If you haven’t noticed the past few weeks I’ve been covering the topic of the Kingship of Christ

Lst wk I spoke about the birth of our King Jesus who came through Mary

I was thinking more about the birth of Jesus & its kind of interesting when you think about it, the humanity of God came through a human woman

but the humanity of Mary came through God

Some say Mary was the mother of God, but she can’t be, thats impossible,

she was only a vessel to bring the humanity of Jesus into – world

just as you & me are vessels to bring the message of Jesus into our world

Mary could not be the mother of his deity

God existed before Mary

Mary was just as human as we are, she herself said that she needed a Savior

Lk. 1: 46-47

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify (exalt) the Lord and my Spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior

Only sinners need a Savior, and Mary was a sinner, & she beared the very one who would bring her salvation

Mary beared the “person” of Jesus & we who are saved, bear the “name” of Jesus

yesterday we celebrated the birth of our Lord,

Some teach that Mary was holy, but theres not one reference anywhere in scripture that refers to her being holy

• Angel said she was highly favored over all – women

to be holy would mean that one is without sin, then why did she claim Jesus as her Savior?

Some teach that Mary remained a virgin, but the bible says Joseph never knew her UNTIL after Jesus was born

Matt 13:55 -56

Her & Joseph had 4 sons: James, Joses, Simon, and Judas

and daughters

without a doubt, Mary was a very faithful woman, who believed, trusted and was obedient to God

thats what faith does, it goes from hearing and believing, to putting your faith into action

We heard a singer say that Mary offered herself to be used by God, she never volunteered, God selected her. He told her you will conceive, she said “how?”

this morning I want you to pretend that a year and a half has past since Jesus was born and your living in Jerusalem

and then one day a whole crowd of wise men show up in town & say we heard there was a king of the Jews born, where is he?

Matt. 2:1

but where did they come from?

I want you to go to the scripture that says we three kings are from China

its not there, once again people build their biblical theology on a popular Christmas song, that wasn’t very biblical

just like go to the scripture that says the inn keeper tells Joseph theres no room in his inn, again, its not there, people build their biblical theology on a Christmas play

• fact is: Bethlehem was a small town & there weren’t any inns like motel 6 or holiday inn

In those days: when people traveled they stayed with a friend or relative, or they might pay someone to stay in their home

Joseph was from Bethlehem & he most likely had a lot of relatives living there & so he knocked on a relatives door

but I want you to remember what I told you last wk. Mary got pregnant before the end of the betrothal period, she brought shame on the family

& being a small town, everyone knew about it, especially the family & they weren’t happy, even if Joseph did decide to marry her anyhow

Lk. 2:7 last part, she laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn

This doesn’t necessarily mean there was too many people so there were no more rooms, it probably means there was no room in their home for the likes of them

I can almost hear Josephs kin saying, you wanted her, then go out back in the animal stall and have your kid where – animals do, want to act like an animal might as well be one

We sometimes don’t realize how much courage it took for Mary to be obedient to the Lord

Although Mary was no different than anyone else needing a Savior, we are to respect and honor her for being faithful, knowing the scorn she would face

but just as there wasn’t an inn keeper, there wasn’t 3 kings from the orient either

these men were astronomers, & we don’t know how many there were, there could have been 30 or 300

I know there were enough to get king Herods attention

Matt 2: 1

says they came from the east, from Jerusalem

if you base the time that they saw the star when Jesus was born and the time they showed up about a yr and a half later

would mean they traveled about 900 miles from the area of Iraq

Vs;2

these men weren’t kings, they were looking for a king & thats what is going to make king Herod angry

says they have seen his star in the east

I want you to understand this, the star was not in – east, it was in – west, if the wise men would have followed it to – east, then they would have ended up in China for sure

• wise men were in the east & they followed it west to Jerusalem

• question I have is how in the world did they associate a star with a Jewish king?

Num. 24:17

Balaam gave a prophecy that a star & a Sceptre = king would come out of Jerusalem (Jacob)

For some unknown reason that only God knows, these wise men had this prophecy

apparently this prophecy had been passed down through the ages and these astronomers watched & studied the stars

& when Christ was born, God miraculously placed a star above Israel & these men saw it

vs;2 says they come to worship

but this is the interesting part, why would a delegation of men travel over 900 miles that would take an excruciating 1 ½ yrs to complete

to worship a Jewish king when they were Gentiles?

Vs;3

that was the same question that all of Jerusalem asked too, they were troubled, why would these men come here?

This verse gives us the answer, to worship God

I wonder how many today would be willing to travel over desert, temperatures in the hundreds

or over mountains, rugged and rocky cliffs, or snow and cold in order to worship their God?

But when our Savior came to this earth, he came to save anyone who would believe in him and accept him he came to draw people from all over the world

but I wonder how many today are really looking for the Lord?

How many who say they are saved, are really willing to walk with Jesus everyday and be a witness for him?

To be willing to stand up in defense of our Lord even in the face of opposition ?

These wise men were willing to overcome huge obstacles and differences in cultures and nationality in order to worship the King

matt 2: 9-10

I want to know, if a star just appeared one day and started moving and wanted you to follow it how many of you crazies would?

These really are some amazin men, how much faith did they have to first start traveling to find this king, then to follow a star that magically appears ?

I’m not too sure if I would do it

I don’t know who these men were but one thing we do know is, when they found him, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy

I believe these were the first real Christians, they rejoiced greatly when they met – Messiah

today, we have radio, T.V. Books, churches, pamplets, bibles, bible stores, and advertising of every imaginable kind & yet most Americans can’t find Jesus

& whats even sadder is we have people working their fingers to the bone , trying to stop anyone else from finding him too!

I have to wonder too, if this FCC ruling to stop free speech on the internet, is a back door approach to stop people from finding God on the net?

But I look at these wise men who took over 1 ½ yrs to find Jesus and nothing was about to stop them

back to matt 2: 3 – 8

theres 2 kinds of worship in this world, one that exalts the name of Jesus & another that condemns the name of Jesus

king Herod told – wise men that when they find their king to let him know so that he can worship also, but all he really wanted to do was kill him

you’ll remember it was Herod who ordered the execution of all male children under – age of 2 to make sure he got the Jews new king,

thats why I said pretend its been a 1 ½ yrs since the birth of Christ

Herod put the age up to 2 to make sure just in case they were off a few months

matt 4:8-9

Satan wanted to be worshiped, this is also evil worship, Satan wanted to kill off any worship of Jesus just like Herod

Man has a choice of who they will worship, and it will be either Jesus Christ or Satan

People will say, well I don’t worship anyone, I’m an atheist, or a naturalist

& what I’m saying according to scripture, there is only one way to heaven & that is through Jesus Christ

& either we will fall down & worship him, or we fall down & worship the one who we will worship in hell

Matt 2:11

Notice when the wise men arrived, Jesus was no longer a babe in swaddling clothes, he was now a young child

also they didn’t come to a stable like in the Christmas pageants, they came to their home

apparently Joseph and Mary decided to stay in Bethlehem, maybe the pressure wasn’t as bad there as it was in Jerusalem from family

But look at what these men did when they saw Mary & Jesus, they fell down to worship him, not her.

True worship involves bowing before God and giving him praise, this is good worship, these wise men also brought gifts

Gold represents his birth, frankincense represents his fragrance of life & myrrh represents his death

These wise men brought as gifts the gospel

what I find interesting is when the church age is over, & Lord comes back the second time we who are his children will also bring him gifts

is 60:6

but this time we will bring him gold & frankincense but we will not bring him Myrrh

he won’t be going to – cross to die

he will come as the King of Kings to be worshiped

As we get ready to go into this next year, we need to perhaps re=emphasize our worship of our Lord

We no longer worship a babe in a manger

praise God we worship the one who conquered death & ascended to the right hand of the Father, who reigns in power & who will soon sit in righteous judgment over sinners

we serve the King of kings & the Lord of lords, & its my prayer that this coming year we will desire to worship together even more consistently

Matt 1: 18 now the birth of Jesus Christ was on the wise, When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost

on the wise = as follows in other words, Matthew is going to tell us how the birth of our Saviour took place

Theres probably not one person here who doesn’t know this story & so I really can’t tell you anything that you don’t already know

But Christmas isn’t about teaching you anything new, but rather its a time of remembering

For those of you who have had children, think back & do you remember when you found out that you were going to have a child?

At first your kind of stunned, a dis-belief, but then when you looked at that little test that confirmed it, it became very real

Your so excited, & perhaps even shed a tear or two of joy

& then when you found out the cost of having a baby, you shed a few more tears, & fear gripped your heart as you thought about you becoming a parent

What were you thinking? Was I nuts??

But lets just stay on the good side of this story

As I told you last week, the Angel Gabriel brings Mary a message from God himself that she was going to bear the Son of God & name him Jesus Christ

now put yourself in her position,

You understand everything that Gabriel told you, you understand how you are going to get pregnant

But you also understand what the Jewish law states, that if your unmarried, and you get pregnant, you can die by being stoned to death

How is she going to explain this to her parents? And to her boyfriend that she was about to be married to?

Perhaps theres someone here whose been in this position, don’t raise your hand!

But you know the difficulties that are associated with being pregnant outside of marriage

of course our culture & the culture in Marys time are diametrically opposed

in Marys time, the shame was so great that it could bring being thrown out into the streets and then killed

in our culture, you get a baby shower and its celebrated by most people, in many womens minds, having a husband just complicates things

Mary must have been so conflicted, she had to have been excited about being chosen to carry the Son of God, but knowing that no one would believe her

she first goes to her fiancee Joseph & tells him

According to their custom the parents of both the boy & girl would select a mate for their child, they would do some horse tradin & make a deal

Mt. 1:18 again espoused to Joseph Espoused = promised to or engaged to

After the deal is made, the couple would enter into a bethrothal period of one year, this was the preparation time for the couple for the wedding day

this was a binding legal agreement, it was as though they were already married but they hadn’t consummated the marriage

but during this year, if the girl was found to be unworthy the wedding was off

if she was found to be pregnant, it was up to – husband to be to either divorce her or kill her

Mary goes & tells Joseph what had happened, & just as she feared, he didn’t believer her

and who would?

I mean how many times do we hear that same type of excuse? God did it, he made me do it, or it was an act of God

come on, come up with something believable, God got you pregnant, not only is that ludicrous but its blasphemy

Joseph was a righteous man, he believed in God & now to have his to be bride blame her immorality on God? You’ve got to be kidding, what an insult

I can picture Joseph walking away from her, hurt, angry & confused of why she cheated on him, she said she loved him & look at what she did

matt. 1:19

then Joseph her husband being a just man and not willing to make her a public example was minded to put her away privately

this tells me something about Joseph,

although he was crushed by his girls infidelity he loved her and wouldn’t allow her to be stoned to death, instead he would divorce her

After Mary told Joseph I think she then went and told her parents, & again, they don’t believe her, their angry

now why do I think this?

Lk. 1:39 and Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah

Haste = in a hurry

Mary took off, perhaps for her own safety, I’m sure her parents didn’t believe what she said

& Mary needed someone who would believe her & apparently she knew her cousin might give her an understanding ear and a safe place to stay

vs;56 And Mary abode with her about three months

the way I think this story goes is like this:

No one believes Marys ridiculous story, she runs for her life to her cousins house

Joseph talks with his family & decides he will divorce her

theres always been a great deal of focus on Mary and we tend to ignore Joseph, they are both remarkable people

go back to Matt 1:19

Joseph her husband being a just man = he had a heart that was right with God

We have to remember, God not only chose Mary, he also chose Joseph a hot headed man would have executed his bride to be, but Joseph was a gentle man and he didn’t want to hurt Mary in any way, although he felt she had been unfaithful

but now she was gone, how could he help her, even her family wanted her dead

But then something changes

Matt. 1: 20-23

That busy, busy Angel is at it again, & he brings a very badly needed message to someone who is hurt and confused

Ever been there, someone you loved did something that hurt you deeply?

You thought you would never be able to forgive them & then as you prayed, the Lord brought healing to your heart & you were able to forgive them

Or you thought they did something, but they weren’t guilty,

& you found out the truth and your heart was so relieved because the one who you thought you could trust really could be trusted?

Joseph found the truth, do you think his heart soared with joy to the heights of heaven?

I believe it was during these 3 months that Mary was away, that Joseph went to her parents and convinced them what Mary told them was the truth

now how do I know that?

Luke 1: 56 and Mary abode with her about three months and returned to her own house

Mary returned to her own home

I also believe Joseph might have went and got her, they didn’t have phones & to send a messenger, she might have thought it was just a ploy to get her to come back so they could do her in

But if Joseph came personally and knocked on her door, & said, I know your telling the truth & your parents believe you also, & Mary goes home

Lk 2: 1-7

All of Marys & Josephs family are back together, they all believe what God has done and they are all traveling together to be taxed

Now how do I know they’re all together?

Because it says in vs:3 that they all went to their cities & Joseph & Mary and their families are from the same place

& also because Joseph & Mary are still not married, did you realize that when Jesus was born, his earthly mom still hadn’t married her earthly husband?

Now how do I know this?

Matt. 1: 25 he knew her not “TILL” she brought forth her first born who was Jesus Christ after Jesus was born, Mary & Joseph got hitched!!

vs;23 they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us

When I see this verse that says God is with us, I think about the liberal politicians who have worked overtime for years to remove any vestige of God

They hate the name of God & they hate the people of God until its time for them to get voted into office

all of a sudden they want God with them & your vote, after they get back into office they go right back to hating again

But what Gods Word says is, When Jesus was born, God came to this earth in human form & from that day, God has been with us in Spirit in our hearts, God is with us!!

its wonderful to see a little baby come into the world, we were at the hospital when our grandson was born

& when you look into his little beautiful face, your heart goes out to him, theres a lot of sympathy that goes from you to him

& thats because their helpless & need protecting

thats the way it was when Jesus entered the world, Joseph & Mary looked into his face & their hearts went out to him but do you think they stared at him?

I do, they must have been astonished & curious of what God looked like

what was that day really like? To hold the son of God, the most powerful being in your arms

God didn’t have to come into this world as an innocent child he could have come just like he’s going to the second time, in power and great glory

Emmanuel, God with us, when Jesus came into this world, Luke is telling us that he did not lay aside his deity he laid aside his glory

luke 2: 13-14

First of all Luke recognized the glory of God, the glory is all the attributes of God

But in vs:14 the King James did an error when interpreting this verse the angels did not say “on earth peace good will toward men”

this gives the impression that its Gods will that everyone on earth would have peace

Vs:14 again in the Greek it says; peace to men of good will

God said that men will have peace with whom he is well pleased with

Isa. 48:22 says, there is no peace saith the Lord unto the wicked

we have people crying peace, peace, peace, they sing songs that all we need is peace

but we live in a Satan dominated world where there is no peace, but there is however people who are at peace because God is with them

they have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, & they have peace with God because God has forgiven their sin but for those who have not accepted Jesus, there is no peace

Jesus came into this world, so that you and I can have Go with s and experience his peace

but the question is have you & are you?

Are you a child of the King & are you at peace with him?

This Christmas, that God for the child Jesus, but praise him for being the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords

Lst wk. I spoke about the kindness of King David to the Son of Jonathan whose name was Mephebosheth

God our Father is also a kind hearted king, who out of his kindness he gave us his Son, so that you & I can live in heaven for eternity

The O.T contains all of the history of what God started from creation and calling a nation & a people to bring Gods Son to this earth

The O.T. Starts with Genesis & ends with the book of Malachi that gives warnings of coming tribulation and then ends

for the next 400 yrs, God did not speak to anyone on earth, these have been called the silent yrs

God did not raise up or speak through a prophet or priest although God didn’t move visibly or audibly for those 400 yrs, there was still allot going on

Israel had come under Persian rule, but were actually doing very well under them, they had freedom to go to Jerusalem & build a temple

it was during this time that they established the law & Scribes & Pharisees became powerful Jewish leaders

Alexander the Great brought an end to – Persian rule which brought the Jews under the Greeks, many Jews were immersed into the Greek culture & became Hellenist

there were many battles after the death of Alexander from the Ptolemies, Seleucids, to the Maccabean , Hasmoneaons, & finally the Jews came under Roman rule & still God had not spoken one word through any human being

400 yrs later, God finally speaks, but its not through any human, but instead he sends an Angel with a message

Lk. 1: 1-4

Luke gives us the background as well as the births of both John – Baptist & Jesus & theres 2 words that are important in these verses

1^st Eyewitness – Greek word for this is autoptai = to see for yourself, in english we get the word autopsy

Luke is saying that he was a eyewitness or that he saw for himself, he made an autopsy of what we believe to be true

2^nd is ministers, Greek is: huperatai = under rower on a boat in English = intern

So what we have here in the Greek to English translation is: Dr. Luke who is a physician and a scholar has made an autopsy of the records of those who have been eyewitness’s

Eyewitness’s of what? The birth, life, death & resurrection of Jesus Christ

these 1^st 4 verses are giving us a tremendous testimony that we can be certain & assured about the Lord Jesus Christ

vs:4 that we can know with certainty

how much assurance do you have? Do you know for certain that you are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ?

Do you know for certain that if you died today that you would go to heaven?

Do you know for certain that the bible is the Word of God?

We should feel sorry for those who aren’t certain, what a terrible place to be to say your a Christian & not be certain of what your faith is built on

we need to understand that faith cometh by hearing & hearing by the Word of God

so if you really know the Word of God, then you would believe it

those who are ignorant of Gods Word are the ones who aren’t sure if their saved or not

the problem isn’t with the bible or with Jesus, the problem is with us because of our ignorance of Gods Word

vs:5

• name Zacharias = God remembers
• name Elisabeth = his oath

God had made an oath & a covenant with king David that his seed & his throne would endure forever

and 400 yrs after the close of the O.T. God remembers his oath & Elisabeth is a daughter from Aaron who was a the lineage of David & the Lord Jesus

Vs: 6-12

Zach & Elisabeth are righteous people and serving God in the temple when suddenly a Angel appears with a message

I think Zach must have been one cool dude, it says he was serving when he saw someone standing next to – alter

it says he was troubled & then he got afraid

let me tell you, if I’m by myself & all of a sudden someone is standing there, I’m having a heart attack!

I would be screaming like a little girl!!

Angels have been greatly used from creation to today in serving God

they’ve been used as protectors, as warriors, as ministers, some refer to these ministering Angels as Guardian Angels,

if I had my own personal Guardian Angel, then mines been out to lunch allot

But God does send Angels at times to minister to us in times of crisis

Larry spoke about this a bit last week in Sunday School, but the bible says that you will never know it

That we entertain them unaware

vs;13

both Zach & Elisabeth was praying for a son, now how do I know it was for a son?

Because the Angel said your prayer has been heard & you will have a son!

& you’ll name him John

A daughter named John doesn’t sound right, so we know it was a boy!

Vs;18

this is really kind of funny here, this couple is praying for a son, an Angel shows up & says your going to have one & Zach says, how can this be true, I’m married to an old woman!

Well why then was he praying for a son?? dah??

have you ever prayed like that? You pray for something but really don’t believe it will happen?

But this is the reason why we don’t receive answers to our prayers, we don’t have faith

Bible says we are to pray with faith & believe that God answers

but lets be honest, we all pray like Zach at times, he’s human & so are we

and I like the Angels response to Zach

Vs; 19

Gabe says: hey dude, I’m here telling you something straight from God, don’t question me

I think he sounds just a bit indignant here

and then look at what he does

Vs;20

Gabe says since you didn’t want to believe me oh ye of little faith, you ain’t gonna speak to anyone until your son is born take that!

I know one thing, I never want to tick off an Angel

400 yrs of silence from heaven & now God is on the move, he sends Gabe with a first message & now he’s going to send a second message

Vs; 26-34

Mary also questions the Angel Gabriel, apparently she didn’t know who she was dealing with, an Angel with an attitude

of course Zach couldn’t call her & warn her either!

But the facts are: Zachariah was struck speechless because he didn’t believe a direct message from God & he was a priest who should have had faith

but Mary had faith, she didn’t say this is impossible: she asked how is this going to happen

Vs:35

Gabe explains to her how this was going to happen

Gabriel gives Mary a message that through her the Son of God was going to be born

Last week I spoke about the kind heartedness of king David

but now God the Father was sending the kind hearted King of Kings Jesus Christ

No man had anything to do with the birth of Jesus Christ

Mary is not bringing a sinner into the world, she is bearing someone who is holy, who is without sin

when a human man & woman have a child, they bring in a child with a sin nature

king David said that he was shapen in iniquity and in sin did his mother concieve him

but the virgin birth was the only way God could bring his holy child into the human family

people deny the virgin birth and its during this month that unbelievers attack Christmas

but why would we expect anything different, if they are unbelieving sinners, they certainly wouldn’t believe in what we do

let them attack, let them remove nativity scenes, let them remove the word Christmas, let them remove God

it doesn’t change the truth, it doesn’t change the virgin birth, it doesn’t change Christmas, it doesn’t remove our God they can attack, they can remove, they can deny

but one day, every knee will bow before a virgin born King, and they will confess that Jesus Christ was born on earth that he died and was raised from the dead

and throughout eternity as they will look into heaven according to Luke 16

from the pit of hell and they’ll wish they hadn’t denied the King of Kings

Vs; 39-41

what we are dealing with here is miraculous, and there is no use in trying to offer up some natural explanation

you either believe it, or you don’t

so many try to explain away the miracles in the bible, but to be a true child of God

one has to believe in miracles that the bible tells us about we serve the King of Kings, a miracle maker, & out of his kindness, he sent us our Savior

The Kings Kindness

we’re going to talk about the Kindness of King David which will lead up to the kindness of our King, who is the King of kings

I want to give you some background on how earthly kings began for Israel

if you’ll remember, when God began the nation of Israel, he had Men like Abraham, Jacob, Samuel & other great men of God who walked with the Lord

They got their direction from God himself and they were the leaders of their nation

It was Gods desire that Israel would continue with this type of leadership

but Israel of course rebelled and demanded a king like the other nations had

This must have grieved – Heart of God

what they said in essence was, we have a wonderful & loving father but we want a different father

one who isn’t good, wonderful or loving, So God gave them what they wanted, an earthly king, ungodly men who wouldn’t love the people but rule over them with an iron fist

who at times would do nice things, but then lead them to war and poverty

who enslaved them and led them to idolatry

But thats what ungodly leadership does, it leads its citizens away from the things of God, away from his Word and away from godliness

Back in the OT times, when a king came into power, their Army would kill off all of the old kings family, anyone who would have a right to the throne

this would assure the new king that there would be no threat of him losing his throne back to the old kingdom

I’m not going to spend time dealing with Davids childhood, as we all probably know that well

but as David got older, he met the son of king Saul, Jonathan & the two of them became best friends

As David was anointed king, war broke out between the old kingdom of Sauls & the new kingdom of David

Saul of course was fighting to keep the throne & David was fighting to take it from him

this of course is going to put David & Jonathan in a precarious position, because David has to kill Jonathan to stop him from taking the throne

or Jonathan has to kill his best friend to stop him from taking the throne

from him & his father, so what do they do?

I Sam. 23: 14-16

regardless of what tradition dictated that they had to kill off the old regime

these two friends chose faithfulness & loyalty to each other over tradition

17-18

Jonathan tells David that his father knows that David was anointed king & that God had removed his father Saul

Saul also knows that he’s finished but he’s rebelling against God, but Jonathan as much as he might have loved his father, he was willing to be obedient to God, this really shows what a great man Jonathan was

he’s like John – Baptist, who was a great preacher & crowds of people followed him

but when Jesus came on the scene, John said “he must increase and I must decrease”

You’ll remember, David had several chances to kill Saul and he refused to do so

David was willing to go against tradition and just like Jonathan, he would have allowed Saul to live

all he had to do was relinquish the throne and be obedient to God

But Saul refused, and eventually both Jonathan & Saul were killed in battle

this caused Davids heart to break and he grieved over their deaths, because it wasn’t necessary

But – facts are, things in our lives could be so much better if only we would be obedient to God

but we rebell, we want to do things our way, we dabble in things of this world & think that God isn’t watching & he is

II Sam. 4:4

After Jonathan is killed, his family flees for safety, but as their running the nurse drops Jonathans 5 yr old & he is seriously hurt & becomes lame

Mephibosheth is a strange name, but he has rights to the throne and as long as he is alive, he’s a threat to David

well the fighting continues but David is successful and eventually he takes the throne and moves to Jerusalem

a time of peace and prosperity comes to Israel because of Davids leadership and his love for the Lord

II Sam. 5:12

David grew great & God was with him and blessed the nation, when we think of David we always connect him with his sin that he committed

but David truly was a great and godly man go to II Sam. 9

when we think about the life of David, if you put his entire life on a white screen, there would be one dark spot of sin, although his entire life is white, we concentrate on that one black spot

we do the same thing to Christians, a person can live his whole life for Christ but have one failure in their lifetime & their branded for life

how much better would Christians lives be if we would look for the good in each other instead of pointing out our failures

David has been king now for some yrs and he starts to think back over the years & he thinks about Jonathan

All of us who are older have probably had someone in our lives who had passed away that we think bout from time to time

I had a good friend growing up that we did allot of things together, we both went into the Army, both got married

I came back to the Lord and he never came to the Lord, and when we were in our 20′s he was killed & I think about him from time to time

Sal & I had another friend that came to know the Lord, he was like a little brother to both of us, he was really growing in the things of God when he stopped breathing one night in his sleep & passed away

we both think of him from time to time, we all have people we think about & David was no different

9:1

David knew that Jonathan had children, & he got to wondering if any of them had survived & so he asks his leadership if they had any knowledge of it

Of course his cabinet probably thought, yeah we need to make sure theres no threat to Davids kingdom

vs; 2-3

they call a guy named Ziba & David asks him about Jonathans desendants

notice what Ziba says, yes but he’s lame in his feet

in other words, king David, he’s no threat to you, he can’t even walk, you don’t have to bother with him

Ziba probably thought “showing him kindness” meant chopping his head off

vs;4

Ziba has no choice but to tell David where he was

vs;5

I want you to put yourself in Mephibosheths position, he was now older, had a child, made a life for himself but tried to stay anonymous, afterall he was – son of Jonathan an heir to the throne

but everyday he looked over his shoulder, then one day, here comes riders, with chariots, your heart sinks, you can’t run away, all you can do is surrender

Davids men come and ask if you are Mephibosheth & you say yes and they tell you come with us, the king wants to see you

vs;6

he says yes I am the one your seeking king David, I’m your servant,

he’s got to be waiting for the axe to wack off his head

but look at what David says

vs: 7

We have to remember what I told you, David never would have killed Saul or his family, David knew that God had given him the throne, Mephibosheth had nothing to fear, David was a kind hearted king

vs:8

Mephibosheth didn’t understand, why would you be so kind to me?

You see, he didn’t know that his father & David were best friends, afterall he was only 5 yrs old when they ran for their lives, all he knew is what tradition said

in with the new & out with the old

But David instead of explaining why he was being so kind, he just shows him

vs: 9-10

David restores everything that belonged to Saul & he gives it to his grandson

& tells Ziba make sure it gets done & I love Zibas response

vs: 11

Yes Sir!!!

you can almost hear the overflowing joy in his response, I’ll bet you from that day on, Ziba would die for that king

vs;12

the king adopted this man into his family and treated him as one of his very own sons, he ate at the kings table, the tablecloth covered his lame feet

Folks we have a King who did the same thing for us, he wanted to show kindness to us

so he sent his Son to invite us to his home

when we accepted the invitation, he adopted us into his family

we were lame from sin & he covered us with his blood, he invited us to sit at his table & gave us the same food that his family was eating

he gave us an inheritance for our future we have a kind hearted King, who loves us and who will never leave us

come and dine at the Kings table