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[00:00:25] Speaker B: Good morning. Good to see all of you guys here today. We're in this series we're starting this weekend called Comeback. And it is significant, I think, in the Easter season because everyone at some time or another has had a comeback in your life. Now, understand, before you can have a comeback, you have to, first of all, have had a setback. And there's no one in the room, I promise you, who has not gone through some sort of setback. Maybe a financial reversal, maybe a relationship, maybe a business partnership, maybe in a church fellowship, you've had an experience with a setback, something that was not of your own making, something that you experienced as a failure or result of someone else. And so it set you back, put you on your heels. And what I want to encourage you with is this idea that regardless of the setbacks, there's always a place for a comeback. And I believe that because I firmly believe that God is the God of a second chance and a third chance and a fourth chance, that God doesn't give up on us. In fact, the only tragedy happens in the life of one of his kids when they give up on themselves.
You see, one thing will not keep you from a setback, and that's the work of the devil in your life. He can't keep you from that. God won't keep you from that. So if you don't have a comeback from your setbacks, you have to own that at some point. You have to realize I may be the biggest problem that I'm facing and I might be my biggest enemy that's keeping me from experiencing the fullness of God and enjoying a true comeback in my life. This morning I thought to kick series off, I'd talk about the comeback kid.
Now, that's not a phrase that I've coined, a title that I've coined. We've all heard of the comeback kid. There's songs written about the comeback kid. I think there's a movie out about the comeback kid.
Joe Montana. For all of my 49, er, friends, he was a comeback kid. In fact, even Bill Clinton was called the comeback kid. So we're familiar with the term and we understand what that means when you talk about people who have experienced comebacks in their life. And this morning we're going to look at two characters, but the focus will be on one. But both of these guys had comebacks in their life, and both of these comebacks were the result of setbacks that could have sidelined them for the rest of their life. But instead they realized that God wasn't finished with them yet, that God has a purpose and a plan for them. And again, my overarching message to you is that's true for you as well. As long as you are alive, as long as you are here, God is not finished with you either. And so it is possible, regardless of the setback, for you to experience comeback that might be in a different form, you might be a different person. I think anytime we go through a setback, it changes us. I think sometimes it changes us for the better. Sometimes we're smarter. Sometimes we're not as gullible. Sometimes we come out a little wiser from the experience. So setbacks will change you, but they set you up to be better fit for a comeback. And this morning we're going to talk about that. The first character in our story is very famous, King David. And King David was a young man who was anointed king, or rather appointed no, anointed king. I had that right long before he was appointed king.
Out on the hillsides, taking care of his father's sheep, the prophet was sent among the sons of Jesse to find the next king. Now, the reason that was significant is because Saul was king at that time, and the prophet Samuel served at the wishes of King Saul. Now, Saul was the first king that the people had chosen. When you read the record, you see that the people wanted to be governed like other nations of the world were governed up until that point, they had been governed by God. God had directed the prophets and the priests to give his word to the people. But the people wanted to be like other nations. They didn't want to have God as their sole authority. And so the people really, out of their willfulness and their rebellion, desired to have a king. And so God allowed them what they desired. You see, sometimes you have to be careful when you get what you want. Sometimes when you get what you want, you realize it wasn't as good as what you had. And there's a principle in the Bible. When Israel was going through the wilderness and they were crying out for meat, God was feeding them fresh bread from heaven. They were getting fresh baked goods from heaven every morning, called Manna. And they wanted some meat. And so God gave them quail. And, man, before you know it, they were sick of quail, and so they just couldn't be happy. And so God, finally, the Bible says, concerning their attitude, he said, I love this line. He said, he gave them their request, but he sent leanness into their soul. In other words, he gave them what they said they wanted to teach them. That is not what you need. My point is, sometimes God will allow us to have the thing in life that we've demanded. We prayed for. We won't settle for anything except that, in order to help us realize that's not really what I needed. Now that I got what I thought I wanted, I don't want it now. And that's what happened with Israel, with the king, with King Saul. He started out as a good man. He started out as a great king and a great leader, sensitive to the people. But through a series of things, sometimes people change. And the real character of a person sometimes is revealed when they get promoted. You can mess people up promoting them too soon. You can mess a good sergeant up by trying to make him a general. You can mess a good employer up by making a manager when they were better in their former role. There is the Pareto principle of business that says you elevate a person to the level of their incompetence. And so I'm just suggesting that Saul was great in his place. But after a period of time as king, he became very self willed, and he became very dominant over the people. And finally, it got to the point where God tells the prophet, I've rejected Saul from being king. He will not be the king. And you'll go find the next king among the sons of Jesse. And so Saul goes out, or Samuel goes out to look for the next king. And so Jesse, as the story goes, brings all of his boys to the house. He lines them up. And so the prophet is going down the line, looking at all these young, capable young men and saying, I don't feel that any of the boys are the one. I don't understand. He said, surely you have to have another son. Is this all your boys? He goes, well, I got this kid, this young one, out in the field keeping sheep. But he know he's not the most impressive of all my sons. How would you like your dad to have that opinion of you? Right? But we'll go get him, and we'll bring him in. And, man, they go and get David. He's out there taking care of sheep. And so they bring David in and man, the spirit of God just touches the heart of the prophet, and he goes, that's the one. And so David is anointed king in front of his family in that moment. But the moment that he was anointed was not the moment he would become appointed. Because when you read the story, what he did, it's a great leadership, and a great principal leadership is he went back to taking care of sheep. He didn't suddenly say, yeah, I'm bad. I'm king. I'm going to change everything about my life. I am the king. He didn't lord over his brothers. He went back to taking care of sheep. He was waiting for God to promote him. Because with God, when you study the Bible, everything he does is according to timing. God is a God of rhythm. In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son. In the fullness of time. Many times you would read about Jesus when he would say, my time has not come. It's not time. And so God is a God of perfect timing. And with David, he wasn't ready to be appointed king, though he had now been anointed king. So fast forward through the story, David is waiting. He's biting his time. He knows sooner or later my time will come, I'll get that promotion, and I will finally be the king that God has anointed me to be. So Saul's life begins to spiral. He loses several of his sons. He's in battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa. And in that battle, he loses Jonathan. Jonathan was the best friend of young David. And Jonathan dies in battle. Saul is mortally wounded in that fight against the Philistines and falls on his own sword, taking his own life. When the word reaches the palace that the king is dead, that his son is dead, then all they did was send the palace into panic, and they began to gather all the king's family, as many as they could, and they began to make haste. They began to get out of the city, because typically when the king would fall, the conquering nation would invade the palace and kill all the remaining family members so there would never be an insurrection, that no one would ever try to take over the rule of that previous king. And so you have this going on. And so into the story comes our second character, a little boy who was only five years old at the time. He's the son of Jonathan, the grandson of Saul. And in that rightful succession, he would eventually should become king. And this young man's name is Mephibosheth. And so in the hurry and haste of that moment. There is a little maid, a little nanny that is watching over Mephibosheth. He's five years old. So she gathers him up and they're trying to get out of the palace to get to a safe house, to get to a place of refuge. They don't know what's about to happen. They don't know if the Philistines are on the horizon, if they're about to overrun the palace, and if so, all the remaining members of the king's family will be put to death. Well, in her haste, as she's running, carrying this little boy, she stumbles and falls. Now, the Bible doesn't describe the type of fall it was. It just describes the outcome where both of this little boy's legs are severely injured.
He's injured so severely that the Bible says he's crippled by that experience.
They're in a safe house. They're in a safe place. They're away from the city. No one really knows where they are except a very small remnant that's there to protect them. And they're afraid to call for the best medical help that they could call on in that day. They knew if we brought the best doctors or physicians that were available, that word would reach the enemy. They would find our location and they would kill him. So the best that they knew how, they took care of Mephibosheth and they tried to nurse him back to health. But throughout all of his lifetime, Mephibosheth would be unable to walk. He would be crippled because of the fall of that nanny. He would be crippled because of the mistake of somebody else. He would be damaged because of what somebody else did. No fault to his own, no fault of his own, but he would be crippled as a result of that. Well, they're in a place, as we'll see in a moment, called Lodobar Lotobar. It was out in the desert region. It was in the wilderness. It was a safe place. It was the last place on earth anyone would think remnants of a king's family would ever live by name. The title Lotabar means a barren place. It means a place without pasture. I mean, only renegades went to Lodobar. Only people looking to purposefully live off of the grid and live away from anyone else ever went to Lotabar. It was a place of wasteland. It was a place where you just literally go to die. And this is where Mephibosheth, the grandson of the king, is now living. He's hiding in Lotabar. Well, what was going on, unbeknownst to him is the Philistines didn't overcome that nation. Instead, Israel rose up. In the course of that battle with them, the nation was divided. Israel and Judah became two separate nations. And in the midst of that, the last remaining member of Saul's family attempted to reign Ishabeth. And he reigned for just a skinny minute. He wasn't king for long because he wasn't a good king. He wasn't a good leader. And guess what happened to him? His staff killed him. That's a tough way to get expelled from leadership, is have your own staff kill you. I've had guys I've hired that the staff did kill him, however. But I'm just saying, a bad leader actually gets exposed eventually. And that was Isabeth. And they killed him, killed him in his sleep. And so now the position is vacant, and so David is all of a sudden feeling like God is ordaining the timing of all of this for him to take the throne. So David marries the daughter of King Saul. And as a result of that marriage, he becomes in line of that lineage to become the king. And so David, who was anointed king as a younger man, now is appointed king, and he begins to rule. And one of the first things that happened under David's rule was the kingdom was united. Israel and Judah came back together. David was a great leader. He was an exceptional leader. He knew how to mediate. He knew how to get warring factions to work together. He was a strong leader. People looked up to him. In fact, when you go to Israel, the national flag is the star of David. So David is still honored and remembered, even in the land of Israel, even to this very day. So David was a great king. And one of the first things that David did when he became king was he wanted to show kindness to the household of Saul. And we're about to get into the text now. And what was so unusual about that was that was not the custom. You didn't show kindness to the king. You have just taken the place of. In fact, if you found that any of his family were living, you could put them to death. It was kind of the cultural norm. It was accepted. No one would even raise an eyebrow to the idea that you went in and killed all of the remnants of the previous king's family because you were ensuring your reign. You were making sure your posterity would inherit the Throne one day, and you were making sure no one would ever be a threat to your rule. But that's not what he does. In fact, if you have a Bible, take a look with me in two Samuel, chapter nine. And look at verse one. We're just going to read about six or seven verses there. This is significant. Now, David said, is there anyone left who is of the household of Saul that I may show kindness to him for Jonathan's sake? Now remember, Jonathan was David's best friend. Jonathan and David swore an oath of friendship in one Samuel 20, that they would honor each other's kids and each other's grandkids. In other words, they said, we're friends, and as long as you and I live, I'll always look out for your guys. You always look out for my guys. That was a great friendship. Some of you have friends like that where you've gone through a loss of a loved one, and that friend has come to say, what can I do? How can I help you? How can I take care of you? What can I do for your family? If you have a friend like that, you're blessed. And this was David's loyalty to his friendship with Jonathan in honoring the oath that they had made to always respect their friendship and take care of each other's family. And so the Bible says, verse two, there was a servant of the house of Saul. His name was Zeba. And when they called him to David, the king said, are you Zeba? He said, yes, at your service. The king said, is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God? And Zeba said to the king, there's still a son of Jonathan who's lame in his feet. So the king said, where is he? And Zeba said to the king, indeed, he's in the house of maker, the son of Amil in Lodobar. And the king sent and brought him out of the house of maker, the son of Amil from Lotabar. And when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face, prostrated himself, and said, david said, mephibosheth. And he said, here is your servant. So David said, do not fear. I'll surely show you kindness for Jonathan, your father's sake, and restore to you all the land of Saul, your grandfather, of your grandfather. And you will eat bread at my table continually. What an amazing story of love, forgiveness, and what an incredible comeback here, Mephibosheth was, when you think about it. Well, let me back up to the servant Zeba. When the servant Zeba is called in by King David, he is now at a crossroads of fear of his life. He can't lie to the king. He does know where Mephibosheth lives. He does know there is a remnant of the king that's still alive. So he can't lie to the king. But if he tells the king the truth, then if he can't trust the heart of the king, then what would keep the king from going and killing Mephibosheth? So he just gave him up. So you can see the position that Zeba is in. But Zeba had enough trust in God and enough trust in David, where he goes ahead and says, he's in Lodobar, Mephibosheth, he's lame in both feet, and he's been hiding there since the Philistines killed my father, his father and his grandfather. So David sends and calls this young man, and the young man responds. He doesn't try to get people to hide him. He doesn't try to get people to get him away to safety somewhere. He submits himself to the authority of the king, knowing that the king had full authority to put him to death. But he trusted David. And the minute David sees him, he says, you don't have anything to fear. You don't have anything to fear. In fact, I'm going to make you like one of my sons. I'm going to restore everything you've ever lost. You're going to set at my table. And when you pull up around the king's table, no one will see the legs that are broken and lame. You'll set at my table as equal with all of my families. I'm going to restore you. I'm going to give you back everything that you've ever lost. And the Bible says Mephibosheth lived for all the time of his life as a son of King David. What a remarkable story. And when I thought about that and thought about trying to cover that huge marathon of truth and try to do it in sprint time, I wanted to break it apart in about three pieces for you to consider this morning, because this story mirrors a lot of our story. And it begins with what I was called, I would say this. This young man was, first of all, devastated. He was devastated. His story, mephibosheth's story begins with a setback. He begins as a young man with broken legs, unable to walk, unable to function. Listen, not because of mistake that he made, but because of the mistakes that someone else has made. Now, in the Bible, there's called generational sins. You've heard of that, where the Bible says the iniquity of the fathers are passed on to the children through the second and third generation. Well, that's been kind of abused and misused to make people believe that in every case and in every circumstance, you and I are going to have to deal with and feel the judgment and the pain of mistakes that our parents or our grandparents have made. Now, I'll say sometimes that may be true. There's some truth to it genetically. When you go to the doctor and the doctor says, is your mother and father still living? And you say, no, my father passed with heart disease, my mother with cancer. Well, they'll make note of that because there is some genetic reality that there are certain things genetically that is transferred or passed down to the next generation, but that doesn't mean. And medical doctors, we have a number in our church would tell you that is not a guarantee you're going to have heart disease or even you're going to have a cancer. It just means you have a genetic predisposition toward that. There is that possibility. And I'll go on to say, while I'm running this rabbit a little bit, that we're all going to die of something. If Jesus is coming, nobody's getting out of this alive. So the point is, it's interesting for the doctor, so they'll know what to watch for in the blood work and so forth. So there is a sense when that happens where there are some transference of problems that a previous generation had that the next generation will be forced to deal with. For example, in lamentations five seven, the Bible says, our fathers sinned, our ancestors sinned, and they're not here anymore. And we now bear the brunt of their mistake. Now, that could be a reference to genetics, which they didn't have that information at that point in time. It might have been by reputation that, hey, his dad was terrible, so that must mean he's terrible. You get the correlation. How people could assume that if you came from that kind of family, you wouldn't be a different type of person. So there is some sense of that generational thing being transferred down, but it doesn't have to be that way. There is a way whereby you can change that marker in your own life. In fact, the Bible says when you become a Christian, it calls it regeneration.
You know what regeneration is, is to be regened. Regened. That means in some sense, in the spiritual context, that the genetic code of your life is regened. You've been transformed. You now don't have to commit the sins of the fathers or the mothers that live before you. If you came out of a crazy family, can I just break it down this way? If you came from a crazy family, you actually can say, crazy stops with me. I ain't passing crazy on.
So it's not a guarantee that you've got to put on your kids what might have been put on you. So there is that idea that, yeah, we have to deal with some things because of our forefathers and our ancestors, but that generational idea doesn't mean it's a code that can't be broken. Let me give you another verse to consider if this is really interesting to you. It's in Ezekiel 18, verse 20. Ezekiel 1820. Listen to this. The child will not suffer for the iniquity of the parent, nor will the parent suffer for the iniquity of the child. So the Bible kind of puts an end to it right there. It's just saying there are times when there are things genetically that we have to deal with that are in our family tree, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we have to pass on negative traits, characteristics, character flaws to the next generation. In fact, there's even a study called epigenetics. And in epigenetics, science is studying the attitude, the mental attitude and outlook of certain factors emotionally, that you go through trauma and certain life events that you've experienced. And how it can have a negative effect on your health is one application of that study. And it's interesting because what I go through can so negatively affect me if I allow my mental thoughts to go negative from that experience. And I don't come out of it and I don't emerge out of it. Your emotional health, I guess, in summary, can affect your physical health. Your emotional well being can have a profound effect on your physical health. So how does this relate to Mephibosheth in Lodobar? I'm saying there was something remarkable in the young man that decided his life would be different even under a hard circumstance. He's living in Lodobar. He's the victim of someone else's mistake. He's going through trying to do the best he can with the life and the cards he's been dealt with. And from all indications, he turns out to be a remarkable young man. He turns out to be a very respectful young man, a man who trusts God profoundly, a young man that could have been bitter. Would you have blamed him?
You could see where he would be bitter. You could see where he'd be angry and hostile. But instead, his heart is tender. He's still trusting he's still open. And so this young man was navigating through this terrible devastation in his life, I think, in a remarkable. A remarkable way. And so this story really opens with this young man who was devastated. Notice the second thing that I discovered when I was, well, hey, I gave it away. He was not only devastated, he was discovered. That's what I discovered when I was studying the passage. He was discovered. He was hiding out in Lodobar. He was in isolation.
He was in fear of his life. And when you think about your condition and you think about what you've gone through in life, one of the tendencies when you've been devastated, one of the tendencies you have, in fact, it's the most innate part of our nature is self preservation. And what happens when your heart has been broken and your heart has been crushed, especially by someone else, especially when it's no fault of your own? There is a tendency we have for self preservation to insulate and isolate. What you can do is move into an emotional load of bar. You kind of go to a barren place. You kind of move somewhere where you think, the best way now to protect me going forward is I have to isolate and insulate. I've talked to a lot of people who've gone through a bad relationship. There's been some heartbreak and betrayal. And as a result of that one bad relationship, they say, I'll never trust anyone ever again. Well, I understand where they're coming from and where they are in that moment might be really where they are. I just don't want them to stay there. In other words, it was important for Mephibosheth to go to Lotabar, but it was significant that he didn't stay in Lodobar. You see, you can go emotionally to a dry place. You can go emotionally to a barren place. You can be devastated and need time to heal. And so you isolate and insulate, but you don't want to live there. You don't want to stay there, because that outlook, that idea, that emotional damage that's been done to you eventually will affect you, will affect you physically. Remember epigenetics? It will have a devastating negative effect on your life. At some point, you've got to get yourself out of Lodobar, or you've got to let somebody help you out of Lodobar. Now, in Mephibosh's case, it's obvious that David helped him out of Lodobar. Sometimes God will use other people. Did you know? Sometimes God will send a friend into your life at the right moment to tell you, hey, man, you really need to check yourself before you wreck yourself. You really need to think about where you are right now. You're not in a really good place. I'm worried about you. I'm concerned. And you've got to be willing to trust someone to let them in your life enough to speak truth to you. Sometimes people can come to that on their own. You remember the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, right? I mean, he's in the pig pen. And then you read this expression, he came to himself, right? He had an epiphany. Well, sometimes people can help you. Sometimes you just wake up, you just say, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm tired of this.
Someone, as well said, people don't change until they know enough that they want to or they hurt enough that they have to. And sometimes you've lived in Lodobar so long that you go, I'm sick of this. Life's too short. I'm not happy. I'm in a barren place. I'm in an empty wasteland. I mean, yeah, I have just caused to be here. Nobody would criticize what sent you to Lodabar. I'm not even talking about that. It's what's keeping you there. And at some point, you have to have an epiphany where you can say, I got to get out of here.
Remember, Lazarus was in the tomb for four days and he heard the voice of God, Lazarus, come forth. I mean, sometimes you go into a dead place, and sometimes you go into a dark place, and sometimes you go into a desolate place, but you listen for the voice of God, and sooner or later, he'll tell you to come out. It's time to walk out. And I'm suggesting to your heart that a lot of God's people have been sent to Lotobar and they're still living there. And it may be God's will for you to go to Lodobar to protect your heart, protect yourself, to kind of recover. It's like ICU. Thank God for ICU, but it's not a place you want to be for a long period of time. I mean, after a period of time, they say, if I can't get you out of ICU, you're probably not going to survive. I mean, the goal is treat them and street them.
I mean, get them out of ICU and get them back on their feet. I mean, it's shocking to me when I see somebody go through major surgery and I hear that they're up the next day sitting in a chair, or they're walking down the hall. I'm going, are you kidding me? I think if I had a major surgery like that, man, first of all, I'd milk it for all I could get out of it.
And then, secondly, I would get as much attention as I could. I'm a guy, a bunch.
That's just me. But I'm saying, they don't let that happen, man. Those nurses and those doctors and those hospitals, especially those in that area, they don't play. They know when you're messing with them and we know you're getting up, you're going to walk, right? And so they know ICU was necessary. You had to go there. You're going to die if you didn't go in there. But after a while, you don't live there, you don't stay there. Their goal is to get you out of there so you can function and get back to your life and do everything you're supposed to do. That's the point of Lodobar. Lotabar was a place to go, but it wasn't a place to stay. And he was discovered in Lotabar. Can I give you just a really cool thought this morning? The God of heaven knows where you are. He knows who you are. He knows exactly what you're going through.
The king, he discovered where Mephibosheth was. Where is he? Lodobar. Lotobar. What in the world? Lotobar. Get him out of Lodobar. Get him back to the palace. He doesn't belong to Lodobar. Get him back here. What's the point? The point is, the king of heaven, the king of kings and the lord of lords, if you're in Lodobar this morning, if you're an emotional place, and if you're in a devastated place and you have found yourself isolated and insulated from people who love you and care about you, let me tell you, the God of heaven knows where you are. He didn't look down from heaven and one day just discover you. He didn't look down, see you sitting in this room or watching online and go, oh, I didn't know I had that one. Neat. I'm glad I did that. Ancestry.com. I found another kid.
I don't know where that came from. But the point is, the God of heaven knows you. He isn't going to forget you. I mean, there's a beautiful passage that says that you're, like, inscribed on his hand. Did you know the only thing in heaven that will be made by man will be the scars in the body of Jesus.
I mean, one of the prophecies says one of the elders in heaven will look at Jesus one day and said, what are these wounds and where did they come from? And he said, these are the wounds that I received in the house of my friends.
So the only thing in heaven will be there to remind us through all eternity that we actually made would be the scars in the body of our savior to remind us of the price that he paid so that we could enjoy eternity with him one day.
So I'm just suggesting your heart. The God of heaven knows who you are. He knows where you are. And for some of you, you may have been in Lodobar too long.
He loves you. He's discovered you. I'm not negating your devastation.
Can I give you a thought that I hope you receive this?
People can hurt you. People can devastate you, but no one can ruin your life without your permission.
You got to give them permission. Don't let anybody do that to you. You might have to have some help. And again, I'm not minimizing what you've gone through. We have people in our church that have gone through horrible things. I mean, I talk to some people, honestly, I'm shocked when they walk through the door. I'm so impressed that they haven't given up on their faith or given up on God. That's why I can't make myself get hard on people. I just know what people have gone through. I know what I've gone through. And when we walk in those same little circles together, you decide, why don't we just chill out and back off and just love each other and let God help people through this? Can we do that and not be so judgmental of one another, especially when people go through hard times.
So I'm just suggesting you, man, nobody can ruin your life unless you give them that power. Don't give them that. Don't give anybody that power. What is the greatest revenge? Is living well. A life well lived. The comeback. Do that. Let that be your story. The God of heaven will empower you. The God of heaven will enable you. You can get out of Lodobar. You can walk out. Here's a third thought. We'll go home. Number three. You see, he was delivered. He was delivered. God brought him out. And you know what God did? He gave him back everything that he ever lost.
Isn't that a beautiful thought? Everything he ever lost, God gave it back to him. Now, it was different it wasn't the same, but he gave it back. He restored him fully. He redeemed him completely. And, man, when you walk out of Lodobar, you'll find the God of heaven loves you. The God of heaven will provide for you. The God of heaven will be with you. Man, one of my life verses. I've shared it with you many times. He said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Why? So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. Of whom shall I be afraid? In other words, you ain't going to be scared. Nothing will scare you anymore. Why? Because God is with you. He will never leave you. So, friend, if you've been devastated, you this morning have been discovered and God desires to deliver you, let him do it. Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you that we've had the opportunity to journey back through the Old Testament and read this really remarkable story of redemption, of love, of restoration.
I pray that'll be the story of many in the room and many watching online. Some of them are living in Lodobar, a barren place, a place of isolation and insulation. A place of protection, but a place that cannot sustain and maintain a happy life. So, Father, bring them out of Lodobar. Let them know there's a place at the king's table. Let them know that you can restore that which they've lost. You can give them their joy again. You can restore happiness into their life again. So, Father, I pray you'll help people on that journey. And finally, Lord, I pray for my friends who may never have trusted you as their savior, that this might be the moment right where they are, where they humble their heart and say, Lord Jesus, with all that I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, and I give you great praise. In Jesus name. Amen.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
