Is This Seat Taken? Part 1

We’ve been discussing the idea of Adventure…when you think of adventure, our first response is to think of outdoor events…but an adventure that makes me nervous is walking into a room and looking around at where I’m supposed to be seated…and the adventure, adrenaline, heightens when I walk up to a table and ask: “Is this Seat Taken.”

Title: “Is this seat taken”

Introduction: I often am amazed at the confusion we as believers have about certain Biblical issues. One of the biblical phrases I think is the most misunderstood is the word: DELIVERED – the church doesn’t understand the word.

Transition: See, we as believers, as the church, and as Christians, cannot give someone an antibiotic for the flesh. If there was anyone who could pray flesh away, their church would be unbelievable.

See even though a person is saved it does not mean that person will not struggle…

God did not promise you that once you got saved, you wouldn’t have some things you’d need to get over.

Text: pp 2 Samuel 9:1—13, 1 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

2 Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They called him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “Your servant,” he replied.

3 The king asked, “Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”

Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in both feet.”

4 “Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.

6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “Your servant,” he replied.

7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

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

9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

11 Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.

12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.

13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table, and he was crippled in both feet.

PRAY

David
1. David becomes King, not out of lineage of Kings but rather out of a sovereign move of God….
2. God promotes a shepherd boy to replace Saul
3. Saul was appointed King because that is who the people wanted…God makes David King not because David is perfect, but simply because David was chasing after the heart of God.
4. Saul has a son named Jonathan and by all rights Jonathan should be the next king and then his son and so on and so forth.
5. The problem is Saul rejects God and Jonathan dies on the battlefield with his father…
Jonathan Complex
1. The Jonathan complex is where most believers live…
2. Jonathan is torn between two people…Saul his father and David his friend.
3. David represents the will of God in our lives…
4. Saul represents the source of our flesh….
5. We spend our time trying to protect the David in our life from the Saul
  1. Wrestling between 2 opinions
  2. Struggling to love God in one moment and fighting off temptation the next.
6. Jonathan ended up dying with his Father, His flesh and missing His Kingdom chance to be king….

Transition: See if you don’t make up your mind…you’ll miss the throne, and the promises God has prepared for you.

Favor ain’t Fair
1. David becomes King
  1. He is mighty
  2. He is anointed

But he knows nothing about being a King

He doesn’t know Protocol

He wasn’t raised in the palace
He was raised in a field…
He wasn’t given a silver spoon in his mouth
He was given a Shepherd’s Staff in his hand
He wasn’t the favorite son of his father…
He was the forgotten son of his father…
Some theologians even believe that he was an illegitimate son of Jesse

Psalm 51:5 [NKJV]

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.

He’s not the one anybody would’ve picked…
He’s just blessed…he’s favored…favor isn’t intimidated by where you came from.

God can put you in positions you weren’t groomed for and not prepared for…
1. Those whom He calls…he equips
2. Very rarely will He equip you before He calls you…the calling almost always precedes the equipping.

God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called

Transition: David becomes King and begins to restore some stuff back to Israel…first thing He does is goes after the Ark…[briefly elaborate…Ark found in field neglected for 70 years…Uzzah’s disobedience…Obed-edom=revival…Michal is barren]

David knows it is imperative to have the governmental kingdom order and presence of God in his leadership, but then he begins to restore things back to the house of Saul on Jonathan’s behalf.

In our text from 2 Sam. 9 is the story of a son of Jonathan who is now no longer a little boy but a grown man…His name is Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth
1. He has a condition that keeps him from his position…
2. He was destined to be King…Royalty was in his lineage and in his bloodline, yet he is living outside of the palace, with a condition.
3. Have You Ever Had A Condition That Kept You From Your Position
  1. A condition that frustrates your life because you knew greatness was in You?
  2. It says that Mephibosheth was living in another man’s house. This would-be prince was living as a guest in a house when he should’ve been living in the palace. The place where he was born.
    1. The place where he would run the halls as a child. The place where he would play catch with his father, the prince.
    2. The place where he would play peek-a-boo with his grandfather, the King. Yet now, he was living as a guest in another man’s house. He didn’t even own a home now.
    3. Living as a guest in a man’s home in the town called Lo-debar.
  3. Lo Debar
    1. Defined means: No Communication
    2. It’s the place of lost dreams and forgotten destiny.

In a condition so long, you won’t even talk about what could be or what you dreamt it could be because you feel trapped in your current condition…
1. You know your marriage could be blessed but it’s been this way for so long you take on a “That’s Life” attitude…
2. Your finances could be blessed, but I just didn’t get the breaks I needed so, “That’s Life”
3. Your kids could be, but “That’s Life”
4. You could start a business and be an entrepreneur, but I don’t have the funding I need so “That’s Life”
5. Your relationship with the Lord could be, but I’m so busy and just don’t have time so, “That’s Life”

Transition: Sitting in silence, in despair and a Knock comes at the door from a messenger sent by the king, David.

Ziba
1. Can you hear this conversation taking place…knock, knock, knock. “Who is it?” “Ziba!” “I don’t’ know a Ziba!”
2. I can hear Ziba reply, “You don’t have to know me because I know you.”
  1. When God gets ready to deliver you…He can use folks you don’t even know
3. KJV says David told Ziba Go Fetch Mephibosheth
  1. Some situations you can’t get out of on your own…
  2. You’ll have to be fetched out of…
4. Jesus is here to Fetch you this morning.
  1. To be FETCHED means you had to be carried…
  2. FETCH SOMEONE – MEANS TO PICK THEM UP AND CARRY THEM

This is how God will deliver you…He will carry you
1. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord

HE’S CARRYING ME OUT OF SOME STUFF
It is God who Carries you and I out…

Ziba Lays Him on The Floor Of The Palace
1. Mephibosheth is in a beautiful place
2. He’s been delivered from where he was…his position has changed but His condition is the same.
  1. Someone’s here today and your position has changed but you still have an old problem…
  2. You’re in the Palace but you’re still broken
3. DELIVERED BUT DAMAGED
  1. God has blessed you, but you’re still damaged
  2. You’re in the church, you love the Lord, but still damaged…
  3. See He Was Damaged As A Little Boy…
    1. Mephibosheth was dropped as a little boy…
      1. HE was dropped by someone whom he trusted…
        Oh I know there aren’t any people here who have been dropped by those whom you trusted…
        Parents may have dropped you
        Spouse may have dropped you
        Church folks may have dropped you
        Leaders/Pastors may have dropped you
      2. Lame in his feet (direction)
        He was just sitting in another man’s house, no direction, no purpose, waiting out the clock until he died
        He is in Lo Debar, the place of no communication
        Now he is delivered but he is still damaged, laying on the floor.
        See sometimes the reason why your wife can’t talk to you is because someone along the way dropped her
        The reason why that man’s confidence is shot is because as a boy, someone dropped him…
        For someone walking into this service today it was difficult because someone has dropped you in your past.

SOMEBODY DROPPED ME

Transition: Sometimes when God brings you out of the place you were, into the place He has for you and the place He wants you to be…you may not be ready. You may still be dealing with Damage.

Bring Out A Table

See Ziba Brings him to the right place, and David tells him, “I am going to restore to you everything that belonged to Your Father…

I’m going to restore you back to your rightful position because of the Covenant I have with your father, Jonathan.

Dead Dog
1. Mephibosheth’s reply is- “I’m a dead dog….”
2. Mephibosheth sees himself so damaged he can’t get to what David has prepared for him.
  1. Most church folks struggle with, “I’ve been delivered, but I’m too damaged, I’m not worthy.”
  2. I can’t do it…

I’ve been dropped with sins of the flesh and or sins of the spirit

But I’m damaged…I know what you’re saying is true, but I just can’t see how it could be true for me

Transition: TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE MISSING THEIR NOW BECAUSE THEY ARE STILL TRAPPED IN THEIR THEN!!!

DELIVERED BUT DAMAGED

I find it amazing that every time the Lord wants to bless us, the enemy will remind us of our damaged areas…
We’ve been seated at the King’s table with unfettered access to all the blessings associated with the King’s table…
Oh, I know I look good in worship today…but I’m DAMAGED!
And the enemy loves to remind me of my damaged areas…you can’t partake of that blessing because of…[examples]
And the enemy knows all the right buttons to push in your life to where you end up saying…
I’m just a dead dog…why would Jesus ever bless me? I don’t deserve it…surely He meant for that blessing to go to someone more deserving…

Is This Seat Taken?
1. All along God is preparing a Table…excuse me, is this seat taken?
2. But my damages keep me on the floor and I got to get off this floor…
  1. If you or I were to get a package from UPS and it was damaged, we wouldn’t sign for it…no no no, we would send it back, DAMAGED!
3. But God inspected the Package that is damaged
  1. In spite of your issues, God is going to get you to the table
    1. Forget those things which are behind…
    2. I’m preparing a table in the presence of your enemies…
  2. Can you hear the Lord say, “Before I leave you on the floor, I’ll carry you…?

You are a King’s Kid
1. Oh I know you’ve been dropped
2. Oh I know you are damaged
3. Oh I understand you don’t think well of yourself…
4. But God is saying, “I’ve invested too much…”

At the Table
1. You’re blessed in spite of yourself
2. At the King’s Table…they all look the same…
  1. Absalom is there
  2. Tamar is there
  3. Little Solomon may be there
  4. Amnon is there
  5. And Mephibosheth is there…
    1. He’s got a ring on his finger
    2. A robe on his back
    3. From the waist up…he looks like the rest of the king’s kids…

Under the tablecloth, you’d see the damage…he’s still lame in both his feet…
1. His damage area is not on display at the King’s table
2. At the King’s table, only the blessing and favor of the King is displayed
3. At the King’s table, He is identified not by his condition, but by His provision
4. At the King’s table, he’s not a project, but a priority…
5. He was fetched out of his circumstance and placed in his rightful position as a King’s Kid

Closing

I know this probably doesn’t resonate with everyone…
But I had to preach this before we went any farther because understand this…
Freed people free people…healed people heal people…we cannot give what we do not possess…

ALTAR CALL

Take a chair and invite sinners to the table
Invite the Lame to the Table…I’m Delivered Oh but I’m Damaged.
God says, “I’ve got a seat for you at my table.”
There are some Mephibosheth’s out there in our city that are living in a place of lost dreams, with no communication…DAMAGED…and we have not only the ability, but the responsibility, to rescue…
There’s a seat waiting on them at the King’s table…

Is This Seat Taken? Part 1

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