Don Sisk: Thank you, Dr. Van Gilderen. It has been a great joy to have had the privilege of being here once again.

Every night I sit here in open mouth amazement at how many great musicians are in one church. That’s not fair, okay? But I know a lot of churches that need some of that.

Okay. But it has been a great time. I thank God for the opportunity to be in the chapel services and to fellowship with you in various ways.

And young people, congratulations on your opportunity to come to a wonderful place like this. And I wish I was more able to beat you fellas in basketball and so forth if I was 50 years younger. Maybe I could do that, okay?

But I’ll probably not play basketball, but we’ll have some fun tomorrow, okay? Open your Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 4. 1 Chronicles chapter 4.

Have you ever heard anybody say, my favorite verse, my favorite book in the Bible is 1 Chronicles? Probably not, okay. But in reading through 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles and so forth and all the genealogies and so forth, in the midst of these endless genealogies, we find this refreshing statement about a man by the name of Jabez.

So let’s look at his life and his prayer for just a few minutes this morning, this evening, okay, whatever time it is. And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. And his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bear him with sorrow.

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from the evil, that it may not grieve me. And I like these words. And God granted him that which he requested.

The Bible tells us that he was more honorable than his brethren. Not richer, not more intelligent, not more popular, but more honorable. The people of his day honored him more than his contemporaries.

Some of them may have been honorable men, but he was more honorable than any of them. God blessed him and used him in his generation. The Bible tells us of David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption.

Each of us are responsible not for the past generation or not for the future generation other than the impact we can make on them now but we are responsible for our generation. You young people today You have a great opportunity An opportunity like no other group of people have ever had So he was an honorable man But then the Bible tells us that he had a great handicap

His name was his handicap His mother named him Jabez Which means sorrowful Now can you imagine? The teacher calling the rolling class, Sorrowful, you’re okay. And your friends came out, Hey, Sorrowful, come on over.

You know, perhaps he was the last of several siblings and was unwanted. I don’t know what the situation was. Perhaps his father died before he was born and this brought great burden on his mother.

We are not sure what happened, But sorrow was associated with his birth, and he was named Sorrowful. Could I suggest tonight, handicaps and other obstacles to success are not the exceptions, but the rule. We often look at successful people and think that they are successful because they had no handicaps or obstacles in their life.

This ordinarily is not the fact. Let me give you three real quick examples of men that have, through the years, has been such a great blessing to me. One of them is a man by the name of Don Forster.

Don was blinded as a little boy, and I’m sure that as a boy he was told of all of the things he could not do. He graduated from the University of Texas. He went to Tennessee Temple University and graduated from the seminary with his master’s degree.

And then he earned the first earned doctorate from Tennessee Temple University. He and his wife then went to Fredericksburg, Virginia and began to knock on doors, blind now, very little financial support. And they started the Faith Baptist Church.

And that is to this day a great, great church. Another young man that I think about, well, he’s not young now. They’re all getting old, okay?

They were young one time. It’s a man by the name of David Rodenheiser. I remember David telling me the story that when he went forward in the Lynchburg Baptist Church to give his pastor the fact that he had been called to preach.

He said, I said it something like this. Brother Falwell, I call me to be a preacher. And Dr.

Falwell said, David, there’s probably a lot of things you can do, but preaching is probably not one of them. But David would go into a room and take a Bible, and he would read one verse literally thousands of times until he could read it and people could understand it. He’s now probably in his 70s, wonderful family, a large church.

God is blessed in a wonderful way. Now he still gets hung up every once in a while. Okay.

But just a wonderful thing. One other, Reggie Ripple. Reggie has been deaf all of his life.

And rather than using deafness as an excuse for not being able to do anything for the glory of God, this young man has been used greatly in helping deaf people all over the world. Could I say to you tonight that you probably have some kind of a handicap. Do not blame your handicap or certain obstacles for your failure.

And do not let them defeat you. You may be used of God in a great way in spite of your circumstances. When you’re handicapped or you have seemingly unmovable obstruction, what should you do?

Listen to what Jabez did. And Jabez called on the name of Israel. What a novel idea.

He prayed. So regardless of what your handicap may be, you like Jabez ought to be praying. This was an ambitious prayer.

In fact, maybe the most ambitious prayer in the whole Bible. Jabez prayed for himself. But it was not a selfish prayer.

God answered his prayer. Thus we know that it was not selfish. God does not answer selfish prayers.

The Bible says, From whence cometh wars and fightings among you? Come they not yet even in your lust that war in your members? You lust and you have, you kill and desire to have, and you cannot have.

You fight and war and you have not, because you ask not. You ask and receive not, because you ask amid, that you may consume it upon your own lust. James 4, 1 through 3.

God does not answer selfish prayer. So let’s look at his prayer. Number one, Jabez prayed for prosperity.

It was a prayer of faith. But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Listen as Jabez says. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed. Dear Lord, I want you to bless me, and not just a little bit.

I want you to bless me real big. And I believe because God answered his prayer that Jabez was praying with a great attitude. He did not want prosperity just to heap it all upon himself, but that he may use it for the glory of God.

See, it was a prayer of faith. It was a prayer to a great God. Call unto me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

Trust in Him at all time, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us.

O that thou hearest prayer, O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Listen to one other verse. I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt by the way in the Old Testament when God wanted to show great things he could do he told about bringing a million and a half two million Jews out of the Egyptian bondage

through the Red Sea on dry ground and Pharaoh and his army trying to do the same thing all drowned in other words God is saying I can do anything I can do anything I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Then he said open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. See Jabez is opening his mouth wide.

He’s saying dear Lord bless me indeed and not just a little bit but pour out your blessings on me. God is a prayer hearing and prayer answering. God.

It was a simple prayer. I think sometimes we get confused about how to pray properly and all that. We just sometimes just need to get before God, fall on our faces, begin to pray.

Listen. I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find.

Knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that seeketh, asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth.

And to him that knocketh it shall be opened. In other words, just keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. By the way, it is always too early to quit praying.

He prayed for prosperity. Then the next part of his prayer was this. Enlarge my coast.

He prayed for posterity. You know what he was saying? Put me in a place where I can impact others.

Look at it again. Jabez called on the God of Israel, Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed. Enlarge my coast, and that thy hand might be with me.

Enlarge my coast. Could I suggest tonight that all of us ought to be praying to Almighty God that he would enlarge our coast? I began my ministry in a large metropolitan area called Silent Run.

It’s the suburb of Rabbit Ridge, okay? I mean, it’s hard to even find, okay? And I would visit everybody in the community two or three times every month.

I moved from there to Providence, Kentucky, and there were 3,500 people in Providence. And there were more churches than there were people. And I began to pray, Dear God, put me in a place.

Please put me in a place where I can have more opportunities. And God sent me from there to the Chicago area. That’s a pretty good-sized place.

And from there to Japan and from there to the world. And I’m just about ready to pray. Dear God, stay thy hand.

Amen. But here’s a simple prayer. Dear God, I’d like to impact my society.

I would like to impact my world. You say, wait a minute, I’m just one person. I know, but you can impact your society.

You can impact your school. You can impact your town. You can impact your family.

You can impact the world. There’s nothing, there’s nothing impossible with God. So he prayed for prosperity.

He prayed for posterity. And then he prayed for the power of God. Let thy hand be with me.

hey by the way if we could have all the money in the world we could have all the impacting opportunities in the world but without the power of God we will do absolutely nothing but with the power of God there is absolutely no limit what a person can do God’s work cannot be done without God’s power in the book of Zechariah we find these words about Zerubbabel

then he answered and spake in me saying this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts not by might not what you can do in your own flesh not what you can imagine and do but what God can do through you. I’ve used this probably every sermon I’m not sure but I never get tired of it.

I am the vine, you’re the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit. for without me you can do nothing.

But Paul said, and I can do all things and if he ended there, he’d be the greatest egotist in the world. Amen. But I can do all things through him that strengtheneth me.

He recognized his own inabilities. He recognized his need for the Lord’s hand to be on him. He prayed for God’s power, for God’s work.

Then the last thing is this, that thou wouldest keep me from evil. Look at it again. Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed and enlarge my coast that thine hand may be with me that thou wouldest keep me from evil that it may not grieve me.

Keep me from evil that it may not grieve me. I think of two of the greatest men in the Old Testament time. David and Joseph.

as far as their sexual immorality was concerned one then had a total horrible failure the other stayed pure in spite of all of the temptations in the world if there is ever a day ever a day when we begin to pray dear God keep me from evil we ought to be like Joseph and not like David David succumbed to the temptation but Joseph being in a foreign land nobody knowing him

yet being tempted by Potiphar’s wife and even when he absolutely refused to have anything to do with her she grabbed his jacket and got a hold of you’re going to lay with and he left. And I’ve often thought he left his jacket in her hand but thank God he took his integrity with him. He left his coat but he didn’t leave his integrity.

You can buy another coat but you can’t buy integrity. Notice the exhortation of the Apostle Paul. Flee also youthful lust.

Follow righteousness, faith, clarity, peace with them that call on the name of the Lord with a pure heart. We need God’s protection against lust, pride, jealousy, greed, and so many other sins. When we are tempted, rather than thinking what we’ll miss if we do not yield to the temptation, we should stop and think what damage we do when we yield.

I’ve been in the ministry 66 years. I’ve seen some of the most horrible situations because of immorality. And I cannot be too clear tonight on saying we must have God’s power to keep us clean that we may be used of Him.

Sexual sin, it is a sin against God. It is detrimental to everyone involved. It causes great harm to the church.

It causes great harm to the family. By the way, God answered Jabez’s prayer. He is a prayer-answering God, and He will answer our prayer when we call to Him with a pure heart, with the desire to glorify Him and not ourself.

I want to just read the prayer once again, okay? And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh, if thou wouldst bless me indeed, enlarge my coast, that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from the evil. Let’s pray.