. No. I know you're giving me something special. No.

He says it now. No. What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like,

sovereign Lord. He goes, I can't. I don't understand this. You did all this for me already. Now you're doing this for me. Now you're doing all this. Is this really how you work, or is this a special one time deal? Do you do this with everybody? Because you know what I'm really like. Right?

What he's confessing is, you're not doing this because I'm better than Saul. I'm a sinner too.

He's realizing it. You see, God's goodness so confused him. The gospel confuses a lot of us. A lot of you say, oh, I believe in Jesus, but you have the hardest time embracing that you can't earn God's love. You don't come here to try to be better to pay God back for what he did for you. We want to follow him because

of what he did for us that if he loves me this way, he gives me mercy doesn't make me answer and die and spending eternity without him hopeless lost eternity without him because of my sin. He not only doesn't

have me die. He gives me this eternal life and invites me to be at his table for all eternity to be his child to be in the family to be a part of it. And and and when you it doesn't make any sense. It's a deal. Basically, it's like what we clear. That sounds like a deal too good to be true.

And so we have a hard time accepting it. And the problem is when you realize God did it because who he is, that sounds kind of negative, but really it should be positive. Because since he's the one that did it for you because he chose to love you because of Jesus, and that's how it happened, every time you mess up, you don't have to run from him and hide afraid that now the other shoe's gonna drop because he already knew it was gonna happen. And that was never gonna earn your spot with him anyways. It should make us quick to run back to him.

In other words, God's kindness changes us. And our kindness, God will use in other people's lives to change them as well.

That's why kingdom people are kind people. That's why we need to choose this thing that makes no sense. David's basically, I feel like I'm getting away with something. And that's why we have a hard time expressing kindness to others because we're like, they're gonna get away with something.

But it doesn't work that way. It changes us. Matter of fact, in Romans chapter two verse four, it says this, don't you see how wonderfully kind, same thing,

tolerant and patient God is with you. Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? We think that you have to use threats intimidation fear tactics, you betters to get people to change. And God says, no. It's my mercy and my grace that's gonna change you.

Because when you stop fighting it and you surrender to me and you accept my love, you will receive my spirit, and you'll act like David. I don't get it. You know how who I am, but you did it anyways. And then we'll respond like Mephibosheth. I am your servant. I am your servant.

And because of that the very last verse verse 13 of this whole chapter says this and Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem and ate regularly at the king's table. He had this relationship. That's how it works. That's how it's supposed to work with you and me, with God. And then God's

when we experience it, we're then empowered to express it. So if you have a hard time expressing it in your relationships, it's probably because you're not sitting at the king's table regularly. You're not sitting with the Lord regularly.

You're not you might show up at church, but are you sitting with the Lord regularly? Are you communing with him regularly? Because every time think about it. Every time David,

Mephibosheth and David sat together at table, Mephibosheth, every time he looked at David, he was reminded of not only David's kindness, but God's kindness because he said, I'm bringing you God's kindness. And but it was also different for David too to be the one that pursued it.

Every time he sat at a table and he looked at Mephibosheth, guess what he saw? Jonathan.

He saw the goodness of God expressed through him.

And that's why that's what changes us. It does. But we have to sit at the table with the Lord. I think that's what communion is all about. Why did Jesus tell us to do this thing where we remember the Lord's Supper? He sat at a table with his disciples

and then said, I'm about to express the ultimate expression of mercy and grace. My body's going to be broken. My blood's going to be spilled, but then I'm going to rise from the dead and you are going to have God's mercy and God's grace. God's kindness is about to pour out on you. And after it's done,

I want you to sit at my table together regularly and see my goodness. Communion is not a place where you get the grace you get. You might have grown up in a a church that says you got to take communion. You're not safe because somehow

it becomes his body and his his his blood. I have to take that in because that's what really saves me. No. It's a at the table and remembering what he did

is a way to change us, to turn us back from our sin. Communion is a moment to reflect and say, where do I need to turn for myself and turn to God? It's a place today to maybe even think about who, where who in my life do I need to show kindness to? Is it my spouse? Is it my kids? Is it a coworker? Who in my life and here's the deal.

It's not the person that you think you're gonna get some benefit from for doing. You just choose to do it. You're gonna be kind because it will change you. Because as you you get ready for communion, just I wanna tell you one last story. Last week was Mother's Day.

And my mom was born on Mother's Day. Last Saturday would have been her 80 birthday. And if I was to describe my mom in one word, it would be kind. And not the world's version. She had that. It's this definition of kind. She was always showing mercy, pursuing mercy and providing grace. And it changed me.

It showed me the kindness of God before I even knew God.

And I know this because for some reason, of the strongest memories I have, I see it in my head like it was ten seconds ago. And it's one of the earliest memories. I was three or four years old. I don't even know how old I was. It was the early seventies. I was a little kid. And I remember this to this day.

And what happened was I was doing some errands with her and we stopped at the pharmacy and she went to get in line to talk to the pharmacist. And I looked in right in the middle of the aisle was these little like trough things with bags of candy. I think it was Halloween time.

And I remember I go, mom, I want some candy. She goes, no, no candy. But I want candy. I'm hungry. I want something sweet. Can I please have candy? And she's like, no, just trust me. I got a better idea.

And I'm like, you know what? But I'm standing there and I keep looking at the candy. I don't look at my mom, and this is the more I look at the candy, guess what I want more of? So I walk over and I look in the trough, and I noticed that one of the bags has a little hole in it and a piece had fallen out.

And I remember as clear as day. I might have been only four, but I was already getting some good some good justification skills going on. Because I thought to myself, kind of the version of how when you get McDonald's fries,

the ones that fall into the bottle of them in the bag are free agent fries. They're anybody's game. You didn't have to order french fries, and you can eat those. No one can claim them. It's whoever gets them, gets them. So I thought that's free agent candy. It fell out of the bag. It's no longer for sale. It's for it's up for grabs.

So I ate the piece of candy, and I thought I had no problem with that. But then I'm like, eat one piece of candy? That's terrible. It's like one potato chip. And and and so I was like, I wanted more. So I punched the bag and another piece flew out.

And then I realized I punched again. Go, this is too slow. She's almost done. So I ripped it open. I said, yeah, I justified it. What if the hole gets bigger? It fell out.

And so then I started eating more. And I saw she's almost done. I go, there's not enough time. I want more candy. So I took handfuls and stuck it in my pockets. And I go, we'll save that for later. And then we walk out. And she's like, tell me, you've been so good. This is awesome.

Love you, son. And and we walk and and we walk out. And as she told me how good I had been, I was like, I I felt guilty. And so I said, I don't wanna get in trouble for this, so I gotta take care of this myself. I'm gonna fix this myself. And I thought I was being such the criminal mastermind.

And I I I see it in my head so clear. What I thought was brilliant is I took them out of my pocket, and I threw them while we were walking. And she's right in and I threw them, and they went right into the side of a car. Just made noises like gunshots.

And my mom, I I think she was actually literally looking at me while I did it too. I just went and she's like, what did you just throw? Are you throwing rocks at cars? Don't you? She's like, wait. What? Is this candy?

I told you not where did you get this? Did you tear into one of those bags? And I I confessed. I was like, yeah. But I'm sorry, mom. I didn't mean I'd been in it. And she's like, nope. We gotta go deal with this. And she went to take me back inside. And then I freaked out. I'm like, no. Don't make me do that. I'm already I'm sorry. Sorry. She drives. She picks me up. I I tuck my my head into her into her shoulder, and I am crying. I am I'm doing that snot bubble cry. You

know? And I was like and she goes in, and she goes up tell the guy, and the reason I'm crying so hard is he's like, okay. I was pretty confident she's going in to tell him so they could call the police. Because robbers get arrested. Right? So I remember being honest. I remember this. I was gonna get arrested.

And then she says, hey. Just say you're sorry, and I didn't wanna do it. And you know when kids, you get them to do something, just say you're sorry. That's all I'm asking you to do. Just say you're sorry. She's like, and I was like, no. So then I finally do what a kid does. I kinda look at it. Go, I'm sorry.

And I tuck my head back in. And then all of sudden, she goes, how much is the bag of this candy? And she paid for it. No police. We get in the car to leave. Wow. Dodge that bullet. But then we turned the other direction. Our house is that way. We left this way. Oh, no.

I'm sitting in my, like, car seat thing, which was a metal cape. They were weird back then, holding on to it. And I'm like I remember thinking, she's taking me to the police station. That's what she's doing. She's gonna she's gonna turn me in herself. Maybe there's a reward.

And then I thought, no. It could be even worse because I have no sense of direction at that age. I go, maybe she's going to where my dad works. She's taking him to my dad. And I thought, I'd rather get arrested. But we went about half a walk down the street, we turned into a Dairy Queen.

We walk out, and I was super confused. And she goes up, she orders me my favorite thing, a hot fudge sundae. And then we sit down, we ate it. We ate together. She just said all she said about this was she goes, Billy, I told you to trust me. I said, no, Candy, because you were so good.

And I love you so much, I was planning to bring you to get an ice cream anyways. All you had to do was trust me and wait. That's all you had to do. But she brought me there anyways.

I go, are you going to tell dad? Daddy? She goes she took a bite of my sundae and says, tell him what?

That's kindness. She showed me mercy and grace, And I don't understand it. I still don't understand. I mean, there's a part of me that I teach like how we should parent that this is seems like a terrible parenting model. It seems so wrong.

It seems like I should be messed up. Maybe I am. I don't know. But that's why I ended up a pastor. I'm really twisted in the head. But it doesn't make any sense. Why are you doing this, mom? You know what I just did. You know who I am. I can't believe you did it, and she did it anyways. That's what Jesus did for us.

That's what God does for us. And the more we can sit at the table with him and eat the sundae and remember that, maybe, just maybe, we can take that and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to apply that into our lives and show it to other people. Amen? Amen.

And that's why I think we're supposed to take communion is to remember those moments. Is to sit at the table with them. And when I'm like, you're gonna are you gonna tattle on me? You're gonna tell? He goes, tell what? Because when God looks at us, he sees Jesus. And that's why he has us do these moments to reflect

on how he's been kind and maybe who do I need to go be kind to. That's why he said take the bread and eat. It's my body broken for you. And then took the cup, said this is my blood spilled for you for forgiveness of sins. Take and drink.

Father God, I simply just thank you for your kindness. It makes no sense. I thank you for allowing me to experience that through my own mom to give me an example of what that looks like for me to use in other people's lives. So Lord, I pray for myself and all of us in this room, anyone watching online,

as we embrace your everlasting kindness, your mercy that you pursue us with, the grace that you provide us with so lavishly. Empower us to be a kingdom person that is a kind person as well. I pray this in the mighty holy name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Well, hey. Thanks for being here, guys. Love you, guys.

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