Speaker 1: Our scripture for the day comes from the book of Jabez, chapter 4, verses 9 to 10.
Speaker 1: And we shall also be reading Luke, chapter 2, and verse 52.
Speaker 1: We are going to read 9.
Speaker 1: Jabez was more vulnerable than his brothers.
Speaker 1: His mother had named him Jabez, saying I gave birth to him in pain.
Speaker 1: Jabez cried to God of Israel O, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory, let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I'll be free from pain.
Speaker 1: And God granted his request.
Speaker 1: We are also going to read Luke, chapter 2 and verse 52.
Speaker 1: And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor before God and man.
Speaker 1: Let's pray, dear God, we want to thank you for your word this afternoon.
Speaker 1: We want to thank you for giving us an opportunity to come to your house and Lord, even as you go to a time of listening to your word, we pray, almighty God, that you may be with us and you may speak to each one of us.
Speaker 1: We want to thank you, we want to bless you In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1: We can have our seats In this month of August as a church.
Speaker 1: We have our seats In this month of August as a church.
Speaker 1: We have a theme, and our theme is Impartation of Uncommon Increase, spirit-led Enlargement.
Speaker 1: That's why you saw even our theme for VBS it was Uncommon Increase.
Speaker 1: And in this story we meet a gentleman.
Speaker 1: His name is Jabez Some of the children who are here they explained it so well, I don't even have to keep repeating it the way Jabez was born and when he was born, his mother gave him a name named Jabez, and that name means pain, sorrow and pain, a lot of pain, and his mother experience is the one that made Jabez to be called that name.
Speaker 1: And as Jabez grew, he was not comfortable with that name and even his situation of pain.
Speaker 1: He reached a point and he went to God.
Speaker 1: He went to God and he could feel no, I don't want to continue in this way.
Speaker 1: He went to God and we see that when he went to God, god granted him his desire.
Speaker 1: And when you listen to this story of Jabez, it's just a reminder that your past does not define your future.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: Our past does not define our future.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what is happening now to us.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter where we have come from.
Speaker 1: All of us have a background.
Speaker 1: We've come from somewhere.
Speaker 1: Some of us we could be the situation that we are in now.
Speaker 1: I want you to know that whatever you are going through does not define your future.
Speaker 1: You can still run to God and God will change things, the way he changed in the time of Jabez.
Speaker 1: Our sermon for today is how do we position ourselves for uncommon increase?
Speaker 1: Because for us to be able to do what Jabez did, we must position ourselves.
Speaker 1: So point number one is we must desire and ask God boldly.
Speaker 1: We must have a desire and not be comfortable where we are.
Speaker 1: Jabez could have continued, especially that name he was given by the mother.
Speaker 1: He could have chosen to continue living that way and no one could even have cared.
Speaker 1: But he chose no, I don't want to continue like this, I need a change.
Speaker 1: So we must desire and ask God boldly.
Speaker 1: Number two we also need to depend on God's hand and protection.
Speaker 1: Depend on God's hand and protection.
Speaker 1: Number three is trust God for favor and enlargement.
Speaker 1: Trust God for favor and enlargement.
Speaker 1: And number four how do we also help our children to also grow, to increase in those ways, in the four ways that Jesus grew?
Speaker 1: So point number one is desire and ask boldly.
Speaker 1: Let your hand, jabba said, let your hand be upon me.
Speaker 1: He prayed a bold prayer and we see that prayer moved God.
Speaker 1: He could have chosen to remain there, but he decided I cannot settle here.
Speaker 1: He did not want to remain in the common, he needed something uncommon, he desired a change that circumstance that he was in.
Speaker 1: He could have decided let me stay here, but he chose no, he made a radical decision and he ran to God.
Speaker 1: He ran to God to ask for support and we see, when he was praying, he said oh, that you would bless me.
Speaker 1: Indeed, he asked God for the uncommon, not just what he needed for that, but he went ahead and he said Enlarge my territory.
Speaker 1: He said Enlarge me.
Speaker 1: And God answered and enlarged historically and even changed his name.
Speaker 1: And maybe you are there, you are thinking I am in this situation for so long.
Speaker 1: This situation is a family situation, or it could be a job position, situation that has happened in your job's place, in your business, and you feel, even if I pray, nothing has changed.
Speaker 1: I have been on this for so long, even if sometimes we can, some of us, even say call something my burden.
Speaker 1: Do you know this burden?
Speaker 1: I've been having it for so long.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, my dear brother and sister, this afternoon, even you.
Speaker 1: You can call on God.
Speaker 1: You can go to God with boldness and by faith, like the way Jabez went, and he'll come through for you.
Speaker 1: In the book of James, chapter 4, verse 2b, the Bible reminds us you do not have because you do not ask.
Speaker 1: Is there something that you want to ask God this afternoon?
Speaker 1: Is there something that you've been saying God?
Speaker 1: I need a change here.
Speaker 1: God is ready to hear and when he answers you, you need to also enlarge the place of your tent.
Speaker 1: Isaiah 54 and verse 2 to 3, media, if you can put it for us enlarge the place of your tent.
Speaker 1: Stretch your tent cuttings wide, do not hold back.
Speaker 1: Lengthen tent curtains wide.
Speaker 1: Do not hold back.
Speaker 1: Lengthen your cords.
Speaker 1: Let us not hold back because God is already here.
Speaker 1: He's ready to help us, change us.
Speaker 1: For those of us we need a change, god is ready to change us.
Speaker 1: For those of us, we need expansion.
Speaker 1: Whichever circumference that we are in, god is ready to come through.
Speaker 1: Let us come before God for our own self and behalf of our family and ask God for much more, because he's willing to give us.
Speaker 1: Let us refuse to remain where we are.
Speaker 1: Let us refuse to be controlled by our circumstances, our family, our history or even whatever that is in your mind.
Speaker 1: Come to God with a specific request.
Speaker 1: Just like the way he was able to answer Jabez, he can also answer you.
Speaker 1: Number two is depend on God's hand and protection.
Speaker 1: We see that Jabez said keep me from evil so that I'll not cause pain, that your hand will be with me.
Speaker 1: That statement there means God's presence, god's guidance and power.
Speaker 1: As we continue asking for this uncommon increase, let's also ask for God's strength, god's power and God's guidance in everything.
Speaker 1: Because for God's strength, god's power and God's guidance in everything, because without God's power, there is nothing we can get.
Speaker 1: Without God's power, we cannot get the uncommon increase that we are talking about.
Speaker 1: We need to hold on to God, we need to tap from God and when we tap from God, god is going to increase us and God is going to bless us.
Speaker 1: And God is going to bless us.
Speaker 1: He's going to bless our country.
Speaker 1: There are so many things we need to keep asking for our country and there's a lot of talks that we say and it comes to our country.
Speaker 1: But we can take charge and say God, come through for our country.
Speaker 1: We've had enough, we've gone through a lot of pain.
Speaker 1: God, we're inviting you to come and take charge, even on behalf of our nation, kenya.
Speaker 1: So let us involve God, even as we ask him for increase, because unless the Lord gives us that increase, our efforts are in vain.
Speaker 1: The book of Psalms 127, verse 1, the Bible says unless the Lord builds, our efforts are in vain.
Speaker 1: As we go through this season of uncommon increase, it's not because of anything that we do, it's not because of what we have, but it's by the power of God.
Speaker 1: So, even as we pray, I keep asking and inviting God, even in our circumstances, and ask him to protect us and that nothing will harm us.
Speaker 1: May God help us to rely on him, even as we pray for protection and even how to manage the blessing, because God is going to answer us.
Speaker 1: Let's also ask God to help us to manage the increase that you are going to give us and manage it very well.
Speaker 1: Number three is trusting God for favor and enlargement.
Speaker 1: We see that Jabez said enlarge my territory.
Speaker 1: That means he needed expansion in influence, resources and everything, and even the impact, even for you and I.
Speaker 1: This day, I'm sure we all need to have enlarged territory in our jobs, in our resources, in our opportunities that comes on our way, and even the impact that we are to have among the others.
Speaker 1: God changed the history of Jabez and changed him from pain to honor.
Speaker 1: God can change you from your circumstances to a blessing.
Speaker 1: I want you to tell your neighbor God can change you.
Speaker 1: God can change you from your circumstances to a blessing.
Speaker 1: I want you to tell your neighbor God can change you.
Speaker 1: God can change your family.
Speaker 1: God can change your circumstance.
Speaker 1: Yes, god is able to change our circumstances.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter how big it is or how bad it is or how long has it been there.
Speaker 1: That's what comes first.
Speaker 1: Put it before God, commit it to God.
Speaker 1: Before you go home today, tell God God, I want a change, just the way you are able to change Jabez.
Speaker 1: I also need a change Because God is willing to come and help us and to change.
Speaker 1: You heard what the children saying there.
Speaker 1: They talked about giving Jesus the little that we have and Jesus multiplying it.
Speaker 1: Whatever little you have, and even if you have little faith, built it before God, because Hebrews, chapter 11 and verse 6.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God.
Speaker 1: Anyone comes to him Must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Speaker 1: If you go before God believing that he is there, he is going to answer you.
Speaker 1: He rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Speaker 1: Brethren, let's keep seeking the Lord.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what we are going through, it doesn't matter what has happened or what your family members say.
Speaker 1: Go to God by faith and ask him and he shall answer you.
Speaker 1: Go to God, remain faithful, obey.
Speaker 1: We also learned in the week.
Speaker 1: We also learned increase through obedience.
Speaker 1: God requires us to obey and even as we obey, he entrusts with the increase that he is going to give us.
Speaker 1: We shall also use that increase to glorify his name.
Speaker 1: And number four is how do we also help our children to enjoy this increase?
Speaker 1: Because uncommon increase is for us and our children.
Speaker 1: When you look at the life of Jesus in Luke 2.52, which you are able to read before, is that we see that Jesus grew in four ways.
Speaker 1: He grew in wisdom, in stature, he had favor before God and favor before men.
Speaker 1: And I believe that those are the prayers we also pray for ourselves.
Speaker 1: I also pray for myself in those four areas that I'll have wisdom, I'll grow in stature, I'll have favor before God and even before men.
Speaker 1: And when we talk about wisdom, we are praying that we can be able to have the knowledge of God and that when we have that knowledge of God, we shall use it to honor him, that we shall help each other.
Speaker 1: For those of us who are here, that we shall be men and women who read the Bible, and for those who are here who are parents, you shall be deliberate in ensuring that your children are reading the scriptures.
Speaker 1: You saw the way children were here, were standing here, our duty as children of Parklands Baptist Church.
Speaker 1: We ensure that the children are taught the word of God.
Speaker 1: We are deliberate about that.
Speaker 1: And if you have a child here, please, every Sunday, ask them what was their memory verse.
Speaker 1: Every Sunday we have a Bible story story and we have a memory verse From the one-year-old.
Speaker 1: The one-year-old, the goodness with one year and two is the parents are there.
Speaker 1: So you do not.
Speaker 1: Even if the child does not understand, the parents can be able to help them, continue helping the child know it.
Speaker 1: But from three-year-old to class eight, they all have a Bible lesson and a memory verse.
Speaker 1: So if you're a parent in Sunday school, kindly make sure that every Sunday you follow up to know what did my son learn today, what was a Bible lesson and what was a memory verse?
Speaker 1: So we pray that we shall be able to grow in wisdom, that we shall have the wisdom In our workplaces as we lead our families.
Speaker 1: In James 1.5.
Speaker 1: If anyone lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all, without finding fault, and to be given to you.
Speaker 1: So if you are here and you are saying God, I need wisdom, pray, because he has promised us that if we ask, we just need to ask.
Speaker 1: This is a verse with a promise.
Speaker 1: You know there's a promise in this verse that if you only ask for wisdom, god will give you.
Speaker 1: So let us pray that you shall have wisdom and, for those of us who are parenting, that we shall also ask God to give us the wisdom to be able to parent our children in the right path.
Speaker 1: Number two he grew in stature.
Speaker 1: That is a physical growth.
Speaker 1: We pray that we shall help our children to grow well, to grow healthy, to be active, to be people who know how to interact with one another.
Speaker 1: We shall be able to help them to interact with one another.
Speaker 1: We shall be able to help them to do the right thing, that we help our children to know that they are not themselves.
Speaker 1: You know, the book of 1 Corinthians 6, 19-20,.
Speaker 1: The word of God reminds us that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: We are supposed to honor God with our bodies because we do not belong to ourselves.
Speaker 1: We are not our own.
Speaker 1: We have to be careful what comes through our eyes.
Speaker 1: We also have to be careful what goes through our ears.
Speaker 1: And if you are there as a parent, my prayer is that you shall be careful.
Speaker 1: What are my children listening to?
Speaker 1: What are my children watching?
Speaker 1: We are in the age of internet, electronics, so we have to make a deliberate, make a decision as a family and say in this home this is what we are going to be doing.
Speaker 1: Yes, we can have screen time, but we must be deliberate.
Speaker 1: How long are we going to have it?
Speaker 1: There are so many things happening in the TV now and internet and these children.
Speaker 1: I can tell you they know a lot.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they keep asking me questions and I tell them that one is where.
Speaker 1: Then they tell me Pastor, susan, bring your phone with Google.
Speaker 1: That just tells you how much they know.
Speaker 1: So what are we doing to help them also be able to take care of what they see and what they hear?
Speaker 1: In the first service I say that I know many children love me, but there are two things that make them not to love me, and one is that they are not to have a phone.
Speaker 1: One of my standards is that children are not supposed to have a phone until they are not to have a phone.
Speaker 1: My strong one of my standards the children are not supposed to have a phone until they are 18.
Speaker 1: And I can tell you I am not popular.
Speaker 1: And the other one is they are supposed to eat every meal that is served.
Speaker 1: Parents, thank you for clapping.
Speaker 1: You are encouraging me.
Speaker 1: At least, boys and girls, you can hear your mommies and daddies are happy.
Speaker 1: The children tell me I am mean, but I tell them yes, you are not supposed to have a phone, and if you are to have a phone, you have to have a phone so that one can call.
Speaker 1: And it's because I know what those judges can do to their mind.
Speaker 1: We can teach our children to read a book.
Speaker 1: There are so many storybooks that we can buy our children.
Speaker 1: When you go to the bookshop there are places for storybooks and for the children in Nairobi I keep encouraging them to actually buy a Kiswahili storybook, because most of the children in Nairobi struggle with Kiswahili for school, for talking they are excellent, but when it comes to schoolwork they struggle.
Speaker 1: So I say, buy a Kiswahili storybook for your child.
Speaker 1: Let your child eat healthy.
Speaker 1: There's no harm if a child eats maize.
Speaker 1: There's no harm if a child eats doma for breakfast.
Speaker 1: They don't have to eat sausage every day.
Speaker 1: I also tell the children they also have to eat ugari and skuma.
Speaker 1: You know many of them.
Speaker 1: They don't like ugari and skuma.
Speaker 1: You know many of them.
Speaker 1: They don't like ugali and skuma.
Speaker 1: So they have to eat ugali and skuma.
Speaker 1: They have to eat githeri and nyoyo mudhokoi.
Speaker 1: They have to eat whatever is offered.
Speaker 1: Let us not teach our children to just eat junk, because junk is not helping them.
Speaker 1: Let us teach our children also to eat healthy.
Speaker 1: I hope Pastor Edith is not here, you.
Speaker 1: She also says I don't eat healthy.
Speaker 1: But we have to make sure our children eat healthy.
Speaker 1: She says I don't eat healthy because I love ice cream, I love sweet things.
Speaker 1: So, according to Pastor Eddie, you know how she eats many green things.
Speaker 1: Me.
Speaker 1: I like the sweet thing, but I also say so.
Speaker 1: I tell the children that is a cheating day.
Speaker 1: So in eating, there is something called cheating day.
Speaker 1: Parent.
Speaker 1: The cheating day you can buy the crisps, you can buy pizza, but the other days that are not cheating day, let them eat a healthy meal, amen.
Speaker 1: So let us take care of the bodies of our children and always remind them that their body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Let us be careful what comes in through the mouth, what they eat, through their ears and even through their eyes, because there are many things that are happening.
Speaker 1: I can see some people laughing at me.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's normal to no, we have many songs, even for the eyes and the ears.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm mixing them.
Speaker 1: And the other point is that we also need to have favor with God.
Speaker 1: We need to grow spiritually.
Speaker 1: And how do we grow spiritually?
Speaker 1: We grow spiritually by reading the Word of God, talking to God in prayer and obeying the word of God.
Speaker 1: As we continue to enjoy this uncommon increase, let us desire to know this God and know him, Know him, do what he says, because he has given us this word of God he has given us that we can be able to put it into practice.
Speaker 1: And when we get to do that, we also help our children to know how to talk to God.
Speaker 1: One of the prayers I pray for the children is that they shall be able to have the faith of their own.
Speaker 1: They shall be able to interact with God by themselves.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's good when they come from a Christian family, when they go to a Christian school, but what about them when they are stuck somewhere alone?
Speaker 1: Can they be able to call on God?
Speaker 1: My prayer is that these children and all the children that pass through that gate, the children that I interact with, they, shall have a personal relationship with God.
Speaker 1: They shall know, yes, I can run to my parent to pray for me, I can run to a pastor, but also me I can actually go to God and tell God all my needs.
Speaker 1: They can also be able to take the Bible and read for themselves.
Speaker 1: I always pray that for all the children who come to our church and even our school because also in our school we have a weekly memory verse every child that steps on that gate of Parklands Baptist School and Church that even when they grow up the things we have taught them, the word of God that we have taught them.
Speaker 1: They shall continue to live by it, it doesn't matter where they go.
Speaker 1: That is a prayer that I have prayed for many years.
Speaker 1: For those who know, I've been a Sunday school teacher for long in this church.
Speaker 1: This is my 31 year.
Speaker 1: That's a prayer I pray every year.
Speaker 1: I pray that prayer every year.
Speaker 1: Of course.
Speaker 1: Now most of my students now they are old, they are also parents.
Speaker 1: So I'm also praying for their children to continue in that journey of having favor with God.
Speaker 1: So I pray that we shall be able to teach our children how to interact with the Word of God, how to present themselves to God because he will hear them.
Speaker 1: And, lastly, let's pray that our children shall be able to have favor with men.
Speaker 1: And what do I mean by that?
Speaker 1: That our children can be able to have social skills to create friendship, to be able to keep peace with one another.
Speaker 1: Even when they are hurt by someone, they are able to have a conversation and even end the conversation very well.
Speaker 1: I pray that the children will be able to know to share the little they have, One of the challenges we usually have, especially in the kindergarten, when they come.
Speaker 1: The preschool is sharing.
Speaker 1: You know, in the Sunday school for preschool there are toys.
Speaker 1: There's a time that they're supposed to play toys.
Speaker 1: It is still part of Sunday school and in that time some of them just want to take a toy and keep it for themselves.
Speaker 1: And those are the opportunities we have to teach our children how to share.
Speaker 1: I pray that we shall also help our children to know that you do not have to get everything that you need, and sometimes you might want something and it is not there and nothing is going to happen.
Speaker 1: Even that you need, and sometimes you might want something and it is not there and nothing is going to happen.
Speaker 1: Even if you cry, you can still get it next year or next another day, not everything that you have to to have it today.
Speaker 1: And to the parent also, just to encourage you, it's okay to tell your children no.
Speaker 1: I know sometimes we say if I tell them no, they are going to cry.
Speaker 1: It's okay, let them cry, but you are teaching them to be patient.
Speaker 1: You are teaching them to know that you are not going to get everything that you need when they tell you they need a dress.
Speaker 1: They cannot cry for a dress.
Speaker 1: They will cry for a game.
Speaker 1: They cry for ice cream.
Speaker 1: When you're in the supermarket, they cry for chocolate.
Speaker 1: You can tell them no, and if you want to be helped how to help your children, say no.
Speaker 1: Come to the parenting classes and we shall be able to help you and show you how you can actually be able to allow your child to cry and learn something from that crying.
Speaker 1: So again, also for parents, let us show our children by example, because how we treat them or how we treat other people before them is the same way they shall also treat other people.
Speaker 1: The Word of God is very clear.
Speaker 1: Maybe you can give me Proverbs, chapter 6, 22.
Speaker 1: Proverbs 6.22.
Speaker 1: Is it 22.6?
Speaker 1: , I wonder?
Speaker 1: The one that says train up a child in the way they should go.
Speaker 1: Okay, the Word of God says train up a child in the way they should go and even when they grow up, they shall not depart from it.
Speaker 1: Let us stand with that word, that when we train our children in the ways of the Lord, they shall go back, and even if they grow and they change because maybe some of you are there and you have children who are young adults or teenagers and all the things that you taught when they were small.
Speaker 1: This seems like they are not happening now.
Speaker 1: The young people have decided to go their way.
Speaker 1: They are doing their own things.
Speaker 1: I want to encourage that kind of a parent and tell you you did your part.
Speaker 1: Keep on praying, do not give up.
Speaker 1: This word is true when the word says that you start them in the way they should go and even when they grow they shall not turn from it.
Speaker 1: Yes, they might meander I always tell parents once in a while our children meander.
Speaker 1: But I want you to know whatever word that you stood with, god will bring them back Amen.
Speaker 1: So, as I invite Reverend Simon to come, my call to action to all of us is pray like Jabez.
Speaker 1: Ask boldly for the blessing and the expansion for God's presence and protection.
Speaker 1: Refuse to let the past define your future.
Speaker 1: Trust that God will still answer your prayers today and even in the days to come.
Speaker 1: So God bless you.