if you would, 2 Samuel 7. Yeah, if you'll look for an example where this is all prophetic, not only is it a reference toward Solomon, but it's a reference toward what God was gonna do in David's lineage through Solomon toward the Messiah. Let's just start in verse number eight. The scripture says, Now therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold and from following the sheep to be ruler over my people over Israel. And I've been with you wherever you have gone, have cut off all your enemies from before you and have made you a great name like the name of the great men who are on the earth. Moreover, I appoint a place for my people, Israel, and I will plant them. that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more. Nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore as they previously had. Since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also, the Lord tells you that he will make you a house. See, David's request was to build something for the Lord, but God didn't ask him to build anything for him. God said, I'm gonna build something in you. I'm gonna make you a house when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers. Now that's a good word right there, when your days are fulfilled. You know what that says? That there was a set time for David to live. There was a set time given for David to serve. The new Testament, the book of Acts says, David served his generation by the will of God. Here it is. When God tells him, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body. and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul. whom I remove from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever." I think he referenced that, what, three times? In that short little period. According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. Then King David, which was a custom for him, Went and sat before the Lord and he said, who am I? Oh Lord God. And what is my house that you have brought me this far. And yet this was a small thing in your sight, oh Lord God. And you have also spoken of your servants house for great while to come. Is this the manner of man? Oh Lord God. David is saying it is a tremendous thing of what you've done with me. You took me from following the sheep. You took me from my father's pastors, and you brought me to many places over the last years, and you have elevated me and exalted me with your favor to be king and shepherd over your people. That is a tremendous thing, unfathomable that you would choose to do that, but in your hands and in your ways, it was just a small thing. It was nothing for you to do what you've done with me. But to me, I stand in awe of how you have taken my life and done what you've done with it. But to you, it was a small thing. Verse 20 says, now what more can David say to you? For you, Lord God, know your servant. For your words sake, and according to your own heart, you have done all these great things to make your servant know them. Therefore, you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you, nor is there any God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people? Like Israel. the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for himself as a people to make for himself a name and to do for yourself great and awesome deeds for your land before your people whom you've redeemed for yourself from Egypt. the nations, and their gods. For you have made your people Israel, your very own people forever. And you, Lord, have become their God. Now, O Lord God, The word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as you have said. So let your name be magnified forever saying, the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel and let the house of your servant David be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel have revealed this to your servant saying, I will build you a house. Therefore your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you. And now Lord God. You are God and your words are true and you have promised this goodness to your servant. Now, therefore, let it please you to bless the house of your service that it may continue before you forever. For you, Oh Lord, God have spoken it. And with your blessing, let the house of your servant be blessed forever. And God's people said, amen. We're talking about all the way to Jesus, all the way to you and me. Amen. We included in that. Jesus is the son of David and we're hidden in him and we become one with him. And therefore, when David was told these things by the Lord, as he even made point here, the Lord made them known to his servant, because God's got to make it known to us. He's got to reveal it. And what he's even doing to us tonight, to me, he's making it known to me that, Hey, um, he's got my name in there somewhere. Amen. He knew. And not only did he know, not only does he know me, not only has to be provided the mercy necessary for me to be part of this, but he also knows my days and he knows when my days are fulfilled and I rest from the labor here that I'll get to spend eternity with him. Amen. So yes, we talking about this child that was born to bring life to his people, delivers from ourselves to deliver us to a life of service for the glory of God. And that's what we are. We've been called to lead. And as we follow, and the more we follow the Lord intently and intimately and, and personably, when we do that, what God does, he begins to grow us. We learn. and love and live in a way that brings glory and honor to him. And what we see here is several things. I mentioned this morning, what were they? That David's courageously committed. He was courageously committed to his call. We even see it here in verse number eight again. Now, therefore, thus says the Lord to David, I took you from the sheepfold. and from following the sheep to be ruler over my people, over Israel. Now I want you to keep in mind, David was doing what his father told him to do. God always tells us when we honor our father and mothers, our days shall be long and full of life on this earth. and he was doing what his call was. His call was to follow the leadership of his father, to do what his father assigned him to do, and he did that faithfully. The scripture says God found him following the sheep. Matter of fact, look if you would in Psalm 78. Go to Psalm 78. This idea of being courageous. When we are courageous, we're courageous because we understand the accountability that we've been given. I don't think a man can be courageous, a woman can be courageous in this life if they didn't have a sense of accountability. It's being accountable for something, for someone, for something that makes each of us courageous. And the more I understand my accountability and responsibility, the more courageous I will actually live. The more responsibility I'll take on in the assignment that God has given me. And David was courageous because he understood his calling, his accountability to his father. And we'll see in Psalm 78, I mean, verse number 70, 78, 70. The scripture says this, that God chose David, his servant, And God took him as we see this reaffirmation. He took him from the sheepfold. What was he doing? From following the youths that had young, he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance. So David shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and he guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. You see, here's a man that was faithful, committed to the call that his father had given him, And here he is in this humble position, this meek position of not just leading sheep, but also following the sheep. God took him from following the sheep and put him to be, and placed him to be shepherd and ruler over his people. And just as committed as he was to his father, he was committed to his heavenly father. and what he did, and because he shepherded them with integrity and skillfulness, that goes back to his responsibilities, that goes back to his accountability. And when lions and bears and Goliath came to attack the sheep that belonged to his earthly father and the sheep that belonged to his heavenly father, Because David was a man of integrity and accountability to his call. He courageously stood in the gap and was brave. If you really think about it, we don't necessarily have a problem with being brave or being courageous. Our problem with courage is a problem with accountability. When we're not accountable. to people and accountable to the Lord, we're not gonna step out and do things that have a potential to failure in our life. We're gonna turn around and shy away from it. When we don't recognize our accountability, and that speaks of David here when it says in verse 72, he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart. David was, he stood firm and was accountable to the Lord. And therefore he was able to shepherd them and he guided them by the skillfulness of his hands, which the Bible teaches us that God taught him those things and God equipped him. And that goes along with the assignments that God has given us. Look over in Psalm 89, Psalm 89. It's people that do not have an assignment or not accountable to the assignments and responsible to the mission they've been given are people who run away from the challenge, who, who do not step out in a courageous, with a courageous spirit to do what God has set us apart to do. because they just are not operating in that accountability and their responsibility. Remember when God told Joshua, for an example, be strong and very courageous. When he said be strong, the idea is take personal responsibility, take a stand. When you are strong, you stand. And that's what he was encouraging Joshua to do. He's given him everything that he needed to lead God's people. He's given him everything. He provided a great, he was a great apprentice to Moses. He gave him a great example of leadership. He had the revelations of God's word. And God told him to meditate on the word of God so that he can walk in the word of God so that his ways will be successful. And he says, Joshua, stand on it. Take this responsibility, be strong and very courageous, be accountable. And when you do, you will lead this people to conquer the promised land. But if you will not be responsible and accountable, you will not lead them in this promised land to fight the enemy that they're going to have to fight, to take this land that they're going to have to take. Yes, the opposition looks fearless. The enemy outnumbers you. The enemy has better weapons than you. The enemy has chariots and you don't. But you are accountable to me and you are responsible for me and I don't have to consider the odds. You don't need chariots and you don't need horses when you have me fighting for you. And if you will shepherd my people the way that I've called you to shepherd them, and you lovingly lead them the way I've called you to lead them, you can take that accountability and it will give you the courage to walk through the fog. It'll give you the courage to walk against the giants of the land. It'll give you the courage you need to be brave to lead this people. And the same thing applies to you and me today. When God gives you an assignment, when God gives us a mission, when God gives me a calling upon my life, it's up to me in my integrity to be accountable to that. And when I am, when I'm faced with an opposition to that, I can be courageous. Toward it because I'm committed to the call that God's given me what David was committed courageously committed and therefore whatever stood in the people's way, whatever stood in his way. He, with a brave heart, listened to the voice of God and walked through it. Now, did he make mistakes? Did he do some foolish things? Did he do things that caused people to get hurt? Yes, he did. But ultimately, overall, characteristically, David was a man who walked in his integrity of accountability to God, and that's why he was so quick to confess. That's why he courageously confessed when he did what he did. We're gonna find out in the next couple of days of when he does what he did with Bathsheba, and he's confronted with it with courage. He confessed that he was the man and that he had done this. And God told him he had forgiven him of his sins, but there was gonna be a consequence for what he'd done. But David didn't keep looking backward at what he'd done. He kept his eyes forward and kept walking. and kept going. And there's great examples from that that we can learn. But in Psalm 89, look, if you would, in verse number 20, very similar to what we just read in Psalm 78, and very similar to what God told Nathan to tell David in 2 Samuel 7. He says in verse number 20, I have found my servant David, and with my holy oil, I have anointed him. And who anointed him? Samuel did. With whom, this would be David, my hand shall be established, also my arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face and plague those who hate him. And, but my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him and in my name, his horn, his strength shall be exalted. Also, I will set his hand over the sea and his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to me. You are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. And also I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, and my covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure for how long? and his throne as the days of heaven eternal. If his sons forsake me, forsake my law, and do not walk in my judgments. If they break my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will, upon their transgressions, I will punish their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. But nevertheless, nevertheless, in grace, my loving kindness, I will not utterly take from him nor allow my faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips. Once I've sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. His descendants, his seed shall endure forever. To God's glory, amen. We see this throughout the scriptures. that by grace, God called this man. By grace, God set him apart. By grace, God gave him a call. He was committed to that call. And he shepherded the people of God. God found him and called him from following the sheep to shepherd his people, and he was filling his calling as a son throughout his life. And because he was accountable, and because he was responsible, He was courageous. He was great courage, which leads to, when you read this and you understand how God was so intimate with him and revealed these things to him, we see David was courageously confident. I mean, when you know God's with you, what in the world do you have to be afraid of? And when you're committed to God's call, you're accountable to fulfill the mission that he's given you, you can be courageously confident that God's with you. No matter what you have to face, no matter if you gotta hide in the cave of Adullam, or if you have to go to the land of the Philistines, or you get a city called Ziklag, no matter where God sent him, he knew God was gonna be faithful to him, and God was gonna protect him. And that gave him confidence to take whatever the enemy had taken from them. And he walked in that confidence. And God continued to use him over and over again. We find that from the beginning, the scripture says that when those lions came to take his father's sheep, because he was confident in his call, because he was committed to his father, he was willing to risk his life to protect what had been put under his care. and he'd snatched that lamb out of the mouth of a lion or out of the paw of a bear. And when that day came and he walked out on that battlefield and he looked at all the people of Israel trembling in their boots that day and he said, what's the matter? What's going on here? Why y'all letting this guy blaspheme our God? Why y'all not fighting against him? Who's not willing to go out and fight him? They said, I'll fight him. Everybody laughs at him. His brothers just think he's there being curious and wanting there to just kind of find out what's going on, being nosy. He said, what are y'all doing? This isn't right. This guy is an uncircumcised Philistine. He can't stand against the armies of God. He can't fight against the people of God. When a man's right with God, devoted to him, what can this guy do to him? I'll fight him. I'm going to kill him today. They said, you can't fight him. I mean, David, you're just a young old boy. You're not a trained fighter. Well, because he was courageously committed to his father, courageously committed to his heavenly father, he had a courageous confidence. He says, look, God has delivered me on more than one occasion. Well, King Saul was going to let him fight. but wanted to put his armor on him. David let him do what he wanted to do, but realized that, hey, this don't fit me. I've never tried it before. I'm just going to take the sling, and I'm going to use these stones that I've got, and I'm going to go fight him. Now, do you believe that David needed courage to do that? No, I imagine so. But because he was accountable, because he took personal responsibility, He couldn't help but be courageous. Couldn't help but be brave. See, victory begins when we possess the confidence to overcome our insecurities and the courage it takes to face the fears of potential failure. When we are accountable. will be courageous. Victory begins when we possess the confidence to overcome our insecurities and the courage it takes to face the fears of potential failure. He was courageous because he was accountable. And leaders that follow well become great leaders because they are accountable. I've never met a man to this day, I've never met a woman that had a solid sense of accountability that was not a courageous person. It just comes with it. It's just part of it. That's what we have to have to be courageous. It's people that are not accountable. to God, it's people that are not accountable to other people. It's mothers that don't see their accountability to their children. Fathers that don't see their accountability to their wives and to their families that don't make courageous choices in life because they tuck their tail and run the other way because they cannot value that much of accountability to be courageous and take a stand. But when we are accountable and we are responsible. We do courageous things when opposition stands before us and failures right before us, we walk through it because we are accountable. And he had confidence that God was with him. That's what we need. Amen. I mean, you just look around you. There's a lot of people have done a lot of courageous things in their lives. and because they had an accountability to a people. They had accountability to their families or to a nation or to others around them. They had a great sense of accountability. So they did courageous things and we commend them, but we not only wanna do courageous things for our family and for our people and for our nation, but we wanna be a group of people that does courageous things because we are accountable to our God. and we have an assignment, we've been given a mission, and we are confident that He is with us until the end of the age, and that we're His, and that we're not afraid to fail, we're not afraid to be knocked down. Why? Because God said He'll never take His mercy off of me. God's never gonna change the course of where He's taken me in eternity based on my failures because He has secured me and promised me that He'll never remove His love and kindness from me. So I can walk in that and be courageous whether in life or through death, amen? And what we find then when we understand that we are committed to our call and therefore we can be courageously committed, courageously confident, then we can be courageously compassionate to people. And that's what we see with David, with Mephibosheth, with Jonathan's son. Remember that covenant that he made with Jonathan? Go back, if you would, in 1 Samuel chapter 20. 1 Samuel chapter 20, I think it is. Look in the last few verses. Y'all remember the story of this, when Saul made it known, Jonathan said, no, my dad doesn't wanna kill you. David said, yes, he does. And he's gonna prove that to you tonight, if he's gonna miss me or not. And remember, Saul wanted to kill Jonathan because he stood with David. So they had an agreement that they would let one another know. And they worked that out in verse number 41 of 1 Samuel 20. It says, as soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground and bowed down three times. and they kissed one another and they wept together, but David more so. Then Jonathan said to David, go in peace since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord saying, may the Lord be between you and me in between your descendants and my descendants for how long? So he arose and departed and Jonathan went into the city. And some nearly 30 years later, We find this circumstance in 2 Samuel chapter number nine. Look in 2 Samuel chapter number nine. David being courageously compassionate of dealing or going to and finding one of Saul's sons. He asked a question in verse number one. Now David said, is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness? For who? for Jonathan's sake. Now he's talking about somebody that he doesn't know because Mephibosheth was only five years old when Saul died and Jonathan, his father died. He was five years old. The Bible tells us in chapter four of 2 Samuel that they fled, his nurse fled. When the word came back that Saul and Jonathan and the other brothers were dead, They fled and the nurse fell and when they fell, it crippled Mephibosheth's legs. Now Mephibosheth is a grown man now and has his own kid, but he's crippled. David doesn't know this. So he asked the question, is there anyone left that I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake? Verse two says, and there was a servant in the house of Saul whose name was, I think that is pronounced Ziba. So when they called him to David, the King said to him, are you Ziba? And he answered at your service. Then the king said, is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God? And Ziba said to the king, there is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet. So the king said to him, where is he? And Ziba said to the king, indeed, he is at the house of Machir, the son of Amiel in Lodabar. Then the king sent and brought him out of the house of Mekir of the son of Amiel from Lodabar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said to Mephibosheth, and he answered and said, here's your servant. And David said to him, do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness Not for you, but for who? For Jonathan's sake. And he will restore to you all the land of Saul, your grandfather, and you shall eat bread at my table continually. Then he bowed himself and he said, what is this your servant that you should look upon such a dead dog as I? such a useless and worthless thing as I, a hopeless thing as I. And the king called Ziba, Saul's servant. And he said to him, I have given to your master's son, all that belonged to Saul and all his house. You therefore, and your sons and your servants shall work the land for him. And you shall bring in the harvest that your master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's son, shall eat bread at my table always. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. I think Ziba was making the rules in those days. But life was fixing to change for him. A king showed up and just pronounced a decree that was about to take place. Then Ziba said to the king, according to all that my Lord, the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do. As for Mephibosheth said to the king, he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah and all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem for he ate continually at the king's table Yep, he was lame in both of his feet. Here's this uncommon kindness that David is gonna show. Courageously compassionate. which is such a great redemptive picture of our lives in Christ. You know why God saves us? Because he made a covenant with his son before time ever began that he would save us. Because of his commitment to his son and his son's commitment and to his father and what he would do for us is the reason why we have redemption, amen? It's no different than here. We just like, we were lame in our feet and useless and worthless and couldn't do for ourselves. But because of an agreement that Jesus, the son of God made with the father and he, Jesus came to this earth and laid down his life and said, I'm gonna invite you to my table. I'm gonna let you come eat at my table. I'm gonna restore what the enemy took from you, and I'm gonna do a work in your life. And all this, you see this idea of the king's forgiveness, fellowship with the king. He restored the fortune to him, and then he included him into his family and said, you're gonna get to eat at my table. And you know, when we are courageously committed to the call, courageously confident in the Lord, we can show courageous, compassion to those who are different than us. Those that can't do for us. That's the thing. What couldn't Mephibosheth do for David? Nothing. David was gonna bless him, amen. And that's the neat thing about when we understand the call that God's placed on our life, confident in Him and what He does, we can reach out with compassion to people that don't smell like us, look like us, act like us, or think like us because of a covenant that we've made with the Lord ourselves. That I'm committed to the call you've given me. I'm confident that you're gonna meet my need and help me and that you're gonna give me the compassion I need to extend the mercy that you've extended to me to those around me. And I can be compassionate to people that are different than me. I can be compassionate to the unwanted, the unusable, the unlovable, just like I was at one time. But God showed me great mercy. and great kindness. He sent people of compassion to me, and now he's going to send us to be compassionate to those in our life so that we can bring the forgiveness of God to them, so that we can invite them into the fellowship of the king, that we can show them that God's got a lot more fortune in his kingdom than this old kingdom of this world. The riches are much better and they last for a whole lot longer. They have eternal value to them. And not only that, but he includes us in his family and invites us to his table, that we be like his own sons. And that's what David did with this boy that he didn't know anything about because he had a covenant friendship with his father. What a blessing, amen? And when we have a covenant friendship with the father, we too are able to show compassion to the father's children. Remember, the father don't have any grandchildren, amen? He's only got children, those who must be born again. And we can have a common bond, we can have fellowship, we can have them part of our family, even if they're not like us, amen? Based on what the Father has done for us and what Jesus has laid his life down to redeem us for. So, there's a lot more that we could bring out and say about these things, but it goes back to David was a man who was accountable. Accountable to God, accountable to his father, accountable to his nation. He was accountable to his friend, Jonathan. And because he was, He did courageous things like looking for somebody that he was going to have to now make sacrifices, spend time with, help, meet needs in his life, sacrifice food on his own table, resources out of his own pocket. All those lands that belong to Saul now belong to David. All those fields for harvest was his harvest now, because God gave it to him. The scriptures tell us that. I gave you his houses, I gave you his lands, I gave you his wives. If that wasn't enough, I would have gave you more. But David, in his compassion, restored all that back to Mephibosheth because of his accountability to Jonathan, who was dead and gone. He shepherded the people with integrity, and He guided them with the skillfulness of His hands. When we're accountable and responsible, God's gonna give us what we need to lead people. Why? Because we are accountable followers of Him. And when we do that, we can act with courageous confidence, courageous commitment, and a courageous compassion. And we'll be just like David. David courageously confessed over and over again his lack, his need for God's mercy to forgive him of his iniquities, of his guile, of his transgressions, of his sins. He kept asking God, Lord, bring glory to your life by forgiving me of this failure. And God kept doing it over and over again. Amen. Why? Because he courageously confessed where he was at in life. And when God finds a man or a woman, a boy or a girl that remains as humble as they were when he first found them, and they courageously confess over and over again, seeking his face, the Lord is gonna give us what we need to be committed, to be confident, and to be compassionate in this world. You know what's gonna follow us? goodness and mercy, all the days. I think David penned that, didn't he? For the Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, and he leadeth me beside the still waters. He says that he leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. And he closes that Psalm out and said, surely, surely, with him being my shepherd, with him leading me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Surely, for his namesake, goodness and mercy's gonna follow me all the days of my life. Amen. Father, we thank you tonight. We bless you for your kindness toward us, your goodness. We thank you for showing us such great compassion, for forgiving us and bringing us to your fellowship and your table restoring unto us what was lost in Adam before you, that we have access to all your coffers, your riches, and that you fill us and bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And now you've established us, and we want to be people who are courageous, but we know we won't be courageous without being accountable unto you. And I hear the words that you told to Joshua that day, to be strong and very courageous, have not you commanded us? Lord, thank you for the power and the authority of your commands. Thank you for the revelation that you give us and the assignments you've given. And now I thank you for making us accountable and responsible so that we too can be courageous in this world that we live in. Use us. Use us to lead others for your namesake. Thank you, in Jesus' name, amen.