Kent and Lindsey McBay were guests at Bethany Baptist Church, Sunday. Kent and Lindsey are planning to start a church in Mesa, Arizona just outside Phoenix.
Kent and Lindsey grew up in Tanner, Alabama where they both attended the First Baptist Church. They had been active in church activities and made professions of faith early in their lives. However, both of them realized, later on, that making a profession of faith because it was the thing that was expected of them did not result in an internal change of heart or an external change of character. God was faithful to work in their lives. God led them to salvation and called them into His service.
Kent served four years in the Marines before attending Bible College. Lindsey has completed her Bachelors in Elementary Education. They have worked in various church ministries and pastured a church in Illinois before accepting the call to the Phoenix area. They and their four children are seeking the support of churches in this effort.
Kent McBay brought a message Sunday morning on the “New Life” based upon the story of Mephibosheth in II Samuel 9:1-13.
King David had finally established himself as king in Israel. He had received great and wonderful blessings and promises from the Lord. At the height of his achievement he inquired of his servants if there remained any of the house of Saul that he might show them a kindness for Jonathan’s sake. He found out there was a son of Jonathan living in Lodebar who was lame in his feet. The king sent to have Mephibosheth brought to him. Mephibosheth was awarded all the lands that formerly belonged to the house of Saul. Mephibosheth himself would have a place at the king’s table, always.
The “New Life” that a Christian receives in salvation begins because God has looked for a person who will accept the blessing. All that’s good begins with God. He has made a way for salvation. We cannot have that blessing without Jesus.
Many of us are out in “Lodebar” in a desert place of sin far from God. God sends out a servant with the gospel and an invitation to come. Some things have happened that have kept us away from this “New Life” our heritage, our lameness, and our location.
Mephibosheth was the grandson of Saul. Saul had disobeyed God and the result was the loss of his own life and that of his sons. Mephibosheth could have been put to death because of the curse of that heritage. We are sons of Adam. We have inherited his sin nature and the curse that goes with it.
We may not be lame in our feet, but crippled by sin. We may live far from the Lord’s table of blessing. The Lord will not dwell in sin, so like Mephibosheth, we must leave “Lodebar” and go to the King and receive all the blessing of that “New Life.”
