Jabez, a Role Model for Prayer, Part II
I Chronicles 4:9-10, OT, pg 363: “Jabez was more honourable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, I gave birth to him in pain. 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. And God granted his request.” (NIV)
Last Sunday we saw that 80 to 85 percent of all U. S. Churches are either “plateaued or declining.” Every mainline denomination in our Country has basically been declining since 1965, and as of 1991 70 percent of all Southern Baptist Churches were either “plateaued or declining.” [--http://www.christianitytoday.com/bcl/areas/shepherding/articles/061907.html].
In taking an honest inventory of our own spiritual condition at Trinity United Methodist Church, we must confess that our local congregation is included in that 80-85 percent of plateaued or declining churches. God wants to turn all that around. Many declining churches can and are becoming “Comeback Churches,” but local congregations only become comeback churches when the people in the pews and in the pulpit earnestly, intensely plead with God daily to grant us His favor, help, and protection. Decline is only reversed as God’s people pray fervently for Him to bless their Church.
God can and wants to turn things around at Trinity United Methodist Church as each one of us daily commits ourselves to making Jabez our Role Model for Prayer. We saw that Jabez teaches us that we must be disciples of integrity before God can honor our prayers. We can not allow sin in our lives to go unconfessed and refuse to repent. We have to be honest as David was in Psalm 66:18-20:
If I had nursed evil in my heart,
The Lord would not have heard me,
But in truth God has heard me,
He has heeded the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer,
Nor withheld his loving mercy from me.
God does not reject our prayers or withhold His grace from us when we are genuine disciples of integrity, for David again testifies in Psalm 84:11:
For the Lord God is both sun and shield;
He will give grace and glory;
No good thing shall the Lord withhold
From those who walk with integrity.
“God granted Jabez’s request because he was more honourable than his brothers.” He was a righteous, holy, God fearing man who made God the top priority and Lord of His life. His request was granted because he was a disciple of integrity.
Jabez teaches us to pray, “Oh, Lord, bless Trinity United Methodist Church.” We wrestle with God in prayer like Jacob, who after wrestling with God all night boldly told Him, “I will not let you God unless you bless me.” However, departing at this point from Jacob, “we never want to let Him go.”
God wants to bless His Church, to help all His congregations who are disciples of integrity, by enlarging their territory.” In Jabez’s case enlarging his territory meant God increased the amount of land he owned.
The Church that asks God to “enlarge our territory” is praying for extended outreach and influence among the unchurched people in their neighborhood and community. This is like what happened as a result of Pentecost. Acts Chapter Two closes with this testimony: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
In asking the Lord to increase our territory, we are asking Him to empower us to have a dynamic witness for Jesus that will bring the lost into His Kingdom. This is not merely adding numbers to the Church rolls or just filling empty pews. We are seeking for the Holy Spirit to change lives and add those whose lives have been changed to our fellowship. Always remember “salvation is more important than membership.” [Source: David F. Nixon, LEADING THE COMEBACK CHURCH: Help Your Church Rebound from Decline (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2004), 21.]
When we petition God, “Lord, increase our territory,” we are embracing a dual ministry that includes prayer and outreach to the lost, the unchurched. Dr. David F. Nixon, author of LEADING THE COMEBACK CHURCH: Help Your Church Rebound from Decline, is currently the District Superintendent of the Southern Florida District of the Church of the Nazarene. Six times in his ministry he led comeback Churches including what originally was Lakeview Church of the Nazarene and now is Grace Point Church of the Nazarene in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Dr. Nixon shows in his book that the ministries of prayer and outreach complement each other.
God began to “increase Lakeview’s territory” when the Church “mobilized prayer partners.” A prayer partner ministry was created and organized. Dr. Nixon invited people to become His personal prayer partners. Forty-six responded to his invitation. Prayer partners anointed and prayed for Pastor Nixon prior to the beginning of worship. I had personal prayer partners to do the same with me at Decatur Central, and that’s what I miss most here at Trinity today. I am thirsty for such ministry at Trinity. During Sunday worship two prayer partners of Dr. Nixon remained in his study praying for God to pour out His Holy Spirit upon the service. They followed the order of worship in the bulletin and prayed over every act of worship as it was taking place.
As the congregation sang, they prayed the music would speak to their hearts; as the offertory was taken they, prayed God would meet the financial needs for the ministry of the Church; as the children’s sermon was shared, they prayed for the Holy Spirit to speak to the hearts of the boys and girls and draw them into a personal relationship with Jesus; as the ministry in music was shared, they prayed for the singers to minister in a powerful way to all the congregation; as the sermon was shared, they prayed for the Holy Spirit to empower their pastor as God’s messenger and to use the message to “hide God’s Word in the hearts” of all who listened. They prayed that God would honor His promise in Isaiah 55:10-11: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Whenever the invitation was given to come to Christ, they prayed people whose hearts had been touched would obey the Holy Spirit by coming for a time of prayer at the altar.
When prayer warriors were mobilized at Lakeview, God began to work in mighty ways. He began to “increase their territory.” Dr. Nixon testifies: “I felt energy to preach I had not felt in a long time. Our services were enlivened with the presence of God. Many were saved.” [Source: Nixon, 16.]. Local congregations only become “Comeback Churches” when they become prayer warriors who bathe the Church, the pastor, and all their ministries in prayer.
“Lord, increase our territory” is a passionate cry for God to bless the Church through an effective outreach ministry. To become a “Comeback Church” a congregation must have an intentional outreach ministry to bring unchurched people into the Kingdom of God. We pray, “Lord, increase our territory,” but it does not happen automatically. We must be God’s agents of evangelism to bring the lost to Jesus. Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman was Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. He once said, “Pray as if everything depended upon God, and work as if everything depended upon man.” [Source: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/2816.html]. God wants us to pray and depend upon Him to increase our territory, but we must be His agents to make that happen.
That’s the vision Dr. Nixon’s congregation caught at Lakeview Church. He challenged that congregation and calls on us to “Focus attention on winning lost people.” God “increased Lakeview’s territory” when they “focused their attention on reaching and winning people to Jesus.” The Holy Spirit and His Holy Word convinced Lakeview that their mission was to “embrace the lost and least.” [Source: Nixon, 18.].
The Church decided to place a large candle which they called the “salvation candle” on a pedestal in the sanctuary. Every time someone accepted Jesus as their Saviour, the congregation lit the candle. If at times the candle went unlit, the Church was reminded they had work to do.
Connie, a young mother of four, was God’s instrument in lighting the candle the first time. On her way to Sunday School one morning she noted a homeless man collecting cans from a dumpster and placing them in his grocery cart. The Holy Spirit led Connie to invite the man to Church. She left her children at the Church for Sunday School and went across the street to speak to the man. Here is how the encounter unfolded.
“Connie introduced herself and asked, ‘What’s your name?’”
“George,’ he said, expecting to be scolded for pilfering in the trash.
“Do you go to church anywhere?’ Connie asked.
“No, ma’am—I don’t,’ George said, his head dropping. ‘Who’d want me to attend their church?’
“We would,’ Connie said, her noticeably sweet perfume catching George’s attention.
“You would?’ George asked in disbelief. ‘Where do you go to church?’ he said as his eyes brightened.
“Over there,” Connie said pointing to Lakeview Church, just across the street on the corner.
“But I’m not dressed good,’ George protested.
“Come as you are George—we take anybody,’ Connie said confidently. “In fact, the Lord told me to stop and invite you.’ She paused and then said, ‘Would you like to come today?’
“OK,’ George said to his newfound friend. ‘I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.’”
“Sure enough, George pushed his grocery cart across the four lanes of traffic on that busy corner while Connie waited at the front door.”
Here is “the rest of the story” : George went to Sunday School where he was led to receive Christ as his personal Saviour and Lord. In worship the “salvation candle” was lit for the first time, and Pastor Nixon introduced George as their first convert. “George got a few strange looks on his first Sunday at church, but he rarely missed a Sunday after that.” [Source: Nixon, pp. 19-20].
Dr. Nixon testifies, “From the first Sunday the candle was lit, a steady stream of new converts flowed into the church as a direct result of this effort. Eighteen months later, more than 90 people had been won to Christ.” [Source: Nixon, pp. 20-21].
The result of Pentecost in Acts 2:47b is still God’s method of blessing His faithful, obedient Churches today. It is His means of increasing the territory of His local Churches who are led by disciples of integrity: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Remember; Pentecost resulted in an increase in the size of the Jerusalem Church that was multiplication, not simple addition. The Church began the day with 120 prayer warriors waiting for the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room and by day’s end that number stood at 3,120. That’s 120 multiplied by 26.
What great things does God want to do at Trinity United Methodist Church beginning today? I have no idea, but I know His promise in Jeremiah 33:3 is still true for us today: “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” When God’s people begin to pray “Lord increase our territory” and obediently let Him use them as His instruments to bring lost people into His Kingdom, declining Churches start to “turn around.” The Holy Spirit begins to transform them into “Comeback Churches.”
I’m ready to see what God wants to do at Trinity. How about you? I invite you today to start praying with me that God will begin molding us today into a “Comeback Church,” that the Holy Spirit will begin turning us around as a congregation. Let each of us prayer daily, “Lord, increase our territory. Enable us to embrace the lost and the least. Focus our attention on winning lost people.” Let us each commit to becoming prayer warriors who “daily wrestle with Jesus” in bathing our Church, pastor, and all our ministries in prayer.
May we be intentional in our praying and in our outreach, “praying as if everything depends on God,” and, by the power of His Holy Spirit, working as if everything depends upon us. As we do, He will work use us to lead the unchurched into His eternal kingdom and “add to His Church daily those who are being saved.”
