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10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
23 Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, And attend to your herds;
24 For riches are not forever, Nor does a crown endure to all generations.
23 Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, And attend to your herds;
24 For riches are not forever, Nor does a crown endure to all generations.
3 A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, But a fool’s wrath is heavier than both of them.
4 Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, But who is able to stand before jealousy?
23 You will surely know the condition of your flock; your heart attends to the herds.
24 For riches are not forever, nor a crown for generation after generation.
The enemy of Jabez
The enemy of Jabez
In the year 2000, author Bruce Wilkinson released the book, the prayer of Jabez. The book was based upon which are the only two verses in the bible containing the name of Jabez. The book sold like wildfire.
Preachers were preaching about Jabez. Choirs were singing about Jabez and saints were praying like Jabez.
What intrigues me about Jabez is simply that he prayed for more without there seeming to be a catalyst for the prayer. We don’t know much about Jabez, but we know enough to see that he wasn’t afflicted into a place of prayer as the children of Israel in Egypt who the bible says “they cried unto the Lord by reason of their affliction”, he wasn’t provoked by an adversary as Hannah was by Peninah. He wasn’t reacting to tragedy or loss, as the mother who cried unto the prophet when the creditors were coming to take her sons.
We would assume that had Jabez prayers been the result of some provocation it would have been stated as it was so many other times within scripture. No…the prayer of Jabez when he asked God for more, was simply that he wasn’t willing to settle for less. He asked God to enlarge his coasts simply because he wasn’t willing to settle for the way things had been. There was some growing awareness within Jabez that God had more for him and so he prayed and the bible says that God granted him that which he requested.
My prayer tonight is that as we wave goodbye to another year and another decade, there would be a Jabez anointing that would come upon this church and upon the leadership of this church, upon the saints of this church…upon your household and your family…upon your marriage and your children…that instead of settling for less, we would ask God for more!
More territory!
More anointing!
More power!
More authority!
More Holy Ghost!
And it seems that as quickly and dramatically as the prayer of Jabez cameonto
I would to God that 2020 would be the year that you would realize that you don’t have to settle for less, its ok to ask for more.
I pray that 2020 would be the year that you get tired of stagnant coastlines and you would realize that God’s got greater territory for you to dwell in!
However,, there is an enemy to the prayers that Jabez prayed. There is a very real voice of opposition that works to silence and and stifle the prayers of Jabez. In fact I recently learned that this enemy of Jabez is not abstract or simply a feeling…but it is a very quantifiable element.
Within the world of physics, there is term relation to the second law of thermodynamics, which deals with the availability of energy. The term is entropy. A simplified explanation of this term is everything that is left to itself has a tendency to deteriorate. In a more global explanation, Entropy is the scientific explanation that the Universe is winding down. From this standpoint, physicists have declared entropy to be the greatest enemy of the universe.
It's not only one of the great enemies of the universe; it's one of the great enemies of the human spirit. A person becomes apathetic or complacent or settles for the path of least resistance in some area of life. Dreams die and hopes fade. A terrible thing happens: a person learns they can live with mediocrity.
Entropy…the enemy of Jabez sized prayers. the enemy of believing for more, the advocate of settling for less!
I don’t know if Solomon, the sage scribe of the Proverbs was aware of the second law of thermodynamics, but it is certain that he was aware of this destructive principle. Proverbs chapter 27 verse 24 clearly communicates this law that things left alone will deteriorate. Riches are not forever…The crown does not endure to all generations. Beware of entropy!
However the wisdom of Solomon doesn’t simply assure us that entropy exists, he precedes the warning of entropy with the solution for the same:
23 Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, And attend to your herds;
Proverbds 27 23
Be diligent to know the state of your flocks
Attend to your herds
I stand tonight for the final time in this year and in this decade that I will call to you as your pastor, your watchman and your under-shepherd... The final time I will do as the Bible has called me to do…to cry aloud.
A decade in which we have witnessed the wonderful works of God and the mighty hand of God upon this church, our families and our lives. I want you to look around right now and consider what we have tonight that ten years ago, we didn’t have.
Let’s start from the church standpoint. We have a wonderful building with a nursery, 4 classrooms and a youth room. We have a parking lot for parking nearly 200 vehicles. We have a sanctuary with climate control and multimedia.
Now look at our families. We have at least 4 children here tonight that at some point in this last decade, doctors declared to be an impossibility.
Some of you are hugging babies tonight that 10 years ago weren’t here. In marriages that 10 years ago, didn’t exist. Driving cars, living in homes that 10 years ago, you never would have imagined.
Now on a personal level. a decade ago, some of you were lost and on your way to hell. You work jobs that are paying you more money than you ever thought you would make. Some of you are in positions of leadership within the church.
It is here..in this place of affluence and abundance that entropy begins to creep in. It is here this place of blessing and bounty that the trend toward deteriorating sneaks in.
When we had nothing, when we knew we were lost…when we were in a building where the toilets tottered and the A/C faltered…it was easy to respond to vision. We knew then that God had more for us. We were very aware then that the potential for more existed within us.
its easy when we are
When our lives were a wreck and our families were in ruin, it was easy to convince you of your need of Jesus…When the doctors said you can’t have children, when the banker said we can’t get a loan, when our resumes didn’t qualify us for leadership…
It was easy then to convince you that there is room to grow…that there is greater potential within you and greater destiny upon your lives…
But now…we’ve got flocks in the pasture and herds in the field.
Relax pastor...
Still your voice watchman...
Take your ease Shepherd...
My cry tonight is that there are many that you don’t realize it but entropy has already begun its work. This law that deals with the availability of energy has already began eroding your faith…Your energy for the things of God has diminished
Well…i’m just older. Give me one verse that substantiates an increase of years equating to a decrease in desire.
The stamina necessary for the reaching of one soul isn’t what it used to be.
The vitality necessary for prayers that avail much and worship that results in victory isn’t the same.
Be dilligent
Well…i’m just older. Give me one verse that substantiates an increase of years equating to a decrease in desire.
If we aren’t careful the greatest danger to the soul of man, ENTROPY, accomplishes its goal and we learn that it is possible to live with mediocrity.
I believe that Solomon gives us a very simple yet affective approach that will aid us the defeat of entropy as we enter into a new year and a new decade:
Be diligent to know the state of your flocks
2. Attend to your herds
First: Be diligent to know the state of your flocks
This speaks of evaluation
But not just evaluation…An active, intentional and habitual evaluation. -BE DILIGENT
The 23rd verse coupled with the 24th verse remind us that without this intentional focus…things will not always remain the way that they are.
If you want the flock that is in the field to continue to prosper…if you want your blessings to continue to be in abundance...
you must be active, intentional and habitual in your evaluation.
Second: Attend to your herds
This speaks to letting your evaluation produce action:
but not just any action…passionate, prioritized action.
The NLT phrases that phrase this way “put your heart into caring for your herds”.
Put your heart into…make it a priority!
If the flocks and the herds become an after thought…if the flocks and the herds become a drudgery…a disdain…a bothersome task…entropy will set in!
I’m not going to talk to us much longer…but I want to destroy the spirit of entropy tonight. The spirit that works to convince us that we can live with mediocrity!
If you haven’t done it yet, I pray that when you get home tonight, you will get out a pen and some paper and you will write down some goals for 2020!
I know the arguments...
Attend
Its a waste of time
I don’t believe in resolutions
I’ve done it before and it didn’t work
Its a waste of time
my rebuttal to the declaration that establishing goals is a waste of time, is to declare that not setting goals is a waste of purpose and an abuse of potential.
I can relate with frustration.
I can understand weariness
I can understand
I want to use the two verbs that Solomon used to hopefully stir someon
In 1738, the literary giant Samuel Johnson wrote in his diary: "Oh Lord, enable me to redeem the time which I have spent in sloth."
Nineteen years later, he wrote, "Oh mighty God, enable me to shake off sloth and redeem the time misspent in idleness and sin by diligent application of the days yet remaining." He wrote some variation of this prayer every year after that.
Finally, in 1775, 38 years after his first resolution, he wrote, "When I look back upon resolution of improvement and amendments which have, year after year, been made and broken, why do I yet try and resolve again? I try because striving to improve is necessary and losing hope is criminal."
There are two areas that we need to destroy entropy:
What i must add to my life.
Those areas that I evaluate and I understand that if I don’t adjust and increase…My spiritual man will deteriorate and wear away!
Be diligent in knowing the state of your flock!
I would call our attention tonight to two verbs that I pray would grip the focus of ever child of God as we enter into this new year.
Be dilligent
If your prayer life is maintaining…attend to the herd!
Add prayer to your life!
Attend
Make it a goal to pray like you have never prayed!
if your time spent in the word is waning…Put your heart into it! Make it a matter of priority!
Add time spent in devotion…attend to the herd!
If the House of God is becoming more duty than delight…more obligation than jubilation…more “I gotta go” Than “I get to go”.
Make it a goal to fall in love with the body of Christ and with the people of God in 2020!
If you can’t recall the last time you led someone to Jesus Christ…the last time you won a soul!… Put your heart into it...
Find you someone lost…someone searching and share with them your testimony and share with them the Gospel of Jesus!
If you are withholding your gifts and just doing your minimum within the body of Christ…put your heart into it and find a way to engage your talents and abilities into the function of the church.
know the state of your flock and attend to the herd!
2. The second area that we must destroy entropy is what I must remove from my life.
I can set goals for my health and add workout regimens and running this many miles and going to the gym so many times....but if I continue to eat the way that I have the last 4 weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas…nothing is going to change! At best, I will maintain.
We add so much o
If I am going to improve…I must cut some things out of my life!
For the sake of time tonight…I don’t want to keep you here all night…so, I’m just going to say it the way that it is....Carnality is killing the church.
There is too much flesh existing within the church!
I did this on Sunday…but I want to do it again tonight…take out your phones and put it on selfie mode…that means hit the little icon until the image on the screen is your face.
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Now take a picture
The New King James Version Chapter 5
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
We cannot accomplish spiritua
Our churches are dying because the emphasis of our coming together is the image on your screen. its about me its about my needs being met. Its about the church accommodating my needs…my desires…my wants…my wishes…
Care for my family
Love my children
Accommodate my schedule
get the temperature to my liking
make the sure the sound is where I want it
Churches are dying because leaders are planning more than we are praying
brainstorming more than we are storming the gates of hell
Eventing more than I am fasting
coordinating more than meditating
Be diligent in knowing the state of the flocks...
When our planning is more than our prayer and brainstorming exceeds our fasting…entropy has set in.
Know the condition of your flocks and attend to the herd!
If this next year is going to be year of spiritual growth…this man has got to die!
I’ve got to get die to my fleshly desires.
I’m not going to call us to a church wide fast this year. I’m asking everyone that is here to be diligent to know the condition of your flocks and put your heart into the herd.
My goal for January of 2020 is to be a dead man by the end of the month.
I’m more carnal that I’d care to confess.
I’ve allowed entropy to carry me into trying to create a carnal church that could accomplish spiritual things…But its time to attend to the herd.
Most of us here have water baptism in common. It is one of the core tenants of the Apostles doctrine and New Birth Salvation.
But let us remember what baptism symbolizes…it symbolizes that THIS guy is dead!
This guy no longer exists…he was buried and the Life that I now live, i live not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
And Solomon warns...
24 For riches are not forever, Nor does a crown endure to all generations.
Don’t take it for granted
Don’t just assume that it will always be the way that it is...
But, he doesn’t end in verse 24...
25 When the hay is removed, and the tender grass shows itself, And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,
26 The lambs will provide your clothing, And the goats the price of a field;
27 You shall have enough goats’ milk for your food, For the food of your household, And the nourishment of your maidservants.
If you will take care of the flock…the flock will take care of you!
If you will attend to the herd, the herd will take care of you!
If you will put your heart into it…don’t just sit back and allow entropy to convince you that you can live with mediocrity…but put your heart into it…and you Shall have enough
Closing:
Wether or not your write down goals/resolutions…or whatever you want to call them…is up to you. But please don’t just sit back and accept mediocrity
I can’t tell you that. What i’ve come to realize is that most years have their share of challenges.
As Bro. Dunn told us Sunday…there will be mountains.
Don’t just settle for average
Pray the prayer of Jabez
Rather than us trying to prophesy what kind of year it will be…why don’t we work to prophesy what kind of person I will be.
end however...
Communion:
21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk.
22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
1 Corinthians 11: