"THE EMPTY CHAIR AT THE TABLE"

[Music] first samuel chapter 20 verse number 17. jonathan calls david to swear again to make a vow to make a promise because he loved him for he loved him as he loved his own soul then jonathan said to david tomorrow is the new moon thou shall be missed and this is my phrase that i'll be using today because thy seat will be empty because thy seat will be empty i want to preach today on my allotted time on the subject of that empty cheer at the table that empty chair at the table i must give you the context of surrounding of what's going on when david was just a young man he slayed a giant named goliath when he was approximately only 15 years old david stood about five feet five and goliath was about eleven and a half feet tall saul was the first king of israel he was not only the first king he was the first man that was able to reunite the southern and northern kingdoms of israel remember they had split under the suns of solomon riobol and jeroboam split the kingdom the northern part was called israel and the southern part was called judea and for many years they were split that's how i know they were baptists they were brothers and they still split the church look up here at me it's going to get worse than that and nobody was able to bring the kingdom back again until king saul came along many years later he was anointed at the age of 30 and david was born the year that saul was anointed the first time after david's heroic actions against the giant saul was wounded in his spirit he was wounded with jealousy and because of that he sought to kill this young valiant man named david because of what he did with goliath destroying him and cutting his head off david was awarded or given saul's daughter as a gesture of appreciation for his valor and his courage but the bible declares that saul gave his daughter to david to mary so that she would be a snare to him all the days of his life so david's in a unusual predicament here because the king of israel is not only his king he's his father-in-law and the bible declares from first samuel 18 to 1st samuel 20 because of the jealousy and the hatred and the actions of saul the bible says god allowed an evil spirit to overtake his mind and his life saul felt like the only way to retain his throne was to eliminate his own son-in-law's life this young man of valor named david so saul's plan was to kill david upon the arrival of the new moon now we don't use that terminology today but back in bible days the moon was used as a calendar the new moon represented the first of the next month and if you'll study the bible that was a very significant time in the land of israel three things were to happen every new moon number one in numbers 28 chapter 28 they were to bring an offering to the house of god so that the place of god and the people of god and those in need all of those needs would be supplied so it was a time of offering it was a time of giving it was a time of sharing but according to nehemiah chapter number 10 it was a time when they rested from their labor in other words it was a time where they got out of the fields they got out of the plants they got out of eastman they got out of the dealership and they just said we need a break god has put it in the very nature of man that we must have a time of rest somebody said to me one time if you won't lay your body down then your body will break you down as i get older i think i understand that a little more but the third thing is where saul had all this set up because when a new moon would come while they were off in what we would call a mini vacation and while they were giving to the house of god it was a time of family festivities in other words all the in-laws the outlaws the nuts the drama the dope addicts everybody they were family so they all got together every new moon and there was a cheer for every one of them set out in the palace or the the the king's house so the king had cheers all the way around he was set at the head saw wood and all of the lineage of his family children and grandchildren son-in-laws and daughter-in-laws was set down from the seed of king saul there was only enough cheers put out for each member of the family no more and no less so saul thought that this would be a perfect time for me to last sue david and to kill him because he's part of the family i'm not only the king i'm his father-in-law it's a new moon so david must show up and when he does i will take his life jonathan is the son of saul but he loved david he knew god's hand was on david so he met david out in the wilderness and said david don't come to the new moon festivities if you come my daddy's gonna kill you don't show up go hide i'll find you in three days i'll come and shoot some arrows i'll find you and i'll tell you what befalls you so all the cheers were set up all the festivities was set up everything was laid out in an array and everybody in the family showed up except one and all the families talking and they're sharing food and they're eating turkey and they're passing the dressing and putting the cranberry sauce under the table where it belongs i've been hungry ain't never been look anything you take out of a can and it shakes you better run from it i refuse to eat anything that shakes more than i do and the bible said that saul recognized that david wasn't there but he didn't say anything to anybody but after the festivity was over with saul grabbed jonathan and said i know what you've done you told david that i conspired to kill him and that's why he's not here but in spite of you god and everybody else i'll find david and i'll kill him at one time david even falsely prophesied that he would die at the hand of saul which by the way never happened but i just wonder what it looked like when all of those loved ones looked across the table and saw that empty chair i want to preach for just a few moments today on that empty chair at the table when i studied the bible i found out there were three times that cheers are empty during a time of family festivities and dining i'm going to mention those to you today are you going to be missing at the table first of all i want to talk about the table of the family i remember back when families got along i remember when you could really get together and we were drunks and dope addicts and prostitutes and crazy people some of us would get we were on home arrest and all that but shoot we could get together and eat and have a great time you can't even get two preachers to get together now without somebody being stupid and saying something stupid and a fight breaking out but i want to talk about the table of the family can you imagine what it must have been like in luke chapter number 15 when that youngest boy god was divided unto him brother randy and the bible said he took what he had and he left and went into a far country could you imagine what it must have been like the first day brother mark when the family sat down at the table and for the first time the youngest son's chair is now empty did you know very few families get together now that there's not at least one empty chair around the table there's always somebody missing what is it that presents an empty chair at the table of our family first of all is something called disobedience you got a young teenage boy that thinks he knows more than mom and dad he thinks he knows more than the preacher she thinks she knows more than god and they take off and they run away and they go to a far country oh the heartache that you young people bring to the lives of your mom and dad when they have to sit down at the supper table every night and look at the empty cheer that you used to set in before you rebelled and took off to the long country to the wrong country i remember some time ago i was talking to a man and his wife and their 18 year old boy sat down at the dinner table one day and said to his mother mama you make the best tea in all the world what she didn't know was what he was going to say at the end of the meal when the meal was over with he looked at his mother and father and said god has been good to you and you love god and god loves you and i don't want to do anything to cause a problem with that but i'm not interested in god and i'm not interested in the bible and i know if i live under your roof i'm to go to church i understand that i don't want to go to church so i'm leaving today one of my friends is coming to pick me up this afternoon and i'm going to be gone he packed his clothes that day and a godly mom and dad stood at an open door with tears running down their face and watched their only son get in a car and take off to a secular university and he's an atheist while i'm preaching to you this morning but you know not long ago i saw the father and he said i want to talk to you he said it's been eight years ago that my son packed up and left and the last positive thing he ever said to us was mama you make the best tea in the world his lip began to quiver he said brother kid for eight years every single night when we sat down to eat my wife pours a glass of tea where my boy used to set she sets the table and puts his plate out and puts the fork down beside the plate he said not long ago i just broke down at the table and said honey would you just stop it i can't take this anymore if my son don't want to be around us and he's wanting to go another way there's nothing we can do she looked at him and said where's your faith one of these days that boy is going to knock on that door and when he does i want him to know though he's been disobedient there's a mama that never gave up on him glory they'll always be a place at the table sometimes disobedient can empty a cheer at the family table sometimes just the vision or drama among the family you remember when the prodigal son came home i thought man this thing's going to break out and a party revival's going to break out no no the older son stands outside listens to the singing and the dancing and the shouting and the rejoicing and he stopped somebody and said what's everybody shouting about in there they said i'll tell you why they're shouting your younger brother that was wicked and ungodly and spent everything he had on harlots and was down in the hog pins he got saved he got right he came back home the fathers killed the fatted calf we're having a ball come on in and join us who wouldn't want to join in but here comes division he says send my dad out here my text isn't working right now sitting that outside dad comes outside and he said what's wrong son come on in we're having a blast your brother come home i want you to see him he said yeah here's what bothers me he goes and spits everything he has on a bunch of he comes home and you all kill a fatty cat i have served you faithfully i hadn't done anything wrong you won't even kill goat and i wish the translators would have used the word goat instead of kid in that verse because it's pretty close to home with me said you didn't even kill me a goat and the father looked at him said are you kidding me all i have is yours every piece of ground you walked on yours every day every pillow you laid your head on the house you were in it's all yours all the cherries the horses the income the inheritance the investments the asset everything i got yours why are you mad because i'm rejoicing because my boy came back home and here's what the bible said and he would not go in you know why we have empty chairs at the family table because this one don't like this one and that one don't like that one and you got to say something stupid every time you get together that has nothing to do with what's going on somebody's got to say something stupid somebody's got to cause division in the family and you get mean and you get bitter and you get unforgiving you get unforgiven let me give you the number one thing that divides families it ought not to be this way but since i'm just dropping the plow here let me drop it deep listen to me very carefully cause i'm gonna be very bold here any husband and wife that will withhold your kids from their grandparents because you're ticked off you're wicked as hell you are wicked as hell and tell them i said that about them would you do that for me please matter of fact tell them to watch me on facebook i say it to their freaking face it's sad grandparents all over this country come to me every week of my life with tears streaming down their face and saying pray for me my daughter-in-law won't let me see her grandkids my son-in-law won't let me see my grandkids now look if you can't work issues out i understand if being away from each other and being silent i understand but to govern a relationship by manipulating your kids in fellowship with extended family i want to say it again you're wicked as hell so it's an empty chair not only because of disobedience but there's an empty chair because of the vision among the family number three there may be an empty chair because somebody's died i can imagine the sun he's he's celebrating with the dad man they got they got steaks you vegetarians look up here bless god they killed the fatted calf not cut the cauliflower [Music] so i know you only weigh 99 pounds and you'll live to be 150 but you ain't smiled in 20 years yo hag but god won't you stop and get a big mac on the way home and find out what life's really all about so can you tell i'm one while i'm tight tonight today can you tell that [Music] so the boy's enjoying all the festivities and the dad and all the servants are hugging his neck and all of a sudden he says hey dad i i want to talk to mom i need to talk to mom i need to tell her i'm sorry too and all of a sudden silence filled the hall what do you mean you want to talk to mom well dad moms loved me and changed my diaper and raised me and took care of me and i remember seeing her standing at the door ringing the dish towel crying when i left and i want to tell my mama i'm sorry and he said son we tried to find you but we didn't know where you were mom got sick not long after you were gone mom's dead dad my mom was dead but daddy there's things i need to get right there's things i need to tell her i'm sorry for i need to put all the junk of the past behind me i want to hug my mama i want to kiss her cheek i want to hold the hands that rocked the fever out of me changed my diaper held my hand taught me to walk taught me to talk send me to school was there when nobody else was there where's my mama i'm sorry some of you here today you ought to be ashamed how little contact you are with your mom and daddy don't tell me how inconvenient it is to call your mom and dad when you got a stinking thousand dollar cell phone in your hand that'll take you anywhere in the world don't give me that bunch of junk but brother greg just like you and i do now on sundays there's a day coming when you give everything you ever owned to have that silver mama set at the side of your table or that calloused hand daddy set at the head of that table one more time you that's lost your parents you that's buried your mom and dad you know what i'm talking about you never get over the fact that when you sit down mama's not there where's mama the table of the family leaves empty chairs number two may i say to you the table of fellowship you remember is jesus in john chapter 21 after his resurrection peter he's naked and backslidden he's fishing you know the only time people fish in the bible is when they wasn't right with god you ever thought about that how long have you had that boat brother mark so he's naked he's fishing he wasn't even there when jesus was resurrected from the dead the only people that came to see jesus raised from the dead was women did you know the first person that ever gave the gospel was a woman the gospels of death bear and resurrection it wasn't peter james and john that running around telling everybody jesus rose it was mary mary magdalene death burial resurrection jesus is alive peter said i'm going fishing man they're biting out there it's crappy season then finally they're out there fishing and they jesus said hey if you caught anything he said no we fished all night he didn't know it was jesus he said well come on i got bread and fish and peter said oh no it's jesus and he was naked and he jumped in the water to hide himself you see it's easy to get away from the table of fellowship the place where you get help strengthen supported blessed it's called a church it's easy to get away from the table of fellowship let me tell you why so many people are falling out of church i went by a massive church today that usually is overflowing people are out in the grass they got people parking cars like us they got golf carts they have to park so far away they got golf carts that have to bring them to the auditorium i remember when you couldn't even see the grass surrounding the building far beyond the blacktop i went by there today and the parking lot itself was two-thirds empty why people quit church or was it they were looking for a reason to quit church because the same crowd that tells me i don't want to go to church because you know you can get virus but you went to pigeon forge and stood in line you went to dollywood you went to dollywood you didn't catch you wasn't worried about looked up here i'm preaching bless god you weren't worried about kobe down in dollywood you wasn't worried about it at the swimming pool you ain't worried about it at the gymnastics you're not worried about it on the football field what the name of god's wrong with you [Applause] you ain't fooling me you're looking for a way out i don't like you i ain't seen you roses either bless god so look up here at me i'm telling you i'm sick of this nonsense people don't take the house of god serious anymore [Applause] here's why they missed the table of fellowship number one priorities got the priorities wrong and looking at your watch lady if you look at me as much as you look at your watch you'd probably be on the altar already cause i'm gonna tell you i'm not close until i'm done today [Applause] now it may take me an hour and a half but i ain't going nowhere i'm done i'm going to tell you why people start missing church they got a priority problem this is what jesus said i didn't say this seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all of these things shall be added unto you what does he talk about all these things in the verses prior he's talking about a place to live close on your feet cloak those shoes on your feet clothes on your back god said you keep me first i'll take care of that other sin if i can feed the birds if i can clothe animals if i can put hair on a dog i know how to put what has happened is we've got a generation where church is part of their life but it's not a priority in their life not only priorities but pleasure paul warned timothy that men would be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of god nothing wrong with pleasure i want you to take a vacation i want you to relax i want you to find a hobby i want you to enjoy your life until that pleasure gets between you and your faithfulness to the house of god then god has a problem with it and as your pastor i got a problem with it too now watch this i told you i passed a huge church i'm not going to tell you where and they're down at least 60 percent they're gone but about four miles later i come over the bridge there by eastman where the ballpark is [Music] [Applause] i know some of you can't shout because you were one of the idiots out there last sunday with your kids only reason why you're here today is your kids didn't play this sunday or you'd be another idiot out there under the bridge with the rest of them you're not fooling me i didn't start this yesterday i know who i am i know where i'm at and i know who i'm preaching to i'm gonna tell you man people are in love with pleasure they think nothing of missing the house of god and going out and doing stupid stuff parents out there sitting in the burning hot sun screaming and shouting clapping their hands whistling and act like a bunch of idiots but they'll pass by here and say i don't know what's wrong with that church they clap they shout they make noise i'll tell you why bless god we're on the winning side and we don't have to sit on the ball field to know we are on the winning side i don't need a ball field it's a priority problem no priority for god anymore your kids should never get up and ask you are we going to church today that question should never be brought to your breakfast table because it's a priority there's a pleasure problem there's a prosperity problem you know how many people are out of this church because they want to make more money you know how many whole families i've lost because somebody wanted to make more money let me remind you what the bible says the love of money is the root of all evil money's not evil it's when you fall in love with it so if you quit church to make money you tell me what you're in love with you tell me you know why i don't quit my wife for another woman because i love her she's priority in my life she's the pleasure of my life she's the heartbeat of my life i don't give a flip what the mother hussies look like i'm happy with my wife because she's a priority in my life you know why you trade money for a job it's a priority in your life that's why you left god for a job and the money you think you're gonna make you're gonna lose under the judgment of god because you're gonna go from his blessing to his curse and you're not going to be a winner honey you're going to be a loser when all this is over with you're going to lose more money when god gets done with you we've had 29 families leave this church because they wanted to make more money i'm for you making more money dear god i'm your pastor i want you to prosper but if you think you're going to affect my fellowship at the table to give me a couple more bucks an hour you've called the wrong phone number brother because the same god that's taking care of me up till now is the same god that can take care of me down the road and you're not going to put him in a checking account and you're not going to bog him down in a checkbook and you're not going to put god on a credit card i tell you what you'll do you do what you're supposed to do and god said you keep me first and whatever your need is i promise you i'm god enough that i can take care of my children so i got almost 30 families their pews empty now where they used to sit and some of you have taken it not one of those families has called me not one and said man since i left church and got that better job well we're happy our home's a blessing i'm making more money i ain't never been this happy before ain't never had one call me i've got four called me they're in divorce i got six families called me their kids are now in dope addicts [Music] now they're locked into a job they can't get out of because they've already lost their family and their kids now and now their wife goes to another plant and messes around with men and he goes to his plant messes around with women you know 80 of all adultery starts on the workforce it could be the reason why god don't give you the better job is there's some floozy jezebel there that's going to try to wreck your home and mess you up and you're trying to override the fact that god's trying to protect you from something that's going to spiritually and morally destroy you so what about the table of fellowship where are you going to be next sunday you're going to come drag it in 10 minutes late and then leave during the invitation never shake hands never say hello never say a prayer never go to the altar some of you have never been in the altar since i've been the pastor of this church you mean you're so holy that you have never had to get right about anything bless god the baptistery full get your butt up there and walk on water then i'll believe that nonsense the problem is church is a part of your life but it's not a priority in your life the table of fellowship number three i want to talk about luke 14 i want to talk about the table of the forbidden the bible talks about an illustration where a a a master made a big supper and he told his servant brother cliff to go out and invite all of his family and friends to this supper so they went out and this this is a type of christ god the father sending the holy spirit out to people to bring them to the bread of life jesus christ so the father tells the spirit go out and get everybody tell them i said come in everything's ready they don't have to work they don't have to serve they don't have to clean up all you have to do is come but nobody came why is there a table of the forbidden there's three reasons why number one because people put off getting saved there's people here today you'd be naive to think that everybody in this large auditorium with a balcony filled and everything that everybody here said you know they're not saved and there's so many there's no telling how many times god has dealt with you about becoming a christian and so when the servant goes out he goes to one guy and says look man the father's prepared a meal all you got to do is come receive it and it's yours forever and he said look man i bought some land i got to go look at it now look when you start buying land that you ain't never looked at you back on drugs again brother then he asked another one man i want you to come he said i can i bought a yoke of ox and i got to go thank god one man at least was honest he said are you going to come he said i got married and he said i'm going to tell you i'm married to a witch and she ain't coming as long as phil kids pastor in that church a lot of men have left this church because of their wives you ain't fooling me that lizard tongue jezebel that i won't let run this church i'm not here to run the church i'm here to keep you from running this church and i'm going to keep keeping you from running this church but they put it off they put it off let me ask my wife if we can come you know how many times i went to fellows that talked about how they whipped 13 men with a bar stool and even their tongue and eyelids are tattooed boy they walk around so tough and you go up and knock on their door hey man i'm from the church i want to invite you to church you know what that punk will say let me ask my wife you two-fold hypocrite you never asked her about going to getting drunk you don't ask her about blowing your paycheck you don't ask her about snorting crack or blowing powder but you gotta ask her about going to church you probably got silk on your drawers you ought to man up say man we're not right with god i'm going to church i'm going to get my life straightened out because i don't want to be left out you put it off some of you the table is set christ is inviting you to come to the holy spirit but you'll leave here and spiritually your chair will be hit day because you put it off what about those that pushed away the servant don't you know some of the places that servant went when they knocked on the door they said look get off my porch i don't want you around me i tell you one of the most naive things a sinner will ever do is push away the spirit of god and reject his call oh the danger and the depths of darkness by resisting the wooing of the holy ghost of god you'll provoke god himself to anger the bible said the master being angry he's mad the holy god of eternity is mad because he's cooked this meal and nobody shows it's referring to israel in typology you understand that god going to israel first he came to his own in his own receipt him not now watch this so the servant comes back and says in typology your people your family your chosen ones israel they don't want anything to do with the bread of life jesus you think that put god out of business he turned around and said to the servant ain't no problem that's what i want you to do i want you to go the highways and hedges i want you to get the poor the lame the dumb the stupid i want you to get the homeless i want you to get the outcast i want you to get the poor i want you to get that crowd that nobody else wants and i want you to bid them to come to my supper and you are a recipient of that invitation and i am a recipient of that invitation as well now here's the danger and i'm done this is what the master said to the servant it's filled up with gentiles and here's what he turned and said that crowd that i bid that did not come they will never taste of my supper there is a time and a place when god will say to the spirit of god leave them alone and when that happens ladies and gentlemen every preacher in this country can pray for you you can go to the altar every invitation you read your bible through once a month when the holy ghost is commanded to leave you alone you are as good as in hell so if out of 7 billion people god spoke to me this morning i tell you what i do miss anna while you're coming to the piano i tell you what i do i get out of my seat i don't want an empty place at the table but in closing i want to tell you this there's one more festivity coming and it's not even on this earth it's called the marriage supper of the lamb and john said the holy ghost took me up into the third heaven one day and he said there was a table stretched just as far as the eye could see and jesus was at the head of the table and i noticed one thing every chair was occupied because you had to have a reservation you had to have a reservation to show up for this feast and that reservation was paid for on the cross and all you got to do show up at the cross get your ticket punched and someday out younder where there's no more pain no more death no more sorrow no more crying there's a table stretched across the heavens of god and all the people of god will enjoy the festivity in the presence of the lamb let's give him a [Applause] the hand boys

Channel: drphilkidd

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Length: 33min 23sec (2003 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021