September 17, 2017 "Time to Leave "LoDebar"", Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown

as now King David began to reflect on his life King Saul's image came before him Saul that great warrior anointed and appointed to be the first king of Israel and Saul was impressed with Davis bravery against Goliath and brought David into his palace and his family David developed a love hate relationship with Saul and have you ever been around a Saul like Eddie and The O'Jays saying they smile in your face all the time trying to take your place I knew you knew it I knew your need I knew you knew it I really love the Lord I really love and the Lord you don't know what he's done for me but he gave me evict that's why I love you I love you [Music] [Applause] that's why I lift up my eyes to the you whatz cometh my help my help come from the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is a strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid but had not been for the Lord on our side where would we be Oh taste and see that the Lord is good and God's mercy endures forever I've been young and now older but I have never seen the righteous forsaken or God's seed begging for bread they then wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up on wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not peace but when I think of the goodness of truth oh he keeps on doing for me my soul cries out hallelujah I thank the Lord [Music] now Lord let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer first I want to thank God for getting me up this morning my mother and father said with a reasonable portion of health and strength in my right mind knew how to put my clothes on this morning and I'm able to stand here with you I want to thank Reverend dr. Wesley for being so kind and generous and inviting me here and for the marvelous hospitality that has been shown to me in the biblical text once you invite someone into your house you're responsible for them forever so if I see you someplace don't act [Music] [Applause] to all the clergy and the officers members this marvelous choir God's sons of soil and salvation daughters of dust and deliverance listening to the theme for your revival I thought about how is difficult to pant after God if you don't know where God he is so we go to 2nd Samuel the ninth chapter second Samuel the ninth chapter I'll be reading verses one through five from the common English Bible 2nd samuel 9 1 through 5 David asked is there anyone from Saul's family still alive that I could show faith 'fl love for Jonathan's sake there was a servant from Saul's household name ziba and he was summoned before David are you ziba the King ask at your service he answered the King asked is there anyone left from Saul's family that I could show God's kindness to yes Eva said to the king one of Jonathan's sons whose feet are crippled where is he the king asked he is an account he is in a house at a mill Sanda of the care at lo debar ziba told the king so King David had him brought from the house of a meal son my car at lo debar you may take your seats this is the Word of God for God's people I'd like to share with you for just a short time time to leave lo debar time to leave lo debar our focus text is an object lesson on hope and Trust and remembrance and covenant relationship and God in leadership and our faithfulness to God as we approach our text we find David the apple of God's eye David sheep tending spirit anointing lion killing bear slaying giant killing friend loving multiple marrying always procreating harp playing poetry writing liturgy composing songs singing fine-looking women chasing husband killer Safety's seeking friend persecuting parent failing enemy concrete nation-building God forgiving lifetime believe in David David has successfully defeated Israel's enemies and was about to settle the nation's twelve tribes one would think he had it all together and could wrest unloyal as the rest of his life but David did not feel whole something was out of sync there was an unfinished business some work that was left undone a piece of lice puzzle did not fit there was a promise unfulfilled as now King David began to reflect on his life King Saul's image came before him saw that great warrior anointed and appointed to be the first king of Israel and Saul was impressed with Davis bravery against Goliath and brought David into his palace and his family David developed a love hate relationship with Saul and have you ever been around a Saul like Eddy and The O'Jays saying they smile in your face all the time trying to take your place I knew you knew it I knew you're near I knew you knew it I know I'm in the right place this is my crown right here the more the people praise david the more enraged Saul became and David Saul's military leader had a run for his life and hide Indian wilderness far from the comforts of home could have been killed more than a couple of time but God always leaves our toughest enemies around us so we can trust God to protect and to have us depend on God's deliverance so David begin to remember Jonathan Saul's oldest son his closest friend his advocate his protector Jonathan who had ignored his own father's jealousy fueled death threats to save his brother from another mother David David and Jonathan sealed their friendship with a covenant the purpose of a covenant is to create a binding agreement more powerful than a contract or agreement it's a forever lifespan for the participants is holy it's sacred to violate a covenant means death the blood covenant was ultimately insurance of loyalty and fidelity and couple of participants became one blood and one identity with each other the Covenant Hebrew means to cut where blood flows maybe you remember as a child pricking your finger and commingling your blood with your best friends first before we knew you could give diseases that way guys I grew up in Missouri sixty-six years ago and we could do all that stuff y'all can't do no more right and so you pricked the fingers and and then the blood will commingle and you became blood brothers or blood sisters you you know I'll be there in five if you need me we roll by and take care of somebody you know what you know right I'd I've got you doing kind of you know secret-keeper in the cut all the time they got to go through me to get to you cut you know that kind of relationship what's mine is yours what yours is mine never forget you you know brothers and sisters you know we used to have those kind of relationships before we started competing with each other anyway they pledged in blood to take care of each other's children and blood friendship mitt there were no boundaries and love it sacrifice giving protection and care of each other ten years after Saul commits suicide on the battlefield Jonathan a three of his brothers were killed in various Ballard precious memories began to linger in their fringes of King David's mine and David begin reflecting about all God had already done and understanding that he could have never built the temple because he wasn't always doing what he was supposed to do but he begins taking inventory about all God had done and he remembered his long dead friend Jonathan and the promise he made and that and the scripture indicates that one day he just he just asked is there anyone left of Saul's family III I'd like to show him some kindness because of my blood relationship with Jonathan and one of King Saul's former servant ziba who only lived in Jerusalem but had taken over the remnants of Saul's property for 10 years Eva started managing something that didn't belong to him taking care of somebody else's stuff home setting without paperwork living life impersonating someone else you know it you know sometimes we try to manage somebody else's stuff without permission and under the Kings questioning zebra admits Johnson had a son he's disabled he physically needed assistance to walk and he was unable to work like other people and he was viewed as less than a man because he was physically disabled and Johnson's son was living at the home of makeer son of our meal in lo debar lo debar was this town in gilead northeast of Jerusalem in a desolate mountainous location north of the javac' River settled by the tribe of GAD and lo debar means no pastor no no bread no word no communication david knew customarily that the new king could kill all the dissenters of the former king and no one would challenge his authority and all their property became the property of the current king and david didn't pause however for the political consequences didn't consult the government officials didn't ask for a committee vote didn't do the sidewalk kind of committee that thinks they run the church didn't ask anybody else's opinion david needed to bless somebody so remember his blood covenant and he immediately sent for Jonathan's son the king's living relative living in lo debar an heir to the throne living in squalor have you ever lived in lo debar living somebody else's life lo debar running for what god has already prepared for you lo debar paralyzed by fear of the unknown lo debar immobilized by failure with no impetus to try again lo debar surrounded by people who feel your ears with negativity all the time before they even say hello lo debar afraid to speak up for yourself because you think somebody's not going to believe you lo debar diagnosed limiting pursuit of life-affirming activities lo debar impotent childlike leadership more interested in here old poll numbers response to midnight tweets hair color war games with another infantilized ruler and legacy them to proceed to advocate liberty and justice for all people regardless of age and gender and ethnicity and politics and denomination and education language or school skin color lo debar no support no nurture no productivity no affirmation or inspiration hiding in our own personal mess our history our mistakes our words our inadequacies our gut-wrenching fear of our family history our relationships our secret behaviors sneaking past you know how your dippin dad and slip and slide on Saturday night and come to church and shout out over the sanctuary lo debar lo debar Johnathan's son was living in lo debar probably been told by others that the king wanted to kill him how many times have we hit out based on what they said and not what was really going on never an guests the gating investigating things for ourselves disliking someone because somebody else told you to not realize that they talked about them they talking about you two when you turn around avoiding the very people that can help you reach your goals living below your inheritance based on the court of public opinion and not embracing God's plan for your life can you can you imagine how Jonathan's son felt when a messenger comes to the door you know like we do when we know we've done something wrong like when the collection agency breaks through our incognito codes and denial of being home someone or something reminds of an unresolved guilt he had no choice the King sent for him he he had to face his greatest fear in the text indicates that John's and son did not immediately come to receive his inheritance he waited years because it became married and had a son named Micah and and he didn't respond immediately the King summoned you know like when God tells you to do something and you wait sometimes for years and years and years and get angry with God want to blame everybody else cuz you didn't do what God said and the first place he waited begging for something we already have overlooked because we were too busy talking about what somebody else had we're just waiting and he waited and he waited but then one day he appears in Jerusalem before David and and he bowels deeply and David speaks his name but mephibosheth mephibosheth means shame and confusion and scattered and broken into pieces is the first time his name is spoken in the text and no one had to tell David his name to see because the King knows your name even when you don't know your name and the King exercise power over him he could have killed him but he being us calling him by name he begins calling him by name God is not some absentee landlord or slumlord of God knows where we are and when we were hiding and David knew where he was but he waited for him to come home David once well when I went win can I go we're gonna be out of your sight knew everything that I'm going to say before I say the first sentence I look behind me you're already there up ahead you're already there reassuring presence coming and going it's too much it's too wonderful I can't take it all in I'm at a place where can I go to avoid the spirit I'm never out of your sight I'll climb to the sky you're already there God if I go underground you're already there on morning wings and the western horizon you find me in a minute you're waiting on me God God is waiting on us to honor our lease agreements we are God's properties we vacate the premises God then go anywhere but finish up didn't feel worthy to be here in his mind he felt insignificant can you imagine being mephibosheth motherless and fatherless child M'Vila but if it said abruptly taken into hiding from his father and grandfathers died embattled legs crushed in some kind of accident when the nurse fell on him listening to stories from age 5 about this new king who wanted to kill him his grandson he was the grandson of a king who's the heir to the throne but Mephibosheth was dependent on food and clothing and sheltered from a house that he had been sold into but fever chef was an heir to a throne but he's raising his family in generational poverty and dependence never speaking information to himself surrounded by people that won't tell him the truth about himself people that called him out of his name he thought God had forgotten him but God never forgets us no matter where we run and try to hide from God no matter where we are God already knows who we are so here he is standing before the key beneficiary of a powerful relationships one that had the power of life and death in his hand that King says don't be frightened here David could have killed him but David wants to honor a pledge I want to show you kindness I owe it to the memory of your father I want to restore everything you think you have lost I want to give you your inheritance from your grandfather I want to give back to you I remember that my blood covenant is eternal I want you to live in my house I want you to eat at my table I want to be part of my family I want you to have an inheritance you never thought you were going to see can you kick in him-there humbling himself before the throne Mephibosheth said who am i paying are you paying attention to me a stray dog I'm an outcast I'm poor I'm nothing I don't sing like she does I don't dance like he does I don't testify like she does I don't sound as good as he does they they won't let me I try but I keep getting turned down I don't have enough money my clothes aren't good enough I didn't graduate from the right college I lost my job but I'm divorced but I've never married but I had an affair but I don't have children but I have too many children I'm unemployed I lost my house I'm not in the right good the pastor didn't ask me but David doesn't even respond isn't that how God is we come all ashy around the mouth saying we can't do something before God and God Ari knows who we are god made us God sees that knows everything God wants us not some human standard of perfection God doesn't want some ridiculous miss of qualification God wants our trust and our obedience and our faithfulness God God God just wants us David didn't remind the fish chef of how evil his grandfather was didn't blame him for what somebody else did to him didn't require a DNA test to see if he really belonged to the church didn't ask for a witness didn't check the latest face both status to see how dare you bringing a disabled person up in this palace did didn't tweet about how wonderful he was cuz he was getting ready to honor a pledge didn't say show up cuz it's gonna be on fire before the spirit even got there didn't Instagram a welcome-home clip from the export of Mephibosheth and gratitude for delivers the king restored would already belong to him in the first place [Applause] beloved too many of us are limping around lo debar with no vision of our inheritance living a life of I can't rather than step in to a life of God I can way down yonder by ourself with no vision and no pasture no bread and no communication we reside and lo debar based on somebody else convincing us and that's all we are worth we large and lo debar because you believe human promises and forget about God's promises we are self-imposed lo debar a customer people feeling sorry for us all the time you know we invite people over for potluck pity parties and we stay there all day talking about what we don't have them forget what God already have we come to church begging for stuff God gave us a long time ago and we've already put it over on a shelf wrapped it up and see God bless me last year but God's born every morning God has new blessings for us we still got it in plastic someplace believe in the height that we can't do something because we're the wrong color or the long age or the wrong body type comparing ourselves to dogs and animals based on cultural assessments of who they think we are not even reading the large print on the mortgage to the homeland of our souls blaming everybody else for what's happening in our lives foreclosing on our own future not even summoning God always asking somebody else to help us instead of asking God first following behind somebody don't have a heaven or hell to put us in can't even spell hell waiting for somebody else to bail us out from self-imposed poverty absent ourselves in the congregation of saints because we taken up residence and somebody's Super Sunday life class of experts that don't know nothing about God for your risk sorry waiting for some of your uber printers a fix our life and God fixed it a long time ago the mothers and fathers said that Jesus fix it for you he knows what to do whenever you pray let Jesus has it his way cuz he knows just what to do how can we change the world if we want to stay in lo debar hanging out retiring there existing in a devastation of sanctified selfishness and eviscerated egotism and devastating disappointment and grievous gossip and presumptuous pride and acrimonious arrogance and destructive disregard and stinking superiority and cynical cliques like mephibosheth limping through life with no view of the inheritance God has already placed before us God says don't forget the blood covenant the binding agreement is more powerful than anything you can have on earth the eternal sacred irrevocable contract I made with you the holy sacred contract that nobody can violate on penalty of death we are covered with one blood and one identity with each other covenant participants became one together we got to stop fighting each other begging for crumbs from somebody else's table we got to stop running over each other to try to get to God who's inside you all along if you only stop and look God never forgets no matter where we Lodge we must remember that God knows where we are and what we are doing we can't keep acting like we sneaking around and God don't see our mess God knows where we are every second even we sit in church and critique what other people have owned because we can't get our behinds in at no more [Applause] time to leave lo debar time to stop advocating our responsibilities and violating our trust with God allowing someone else to do what God has already told us we can do listening to the voices of other believing the heighth reciting things without any research living below our inheritance incapacitated spiritually and mentally and socially and physically hiding from unsubstantiated fears crippled by the actions of others eating off of somebody else's table living out somebody else's dream afraid afraid afraid afraid becoming functional atheists believing that we are God instead of worshipping the God can you hear God say I don't care what others have told you about me I am God and I make up my own rules all of this up in here I create it you don't own the property I own all of this up in here I'm the one that decides who lives and who dies God says it's time to get out of lo debar in my sanctified imagination I hear God whelping us home God says come on limp and broken and scarred and hobbled and disabled with your spirits intact if we remain locked in pseudo middle-class castles we still in lo debar if you continue to reside in lire and wine a lot cities and never get up to change the channel have our own lives we're in lo debar if we stay in case in denominational museums we unload a bar if we continue to hide out in academic titles titles and towers were in lo debar if we continue to treat each other like disposable Kleenex we're gonna stay in lo debar if we forget what we are made of and who made us we are in lo debar if you forget to work a ministry that guys that all coming to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest if we stay and load of our darkness we'll never get our lights way weeping we'll never move out of Joy's present Souls will not be saving sinners will not be converting the loss will not be found the blind will not see the Deaf will not hear that this April will never walk the voices will not speak the sick will never get well the enslaved will never be set free Wars will never cease governments will never have integrity nations will never be united the unemployed will never have jobs children will not be safe youth will not be educated elders will not be respected heritage will not be remembered prayers will not have purpose songs will not be composed sermons will not be preached minds will not be expended homes will not be built churches will not be filled love will not be expressed peace will not be a team dreams will not be astronauts lives will not be changed believers will not see God's face and we will stay in lo debar eternally unless they come on home to God the Covenant keeper God is summoning us right now God is calling us to a higher place it's time to come back to God we're not on loan to the devil we learn ourselves out we prostitute ourselves God said I never walked away from you it's time to leave lo debar why are we keeping the King waiting God said today is the day time to honor the Covenant our neighbor your time to love each other time to help somebody else instead of being selfish time to come out of lo debar my brothers and sisters the good news the phenomenal news the life-changing news is that God knew that we would be sitting here whining and wringing our hands like gods they catered the throne like because somebody else was elected in November that God sent you a text message that said God was dead and you didn't need to worship God anymore time to come out of lo debar right now God has not forgotten us God says rejoice that I keep the Covenant are you ready to leave lo debar are you ready to join the one that God sent to help us out of lo debar the one that took one Trinitarian conversation about the state of the whole world one historical drawing you through 242 generations in one angelic announcement one undercover assignment in a womb of a 14 year old virgin 1 no vacancy signed at a local motel 1 manger one night heaven and earth couldn't quit singing one trip to Egypt to avoid certain death at one 12 year old trial sermon 30 years of carpentry and reading and listening and developing and waiting 1 celebration of infected water that he converted to life-affirming wine 30 recorded myriad miracles 12 plus lifetime employment interviews 3 years of healing and teaching and preaching 1 betrayer 1 prayer-meeting three sleepy Watchmen one false charge of three communiques kangaroo courts wasn't public hand-washing one parole of a convicted killer one wrong walk up the Via Dolorosa wasn't published tricking 39 lashes 72 thorns one cross three nails one pierced sided one garlic drink six execution hours one broken heart one world of sin one suicide of a traitor one casino at the foot of the cross two thieves Dismas on one side and guess us on the other seven crucifixion conversation one sacrifice for the whole world one empty tomb one evangelist one resurrection one dispatch of a comforter one promise to return for everybody that wants to honor their contract and getting up out of lo debar it's time to leave lo debar god bless you [Music] you

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

Views: 16,896

Rating: 4.8738737 out of 5

Keywords: Rev. Dr. Teresa L Fry Brown, 2017, Time to Leave LoDebar, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, Alfred Street Baptist Church

Id: 17DDrTOVVhU

Length: 27min 10sec (1630 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 19 2017