Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20231203 - Living a Legacy - 1 Chronicles 4:9-10

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#20231203 - Living a Legacy - 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word, recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co To learn more about the many resources
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available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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Thank you, brother. Appreciate you loving me.
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Yeah. All right.
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Well, good morning again. My name is Keegan Withers and
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one of the pastors here at the church, and I have the
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privileges. Pastor had asked me a couple
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weeks ago if I would share the word of God with the
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congregation down here. So it is a different audience.
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I was sharing with somebody. I was like, you know, really
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once you teach middle school, any audience, that's about one
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of the toughest audiences you can have.
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I'll say that I joined the pastoral team back in 2015.
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I was invited to come alongside. Come on, is actually at that
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time a pastoral intern to take over the junior high ministry.
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And then was after that year of testing and confirmation, I was
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acknowledged as a pastor here at the church.
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And so my ministry, the, my, the scope of ministry in which God
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uses has definitely grown as I came to the Lord.
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Really. Not that long ago, in 2011, I
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had a major transformation. Or God caught my attention and I
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surrendered to Jesus as Lord and Savior.
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And then three years later, or about four years later, he would
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call me into ministry. And so it's been a fun journey.
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It hasn't been all easy, but I'm blessed to be a part of this
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church and blessed to be on this pastoral team.
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I get to share the word. And so today you can find your
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way to First Chronicles Chapter 4.
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We'll be looking at verse nine through 10 and a message I've
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titled Living A Legacy, Living a legacy.
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And if you would, let's start with a word of prayer.
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And I want to pray in line with even the Psalm that I chose.
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That section of that Psalm 119, verse 105, which says your word
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God, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
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So let's play the transforming work and guidance of God's Word
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upon our lives. Heavenly Father, we thank you
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for today, and we recognize and acknowledge you as Lord of
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Creation, God. We do pray that your Word would
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light a pathway in our lives, that it would continue to do so.
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God, in whatever stage of life we're in, whatever season we're
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in. God that you administer your
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Word to our heart in a fresh way.
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So we commit ourselves to you today.
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We bow our attention before you, and we do so in the name of our
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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Amen. Well, as I revealed the title to
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you, Living a Legacy, you may be thinking or wondering was that a
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misquote or a typo? And it wouldn't be ill placed to
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think so, because by definition legacy is something that is
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handed down from the past or it speaks to accomplishments of
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having a profound impact upon others.
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But I would remind you even in the Psalm reading today, Psalm
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119, verse 111, which says that your testimonies I have taken as
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a heritage forever, that word heritage synonymous with that
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word legacy. For they are the rejoicing of my
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heart. And we know that the word of God
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is not an ancient, irrelevant writing, but the word of God is
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living and it's powerful. It is a heritage of time pass.
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But even of today. And as you would think about the
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title of living a legacy, in order for us to leave a legacy,
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we must first live out that legacy.
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And so, you know, one take away I'd have even as we start to
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prepare our hearts is to remember this, that it is God's
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will for our lives to have a positive impact on people.
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I'll share a couple scriptures that line up with that thought,
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and you're welcome to turn if you'd like.
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But first, in Matthew chapter 5, verse 16, that Jesus would tell
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us this, He say let your light so shine before men that they
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would see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
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Again, it's God's will that good works would flow through our
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lives, but that he would get the glory through it.
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And then also we see this other thing in Philippians chapter 3.
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And you're welcome to turn there, if you'd like.
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Philippians chapter three, that it's this reminder, as we live
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out a legacy, as we live the life in which God has called us,
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that there's this progressive work in which God is doing that
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we won't ever arrive on this side of heaven, but once we but
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not until we get to that place of eternity in the presence of
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God. And Paul says it this way,
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Philippians chapter 3, verse 12, that not that I have already
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attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on that I
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may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold
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of me. He goes on.
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In verse 14, you can jump forward where it says that I
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press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God
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in Christ Jesus. And living this legacy is really
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pressing forward to this upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
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And so let the Holy Spirit today encourage you or challenge you
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and strengthen you on the legacy that you are living out now.
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With that in mind, we can go to First Chronicles, Chapter 4 and
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a little background of this book.
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It is a historical book that was written by a man named Ezra
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shortly after the, you know, coming back from the exile in
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Babylon and about the time frame that this was attributed to have
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been written. This is a book that summarizes
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the history of Israel talks about a spiritual heritage or
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that word legacy of the Hebrew people and it kicks off the book
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of First Chronicles with some of the most interesting writing 500
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names OK, I'm just joking. It's probably one of those
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sections of scripture. I'll say it for you if you
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encounter it in your Bible reading you might just say all
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right this is boring good sleepy time type of of a scripture.
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However, as I was referencing and I think it's important for
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us to remember as the word of God is living and powerful and
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all of the word of God is important, that first Chronicles
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and these 500 names that kick off this book, they have
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meaning. They have importance and you
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know, not to bypass any section of scripture as irrelevant or
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unimportant. And really the the essence of
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these names that kind of speak to a theme that you know the
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that this one family that would come through Adam, in which our
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bloodlines will all trace back to right.
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The book of Acts portrays that that we're all of one blood and
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one race, and so we come from this one family through Adam,
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that we come through the one nation through Abraham, the
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Hebrew people. But then all nations would be
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blessed through Abraham as we see in Genesis chapter 12, One
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priesthood through Levi and one Kingdom which would be
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established by David. But ultimately the genealogies
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are there for a reason, to present to us the one hope that
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would come from Messiah. At the time of the writing of
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First Chronicles, of course it's in the Old Testament which is
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before this coming of Jesus who we in the the Greek term for
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Messiah is Christ. Before they would acknowledge
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the Christ or the Lord, the Messiah and so.
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But all of these genealogies would point towards that.
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And so remembering even as you encounter a name or a chrono,
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the genealogies, I should say they have importance and I'll
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give you a scripture that kind of helps you to receive these
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inheritance in that way. Galatians 329 reminds us this
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says that if you are Christ and then you are Abraham's seed and
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errors according to the promise. So even in your Bible reading,
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there's importance in the genealogies.
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You can receive it, you can dive deep into it, and if you do, and
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you follow along and you're pressing through and plowing
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through these lists of names, the 44th name.
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In the book of First Chronicles chapter 4, we're introduced to a
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man by the name of Jabez. First Chronicles chapter 4,
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verse 9 and 10. It says this.
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Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his
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mother called his name. Jabez saying, because I bore him
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in pain. And Jabez called on the God of
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Israel, saying, oh, that you would bless me indeed and
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enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me and that
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you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.
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So God granted him what he requested.
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You know, it's an interesting kind of obscure section of
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Scripture as it's laying out names.
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All of a sudden it pauses at this man we know nothing more
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about than what's laid out in these two verses that the writer
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of First Chronicles, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
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thought it was important to give insight and highlight a man who
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left and lived a legacy. This man Jpez.
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And so as we consider that living out a legacy in our
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lives, I want to study through today this life of Jabez.
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And the first thing that we see back in verse 9 in this life of
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Jabez is he was, it was noted that he was more honourable than
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his brothers. And you know there's no
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indication and I believe it would be ill founded to say that
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he was trying to to one up we all if you have siblings, how
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many of you have siblings in the room, right.
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There's natural sibling rivalry. He's kind of sometimes seek to
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one up that sibling and it doesn't have essence to that
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like he was this was some civil sibling rivalry.
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He wanted to take a place of prominence.
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But actually it just speaks to to be more honorable saying that
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he did more than what was required.
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He was going above and beyond and isn't that a good reflection
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and take away in our lives to say God has entrusted us in
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areas of life with stewardship and what am I doing with the
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things in which God has given to me.
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Am I just doing to the T to the compliant side or is there that
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commitment to where I would go even above and beyond.
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And for Jabez, that was a testimony, a life of faith lived
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and matched by obedience, that he would do what was more
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honourable. And we can take this note away,
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that it our faithfulness honours God, and God honours our
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faithfulness. I was even reminded in this
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particular thought of Jabez being more honourable than his
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brothers. You know, we look at the stage
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of life and history that we're in.
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We look as what Pastor Ed was saying is teaching a few weeks
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ago about the war in Israel and what's happening and how do we
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reconcile that from a biblical perspective.
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And he gave this point in one of the three points that he had
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given. He says what manner of lives
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ought we to be living? And he said prayerful and
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faithful as one of the points. And it's so cool to look at this
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testimony of this man, Jabez, who had that very testimony.
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A life that was prayerful and faithful, Pastor Ed would go on
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to say, not wasting time, but investing time.
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And I think it's important for us to even continue to build
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upon that thought that was shared as we consider the day
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and age in which we live, as we reflect on our lives and how
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we're living. God, am I living a life of
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honour and faithfulness and obedience to you?
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But the next thing we see about Jabez isn't as positive as the
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first thing. Well, his name or he was more
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honorable than his brothers. But did you notice what his name
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was called? And so this would have gave some
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ammunition to his brothers, indeed, to probably poke some
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jabs at him, because the name Jabez was given to him by his
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mom, because that he says that he was born in pain.
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So his name literally meant sorrowful and painful.
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And what a hard name to bear. You know, in the Hebrew culture
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especially, names were of utmost value.
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That a name was given once as a prophetic calling upon a life
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where many, even in the Old Testament, you would see that
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would line up or live up to their name or maybe not so much
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right. When then others were given the
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names of kind of like in a hope for perspective.
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So for whatever reason, whatever his birth, that was, I guess,
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extraordinarily painful, right? Not just the normal pain of
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birth that his mother would choose to give him this name
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that he would have to bear forever and embrace his name.
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Sorrowful and pain. You know, it's just a reminder.
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And I think, you know, I'll just give this to us as a as a take
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away as well. We have to look at our lives and
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we don't, you know, have that physical name or the literal
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name Jabez, Pain and sorrow. But there is this mark upon our
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lives that one of you know that we've been born as sinners, born
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into sin and born into a sin soaked world at the wages of sin
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the scripture would say is death at the penalty of sin is death,
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separation from our Creator. That really, a life that would
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be lived out without God at the center of it would be a life of
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waste, a life of meaningless existence, a life of only pain
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and sorrow, with an eternity of pain and sorrow to come.
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But I would give us this encouragement with that thought
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that just as Jabez, you know, Jabez has this name of pain and
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sorrow, and he would have to embrace that name as we would
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have to embrace the reality of our lives apart from Christ.
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But Jabez, you know, he wouldn't receive that as his identity.
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Jabez would embrace the name, but he wouldn't embrace that
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identity. And I love that even for
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ourselves, that we can say, as Jabez would say we can break
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that bondage by calling upon the name of the Lord.
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Look back at First Chronicles chapter 4, verse 10.
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As his name was born in pain, Jabez called on the God of
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Israel for you and for I to break away from that tainted,
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sin soaked existence. We get to call upon the name of
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the Lord and Jesus would say what does it profit you if you
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gain the whole world but lose your soul.
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And that's what the word of God. One of the things that the Word
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of God does is not only. I mean it brings light and power
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and transformation, it can guide us and lead us, but also works
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as this mirror to show us the flaw of our soul.
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But then Jesus would say in the Gospel of John, chapter 15,
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verse 7, that if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you
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will ask what you will desire, what you desire, and it shall be
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done for you. And this picture of centering
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our lives upon Jesus as Lord, as Jabez called upon the name of
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God, he was calling upon Elohim. And what we can look at it even
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in that root word, it speaks of the plurality of God, the
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reality of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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And for us to abide in Jesus is where we can have those
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breakthroughs in our lives. And so Jabez trusted in the
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Lord, and he prayed for that breakthrough from his hopeful,
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painful existence that was even given as a name from his mom.
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And so as we read this section of Scripture, and as we go into
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this next part in verse 10, we're going to highlight the
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prayer of Jabez. And as we highlight the prayer
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of Jabez, I want to encourage you, as I've received for
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myself, to adopt and to apply this prayer into your personal
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prayer time. And I've seen by doing so, which
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I've come across it before, but it recently was impressed on my
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heart again to go back and to go a little deeper into this
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prayer. And it's brought this newfound
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vibrancy into my prayer life. And I encourage you and and ask
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and hope that you would do the same.
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You know, in this prayer of Jabez, I would encourage you to
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apply it in three components. There was 4 petitions, but I
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believe you can apply it in three components of apply it
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practically, relationally and spiritually, for practically,
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relationally, and spiritually. So let's read again this prayer
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of Jabez and we'll look at each petition as they come.
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So first Chronicles, chapter 4, verse 10.
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This first petition of Jabez was this.
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And Jabez called upon the God of Israel saying, oh, that you
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would bless me indeed. So here's the first petition God
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that you would bless me. Indeed, one of the things that I
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recognized even in this particular thing is wondering
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have I deluded the that word blessing?
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Meaning like you know, I use it a lot.
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I pray blessing upon people. I sign emails with blessings and
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then my name. You know, we pray blessings over
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our food. But when Jabez prayed, God,
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would you bless me? Indeed.
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You know this wasn't some absent minded kind of request.
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I mean this was heartfelt deep rooted.
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God, would you bless me? Would you bless me indeed, I
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want to share before I jump into this thought of how this came
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about in my life. So I was I was on a hike
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recently about a month ago and I've already, you know I've read
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through the scripture a number of times and I've come across a
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prayer of Jabez. I've had the impact.
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I thought it's a definitely it's a cool section of scripture.
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But it hit me in a new, profound way, as I like to When I go on
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hikes, I generally hike alone because my family gives me a
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hard time. They tell me you walk way too
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fast. And then my wife tells me, you
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know, and then I don't even understand why you're hiking out
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in nature because you're not even looking.
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You're just like plowing down the trail and it's like not even
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taking it in. But one of the things I just
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I've grown up in Colorado. I love the outdoors.
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I love going on hikes. And, you know, as I was doing
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this hike, it was kind of twofold.
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It was just one. I was at a place in my life that
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I just would just really just needed to have some quiet time
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with God to be out and just really just seek the Lord in a
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special way. But also we are doing an event
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for the junior high boys just back in November.
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We're going to take them on a hike and I wanted to make sure
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because I have a bad reputation of taking people on 2 extreme of
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hikes that I wanted to make sure I was trying to envision could a
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12/13/14 year old boy do this. And yes they did anyway, but I
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was, you know, I was on this hike and I put in my ear.
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I was listening to. I was actually going through
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Psalm 100 and 119 with Pastor Chuck and I was just going
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through it. I thought, hey I got 3 hours on
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the trail, what better to do than just to go through Psalm
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119 and listen to it through by Pastor Chuck Smith.
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And then, you know, and it was early on in Psalm 119 and verse
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17 where we it came to this verse that said this in one
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nine. Psalm 119, verse 17 said deal
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bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your
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word. And as he was referencing that
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verse, he gave commentary about the prayer of Jabez.
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And so it was one of those things.
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I don't know if you've ever had that word.
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God speaks something to your heart.
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And then like I'm listening to the study but then I stopped
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like kind of listening. I started trailing off and I was
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thinking about that prayer of Jabez, oh God, that you would
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bless me. And I was wrestling with that.
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I was wrestling with this thought that God, it seems a
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little counter intuitive to what I know and how I normally prayer
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pray. Like I feel like it's really
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selfish and self seeking and and self-centered.
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And so I'm wrestling with God in that a little bit and it's just
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like kind of this nagging as I'm hiking and I get to my pause
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point and so I pause on this trail and I sit at this bench
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and I go into my phone and my Bible app.
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So I pull up First Chronicles Chapter 4, and I don't just read
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the Bless Me Indeed and enlarge My territory, but your hand
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would be with me and all of you know.
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Protect me and that I may not cause pain and I'm just
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wrestling through this prayer. One of the things that God was
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showing me was this is that I believe that God could bless,
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but I was struggling, that God would bless me.
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And it was just this thing that God was showing me in my prayer
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life. That there are things that I
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used to pray for and petition personally that I had stopped
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doing and God was just simply reminding and saying I still
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want to you know, hear those petitions.
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And so, you know, I share that because why this word is just on
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my heart. And so when Pastor Ed asked me
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to share, I'm like, yeah, I mean, I'll share this as I'm
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still wrestling through parts of this.
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But I want you to to to recognize and see even in your
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life are we, You know, it's one thing, you know, believe like
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God, God could do that. But are you wrestling that God
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would do that and even would do that for you.
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And so in this prayer of blessing, remember I said look
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at this in three components. And the first thing to really
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remember And one of those moments for me that I just had
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that was like this aha moment was this reminder that it is
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simply it is God's desire to bless you and receive that today
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like it is God's desire to bless you.
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And as you, you know, think of these things.
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I think it is important and what we'll do is we cover these four
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petitions. I'm going to share quite a few
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scriptures because unfortunately, like a lot of
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this, the Bible, it can be misrepresented, misquoted.
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It could be looked at in the sense of, you know, the just
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health and wealth and live your best life now.
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And I think that's why I was wrestling with that prayer
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because we know what that speaks to.
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The prosperity gospel is a false representation of the Lord
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Jesus. It's a false representation of
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God. But James chapter 4 would be the
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first section that I would encourage you to review as we
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consider a prayer like this and and James would say it this way.
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James chapter 4, verse one through three, he says Where do
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wars and fights come from among you?
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Do they not come from your desires for pleasure?
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That war in your members says that in verse two you lust and
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do not have You murder and covet and cannot obtain.
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You fight in war yet notice this in verse two is it says you do
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not have because you do not ask. So very simply, one of the
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things we have to recognize is we don't have.
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God wants to bless us, but we don't sometimes receive those
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blessings simply because we fail to ask.
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However, it goes on with some other good context that
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sometimes, like in verse three, you ask and do not receive
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because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.
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And so as you reconcile and maybe you wrestle with this
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verse, let me help you practically how to pray a verse
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like God, would you bless me, Show me your supernatural favor,
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Let my life be marked by miracles.
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That's what Jabez is praying. And so you know, first thing I
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would I would encourage you is Proverbs chapter 30.
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We see another man we know not very little about, but just that
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he had was attributed to writing this proverb and including this
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in this book of wisdom. Proverbs chapter 30.
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We see a petition in verse 7 through 9, and it says this two
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things I request of you deprive me not before I die.
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Remove falsehood and lies far from me, and give me neither
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poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food allotted
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to me, lest I be full and deny you and say who is the Lord, or
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lest I be poor and still and profane, the name of my God.
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And just as damaging as a prosperity mindset could be, as
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you know, in that prosperity mindset it could be full and
24:01
deny you. I would have challenged and say
24:03
on the other end of that spectrum, so can a poverty
24:06
mindset, the mindset of poverty unless it says I profane the
24:11
name of my God. And as you adapt and adopt this
24:14
prayer practically, just sincerely pray that God as you
24:19
would bless me indeed and give me exactly what you would have
24:22
for me. It's James.
24:23
Chapter 4 verse two would say we ask that we don't have because
24:27
we don't ask. So simply ask God, what would
24:29
you have for me to not be, you know, an overabundance or too
24:33
little, but exactly what you would have And just know this,
24:36
that whatever God would give us practically.
24:38
Because when Jabez prayed this prayer, there was very practical
24:42
implication on that prayer that he was praying for a practical,
24:46
even provisional blessing, you could say.
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But you know, when we receive something of a blessing in that
24:51
way from God, it isn't to just be held on to.
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But we see some other insight in the book of Acts chapter 20.
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You know, again as a whole word of God works to compliment, it's
25:01
always important as it doesn't contradict.
25:04
But compliments. We see in Acts chapter 20, verse
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35 where it's attributed to the words of Jesus saying this, that
25:13
it is more blessed to give than to receive.
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So any blessing that God would give, he says really the way to
25:21
use it is to be a blessing upon others.
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And so as we pray practically, oh God, that you would bless me
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indeed, know that it isn't just to hold on to and amass treasure
25:32
here on earth, but it's to be a blessing as unto God.
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So we pray this blessing in a practical way.
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Remember, I said I encourage you to pray at threefold and three
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components, petition practically, but also petition
25:45
towards your relationships. And as you consider
25:47
relationships, I was reminded of Matthew chapter 22 in this
25:51
section of scripture. Jesus was being challenged by
25:54
religious leaders of his day, of his authority, and even of his
25:59
knowledge of the word of God. And as he was being challenged,
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they asked him what is? There is a great commandment in
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the law when Jesus would give this answer to quiet the
26:08
critics, he says in verse 37, you shall love the Lord your God
26:12
with your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.
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This is the first and great commandment, and the 2nd is like
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it. You shall love your neighbor as
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yourself, and it's important. As you pray a prayer like God,
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Would you bless me indeed, that first and foremost you
26:27
acknowledge your relationship with him?
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Are you in a dry season with the Lord that God doesn't want your
26:34
life and your spiritual walk to be dry, to be distant, to be
26:40
inactive? He wants it to be vibrant.
26:42
And it's important to acknowledge even I can tell you
26:44
that we go through dry seasons in our life and in our spiritual
26:48
walk, that first and foremost Jesus says love the Lord your
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God with your heart, mind, soul and strength.
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And so God, would you bless me. Indeed, I'm praying that in my
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life, relationally, first with you, God, and then he says and
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love your neighbor as yourself. And to consider my neighbour is
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not just the person that lives next door or across the street,
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but the neighbours, the people I come in contact with.
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I'm your neighbour, you're my neighbour, My neighbour is my
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wife and my kids, right? It's the people I come in
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contact with. It's those divine appointments.
27:18
And to pray God, would you bless me?
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Indeed, I'm asking God, would you bless those relationships?
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Would you bless the the people that I come in contact with?
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And then spiritually to pray God, would you bless me?
27:31
Indeed. Well, I think of Ephesians
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chapter one, verse 3. To start.
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In Ephesians chapter one, verse three we hear this that blessed
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be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has
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blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
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in Christ. And as you pray God, would you
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bless me. Indeed, one of the things you
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can spiritually be reminded as you surrender your heart to
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Jesus Christ is Lord of your life is personal Savior.
27:59
You can know you have received every spiritual blessing in the
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heavenly places. Jesus reminds us in the Gospel
28:07
of Matthew chapter 6. Not to build up for our self
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treasure here on earth or moth, destroy and thieves can break in
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and still, but to build up for yourself treasure in heaven.
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And as you consider God, Would you bless me?
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Indeed. Hey, yeah.
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If he blesses us provisionally, Amen.
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We receive it. God.
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And if he blesses our relationships, Amen.
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God. And we receive that.
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But the greatest blessing of God are those heavenly treasures
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that really, I don't know what those look like except to know
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that it's better than any blessing I'll ever receive on
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this side of eternity. So praying that prayer God,
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would you bless me? Indeed.
28:47
Yeah. Pray it practically.
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Pray it relationally, pray it and and receive it, even
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spiritually. So as we live out a legacy, it
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will be a life marked by the supernatural favour of God, and
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then an extending of that favour and that blessing to others.
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Back in second our first Chronicles.
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Excuse me. In chapter four we see now the
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second petition and the second petition that Jabez would give
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is this one and and that God that you would bless me indeed.
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And God would you enlarge my territory and you can almost
29:22
picture me on this hike wrestling with this prayer.
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OK God, if the first one didn't seem self seeking, this one
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really hits hard. Like I don't know, God, how do
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you pray and why would you pray? God would you enlarge my
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territory? And I was just wrestling with
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God in this way. I'm like God.
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You've given me so much. You've done so much.
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Look at where I am now compared to where I was.
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If you gave me nothing else, I'm grateful for that.
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And God blesses that heart. You know, God receives that
29:49
humility. But to pray God, would you
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enlarge my territory? I give you a few things that God
29:54
has shown me through this is it's a guarding against
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complacency. It's a protection against
30:01
laziness. Because what God doesn't want is
30:04
you to get to a place where you're just complacent.
30:08
And I don't want anymore. I don't want any more, you know
30:12
of of what you would have for me the the definition of a large,
30:15
my territory. This is this place of your own,
30:18
with room to grow, and it speaks to stewardship that God has
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given us, the entrusted us with things in this life that he
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says. When you're faithful with the
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little, even more Jesus would say, even more will be given to
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you. But when you're not faithful in
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the little, even that which you have will be taken away from
30:36
you. And so as you pray, a prayer
30:38
like this practically expand my territory.
30:42
You know, God cares about our living situation.
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God cares about our vocation or about those business venture.
30:49
God cares about our bank account.
30:52
And you can pray practically. But again, remember, as you
30:55
pray, God enlarge my territory. Don't just hold your hands tight
30:59
and these fists tight at God. Would you enlarge my territory?
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But not for mice, not just for self, but God.
31:06
For your glory. That I would be of more even of
31:10
more impact and could be even of more use to you and whatever you
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would entrust to me. And so as I pray that prayer,
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practically you can pray over those things because God cares
31:20
to hear of those petition. But remember, it's so much more
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than just the practical part of this prayer.
31:26
You could pray relation from the relationship side of this.
31:30
And as you pray, God enlarged my territory.
31:32
You know as a believer in Jesus Christ, what you're asking for
31:36
is God, would you give me more ministry opportunity And I can
31:40
just tell you in pastoral ministry that's a hard prayer.
31:44
I I'm be really honest sometimes I'm like, God, I don't really
31:47
want that. I don't really.
31:49
But here's the cool thing, right?
31:50
Because as you pray a prayer like that, it's not because it's
31:53
not. You know, maybe we'll get to the
31:55
place where we've reached our personal capacity, but isn't
31:58
that a supernatural favour of God is when you can go beyond
32:01
your own capacity to be like, look at what God is doing in my
32:05
life, that these things I can't take any credit for, because
32:09
this is God at work in me and through me.
32:12
So as you pray for relationships and expand my territory, don't
32:16
be shy of that. God used me for your glory.
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And as we pray that spiritually, I'd remind you of Acts chapter
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one, verse 8. And you got to remember that in
32:28
a spiritual perspective, God enlarged my territory.
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As a follower of Jesus Christ, we have a Great Commission from
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the Lord to go out and make disciples, baptize them,
32:39
teaching them, and this is our call, This is our greatest call
32:44
of that Great Commission. And so in Acts chapter one,
32:46
verse 8, which we're studying of course with Pastor Ed on the
32:49
weekends. And we've looked at this a while
32:51
back, but it's always good to remember and reference this
32:55
verse is that when you pray this prayer spiritually, be reminded
32:59
of this, even this next part of the Commission, Acts chapter
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one, verse 8, where it says, but you shall receive power when the
33:06
Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses
33:09
are the witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
33:13
Samaria until the end of the earth.
33:16
And so for us, hey, we want to start where we're rooted and
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where we live. And as I pray, God enlarge my
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territory, I extend my usefulness in the in the town I
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live in, or the business I work in, or whatever that is in your
33:31
life, and then Judea, Samaria, and the surrounding regions,
33:35
then to the end of the earth. But how would we ever know, like
33:38
these missionaries, that we were called if we haven't prayed and
33:42
asked, so we we ask this prayer. God, would you enlarge my
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territory practically, relationally, spiritually, and
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by doing so how this lives out of legacy is it will, it will
33:55
expand our effectiveness for the gospel and then for the gospel
33:59
message that in which Christ, the Son of God, came to this
34:03
earth with a perfect unblemished life.
34:06
That a horrific death on the cross.
34:08
That He who knew knows then took on sin for me that we could be
34:13
the righteousness of Christ, and that by his death, his burial,
34:18
and his glorious resurrection, that Jesus Christ is alive
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today. We sure do have a message to
34:24
share. And so enlarge my territory, we
34:26
go forth with that the the next one back in First Chronicles
34:30
Chapter 4. So we see that Jabez petitioned
34:33
God that you would bless me indeed, and Jabez petitioned
34:37
like, oh Lord, that you would enlarge my territory.
34:40
And then Jabez petitioned that your hand would be with me, Your
34:45
hand would be with me. And what Jabez is requesting
34:48
here in this petition is for the very guidance of God and for the
34:52
power of God to be at work. It's this prayer of dependency,
34:57
of recognizing I need a power and an ability beyond my own,
35:01
and and dependence. When we have dependence upon
35:04
God, this is truly when we can experience the power of God.
35:08
And I tell you, we're not going to really have that power of God
35:12
at work in our lives when we're trusting in our own
35:15
understanding, are leaning on our own intellect, but trusting
35:19
in the Lord with all of our hearts, not leaning on our
35:23
understanding. Acknowledge him, acknowledging
35:25
him in all of our ways, that he would direct our paths.
35:29
And so practically, when we pray, God would your hand be
35:31
with me one of those things as it speaks to His guidance, as it
35:35
speaks to His presence. It's just this reminder that God
35:39
is near. Now, I don't know about you, but
35:42
sometimes we pray, and we pray as if God is 1,000,000 miles
35:46
away. And maybe you'll hear this
35:48
prayer in the midst of all the other prayers that are going up.
35:51
In the midst of the busyness, we we lower our very significance.
35:56
But it's like if Jesus were standing next to you.
35:58
He's like, I'm here, I hear you, I see you, I love you.
36:03
I care for you. Right?
36:05
And just remembering as you pray your hand be with me practically
36:09
that the Lord sees you, that the Lord knows you, that the Lord is
36:12
with you. And as you pray this prayer
36:15
relationally, as you pray your hand be with me.
36:20
This is a reminder that we don't want our name and our identity
36:24
to be lifted up, but the very name of Jesus that, like John
36:28
the Baptist would say that there would be less of me but more of
36:32
you. And you know, as I pray a prayer
36:35
relationally, as we pray this prayer, that others would see
36:38
God through you, that others would see God in the Lord Jesus
36:42
through me. And as you pray a prayer like
36:45
your hand be with me spiritually, I would remind you
36:48
of Zechariah chapter 4, verse six.
36:50
I'd encourage you to turn to this one because it's such a
36:53
powerful verse and an important reminder that God, your hand, be
36:57
with me. Zechariah chapter 4, verse six.
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It gives us this great insight. As you know, life is full of
37:04
opposition, pain and sorrow, even as Jabez would recognize
37:08
that life is filled with pain and sorrow and opposition and
37:12
struggle, that we can't do this in our own ability.
37:16
Zechariah, chapter 4, verse 6. After the exile, after the time
37:21
of captivity in Babylon and the return to the land, the
37:24
opposition in the rebuilding project they receive.
37:27
This word says so he answered and said to me.
37:30
This is the word of the Lord to Zarebabel.
37:33
Not by might ignore by power, but by my spirit says the Lord
37:38
of hosts another cool part and thought of this your hand be
37:43
with me God I'm going to turn to ask you guys to turn to the book
37:46
of Ezra. And remember Ezra is the author
37:49
of the book of First and second Chronicles is the attributed
37:52
author I should say. And in Ezra as we get his
37:55
insight from that same return from captivity and the re
38:01
establishing of the building of the temple and the establishing
38:04
of the land, You know he was met by opposition where he had to
38:07
have multiple occasions where a Pagan king would have to give
38:10
permission for them to be building the and rebuilding the
38:13
temple. But he gets this letter stamped
38:16
letter of approval from a Pagan king known as Artaxerxes.
38:20
And it says in Ezra Chapter 7, verse 27 and 28 says this, that
38:25
blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a
38:28
thing as this in the King's heart to beautify the House of
38:32
the Lord which is in Jerusalem. And then it goes on in verse 28
38:35
and says, has extended mercy to me before the king and his
38:38
counselors and before all the King's mighty princes.
38:41
So I was encouraged as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me,
38:46
and I gathered, leading the leading men of Israel to go up
38:50
with me. And isn't that a cool testimony
38:52
that he said Ezra was like, hey, look, this wasn't me, this was
38:56
the hand of the Lord upon me. That you pray that we pray this
39:00
into our lives. And that living a legacy is this
39:03
declaration of an undeniable, powerful work of God in our
39:08
lives. Let's look at this last petition
39:10
back in First Chronicles chapter 4.
39:12
And then we see, as he prayed, Lord, that you would bless me
39:15
indeed and God, that you would enlarge my territory, And that
39:18
God, that you would be with me, your hand would be with me, he
39:22
now says. And that you would keep me from
39:25
evil, that I may not cause pain. And for Jabez this would have
39:29
been extra personal. It would have been an extra
39:32
personal prayer by a man who bore the name, sorrow and pain.
39:37
And God, would you keep me from pain, from evil, that I may not
39:41
cause pain? And when we're living out a life
39:44
that honors God, we have to remember that this puts a
39:47
spiritual target on our back. We see that in First Peter
39:51
Chapter 5, verse eight, as this reminder that when we're living
39:54
effective for God, it will come with challenges.
39:57
It will come with opposition. First Peter Chapter 5, Verse 8.
40:01
We'll say it this way. It says that be sober and be
40:04
vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a
40:08
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
40:13
So as we pray a prayer like this, know that there is a
40:16
target on us as we live more and more effective to the things of
40:21
God and for the Kingdom of God, well as we pray a prayer like
40:23
God would you keep me from evil? Doesn't that line up pretty well
40:27
with what Jesus said in the what's known as the Model
40:30
Prayer? Matthew chapter 6 The Model
40:33
Prayer covers verse 9 through 13 of Matthew chapter 6.
40:37
But I would just direct your attention to Matthew chapter 6,
40:40
verse 13 where Jesus says this and and in giving us this
40:44
instruction to prayer and do not lead us into temptation but
40:48
deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom and the
40:52
power and the glory forever. Amen.
40:55
And it's important in our prayer time to acknowledge the
41:00
weaknesses, those flaws and those temptations in our life.
41:04
If we try to suppress them or we try to live double minded or
41:08
double life or we can't do that and receive that blessing of God
41:14
and so God would you keep me from evil?
41:15
I need to acknowledge those temptations.
41:17
I need to pray regularly and this is an important thing to
41:20
not just, you know when we have struggles and temptations.
41:23
It's not like I can pray, pray it away.
41:25
I pray once and pray that thing away.
41:27
There is a persistency in prayer, as Jesus would say to
41:30
keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, right.
41:34
And what you ask in my name will be done for you.
41:36
But sometimes we expect God to work like medicine.
41:39
I prayed at once, should work. But often times God works in the
41:43
realm like nutrition. It's it's purposed discipline,
41:47
consistent discipline. And this is similar.
41:50
And those God keep me from evil and protect me that I may not
41:54
'cause pain. I look at that relationally and
41:57
and would say that hey, as much as depends on me, God, I don't
42:01
want to be a cause of pain in the life of another.
42:04
I don't want to be a stumbling block or a place of offence.
42:08
And you know what Ephesians 6, when it talks about spiritual
42:11
warfare and it reminds us that our battle isn't with people.
42:14
It's not flesh and blood, but it's principalities and power.
42:17
But you know what it looks like? It looks like you.
42:19
It looks like me. You know, I could be the very
42:22
picture. Unfortunately, we could be the
42:24
very picture as a tool of the enemy.
42:27
So isn't it important to petition to God?
42:30
God, would you protect me and keep me from evil?
42:32
That I may not cause pain. I don't want to be that flesh
42:36
and blood that is behind that principality and power that is
42:40
causing someone to stumble or are causing offence.
42:43
And we can only say as much as depends on me.
42:46
I can't control how everyone receives and does everything,
42:49
but I can say and go before God and say God, I want to honor you
42:53
and glorify you with my life so protect me that I may not cause
42:57
pain spiritually as you pray a prayer.
42:59
God keep me from evil. It's this reminder to stay in
43:03
the race, to stay in the fight. And the life of faith is often
43:07
referenced like that of a fight and in a race.
43:11
And if you've ever ran or been in a in a fight like that and
43:16
there's a there's temptation to give up.
43:18
And I think is it was intentional for him for those
43:21
kind of reference points, to be like that because there are
43:24
times we would want to give up. And spiritually as you pray, a
43:28
prayer like that is to remind yourself that where else would I
43:32
go? Jesus, you're the one who has
43:35
words of eternal life. And so living this life of a
43:39
legacy is a life that is going to progress from victory to
43:42
victory and glory to glory. As we wrap up this morning, I
43:47
want you to notice back in First Chronicles Chapter 4, as Jabez
43:51
would pray all these things. Maybe you wrestle like I was
43:54
wrestling and still can at moments that seems
43:57
counterintuitive. But I want you to recall and see
44:00
that as he prayed these things, it says so God granted him what
44:05
he requested. What's so cool about Jabez is he
44:10
isn't remembered for what he did, but he's remembered for how
44:14
he prayed. And it brings me to another
44:17
closing point, that a man and a woman of prayer is destined to
44:22
leave a powerful legacy. Man or woman of prayer is
44:26
destined to leave a powerful legacy.
44:29
And I'd be hard pressed even in this point to not give
44:32
reference. We can look biblically and we
44:34
can look at someone like Jabez and have that as a reminder
44:37
biblically and historically in the word of God.
44:40
But here in this church, we had an awesome legacy lived out
44:46
through a pastor. Pastor Abe.
44:48
And I just, you know, I put up a picture in honor of him who
44:51
really lived that out, right? This brother who lived a life of
44:56
a prayer life, who had effectiveness, who well loved a
45:00
well lived life and what an anthem and what an honor, right?
45:04
And I think of Proverbs chapter 13, which gives us this in the
45:07
first part of Proverbs 13 it's in verse 22 where it says, this
45:14
says a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's
45:18
children. And what Let today be a
45:20
challenge to your personal prayer time, to your your time
45:24
that you petition and intercede to the King of Kings and the
45:28
Lord of Lord. And remember that living a life
45:31
of faith which is exercised by obedience, is a living legacy.
45:38
As we close. And we consider these things as
45:41
you consider where. What was it with Jabez?
45:46
He was God was at the centre. God was at the centre of this
45:50
prayer of Jabez. And it's good for us to examine
45:53
where is God in our lives? What place have we given?
45:57
Jesus said, I knock at the door, but we get to choose.
46:01
I can choose to answer, I can choose to turn.
46:04
Is Jesus at the centre of everything or just some things?
46:08
Do I include Jesus in the time that I come on Sunday morning?
46:11
That's good. But does he have me Sunday
46:13
afternoon? Does he have me and my family?
46:16
And in my work and in my recreation?
46:20
Is God at the center? Because if you pray a prayer
46:22
like Jabez and God's not at the center of it, you've missed it.
46:27
And God was at the center. He called upon the name of God
46:30
today. If you don't have personal
46:32
relationship with Jesus as your Lord.
46:35
Because there's a difference to say Jesus is the Lord and Jesus
46:38
is my Lord, that today. If you don't have Jesus as your
46:42
Lord, I want you to remember that identity.
46:45
You have apart from him one of sorrow and pain and of
46:49
separation. But Jesus came and lived a
46:52
perfect unblemished life, a life free from sin.
46:57
And as the Son of God he took on human flesh.
47:01
But he also had the fullness of his deity, that as he died on
47:05
that cross, he died a substitutionary death for you
47:08
and for me. And that is Jesus took death and
47:11
sin upon himself. He would give an exchange of
47:14
righteousness for anyone who would call upon his name.
47:17
But unlike anybody else that has passed away, Jesus Christ was
47:20
buried but then rose again on the third day that Jesus Christ
47:24
is alive today. And Jesus Christ says, hey, I'm
47:27
with you to the end of the age and I'm coming back.
47:30
If you want to call upon the name of God for salvation, you
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can just simply do so and the meditation of your heart or
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verbally you can cry out and that's what prayer is is.
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We talked today about prayer. Prayer is communicating to God
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and just ask God for forgiveness.
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Acknowledge that confess and surrender your heart to him.
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If you make that decision today, we have resources for you to
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help you on your spiritual walk and journey.
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We'd love to give you those things.
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You know. Congregation, as we close in
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prayer, I'd like to I like to pray that prayer blessing over
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you. And if you would like to receive
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that, I just encourage you to extend your hands out like this.
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And as I've been adapting this prayer into my life, I've
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learned to just simplify it. God, I just pray.
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Would you bless me and God? Would you use me and God?
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Would you be with me? And God, would you protect me.
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And as we go into this season marked by giving and receiving,
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want you to receive the blessing of God.
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So join me in a word of prayer if you would.
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Heavenly Father, we do pray that you would bless us.
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Indeed, we thank you God, that you tell us that we have every
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spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
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So God, as we do, pray for the practical and the relational we
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receive, especially the spiritual, and thank you for it.
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And God we pray. You know, as we consider this,
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enlarge our territory, God, whatever you would have for us.
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We want to be usable and we want to be used.
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And God, we pray that you would your hand would be with us, that
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your hand would be upon us, that when we speak words and do
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things that it wouldn't be to our account but to yours, that
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you would get the glory. God, we do pray for protection,
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that you would protect us from evil and you would protect us
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from causing harm upon others. And we call upon your name
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today, Jesus, and we ask it in your mighty, powerful, saving
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name. And it's in the name of Jesus we
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pray. Amen.
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Amen. God bless you all.
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Thank you. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer.
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Call us at 87730 Grace. That's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app, Be Blessed as You
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Worship Jesus this week.