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Okay, fellas, if you will allow, I'm ready to get going. Let's pray, and we're going to dive into God's word. Um, thank you for being here today. And uh let's get after it. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you so much for your love. Thank you for just a chance, just to fellowship. Thank you for the food. Thank you for those that prepared it. Lord, thank you that we can come together, we can open your word, we can be challenged by it, but we can also be loved by it, and we can um just see your grace and mercy in it. And Lord, today as we do dive in, just uh just like always, help your word make us different today because of what you say. Lord, bless our time together. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Hey, uh, it's funny, and in um we're we're going through the Bible recap, and people are like, Well, I don't want to read that book. Well, that's not necessarily, it's kind of the breakdown, but I just want you to know when we say the Bible recap, it's a breakdown of what scripture we read this day, and every bit of it is scripture. Today I read four Psalms, and uh just taking us through, it's all about reading God's Word, and so our challenge has been whatever we teach during this time, it's during what we've read. So hopefully you've read that we can encourage and do it together. I want to challenge you this. If you're not up to date, you can start tomorrow and catch right back up with just where we're at, because we're about to get into the life of David, and it's it's a it's a it's crazy. It's crazy. But I will tell you this in the process of getting ready for this, the Lord has been doing in my life, uh I don't even know how to describe it. About five months ago, I uh an email came in and said there's there's a guy that was wanting some counseling, marriage counseling. He's about an hour away, he didn't know where to go, and he just thought First Baptist Church Fort Smith, which no one's here to take it. So the secretary comes in and says, Would you like to take that? And I was like, No. She looked at me like, what do you mean? I was like, Well, I don't know who the guy is. I'm not a counselor, I haven't been to school for counseling. Nowadays you got to be careful what you tell people. And so I was like, no. Well, then we find out he knows whatever, and so I said, Well, I'll tell you what, I'll be gentle, I'll talk to him. Not knowing any of the story, we're so we're meeting at, you know, at 4:30 on this particular day, and um, I'm waiting, I'm a little nervous, I don't know who the guy is, and all of a sudden I get a phone call. Hey, this guy is here at the front to see you with his wife. I'm like, well, hold on, that wasn't in the agreement, you know, and so uh I go down, I see him, they come back to my office, and we're set in the office, and I just want I just want you to know as I looked at both of those people in my office, I could feel anger, I could feel hurt, and as they talked, they would not even look at each other. It came to a point, I wasn't even listening to them. All I could do was pray to the Lord because I had no answers. I had nothing to give them. I told them, I said, hey guys, you need to be in God's word. They didn't want to hear, I mean, they knew that, but they were in such a deep, dark spot. Okay. About a week later, I get a phone call from a guy that I know here at the church, and he says, Hey, I have a friend that's going through marital problems. Will you talk to him? I'm like, Well, I didn't do too good on the first couple. I've met with him since. Things are getting better. I've recommended a uh a counselor, and I think when they saw the price of the counselor, they liked me a little better just because I was free. So I don't know if that's good, bad. So my trap, I mean, I'm struggling. And this guy comes, comes in, he sits in my office. His wife's been having an affair with him for 14 years, and he just found out what do I do? I mean, I'm just, he's hurting. And then two weeks ago, a guy comes into my office, and his uh, or a lady comes into my office, and her adult kids have really hurt her. I mean, these are three different instances of people coming in that were Christians that were just hurting. Have you ever been there? You know, today it's it's funny how today we're gonna talk about Jabez. This is in 1 Chronicles 4, but check this out. Jabez name means sorrow maker. I don't know about you, but I don't know if that's a very good name. And we're gonna read more about him in a second, but have you ever just been to that point too? You're so low that it's not just affecting you, it's affecting everyone around you. And you're looking like, what do I do to get out of this? And so I as we look in in um 1 Chronicles, we're gonna read the passage of scripture, but before we read the passage of the scripture, I want to, I'm just gonna do a quick summary because I can't read all these names. But here's what 1 Chronicles looks like Adam and Seth and Enoch, and it talks about family tree. And then it keeps going. I'm skipping over Abraham's son, Isaac, and Ishmael, and it's just listing names. It says, these are their family records, and it just starts naming everybody. Okay, that's chapter one. Chapter two. These are Israel's sons, Reuben, Simon. It's just a family, I mean, it's just name after name after name, going all the way back to Adam. Then there's a point in here it talks about David's sons. And so it's name after name after name, just lineage of all the things. And then look here what it does in um 1 Chronicles 4. Verse 1 says, Judah's son, Perez, Hezron, Kermai, Her, and I'm messing these up, I get it. Shobi, and it talks about all their sons, but then it gets to 1 Chronicles 4, and it stops the lineage, and it talks about a man. And it explains the man. We're gonna read in a second. But soon as it's 9 and 10, but listen to what 11 says. Chelbred, the brother of Shishesh, father of, it goes right back to it. Why in the middle of all this lineage of people do we see this? Okay, right before this, right after it's talking about a family treat, but it stops right here and it says this. Read this with me. In 1 Chronicles 4, 9, it starts here. Jabez was more honored than his brothers. His mother's name, his mother named him Jabez and said, I gave birth to him in pain. Jabez called out to the God of Israel, if only you would bless me and extend my border, let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will not experience pain. And God granted his request. And then it goes right back to the lineage. Why in the world? Sometimes you think, what? God, that don't even that doesn't even make any sense. But all of a sudden, in talking about father, father, father, father, kid, kid, and then this just pops in there. And then it even said the first line. Jabez was more honored than his brothers. But don't you like this? Then it says, His mother named him Jabez because she gave birth in pain. From the very beginning, what was he causing? Pain. And he saw that. And at that point, as he's going through life, here's his prayer. And we see in his prayer these things. I think the first thing we see is in Jabez' prayer, he prayed for God's blessing. When was the last time you just prayed for God's blessing? I mean, honestly, when you got up and said, Lord, I don't know where else to go, can you bless me today? When was the last time you prayed a blessing over someone else? And we see right here, Jabez called out to God of Israel and said, If only you would bless me. You know, that blessing can go a lot of different ways. I mean, he just, God, I have struggled so much, I need something from you. Can you just bless me? Then we see the second pause, second. Jabez prayed for an expansion of territory. Then we see it right here. Lord, will you bless me and extend my borders? Now, if we're not careful, we can think, oh man, he's asking for things. But extend my borders in the idea of Lord, make me what you want me to be, because listen, God wants us to what? Be successful. And listen, I'm not saying success in like I have a lot of things, but success in the idea of look what I've grown in in the Lord. He he's praying to extend my borders, but think about this. As my borders extend, who gets the glory? Who gets the honor? This isn't about make me great. And here's the crazy thing is, and we're gonna go the next thing is when we think about Job, what do we think about? All the things Job had, but everyone knew that Job had what he had because God had what? Blessed him. So I don't think this prayer is not, Lord, make me have a lot of property. But it's like, can you make me greater tomorrow so that I can tell more people about you? I heard a testimony one time. I was listening to the radio, I wish I would have saved this. This was years ago when I was in high school. I heard a guy, he was he was uh he was in the um, he was trying to make it with the Oakland Athletics, and you know how a lot of times they get in uh minor league baseball and they get stuck. They just can't get out of it. And he'd been in minor league basketball baseball, he's trying to make it to the pros, and he was mad at the Lord because the Lord's like, he was a Christian, he would go speak at places, and it just wasn't going anywhere. And one night he was sitting there, he was he was his pastor was preaching, he was challenged, and he said, Lord, I will give up baseball, I will do whatever you want me to do, but please use me for your glory, for your kingdom, so that I can make a difference for you. The next day, all of a sudden his shoulders started hurting. He's like, Man, that's odd. Goes to the doctor, ends up having cancer, can't play baseball anymore, but guess what? From the moment he had cancer, he could not speak at all the engagements that the Lord put in his way because everyone wanted to talk to him. See the difference? It was he grew in a way you wouldn't have thought he grew, but his territory, his border grew because why? Because he was being used by the Lord. And I think this is the prayer that we should have. Lord, I don't want to sit here and go backwards. I want to go forward so you can use me. Okay, and then we see the third part of the prayer. He says, Jabez prayed for the presence of God's hand. Why? One, wouldn't it be nice that the Lord's hand guides me through the day? I mean, the picture of him guiding me. But also in the meaning of I if we're if the Lord's guiding us, do people notice who's guiding us? If we get to the point of allowing God's hand to guide us, listen to this, guys. People will know who's guiding us. When I was in uh college, I played baseball, and the guys, uh uh, it was just a drink fest on the weekends. It just, it was. I really didn't hang out with them because I knew that. I knew myself, I knew everything, so I just needed to stay away from it. But it's funny, one time it was a mess up, and so they were having a hangout, and uh I go to the party. And all of a sudden I go to the party, everyone starts leaving. And I'm like, you know, and so the next day at practice, they said, please don't ever come back to the party because we can't drink in front of you. You know what I mean? And again, I don't say that because of proud or whatever, but but one of them even said this, it felt like Jesus was at the party, you know, and again, that I'm not saying that, but you you see what I'm saying? When we live with God's, I wish I could say I was good all the time. That was just one example. So I'm not this that's not, but when we let God's hand guide us, listen, listen. And he's actually guiding us. Listen, our story is not ours, it's his. And people are gonna look at us like what? Oh, he's a follower of Christ, and it makes a difference in the way we walk through different things, and this is the prayer he's crying out to, or for, I mean, and then the last part of it, J. Perez prayed for protection from harm. From protection. And then we see here it says, and keep me from harm, and then he goes back to his name. So that I will not experience pain. I think in the middle of that, if you keep me from protection or protecting me from harm, listen to what? I'm not causing pain like my name is to everyone else. Don't we see in scripture all the time, it's it's crazy how the name defines them. You can read about a character and then all of a sudden you find out what his name meant, and you're like, wow, that just hit it right on the nose. And I think this this prayer is basically what I think he's basically in this prayer saying, what? Can I change my identity? Can I change what my name means? Because why? I want to be a blessing to people and not pain, but I love the idea of, he says, in his whole prayer, I don't think it was necessarily everything about him. You know, how many times do we just pray? And it's pray for this, pray for this, pray for this, pray for this, you know, all the requests. So-and-so sick, so-and-so. When's the last time we just prayed that Lord, today, as I go through, use me for you, bless me, not that I have the Lamborghini parked in the driveway, but bless me with the things that I have so that I can bring you honor and glory. And then we see the very last part of the verse. And God granted his request. Now, think about that just for a second. If we're not careful, we read that and say, He got everything he wanted. Do you think that he ever suffered again once it says God granted his request? I'm sure he did. But in the process of his suffering, what does he do? He remembers all the good things the Lord did, and can he get through that suffering time? And so I want to challenge you today, as we think this through and we're praying. When was the last time you did not pray and ask the Lord for all these things, but you prayed and thanked the Lord for all the things that He has done. You know how you get through suffering? You go back and think of all the good things God did in your life and got you through that, and then what's it do? It gives me the confidence, the strength that I know to do what? Remember to do what? To get through this. So as I was praying with that two I was counseling, I went back to the point of tell me when you were saved. Are you a true believer? Tell me about what drew you to your wife or drew you to your husband. You know why? Because we have to go back and look at the things that the Lord has done good for us, because if we're not careful, we can get tunnel vision, and all we're doing is thinking about all the bad things that's happening to us. And I like to say I'm ending right there, but I'm not ending because the Lord challenged me more through this, and I want to challenge you because the Lord is really, I'm one, I pray for a lot of things, and the Lord showed me in this verse that I need to be praying a blessing over myself, not so I get what I want, but the idea of if the Lord's blessing me, guess what I'm doing? I'm blessing others. But here's the deal I want to challenge with that. If we're not careful, all the blessings the Lord does in our life just becomes our news. And what I mean by that, if we're not careful, all the blessings the Lord does for Matt Passmore becomes Matt Passmore's and no one else knows about it. I don't think that's why we get blessed. And what do I mean by that? Look what look with me real quick in Psalms. This is just uh Asaph is just a song leader. And he sings this, he sings this, he was a song leader for King David, and he sings this. My people hear my teaching, listen to my words in my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable, I will utter hidden things, things from old. We all can relate to that, right? Things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from the dis from their descendants. We will tell them next I'm sorry. We will tell them the next generation, the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and his wonders he has done. He decreed statues for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children. Now, if we're not careful, we can say this. All these things that the Lord has done for us, we keep to ourselves. And I think the Lord has challenged us, or he wants us, to tell these to others. And here's what I mean by that. My uh grandfather was a great man. He poured out, he taught me how to build, he taught me, I worked with him over summers. You know, the first time, the only time I heard his testimony was at his funeral. Is it his testimony? I don't know. Someone else shared it. All that stuff he taught me, not once. He went to church, not once did he tell me his testimony. How easy would it have been for him to tell me his testimony? I remember growing up in my life, the things that my dad did, there were many times that struggle happened in our house. And I remember we would sit around as a family and hold hands and pray for that situation. It's funny, when I was growing up, I wanted a bicycle. What do we do nowadays if our kid wants a bicycle? We get our credit card out, we go buy a bicycle. You know what I'm saying? We didn't have the money then. So I'll never forget when I was growing up, my dad said, Hey, why don't you pray for a bike? I didn't know any better. I started every night. I prayed for a bike. Every morning at breakfast, I prayed for a bike. For two weeks or so, I prayed for a bike. One day, we came home from uh whatever we were doing, and there was a red bike sitting in the driveway. And we get out of the car, and I'm like, Dad, what is that? He goes, It's a bike. You know what the first word out of my mouth was? God gave me a bike. Not because I was extra spiritual, but about why? My dad guided me to what? Pray for a bike. And still to this day, I'll just tell you this: the bike was not a very good bike as I got older. But here's my point. My dad had enough. Hey, but think about it. When we're down and out and we're spending our time actually, we don't have anywhere, and we're praying for God to deliver us. How many times does he deliver us and then we don't tell anybody about it? So I want to challenge you today. Spend here's another thing. What about your neighbor that you've lived next to for 45 years? 50 years, when's he gonna hear your testimony? Or the things that the Lord's doing in your life? So I just as we are praying. For different blessings and the Lord's blesses. I think the Lord blesses us one so that we can be blessed, but two, so that we can what? Bless others with what the Lord's. This isn't a brag. This is I'm down and out. Look what the Lord did, and I'm sharing it with you. Growing up, I wanted to play professional baseball. That's all I cared about. I mean, I played it, I played everything, but that I there was a day, guess what? I'd take my cleats off and put them in a bag and never put them back on. It was a hard day. I'd spent my whole life for it. It was a hard day. I wouldn't regret it, I don't regret any of it, but my point is this all of a sudden the Lord blessed me with a son. We get wrapped up in the sports. And I have to keep telling myself, I don't care if he plays sports at all. I want, listen, I want, when he gets older, to say, my dad was not the best baseball coach or the encourager or whatever. I want him to say this: my dad pointed me to Jesus. So I have this Bible right here. This Bible here, inside of it, this is my great-great-grandmother's Bible. Okay? Inside here, my great-great-aunt gave me this Bible, and I don't know why she didn't give it to my dad, but she gave it to me. But inside this Bible is this little notebook she made. On here it says 1922 and 1923, my Sunday school boys. That was my grandma, the teacher. On here, it has boys that are in her Sunday school class. And who it says who she prayed for. On the back couple pages, it says saved. Oh no, here. It says saved and list some boys, and then on this page right here, on the back right here, it says this. In 1926, God answered my prayer for these boys. The second one is Paige Passmore. That was my great-grandfather. So my great-great-grandmother, through prayer and her legacy of teaching Sunday school, actually her son-in-law got saved. He was in second grade at the time. And so I get this, hadn't thought anything of it, but I'm thinking about the idea of praying and then sharing. As I've done research on my great-great-grandmother Baker, and the legacy she left, I know her testimony because she shared it and it's out there. I have her legacy and just all the things in her Bible that I can share who she was and the things she did. One funny story was she was so dedicated to the Lord, and my great-great-grandfather was a farmer. She refused to let him harvest or do anything on Sunday because it was the Lord's day, and he was the only one in that area that could not do it on Sunday. But my point of this is she was willing to share the good things, the bad things, and everyone knew that what? She was a follower. I want to challenge you to this today. Grandkids, neighbors, whoever it is that you're affecting, who can you share your story to? Who can you share the blessings the Lord's done in your life? Because the Lord doesn't just bless you for you to put it in your file and pray for something else. Okay? So today as we close, hey, think about the things the Lord has blessed you with. Use those to tell others. Because here's the deal. Why did God want them to tell the Israelites and pass it down from generation to generation? By the way, they couldn't write it down at the time. They told it, they shared it. Because why? The more they told it, what would happen? They would want to follow God. You know, that's the reason isn't. Anyway, I'm gonna show I'm gonna quit, I'm rambling now, but I want you to I want you to know this. I do want to challenge you. You have a story, the Lord has blessed you. Who have you told about? Who have you told about what the Lord's done in your life? Let's pray. Dear God, thank you so much. Um just in my own life, Lord, I ask you just to help me, as I just share all the great things you've done in my life with people, Lord, I ask you to help us be guys that pass down generation to generation of things you've done in our life. And Lord, I ask you today just to uh be with our families. Lord, just as we live in a time that it's just, it's just the devil's trying to take credit for a whole lot. And Lord, help us point back to you. Thank you again for your many blessings. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Hey, thanks, guys. Have a great day. Um grateful that you're here.