Your Labels and Limitations Will Not Define My Future | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

my god what a holy ghost spirit is in this place tonight do you like what you feel and do you feel what you like i want you i want you to grab your bibles we're not gonna we're not gonna be here real long i just feel the holy ghost wants to speak into the lives of of every person in this in this place tonight we've worshipped him oh my word brother brother andrew hannah your mom goes away on a weekend and you take her mic over i don't know if she's gonna like that or not what about brother andrew hannah just taking that taking that soul oh my god what a singer comes from good stock i believe amen amen give honor tonight to pastor carpenter as as a member of this local assembly he is my pastor and i give honor to bishop carpenter as my general superintendent uh the assemblies of lord jesus christ he is my bishop and i give him honor i give our first lady honor amen we have the best of the best amen somebody from chile say yeah i don't know if y'all can tell i love those people right there then my new they're my new chili brothers chilean brothers and sisters and i'm i'm so thankful that god has brought our pathways together for this church for the body of christ and for the assemblies of lord jesus christ i'm excited what god is gonna do amen and already is doing through the works the churches that are already just i got to see pictures and videos they said this is this is my church this is my church got to see videos and man listen they know how to have church north america did not invent church i'm just going to tell you i don't know i i know it started on in the middle east somewhere and kind of come down got that worship in africa going on and kind of swept down through south america i don't know there ain't no worship like south american worship i'm just gonna go and tell you been to bended chili one time that's all it took son those people know how to praise you gave me a reason to dance oh love them so much amen amen valentine's day i give my wife honor love my wife so much and so thankful i am blessed with the very best uh god has has blessed me 17 years in july y'all 17 years i know i don't look old enough but it's true that's true first chronicles four and nine i'm going to read a very familiar passage if you grew up in the 90s at all how somebody's got excited about 90s right there when i say this at every christian bookstore it was on every t-shirt it was on billboards books written about it songs written about it the prayer of jabez first chronicles 4 9 says and jabez was more honorable than his brethren and his mother called his name jabez saying because i bear him with sorrow and there's only one other verse about jabez so let's see what happens and jabez called on the god of israel saying oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed and enlarge my coast and that thine hand might be with me and the thou would is keep me from evil then it may not grieve me and god granted him that which he requested now i'm gonna get there but i can't start there because this is a very interesting story two verses about this young man verse nine begins his life his mother called his name jabez saying because i bear him with sorrow i just want to take my time right here because if you don't if you don't catch on to this where i'm going you're not going to finish with me she said because i bear him with sorrow so my title comes from these six words i want to entitle my message tonight your labels and limitations will not define my future say it again she said because i bear him with sorrow i just got to preach to somebody because i believe there's a jabez in this room today somebody who's been put a label a description to your life limitations to your life and i want to preach to you and simply say your labels devil and your limitations devil will not define my future i'm going to say it again hell your labels and your limitations will not define who i am and what i am and what i'll become my future does not rest in your words but my god who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that i can imagine i can think i can comprehend i can come up with my god said i will do to you what no man can label you i just want to preach for a moment in here i feel the holy ghost sorry i feel a chilean holy ghost in this place today and i just believe that god wants to change somebody's life and let you know you are able to do whatever god has called you to do why don't you put your bibles down come on let's lift up both hands to heaven and say lord i want you to speak to me lord i want you to declare into my life your word lord let us speak clearly into my life lord let your holy ghost move upon me lord let it be a lamp unto my feet a light unto my pathway lord god i want your word lord just to be ingrained in my heart that i might not sin against you lord every label and every limitation that's been put on me by this world i release it and rebuke it in jesus name lord i will be a conqueror i will be victorious i will oh shut up come on somebody the holy ghost just wants to move in this place i will be victorious i'm a victor i am the head i am not the tale hey in jesus name everybody said amen you may be seated jabez if you haven't guessed it by now if you look it up in the dictionary in the bible dictionary the name jabez simply means pain it means sorrow i feel an apostolic collective song you turn my pain into praise you turn my morning to dancing you turn my shame into shouting you turn my sorrow to sing it somebody help me tonight if you're so glad you're not what you used to be but god has turned your life around how this world would love to label us how this world would love to choose our identity an identity that god never intended us to have but i just believe in this place that a jabez is gonna wake up and realize whatever your mama named you or whatever your daddy named you whatever oh my god however your childhood was growing up you don't have to be what you were labeled as a child as a teenager as a preacher you don't have to be what you got now listen let me set a little foundation first because i i just want to preach and if i do i'm going to be done about five minutes and some of you'll be okay with that what's the significance of a name well here here in north america in the states there's not much significance when it comes to a name not not usually now unless unless you're named after your you know your grandfather earl or whatever that's great that's good name or beatrice you know that's good that's good because that's your grandmother and you need to be named after your grandmother but usually in america we we go with names that sound good you know when we were naming our daughters we we were in we were in paris and somebody i think the hotel clerk or something you know we weren't communicating well anyways and then we gave him the name of our daughter and then they looked at me like why would you name your daughter paris they just don't understand because here in america we just like you know paris lachey it just rolls off the tongue i like it mama liked it windsor kate london kindly now london london now ken lee ken after kenneth lee after nana's middle name lee so we got we got nana papa in there but typically in america in in our culture we don't really specifically name our children for any purpose other than we like what it sounds like once in a while there are some parents and nobody here but there are some parents that want to do something unique at the expense of their child such as the late frank zappa i don't know if i'm not saying that right i think i think he was gone before i came he named his kids the first one was dwezel motorhead he named another one moon unit and his third diva thin oh what about jermaine jackson named his son your majesty now that's pretty cool however i'm a hog the daughter of former governor james hogg of texas thank god that she's going to marry somebody and change that last name oh what about shanda the daughter of bill lear who came up with the lear jet plane you see in the hebrew culture it was essentially a model for life whatever you were named that's who you were that was the label that was put upon you now not here in america but in the hebrew such as many times there was a declaration of godly attributes elijah means my god is the lord joshua means the lord is salvation many times it became a role malachi means my messenger moses means to draw out and we understand that they that pharaoh's daughter drew him out of the river but he also helped god draw the people out of egypt he lived up to his name he he had he had some rough years in there somewhere he had about 80 years of rough years but those last 40 years he really lived up to his name but then we come up with jabez which simply means sorrow it means pain and his mother was remembering a painful time in her life and it may have been during childbearing but but i looked through some commentaries and it's really believed to say that she was going through a painful season and so she gave the name of her son the season that she was living in she added drama that she mama trauma named her boy after her drama couldn't just keep it to herself but thought you know here god's blessed me with a son who does she think she is to mess up a young man like she tried to mess up and say i'm going to call you sorrow i'm going to call you pain as if a middle school needs any help trying to make it through middle school without people calling it becomes a little pain he's a pain in the neck i mean come on middle schoolers and i don't want to throw off on middle schoolers my middle school's hard years y'all i mean your body's growing your feet are like twice as long as your legs you look kangaroos walking around see these boys man they got like size 14 tennis shoes i'm thinking dear lord they're only four feet tall you know what i'm saying but it's kind of like that it's kind of like that though you know the head their skull their head hasn't grown but their nose and their ears have i'm not making fun i was in middle school at one time and thank god you will get through it i promise you but come on moms and dads the last thing we want to do is make it any harder for our kids to make it through the culture of middle school and high school and and have to get a job one day and and hear this poor boy jay bez is and they he he's he's named something that he can't live down because everybody knows what the word jabez means now to us it's a cool name i've got a good friend uh brother tim lee pastor tim lee his son's name is jay bez man he's one of the coolest kids i know jabez man he's cool it's a cool name but but in the hebrew language they knew what that meant it'd be like somebody's walking around and going oh here comes sorrow doesn't look like he's having a good day today here comes sorrow and here here this mother here this mother put a label on her son that he would have to live with and he would have to try to live down an identity that he would have to try to overcome and i just want to preach to somebody here tonight who is named after someone else's problem you're dealing with issues that you did not bring upon yourself personally an abused child a neglected child an abandoned wife you've been treated in humanely none of which was your fault it was not your decision you did not make that choice it just happened to you kind of like it happened to jabez and you are a modern day jabez and your identity is somebody else's sorrow but you're gonna have to make some decisions the same decisions that jabez made and he said i will live my life the way god intends me to live my life and i refuse to be a life of somebody else's decisions somebody else's limitations in somebody else's labels you see because jabez he he didn't get a new name y'all realize that don't y'all it wasn't like some people you know some people in the bible their name was their name was so despicable that that god had mercy on them and he changed their names and i'm sick i'm sick of you be called deceiver and cheater and liar i'm going to get i'm going to give you a name and my whole people we're going to name a country after you my people the land that we're going to live in is going to be named after you i'm going to change your name but that's not what happened to jabez however jabez found a new identity with the same name kind of reminds me of esther oh sweet esther esther didn't receive a new name either however she did receive a new definition of her name because the name esther in the hebrew language means hidden or concealed or insignificant that's what the word esther means hidden concealed insignificant what a label that was put on that poor orphan girl here she is here she is she's lost her mother her father she's living with her uncle mora chao she's all by herself she has nobody she doesn't have a mom to look up to she's just this young pretty girl who's trying to live the best life she can live and she's pulled into the king's court and she had to make a decision right there and right then am i going to be misinsignificant or am i going to rise to the occasion for such a time as this and i don't have to preach the story of esther to you you know the story of esther you you know that she became queen you know that you know that she was the the number one lady of the kingdom here she was a hebrew girl and here she was and she was a persian queen and she ends up saving her people from annihilation from a man named haman just in case you don't know the story look it up the whole book of esther is a beautiful story it's a great story of a girl uh a girl who was hidden a girl who who was insignificant who rolls up and do you want to know what the persian word for esther is star those people in persia looked at her and said oh my word we've received a star she went from being insignificant to being a star and her name never changed only the definition of her name because she refused she refused to take on and where the label of the name she was given and she says i refuse to be some young woman who does nothing in life who nobody ever hears about because here's what the bible says mordecai i said esther if you don't step up if you don't step up into this kingdom and save our people from annihilation god is going to raise somebody else up to do it and little esther said you know what my name means hidden my name means concealed but i'm going to rise up and i'm going to do something and i'm gonna be a world changer you say well brother eric said the bible says that it would have happened anyways it might have happened but it wouldn't happen from a little girl who nobody knew about but she was willing to take a step out of security and say i will change my world insignificant to star a new identity there are people in this room who are wearing labels that god never intended for you to be wearing everyone has been to a meeting now listen we've been to meetings we've been to conferences we've been to school functions where they give us they give us this label that sticks onto our lapel this simply says hello my name is right right and i love i love to watch how people fill that out because i can pretty much guess their personality type by the way they fill out their label because see all the oranges how many oranges we got gotta raise a hat you'd be proud of yourself some of y'all like what is he talking about we don't is this fruit this is fruity real colors oranges they're outgoing so they walk into the room they're the life of the party oh the oranges man and the orange you know what the oranges do all they do is write their first name as big as they can chase because orange chase he doesn't care if his full name's on there because you can't see it if he writes his full name on there however how many golds we have in here oh yeah golds represent a gold will very neatly right there first and last name legibly straight and they might even put brother troy alter and the greens are like why do we even have to fill this out blues are like put little hearts it's valentine's day hearts hearts hearts hearts i know your personality just just fill out your name tag and i know what you are hello my name is but in real life you don't get to fill out your own name today someone else gets that privilege and if you're blessed to grow up in a godly loving home in an environment you get labeled stuff like precious hello my name is beautiful hello my my name is smart my my name is talented hello my name is my name is creative my name is loved my name is cherished my name is happy valentine's baby girl and that's awesome and i thank god i thank god i thank god every day that i grew up in a home like that but if you're labeled by people who hate themselves come on i want to get them a little more serious now because this is real you got you some of you were raised by an alcoholic father who labeled you alcoholic because he couldn't stand who he was and so he wanted you to make him feel better about himself some of you some of you were labeled loser hello my name is dumb and listen there's nothing that affects me more than than seeing kids that i can tell have been beat down been told they're nothing screamed at yelled never at to amount to anything and they wear these labels they they wear these labels stuck stuck to their bodies that they cannot live down you're a reject you're stupid you're you're damaged goods your failure you're unwanted you're you're nothing more than an orphan an addict you're a should have been i see i see people like that in the heather head hung down and as a dog with his tail between his legs just cowered down and wondering when they're going to get the next blow and whether it's verbally or sexually or or physically or psychologically abused they're looking for the next label to be put on them and maybe oh god maybe there's somebody in here tonight that you could say that's how i was raised and that's how my parents raised me and that's that's how i felt about myself and and that's who i thought i was but then but then there came a savior there came a god who showed you that you don't have to be that don't have to live that don't have to represent that don't i just believe there's a there's a jabez in this place who's going to raise up and say mama you might have been living a life of sorrow but that doesn't mean that i have to live a life of sorrow you might have been living a life of pain but that sure doesn't mean i don't have to be living a life i don't have to live with those labels and those are limitations on my life because god didn't label you like that god labeled you as son god labeled you as daughter to all of us that were born into a family there was no choice in the matter but to all of you today that were adopted in fostered into families that was a choice that was made bible talks about us being adopted into the family of god which simply means we have a father who looked and said i want that one i'll take her i'll take him oh my god i don't know how that makes you feel but i feel good when i think about a god who saw me in sin and still decided i was worthy enough to die for shut up go let the holy ghost just minister right now i feel them in this place and i just believe if you would open up your heart and open up your mind and allow some of those callouses on your heart let them soften a little bit i believe god wants to show you his love that pastor preached about this morning reveal your love oh god reveal your love oh god reveal your love oh god too many people are living with generational curses and let me preach i don't have time to go into detail but generational curses are only as powerful as you allow them to be your mama and your daddy don't define you listen i've got the best mom and dad but i refuse to let a past generation define who i am whether good or bad you've got to make your own way in this life you've got to work out your own salvation in this life i rebuke every generational curse and not only do i rebuke the curse i rebuke the person who's wearing that label who thinks they can't shake it off i pray in jesus name shake off that label you made me see that listen if i don't hurry i'm never gonna get done there's so much in this two verses this passage there's so much we can preach and let me backtrack just a little bit god did not change jabez's name he changed his identity if you look even before mama named him god had already said he is more honorable than his brethren honorable is a reciprocal word i'll tell you how to get honor you've got to give honor you can't expect to receive honor if you never give honor if the president of the united states walks into a room i don't care if you're democrat republican independent i don't care what you are in honor of the office you stand to your feet in honor of the office you applaud unless you're just an idiot i'm sorry shouldn't have said that that that that's it if the governor walks in whether you voted for him or not he's your governor if you're if you're in a meeting with your corporation and the ceo comes walking into the meeting you don't prop your feet up on the on the ballroom table put your hands behind you no no no everybody straightens up their papers and stands to their feet as the ceo the chief executive officer comes walking in yet i wonder sometimes when the spirit of god steps into a sanctuary listen don't don't be asking why you don't receive honor if you don't give honor pastor erickson i don't understand why does pastor carpenter get all his prayers answered and why do i pray and i know never reason well maybe it's because there's worship there's honor going on when the creator when the master when the savior when jesus christ the savior of my soul when he steps into the room we can't help but to give him praise people say why do apostolics stand so much for the first 20 minutes of service why in the world do episodic pentecostals why do they sing standing up it's a no-brainer we're standing for the king of kings how can we worship somebody we don't honor hey listen there's some tradition that may not be written in the bible but it's good tradition and good tradition is when we worship god we stand to our feet we lift up our hands we lift up our voices the bible says make a joyful noise it doesn't even say make a good noise it just says make a joyful noise unto the lord master savior redeemer lord of all when you step into the house i want to stand at attention and give you honor clap your hands up to the lord and give him honor yeah yes we honor you god you may be seated jabez more honorable than his brethren right there in verse nine kind of tells us why god was so quick to answer his prayer honor it's a principle it's a principle such as honor thy father and my mother because there's a promise that comes with honor what does the word say what does god say he said i'll make your days long upon this earth you want to live a long time but first we talk to the teenagers you want to live a long time honor your moms and dads even if you don't understand them honor your moms and dads because you're not promised a long life unless you do but i'm going to leave you all and i go to the rest of us that's not just a children child verse i read that verse all the time i'm thinking myself lord god i want to be the son that honors his parents i want to be the son when my my parents are seeing the later years of their life i want to be the son that gives them honor because if it wasn't listen to me if it wasn't for my mama and my daddy i wouldn't be here today and far be it from me to feel like i've arrived and all of a sudden i just forget and dishonor oh no i continue to honor my father and my mother i think my dad's done pretty good his mom's 98. i think he's got a pretty good chance daddy come on bring it on for the team you know what i'm saying honor the father it's a principle honor and here we have jabez honorable man honorable in the sight of god honorable in the sight of heaven and so there it is verse 9 is the history of how jabez was born and how he was labeled but verse 10 now tells us how he removed the label and the limitations that were trying to define his future and look with me put verse 10 on the screen because this verse oh it's so good and it's not just a prosperity message all right and if i can i wish i had a soapbox to stand up on and i don't even know the soapbox is although i wish i had one to step up on like the soap come in the soapbox i don't know i need somebody i need somebody from a previous generation another header no yes soapbox never mind okay maybe you don't know either okay but my soapbox is this i'm not a prosperity name and claim it blab it grab it i'm not i don't believe that but at the same time i just believe that god wants his children to succeed i've got to believe that i mean why would he have come to earth to give us life and life more abundantly we were already living a life without relationship so the fact that god made a point and had a plan from the beginning to come and become a man and to bring us life and give us life everlasting in life abundant listen i just believe i just believe that god wants to see every single one of his children succeed in life if you don't believe that that's okay live a mediocre life whatever you want to do do whatever you feel you want to do and if you're called to do that do it but i just feel like as a child of god as a king's kid that i've got a right to have abundant life and so when i read verse 10 here not there when i read it over here that's y'all i don't find anything wrong with that all right so here we go here we go and jabez called on the god of israel saying oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed shame on you jabez he said and enlarge my coast and that thine hand might be with me and that thou wouldst keep me from evil keep me from sin that it may not grieve me and god granted him that which he requested listen what i want you to focus on is that verse 10 is the result of verse nine it wasn't that jabez was just out to get rich and that's why i don't believe this is a prosperity verse he was simply a mislabeled young person who did not want to live the life that he was labeled he didn't want to live with the limitations that he was given from mama he he that's not who he wanted to be and so he steps and yo we only have two verses for this this this guy he steps into verse 9 and says if i'm going to leave or verse 10 if i'm going to leave verse 9 behind i've got to ask for something big because ordinary just won't do so jabez called on the god of and israel don't wanna so this i don't want us to be ignorant to what happened here this was not just a one-time prayer where jabez prayed one time to god i just spoke to god one time and god was just like uh like like some kind of genie in a bottle just gonna just gonna give him everything that's not what happened here this was a relationship between god and an honorable man and god and an honorable man had communication it's called prayer they had a relationship so that when this honorable man requested something from the god that he honored that god looked down and said you know what i see you're looking for a change i i see you're looking for a change of identity and so therefore i'm gonna help you to become who you know you ought to be and so here he is and he's praying because he has a relationship and there's some people there's some people who just don't get this they they they pray to god when they have problems you you know the type of people that whenever somebody's sick whenever a loved one has cancer or whenever something's going down kids in the hospital marriage is messed up on the rocks kids are rebellion oh oh i gotta go find a place to pray i gotta go call pastor i gotta go try to get this fixed i i gotta come to the prayer room i gotta pray to god and listen god knows those type of people and i'm not saying you're not gonna get prayers answered i'm just saying if you pray to god when you don't have a need he's a whole lot more likely to listen in when you do have a need because he's just used to hearing you call out his name and worship his name and exalt his name and extol his name and adore his name and lift up his name matthew seven and seven i've heard people quote this and they quote it with a question they quote and say well the bible says ask and yet shall be it shall be given unto you the bible does say seek and you shall find it does say knock and it shall be opened unto you and verse 8 kind of kind of brings it all together for everyone that asks with seventh he that seeketh find it into him then knocketh it shall be open but they fail to read the rest of the chapter because if you skip down to verse 21 we're still talking about relationship we're still talking about who you are and and whose you are and in verse 21 it said not everyone that saith unto me lord lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of the father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day lord lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works and then i will profess unto them i never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity and what simply was being said here is you can't have power with a god that you don't have a relationship with i can only imagine god in heaven looking down in his hand who are these people who are casting out demons saying the name jesus i don't even know who they are they've never called on my name they've never praised me they've never worshiped me they've never written a song or sing a song to me who exactly are they they're casting out demons they're praying for people they're doing all these great works huh i don't even know them because to know our god there's got to be communication there's got to be an a b conversation there's got to be an a b conversation where you're speaking to your god and your god speaks unto you and you speak to your god and your god speaks back to you and oh god unless we have that kind of relationship with you it doesn't matter what we do in your name if there's no relationship he's going to one day look and say i don't even know who you are god help us i love jibes because japan simply said i call out to the god of israel and he said oh oh watch this oh god watch this right here oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed i looked up the word indeed do you know what indeed means bless me indeed indeed means as expected indeed that's what indeed means he was saying i'm asking you to bless me and i'm just expecting it's gonna happen too many times i feel like we might pray and in the back of our minds there is no expectation to receive whatever we're praying for and here this man jabez this this young man he said bless me in the deed i just know it's going to take place i know it's going to happen because i've got enough faith and faith says that hope it's for me oh my god somebody in this room you might need to lift up your hands and say oh bless my marriage indeed somebody might just need to lift up their hands and say oh bless my child indeed oh bless my family indeed oh bless my church indeed because when you say the word indeed you're saying it's not just a prayer i'm expecting it to take place come on somebody want you to lift up your hands right now in the sanctuary and why don't you pray an indeed prayer come on somebody to say god i know that you're able i know it looks impossible it seems unlikely lord it looks like there's no way it could take place but i want you to bless me indeed bless me indeed expect it to happen expect it to take place somebody needs some financial blessings and you might just need to say lord i don't know where it's going to come from i don't know lord my paycheck and my bills are matching up but i need you to bless my finances indeed i'm hurrying you may be seated then he said enlarge my coast or enlarge my territory listen i wasn't here i wasn't here when we were in mcginley street i know i didn't have a privilege of attending first apostolic church in mcginnis street but i did grow up home mission so i know what it feels like i know what it's like to be the only one i know what it's like to be the only youth in the youth group i i know what it feels like to go out to eat with a bunch of grownups and be the only kid i know what it's like in home missions and in missions america adopt a city type churches i wasn't blessed to be in mcgillin street but i was blessed to be up the road at 1723 william blunt drive and i do remember what it was like to have school in a double wide sister johnson everybody i'm looking around i'm looking for some alumni in here they can they can just agree with me that those partitions oh those partitions acer and pacer and where those guys names were and pudge and i don't know that's not even politically correct anymore i hope they've changed those guys names if we're not careful we're going to raise up a generation who thinks our territory has always been here brother hammond and brother brother nolan carpenter as you raise up your generations we're gonna have to convince our kids this is not how it's always been there was a lot of sweat and toil there was a lot of vacations that weren't taken boats that weren't purchased rvs that were sold homes that were sold houses that weren't purchased a lot of tax returns were signed off and put right back in the church offering plate year brother sister ammo's year after year after year after year thought we were brother schilling thought we were never gonna get here sure i remember i had friends of the community and they would be like what are y'all doing y'all it doesn't look like anything's happened in six years what are y'all doing didn't realize we were building my faith in every penny that was going in the offering plate was coming out of the office plate and going into buying materials paying workers that were here seems like sometimes around the clock but here we are and god has enlarged our territory and while he's enlarged the territory of this church with some of you that are new around here and you might have just moved in and we're so glad that you're here and we're so glad that you're gonna pick up right here with us but what you might not understand is the reason why the people of this church are so blessed is because while we were making sure that the kingdom of god's territory was enlarged god was turning around and saying i'm gonna enlarge your territories because you care about my kingdom i'm going to turn around hey does your family do you have a backslider in your family i'm going to bring your prodigals home that's what the maryland miracle is all about it wasn't a building the maryville miracle was about our territory was enlarged even at the home front can somebody shout amen does anybody have a testimony from a miracle miracle you just want to wave your hand and say i was healed or my child was was brought back into the house of god or i thought all my marriage was going to end but god made a way financial blessings oh my god listen my my mind you may be seen in my mind's going back i remember being on facebook and watching as the as the territory was being enlarged here at first apostolic and this beautiful campus was being built i remember sending hundreds of thousands of dollars millions of dollars into the foreign fields chile's here the philippines and hong kong are here listen we have been sending money i remember raising money for a radio station some 15 20 years ago we bottled 30 thousand dollars here's our territory right here i want you to witness the enlargement of our territory right here oh my god how many souls were one to god by your chilean preacher preaching jesus name baptism in the infilling of the holy ghost on a radio station that first apostolic church helped put up in the air enlarge my territory jabez said i'm sick and tired of being held captive in the territory that i live in i need my borders to be enlarged yeah come on let the holy ghost right now come on lift up your voice chileans lift up your voices stand your feet i can't i can't even go on any further i'm done he said enlarge my territory he said whatever you do i want your hand to be in it whatever you do i want your hand to be in it i want your hand to be in my life whatever you do don't give me riches don't give me increase without giving me you i would hate to have an identity change from pain and sorrow loser druggy alcoholic i would hate to have my identity changed and me to step up and think that i was something and i had somehow arrived on the scene and look at me look i pulled myself up by my own bootstraps look at me what i've done where i've made it who i am today but jay jabez said lord whatever you do if you're gonna bless me make sure that your hand is upon me i need your anointing in my life we don't even know what jabez was i i don't know i don't even know what family he was a part of he might have been a priest i don't know he might have been a psalmist i don't know we don't know because the chapter before is the lineage of david or the offspring of david talks about his sons and his son's sons and these sons and these sons and these sons then it goes in the beginning of the chapter that we're reading and it says now this here are the sons of judah and it goes for eight verses and then out of nowhere it doesn't say that jabez is related to anybody it just goes verse nine and jabez steps into the scene as a pain in the neck and it only takes him one person to say but hold on this is not who i am call me what you want to call me identify me how you want to identify me devil i know you've got all kinds of names that you've been calling me you've been talking in my ear your spirit i feel oppression and depression i feel like giving up i've had suicidal thoughts some of y'all think of these thoughts i've had suicidal thoughts i feel like leaving my wife or leaving my husband i feel like giving in but jaber says just one one verse later he says oh but i'm going to stand before the god of israel and honor say bless me indeed i'm not who i used to be bless me indeed i want you to enlarge my territory i'll never be satisfied where i am i want your anointing upon my life keep me from evil hide me from evil put a hedge around me and protect me from the devil come on somebody i just believe there's j buses all over this place who understand that you can make it you can make it you can make it you can make it you can make it you just got to step forward come on brother chad you got to step forward and say i refuse to be with this world has called me no more limitations no more lives come on i know we're trying to socialize but if we can pray for one another right now enlarge my territory i want to go new testament on you keep on praying i want to go new testament on you some of you need to enlarge your territory by finding your way up into a pool and going down in the name of jesus christ for the remission of your sins talk about it lord in your territory you want to get down here and repent of every sin that you've ever committed you want to get up here and say god i can't even remember half of the stuff i've done but god you know and i make a decree to you tonight i'm gonna turn away from sin i'm gonna turn away from evil i will be an honorable man lord god if you'll fill me with your spirit i believe the holy ghost is going to be poured out of somebody tonight who wants to enlarge their territory let the holy ghost come on come on come on come on come on come on let the holy ghost feel you that's gonna enlarge your territory people over this room people all over this room they've been fighting they've been fighting with voices in their heads day and night night and day arguing with voices in their heads tell them they're no good they're nothing they'll never amount to anything oh come on i can't do anything for you you gotta rebuke those voices out of your own head you gotta stay in the devil say devil it's time for you to get under my future it's time for you to get under my pizza it's time for you to get under my pizza oh god of heaven oh god israel bless me indeed heal me indeed save me indeed