Last week we started talking about Mephibosheth, a man born as a prince, orphaned, disabled and exiled as a little boy and then adopted and restored as a young husband and father. As I mentioned last week, while Mephibosheth’s story sounds dramatic he was not different than any of us. We are all born for love, broken by sin, tormented by fear and shame all the while not knowing that we had been remembered by a Redeemer who was provided for us by our Father. In II Samuel 9, more than 20 years after the death of Saul and Jonathan, David asks if there is anyone left from Saul’s house that he can show kindness to for Jonathan’s sake. When he finds out that there might be someone left he asks “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” The kindness of God is a specific kindness, it is always undeserved, given without measure and without thought of reciprocation; it is vulnerable, unexpected and given out of and for the purpose of love. God’s kindness doesn’t describe His actions nearly as much as it describes His character. I Corinthians 13 tells us that love is first patient and then kind; if God is love then we can all be sure that God is always kind. The kindness of God is not an action that is given and then walked away from, it’s not a momentary gift that is born out of sympathy or discomfort, the kindness of God is a continual act, meaning once it’s offered it is not removed, once it is extended it doesn’t shrink back, it doesn’t run out, doesn’t expire and doesn’t fade. What I want us to see today is that the kindness of God is never a stop on the journey it is always the way to a destination. Romans 2:4 tells us that God’s kindness leads us to repentance, He reaches out to the undeserving. Romans 3:11 says there is no one that has ever sought God, so this means that everyone of us that has ever repented of our sins and surrendered our hearts, minds and lives to Jesus did it simply and only because God first showed us His kindness that allowed us to respond to Him. You can’t respond unless and until action has been done toward you. The kindness of God begins everything good but kindness is not the end it is merely the beginning, it always leads to something and it always leads to something very specific. This morning I want us to see that God’s kindness always leads to restoration because God is so immovable that no matter where we have ended up, He longs for us to all become what we were always intended to be, sons and daughters of God that know we are loved and live to love our Father even as He has loved us.