A man took his picture to a photographer and said, "This photograph does not do me justice." And the photographer said, "Sir you don't need justice, you need grace and mercy."
Grace will set you free from the tyranny of yourself. Have you failed? Have you fallen? Then ask for God's forgiveness and experience His amazing grace. Forgive yourself. Laugh, smile and be happy, the sun will shine again and there is a new beginning in Jesus Christ.
Grace will set you free from the tyranny of other people. Their unreasonable expectations. Their foolish opinions and their overbearing demands. Life is fun when you quit trying to please everybody. Cheer up. It makes no difference what you do, you are going to be blamed by somebody for doing something they didn't like, that they thought didn't go right. Just relax, you'll be blamed for something soon enough.
Just remember, God's in charge and His grace is sufficient to help you and to endure. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. Grace is an ocean without a shore line. Grace is greater than all of your sin. There is no ditch too deep for the grace of God to bail you out and to give you a new beginning.
YOU ARE NOT SAVED BY WHAT YOU DO.
Today I am praying that the revelation of God's grace explodes within your heart that you discover the grace of God and love without measure and joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. And peace that passeth understanding and hope for the hopeless and healing for mind and body and confidence like you have never had. And a blessed assurance in the amazing grace of God. Read with me please 2 Samuel 9 and following. (2 Sam. 9:1-7, 13)
Father, may we see the amazing grace of God in this story. And all of God's children said, Praise the Lord.
Grace that is greater heals the wounded soul. Go with me in the theater of your mind 3,000 years back in history. We are in Israel. King Saul and Johnathan have just been killed in a bloody hand to hand combat on hills of Kilboa. The grassy fields are covered with the bleeding, the dead and the dying. And when the news of their death reaches the city of Jerusalem, it was a time of terror.
It was a time of disaster. It was a brutal time. It was customary that the members of the royal family that remain from any of these victories should be slaughtered, so that the king that was coming to the throne would have no one to threaten his clear title to that throne.
When word reached Jerusalem that Saul and Johnathan had been killed, the nurse of Johnathan's infant son, raced to the nursery, picked the baby up and started running for their lives. In her haste she dropped him. And he became permanently crippled for the balance of his life in both of his feet. His name is Mephibosheth.
When you hear a name like Mephibosheth, it makes you love a name like Art, or Tom or Pete. Mephibosheth is 5 years old in this scene in 2nd Samuel and we hear nothing of him for the next 20 years because he is in the land of LO- DA-BAR,........
which translates in the Hebrew, "the place of barren pastures. And he is hiding in seclusion for his life because he is fearful if found David will cut his head off, which is the royal thing to do.
Years pass and one day David is remembering his dearest friend Johnathan and he ask the question that shatters the silence of the palace. It is a gracious question.
It is the question found in the 9th chapter, the first verse, "Is there any of the house of Saul that I might show him kindness, literally mercy, for Johnathan's sake.
It is a majestic statement of Grace that Heals. Is there anyone --- say that with me. Is there anyone. Not, is there someone intelligent that can serve me. Not, is there someone wealthy who can do what I need to have done. Not, is there someone qualified, but IS THERE ANYONE?
That's the question the church in a America needs to start asking. Not is there someone who is sufficiently educated to bring a message to our church or sufficiently wealthy, or sufficiently influential but is there anyone who will come in and let the grace of God change them.
Is there anyone? Is there anyone. The down and out, the up and out. From the gutter most to the upper most. The drug addict, the alcoholic, the prostitute -- is there anyone. Bring the sick, bring the poor. Bring anyone who is looking for an answer and we will point them to the cross of Christ and let them discover his amazing grace and let them find that there is a new life in Christ and their life will just begin the moment they find the newness of Jesus Christ to be real in their lives.
Have you experienced God's amazing grace? What are you doing to bring it to someone else? 33 generations later, David's great-great grandson, Jesus Christ used the same words to ascend triple worlds. "Who so ever will, let him come." He simply said, "Is there anyone?" Is there anyone here today whose life is tormented by worry? Is there anyone here today whose life is tormented by fear and depression?
Is there anyone here today living in the chains of alcoholism and drug addiction? Is there anyone here today with a broken heart and lonely? Is there anyone here today with shattered dreams? Is there anyone here today whose family is in crisis, whose marriage is dead or dying? I am saying to you what Jesus Christ said, "There is a new beginning and there is new hope and it is in the amazing grace of the loving Christ who can revolutionize your life.
Politicians do not have the answer. "I ask you to consider a reality where 80% of the babies are born to single mothers, where young men die violently at the rate exceeding that of any American war.
Where only 1 child in 3 finishes High School and even then they can hardly read. Where the spread of AIDs and homelessness rips so visibly at the fabric of America. Where far too many families are on welfare for far too long. And where far too many children carry guns to school instead of lunch pails.
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I'M HOLDING IN MY HAND THE ANSWER!! (Bible) THIS IS THE ANSWER.
When we begin to read this, and to love this and obey this, THAT IS THE ANSWER. Christ is the answer. Is there anyone of the house of Saul? Saul who lied to me. Saul who cheated me. Saul who hated me. Saul who tried to murder me. Saul who chased me across the hills of Israel like a blood thirsty hound chasing a wounded deer. Saul the greatest enemy of my life -- is there anyone of the house of Saul?If you can only love those who love you, the love of God the Father does not dwell in you. GRACE IS LOVING THE UNLOVABLE. Grace is showing mercy to the merciless. Grace is being good to the totally bad. Does that describe you? Or can you only love those who love you? The world does not care what you know until they know that you care.
Is there any of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness and mercy. Mercy. Mercy to the family that tormented me. Does that describe you? Can you give mercy to people who torment you? The first outward demonstration of grace in your life, IS MERCY. Get it straight. If you're not merciful, you're not a Christian. Satan could care less how often you sing Amazing Grace, as long as you sing it with a frown on your face, and sarcasm in your voice.
If Satan can take mercy out of Christianity, Christianity is nothing but another cult.
Christianity without mercy is like a tree without fruit. It is a well without water. It is a cloud without rain. When you have mercy in your life, mercy will be manifested. You may have the wealth of Rockafellow and not show it.
You may have the musical skills of Bach and not manifest it. You may have the knowledge of Einstein and not expose it. But if you have the mercy of God within you, it will manifest itself. When you see the broken and the needy you can no more close the bowels of your compassion to them then the noon day sun can stop shining.
Are you merciful? NO!! Then you are not in the family of God and you are not a child of God. The Bible says, "To him that knoweth to do right and doeth it not to him it is sin". Atheist do not bother me. Madilyn O'Hera, God bless her, has forced more half baked Christians to start reading the Word of God than 10,000 preachers. Poor atheist. They dedicate their whole life to fighting God and they don't even believe He exist.
Atheist die, get all dressed up and have no place to go. I'm not bothered by an atheist. My concern is for the man or woman who sings "My Jesus I love Thee, I know thou art mine; For Thee all the follies of sin I resign; My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou: If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus 'tis now."
Acting like a junk yard dog. Mean as a snake. We talk the talk, but don't walk the walk. That's the problem. A merciless Christian. God's grace. God's grace people say, covers me regardless of what I do. To cover the stench of their godless lives with that phase, "I'm covered by the grace of God." I want you to hear this. God's grace justifies the sinner. Greasy grace excuses the sin. Granting of forgiveness without demanding change makes the Grace of God an accomplice to evil. If you forget everything else I say today, I want you to remember that.
Granting forgiveness without demanding change makes the Grace of God an accomplice to evil. People sin repeatedly and they scream grace, grace, grace. When Jesus caught the women in the act of adultery He said, "Go, thy sins be forgiven thee, go and sin no more." He said, "I want you to change, I expect change."
So the principle of Grace is this: "Yes, forgiveness is there, but we certainly expect you to change." Sin is a cancer and you either get the cancer or the cancer gets you. "Sin is fun for a season" the Bible says that, sin is FUN until you get AIDs and then it's not fun anymore. Sin is fun until your hand shakes with the DTs in a padded cell and then it's not fun anymore.
Sin is fun until you lay flat on your back in an abortion mill and you are murdering the fruit of your lust and the blood of an innocent child is on your hands. Sin is fun until the devil fries your brain with drugs, you don't know what day it is and you don't know your name and you can't recognize the face of your mother.
Is there hope for this nation? Yes. It is thru confession and repentance. It is thru a return to righteousness and truth. It is thru a return to integrity and holiness and to the Word of God. And when America loves this (Bible) and obey this and honors this, this nation under God shall prosper and shall endure.
Back to the story. When King David ask if there was anyone, a paper shuffling bureaucrat named Ziba (zeeba) stepped out of the shadow of the palace and said, "there's still a son of Johnathan's whose crippled in both of his feet". You can hear the sarcasm oozing out of his voice. His implication toward Mephibosheth is that he doesn't really fit in here. You don't really want him around here, he's really not like the rest of us, he's really not the right kind of people.
Lurking in the shadows of every church in America are the smug and the arrogant and the self-righteous grace killers who are segregating God's children. He really doesn't fit in here. She really doesn't fit in here. They don't think like we think. Their doctrine is just a little bit different than mine. He thinks you ought to be dunked 3 times to be properly baptized, as if staying in water longer would make you more righteous. If that's true, I know some who ought to be staked out in deep water over night.
He really doesn't fit in here, his skin is another color. The Church of Jesus Christ is a people's church and that's what I want this church to be. If you are fortunate to wear a $500 suit and you sit down next to someone in blue jeans, you treat him like a prince in Israel because that's who he is.
Is there anyone of the house of Saul that I might show him mercy for Johnathan's sake. When David ask, is there anyone, Ziba answered, there's one, he's crippled. David didn't say, "how crippled", he said, "Where is he?" He said, "He's in (lo-da-bar), the place of barren pastures.
Many of you here today, your life is in barren pastures. Your marriage is dead and dying. You have no joy. You have no peace, you have no smile, you have no laughter, you have no hope, you have no direction for your life. Your business is bankrupt. Your finances are in shambles. All that you hoped for has turned upside down.
I've got good news for you,
THE KING OF GLORY IS LOOKING FOR YOU.
Do not fear of wars and rumors of wars, I am the Prince of Peace. Do not fear you accusers, for I can break out their teeth with a rod of iron. DO NOT BE AFRAID. You may not know what tomorrow holds, but you know who holds tomorrow because I am the Almighty, Sovereign, Eternal God and there is none liken to Me, not in the heavens and not on the earth and not in the worlds beneath, I am God.
David said to Mephibosheth, "I'm going to restore to you all that you lost in the fall." When Jesus Christ went to the cross, He restore all that I lost in the fall in the Garden of Eden. In the Garden I lost my relationship with Jesus, but thru the cross I gained it back. In the Garden I lost my life, but Jesus said, "He that believeth on me shall never die." He gave me eternal life.
And Mephibosheth was taken to Jerusalem and he ate at King David's table every time a meal was served. And the Bible says he was lame in both of his feet. Get the picture in your mind and see that royal banquet hall and see Mephibosheth eating at the Kings right hand.
Understanding God's unconditional love. Mephibosheth says, "this is quite a day. I started out in (lo-da-bar) in rags and tonight I'm in the King's palace wearing a Hart-Shaftner & Marks. This has really been a good day" And Mephibosheth comes and he sits down at the kings table and he sticks his crippled feet under the provision of the king. From the waist up at the table he is perfect, from the waist down it is hidden by the provision of the king.
When I come to the cross, when you come to the cross, I take all of my crippled yesterdays and I place them under the table of the provision of His blood and from the waist up I am perfect in the eyes of the world, for they cannot see my yesterdays because of the forgiveness of the king, for today and forever more I am going to live in the presence of the king, He is going to provide for me and give me all that I ever lost because it is the Father's will that all good things are mine.
Listen to me. There's a king who is looking for you -- are you in lo-da-bar? And His riches are far greater than anything you can imagine and if you'll give Him the opportunity, He restore you to the fortune that Jesus Christ intends for you to have.
Let's pray.
