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1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (7/10/14)

Jabez, a man of HONOR!

July 10, 2014 • Benham Brothers

Jabez made a simple request of God, and God granted it to him. So who was Jabez? Observe:
1) He was the right WHO - he was honorable, which meant he lived in such a respectful way that he was distinguished among his bretheren.
Honorable people concern themselves more with WHO than DO - they want to BE the right person and not just DO the right things.
1 Sam 2:30 - "...if you honor ME I will honor you...."
He knew WHO he was - Jabez means "sorrow, trouble." His mom named him this because she didn't want him to forget the pain she went through to give him life!
Jesus did the same for us - He endured death to give us life!
Psalm 78:9 - "The men of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle because they FORGOT"
3) He asked for a blessing - he knew his history! He remembered God giving Abraham a blessing.
He aspired to be a part of God's blessing, because he knew that apart from God's blessing his life would be worthless.
He knew that God's blessing was for a purpose - for God to be honored!
4) He wanted God's presence - he knew about Moses denying the Promised Land if God didn't go in with them.
Jabez didn't want the blessing without the God of the blessing. He wanted God more than His blessing.
We often times go for the blessing but miss the God behind the blessing in the process.
5) He wanted to be clean - he saw how dirty Solomon got even though he was the wisest man ever.
He didn't want God's blessing if he was going to end up living a dirty life.
6) He got what he asked for - because he asked with the right intentions.
1 John 3:22 - we will get what we ask for when we ask with the right motives. Why?
When we seek to honor God we will live honorably, and when we live honorably we will make honorable requests - and God will never say no to an honorable request! It happened for Jabez and it will happen for us! It's all about HONOR!