The day before, we held our Meet & Greet, "Room at the Table." The tents were up outside and everything was set and beautiful. Then, around eleven that morning, the phone rang. It was the fire marshal. Something on the property wasn't right, and the whole setup had to come down. Pastor Estuardo sent out an SOS, our team showed up, and we moved every tent and table and did it anyway.
On Sunday, Pastor Estuardo told us what the fire marshal said on his way out: you have plenty of space here, build. "God gives the vision," Pastor Estuardo said. "You are the provision."
Then he opened our new series with one of his favorite stories, from 2 Samuel 9. Mephibosheth was King Saul's grandson and the son of Jonathan, David's closest friend. As a boy, he was dropped by the woman caring for him and never walked again. When Saul's house fell, Mephibosheth had every reason to hide. In those days, the family of a fallen king expected to be killed. So he lived out of sight, in a place called Lo Debar, which Pastor Estuardo told us means poverty, marginalized, limited.
Years later, David was on the throne, and he asked a question: is there anyone left from Saul's family I can show kindness to? Someone said yes, there is one. And the king sent for him by name.
"Let me give you a message this morning," Pastor Estuardo told us. "The king is calling you." Mephibosheth must have thought he'd been found out and was about to die. Instead, David told him not to be afraid.
He got back his grandfather's land, and more than that, a seat. From then on, he would eat where the king ate. Pastor Estuardo admitted that preparing this message, he ends up clapping and crying by himself. Mephibosheth never could have come near the king on his own. The king went looking for him.
It seems we're the ones who have to search for God. And it's God who searches for us.
He asked us if we had ever felt excluded, or unworthy of a place, even inside the church. Whatever your condition, he said, there is a place at the king's table reserved for you. "There is no sin that will keep me excluded from being at the table of the King."
Then he talked about our own tables. He has seen backpacks on his. He asked when we last ate a meal together as a family, and pointed out that some of us text each other from across the same table. In the ancient world, he said, a stranger invited to your table was under your protection, even with enemies outside. That's Psalm 23: you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
The night before, our young people had preached Luke 14, where Jesus tells his servants to go out to the roads and bring people in so his house will be full. "I don't want to just see the numbers," Pastor Estuardo said. "I want to see the effect." He asked each of us to call someone who's drifted. You don't have to start with church. Just ask how they're doing.
He closed with Revelation 3:20, and laughed that it doesn't say Jesus will come in and wait in the living room.
Jesus was always at a table with people, he reminded us, so often that they called him a friend of sinners. And the last thing he did before he left was set a table: the Lord's Supper. Then Pastor Estuardo invited the team forward and we took communion together. "The Lord's table is served," he said. "All you have to do is take part."
The main points
- God is the one who searches for us, the way David sent for Mephibosheth by name.
- No condition, past or sin keeps anyone from the place God has reserved at his table.
- The table is about connection: our families, our friendships and the people who have drifted away.
- Jesus is at the door. When we open it, he comes in and shares a meal with us as friends.
Questions for this week
For your time with God, your family or your group.
- Where in your life have you felt like Mephibosheth, hidden or not worthy of a seat?
- When was the last time your family shared a meal without phones?
- Who has drifted away that you could call this week just to ask how they're doing?
- Who could you invite to your own table this month?
Common questions
Who was Mephibosheth?
The grandson of King Saul and the son of Jonathan. He couldn't walk after a fall as a child and lived in hiding until King David called for him, gave him back his family's land, and gave him a permanent place at the king's table (2 Samuel 9).
What is the Room at the Table series?
Our new series, which started in November 2026, the day after our Meet & Greet of the same name. It is about the place God has for every person, and the place we make for each other.
Why did the message end with communion?
Pastor Estuardo connected the king's table to the Lord's Supper, the table Jesus prepared before he left. We took communion together at the end of the service.
Was this message preached in English or Spanish?
Both. Pastor Estuardo preached in Spanish with live English interpretation. Every Sunday celebration at Living Waters is in both languages.