Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Jabez The Unknown Who Became Well Known │ Msg 1114 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Jabez The Unknown Who Became Well Known │ Msg 1114 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: We're engaged in a series of messages on great stories
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament. My motivation for bringing this series
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: came from an observation I've made over the last number
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of years as I have been with people of all
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  Speaker 1: different ages and in all different places, and that is
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  Speaker 1: that I am discovering that parents these days seem to
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  Speaker 1: be not as faithful in telling the stories from the
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  Speaker 1: Bible as they once were. I don't know. Maybe it's
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the presence of television. Perhaps it's the speed of our
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  Speaker 1: lives and the number of involvements we have with our
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  Speaker 1: schools and with our neighborhoods and our communities. But for
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  Speaker 1: whatever reason, I'm discovering that many of the young adults
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  Speaker 1: that I'm with often are not familiar with the great
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  Speaker 1: stories that come from the scriptures. In case you wonder
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  Speaker 1: if that's true, stop and think, parents, of the last
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  Speaker 1: time you sat down with one or more of your
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  Speaker 1: children and told them, deliberately, told them a story from
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  Speaker 1: the Bible. Just as we are becoming less and less
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  Speaker 1: acquainted with the great hymns from the Scripture or from
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  Speaker 1: our hymnals, so we are becoming less acquainted with the
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  Speaker 1: great stories from the Bible. Now, the stories don't have
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  Speaker 1: to be long to be significant or great, neither do
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  Speaker 1: they have to be that complicated. But there is something
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  Speaker 1: about the genius of a story that can sort of
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  Speaker 1: drive a truth home and make it stick. And I've
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  Speaker 1: discovered that children even to this day still love stories.
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  Speaker 1: And some of the best I know are found in
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  Speaker 1: the pages of the Bible, such as the story of
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  Speaker 1: the Unknown who became well known. And probably if I
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  Speaker 1: were to ask around and have different ones of you
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  Speaker 1: who have grown up in the church name some of
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  Speaker 1: the great stories from the Bible, you probably would not
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  Speaker 1: name this story. This is not one of the better
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  Speaker 1: known stories, but I never failed to find it fascinating
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  Speaker 1: when I turned to it. In the scriptures. My Bible
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  Speaker 1: is open in the Old Testament to the to the
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  Speaker 1: Book of First Chronicles, chapter four. Probably been a long
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  Speaker 1: time since you've been in the Book of Chronicles. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: if you were Hebrew speakers and Hebrew readers, and if
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  Speaker 1: you carried a Hebrew Bible to your surprise as a
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  Speaker 1: gentile tonight, you would be surprised to know that you'd
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  Speaker 1: be turning to the last book of the Bible, that
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  Speaker 1: is the Old Testament. In the Hebrew Bible, the books
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: of Chronicles form the last books of the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: not as in our case in the English Bible, the
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  Speaker 1: Prophecy of Malachi, but the Book of Second Chronicles. Now
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  Speaker 1: we're in first Chronicles. But both of these books formed
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  Speaker 1: the last one in the Old Testament in the Hebrew Bible.
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  Speaker 1: So things have apparently come to the end, or they
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  Speaker 1: are nearing the end, and indeed they have. And that's
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  Speaker 1: sort of the historical backdrop to this story. And if
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  Speaker 1: you don't know that, if you haven't been told that,
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  Speaker 1: you can't appreciate as much the story we're going to
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  Speaker 1: be looking at. Just to worry about the times in
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  Speaker 1: which they lived. Kings were weak at this time in
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  Speaker 1: Hebrew history. Times were hard, the talk of war was
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  Speaker 1: always in the air, and there was a sleeping giant
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  Speaker 1: called Babylon or the Chaldeans that was soon to arise
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  Speaker 1: and come out of his slumber and invade the land
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  Speaker 1: and take captives all of those who were Hebrews. It
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  Speaker 1: is a period just before what is commonly called the
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  Speaker 1: Babylonian captivity. Now, just imagine living in a nation where
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  Speaker 1: the talk of war is constantly in the air, and
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  Speaker 1: you know that across the river are just beyond the
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  Speaker 1: border of your nation. Their rests a vast and enormously
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  Speaker 1: cruel enemy who will soon invade. He will take your land,
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  Speaker 1: he will take your home, he will take your crops,
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  Speaker 1: he will take your family. And that enemy will move
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  Speaker 1: you into foreign territory, and you will live as a
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  Speaker 1: captive for seven decades. Jeremiah the Prophet told the Hebrews
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  Speaker 1: that this would happen, And of course they were in
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  Speaker 1: such indifference they could care less. They went right on
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  Speaker 1: living their lives as though he wasn't even telling the truth.
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  Speaker 1: But it's coming. It is right around the corner now.
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  Speaker 1: As far as this immediate context is concerned, First Chronicles,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter chapter four, we have in these first nine chapters,
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  Speaker 1: forgive me some of the most boring reading in all
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  Speaker 1: the scriptures. I love it. It is inspired. It is
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  Speaker 1: as much a part of God's word as if you
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  Speaker 1: carry such editions as the red letter sections of the
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  Speaker 1: New Testament. This is God's word, but this part of
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  Speaker 1: it is rather hum drum and dry. It is a
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  Speaker 1: series of names. It starts with the name of Adam
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  Speaker 1: in chapter one and verse one, and the names continue
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  Speaker 1: on through the tribes of Hebrews, of the Hebrews, all
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  Speaker 1: through chapter nine, right up to that at that place.
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  Speaker 1: So what we have, if you'll allow me, this imagery
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  Speaker 1: is a cemetery, and what we really have in these
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  Speaker 1: verses is a series of epitaphs. It is like taking
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  Speaker 1: a stroll in the darkest time of a nation's history
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  Speaker 1: through a cemetery and reading the epitaphs that are on
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  Speaker 1: all the stones in this graveyard. And you read one
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  Speaker 1: name after another, and the names mean little to you,
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  Speaker 1: maybe nothing at all to you. You'll pick up one
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  Speaker 1: or two that'll be familiar in each chapter, but you'll
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  Speaker 1: not be able to identify most of the names, and
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  Speaker 1: you'll even have a hard time pronouncing many of them.
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  Speaker 1: And then suddenly, without announcement, you stop and you look
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  Speaker 1: at this tombstone, this epitaph in chapter four, where for
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  Speaker 1: some reason there is a sudden oasis in this wilderness
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  Speaker 1: of names, and the spirit of God grabs your attention
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  Speaker 1: and hovers over one life, not for half a line,
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  Speaker 1: not for just one line, but for two complete verses.
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  Speaker 1: Now that's not much in light of what is said
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  Speaker 1: about other great men and women of the Bible. But
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  Speaker 1: it's so contrasting to the other names that appear in
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  Speaker 1: this part of scripture. You can't help but wonder what
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  Speaker 1: the Lord is wanting to say to us. J Oswell Sanders,
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  Speaker 1: in a fine little book called a Spiritual Clinic, writes this,
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  Speaker 1: when God troubles to preserve the epitaph of one man
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  Speaker 1: out of millions and gives it in such concise and
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  Speaker 1: meaningful language, we could be certain that it will repay
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  Speaker 1: detailed study. And that's what we come to when we
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  Speaker 1: land on verses nine and ten of First Chronicles, chapter four.
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  Speaker 1: This is our opinion that for some reason, the spirit
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  Speaker 1: of God selected this man for the purpose of grabbing
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  Speaker 1: the attention of the reader long enough to learn a
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  Speaker 1: lesson or two from his life. He reminds me of
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  Speaker 1: a meteor in the night sky. They're rare. When they appear.
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  Speaker 1: You stare, and you study the flash of light across
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  Speaker 1: the dark sky, and then you think about it sometime
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  Speaker 1: for hours afterwards. This man is like a meteor in
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  Speaker 1: the scriptural sky that's very dark at this time of
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  Speaker 1: Hebrew history. Let me read the two verses First Chronicles four,
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  Speaker 1: nine and ten, and Jabez was more honorable than his brother's,
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  Speaker 1: and his mother named him Jabez, saying because I bore
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  Speaker 1: him with pain. Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: that thou wouldst bless me indeed and enlarge my border,
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  Speaker 1: that thy hand might be with me, and that thou
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  Speaker 1: wouldst keep me from harm, that it may not pain me.
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  Speaker 1: And God granted him what he requested. Period, The man
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  Speaker 1: is never mentioned again in scripture. There is not one
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  Speaker 1: reference from here on to the man's life. Only here
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  Speaker 1: does it stand out as significant. Now, when I read
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  Speaker 1: these words of a faith and hope, I find four
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  Speaker 1: things that, as I'm reading the story, I think stand
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  Speaker 1: out is significant. First of all is the name, because
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  Speaker 1: he returns to it again in the story. The name
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  Speaker 1: is Jabez. It is the Hebrew word javes, and it's
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  Speaker 1: a transliteration of the Hebrew Ya eight Jabez. It comes
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  Speaker 1: out in English saying Jabez. The Hebrew term means anguish, intense, sorrow, pain. Now,
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  Speaker 1: somehow the man was given the name by his mother
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  Speaker 1: because it was linked to his birth, which is the
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  Speaker 1: second significant part of the story. In fact, she says
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  Speaker 1: the verse says his mother named him that because she
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  Speaker 1: bore him with Evans, there's a play on words. She
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  Speaker 1: named him what represented the surrounding atmosphere of his birth.
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  Speaker 1: I'm intrigued by that. Having had four children born into
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  Speaker 1: our home, and remembering the circumstances in which each of
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  Speaker 1: the four was born, I can return to that scene
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  Speaker 1: and recall the events. None of the four would I
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  Speaker 1: have thought to name Jabez, because there was not in
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  Speaker 1: each of those four births anguish and sorrow and extreme
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  Speaker 1: pain in life. But there was with Jabez. Now our
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  Speaker 1: minds begin to wonder. We imagine, let's think of several possibilities.
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  Speaker 1: Could have been financial distress the mother and if he's living,
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  Speaker 1: the father, if she's married the father. The mother and
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  Speaker 1: father could have been in extreme financial circumstances, and this
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  Speaker 1: new mouth to feed represented anguish, additional anguish. Maybe there
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  Speaker 1: were health problems. She may have been sickly, and to
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  Speaker 1: be caring for children. She has others, because his brothers
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  Speaker 1: are mentioned in verse nine, she's already caring for other boys,
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  Speaker 1: and now she's pregnant and carrying and bringing to term
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  Speaker 1: yet another boy that she has to feed and care for.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe she hasn't the help to do so. Perhaps you
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  Speaker 1: already have a full quiver of kids. Maybe she thought
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  Speaker 1: that her having children was over. I often meet people
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  Speaker 1: who tell me with a surprised look. They sort of
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  Speaker 1: whisper after they tell me of their children that are
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  Speaker 1: aged twenty, eighteen, sixteen, and fifteen, that they're expecting another one,
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  Speaker 1: and they sort of look over their shoulder, like, I
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  Speaker 1: hope no one is hearing this right now. But we
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  Speaker 1: smile at that, because frequently those little surprises who come
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  Speaker 1: at such unexpected times become the sparkle of our lives
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  Speaker 1: and of our homes. And yet this boy brings no sparkle.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe the dad has died. Maybe he died in one
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  Speaker 1: of the battles that were not uncommon at this time
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  Speaker 1: of Hebrew history. Maybe he left his wife, she is
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  Speaker 1: a single mother, was left to care for the children,
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  Speaker 1: and she was left pregnant and she has to go
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  Speaker 1: it alone. Perhaps it was a time of turmoil in
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  Speaker 1: the land or in the home. Maybe there was some
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  Speaker 1: calamity that had struck, and to bear a child in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of all of that was nothing but javeds.
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  Speaker 1: So she names him that. Some children are named Faith,
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  Speaker 1: and some are named Hope, some are named Joy, and
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  Speaker 1: some are named Charity. This kid's name Paine Pain. Can
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  Speaker 1: Pain come out and play today? I thought about a
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  Speaker 1: little boy knocking on the door time for suffer Pain.
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  Speaker 1: You may be able to identify with Jabez. I don't
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  Speaker 1: have to go an further to call to mind, for
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  Speaker 1: you know, you can remember rather vividly the stories that
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  Speaker 1: your folks have told you regarding your origin. Maybe you
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  Speaker 1: weren't even wanted. Perhaps you don't even know who your
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  Speaker 1: parent or both parents are. Maybe you've never once laid
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  Speaker 1: eyes on your father or your mother. Could be that
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  Speaker 1: something about your past has brought pain and anguish, and
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  Speaker 1: perhaps your folks were struggling and you were sort of
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  Speaker 1: the final straw that almost broke the back of an
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  Speaker 1: already horrendous situation. Perhaps you've had one of those kinds
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  Speaker 1: of children and into a home that is full of
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  Speaker 1: and I might as well say it tragedy. You've gone
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  Speaker 1: through the birth of this yet another child. Now. The
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  Speaker 1: reason I linger here is because that's why the spirit
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  Speaker 1: of God hovers over this life. This isn't just Hebrew history,
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  Speaker 1: this is life. These stories are stories about ourselves, and
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  Speaker 1: there are lessons to learn from them. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: don't miss the early part of verse nine. He was
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  Speaker 1: more honorable than his brothers. The word honorable means heavy.
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  Speaker 1: I don't believe it means he was fat. I think
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  Speaker 1: it means he was influential, for it's the word used
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  Speaker 1: for wealth, or power or influence throughout the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 1: Cove is the world worried. Heavy he was. He had
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  Speaker 1: a heavy reputation. He had heavy influence in his community.
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  Speaker 1: I take it that he was the most influential in
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  Speaker 1: the family before the final story was told. Whatever and
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  Speaker 1: however large the family, there was something about Jabez that
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  Speaker 1: changed him from the sorrow and anguish of his birth
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  Speaker 1: to the to the greatness of his influence. What was it, Well,
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  Speaker 1: it was his prayer. It was his prayer which God honored.
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  Speaker 1: Did I read too quickly the words of this prayer?
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  Speaker 1: In verse ten, Jabez called on the God of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: By the way. Somewhere between his birth and this prayer,
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  Speaker 1: he has come to know the out of Israel. He
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  Speaker 1: has given his life, He has given his heart to
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  Speaker 1: Jehovah God. He has heard of the Creator, he has
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  Speaker 1: turned to him in faith, and he has determined to
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  Speaker 1: walk with him. The turning point and in doing so,
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  Speaker 1: he lifts his heart in prayer to God and asks
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  Speaker 1: four simple things. Did you observe the four first he's asked, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: that you would bless me. Indeed, let's call this divine ennoblement.
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  Speaker 1: Divine ennoblement. Bless me, indeed, make me unique, no common
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  Speaker 1: blessing for me. That word, indeed is an underscoring of
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  Speaker 1: the word blessing. Lord, I pray that you will significantly
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  Speaker 1: bless me the tragedy that has surrounded my birth, and
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  Speaker 1: perhaps the handicaps that I have lived with through these years,
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  Speaker 1: the pervasive negative atmosphere that has been a part of
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  Speaker 1: my rearing. Lord, break through the cloud. Bless me, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: make a difference in my future, cause it to be
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  Speaker 1: in contrast to my past. Divine ennoblement. I pray that
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  Speaker 1: you will indeed bless me. The next part of his prayer, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: that you would enlarge my border. Long Enough have I
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  Speaker 1: lived under these limitations and restrictions? Long Enough have I
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  Speaker 1: operated in this tight radius of pessimism? Long Enough have
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  Speaker 1: I filled this little space and sort of survived as
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  Speaker 1: I have lived out my life? Lord, I pray that
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  Speaker 1: you will expand the tent pegs of my life. Enlarge
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  Speaker 1: my life, increase my influence, intensify your use of my life.
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  Speaker 1: There isn't anything wrong with such ambition. There are times
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  Speaker 1: in all of our lives when the odds seem overwhelming,
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  Speaker 1: and we would do anything we could to break out
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  Speaker 1: of the feelings of inadequacy. And I think that really
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  Speaker 1: gives the lesson of Jabez's life disabilities. Need not is
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  Speaker 1: qualify now for a moment, if I may jump to
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  Speaker 1: our day, into your life, and to mind, Could it
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  Speaker 1: be that your life has been spent in the restrictive
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  Speaker 1: demands and limitations of your original setting. Could it be
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  Speaker 1: that some of those things that have held you captive
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  Speaker 1: and in bondage have determined your present life. Could it
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  Speaker 1: be that you have not yet thought of breaking free
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  Speaker 1: of that interesting We often rear our children the way
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  Speaker 1: we were reared. We often carry over into our homes
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  Speaker 1: the background of the way we lived in our original
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  Speaker 1: homes with our parents. Unless something changes, we will duplicate
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  Speaker 1: the same ills and failures. Jabez decided he wouldn't live
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  Speaker 1: as he had lived all of his life, and so
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  Speaker 1: he had the courage to say, Oh Lord, I pray
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  Speaker 1: that you will enlarge my border. It's times to be
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  Speaker 1: there are times that you feel overwhelmed, aren't there reminds
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  Speaker 1: me of a far Side cartoon. I don't know if
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  Speaker 1: you like those cartoons as much as I do. Larsen
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  Speaker 1: is the one that draws them. I think they're terrific.
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  Speaker 1: He's got animals doing what humans do, but it's from
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  Speaker 1: the perspective of animals. This one is terrific. There's a
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  Speaker 1: great big dinosaurs standing in front of a room full
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  Speaker 1: of grim looking dinosaurs. He's addressing the crowd, and he says,
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  Speaker 1: the picture is pretty bleak, gentlemen. The climates are changing,
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  Speaker 1: the mammals are taking over, and we have brains the
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  Speaker 1: size of a walnut. There are a few far sighted
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  Speaker 1: lovers in the crowd. I can tell, Lord, bless me, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: enlarge my brain, break me free from the limitations and
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  Speaker 1: the restrictions that I had been told and been pounded
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  Speaker 1: into me. Or I have absorbed. Enlarge my borders. Divine enlargement.
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  Speaker 1: And look next, he prayed, Oh, that your hand might
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  Speaker 1: be with me. I love that. This is what I
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  Speaker 1: will call divine empowerment. Lord. I'm counting on you to
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  Speaker 1: do these things in your time. And in your way.
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  Speaker 1: But when you do, I don't want to go it alone.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to go with me. And I want
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  Speaker 1: to walk my life under the mighty hand God, humbling
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  Speaker 1: myself and walking closely with you. I don't want to
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  Speaker 1: feel less and less the need of your hand on
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  Speaker 1: my life as I taste more and more of an
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  Speaker 1: expanded and what the world might call a successful life.
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  Speaker 1: I pray that your hand will be with me over
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  Speaker 1: and over. In the scriptures, those whom God uses the
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  Speaker 1: most mightily are those who walk under his authority and
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  Speaker 1: for his glory. I have no idea who is hearing
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  Speaker 1: these words. I don't know what your future holds, and
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  Speaker 1: I don't know the background you've come from. And for
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  Speaker 1: all I know, I'm talking to some future president of
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  Speaker 1: some corporation, some future congressman, some future high ranking officer
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  Speaker 1: in the military of our nation's future, some grand minister
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  Speaker 1: of the Gospel in the making, some eloquent statesman or woman.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, but I speak with a warning. As
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  Speaker 1: you accept that high place and that vast responsibility, be
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  Speaker 1: sure that your prayer includes your hands. Stay with me. Lord.
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  Speaker 1: I have no interest in being an arrogant spokesperson for you.
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  Speaker 1: I want to walk humbly with my God. And then
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  Speaker 1: the fourth ties in with the third. This is what
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  Speaker 1: I will call divine enablement, that you would keep me
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  Speaker 1: from harm. That's the whole reason behind the former part
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  Speaker 1: of the prayer, that your hand would be with me.
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  Speaker 1: You see God's hand as not only a guiding presence,
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  Speaker 1: is a protective power. Pray that for your children. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, this is a great prayer for you to
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  Speaker 1: give to God. For your children. Lord, bless each one
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  Speaker 1: of them. Indeed, enlarge their borders so that they will
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  Speaker 1: outstrip any of the things we have ever done in life.
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  Speaker 1: Keep your hand with them and keep them from harm
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  Speaker 1: in the process. But will you notice behind it all,
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  Speaker 1: there is this little phrase that it may not pain me.
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  Speaker 1: You see that in verse ten, that wouldst keep me
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: from harm, that it may not pain me, that it
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: may not jabez me. It's the same word as his name.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: What's he saying? Why is that there? Once again? It's
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: a play on words. Lord, keep me from becoming the
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: anguish I once was. That's it. Help me not to
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: live up to my name, Break me free from the
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: shackles of my past, and send me on my way
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: in a great and glorious way, under your authority, so
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: that I will not live out the truth of what
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: I've been told all my life about life and about me.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: And again, to return to the outline itself, there is
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: a fourth part of this story that you can't miss,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: and that's the result. We've seen the name, we've seen
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the birth, we've studied the prayer, and now look at
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: the result. God granted him what he requested. You know what.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: That's the reason he was more honorable than his brothers
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: because God said, yes, God granted him what he had
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: ask for. It's very probable that some of you who
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: hear these words at this very moment have no trouble
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: identifying with a man like Jbez. Your past is strewn
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: with the litter of this kind of anguish and pain
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: and sorrow. And if you're not careful, I'm going to
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: read your mind for a moment. You're going to tell
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: yourself that the only place you can fill is a
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: small place. And there's nothing wrong with a small place
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: if that's where God calls you to fill. But there's
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: nothing wrong with a large place either. What is it
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: that makes us hesitant to ask God for a grand place,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: for a vast place of responsibility. Of course, it's a
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: surprise when He lifts one to that position of authority
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: and responsibility. Most in fact, all of the men and
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: women of God I know who fill such places tell
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: me that they feel surprised when they think about their
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: role of authority today. It's all part of that walking
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: in humility. But my question is, could it be that
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: the Lord has planned for you a vast place of responsibility?
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Could it be that your role is to fill a
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: spot that is an unenviable place where there is a
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: great deal of limelight and a lot of flack, but
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: where decisions make a difference in a society. I remember,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: as a little boy hearing a lot of little children
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: say things like they hope someday to be the president,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: or they hope someday to be a general, or they
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: hope someday to be the chief or the captain or whatever.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: I don't hear kids, I'm saying that that much these days?
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Are you helping your children dream big dreams and think
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: of the possibility of God enlarging their borders and filling
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: large places of responsibility? If you are good for you
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: under your influence and with the strength and encouragement and affirmation,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: you can give the skies the limit. And your children
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: need to know that. Now, there are three lessons that
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: I find when I study this wonderful story. Three lessons
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and then a question that I want to ask you.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: The first lesson is this, A small struggling start doesn't
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: necessitate a limited life. Let me repeat that, A small
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: struggling start doesn't necessitate a limited life. If you're not careful,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: the adversary will convince you that because of your past,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: you can face a future that's just like it. You
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: will have to live with the restrictions of where you've
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: come from. Now. Jabez clearly began in sorrow but ended
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: in a place of honor because God granted him what
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: he requested. A small struggling start doesn't necessitate a limited life.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Here's a second lesson. No measure of success is safe
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: without the presence of God's hand on a life. No
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: measure of success is safe without the presence of God's
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: hand on a life. I spoke with a lady several
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: months ago who's told me the tragedy of their home,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: and it wasn't the kind of tragedy that you would
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: commonly hear you would look at their home as a
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: neighbor and think, my, how prosperous they've become, how wonderfully blessed.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: It looks as though they have no financial limitations. The
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: man has gone from one place to yet another, and
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: still another, and each place he sort of made tracts
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: and succeeded. But she said, I noticed in the process
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: there is less and less time for God. There is
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: a greater, greater emphasis on himself, his image, his position,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: his possessions. No measure of success is safe without the
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: presence of God's hand on a life. So just as
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: you pray for the lords to for the Lord to
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: enlarge your border, don't stop until you've included. May your
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: hand be with me, that you might keep me from harm. Third, lesson,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: when it is God who prospers and blesses a life,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: there is no place for guilt. When it is God
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: who prospers and blesses the life, there is no place
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: for guilt. I find that there is less and less
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: tolerance for those who have large places to fill. I
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: find there is often envy and suspicion, and a critical
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: eye leveled at those who are in large places of responsibility.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I read, if I may apply this to the world
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: of athletics, I read of a few superstars as they
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: describe living in the community where they are, where they
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: have their home, and the difficulty of just living a
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: normal life because of their role on the team that
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: they play for, and the demanding public, and the expectations
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: of the world, and the suspicion of their lives. When
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: it is God who prospers you, there's no reason for guilt.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I have enormous compassion and
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: tender feelings for anybody who fills a large place. You know,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you something. I never said this publicly.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: I've said it to Cynthia many times. Every time I
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: see high ranking people delivered an address, my heart goes
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: out to them. And when I am around a few
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: of them, which is not very often, I can assure you,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: but when I'm around them, I sense a pressure, and
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: I sense this enormity of responsibility, this enormous presence, and
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: I just my heart just goes out to them in
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: compassion for what they have to live with. Now, be
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: that as it may, that, I want to ask you
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: a question here. It is What large thing are you
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: asking of God these days? James says, you have not
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: because you ask not. What large thing are you asking
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: of God these days? Let me close with an imaginary story.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Imagine yourself, and I will imagine myself as we step
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: into the presence of the Lord after death, or when
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: he comes and takes us home to be with him,
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: and we got our first glimpse of the glories of heaven.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Now I can't imagine the scene, and you can't, But
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: give me a few moments and I'll create a scene
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: that may or may not hold true. But let's just
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: imagine that we are in the resplendent presence of Heaven,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: and we are with our living Savior, who hand in
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: hand eating us through the places of that eternal home
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: of ours, and we happen upon this wonderful, vast room
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: that is full of beautifully and gaily wrapped gifts. Each
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: one has your name on it, each one has my
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: name on it. And I tug on his robe, and
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: I say, Lord, what are all of these? His answer
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: would be, oh, Chuck, these are some of the great
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: things I set aside for you, for which you never asked.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: I have a room full of such things for you,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: but you have not because you ask not. As you
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: tell your children's stories from the Bible, I hope you
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: will also include teaching them how to pray. Show them
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: this simple little story from a children's Bible and read
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: it to them, and assist them in praying for great things,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: and name a few of those possibilities. Just put them
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: all on the spectrum that they might set their sights high.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: And then you might even tell them my little imaginary
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: story and remind them that God has a wonderful room
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: full of delightfully packaged gifts, wrapped with their names on them,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: and all they need to do is ask. Well, it's
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: another story from the Old Testament, and it seems as
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: though it some of it might be fanciful. But I
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: think there's enough truth here to make you think. I
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: can think of one whose future was not at all
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: bright and glorious and large and expansive. I can think
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: of this one whose life was not to be long
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: and extensive, but it was to be influential. And in
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: contrast to all the rest of us who come to
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: this earth to live, he came to this earth to die,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: and his future was across Think of it. And in
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: full killing his work on the cross, he reached the
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: pinnacle of God's plan for his life. His name is Jesus,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: whose mother bore him in pain, but how wanted he
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: was and how needed. For the next few moments, I
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: would invite you to bow your heads and close your eyes.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: I want you to just be still and sit, as
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: it were, beneath the cross of Jesus, and there take
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: his hand and give him your life. God speaks in
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: a hundred different ways every week to various ones of us.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: At this moment, in the midst of this week, let
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: the Lord speak to you, who came that we might go,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: who gave that we might have, who willingly restricted his
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: life that we might know and expansive and fulfill life.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: All that perspective comes when you are at the at
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: the cross of Christ. This is a perfect opportunity for
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: anyone who has never given your life to Jesus Christ
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: to do so. May we prayed together, our Father, We
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: receive your love, your grace, your mercy. We accept your gift,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: this one who came that that we might live and
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: know a life of forgiveness and purpose and meaning and definition.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: How grateful we are for his faithful presence. From him.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: We learned to give from him. We learn to sacrifice
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: from him. We learn to release. From him, we learned
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: to give you the glory and the praise. Teach us
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: these things anew as we quietly sit with you, Teach
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: us again in this time of worship, the importance of
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: your presence and power in our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Jabez the Unknown who Became Well Known,
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in nineteen ninety nineteen ninety two, two thousand
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: and one, two thousand and six, twenty twelve, and twenty
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: twenty four, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: twenty four by Charles R. Swindahl, Incorporated. All rights are
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: reserved worldwide. The duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: is strictly prohibited.