Jabez’ Prayer(1 chronicle 4;9~10)

God is greatest 

Only God has power, we have none 

Only God is holy, we are not 

Only God is forever being, we couldn’t live forever 

Only God is creator, we are just his creation. 

Only God knows everything, 

we know nothing of what’s going to happen . 

We don’t know if we can still go home or not after this service 

If God does not allow, we can not do anything. 

We don’t know our future, we do not see tomorrow 

We can not be assured of 

In fact, we can not even carry out our promise 

We can not do anything if God has forbidden 

Like the weather in Baguio, even there’s sun shine in the morning suddenly unexpectedly it rain strong. 

Like the weather, life changes unexpectedly, maybe now everything is so nice and yet just after a few second, it just become worst, 

Like this, we cannot boast of what we have. 

Because everything is in God’s hand, 

If God permits then it shall happen 

Like the Filipino saying”Kung hindi ukol, hindi bubukol.” 

Everything comes out from God 

Everything is in God’s hand. 

Let us pray 

Father we come to you in your name 

Without you Lord in our lives, we are nothing 

You are the creator and I am only your creation 

Lord, we proclaim that you are the only King  

And the Lord in our lives…. 

Today I want to introduce one person to you 

His name is Jabez 

You know,There are many people that appear in the Bible. 

Most of them mention about their fathers 

For example, Abraham was the father of Isaac, 

Isaac the father of Jacob 

And, Jacob the father of Judah. 

Like this, they usually mention about their fathers. 

But today's passage contains no mention of JaJabez' father 

Even you read all over the Bible, you cannot find the father of Jabez. 

You know why the Bible did not mention the father of Jabez? 

Some theologian says, 

because it was probably the mother of Jabez was raped. 

Other says, the husband abandoned her when she was pregnant 

That is reason why Jabez' father was not mentioned in the Bible. (Dao) 

She was not happy giving birth to Jabez 

because it was maybe unwanted pregnancy. 

that's why the mother didn't want to deliver Jabez. 

Bible says that the mother of Jabez gave birth to him in pain. 

You know most of mothers are excited 

to give a birth to a child. Isn't it? 

Most people think that a baby is a blessing to them. 

But Jabez came out of this world in pain 

Do you know what the Jabez name means? 

It means, grief, pain 

My name is Sung Joon Tack, 

the meaning of Joon is excellent and Tack means fountain. 

My parents expect that excellence will spring out from me 

so they gave me this name. 

My daughter name is Jessica 

Originally this name came from Hebrew as Iscah 

And it means "advance " / abante. 

I made her name Jessica because I want her to go forward and not backward 

Oftentimes, people make beautiful names for their children. 

But in this passage, the mother named his son Jabez meaning grief, pain and sorrow. 

You can just imagine, how the mother was distressed about her pregnancy 

so when he gave a births, she named her child pain 

when Jabez grew up, the people tease him 

"Hey pain , "come here let's play 

"Pain let's go to school." 

How that hurts when other people do that 

Jabez grew up in sorrow 

he thought of himself unlucky and unhappy. 

And he believed his life is miserable. 

he always sufferd from inferiority complex 

But when he met God 

Everything was changed, 

he changed his thinking about himself. 

When he met God, he didn't look at his circumstance. 

He didn't look at his surrounding anymore. 

He looked forward to God 

And he prayed to God 

He cried out to the God of Israel 

Oh! Lord you would bless me because I was born in pain 

Oh! Lord you bless me more than others because l was born in grief 

Lord you know how miserable my situation so enlarge my territory. 

Lord, make me free from this pain. 

Jabez prayed to God 

And God granted his prayer 

So that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers 

Jabez changed his miserable life to living in prosperity through prayer 

Brothers and sisters 

Prayer changes our situation. 

Prayer changes the circumstances that surround us 

To pray is the key to solve our problems 

To pray is the answer for all the matters. 

To pray is the way of blessing. 

Like Jabez we should pray to God 

We should cry out to God. 

Do not look at our situations. 

Do not look at our circumstances that surround us 

Look at the God our almighty 

And pray to God 

Cry out to God 

You know when I emphasize about prayer 

someone said "oh that is Korean style not Philippines style" 

But brothers and sisters 

Praying is not just Korean style 

Praying is bible style 

And it is Jesus style (brothers and sisters) 

(even)Jesus teaches us that prayer is very important 

And showed the power of prayer through his life 

When Jesus was here in this world 

He spend his life time with prayer 

He arose early in the morning to pray 

He prayed in the evening 

And on occasion, He made a time to pray all night 

He climbed the mountain and prayed 

He went outside the village to be alone with God to pray 

But again and again wherever he was he prayed 

He prayed before he multiplied the bread and fish. 

He prayed before he raised Lazarus from dead 

And today he is in the right hand of God and praying for us (Rm.8;34) 

Like Jesus we should pray all the time. 

Prayer is like battery of cars 

If you have very nice car 

But the battery is out, 

Your car is nothing but iron. 

Like this if we do not pray or fail to pray we become nothing. 

Brothers and sisters 

There is no other way but prayer 

In the Bible, 

we see many testimonies where God answered prayer 

Hannah has no baby so she prayed to God with crying every day. 

So God gave her Samuel 

Jacob prayed to God for the reconciliation with his brother 

and God made them in peace and friendship. 

Hezekiah prayed to God when he was dying 

and God extended his life for 15 years 

Elijah prayed to God for widow's child who just died 

and God returned his life. 

And there are so many, many God answered for prayer in the Bible. 

Brothers and sisters 

When I finished in bible school 

I did not become a pastor at once. 

But my mother prayed for me all the times 

Every day, she woke up early in the morning 

and she went to church and prayed for me 

Also in the evening she went to church and prayed again. 

Even though it was raining to hard or the wind was strong 

She did not absent prayer meeting in the church. 

She always prays in the church for me. 

She always cries out to God for me to be a pastor 

She is the woman of prayer. 

Because of my mother's prayer 

Finally I became a pastor after 15 years 

Brother and sisters 

The most important thing of today and tomorrow is prayer 

Bible says seek the Lord while he maybe found, 

Call to him while he is near 

There is no other way but prayer 

there is power in prayer 

I really want this church get to be a church of prayer 

(I want you start this new semester with prayer) 

Actually I want all of you become a man of prayer 

I know that we pray, 

but I believe we could pray more. 

I know most of you pray, 

but I believe most of you could witness more answers to prayer. 

pray like Jabez 

then Problem will go away /frustration will go away 

troubles will go away /failures will go away 

and you will experience miracle in your life 

It is not because you are very nice people 

but because God hears your prayer 

Bible says pray continually 

God does not guarantee those who do not pray 

We have not because we ask not 

Why worry when you could pray 

if we eager to pray, the blessing of God will be given to us 

God wants to show great thing to the person who prays 

The Lord longs to be gracious to you and your family 

He waits on high to have compassion on you and me 

Let's communicate with God 

Let's make this church the church of prayer 

Come to the Lord /Open our heart/And pray to God 

Father you would bless me indeed 

Father, give me double blessing because I'm poor 

Father you change my miserable life to happy life 

Enlarge my territory, enlarge our faith 

Keep us from evil, keep us from pain 

Father We need your power and direction 

And we pray that your hand be with us 

Continue to bless our life 

Bless our future Bless our ministry