Amen. I've been helped tonight, how about you? Once my soul was astray from the heavenly way. I was wretched and foul as can be. ♪ That's when the Savior in love ♪ Gave me peace from above ♪ When he reached down his hand for me This is the second verse. ♪ I was near to despair Oh yeah. ♪ When he came That's when He showed me that I could go free. Then He lifted my feet, gave me gladness complete when He reached out His hand for me. Here's the third verse. ♪ Now my heart does rejoice ♪ Since I made Him my choice ♪ Now from the tempest to Him I can flee ♪ I've learned to lean on His arm ♪ Safe, secure from all harm ♪ Since He reached down His hand for me ♪ This is how it happened when the Savior ♪ Reached down for me He had to reach way down for me. I was lost and undone. ♪ Without God or His Son ♪ When He reached down His hand for me ♪ I was near to despair ♪ When He came to me there ♪ That's where He showed me ♪ To go free ♪ Then He lifted my feet ♪ And gave me gladness complete ♪ When He reached out His hand for me ♪ When the Savior reached out for me He had to reach way down for me. I was lost and undone without God or His Son when He reached down His hand. ♪ Oh, I was lost and undone ♪ Without God or His Son ♪ When He reached down His hand for me Amen, amen. Thank God He did, amen. Thank God He did. Take your Bible and go to the book of First Chronicles, First Chronicles chapter number four. Good to be back in God's house tonight. Appreciate the sweet spirit here. Thankful for the Lord's goodness. Amen. I've been just enjoying the whole entire day, the service this morning. God just helped me, spoke to my heart and challenged me. And I hope and pray that you'll be able to say the same thing that God spoke to you too. I'll be honest with you. I like what I heard one preacher said. He said, God's always speaking. He said, the problem is sometimes we ain't listening. Amen. I mean, y'all parents ought to know what that's like. Amen. I mean, you always try and tell your kids to do something. The fact is sometimes they just won't listen. Amen. Anybody else know what I'm talking about? Amen. I'll be honest with you. I know for a fact. Amen. I've asked my children, I said, well, did you do such and such and such and that? No. I said, why not? I didn't know you warned me to. I said, but I told you to. But it never connected. Amen. It passed through, but it never connected. I'm afraid we that way a lot of times. It passes through, but it doesn't connect. Amen. It doesn't stick. David said this. He said, I stuck unto thy testimonies. I'll be honest with you, we need the Lord to give us some stickability, amen? Amen, that's just good right there, amen. We need the Lord to help us give us some stickability. I want you to take your Bibles this evening, go to the book of First Chronicles, chapter number four, verses nine and 10 is where we're gonna be looking this evening. And I wanna preach to you and I wanna challenge you. I appreciate Brother Sam, what you had to say. I'm telling you, I like what the songwriter said, God likes to work when nothing else will, amen. Now, I want to say something. That thing right there, whenever he got talking about them people, said, we just going to go above you. And I know what they were meaning. They said, if one boss don't say yes, we'll go to another boss. Amen. But I thought, you know what? I'll be honest with you. I ain't messing with no boss. I'm going to go above them all. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I'm glad I've got a God I can go above them all with. Amen. You say, well, preacher, this is bothering me. Go above it. Amen, amen. You say, well, this person's giving me a fit, go above them, amen. Amen, amen, I'm telling you, go above it, amen. I mean, be honest, you've been given an invitation. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Go above it, amen, amen. Some of you women, you may say, my husband just won't do right, go above him. Amen, every woman in the house ought to say amen right there. Amen, some of you, you husbands and you parents, you children giving you a fit, breaking your heart, go above them, amen. Thank God, that helped me, amen, that helped me. That'll be coming to a pulpit near you, amen. May hear it again this week before I leave, amen. Thank God, I'm just gonna, I'll be honest with you, I don't have to deal with this stuff down here, I can go above it, amen. Amen, amen, that's good. That's good, that helped me tonight, all right. Let's look at these two verses, stand with me if you would. and we're gonna read these two verses. in reverence to the word of the Lord, and I'll let you be seated. As soon as we read these two verses, you can be seated, and then we're gonna preach to you what the Lord's burdened my heart for this service tonight. And I promise you, I'm gonna say this, and I want you to help me to pray. Now, I know we're gonna start revival meeting tomorrow night, and I know revival meetings, you've just come out of the holidays, and so the school's back in swing, life's back in swing. I promise you, I'm gonna preach to you every night, but I'm not gonna belabor you, I'm not just gonna preach to be preaching, just rattle to be rattling. I promise you I'll do my best to say what I need to say, but I'm not going to put myself on a timetable, but I promise I am also going to be mindful of you. Amen. Because you need to be here. Amen. You can't get the help from God that you need if you're not here. Amen. Now, I mean, you can watch it online and all that kind of stuff and that'll be good, but it's just, it's not the same as being here in the service. All right. And so, so you pray. and we'll pray together. And like I said, I promise you that, but I'm expecting God to do some good things for us this week. I'll be honest with you, I know this, he wants to. Amen. and I want him to, amen. And if you get a bunch of people with a want to together, something's gonna happen, amen. He wants to, I want him to, you want him to, and all of us want him to, he's going to, amen, amen. All right, let's look at these two verses if we would tonight. The Bible said this, and Jabez was more honorable than his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bear him with sorrow. Thank you, son. 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. Look at this next statement that's made. Now, Jabez' prayer has ended. And the next statement that's made is this, and God granted him that which he requested. I wanna preach to you on this thought tonight. Are we going to go and grow or are we going to stay and play? Are we gonna go and grow, or are we gonna stay and play? Let's bow our heads, and I'll preach to you tonight. You can be seated. Father, I love you, and Lord, I'm thankful for the privilege to be in this place. God, you help me. God, physically touch my body. You know the weaknesses that are there, and I pray you'd strengthen me beyond those, and help me, God, to preach the word of God tonight, and to challenge the people of God. Now, Father, I love you, and I said this this morning. I'm not just preaching to some random crowd. This is friends. These are friends. This is family. And God, I pray that you'd help us tonight. And God, thank you for how you spoke. God, through the singing, and God, through the testify and through the worship. Now, God, I pray that you'd help us these next few minutes, and we'll be careful to praise you and to honor you and give you the glory that's due your name. These things we ask in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. You can be seated. Now, this is the reality. The reality is, is this. I heard a fellow say one time, just a little old story he told, but anyhow, he said a preacher got up, got ready to preach and said he reached over and he took his watch off and he laid it on the pulpit. Little boy sitting back about four or five rows, looked over at his mom and he said, mama, he said, what's that mean every Sunday when the preacher takes his watch off and lays it there on the corner of the pulpit? She said, it means absolutely nothing. Amen, amen, amen. It looks good, but it just don't mean a whole lot, amen. I'll be honest with you now, I don't wanna just say some things that don't mean anything. I wanna say some things that'd be a help to you, be an encouragement to you. And so I'm gonna go back to my title of my message, and I'm planting a thought tonight. Are we gonna stay, and are we gonna go and grow, or are we gonna stay and play? That's the question I wanna ask you tonight. I'm gonna use the truths that we find in the Word of God, the story about a man by the name of Jabez. Now you'll find, I believe only in one other place, the name of Jabez even mentioned in the scripture and his name was only mentioned and identified, nothing is told about him. The entirety through the scope of the scripture, the entirety that we know of the life of Jabez is right here in these two verses in the book of First Chronicles chapter number four. Now there's several things that we can learn from the life of Jabez and number one is this, we see the position that Jabez held. The Bible said that Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. I wanna make a statement right here. Can I tell you something? God helped us to have a revival of honor among God's people, amen? Brother Don, we were talking today, we were talking about just doing things right, just being right. And sometimes it's not easy, but right is right, amen? And y'all just do right, amen? If you make a bill, you ought to pay a bill. If you make a commitment, you ought to keep a commitment. And I mean, that's the reason why Jabez was identified as an individual that he was more honorable than his brethren. That word honorable means this, it means to have honor or to have dignity, to have reverence or character. Jabez was an individual that was honorable than his brethren, so we see his position. But I wanna say this, that position did not come without him having to overcome his past. Look what the Bible said in the second part of that verse number nine. The Bible says this, that Jabez was more honorable than his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bear him with sorrow. I'm not being ugly, but how would you like to be known as what caused your mother sorrow? Jabez had a past. Now I wanna say something in this Old Testament economy, we know this, that the principle of a name and the identification of a name and its meaning carried a great significance in the lives of individuals. I wanna be honest with you, I don't know that it wouldn't do good to go back to that mentality. It amazes me some things and names that people come up with in the day in which we live. Hey man, my wife for years worked there at the hospital in the neonatal part where the babies were delivered and all that kind of stuff. And it was amazing to me, and she'd come home and tell me some kids that she had, and all of a sudden she said, well, this is what one of them's name was. And I mean, it was the craziest stuff. And obviously the fact of the matter is, is people don't really care in the day in which we live about the identification of a name and what it means. But in this day, that mentality was completely different. And can I say this? His name was Jabez, and that word Jabez means sorrowful. I want to say something. There's not a person under the sound of my voice that you and I don't have a past. Amen. I know sometimes we like to think we don't have a past, but we do have a past. Amen. I'm glad God can help us get past our past, amen? Amen, thank God for that. But I wanna say this, we don't need to lose sight of what God has brought us from, because if we'll stop and really consider the past that we had, it might be the very contributing factor that would help us to be a little more honorable in the present that we have. And Jabez had a past. His position was he was honorable, but his past was he was sorrowful. I don't know if his mother went through a difficult time in her pregnancy or delivery. We know that in those days, they didn't have the modern techniques and the abilities to take the pain away and to relieve the pain. But the fact of the matter is, is this something triggered in her mind, the identification that when Jabez was laid into her hands as he was birthed from the womb, she said, I'm gonna call him Jabez, and that word Jabez means sorrowful. Because when I look at him, I think of the sorrow that's been caused. I don't know about you, but sometimes that would make me think that would be a hard testimony to overcome. And I want to say something, the only way J-Best could overcome it is by showing honor, being more honorable. Can I say something? What would be wrong in the day in which we live that a ministry operates with real honor and character? Amen. Now I wanna say something. I'm not talking about being a people pleaser, because we can't be people pleasers. We've got to stand on the word of God. We're God pleasers. But can I tell you something? In our relationship in society and the way we treat people and the way we interact with people, we can preach truth, we can stand on truth. And I'll be honest with you, I wanna say something. If you try to run around and apologize for what you stand on, I ain't being ugly, you really don't stand on it. Amen. Now, let me ask you, there's some things I stand on. I stand on this King James Bible. I'm not backing up and turning, and I'm not gonna run from that, what I believe, what I preach, what I teach. But I wanna say this, in the same vein, I don't have to do it with an arrogant, haughty attitude. I can do it in an honorable way, in a respectful way, in a gentlemanly way, in a godly way, and having some character about myself. Amen, amen. So I've met people before, preachers, and not only preachers, but other people that their idea was just to be as rude as they could be, because that was spiritual. Jabez's position was honorable. His past was sorrowful. But let's look at Jabez's priority. Verse number 10, the first part of the Bible said, Jabez called on the God of Israel. We see not only was his position honorable and his past was sorrowful, but we see Jabez's practice was Jabez relied on God. You say, Preacher, what are you trying to say? I'm trying to say this. If we're gonna do anything for God, there's gonna have to be a reliance upon him. Well, I think we ought to do this and I think we ought to do that. Can I say this? What does God think we ought to do? I want to say this, and I'm not being mean when I say this, but I want to say this. That's the reason why God gives a church a pastor. Amen. Can I tell you something? God will speak to a pastor as a pastor and a leader of the flock of God. The Bible said that the man that's been given oversight over you, God will speak to him, and in the leadership responsibilities of the flock of God, he'll speak to the under-shepherd in a way that he will not speak to the flock. Amen. You say, well preacher, is there a Bible for that? Yeah, if you go back to the Old Testament, I believe it's the book of Jeremiah, I don't have the verse right in front of me, but the Bible said this, Jeremiah speaking, and God speaking to Jeremiah to tell the people, he said, I will give thee pastors according to my heart. You know what, whenever Pleasant Valley Baptist Church got a pastor, you know what you got? You got a piece of the heart of God. Amen. Is he a perfect man? No, he's not. He's a Riley, amen. I mean, I didn't mean that just because he's a Riley, you know what I meant there. Because he's of his father and his father is of his father and it goes all the way back to our father Adam. He's not a perfect man, but he's God's man. Amen, amen. Does he make mistakes? Sure he does. Does he fail? Sure he does. Why? Because that's the curse of being robed in this flesh. but he's God's man. And so God speaks to his man and God uses his man and God glorifies the ministry of the man that he calls and he gives you a pastor. Jabez was a man that called on God. Can I say something, church? Listen to me. We are foolish to think that we can do anything apart from a real dependency upon God. Amen. God speaks through his pastor. His pastor takes the message of God and he speaks it to the church. And then the church is given an opportunity because we know what the Bible says. A pastor doesn't pastor by being a dictator. Amen. He takes the oversight, but he's not a dictator. He's a proclaimer. And so he proclaims the message of God. Can I tell you something? There's times as a pastor, I've stood in front of my people and say, church, I believe this is what God wants us to do. And I'm thinking in my mind, I'll hope and pray to God. Nobody says, well, preacher, how are we going to do it? Because I don't even know. I've been there. Brother Don, you know Brother Doug Powell, that was my pastor for a lot of years. He stood in front of us and he'd say, church, we're going to do this. And I'm looking around. And I'm thinking, ain't happening. Amen, I thought that in my mind. I'll be honest with you, I respected my pastor enough, I never did say it to him. And all I said, Lord, if God's man says we can do it, we're gonna do it somehow, one way or another. And can I tell you something? I never saw him stand, and I never saw him stand and say, the Lord laid on my heart for us to do this, that God didn't provide, make a way, and open doors. And Brother Sam, just like you were preaching tonight, I saw God do it time and time and time again, and can I tell you something? It wasn't because God's man was so holy and righteous, but God's man was willing to listen to God, and God's man that listened to God was willing to come to the people of God and give the people of God God's message, and then he led us forward. Amen. Jabez shows us a principle and a reality about the dependency upon God. Are we going to go and grow? Or are we going to stay and play? Can I say something, church? There's work for you and I to do. Amen. Can I tell you something? There's a work that God's got for this church to do. I want to say something. Not only is there a work that you and I need to do, there's a warning that we need to sound. Amen. You say, well, preacher, there's other churches in town. I pass churches. I mean, I've seen all that, different churches, but I want to say something. I'm not preaching revival to them. I don't know what they're doing. It doesn't matter what they're doing, but can I say something? There's a God-given responsibility to this ministry. Amen. Amen. There's a God-given responsibility to this congregation right here. I was going over the prayer list this afternoon and a preacher sent it to me on my phone and I was, I'm old school, I've got to have it on paper. Amen? That's just me. I don't like to read a book online, on a computer, on a phone. I've got to have a book in my hand. I'm old school. And I was switching the prayer list over to a piece of paper and I was going through all the names. And after I'd got them all, I was making sure I wrote them all down. And I'll be honest with you, I thought this is the group of people that God has sent me to preach to this week. And so that brought the attention to my mind that there's a ministry God has for this congregation. Amen. There's a purpose God has in Calico Rock. And I'll be honest with you, I spent the afternoon I spent the afternoon, I got out and I went to the motel and changed and put my tennis shoes on and I got out and I did some walking and I walked all over up and down the streets of town and I walked all down by the river and I walked over to the park and I walked all around and I was taking pictures and And I got to thinking, I thought, you know, there's a lot of people that might say, well, hey, there's not a whole lot here. Can I tell you something? It doesn't matter if there's a whole lot here or not. If there's one person here, it's worth this church being faithful to the call of God. Amen. Amen. I mean that. I mean, I'm so tired of us looking at identifications and it's got to be this big or it's got to be that wide or it's got to be that deep. No, I'm telling you, just do the work that God's called you to do. Amen. Find what God wants you to do and do it because the reality is this. I love coming to the house of God, Brother Riley. I love coming in and preaching and singing and worshiping. I love standing to my feet and raising my hands and praise and shouting, but can I say something? There's a work to do beyond the doors of this church. Amen. Are we gonna go and grow or are we gonna stay and play? You'll find that in the prayer of Jabez, there are four things that Jabez identifies in his prayer. Let's look at those right quickly. And this is still introduction. Number one, look what Jabez said. Jabez called on the God of Israel. This is what he said. Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed. Number one, I want to say this, Jabez looked toward heaven and this is what he said. Jabez said, God, I want you to bless me indeed. This is what Jabez said for sake of outline. Jabez said this, God, give me. He said, God, if I'm going to do something for you, you're going to have to give me. He said, bless me. And I want to say that when he was talking about the blessing of God, he was not necessarily talking about a financial gift or a financially tangible supply. He was talking about this. It didn't matter whether he was talking about strength. It didn't matter whether he was talking about wisdom. It didn't matter whether he was talking about finances. It didn't matter whether he was talking about materials. It didn't matter. None of that is relevant. But what Jabez was saying when he looked toward God and he said, God, I need you to bless me. He said, God, it's gonna take your touch. It's gonna take your help. It's gonna take you being involved in what I'm doing if I'm gonna get it done. God, give me. Give me. Now I'm gonna be honest with you, God's not gonna do everything for us, but we are very foolish to think that we can do it without him. Amen. Now, all those things I was telling you all ago, my pastor would stand and say, do this, and he would stand and say, do this, we're gonna do this. Can I tell you something? Sometimes it was long hours of work down at the house of God. It was sacrificial giving that made it happen. And I mean, sometimes there were other things involved, amen? I've seen times whenever people, I know this for a fact, I know people that pull stuff out of their house. They didn't have no money, didn't have nothing to give. They pull stuff out of the house, sit it on the side of the road, put a for sale sign on it, Sell it, bring the money to the house of God just to be able to do what God had laid on the preacher's heart to lead the church to do. Sacrifice. I wanna say this, and it'll go over about like a lead balloon, but I'm thinking say it anyhow. This generation and our church generation that we are in knows very little about sacrifice. Amen. Now we know a lot about comfort, petting and pampering and all that kind of stuff. I'll be honest with you, I sat at the table the other day with some young preachers, and they got to talking about going down to this place or that place and getting massages and all that kind of stuff, and I like to throw it up in my mouth. I said, I'll be honest with you, I used to think a little bit of y'all. I said, I've about lost all respect I've got. Amen. Unto God. We've gotta be petted and pampered, amen? Oh, I had such a hard week at work, I need to run down with my wife and get a massage. Dear God in Jesus' name. What a joke. What a joke, amen. We're more worried about our comfort, our pleasure, our satisfaction, than we are about sacrifice. I mean, most of the time when you go to talk about sacrifice, some people get to talking about, they think, well, you know, he's talking about money. I'm talking far beyond money. You say, Preacher, what are you saying? J-Best said, God, you don't have to bless me. The Bible said in Ephesians 1, 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. in heavenly places in Christ. Can I tell you something? God's got what I need. Amen. Amen. He's got everything I need. Amen. I'll be honest with you. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, it amazes me and I'm not being ugly, but I'm just going to go ahead and just say it. I get sick and tired of these people that make these, these pious, these pious, faulty, fake, humble prayer requests. Amen. And what they're doing is they're just asking for a handout is what they're doing. I'll be honest with you, if you need something, what's wrong with the altar at the house of God? Maybe you ought to construct you a prayer closet. What? Amen. Get you a private place and get on your face before God and say, God, by your help, by your grace, I'm gonna trust you, I'm gonna believe you because you are all I need. Amen. I got a preacher friend of mine right now that the Lord privileged us last year to take a load of supplies to with hands across the nation. And he's planted a church in Mount Logan, North Carolina, Mount Logan, Utah in Latter-day Saint territory. And where everybody told him he couldn't plant a church. To be honest with you, he planned a church where he didn't want to plan a church. He said, I was going to Idaho. But God said, Utah. Can I tell you something? I can't remember the name that they used for them things. But in Latter-day Saint communities in that area, it's just all Latter-day Saints. Each community has a church. And if you live in a certain community, you don't get to pick where you go to church. You go to church where they tell you to go to church. And his church sits on a street. And on that street, you can look to the right, and you see the church steeple. Now, their church steeples are different than our steeples. Their church steeples don't have crosses on them. Isn't that amazing? You say, why? Because Christ ain't the center of their religion, even though they say he is, but he's not. You know, you look to the right, you can see the church or the building for that neighborhood. You look to the left, you can see another steeple, and that's the church or the meeting place for that community. And God put him on the street right between both of them. Amen. They started out in a little storefront building, and they found a church building that they wanted to move into. Now, let me blow your mind. There was a man that was a Latter-day Saints. that owned a church building. They came in, made him an offer, made him mad. He said, I'll turn it into a business or a car lot before I let that church have it. So they thought it was over and done. So they just kept being faithful, kept meeting in their little storefront building. All of a sudden, the preacher went to the mailbox one day, Brother Andy. He was going through the mail, and he found an odd envelope. Wasn't used to seeing that envelope. Opened the envelope. There was nothing. If my memory serves me correctly, and that's a scary thing to depend upon, but I'm going to step out right here. If my memory serves me correctly, he said there was nothing. There wasn't a letter. There wasn't nothing in the envelope. He said there was only a check. He said he thought it was just a support check from a supporting church that maybe mailed out differently or whatever. And so he opened it up, he pulled the support check out, he carries a picture of it, Brother Sam, on his phone. It was a check for $250,000 from a man he did not know, from a person he did not, it was a personal check, amen? He's like, this can't be real. He called the man, he called the man. And can I tell you something? He called the man and he said, sir, he said, I got this check. And he said, yeah, preacher. He said, the Lord just burned my heart and told me to send you something to help buy you a church building. And see, in his heart, he was done discouraged because he thought they lost their church building. So you know what he did? He turned around, picked up the phone back, and he called that guy again. And that old boy got mad and he got hard, but he said something had happened when he called him. He said, he told the preacher, he said, I want to make another offer on that building. And he said, preacher, if you'll give me this right here, the building will be yours. Can I tell you something? They paid the man. was able to get the money to buy the building, was able to get the money to remodel the building, it needed to be fixed and cleaned up, and everything to do that, and God paid every single bit of it. You say, what are you saying, preacher, I'm saying this. J. Bear said, God, he said, bless me. He said, not only do I need the financial and the physical things to do what you've called me to do, but I need your wisdom, I need your strength, I need your help, God, give me. It's sad to say that we live in such a day when we are talking about God giving us things that we're taught, our mind goes to the physical and the tangible and the material. And I want to say something, we do need those things. But can I tell you something? If we desired Him more, I don't know that those other things wouldn't come. Amen. I'm gonna be honest with you, Brother Riley. I was coming in last night, and God, I got on my mind, got on my mind about y'all trying to build that house. Holy Ghost just stirred me. And I said, God, send them lumber. Under God, you got the best working crew in the world right around you, amen? I said, God, he needs lumber. He needs materials. He needs money to buy materials. God, send them what they need for that house. Amen, amen. You say, preacher, what are you saying? I'm saying, I ain't got it to do it. If I did, I would. Can I just say this? I just went above us all. Amen, amen. I didn't go to the bank. You said, you go to the bank? No, I went above the bank. Amen, you said, did you check the stock market? No, believe it or not, I went above that. Amen, amen, I just went above it, and I went to the courts of heaven, and I told the Supreme Sovereign, sitting on the throne, my friend, and his wife, Brother Riley and Sister Riley, they need some help over there. Ha, yes, amen. You say, preacher, that don't do nothing for me. It ought to do something for you. Amen, we can go above it all, and God's got what we need. Amen. Bless me, give me. Number two, look what he said. He said, Lord, and he said this. He said, oh, that thou wouldst bless me indeed. Then he said this, and enlarge my coast. First of all, he looked at the Lord and he said, bless me indeed. Then he said, give me. Then he said, enlarge my coast. Then this is what he said. He said, God, grow me. Psalm 92, 12 said this, the righteous shall grow like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Jabez said, Lord, I want you to enlarge my coast. I want to say something right here. The fact of the matter is, is this, Jabez understood that if he's gonna do anything, it's gonna take God to give him what he needs to do with what he's gotta do. But the fact of the matter is, is this, Jabez didn't wait till he got it. He just went ahead and said, God, I want you to give me what I need. He said, God, just go ahead and enlarge my coast. Jabez said this, he said, God, give me more to do. Church, let me ask you a question. How much time are you spending asking God to give you more to do? You say, oh, Lord, preacher, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this. What about, what else, what else, what else, what else can we do, preacher? I don't know, ask the Lord. Lord, what else you want us to do? God, enlarge our coast. God, enlarge our coast. God, let us grow like a palm tree. And God, let us grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Let us grow, let us reach, let us do more than we've done. God, grow me. Third thing, he said this, he said, give me, bless me indeed. He said, grow me and enlarge my coast. And then he said this, that thine hand might be with me. Number three, he said this, he said, God, give me, bless me. God, grow me, enlarge me. And then he said this, number three, he said that thine hand might be with me. He said, God, guide me. I want to be honest with you. What would it do tonight if we would throw off all controls? Can I say this? If we'd just drawn out of God, knowing the Bible said he'd drawn out of us, and we'd just say, God, I tell you what, as far as my life, here's the reins of my life. And you understand what I'm talking about as a bit in the horse's mouth, and those reins guide that horse. If we would just take the reins of our life and say, God, here's my life. You just guide me and show me which direction you want me to go. Just guide me. Just guide me, God. God, you want me to go that way, I'll go that way. You want me to go this way, God, I'll go this way. God, whatever you want out of me. The Bible said this, Psalm 31, verse three, it says, for thou art my rock, my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. The Bible said this in Psalm 73, 24, thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. Can I say something? I wonder if somebody tonight would be willing to say, God give me, God grow me, God guide me. And then look what he said lastly. He said, the Bible said this, O that thou wouldst bless me indeed and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me. And then he said lastly, he said, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it might not grieve me, that it may not grieve me. Jabez said, God, give me, bless me. He said, God, grow me, enlarge me. He said, God, guide me that thy hand might be with me. But then he said this, he said, God, guard me. Keep me from evil. Can I say something? What did the old hymn writer say? Brother Sam, what's that song? Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. That's the hymn, that's the hymn lyric right there. What song does that come from? Come thou found, yeah. Can I tell you something? The hymn writer hit the nail on the head. Can I say something, church? If you aren't, I aren't careful, it's very easy to wander away from the path that God's got for us. There'll be things, there'll be obstacles, there'll be oppositions, there'll be opposers that'll come into our path, and if we're not real careful, and we're not real sensitive, and we're not real committed, it's very easy. But Jabez said, Lord, He said, I want you to guard me. He said, that thine hand might be with me. Psalm 31.3 says, for thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake, for thy name's sake. Amen. Can I say this? God is our defense, and he is our protector. Preacher, you say, what are you saying? I'm saying this. Are we going to go and grow, or are we going to stay and play? Let me give you three things and I'm finished tonight. Give you three thoughts. If we're going to go and we're going to grow, it's three things it's going to take. I want you to take your Bibles, keep your Bibles open. And I want you to follow with me in the scripture. Take your Bibles and turn to the book of Philippians chapter number three. Philippians chapter number three. I want to be honest with you. I believe that, and I know I've not been here, this is only my third time here. The revival last year and then the one Sunday service where we gathered the supplies to take up in South Dakota. But I believe I've been here long enough that I could honestly say I believe it's the heart's desire. I know it's the heart's desire of your pastor, because he's told me. I've heard him talk, I've heard him testify about his burden and his desire. And so I would believe tonight that I could venture out and say, upon what I know about this church, it's your desire. That staying and playing is really not an option. But you want to go and you want to grow. And can I say something? And I want to say this, if there's ever been a time when we're adamant about serving God and being faithful to God, it ought to be the day in which we live. I mean, I'm not being ugly, but I sat there a while ago and I watched that little choir get up and sing. And I ain't being ugly. I watched the adults and the older young people. I watched them with their hands in the air and I watched them tears in their eyes. I watched them come down and get in the altar. But I tell you that, and that's a blessing, that's an encouragement. But I tell you what, if there was any reason to go and to grow and to keep pressing on for God, I got to watch them two little bitty ones up in the front. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you then, don't you fault them. Don't you fault them. I looked up one time and both them two little ones up in the front had their hand raised and they's just praising the Lord. Everybody else was doing it, but they was doing it too. And two or three times, two or three times I watched, I watched them. I watched them, Brother Andy, and Sister Anya, I watched them. They turned around, and they looked right at you, and they saw you with your hand, saw you with your hand in the air. And I thought, well, they're doing it, but they're looking around. They're looking around. You say, what is that, preacher? That's setting the example in front of them. That's setting it before them. That's living it before them. That's letting them see it in you and me. And can I tell you something? You mark her down. If we're going to go and we're going to grow, we're going to have to set that example for a younger generation. I watched him too, let me tell you, it stirred my heart. So upon that principle and that basis and I believe that reality, I'm gonna give you these three thoughts on what it's gonna take if we're gonna go and we're gonna go. The book of Philippians, I told you to go and I didn't go. Chapter number three. Look at verse number 13 if you would. These are familiar portions of Scripture to you. It's not going to be anything you haven't heard. Philippians chapter number 3, you'll find this in the book of Philippians. You know it's the Apostle Paul that's writing. And he's writing to the church at Philippi. And there's so many things that he deals with. He deals with suffering. He deals with their unity and He deals with their commitment. There's so many things that He deals with and you just look through these chapters and He deals with them about the mind. I love that over in chapter number two where He said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus and He deals with all that. And I'm not gonna deal with that tonight because there's so much there. But we find him as he's coming down to the end of chapter number three and verse number 13, this is what he says to the church at Philippi. He said, brethren, he said, I count not myself to have apprehended. He said, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. in Christ Jesus. Can I say this? That word apprehended means this, it means to lay hold of. Now I used to think when I studied, when I read that, I thought the word apprehended means to stop. But then I got to thinking about what does a police officer do? Whenever he finds a criminal and he goes out and he gets him, he apprehends him. That means he lays hold on him. But look what he's saying. He said, I can't knock myself. He said, I haven't apprehended. So what's Paul saying? He said, I've not laid hold of those things which are behind. Can I say something tonight? Jabez had a past, but he did not let his past cause his present to be less than honorable. Amen. Can I tell you something, church? You listen to me. When it comes to the ministry of a church, there'll be ups, there'll be downs, there'll be some things in the past that we would, to God, would have never happened. But we don't have to let the past dictate what we do in the present. So number one, I wanna say this. If we're gonna go and we're gonna grow, there's gonna have to be a dismissal of the past. There's going to have to be a dismissal of the past. He said, I cannot not myself. He said, I'm not holding on to the past. I'm going to be honest with you. You hold on to the past, you can't press forward to the future. Amen. I want to be honest with you tonight. Some people can't ever find the peace in their heart that they really need from God because they keep holding on to their hurt of yesterday. and they're hurt of back then, and they're pain from back then, so and so did this to me back then, and it's always back then, back then, and they can't go and enjoy God today. If you're gonna go and grow, church, if you're gonna go and grow, you're gonna have to dismiss the past. There's gonna have to be a dismissal of the past. You're gonna have to let it go. Let it go. Tonight, tonight, if there's something in your heart, in your past that keeps dragging you down, that keeps running you down, keeps discouraging you, defeat you, can I say this? What you need to do tonight, you need to get on this altar. Amen. Can I tell you something? I've learned this after almost 29 years of marriage. Can I tell you something? The things you try to hold on to that maybe your spouse's inadequacies or their failures or their hurts or something they said and all that kind of stuff, you don't let that go, tear your marriage up. You ever said, preacher, have you ever said things that hurt your wife? Sure I have. Has your wife ever said things that hurt you? Sure she has. But I'm glad I've got a mate that I can sit down and say, hey, that bothered me. And she'll look at me and I'll look at her. We'll cry together. We'll love on one another. Whoever needs to apologize, we'll apologize. And we'll go on and do our best not to make the mistake again. Amen. Amen. I will never forget, I was preaching revival one time for a preacher down in Mississippi and he told me, he said, me and my wife ain't never had a cross word. I thought I'm going home because he's a liar, amen. We ain't having no revival here this week, he's a liar, amen. A preacher got a lying problem, we ain't having revival, amen. Amen. And I'll be honest with you, I said, what? Because it sort of shocked me that he would even say something. I said, what? He said, we've never had a cross word. He's looked over his life. He said, ask her. He said, we've never had a cross word, have we? She said, no, we've never had a cross word. I thought she didn't seem as convinced as he was. Amen. I looked at him, and anyhow, I looked over at him, I said, well, I said, me and my wife's had a lot of words that didn't resemble the cross either, amen? Amen, amen. Don't tell me you're gonna put two Adamic-natured people in the same house together, and it's gonna always be sunshine and roses, amen? It ain't happening. Amen, amen. Don't do that mess. Don't say something. Don't try to convince me that you live on some kind of spiritual plane that nobody can ever acquire. Amen. Amen. You say, what are you doing? I'm saying this. Whenever you get hurt, somebody hurt you, let it go. Let it go. Amen. You say, well, so-and-so don't deserve me to forgive them. Amen. You don't deserve God to forgive you, but he did. Amen. In light of what God's done for us, that ought to be enough foundation right there for us to never hold a grudge against anybody. I ain't being ugly, but you and my sin put him on the cross and cost him his dear life. I mean, the few words somebody spoke that hurt your feelings kind of frails in comparison to that. Dismiss the past. I'll be honest with you, I'm plowing right here, because I'm going to tell you something. If you're going to go on and serve God with victory and joy and happiness, you're going to have to let some things go. Amen. Amen. You may have to go to somebody and say, hey, I'll be honest with you, I didn't even realize the Holy Ghost put his hand on this tonight. I didn't realize I was holding something. I was having this kind of feeling. And I want you to know I've asked God to forgive me, and I want you to forgive me. You may have to go home, pick a telephone up, and say, hey, I'll be honest with you. What you did years ago hurt me. But I want to say something. I want you to know I forgive you. And I want you to know that I don't hold it against you. I let it go. Amen. He says, is that easy? No, it's hard. But Lord, what fruit it bears. If you're going to go and grow, dismissal of the past. The next thing, let me say this. Take your Bible to the book of Acts, chapter number nine. You know this chapter. I call it the conversion chapter. The greatest conversion story in the Bible. The story of a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus. Old Saul. His life gets changed. Chapter number nine. The Bible said this, and you know the story. You know what's taking place. Look at verse number six. You know what's happened. Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the disciples of the Lord, went into the high priest, got letters to go to Damascus and go to the synagogues. And if anybody be found trusting Christ, men or women, that he could bring them bound to Jerusalem. And I ain't being ugly. You know what was fixing to happen after that took place. They were going to be killed. But yet, but on his road, on his trip down the road to Damascus, he was looking for, he was looking for Christians, but he met the Christ. And he fell on his face. And can I just say it this way? He just, Saul just got born again. Amen. But in verse number six, the Bible said, he who saw trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? Can I say something? If you're going to go and grow, church, if you're going to go and grow, there's going to have to be a dismissal of the past. But I want to say something. There's going to have to be a desire for the future. I want to be honest with you. What's your desire? And I know your preacher stands up and he preaches and he preaches and he preaches. And if you've not gathered through his preaching, you ought to know some of the desires in your pastor's heart for the future of this church. You know what? I love the story of David. And when he goes down to the brook, he gets five stones. And of course, everybody's got an opinion about those five stones. And somebody said, you know, David had determined if the first stone didn't get it, he had four more chances. And somebody said that Goliath, you know, we know Goliath had brothers. But anyhow, the fact of the matter is this, David had four more stones. And can I say this, a real simple analogy, we could really discern this, that the fact of the matter is David intended to take care of Goliath, but if anybody else stuck their head up, he was planning on taking care of that too. And can I tell you something, preacher, you know what? One of the best things you'll be able to do as a pastor, one of the greatest things I learned, you need to let your folks know the reason why you got them four of the rocks in your bag. Amen. Can I tell you something? Sometimes he don't know why them rocks is there. But when God shows him, he'll come to the house of God, he'll get in the pulpit one night, one morning, and he'll pull out one of them rocks and say, Church, it's the reason why I got this rock. The Bible said this. The Bible said this, without a vision, the people perish. Can I tell you something? You say, Church, you say, Preacher, there's not many of us. Can I tell you something? I know that, there wasn't many of you. When I was here, was it back in March, April, and we loaded up those supplies, but we loaded a trailer of supplies and took to a missionary that they're still gleaning from to this day. That they've been able to fix baskets and fix boxes and help needy families and help bus kids' families and stuff like that. You know who did that? This church did that. Amen. There's going to have to be a dismissal of the past, but then there's going to have to be a desire for the future. What the Bible say in Romans chapter number 10, you know the story. Paul said this, he said, Let me ask you a question, church. I'm talking to you as a whole. What's your desire for the future? What's your desire for the future? I'm not being ugly. I was walking today. Brother Andy, I was walking today, and I walked over there, and I walked down and went over there to that little old park there by the little creek that you used to tell me about, and went over there and got to walking around. I noticed they had that little old stage out there, that little bandstand-like area and all that kind of stuff. I thought, man, this would be a good place to have a singing in the park. Amen. Amen. Amen. I'll be honest, it would be a good place to have a singing in the park. And I thought, man, you could get some guys to roll in some grills out there and just invite the whole community to come and give them free hot dogs and drinks and stuff like that. Sing, sing, sing, sing. Everybody likes singing. They'll come here singing, amen. Then all of a sudden, right in the middle of that singing, jump up and say, well, my name's Pastor Andy Riley, and I just want to say thank you for coming out tonight. We want you to know Jesus loves you. And then lay the gospel to them, amen. Up one side and down the other, amen. Amen. I can guarantee you, Limley's Happy, Happy, Happy Inn backed that meeting, amen? Sponsored by, get a big old sign, sponsored by Limley's Calico Rock Inn, amen? Amen. You say, what are you saying, preacher? I'm saying, what's your vision? I mean, I walked around for an hour, just an hour, I walked around for an hour, and I got to thinking all kind of things. I ain't even a member of the church, I can't even vote. You say, preacher, what are you saying? There's gonna have to be a dismissal of the past, but there's gonna have to be a desire for the future. What do you wanna see your church do? Get on your knees before God and say, Lord, open this door for us. Open that door for us. God, show us the path you'd have for us. Number three, and I'm finished. There's gonna have to be a dismissal of the past. There's gonna have to be a desire for the future. But then let me just say this, take your Bible and the book of Psalms 118, I'm finished. Psalms 118. Find your place, say amen. I'm still hearing pages, I'm gonna give you a second. Psalms 118, look at verse number eight. The Bible said it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations can pass me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. Let them gather. Me and God will whoop you. That's what he said. That's Perseology right there. He said, just get all around me if you want to, but me and God will whip you. That's what's happening. Amen. He said, in the name of the Lord, I'll destroy them. He said, they can pass me about. Yeah, they can pass me about, but in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. Told you he told them he's gonna whoop them. They can pass me about like bees. That's a scary thing. They are quenched as the fire thorns, for in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped me. I'll be honest with you, you can't stop a child of God in the will of God. Amen. That was a wimpy amen from this church. I said, you can't stop a child of God in the will of God. You say, why? Because the Lord will help me. Amen. You say, well, I got the government behind me. Well, I got the banks behind me. I got the Lord behind me. Go above that. Amen. Thank God I'm telling you, it's time that the church of the living God get out of its dead, lethargic state and it's God who's on our side. It's God who's defending us. It's God who's helping us. Thrust sore at me, come against me with all you will and try to make me fall. The Lord will help me. Verse 14, the Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation. Nowhere in the scripture does it say I won't have to fight the battle, but it does always say that I'll always have a captain. Amen. If we're going to go and grow, it's going to take a dismissal of the past, a desire for the future, and then it's going to take a dependence on the Savior. It's going to take you relinquishing your thoughts and ideas and your ways and your plans and finding out what His are and just depending on Him. I finished a new song the other day. It said, the course that I've learned to lean on Jesus, I have put my trust in him. Earthly loves are all forsaken. I have learned to lean on him. Amen. Can I say something? I won't say this. I'm finished. You pray the Lord to help me. The greatest difficulty in your Christian life will not be falling in love with Christ. How can we not love somebody who's done what He's done? I mean really, if you think about it, loving Him is really quite easy. I mean ain't nobody done what He's done. Nobody's paid the price that he's paid. Nobody's made provision for me like he's made provision for me. Nobody's loved me when I was unlovable like he's loved me. Can I say something? He's been more to me than I'll ever be able to be to him. Can I tell you something? The greatest difficulty in your Christian life will not be falling in love with Jesus. The greatest difficulty in your Christian life will be falling out of love with yourself. If I could just love Him like I love me, my, what sweet fellowship we could have.