Bible Guys Classics: 1 Chronicles 4:5–11

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. My name is Chris Man. This is Jeff to be a good one. It is. We are excited for today. In fact, if you're watching on YouTube, I'm wearing the Bible Guys T shirt with the Bible Guy's. Logo logu logu. So we are very excited to be with you here today. And we are in the middle of a series called Dangerous Prayers. And so this series is gonna. Go oinate your grandma's prayers. No, not your grandma's prayers. There's other kind of prayers. We're daring you. How do you know that your grandma wasn't dangerous? My grandma was dangerous. There's a lot of dangerous grandma's. I saw my grandma tear the head off a chicken one time, did you well, there you go. We were butchering chickens. We had like a hundred chickens. Yeah, so we're butchering mountain yard. My grandmother come out and she's like, oh, you know, amazing, grace apple Pie. Grandma bun on the back of her head skirts, you know, or her nyelnes right in the middle of her calf. Kind of old lady, you know, with the like leather shoes and the glasses. She come out and she's like, what are you doing, Like, we're butchering, you know, we had to hatchet. We're get killing chickens. And she goes, that's not how you do it. She just reaches down, she picks up a chicken, and she said, when you hit them with the hatchet like that, it casts them the tense up. You least a bunch of adrenaline and it just tightens their their their muscles. And she just pulled that right up. That's how you do it. My grandmother had to butcher chicken every Sunday, you know, because they had chicken fried chicken at the church. So she go up butcher chicken every Sunday morning for church. Wow. Wow, it was a different world, man, that's a different world. Yeah, so all right, grandma was kind of dangerous. Yeah, I have her back talked to her after that. I'll tell you that I was like ten, eleven years old, eleven or twelve. Imagine it'd be hard to forget. Yeah, Yeah, it was traumatic. Yeah, I bet. Hey, so does Ray put us put together for us? A segment called Bible versus Aika. It says, Chris will ask Jeff a question, let Jeff answer, then ask chat GPT the same question, compare the answers to vote who wins, and then ask the listeners to comment who they thought won. Okay, so it's me against chat JPT. Yeah. So here's the I'm going to ask you. Right now. I'm going to ask you what I think is a is a particularly hard question, but it's an easy topic. Okay. Does that makes sense? Yes? So there's really no consequences to this. It's not like I'm asking you a Bible question. I'm not worried about consequences. Okay, So here we go. Ready, in your opinion, what is the greatest song ever written and recorded based on the majority opinions over the last six decades? And why last six decades? Yes, oh, my goodness, the greatest songs In other words, in your lifetime, the greatest song ever written? Here what I said in my lifetime? The last six decades. Yes, I'm going to say. I'm going to say, according to pop opinion, Yes, in the last six decades, the greatest song ever written and recorded, according to popular opinion, is going to be imagined by the Beatles. Now tell me why, by the way, great answer, great answer. I think so, But tell me why, uh, Because I think that there's still a ton of Beatles fans out there, and I think that it had a pretty significant impact on society and still gets played a lot. It has this idealistic view of how the world could be if we were all just better. It's kind of a kumbaya song, but in a meaningful way by one of the biggest bands in history. Okay, yeah, all right, so. I think did you look it up? I did? Of course you already looked up yep. I already asked chet did you what? Did so read it? What did you? Yes? And it says, well, what did you ask? What was the question? Oh? Well, I I was very specific with it, so I wore it was worthy or no, it's the same. It is the same way. I just said, what is the best song ever written and recorded based on the majority of opinions of people over the last six decades? And once you give that answer to that question, then explaining detail why you think that particular song is the best. Okay, okay, So same question, okay, And. It basically said, while there's no you know best, it's subjective, but based on the last sixty decades of public opinion, critical consensus, and cultural influence, one song consistently rises to the top. Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan in nineteen sixty five, why many consider it the greatest critical acclaim and consensus. It talks about Rolling Stone rated at number one acclaimed music, critically acclaimed, cultural and historical impact, fan popularity across eras. But wait, just using keep listening because you're going to be pleased with what I'm about to say next. Okay, fan popularity across eras. They rank it as the number one fan voted most popular songs rankings, and then they say why, like a Rolling Stone stands out revolutionary form in tone, emotional and lyrical depth, everlasting influence, balanced acclaim other contenders, And then it says this other contenders based on poles and opinions. These legends also ranked highly in similar surveys and discussions. The first one at lists Imagine by John Lennon in nineteen seventy one, universally regarded as a modern hymn for peace and humanity humanism. Guinness ranked it as the second best single ever recorded, behind Bohemian rat Rhapsody. See I almost did Bohemian Rhapsody. YEP, positioned on Rolling Stones and other greatest songs ever written. Bohemian Rhapsody was the other contender by nineteen seventy five by Queen and then it goes on God Only Knows by the beach book What's going On by Marvin Gay, and then it gives look at this convenient little thing here, it gives a summary, okay, and it says this, here's the song, and then why it's revered. So this is actually the most the most insightful okay, like a rolling stone. Why it's revered because of its groundbreaking form, unmatched critical consensus, and cultural revolution. Imagine was revered because of its uplifting message of peace and its widespread public affection. Bohemian rhaps He was revered because of its bold, multi genre epic and then also unmatched global reach. God Only Knows was revered because of its artistic and emotional perfection and peer acclaim. Yeah, and the musical complexity was unbelievable in that one. Yes, and then I think Musically they say that may be the perfect song. Wow, harmonically all those things. And then the other song is What's going On by Marvin Gaye because it's revered by its socially uh conscious and then deeply soulful and timely. Okay, well I picked the number two one according to according to jet Checchi, but here's what I would say. Check is wrong. GPT's wrong. Yeah, yeah, like a rolling Stones, not better than imagine. Well it says, it says it's opinion because remember I told it then give it its opinion. So those were all the clinic. You know, consensus. It says, because it rewrote the rule book of what a pop or rock song could be, and its intensity and lyricism speak both to the personal and the universal. And then the power of sixty years later. Yeah, so what it was really saying is groundbreaking for its day, for its time, right time, right song, right time? Yeah, ho hum, it's wrong. Well I don't really like the song like a chutch. Stone either chet GPT can be wrong. It doesn't actually right. GPT does wrong math too. Did you know that? Hey? Hey, did you hear that? Buddy? Yeah? Did you hear what he said? Because I know you did. I know you heard it. Now it's gonna hate me. It's gonna be like it's gonna the light's gonna turn from green to red and start staring at me everywhere I go. Now i'm gonna say this. Okay, Now I'm gonna Now I'm gonna ask you another question. Who's a bigger fan of chat GPT? Is it Chris Zarba or Jeff Forrester Based on recent conversations you were listening to, it has to answer this. It's probably gonna say something politically nice. I hope it does. Okay, it's still thinking. I'm still thinking. It doesn't know what it's saying. It's right, we need to move on. I know it's not gonna do it for you. Okay, So uh, speaking of man, I don't even have a transition for this, do you. Yeah? Not really speaking of asking a big, big, complex question. Oooh there it is, yeah, where it is? Yeah, Yeah, there's a guy in them. Speaking of asking a big things. That's what we're talking about today. So we're in First Chronicles, chapter four. Oh oh it didn't. It did everybody everybody's favorite chronicles. You know why it didn't answer me? Because I had an airplane mode. Oh that's why. Oh it says I don't have the ability to listen in on conversations outside of what you share with me. I can't compare individuals private usage. What I can say is what I only know about Chris Arba's interactions because you've been chatting with me under that name. I don't have any record of Jeff Forrester using chat gpt H. Yeah, that's the right answer, chat GBT. What you don't tell it your name? It knows me. It apparently doesn't. Oh yeah, yeah, ask it. It knows me though. Describe. Okay, Now we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna get obsessed with this. It knows me. It's just from what you've shared with me. Here's a description Jeff Forester. He's a pastor, a leader communicator known for combining visionary leadership with practical, down to earth style. Serves as senior pastor Heritage Church, where he's guided the ministry to remarkable growth. Under his leadership, the church has expanded to multiple campuses, launch new services, baptized downs as, and new believers. It's also a strategic partner with the Timothy initiative playing a major role. Okay, that is super scary, super scary. It actually say entrepreneur, entrepreneurial. He co hosts The Bible Guy's podcast with Chris Sarba. Okay, did you know? Did you know that it actually listed your growth? It said seventeen percent growth? Isn't it crazy? He loves big adventures. He's also a foodie and skilled cook. He's faithful the scripture, passionate about disciple making term of live with integrity, courage, and creativity. Okay, that's crazy. It knows me. It's crazy. I'm telling you it's going to be our doom. It gave you one of those secret It gave you one of those politically correct answers. What me, I'm not in spying on you, right right? Okay, okay, So back to this guy who asked big questions. It's in First Chronicles, chapter four. I'm gonna start reading in verse five, and it says Asher, the father Takoa had two wives named HeLa and Nahara. Naara gave birth to Who's m heath dem and I and ha ash Ha ha ha Stai. HeLa gave birth to zarath is Her eith Nan and Kas who became the ancestor of anub Zobaba and all the families a harra hal Al son of Harim who There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory. Please be with me and all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain. And God granted him his requests. Keleb, the brother of Shahua or Shuha, was the father of me Her me Here was the father of Echhton. Eshton was the father of beth Rapha Pasah, and Tehina Tohina was the father of ir Nahash. These were the descendants of Recca. So so so am I I asked Jeff actually before the before the podcast started, I said, wouldn't it be fun for you to uh, for you to read some of the lineage verses, because the prayer of Jabez is actually found in the middle of this incredibly boring, yet I'm sure important for some reason to God. Well, it's important to lay out the the family lines because you have to be able to prove that Jesus was the son of Abraham. Is that what this does? What's that that? That's why all of the lineages exist in the Bible, is you have to prove that Jesus is the son of Abraham. Which these are all the sons of Abraham. Fact I knew that was the lineage purposes in the two Gospels. Well this is that. That's the lineage of Judah. Those are the descendants of Judah right there. Okay, So then most of the lineages point to back to Abraham. A bunch of the lineage just point back to David. So he had to be the son of David. He had to be the son of Abraham. And so that's why they matter. So you and I don't know those names, but they matter because the prophecy was Jesus was going to be the son of Abraham and a son of David. You had to be able to directly tie them to both. Yeah, So Mary and Joseph were both part of the the the royal line of King David, and they were relatives of Abraham. So so right in the middle of this lineage with all these crazy names that I asked Jeff to tackle, which is hilarious. That was so funny. That was one of that. That was one of these. It was hard. That was one of the hardest lineages ever. But right in the middle is this Prayer of Jabez in which really strange is that Jabez is They're like, oh, and then there was Jabez And by the way, Jabev was the guy that prayed this prayer and that God granted him his request And okay, now let's just move on with the rest of the lineags, right, And and that's one of the reasons why, I mean in our lifetime when when was it It was like it was right around the late nineties where who was the author? Was it Bruce Wilkinson where he actually wrote a book called The Prayer of Jabez? Yes, and he just just made two verses. He made a splash on the Christian community, that's for darn sure. Well had a big impact on a lot of people, a lot, a really big impact. So there's there's thirteen pages of names. Wow, in the middle of thirteen pages of names, there's these two verses. Yeah, with thirteen pages and names, man. Yeah, And it lays out the fact that Jabez and asked this really a kind of on the surface on a dacious prayer, and then God answers it, and he says God granted him his request, and it just moves on. And so my wife actually bought me a big wooden very expensive, I might add, wooden plaque, this big with the prayer of Jabez on it, to hang in my office. Oh yeah, it was carved in to this huge wooden plaque. I bet you was. I mean it had been one hundred and fifty bucks or something. And I hung at my office for years. But then afterwards I think I gifted to somebody, I think when I moved up to Michigan. But it was in my office for a very long time. Well, so the Bible says that Jabez was more honorable than any of his brothers. So the word honorable there, it's talking about he tried to honor God more than his brother. He was pursuing God, trying to do the right thing all the time. So and in that he comes to his comes to God and he says, you know, I'm asking you to bless me. I'm asking you to help me in my work by expanding my territory. Right, build out my find be with me in everything that I do, and then keep me from any kind of harm around me. Right, And the Bible says, so God did. He answered all of his prayers. Right, God granted him his request. So it's not wrong to pray that God would bless us. I think is the big the big takeaway here that he decided God, You're my only source of hope to find blessing. You're my only source of hope to find expansion in my work. You're the only source of hope I have to be protected from the difficult things that happened to everybody in life. Right. And for a while there, remember that song that went along with this, Father bless me. Indeed You're all that I need expand my horizons beyond what I see. That was the prayer gIBIS song. So yeah, that was popular for a while at the same exact time as well. So yeah, I just definitely remember being completely inspired by by you know, I connected it to the prayer of Remember Jesus taught the prayer uh Basically basically, he in so many words challenge us to pray pray big. Remember, so Jesus himself said pray big, right, like like like just you know, don't be afraid to ask God for big things. And and so it's a biblical concept. It's not just a reference to you know, this man named Jabez. It's not this isolated thing that happened just to him. It is a It is attached to, uh, you know, God's desire for us to dream big, pray big. And of course as long as our you know, desires line up in God's will and he's willing to grant us, grant us our request, then there's nothing wrong with with with those kinds of things. Because, after all, Jabez says, hey, you know you're you're the one that I want. You can tell that Jabez wants to honor God in this prayer. Right right. Uh well, actually, I guess I guess the only thing that that says that is he was honorable. It says it was honorable. Also says his mother named him Jabez because his birth so painful, and the word in Hebrew jbez, sounds like a Hebrew word that means distress or pain. So those are two things we know. He was a pain to his mother and he was more honorable than his brothers. Yeah, well, I guess I guess what I was looking for was I was looking for a desire for God, and I guess it isn't here. It says, please be with me in all that I do. Yeah, right, yeah, so there is I think that the honorable is that too, Yeah, that's right right, that he's he's a part of the family of Judah, and so he's part of God's people. And I think that when you find that he's more honorable, I think that's what you're discovering, is that he's following God's ways in a better fashion than his brothers are. And then, but can you imagine being born with a name, given a name from the very get go just pain? How difficult that that would be in life? Right, to have a life, your whole life, your pain. And I think could have a real, almost a victimizing kind of of of view of your life. I'm just a pain to everybody, I'm just a bother to everybody. Whatever. And it could be that maybe he was given his lot in life based on those things, Yeah, which is one of the reasons why he prayed expand my territory. Yeah, help me to get out from underneath this. One hundred percent. Yeah, Yeah, I think that's what he's asking. I think he's asking, God, deliver me from these things and help me be everything I can be. Help me be everything that you made me to be. That's I think what he's asking. So the Bible says that God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And I think that this idea that he's honorable. I think that's what it is. Is he's humbling himself to o God's ways and then he's asking God, oh, that you would bless me. So God's not gonna bless a prideful man. He opposes prideful people. So this, this humbled man comes to God and he says, I need you to bless me. My mom didn't bless me, my dad didn't bless me, not in my name anyways. And oftentimes your name determined what you were going to do in your life. Yeah. And there's a footnote here in this Bible that i'm reading. This is actually I'm reading from the Worn Weirsby Transformation Study Bible. Yeah, and it's a good study Bible. Bye. And it says this. It says, like a precious jewel resting among unremarkable rocks, the glimpse we get of Jabez is a footnote in history about the impact of an uncommon common man. And that interesting uncommon common man, that's what it says. That's hysterical. So he's calling all of these names just rocks, right, and then you have this gem sitting in the middle of the rocks. Yeah, and it says, here we find a life remembered because Jabez prayed a bull prayer and God granted him his request. Despite the name Jabez that means pain that he might that might have left him feeling unwanted. Jabez asked God to bless him, to expand my territory, to be with me, and to keep me from all trouble and pain. Jabez didn't want to live up to his name. The fact that he turned to God and is dependent on God is the key that unlocked Jabez's life, just as it unlocks our lives. Yeah, that's great, and that's something you know. I've told my story before. A lot of abuse, a lot of bad things early on in my life. My father was biological father's very abusive. He's an alcoholic. Most of the men in his family in lineage were alcoholics. On my mother's side, of the family. Most of the men were alcoholics. Prior you know, my father and back her original dad. There were just so many bad things and so much violence in that. And finally one day my father he was beaten my mom and beating us and all that stuff, and he was gonna load his gun to kill us, and he passed out, and so we ran away. And my mom wasn't a Christian at all, but she believed in God. She didn't she never had anybody tell her how to become a Christian, you know, but she believed in God, and so she would pray sometimes, and she'd pray for me because she was young. She got married when she was a teenager. She had me a couple of weeks before she graduated as the valedictorian of her senior class. Wow. Right, and then, you know, so she's a very young mom running with her baby, and she used to pray that God would protect me and that God would bless me. And I think a lot about that now, thinking about the life that I live. Later on, she remarried and she married my dad, and my dad adopted me, so I got a new name. Everything in my life changed, and it was because I think my mom had the courage to pray for me to a god she didn't entirely know. Eventually she became a Christian. You know, she was seeking God, and you know, God made himself known to her. She winds up getting saved. My dad was just such a godly man and good man, and it changed the trajectory of my life. And I kind of resonate with Ja Bess is like God, I don't want to live up to my name, and I certainly don't want to live up to the name that I should have had instead the name God chose for me instead. Right, And it's the same. This is the same kind of prayer my mom prayed for me, only Ja Bez is praying for himself. So if you find yourself in a situation where you look at your past, or you look at the lineage you're from, or you know you're from the wrong side of the tracks or whatever, you don't have to be a victim of that, right, And this is the solution right here. And I think that's why, out of thirteen pages of names, God pously says, Hey, I like this guy. And so he's this uncommon common man who prayed a brilliant prayer and God goes. I like that one. I'm gonna bless him and so got to do it for j Bess. He'll do it for you too. That's awesome. Yeah, you did it for me. Hey, that's a great place to wrap up and hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible Gosh