2 Chronicles 15:7
(15:7) “But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”
Today I want to talk about Being Forth and Inches.
Its Super bowl Sunday…
A time of celebration…
A time of festivity…
A time for fellowship and fun…
And tonight we will have a wonderful time with one of our countries greatest past times and we will enjoy what the game itself symbolizes …
This is the essence of good, clean competition…
A celebration of being the best at something ….
And lastly the idea of persevering through a long season for a great rewards for a chosen few...
And in the game there going to be some first downs…
There are going to be some hard hits…
There are going to be some plays and calls that we don’t agree with …
And if the game is tight …
There may even be a Hail Mary in there some where were we are going to see the coach and players with out much time…
And with the game on the line…
They are going to go for the long ball and hope for the best...
And it’s funny because we think about the game…
But if we pause for a moment we can see the correlation to the some of these things to our lives every day…
Because when you think about God …
And you think about life itself...
Life should be a time of celebration…
Life should be a time of festivity…
Life should be A time for fellowship and fun…
And in Life we strive for that which is the essence of good, clean competition…
On our Jobs….
In our personal lives…
In our families…
We celebrate of being the best at something ….
Being Good at something…
And we know that in life …
There are going to be some hits…
There are going to be some broken plays…
There are going to be some fumbles…
Lost yardage… and dropped passes…
That’s why Jesus said that in this life you WILL have tribulation…
He didn’t say you might have it…
He didn’t say it’s going to come to you every so often…
He said YOU WILL have this thing called tribulation…
And truly as Christians we know that if we persevere through a long season called life…
And we make to the last game of the season…
That God promises that there will be a great reward for a chosen few….
He said you have not chosen me but I have chosen you…
But the reality of this Game…
The Game of Life that is…
It that in this game …
There ARE going to be some first downs…
There are going to be some hard hits…
There are going to be some plays and calls that we don’t agree with …
And every once in a while you are going to find yourself in a situation where time is running out…
You’re on you’re forth and last down…
And you have just inches to get your first down and possibly the win…
And at that precise moment of time you have to decide…
And I go to go for it…
Or am I going to punt the ball and give possession of the ball to the other team…
You’re forth and inches…
This what we see here in the scripture today as
(15:7) “But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”
What do I do when it’s forth and inches?
What do I do when my son or daughter is counting on me and time is running out …?
What do I do when I don’t know what to do…?
The Bible is telling you to be strong…. And do not let your hands be weak…
To be strong means to be Confident …
It means to be assured...
It means that when it’s forth and inches you have to reclaim your Royalty…
It means that you have to know that you are blessed and highly favored…
To know that you have a helper… A comforter … And healer …
And that helper, comforter and healer is not going to let you fall…
He is not going to let you fail…
Because the Power He has for you is an Everlasting Power…
The Glory He has for you on the other side is an Everlasting Glory…
And His power and Glory are everlasting in your life…
Somebody once said that if there is no struggle there is no progress…
We have got to remember that our struggle is not against flesh and blood …
But against ruler...
And against authorities…
And against powers…
And against the adversary …
Spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm…
But I promise God …
That when its 4th and inches …
I’m not gonna hand the ball back to the enemy…
As for me and My house ….
We will serve the Lord…
If you love HIM Come on and praise with me …
4th and inches…
4th and inches…
What do you do when its forth and inches…
It’s just a matter of just a few inches…
You know it won’t take much to get it on track…
A slight adjustment here…
A modification there…
I’ve been shaped and developed in the fire of Affliction…
I’m so close but still so far …
What do I do?
Turn to 1 Chronicles 4:9
Very Familiar scripture…
1 Chronicles (4:9) now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying “Because I bore His pain.”
(4:10) And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, That your hand would be with me , and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain. So God granted him what he requested….
When you’re on inches from where you need to be begin with prayer…
Look at this scripture for a moment…
The Bible says that Jabez was honorable…
More honorable than hi s brothers…
And the scripture says that His mother named him Jabez because I borrow his pain…
See in biblical times… Your name meant something …
Your name was your footprint…
Your name spoke of who you were and what you were…
Just like Peter name meant Stone or Rock…
Just like Emmanuel meaning is God with us…
Just like Joshua name meant Jehovah Saves…
So see the bible says that Jabez momma says she named him that because I borrowed his pain or I bore his pain…
But the literal translation of his name meant that “HE WILL CAUSE PAIN”….
See a lot of folks would like to believe that Jibe’s prayer was just about money…
That If I prayer the prayer of Jabez…
To enlarge my territory that God will take the little that we have and He will enlarge it and at the end of the day I will be wealthy and prosperous…
And yes at the end o f the day Jabez was truly blessed in all of his undertakings, in his studies and in his business dealings…
But the greatest gift that God gave him was an enlargement of His heart…
And it was the enlargement of the heart that was the catalyst that took him over the line on 4th down…
First they said,
It was the nature and matter of his prayer o what it was is that the name Jabez meant
First He asks that God would bless him…
Just as God told Abraham… I will bless you to be a blessing and those that curse you shall be cursed…
Jabez needed God to step in to bless him past the place he was…
Then He asked that He would Enlarge His Coast …
He was asking that He would enlarge a portion of himself so that He would not be that one who would inflict pain upon any one including himself…
He asked that God’s hand be with him…
Jabez knew that he could not see the other side until he allowed God to take his hand… and for He to take God’s hand…
And then allow God to walk with him to the pace he needed to be…
And lastly, He asked that He would keep him from Evil...
That God would keep him from sin…
That God would keep him out of trouble…
That His enemies … Those folks on the other side of the line that are trying to hold you back…
The defenders of the adversary that are here to keep you from the goal….
Those folks that are trying there hardest to keep you in sorrow…
To remind you of your pain…
To stop your progress…
And some of you may know someone like Jabez…
From the time they were born somebody was telling them that they weren’t anything but pain to them…
They were told they were a burden to the life of another…
And when they pushed forward…
The enemy keeps pushing you back…
You step forward…
They push you back…
But before we go home today I want to fill you with the Power that Jabez had…
I want to fill you with the Power of prayer…
How do I get the other side of the line…?
The Power of prayer…
And when it’s fourth and inches...
You get on you knees…
You close your eyes…
And Just like Jabez…
You God will bless you in your prayers…
God will enlarge the territory of your heart…
And Just as the Gospel says…
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and ALL these things shall be added unto you…
In Other words… “When You Dig a Well… You ought to get some water”
When you pray…
When you ask God to enlarge your territory…
Pray with a mighty voice…
Pray with praise …
Just Like God said to Jeremiah…
For I know the Plans I have for you. Says the Lord …
Plans for Good and Not Disaster.
To give you a future and a hope…
And IN THOSE DAYS … when you pray, I will listen…
In other words We HAVE GOT TO Pray with expectation…
And Prayer with a listening ear…
For the Lord is thy shepherd … Thy shall not want…
Pray a Shepard to your soul…
Pray tender mercies …
Pray freedom and liberation…
God will take you around the mountain…
God will bring the harvest…
For the Lord is turning his face toward you …
And His peace is upon you …
In the NAME of Jesus …
Give HIM praise…
See you have a new name when you are with Jesus …
When you think you can’t make it past that line …
You have to BE strong and Let your hand not be weak…
And You are going to have to Pray…
And when I mean pray I mean get in the habit of talking to God out loud…
It will keep you focused…
And it will get you in the habit of letting everything go to God…
Because the Bible will tell you to TRUST in the LORD and lean not unto our own understanding …
But what tends to happen is that we do not TRUST and we DO Not lean…
We actually do quite the opposite…
The Opposite of Trust is to Doubt
And the Opposite of lean is to Put off…
Sometime we will doubt and we will Put Off/…
And what we are seeking in the midst of this is Change…
Say I Need Change…
And the thing about change is that you can either resist it or embrace it…
And when its personal change …
In other words…
When it comes to that moment when I am 4th and inches…
I have got to look at the Things that we can control in our own lives..
We have to not only deal with the other aspect just mentioned but we may just have to confront it…
If it’s Fear … then you have to confront it…
If its doubt …. Then you have to confront it…
If it’s the demons within… Then we have to confront them..
To confront something means to face up to something …
It means to meet it head on…
Read LUKE 11:14 28
When you’re forth and inches…
My Last Point…
The Team must be together…
The house cannot be divided…
The Family cannot be divided…
Our faith cannot be divided...
And your strength cannot be divided … Because if anyone of those areas is divided they become weakened…
Jesus said, bless those who keep the Word of God and Keep it…
Because the Word of God …
You may be the quarterback…
Your f family may be the team…
But Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit the Father and the Word of God
Are your coaches…
And if you follow there plays …
You will get the first down…
And you will get the win…
Someone once said that:
Success is measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which one has overcome.
In other Words When God says in Revelation 21:7: He that overcometh shall inherit all things: And I will be his God and He shall be my son.
Forth and Inches?
Seek God and His righteousness and all those things that you desire shall be added unto you…
I love you … and may God truly bless you in 2007...
Let’s Pray…
