Summit Life with J.D. Greear

As we near the end of 2 Samuel, this week’s message from Pastor J.D. is one that examines the often far-reaching consequences of sin. These consequences played out not only in David’s life, but in the lives of many in his family. For those who have experienced the tragic results of sin, either your own or that of others, things may seem hopeless—but there is healing to be found in the true King who redeems and restores.

After David’s sin against Bathsheba and Uriah, he walked through a process of restoration that models for us how to repent and take responsibility for our sin. In this message, Pastor J.D. shows us how our repentance points others to Jesus. Because Christ didn’t just die but also resurrected, God can take the dead remains of our sin and bring them back to life.

What does true repentance look like? This week, Pastor J.D. helps us unpack 2 Samuel 12, in which David is confronted regarding his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. Following the prophet Nathan’s rebuke of him, David pens Psalm 51. It is in this psalm that we observe the components of true confession and repentance, which lead ultimately—and joyfully—to restoration.

David was Israel’s long-awaited and hoped-for king, and he’d started out so well by defeating Goliath and writing beautiful psalms about God. But his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah made Israel ask, if even King David, the man after God’s own heart, failed them, what hope was there? Pastor J.D. shares in this message why we, like Israel, needed a King far greater than David and how that King, Jesus, helps us overcome sin.

Pastor J.D. helps us process a very difficult passage in 2 Samuel, and a turning point in the life of David—the story of David and Bathsheba. Could this be the same David who was called “a man after God’s own heart”? Though David was indeed forgiven, his sin would affect everyone around him. While this story holds a powerful warning for us today, what it ultimately reveals is a deep longing for another King, a better King — Jesus.

When David understood that he had been the recipient of extravagant grace, he felt compelled to find someone to whom he could show that kind of grace. In this message, Pastor J.D. helps us understand that, before we can become generous like David toward Mephibosheth, we must first recognize the generosity of Christ toward us and how the gospel transforms the way we see others.

If you have believed and been changed by the gospel, what should your response be? In this week’s message from 2 Samuel, Pastor J.D. takes us through a story that is perhaps not as well-known, that of David and Mephibosheth. David’s response to the extravagant love of God (as seen in 2 Samuel 7) is to pour out that same love onto an unlikely recipient, giving him a permanent seat at his table. It is here that we find our own story reflected—we who were once enemies have been invited to sit at the table of the King.

In any great work of art, every stroke on the canvas comes through a paintbrush, but the real brilliance isn’t in the paintbrush but in the hand of the artist wielding the brush. In this message, Pastor J.D. shows us how God is the painter and we are the paintbrush—how our role is to be submitted to him as his instrument and then rest and sit in wonder at his grace to us.

As we continue in the book of 2 Samuel, this week’s message from Pastor J.D. walks us through both King David’s desire to build the temple and God’s response to him—one that serves as a good reminder for us even today. What David learned—and what we often forget—is that our relationship with God is not based on how much we do or give. Instead, it’s based on what God has already done for us and given to us.

What does your worship tell others about God’s value to you? For David, he so valued and adored God that it produced one of the most passionate expressions of worship in the Bible. Pastor J.D. teaches in this message how our pride keeps us from genuine worship and why worship puts God’s worth and our gratitude for our salvation on display.