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There are several pillars to an effective mentoring relationship. After all, if there isn't trust, love, or respect, then the relationship can't thrive. But trust, love, and respect aren't necessarily pillars. They're important, but they stem from three key elements that all relationships possess. Zach is back this week with special guest John Barnard from Middleman Ministries to start a new series on the three pillars of mentoring: Identity, Purpose, and Community. This week, John shares his thoughts on why identity is so important and does a deep dive into a lesser known passage in 2 Samuel about how identity plays a role in a person's life.
Show Notes
There are several pillars to an effective mentoring relationship. After all, if there isn't trust, love, or respect, then the relationship can't thrive. But trust, love, and respect aren't necessarily pillars. They're important, but they stem from three key elements that all relationships possess. Zach is back this week with special guest John Barnard from Middleman Ministries to start a new series on the three pillars of mentoring: Identity, Purpose, and Community. This week, John shares his thoughts on why identity is so important and does a deep dive into a lesser known passage in 2 Samuel about how identity plays a role in a person's life.
Reach out to John:
john@middleman-ministries.org
Check out Middleman Ministries:
https://www.middleman-ministries.org
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Reach out to John:
john@middleman-ministries.org
Check out Middleman Ministries:
https://www.middleman-ministries.org
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Mentors and mentoring leaders, Zach Arce here with the You Can Mentor podcast. I got 3 things that I would like to ask of you today. Number 1, if you are a mentoring organization and you would like to be on our podcast or learn more about the best practices of mentoring, please reach out to us, www.youcanmentor.com. You can send us an email, zachzach@youcanmentor.com, or stephen, that's with a ph@youcanmentor.com. You can also find us on social media.
Speaker 2:Give us that DM and we'll get back to you. We just wanna get to know you and we wanna learn more about what you're doing in your communities to advance mentoring. And we believe that interaction leads to innovation. So let's work together and advance the team in through mentoring. Number 2, if you know of someone who would benefit from the You Can Mentor podcast, please share our podcast, share our information with them.
Speaker 2:That would be super helpful. And then lastly, if you could rate our podcast on Apple Podcasts, give us that 5 star. It will help spread the word about mentoring and, you can mentor podcast. Because we really do want every mentoring org in America who is trying to make disciples through mentoring to know about us. We wanna get to know about them so we can learn from them and work together to help kids reach their full potential.
Speaker 2:So that's what I got. Please do those things. Reach out to us. Share and rate. Appreciate you.
Speaker 2:You can mentor. Alright. Welcome back to the You Can Mentor podcast. I am Zach Garza, and I'm here with my man, John Barnard of Middleman Ministries. John, say hi.
Speaker 2:Hello, Zach. Alright. John was on the podcast a couple weeks ago, and, we were talking about something, something that had to do with mentoring. That's correct. And Jesus?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. I talked about that thing and that person and, and and, you know, shared stuff about myself that am I proud of that? I don't know, but I did it.
Speaker 2:That is what we talked about. We talked about your ministry. Talked about middleman.
Speaker 3:Middleman Ministries. That's right.
Speaker 2:That's great. Well, John's in Waco, and I just moved to Waco, and I don't have any friends. So, John, I'm I chipped through asking John to be on the podcast a lot.
Speaker 3:That's right. And we're it's it's in limbo right now, but I think things look good.
Speaker 2:I don't wanna say that you're taking the place of of Steven, my old cohost, but, what I'm doing. But that that that might be, just me trying to search out someone who's like Steven. So Steven
Speaker 3:I wonder if this isn't the, this is the first time I'm hearing about Steven.
Speaker 2:This is like I'm talking about my ex girlfriend
Speaker 3:Right. Right now. I'm feeling triggered. I'll be okay.
Speaker 2:Okay. I'm gonna stop talking about this. Alright. Well, so we are going to enter into a new series. And just before we start, John and I have been talking about mentoring and the Lord and just how how to be the best mentor spouse by way of relationship ring.
Speaker 2:And John shared this concept the last time that we talked about what we call the pillars of mentoring. And, there has been some some talk back and forth whether or not this is what we should title it, but this is what we're going with. The pillars of mentoring.
Speaker 3:The working title. I like it.
Speaker 2:And John has, really brought to my attention this concept of the the three things that mentors give to mentees are identity, purpose, and community. And at first, I was like, oh, that's cool. Like, of course, we give those things. And then I was like, well, but what about love? What about attention?
Speaker 2:What about this? What about skills? What about that? Actually, Zach, all of that is is actually in these three things. And so It's
Speaker 3:as if, Zach, that I've shared maybe kind of some of the broad and then you're coming in with the finer tools, right, the smaller brushes to say, but what about this? And it's like, yeah, man, there's room there. So let's let's really paint this really beautiful picture. So you're the big Sharpie, the fat Sharpie The fat Sharpie.
Speaker 2:And I'm the skinny Sharpie.
Speaker 3:That's it. The fine. No, you're fine, and
Speaker 2:I'm fat.
Speaker 3:Fine and fat. Okay. So that is our we can have like,
Speaker 2:we can be DJs. So we are going to start this we can be DJs. Is that what you said?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Like, Fine and Fat. That's right.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. It's like property parties. Yes. Okay. So so this is Fine and Fat.
Speaker 2:We're bringing to you the pillars of mentoring. We are going to be going deep into identity, purpose, and community. That's what we're gonna be doing in the next couple episodes. But for today, John and I were talking on the phone yesterday, and he started talking about this passage in second Samuel 8 and 9 with King David and this guy named
Speaker 3:Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth. It's so close.
Speaker 2:Mephibosheth. And Got it. I believe that I am a good Christian, and I believe that I read the Bible more than most Christians. I've never heard of this guy before. Oh, man.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's because it was a big word, so I just, like, bypassed it. But John went into this, like, in-depth, like, how Mephibosheth and David, like, represents all this stuff, and my head was blown. For sure. And I was just like, dude, you've gotta come in come into the office, and we have to make a podcast about this. Because I think that there's a lot here in regards to mentoring and relationship.
Speaker 2:And I believe that this story in 2nd Samuel 8 and 9 of King David of King David and Mephibosheth is really the foundation of kinda what we're gonna be talking about in regards to identity, purpose, and community, the pillars of mentoring. 100%. So, John, just break us down. What is 2nd Samuel 8 and 9? What's going on with David?
Speaker 2:Who is this Mephibosheth? And what can we take away from that?
Speaker 3:Okay. So first of all, just kinda take one step back. You're are you a music guy?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'm a
Speaker 3:music guy. You know, like, when you
Speaker 2:I love Creed.
Speaker 3:Okay. Let's take let's take Creed for example, which, by the way, I saw Creed live. Alright? And now I think that the average Joe might say, hey, don't those songs sound kinda sound the same? And and you'd say, well, if you mean rad, yes, they do
Speaker 2:because they're all rad. Exactly. Yes.
Speaker 3:So you know you've got this band and they have their really popular songs. Right? Mhmm. But if you're a real fan, you like some songs that are what we call deep cuts.
Speaker 2:Right?
Speaker 3:Alright. So I want you to be thinking about 2nd Samuel 8 and 9 as like a deep cut of of scripture. Okay? Mhmm. Again, might not have been preached about a whole lot.
Speaker 3:And so you're thinking, well, wait a minute. If it was a really good story, if it was if it was something that I can draw tons of application from about how to live my life for Christ and also to be able to mentor, then I would have heard about it already. Well, I'm here to tell you, my friend, that this is one of those deep cuts that I think is going to become a favorite even though it hasn't been something that you've kind of been to been able to, study just yet. It's great. So second Samuel 8 and 9.
Speaker 3:Let's go back to that chapter 8. And, in fact, the heading of this chapter is something like David accounts for his victories or or David's many victories. Right? So 2nd Samuel chapter 8 is David. We, as the reader, are just hearing about all the great things that David has done, all his accomplishments.
Speaker 3:Okay? He's been a fierce warrior. He's been a great ruler. He's been cunning as well. You'll read in that passage about decisions that he made as a leader that would weaken his opponent and continue to kind of fortify his leadership.
Speaker 3:Really really interesting stuff. And then toward the end of that passage or that chapter, it just gives us a description of these men that were like trusted allies and basically David's men. Alright? So what we get already that we're discussing today of Samuel chapter 8 is David's identity, his purpose, and his community already starting to be, explained to us. Right?
Speaker 3:Who he is based on him being a great leader, a great warrior, what he's done, and then finally who he's done it with. Okay?
Speaker 2:So just so I'm clear on this, and this is the first time that I've ever gone through this. So I'm sitting here with the Bible in my hand, and I'm reading out of 2nd Samuel 8. It says David defeated the Philistines. He defeated 1700 horsemen, 20,000 foot soldiers, 22 men Syrians. He made a name for himself because he struck down 18,000 Edomites in the valley of salt.
Speaker 2:I mean, this guy's the real deal. And so when people see David, what do they see? They see a warrior. They see a king. They see, like, this guy's the real deal.
Speaker 2:That's right. And then the next little sub subheading in second Samuel 815, it talks about his officials. It talks about Joab and Zadok and all of these guys who have been like, okay. I'm gonna kinda join up with David because because this guy's legit.
Speaker 3:That's right. So And, obviously, he didn't he didn't do it himself. Right?
Speaker 2:It takes community. It does. David had was it 300 men? I should know this. David's mighty men.
Speaker 2:Right. So I don't know how many there were.
Speaker 3:But Yeah. We might need to fact check
Speaker 2:some numbers later. Supposedly, David had many men.
Speaker 3:That's right. And So we and interestingly enough, I think that it's really important for us not to just blaze over that too quickly, and that is the understanding that that nothing gets done on our own. We are not we are not called to do things, to accomplish things solo. Even a king needs help. Exactly right.
Speaker 3:Okay. So identity, who you are. Purpose, what you do. Community, who you do it with.
Speaker 2:Exactly. That's great. Alright. Bring us into 2nd Samuel 9.
Speaker 3:Okay. So it's important that, again, we remember what's going on, what's just happened. Why why has God chosen to communicate these words to us in 2nd Samuel chapter 8? I think it makes it so much, more important and valuable when we look at how chapter ends. And as it says, the beginning is a question that David asks, and that is, is there of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?
Speaker 3:What an incredible question and what what a heart revealing question into who David is to say, look, this is who I am. This is what I've done, and these are my guys. Here I am. What am I doing? I'm I'm not I'm not gloating over my accomplishments.
Speaker 3:I'm not thinking about building yet a bigger house in order to put my bigger trophies into. What I'm doing is I'm going back to thinking about what I what promise I made to my best friend, right, whose heart was knitted to mine as it said in scripture, who I made a promise to to protect and to sustain multiple generations after Jonathan.
Speaker 2:Okay. So take us back. Who is David and who is Jonathan? Okay. Just pretend like I've never heard of these people before.
Speaker 3:Alright. Well, many are you know, we've even made it a figure of speech. Right? The the Goliaths. Right?
Speaker 3:The David versus Goliath kinda thing. We kind of apply that to sports. Right? We have a sport program that's one that's not fortified, one that's not well known. We have one that is just like a got a tradition of winning.
Speaker 3:Right? And they are the Goliath. So the David versus this is, kind of a trope that we have in our in our modern culture because of, what happened in scripture with the little shepherd boy David. And, if you're not familiar, we highly recommend that you search Scripture and be able to read this wonderful account that that shows us who David was and and really the level of conviction that he had even as a young man. Right?
Speaker 3:The fact that he looked at Goliath and was hearing what what he was saying about his God, and he got upset. And not only was he willing to, you know, want to say words, but in fact he was he went out looking for some rocks for his slingshot. Alright? So we know that David defeats Goliath. We know that David picked Goliath's sword, chops Goliath's head off, picks up that head, carries it back to King Saul.
Speaker 3:And, again, I'm I'm going over so much rich description in in scripture. But of this little shepherd boy landing in Saul's court, recounting scripture says that he recounts the story of what just happened. And as Saul is hearing it, king Saul, his son Jonathan, okay, the prince is is just next to him. And Jonathan on his own was no slouch. He was also, committed to his faith.
Speaker 3:He loved God. He also did did mighty things in in the Lord's name. He also defeated many many warriors even on his own. But here's what I really love about Jonathan. Jonathan as as the the rightful prince.
Speaker 3:Right? Bloodline. He's got the pedigree. He's got the the heritage. He's got he's got the tradition on his side.
Speaker 3:As he is hearing the account from David, as David is sharing his story about what he's done in the name of the Lord, Jonathan said, I think that this is our guy. I think that I think that this is the guy who will be on the throne, not me. So, again, what a what a great showing of selflessness that scripture shows us in Jonathan's heart to say, I wanna be obedient to God, and and I believe that this guy is going to be king. And so another one of my favorite passages of scripture is as it says, immediately after David finished recounting the story about how he had defeated Goliath, Jonathan steps off his throne. He goes over to David, and he hands him his tunic, and he hands him his sword.
Speaker 3:And so he by doing that, this is a this is symbolism of being able to transfer his David. Right? Because when people would see the color or the fabric that Jonathan was wearing, people said, well, that's that's royalty. So what what Jonathan was doing was transferring that onto the shepherd boy and giving him this this sword. Okay?
Speaker 3:Now you have this ability about you. So now people will respect you, and you have you have the capability to do what you will do. And scripture tells us David then goes on to to be incredibly successful, and and he is there in the kingdom from then on. And so this is a beautiful metaphor of what Christ has done for our in our lives, but it's also setting the stage for this account with David because it brings him to the point of being able to. A lot of what we say with mentoring is that we want to be people of margin.
Speaker 3:Okay? So we're we're in the margin because we want to be with those who are marginalized, but also hear this as well. We wanna be people of margin in that we have fortified we we are fortified. Right? We are, the margin in order for those who who have needs to have those needs met.
Speaker 3:This is the difference between survival, right, and being being in survival mode or or thriving mode. We want to be people who are who are thriving as opposed to, hey, man. I wish I could help you but, you know what? You're asking me for something that that even in I don't have. Right?
Speaker 3:I know you need to you need to be able to talk or share, but but you know what? I don't even have anybody that I can talk or share with. Okay? So the mentor is someone who has life. And you know what?
Speaker 3:You have to work for margin. You have to go after it. The the mentor is someone who goes to to someone else and says, you know what? If I'm going to be good for this person who I need to be speaking into their life, I'm gonna need somebody who's gonna be speaking into mind. So could could I just meet with you once a month, and could I just kind of glean from you?
Speaker 2:It's that second Timothy 22. It's from older men. We ourselves are then going to pass on to the next generation.
Speaker 3:That's exactly right. It's that
Speaker 2:I have a spiritual father or a mentor or someone who's pouring into me so that I'm filled up, so that I have abundance. And in that abundance, I'm going to overflow onto someone else in the name of discipleship, in the name of mentoring, in the name of passing on what I have freely received.
Speaker 3:Exactly right.
Speaker 2:What I have what I have freely received, I freely give.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. We are rivers. Right?
Speaker 3:We are not lakes. We are we are being poured into so that we can pour out. We're not a lake where we just only wanna be poured into and then we just wanna hold it. Right? We want to be receiving just as we are giving as well.
Speaker 2:There's a term for someone who only receives and doesn't give out. This is a little bit weird, so stay with me. But someone once said, that's when you get spiritually constipated. I'm like, that's disgusting, but that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Right on the nose.
Speaker 2:We're not gonna talk about that for a while, but let's get back to David and Jonathan and Mephibosheth.
Speaker 3:Okay. So that really kinda helps us to understand where David is at this point, where he has accomplished. Right? He and he has margin so that he can say and instead of worrying about himself, right, instead of maintaining his own kingdom and and worried about, hey, you know what guys? Am I still popular?
Speaker 3:Does everybody still know that I'm powerful? David is not riddled with insecurities. David is not worried about David
Speaker 2:yet. Right. Truth. Because he's a man after God's own heart, but we find out later that he also was a total screw up. That's right.
Speaker 2:But he is who he is because of the kindness of Jonathan. Right. And that's where we find ourselves.
Speaker 3:Exactly. And thank you for mentioning that too, Zach. I think that if we're not careful, this turns into the Marvel Universe pretty quickly. Right? We're we're when we talk about those people of faith in scripture, we are not talking about ideas, we are talking about flesh and bone.
Speaker 3:Having the title of man, you know, man after God's own heart. I mean, does it get any better than that? King. Right. However, I mean, let's talk you know, again, we could talk about nothing but his mistakes, at the same time.
Speaker 3:So I think what this does for us is it grounds us in understanding that we can be people of after God's own heart as well even with our incredible mistakes. Right? And even with our sin that we struggle with and because we are on this journey. Okay. So now we have king David securing himself in this moment, and he asks a question of his court.
Speaker 3:Hey. Hey, guys. Is there anybody in the the house of Saul who I can meet a need for, who I have to bless? And this is where someone in in David's court says, well, you know what? So is there is this guy.
Speaker 3:Alright? And even if you wanna take a look there in chapter 9. So there's this servant. His name is Ziba. And he says, actually, king, there is still a son of Jonathan.
Speaker 3:He's crippled in his feet. Okay. So why is that so important? He says, yes, David. You you did.
Speaker 3:You asked the question and and there is someone and he is the son of Jonathan. So he's of the bloodline and he is Saul's grandson, in fact. But get this, and this is important too. Does Ziba say his name? He doesn't.
Speaker 3:What does he says. And by the way, he's crippled in his feet. So as we continue this conversation of what identity is, how interesting to think that as the world defines identity, so often we might be marked by the very thing that is is our biggest weakness.
Speaker 2:He doesn't even say his name. Exactly. He says a son of Jonathan. We're in verse what is this? Verse 3.
Speaker 2:It says, there is still a son of Jonathan. He is crippled in his feet. He doesn't say his name. He says who he comes from and what's wrong with him. Exactly.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's just a kid from the south side. He goes to a bad school. He's probably just a thug. He's got tattoos.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Right? We still what a what a modern thought to label, you know, or to say, you know why you haven't heard of him? He's crippled in his feet.
Speaker 2:Because he's he didn't go to college.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:He got a girl pregnant.
Speaker 3:This is what keeps him from being valuable in the birth of society. Continue. So interestingly enough, you know how Mephibosheth
Speaker 2:was got crippled? No. So I haven't heard of this guy until, like, 26 hours ago, so I have no idea how he's crippled.
Speaker 3:So as you know, David and Saul fought against one another. The moment that David defeats Saul and takes over the kingdom, which you which you probably know this about how kingdoms used to work back in the day. Right? If you were to go out and defeat a king, that king's family, they're done for. K.
Speaker 3:They're of no use. You know why? Because you're gonna wanna take care of that king's family and all his court because you don't want those guys going off getting fortified then coming back to defeat you later. What you wanna do is you wanna wipe them out completely. So as we know through scripture, it tells us this in another passage.
Speaker 3:The nurse of Mephibosheth grabs the 5 year old boy up, begins to run down the hallway, drops him, and he and he breaks his legs. Okay? Interesting story. I guess picks him up again and and carries him out. And and it says that Mephibosheth up to this point in his life has lived out in some nondescript, barren, just kind of and listen.
Speaker 3:I'll I'll say this because of where I'm from. I think that's always, you know, that's always I've always been sensitive to that being a kid from South Houston. Right? What do we got? We got bars on every corner.
Speaker 3:We got used car lots.
Speaker 2:You know? Concrete.
Speaker 3:Yeah. A lot of concrete.
Speaker 2:And
Speaker 3:we and we're next to Pasadena where all the refineries are. You know? So I I think about places like that where the world says, oh, you know what? That's not really he's he's a he's a nobody from nowhere. He's from Nazareth.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:There There ain't nothing good ever coming.
Speaker 3:You got it. Nothing good comes from Nazareth. That's right. So this is Mephibosheth living out his life up to this point. But you know what he's been doing, Zach?
Speaker 3:He's been living his life in hiding because the king didn't know that he even existed. So now, get this. When King says, well, where is he? And he tells him, oh, he's he's at this the house of this guy at this place, Lo Debar. It's it's not even anything you wanna worry about.
Speaker 3:And then verse 5, it says, King David sent for him to be brought back from this place. So if I'm Mephibosheth, I've been living out my my entire life up to this point in hiding. I'm only breathing because the the residing king, the reigning king does not know that I exist. So what happens? A court representative knocks on the door and says, you've been summoned by king David.
Speaker 2:His identity is nothing. He has no purpose, and he's not hanging out with anyone.
Speaker 3:Yeah. In fact, we we could even say that his community is probably just those who pity him because the fact that he can't work, he probably has been living a life of just kind of of nothing, of not of not being even given responsibility. Think about the joy of responsibility. With youth ministry, I would always go back to say, you know what? We can do this thing 2 ways.
Speaker 3:We can we can think about how we want to create these atmospheres for these youth to come into and be entertained and and, you know, even get, like, a really good lesson in their head, or we can create an environment where people will come into it and and be given a responsibility. Right? Like, be given a job. And I do the same thing in my family life as well. What am I gonna do?
Speaker 3:Am I gonna have my kids grow up and never know how to do anything because I wanna always meet their needs and always kind of accommodate for them? Or at a certain point, do I want to begin giving them responsibility and have them understand and experience, like, the joy of understanding that, hey, Levi, if you don't do this job within our family, the whole family kinda suffers. Right? That's the joy of purpose. That's that's something that Mephibosheth up to this point has probably never really experienced because nothing has really been asked of him because, oh, yeah, he's a grandson of Saul and he's crippled in the legs.
Speaker 3:And that's all you need to know about him.
Speaker 2:It's an upside down kingdom because you think by asking someone to do something, you're you're quote, unquote bothering them. But what you're really doing is you're giving them responsibility, which will then lead to value, which will then lead to confidence, which will then lead to them seeing themselves how the Lord sees them. Oh my gosh. I I am adding something to this community. I am a part of something bigger than myself.
Speaker 2:I have gifts that can actually be of service to others. I have a part to play.
Speaker 3:Isn't that an important part of mentoring, right, where we can say, hey, I'm gonna show you that you're important by meeting all of your needs, or, hey, I'm gonna show you that you're important and that and that there are needs that can be met and you can help meet them. You know, one of those runs out after a while because you just kinda get bored. Hey, I don't even have anything to do. You're you're you're taking care of everything for me. But to say, hey, again, everybody needs you, you know, because if you don't do this one job, if you don't take the trash out, then, you know, we suffer from that.
Speaker 3:Purpose is good.
Speaker 2:Alright. So king David calls on this this guy, Mephibosheth, and I'm butchering that name. Please forgive me. But he was probably never been called on before. And I'm sure he's sitting there on his mat, and he's like, woah.
Speaker 2:Woah. Woah. Woah. What? First off, someone wants to see me?
Speaker 2:And that someone is king David? Exactly. So what do
Speaker 3:you think he thinks he's about to get when he when he finds out that he's discovered?
Speaker 2:A whoopin'.
Speaker 3:Death. He thinks it's over. Yeah. He thinks well well, here we go. It's been a horrible life, and and now that's over.
Speaker 3:So he's thinking, okay. Well, this is it. And we know that because as he goes into the court, Scripture says that he falls on his face before David, alright, in homage. And essentially, he's he's coming at him with a heart that says, look, I know that I am nothing, and I know what's about to happen to me. And this is what's really beautiful about this.
Speaker 3:It's what David does next.
Speaker 2:And David said to him, do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always. And he paid homage and said, what is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?
Speaker 3:So I think what just as a matter of edit because that's that's the reveal. Right? That's our IPC right there. Do not fear. I'm gonna show you It's all good.
Speaker 3:I'm I'm showing you kindness because of the promise that I made to Jonathan. Again, I would say this. When Mephibosheth bows before David to pay homage, fell on his face. What does David do? He yells the name Mephibosheth.
Speaker 3:David sees Mephibosheth. Uh-huh. David speaks identity directly into the heart of Mephibosheth.
Speaker 2:That's why in verse 6, and David said, Mephibosheth.
Speaker 3:Exclamation point.
Speaker 2:And he answered.
Speaker 3:Right. He he yells his name. I see you. How important is that, Mephibosheth? I'm I'm not addressing what you have the what you suffer through.
Speaker 3:I'm not addressing what society says you're labeled. I'm calling you by the name that you've been given.
Speaker 2:You're not where you come from. You're not your disability. You're not you're a person. I see you. Identity.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. That's crazy. That's crazy powerful.
Speaker 3:Right. And he speaks it. The power of the word. Right? Reflecting God speaking into creation.
Speaker 3:He he does that in saying that name, Mephibosheth. You know, we get excited when we think about, like, a celebrity knowing us, right, making eye contact with us or or or or talking to us directly or maybe even, know, uttering our name. Think about how exciting that would be. Right? So here we have the most powerful man on earth, King David.
Speaker 3:And what does he do? He yells the name of Mephibosheth when he sees him, as if Mephibosheth is the star. Right? As if he can't believe that he's in his presence because of the promise that he gave to Jonathan. He says, Mephibosheth, you're his boy.
Speaker 3:The the man that I love more than anybody on earth, that my heart was knit to, as scripture says, this covenant that I made with him, and you are you are his the the product of him. And so in that, we we even just see the excitement that David is able to generate by by being in the presence of Mephibosheth.
Speaker 2:And I'm sure for the first time, maybe in his whole life, but in a long time, Mephibosheth feels hope. He feels, oh my gosh. Someone sees me. I have value. I might be a part of something.
Speaker 2:I might have community. I might have friendship. Things might be turning around for me. That hope is a powerful thing. There are so many kids out there who don't have hope.
Speaker 2:But when a mentor can call his name and say, hey, come with me. Hey, come come sit at my table. Right? That's a game changer.
Speaker 3:Absolutely right. So what we get out of this is David modeling this identity, purpose, and community in these few chapters here that you read earlier, And that he says, Mephibosheth. This is your name. This is who you are. And he says, don't be afraid.
Speaker 3:I will show you kindness because of Jonathan. And this is where he speaks into his purpose. He says, I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father. Meaning, Mephibosheth, up to this point, you have not you've had not not to do anything. All you've done is just kinda sit there and lick your wounds and and regret and and try to keep yourself alive and keep yourself hidden.
Speaker 3:But Mephibosheth, you have been created for a purpose. These lands, they need to be managed. These people, they need to be overseen. He says I'm going to restore this. I'm gonna restore the land of Saul.
Speaker 3:And get this as well, that in in so doing you know what David's doing? He's actually having less for himself at this point because he had been managing Saul's land. Right? And he said, actually, I'm giving this to you at cost to me. And he says this as well to speak of community, and you shall eat at my table always.
Speaker 3:Does he say, you're gonna eat at my table when we have a reporter come and take a picture? Does he say, hey, every Easter and every Christmas, we're gonna have this really great feast, and and we're gonna we're gonna wheel you in so that everybody can see how kind I am and how benevolent I am to endure you for a couple of times a year. No. He says, in each day, we're going to sit at the family table together, and I'm going to hear what you have to bring, and I'm gonna share with you what I have for you, and I'm going to enjoy life with you. But you know what?
Speaker 3:Maybe I'm also gonna be inconvenienced by you because we have no idea. I mean, think about where Mephibosheth's headspace is at this point. What if Mephibosheth is the biggest whiner and complainer that anybody's ever known? And David's king, so he's got a lot
Speaker 2:on his plate. That's right. He's making margin.
Speaker 3:There is incredible sacrifice to what David has done here, and that that is really the beauty and that is really the heartbeat of this account, but also what we glean from it as mentors as well. And that is inconvenience. That is struggle. That is patience. That is all the things that we're called to do and endure for the sake of the Mephibosheth in our lives.
Speaker 3:So land the plane. So sum up why this story is the foundation of
Speaker 2:the pillars of mentoring of IPC, identity purpose in community.
Speaker 3:The beauty of this, just like in all scripture, is to understand that this metaphor or this account is to speak directly into our lives. It's it's to inform our our theology, and it is to also direct us into how we should live this life. Right? We look at the life of Christ for that reason as well, but we also look at the the life of David in that way. So what we see here is king David reflecting Christ in that he has all the power, all the ability.
Speaker 3:Right? All this glory, all this accomplishment. And what does he do? He says, hey. Is there anybody else that I haven't been able to bless yet based on the promise that I made?
Speaker 3:Right? The covenant. And so we find ourselves as the everyday Mephibosheths, don't we? Because we heard our name called. We were brought into the presence of the king, and he says, no longer will you be known for what keeps you from me.
Speaker 3:I'm going to give you a new name. I'm gonna give you a place at my table. I'm gonna turn that that heart of stone into a heart of flesh. And so we, when we realize that we are a Mephibosheth, what we do is we say, lord, I I in and of myself am nothing, but I've been made in your image. Right?
Speaker 3:It's that Mephibosheth to say, that's right. I am from the house of Saul. I I am of royal blood. And so we say, wait. I've been made in in the Lord's image, and so I want my sin to be taken from me.
Speaker 3:I want to have the Holy Spirit come inside me into my very bones, into my DNA, and to give me life. And so we find ourselves to be a new creation. So then, you know, what we find, Zach, is that we become the David and that we get to speak into identity, purpose, and community of the Mephibosheths in our life.
Speaker 2:Because the Lord did that for us.
Speaker 3:Exactly right. And and for no other reason.
Speaker 2:Because He has freely given to us, so now we freely give to others, and that's mentoring. That's discipleship.
Speaker 3:Yes. We can only do, we can only give because we've been given to.
Speaker 2:Alright. That's that's a lot. I'm gonna be thinking about that all day. Me and John, thank you for your wisdom, bro. Thank you for this showing me this passage.
Speaker 2:I've I've never heard this before. I'm I'm kind of there's a lot going on in my head right now. And we're gonna continue this. So until next time, my friend. Thank you for spending time with us.
Speaker 2:And if I just encourage everyone to go back and read 2nd Samuel 89 and just sit on this and just let let the Lord work on it.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Just chew on it. Let it marinate because there's this is just so rich. Right.
Speaker 2:And we'll come back next time, and we'll talk about some other things that are foundational for this for this IPC, for identity, purpose and community, what we call the pillars of mentoring. Thank you for listening. Share with your friends. If you didn't hear anything else, you missed out. But remember this, you can mentor.