Speaker 1: Look at your neighbor.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor you sang well In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: Now look at your neighbor again.
Speaker 1: Tell them you're looking good, better than yesterday, and tomorrow you will shine In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: Meta, meta, sparkle, sparkle, shiny, shiny, wear shades.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, a big hand to the Lord.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: Please be seated.
Speaker 1: We just want to acknowledge one or two people.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: A friend of ours is around.
Speaker 1: We just want to acknowledge him Robert Geringe, husband to Abishag.
Speaker 1: This family hosted us for lunch when we went to South Africa with a team from Pakee.
Speaker 1: Robert is here for a week-long training.
Speaker 1: After he travels to Adisware, he is stationed and Robert does a lot of things out there at Adisware.
Speaker 1: Robert yes, robert, good to see you.
Speaker 1: Bless you, sana.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: We enjoyed our time at your house when you were away.
Speaker 1: We hope the next time we come you'll be there.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: We also want to celebrate our victory.
Speaker 1: Recently we've been having quite a number of graduations, and so we want to celebrate with one family that has that happening to them, and we want to especially acknowledge one Frida.
Speaker 1: Frida is here and her family.
Speaker 1: Please stand, okay.
Speaker 1: Yes, we thank God for them.
Speaker 1: Now, those two ladies are twins.
Speaker 1: Thank you, jesus, not Frida and the other one.
Speaker 1: I'm saying those two ladies are twins.
Speaker 1: One of them is called Zoe, who is Zoe?
Speaker 1: Okay, so there's Zoe and also there's Xenia.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine those names Zoe Xenia Is Xenia or Xenia Xenia, and so please be seated.
Speaker 1: We want to acknowledge especially the two twins.
Speaker 1: We want to start with Zoe.
Speaker 1: Zoe is Xenia's twin, born five minutes apart.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine that?
Speaker 1: My sister is older than me?
Speaker 1: Five minutes Is the older one.
Speaker 1: She came specifically to attend her sister's graduation and will be returning to Australia on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Her professors, providers, graciously gave her time off to attend this graduation.
Speaker 1: And, xenia, we congratulate you.
Speaker 1: God bless you big time.
Speaker 1: Yes, now, knowing the amazing potential our children have, not just potential, the ability.
Speaker 1: Zoe has a Bachelor of Science with two double majors biological sciences and human biology, from Edith Cohen University, path, australia.
Speaker 1: Amen, that's Zoe.
Speaker 1: In between Bachelors and Masters, zoe published a paper on now, listen to this.
Speaker 1: She published a paper on auto how do you say that?
Speaker 1: Auto-phagy, and I don't know what that is auto-phagy modulation in amyloid diseases.
Speaker 1: Zoe has a Masters in biomedical biotechnology from the University of Adelaide, in Adelaide, australia, in May 2023, and her mother attended the graduation.
Speaker 1: She published authored a paper on development of an optimized semi-automated SF for measurement of DNA damage by detection of both chromosomal and DNA double strand breaks as her research project.
Speaker 1: It is only V2C, zoe, zoe, stand, come on, let's appreciate her.
Speaker 1: Sasa, where did you think of all those things from DNA chromosomal?
Speaker 1: It is really my pleasure and honor to proudly let you know that, at 26.
Speaker 1: She is now pursuing a PhD Doctorate in Health and Medical Science with a focus on Alzheimer's disease.
Speaker 1: These are our children, amen.
Speaker 1: Zania, on the other hand, has a diploma in Hotel Management from Boerma International Hospitality College.
Speaker 1: In December 2022, she completed her Bachelor of Science Hotel Management with two majors Management and Planning from the United States International University and graduated on Saturday, the 14th.
Speaker 1: Zania has done her internships at Norfolk, sankara, the Boerma Hotel and Ibees Hotel.
Speaker 1: Now, zania me, I fit in your dockets.
Speaker 1: Those are the places I understand, one as if you were.
Speaker 1: But we really want to just appreciate you, appreciate your family, and just the joy of being able to come.
Speaker 1: Just ask your neighbor to talk of any any.
Speaker 1: What does your Now?
Speaker 1: I know some parents who are here graduated in Kalongo Management.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know what that is, but we really want to thank God for you and we ask God's blessing upon the two of you.
Speaker 1: May the Lord enlarge your territory.
Speaker 1: May your parents be proud of you, even as you grow and make a difference and an impact.
Speaker 1: These are world changers.
Speaker 1: Amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1: So I just needed to acknowledge them, and we really are proud of all your children.
Speaker 1: They are those who now who are sitting for class 8.
Speaker 1: They are those sitting for 4 and 4.
Speaker 1: And we want to pray that indeed they will grow and find their space on the global platform.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, now shall we stand as we read the scriptures for today and just appreciating what God is up to.
Speaker 1: Today, we want to talk about the strategy that I started talking about, the strategy of believing, and I want to pick it up today, as I call it the power of believing.
Speaker 1: Our scripture comes from Romans, chapter 4, verse 13.
Speaker 1: I read it was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Speaker 1: For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promises are, on the promises, worthless, because the law brings wrath and where there is no law, there is no transgression.
Speaker 1: Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham.
Speaker 1: He's the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations.
Speaker 1: He's our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
Speaker 1: Against all hope, abraham, in hope, believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, so shall your offspring be.
Speaker 1: Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
Speaker 1: Yet he did not waver.
Speaker 1: Yet he did not waver Through unbelief, because sometimes facts around you that do not seem to change cause you to have unbelief.
Speaker 1: Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
Speaker 1: This is why it was credited to him as righteousness.
Speaker 1: May God credit your faith as righteousness.
Speaker 1: May the Lord bless us.
Speaker 1: We may be seated in God's house.
Speaker 1: Talking about Australia, I know one of our members, eric I don't know if Eric, and the book is here.
Speaker 1: Eric is right here, eric.
Speaker 1: His wife has gotten a visa to go to Australia.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, amen.
Speaker 1: There's one time the whole family was here and we prayed for them, we believed and we thank God that she's relocating to Australia and Eric is relocating to Kino.
Speaker 1: No, that is a.
Speaker 1: He'll be following them later in January.
Speaker 1: So we thank God for those opportunities.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: So tell your neighbor I'm a world changer.
Speaker 1: I'm going places In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you this this all begins in your ability to believe.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: Faith and believing are two different things.
Speaker 1: That is why sometimes somebody can say I have so much faith, but they have nothing to show concerning the faith they have, because they misunderstand the difference between faith and believing.
Speaker 1: And that's what we spent some time last Sunday trying to emphasize, because I want to see a church not only of men and women of faith, but men and women who believe, because the number of people we have who don't believe they believe us, but they don't believe there are very many, and no wonder the challenges come their way and follow them and they really struggle.
Speaker 1: I want to tell you this like I said last Sunday, faith is like Lake Victoria.
Speaker 1: Believing is like River Nile, and only River Nile can reach the Mediterranean Sea.
Speaker 1: Lake Victoria has never reached the Mediterranean Sea, but out of Lake Victoria, a river has been flowing through the years, going that direction.
Speaker 1: I say today may your believing begin to flow, may your believing begin to do what To flow in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And today I'll be talking about the power of believing in the life of Abraham, in the life of Isaac and in the life of Jacob.
Speaker 1: Last week, after the message later in the week, one of our members sent me a testimony about believing, which I want to read for you right now, and it really helped me to see that, indeed, believing is an active thing that you do, and so this lady shares her testimony and she says this I trust this finds you well.
Speaker 1: Pastor Ambrose, please receive this mounting of your picture as a warm gift from my heart.
Speaker 1: So she gave me a mounting of a picture that had been taken, a gift that symbolizes a girl that dared to believe years ago and God answered her.
Speaker 1: You see, I am an avid believer, in fact, so strongly I believe and I always say God answers me, no matter how long or short a period, but he does and gives me the best, absolutely best, absolute best.
Speaker 1: This girl dared to believe and the preaching on Sunday summed up for me what I am to send as a note for this gift.
Speaker 1: Back in the year 2000,.
Speaker 1: When we first came to Parklands Baptist, I sat on the second row, lower level, facing the podium, and in that sermon, when you preached, I knew and I told God Lord, when my time comes to get married, this pastor will officiate my wedding.
Speaker 1: I was just a teenager who had just entered her form too.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine Many moons she says Tina just entered her form too.
Speaker 1: I believed this so much you could not convince me otherwise.
Speaker 1: Many moons pass and time came for me to get married.
Speaker 1: I walked to the reception to fill the forms and with all believing I noted down in the three options of pastors, as I believed, because when you come to you want to get married and you want a pastor to officiate.
Speaker 1: There are three options Either pastor Ambrose will do it, or pastor Simon, or pastor or pastor Kimani and the other pastors who have the official ability to be able to do officiate your wedding.
Speaker 1: And so you make those options.
Speaker 1: Now, this is what she did.
Speaker 1: First option pastor Ambrose.
Speaker 1: Second option pastor Ambrose.
Speaker 1: Third option pastor Ambrose.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was so sure it was him the secretary so warmly told me, dear, we do not feel it like that, that you must feel at least three different pastors With confidence.
Speaker 1: I told her, but it's pastor Ambrose I want.
Speaker 1: Well, I agreed, and I changed the other two options as follows Number one, pastor Ambrose.
Speaker 1: Number two, pastor Simon.
Speaker 1: Number three, pastor Nick.
Speaker 1: Pastor Nick, of course, has transitioned to an Nairobi chapel.
Speaker 1: Fast forward.
Speaker 1: My husband, then to be, and I were needed in the office, and by who?
Speaker 1: You are truly, pastor Ambrose, when we go to the reception.
Speaker 1: I inquired on an availability of Parsi officiatingers and your guess is as good as mine All the pastors that day were fully booked except pastor Ambrose.
Speaker 1: That meant he was officiating a wedding, and in April that year my dream came to be.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is this I'm just a girl who dared to believe, and a belief so unweavering that it came true.
Speaker 1: What a testimony I'm saying.
Speaker 1: What a testimony I'm saying what a testimony from two.
Speaker 1: And she caught this vision and she said this pastor will get will officiate my wedding.
Speaker 1: At that particular time my hair was very black, so right now do not make such things, because I may not have hair when I'm officiating your wedding, but thank God, my hair is always growing and I thank God for that.
Speaker 1: The other day I went to visit Osho Primary School to do a prayer day for the class 8.
Speaker 1: And I saw a demonstration of believing that I wanted to share with you, To us, the end of my message to those class 8 students.
Speaker 1: I said I pulled out a thousand shilling note and I said there is somebody sitting here who believes that this one thousand shilling note belongs to them.
Speaker 1: They looked at me and they looked at me and then I repeated there is somebody sitting here who believes that this one thousand shilling note is theirs.
Speaker 1: A boy, about four, four rows out there, lifted his hands and waved and then I repeated there is somebody out here who believes that this one thousand shilling belongs to them?
Speaker 1: Suddenly, about three girls on my left jumped up and started running to where I was.
Speaker 1: But there was a boy on the first row who jumped up, picked the one thousand shilling and put it in his pocket.
Speaker 1: And that just told me there's a difference between faith and believing, because that boy who did his hands like this had faith that that one thousand shilling is theirs.
Speaker 1: But there is somebody who believed and is the boy who did what, who rose from his seat, came to where I was, picked it, possessed it.
Speaker 1: I felt for the boy who had waved his hands, so I called him, I said come here.
Speaker 1: So when he came to the podium where I was, I pulled out another one thousand shillings and I gave it to him and I told him you're preparing to do class eight exams.
Speaker 1: There is something you believe that God is going to give you Now.
Speaker 1: Don't just believe it.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and take it.
Speaker 1: Many of us sit there with faith waving now, after after, after, when he went and sat down, I asked the students, the peoples, how many of you would like me to try again?
Speaker 1: They all shouted yes, try again.
Speaker 1: Now the reason why I did not want to try it here there would be a very serious stampede, because sitting here are not just people who are faith, but they are serious believers here, amen.
Speaker 1: So let me tell you this opportunities will come and go and you have all the faith, but nobody steps forward to take that which is theirs.
Speaker 1: The Bible says but to those who received them, who believed in his name, he gave them the power to become the children of God.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the people come to church and they have faith that one day they'll get saved.
Speaker 1: They come to church, they sing and they say I know, one day I'll get saved, I'll go to heaven.
Speaker 1: But that's all they do.
Speaker 1: They never step forward and actually stop one of the pastors and says I want to believe, I want to get saved right now.
Speaker 1: They don't take their salvation, they don't take their healing, they don't take their breakthrough.
Speaker 1: I want to pray that in this church there'll be men and women taking what God has for them, because talking about these three people Abraham Isaac and Jacob we are talking about the power to possess, the power to enlarge and the power to provoke, and I'll be sharing that in a minute.
Speaker 1: But let me just give a definition about believing.
Speaker 1: Believing is the hand that takes that which faith offers.
Speaker 1: So let me say that again Believing is the hand that does what, that takes that which faith offers.
Speaker 1: But, pasachiniti, let me say this why is there such a challenge that people don't exercise their believing.
Speaker 1: Last week I said three hindrances.
Speaker 1: One of them is being afraid, fear.
Speaker 1: The second one is doubt and the third one is delay.
Speaker 1: These are the things that fight with your believing.
Speaker 1: You really want to believe, but you're scared.
Speaker 1: You want to believe but you are in doubt.
Speaker 1: You want to believe but there's been so much delay you've stopped believing.
Speaker 1: But later I found out there are other things that are hindrances.
Speaker 1: For example, we have this sense of guilt.
Speaker 1: People have a sense of guilt so they feel, ah, I'm a sinner, I did things wrong, I don't think I deserve.
Speaker 1: There's also the sense of unworthiness and you feel you are unworthy.
Speaker 1: So maybe those boys and girls when that one thousand shilling went up, maybe there are some who sat there saying I don't think I'm worthy.
Speaker 1: If, if Ambrose had lifted up 200, bob, I would have taken it, but a thousand shillings I'm not worthy.
Speaker 1: A sense of unworthiness.
Speaker 1: Third is the sense of shame, you know.
Speaker 1: And fourth is the sense of disappointment.
Speaker 1: You've been disappointed for so long.
Speaker 1: You have stopped believing.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you this your day is shifting, your day is changing.
Speaker 1: Last week I said you need to train your ability to believe and as you train your ability to believe, god is going to do amazing things.
Speaker 1: So let me say this about those three things.
Speaker 1: Number one, power to possess.
Speaker 1: The Bible says in Genesis about Abraham God had already promised him that he was going to be blessed and is going to become a blessing to the nations.
Speaker 1: God already said that.
Speaker 1: Let me, and let me say this believing depends on what God has promised, and so find out in the Bible.
Speaker 1: What has God promised about finances?
Speaker 1: Read it and believe it.
Speaker 1: What has God promised about healing?
Speaker 1: And begin to believe it.
Speaker 1: What has God promised about salvation?
Speaker 1: What has God promised about restoration, about forgiveness, because faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.
Speaker 1: So Abraham received a promise.
Speaker 1: So let me read that in Genesis, chapter 12, very quickly Genesis 12, verse 1, and then I'll go to Genesis 15.
Speaker 1: Genesis 12, verse 1 says this he has an encounter with God and God is speaking to him.
Speaker 1: So Genesis 12, verse 1, if I can get that on the screen please.
Speaker 1: Genesis 12, verse 1.
Speaker 1: The Lord had said to Abraham go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you.
Speaker 1: And then God says verse 2.
Speaker 1: I will make you into a great nation.
Speaker 1: God is saying this I'll make you into a great nation and I will bless you.
Speaker 1: Then he says I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.
Speaker 1: And then he says I will bless those who bless you, and whoever castes you, I will cast, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
Speaker 1: So Abraham went as the Lord had told him, and Lord went with him.
Speaker 1: So there was a promise and Abraham began to engage with that promise.
Speaker 1: Take it to verse 15, verse 1.
Speaker 1: He has been waiting for this child and this child is not showing up.
Speaker 1: So listen to what he has as they talk with God.
Speaker 1: After this, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision, and then God said this Do not be afraid.
Speaker 1: Now let me ask you for God to tell you do not be afraid what was actually happening.
Speaker 1: Abraham was afraid, number one, time was going and there was no child, and so he started having options.
Speaker 1: Now look at this.
Speaker 1: Do not be afraid, abraham.
Speaker 1: I am your shield, your very great reward.
Speaker 1: I want to tell somebody God is the source of all that you need.
Speaker 1: He is your great reward.
Speaker 1: Now listen to Abraham.
Speaker 1: The Bible says.
Speaker 1: But Abraham said sovereign Lord, what can you give me, since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is the Liaison of Damascus.
Speaker 1: Let me say this sometimes, when you begin to get afraid, you begin to look for other options.
Speaker 1: You begin to say if God is not coming, I can look for somebody else.
Speaker 1: But let me tell you this God is not a man that he should lie.
Speaker 1: What he said he will do, he will make it happen.
Speaker 1: By the way, for Abraham it was really a challenge, because when Abraham was called, he was how old?
Speaker 1: He was 75.
Speaker 1: By the time he's beginning to wrestle with some of these things, he's in his 90s, and that is a challenge because time has gone.
Speaker 1: And then Abraham said you have given me no children.
Speaker 1: So he's beginning to doubt God.
Speaker 1: You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir.
Speaker 1: Then the word of the Lord came to him this man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.
Speaker 1: He took him outside and said look up at the sky and count the stars, if indeed you can count them.
Speaker 1: Then he said to him so shall your offspring be.
Speaker 1: And then I like this verse because it is at that time.
Speaker 1: The Bible says Abraham believed the Lord and he was credited, and he credited it to him as what Righteousness it is believing that causes you to be credited in your count.
Speaker 1: But the truth, patrick, abraham being as human as you and I, even in our believing and sometimes God crediting us with righteousness, sometimes in our human way, we begin to look for other things.
Speaker 1: That is chapter fifteen.
Speaker 1: Now, in chapter sixteen, one of the closest people to Abraham and she comes with an option, chapter sixteen, verse one.
Speaker 1: The Bible says now, sarai, abraham's wife, had born him no children, but she had an Egyptian slave named Haga.
Speaker 1: So she said to Abraham now, where, where, where do you think she was saying these things?
Speaker 1: In a restaurant, in church, midnight, what we call pillow talk.
Speaker 1: I want to tell some of these men, the men that are sitting around you, sometimes you have slept, you have had a long day, you're sleeping, you have.
Speaker 1: You go to bed knocked out midnight and elbow hits you, bang, bang, bang, and suddenly you hear we need, I'm telling you, we need to be like going to China, we need to talk, because at that particular time the man does not know midnight what this lady wants to say.
Speaker 1: And so Sarah, at that midnight point, tells this gentleman.
Speaker 1: So she said to Abraham the Lord has kept me from having children.
Speaker 1: Go sleep with my slave.
Speaker 1: Perhaps I can build a family through her and Abraham without blinking.
Speaker 1: For me, I think maybe Abraham had been eyeing this lady but he had not received an opportunity.
Speaker 1: Now the opportunity is to be able to get through this opportunity.
Speaker 1: Now the opportunity is brought to him straight from the wife and he took it.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you this when you're on this path of believing, people will come with opportunities and options and sometimes they will derail you, and I want you to know that God has been derailed the nation for generation to generation.
Speaker 1: But I want to tell you this God is a gracious person.
Speaker 1: He still was going to do for Abraham what he had said.
Speaker 1: And so, chapter 17, he goes back and reiterates the covenant.
Speaker 1: Then, chapter 18, he personally visits Abraham and Sarah.
Speaker 1: This is what the Bible says.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that God, even sometimes, when you're derailed in your believing God, will come and strengthen you.
Speaker 1: The Bible says the Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre, while he was sitting at the entrance to the tent in the heat of the day, abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby.
Speaker 1: When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
Speaker 1: He said if I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass yourself and by.
Speaker 1: You may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.
Speaker 1: Let me get you something to eat so you can be refreshed and then go on your way, now that you have come to your servant.
Speaker 1: Very well, they said.
Speaker 1: They answered do as you say.
Speaker 1: So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, quick.
Speaker 1: He said get three seers of finest flour and knead it and bake it.
Speaker 1: Bake some bread.
Speaker 1: Then he ran to the heart and selected a choice, turned the calf and said you know, all that took some hours, three, four, five hours.
Speaker 1: And they're sitting there.
Speaker 1: And I like this because what Abraham did?
Speaker 1: He began to host the presence of God.
Speaker 1: And I want to say this when you have failed, and sometimes you've been derailed in your believing, just get some moment to begin to host the presence of God.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, of course.
Speaker 1: The Bible says much later.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you a story the doctor, where is your wife Sarah?
Speaker 1: They asked him.
Speaker 1: They're in the tent, he said.
Speaker 1: Then one of them said I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah, your wife, will have a son.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 1: Now Sarah was listening.
Speaker 1: At the entrance of the room she was going.
Speaker 1: Abraham and Sarah were already very old.
Speaker 1: Abraham is what age?
Speaker 1: A hundred, sarah is who?
Speaker 1: Comma ninety plus.
Speaker 1: Abraham and Sarah were already very old and Sarah was past the age of child bearing.
Speaker 1: So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought after I am worn out, I like that.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go and repair.
Speaker 1: Let me tell somebody here, it doesn't matter how far it has gone.
Speaker 1: God is still saying I'll come through for you, I'll come through for you.
Speaker 1: I'm saying I will come through for you.
Speaker 1: This is the God we serve.
Speaker 1: Don't sign God out of your equation.
Speaker 1: God is going to come through, and for sure I will not read the word that Sarah conceived and reinvigorate.
Speaker 1: Abraham had power to possess that which God promised him to possess, but very quickly the power to enlarge.
Speaker 1: You see, god wants your believing to cause you to enlarge.
Speaker 1: The Bible says this about Isaac in a time of famine, in a time of economical challenge.
Speaker 1: The Bible says this in Genesis 26, that during that time God said don't go to Egypt, stay here, I will bless you.
Speaker 1: In Genesis 12, the Bible says Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year he reaped a hundredfold because the Lord blessed him.
Speaker 1: And the Bible says the man became rich and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.
Speaker 1: He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
Speaker 1: I'm here to tell you this that your believing has power to enlarge you.
Speaker 1: The Bible says about Jabez in 1 Chronicles, chapter 4, verse 9.
Speaker 1: This is a man we have heard of many times and the Bible says this about this man 1 Chronicles, chapter 9, chapter 4, verse 9 and 10.
Speaker 1: Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.
Speaker 1: His mother had named him Jabez, saying I gave birth to him in pain.
Speaker 1: And Jabez cried out to the God of Israel oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory, let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.
Speaker 1: And then that statement, that's a statement of power.
Speaker 1: The Bible says and God granted his request.
Speaker 1: You know, pastor Reagan, god did not sit there and say Quiney, who are you that I should bless you?
Speaker 1: Who are you that I should enlarge you?
Speaker 1: What credentials are you bringing to me?
Speaker 1: Let me tell you this there was only one credential he brought he believed.
Speaker 1: He believed and God granted his request.
Speaker 1: Let me read this verse.
Speaker 1: Somebody will be blessed with this verse and this is God speaking to you.
Speaker 1: It says this in Isaiah 54.
Speaker 1: Let me read verse two and three.
Speaker 1: And somebody needs just to pick this verse for them, because in these economical challenges, in these days of stress taxes here, taxes there this is happening.
Speaker 1: Listen to this verse.
Speaker 1: God is speaking and he's saying enlarge the place of your tent, lengthen your tent curtains wide.
Speaker 1: Do not hold back.
Speaker 1: Lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes, for you will spread out to the right and the left.
Speaker 1: Your descendants will possess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
Speaker 1: You shall be enlarged.
Speaker 1: There is a lady who desired so much to get married and one day she took a step of believing and she went and bought a suit, a shirt and a tie and put it on her hanger in her room and she said Father, fill the suit with a man.
Speaker 1: Now, I'm not asking you to do that, but this guy just took a step of faith, believing, and sometimes there are things we do that demonstrate the kind of faith we have.
Speaker 1: That's what now takes me now to the third part.
Speaker 1: Believing gives you power to possess, gives you power to enlarge, but it also gives you power to provoke.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor, provoke.
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes Christians deal with God so casually that God sometimes wonders do they really want what they want?
Speaker 1: They come and ask God for a big thing, but they ask it so casually.
Speaker 1: They ask as if I'm just asking for the sake of asking, and sometimes they don't know that you can actually provoke God and God will rise and meet your need.
Speaker 1: Hello, look at your neighbor.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor, you better provoke God, not to become angry but to bless you.
Speaker 1: Now, jacob, he was one of those guys I've talked about Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
Speaker 1: Jacob had gotten his blessings in many ways, different ways and, by the way, jacob and Esau were twins Hallelujah, they were what Twins?
Speaker 1: But God had told the mother the younger, the older one will serve the younger one.
Speaker 1: In other words, by the time Jacob was born, the mother may have talked to Jacob and said by the way, god told me that Esau will serve you.
Speaker 1: In other words, the blessing of the older one will come to the younger.
Speaker 1: He knew that, but he began to find, including the mother, find a way of getting the blessing in their own way, of course.
Speaker 1: The rest of the story is this Abraham, jacob got the blessing.
Speaker 1: Esau got so upset Jacob had to run from home and he was away 20 years, 20 years.
Speaker 1: In that 20th year God said rise up, go home.
Speaker 1: And now he got scared because Esau was going to kill him.
Speaker 1: But he decided to go home.
Speaker 1: On his way home, genesis, chapter 32, verse 22,.
Speaker 1: This is where I want you to get.
Speaker 1: He began to reach a state of believing.
Speaker 1: The Bible says to provoke God.
Speaker 1: That night, jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his 11 sons and crossed the foot of the Jabok.
Speaker 1: After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.
Speaker 1: So Jacob was left alone.
Speaker 1: And there are times in life, as you struggle with your believing, you have to remain alone with God.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: No options, no way to turn, nothing to do, just you and God.
Speaker 1: The Bible says so.
Speaker 1: Jacob left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak, when the man saw that he could not overpower him.
Speaker 1: He touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Speaker 1: Then the man said let me go, for it is daybreak.
Speaker 1: But Jacob replied and this is the statement of believing I will not let you go unless you bless me.
Speaker 1: In other words, jacob provoked this man.
Speaker 1: He says I'm holding on to you, you're not going, and that's when this man said.
Speaker 1: The man asked him what is your name?
Speaker 1: Jacob?
Speaker 1: He answered.
Speaker 1: Then the man said your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and you have overcome.
Speaker 1: May there be a man and a woman like that who will hold on to God and provoke him and say this thing that I'm looking for is big, but I want to provoke my believing into your life that you may bless me.
Speaker 1: I'm going to hold on to you until you make this thing happen.
Speaker 1: Of course you know the story of this lady who brought the daughter to the Lord.
Speaker 1: You heard about that story and Jesus says he didn't listen to her.
Speaker 1: Matthew 15,.
Speaker 1: Let me read that as I close Matthew 15, 21,.
Speaker 1: The Bible says this about this lady who provoked Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Matthew 15,.
Speaker 1: He says.
Speaker 1: Leaving that place, jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon, a Canaanite woman.
Speaker 1: Now, this is not a Jewish woman, canaanite.
Speaker 1: She's not even in the faith she doesn't.
Speaker 1: It's like saying she's not a member of the Baptist, she's not even a Christian, she's of another faith.
Speaker 1: But this lady comes to Jesus.
Speaker 1: A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him crying out Lord, son of David, have mercy on me.
Speaker 1: My daughter is demon possessed and suffering terribly.
Speaker 1: Jesus did not answer her.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine you come to Jesus and Jesus is not answering you?
Speaker 1: Jesus did not answer our word.
Speaker 1: So his disciples came to him and urged him send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.
Speaker 1: He answered I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.
Speaker 1: This lady does not have a share in this blessing.
Speaker 1: The woman came and knelt before him.
Speaker 1: Lord, help me, she said.
Speaker 1: He replied.
Speaker 1: It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs.
Speaker 1: Now, sometimes when somebody calls your dog, it is bad.
Speaker 1: When they say it in Kikuyu, it is even worse.
Speaker 1: Hello.
Speaker 1: So Jesus is saying yes, yes, it is Lord, she said.
Speaker 1: And then she said she pushed, provoked him.
Speaker 1: Even the dogs go back.
Speaker 1: Yes, it is Lord.
Speaker 1: She said even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
Speaker 1: When Jesus said to her woman you have great faith, your request is granted, and her daughter was healed at that moment, come on, let's give God a big hand.
Speaker 1: She provoked Men, the capacity of Jesus, and Jesus granted her request.
Speaker 1: There are some people sitting here, maybe you're watching online.
Speaker 1: There are some things you believed that God would do for you so much, but then one day, because he delayed, you changed your mind and you completely went reverse.
Speaker 1: For some of us, we completely stopped believing in God, especially in those desperate moments.
Speaker 1: For example, you have a child in ICU and you're believing and saying God heal, god heal, god heal.
Speaker 1: Then that child dies and the next option is this God doesn't exist, god doesn't care.
Speaker 1: Forget even these things of going to church, forget anything to do the religion.
Speaker 1: God has let me down.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you this this God is still there and is still saying you can believe again, you can believe again, you can believe again.
Speaker 1: I remember one time I was called at Marta Hospital.
Speaker 1: One of our members was.
Speaker 1: I was was there and she had just given birth to a stillborn, and so when I went there, she was screaming, she was crying, she was facing the wall and she was just saying, passambra's, god has let me down.
Speaker 1: God has let me down.
Speaker 1: God doesn't exist.
Speaker 1: Why did God do this to me?
Speaker 1: And let me say this sometimes, when you're in those moments, say whatever you need to say it helps.
Speaker 1: Just say it.
Speaker 1: God will, will receive it.
Speaker 1: He will not rebuke you because she was going through that very difficult moment.
Speaker 1: Now imagine telling that person at that moment don't worry, the Lord will give you more children.
Speaker 1: You know that that lady can kill you.
Speaker 1: And then those things that we say sometimes during funerals, things like this the Lord loved this one more than anything and took them to heaven.
Speaker 1: You know those are.
Speaker 1: Those statements are bad statements.
Speaker 1: Or the Lord was looking for a flower to pick and then he picked this one.
Speaker 1: Then you tell them this one was not a flower, he should have gone to another garden anyway.
Speaker 1: This lady needed comfort and so sometimes you don't have to say anything, you just keep quiet and you just stay there.
Speaker 1: And because you know they're going through the valley.
Speaker 1: But later I prayed for her and just say Lord, comfort her, strengthen her and just continue to do in her life what you purpose to do.
Speaker 1: Before she was even born, I left.
Speaker 1: But you know something couple of months, but maybe it was a year she conceived and she gave, became pregnant.
Speaker 1: She gave birth to twins.
Speaker 1: Those twins have been the blessing of her life.
Speaker 1: So let me tell you this don't say things like they say in job.
Speaker 1: God has given, god has taken away.
Speaker 1: God does not take anything.
Speaker 1: God gives and gives again.
Speaker 1: What God gives, he later receives.
Speaker 1: So it doesn't take.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.
Speaker 1: But Jesus came that you may have life.
Speaker 1: And so if somewhere in this season of your life you have lost faith, you have stopped believing.
Speaker 1: This pastor is telling you great things are coming ahead of you.
Speaker 1: I'm saying great things are coming ahead of you.
Speaker 1: I'm saying great things are coming ahead of you, whether it is in your job situation, whether it is in your career, whether it is in your education, whatever God is still saying.
Speaker 1: I know the plans I have for you, says the law.
Speaker 1: Plans for welfare are not for evil, to give you a future, and I hope so.
Speaker 1: Believe again, believe again.
Speaker 1: Believing is the hand that takes that which faith has offered.
Speaker 1: Shall we start as we are standing on our feet.
Speaker 1: Please remember this card is still available the I believe card and at the bookshop, get it to somebody who is doing exams as a success card, or get it for yourself and begin to train yourself to believe.
Speaker 1: Let us pray, father, we thank you so much for loving us, for caring about us and, dear Lord, we have celebrated much in this service.
Speaker 1: We celebrated the twins, zoe and Xenia.
Speaker 1: We say thank you, celebrated those who visited with us today, but also we want to celebrate your word, because faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.
Speaker 1: And this afternoon, as we stand here, standing on the platform of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, these were men of faith, but they communicated their believing, and so I pray that we will take the example that this week, not only shall we have faith, this week we shall believe, we shall release our believing by acting, by taking action, by doing something.
Speaker 1: My God, I say thank you because I know, as we do, that we shall attract miracles from the east, from the west, from the north and from the south, because you said in your word with if you believe, nothing shall be impossible for you.
Speaker 1: So, lord, there's somebody here who many things seem impossible, many things seem to have passed them by.
Speaker 1: But, lord, this afternoon they have now taken that step to believe and I know for sure next Sunday they'll come back with a testimony.
Speaker 1: Lord, I bless your people and I pray that this word will take root in their heart, in their spirit.
Speaker 1: Those who are mourning will mourn.
Speaker 1: Knowing that you comfort those who mourn, that you make a way where there seems to be no way.
Speaker 1: Those who have hit roadblocks and sometimes they don't know how to go around them that God, you're a God who is able to break through that wall and give them their answer.
Speaker 1: Dear Lord, maybe there are some who came, like that canna night woman.
Speaker 1: They called on your name but you did not answer them.
Speaker 1: And then you told them that you don't give bread to the dogs.
Speaker 1: But they provoked.
Speaker 1: She provoked your capacity and she said I don't need the bread up there on the table, even the crumbs, I can have them.
Speaker 1: Lord, teach us how to provoke you, by how we act and how we believe your word.
Speaker 1: So this afternoon I bless your people and I know they're coming back with a testimony.
Speaker 1: I know somebody has learned something, somebody has received something in their spirit and indeed, if you have believed what I've said, you better say I receive it, I take it, it is my portion and there's nothing the devil can do about it.
Speaker 1: Now, give God a big hand.
Speaker 1: Amen, come on, come on somebody, celebrate him.
Speaker 1: Celebrate him.
Speaker 1: He's a good God.
Speaker 1: Give your neighbor a high five and tell them this week I'm believing in Jesus name, and send them coming back with a testimony Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: By the way, there are many testimonies I keep receiving and if you have a testimony, just write to me.
Speaker 1: Just say, hey, this is what the Lord has done.
Speaker 1: The reason why we don't bring you up here is because when you stand here and you see so many people looking at you, you even forget your name.
Speaker 1: But write, write to us.
Speaker 1: Let us know what God is doing in your life.
Speaker 1: Are you glad you came?
Speaker 1: I'm glad I came.
Speaker 1: Look at your neighbor.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor, surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.
Speaker 1: And there's nothing the devil can do about it.
Speaker 1: Now, before you say that, grace, please be seated.
Speaker 1: You shall be given an instruction on how to live while you are seated, look at your neighbor closely.
Speaker 1: You may need them later.
Speaker 1: And so, as you look at them, say to them and now, with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore.
Speaker 1: Amen, shalom.