Enlarging Faith Through Prayer and Relationships

Welcome to the Victory Broadcast. If this ministry has impacted you in any way, please consider supporting the spread of the gospel by visiting us online and choosing the giving option that works best for you. Now we pray that this message will stir your heart and build your faith. Get ready to receive the Word of God. I want to just say, I love you and shout out to everybody in the room. Our new gathering on the south side, so greetings to everybody who are part of the family of Victory South. Shout out to everybody watching me right now in Victory City, watching in places all around the city and the metro Atlanta area. And shout out to our online family who streams and watch in cities all around the country. We welcome you all to Victory Church and welcome you all to this room, our broadcast location, Victory South. And we are thankful to be in the presence of Almighty God. If you're in the chat right now, just make some noise in the chat. We're so glad to see you. Thank you for being with us, whether in person or online. This is week four of a series called Enlarge My Territory. And I trust that this series has been a blessing to you so far. Anybody? For all of our visiting family members and friends, if you are a guest, welcome to Victory Church. We're so glad that you are here. Thankful that you are in the room. Thankful that you're watching online. And if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, or if you are unchurched or still exploring the claims of Christ, is this man who he said he really was. We're just thankful that you're here. We believe that whether you're online or in the room, this is a safe place for you to explore and to grow and to lean in. and to not be forced, but to be drawn by God towards deeper purpose for what he has for you. So we thank you that you are here. If you are a guest, if you've missed some great messages, those are available for you on our YouTube, on our website, or on our app. This is a collection of messages or collection of teachings born out of our survey, our biblical walk through the prayers of one obscure man and what we call the Old Testament of the Scriptures. I believe personally from my study of God's Word that there is a lot we can gain from studying the prayers of other people. And I do believe personally that there is a lot we can gain from watching how God responds to the prayers of other people. A good example of that before we get into God's Word is that I like to spend a lot of time reading the prayers of a man named David, the second king of ancient Israel. He gives me permission to be mad about stuff in God's presence. I mean, he has prayers where he's praying for people to be crushed, God break their teeth, I'm mad at this person, exact avenge on my enemy, and when I read his prayers, he lets me know that it's okay to be angry, and it's okay to be mad, it's okay to be hurt, and it's okay to give all of that to God because he's big enough to handle all of the full range of my emotions, right? This is good for some of us who tiptoe around the presence of God, thinking that he doesn't already know that you're upset about somebody who hurt you last week, right? And so when we read the prayers of other people, it gives us insight into how we should pray ourselves, but how God responds to prayers. It teaches us a lot about the character of God, that He is a loving Father, that He knows, He sees, He cares, and He understands. And the benefit we have is that He sent His Son, who lived a life like us, and now is in heaven. and who the scripture says in Hebrews can understand everything that we're going through. So there's nothing that you are going through that the Lord does not understand. Does that make sense to somebody? So we are studying the prayers of a man named Jabez. And before I jump into this message, I have to address something that was a big conflict for me this morning. I almost completely threw this sermon out and was prepared to just come up here and just talk. just from the overflow of my study time because um uh how can i lay this out for you uh uh the the the bible that you own or have in your home or on your phone or ipad is really not just a book but it is really a collection or a library of 66 ancient documents 39 of them in what we call the Old Testament, 27 in the New, that have been preserved for us by God Almighty. That collection of 66 ancient documents was written down by the guidance of God on 40 different authors. They lived at different times over... a period of 1500 years. They had lives that was lived out on three different continents, okay, and the scriptures, the original manuscripts was recorded in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Hebrew in the Old Testament, Greek and Aramaic in the New Testament. What you have on your lap or on your phone is an English copy of original manuscripts that came from other languages, where men through time have done their best to take the original manuscripts and put them in English translations for us. As a result of that, some of our translations are more reliable than others. Some of the words from different translations are different than others based on the interpretation of men who put it in English. We have some words in Hebrew that we don't have in English. There are some Hebrew words that we don't have for, we don't have a translation for those words in English. The verse that we're going to be talking about today is controversial in a sense. Because if you open any translation in English, they are different in every translation. Now up until this point, if you read any translation, all the verses we've been studying, they line up. But this one verse we're going to study today, if you open any translation, they are different. This one verse is different in every single translation. Now we generally teach from... The NIV, it is because it is the most read, and I think it's easier for you to understand. But whether you go from the NIV to the NLT to the Message to the NESB to the New King James, this one verse is different in every single English translation. And so we have been studying this text from the New King James Version of the Bible. which is a version that is closely connected to the original manuscripts. And this morning I almost tossed out this whole sermon because as I'm just looking over other translations, this one verse we're going to mean, based on whatever translation you read, it can take the interpretation of this verse in different directions. Now I'm telling you this only because for some of you this may bore you. For me this is important because I believe in fidelity to God's Word. I believe in the power of sound doctrine and I believe in the fidelity of biblical teaching that for me I never want to force into the text what is not there. I never want to do eisegesis, pull out of the text what is not there. I want to be able to stand before God when I give an account on a day of judgment and say I did everything I do to be a good shepherd and steward of these sacred holy documents. So I resolved in my spirit this morning to preach a message to you, this message, with the angle based on the version that comes from the New King James. For some of you on your Bible, when I read this to you, it's going to be different. I'm going to explain this to you, and I'm just going to give you the message that God gave me based on what I believe the version we use in this morning is what the Holy Spirit wanted you to hear. Again, this verse can take you in different directions, but the angle I'm going to take, I believe, is what the Holy Spirit wanted you to hear. Does that make sense to you? Okay. Ezra the writer. Okay. The book is 1 Chronicles, a letter of encouragement and exhortation to a people disconnected from their past in history. Nine chapters of a family tree. He inserts one man's prayer in chapter 4. It is the study that we've been in for the last four weeks. This is the week 4. 1 Chronicles chapter 4 verse 9. It says, now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. We're going to be coming back to that later in this series. And his mother called his name Jabez because I bore him in pain. That is, she went through a traumatic experience and passed that pain off to him in his name. And Jabez called on the God of Israel and said, Oh, that you would bless me indeed. No problems there with other translations. That you would enlarge my territory or coast. No problems there with other translations. That your hand will be with me. No problems there. But the verse we're about to study next is where there's differences of verses. and that you would keep me from evil that I may not cause pain. And we're going to come back to this last part later in this series. So God granted him what he requested, that is God says yes. Now in the NIV it says, God keep me from harm so I will be free from pain. That is keep me from doing foolishness to myself so that I won't feel pain. The King James says, keep me from evil so that I will not cause pain. In the NIV, the word cause is not there. The English translators didn't put that in there. In the New King James, which is closer to the original manuscripts, the translators put the word cause. They said, Pastor, I don't get it. Whichever one you read, the message is different. One message is, Lord, protect me so I don't hurt myself. The other one is, Lord, hear my prayer so I don't hurt others. And whatever Bible you're reading, you can take that message in different directions. So because we started in the New King James, I'm going to preach this message from the New King James. Because I believe that's probably what the Holy Spirit wants to hear for you. So we're going to talk to you and the person next to you. I'm talking to you and your family. You and your children, you and your spouse, you and your friends, you and your co-worker, you and your enemies, you and the people on your team, Lord keep me from evil that I may not cause pain, is the version the Holy Spirit gave me for you. We're going to tag a title to this message, kept from evil, cause no pain. Kept from evil, caused no pain, and I almost scrapped this, but I'm just going to let it land where it lands, and let the Holy Spirit minister to you based on a version I feel like God gave me for you. Kept from evil, caused no pain. Father, in the name of Yahshua HaMashiach. The Lord God Almighty, He who was and is and is to come, the creator of all things, the one who is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the one before whom we... all will give an account for the life we have lived in this body. The one we cannot escape, the lover of our soul, the one who the scripture says his eyes were like a blazing fire, the one who has loved us more than what we deserve. In his name, God, I pray you would silence every distraction in this moment. I pray through that camera and in this room you would move on your sons and daughters and those who are friends outside the kingdom. And Father God, I pray in the name of Jesus that this word, we need this, would not fall on deaf ears. But God, I pray it would minister to our soul, it would step on our toes. It will bring conviction that leads to change and conviction that leads to maturity. Though heavy, Lord, let it be like honey in our mouths, like Ezekiel. I pray that in the mighty and majestic and the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody help me stir the atmosphere by just saying amen. Come on, shout amen. Come on, shout amen. This may get a little intense, but it's good for you and me. Amen? Eye contact. Thank you, Frank. Eye contact. Several years ago... I was dealing with a very painful and very difficult situation in my personal life and in my ministry. And I was working through that difficult situation with one of my mentors, who was also my pastor and has been in the ministry for 20 years. The Bible says in the multitude of wise counsel, there is safety. He made a profound statement to me as we went through the painful situation I was going through and in retrospect over the last couple years as I have looked back over that statement and my life carefully I realized that that statement was true for me, that statement is true for you, and that statement is going to be true for you until the day you depart this life. The statement was so profound I want to put it up on the screen. I believe they put it in my notes, and if they didn't, I want to read it to you, and here is what the statement he said to me. He said, Philip, your greatest joy and your greatest pain will come from the exact same place. He said to me, he said to me, he said, son, your greatest joy and your greatest pain will come from the exact same place, and that is your relationships. Your relationships in this life will always be the source of your greatest joy, and at the same time, they will also be the source of your greatest pain. And as you get older, and as you reflect on your life, you will look back over your life and testify that my deepest tears, my deepest tears, and my greatest laughter has come from the same place, from my relationships. There are parents listening to this message right now with teenage and older children who can testify that in one season those children have brought them great joy, and in another season those children have brought them great pain. There are people in this room who has close friends who can testify that in one season your close friends brought you great joy, and in another season of betrayal that same friend brought you great pain. Nobody wants to be honest. There are people in this room who can testify that you were close with a co-worker who in one season brought you great joy. Man, y'all be hanging out at the water cooler, going to lunch together, and in another season that same co-worker got you in trouble with the boss and they brought you great pain. There are dating relationships in this room. People who got into dating relationships with someone who in one season brought you great bliss, great joy, great lust. Great hips, great height, great color, great fill in the blank, great numbers, great dating, great restaurants, great movies, and another season they was the bane of your existence. They brought you great pain. And the one person you loved in one season is now the person you hate in another season. You can't even stand to see them on social media. You delete, you unfollow, you block. When at first you would throw a hearts on everything they put on social media. It was all hearts on one season, and it was getting blocked in another season. Somebody say amen. Some of us can testify having a great mentor who was pouring into you in one season. You put expectations on them to be your mother or father. They could not live up to those expectations, and so you got hurt. And now in another season, man, you hate that person. All they do is cause you pain. Some of us could testify of pouring into someone else, who you was loving on in one season, they got too big for their britches in another season, and now what was joy in one season is now pain for you in a new season. Can anybody say amen to that? I'm gonna go deeper. Where all my married people at? All the married people's... Because I don't got to prove this to you. Y'all be laid up in the bed, loving on each other on Monday, and be back-to-back and don't have nothing to say to each other on Thursday. Thank you. I'm trying to, sister. Some of you know what it is to have found the person of your dreams in one season and then be signing divorce papers in another season, because we all know this to be true. that the greatest source of our joy and the greatest source of our pain they always come from the same place from our relationships jesus noticed to be true loving on judas in one season and dealing with his betrayal in another season telling peter you're going to be the pastor of the first church in one season and then listening to him deny you in another season. I just told you you was going to take over my ministry, and then I'm eavesdropping on you disrespecting me. And if we just pause with Jesus' relationship, forget ours, let's just take his relationship. Man, there are two powerful dynamics that was even at work in the relationship and the betrayal between Jesus and Judas. that are present in all of these different relationships where we're dealing with pain and joy from the same places. Two things at work in that situation that are often at the center of much of the pain that you and I endure personally in our lives and in our relationships. I want to just talk about both of them, and I'm going to bring it back to Jabez. Let's just stay with Jesus for a second, right? The first dynamic that was working between him and Judas was a devaluation of the relationship. And whenever you devalue a relationship, it starts to breed this word called dishonor. Where Jesus was Lord in one season and then he was common in another. And the most valuable commodity you have in this life after your time and your health, listen to me, is your relationships. Let me help you. Let me say this to you again. The most valuable commodity you have in this life after your time, which is a fixed commodity you will never get back, that's why the Bible tells you don't waste it and make the most of every opportunity, and your health, because it don't matter how anointed you are, if you're laid up and sick, you can't use that body. That's why the Bible tells you, steward your temple well, but after your time and your health, the third most valuable relation, the third most valuable asset or commodity you have in this life are your relationships. Your relationships, think about them, are the source of your greatest joy, your greatest laughter, your greatest memories, your greatest moments, your greatest support. The majority of things God will bless you with will walk into your life on two legs. He would open up doors in your life because of a relationship. He will bring you out of a dark season because of a relationship. Point you in the right direction because of a relationship. Change your direction from going down the wrong path because of a relationship. You will never imagine how much God has done in your life because of relationships. And how he works through them for your good. Relationships make the journey of life more enjoyable. Can you imagine life with no friends? Nobody to love? Nobody to love you? That is a miserable existence. Some truth. Some relationships, they are situational. And transactional. They come in, they come out, and they serve their purpose. Some relationships are seasonal. They're only meant to be there for a period of time. Some relationships are lifetime. God sent them there to ride with you until you die. Some relationships are meant to endure. Others are meant to end. Because sometimes there's something as, listen, necessary endings. For your own personal sanity and health. And where relationships often cause the most pain, look at me, eye contact, I'm trying to help you. Where relationships often cause the most pain is where they are punctuated by either intentional or unintentional words and acts of dishonor. Let me say this again. This message is going to help you today. Where relationships cause the greatest amount of pain is where they are punctuated by either intentional or unintentional acts and words of dishonor. An abused woman from her husband knows what it feels like to be dishonored. A man who has been emasculated by a wife knows what it is to be dishonored. A child that curses out a parent knows what it is to be dishonored. And where we feel the most pain in our relationships is where we feel dishonored, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Honor, look right at me, is the proper value or weight we ascribe to people, places, and things. Honor is the proper... weight or value we give or ascribe to people, places, and things. Honor is a dying ethic in our generation. I don't understand that, but it's a dying ethic in our generation, and it's to our own demise because, man, we are good for practicing treating things as common. that God has ascribed value and honor to. We as human beings, we are good for doing this. We are good at treating things as common that God said was extremely honorable. And we treat it like it has no worth and value. Watch. Honor causes us to see people through the lens of value. When you are a person of honor, you see through a lens of value. You put value on things. When you have the honor glasses on, you see through a lens of value. Especially when we do not, listen, properly value our relationships or interactions with people. And whenever that lens is distorted, look what we do. We can cause or inflict unnecessary pain on other people. Whenever our lens of value is distorted, whatever I do not value, the potential is there for me to dishonor it. Whatever I don't properly value, the potential is there for me to dishonor it. If I don't value God, I will dishonor him. If I don't value the church, I will dishonor it. If I don't value my mother, I will dishonor her. Whatever you do not properly value, the potential is always at the back door for you to dishonor it. This is the danger with familiarity. It eats away at value. This is what happened with Jesus and Judas. You were in a relationship with God in the flesh and for a sum of money. You throw away the greatest relationship you've ever had for 30 pieces of silver. You traded in a relationship with the Lord of glory for 30 pieces of gold or silver. Money was more valuable to you than being in intimacy with the Lord of glory. Not knowing that that relationship would have brought you more than 30 pieces of silver. And the moment Judas began to see Jesus as common, he thought 30 pieces of money was more important than the relationship. And as soon as he began to think that, wrong people got in his ears, and now he's a betrayer. The voices in his ears was more valuable than the testimony of that relationship. I'm going to teach this in another message in this series. I just want to throw in a free gem for you. Look right at me. Honor pulls out the best of what God has in someone else for you. One more time. I'm going to teach this in another message in this series. But let me just tell you this right now. Look right at me. Honor. pulls out the best of what God has put inside someone else for you. That when you honor people, it automatically makes a deposit on what God put in them for you. You get the best out of a mentor when you're honorable. You get the best out of a boss when you're honorable. You get the best out of a pastor when you're honorable. You get the best out of a spouse when you're honorable. Honor pulls out the best of someone else, what God has put inside them for you. You want a better wife? Honor. You want a better marriage? Honor. You want more favor with your boss? Honor. Some of you struggle in your job. You want more favor with your boss? Honor. You want more favor with an authority? Think your honor. There are people in your life you don't have no idea what God put in them for you and you will sabotage it if you don't know how to honor. It draws out of people the best that God has put aside them for you. But as we mature, as we mature, look right at me, eye contact, we learn to value the Imago Dei. The Hebrew word for the image of God imprinted on every human being. From the wealthy man to the homeless man, from the person who has everything to the prostitute on the street. That every time I stare into the eyes of another human being, when I mature, I see the Imago Dei. I see the image of God in your face. Trying to help you grow up. That when we understand the Bible says that every person was created in the image of God, the Imago Dei. That means every time I stare into the face of a human being, I see the imprint of God in that face. And when I'm mature, I learn to value the Imago Dei that does not make me mistreat people unnecessarily. Because when I stare at you, I see the image of God in you. It's why I can still treat a homeless man with respect and not walk by them like they're not human beings. Because even in their state, I see the Imago Dei that gives them worth and value. You treat your waiter like that at the restaurant. You disrespect the people that serve you at tables. We disrespect the homeless. We disrespect because we don't have no respect for the Imago Dei. Increasing value produces decreasing dishonor. Increasing value... produces increasing self-correction. The more I increase in honor, the more I increase in self-correction. That when I am honorable, I don't need people to always tell me I am wrong. When I am honorable, I start to say I was wrong for the way I treated you. So as honor increases in the heart, self-correction increases in the heart. As honor increases in the heart, grace towards others increases in the heart. As honor increases in the heart, forgiveness for others increases in the heart. As honor increases, grace increases, self-correction increases, forgiveness increases. And when we are mature in God, watch this, you get to the point where you don't want to be on the giving end of causing unnecessary pain to other people. gosh Lord help us today Jesus I'm not talking to babies when you are mature in Christ so I'm separating mature from immature you get to the point in your Christian walk where you start feeling regret when you keep passing on pain to other people that you don't just hurt people and sleep if you can do evil to people in sleep, then we know that you are not mature in the faith. Because when you're mature, you wrestle in your system when you know you have done wrong to other people. You'll be rolling around in your bed at night, but if you can do evil in sleep, then that means you're not mature yet in Christ. The key word here is mature, not age, because you could be 50 and immature. You could be 60 and immature. You could be 70 and still holding people like they don't deserve forgiveness, as if the blood of Jesus was not enough to pay for their sin against you. I know this one hurts, but it's going to help you. When we are mature, we get to the point where we say to ourselves, I don't want to be always on the giving end of causing unnecessary pain to other people. I don't want to be the one always bringing tears and frustration to other people. And that comes with maturity. The other dynamic between Jesus and Judas, we're going to come back to Jabez, is the unseen adversary. The unseen adversary. That word evil. Now look right at me. When I was... When I was in high school, I had my fair share of fights and gang fights. We call it in New York, getting jumped. Anybody ever heard that before? Getting jumped, like you're going to get jumped. And ten people fight one person at the same time. That's urban youth amendment. Y'all looking at me like you never heard that before, getting jumped. When I was in high school, I had my fair share of fights and group fights, getting jumped, both in the street and in school. And in New York, where I'm from... We would call having fights with people or gang fights. We would call this having beef. Anybody heard of this? You have beef. So if you got beef with somebody, y'all got problems with each other, and y'all going to solve it like grown men and women, right? Now, there are two different types of beefs. There's the type of beef where you know who you got beef with, you know when they're coming for you, 3 o'clock after school, you know what they're about, and you probably know the outcome of the fight. You know when you're going to get jumped, you know where they're going to meet you, and you probably already know the outcome of the fight. Watch. That type of beef is easy to prepare for. I'm going somewhere with this. When you know who you're going to fight, you know where you're going to fight them, you already know how they're going to fight, that type of beef is easy to prepare for. You know what to strap up, you know what razor to take, what Vaseline to have, you know what to take off your earrings. You know how to prepare for that kind of fight. Somebody say amen. But there's a different kind of beef. The beef that I call is mixed with gray, where a word comes to you like, yo, you're about to get jumped, and you don't know when. You don't know who. You don't know where. That type of beef is harder to anticipate because you have no idea, watch, where the attack is coming from. I have no idea when it is coming, how it is coming, or where it is coming. That is a more difficult kind of beef to prepare for. It's like, I remember one time when I was young, I was in this gang, and they made me take the hat off of a teenager. I was like 12 or 13. They said, that dude right there, steal his hat. And he was an Asian kid in a predominantly black neighborhood, and I went over there and I snatched his hat off his head like I was a G. I was 12. And I thought it was a G because I got this army behind me, and he's by himself. And I went and I snatched that half off his head. I felt tough. And then he walked away crying like, I'm going to come back and get you. He never said when. He never said where. He never said how. There was this pool hall. I used to hang out there all the time, play pool. I used to play Street Fighter and games. And I would be in there every day. But this one day, I was not in there. And then word comes back to me later in the week, yo, like 30 Asians showed up in that pool hall. They only had one way in and one way out. Like 30 of them, they came deep to that pool hall. Thank God. Thank God I was not in the pool hall that day. I might not have made it out that pool hall. They came strapped for beef. But in the same way, the scripture teaches that you and I have an unseen enemy. unseen adversary. Whether you believe in him or not, he is not the boogeyman. He was an angelic being in heaven, according to the scriptures. Had a name named Lucifer, responsible for worship in heaven. Because of pride, he tried to go against God. He was kicked out of heaven. Jesus said, I saw him fall like lightning from heaven down to the ground. But because he loved gossip, he was in the air of other angels. And one third of all those angels was kicked out of heaven down to the ground. They became demons. They are loose in the air. the earth. They watch you. They know you. They listen to our prayers and they hate you. They are on a mission to dismantle your faith, shipwreck your hope, destroy your life. They are doing everything they can to keep as many people away from Jesus as possible. They are human haters. They are wicked, vicious, and evil, and they exist. Right? And they exist. And Satan's primary tactics are deceit, division, and distraction. Wherever there's unity, he's coming to destroy that. Wherever there's close friendship, he's coming to destroy that. Wherever church is on the same accord, he's coming to destroy that. Don't let a husband and wife be on the same accord. He's going to do everything he can to destroy that because he thrives on division. Die vision more than one. He thrives on distractions. You'll be on your path to God and he sends a boy to distract you. Some girl to pull you down the wrong path. Distractions, division, deception. He'll lie to you and the best lie is not an outright lie. That's stupid. He always mingles a little bit of truth with a little bit of lie and we bite. You think you're some match for Satan without God? When the human race was at its prime, when it was perfect with no flaws, the enemy took them down with one conversation. We don't think about that. When the human race was at its prime, when it had no sin in their system, when it was intimate with God, walking with Him in the cool of the day, when we was at our strongest point, He took them down with a single conversation. Did God say? Gossip, slander, doubt. Did God really say? Wrong voices Eve was listening to, right? All right, let me land the plane. I am using these two dynamics to draw your attention to two things that you will continually keep navigating for the rest of your life, and that is spiritual evil and relationships. Spiritual evil and relationships. Look right at me. This is where we find Jabez again at the center of our text. We find Jabez wrestling with spiritual evil and issues in his relationships. Jabez and man of honor. Look what he said. He said, Lord, that you would keep me from evil. Okay, watch the verse. Lord, that you would keep me from evil. And here is the conjunction, that I may not cause pain. Okay, watch. Lord, keep me from evil. Watch the conjunction, that I may not cause pain. Okay. Lord, keep me from evil. Watch the conjunction, that I may not cause pain. Lord, keep me from evil, the unseen force. Watch the conjunction, that I may not cause pain. Lord, keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain. Lord, keep me from evil. that I may not cause pain. In other words, Lord, don't let Satan work in me to ruin one of the best things you have for me. Lord, don't let Satan work around me to destroy one of the most important things you have given me. Lord, don't let Satan work in me to ruin one of the best things you have given to me. Lord, keep me from evil. Conjunction that I may not spread pain. Who prays like that? A person who understands the value of their human interactions and relationships. Who prays like that? A person who wants to be protected from evil influences, lies in their ears, demonic activity around them that they don't cause harm to other people. How does the evil forces work in us and in us and around us to cause pain to other people? Three things, temptation, instigation, and devaluation. Temptation. The devil will keep tempting you to do things to bring harm to yourself. He will keep tempting you to bring harm to other people. He will tempt you to sabotage the best things that God intended for you to have, which are key relationships. He will tempt you to feel and act on emotions that you have. Because you keep listening to wrong voices and his lies. And because you feel some type of way for something you heard, you act on that and you sabotage something that God intended for you to have. He would work in you through instigation, making you the verbal transmitter of offenses, lies, gossip, and slander, using your mouth to do damage to other people. He will work through you through instigation when you like to keep drama going instead of being a peacemaker. You love to listen to gossip in the dark instead of being a peacemaker. I don't know that person to be like that. Let's pray about this. The Christians should say. Instigation is when we add fuel to the fire of our flesh and demonic fires instead of being agents of peace. He will cause us to devalue God-appointed relationships, devaluing bridges to your next by dishonoring the God-appointed relationships of your now. Let me say that again. He will cause you to devalue the bridges of your next by devaluing the God-appointed relationships of your now. Some of the relationships you have now, God intends to use the bridge for what he has for you next. But when you are dishonorable, you burn that bridge and don't even realize you can't walk over it now to what God had intended for you. Some people are a link to your next level. This is too grown. Some people are a link from God to your next level. You start treating that relationship as common and you sabotage the next thing God intended to do for your life. You say, but God will still get me to my purpose, just like the GPS. He'll say recalculate it, but now it's going to take you longer to get there. Or he's got to take you a different route that you wasn't supposed to go. When we start listening to wrong voices and being instigators, man, we make erroneous pivots away from people we're supposed to be in covenant with. God intended for you to be in covenant with that person, and because of your feelings, you make an erroneous pivot away from somebody that God anchored you to for a purpose you can't see with your immature eyes. So we make erroneous pivots when we're immature. Who told you to treat that person like that? Let me finish. Listen, I know it's commonly accepted for us to, and it's biblically right for us to fight against evil and to resist the devil so he will flee. But here's a revolutionary concept as I look at this prayer. What about praying to be kept from evil altogether? In other words, what if there's another kingdom play? Instead of fighting every battle, what if another kingdom play is, Lord, keep me from some of these unnecessary battles? What if another kingdom play is not fighting but avoidance? Don't you get tired of fighting sometimes? So what if another kingdom player is like, I don't feel like fighting this one. God, just take me around a different way. What if the kingdom player is not fight this one, but avoid that one? Not fight this battle, but avoid that battle. Not fight this temptation, but avoid that temptation. Lord, you know I struggle with lust, keep that woman away from me. All my brothers should be, you ain't gonna say amen because your girl's sitting right next to you? right when you know you struggle sometimes don't fight the struggle god keep me away from the struggle put the boundary between me and that temptation this is how wise people pray sometimes the kingdom play is not to fight but to avoid lord keep me from evil avoidance that i may not spread pain I'm closing, right? Oh my God. Jabez was a man wrestling with himself. He's wrestling with the state of his life. He's wrestling with a cursed name. He's wrestling with the fact that the way people treat him with a cursed name. I shared how names prophesy destiny. We can see from the anguish of his prayer and his cursed name that Jabez was a man dealing with brokenness and the pain that he had caused other people. While we do not know the details of what pain he has caused, we know that he is dealing with the spiritual misfortune of his name and the reflection of all the people he has hurt in his life because of evil operating in and around his life. Something very powerful happens in the life of a man or woman who starts to get concerned about spreading unnecessary pain to others. You know what happens? Imagine what happens in a marriage. When a spouse starts thinking, I don't want to do anything to cause unnecessary pain to my spouse. So I watch the way I talk to them, how I engage with them, how I love them, how I respond to their phone calls, how I lean into their emotions. That I'm not just attitude-y all the time. When I'm thinking about not causing unnecessary pain, it changes the way I treat my spouse. Now imagine what happens in a marriage when that happens. Imagine what happens in a dating relationship when a person is mature enough to say, I'm going to do everything I can to honor the Imago Dei in you. my sister and not spread unnecessary pain to you my brother imagine what happens between parents and children when they start thinking about not doing things to cause unnecessary pain to my parent or to my child how many of us would not have testimonies of abuse or rape or being touched wrong or scars that have have made us dysfunctional certain areas because someone did not honor the mongol day in us Imagine what happens on teams when we think about, I want to make sure my mouth and my ways does not spread pain in my church. The most valuable thing you have in this life after your time and your health is your relationships. They are the building blocks of the best things you will enjoy in this life. Your greatest joys, laughter. memories, intimacy, community, support, growth. The greatest blessings were into your life on two legs. They warrant humility. They warrant conflict resolution. They warrant maturity. And as we grow in maturity, we learn to honor the imago de we see in others when we start feeling the sense like, I don't want to be the person that's always causing other people to feel hurt. J. Bez watch, cried out, God bless me. He cried out, God, increase me. Watch, so powerful. Why would he pray, keep me from evil, that I might not cause pain? If God blesses you, God increases you, you have influence, opportunities, you have people around you. Now what is Jabez thinking about? He's thinking about legacy. How I will be remembered from my interactions with the people around me. I don't care what you put on IG. You are the sum total of the people who know you closest. All I got to do is talk to them and we know who you really are. You can't just pray for blessing and not have the responsibility of thinking about legacy. God bless me indeed. God enlarge my territory. God let your hand be on me. So God give me blessings. Give me increase. Give me favor. Now it takes maturity to steward that. I need to be thinking about legacy. How my mouth and my ways impact the lives of the people around me. So now he's praying, God, because I'm asking for blessing, because I'm asking for increase, because I'm asking for favor, now in my consciousness, I want you to keep me from evil, that I would not be the progenitor of unnecessarily hurting people I love. I don't want my children to be leaving my home, grieved that I was a terrible father. I don't want to pass on memories that I was a terrible mother. I don't want to have friends out there, this trail behind me, of people who are shedding tears because of my life. People who are broken because of my life, my mouth, my immaturity, my gossip, my slander, my inability to do conflict resolution, my emotions, my treating you as common because of something I heard and not valuing you for what God made you in my life. Lord, I don't want to be the progenitor of that type of mess. I want that watch to begin to die in my life. I don't want to be the one on everybody's list. He broke me. He hurt me. They betrayed me. We was together for so long. How could they start treating me like this? I don't want to be on the giving end of that. So maturity says, God, keep me from evil. So that I, Philip Anthony Mitchell, will not be the spreader of what? Unnecessary pain to other people. It requires maturity and discipline to say, I'm sorry, let's talk about this. How do you feel? You know, I've been thinking this about you and I feel like this is wrong. How do I want Lena to remember me if God calls me home? What type of husband would she say I was? What about my children? What type of husband or what type of father would they say I was? I had anger issues all my life. I'm trying to clean that up with them now. I had a meeting with them maybe four or five months ago and I said if daddy has ever been controlling and domineering and mad in the house I am sorry and I want to give y'all permission to feel and to cry and to tell me I was wrong and tell me how you feel so I can apologize to you why because although they are beneath me they still have the image of God on them so they still deserve Evil in this world is inevitable for a time until Christ returns. And interrelational pain is inevitable because we are broken and fallen creatures. But we can live in such a way where we mitigate the spread of unnecessary pain to others as we think about our words, our life, our actions. We cannot control the realms of spiritual warfare. We cannot control the attacks and influences of the adversary. We cannot control when we face temptations or how we face temptations, but we can fight, we can pray, we can avoid unnecessary pitfalls in our mind and our heart. Relationships. You cannot control the dynamics of every relationship. You cannot. You cannot control the actions and character of other people. You cannot. You cannot overlook that some relationships may be seasonal and some are meant to end. You cannot. But we can attempt to control our own actions and our own mouth and our own itching ears to unnecessarily spread pain, disappointment, hurt, and dishonor to people that God has placed in our lives. You know you have grown in maturity when you start to lament the hurt that you unnecessarily cause to other people. So how do we live out this part of the prayer? Lord, keep me from evil. Watch, conjunction. That I may not cause pain to people that's in my life. How do we live that out? Four things to protect your relationships from spreading unnecessary pain. Number one, walk in love. Stop posting about love on IG and you don't demonstrate that in person. Love is not a post, love is a demonstration. It's something we can see and feel. If you walk in love, you start to mitigate the spread of dishonor, the spread of pain. Number two, walk in wisdom. Some of you, you need more wisdom. You listen to too many people. You're in too many circles. You love gossip and slander. You need wisdom. I pray for that every day of my life. Why? Because I am foolish by nature and so are you. You don't believe that? The Bible says in Proverbs, foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. You came into the world with foolishness in you. You got to get that out through maturity and wisdom. the bible says above all this you should seek that more than anything else is wisdom Stop talking so much. Stop always saying God says. Pray, be quiet, ask for wisdom, discern, don't act on everything you feel. Wait, pray, subject that to the Holy Spirit. It don't matter what you heard or how you feel. Wisdom says, wait, meditate on this. Wait, let me work this through with God or a mentor. Be wise in your dealings, in your relationship. Stop being so hasty. You need wisdom. Stop talking so much. We need wisdom. Number three, walk in compassion. Man, have mercy on other people. People make mistakes. People are human beings. People are flawed. Everybody needs forgiveness and grace. Have compassion. Why do you want to exact vengeance on somebody? Have compassion. And the last one, the most difficult thing for our flesh, walk in humility. That's the killer of pride and arrogance. You should start thinking about what people are going to say about you when you die. And you should not pray for blessing if you're not mature enough to steward that. Because blessing and increase and favor and influence puts you in more contact with people. But if you're not mature, you will keep spreading more pain to the circle you are, beyond the circle you got now. Why do you want God to enlarge your circle for you to spread more pain? What if the link between your next blessing is actually this portion of the prayer? God, give me a type of consciousness that I start thinking about my words and my actions that spread pain and dishonor to other people. Because when you live that way, God can trust you with more influence. They missed that. You caught that, Don. God is just begging to say yes and waiting for you to mature. Your homework this week. Your homework this week is just prayer. I want you to pray this week. For what, pastor? I want you to pray that God will keep you from evil. Why? I want you to pray that God will protect you from things coming to you that you don't need to be fighting. Look, some of you, you're too tired. You can't afford a fight right now. You need a break. Some of you, look at me. You are weary and you need a break. I want you to pray that God will keep you from evil. God, protect me from that battle that's coming. And right now, I don't even got the virtue to fight. So just keep me from evil. I want you to do something radical. I want you to get down to your knees and ask God to pray for the healing of everyone you have hurt. I pray this every week over my life. God, pray for those who have been hurt by me unintentionally, by my leadership, by my maturity, by my journey, because I don't, I never want to hurt people on purpose, but people get hurt from misunderstandings and indifference, and that's not even me. So I want you to pray for everyone who's hurting right now because of you. And I want you to pray that God would mature your heart to make you sensitive from being a spreader of pain. How would that change your home? How would that change your marriage? How would that change your friendships? How would that change your church? Let's pray. Father God, in the name of the Holy One, Jesus, I pray over these, my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters. Father God, I pray for an increasing consciousness of our ways that cause pain to other people. I pray for an increase in burden to not be the progenitor of the spread of pain. I pray, God, for increasing wisdom over my brothers and sisters. And I pray you would keep us from evil, especially for those of us who are too wary right now to fight the battle that's coming. I pray you would just put your hand on us and protect us. Father, I pray over this entire church, Victory City, Victory South, Victory Online, keep us from evil. that we may not cause pain and i pray over them that you would bless them indeed that you would enlarge their territory that your mighty hand would be upon them and that you would tag on this last part of the prayer I pray people will be free this week as they pray for those they have hurt and that there will be self-correction this week as we consider the dishonor we are doing in relationships. I pray something revolutionary would happen in the hearts of these men and women. I pray that in the mighty and majestic and matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ and if you want all of that agree with me by saying amen and amen. And amen. Come on, put your hands together. Thank you for listening to the Victory Broadcast. We pray that message was a blessing to you. If you have a story or a testimony to share, we want to hear all about it. Send us an email to share at victorychurchatl.org or visit us online under share. Thanks for listening. Go in peace.

Get ready to receive the Word of God. I want to just say, I love you and shout out to everybody in the room. Our new gathering on the south side, so greetings to everybody who are part of the family of Victory South.

Shout out to everybody watching me right now in Victory City, watching in places all around the city and the metro Atlanta area. And shout out to our online family who streams and watch in cities all around the country. We welcome you all to Victory Church and welcome you all to this room, our broadcast location, Victory South.

And we are thankful to be in the presence of Almighty God. If you're in the chat right now, just make some noise in the chat. We're so glad to see you.

Thank you for being with us, whether in person or online. This is week four of a series called Enlarge My Territory. And I trust that this series has been a blessing to you so far.

Anybody? For all of our visiting family members and friends, if you are a guest, welcome to Victory Church. We're so glad that you are here.

Thankful that you are in the room. Thankful that you're watching online. And if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, or if you are unchurched or still exploring the claims of Christ, is this man who he said he really was. We're just thankful that you're here. We believe that whether you're online or in the room, this is a safe place for you to explore and to grow and to lean in.

and to not be forced, but to be drawn by God towards deeper purpose for what he has for you. So we thank you that you are here. If you are a guest, if you've missed some great messages, those are available for you on our YouTube, on our website, or on our app.

This is a collection of messages or collection of teachings born out of our survey, our biblical walk through the prayers of one obscure man and what we call the Old Testament of the Scriptures. I believe personally from my study of God's Word that there is a lot we can gain from studying the prayers of other people. And I do believe personally that there is a lot we can gain from watching how God responds to the prayers of other people.

A good example of that before we get into God's Word is that I like to spend a lot of time reading the prayers of a man named David, the second king of ancient Israel. He gives me permission to be mad about stuff in God's presence. I mean, he has prayers where he's praying for people to be crushed, God break their teeth, I'm mad at this person, exact avenge on my enemy, and when I read his prayers, he lets me know that it's okay to be angry, and it's okay to be mad, it's okay to be hurt, and it's okay to give all of that to God because he's big enough to handle all of the full range of my emotions, right?

This is good for some of us who tiptoe around the presence of God, thinking that he doesn't already know that you're upset about somebody who hurt you last week, right? And so when we read the prayers of other people, it gives us insight into how we should pray ourselves, but how God responds to prayers. It teaches us a lot about the character of God, that He is a loving Father, that He knows, He sees, He cares, and He understands.

And the benefit we have is that He sent His Son, who lived a life like us, and now is in heaven. and who the scripture says in Hebrews can understand everything that we're going through. So there's nothing that you are going through that the Lord does not understand. Does that make sense to somebody?

So we are studying the prayers of a man named Jabez. And before I jump into this message, I have to address something that was a big conflict for me this morning. I almost completely threw this sermon out and was prepared to just come up here and just talk.

just from the overflow of my study time because um uh how can i lay this out for you uh uh the the the bible that you own or have in your home or on your phone or ipad is really not just a book but it is really a collection or a library of 66 ancient documents 39 of them in what we call the Old Testament, 27 in the New, that have been preserved for us by God Almighty. That collection of 66 ancient documents was written down by the guidance of God on 40 different authors. They lived at different times over...

a period of 1500 years. They had lives that was lived out on three different continents, okay, and the scriptures, the original manuscripts was recorded in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Hebrew in the Old Testament, Greek and Aramaic in the New Testament.

What you have on your lap or on your phone is an English copy of original manuscripts that came from other languages, where men through time have done their best to take the original manuscripts and put them in English translations for us. As a result of that, some of our translations are more reliable than others. Some of the words from different translations are different than others based on the interpretation of men who put it in English.

We have some words in Hebrew that we don't have in English. There are some Hebrew words that we don't have for, we don't have a translation for those words in English. The verse that we're going to be talking about today is controversial in a sense.

Because if you open any translation in English, they are different in every translation. Now up until this point, if you read any translation, all the verses we've been studying, they line up. But this one verse we're going to study today, if you open any translation, they are different.

This one verse is different in every single translation. Now we generally teach from... The NIV, it is because it is the most read, and I think it's easier for you to understand. But whether you go from the NIV to the NLT to the Message to the NESB to the New King James, this one verse is different in every single English translation. And so we have been studying this text from the New King James Version of the Bible.

which is a version that is closely connected to the original manuscripts. And this morning I almost tossed out this whole sermon because as I'm just looking over other translations, this one verse we're going to mean, based on whatever translation you read, it can take the interpretation of this verse in different directions. Now I'm telling you this only because for some of you this may bore you.

For me this is important because I believe in fidelity to God's Word. I believe in the power of sound doctrine and I believe in the fidelity of biblical teaching that for me I never want to force into the text what is not there. I never want to do eisegesis, pull out of the text what is not there.

I want to be able to stand before God when I give an account on a day of judgment and say I did everything I do to be a good shepherd and steward of these sacred holy documents. So I resolved in my spirit this morning to preach a message to you, this message, with the angle based on the version that comes from the New King James. For some of you on your Bible, when I read this to you, it's going to be different. I'm going to explain this to you, and I'm just going to give you the message that God gave me based on what I believe the version we use in this morning is what the Holy Spirit wanted you to hear.

Again, this verse can take you in different directions, but the angle I'm going to take, I believe, is what the Holy Spirit wanted you to hear. Does that make sense to you? Okay.

Ezra the writer. Okay. The book is 1 Chronicles, a letter of encouragement and exhortation to a people disconnected from their past in history. Nine chapters of a family tree.

He inserts one man's prayer in chapter 4. It is the study that we've been in for the last four weeks. This is the week 4. 1 Chronicles chapter 4 verse 9. It says, now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. We're going to be coming back to that later in this series.

And his mother called his name Jabez because I bore him in pain. That is, she went through a traumatic experience and passed that pain off to him in his name. And Jabez called on the God of Israel and said, Oh, that you would bless me indeed. No problems there with other translations. That you would enlarge my territory or coast.

No problems there with other translations. That your hand will be with me. No problems there.

But the verse we're about to study next is where there's differences of verses. and that you would keep me from evil that I may not cause pain. And we're going to come back to this last part later in this series. So God granted him what he requested, that is God says yes. Now in the NIV it says, God keep me from harm so I will be free from pain.

That is keep me from doing foolishness to myself so that I won't feel pain. The King James says, keep me from evil so that I will not cause pain. In the NIV, the word cause is not there. The English translators didn't put that in there. In the New King James, which is closer to the original manuscripts, the translators put the word cause.

They said, Pastor, I don't get it. Whichever one you read, the message is different. One message is, Lord, protect me so I don't hurt myself. The other one is, Lord, hear my prayer so I don't hurt others. And whatever Bible you're reading, you can take that message in different directions.

So because we started in the New King James, I'm going to preach this message from the New King James. Because I believe that's probably what the Holy Spirit wants to hear for you. So we're going to talk to you and the person next to you.

I'm talking to you and your family. You and your children, you and your spouse, you and your friends, you and your co-worker, you and your enemies, you and the people on your team, Lord keep me from evil that I may not cause pain, is the version the Holy Spirit gave me for you. We're going to tag a title to this message, kept from evil, cause no pain. Kept from evil, caused no pain, and I almost scrapped this, but I'm just going to let it land where it lands, and let the Holy Spirit minister to you based on a version I feel like God gave me for you.

Kept from evil, caused no pain. Father, in the name of Yahshua HaMashiach. The Lord God Almighty, He who was and is and is to come, the creator of all things, the one who is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the one before whom we...

all will give an account for the life we have lived in this body. The one we cannot escape, the lover of our soul, the one who the scripture says his eyes were like a blazing fire, the one who has loved us more than what we deserve. In his name, God, I pray you would silence every distraction in this moment.

I pray through that camera and in this room you would move on your sons and daughters and those who are friends outside the kingdom. And Father God, I pray in the name of Jesus that this word, we need this, would not fall on deaf ears. But God, I pray it would minister to our soul, it would step on our toes.

It will bring conviction that leads to change and conviction that leads to maturity. Though heavy, Lord, let it be like honey in our mouths, like Ezekiel. I pray that in the mighty and majestic and the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Somebody help me stir the atmosphere by just saying amen. Come on, shout amen. Come on, shout amen. This may get a little intense, but it's good for you and me.

Amen? Eye contact. Thank you, Frank.

Eye contact. Several years ago... I was dealing with a very painful and very difficult situation in my personal life and in my ministry.

And I was working through that difficult situation with one of my mentors, who was also my pastor and has been in the ministry for 20 years. The Bible says in the multitude of wise counsel, there is safety. He made a profound statement to me as we went through the painful situation I was going through and in retrospect over the last couple years as I have looked back over that statement and my life carefully I realized that that statement was true for me, that statement is true for you, and that statement is going to be true for you until the day you depart this life. The statement was so profound I want to put it up on the screen. I believe they put it in my notes, and if they didn't, I want to read it to you, and here is what the statement he said to me.

He said, Philip, your greatest joy and your greatest pain will come from the exact same place. He said to me, he said to me, he said, son, your greatest joy and your greatest pain will come from the exact same place, and that is your relationships. Your relationships in this life will always be the source of your greatest joy, and at the same time, they will also be the source of your greatest pain. And as you get older, and as you reflect on your life, you will look back over your life and testify that my deepest tears, my deepest tears, and my greatest laughter has come from the same place, from my relationships. There are parents listening to this message right now with teenage and older children who can testify that in one season those children have brought them great joy, and in another season those children have brought them great pain.

There are people in this room who has close friends who can testify that in one season your close friends brought you great joy, and in another season of betrayal that same friend brought you great pain. Nobody wants to be honest. There are people in this room who can testify that you were close with a co-worker who in one season brought you great joy.

Man, y'all be hanging out at the water cooler, going to lunch together, and in another season that same co-worker got you in trouble with the boss and they brought you great pain. There are dating relationships in this room. People who got into dating relationships with someone who in one season brought you great bliss, great joy, great lust.

Great hips, great height, great color, great fill in the blank, great numbers, great dating, great restaurants, great movies, and another season they was the bane of your existence. They brought you great pain. And the one person you loved in one season is now the person you hate in another season.

You can't even stand to see them on social media. You delete, you unfollow, you block. When at first you would throw a hearts on everything they put on social media.

It was all hearts on one season, and it was getting blocked in another season. Somebody say amen. Some of us can testify having a great mentor who was pouring into you in one season.

You put expectations on them to be your mother or father. They could not live up to those expectations, and so you got hurt. And now in another season, man, you hate that person.

All they do is cause you pain. Some of us could testify of pouring into someone else, who you was loving on in one season, they got too big for their britches in another season, and now what was joy in one season is now pain for you in a new season. Can anybody say amen to that?

I'm gonna go deeper. Where all my married people at? All the married people's... Because I don't got to prove this to you.

Y'all be laid up in the bed, loving on each other on Monday, and be back-to-back and don't have nothing to say to each other on Thursday. Thank you. I'm trying to, sister. Some of you know what it is to have found the person of your dreams in one season and then be signing divorce papers in another season, because we all know this to be true. that the greatest source of our joy and the greatest source of our pain they always come from the same place from our relationships jesus noticed to be true loving on judas in one season and dealing with his betrayal in another season telling peter you're going to be the pastor of the first church in one season and then listening to him deny you in another season.

I just told you you was going to take over my ministry, and then I'm eavesdropping on you disrespecting me. And if we just pause with Jesus' relationship, forget ours, let's just take his relationship. Man, there are two powerful dynamics that was even at work in the relationship and the betrayal between Jesus and Judas.

that are present in all of these different relationships where we're dealing with pain and joy from the same places. Two things at work in that situation that are often at the center of much of the pain that you and I endure personally in our lives and in our relationships. I want to just talk about both of them, and I'm going to bring it back to Jabez.

Let's just stay with Jesus for a second, right? The first dynamic that was working between him and Judas was a devaluation of the relationship. And whenever you devalue a relationship, it starts to breed this word called dishonor. Where Jesus was Lord in one season and then he was common in another.

And the most valuable commodity you have in this life after your time and your health, listen to me, is your relationships. Let me help you. Let me say this to you again. The most valuable commodity you have in this life after your time, which is a fixed commodity you will never get back, that's why the Bible tells you don't waste it and make the most of every opportunity, and your health, because it don't matter how anointed you are, if you're laid up and sick, you can't use that body. That's why the Bible tells you, steward your temple well, but after your time and your health, the third most valuable relation, the third most valuable asset or commodity you have in this life are your relationships.

Your relationships, think about them, are the source of your greatest joy, your greatest laughter, your greatest memories, your greatest moments, your greatest support. The majority of things God will bless you with will walk into your life on two legs. He would open up doors in your life because of a relationship.

He will bring you out of a dark season because of a relationship. Point you in the right direction because of a relationship. Change your direction from going down the wrong path because of a relationship. You will never imagine how much God has done in your life because of relationships.

And how he works through them for your good. Relationships make the journey of life more enjoyable. Can you imagine life with no friends? Nobody to love? Nobody to love you?

That is a miserable existence. Some truth. Some relationships, they are situational.

And transactional. They come in, they come out, and they serve their purpose. Some relationships are seasonal.

They're only meant to be there for a period of time. Some relationships are lifetime. God sent them there to ride with you until you die. Some relationships are meant to endure.

Others are meant to end. Because sometimes there's something as, listen, necessary endings. For your own personal sanity and health. And where relationships often cause the most pain, look at me, eye contact, I'm trying to help you.

Where relationships often cause the most pain is where they are punctuated by either intentional or unintentional words and acts of dishonor. Let me say this again. This message is going to help you today.

Where relationships cause the greatest amount of pain is where they are punctuated by either intentional or unintentional acts and words of dishonor. An abused woman from her husband knows what it feels like to be dishonored. A man who has been emasculated by a wife knows what it is to be dishonored. A child that curses out a parent knows what it is to be dishonored.

And where we feel the most pain in our relationships is where we feel dishonored, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Honor, look right at me, is the proper value or weight we ascribe to people, places, and things. Honor is the proper... weight or value we give or ascribe to people, places, and things.

Honor is a dying ethic in our generation. I don't understand that, but it's a dying ethic in our generation, and it's to our own demise because, man, we are good for practicing treating things as common. that God has ascribed value and honor to. We as human beings, we are good for doing this. We are good at treating things as common that God said was extremely honorable.

And we treat it like it has no worth and value. Watch. Honor causes us to see people through the lens of value. When you are a person of honor, you see through a lens of value.

You put value on things. When you have the honor glasses on, you see through a lens of value. Especially when we do not, listen, properly value our relationships or interactions with people. And whenever that lens is distorted, look what we do.

We can cause or inflict unnecessary pain on other people. Whenever our lens of value is distorted, whatever I do not value, the potential is there for me to dishonor it. Whatever I don't properly value, the potential is there for me to dishonor it.

If I don't value God, I will dishonor him. If I don't value the church, I will dishonor it. If I don't value my mother, I will dishonor her.

Whatever you do not properly value, the potential is always at the back door for you to dishonor it. This is the danger with familiarity. It eats away at value. This is what happened with Jesus and Judas.

You were in a relationship with God in the flesh and for a sum of money. You throw away the greatest relationship you've ever had for 30 pieces of silver. You traded in a relationship with the Lord of glory for 30 pieces of gold or silver.

Money was more valuable to you than being in intimacy with the Lord of glory. Not knowing that that relationship would have brought you more than 30 pieces of silver. And the moment Judas began to see Jesus as common, he thought 30 pieces of money was more important than the relationship. And as soon as he began to think that, wrong people got in his ears, and now he's a betrayer.

The voices in his ears was more valuable than the testimony of that relationship. I'm going to teach this in another message in this series. I just want to throw in a free gem for you. Look right at me.

Honor pulls out the best of what God has in someone else for you. One more time. I'm going to teach this in another message in this series. But let me just tell you this right now.

Look right at me. Honor. pulls out the best of what God has put inside someone else for you. That when you honor people, it automatically makes a deposit on what God put in them for you.

You get the best out of a mentor when you're honorable. You get the best out of a boss when you're honorable. You get the best out of a pastor when you're honorable. You get the best out of a spouse when you're honorable. Honor pulls out the best of someone else, what God has put inside them for you.

You want a better wife? Honor. You want a better marriage?

Honor. You want more favor with your boss? Honor. Some of you struggle in your job.

You want more favor with your boss? Honor. You want more favor with an authority?

Think your honor. There are people in your life you don't have no idea what God put in them for you and you will sabotage it if you don't know how to honor. It draws out of people the best that God has put aside them for you.

But as we mature, as we mature, look right at me, eye contact, we learn to value the Imago Dei. The Hebrew word for the image of God imprinted on every human being. From the wealthy man to the homeless man, from the person who has everything to the prostitute on the street. That every time I stare into the eyes of another human being, when I mature, I see the Imago Dei.

I see the image of God in your face. Trying to help you grow up. That when we understand the Bible says that every person was created in the image of God, the Imago Dei.

That means every time I stare into the face of a human being, I see the imprint of God in that face. And when I'm mature, I learn to value the Imago Dei that does not make me mistreat people unnecessarily. Because when I stare at you, I see the image of God in you.

It's why I can still treat a homeless man with respect and not walk by them like they're not human beings. Because even in their state, I see the Imago Dei that gives them worth and value. You treat your waiter like that at the restaurant.

You disrespect the people that serve you at tables. We disrespect the homeless. We disrespect because we don't have no respect for the Imago Dei.

Increasing value produces decreasing dishonor. Increasing value... produces increasing self-correction. The more I increase in honor, the more I increase in self-correction. That when I am honorable, I don't need people to always tell me I am wrong.

When I am honorable, I start to say I was wrong for the way I treated you. So as honor increases in the heart, self-correction increases in the heart. As honor increases in the heart, grace towards others increases in the heart. As honor increases in the heart, forgiveness for others increases in the heart. As honor increases, grace increases, self-correction increases, forgiveness increases.

And when we are mature in God, watch this, you get to the point where you don't want to be on the giving end of causing unnecessary pain to other people. gosh Lord help us today Jesus I'm not talking to babies when you are mature in Christ so I'm separating mature from immature you get to the point in your Christian walk where you start feeling regret when you keep passing on pain to other people that you don't just hurt people and sleep if you can do evil to people in sleep, then we know that you are not mature in the faith. Because when you're mature, you wrestle in your system when you know you have done wrong to other people. You'll be rolling around in your bed at night, but if you can do evil in sleep, then that means you're not mature yet in Christ. The key word here is mature, not age, because you could be 50 and immature.

You could be 60 and immature. You could be 70 and still holding people like they don't deserve forgiveness, as if the blood of Jesus was not enough to pay for their sin against you. I know this one hurts, but it's going to help you. When we are mature, we get to the point where we say to ourselves, I don't want to be always on the giving end of causing unnecessary pain to other people. I don't want to be the one always bringing tears and frustration to other people.

And that comes with maturity. The other dynamic between Jesus and Judas, we're going to come back to Jabez, is the unseen adversary. The unseen adversary.

That word evil. Now look right at me. When I was...

When I was in high school, I had my fair share of fights and gang fights. We call it in New York, getting jumped. Anybody ever heard that before?

Getting jumped, like you're going to get jumped. And ten people fight one person at the same time. That's urban youth amendment.

Y'all looking at me like you never heard that before, getting jumped. When I was in high school, I had my fair share of fights and group fights, getting jumped, both in the street and in school. And in New York, where I'm from... We would call having fights with people or gang fights. We would call this having beef.

Anybody heard of this? You have beef. So if you got beef with somebody, y'all got problems with each other, and y'all going to solve it like grown men and women, right? Now, there are two different types of beefs. There's the type of beef where you know who you got beef with, you know when they're coming for you, 3 o'clock after school, you know what they're about, and you probably know the outcome of the fight.

You know when you're going to get jumped, you know where they're going to meet you, and you probably already know the outcome of the fight. Watch. That type of beef is easy to prepare for.

I'm going somewhere with this. When you know who you're going to fight, you know where you're going to fight them, you already know how they're going to fight, that type of beef is easy to prepare for. You know what to strap up, you know what razor to take, what Vaseline to have, you know what to take off your earrings. You know how to prepare for that kind of fight. Somebody say amen.

But there's a different kind of beef. The beef that I call is mixed with gray, where a word comes to you like, yo, you're about to get jumped, and you don't know when. You don't know who.

You don't know where. That type of beef is harder to anticipate because you have no idea, watch, where the attack is coming from. I have no idea when it is coming, how it is coming, or where it is coming.

That is a more difficult kind of beef to prepare for. It's like, I remember one time when I was young, I was in this gang, and they made me take the hat off of a teenager. I was like 12 or 13. They said, that dude right there, steal his hat. And he was an Asian kid in a predominantly black neighborhood, and I went over there and I snatched his hat off his head like I was a G.

I was 12. And I thought it was a G because I got this army behind me, and he's by himself. And I went and I snatched that half off his head. I felt tough.

And then he walked away crying like, I'm going to come back and get you. He never said when. He never said where. He never said how.

There was this pool hall. I used to hang out there all the time, play pool. I used to play Street Fighter and games.

And I would be in there every day. But this one day, I was not in there. And then word comes back to me later in the week, yo, like 30 Asians showed up in that pool hall.

They only had one way in and one way out. Like 30 of them, they came deep to that pool hall. Thank God.

Thank God I was not in the pool hall that day. I might not have made it out that pool hall. They came strapped for beef. But in the same way, the scripture teaches that you and I have an unseen enemy.

unseen adversary. Whether you believe in him or not, he is not the boogeyman. He was an angelic being in heaven, according to the scriptures.

Had a name named Lucifer, responsible for worship in heaven. Because of pride, he tried to go against God. He was kicked out of heaven.

Jesus said, I saw him fall like lightning from heaven down to the ground. But because he loved gossip, he was in the air of other angels. And one third of all those angels was kicked out of heaven down to the ground.

They became demons. They are loose in the air. the earth.

They watch you. They know you. They listen to our prayers and they hate you.

They are on a mission to dismantle your faith, shipwreck your hope, destroy your life. They are doing everything they can to keep as many people away from Jesus as possible. They are human haters. They are wicked, vicious, and evil, and they exist.

Right? And they exist. And Satan's primary tactics are deceit, division, and distraction.

Wherever there's unity, he's coming to destroy that. Wherever there's close friendship, he's coming to destroy that. Wherever church is on the same accord, he's coming to destroy that.

Don't let a husband and wife be on the same accord. He's going to do everything he can to destroy that because he thrives on division. Die vision more than one. He thrives on distractions.

You'll be on your path to God and he sends a boy to distract you. Some girl to pull you down the wrong path. Distractions, division, deception. He'll lie to you and the best lie is not an outright lie.

That's stupid. He always mingles a little bit of truth with a little bit of lie and we bite. You think you're some match for Satan without God?

When the human race was at its prime, when it was perfect with no flaws, the enemy took them down with one conversation. We don't think about that. When the human race was at its prime, when it had no sin in their system, when it was intimate with God, walking with Him in the cool of the day, when we was at our strongest point, He took them down with a single conversation.

Did God say? Gossip, slander, doubt. Did God really say?

Wrong voices Eve was listening to, right? All right, let me land the plane. I am using these two dynamics to draw your attention to two things that you will continually keep navigating for the rest of your life, and that is spiritual evil and relationships.

Spiritual evil and relationships. Look right at me. This is where we find Jabez again at the center of our text. We find Jabez wrestling with spiritual evil and issues in his relationships.

Jabez and man of honor. Look what he said. He said, Lord, that you would keep me from evil. Okay, watch the verse.

Lord, that you would keep me from evil. And here is the conjunction, that I may not cause pain. Okay, watch. Lord, keep me from evil. Watch the conjunction, that I may not cause pain.

Okay. Lord, keep me from evil. Watch the conjunction, that I may not cause pain. Lord, keep me from evil, the unseen force.

Watch the conjunction, that I may not cause pain. Lord, keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain. Lord, keep me from evil. that I may not cause pain. In other words, Lord, don't let Satan work in me to ruin one of the best things you have for me.

Lord, don't let Satan work around me to destroy one of the most important things you have given me. Lord, don't let Satan work in me to ruin one of the best things you have given to me. Lord, keep me from evil. Conjunction that I may not spread pain.

Who prays like that? A person who understands the value of their human interactions and relationships. Who prays like that?

A person who wants to be protected from evil influences, lies in their ears, demonic activity around them that they don't cause harm to other people. How does the evil forces work in us and in us and around us to cause pain to other people? Three things, temptation, instigation, and devaluation.

Temptation. The devil will keep tempting you to do things to bring harm to yourself. He will keep tempting you to bring harm to other people.

He will tempt you to sabotage the best things that God intended for you to have, which are key relationships. He will tempt you to feel and act on emotions that you have. Because you keep listening to wrong voices and his lies. And because you feel some type of way for something you heard, you act on that and you sabotage something that God intended for you to have.

He would work in you through instigation, making you the verbal transmitter of offenses, lies, gossip, and slander, using your mouth to do damage to other people. He will work through you through instigation when you like to keep drama going instead of being a peacemaker. You love to listen to gossip in the dark instead of being a peacemaker.

I don't know that person to be like that. Let's pray about this. The Christians should say.

Instigation is when we add fuel to the fire of our flesh and demonic fires instead of being agents of peace. He will cause us to devalue God-appointed relationships, devaluing bridges to your next by dishonoring the God-appointed relationships of your now. Let me say that again.

He will cause you to devalue the bridges of your next by devaluing the God-appointed relationships of your now. Some of the relationships you have now, God intends to use the bridge for what he has for you next. But when you are dishonorable, you burn that bridge and don't even realize you can't walk over it now to what God had intended for you. Some people are a link to your next level. This is too grown.

Some people are a link from God to your next level. You start treating that relationship as common and you sabotage the next thing God intended to do for your life. You say, but God will still get me to my purpose, just like the GPS.

He'll say recalculate it, but now it's going to take you longer to get there. Or he's got to take you a different route that you wasn't supposed to go. When we start listening to wrong voices and being instigators, man, we make erroneous pivots away from people we're supposed to be in covenant with.

God intended for you to be in covenant with that person, and because of your feelings, you make an erroneous pivot away from somebody that God anchored you to for a purpose you can't see with your immature eyes. So we make erroneous pivots when we're immature. Who told you to treat that person like that?

Let me finish. Listen, I know it's commonly accepted for us to, and it's biblically right for us to fight against evil and to resist the devil so he will flee. But here's a revolutionary concept as I look at this prayer.

What about praying to be kept from evil altogether? In other words, what if there's another kingdom play? Instead of fighting every battle, what if another kingdom play is, Lord, keep me from some of these unnecessary battles? What if another kingdom play is not fighting but avoidance?

Don't you get tired of fighting sometimes? So what if another kingdom player is like, I don't feel like fighting this one. God, just take me around a different way.

What if the kingdom player is not fight this one, but avoid that one? Not fight this battle, but avoid that battle. Not fight this temptation, but avoid that temptation. Lord, you know I struggle with lust, keep that woman away from me. All my brothers should be, you ain't gonna say amen because your girl's sitting right next to you?

right when you know you struggle sometimes don't fight the struggle god keep me away from the struggle put the boundary between me and that temptation this is how wise people pray sometimes the kingdom play is not to fight but to avoid lord keep me from evil avoidance that i may not spread pain I'm closing, right? Oh my God. Jabez was a man wrestling with himself. He's wrestling with the state of his life.

He's wrestling with a cursed name. He's wrestling with the fact that the way people treat him with a cursed name. I shared how names prophesy destiny. We can see from the anguish of his prayer and his cursed name that Jabez was a man dealing with brokenness and the pain that he had caused other people. While we do not know the details of what pain he has caused, we know that he is dealing with the spiritual misfortune of his name and the reflection of all the people he has hurt in his life because of evil operating in and around his life.

Something very powerful happens in the life of a man or woman who starts to get concerned about spreading unnecessary pain to others. You know what happens? Imagine what happens in a marriage. When a spouse starts thinking, I don't want to do anything to cause unnecessary pain to my spouse. So I watch the way I talk to them, how I engage with them, how I love them, how I respond to their phone calls, how I lean into their emotions.

That I'm not just attitude-y all the time. When I'm thinking about not causing unnecessary pain, it changes the way I treat my spouse. Now imagine what happens in a marriage when that happens. Imagine what happens in a dating relationship when a person is mature enough to say, I'm going to do everything I can to honor the Imago Dei in you.

my sister and not spread unnecessary pain to you my brother imagine what happens between parents and children when they start thinking about not doing things to cause unnecessary pain to my parent or to my child how many of us would not have testimonies of abuse or rape or being touched wrong or scars that have have made us dysfunctional certain areas because someone did not honor the mongol day in us Imagine what happens on teams when we think about, I want to make sure my mouth and my ways does not spread pain in my church. The most valuable thing you have in this life after your time and your health is your relationships. They are the building blocks of the best things you will enjoy in this life. Your greatest joys, laughter.

memories, intimacy, community, support, growth. The greatest blessings were into your life on two legs. They warrant humility.

They warrant conflict resolution. They warrant maturity. And as we grow in maturity, we learn to honor the imago de we see in others when we start feeling the sense like, I don't want to be the person that's always causing other people to feel hurt.

J. Bez watch, cried out, God bless me. He cried out, God, increase me.

Watch, so powerful. Why would he pray, keep me from evil, that I might not cause pain? If God blesses you, God increases you, you have influence, opportunities, you have people around you.

Now what is Jabez thinking about? He's thinking about legacy. How I will be remembered from my interactions with the people around me. I don't care what you put on IG. You are the sum total of the people who know you closest.

All I got to do is talk to them and we know who you really are. You can't just pray for blessing and not have the responsibility of thinking about legacy. God bless me indeed.

God enlarge my territory. God let your hand be on me. So God give me blessings.

Give me increase. Give me favor. Now it takes maturity to steward that. I need to be thinking about legacy. How my mouth and my ways impact the lives of the people around me.

So now he's praying, God, because I'm asking for blessing, because I'm asking for increase, because I'm asking for favor, now in my consciousness, I want you to keep me from evil, that I would not be the progenitor of unnecessarily hurting people I love. I don't want my children to be leaving my home, grieved that I was a terrible father. I don't want to pass on memories that I was a terrible mother. I don't want to have friends out there, this trail behind me, of people who are shedding tears because of my life. People who are broken because of my life, my mouth, my immaturity, my gossip, my slander, my inability to do conflict resolution, my emotions, my treating you as common because of something I heard and not valuing you for what God made you in my life.

Lord, I don't want to be the progenitor of that type of mess. I want that watch to begin to die in my life. I don't want to be the one on everybody's list. He broke me. He hurt me.

They betrayed me. We was together for so long. How could they start treating me like this?

I don't want to be on the giving end of that. So maturity says, God, keep me from evil. So that I, Philip Anthony Mitchell, will not be the spreader of what?

Unnecessary pain to other people. It requires maturity and discipline to say, I'm sorry, let's talk about this. How do you feel?

You know, I've been thinking this about you and I feel like this is wrong. How do I want Lena to remember me if God calls me home? What type of husband would she say I was? What about my children? What type of husband or what type of father would they say I was?

I had anger issues all my life. I'm trying to clean that up with them now. I had a meeting with them maybe four or five months ago and I said if daddy has ever been controlling and domineering and mad in the house I am sorry and I want to give y'all permission to feel and to cry and to tell me I was wrong and tell me how you feel so I can apologize to you why because although they are beneath me they still have the image of God on them so they still deserve Evil in this world is inevitable for a time until Christ returns.

And interrelational pain is inevitable because we are broken and fallen creatures. But we can live in such a way where we mitigate the spread of unnecessary pain to others as we think about our words, our life, our actions. We cannot control the realms of spiritual warfare.

We cannot control the attacks and influences of the adversary. We cannot control when we face temptations or how we face temptations, but we can fight, we can pray, we can avoid unnecessary pitfalls in our mind and our heart. Relationships. You cannot control the dynamics of every relationship. You cannot.

You cannot control the actions and character of other people. You cannot. You cannot overlook that some relationships may be seasonal and some are meant to end. You cannot.

But we can attempt to control our own actions and our own mouth and our own itching ears to unnecessarily spread pain, disappointment, hurt, and dishonor to people that God has placed in our lives. You know you have grown in maturity when you start to lament the hurt that you unnecessarily cause to other people. So how do we live out this part of the prayer?

Lord, keep me from evil. Watch, conjunction. That I may not cause pain to people that's in my life.

How do we live that out? Four things to protect your relationships from spreading unnecessary pain. Number one, walk in love. Stop posting about love on IG and you don't demonstrate that in person.

Love is not a post, love is a demonstration. It's something we can see and feel. If you walk in love, you start to mitigate the spread of dishonor, the spread of pain.

Number two, walk in wisdom. Some of you, you need more wisdom. You listen to too many people. You're in too many circles. You love gossip and slander.

You need wisdom. I pray for that every day of my life. Why?

Because I am foolish by nature and so are you. You don't believe that? The Bible says in Proverbs, foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.

You came into the world with foolishness in you. You got to get that out through maturity and wisdom. the bible says above all this you should seek that more than anything else is wisdom Stop talking so much. Stop always saying God says.

Pray, be quiet, ask for wisdom, discern, don't act on everything you feel. Wait, pray, subject that to the Holy Spirit. It don't matter what you heard or how you feel.

Wisdom says, wait, meditate on this. Wait, let me work this through with God or a mentor. Be wise in your dealings, in your relationship. Stop being so hasty.

You need wisdom. Stop talking so much. We need wisdom.

Number three, walk in compassion. Man, have mercy on other people. People make mistakes.

People are human beings. People are flawed. Everybody needs forgiveness and grace.

Have compassion. Why do you want to exact vengeance on somebody? Have compassion. And the last one, the most difficult thing for our flesh, walk in humility.

That's the killer of pride and arrogance. You should start thinking about what people are going to say about you when you die. And you should not pray for blessing if you're not mature enough to steward that.

Because blessing and increase and favor and influence puts you in more contact with people. But if you're not mature, you will keep spreading more pain to the circle you are, beyond the circle you got now. Why do you want God to enlarge your circle for you to spread more pain?

What if the link between your next blessing is actually this portion of the prayer? God, give me a type of consciousness that I start thinking about my words and my actions that spread pain and dishonor to other people. Because when you live that way, God can trust you with more influence. They missed that. You caught that, Don.

God is just begging to say yes and waiting for you to mature. Your homework this week. Your homework this week is just prayer.

I want you to pray this week. For what, pastor? I want you to pray that God will keep you from evil.

Why? I want you to pray that God will protect you from things coming to you that you don't need to be fighting. Look, some of you, you're too tired.

You can't afford a fight right now. You need a break. Some of you, look at me.

You are weary and you need a break. I want you to pray that God will keep you from evil. God, protect me from that battle that's coming. And right now, I don't even got the virtue to fight. So just keep me from evil.

I want you to do something radical. I want you to get down to your knees and ask God to pray for the healing of everyone you have hurt. I pray this every week over my life.

God, pray for those who have been hurt by me unintentionally, by my leadership, by my maturity, by my journey, because I don't, I never want to hurt people on purpose, but people get hurt from misunderstandings and indifference, and that's not even me. So I want you to pray for everyone who's hurting right now because of you. And I want you to pray that God would mature your heart to make you sensitive from being a spreader of pain.

How would that change your home? How would that change your marriage? How would that change your friendships?

How would that change your church? Let's pray. Father God, in the name of the Holy One, Jesus, I pray over these, my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters. Father God, I pray for an increasing consciousness of our ways that cause pain to other people.

I pray for an increase in burden to not be the progenitor of the spread of pain. I pray, God, for increasing wisdom over my brothers and sisters. And I pray you would keep us from evil, especially for those of us who are too wary right now to fight the battle that's coming.

I pray you would just put your hand on us and protect us. Father, I pray over this entire church, Victory City, Victory South, Victory Online, keep us from evil. that we may not cause pain and i pray over them that you would bless them indeed that you would enlarge their territory that your mighty hand would be upon them and that you would tag on this last part of the prayer I pray people will be free this week as they pray for those they have hurt and that there will be self-correction this week as we consider the dishonor we are doing in relationships. I pray something revolutionary would happen in the hearts of these men and women.

I pray that in the mighty and majestic and matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ and if you want all of that agree with me by saying amen and amen. And amen. Come on, put your hands together.

Thank you for listening to the Victory Broadcast. We pray that message was a blessing to you. If you have a story or a testimony to share, we want to hear all about it.

Send us an email to share at victorychurchatl.org or visit us online under share. Thanks for listening. Go in peace.

Transcript for:Enlarging Faith Through Prayer and Relationships

Transcript for:
Enlarging Faith Through Prayer and Relationships