Pastoral Installation Weekend - Dictionary Discoveries

some 25 years ago that myself and our young family first walk through the doors with Apostolic Pentecostal Church and it was an environment exactly like this one that grabbed our hearts in our tenure in this congregation over some 15 years that continued and we learned that there was a long history of this same environment and now that I visit again some 10 years removed since we left I find receptivity and hunger has not changed and I know it will remain in the service today let me just provoke you a bit even before I begin to

preach foreign Friday night I've had opportunity to stand behind a lot of pulpits in a lot of places across North America and uh spent time evaluating why there's an impacting move of God in some moments and well that was a nice service in other moments and I have learned that more people more aware equals more Jesus words mean a lot to me they are the hammer and nails of my craft and I began recently to pay attention to words that we were using that were not biblically accurate we would pray for a gathering like this

and pray Lord we want you to visit us like he had to make a trip we would pray Lord pour out your spirit like he's standing on the shores of heaven with 55 Barrel gallon barrels and well I'll see foreign things like Lord meet us here again like there had to be some incredible invitation but the reality is brother Reaver mentioned on Friday night Jesus said where two or three are gathered in my name I am there I am there all of the creator here all of the miracle worker here all of the loving divine

here all of the grace and mercy that reaches into the destroyed life here right now the defending moment the defining moment of this service is not based on God it rests with you and me will I be aware well I focus my mind on God and his word will I focus my spirit on his spirit that is here because if more of the people in this room raise our awareness more of Jesus experience is guaranteed if you're open to increasing your awareness in this place right now would you just raise your hands would you just

speak from your own heart in your own mind in your own understanding I said I see some man really really reaching out to God right now I I see some women and some young ones and I see some veterans in Christ saying uh I will not wait until heaven but I will engage his glory now I will not hesitate even though I don't have any problems today I still need Jesus I I still need to engage his glory and his wonder and I open my mind to you Jesus I I open my heart to you

today Jesus oh more people more aware more Jesus amen it's not my message today but that's not bad right you can be seated in Jesus name we love this great church leaders past present and future who believe in all that God is doing and will continue to do here I recognize the nature of this weekend and yet I feel like preaching so can that be enough of a statement I love y'all and y'all are awesome let's go turn with me in your Bibles for attention focus your attention on the screen First Chronicles chapter four the

Bible says this the descendants of Judah where Perez heads run Carmine her and showball verse 2. showball's son Raya was the father of J hath J hath was the father of akumai in layhead these were the families of the zorothites the descendants of Adam were Jezreel ishma ID bash their sister has a little pony penuel the father of geeter and easer the father of husha these were the descendants of her the firstborn of ephratha the ancestor of Bethlehem verse 5 Asher the father of Toccoa had two wives named Gila and Nara Nara gave birth to

achhizam heifer to many and hahashtarai how do you know those pronunciations preacher I'm making them up verse number seven Gila gave birth to zereth if her ethnan and cause who became the ancestor of anab zababa and all the families of our hell son of Haram verse number nine there was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers his mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful he was the one who prayed to the god of Israel oh that you would bless me and expand my territory please be

with me in all that I do and keep me from all trouble and pain and God granted him his request verse 11 Caleb the brother of shuha was the father of me here me here was the father of Ashton Ashton was the father of Beth Rafa Paseo and tahina tahina was the father of ernahash these were the descendants of Rekha the sons of canines were othniel and Sariah othniel's Sons were hah and Beyond the thigh miyanathai was a father of ofra saryai was the father of joab the founder of the valley of Craftsman so-called because

they were Craftsmen the sons of Caleb son of zephiana were eru elah and Nahum the son of elah was Kina as the sons of Galileo were zif zifa tyria and assaril and it just keeps going like that perhaps I have read for you more of the genealogies than you have ever attempted in your annual Bible reading name after name after name after name actually oh Bishop thank you actually I started in chapter four and chapters one two and three prior to this section are just like this one they're known as genealogies ancestries family names relatives

and after the passage that I just read to you there are chapters 5 6 7 8 and 9 that follow and they're just like this genealogy all those names in chapters prior all those names and chapters following but all of the sudden in the middle of so many names so much Heritage so many generations is Jabez short story there was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers his mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful he was the one who prayed to the god of Israel oh

that you would bless me and expand my territory please be with me in all that I do and keep me from all trouble and pain and God granted him his request some of the young ones won't be able to follow me because you've never held a paper dictionary but those of us of ancient of age who used to get at this big thick book that had listings of names and letters and words and vocabulary can you imagine opening a big old Webster's Dictionary finding the word that you're trying to spell or Define and right below

that word there's a short story all the other words before it just words just entries and then a short story about somebody's life and then all the rest of the book is all these entries and definitions of words how bizarre is that what's going on there this is jabez's only mention in Scripture nothing more is known about this man than these sentences It's Curious to me that in this genealogy this long list of names where their name and Fathers and Sons and Daughters and sisters and brothers and aunts and uncles but for this man there's

no name of his father no name of his mother it's no names of his siblings we don't know if he was married we don't know if he had any children some Scholars assume this about Jabez that he was a relatively well-known person to those who would first read and hear the book of Chronicles either by tradition or writings we don't know that to be true but it's suggested in other words he was so popular that in his audience well everyone knew Jabez perhaps like the one name pop icons of our time now we're simply informed

this he was more honorable than all of his brothers and were left to assume that that honor is because he sought the Lord and so we're provided his prayer the name Jabez has a similar sound to it in the Hebrew as the word pain and so Jabez name in and of itself means Man of Sorrow man of pain and the scripture explains the story in this man's life that his mama named in pain because he was painful in childbirth she wanted him to remember it son you're a pain how talk about giving the boy a

lifelong baggage why don't you just name him swollen ankles call him hypertension why don't you just name him expensive all of his life growing up he's constantly reminded pain did you take the garbage out pain have you cleaned up your toys pain have you finished your homework pain did you get gas in the car y'all with me no wonder the man prayed for change it's likely that Jabez was born in Babylon the country that had held Israel captive for some 70 years Jabez was even raised in a painful place and so the book of Chronicles

that we've read from today it was written to Jews that were returning to their Homeland from a shameful past from a shameful captivity in Babylon they came as a people that were conquered and diminished and so these returning Jews could surely relate to a man named pain they had lived in pain themselves and they could certainly relate to the prayer of this man oh that you would bless me and expand my territory please be with me in all that I do keep me from all trouble and pain change my label change my experience changed my

destiny so Chronicles is written to those who wanted to leave pain behind them First Chronicles chapter 1 and verse 1. look how this book opens up the first words of this book the descendants of Adam were Seth Enos Keenan and mahalel Jared Enoch Methuselah lamek and Noah the sons of Noah were him sham and japheth I mean how's that for an opening doesn't it grip you in our Arrow we're used to the cold open we're used to the phrase the attraction something that opens a story that reels us into that story that sentence and not

so much but for the first readers for the first hearers it absolutely grabbed their attention those who first heard these words highly valued genealogies a form of a genealogy can be linear or segmented both are in this passage linear talks about the depth of relationships so you've got Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the purpose is that it validates that last person with the heritage genealogies also give us the breadth of relationships so you see the side by side the siblings Jacob and Esau it talks about the branches in the relationship the Israelites are coming back

from captivity and they needed to appreciate their Roots they needed to appreciate the depth and the breadth of the relationships in their history and how it played into where they were in this moment of time the genealogies rooted Israel's present in their past it demonstrated God's faithfulness because you see the genealogies would remind Israel we are his chosen ones we are coming out of a bad place right now but we are a people of promise we are in a tough circumstance right now but in the past we know there's been a time and there remains

time where God is active God has us in mind from the very beginning in Adam he will not forget his people so when you and I read through the Chronicles it just seems like names they could be characters in a fictional drama they are not they are real people you and I don't know them you and I don't have their stories but those folks who first heard that word those folks who first read those words they knew who those people were and knowing the people prompt memories of their stories notice a few names in Chronicles

we just read in the first verse where first fourth verse rather that Noah is mentioned later on in the first chapter it talks about Abram later known as Abraham in the second chapter it talks about the sons of Israel Reuben Simeon Levi Judah issachar zebulun Dan Joseph Benjamin naftali Gad and Asher in the sixth chapter the children of amrin were Aaron Moses and Miriam you and I get a familiarity from those names because we know more of their stories in scripture certainly that is picking up in their mind not just for these but for all

the names to those first years we see the genealogies and reading the genealogies I've poked fun already in our annual Bible reading come on you know you don't read them because it's like reading a dictionary well you know what except brother ever used to have a word and day calendar on his desk for like Generations he would come give them to me to try to help me get a better vocabulary usually we don't sit down with a dictionary and Page through the words but the impact of these genealogies it's not like a dictionary to you

and I it seems that way we don't get it but those folks it was Kingdom importance it was Godly value you see because when they heard that lineage they recognized we are part of something bigger it was a certificate of membership into God's grand scheme and is dealing with the whole body of people in the ancient world they didn't get their identity and individualism like us westerners do we want to be popular personally we want to have followers personally but in the ancient world it was a group identity even in cultures around our world today

it is a group identity so westerners we don't get that so much we just think about ourselves but the children of Israel saw themselves in this grand scheme of things and their solidarity was with the group and so when you hear the genealogies you realize this is where I fit into the generations of God's people and those genealogies reflect the story of God among his people real people and real stories that have been handed down through verbal tradition to those folks and it's in that context in that understanding that anchors the Prayer of Jabez there

is a man in verse 9 named Jabez more honorable than any of his brothers his mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful he was the one who prayed to the god of Israel oh that you would bless me and expand my territory please be with me in all that I do and keep me from all trouble and pain and God granted him his request when we see that last phrase and God granted him his request what we're tempted to do is to investigate those three or four requests and try to dig

down and get me a formula I need me a plan so God can be my genie in a bottle I want to have it all lined out and figured out Jabez prayed in a way that God granted what he prayed for and so if I get the correct measures of this and the correct portions of that and a few teaspoons of that God's my genie and he's at my beck and call and he'll do what I ask him to do and I I would tell you right now of any of us would go down that

path with a Prayer of Jabez we're cheating ourselves because that prayer is bigger huh smack in the middle of these meaningful genealogies is Jabez and his prayer and the inclusion if this place is significant because here's what's happening in the people of that day here's what happens if you will as Jabez is in the crowd and he's hearing the names as you hear the name of Noah and the hearers of that day didn't just think of the name I thought of the story and the promise to Noah and so when they heard Noah they recall

from oral history God said to Noah in Genesis 9. I'm giving you a sign of my Covenant with you and with all living creatures for all generations to come I've placed my rainbow in the clouds it's a sign of my Covenant with you and with all the Earth and so uh when those people of Israel heard the name Noah it wasn't just four letters crafting together some syllables up they heard a covenant promise that was given to Noah and to all the generations following genealogy reminds of Abraham and when they heard Abram and Abraham their

minds were sparked their memories recall the story of the man and the story of God's promise to him in Genesis 12 I will make you into a great nation I will bless you and make you famous you'll be a blessing to others a few chapters later the Lord said I will confirm my Covenant with you and your descendants after you from generation to generation this is an Everlasting Covenant I will always be your God and the god of your descendants after you and I will give the entire land of Canaan where you now live as

a foreigner to you in your descendants it will be their possession forever and I will be their God you see when they heard Abraham the name reminds him that the law Lord Of Glory made some promises to us that he would partner with us that he would expand our people he would bless us from generation to generation when they heard the name of Moses more than a name more than a patriarch their minds went back to Exodus 23 the verbal history where the Lord says to the man his promise my angel will go before you

and bring you into the land of the amorites the Hittites the parasites the Canaanites the hivites jebusites so you may live there and I will destroy them completely you must serve only the Lord your God if you do I will bless you with food and water I will protect you from illness there will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land and I will give you long full lives they remember that the Lord promised them promised their people promised their history promise their ancestry it's covenants and these relationships that would carry on not just for

an individual like westerners but down through a group of people in a body of people the Lord promised blessing and expansion and protection and I'm just giving you a few samples all the names that we read through are real people with real stories and there were real hearers who were able to think back to Granddad and great great uncles and remember the story of God's promise and provision in those lives the Lord's repeated Covenant and strategically at this point in time the chronicler includes Jabez prayer oh that you would bless me and expand my territory

please be with me in all that I do and keep me from all trouble and pain I preached to you today this simple understanding Jabez prayer was in his own prayer he wasn't formulating some new list of personal priorities he wasn't Gathering Together his own heart's desire here's what I want from God and God just gave it to him rather I submit to you today that Jabez prayer as he's in the crowd of hearers of the names and the stories and the promises they meant how in the world is that short story just included there

why is it remembered that we don't even have to know his last name or his family or anything else about him because I believe I just Envision that when the Chronicles were read and the names were listed it got through about three chapters and into the fourth chapter and old chabez rose up in the crowd Revelation burst into his mind and he recognized those promises through the generations those covenants over the years they stand true today and so he stood and said bless me O Lord go and span my territory protect me from harm and

pain what was he doing he was reiterating the promises he was reiterating what God had already stated it it realized in his mind God has already promised this and I am going to declare it his prayer is a summation it's a cliff notes of divine Proclamation his prayer claims the promises of God there's a realization in the man Jabez their God is my God their stories are my story their victories are my victory their promises are my promises so Jabez decided you know what I'm going to do I'm going to cash the checks that God

has been writing to his people I'm going to the bank it's good he's good for his promise and I'm taking it to the Lord come on clap your hands under the Lord right now Hallelujah hallelujah we're going to pray here in just a moment and that's why James is Standing on the Promises of God he didn't come up with his own individualistic prayer Lord I need to have some special ice cream after dinner today make that happen or maybe the more adult prayer I need a bigger promotion and more money for a bigger boat because

he prayed and claimed the promises of God of course God granted his request of course I'm going to get electronic payments of your paycheck from your employer where are you at electronic payments when you see that in your bank account check your phone bank Mouse ding do you go hmm and I wonder if I'm gonna be able to buy groceries this week I wonder if I'm going to be able to pay the rent or the mortgage no you don't you're like all right let's get to spending the money's Goods in the bank money's good the

money's good you don't doubt that you don't question that you don't ring your hands over it you say it's there it's proven it's happened week after week and month after month and I know the money's there I'm going to take advantage of that deposit I preached to somebody today the promises of God quit looking at them and questioning quit looking at them and wondering quit looking at him and thinking is it really a true bank balance no I'm inspiring somebody today to recognize it you want your prayers answered pray the promises of almighty God you

want the Lord to say Absolutely I'll do that for you then pray the promises of God you'll be guaranteed these checks don't bounce there's not an empty account there's not a non-sufficient fund no that's not the way he works his promises are yea and amen so be it they'll happen he said it I believe it I receive it I will claim it I will promise it I'll declare it it is mine that realization stand with me all over this Auditorium here's the discovery who Jabez made in the genealogies there's a discovery that seemingly in the

middle of the dictionary entries there's a short story of a man who had an aha Divine moment hear me I don't know what your circumstance is today I don't know your particular situation we won't put the spheraces on the screen but it's pretty cool the New Testament begins with the genealogy Matthew 1. of the New Covenant and the new revelation 42 Generations are listed starts in Matthew 1 or 16 verses then it comes down to the Messiah and Paul tells us in Romans now by the spirit you're not strangers and foreigners anymore but you call

Abba Father the New Testament Begins by reminding there's a history of Promise here and if you'll receive my spirit I'ma put your name in the list we're going to graft you in to those Generations we're going to fit you in there and you need to know and understand I didn't just change my birth certificate I entered into decades and centuries of promises of God I returned to it pastored long you're not just entering into a lineage of fine preachers the church isn't just at a place with a simple transition but the history of promise promise

through the errors of branding and black green and Williford those checks are still good in this audience today if you've not received the gift of the Holy Spirit if you don't know that power of God within you that allows us to genuinely become and cry out Abba Father you can receive the spirit today you just tell the Lord you're sorry for every dumb thing you've ever did and that you don't want to do dumb things anymore and then begin to thank him for his welcome invitation and then began to express to him whatever it is

you know about God I understand that you are loving and gracious that's awesome I'm needing some of that as you begin to express that you'll have a an experience where the spirit begins to move on you and you'll know that he's filled you because as we wouldn't understand this place today you'll speak in a language you didn't learn in high school or in your home of origin there'll be a new language destined to you as an Evidence of God's power working everybody can be adopted into this amazing generational family and those of you already filled

with the spirit I'm just going to provoke you a little bit you all know I love you but are there some checks in here you haven't cashed yeah foreign sister that you've talked yourself out of did you look at the digits on that check and think there ain't no way that's legit will you respond to the loving grace of God that's all over this place right now and just if you have a paper Bible bring that if you got a digital Bible bring your phone would you just come out of your Pew and come out

of your place and come and pack your way in around here today and just let the Lord know I'm bringing some promises I'm cashing some checks today the kingdom Bank is open would you make your way forward and say I want them I want them can you have a Jabez moment in this house right now recognizing I'm not alone I'm not an individual on my own I am part of a grand Kingdom with amazing Promises of God and I'm I'm here to cash in and get claim and declare what's gone before me um I don't

need me come on raise your awareness in this house right now poor people more aware more of God come on open your mind and your spirit right now come on elders grab a hold of God you remember the promises you've been in the services you've been in the prayer meetings you've heard them you know they're there they're alive and well his promises don't change they are Everlasting they remains come on husbands and wives claim they claim profess the promises of God grab hold he's ready to say so be it he's ready to cash check he's

ready to return he's ready to prove himself he's already declared it the same God he's already communicated and come on live in the fullness of his promise to his people if you're not done yet today I believe you're working I believe I believe you're working praise this will be the truth he's not already done so and you're comfortable doing so would you slip a hand beside someone beside you friend or family fellow disciple and would you just right now begin to declare the promises of God and fellow Believers all over this house come on would

you just begin to be led by the spirit not just for yourself but for somebody else be directed of God's anointing not just for you and yours but for others in the house of God and the people of God come on begin to speak God's promises as a spirit of the Lord directs you up as a spirit of the lord enlightens your mind he'll tell you what to pray he'll declare some promises through you allow that anointing and that Spirit Direction right now to pray God's power God's anointing God's specific Direction in their lives move

O Lord release Lord your Clarity in men and women throughout this house release oh God spiritual definition and specifics oh God come all people of God make some declarations right now make some proclamations right now speak into the future speak into Kingdom Futures speak into people's forward days thank you now let's go foreign through the reasons today is here today thank God you made a way you're praying continue on I just felt a special direction today to claim the promises for those unsaved loved ones those you've been praying for prodigals that you've been praying for

if that's you today if you've got some in mind the Lord's directing you I wonder you just lift your voice with me right now and let's pray and believe that God is going to do as he said and the last days saith God I'll pour out of my spirit on All Flesh oh Jesus and we're not excluded from that those unsaved loved ones are not excluded from that those neighbors those others in our vicinity oh we stand on that promise today we're just cashing that check today Lord and you're able to do it that you

are going to do it and you're going to bring him home Gordon ah then we're going to be there we're going to see them restored oh would you lift your voice right now in faith we're believing we're believing oh God it's not just another promise store it's not a bounce check today we're standing on that promise oh we agree together we agree to tether oh God oh in the name of Jesus God's moving throughout this place we thank the Lord before we conclude this service I like us as a church thank you to all of

our guests you can join with us to claim the promises that God has given to our elders in the previous generations maybe you know of some that God has spoken at APC we're going to claim them together would you lift your hands and voices with me right now and let's say it together Lord we claim them every promise of God they're still good those promises that you gave in 1935 and 45 and 55 to Elders to men and women of God ah to our parents and grandparents they're still good we're walking in those promises we're

standing on those promises oh Jesus we're standing on every last one of them we're going to see him fulfilled we're going to see him realize if you believe it I wonder if you just turn that prayer into a praise right now an expectation what God's gonna we're already seeing them realized here oh thank you Jesus thank God